moment he spared no efforts to effect his purpose. On Newport's departure for England, he bargained away from him twenty swords for twenty turkeys. He attempted the same trade with Smith; and when the latter shrewdly declined it, his eagerness became such, we are told, "that at last by ambuscadoes at our very gates they [the Powhatans] would take them per force, surprise vs at worke, or any way." [6] Some of these troublesome fellows being seized and threatened, they confessed that the emperor had ordered them to get possession of the English arms, or at least some of them, cost what it might.
He availed himself, with great ingenuity, of a disposition among some of the colonists to trade privately in these contraband articles; and in that way obtained large quantities of shot, powder and pike-heads. So, upon Smith's departure for the settlement, after his famous visit, in December, 1608, he artfully requested the captain "to leaue him Edward Brynton to kille him foule, and the Dutchmen to finish his house." This house, we have seen, was abandoned; and as for fowl, the idea of employing an Englishman to hunt for his Powhatans was absurd. He had no objection, however, to Brynton's gun or his martial services. The Germans he was probably sure of already. They proved, traitors to the colony, and soon after we find them diligently engaged in arming and instructing the savages. One of them subsequently stated, that the emperor kept them at work for him in duress. He himself sent answer to Smith's demand for them, that they were at liberty to go if they chose—but as for carrying them fifty miles on his back, he was not able. The adroitness with which he obtained arms at Jamestown, during Smith's absence, has already been the subject of comment.
The implicit obedience which he exacted of his own subjects, notwithstanding the apparently precarious tenure by which he held his command, is a striking indication of the extent of his mere personal influence. "When he listeth," says an old writer, "his will is a law, and must be obeyed; not onely as a King, but as halfe a God, they esteeme him. What he commandeth they dare not disobey in the least thing. At his feete they present whatsoever he commandeth, and at the least froune of his browe, their greatest spirits will tremble with feare." This subordination was sustained by measures which, for severity and courage, would do no discredit to the most absolute despot of the Eastern world. On one occasion, certain, offenders were burned to death in the midst of an immense heap of glowing coals, collected from many fires made for the purpose. A more merciful punishment was by braining the criminal with a club, as Smith was to have been sacrificed. The most horrible was fastening the poor wretch to a tree, breaking his joints one by one, and then whittling down the body with reeds and shells. Thrashing with cudgels was no trifle. Smith says he saw a man subjected to this discipline under the hands of two of his practised countrymen, till he fell prostrate and senseless; but he uttered no cry or complaint.
The extraordinary native shrewdness of Powhatan was abundantly manifested in the amusing advantages he obtained over Newport; his long and artful conversations with Smith, some of them sustained under the most embarrassing circumstances, merely to procure time; the promptness with which he rejected and defeated the proposal to make common cause against the Monacans—a bait, as he expressed it, too foolish to be taken; and, in fine, upon every occasion when the English undertook to negotiate or to argue with him. He availed himself most essentially of the aid of the German deserters heretofore mentioned, but he had too much sagacity to trust them after they deserted himself; and so, when two of them fled to him a second time, with proposals for delivering his great rival, Captain Smith, into his hands, he only observed, that men who betrayed the captain would betray the emperor, and forthwith ordered the scoundrels to be brained upon the spot. [7]
Powhatan, like many others of his race, has been regarded with prejudice for the very reasons which entitle him to respect. He was a troublesome enemy to the colonists. His hostile influence extended for hundreds of miles around them; cutting off commerce with the natives in the first place, and making inveterate enemies of them in the next. Powhatan, we are told, "still as he found means cut off their boats, and denied them trade;" [8] and again, "as for corne, contribution and provision from the salvages, we had nothing but mortall wounds, with clubs and arrowes." Here, too, we find the emperor availing himself of the disasters and despair of the colony, to procure swords, muskets and ammunition—so reckless had the colonists become through famine.
Still, it does not appear, that Powhatan adopted any policy but such as he believed indispensable to the welfare, not to say, the existence, of his sovereign dominions. His warfare was an Indian warfare, indeed. But setting aside those circumstances of education and of situation which rendered this a matter both of pride and necessity, it may be safely said, that he but followed the example of those who should have known better. Not only did he act generally in self-defence against what he deemed the usurpation of a foreign and unknown people, who had settled without permission upon his shores; but he was galled and provoked by peculiar provocations in numerous instances. The mere liberty of taking possession of a part of his territory might have been overlooked. Probably it was so. In the earliest days of the settlement, when nothing could be easier for Powhatan than to extinguish it at a single assault, it is acknowledged that his people often visited the English and treated them with kindness. [9] Not long afterwards, indeed, they committed some trespasses, but meanwhile a party of the English had invaded the interior of the country. Considering the dissolute and unprincipled character of a large part of them, it is not improbable that still greater freedom was exercised with the Indians; such of course as the historians would be likely neither to record nor to know. And yet Smith himself has told enough—of himself—to make this point clear. In his very first expedition after corn, seeing, he says, "that by trade and, courtesie nothing was to be had, he made bold to try such conclusions as necessitie inforced." He let fly a volley of musketry, ran his boats ashore, skirmished with the natives, and forcibly obtained a supply of provisions. And thus—adds the scrupulous captain—
"Thus God vnboundlesse by his power
Made them so kinde would vs devour."
It was nothing to the emperor, or to his subjects, that Smith went beyond his authority in these matters. "The patient council"—he writes in another connexion—"that nothing would moue to warre with the sauages, would gladly have wrangled with Captaine Smithe for his crueltie." He adds, that his proceedings—his conclusions, is his own language—had inspired the natives with such fear, that his very name was a terror. No wonder that he sometimes had peace and war twice in a day. No wonder that scarcely a week passed without some villainy or other. Again, when the Chickahominies refused to trade, the resident, "perceiving [supposing] it was Powhatan's policy to starve him," landed his company forthwith, and made such a show of anger and ammunition that the poor savages presently brought in all their provisions.
So we are summarily informed in Mr. Hamer's relation, that about Christmas (1611) "in regard of the iniurie done vs by them of Apamatuk, Sir Thomas Dale, without the losse, of any except some few Salvages," took possession of the territory and provision of the tribe, made a settlement upon the former without ceremony, and called it New Bermudas! One more illustration must suffice. It is a passage of Smith's history relating to a detachment of vagabonds, under the command of one West, who left Jamestown, and located themselves not far from Powhatan's residence at the falls of the river. "But the worst was, that the poore Salvages that daily brought in their contributions to the President, that disorderly company so tormented these poore soules, by stealing their corne, robbing their gardens, beating them, breaking their houses, and keeping some prisoners, that they daily complained to Captaine Smith he had brought them for Protectors worse enemies than the Monacans themselves, which though till then for his love they had endured, they desired pardon if hereafter they defended themselves—since he would not correct them as they had long expected he would." A most reasonable determination, civilly and candidly expressed.
But, whatever may be said of the motives or method of the warfare of Powhatan, it must be acknowledged that his character appears to no disadvantage in peace. We cannot but admire the Roman dignity with which he rejected all offers of compromise, so long as the English seemed disposed to take advantage of their own wrong in the violent seizure of Pocahontas. They knew that this was his favorite child, and they presumed on the strength of his attachment. But, much as her situation troubled him, he would not sacrifice his honor so far as to negotiate for her restoration on derogatory terms. He was afflicted, but he was still more incensed. When, however, he ascertained,