American Men of Action

. When he
returned to it in September, he found it reduced and disheartened. His
brave and cheery presence acted as a tonic, and at last the colonists,
appreciating him at his true value, elected him president. He put new
life into everyone, and when, soon afterwards, Newport arrived again
from England with fresh supplies, he found the colony in fairly good
shape.

But the members of the Virginia Company were growing impatient at the
failure of the venture to bring any returns, and they sent out
instructions by Newport demanding that either a lump of gold be sent
back to England or that the way to the South Sea be discovered. Smith
said plainly that the instructions were ridiculous, and wrote an answer
to them in blunt soldier English. Then, turning his hand in earnest to
the government of the disorderly rabble under him, he instituted an iron
discipline, whipped the laggards into line, and by the end of April had
some twenty houses built, thirty or forty acres of ground broken up and
planted, nets and weirs arranged for fishing, a new fortress under way,
and various small manufactures begun. A great handicap was the system,
by which all property was held in common, so that the drones shared
equally with the workers, but Smith took care that there should be few
drones. There can be no doubt that his sheer will power kept the colony
together, but his credit with the company was undermined by enemies in
England, nor did his own blunt letter help matters. The company was
re-organized on a larger scale, a new governor appointed, new colonists
started on the way; and, finally, in 1609, Smith was so seriously
wounded by the explosion of a bag of gun-powder, that he gave up the
struggle and returned to England.

Instant disaster followed. When he left the colony, it numbered five
hundred souls; when the next supply ship reached it in May, 1610, it
consisted of sixty scarecrows, mere wrecks of human beings. The rest had
starved to death--or been eaten by their companions! There was a hasty

John Addington Symonds (October 5, 1840 - April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. He was an early advocate of the validity of male love which included for him pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships, and which he would refer to as lamour de limpossible.

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