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assistants.
The mother and the kindred of
Manteo welcomed the
English to the
Island of Croatan; and a mutual friendship was continued.
But even this alliance was not unclouded.
A detachment of the
English, discovering a company of the natives whom they esteemed their enemies, fell upon them by night, as the harmless men were sitting fearlessly by their fires; and the havoc was begun, before it was perceived that these were friendly
Indians.
The vanities of life were not forgotten in the
New World; and
Manteo, the faithful Indian chief, ‘by the commandment of
Sir Walter Raleigh,’ received Christian baptism, and was invested with the rank of a feudal baron, as the
Lord of
Roanoke.
It was the first peerage erected by the
English in
America, and remained a solitary dignity, till
Locke and
Shaftesbury suggested the establishment of palatinates in
Carolina, and
Manteo shared his honors with the admired philosopher of his age.
As the time for the departure of the ship for
England drew near, the emigrants became gloomy with apprehensions; they were conscious of their dependence on
Europe; and they, with one voice, women as well as men, urged the governor to return and use his vigorous intercession for the prompt despatch of reinforcements and supplies.
It was in vain that he pleaded a sense of honor, which called upon him to remain and share in person the perils of the colony, which he was appointed to govern.
He was forced to yield to the general importunity.
Yet, previous to his departure, his daughter, Eleanor Dare, the wife of one of the assistants, gave birth to a
female child, the first offspring of English parents on the soil of the
United States.
The infant was named
