was then called Virginia, and recognized as Raleigh's
possessions. Much money was required, and when his own fortune was
exhausted he transferred to what is known as the London Company his
rights to the land, and _by his advice_ they avoided his mistakes and
made the next settlement at Jamestown instead of Roanoak Island.

These facts have been temporarily obscured by the moss of neglect, but
they cannot be destroyed. They will ever remain the foundation-stones
of the great structure known and respected among nations as the United
States of America, and were laid by Sir Walter Raleigh at Roanoak
Island, on the coast of North Carolina, which was then called Virginia.
The intervening years have brought great results, those early struggles
have ripened into success and greatness beyond Raleigh's most sanguine
dreams. A new race has arisen, yet bearing the characteristics of the
race from which it sprung. Our English ancestors, our heritage of
English law and custom, of religion and home life, of language and
ideals, all tempered by the development of new characteristics, bind us
_through him_ to England.

Sir Walter Raleigh was not an ordinary man. He was one of the most
remarkable of a coterie of remarkable men whom a remarkable queen
(Elizabeth) gathered around her, and to whom she owed much of the
grandeur of her remarkable reign. Elizabeth's greatest gift was a
capacity for discerning and using great minds, and she had the good
fortune to find many around her at that period of time. Raleigh won her
favor, and received from her many benefits, among which was the honor
of knighthood with its emoluments, which she conferred. In the end her
favor cost him dear, because his heart had the courage to be true to
itself in love. Elizabeth never forgave him for loving, marrying, and
being true until death to her maid of honor, the beautiful Elizabeth
Throckmorton. That vain and jealous queen permitted no rivals, and she
wished to reign over the heart of this man, who, handsome, brave,
gallant, intelligent, and romantic, made an ideal courtier. His life at
court was brilliant but brief. Love anchored a soul attuned to loftier
deeds, and after his marriage his career as a courtier was eclipsed by
his later exploits as a statesman, warrior, explorer, and author. He
planned and participated in many expeditions which brought benefit to
his queen and added to his own fortune, yet none of his expeditions
have borne such an ever-incre