Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/90

This opinion was entirely confirmed by the course of events. Although the successive Spanish ambassadors in London repeatedly expressed to their sovereign their firm conviction^[1] that the English would not abandon their colony in Virginia, nevertheless, the opposition of that monarch was never shown beyond an occasional remonstrance, nor of his subjects beyond an expression of apprehension on account of the national possessions in the West Indies. The only expedition dispatched was restricted to one reconnoitring ship, the officers in command of which were so fearful of the English that they returned without having attempted to reach their place of destination.^[2] The impotence and timidity of the Spanish nation were most strikingly revealed in the contemptible stratagem to which it had recourse in the mission of Molina, who, acting under instructions from his government, allowed himself to be captured at Old Point Comfort in order that he might make an examination of the condition of the Colony.^[3] Those who administered its affairs were

by a Spanish force. See his second letter, dated April 23, 1611, in the Genesis of the United States, p. 472.

1. An instance may be cited in the letter of Zuniga, Spanish ambassador in London, written to Philip III in 1609, now on file in the Archives of Simancas, Department of State. A copy of this letter is given in Brown’s Genesis of the United States, pp. 243-247.
2. This expedition was directed against Bermuda. “The sayd ship is returned without having donne anything, alledging that thei by no means could finde the Islande. But by examination yt is probable that thei were afrayd to come neere yt bycause of the Englishe.” Digby to Carleton, under date of May 22, 1613, Madrid, Brown’s Genesis of the United States, p. 634.
3. Report of the Voyage to Virginia, Spanish Archives, Brown’s Genesis of the United States, p. 511. The first plan, it appears, was to send out the Earl of Arundel, an English nobleman who was in the secret service of Spain, “under the pretext of a voyage of discovery and that in the Canaries or in Porto Rico, he would take on board his ship, the person whom the King (of Spain) would send to him as a man who was