[NOTE--Sir Walter Raleigh occupied the twelve years of his imprisonment in writing a "history of the world." This work gave great offence to King James, who endeavored to suppress its circulation. When Raleigh was carried to execution, while on the scaffold, he asked to see the axe. He closely examined its bright, keen edge, and said, with a smile: "This is a sharp medicine, but a sound cure for all diseases." He then laid his head composedly on the block, moved his lips as if in prayer, and gave the signal for the blow. ] 6. Thus suffered and died the man who first sent ships and men to the soil of North Carolina. That he failed in what he desired to accomplish should not detract from the gratitude and reverence due to his memory. If incompetent and unworthy agents, and the accidents of fortune, thwarted him in his designs, the fault is not his. He was the greatest and most illustrious man connected with our annals as a State, and should ever receive the applause and remembrance of our people. 7. After the death of Sir Walter Raleigh no more efforts were made to plant a colony at Roanoke. The spot was never favorable for such a purpose. No coast in the world is much more dangerous to ships than that of North Carolina. Cape Hatteras is even now the dread of all mariners. It is visited by many storms, and sends its deadly sandbars for fifteen miles out into the ocean to surprise and wreck the ill-fated vessel that has approached too near the coast. 8. Governor Lane, while at Roanoke, discovered the broad, deep inlet and safe anchorage at Hampton Roads, within the present limits of Virginia. This port lies, but little to the north of that inlet which Amadas and Barlowe entered on the first English visit to Carolina. Into Hampton Roads, in 1607, went another colony, sent over by men who had succeeded the unfortunate Raleigh in the royal permission to plant settlements in America. To the genius and bravery of the leader, Captain John Smith, was due the permanence of the settlement at Jamestown. The name of "Virginia," which had been applied to all the territory claimed by England under the discoveries of Gilbert and Raleigh, was then confined to the colony on James River. 9. In the course of a few years many places on the Atlantic coast were occupied by expeditions sent out from England and other countries of Europe. Those of England, at Plymouth, of the Dutch, at New Amsterdam, and of the Swedes, in New Jersey, were speedily seen, while yet roamed the Tuscarora in undisturbed possession of North Carolina. 10. As Virginia grew more populous there were hardships and troubles concerning religion. Men and women were persecuted on account of their religious practices. If people did not conform to the "English" or Episcopal Church they were punished by fine and imprisonment. Sometimes cruel whipping became the portion of men who were found preaching Quaker and Baptist doctrines.