a disposition in their sovereigns for transatlantic conquests. Thence arose claims, first to discovery, and afterwards to right of possession, until these points were finally settled, by treaty among themselves, to the entire exclusion of the aborigines, whose voice was stifled in the conflicts between the European powers. Their rights have been understood and respected only by the government of the United States, always distinguished for its principles of liberal and enlightened policy toward this unfortunate race.

In 1520, Luke Vasques sailed from St. Domingo for the Florida coast; but his voyages afford nothing remarkable.

De Verrazini, a Florentine, was sent, in 1523, by Francis the First of France; and in 1.524, De Geray and De Allegon went from Spain; neither of whom, however, made any progress in discovery or settlement, having only coasted.

Paamphile de Narvaes obtained a grant from Charles the Fifth of all the lands from Cape Florida to the river Palmos, in the Gulf of Mexico. He set sail in April, 1528, with a considerable force, (said to be 900 men,) and arrived at Apalache; but did not meet with more success than those that preceded him, being destructively opposed by the Indians. He died on the coast, near the river Palmos, by shipwreck; only ten men returned to Spain to relate the sad catastrophe.

In 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, governor of Cuba, explored the Floridas with from 8 to 900 men, in search of gold; and became so celebrated for his adventures, and the discovery of the river Mississippi, in 1541, as to obtain from the king the title of Marquis of Florida. But such were the barbarities committed under this royal chief, that not only his life

fell a sacrifice to his temerity, but his countrymen were held in such abhorrence as not to be allowed a resting place in the country. He was put to death, in 1542 or 1543, by the Arkansa Indians, after traversing from Tampa Bay, through Apalache, Pensacola, and the Chickasaw country, to the Mississippi.

Prior to this event, (in the year 1534,) the Protestants of France sought an asylum in the Floridas, to escape the persecutions which grew out of the contests between the Catholics and Reformers: and in 1562, James Ribaud was also sent there by Admiral de Coligny. But the hand of persecution followed them, and he returned, leaving Captain Laudonier, with a small garrison, at Fort St. Matheo.

In 1564, Don Pedro Menendez, was ordered by Philip the Second, with a considerable force, consisting of ten ships of the line and 10,000 men, to dislodge them. In doing which, the greatest barbarities were committed upon the French and Indians hanging them without discrimination, and posting on the trees from which these unfortunates were suspended, this inscription, "Not as Frenchmen, but as heretics." For this act of heroism, he was remunerated by a grant of all Florida. But these outrages were soon after met in a retaliatory manner by the French, headed by Dominique de Gourgue, who, joined by the Indians, stormed Fort St. Matheo, and had his opponents hung, not " a la lanterne," but, more conveniently, on the same trees that had sustained the dead bodies of his countrymen, bearing a like sanguinary placard, "Not as Spaniards, but as murderers." Charles the Ninth received the petition of 900 widows on this melancholy occasion.

In 1565, the Spaniards, having resolved upon the occupation of the Floridas, persevered, became quiet possessors, and established the town and fort of St. Augustine, which they held until 1586, when Sir Francis Drake, in defiance of King Philip's invincible fleet, and his order prohibiting foreigners from entering, on pain of death, the Gulf of Mexico, laid siege to the fort, which he pillaged, and returned to Europe to save his own country, menaced by that same fleet, which had proceeded as far as the Thames, and was said to consist of 425 sail.

Captains Barlaw and Armada, however, in 1584, under an authority from Sir Walter Raleigh, took possession, in right of the Queen of England, of the rivers and lands adjacent to the northern coast of Florida.

In 1611, the prelate St. Francisco Marroz Custodio, from the Convent of St. Francisco of the Havanna, together with those at St. Helena, Fr. Miguel de Annon, and Fr. Pedro de Chocas, fell martyrs by the hands of the savages.

In 1663, the British, flushed with the intrepidity and courage of Sir Francis, laid claim to Florida, considering it not only as part of the Carolinas, but as a right acquired by Henry the Seventh from the discovery of the country by Sebastian Cabot, which is more fully illustrated in a memorial from Dr. Daniel Cox to King William the Third.

In 1665, Captain Davis, in the same spirit of buccaneering, plundered the town of St. Augustine.

West Florida, or Louisiana, is said to have been discovered in 1663 by the French; but as in that year France declared war against Spain, it is more than probable that the discovery of it was not made until 1679, when the King of Spain mar

ried the daughter of King Philip of France, a more auspicious period for the encouragement of similar voyages.

M. De la Salle, in 1682, took formal possession of West Florida, and went as far as Illinois. He was murdered, in 1687, by his own people, after encountering the most unparalleled hardships for several years.

The French, more conciliatory toward the aborigines, made considerable progress in the western parts of the Floridas, and settled in Pensacola in 1696, without any other obstacle than the warfare incidental to incursions. They were, however, frequently discouraged; and would have abandoned their pursuits, had it not been, as Raynal states, for the sassafras tree, the fragrance and medicinal virtues of which stimulated them to more persevering exertions.

Monsieur d'Iberville, a distinguished French explorator, was sent to the Mississippi in 1702, and died off the Havanna.

In the same year, the governor of Carolina, Colonel More, with a force consisting of 500 regular troops, and 700 Indians, made an unsuccessful attack on St. Augustine, leaving, after a campaign of three months, his shipping and stores to the besieged.

The Carolinians, in 1704, possessed themselves of Fort St. Marks, 240 miles from the capital of East Florida; and in the year following, Apalachy fort was destroyed by the Indians.

In 1712, M. de Crozart obtained from the French government the exclusive commercial privileges of Louisiana and West Florida; at this time, there were only about thirty European families in the whole of that country.

John Law, a Scotchman, in 1717, took an active part in

creating an English interest in West, Florida, and gained the ascendancy, which would have been more complete, if his speculations had not been formed on a paper system, too common to English financiers.

In January, 1732, the rage for speculation in the Mississippi was prevalent in France.

General Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia in 1719, (an epoch worthy the remembrance of every American, for the birth of the illustrious Washington,) and settled in Savannah, the most favourable high land he met with; notwithstanding which, the ravages of the climate reduced his forces very considerably. This circumstance, together with an eye to conquest, induced him to proceed, in 1740, against Florida. The jealousy of the Spaniards prepared a vigorous resistance for him, which he met at the gates of St. Augustine, from whence he was compelled to retire. The General had only 400 regulars of his own regiment, and 300 Indians, accompanied by 200 seamen, under Captain Warren, of the Squirrel, of 50 guns. Two reasons are assigned for the failure of this expedition : one, that the Spaniards were too strong, having 1,000 men; and the other, that the Carolina volunteers, who had come to assist, marched off without either asking or receiving leave. Others attributed his want of success to the weather, and to his having established his battery on Anastasia Island, at too great a distance to give effect to his artillery.

The question of boundary had previously been the subject of negociation. General Oglethorpe wished to restrain the limits of the Spaniards to the St. Johns, in a northerly direction; while the Governor of Florida, with an occult policy