This resolution was instantly put in practice; the Peruvians dispersed, and left the Spaniards in their capital. Had the force on each side been exactly equal, this singular policy of the natives of Peru might have been attended with success. But the victory of Pizarro put an end to Almagro's life, and the hopes of the Peruvians, who have since ceased to be a distinct people. Pizarro, notwithstanding he was now sole master of one of the richest empires in the world, was still urged by his boundless ambition to undertake new enterprises. The southern countries of America, into which he had some time before dispatched Almagro, offered the richest conquest. Towards this quarter, the mountains of Potosi, composed of entire silver, had been discovered, the mere shell of which only now remains. He therefore followed the track of Almagro into Chili, and reduced another part of that country. At length, meeting with repeated success, and having no superior to control, no rival to keep him within bounds, he began to give loose reins to the natural ferocity of his temper, and behaved with the basest tyranny and cruelty against all who had not concurred in his designs. This conduct raised a conspiracy against him, to which he fell a sacrifice in his own palace, in the city of Lima. The partisans of old Almagro now declared his son, of the same name, their viceroy; but the greater part of the nation, though extremely well satisfied with the fate of Pizarro, did not concur with this declaration. They waited the orders of the Emperor Charles V., then king of Spain, who sent over Vaca di Castro to be their governor. This man, by his integrity and wisdom, was admirably calculated to heal the wounds of the colony, and to place every thing on the most advantageous footing, both for it and for the mother-country. By his prudent management, the mines of La Plata and Potosi, which were formerly private plunder, became an object of public utility to the court of Spain; the parties were silenced or crushed; young Almagro, who would hearken to no terms of accommodation, was put to death; and a tranquillity, since the arrival of the Spaniards unknown, was restored. But unfortunately, Castro. was not sufficiently skilled in gaining the favor of the Spanish ministry, by bribes or promises, which they always expect from the governor of so rich a country. By their advice a council was sent over to control Castro, and the colony was again

unsettled. The party spirit, but just extinguished, again broke out; and Gonzalo, the brother of Pizarro, put himself at the head of his brother's partisans, to whose standard several malcontents immediately flocked. Gonzalo, who only paid a nominal submission to the Spanish monarch, went so far as to behead a governor whom he sent over to curb him. He also gained the confidence of the admiral of the Spanish fleet, by whose means he proposed to hinder the landing of any troops from Europe. But in this he was disappointed; for the court of Spain, now become sensible of its mistake in not sending to America men of character and virtue, dispatched, with unlimited powers, Peter de la Gasca, a gentleman of mild and insinuating behaviour, and possessing at the same time a love of justice, greatness of soul, and disinterested spirit. Though it was not without some difficulty that he effected a landing, yet, when that was accomplished, all those who had not joined in Pizarro's revolt, flocked to his standard; many of his friends, charmed with the hehaviour of Gasca, forsook their old connexions; the admiral was gained over to return to his duty; and to Pizarro himself a full indemnity was offered, provided he would return to the allegiance of the Spanish crown. But he was inclined to run every hazard, rather than submit; and, with those of his partisans that continued to adhere to his interest, he determined to hazard a battle, in which he was defeated and taken prisoner. By his execution, which followed soon after, a permanent tranquillity was diffused throughout the whole country, which suffered no material interruption till within these few years, when the troubles in the mother-country have enabled the inhabitants, in a great measure, to throw off the Spanish yoke.

NORTH AMERICA was discovered in the reign of Henry VII. a period when the arts and sciences had made very considerable progress in Europe. Many of the first adventurers were men of genius and learning, and were careful to preserve authentic records of such of their proceedings as would be interesting to posterity.

In 1502, Sebastian Cabot fell in with Newfoundland; and, on his return, he carried three of the natives of that island to Henry VII. In the spring of 1513, John Ponce sailed from Porto Rico northerly, and discovered the continent in 30°8′ north latitude, He landed in April, a season when the country round

was covered with verdure, and in full bloom. This circumstance induced him to call the country Florida, which, for many years was the common name for North and South America. In 1516, Sir Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert explored the coast as far as Brazil in South América. This vast extent of country, the coast whereof was thus explored, remained unclaimed and unsettled by any European power (except by the Spaniards in South America) for almost a century from the time of its discovery.

It was not till the year 1524 that France attempted discoveries on the American coast. Stimulated by his enterprising neighbours, Francis I., who possessed a great and active mind, sent John Verrazano, a Florentine, to America, for the purpose of making discoveries. He traversed the coast from latitude 28° to 50° north. In a second voyage, some time after, he was lost. The next year Stephen Gomez, the first Spaniard who came upon the American coast for discovery, sailed from Groyon in Spain, to Cuba and Florida, thence northward to Cape Razo, in latitude 46 degrees north, in search of a north-west passage to the East Indies,

In the spring of 1534, by the direction of Francis 1., a fleet was fitted out at St. Malo's, in France, with a design to make discoveries in America. The command of this fleet was given to James Cartier. He arrived at Newfoundland in May of this year. Thence he sailed northerly; and, on the day of the festival of St. Lawrence, he found himself in about latitude 48° 30° north, in the midst of a broad gulf, which he named St. Lawrenee. He gave the same name to the river which empties into it. In this voyage he sailed as far north as latitude 51°, expecting in vain to find a passage to China. The next year he sailed up the river St, Lawrence, 300 leagues, to the great and swift Fall. He called the country New France; built a fort, in which he spent the winter, and returned in the following spring to France.

In 1542, Francis la Roche, lord of Robewell, was sent to Canada, by the French king, with three ships and 200 men, women, and children. They wintered there in a fort which they had built, and returned in the spring. About the year 1550, a large number of adventurers sailed for Canada, but were never after heard of. In 1598, the king of France commissioned the

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marquis de la Roche to conquer Canada, and other countries not possessed by any christian prince. We do not learn, however, that la Roche ever attempted to execute his commission, or that any farther attempts were made to settle in Canada during this century. On the 12th of May, 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, with 900 men, besides seamen, sailed from Cuba, having for his object the conquest of Florida. On the 30th of May he arrived at Spirito Santo, from whence he travelled northward 450 leagues from the sea. Here he discovered a river a quarter of a mile wide and nineteen fathoms deep, on the bank of which he died and was buried, May, 1542, aged forty-two years. Alverdo, his successor, built seven brigantines, and the year following embarked upon the river. In seventeen days he proceeded down the river 400 leagues, where he judged it to be fifteen leagues wide. From the largeness of the river at that place of his embarkation, he concluded its source must have been at least 400 leagues above, so that the whole length of the river, in his opinion, must have been more than 800 leagues. As he passed down the river, he found it opened by two mouths into the gulf of Mexico. These circumstances lead us to conclude, that this river, so early discovered, was the one which we now call the Mississippi. On the 6th of January, 1549, king Henry VII. granted a pension for life to Sebastian Cabot, in consideration of the important services he had rendered to the kingdom by his discoveries in America.

The admiral of France, Chatillon, early in the year 1562, sent out a fleet under the command of John Ribalt. He arrived at Cape Francis, on the coast of Florida, near which, on the first of May, he discovered and entered a river which he called May river. It is more than probable that river is the same which we now call St. Mary's, which forms a part of the southern boundary of the United States. As he coasted northward, he discovered eight other rivers, one of which he called Port Royal, and sailed up it several leagues. On one of the rivers he built a fort, and called it Charles, in which he left a colony under the direction of captain Albert. The severity of Albert's measures excited a mutiny, in which, to the ruin of the colony, he was slain. Two years after, Chatillon sent Réné Laudonier, with three ships, to Florída. In June he arrived at the river May, on which he built a fort, and, in honor to his king, Charles IX., he called it Carolina.

In August, this year, captain Ribalt arrived at Florida the second time, with a fleet of seven vessels to recruit the colony, which, two years before, he had left under the direction of the unfortunate captain Albert. The September following, Pedro Melandes, with six Spanish ships, pursued Ribalt up the river on which he had settled, and, overpowering him with numbers, cruelly massacred him and his whole company. Melandes, having in his way taken possession of the country, built three forts, and left them garrisoned with 1200 .soldiers. Laudonier, and

his colony on May river, receiving information of the fate of Ribalt, took the alarm, and escaped to France.

A fleet of three ships was sent from France to Florida, in 1567, under the command of Dominique de Gourges. The object of this expedition was to dispossess the Spaniards of that part of Florida which they had cruelly and unjustifiably seized three years before. He arrived on the coast of Florida in April, 1568, and soon after made a successful attack upon the forts. The recent cruelty of Melandes and his company, excited revenge in the breast of Gourges, and roused the unjustifiable principle of retaliation. He took the forts; put most of the Spaniards to the sword; and, having burned and demolished all their fortresses, returned to France. During the fifty years next after this event, the French enterprised no settlements in America. In 1576, captain Frobisher was sent to find out a north-west passage to the East Indies. The first land which he made on the coast was a cape, which, in honor to the queen, he called Queen Elizabeth's Foreland. In coasting northerly he discovered the straits which bear his name. He prosecuted his search for a passage into the western ocean, till he was prevented by the ice, and then returned to England. In 1579, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained a patent from queen Elizabeth, for lands not yet possessed by any christian prince, provided he would take possession within six years. With this encouragement he sailed for America, and on the first of August, 1583, auchored in Conception Bay. Afterwards he discovered and took possession of St. John's harbour, and the country south. In pursuing his discoveries, he lost one of his ships on the shoals of Sabion; and, on his return home, a storm overtook him, in which he was unfortunately lost, and the intended settlement was prevented.