SPANISH MISSIONARIES IN FLORIDA. 67 II. Dec. 28. was more persevering; Louis Cancello, a missionary CHAP. of the Dominican order, gained, through Philip, then heir apparent in Spain, permission to visit Florida, 1547. and attempt the peaceful conversion of the natives. Christianity was to conquer the land, against which so many expeditions had failed. The Spanish governors were directed to favor the design; all slaves, that had been taken from the northern shore of the gulf of Mexico, were to be manumitted and restored to their country. The ship was fitted out with much 1549. solemnity; but the priests, who sought the first interview with the natives, were feared as enemies, and, being immediately attacked, Louis and two others fell martyrs to their zeal.' Florida was abandoned. It seemed as if death guarded the avenues to the country. While the Castilians were every where else victorious, Florida was wet with the blood of the invaders, who had still been unable to possess themselves of her soil. The coast of our republic on the gulf of Mexico was not, at this time, disputed by any other nation with Spain; while that power claimed, under the name of Florida, the whole seacoast as far as Newfoundland,3 and even to the remotest north. In Spanish geography, Canada was a part of Florida. Yet within 1 Ensayo Cronologico, p. 25, 26.; Vega, l. vi. c. xxii. p. 267.; Gomara, c. xlv.; Urbani Calvetonis de Gallorum in Floridam expeditione Brevis Historia, c. i., annexed to Nov. Nov. Orbis Hist. p. 432, 433; Eden and Willes, fol. 229; De Bry's introduction and parergon to his Brevis Narratio eorum quæ in Florida Gallis acciderunt. 2 Gom. c. xlv.; Vega, l. vi. c. xxii. 4 Bolvio á la Florida Champlain; entrò en Quebec, &c Ensayo Cronologico, p. 179. II. CHAP. that whole extent, not a Spanish fort was erected, not a harbor was occupied; not one settlement was 1549. planned. The first permanent establishment of the Spaniards in Florida was the result of jealous bigotry. 1562. For France had begun to settle the region with a colony of protestants; and Calvinism, which, with the special co-operation of Calvin himself, had, for a 1555. short season, occupied the coasts of Brazil and the harbor of Rio Janeiro,' was now to be planted on the borders of Florida. Coligny had long desired to establish a refuge for the Huguenots and a protestant French empire in America. Disappointed in his first effort by the apostacy and faithlessness of his agent, Villegagnon, he still persevered; moved alike by religious zeal and by a passion for the honor of 1562. France. The expedition which he now planned, was entrusted to the command of John Ribault of Dieppe, a brave man of maritime experience and a firm protestant, and was attended by some of the best of the young French nobility, as well as by veteran troops. The feeble Charles IX. conceded an ample commission, and the squadron set sail for the shores of North-America. Desiring to establish their plantation in a genial clime, land was first made in the latitude of St. Augustine; the fine river, which we call the St. Johns, was discovered and May. named the river of May. It is the St. Matheo3 of Feb. 18. 1 De Thou's Hist. 1. xvi. Lery, Hist. Nav. in Bras. An abridgement of the description, but not of the personal narrative, appears in Purchas, v. iv. p. 1325-1347. Lescarbot, N. F. 1. ii. t. i. p. 143-214; Southey's Brazil, part i. c. ix.; True Declaration of the State of 2 Compare the criticism of Holmes' Annals, v. i. p. 567. Holmes surpasses Charlevoix in accuracy. 3 Ensayo Cronologico, p. 43. HUGUENOTS NEAR BEAUFORT, SOUTH-CAROLINA. 69 II. the Spaniards. The forests of mulberries were CHAP. admired, and caterpillars readily mistaken for silk worms. The cape received a French name; as the 1562. ships sailed along the coast, the numerous streams were called after the rivers of France; and America, for a while, had its Seine, its Loire, and its Garonne. In searching for the Jordan or Combahee, they came upon Port Royal entrance,' which seemed the outlet of a magnificent river. The greatest ships of France and the argosies of Venice could ride securely in the deep water of the harbor. The site for a first settlement is apt to be injudiciously selected; the local advantages, which favor the growth of large cities, are discovered only by time. It was on Lemon Island, that a monumental stone, engraved with the arms of France, was proudly raised; and as the company looked round upon the immense oaks, which were venerable from the growth of centuries, the profusion of wild fowls, the groves of pine, the flowers so fragrant, that the whole air was perfumed, they already regarded the country as a province of their native land. Ribault determined to leave a colony; twenty-six composed the whole party, which was to keep possession of the continent. Fort Charles, the Carolina,3 so called in honor of Charles 1 Laudonniere, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 373. The description is sufficiently minute and accurate; removing all doubt. Before the geography of the country was well known, there was room for the error of Charlevoix, Nouv. Fr. v. i. p. 25, who places the settlement at the mouth of the Edisto, an error, which is followed by Chal mers, p. 513. It is no reproach to 2 The stone is supposed to have 3 Munitionem Carolinam, de re CHAP. IX. of France, first gave a name to the country, a century before it was colonized by the English. II. 1562. July 20. Ribault' and the ships arrived safely in France. But the fires of civil war had been kindled in all the provinces of the kingdom; and the promised reinforcements for Carolina were never levied. The situation of the French became precarious. The natives were friendly; but the soldiers themselves were insubordinate; and dissensions prevailed. The commandant at Carolina repressed the turbulent spirit with arbitrary cruelty; and lost his life in a mutiny, which his ungovernable passion had provoked. The new commander succeeded in restoring order. But the love of his native land is a passion easily revived in the breast of a Frenchman; and the company resolved to embark in such a brigantine, 1563. as they could themselves construct. Intoxicated with joy at the thought of returning home, they neglected to provide sufficient stores; and they were overtaken by famine at sea, with its attendant crimes. A small English bark at length boarded their vessel, and, setting the most feeble on shore upon the coast of France, carried the rest to the queen of England. Thus fell the first attempt of France in French Florida, near the southern confines of South-Carolina. The country was still a desert.2 gis nomine dictum. De Thou, l. 1 Ribault immediately made a count of Laudonniere, who was likewise engaged in the voyage. Of Ribault's short tract, there is no copy within my reach. It belongs to South-Carolina to reprint it. See Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 37, 38, 39. 2 Laudonniere, in Hakluyt, v. SECOND COLONY OF COLIGNY. 71 II. 1564. After the treacherous peace between Charles IX. CHAP. and the Huguenots, Coligny renewed his solicitations for the colonization of Florida. The king gave consent; three ships were conceded for the service; and Laudonniere, who, in the former voyage, had been upon the American coast, a man of great intelligence, though a seaman rather than a soldier, was appointed to lead forth the colony. Emigrants readily appeared; for the climate of Florida was so celebrated, that, according to rumor, the duration of human life was doubled under its genial influences;1 and men still dreamed of rich mines of gold in the interior. Coligny was desirous of obtaining accurate descriptions of the country; and James Le Moyne, called de Morgues, an ingenious painter, was commissioned to execute colored drawings of the objects, which might engage his curiosity. A voyage of sixty days brought the fleet, by the way of the Canaries and the Antilles, to the shores of Florida. The harbor of Port Royal, rendered gloomy by recollections of misery, was avoided; and after searching the coast and discovering places, which were so full of amenity, that melancholy itself could not but change its humor, as it gazed, the followers of Calvin planted themselves on the banks of the river May. They sung a psalm of thanksgiving, and gathered courage from acts of devotion. The fort, now erected, was also named Carolina. The result of iii. p. 371–384. Compare De Thou, a contemporary, Í. xliv. p. 530,531. Charlevoix, N. Fr. v. i. p. 24-35; Ensayo Cronologico, p. 42-45; Lescarbot, Nouv. Fr. 1 De Thou. 1. xliv. p. 532.; Hak- April 22 to June 22. |