How long the poverty of Ojeda could have kept down his fiery spirit, we may doubt. Fortunately he had in his companion, the brave Juan de la Cosa, a friend who could control him, as well as follow and support him. Juan reconciled, at least for a time, the quarrel of the rival governors, and it was agreed that the river Darien should be the boundary of their provinces. Things being thus arranged, Ojeda was anxious to set sail; he still, however, wanted pecuniary assistance to complete his equipment; though careless of money himself, he seems to have had a facility in commanding the purses of his neighbours; and on this occasion he found, in a quarter, where perhaps he could scarce have expected it, both personal and pecuniary aid. There lived at San Domingo, the bachelor Martin Fernandez de Enciso, a shrewd lawyer, who had contrived to accumulate a considerable fortune by the litigation which already flourished in the New World. He was dazzled by the visions of unbounded wealth, he was promised the lofty office and title of Alcalde Mayor, and in an evil hour the worthy bachelor united in the enterprise of Ojeda, in search of fame and fortune. It was determined that he should stay at St. Domingo till he could collect a larger store of provisions and more men; and then follow his partner, who set sail without delay. The armament of Nicuesa still remained in port; for that gallant cavalier, notwithstanding his challenge to his rival, had exhausted all the money he could raise; he was even threatened with a prison; and it was not till some time after his rival had sailed, that he was enabled by unexpected assistance to embark.

In the month of November 1509, Ojeda reached the harbour of Cartagena, in his new province. In addition to Juan de la Cosa, he had as a companion Francisco Pizarro, who afterwards conquered Peru. The former, knowing from previous voyages the savage character of the natives, advised Ojeda not to stop there, but to proceed to the bay of Uraba. Such advice was useless to a proud warrior, who despised a naked and a savage foe. Having failed to keep his commander from danger, the faithful Juan could only stand by to aid him. Ojeda, who was a good Catholic, thought that he performed a pious duty in reducing the savages to the dominion of the king and the knowledge of the true faith. He carried as a protecting relic a small painting of the Holy Virgin; he summoned the Indians in the name of the Pope, and he assured them in the most solemn terms that they were the lawful subjects of the sovereigns of Castile.

"On landing, he advanced towards the savages, and ordered the friars to read aloud a certain formula, which had recently been digested by profound jurists and divines in Spain. It began in stately form. 'I, Alonzo de Ojeda, servant of the most high and mighty sovereigns of Castile and Leon, conquerors of barbarous nations, their messenger and captain, do notify unto you, and make you know, in the best way I can, that God our Lord, one and eternal, created the heaven and the earth, and one man and one woman, from whom you and we, and all the people of the earth proceeded, and are descendants, as well as all those who shall come hereafter.' The formula then went on to declare the fundamental principles of the Catholic Faith; the supreme power given to St. Peter over the world and all the human race, and exercised by his representative the pope; the donation made by a late pope of all this part of the world and all its inhabitants, to the Catholic sovereigns of Castile; and the ready obedience which had already been paid by many of its lands and islands and people to the agents and representatives of those sovereigns. It called upon those savages present, therefore, to do the same, to acknowledge the truth of the Christian doctrines, the supremacy of the pope, and the sovereignty of the Catholic King, but, in case of refusal, it denounced upon them all the horrors of war, the desolation of their dwelling, the seizure of their property, and the slavery of their wives and children. Such was the extraordinary document, which, from this time forward, was read by the Spanish discoverers to the wondering savages of any newly-found country, as a prelude to sanctify the violence about to be inflicted on them."

The pious manifesto was uttered in vain to the warlike savages: they brandished their weapons, and Ojeda, after a short prayer to the Virgin, had to discard the parchment, brace up his armour, and charge the foe at the head of his followers. He was not long in defeating his naked enemies, who fled into the forests. Juan de la Cosa again tried his influence with his commander, and urged him to desist from pursuit. It was in vain. Ojeda, with Juan faithfully at his side, rushed madly on through the mazes of unknown woods. The Indians rallied and waylaid the imprudent Spaniards. It was in vain that Ojeda inspired them with fresh courage by the example of his undaunted prowess. Numbers prevailed; the weapons of the savages were steeped in a deadly poison; and one after one the invaders were left dead. Among those who fell was the brave Juan de la Cosa; and a Spaniard, who was near him when he died, was the only surviver of seventy that had followed Ojeda in his rash and headlong inroad.

For days those who remained at the ships waited the arrival of their companions. They searched the woods and shouted along the shore, but they could hear no signal from them. What was their surprise one day, at catching in a thicket of mangrove trees, a glimpse of a man in Spanish attire. They entered, and found the unfortunate Ojeda; he lay on the matted roots of the trees; he was speechless, wan, and wasted; but his hand still grasped his sword. They restored him with wine and a warm fire; he recounted the story of his rash expedition; of his struggles among rocks and forests to reach the shore; and he bitterly reproached himself with the death of his faithful companion. While the crowd of Spaniards were yet on the beach administering to the recovery of their commander, they beheld steering into the harbour, a squadron of ships, which they soon recognised as that of Nicuesa. Ojeda recollected at once his quarrel; his valiant spirit was quelled by the hardships he had suffered; he feared to meet his rival; and he directed his followers to leave him concealed in the woods until the disposition of Nicuesa should be known.—

"As the squadron entered the harbour, the boats sallied forth to meet it. The first inquiry of Nicuesa was concerning Ojeda. The followers of the latter replied, mournfully, that their commander had gone on a warlike expedition into the country, but days had elapsed without his return, so that they feared some misfortune had befallen him. They entreated Nicuesa, therefore, to give his word, as a cavalier, that should Ojeda really be in distress, he would not take advantage of his misfortunes to revenge himself for their late disputes.

"Nicuesa, who was a gentleman of noble and generous spirit, blushed with indignation at such a request. 'Seek your commander instantly,' said he; 'bring him to me if he be alive; and I pledge myself not merely to forget the past, but to aid him as if he were a brother.'

"When they met, Nicuesa received his late foe with open arms. 'It is not,' said he, 'for Hidalgos, like men of vulgar souls, to remember past differences when they behold one another in distress. Henceforth, let all that has occurred between us be forgotten. Command me as a brother. Myself and my men are at your orders, to follow you wherever you please, until the deaths of Juan de la Cosa and his comrades are revenged.'

"The spirits of Ojeda were once more lifted up by this gallant and generous offer. The two governors, no longer rivals, landed four hundred of their men and several horses, and set off with all speed for the fatal village. They approached it in the night, and, dividing their forces into two parties, gave orders that not an Indian should be taken alive."

Dreadful indeed was the carnage, and fierce the vengeance the two commanders wreaked upon the natives. Having sacked the village, they left it a smoking ruin, and returned in triumph to their ships. The spoil, which was great, was divided among the followers of each governor, and they now parted with many expressions of friendship, Nicuesa proceeding westward to his province.

Ojeda did not long continue at a spot so fatal. He proceeded along the coast, and at length selected a height on the east side, at the entrance of the gulf of Darien, as the place for his town, which he named St. Sebastian. He immediately erected a fortress to defend himself against the natives, and considering this as his permanent seat of government, despatched a ship to Hispaniola, with a letter to the bachelor Enciso, requesting him to join the colony with the provisions and men he had collected. In the meanwhile, those who remained soon exhausted the stores they had, and were reduced to great want. They were fortunately relieved by the arrival of a vessel commanded by Bernardo de Talavera, a reckless adventurer, who being threatened with imprisonment by his creditors in St. Domingo, had persuaded a set of men, as reckless as himself, to seize by force a vessel, lying off shore loaded with provisions, and join the new colony. While the supply brought by Talavera lasted, Ojeda was able to pacify his murmuring companions, and to persuade them peacefully to await the arrival of Enciso. When this however was exhausted, and famine threatened them, they became outrageous in their clamours, and Ojeda was compelled, as the only means of appeasing them, to agree to go himself to St. Domingo for aid, leaving those who stayed under the command of Francisco Pizarro, as his lieutenant. Talavera, already tired of the hardships he had encountered, was willing enough to return, and set sail with the commander in his vessel. The ill luck which had attended Ojeda during this expedition still continued. The vessel was cast on the island of Cuba, and completely wrecked; and the unhappy Spaniards had no choice but to perish on the beach, or to traverse the wide morasses that spread along the coast, until they reached some place where they could obtain aid. These morasses, as they proceeded, became deeper and deeper, the water sometimes reaching to their girdles; and when they slept, they had to creep up among the twisted roots of the mangrove trees, which grew in clusters in the waters. Of all the party, Ojeda alone kept up his spirit undaunted. He cheered his companions; he shared his food among them; whenever he stopped to repose in the mangrove trees, he took out his treasured picture of the Virgin, which he had carefully preserved through all his troubles, and placing it before him, commended himself to the Holy Mother; and by persuading his companions to join him, he renewed their patience and courage. It was on one of these occasions that he made a vow to erect a chapel and leave his relic in the first Indian town to which he came. At length, after incredible sufferings, they reached a village; the natives gathered round the poor wanderers, and gazed at them with wonder; they treated them with humanity, and after restoring them to health and strength, aided and accompanied them till they reached the point of land nearest Jamaica. At that spot they procured canoes, arrived at a settlement of their countrymen, and thence returned to St. Domingo.

Ojeda was too pious a Catholic to forget the vow he had made in his distress, though it must have sorely grieved him to part with the relic to which he attributed his safety in so many perils. At the village, however, where he had been so kindly succoured, he faithfully performed it.

"He built a little hermitage or oratory in the village, and furnished it with an altar, above which he placed the picture. He then summoned the benevolent cacique, and explained to him, as well as his limited knowledge of the language, or the aid of interpreters would permit, the main points of the Catholic faith, and especially the history of the Virgin, whom he represented as the mother of the Deity that reigned in the skies, and the great advocate for mortal man.

"The worthy cacique listened to him with mute attention, and though he might not clearly comprehend the doctrine, yet he conceived a profound veneration for the picture. The sentiment was shared by his subjects. They kept the little oratory always swept clean, and decorated it with cotton hangings, laboured by their own hands, and with various votive offerings. They composed couplets or areytos in honour of the Virgin, which they sang to the accompaniment of rude musical instruments, dancing to the sound under the groves which surrounded the hermitage.

"A further anecdote concerning this relique may not be unacceptable. The venerable Las Casas, who records these facts, informs us that he arrived at the village of Cuebas some time after the departure of Ojeda. He found the oratory preserved with the most religious care, as a sacred place, and the picture of the Virgin regarded with fond adoration. The poor Indians crowded to attend mass, which he performed at the altar; they listened attentively to his paternal instructions, and at his request brought their children to be baptized. The good Las Casas having heard much of this famous relique of Ojeda, was desirous of obtaining possession of it, and offered to give the cacique in exchange, an image of the Virgin which he had brought with him. The chieftain made an evasive answer, and seemed much troubled in mind. The next morning he did not make his appearance.

"Las Casas went to the oratory to perform mass, but found the altar stripped of its precious relique. On inquiring, he learnt that in the night the cacique had fled to the woods, bearing off with him his beloved picture of the Virgin. It was in vain that Las Casas sent messengers after him, assuring him that he should not be deprived of the relique, but, on the contrary, that the image should likewise be presented to him. The cacique refused to venture from the fastnesses of the forest, nor did he return to his village and replace the picture in the oratory, until after the departure of the Spaniards."

The fate of Ojeda was that of a ruined man. He lingered for some time at San Domingo, but he no longer appeared there as the governor of a province. He was a needy wanderer. His health was broken down by wounds and hardships, and he died at last so poor that he did not leave money enough to pay for his interment; and so broken in spirit, that he entreated with his last breath, that his body might be buried at the portal of the Monastery of St. Francisco, in humble expiation of his past pride, "so that every one who entered might tread upon his grave."

When the gallant and generous minded Nicuesa left Ojeda, he sailed to the west to encounter perils still greater than his rival endured. His squadron arrived safely on the coast of Veragua. He there embarked himself in a small caravel belonging to it, that he might the better explore the inlets and places along the shore, committing the charge of the other vessels to his lieutenant Lope de Olano. One night, shortly after making this arrangement, a violent storm came on, and when day dawned, Nicuesa was left without one of the squadron in sight. Taking refuge in a river, his caravel was wrecked, and the unfortunate commander was left on the desert shore with the crew of the vessel, and nothing remaining to them but the boat, which was accidentally cast on the beach. Day after day they hoped for the arrival of their companions, until they began to suspect that the lieutenant had determined to profit by the absence of Nicuesa, assume his power, and leave him to perish. They wandered along shore, in the direction, as they supposed, of the place where they had been separated from the squadron. They crossed the rivers and sailed to the islands near the coast in their boat. At length, to complete their misfortunes, at one of the latter, four of the party deserted, took with them the boat, and left their commander and the rest of the party, without food, assistance, or means to regain the land. In this sad situation they remained for weeks; many of them died, and those who lived envied, instead of mourning over, their fate. At length one of the brigantines of the squadron appeared; it had been sent by Lope de Olano, who had been found by the four mariners in the boat; and Nicuesa and the survivers were conveyed to their companions, who had made a settlement at the mouth of the river Belen. Finding that spot unhealthy, Nicuesa broke up the settlement, and established the remnant of his once large colony, now reduced to a hundred emaciated wretches, at "El Nombre de Dios." "Here let us stop," exclaimed the weary commander to his companions, "in the name of God (en el nombre de Dios,)"—whence the port derived its name.

While the two governors were thus struggling to establish their colonies, the bachelor Enciso, whom we have mentioned as having enlisted with Ojeda, set out from St. Domingo to join that adventurer with the men and provisions he had collected. Among his recruits was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, another name destined to become famous on these seas. The bachelor had hardly reached Terra Firma before he fell in with Francisco Pizarro, and the small remains of the colony left by Ojeda at St. Sebastian. He heard the story of their misfortunes and the departure of their commander, but nothing daunted, the worthy gentleman of the robe assumed the courageous bearing of a knight errant, and determined to pursue the adventures on which he had embarked. Having heard of a great sepulchre not far in the interior, where the natives were said to be buried with all their ornaments of gold, he determined at once to pounce on so valuable a mine. He held it no sacrilege to plunder the graves of pagans and infidels, and he took care to secure the law on his side, by causing to be read and interpreted to all the caciques, a declaration, informing them of the nature of the Deity, the supremacy of the pope, and the undoubted validity of his grant of their country to the Catholic sovereigns.

"The caciques listened to the whole very attentively, and without interruption, according to the laws of Indian courtesy. They then replied, that, as to the assertion that there was but one God, the sovereign of heaven and earth, it seemed to them good, and that such must be the case; but as to the doctrine that the pope was regent of the world in place of God, and that he had made a grant of their country to the Spanish king, they observed that the pope must have been drunk to give away what was not his, and the king must have been somewhat mad to ask at his hands what belonged to others. They added, that they were lords of those lands, and needed no other sovereign, and if this king should come to take possession, they would cut off his head and put it on a pole; that being their mode of dealing with their enemies.—As an illustration of this custom, they pointed out to Enciso the very uncomfortable spectacle of a row of grisly heads impaled in the neighbourhood."

On hearing this answer, the bachelor at once discarded the legal, and assumed the warlike character. He charged the Indians, and routed them with ease. He forthwith plundered the sepulchres, but whether he obtained the expected booty is not recorded. After this exploit, the worthy bachelor set about establishing the provincial government as Alcalde Mayor of Ojeda. St. Sebastian being in ruins, and the scene of so many misfortunes, was speedily deserted, and by the advice of Vasco Nunez he seized on the village of Darien, drove out the inhabitants, collected at it great quantities of food and golden ornaments, and established his capital under the sounding title of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien.

It so happened that this new town was on the western shore of the river Darien, and consequently within the province of Nicuesa, not of Ojeda. Some discontented or ambitious persons in the colony took advantage of this, and attacked the alcalde in his own way, with legal weapons, questioning his right to rule. Among these Vasco Nunez and one Zamudio were the leaders, and aspired to the bachelor's post. It was however at last determined to seek for the rightful head of the colony, Nicuesa; and bring him to the new capital. That woe-worn commander accepted with delight the unexpected proffer; foolishly however he assumed at once the haughty airs of a governor, and before he had seen his new colony, spoke of the punishment he would inflict on the disturbers of its harmony. The inhabitants of Darien heard of this language, and repented of their hasty measure. Placing Vasco Nunez at their head, they awaited the arrival of Nicuesa on the beach, and when they saw his vessel enter the bay, refused him permission to land. It was in vain that the unfortunate cavalier entreated, promised, and explained. Even Vasco Nunez, who was of a generous spirit, supplicated for his reception as a private individual, without effect. The determination of the populace was made up; and sad to tell, Nicuesa was driven to sea in his crazy bark, and never heard of more.

The bachelor Enciso now again claimed his right to command the colony. The people, however, were all on the side of Vasco Nunez; he had become a great favourite, from his frank and fearless character, and his winning affability; in fact, he was peculiarly calculated to manage the fiery and the factious, yet generous and susceptible nature of his countrymen, and in addition to this he was in the vigour of his age, tall, well formed and hardy. After a fruitless struggle, Enciso left the colony, and Vasco Nunez, well aware of the appeal he would make to the Spanish government, sent at the same time Zamudio to represent and defend him before the same tribunal. Vasco Nunez at once exerted himself to prove his capacity as governor. His first expedition was against Careta, the neighbouring cacique of Coyba, for the purpose of obtaining supplies. By a stratagem he made captives of the cacique, his wives, and children, and many of his people. He discovered also their store of provisions, and returned with his booty and his captives to Darien.

"When the unfortunate cacique beheld his family in chains, and in the hands of strangers, his heart was wrung with despair; 'What have I done to thee,' said he to Vasco Nunez, 'that thou shouldst treat me thus cruelly? None of thy people ever came to my land that were not fed, and sheltered, and treated with loving kindness. When thou camest to my dwelling, did I meet thee with a javelin in my hand? Did I not set meat and drink before thee, and welcome thee as a brother? Set me free therefore, with my family and people, and we will remain thy friends. We will supply thee with provisions, and reveal to thee the riches of the land. Dost thou doubt my faith? Behold my daughter, I give her to thee as a pledge of friendship. Take her for thy wife, and be assured of the fidelity of her family and her people!'

"Vasco Nunez felt the force of these words, and knew the importance of forming a strong alliance among the natives. The captive maid, also, as she stood trembling and dejected before him, found great favour in his eyes, for she was young and beautiful. He granted, therefore, the prayer of the cacique, and accepted his daughter, engaging, moreover, to aid the father against his enemies, on condition of his furnishing provisions to the colony.

"Careta remained three days at Darien, during which time, he was treated with the utmost kindness. Vasco Nunez took him on board of his ships and showed him every part of them. He displayed before him also the war horses, with their armour and rich caparisons, and astonished him with the thunder of artillery. Lest he should be too much daunted by these warlike spectacles, he caused the musicians to perform a harmonious concert on their instruments, at which the cacique was lost in admiration. Thus having impressed him with a wonderful idea of the power and endowments of his new allies, he loaded him with presents and permitted him to depart.

"Careta returned joyfully to his territories, and his daughter remained with Vasco Nunez, willingly for his sake giving up her family and native home. They were never married, but she considered herself his wife, as she really was, according to the usages of her own country, and he treated her with fondness, allowing her gradually to acquire great influence over him. To his affection for this damsel, his ultimate ruin is, in some measure, to be ascribed."

Vasco Nunez did not neglect the favourable occasion these circumstances offered, of extending his power among the neighbouring Indians. Those who were hostile he attacked; those who were friendly he conciliated. From all he obtained supplies of provisions and gold, to support and enrich his colony. It was in one of his excursions to a friendly chief, the cacique of Comagre, that he obtained the information which gave greater scope to his adventurous spirit, and enabled him to place himself in the same degree with Pizarro and Cortez among the discoverers who succeeded the great admiral. The cacique had made a present or tribute of a large quantity of gold, and the followers of Vasco Nunez quarrelled as they were dividing among them their respective shares in the presence of the Indian chief.

"The high minded savage was disgusted at this sordid brawl among beings whom he had regarded with such reverence. In the first impulse of his disdain he struck the scale with his fist, and scattered the glittering gold about the porch. Before the Spaniards could recover from their astonishment at this sudden act, he thus addressed them: 'Why should you quarrel for such a trifle? If this gold is indeed so precious in your eyes, that for it alone you abandon your homes, invade the peaceful lands of others, and expose yourselves to such sufferings and perils, I will tell you of a region where you may gratify your wishes to the utmost.—Behold those lofty mountains,' continued he, pointing to the south; 'beyond these lies a mighty sea, which may be discerned from their summit. It is navigated by people who have vessels almost as large as yours, and furnished, like them, with sails and oars. All the streams which flow down the southern side of those mountains into that sea abound in gold; and the kings who reign upon its borders eat and drink out of golden vessels. Gold, in fact, is as plentiful and common among those people of the south as iron is among you Spaniards.'

"Struck with this intelligence, Vasco Nunez inquired eagerly as to the means of penetrating to this sea and to the opulent regions on its shores. 'The task,' replied the prince, 'is difficult and dangerous. You must pass through the territories of many powerful caciques, who will oppose you with hosts of warriors. Some parts of the mountains are infested by fierce and cruel cannibals, a wandering lawless race: but, above all, you will have to encounter the great cacique Tubanama, whose territories are at the distance of six days journey, and more rich in gold than any other province; this cacique will be sure to come forth against you with a mighty force. To accomplish your enterprise, therefore, will require at least a thousand men armed like those who follow you."

The effect of this intelligence, on the enterprising spirit of Vasco Nunez, may be well imagined. The Pacific ocean and its golden realms seemed to be at his feet. He beheld within his power an enterprise which would at once elevate him from a wandering and desperate man, to a rank among the great captains and discoverers of the earth. He lost no time in making every preparation to realize the splendid vision. With this object he sent for aid to Don Diego Columbus, who then governed at St. Domingo; and in the mean time endeavoured to strengthen himself with the surrounding tribes of natives, and to quiet the spirit of insubordination which would occasionally break out at Darien. At length, on the 1st of September, 1513, he set out with one hundred and ninety Spaniards, and a number of Indians. At Coyba he left half his company with the cacique Careta, to await his return, and with the residue, on the sixth of the month, struck off towards the mountains. By some of the Indian tribes he was kindly received, by others hostile intentions were displayed. These were soon overcome by the use of fire arms and blood hounds, which terrified the natives and put them at once to flight. On the evening of the 25th of September, the party, now reduced to sixty-seven Spaniards, arrived at the foot of the last mountain, from whose top they were told they would command the long sought prospect. Vasco Nunez obtained fresh Indian guides, and ordered his men to retire early to repose, that they might be ready to set off at the cool and fresh hour of daybreak, so as to reach the summit of the mountain before the noontide heat.

"The day had scarcely dawned, when Vasco Nunez and his followers set forth from the Indian village and began to climb the height. It was a severe and rugged toil for men so wayworn, but they were filled with new ardour at the idea of the triumphant scene that was so soon to repay them for all their hardships.

"About ten o'clock in the morning they emerged from the thick forests through which they had hitherto struggled, and arrived at a lofty and airy region of the mountain. The bald summit alone remained to be ascended, and their guides pointed to a moderate eminence from which they said the southern sea was visible.

"Upon this Vasco Nunez commanded his followers to halt, and that no man should stir from his place. Then, with a palpitating heart, he ascended alone the bare mountain-top. On reaching the summit the long-desired prospect burst upon his view. It was as if a new world were unfolded to him, separated from all hitherto known by this mighty barrier of mountains. Below him extended a vast chaos of rock and forest, and green savannahs and wandering streams, while at a distance the waters of the promised ocean glittered in the morning sun.

"At this glorious prospect Vasco Nunez sank upon his knees, and poured out thanks to God for being the first European to whom it was given to make that great discovery. He then called his people to ascend: 'Behold, my friends,' said he, 'that glorious sight which we have so much desired. Let us give thanks to God that he has granted us this great honour and advantage. Let us pray to him that he will guide and aid us to conquer the sea and land which we have discovered, and in which Christian has never entered to preach the holy doctrine of the Evangelists. As to yourselves, be as you have hitherto been, faithful and true to me, and by the favour of Christ you will become the richest Spaniards that have ever come to the Indies; you will render the greatest services to your king that ever vassal rendered to his lord; and you will have the eternal glory and advantage of all that is here discovered, conquered, and converted to our holy Catholic faith.'

"The Spaniards answered this speech by embracing Vasco Nunez, and promising to follow him to death. Among them was a priest, named Andres de Vara, who lifted up his voice and chanted Te Deum laudamus—the usual anthem of Spanish discoverers. The people, kneeling down, joined in the strain with pious enthusiasm and tears of joy; and never did a more sincere oblation rise to the Deity from a sanctified altar than from that wild mountain summit. It was indeed one of the most sublime discoveries that had yet been made in the New World, and must have opened a boundless field of conjecture to the wondering Spaniards. The imagination delights to picture forth the splendid confusion of their thoughts. Was this the great Indian Ocean, studded with precious islands, abounding in gold, in gems, and spices, and bordered by the gorgeous cities and wealthy marts of the East? Or was it some lonely sea, locked up in the embraces of savage uncultivated continents, and never traversed by a bark, excepting the light pirogue of the Indian? The latter could hardly be the case, for the natives had told the Spaniards of golden realms, and populous and powerful and luxurious nations upon its shores. Perhaps it might be bordered by various people, civilized in fact, but differing from Europe in their civilization; who might have peculiar laws and customs and arts and sciences; who might form, as it were, a world of their own, intercommuning by this mighty sea, and carrying on commerce between their own islands and continents; but who might exist in total ignorance and independence of the other hemisphere.

"Such may naturally have been the ideas suggested by the sight of this unknown ocean. It was the prevalent belief of the Spaniards, however, that they were the first Christians who had made the discovery. Vasco Nunez, therefore, called upon all present to witness that he took possession of that sea, its islands, and surrounding lands, in the name of the sovereigns of Castile, and the notary of the expedition made a testimonial of the same, to which all present, to the number of sixty-seven men, signed their names. He then caused a fair and tall tree to be cut down and wrought into a cross, which was elevated on the spot from whence he had at first beheld the sea. A mound of stones was likewise piled up to serve as a monument, and the names of the Castilian sovereigns were carved on the neighbouring trees. The Indians beheld all these ceremonials and rejoicings in silent wonder, and, while they aided to erect the cross and pile up the mound of stones, marvelled exceedingly at the meaning of these monuments, little thinking that they marked the subjugation of their land."

From the summit of the mountain Vasco Nunez cheerfully pursued his journey to the coast; when he tasted the water and found it salt, he felt assured that he had indeed discovered an ocean; he again returned thanks to God, and drawing his dagger from his girdle, marked three trees with crosses in honour of the Trinity and in token of possession.

He remained on the shore of the Pacific ocean till the 3d of November. In the interval, he conciliated by his good management the kind feelings of the natives; he visited some of the neighbouring islands; he was shown the valuable pearl fisheries; and was loaded when he left there with pearls and gold. On his return he had several hostile rencounters with the natives, and reached Darien on the 19th of January, 1514.

"Thus ended one of the most remarkable expeditions of the early discoverers. The intrepidity of Vasco Nunez in penetrating, with a handful of men, far into the interior of a wild and mountainous country, peopled by warlike tribes; his skill in managing his band of rough adventurers, stimulating their valour, enforcing their obedience, and attaching their affections, show him to have possessed great qualities as a general. We are told that he was always foremost in peril, and the last to quit the field. He shared the toils and dangers of the meanest of his followers, treating them with frank affability; watching, fighting, fasting and labouring with them; visiting and consoling such as were sick or infirm, and dividing all his gains with fairness and liberality. He was chargeable at times with acts of bloodshed and injustice, but it is probable that these were often called for as measures of safety and precaution; he certainly offended less against humanity than most of the early discoverers; and the unbounded amity and confidence reposed in him by the natives, when they became intimately acquainted with his character, speak strongly in favour of his kind treatment of them.

"The character of Vasco Nunez had, in fact, risen with his circumstances, and now assumed a nobleness and grandeur from the discovery he had made, and the important charge it had devolved upon him. He no longer felt himself a mere soldier of fortune, at the head of a band of adventurers, but a great commander conducting an immortal enterprise. 'Behold,' says old Peter Martyr, 'Vasco Nunez de Balboa, at once transformed from a rash royster to a politic and discreet captain:' and thus it is that men are often made by their fortunes; that is to say, their latent qualities are brought out, and shaped and strengthened by events, and by the necessity of every exertion to cope with the greatness of their destiny."

While Vasco Nunez was thus exulting in his successful expedition, fortune was preparing for him a sad reverse. The bachelor Enciso had arrived in Spain, and notwithstanding the statements of Zamudio, had made an unfavourable impression in regard to Vasco Nunez. The result was, that a new governor of Darien was appointed, in the person of Pedro Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, a brave warrior, but little fitted to command in a colony such as that to which he was sent. A number of young Spanish nobles and gentlemen determined to accompany him, having heard wild stories of the wealth and adventures which the new world offered. Pedrarias was also attended by his heroic wife, Dona Isabella de Bobadilla, and by the bishop Quevedo, a just and benevolent priest. Scarcely had the new expedition left the shores of Spain, when news arrived there of the splendid discoveries of Vasco Nunez, and the king repented that he had so hastily superseded him.

In the month of June, the squadron of Pedrarias anchored before Darien. When the hardy veterans of the colony heard that their beloved commander was to be thus removed, they were loud in their murmurs, and eagerly desired to resist the newly arrived governor. Not so Vasco Nunez; he bowed at once to the mandates of the king, and acknowledged the authority of Pedrarias. This frank and honourable conduct was ill repaid by the new chief; he took advantage of the unsuspecting confidence of Vasco Nunez, and directed him to be prosecuted for usurpation and tyrannical abuse of power. Fortunately, the bishop was opposed to the conduct of the governor, and even his wife ventured to express her respect and sympathy for the discoverer. This alone saved him from being sent in irons to Spain. In the mean time, the gallant Spanish cavaliers sunk beneath the fatal climate, to which they were unaccustomed, and the affairs of the colony became distracted. Pedrarias, to engage them, fitted out an expedition for the Pacific, but it ended in disappointment and disaster, and had little result but to change some of the friendly Indian tribes into implacable enemies.

While things were in this state, despatches arrived from Spain. In a letter addressed to Vasco Nunez, the king expressed his high sense of his merits and services, and constituted him adelantado of the South Sea, though subordinate to the general command of Pedrarias. That governor, still envious of the renown of his rival, refused to confer on him the powers belonging to his new office, and all that Vasco Nunez could obtain was the recognition of the title. Still further to thwart the honourable plans of the discoverer, he determined to explore, under his own auspices, the pearl fisheries and islands discovered by Vasco Nunez on the Pacific, and for this purpose fitted out an expedition under the command of his own relative Morales; he sent with him, however, Francisco Pizarro, who had accompanied Vasco Nunez on his first expedition. These explorers were kindly received by the caciques, who willingly gave them pearls for hatchets, beads, and hawks' bills, which they valued much more. An incident occurred on their visit to Isla Rica, which, connected with the future history of Pizarro, was singularly interesting.

"Finding that pearls were so precious in the eyes of the Spaniards, the cacique took Morales and Pizarro to the summit of a wooden tower, commanding an unbounded prospect. 'Behold before you,' said he, 'the infinite sea, which extends even beyond the sun-beams. As to these islands which lie to the right and left, they are all subject to my sway. They possess but little gold, but the deep places of the sea around them are full of pearls. Continue to be my friends, and you shall have as many as you desire; for I value your friendship more than pearls, and, as far as in me lies, will never forfeit it.'

"He then pointed to the main land, where it stretched away towards the east, mountain beyond mountain, until the summit of the last faded in the distance, and was scarcely seen above the watery horizon. In that direction, he said, there lay a vast country of inexhaustible riches, inhabited by a mighty nation. He went on to repeat the vague but wonderful rumours which the Spaniards had frequently heard about the great kingdom of Peru. Pizarro listened greedily to his words, and while his eye followed the finger of the cacique, as it ranged along the line of shadowy coast, his daring mind kindled with the thought of seeking this golden empire beyond the waters."

On their way back through the mountains, the Spaniards were attacked by the savages with great ferocity; and when they reached Darien their party was greatly diminished, though the spoil they brought with them was great.

In the mean time, the disagreement between Pedrarias and Vasco Nunez continued, to the great regret of the bishop Quevedo, and the mortification of Dona Isabella. At length a plan was suggested by the former which had the fortunate effect of producing a reconciliation. It was agreed that Vasco Nunez should marry the daughter of the governor, then in Spain, and he was accordingly betrothed at once. Pedrarias now looked upon the exploits of his rival as those of one of his own family, and no longer thwarted him. He cheerfully aided him in a new expedition which was planned for transporting timber across the isthmus, building brigantines on the Pacific, and exploring the country farther to the south. When Vasco Nunez found himself floating in large vessels, on the waves of the vast ocean he had discovered, he felt an honourable pride, and a thousand visions of discoveries yet to be made crowded on his fancy. Alas! they were not destined to be realized. A person who had a private pique against him, insinuated himself into the confidence of Pedrarias; declared that Vasco Nunez had schemes of boundless ambition; that he would soon throw off his connexion with the governor, and above all, that such was his devotion to the Indian damsel, the daughter of Careta, that he would never wed her to whom he was betrothed. All the ancient enmity of Pedrarias was renewed; he determined at once to put an end to the rivalry of Vasco Nunez; by fair promises he induced him unsuspectingly to return; and as soon as he arrived within his power had him arrested and tried for treason. His condemnation was to be expected, but deep was the emotion and surprise among the colonists when they learned that it was to be followed by the immediate death of the unfortunate soldier. No entreaties, however, could induce the governor to relent. He had his victim now in his power and he determined he should not escape.

"It was a day of gloom and horror at Acla, when Vasco Nunez and his companions were led forth to execution. The populace were moved to tears at the unhappy fate of a man, whose gallant deeds had excited their admiration, and whose generous qualities had won their hearts. Most of them regarded him as the victim of a jealous tyrant; and even those who thought him guilty, saw something brave and brilliant in the very crime imputed to him. Such, however, was the general dread inspired by the severe measures of Pedrarias, that no one dared to lift up his voice, either in murmur or remonstrance.

"The public crier walked before Vasco Nunez, proclaiming, 'This is the punishment inflicted by command of the king, and his lieutenant Don Pedrarias Davila, on this man, as a traitor and an usurper of the territories of the crown.'

"When Vasco Nunez heard these words, he exclaimed, indignantly, 'It is false! never did such a crime enter my mind. I have ever served my king with truth and loyalty, and sought to augment his dominions.'

"These words were of no avail in his extremity, but they were fully believed by the populace.

"Thus perished, in his forty-second year, in the prime and vigour of his days and the full career of his glory, one of the most illustrious and deserving of the Spanish discoverers—a victim to the basest and most perfidious envy.

"How vain are our most confident hopes, our brightest triumphs! When Vasco Nunez, from the mountains of Darien, beheld the Southern ocean revealed to his gaze, he considered its unknown realms at his disposal. When he had launched his ships upon its waters, and his sails were in a manner flapping in the wind, to bear him in quest of the wealthy empire of Peru, he scoffed at the prediction of the astrologer, and defied the influence of the stars. Behold him interrupted at the very moment of his departure; betrayed into the hands of his most invidious foe; the very enterprise that was to have crowned him with glory wrested into a crime; and himself hurried to a bloody and ignominious grave, at the foot, as it were, of the mountain from whence he had made his discovery! His fate, like that of his renowned predecessor Columbus, proves, that it is sometimes dangerous even to discern too greatly!"

There yet remain in this interesting volume the history of Valdivia and his companions, and of the bold Juan Ponce de Leon. Each contains scenes and incidents scarcely less interesting than those we have rapidly noticed; but the termination of the story of Vasco Nunez affords us a place to pause, and we are recalled from the agreeable task of narrating to that of expressing some opinion on the merits of the work which has so delightfully detained us. We may add that there is also an appendix, containing a narrative of a visit or pilgrimage, truly American, made by the author to the little port of Palos, where Columbus and so many of his followers embarked for America; it is in the happiest style, and cannot be read without the strongest emotions; we can scarcely refrain, notwithstanding its length, from presenting it entire to the reader.

The copious quotations we have made, and the abstract of some of the more interesting parts of the narrative, will be sufficient to relieve us in a great degree from the necessity of criticism. Our readers will, themselves, be able to form a just estimate of the power and skill of the writer, and of the pleasure to be derived from the story he has recorded. We venture to say, that by none will that estimate be otherwise than favourable, either to the talents of the author, or the interest of the work.

The style of Mr. Irving has been objected to as somewhat elaborate, as sacrificing strength and force of expression, to harmony of periods and extreme correctness of language. We cannot say that we have been inclined to censure him for this. If he assumed a style more than usually refined, it was in those works of fiction, those short but agreeable narratives, in which he desired to win the fond attention of the reader, but in which he never endeavoured to call up violent emotions, to engage in the wild speculations of a discursive fancy, or to treat topics requiring logical or historical correctness. For such works as the Sketch Book, we believe the style adopted by Mr. Irving to be eminently well fitted, and we do not hesitate to attribute much of the success of those charming tales to this very circumstance. We believe so the more readily, because we find him adopting in the Life of Columbus, and in the volume before us, a different manner, but one equally well suited to the different nature of the subject he treats. Without losing the elegance and general purity by which it has been always characterized, it seems to us to have acquired more freshness, more vivacity; to flow on more easily with the course of the spirited narrative; to convey to the reader that exquisite charm in historical writing—an unconsciousness of any elaboration on the part of the writer, yet a quick and entire understanding of every sentiment he desires to convey.

But connected with this, the writing of Mr. Irving possesses another characteristic, which has never been more strongly and beautifully exhibited than in the present volume. We mean that lively perception of all those sentiments and incidents, which excite the finest and the pleasantest emotions of the human breast. As he leads us from one savage tribe to another—as he paints successive scenes of heroism, perseverance, and self-denial—as he wanders among the magnificent scenes of nature—as he relates with scrupulous fidelity the errors, and the crimes, even of those whose lives are for the most part marked with traits to command admiration, and perhaps esteem—every where we find him the same undeviating, but beautiful moralist, gathering from all lessons to present, in striking language, to the reason and the heart. Where his story leads him to some individual, or presents some incident which raises our smiles, it is recorded with a naive humour, the more effective from its simplicity; where he finds himself called on to tell some tale of misfortune or wo—and how often must he do so when the history of the gentle and peaceful natives of the Antilles is his subject—the reader is at a loss whether most to admire the beauty of the picture he paints, or the deep pathos which he imperceptibly excites.

Nor has he shown less judgment in the selection of his subject. To all persons the discovery of this continent is one which cannot fail to engage and reward attention—to him who loves to speculate on the changes and progress of society, to him who loves to trace the paths of science and knowledge, to him who loves to dwell on bold adventures and singular accidents, to him who loves carefully to ascertain historical truth. We scarcely know any topics at the present day, explored and exhausted as so many fields have been, that afford a richer harvest than those which Mr. Irving has now selected. We trust that many more works are yet to be the fruits of his most fortunate visit to the peninsula. The sources of information so liberally opened to him, and already so judiciously used—and which have contributed to add new reputation to so many names honourable to Spain—must yet furnish ample materials to illustrate other men, to disclose the incidents attending other adventures; and we trust that three years more may not elapse, before we again sail with our author over the newly discovered billows of the Pacific, or explore the plains of Mexico and Peru, or wander with some of the hardy adventurers who first dared to penetrate the defiles of the Andes.

We have already mentioned, in the notice of the Life of Columbus, the circumstances which led Mr. Irving to the investigation of this period of Spanish history, and the facilities afforded him in the prosecution of his labours. The materials for this volume were procured during the same visit. In addition to the historical collections of Navarrete, Las Casas, Herrera, and Peter Martyr, he profited by the second volume of Oviedo's history, of which he was shown a manuscript copy in the Columbian library of the cathedral of Seville, and by the legal documents of the law case between Diego Columbus and the crown, which are deposited in the Archives of the Indies.



ART. VIII.—The History of Louisiana, from the earliest period. By FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARTIN: 2 vols. 8vo. New-Orleans: Lyman and Beardslee. 1827.

It is about a year and a half since a very good translation of the History of Louisiana by Barbe Marbois, was laid before the public. Another work on the same subject, by Francis Xavier Martin, has recently come to our knowledge. We use this expression, because, although the title page shows a publication of the book in 1827, we neither saw it nor heard of it until the close of the last year; and, even now, we know of no copy but that in our possession. It may be that the honourable author, (for he is a Judge of the Supreme Court of the state whose history he has written,) was satisfied with collecting and preserving his materials by printing them, and cared not for the fame or profit of an extensive circulation and sale of his work. His philosophy may make him as indifferent to the one as his fortune does to the other, or his modesty may be greater than either. We think we shall perform an acceptable service by introducing the stranger to our readers, who will not fail to derive from him many things which will reward the time and trouble given to acquire them.

History has seldom appeared under the sanction of names better entitled to credit and respect than those we have mentioned. M. Marbois is known to us by his residence in the United States, as the secretary of the French legation, and Consul General of France, during the revolutionary war; and, afterwards, as Charge d' Affaires; in which situations he was distinguished for his extraordinary capacity in the business of diplomacy, as well as for the integrity of his principles, and the frankness and amenity of his manners. By living long among us, he seems to have acquired not only an affection and respect for the American people, but an ardent admiration of our political institutions, which have adhered to him with undiminished strength through the various fortunes he has since encountered. He has prefixed to his History, an "Introduction," which is, as it professes to be, "An Essay on the Constitution and Government of the United States of America;" and although the venerable author had passed his eightieth year, he had lost none of the freshness of his attachment to our republic and its citizens, or of the vigour of his pen in portraying them. No foreigner has ever understood us so well, and few Americans better.

That part of his history which relates to the cession of Louisiana to the United States, is particularly entitled to attention from its curious details, and will be received with implicit belief, as M. Marbois was the negotiator on the part of France in that extraordinary transaction, fraught with consequences so momentous. He relates nothing but what was in his personal knowledge. We will not anticipate our notice of this event, but we cannot suppress the remark, that the acquisition of this vast region by the United States, now so prosperous, so loyal and efficient a portion of our grand confederacy, by which we were not only saved from a war, but liberty, happiness, and wealth have been spread over a country, before that time neglected, mismanaged, and unproductive, and dispensed to an intelligent and industrious people, who had for a century been struggling with oppression and innumerable difficulties, changing with their repeated changes of masters, was owing to the keen sagacity and prompt decision of Napoleon. It is thus that the destinies of mankind wait upon the fortunes, the caprice, the foresight, and the blunders of the great, and are determined, for weal or wo, by causes and accidents in which those who are most affected by them have no agency. The people of Louisiana, and their fertile territory, which from their first settlement had been a subject of barter among the powers of Europe, to make a peace, to round off a treaty, or answer some policy or interest of a distant sovereign, are now irrevocably fixed as a member of a great republic, never again to be a helpless and degraded makeweight in the bargains of foreign princes.

F. X. Martin, the author of the work now in our review, has held for many years the high station of a Judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana; respected for the learning and integrity with which he discharges the duties of his office, and equally so, in all his public and private relations. He, also, is at once the historian and the witness of some of the interesting transactions he narrates; and the veracity of his testimony is unquestionable, as to those matters of which he speaks from his personal knowledge. Being as independent in his circumstances as he is in his principles, and having no resentments, of which we have heard, to gratify, by calumniating any man, there is nothing to draw him from the line of rectitude, and we presume that no errors, at least of intention, will be imputed to him.

With this acquaintance with the character of the author, and his means of information, we may open his book with more than the confidence usually due to similar productions.

Before we introduce our readers to the materials of which these volumes are composed, we would say a word, and do it frankly, upon the plan adopted by the author in presenting them to the world. We speak not of the language or style of the composition, which is sufficiently clear and correct to be secure from criticism, especially under the apology of the writer, that "as he does not write in his vernacular tongue, elegance of style is beyond his hope, and consequently without the scope of his ambition." We are not so well satisfied with his reasons for the wide range he has taken over time and space in a "History of Louisiana." He has commenced, as every annalist of an American village has done, with the discoveries of Columbus; he has given us, with considerable detail, the circumstances which attended the settlements of the English and French provinces in this hemisphere; and has drawn "the attention of his readers to transactions on the opposite side of the Atlantic," which have no apparent connexion with his subject. The "chronological order" which he has adopted, is not confined to the affairs of Louisiana, but comprehends occurrences in every part of the globe, and sometimes brings together on the same page such a heterogeneous mass, as to force a smile from us in spite of the official gravity which belongs to the office of a reviewer. The assemblages of events are often so unexpected and grotesque, that we should believe a joke was intended, if they had not been brought together on the summons of a Judge of a Supreme Court. Assuredly nothing like them was ever seen in a jury-box, even in the mixed population of Louisiana. A few references will explain the nature and meaning of our criticism.

The "Discovery of America" being disposed of, the reader of the History of Louisiana has his recollection recalled to the reigns of Charles VIII. in France; of Henry VII. of England; and Ferdinand and Isabella, of course; with notices of various movements in those countries in their several reigns. The second chapter is got up in the same manner, taking a zigzag course over our continent, north, south, east, and west, with occasional excursions to Europe to keep up the variety. This procedure often produces an assemblage of events, as we have said, on the same page, rather startling to themselves as well as to us.—Thus on page 48 of the first volume—"On the 20th of December, a ship from England landed one hundred and twenty men near Cape Cod, who laid the foundation of a colony, which, in course of time, became greatly conspicuous in the annals of the northern continent. They called their first town Plymouth. Philip III. on the 21st of March of the following year, the forty-third of his age, transmitted the crown of Spain to his son Philip IV. This year James I. of England granted to Sir William Alexander, all the country taken by Argal from the French in America. The Iroquois, apprehending that if the French were suffered to gain ground in America." So on page 157—"Iberville returned to France in the fleet—William III. of England died on the 16th of March, in consequence of a fall from his horse, in the fifty-third year of his age. Mary, his queen, had died in 1694; neither left issue. Anne, her sister, succeeded her." Can we avoid to ask what has all this to do with Louisiana? In page 234—John Law's well known scheme is thus abruptly introduced. "Another Guinea-man landed three hundred negroes a few days after. John Law, of Lauriston in North Britain, was a celebrated financier," &c.

The work abounds with such odd combinations, nor have we selected the most singular, arising from the "chronological order" adopted by the author, which, while it has advantages in narrations confined to one object, will not do in a history extended over half of the world. We have presented to us, in the same incongruous manner, the settlement of Maryland—of Nova Scotia—sketches of English history under Oliver Cromwell—an account of the hooping cough in Quebec—and an earthquake in Canada. The cough was supposed to be the effect of enchantment,—"and many of the faculty did, or affected to believe it." "It was said a fiery crown had been observed in the air at Montreal; lamentable cries heard at Trois Rivieres, in places in which there was not any person; that, at Quebec, a canoe, all on fire, had been seen on the river, with a man armed cap-a-pie, surrounded by a circle of the same element." On the subject of the earthquake, the account of which is taken from Charlevoix, it was indeed a fearful visitation, if the truth be not exaggerated by terror and superstition.—

"A dreadful earthquake was felt in Canada, on the fifth of February, 1663. The first shock is said by Charlevoix, to have lasted half an hour; after the first quarter of an hour, its violence gradually abated. At eight o'clock in the evening, a like shock was felt; some of the inhabitants said they had counted as many as thirty-two shocks, during the night. In the intervals between the shocks, the surface of the ground undulated as the sea, and the people felt, in their houses, the sensations which are experienced in a vessel at anchor. On the sixth, at three o'clock in the morning, another most violent shock was felt. It is related that at Tadoussac, there was a rain of ashes for six hours. During this strange commotion of nature, the bells of the churches were kept constantly ringing, by the motion of the steeples; the houses were so terribly shaken, that the eaves, on each side, alternately touched the ground. Several mountains altered their positions; others were precipitated into the river, and lakes were afterwards found in the places on which they stood before. The commotion was felt for nine hundred miles from east to west, and five hundred from north to south.

"This extraordinary phenomenon was considered as the effect of the vengeance of God, irritated at the obstinacy of those, who, neglecting the admonitions of his ministers, and contemning the censures of his church, continued to sell brandy to the Indians. The reverend writer, who has been cited, relates it was said, ignited appearances had been observed in the air, for several days before; globes of fire being seen over the cities of Quebec and Montreal, attended with a noise like that of the simultaneous discharge of several pieces of heavy artillery; that the superior of the nuns, informed her confessor some time before, that being at her devotions, she believed 'she saw the Lord irritated against Canada, and she involuntarily demanded justice from him for all the crimes committed in the country; praying the souls might not perish with the bodies: a moment after, she felt conscious the divine justice was going to strike; the contempt of the church exciting God's wrath. She perceived almost instantaneously four devils, at the corners of Quebec, shaking the earth with extreme violence, and a person of majestic mien alternately slackening and drawing back a bridle, by which he held them.' A female Indian, who had been baptized, was said to have received intelligence of the impending chastisement of heaven. The reverend writer concludes his narration by exultingly observing, 'none perished, all were converted.'"

The fourth chapter still keeps us at a distance from the "promised land." The discontents and disturbances which agitated Canada, are minutely narrated, and, in some respects, not without considerable interest. One of the causes of the commotion, was an arbitrary act of power of the Count de Frontenac, who "had imprisoned the Abbe de Fenelon, then a priest of the seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal, who afterwards became archbishop of Cambray." Thus were the genius, the learning, and the virtues of this great and good man, laid prostrate at the feet of a petty tyrant; and might have been for ever lost to the world. It is by such abuses of power that men learn and feel the value of a government of laws, supreme and superior to the influence of office and the power of the sword. In this chapter we are introduced to the name of Robert C. Lasalle, afterwards so conspicuous for his courage and perseverance in the settlement of these regions. Some interesting details of his life and adventures, which may be called romantic, are given, for which we refer to the book.

As the character and conduct of the Founder of Pennsylvania has been lately assailed, with exceeding injustice, by a Pennsylvanian, and a judge too, it will add something to the testimony already so abundant in his behalf, to quote the following extract—

"The year 1680 is remarkable for the grant of Charles the Second, to William Penn, of the territory that now constitutes the states of Pennsylvania and Delaware. The grantee, who was one of the people called Quakers, imitating the example of Gulielm Usseling and Roger Williams, disowned a right to any part of the country included within his charter, till the natives voluntarily yielded it on receiving a fair consideration. There exists not any other example of so liberal a conduct towards the Indians of North America, on the erection of a new colony. The date of Penn's charter is the twentieth of February."

We follow our author into his fifth chapter, which we find occupied with a variety of matters, sufficiently interesting in themselves, but having no relation to the professed subject of our history; and which have been collected from works of no difficult access to any body. We notice, however, an occurrence, especially worthy of our attention at this time, when a project is entertained of introducing a government paper currency into the United States.—

"Louis the Fourteenth having approved the emission of card money made in Canada, during the preceding year, another emission was now prepared in Paris, in which pasteboard was used instead of cards. An impression was made on each piece, of the coin of the kingdom, of the corresponding value.

"Pasteboard proving inconvenient, cards were again resorted to. Each had the flourish which the intendant usually added to his signature. He signed all those of the value of four livres and upwards, and those of six livres and above were also signed by the governor.

"Once a year, at a fixed period, the cards were required to be brought to the colonial treasury, and exchanged for bills on the treasurer-general of the marine, or his deputy at Rochefort. Those which appeared too ragged for circulation were burnt, and the rest again paid out of the treasury.

"For a while the cards were thus punctually exchanged once a year; but in course of time bills ceased to be given for them. Their value, which till then had been equal to gold, now began to diminish; the price of all commodities rose proportionably, and the colonial government was compelled, in order to meet the increased demands on its treasury, to resort to new and repeated emissions; and the people found a new source of distress in the means adopted for their relief."

This subject is frequently referred to, and always as a source of distress; as a disastrous measure of policy.—

"Louisiana suffered a great deal from the want of a circulating medium. Card money had caused the disappearance of the gold and silver circulating in the colony before its emission, and its subsequent depreciation had induced the commissary ordonnateur to have recourse to an issue of ordonances, a kind of bills of credit, which although not a legal tender, from the want of a metallic currency, soon became an object of commerce. They were followed by treasury notes, which being receivable in the discharge of all claims of the treasury, soon got into circulation. This cumulation of public securities in the market, within a short time threw them all into discredit, and gave rise to an agiotage, highly injurious to commerce and agriculture."

"The province was at this time inundated by a flood of paper money. The administration, for several years past, had paid in due bills all the supplies they had obtained, and they had been suffered to accumulate to an immense amount. A consequent depreciation had left them almost without any value. This had been occasioned, in a great degree, by a belief that the officers who had put these securities afloat, had, at times, attended more to their own than to the public interest, and that the French government, on the discovery of this, would not perhaps be found ready to indemnify the holders against the misconduct of its agents. With a view, however, to prepare the way for the redemption of the paper, the colonial treasurer was directed to receive all that might be presented, and to give in its stead certificates, in order that the extent of the evil being known, the remedy might be applied."

"The province laboured under great difficulties, on account of a flood of depreciated paper, which, inundating it, annihilated its industry, commerce, and agriculture. So sanguine were the inhabitants of their appeal to the throne, that they instructed their emissary, after having accomplished the principal object of his mission, to solicit relief in this respect."

We turn also to Marbois, on this subject, and trust we shall be excused for giving so much of our time to it, by the interest the people of the United States now have in it. We have had our own experience of the fatal consequences of such schemes; let us also listen to the experience of others, which points to the distress and ruin that attend such experiments. Speaking of Law's great scheme of finance, this wise and venerable statesman says—"A foreigner of an eccentric mind, though a skilful calculator, had engaged the regent in operations the most disastrous to the finances of the state. John Law, after having persuaded credulous people that paper money might advantageously take the place of specie, drew from this false principle the most extravagant consequences. They were adopted by ignorance and cupidity." This writer, with the experience of more than half a century in public affairs, adds—"These chimeras, called by the name of system, do not differ much from the schemes that are brought forward in the present age, under the name of credit."

Speaking of the paper money created for Louisiana, M. Marbois tells us—

"The expenses resulting from want of order had no limits: in no condition to provide for them, the heads of the government had recourse to paper money, the desperate resource of financiers without capacity. The following remarks on this subject are from a despatch of M. Rouille, minister of marine.

"'The disorder, which has for some time prevailed in the finances and trade of Louisiana, principally arises from pouring into the province treasury orders and other kinds of paper money; all of which soon fell into discredit, and occasioned a depreciation of the currency, which has been the more injurious to the colony and its trade, as the prices of all things, and particularly of manual labour, have increased in proportion to the fall in the treasury notes.'

"It was on the 30th of November, 1744, that this minister thus expressed himself with regard to the chimerical systems of credit, which have never been more in vogue than in our time."

We pass over the sixth chapter of our book, without any particular notice of its contents. It is occupied with miscellaneous transactions in other provinces; with Indian wars; the abdication of James II., and the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England; which, in pursuance of the chronological order, we find snugly deposited between the census of Canada and some affairs in Fort Louis. These things, with the peace made between the Marquess de Denonville and some Indians, and some other matters, cover one page.

The seventh chapter of this volume brings us again in sight of Louisiana; and we thought our author was a little like Louis XIV., who, it is said, "seemed to have lost sight of Louisiana in the prosecution of the war," &c. Some interesting details are here given of the early attempts to plant a French colony in this territory, interrupted by hostilities with the Indians, and other impediments not unusual to enterprises of this kind. The northern provinces, however, are not neglected; and we are specially informed of the determination of the British cabinet to attack Montreal and Quebec—this was in 1710.

In tracing the history of a country which has attained the strength and importance of Louisiana, it is gratifying, occasionally, to look back to the days of its weakness, and particularly so when the advance has been surprisingly rapid, and may be fairly traced to the freedom of the government under which it was made. Our author has, from time to time, exhibited the population, agriculture, production, and trade of this province, at various periods, and under different circumstances.

"In 1713, there were in Louisiana two companies of infantry of fifty men each, and seventy-five Canadian volunteers in the king's pay. The rest of the population consisted of twenty-eight families; one half of whom were engaged, not in agriculture, but in horticulture: the heads of the others were shop and tavern keepers, or employed in mechanical occupations. A number of individuals derived their support by ministering to the wants of the troops. There were but twenty negroes in the colony: adding to these the king's officers and clergy, the aggregate amount of the population was three hundred and eighty persons. A few female Indians and children were domesticated in the houses of the white people, and groups of the males were incessantly sauntering or encamped around them.

"The collection of all these individuals, on one compact spot, could have claimed no higher appellation than that of a hamlet; yet they were dispersed through a vast extent of country, the parts of which were separated by the sea, by lakes, and wide rivers. Five forts, or large batteries, had been erected for their protection at Mobile, Biloxi, on the Mississippi, and at Ship and Dauphine Islands.

"Lumber, hides, and peltries, constituted the objects of exportation, which the colony presented to commerce. A number of woodsmen, or coureurs de bois, from Canada, had followed the missionaries, who had been sent among the nations of Indians, between that province and Louisiana. These men plied within a circle, of a radius of several hundred miles, of which the father's chapel was the centre, in search of furs, peltries, and hides. When they deemed they had gathered a sufficient quantity of these articles, they floated down the Mississippi, and brought them to Mobile, where they exchanged them for European goods, with which they returned. The natives nearer to the fort, carried on the same trade. Lumber was easily obtained around the settlement: of late, vessels, from St. Domingo and Martinique, brought sugar, coffee, molasses, and rum, to Louisiana, and took its peltries, hides, and lumber, in exchange. The colonists procured some specie from the garrison of Pensacola, whom they supplied with vegetables and fowls. Those who followed this sort of trade, by furnishing also the officers and troops, obtained flour and salt provisions from the king's stores, which were abundantly supplied from France and Vera Cruz. Trifling but successful essays had shown, that indigo, tobacco, and cotton, could be cultivated to great advantage: but hands were wanting. Experience had shown, that the frequent and heavy mists and fogs were unfavourable to the culture of wheat, by causing it to rust."

What a change have a few years of good government and undisturbed industry and enterprise made in this country; for up to the time of its cession to the United States, its improvement was slow, uncertain, and by no means remarkable! Who can now recognise in this rich and prosperous state, the member of a great confederation, of a powerful republic, known and respected by every nation of the earth, the desolate wilds, the miserable and scattered habitations, "few and far between," with a population half savage and half civilized, of various bloods and colours, and scarcely able to support a pinched and comfortless existence, by excessive toil and a constant exposure to hardships and peril!

After the charter of Crouzat, in September 1712, and a subsequent charter to a new corporation five years after, the settlement of the colony was better attended to, and measures taken to advance its prosperity. Unfortunately for humanity, and perhaps for the ultimate happiness of the province, it was found, or thought, to be necessary, to introduce the negroes of Africa, for the cultivation of the soil. This species of labour was resorted to in Louisiana in the year 1719.

"Experience had shown the great fertility of the land in Louisiana, especially on the banks of the Mississippi, and its aptitude to the culture of tobacco, indigo, cotton, and rice; but the labourers were very few, and many of the new comers had fallen victims to the climate. The survivers found it impossible to work in the field during the great heats of the summer, protracted through a part of the autumn. The necessity of obtaining cultivators from Africa, was apparent; the company yielding thereto, sent two of its ships to the coast of Africa, from whence they brought five hundred negroes, who were landed at Pensacola. They brought thirty recruits to the garrison."

Whatever may hereafter be the consequences of this determination to employ slave-labour, its immediate effects were beneficial to the planters; and in the next year, it is said that the company represented to the king that "the planters had been enabled, by the introduction of a great number of negroes, to clear and cultivate large tracts of land." It will be observed, that at this time the cultivation of sugar was not thought of.

The discursive manner of our author frequently furnishes us with anecdotes of interest, sometimes relating to habits of the Indians, and sometimes to other persons and subjects. In this class we reckon an account of a female adventurer who appeared in Louisiana so early as the year 1721.—

"There came, among the German new comers, a female adventurer. She had been attached to the wardrobe of the wife of the Czarowitz Alexius Petrowitz, the only son of Peter the Great. She imposed on the credulity of many persons, but particularly on that of an officer of the garrison of Mobile, (called by Bossu, the Chevalier d'Aubant, and by the king of Prussia, Maldeck) who having seen the princess at St. Petersburg, imagined he recognised her features in those of her former servant, and gave credit to the report which prevailed, that she was the Duke of Wolfenbuttle's daughter, whom the Czarowitz had married, and who, finding herself treated with great cruelty by her husband, caused it to be circulated that she had died, while she fled to a distant seat, driven by the blows he had inflicted on her—that the Czarowitz had given orders for her private burial, and she had travelled incog. into France, and had taken passage at L'Orient, in one of the company's ships, among the German settlers.

"Her story gained credit, and the officer married her. After a long residence in Louisiana, she followed him to Paris and the Island of Bourbon, where he had a commission of major. Having become a widow in 1754, she returned to Paris, with a daughter, and went thence to Brunswick, when her imposture was discovered; charity was bestowed on her, but she was ordered to leave the country. She died in 1771, at Paris, in great poverty.

"A similar imposition was practised for a while with considerable success, in the southern British provinces, a few years before the declaration of their independence. A female, driven for her misconduct from the service of a maid of honour of Princess Matilda, sister to George the Third, was convicted at the Old Bailey, and transported to Maryland. She effected her escape before the expiration of her time, and travelled through Virginia and both the Carolinas, personating the princess, and levying contributions on the credulity of planters and merchants; and even some of the king's officers. She was at last arrested in Charleston, prosecuted, and whipped."

When we read the account of New-Orleans, a century ago, we can hardly credit that it is the same New-Orleans which we now know.—

"New-Orleans, (according to his account,) consisted at that time of one hundred cabins, placed without much order, a large wooden warehouse, two or three dwelling houses, that would not have adorned a village, and a miserable storehouse, which had been at first occupied as a chapel; a shed being now used for this purpose. Its population did not exceed two hundred persons."

In the enormous increase of population and wealth which this highly favoured city exhibits, a Pennsylvanian may feel pride in observing, that the industrious Germans, who have never failed to improve and enrich the soil they inhabit, have had their share. John Randolph once said on the floor of Congress, that the land on which a slave set his foot was cursed with barrenness. The reverse of this may be truly asserted of the German settlers. To their persevering industry, patient labour, and habitual economy, every difficulty yields, and every soil becomes fertile. An accident brought them to New-Orleans, with no intention of remaining; and their usefulness was felt and encouraged.

"Since the failure of Law, and his departure from France, his grant at the Arkansas had been entirely neglected, and the greatest part of the settlers, whom he had transported thither from Germany, finding themselves abandoned and disappointed, came down to New-Orleans, with the hope of obtaining a passage to some port of France, from which they might be enabled to return home. The colonial government being unable or unwilling to grant it, small allotments of land were made to them twenty miles above New-Orleans, on both sides of the river, on which they settled in cottage farms. The Chevalier d'Arensbourg, a Swedish officer, lately arrived, was appointed commandant of the new post. This was the beginning of the settlement, known as the German coast, or the parishes of St. Charles and St. John the Baptist. These laborious men supplied the troops and the inhabitants of New-Orleans with garden stuff. Loading their pirogues with the produce of their week's work, on Saturday evening, they floated down the river, and were ready to spread at sun-rise, on the first market that was held on the banks of the Mississippi, their supplies of vegetables, fowls, and butter. Returning, at the close of the market, they reached their homes early in the night, and were ready to resume their work at sun-rise; having brought the groceries and other articles needed in the course of the week."

A few years later, the Jesuit and Ursuline nuns arrived at New-Orleans, and began the improvement of a tract of land immediately above the city. They erected a house and chapel; they planted the front of their land with the myrtle wax shrub. Soon after, the foundation was laid for a large nunnery, into which the ladies removed in 1730, and occupied it until 1824. On every side the work of improvement proceeded gradually, but effectually. Among other expedients to hasten the progress of population, "a company ship brought out a number of poor girls, shipped by the company. They had not been taken, as those whom it had transported before, in the houses of correction in Paris. It had supplied each of them with a small box, cassette, containing a few articles of clothing. From this circumstance, and to distinguish them from those who had preceded them, they were called girls de la cassette. Till they could be disposed of in marriage, they remained under the care of the nuns."

The fig tree was introduced from Provence, and the orange from Hispaniola, both now so abundant and so excellent at New-Orleans.

Injustice to the aborigines seems to have marked the march of the white man in all its stages; nor were the victims of his cupidity slow in their revenge, or wanting in courage and ingenuity in prosecuting it. We have an instance of this, which we think interesting enough to be extracted.—

"The indiscretion and ill conduct of Chepar, who commanded at Fort Rosalie, in the country of the Natchez, induced these Indians to become principals, instead of auxiliaries, in the havock.

"This officer, coveting a tract of land in the possession of one of the chiefs, had used menaces to induce him to surrender it, and unable to intimidate the sturdy Indian, had resorted to violence. The nation, to whom the commandant's conduct had rendered him obnoxious, took part with its injured member—and revenge was determined on. The suns sat in council to devise the means of annoyance, and determined not to confine chastisement to the offender; but, having secured the co-operation of all the tribes hostile to the French, to effect the total overthrow of the settlement, murder all white men in it, and reduce the women and children to slavery. Messengers were accordingly sent to all the villages of the Natchez and the tribes in their alliance, to induce them to get themselves ready, and come on a given day to begin the slaughter. For this purpose bundles of an equal number of sticks were prepared and sent to every village, with directions to take out a stick everyday, after that of the new moon, and the attack was to be on that on which the last stick was taken out.

"This matter was kept a profound secret among the chiefs and the Indians employed by them, and particular care was taken to conceal it from the women. One of the female suns, however, soon discovered that a momentous measure, of which she was not informed, was on foot. Leading one of her sons to a distant and retired spot, in the woods, she upbraided him with his want of confidence in his mother, and artfully drew from him the details of the intended attack. The bundle of sticks for her village had been deposited in the temple, and to the keeper of it, the care had been intrusted of taking out a stick daily. Having from her rank access to the fane at all times, she secretly, and at different moments, detached one or two sticks, and then threw them into the sacred fire. Unsatisfied with this, she gave notice of the impending danger to an officer of the garrison, in whom she placed confidence. But the information was either disbelieved or disregarded."

This well concerted plan of revenge was carried into a terrible execution; and the aggressor who had caused it was among the victims.

A circumstance, purely accidental, and, in itself, altogether insignificant, was the beginning of an agricultural experiment in Louisiana, which, long afterwards, was followed by a success, important not only to that territory, but to these United States.

"Two hundred recruits arrived from France on the 17th of April, for the completion of the quota of troops allotted to the province. The king's ships, in which they were embarked, touched at the cape, in the Island of Hispaniola, where, with a view of trying with what success the sugar cane could be cultivated on the banks of the Mississippi, the Jesuits of that island were permitted to ship to their brethren in Louisiana, a quantity of it. A number of negroes, acquainted with the culture and manufacture of sugar, came in the fleet. The canes were planted on the land of the fathers immediately above the city, in the lower part of the spot now known as the suburb St. Mary. Before this time, the front of the plantation had been improved in the raising of the myrtle wax shrub; the rest was sown with indigo."

In this humble manner was the sugar cane introduced into Louisiana, which has now become a principal source of its wealth. We will here advance upon our work in order to trace, in a connected manner, the various attempts which were made to fix the cultivation of this plant, with their failures and success, for many years vibrating in uncertainty. The experiment we have just alluded to was made in 1751; eight years afterwards, our author tells us:—

"Although the essay, which the Jesuits had made in 1751, to naturalize the sugar cane in Louisiana, had been successful, the culture of it, on a large scale, was not attempted till this year, when Dubreuil erected a mill for the manufacture of sugar, on his plantation, immediately adjoining the lower part of New-Orleans—the spot now covered by the suburb Marigny."

In 1769, the project seems to have been given up, as we are then informed that—"the indigo of Louisiana was greatly inferior to that of Hispaniola, the planters being quite unskilful and inattentive in the manufacture of it; that of sugar had been abandoned, but some planters near New-Orleans raised a few canes for the market."

No explanation is given of the causes of the abandonment of this most valuable product, which subsequent experience has shown is so admirably adapted to the soil and climate of Louisiana. It is the more unaccountable, as a large capital had been embarked in it, for the purchase of slaves principally. It may be that it did not receive the protection from jealous rivals, which is indispensable for the success of every new enterprise of this kind, even under the most favourable circumstances; at least until it is firmly established; its expenditures secured or reimbursed; and its capacity brought into full development and operation.

From the period we have last spoken of, 1769, until 1796, we hear, from our author, of no effort to resume the cultivation of the sugar cane; although we may presume it was not absolutely extinguished; for in the record of the events of this year, (1796) he tells us—"Bore's success, in his first attempt to manufacture sugar, was very great, and he sold his crop for ten thousand dollars. His example induced a number of other planters to plant cane." In the transactions of 1794, we are indeed informed upon this point; and of the origin of Bore's undertaking this culture.

"Since the year 1766, the manufacture of sugar had been entirely abandoned in Louisiana. A few individuals had, however, contrived to plant a few canes in the neighbourhood of the city: they found a vent for them in the market. Two Spaniards, Mendez and Solis, had lately made larger plantations. One of them boiled the juice of the cane into syrup, and the other had set up a distillery, in which he made indifferent taffia.

"Etienne Bore, a native of the Illinois, who resided about six miles above the city, finding his fortune considerably reduced by the failure of the indigo crops for several successive years, conceived the idea of retrieving his losses by the manufacture of sugar. The attempt was considered by all as a visionary one. His wife, (a daughter of Destrehan, the colonial treasurer under the government of France, who had been one of the first to attempt, and one of the last to abandon, the manufacture of sugar) remembering her father's ill success, warned him of the risk he ran of adding to instead of repairing his losses, and his relations and friends joined their remonstrances to hers. He, however, persisted; and, having procured a quantity of canes from Mendez and Solis, began to plant."

So that in two years after Bore began to plant, he was able to make a crop which sold for ten thousand dollars. From this time the culture of the cane may be considered as established in Louisiana, constantly and rapidly increasing in its importance, until it has become a principal product of its soil, in which an immense capital is embarked. We have before us a copy of a "Letter of Mr. Johnston of Louisiana, to the secretary of the treasury, in reply to his circular of the 1st July 1830, relative to the culture of the sugar cane." This interesting document contains a mass of authentic information, which leaves no doubt of the importance of the culture of the cane, not only to those regions of the United States which are suitable to it, but to all or most of the other states; and the inference he justly draws from it is, that it deserves and still requires all the protection it now receives from the government. If it should be discontinued or diminished so as to affect materially the sugar planter, the injury will not stop there, but be extended to thousands of our citizens, who may not have reflected upon the direct interest they have in this question. We deem it to be so important, that we believe our readers, many of whom may not see the letter of the honourable senator, will not find a page or two unprofitably given to some extracts from it. In the introduction of his subject he says:

"When Louisiana was acquired by the United States, there was a duty on brown sugar of two and a half cents a pound, levied for revenue. The people of that state, who had already made some experiments in the culture of the cane, saw that the duty afforded them some protection from foreign competition, and secured the benefit of the home market, which was then of considerable extent, and rapidly increasing. This induced them, within the region then considered adapted to the cane, to turn their attention to the production of sugar. They embarked their whole fortunes, and for a long time struggled, under very discouraging circumstances, against the effects of the climate, the vicissitudes of seasons, the deficiency of capital, the want of skill, and all the difficulties incident to the commencement of such an enterprise. It was for many years a doubtful experiment and hazardous undertaking, but they persevered.

"The cane gradually adapted itself to the climate. Different kinds of cane were introduced, skill was acquired by experience, capital increased, machinery and steam power applied, improvements adopted, and expenses diminished.

"At the close of the war, Congress, for the purpose of increasing the revenue, and of protecting the domestic industry, increased the rate of duty on sugar half a cent a pound, as a part of a general system. This had a most decisive effect in bringing this great national interest to its present state, and they have now finally triumphed over every obstacle.

"It was more than twenty years before they could produce 40,000 hogsheads; and during the greater part of that time very little profit was made upon the capital employed.

"The increase of capital, the introduction of machinery, the diversion of labour from other less profitable pursuits, the acquisition of skill, and, above all, the confidence of the people in the protection of the government, have vastly augmented the means of production. It now promises an ample supply for the consumption of the country, and a steady but moderate profit. They are in a course of experiment, that will in a short period establish this great interest upon a scale adequate to the wants of the people.

"Under the faith of the laws, they have embarked their capital in the production of one of the great necessaries of life, and in support of a national system, which they understood it was the object of the government to establish. They have opened a new and extensive field of agricultural industry; directed labour to more profitable employment; maintained the value of slaves; and increased the internal commerce of the country. They have contributed their full share to all the duties paid on other articles. They came into this Union, charged with an immense public debt, which was greatly increased by the war, in which they suffered in common: they have freely contributed their portion to its payment."

He proceeds to show that the value of lands and slaves "is predicated upon the value of the sugar, and that depends upon the rate of duty established by the laws." The effects of a reduction of the duty is thus detailed.