879

GEORGE BANCROFT.

BANCROFT, GEORGE, an American historian, statesman, and diplomatist, was born at Worcester, Mass., October 3, 1800; died at Washington, D.C., January 17, 1891. He entered Harvard Col lege in 1813, graduated in 1817, and went to Germany to complete his studies. He returned to America in 1822, and for a year held the position of Tutor of Greek in Harvard College. In 1823 he founded the Round Hill School at Northampton, Mass., and published a volume of poems, and in 1824 a translation of Heeren's "Politics of Ancient Greece." He had already chosen American history as his special department of activity, and in 1834 appeared the first volume of his " History of the United States," the successive volumes being issued at intervals until the twelfth volume was published, bringing the history down to the formation of the exist ing Government of the United States in 1789 - a period which the author appears to have fixed upon for the close of his history. In 1882 Mr. Bancroft began a thorough revision of his history, which was carried on until the completion of the work, in 1885. In 1845 Mr. Bancroft became Secretary of the Navy, in the administration of President Polk. As Secretary of the Navy he gave the order to take possession of California; and while acting pro tem. as Secretary of War, he issued the order in virtue of which General Taylor marched his force into Texas. In 1846 Mr. Bancroft was made Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain. He returned to America in 1849, and took up his residence in New York. In May, 1867, he was appointed Minister to Prussia; in 1868 he was accredited to the North German Confederation; and in 1871 to the newly formed German Empire, a position which he held until 1874, when he was recalled at his own request.

Besides his great work, "The History of the United States of America," Mr. Bancroft has contributed numerous essays to "The North American Review" and other periodicals. A collection of some of these "Miscellanies" was published in New York in 1855. His "History of the United States Constitution" appeared in 1882.

SPANIARDS IN THE UNITED STATES.

His

JEAN PONCE DE LEON was the discoverer of Florida. youth had been passed in military service in Spain; and, during the wars in Grenada, he had shared in the wild exploits of predatory valor. No sooner had the return of the first voyage

across the Atlantic given an assurance of a New World, than he hastened to participate in the dangers and the fruits of adventure in America. He was a fellow voyager of Columbus in his second expedition. In the wars of Hispaniola he had been a gallant soldier; and Ovando had rewarded him with the government of the eastern province of that island. From the hills in his jurisdiction, he could behold, across the clear waters of a placid sea, the magnificent vegetation of Porto Rico, which distance rendered still more admirable, as it was seen though the transparent atmosphere of the tropics. A visit to the island stimulated the cupidity of avarice; and Ponce aspired to the government. He obtained the station; inured to sanguinary war, he was inexorably severe in his administration: he oppressed the natives; he amassed wealth. But his commission as governor of Porto Rico conflicted with the claims of the family of Columbus; and policy, as well as justice, required his removal. Ponce was displaced.

Yet, in the midst of an archipelago, and in the vicinity of a continent, what need was there for a brave soldier to pine at the loss of power over a wild though fertile island? Age had not tempered the love of enterprise: he longed to advance his fortunes by the conquest of a kingdom, and to retrieve a reputation which was not without a blemish. Besides, the veteran soldier, whose cheeks had been furrowed by hard service, as well as by years, had heard, and had believed the tale, of a fountain which possessed virtues to renovate the life of those who should bathe in its stream, or give a perpetuity of youth to the happy man who should drink of its ever-flowing waters. So universal was this tradition, that it was credited in Spain, not by all the people and the court only, but by those who were distinguished for virtue and intelligence. Nature was to discover the secrets for which alchemy had toiled in vain; and the elixir of life was to flow from a perpetual fountain of the New World, in the midst of a country glittering with gems and gold.

Ponce embarked at Porto Rico, with a squadron of three ships, fitted out at his own expense, for his voyage to fairy land. He touched at Guanahani; he sailed among the Bahamas; but the laws of nature remained inexorable. On Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pascua Florida, land was seen. It was supposed to be an island, and received the name of Florida, from the day on which it was discovered, and from the aspect of the forests, which were then brilliant with a profusion of

blossoms, and gay with the fresh verdure of early spring. Bad weather would not allow the squadron to approach land: at length the aged soldier was able to go on shore, in the latitude of thirty degrees and eight minutes; some miles, therefore, to the north of St. Augustine. The territory was claimed for Spain. Ponce remained for many weeks to investigate the coast which he had discovered; though the currents of the gulf-stream, and the islands, between which the channel was yet unknown, threatened shipwreck. He doubled Cape Florida; he sailed among the group which he named Tortugas: and, despairing of entire success, he returned to Porto Rico, leaving a trusty follower to continue the research. The Indians had everywhere displayed determined hostility. Ponce de Leon remained an old man; but Spanish commerce acquired a new channel through the Gulf of Florida, and Spain a new province, which imagination could esteem immeasurably rich, since its interior was unknown.

The government of Florida was the reward which Ponce received from the king of Spain; but the dignity was accompanied with the onerous condition, that he should colonize the country which he was appointed to rule. Preparations in Spain, and an expedition against the Caribbee Indians, delayed his return to Florida. When, after a long interval, he proceeded with two ships to take possession of his province and select a site for a colony, his company was attacked by the Indians with implacable fury. Many Spaniards were killed; the survivors were forced to hurry to their ships; Ponce de Leon himself, mortally wounded by an arrow, returned to Cuba to die. So ended the adventurer, who had coveted immeasurable wealth, and had hoped for perpetual youth. The discoverer of Florida had desired immortality on earth, and gained its shadow.

Meantime, commerce may have discovered a path to Florida; and Diego Miruelo, a careless sea-captain, sailing from Havana, is said to have approached the coast, and trafficked with the natives. He could not tell distinctly in what harbor he had anchored; he brought home specimens of gold, obtained in exchange for toys; and his report swelled the rumors, already credited, of the wealth of the country. Florida had at once obtained a governor; it now constituted a part of a bishopric.

The expedition of Francisco Fernandez, of Cordova, leaving the port of Havana, and sailing west by south, discovered the province of Yucatan and the Bay of Campeachy. He turned his

prow to the north; but, whatever may be asserted by careless historians, he was by no means able to trace the coast to any harbor which Ponce de Leon had visited. At a place where he had landed for supplies of water, his company was suddenly assailed, and he himself mortally wounded.

The pilot whom Fernandez had employed soon conducted another squadron to the same shores. The knowledge already acquired was extended, and under happier auspices; and Grijalva, the commander of the fleet, explored the coast from Yucatan towards Panuco. The masses of gold which he collected, the rumors of the empire of Montezuma, its magnificence and its extent, heedlessly confirmed by the costly presents of the unsuspecting natives, were sufficient to inflame the coldest imagination, and excited the enterprise of Cortes. The voyage did not reach the shores of Florida.

But while Grijalva was opening the way to the conquest of Mexico, the line of the American coast, from the Tortugas to Panuco, is said to have been examined, yet not with care, by an expedition which was planned, if not conducted, by Francisco Garay, the governor of Jamaica. The general outline of the Gulf of Mexico now became known. Garay encountered the determined hostility of the natives; a danger which eventually proved less disastrous to him than the rivalry of his own countrymen. The adventurers in New Spain would endure no independent neighbor: the governor of Jamaica became involved in a career, which, as it ultimately tempted him to dispute the possession of a province with Cortes, led him to the loss of fortune and an inglorious death. The progress of discovery along the southern boundary of the United States was but little advanced by the expedition, of which the circumstances have been variously related.

A voyage for slaves brought the Spaniards still further upon the northern coast. A company of seven, of whom the most distinguished was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, fitted out two slave ships from St. Domingo, in quest of laborers for their plantations and mines. From the Bahama Islands, they passed to the coast of South Carolina, a country which was called Chicora. The Combahee River received the name of the Jordan: the name of St. Helena, given to a cape, now belongs to the sound. The natives of this region had not yet had cause to fear Europeans; their natural fastnesses had not yet been invaded; and if they fled at the approach of men from the slave ships, it was rather