rovers, and thieves, which visit any heathen coast that they have sailed by or looked on."

Against these exclusive regulations the English and the French at first murmured and protested, and then began to act. The English government, having thrown off its allegiance to the head of the Roman Catholic church, denied the validity of the Spanish claims founded on the papal concessions, and required from Spain the recognition of the rights of Englishmen to navigate any part of the ocean, to settle in any country not occupied by another Christian nation, and to trade with the Spanish American provinces. These demands having been resisted, Queen Elizabeth * openly, as well as covertly, encouraged her subjects, even in time of peace, to violate regulations which she pronounced unjustifiable and inhuman; and the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indian seas were, in consequence, haunted by bands of daring English, who, under the equivocal denominations of free traders and freebooters, set at defiance the prohibitions of the Spaniards, as to commerce and territorial occupation, and plundered their ships, and the towns on their coasts. About the same time, the French Protestants began their attempts to plant colonies in Florida and Carolina, which were not defeated without considerable expenditure of Spanish blood and treasure; and the revolt in the Netherlands, which ended in the liberation of the Dutch provinces, soon after produced a formidable addition to the forces of these irregular enemies of Spain. The efforts of the English, and of their government, to establish commerce with the Spanish dominions in America, have, in fact, been the principal causes or motives of nearly all the wars between those nations since the middle of the sixteenth century. In these efforts the English have constantly persevered; and the Spanish government has resolutely opposed them, during peace, during war, and

* Queen Elizabeth's reply to the Spanish ambassador, who complained of the plunder of one of his sovereign's vessels by the English, in the West Indies, during peace between the two nations, is characteristic of her disposition, as well as reasonable. She said "that the Spaniards had drawn these inconveniences upon themselves, by their severe and unjust dealings in their American commerce; for she did not understand why either her subjects, or those of any other European prince, should be debarred from traffic in the Indies; that, as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title, by donation of the bishop of Rome, so she knew no right they had to any places other than those they were in actual possession of; for that their having touched only here and there upon a coast, and given names to a few rivers. or capes, were such insignificant things as could in no ways entitle them to a propriety farther than in the parts where they actually settled, and continued to inhabit." Camden's Annals of Queen Elizabeth's Reign, for 1580.

even during alliance between the two powers, until the last moment of the existence of the Spanish authority in the American continent. Could Spain have so long retained the possession of her colonies in America, if she had adopted any other system with regard to them?

The Pacific was, for some years, preserved from the ravages of these daring adventurers, by the dread of the difficulties and dangers attending the passage of vessels into that ocean, from the Atlantic, through the Strait of Magellan; and the Spanish government began to regard as bulwarks of defence those natural obstacles to maritime intercourse between Europe and the western side of America, to remove or counteract which so many efforts had been previously made. Thenceforward, the expeditions of the Spaniards, in search of new channels connecting the two oceans, were undertaken only with the object of securing the passage, if it should be found, against the vessels of other nations; and the heaviest penalties were denounced against all persons who should attempt, or even propose, to form artificial communications by canals across the continent.* These circumstances, on the other hand, served to stimulate the enemies of Spain in their endeavors to discover easier routes to the Pacific; to effect which, the Dutch and the English navigators perseveringly labored, during the latter years of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries.

In the mean time, the reports of the extent and value of the Spanish commerce on the Pacific, and of the wealth accumulated in the towns on the American coasts of that ocean, overcame all the fears of the English, who at length spread their sails on its waters, and carried terror and desolation along its coasts.

Alcedo, in his Geographical and Historical Dictionary of the West Indies, under the head Isthmus, says, "In the time of Philip II., it was proposed to cut a canal through the Isthmus of Panamá, for the passage of ships from one ocean to the other; and two Flemish engineers were sent to examine the place, with that object. They, however, found the obstacles insuperable; and the Council of the Indies at the same time represented to the king the injuries which such a canal would occasion to the monarchy; in consequence of which, his majesty decreed that no one should in future attempt, or even propose, such an undertaking, under pain of death."

The same author, speaking of the River Atrato, in New Granada, emptying into the Atlantic,-between which and the San Juan, falling into the Pacific, it was also proposed to make a canal,—says, "The Atrato is navigable for many leagues; but all persons are forbidden, under pain of death, from navigating it, in order to prevent the injuries which New Grenada would sustain, from the facility thus afforded for entering its territory."

The first irruption of the English into the Pacific was made in 1575, by a party of freebooters, under John Oxenham, who crossed the isthmus a little west of Panamá, and, having then built a vessel on the southern side, took many valuable prizes before any attempt could be made, by the Spaniards, to arrest their progress. They, however, in a few months, fell successively into the hands of their enemies, and were nearly all executed with ignominy at Panamá. Their fall was, three years afterwards, signally avenged by another body of their countrymen, under the command of the greatest naval captain of the age. It is scarcely necessary to say that this captain could be no other than Francis Drake, of whose celebrated voyage around the world—the first ever performed by one crew in one vessel an account will be here given, as he, in the course of it, visited the north-west side of America, and is supposed, though erroneously, as will be proved, to have made important discoveries in that quarter.

Drake sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of December, 1577, with five small vessels, which had been procured and armed by himself and other private individuals in England, ostensibly for a voyage to Egypt, but really for a predatory cruise against the dominions and subjects of Spain. The governments of England and Spain were then, indeed, at peace with each other: but mutual hatred, arising from causes already explained, prevailed between the two nations; and the principles of general law or morals were not, at that period, so refined as to prevent Queen Elizabeth from favoring Drake's enterprise, with the real objects of which she was well acquainted.

For some months after leaving England, Drake roved about the Atlantic, without making any prize of value: he then refitted his vessels at Port San Julian, on the eastern coast of Patagonia; and he succeeded in conducting three of them safely through the dreaded Strait of Magellan, into the Pacific, which he entered in September, 1578. Scarcely, however, was this accomplished, ere the little squadron was dispersed by a storm; and the chief of the expedition was left with only a schooner of a hundred tons' burden, and about sixty men, to prosecute his enterprise against the power and wealth of the Spaniards on the western side of America.

Notwithstanding these disheartening occurrences, Drake did not hesitate to proceed to the parts of the coast occupied by the Spaniards, whom he found unprepared to resist him, either on land or on He accordingly plundered their towns and ships with little

sea.

difficulty; and so deep and lasting was the impression produced by his achievements, that, for more than a century afterwards, his name was never mentioned in those countries without exciting feelings of horror and detestation.

At length, in the spring of 1579, Drake, having completed his visitation of the Spanish American coasts, by the plunder of the town of Guatulco, on the south side of Mexico, and filled his vessel with precious spoils, became anxious to return to England; but, having reason to expect that the Spaniards would intercept him, if he should attempt to repass Magellan's Strait, he resolved to seek a northern route to the Atlantic. Accordingly, on quitting Guatulco, he steered west and north-west, and, having sailed in those directions about 1400 leagues, he had, in the beginning of June, advanced beyond the 42d degree of north latitude, where his men, being thus "speedily come out of the extreme heat, found the air so cold, that, being pinched with the same, they complained of the extremity thereof." He had, in fact, reached the part of the Pacific, near the American coasts, where the winds blow constantly and violently, during the summer, from the north and northwest, accompanied, generally, by thick fogs, which obscure the heavens for many days, and even weeks, in succession; and, finding these difficulties increase, as he went farther, "he thought it best, for that time, to seek the land." He accordingly soon made the American coast, and endeavored to approach it, so as to anchor; but, finding no proper harbor there, he sailed along the shore southward, until the 17th of the month, when "it pleased God to send him into a fair and good bay, within 38 degrees towards the line." *

In this bay the English remained five weeks, employed in refitting their vessel, and obtaining such supplies for their voyage as the country offered. The natives, "having their houses close by the water's side," at first exhibited signs of hostility: but they were soon conciliated by the kind and forbearing conduct of the strangers; and their respect for Drake increased, so that, when they saw him about to depart, they earnestly prayed him to continue among them as their king. The naval hero, though not disposed to undertake, in person, the duties of sovereignty over a

These quotations are from the Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, by Francis Pretty, one of the crew of Drake's vessel, written at the request of Hakluyt, and published by him in 1589. It is a plain and succinct account of what the writer saw, or believed to have occurred, during the voyage, and bears all the marks of truth and authenticity.

tribe of naked or skin-clad savages, nevertheless "thought not meet to reject the crown, because he knew not what honor or profit it might bring to his own country; whereupon, in the name, and to the use, of her majesty, Queen Elizabeth, he took the crown, sceptre, and dignity, of the country into his own hands, wishing that the riches and treasure thereof might be so conveniently transported, for the enriching her kingdom at home." The coronation accordingly took place, with most ludicrous solemnities, and Drake bestowed on his dominions the name of New Albion.

The vessel having been refitted, Drake erected on the shore a pillar, bearing an inscription, commemorating the fact of this cession of sovereignty; and, on the 22d of July, he took leave of his worthy subjects, to their great regret. Having, however, by this time, abandoned all idea of seeking a northern passage to the Atlantic, he sailed directly across the Pacific, and thence, through the Indian Seas, and around the Cape of Good Hope, to England, where he arrived on the 26th of September, 1580.

With regard to the harbor on the North Pacific side of America, in which Drake repaired his vessel, nothing can be learned from the accounts of his expedition which have been published, except that it was situated about the 38th degree of latitude, and that a cluster of small islets lay in the ocean, at a short distance from its mouth; which description will apply equally to the Bay of San Francisco, and to the Bay of Bodega, a few leagues farther north.

As to the extent of the portion of the north-west coast of America seen by Drake, the accounts differ. Before examining them, it should be first observed, that, from the great navigator himself, nothing whatsoever has descended to us, either as written by him, or as reported by others on his authority, respecting his voyage in the North Pacific; on the circumstances of which, all the information is derived from two narratives, the one proceeding entirely from a person who had accompanied Drake in his expedition, and published in 1589, during the life of the hero, the other compiled from various accounts, and not given to the world until the middle of the following century.

In the first-mentioned of those narratives, called the Famous Voyage from which the preceding quotations are made, the vessel is represented as being in the forty-third degree of latitude on the fifth of June, when it was determined to seek the land; but on what day, or in what latitude, the coast was discovered, is not stated,