gem now induced the enemy to withdraw, and drew upon the deserter the punishment he merited. He bribed a Spanish prisoner to carry a letter to the deserter, in which he addressed the Frenchman as a spy of the English, and urged him to use every effort to detain the Spaniards before Frederica for several days longer, until a fleet of six English ships of war, which had sailed from Charleston, could reach and destroy St. Augustine. The letter was delivered by the released prisoner to the Spanish commander, as Oglethorpe had known would be the case, and the deserter was placed in confinement. Fortunately, at this moment, some vessels from South Carolina, laden with supplies for Oglethorpe, appeared in the offing. These the Spanish commander was confident were the ships on their way to attack St. Augustine. He determined to strike a vigorous blow at Frederica before sailing to the relief of his countrymen in Florida. On his march towards the English position he was ambuscaded and defeated, with great loss, at a place since called "Bloody Marsh." The next night he embarked his forces, and sailed for St. Augustine to defend it from the attack which had no existence save in the fertile brain of Oglethorpe, whose stratagem was thus entirely successful. On their withdrawal the Spaniards renewed their attempt to capture Fort William, but without success. The firmness and vigor of Oglethorpe had saved Georgia and Carolina from the ruin which the Spaniards, who had no intention of occupying the country, had designed for them.

Yet the founder and brave defender of Georgia was not to escape the experience of those who seek with disinterested zeal to serve their fellowmen. The disaffected settlers sent an agent to England to lodge complaints against him with the government. In July, 1743, having made sure of the tranquillity and safety of the colony, Oglethorpe sailed for England to meet his accuser, and upon arriving in his native country demanded an investigation of his conduct in the land for which he had sacrificed so much. The result of the inquiry was the triumphant acquittal of Oglethorpe, and the punishment of his accuser for making false charges. Oglethorpe was promoted to the grade of major-general in the English army. He did not return to Georgia again, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that during his ten years of sacrifice and toil in America he had successfully laid the foundations of a vigorous state, and had placed it far beyond the possibility of failure, and that his name was honored and loved by the people for whom he had given his best efforts without any personal reward. He died at the age of ninety years. After the departure of Oglethorpe many improvements were made in the government of Georgia, which was changed from a military rule to a

civil establishment. The forms and customs of the English law were introduced, and the usual magistrates appointed.

Slavery had been forbidden by the trustees, but the majority of the people were dissatisfied with this prohibition. The Germans and the Scotch were opposed to the introduction of slave labor, but the greater number of the English, many of whom had been reduced to poverty by their idleness and wastefulness, were of the opinion that the agricultural wealth of the colony could not be properly developed by white labor alone. "They were unwilling to labor, but were clamorous for privileges to which they had no right." They declared that the use of strong liquors was rendered absolutely necessary by the climate, and demanded the repeal of the laws against their introduction. Negro slaves were hired from the Carolina planters at first for a few years, and finally for a term of one hundred years, which was a practical establishment of slavery in the colony. Within seven years after Oglethorpe's departure slave-ships from Africa brought their cargoes direct to Savannah, and sold them there. The scruples of the Germans were at length overcome, and they were induced to believe that negroes might be led into the Christian fold by their proper treatment by Christian masters, and that in this way their change of country might result in benefit to them. "If you take slaves in faith," wrote their friends from Germany, "and with the intent of conducting them to Christ, the action will not be a sin, but may prove a benediction." Even the pious Whitefield took this view of the subject, and urged the trustees to grant permission to the colonists to hold slaves, as indispensable to the prosperity of Georgia.

The trustees were so strongly urged to this step by all classes of the colony, and so overrun with complaints, that the twenty-one years of their guardianship having expired, they were glad to surrender their trust, which they did in 1752, and Georgia became a royal province. Privileges similar to those granted the other colonies were allowed it. The king appointed the governor and some of the other higher officials, and the assembly discharged the duties, and enjoyed the rights appertaining to similar bodies in the other provinces. Georgia was always a favored colony. Among the most important privileges bestowed upon it was the right to import and hold negro slaves, which was conferred upon it by Parliament after a careful examination into the matter. After this the colony grew rapidly, and cotton and rice were largely cultivated. In 1752, at the time of the relinquishment of the colony to the crown, Georgia contained a population less than 2500 whites, and about 400 negroes. In 1775, at the outbreak of the Revolution, the population numbered about 75,000 souls, and its exports were valued at over half a million of dollars.

CHAPTER XX.

THE FRENCH IN THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Origin of the Hostility of the Iroquois to the French-Settlement of Canada-Plans of the French respecting the Indians-The Jesuits-Their Work in America-Success of their Missions The Early Missionaries-Foundation of a College at Quebec-Efforts of the Jesuits to Convert the Iroquois-Father Jogues-Death of Ahasistari-Father Allouez-The Missions on the Upper Lakes-Father Marquette-His Exploration of the Upper Mississippi-Death of Marquette—La Salle-Efforts of France to secure the Valley of the Mississippi-La Salle Descends the Mississippi to its Mouth-His Effort to Colonize the Lower Mississippi-The First Colony in Texas-Its Failure-Death of La Salle Lemoine d'Ibberville-Settlement of Louisiana-Colony of Biloxi-Settlement of Mobile-Crozat's Monopoly-Founding of New Orleans-Detroit FoundedSlow Growth of the French Colonies-Occupation of the Ohio Valley by the FrenchWars with the Indians-Extermination of the Natchez Tribe-War with the Chickasaws.

E have already spoken of the explorations of Samuel Champlain in Canada and in the northern part of New York. It is necessary now, in order to obtain a proper comprehension of the period at which we have arrived, to go back to the time of his discoveries and trace the efforts of France to extend her dominion over the great valley of the Mississippi. We have seen Champlain in one of his last expeditions accompanying a war party of the Hurons and Algonquins against their inveterate enemies, the Iroquois, or Five Nations. By his aid the former were enabled to defeat the Iroquois, and that great confederacy thus became the bitter and uncompromising enemics of the French nation. They cherished this hostility to the latest period of the dominion of France in Canada, and no effort of the French governors was ever able to overcome it.

The efforts of Champlain established the settlement of Canada upon a sure basis of success, and after his death settlers came over to Canada from France in considerable numbers. Quebec became an important place, and other settlements were founded. It was apparent from the first that the French colonies must occupy a very different footing from those of England. The soil and the climate were both unfavorable to agriculture, and the French settlements were of necessity organized chiefly as trading-posts. The trade in furs was immensely valuable, and the French sought to secure the exclusive possession of it. To this end

it was indispensable to secure the friendship of the Indians, especially of those tribes inhabiting the country to the north and west of the great lakes.

In 1634, three years before the death of Champlain, Louis XIII. granted a charter to a company of French nobles and merchants, bestowing upon them the entire region embraced in the valley of the St. Lawrence, then known as New France. Richelieu and Champlain, who were members of this company, were wise enough to understand that their countrymen were not suited to the task of colonization, and that if France was to found an empire in the new world, it must be by civilizing and Christianizing the Indians, and bringing them under the rule of her king, and not by seeking to people Canada with Frenchmen. From this time it became the policy of France to bring the savages under her sway. The efforts of the settlers in Canada were mainly devoted to trading with the Indians, and no attempt was made to found an agricultural state.

Champlain had conceived a sincere desire for the conversion of the savages to Christianity, and had employed several priests of the order of St. Francis as his companions, and these had gained sufficient success among the savages to give ground for the hope that the red men might yet be brought into the fold of Christ. Father Le Caron, one of this order, had penetrated far up the St. Lawrence, had explored the southern coast of Lake Ontario, and had even entered Lake Huron. He brought back tidings of thousands of the sons of the forest living in darkness and superstition, ignorant of the gospel, and dying "in the bondage of their sins." In France a sudden enthusiasm was awakened in behalf of the savages, and at court zeal for the conversion of the Indians became the sure road to distinction. Much of this was the result of genuine disinterested regard for the welfare of the red men, but much also was due to the conviction that by such a course the power of France would be most surely established in Canada.

The missions were placed entirely in the hands of the Jesuits, an order well suited to the task demanded of it. It had been established by its founder for the express design of defeating the influences and the work of the Reformation, and its members were chosen with especial regard to their fitness for the duties required of them. They were to meet and refute the arguments by which the Reformers justified their withdrawal from the Roman Church, to beat back the advancing wave of Protestantism, and bring all Christendom once more in humble submission to the feet of the Roman pontiff. The Reformers had made a most successful use of education in winning men from Rome; the Jesuits would take their own weapons against the Protestants. They would no longer com