a district of North America, belonging to the crown of Spain, having been ceded to it by Great Britain at the peace of 1783. The history of its discovery and early establishment being narrated in the Encyclopaedia, we confine ourselves to such notices of it as were then omitted, or as subsequent events have rendered interesting.

When, in 1763, Spain gave up Florida in exchange for Cuba, the British government divided it into two provinces, distinguished by the names of East and West Florida. East Florida is bounded on the north by the river St Mary, in 30° 35' north latitude, which divides it from Georgia. Its eastern boundary is the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Florida in latitude 25° 55' north, when, terminating at that point, it bends to the northward. Its western boundary is the sea in the Gulf of Mexico to the latitude 29° 30' north, from whence the river Apalachicola forms the line which separates it from West Florida, till it meets the confines of Georgia. The province, in shape, resembles a wedge, the base line towards Georgia being 160 miles; and the perpendicular line from north to south being 350 miles. As the whole province is a peninsula, it presents an extended point to the sea, and from its position, as well as its formation, is calculated, when peopled, to enjoy a considerable share of navigation; but the want of secure bays and harbours, and the dangerous bars at the mouths of its rivers, forbid any very sanguine expectations of its speedy population being realized.

The best navigable river on the eastern side of the province is St Mary, its northern boundary. It is navigable, however, but for a short distance. The depth of water in the bar is sufficient to admit vessels drawing 16 feet, and at spring tides vessels drawing 20 feet water may enter, and when within they are in perfect safety. In the centre of this river, Amelia Island, which belongs to Florida, commands the ascent and anchorage. A small fortress and a miserable town called Fernandina, are all that this island contains. It was for a short time occupied by a piratical banditti, who assumed to be South American republicans, and was at last seized by the United States troops, under pretence of dislodging the depredators. The river San Juan is about half way between St Mary's and St Augustine. Its entrance is difficult, and will not admit of vessels drawing more than twelve feet water, and even with that draught, it is a very perilous navigation.

As most of the plantations, when the English possessed the province, were either on the banks of this river, or on Rio Pablo, which empties itself into it, it became the most valuable part of the province; and the town of St John's, built principally during the American war by English emigrants from the revolted states, was growing into some consideration, when its progress was checked by the peace of 1783, and the consequent removal of the British settlers to the Bahama Islands. It is now a place of little importance, and the number of its inhabitants has been fast diminishing.

St Augustine, the capital of East Florida, is built on an inlet behind the island of St Anastasia, which forms an excellent harbour, but difficult of access. Vessels of more than ten feet draught of water cannot enter even at spring tides, and when of that draught they seldom escape without striking on the bar; the greater part of the cargo is therefore usually landed by lighters before an entrance is attempted. The entrance is defended by a fort on Anastasia Island, and by a strong fortress on the main land. This fort, St Mark's, was originally built by the Spaniards, but considerably improved and strengthened by the British. It is built of stone, has four bastions, the curtains between each one 180 feet in length, and the rampart is 20 feet in height. The buildings are very strongly constructed, they are partly casemated, and mostly bomb-proof. The city is defended by a double row of lines which stretch across the neck of land that connects it with the country; and thus, if it were worth attacking, with a sufficient garrison, it is capable of an obstinate defence. The town contained, when the Spaniards held it, about 4000 inhabitants of various descriptions, including a garrison of 400 soldiers. When, in 1769, it was ceded to Great Britain, the inhabitants, with that attachment to the mother country, its religion, and its government, which Spaniards, and their descendants, have preserved in every part of the globe, left the province, and settled either in Cuba, Hispaniola, or Louisiana. Only two families remained under the British government, and one of them in the distant woods.

Soon after possession was taken by the British, various plans were projected for settling the province. The late Mr Denis Rolle, father of the Peer of that title, established a large plantation on the river St John. The Beresford family of Ireland attempted another establishment on the same river. The reports of the healthiness and fertility of the country attracted various settlers under the auspices of these patrons, but the projects were ultimately unsuccessful, and were finally abandoned. The Grenville family adopted a more splendid project. Under their patronage, Dr. Turnbull collected numerous emigrants from the island of Minorca, and conveyed them to East Florida. They were bound to serve for a stipulated term of years, by articles signed before they left their native island. A settlement was made at the mouth of the river Musquito in latitude 29° 45', and called New Smyrna. The situation was supposed to be very favourable for the growth of silk and vines, to the culture of which the emigrants from Minorca had been accustomed. Considerable sums had been expended in this establishment, when discontent arose among the settlers, and after much altercation, they all abandoned the rising plantation, and removed to the capital. It is needless to add, that the project thus terminated ruinously. In subsequent suits in the courts of law, Dr. Turnbull was unsuccessful, and the Minorquins declared to be freed from their engagements. By the failure of this great project the settlers became dispersed, and as they were mostly married, multiplied very rapidly, and thus the colony was growing in population.

When the revolutionary war took place, many royalists repaired from Carolina and Georgia to Florida, and further increased the numbers and the wealth of the province. In this condition, in 1783, it was ceded to Spain, in exchange for the Bahama Islands, which that country had recently conquered. As the colonial laws of Spain neither admit foreigners, except under certain conditions, nor allow any but Catholics to live on their transatlantic dominions, the plantations were broken up; the British inhabitants and their slaves removed to other countries; and only the Minorquins and their descendants remained to people the country, thus again become subject to the Spanish court. They are said to have increased very considerably, and now to amount to upwards of 5000 souls. Some few Spanish families have also removed to East Florida; but altogether, the population, including imported negroes, is not nearly equal to what existed when the British relinquished the settlement.

The city of St Augustine consists of three long streets parallel to the shore; a square or parade, and several streets that cross the principal ones at right angles. There are two churches, but neither of them large or highly ornamented. The state-house built by the British, now called the Cabildo, is a handsome building of stone, and displays considerable taste. The government-house is large and convenient, but built without any regular plan, and has by no means a prepossessing appearance. The abundance of orange trees which are growing in the town, and which are in constant bloom, and have green and ripe fruit on them through the whole year, give a pleasing appearance to this place. It is badly supplied with water, as all the springs are somewhat brackish.

There is no other place in East Florida that deserves even the name of a town. Matanzas, about twenty miles south of St Augustine, consists only of a few scattered plantations; and New Smyrna has, by the desertion of its Minorquin settlers, become almost without inhabitants. There are no settlements to the southward of New Smyrna, and only a few tribes of scattered Indians resort there for the chase. Occasionally, temporary habitations are constructed on the shore by people from the Bahama Islands, who repair thither to catch turtle, or to employ themselves as wreckers, by saving what they can from the numerous vessels that are stranded in their passage from the West Indies, through the Gulf of Florida.

On the western side of East Florida, though several considerable rivers empty themselves into the Gulf of Mexico, no settlements have been formed, except at the mouth of the river St Mark, and that, though protected by a fort, has gone to decay, and is now nearly deserted.

The climate of East Florida is perhaps the most pleasant and salubrious of any in the globe. It is within the reach of the tropical winds, which, in the midst of summer, temper the heat, and give a daily freshness to the air. In winter frosts are scarcely known, and snow and ice, if they are occasionally experienced, disappear with the first rays of the sun. No country can be more free from fogs, and other noxious exhalations; and hence the troops quartered here, as well as the inhabitants, have experienced a portion of health and longevity scarcely known in any part of the western continent.

The soil of East Florida on the sea shore is generally sandy, and covered with tall pine trees, without any underwood beneath them. It is, however, intermingled with swamps, filled with almost impenetrable woods of every description, and with extensive savannahs, well calculated for the cultivation of rice. The fine barrens, as they are called, yield with little labour vast quantities of turpentine, tar, and pitch. The turpentine exudes by the heat of the sun alone from the body of the trees, whose bark is pared away to admit of the action of the sun upon the woody fibres. It is collected by the slaves from small boxes cut in the tree, near the bottom, into which it runs; it is thence carried to a general reservoir, from which the casks are filled for exportation. In extracting tar, the pines are cleft into small pieces; a kiln is constructed with them on a grating of iron bars laid over a hole in the ground; by means of a gentle heat the tar is extracted, and runs into the pit. The pitch is made by a simple process: two or three red-hot cannon-balls are thrown into the pit in which the tar is deposited. A fire is by that means kindled in the mass of tar, which burns with a prodigious noise, and produces a very thick smoke. The burning is continued till the moisture in the tar is consumed or dissipated, when the fire is extinguished by laying hurdles over the pit, and covering them close with sods of turf. When the substance cools it becomes hard and shining, and requires axes to chop it out of the holes. After various experimental projects on the vine, the mulberry, and the indigo plants, the English settlers, from the year 1776 to 1783, almost confined their agricultural labours to the production of these naval articles, the prices of which had been increased during the war that raged in those years. The exports consisted then principally of the naval stores, with the addition of some peltry collected by the Indians in the interior.

Soon after 1783, the Spanish settlers, increased by recruits from the United States, and stimulated by the example of the citizens of Georgia, began to cultivate cotton. The northern part of the province was found admirably calculated for its growth; and hence attention and capital was attracted towards the banks of the river St Mary, and the boundary beyond that river, which divides it from Georgia. By the laws of Spain, her colonies can only export their productions to the northern country, and in ships of that nation; but the facilities of conveying the cotton-wool grown on the Spanish side, to the American side of the boundary, lessened this impediment to the cultivation of the valuable production best suited to the soil and climate. The navigation of the river was common to both nations, and the ships loaded with cotton from the American side of the river had their cargoes principally furnished to them from the growth of the Spanish territories. This contraband trade, which no laws could prevent, gave a great encouragement to the settlements on the northern part of the province, and it has consequently become both the most populous and the most wealthy. Attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but hitherto without success; probably owing to the experiments having been tried on the sandy soil near the shores, and not on the clay lands on higher elevations in the interior. Maize and rice are abundant, and form the principal food of the inhabitants.

The woods abound with troops of wild horses, Quadrupeds, which traverse the whole peninsula. They are of small size, but strong. They are easily taken and rendered tractable by the Indians, who bring them to the European establishments, and exchange them for such weapons as they want. Their value is so trifling, that a good saddle may be exchanged for twenty. Abundance of wild hogs are running over the country, especially over the islands on the sea shore, and near the borders of the lakes. They are not indigenous, but evidently of European origin, and seem to have changed their nature very little by having ceased to be domesticated. Numberless deer inhabit the woods; they are killed by the natives principally for the sake of the skins; but when any of the Indian hunters take them near the settled parts, they sell the flesh for food to the inhabitants, who can frequently, for a knife not worth in Europe sixpence, or for some other article of equally diminutive value, obtain the whole carcase of a deer.

Black bears are numerous; they are of a very small size, very timid, never attacking but flying from man. The hunting them is a diversion to the inhabitants, and their flesh is considered a great dainty. There are but few cows, and still fewer sheep, and none of either in an unreclaimed state. Goats have not been introduced.

The sea coasts, the rivers, and the lakes, abound with every variety of fish, and they furnish food to the greater proportion of the people, especially on fast days, and in Lent, which the Minorquins, as well as the Spaniards, observe with great rigidity. The rivers and lakes swarm with alligators, who feed most voraciously on the innumerable fry of smaller fish. The abundance of these smaller fish is a most singular fact. The sea shore abounds with sharks, who, like the alligators, find a supply of food by preying on the smaller tribes, who, when pursued by those voracious monsters, and ascending the creeks to parts where they suddenly contract, so fill the water as to impede the passage of a boat. In some in- stances, where the contraction of the stream is very sudden and very great, those smaller fish have been seen so closely crowded as to become a mass actually filling the channel, and even rising, so wedged together, above the surface of the water.

Though the land near the shore is level, and the soil sandy, yet, on proceeding to the interior, the pines are no longer seen, the soil is richer, and mountains gradually rise. On the coast, the tuna or prickly pears form, with aloes, the sole fences; in advancing inland, the live oak, the hickory, chestnut, and walnut trees appear, and there are abundance of cabbage trees.

The bird tribes are very extensive and numerous in both the Floridas. Wild ducks and wild geese are found in prodigious flights; wild turkeys are plentiful, of a very large size, some of them weighing more than forty pounds. There are, besides, bustards, herons, cranes, partridges, pigeons, hawks, and macaws, and many of the smaller kinds, thrushes, jays, larks, and sparrows.

There are some considerable lakes in the centre of the province; the most beautiful is that of St George. It is near the source of the river St Juan, is fifteen miles long, about ten in its mean breadth, and from fifteen to twenty feet in depth. In this lake are some islands; the largest of them is two miles broad, has a most fertile soil, and contains vestiges of an ancient Indian town of considerable extent. In the centre stands a lofty mound of earth, of a conical shape, from which a causeway is carried to the shore through groves of magnolias, oaks, palms, and orange trees. From the fragments dug up, the place is supposed to have been very populous. It was probably a station of the Apulachian Indians, whose remains show some approaches to civilization.

West Florida, in its productions, in its soil, and climate, so nearly resembles East Florida, that it will admit of a more brief description. It is bounded by East Florida to the eastward, by the Gulf of Mexico to the south, to the north its boundary is the 31st degree of north latitude from the Apalachicola to its western extremity, where the river Iberville separates it from Louisiana. The province is about 120 miles in length, from east to west, and from 40 to 80 in breadth; and, consequently, its longest side is towards the sea. Pensacola, the capital, is in 30° 20' north latitude, and 87° 12' west longitude from London. It is situated on the western side of Pensacola bay, which is a most excellent harbour, safe from all winds, has a good entrance, secure holding ground, in seven fathom water, and vessels drawing 20 feet water may enter it at all times. Indeed there is very little tide, the greatest rise not exceeding one foot. The entrance into the bay is defended by a fort on the Island of Rosa, and by a battery on the opposite shore. The city is delightfully placed on the sea-coast, extending a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile in breadth. It was fortified by the English, though not in a very perfect manner; but, being well garrisoned, it withstood a long siege from a numerous army under the Spanish General Galvez, in the year 1781. Owing to the principal magazine, which was supposed to be bomb-proof, having been entered by a shell, an explosion took place, by which almost the whole powder of the garrison was destroyed, and it was compelled to capitulate. The trade, whilst it was in possession of the British, was considerable; its exports amounting to about L100,000 annually, and its imports were nearly of the same value. Besides the productions common to both Floridas, this division furnished considerable quantities of dyeing woods, and several medicinal plants, especially snakeroot and ginseng. The quantity of peltry collected by the Indians, and brought to Pensacola, was much more considerable than that which found an outlet by St Augustine, St John's, and St Mary's rivers.

When Pensacola fell into the hands of the Spaniard, and possession of it, as well as of East Floridas, was confirmed by the treaty of peace in 1783, the greater part of the inhabitants left the country, and settled either in the United States or the British Islands; and few Spanish settlers having fixed their residence in it, the town and province have, ever since the change, been in a desolate state. The expences of maintaining the governments of the two Floridas by Spain has so much exceeded the revenues, that they have required remittances from Mexico annually, to the amount of near 300,000 dollars.

Mobile, with the district around it, was seized by the American Government in the year 1810, and though the right to it depended on the unsettled question of boundary, it may be noticed here, with more propriety than under the article Louisiana, to which country the Americans asserted that it belongs. It was, when held by the British, a place of considerable importance, and most rapidly increasing. It is well situated for commerce, as the Alabama river and district must have all their productions pass by it to reach the ocean. Though vessels of large size cannot reach the town, yet they can anchor securely within the river seven miles below it; and it has the advantage of being connected by boat navigation with Tennesse by the rivers Alabama and Tombecbee, which are navigable 300 miles above the town. These advantages were lost to the place, whilst under the Spanish Government; it had rapidly decayed, and was rather a harbour for outlaws and contrabandists than a mercantile or agricultural colony. In 1810, when the events in Spain made it doubtful what government was to rule the peninsula, the inhabitants of Mobile showed a disposition to set up a government of their own. Folch, the Spanish commander, was unable to restrain the inhabitants, and he relinquished his power to the United States. Since that period Mobile has continued to increase, and as it is now assumed to be, and practically is a part of the States, it may, at no very distant period, become a place of considerable importance.

The Indian tribes bordering on Florida are the two nations of the Upper and Lower Creeks, the Aconies and the Seminoles. When, in 1781, the Spaniards conquered West and menaced East Florida, all these tribes were resolutely engaged in the English cause. They have, like the rest of the Aborigines, considerably diminished in numbers, as the more civilized population has approached nearer their villages. It is said, however, that these tribes when united can muster near two thousand warriors; but in this enumeration are included many fugitive negro-slaves from the States that have joined them. The inhabitants of the United States, in all the southern parts, from the feelings which their system of negro-slavery has created towards all that are not of the European complexion, too frequently treat the Indians with unfeeling cruelty. The State governments to the southward are all composed of individuals who are masters of slaves; even the Congress has a majority of its members masters of slaves; and the President, ever since the establishment of their constitution, has been chosen from the slave-owners with but one exception. Coloured people, by such men, are scarcely considered as human beings. No sympathy is felt for their sufferings, and no redress is afforded to their complaints. They are treated with oppression, and they retaliate by barbarity. Peace can never be of long duration between such parties, and the justice of their cause can never be impartially ascertained. The opponents of the Indians who alone have communication with them, exclusively possess the faculties of reading and writing; they alone have the power of printing their statements; and consequently of dressing them in such colours as best suit their own views.

As in the views of the United States the possession of the Floridas was important, they have never ceased to desire it since their acquisition of independence. No pretext either for exchanging or seizing these provinces presented itself till the Government of France became masters of Louisiana, Bonaparte having induced the imbecile cabinet of Spain to cede to him the province of Louisiana, and knowing the eagerness felt in America for the extension of a territory already too extensive, bargained with the United States for the province, before the treaty with Spain was completed. The Government of America paid the price for the stolen track, and thus became accomplices with him who had committed the fraud. A French Commissioner, M. Laussat, received the surrender from the Spanish Government, and instantly delivered over the province to the officers of the United States. No dispute then arose about the boundary. The Mississippi and the Iberville had been considered by the English, the Spaniards, and the French, as the line which divided Louisiana from Florida. Under this conviction, France received it from Spain, and with the same conviction it was delivered to America. When the United States had thus gained Louisiana, the desire for Florida became more intense; and on the most flimsy pretences, claims were set up to the track of country included between the Iberville and the Perdido, which the Americans asserted was a part of Louisiana. Appeals were made to the Government of France as to their understanding of the limits which they had received and transferred. The answer of France was, that they had only received the country up to the Mississippi, and that the district between that river and the Perdido had not been included in the cession made to them by Spain, but continued, as it had previously been, a part of Florida, which Spain was to retain. Though much discussion between the two Governments was carried on, from the time when Louisiana was transferred, no steps had been taken by America to enforce her claims; but when the Peninsula was overrun by the armies of France, and no government recognised by America existed there, the territory in dispute was occupied by the Americans, as we have before stated, with the concurrence of Folch, the Spanish commander at Mobile.

When the monarchy of Spain was restored, negotiations on the subject were renewed. The disputed territory had been consolidated with the United States; but the remainder of the Floridas, which were in the possession of Spain, and to which not even the shadow of a claim could be urged by the Americans, continued to excite their cupidity. During a period of the war which France and Spain had carried on against England, depredations, as the Americans asserted, had been committed on their commerce, by privateers belonging to Frenchmen, who had captured their ships, and carried them into Spanish ports, where they had been condemned as legal prizes, before the consuls of France, who exercised judicial authority within the dominions of Spain. The Americans demanded from Spain, in no very decorous terms, compensations for the losses their citizens had thus sustained. The Spanish court replied, that they were no parties to the injury; that compensation, if any, was due from France; that the aggrieved Americans had, by appealing to the courts of revision in France, acquiesced in the construction put on these transactions by the Spanish court; and that the courts in Spain could take no steps to investigate the validity of the complaints, or to ascertain the quantum of injury sustained, as all the documentary evidence was in the possession of the French judicatures. The minister of Bonaparte asserted, that, in the negociations for the sale of Louisiana, a compensation had been made to America for these depredations; and that she could consequently have no claim on that account to urge either on France or Spain.

As long as Bonaparte ruled, the claims of America could gain no attention from him; and Talleyrand, who had been the minister that carried on the negociation, repelled, in the most indignant terms, every suggestion, and even intimation, that any account respecting these captures had not been finally adjusted. When Bonaparte was dethroned, and when Spain was entangled by the disputes with her colonies, America urged her claims with renewed pertinacity; and intimated that the Floridas might be ceded as a compensation, and that the losses, alleged to have been sustained by the merchants, should be adjusted by the American government. As Spain was unwilling to acquiesce in this unjust pretension, the Americans, to quicken her, affected to deliberate on the propriety of recognizing the revolted colonies of Spain as independent states, and sent Commissioners to different parts to ascertain the condition of those countries. The Spanish envoy, alarmed by these feints, was induced to yield, and to acquiesce in the unjust pretensions of America, and at length concluded a treaty ceding the Floridas. Whilst these negociations were carried on, however, Pensacola had been captured, and arrangements made for the seizure of St Augustine, by an American officer, who, having been sent to fight the Seminole Indians, had raised and officered an army, without any authority but his own, and in opposition to the laws of the United States.

It appears by the very able report of a Committee of the senate of the United States, that General Jackson was ordered by the war department, to take under his command the militia of the contiguous states, to attack and disperse the Seminoles, and, when peace was concluded, to dismiss the militia. That officer, however, raised and officered a regular army of 1800 men, but called out no militia; he was joined by Generals Gaines and McIntosh with 1500 more, and, with this force, was soon enabled to disperse the Seminoles, whose numbers, when collected, amounted only to 800 or 900 warriors. When peace was thus gained, instead of obeying his instructions, and dismissing his troops, General Jackson advanced into the Spanish territory. The government had given orders, that, if the Indians should retire under the protection of a Spanish garrison, the American army was not to follow them, but to report it to the executive, and wait for its instructions. Jackson wrote to his government on the 26th April 1818, "that the Indian forces had been divided and scattered: cut off from all communications with those agents of foreign nations; who had deluded them to their ruin, and had not the power, if they had the will, of annoying our frontier." He adds, that, "after making all necessary arrangements for the security of the positions occupied, and detaching a force to scour the country west of the Apalachicola, I shall proceed direct to Nashville, as my presence in this country can be no longer necessary." Whilst composing this dispatch, however, the arrangements were proceeding for attacking the garrisons of Spain. His heavy artillery was moving from Mobile towards Pensacola, and the general, with 1200 men, joined it in about three weeks from that period, before that place. The opposition was trifling: it fell an easy prey, and the Spanish governor, with the troops, retired to the fortress of Barancas, about six miles distant. As its surrender was refused, an attack was made upon it, and, after a bombardment and cannonading for two days, and the loss of several lives, it was surrendered, and the garrison, agreeably to the terms of a capitulation, was transported to the Island of Cuba. The civil government of Spain was forcibly suppressed, the revenue laws abolished, and municipal and financial officers, from the Americans, were, by the authority of the general, appointed to the different ports.

The execution of two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, contrary to all the laws of civilized nations, however atrocious, is more an indication of the character of the commander, than of the nature of a political transaction, and may be passed over without remark. When the conquest of West Florida was thus achieved, Jackson gave orders to his second in command, General Gaines, to attack St Augustine, "to hold the garrison prisoners until he heard from the President of the United States, or transport them to Cuba, as in his judgment, under existing circumstances, he might think best." This completion of the general's designs was, however, frustrated by the prompt and decisive orders given to Gaines, to desist from the attempt. We are not now considering the weakness or the iniquity of the government of America, nor do we find it necessary here to solve the problem, to which of those causes the subsequent exculpation of Jackson is to be attributed. The influence of this conduct on Spain seemed, however, to have been effectual. Without a revenue, or the power of raising one, with a ministry constantly changing with all the caprices of the monarch, with a population governed by priests and monks, with the contempt of all Europe, and with insurrections of a formidable nature in its transatlantic dominions, the ambassador of Spain was reluctantly forced to yield to the insolent injustice of the American Republicans; who, for the sake of gaining the uncultivated provinces of Florida, have apparently renounced their intention of giving either countenance or support to the republicans of the south.

The treaty concluded by Don Luis Onis, on the part of Spain, has not been ratified by the court of Madrid, although the stipulated period for its completion is now past; and the present condition of Florida remains thus: The whole of East Florida is in the possession of Spain; Pensacola has been given back to a Spanish commander; and the country in dispute, between the Iberville and the Perdido, is in the hands of the government of the United States.

Bertram's Florida.—Cardena's Historia de la Florida.—Correspondence between Don Luis Onis and the Honourable Mr Secretary Adams.—Observations made by the Writer of this Article, during a residence of eight months in Florida. (w. w.)