Such was the end of French Florida. The dream of establishing a Protestant state in America, which might be an asylum for the Huguenots unwelcome at home, was not to be realized. In France they were to remain to work out their own destiny for a century to come. The far-seeing Coligny himself died in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in 1572, murdered by Charles IX. goaded on by the unscrupulous Catherine, and civil war prevailed between the Huguenots and the League until a new Calvinistic leader thought Paris well worth a Mass and became a convert to Catholicism. By that time the opportunity for settlement in Florida had passed, and Henry IV. had all he could do in reuniting France. He succeeded in healing the wounds. of civil war and almost brought prosperity to his people, but no colonization toward the South marked his reign. The Huguenots had their rights and guarantees at home. from the Edict of Nantes of 1598 until Louis XIV., but of French Florida naught remained but the stone with the arms of France, long worshipped by the Indians, but now washed away, and the name of Caroline, the origin of that of future colonies and States. The immediate contribution of the Huguenots to colonization was not to be their own settlement in America, but rather the universal hatred against Spain which their sufferings evoked and the inspiration they gave to their fellow Protestants beyond the Channel.

CHAPTER III

RALEIGH FOUNDS VIRGINIA

ENGLAND had not shared in full the European development. For although her civil wars happily ended before Cabot's discovery, and the religious dissension was stilled by Henry VIII. and Edward, there came a reaction under Mary, and, against the wish of her subjects, England was drawn, through the queen's marriage, into the sphere of Spanish inAuence. But national tendencies were too strong, and with the accession of Elizabeth in 1558 began a new era. The Spanish discoveries in the New World, the Portuguese acquisitions in the Orient, came at the time when economic questions like the closing of the monasteries and the eviction. of small landholders for the purpose of raising sheep turned loose a large and restless population. A national navy had been begun by Henry VIII., but it was still small, and yet, although the Spaniards dominated the sea, by a happy instinct the newly aroused British energy turned to it. The world to the west seemed divided between Spain and Portugal quite as the Bull of Alexander VI. designed, and if the English wished to reach the East it must apparently be by sailing to the northeast or to the northwest. Endeavors in the former direction led to the discovery of Archangel and the foundation of the Muscovy Company; efforts to the northwest led to the voyages, among others, of Frobisher and Gilbert. The difficulties of the Arctic route in both directions caused the gradual abandonment of the Russian enterprise and the search for a more southerly route through

America to the Indies. At first the new continent was not valued for itself. It was an obstacle in the way of commerce with the Orient, and, when it was found to be in the way for all time, the efforts of other countries were directed to finding deposits of precious metals to rival the Spanish acquisitions further south.

Conflict was inevitable. The Spaniards claimed all the New World as the Indies, explored it northwardly almost to what is now New York, and in a measure settled it even to Chesapeake Bay. Religious antagonism played its part. England became more intensely Protestant in proportion as Spain endeavored by fair means or foul to subject her, although for a long time state policy forbade hostilities. Spain was too powerful, and England not yet conscious of her own strength. The most that could be done officially was quietly to encourage private enterprise. Privateering, shading into buccaneering, became a recognized trade, and after a while even the queen had an interest in the business. Her share was secret, to be sure. If she furnished money to fit out vessels, this was not divulged; and so, if the Spaniards captured the fleet, she disclaimed all knowledge of its undertakings. If, as generally happened, a cargo of Spanish goods and precious metals was brought into Plymouth or other English port, she received her full share of the proceeds. It was very convenient for all concerned, for without royal connivance a vessel could hardly be fitted out; and yet, internationally, the government was completely ignorant and left the privateers to their own fate when captured. It was an odd sort of morality, but we are dealing with the age of Elizabeth and not of Victoria and Edward VII. In the new development thus coming from the seas, it was natural that the southern parts of England should feel the first impulse. London had not then acquired that overwhelming preponderance which now makes it the centre of every movement. The southwest counties were very influential, and after Cabot's Bristol, long almost a free city, Plymouth and Dartmouth, even more than the old Cinque Ports, were