country called Windangocoa, to which the queen gave the name of Virginia. It is doubted by some historians whether Sir Walter Raleigh ac companied this expedition in person, or whether he ever visited North-America,* When James Edward Oglethorpe, the principal foun der of the colony of Georgia, came over from England, it is said he brought with him Sir Walter Raleigh's written journal; and by the latitude of Savannah and the traditions of the natives, it appears that Sir Walter Raleigh landed at the mouth of Savannah River, and visit. ed the bluff on which the city was afterwards built. During his wild and chimerical attempts for finding El Dorado or the golden country, it is not improbable that this bold persevering adventurer, visited many places on the coast, of which we have no account. Having been stripped of the royal favor on the accession of king James, after the death of queen Elizabeth, of

* Burke of Virginia.

Extract of a letter published in a South-Carolina Gazette, dated Charleston, 22d of March, 1733.

"Mr. Oglethorpe has with him, Sir Walter Raleigh's written journal, and by the latitude of the place, the marks and traditions of the Indians, it is the place where he first went on shore, and talked with the Indians, and was the first Englishman they ever saw; and about half a mile from Savannah is a high mount of earth under which lies their chief King: and the Indians informed Mr. Oglethorpe, that their King desired before he died, that he might be buried at the spot where he talked with that great good man." This extract was republished in a pamphlet, writ ten by Benjamin Martyn, the trustees secretary.

whom he was a favorite; and having been un. justly imprisoned under an unfounded charge of treason, by which he fell a victim to policy and not to justice; therefore it is not improbable that such a series of persecutions occasioned the loss of memoranda, which would have been valuable and interesting at the present day.

When Mr. Oglethorpe communicated the con, tents of Sir Walter's journal to the Indians in Georgia, they stated from traditional communica, tions handed down to them, that their fathers once held a conference with a warrior who came over the great waters, whose memory they had been taught to revere from the high opinion formed of him by their ancestors, and pointed out to Mr. Oglethorpe at a little distance from Yamacraw bluff, a high mound of earth where the Indian king was intered, who talked with the English warrior; he having desired to be buried where this conference was held. The reader must be left at liberty to draw his own conclusions.

The State of Georgia was included in a patent granted to South-Carolina; first as a proprietory government; and in 1719, it became a regal one, bounded by the thirty-first and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude.

The policy of planting a new colony south of Savannah river, on principles essentially different from those by which South-Carolina was governed, was an object of great importance

to that province. A jealousy had long existed between Great-Britain and Spain, respecting the boundaries of their settlements in North and South America, in which those nations charged each other with unjust annoyance to trade between the mother countries and their colonies. The rapidity of population in North-America, and its growth into commercial consequence, promised a rich source of traffic as well as maritime strength to England. Agriculture was the prime object, and the culture of rice, which held up the most promising source of wealth, could not be carried on successfully without the as, sistance of Africans, whose constitutions seem formed by nature to bear the heat and exposure of a climate, most favorable for its production. The colony of South-Carolina at that time was numerously stocked with negroes, who had been brought from Africa by British merchants, and sold to the planters, whose wealth was estimated almost exclusively by the number of their slaves. It was the interest of Spain to throw every pos sible obstacle in the way of the planters of the British colonies, and none promised to be more effectual than that of inveigling the negroes from the service of their owners, pointing out to them the happiness of freedom, and promising them all the privileges of his catholic majesty's subjects. In order that these allurements might be the more effectually accomplished, a black regiment was formed, consisting entirely of runaway slaves

from Carolina. As there was no war then exist

ing between the two nations, remonstrances were presented to the governor of Augustine, without having the desired effect. The boundaries between the British provinces and Florida, had not been settled by any public agreement between England and Spain, neither were they marked or well understood. To prevent negroes escaping from the Carolinas to Augustine, a fort was built on the Alatamaha river, and garrisoned.' This gave offence to the governor of Augustine, who complained of it to the court of Madrid, as an encroachment on the dominions of his royal master. The Spanish embassador at London lodged the complaint before the court of GreatBritain, and demanded that orders should be sent to remove the troops, and demolish the fort. It was agreed that the governors of the respective nations in America, should meet in an amicable manner, and adjust the respective boundaries between the British and Spanish dominions in that quarter; accordingly Don Francisco Menandez, and Don Joseph De Robiero, in behalf of Spain, went to Charleston, to hold a conference on the subject, with the executive officers of government. At this meeting, Arthur Middleton, president of the council, demonstrated to the Spanish deputies, that the fort against which complaint had been made, was built within the bounds of the charter granted to the proprietors; that the pretensions of Spain to

the lands in question were groundless; and that the fort in question was erected for the purpose of defending themselves and their property, against the depredations of the Indians, under the jurisdiction of Spain; and begged to know the reasons why his catholic majesty's governor, in Florida, protected felons and debtors that fled to them; and why negroes were encouraged to leave their master's service, and take refuge in Augustine? The deputies replied, that the governor of Florida would deliver up all felons and debtors; but that he had express orders of twenty years standing, to detain all slaves who should fly to St. Augustine for liberty and protection, and that the design of his royal master was the exercise of humanity, and a disposition to convert them to the christian religion; and that the king had ordered compensation to be made to the owners of runaway slaves, in money, which, however, was seldom or never complied with. The negociation ended unsatisfactorily to both parties, the fort was soon after burned down, and the southern frontier of South-Carolina was again left exposed and defenceless.

The principal object of Spain in possessing the coast north of the Mississippi, was to secure the Indian trade brought down that river, as well as those north of it. The coast was garrisoned with troops, and agriculture was but little attended to. Spain justified herself in these acts of aggression, on the common right of all the