of those principles of liberty so happily diffused throughout the continent of North America; from this proceeded, not only the aversion to their residence among them, but an absolute order from the crown, prohibiting them from holding lands in Florida, while the British openly and constantly enjoyed that privilege. This fact is established by the grants made to several inhabitants from the Bahama Islands, as well as to others. The day has at length arrived when Spain, conscious of her inability to oppose the tide of liberty, must yield to justice, what she intended only as acts of indulgence for a population of European aristocrats whom she invited in vain to this quarter.

The state of society in this territory, although assimilated, in some respects, to that of Louisiana on its fortunate accession to the American confederacy, presents a novelty of character under still more variegated forms and peculiar circumstances, requiring a wise and perhaps vigorous administration; one that will encourage an industrious, and keep in check a disorderly population. Some, no doubt, will resort thither, without a respect for either religion or the laws, and others, more from absolute want, than a laudable ambition.

The philanthropic project of civilizing the Indians cannot be too highly commended; and when it is considered that they are the aborigines of the country, the inducement is enhanced, and the mind is roused to researches for their good qualities. A writer of celebrity has observed, that when an Indian attains a certain degree of civilization, he displays a great facility of apprehension, a judicious mind, a natural logic, and a particular disposition to subtilize, or sever, the

finest differences in the comparison of objects. He reasons coolly and orderly, but he never manifests that versatility of imagination, that glow of sentiment, and that creative and animating art, which characterize the nations of the south of Europe.

Whenever a question as to the Indians arises, it has been too common to contemplate ferocity, and the worst traits which characterize the human heart, and to seek for apologies for what is termed retaliation for atrocities; as if one evil was a palliation for another. An abhorrence of this race of people may have been tolerated, from political motives, by Europeans; but surely no well founded reason can be adduced, why the same spirit, so revolting to humanity, should be fostered by the Americans, whose forbearance and liberality are, in many other respects, proverbial, and should be exemplified by acts of benignity and good fellowship worthy of natives of the same soil, and from whom is expected those religious considerations so much and so laudably reverenced at the present day.

As the welfare of a society depends on the basis of religion, it is so ordered by the great Author of Nature, that the successful establishment of the one shall depend on the existence of the other. It is fully manifested, that the regulations of a community are imperfect without the influence of religion, and that the prosperity of a country must depend, in a great degree, on the moral qualities of its inhabitants. Consequently, it becomes important to encourage some species of people in preference to others,

as far as may be consistent with the true spirit of our republican institutions, which admit of a mixed population, but which may be adapted to the views and circumstances of different sections of the Peninsula.

Let our eastern brethren migrate thither, and be the pioneers of good morals, steady habits, and civilization, gradually adapting them by imperceptible changes to the settlers, who will eventually become useful members of society, and fitted for that species of independence so consonant with the true principles of freedom, and so happily diffused throughout the union.

19

AGRICULTURE.

VARIOUS Opinions have been formed as to the fertility of the lands in East Florida, which common report and geographers have too uniformly pronounced to be sand hills, pine barrens, and salt marshes. Nothing but experience can confirm or remove the prejudices arising from such hasty conclusions. By some it is said, that the planters of the southern states will remove their hands, under an expectation that the lands are more calculated for the production of rice, than the Carolinas; and that they will prefer the more profitable culture of sugar, and the tropical productions, to which the peninsula is more genial, to the trouble and expense of manuring their present exhausted settlements.

The lands in these provinces, intersected in most parts by spacious rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds, are promiscuously composed of the following kinds :

Those denominated high and low hammock, are most esteemed for the more valuable productions, such as cotton, sugar, and corn, and are distinguished by the natural growth of large evergreen oaks, hickory, red bay, magnolia, and cabbage trees; and in many parts intermixed with orange

groves, springing from a soil composed of a light, and sometimes black mixture of loam and vegetable mould, as superstrata of various depths, having a foundation of marle and clay in undulating layers, the most inexhaustible sources of cultivation. Traces of ancient settlement and population are found in these tracts of land.

Swamp lands are distinguished by the growth of the cypress and other large trees in forests, emblems of their fertility and adaptation for rice; for which cultivation, they require to be drained and devested of the saline particles unfriendly to vegetation.

Pine lands, which are more favourable to cultivation and pasturage than those in the neighbouring states, not only on account of the pine trees being more resinous, but by their distance from each other, without any underwood, giving an appearance of open groves, rather than of forests; and thereby affording room for vegetation, which is promoted by the influence of the sun and the circulation of air. Although these are too generally pronounced barren, much good corn has been raised from them, and they are said to be peculiarly adapted to the culture of the grape.

Salt marsh lands, generally bordering, with banks of oysters, on the sea coast, afford an abundance of grass, excellent food for horses and cattle. It is also good manure, on an impoverished soil, for raising cotton.

Prairie or meadow lands are margined towards the sea by immense quantities of oyster shells, from which, advancing into the country, are often found extensive plains of grass