s ruler of the greater part of the Atlantic, and a
most despotic ruler she proved herself to be. Numerous tales are told of
the atrocities committed upon navigators, especially those of England.

When Cromwell, who caused many liberal ideas to be introduced into
England, tried to induce Spain to abolish the Inquisition and to allow
the free navigation of the Atlantic, the Spanish ambassador replied:

"For my master to relinquish those prerogatives would be the same as to
put out both his eyes."

One instance of Spain's cruelty, for which, however, she suffered a
well-merited retribution, may be related here. In 1564, a party of
French Huguenots settled in Florida near the mouth of the river St.
John. A certain Menendez, who was sailing under orders to "gibbet and
behead all Protestants in those regions," fell upon the colonists and
massacred all he could find. Some of the settlers, who happened to be
away at the time, shortly afterward fell into the hands of Menendez, who
hanged them all, placing this inscription above their heads: "Not as
Frenchmen, but as heretics." In 1567, however, a French expedition
surprised a body of Spaniards who had undertaken to found St. Augustine,
and in their turn hanged these settlers, "Not as Spaniards, but as
murderers."

Hampered and oppressed as they were, deprived of a free and convenient
market for the produce of the soil by reason of the monopolies imposed
by the mother country, it is not strange that the Cubans had recourse to
smuggling, and this was especially the case after the British conquest
of Jamaica in 1655. So universal did the practice become, that when
Captain-General Valdez arrived, he found that nearly all the Havanese
were guilty of the crime of illicit trading, the punishment of which was
death. At the suggestion of Valdez, a ship was freighted with presents
for the king, and sent to Spain with a petition for pardon, which was
finally granted.

But the whole of Europe was against Spain in her arrogant assumption of
the suzerainty of the New World. Especially were her pretensions
condemned and resisted by the English, French, Portuguese and Dutch, all
of whom were engaged in colonizing different portions of America. Then
arose a body of men, who were productive of most important results.
These were known as buccaneers, and were practically a band of piratical
adventurers of different nationalities, united in their opposition to
Spain.

Hayti, as has already be