but for promotion. He proposed to revive the attempt of De Soto and to
extend the Spanish power over Florida. The expedition was to be at
Menendez's own cost; he was to take out five hundred colonists, and in
return to be made Governor of Florida for life and to enjoy certain
rights for free trade with the West Indies and with the mother
country....

The military genius of Menendez rose to the new demands made upon it.
He at once decided on a bold and comprehensive scheme which would
secure the whole coast from Port Royal to Chesapeake Bay, and would
ultimately give Spain exclusive possession of the South Seas and the
Newfoundland fisheries. The Spanish captain had a mind which could at
once conceive a wide scheme and labor at the execution of details. So
resolutely were operations carried on that by June, 1565, Menendez
sailed from Cadiz with thirty-four vessels and four thousand six
hundred men. After a stormy voyage he reached the mouth of the St.
John's river. Ribault's party was about to land, and some of the
smaller vessels had crossed the harbor, while others yet stood out to
sea. Menendez hailed the latter, and after some parley told them that
be had come there with orders from the king of Spain to kill all
intruders that might be found on the coast. The French being too few
to fight, fled. Menendez did not for the present attack the
settlement, but sailed southward till he reached a harbor which be
named St. Augustine. There the Spaniards disembarked and threw up a
fortification destined to grow into the town of St. Augustine, the
first permanent Spanish settlement north of the Gulf of Mexico.
Various attempts had been made, and with various motives. The
slave-hunter, the gold-seeker, the explorer had each tried his
fortunes in Florida, and each failed. The difficulties which had
baffled them all were at length overcome by the spirit of religious