annals. Although the Atlantic coast of that vast country now comprised
within the limits of the United States and Canada had previously been
traced by navigators, and some little knowledge acquired of the tribes
of red men who roamed its interminable forests, no attempt at
colonization worthy of the name had succeeded. The principal, if not
the only advantage derived from the discovery of North America, came
from the fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador, frequented mostly by
the adventurous mariners of England, France and Spain. In these cold
seas, to the music of storms howling from the North Pole, and dashing
with ceaseless rage the salt spray against the rocky shore, they
threw their lines and cast their nets, at the same time enriching
themselves, and forming for their respective countries a race of hardy
and skilful sailors. The land attracted them not. The inducements
which led to the more speedy conquest and settlement of South America
by the Spaniards, were wanting. Gold and silver to tempt cupidity were
not to be found, and the stern, though not inhospitable character of
the Northern tribes was very different from the imbecile effeminacy of
the Southern races. The opposition likely to be encountered was more
formidable, and the prize to be won hardly proportioned to the hazard
to be incurred. While, therefore, the atrocious Spaniards were
enslaving the helpless natives of Peru and Mexico, and compelling them
by horrid cruelties to deliver up their treasures, the wild woods of
all that region to the north of the Gulf bearing the name of the
latter country, continued to ring to the free shout of the tawny
hunter. Not that attempts had not been made to obtain footing on the
continent, but they had all failed by reason of the character of the
emigrants, or the want of support from home, or of a thousand other
causes reducible to the category of ill luck, bad management, or
providential determination.