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Show 424 TIU: LILY AN'l> THE TOTE~!. the storm, but where he vainly endeavored to lay in new supplies of bread; his biscuit having been mostly damaged by the same cause ;-the Spaniards, with great inhospitality, refusing him all Enpplics of food. Scarcely bad be left San Nicholas, when he was encountered by a hurricane, which drove him upon the coast, exposing him to the most imminent peril, o.nd from the danger of which he escaped with great difficulty;hcgained,aftcr many hardships, the west side of the Island of Cuba, and found temporary respite at Cape San Antonio, where he went on shore for a season. IV. GOURQUES DECLARES IllS PURPOSE TO HIS FOLLOWERS, IN A SPEECH. Hrs worst dangers of the sea were over. He was now within t,;o hundred leagues of Florida, his prows looking, with unobstructed vision, directly towards the enemies he sought. And now, for the first time, he deemed it proper to unfold to his people the true object of the expedition. He assembled together all his followers : u Friend'S and comrades," he said, u I have hitherto deceived you as to my objects. They were of a sort to require, in the distracted condition of our country, the utmost secrecy. It 80 happens that France, torn by rival religious factions, is not properly sensible of what is due to her honor and her people. I have chosen you, as persons whom I mostly know, as persons who know me, and have confidence in my courage, my honor, and my judgment. I have chosen you to achieve a. great work for the honor of the French name, and for the safety of the French people. DOMINIQ.UE DE GOURGUES. Though we quarrel and fight among ourselves at home, yet should i~ be a. common cause, without distinction of party, to protect our people against the foreign enemy, and to aycnge the cruelties they have been made to suffer. It is for a purpose of this nature, that I hrwo brought you hither. I have heard many of you speak with tenrs and rage of the great crime of which the Spaniards, under :Melendez, luwe been guilty, in butchering our unhappy countrymen in Florida; nine hundred widows and orphans hnve cried in vain for vengeance upon the cruel murderers. You know all this terrible history-you nrc Frenchmen and brethren of these unfortunate victims. You know the crime of our enemies, the Spaniards; always our en('mics, and never more 80 than when they profess pence to us, and speak with smiles. What should be our crime, if we suffer t11em to escape just punishment for their butchery; if, 'vith the means of vengeance in our hands, and our enemies before us, we longer delay the hour of retribution? 'V e must avenge the murder of our countrymen ; we must make the Spaniards of Florida. atone, in blood, for the shame and affront which they have put upon the lilies of Franc!} ! If you feel as I do, the day of vengeance and just judgment is at hand. That I am resolute in this object-that it fills my whole soul with but one feeling-my whole mind with but one thought-you may know, when you see that I haYe sold all my wordly goods, all the possessions that I have on earth, in order to obtain the means for the destruction of these Spaniards of Florida. I take for granted that you feel with me, that you are as jealous of the honor of your country as myself, and that you are prepared for any ~crifice- life itself- in this cause, at once so glorious, and so necessary to the fame and safety of our people. If our Frenchmen are to be butchered without a cause, and find no avenger, there is |
