nd in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Marco Polo, when he visited the
East; the Portuguese, when they doubled the Cape of Good Hope;
Columbus, when he discovered America; and Magellan, when he entered
the South Sea, were moved by curiosity and love of science, more than
by love of gold. But the vast wealth, which the newly-discovered
countries revealed, stimulated, in the breasts of the excited
Europeans, the powerful passions of ambition and avarice; and the
needy and grasping governments of Spain, Portugal, Holland, France,
and England patronized adventurers to the new El Dorado, and furnished
them with ships and stores, in the hope of receiving a share of the
profits of their expedition. And they were not disappointed. Although
many disasters happened to the early navigators, still country after
country was added to the possessions of European kings, and vast sums
of gold and silver were melted into European coin. No conquests were
ever more sudden, and brilliant than those of Cortez and Pizarro, nor
did wealth ever before so suddenly enrich the civilized world. But
sudden and unlawful gains produced their natural fruit. All the worst
evils which flow from extravagance, extortion, and pride prevailed in
the old world and the new; and those advantages and possessions, which
had been gained by enterprise, were turned into a curse, for no wealth
can balance the vices of avarice, injustice, and cruelty.

[Sidenote: Spanish Conquests and Settlements.]

The most important of all the early settlements of America were made
by the Spaniards. Their conquests were the most brilliant, and proved
the most worthless. The spirit which led to their conquests and
colonization was essentially that of avarice and ambition. It must,
however, be admitted that religious zeal, in some instances, was the
animating principle of the adventurers and of those that patronized
them.

The first colony was established in Hispaniola, or, as it was
afterwards called, St. Domingo, a short time after the discovery of
America by Columbus. The mines of the island were, at that period,
very productive, and the aggressive Spaniards soon compelled the
unhappy natives to labor in them, under their governor, Juan Ponce de
Leon. But Hispaniola was not sufficiently large or productive to
satisfy the cupidity of the governor, and Porto Rico was conquered and
enslaved. Cuba also, in a few years, was added to the dominions of
Spain.

At length, the Sp