s who pronounced the sentence
"seconded by the whole colony, interceded warmly for his pardon." "The
Spaniards beheld with astonishment and sorrow the public execution of a
man whom they universally deemed more capable than any who had borne
command in America, of forming and accomplishing great designs." This
gross injustice amounting to a public scandal was accounted for by the
malignant influence of the Bishop of Burgos, in Spain, who was the
original cause of Balboa being superseded as Governor of Darien.

The expedition designed by Balboa was now relinquished; but the removal
of the colony soon afterward to the Pacific side of the isthmus may be
considered a step toward the realization of an exactly similar attempt
by Pizzaro.

To some historical readers the word "Darien" only recalls the bitter
prejudice entertained against William III, our "Dutch King,"
notwithstanding the special pleading of Lord Macaulay and others. Some
Scottish merchants had adopted a scheme recommended by the most reliable
authorities[23] of that age, viz., the settlement of a half-commercial,
half-military colony on the Atlantic coast of the isthmus. Such a
company, in the words of Paterson, would be masters of the "door of the
seas," and the "key of the universe." The East India Companies both of
England and Holland showed an envious jealousy of the Scottish
merchants, and therefore no assistance was to be expected from the King,
although he had given his royal sanction to the Scots Act of Parliament
creating the company. The Scottish people, however, zealously continued
the scheme. Some 1,200 men "set sail from Leith amid the blessings of
many thousands of their assembled countrymen. They reached the Gulf of
Darien in safety, and established themselves on the coast in localities
to which they gave the names of New Caledonia and New St. Andrews." The
Government of Spain (secretly instigated, it was believed, by the
English King) resolved to attack the embryo colony. The shipwreck of
the whole scheme soon followed, due undoubtedly more to the jealousy of
the English merchants (who believed that any increase of trade in
Scotland or Ireland was a positive loss to England) and the bad faith of
our Dutch King, than to all other causes whatever. Of the colony,
according to Dalrymple (ii, 103), not more than thirty ever saw their
own country again.

[Footnote 23: E.g., Paterson, founder of the Bank of England, Fletcher
of Saltoun, the Marquis