which it had hitherto had a curious contempt. However
slow was the work of regeneration which he had inaugurated, it was sure
to benefit the next generation which could never return to the old order
of things.

The influence of this new life in the mother country was, of course,
still slower in manifesting itself in her colonies. Cuba had still to
rely upon her own resources, both in inaugurating internal improvements
and in combatting external dangers. As both Great Britain and France
were eagerly pursuing their plans to extend their colonial power in
America, conflicts between these powers and the Spanish possessions in
America were inevitable. Towards the end of the seventeenth century
attempts to establish direct maritime intercourse between France and the
Mississippi, and to colonize the southwest of the continent; which was
under the patronage of Louis XIV. created no little anxiety in the old
Spanish settlements of Florida and eventually had to lead to armed
conflicts in which the West Indies, and especially Havana, as the
metropolis of the Spanish island colonies, became involved.

As early as the year 1693 D. Andres de Pes had settled in Pensacola and
three years later three hundred Spaniards from Vera Cruz and other parts
had under the leadership of D. Andres d'Arriola taken formal possession
of the harbor. Henceforth no foreign ship could enter without being
challenged. This the valiant commander of the French expedition,
d'Iberville, the pioneer founder of Louisiana, was to experience. He had
sailed in October, 1698, with a company of Marines and some two hundred
colonists, among them women and children. At Santo Domingo he took on
board a seasoned veteran of the golden age of piracy, a man who in 1683
had made a fortune of eight million pesos by the capture of Vera Cruz,
had been an associate of M. de Grammont, Lolonois, Morgan and other
notables of the Brotherhood of the Coast, and as such was familiar with
every spot along the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of New Spain; it was
Captain Laurent Grave or Graff, linguist, sailor and intrepid fighter.
They arrived at the island St. Rose in January, 1699, cast anchor and
applied for permission to enter the harbor of Pensacola. This being
refused they sailed westward and settled in the country west of the
Perdido River, which was later recognized by King Philip V., who was
bent upon a conciliatory policy, as the boundary between Louisiana and
Florida.

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