And I do further declare that whatever share of plunder shall come to me as General and commander of the said forces, I will apply the same totally towards the relief of such men as may happen to be maimed or wounded in the said expedition, and towards assisting the widows and children of any of the said forces that may happen to be killed in the said service; and for the rewarding of such as shall perform any distinguished brave action.

No Indian enemy is to be taken as a slave, for all Spanish and Indian prisoners do belong to his Majesty, and are to be treated as prisoners, and not as slaves.

JAMES OGLETHORPE.

XXIII.

COLONEL PALMER.

“As no final agreement with respect to the limits of the two provinces had been concluded, the Indians in alliance with Spain continued to harass the British settlements.  Scalping parties of the Yamasees frequently penetrated into Carolina; killed white men, and carried off every negro they could find.  Though the owners of slaves had been allowed from the Spanish government a compensation in money for their losses, yet few of them ever received it.  At length Colonel Palmer resolved to make reprisals upon the plunderers.  For this purpose he gathered together a party of militia and friendly Indians, consisting of about three hundred men, and entered Florida with a resolution of spreading desolation throughout the province.  He carried his arms as far as the gates of St. Augustine, and compelled the inhabitants to take refuge in their castle.  Scarce a house or hut in the Colony escaped the flames.  He destroyed their provisions in the fields; drove off their hogs, cattle, and horses; and left the Floridians little property, except what was protected by the guns of their fort.  By this expedition he demonstrated to the Spaniards their weakness; and that the Carolinians, whenever they pleased, could prevent the cultivation and settlement of their Province so as to render the improvement of it impracticable on any other than peaceable terms with their neighbors."[1]

[Footnote 1:  HEWATT’S History of South Carolina, Vol.  I. p. 314, and Dr. RAMSAY’S History of South Carolina, Vol.  I. p. 137; where it is quoted, word for word, without acknowledgment.]

XXIV.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, IN A LETTER FROM ON BOARD THE HECTOR.

“May 30th, [1740] we arrived near St. Augustine.  June 1st we were joined by the Flamborough, Captain Pearse; the Phoenix, Captain Fanshaw; the Tartar, Captain Townshend; and the Squirrel, Capt.  Warren, of twenty guns each; besides the Spence Sloop, Captain Laws, and the Wolf, Captain Dandridge.  On the 2d Colonel Vanderdussen, with three hundred Carolina soldiers, appeared to the north of the town.  On the 9th General Oglethorpe came by sea with three hundred