By this time it was known in Europe that the mysterious voyage of the adventurers from the Forth had ended at Darien.  The ambassador of the Catholic King repaired to Kensington, and complained bitterly to William of this outrageous violation of the law of nations.  Preparations were made in the Spanish ports for an expedition against the intruders; and in no Spanish port were there more fervent wishes for the success of that expedition than in the cities of London and Bristol.  In Scotland, on the other hand, the exultation was boundless.  In the parish churches all over the kingdom the ministers gave public thanks to God for having vouchsafed thus far to protect and bless the infant colony.  At some places a day was set apart for religious exercises on this account.  In every borough bells were rung; bonfires were lighted; and candles were placed in the windows at night.  During some months all the reports which arrived from the other side of the Atlantic were such as to excite hope and joy in the north of the island, and alarm and envy in the south.  The colonists, it was asserted, had found rich gold mines, mines in which the precious metal was far more abundant and in a far purer state than on the coast of Guinea.  Provisions were plentiful.  The rainy season had not proved unhealthy.  The settlement was well fortified.  Sixty guns were mounted on the ramparts.  An immense crop of Indian corn was expected.  The aboriginal tribes were friendly.  Emigrants from various quarters were coming in.  The population of Caledonia had already increased from twelve hundred to ten thousand.  The riches of the country,—­these are the words of a newspaper of that time,—­were great beyond imagination.  The mania in Scotland rose to the highest point.  Munitions of war and implements of agriculture were provided in large quantities.  Multitudes were impatient to emigrate to the land of promise.

In August 1699 four ships, with thirteen hundred men on board, were despatched by the Company to Caledonia.  The spiritual care of these emigrants was entrusted to divines of the Church of Scotland.  One of these was that Alexander Shields whose Hind Let Loose proves that in his zeal for the Covenant he had forgotten the Gospel.  To another, John Borland, we owe the best account of the voyage which is now extant.  The General Assembly had charged the chaplains to divide the colonists into congregations, to appoint ruling elders, to constitute a presbytery, and to labour for the propagation of divine truth among the Pagan inhabitants of Darien.  The second expedition sailed as the first had sailed, amidst the acclamations and blessings of all Scotland.  During the earlier part of September the whole nation was dreaming a delightful dream of prosperity and glory; and triumphing, somewhat maliciously, in the vexation of the English.  But, before the close of that month, it began to be rumoured about Lombard Street and Cheapside that letters had arrived from Jamaica with strange news.  The