AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 219

French capture the Spanish fort at Pensacola ; the Spaniards
straightway retake it; the French capture it again in the
following year, and, thinking to put an end to the matter,
destroy the fort and burn the town. Nothing daunted, the
Spaniards begin another settlement on Santa Rosa Island in
1722, and a few years later rebuild Pensacola.
 Added to the other sources of ill feeling between the
Spanish and English colonists, was the fact that the former
afforded a refuge and protection to the fugitive slaves of
the latter. This had been a fruitful cause of complaint
from the beginning, and soon a further grievance was
found in the fact that absconding debtors and other crimi-
nals found a convenient asylum in Florida. In 1725 an
unsuccessful attempt was made to settle these difficulties
amicably; and in 1727 Colonel Palmer, with a body of
three hundred militia and some friendly Indians, carried
fire and sword over the entire province up to the very gates
of St. Augustine.
 The settlement of the new colony of Georgia by G.en-
eral Oglethorpe in 1732 was resented by the Spaniards as
a further encroachment upon their territory, but, as it in.
creased very materially the strength of the English colo-
nists, the latter were not likely to yield to remonstrances.
Continual bickeringse-ensued, negotiations.between Eng*
land and Spain led to no result, an-f finally, in 1740, Ogle-
thorpe gathered a force of regulars and militia, marched to
St. Augustine, and, after bombarding the fort uselessly, re-
turned to his own province. Now came the turn of the
Spanish Governor, Monteano; so, gathering a force of
some three thousand men and thirty-six vessels, he set out
from St. Augustine with the determination to strike a
decisive blow at the new English colony. At first he was
successful, but before he had done much damage he was
baffled by a neat stratagem on the part of Oglethorpe, and
retreated in deep chagrin. The next year (1743) Ogle-