the inroads of the English had discouraged all attempts at cultivation in the vicinity, and the city remained little more than a garrison town, until, by the Treaty of 1762, Florida was ceded to the English Crown. The Spanish inhabitants nearly all left with the garrison for Cuba. The English flag was raised upon the Castle of San Marco, and an English Governor, an English garrison and English colonists came in to occupy the city and the province. Judicious measures were at once taken to advance the interest and growth of the city and the two Floridas. Bounties were offered for the production of indigo and naval stores, and a considerable commerce at once grew up. Roads were opened, and settlements made in the interior and on the coast. During the twenty years of English occupation extensive barracks were erected in the city, which was much built up and improved; and, could it have remained under the English flag, Florida would have been as well populated and as prosperous as the other colonies of England in America. The acknowledgment of the independence of her other colonies, which had organized a confederacy against her rule, rendered Florida of little consequence as a small
