and most assuredly expect That Your Majesty will in Your Royal Wisdom take such measures as may effectually vindicate the undoubted Rights and Privileges of the said Company and support the Credit and Interest thereof And as we are in Duty bound to return Your Majesty most hearty Thanks for the Gracious Assurances Your Majesty has been pleased to give Us of all due Encouragement for promoting the Trade of this Kingdom So We are thereby encouraged at present humbly to recommend to the more special Marks of Your Royal Favour the Concerns of the said Company as that Branch of Our Trade in which We and the Nation we represent have a more peculiar Interest Subscribed at Edinburgh the 5th of August 1698. in Name Presence and by Warrant of the Estates of Parliament SEAFIELD J. P. D. P. By all this it is evideht that the whole Kingdom of Scotland was unanimous in this matter and proceeded deliberately in it as that which highly concern'd their Interest yet we see that all their Endeavours were to no purpose for our Enemies were so resolute in opposing our Trade that rather than it should succeed they will not only trample under foot the Laws of Scotland but the Laws of Nations and exactly follow the Pattern set them by the French in huffing and tyrannizing over their Neighbours when at the same time they pretend to make War upon Lewis XIV for practices of the same nature and whilst they cry out upon the Decisions of the Chambers of Brisac and Mets and of the Parliament of Paris as tyrannical and unjust for invading the Rights of Neighbouring Princes and Nations they set up a Cabal at Whitehall to do the like by Scotland and Hamburgh Then let the World judg whether the King of England had not less reason to say that he was ill serv'd in Scotland than the King of Scots had to say that he was ill serv'd in England since one single Address from the Parliament of England prevail'd with their King to forbid all his Subjects to join with the Scots whereas the repeated Supplications of the Company of Scotland the Address of their Parliament and the Authority of Law and his own Letters Patent could not prevail with the King of Scots to do Justice to his own Subjects We wish these Gentlemen would consider this who were so very angry at the Author of the Defence of the Scots Settlement for saying that the King of Scots was detain'd prisoner in England It is very certain that never any King of Scotland before the Union of the Crowns dar'd thus to trample upon their Laws or to oppose the General Interest of the Nation or if they attempted to do it they were quickly made sensible of their being inferior to the Law and the States of the Nation assembled in Parliament who till the Accession of our Princes to the English Throne remain'd in an undisputed possession of calling their Kings to an account for Male-administration and of disposing of thei Lives and Liberties as they saw cause We need not go so far back for Evidence to prove this as Eugenius the 7th who was brought to his Tryal on suspition of having murder'd his own Wife and acquitted upon discovery of the real Murderers or of James III. whose Minions by whose Council he governed were taken out of his own Bed-Chamber by the Nobles and hanged over Lauder-bridg and he himself persisting in those Courses was killed in flight after being defeated in Battle by the States and in the next Parliament was voted to be lawfully slain We have a later Instance and the Power of our Nation on that Head was largely asserted and accounted for by the Earl of Morton then Regent of Scotland in that noble Memorial he delivered in to Q. Elizabeth and her Council in defence of our proceedings against Q. Mary whom we dethron'd and in her stead set up her Son so that it is not the principle or practice of any one Party of our Nation tho it has been of late fix'd upon the Presbyterians as peculiar to them but was an Hereditary Right conveyed to us all by our Ancestors practised by Papists before the Reformation and justisied by those of the Episcopal Perswasion since particularly by the Earl of Morton beforemention'd who was the first that introduc'd Bishops into our Church after the Reformation Those things are not insisted upon with any Design of applying them to his present Majesty or of incensing the People of Scotland to do so but only to inform those that put his Majesty upon such Courses that they are his greatest Enemies and do what in them lies to destroy him It is the common Right of Mankind to be protected by those they set over them and to complain of Governors when they find themselves aggriev'd and their Privileges torn from them by Violence This Generation has prov'd it beyond possibility of Reply that the greatest Pretenders to submission to Princes and the most zealous Patrons of Passive Obedience will resist and dethrone their Kings too when they find themselves oppressed by them They that maintain the contrary are nothing but mean-spirited Flatterers or such as temporize with Courts because of their own private Advantage and be their Quality what it will are far from being so noble and brave as that poor Woman who told Philip of Macedon that he ceas'd to be King when he refus'd to hear her Petition Upon the whole it will appear that he Author of the Defence of the Scots Settlement made the best Apology for his Majesty that could be made when he said that he was a Prisoner in England and therefore forc'd to act thus against the Interest and Dignity of his Crown as King of Scots It is demonstrated thus If his Majesty were in Scotland and another Person upon the Throne of England it is certain his Majesty would have encouraged the Trade of Scotland and resented such practices in the King of England as contrary to the Laws of Nations and the Soveraignty of his Crown If he did not he would be look'd upon to be mean-spirited and not fit to wear it and if he took part with the King of England against the Dignity of his Crown and the Interest of his Kingdom he would not only be looked upon as an Enemy to his Country but as felo de se From all which it is plain that as it is the best Apology that can be made for the King of Scots when he acts thus contrary to the Honour and Interest of himself and his Country to say he is a Prisoner in England so it is a sufficient Justification of the People of Scotland to refuse Obedience to what he commands by the Influence of the English or other Councils in opposition to their Interest because they are the Commands of a Captive and not of the King of Scots If our Enemies say he is no Captive but at Liberty to go to Scotland if he pleases it is so far from
into any thing he does against us As to that positive Sentence of our having acted contrary to the Peace betwixt his Majesty and his Allies we have all the Reason in the World to complain of it Is our Kingdom then become so mean and contemptible that what is transacted according to the Acts of our Parliaments and Patents of our Kings is liable to be annull'd or declared illegal by any Person that has the hap to be made an English Secretary of State Governor of one of their American Plantations or a Member of their Council of Trade If it be so his Majesty's Dignity as King of Scots is well defended in the mean time when it is liable thus to be trampled upon by his own Servants as King of England This does indeed verisy what has been said that our Kings since the Union leave their Antient Kingdom to the disposal of their Servants but whether this be agreeable to the Coronation Oaths of our Kings let them determine that are concern'd to enquire and perhaps it may be worth the consideration of our Neighbours whether since we have been govern'd by Servants they have not for the most part been subject to Minions and that the one does naturally pave the way for the other So that they are no great gainers by the Bargain If it be answer'd that the Proclamations are issued by his Majesty's Authority and that therefore our Sentence proceeds from his Bar. We answer 1. That there are shrewd Suspitions that a certain Gentleman or two who have affected all along to shew their Zeal against the Scots in this Affair have push'd this matter beyond their Instructions for there 's no man that knows his Majesty's Justice and Wisdom can admit a thought that he would condemn us before we were heard 2. We don 't at all question his Majesty's Authority as King of England to forbid his English Subjects to give any manner of Assistance to the Scots at Darien tho we might say it was unkind but we absolutely deny that he has any Authority as King of England to condemn the Proceedings of the Subjects of Scotland for any thing they transact without the Dominions of England If it be otherwise his Majesty as King of Scots is bound to appear at the King's-Bench-bar in Westminster-Hall for what he hath done as King of Scots upon the Lord Chief Justices Summons and of what Consequence this may be to himself or his Successors may be easily judg'd Had Oliver and the other Regicides bethought themselves of this it had been more for the Honour of England and would have taken off a great deal of the odium that is charg'd upon them for cutting off King Charles had they search'd for something Criminal in his Conduct toward the English Nation as King of Scots and condemned him for that Tho they did not think upon this perhaps others may and then the English will be able to justify themselves as not having cut off their own King but their Enemy the King of Scots as there 's no doubt they would have done by King Charles II. had he not made his escape after the battel of Worcester This may perhaps deserve the thoughts of his present Majesty and others concern'd in the Succession and so much the more that the dependence of the Crown of Scotland upon that of England hath been lately asserted by some English Historians and indirectly hinted at in a pretended Answer to the Defence of the Scots Settlement at Darien p. 24. But to satisfy that Gentleman and others who please themselves so much in vilifying the Scotish Nation they may turn to the Reigns of Edward I. II. III. and they will quickly find that Sir William Wallace K. Robert Bruce James Lord Douglas Thomas Randolph Earl of Murray and others that we could name did so gallantly defend the Soveraignty of Scotland against those bold Pretenders to a Superiority over us that their Successors have had no great stomach to pursue their Claim to it since So that if ever they had any it is forfeited by Prescription Oliver's imaginary Conquest so much insisted on by the dull Answerer of the Scots Defence and others will be of no use to the Faction in this matter since that was no National Quarrel nor did the English pretend to any such thing as a Conquest of us but immediatly withdrew their Forces upon the Restoration So that Oliver's Conquest as he calls it was only the Victory of one Party over another in a Civil War it being well known that he had Friends in Scotland as well as England which if that Wise Author will have Oliver's Victories to be Conquests he had conquerâ—d too before ever he came near Scotland We don't insist upon this with any design to derogate from the Valour of the English Nation which is known all over the World but to stop the mouths of those pitiful Scriblers and to give a Caveat to those Gentlemen about Court who talk so big of conquering Scotland upon this present occasion But we wish them to consult beforehand how England in general stands affected to such a Design and how they will justify the Lawfulness of it lest it fare with them as it did with K. Charles I. and his Cabal who not only in Council advis'd TO REDUCE US TO OUR DUTY BY FORCE RATHER THAN GIVE WAY TO OUR DEMANDS as may be seen in the Representation of the States of Scotland in 1640. but rais'd Money and levied a formidable Army to carry on their Design and yet the Hearts of these Bravos fail'd them when they came in view of the Scots who repuls'd them twice with shame the first time when they encamp'd their great Army near Barwick and the next when we charg'd them at Newburn And at last the best of the Nobility and Gentry of England thought fit to put a stop to those dangerous Proceedings and follow'd his Majesty with a Protestation against them as well knowing that if Scotland were once subdued the Liberties of England could not be long liv'd That it is the Interest of England now to prevent the Ruin of Scotland as much as it was then will appear by the following Arguments 1. That the present Juncture of Affairs makes it necessary for the Kingdom of England rather to strengthen themselves by making new Friends than by procuring new Enemies They are not ignorant that they have a controverted Title to their Crown entail'd upon them and that the Pretenders against those in possession are in the French Interest and under their Protection Nor can they be ignorant that to the old National Hatred betwixt France and England the French have added that of the Protestant Religion Of late years they have declared themselves the most implacable Enemies of it and their King in all his Triumphs has that ascrib'd to him as his greatest Exploit that he hath quelled the Monster of Heresy The case being thus it must needs be against the Interest of
of being attack'd by his Fleet as they that advis'd the emitting of those Proclamations must needs think his Majesty was oblig'd in Honour and Justice to order if he was of opinion that the Scots had broken the Alliance betwixt him and Spain Let any reasonable man consider what Anguish and Perplexity these Considerations join'd to their pinching Wants and other Circumstances must occasion in the minds of those poor men and whether it might not give a handle to those of them that were unwilling to stay to mutiny against the rest and put all into disorder which might be fomented by other ill persons amongst them for we are not to suppose that with 11 or 1200 men there went no other ill man but H s since it 's not improbable that they who opposed our Company so much from the very beginning might be prompted by the same Malice to send Spies and Traitors amongst our Men on purpose to defeat their Design If it had not been that they were thus discouraged and brought to their wits-end by those Proclamations they would certainly have had so much Conduct as to have sent away a great part of their Men to Jamaica or any of the English Plantations where they might have subsisted till the arrival of a Convoy from Scotland and so with those Provisions that were sufficient to carry them as far as New York and a great deal further if they had not been retarded by Tempests might have maintain'd a competent number of their Men to keep possession of the Colony till Supplies had arriv'd but the Proclamations disabled them from taking this Method and by consequence are chargeable with the ruin of the Colony In the next place it is undeniable that those Proclamations must needs have incouraged the Spainards and other Enemies in their Opposition against our Colony and animated them to go on with their Preparations to drive us out So that had they deserted upon no other account but the noise of the great Preparations making against them by the Spaniards at Carthagena Porto Bello c as Sir William Beeston seem'd to insinuate in his Letter it makes the Proclamations directly chargeable with the Ruin of the Colony since they had good reason to remove from thence when their own Prince had forbid all Commerce with them and when their Enemies were making formidable Preparations against them It is likewise plain that those Proclamations must necessarily prevent their having any Supplies from the Dutch at Curassaw if they had any to spare for since the Influence of ours and the Dutch Court prevented our Company 's having any Incouragement in Holland it is reasonable to believe it would have the same influence in reference to our Colony in the Dutch Plantations We have likewise all the reason in the world to conclude that the Influence of those Proclamations might hinder the Natives from giving our Colony those Supplies that it was in their power to have done for there 's no doubt but they had information of 'em industriously sent them by some of our Adversaries when Capt. Long was so malicious as to endeavour at our first arrival to possess them with an opinion that we were nothing but Pirats and that the K. of Great Britain would disown us and indeed by the event it would seem he had Instructions so to do It is true that at first the Natives seeing our Men have a Competency of all sorts of Provisions might not believe his Report but they must needs have been confirm'd in the truth of it afterwards when they saw them dying for want and deceiv'd as to their Expectation of further Supplies and upon that account might think they had sufficient ground to withdraw their Assistance from them and not further provoke the Spaniards in favour of a People that they found were not able to do any thing for themselves and by consequence uncapable to protect them which was the thing they were to expect from their Alliance Having thus made it evident that the Opposition our Company met with from Court at first and the Proclamations issued against our Colony at last are justly to be reputed among the principal Causes of the Miscarriage of that Design we come in the next place to consider his Majesty's Answer to the Address of the Commons of England on that Head and the Proclamations issued out against us in his Name in the West-Indies We are sorry that ever there should have been any occasion for such an ungrateful piece of work but think it a Duty incumbent upon us and what we owe to the Constitution of our Country which we have reason to believe is industriously conceal'd from his Majesty to write freely on this head that the World may see what just cause we have to complain His Majesty's Answer That he had been ill serv'd in Scotland c. is such as our Ancestors if we may believe our Historians would have thought inconsistent with the Trust reposed in a King of Scots a manifest Reflection upon the Justice and Fidelity of the Nation and a discovery of their Arcana Imperii to those that were quarrelling with them We are not to suppose that his Majesty would give an Answer to an Address of this Importance without Counsel If he consulted with our Dutch or English Opposers it was the same as if he had consulted our professed Enemies if he consulted with Scots-men and was advis'd to this Answer by any of them they are Traitors to their Country and have betray'd its Soveraignty for they ought to have advis'd him to answer that as King of Scots he was not to give an account to the English for any thing transacted in that Kingdom but if they found themselves any ways aggrivev'd or thought their Trade endanger'd by the Scots Act he should be willing to have the matter debated and adjusted by Commissioners of both Nations as became the Common Father of both This could not justly have been look'd upon by the English as a refractory or stubborn Answer but must have been imputed to his braveness of Temper and fidelity to his Trust But at once to give up the Soveraignty of Scotland without demurring upon it argues that his Majesty was advis'd to this Answer by Enemies to the Scotish Nation Our Parliaments have originally a greater Power than that of England for what the States of Scotland offer'd to the touch of the Scepter their Kings had no power to refuse or if they did the Resolves of the States had the force of a Law notwithstanding Thus our Reformation was established in 1560 by an Act of the States and tho our Queen Mary then in France and her Husband the Dauphin afterwards Francis I. refus'd to give their Consent it remain'd a firm Law which Q. Mary when she return'd to Scotland was so far from offering to dispense with tho she was a great Asserter of her Prerogative that she was oblig'd to intreat of the States so far to dispense with
making his Case better that it makes it ten times worse for if his Affections be captivated we are without remedy except we either sue for a Divorce as in case of wilful Desertion and denying conjugal Duty or withdraw from under his roof and remove to another Family as God and Man will allow one Sister to do that is oppressed and denied the Privileges of paternal Love and Protection whilst another is caressed and dandled and has her Fortune raised by diminishing that of the neglected Sister The Jamaica Proclamation against our Colony at Darien comes next to be considered and is as follows By the Honourable Sir William Beeston Knt-Governour and Commander in chief for his Majesty in the Island of Jamaica and of the Territories and Dependencies of the same and Admiral thereof WHereas I have received Orders from his Majesty by the Right Honourable James Vernon one of the Principal Secretaries of State importing that his Majesty was not informed of the Intentions and Designs of the Scots in peopling Darien which is contrary to the Peace between his Majesty and his Allies commanding me not to afford them any Assistance In compliance therewith in his Majesty's Name and by his Order I do strictly charge and require all and every his Majesty's Subjects that upon no pretence whatsoever they hold any Correspondence with the Scots aforesaid or give them any Assistance with Arms Ammunition Provision or any thing whatsoever either by themselves or any other for them nor assist them with any of their Shipping or of the English Nations upon pain of his Majesty's Displeasure and suffering the severest punishment Given under my Hand and Seal of Arms the 9th of April 1699. and in the 11th year of the Reign of William the 3d King of England Scotland France and Ireland and Lord of Jamaica Defender of the Faith It contains a heavy Charge against the Scots Company as having settled in Darien without informing his Majesty and having thereby broke the Peace betwixt his Majesty and his Allies As to their not intorming his Majesty with their Design there was neither any need of it nor had they reason to do it that there was no need of it is plain enough from the Act of Parliament impowering them to settle any where in Asia Africa or America upon places not inhabited or any other place with consent of the Natives and not possess'd by any European Potentate Prince or State So that they were under no Obligation to acquaint him where they design'd to settle provided they kept to the Terms of the Act. And that they had no cause so to do is evident from that unreasonable opposition that a Faction of Court had prevailed with him to make to them all along which gave them just cause to expect the like treatment in time to come Then as to the Breach of the Peace betwixt his Majesty and his Allies by the Settlement they had no reason to think themselves guilty of any such thing and so much the less that Dampier Wafer and all others that wrote of the Country gave an Account of the Natives being in possession of their Liberty and almost in continual Wars with the Spaniards Besides it was a rul'd Case in England since Capt. Sharp was by Law acquitted in King Charles Il's time not only for having marched through Darien in a Hostile manner but for attacquing Places that were really in possession of the Spaniards as St. Maria and Panama because he acted by virtue of a Commission from those Darien Princes This together with their not finding a Spaniard or Spanish Garison on all that part of the Isthmus was enough to justify the fairness of the Scots Settlement there and to have put a stop to this hasty Sentence till both sides had been heard But instead of that the Advisers to this Proclamation take upon them in a very Magisterial manner to declare the Scots guilty of a Breach of the Peace betwixt his Majesty and his Allies which is so much the more remarkable that this Proclamation is publish'd in the West-Indies before ever it was known what the Scots could say in their own defence and sent away before the presenting of the Spanish Memorial which was on the third of May 1699. and the Proclamation bears date April 9th 1699. The unfairness of this Proclamation is evident from this that at the very same time it is publish'd in the West-Indies the Lord President of the Sessions and his Majesty's Advocate for the Kingdom of Scotland were sent for from hence to see what they could say to justify their Pretensions to Darien which they did by such Arguments as have not yet been answer'd We leave it then to the impartial Thoughts of the good People of England whether we have not occasion to say that our King is in the Hand of our Enemies since we are thus condemn'd without a hearing and our Nation put tothe trouble and expence to send Lawyers out of the Kingdom to defend themselves before those that had already condemned them And since this is a visible effect of the Union of the Crowns by which we are every day more and more oppressed let them speak their Consciences if we have not all the reason in the World to dissolve that Union except the Nations be more closely united and upon a better footing That we were so treated in former Reigns we had no great cause to wonder when the Court was engaged in a Conspiracy against our Religion and Liberties And our Nation being inferior to none in their Zeal for both it was but natural to think that we should be the first Sacrifice But to be treated thus by a Prince who hath ventur'd his Life to save us from Popery and Slavery a Prince who for Courage in War and Conduct in Peace is not to be match'd in Story a Prince who is under God the Great Champion of our Religion and the bold Asserter of Europe's Liberty a Prince whose Family we revere and whose Person we adore a Prince for whom we have so chearfully ventur'd our Lives and lost so much of the best Blood in our Veins to be so treated by such a Prince hath some thing cutting beyond expression and proves that our Disasters are no way to be remedied but either by a total Separation or a closer Union of the two Kingdoms We cannot be so unjust to his Majesty's Character as to think a Prince of his Magnanimity could be guilty of so mean a thing as willingly to subject the Crown of his Antient Kingdom which he received free to that of another We cannot once suffer it to enter into our thoughts that he who dares to out-brave Death in the Field a thousand times a day should act so unworthy a part as first to condemn and then to try us These and all other things of that sort we must needs charge to the account of our Enemies about him who misrepresent us and therefore surprise his Majesty
and lookt on us and seem'd to be well enough satisfy'd with his new Tenants he thinking it in vain to appear otherwise for if he had muster'd his whole Clan to oppose us 6 of our men with fire-arms were enough to conquer him but what his sentiment was will appear by the sequel After that Visit he did not come near us for 3 or 4 weeks and during this time the mighty noise of our Force spreading all along that Shore and the hopes we gave them of restoring them to their ancient Liberty and Greatness there came Canous with Indians from all the neighbouring parts to view us it was our interest to make them welcome so that they came daily to us without any dread and having staid till we were weary of them went home again with some little presents of Beads Looking-glasses or Knives About the same time Captain Ambrosio came from the Westward to us with a Periaga full of Indians to the number of 30 including Men Women and Children for when they travel they carry their whole Families with them and having come within half a mile of our Ships they set up a Flag of Truce and lay on their Oars till our Pinnaces went out and assur'd them that they should be safe This Ambrosio is one of their greatest Captains and at present an Outlaw or if you will at war with the Spaniard having murder'd 10 of them at the Isle of Pines sometime agoe his Plantation and Government is about 50 miles to Leeward of the Collony and about half way between and the Samballa's Islands He was made very welcom staid 2 or 3 days and told us that we were not safe in Captain Andreas's Ground by reason he was a Spanish Captain and a very Spaniard in his heart and although he seem'd to be well enough satisfy'd with our landing in his Ground yet he was not to be trusted but came purely with a design to spy us Captain Andreas absenting himself so long from the Collony added to the same suspicion and our Senatours being resolv'd to know more of it 3 of their number went on a Visit to his Plantation and having enter'd his Wigwam or Cage-like house he sat still on his Seat without saying one word to them or seeming to know that he ever had seen them before although he was made heartily drunk at both the times he was on board Mr. Pennycook and the others having met with this cold Entertainment from Captain Andreas for they were not offer'd so much as a Plantain or Callabash of Drink which is the usual Entertainment the Indians give to their Friends at their first entry came home again confirm'd of what Ambrosio and the other Indians had hitherto said The next time Capt. Ambrosio came he insisted on the same story and would needs perswade us to remove from that place and come nearer to him where we needed not apprehend any betraying design from him by reason his killing of these 10 Spaniards at the Isle of Pines and taking that Periaga with a brass Pitterara could never be forgiven by them Our Council met on this occasion where it was order'd that Pennycook Montgomery Macay and Pinparton Counsellors with Robert Drummond Commander of the Caledonia should go to Ambrosio's with the Long-boats and Pinnaces mann'd with 70 Fire-arms and on their way to sound all the Harbours along the Coast I was desir'd by these Gentlemen to go with them and having stopt the first Night at the Isle of Pines 6 Leagues to Leeward of the Collony where Captain Long was riding in His Majesty's Ship the Rupert Prize we lodg'd that Night on Board with him The next day we proceeded on our Expedition sounding the Coast where we sound some good Harbours that were able to contain all the Navy of England but they could not be fortify'd so as to hinder the Enemy from coming in When we arciv'd at Ambrosio's little River or Brook we landed and were Piloted by his Son Captain Pedro to the Plantation which is about a league from the Sea and is so cunning and obscure that without a Guide it is impossible for any man to find the way to it We crost one River eleven times wading always up to the middle and I believe we could have gone a nearer way if they would but they do this designedly that the Path or Road may not be found out by the Spaniard Being arriv'd at the Plantation Captain Ambrosio came out of his Wigwam about 30 Paces and welcom'd us he had a white Cotton Frock on fring'd at the bottom and his Court or Clann behind him who were all muster'd on this occasion to the number of thirty men besides Women and Children they were in such Frocks as Ambrosio's and had short Lances in their hands He carry'd us into his Wigwam and his Wives gave every one of us a Plantain and Callabash of their drink which is made of Indian Corn and like unboil'd Flummery this being all the Food we got till the next day at noon we came down to our Boats except a dish of mine'd Meat of Wild Hogg wherein was about two pound of Meat which serv'd to give us a tast of their finest Cheer We hung in Hammocks that Night in Ambrosio's Wigwam amongst his and his Son Pedro's Wives and our men lay without round a large Fire that was made for them Next morning Ambrosio went out betimes with 3 or 4 of his men to hunt for us but there being no appearance of his return at noon and our Belliers crying Cupboard we did not stay to bid him fare well and his Son Captain Pedro having re-conducted us to the Sea side desir'd the Linguist to tell Captain Pennycook that his Father and he expected some Present for that Entertainment We had brought nothing with us at that time so told him that the next time his Father came to the Collony the Council would thank him and give him something which afterwards was two pieces of Scotch Cloth two Fire-locks and some Pouder with a few Shot wherewith he was mightily pleas'd Having return'd to the Collony and a Report of the Expedition being made in Council and the Port where we were reckon'd the most secure it was resolv'd to remain there dispatch the Fortification with all expedition and make the best Bargain with Andreas we could On the last of November being St. Andrew's day it was manag'd so but how I cannot resolve you that Captain Andreas came aboard the St. Andrew where was a Festival on the account of the Day and he being ask'd by the Linguist why he was so uncivil to the Councellours when they came to visit him in his Plantation he answer'd That he meant no harm and that they must impute it to his Ignorance of the European Customs altho' this Tale could not come well from one that was bred among the Spaniards and not to his want of good-will He was desir'd to sit down and share with them the Linguist
was obtain'd viis modis but the Falshood and Malice of that Insinuation will appear to the World by the previous Act of 1693. for incouraging of foreign Trade by which it was statuted That Merchants more or fewer may contract and enter into such Societies and Companies for carrying on Trade as to any Subject of Goods or Merchandise to whatsomever Kingdoms Countries or parts of the World not being in War with his Majesty where Trade is in use to be or may be follow'd and particularly besides the Kingdoms and Countries of Europe to the East and West-Indies the Straits and to trade in the Mediterranean or upon the Coast of Africa or elsewhere as above Which Societies and Companies being contracted and entred into upon the terms and in the usual manner as such Companies are set up His Majesty with Consent aforesaid did allow and approve giving and granting to them and each of them all Powers Rights and Privileges as to their Persons Rules and Orders that by the Laws are given to Companies allowed to be erected for Manufactories And his Majesty for their greater Incouragement did promise to give to those Companies and each of them his Letters Patent under the Great Seal confirming to them the whole foresaid Powers and Privileges with what other incouragement his Majesty should judg needful These are the very terms of the Act of 1693. and in pursuance of this Act our Nation being willing to form a Company for trading to Africa and the Indies this Act which hath met with so much opposition in the World was past June 26. 1695. which was two years after Then with what Effrontery can H s and his Suborners suggest that it was obtain'd viis modis by surprise or in a surreptitious manner But something they must say to justify their unreasonable treatment of us and to blind the Eyes of the World Thus we see then that the Parliament of Scotland went on deliberately to advance their Trade and to make this Act by which it's evident that they who advis'd his Majesty to say that he was ill serv'd in Scotland impos'd upon him have laid a Foundation of division betwixt him and his Parliament which are the two constituent parts of our Government and if they be dash'd against one another the whole frame of it must of necessity be dissolv'd Hence also it is evident that those Counsellors if Scots-men ought by our old Constitution to be call'd to an account by the Parliament according to the 12th Act of Parl. 2 James 4. And if they be Englishmen or Dutchmen we have a right to demand Justice against them as having meddled in our Affairs contrary to the Laws of Nations The Soveraignty of our Nation and the Independency of the K. of Scots upon the Crown of England being tacitely giv'n up by this Answer and the Parliament of England being possess'd by our Enemies with a false Notion of our Design they put a stop to our taking Subscriptions from any Residenters in England tho our offering to take in the English as Sharers was a plain Demonstration of the uprightness of our Intentions towards that Nation This made it apparent that we had no design in the least to supplant them in their Trade but on the contrary to make them Partakers in ours in order to lay a foundation for a closer Union and greater Amity betwixt the two Nations which if it had taken effect our Trade had not been nipp'd in the bud as now it is by the frowns of the Court but might by this time have been improv'd to the advancement of the glory and strength of the Island Whereas by the opposition made to that noble Design the Nations are more alienated from one another than before lessen'd in their Strength and Trade and Scotland for ever lost as to their Friendship usefulness and joining with England on any occasion whatever unless proper Measures be taken to make up the Breach and retrieve our lost Honour and Advantage All that can be said to excuse so false a step in such a wise Nation as England is that they were impos'd upon by those that are Enemies to the true Liberties of both Nations and by some of their Traders and ignorant Pretenders to give advice in matters of Trade who out of a sordid Principle of Self-interest preferr'd their own private Gain to the general advantage of their Country This would have quickly been seen had his Majesty and the Parliament of England instead of that violent opposition which they made to the Scots Act desir'd a conference betwixt a Committee of the Parliaments of both Nations then it would soon have appear'd what our true Design was and that it was neither our Interest nor Intention immediately to follow an East-India Trade the apprehensions of which did so much alarm the Kingdom of England That it was not our Intention is evident from our rejecting the Proposals of our Countryman Mr. Douglas the East-India Merchant with which H s upbraids us by which at the same time he discovers his own folly and dishonesty his Folly in arguing against the Interest of England which he pretends to espouse and his Dishonesty in proposing our following a Trade which his new Masters who have paid him so well for his false Evidence look upon to be destructive to theirs That it was not our Interest immediately to think of an East-India Trade is evident from this that it would have exported our Mony with which it 's known we do not abound and ruin'd the Linen Manufacture of our Country upon which so many of our Poor depend This we think the City of London may be sensible of in a good measure by the multitudes of their own Silk-Weavers that are starv'd for want of Imployment and also by the unsuccessfulness of their own Linen Manufacture in England by reason of the great quantity of Silks Muslins Calicoes c. brought from the East-Indies from whence some wise Men have been and are still of opinion that an East-India Trade of that sort tends to the general Impoverishment of Europe tho it may enrich particular Persons These Considerations together with some Jealousies that Mr. Douglas might have been put upon making us that Proposal on purpose to divert us from our other Design of an American Trade were the true Reasons of our not hearkening to Mr. Douglas's Advice This our Neighbours might have known had they proceeded with us in such a Friendly manner as we had reason to expect when we were so kind as to offer them a share in the Benefits of our Act. And the Government at the same time might soon have been satisfied that the sinking of their Customs by our own and twenty years Freedom from that Duty was a meer bugbear Pretence It is evident that we could not have spent much East-India Goods in Scotland and therefore must have exported them If we had brought them to England they were liable to Customs there If we
England to suffer any froward and headstrong Faction to embroil them with Scotland or to ruin that Kingdom the Consequence of which will be the exposing themselves as an easier Prey to the Conquest of the French or any other Enemy That the French had a hand in fomenting our late Civil Wars and made use of their Firebrands in all Parties is beyond dispute and that it is now more their Interest to divide us than ever is so palpable that it cannot be denied Nothing in human probability could have stop'd the impetuous Current of their Arms but the Interposition of Great Britain and therefore it concerns them both in point of Interest and Revenge to dash us against one another and if the ill Usage that we meet with from the Court of England should force us again into a French or other Alliance the World cannot blame us since the Laws of Nature and Nations are for us Put the case that a smaller number of Christians should be unjustly attack'd by a greater whom nothing will satisfy but the utter Ruin of the former Could any man in conscience blame the weaker Party to call in the Assistance of Jews and Pagans to preserve their own Lives Is it not the same case with the Scots have they not ever since the Union of the Crowns been oppressed and tyranniz'd over by a Faction in England who will neither admit of an Union of the Nations nor leave the Scots in possession of their own Privileges as Men and Christians Was it not a Party in England that impos'd upon us first in Matters of Religion Did we send first to oblige them to submit to the Geneva Disciplin as they call it or was it they that first imposed their Ceremonies and Forms of Prayer upon us Was it we who first invaded them with an Army to subvert their Civil and Religious Liberties or did not they first invade us Was it we who first made Acts against their Trade or they who made Acts destructive of ours Did we issue Proclamations against their Colonies or have they done so by ours In the name of God then let them declare what they would have us to do They will not unite with us nor suffer us to live by our selves Nor must we have any share of their Trade or carry on a Trade by our selves Is it not plain then that the Faction oppress us and yet we must not complain of this sort of Treatment 2. If the State of Affairs in Ireland be consider'd it will appear to be such as may make it dangerous to suffer the Scots to be oppressed and provok'd in this manner It is well enough known that the People of Ireland are not very well pleas'd with their Treatment by some in England This together with the great numbers of Scots in the North of that Kingdom who bear a natural Affection to their Country and would be very uneasy to see its Ruin may prove of dangerous consequence in case of a Rupture with Scotland 3. It will further appear to be the Interest of England not to suffer the Scots to be so much run down if they consider the posture of their own Affairs at home The Divisions and Animosities betwixt the several Parties in England are well enough known So that besides the Sport it would afford to the common Enemy of our Religion and Country to see those two Nations engaged in War the Enemies of the present Government would be sure to improve it and watch for an opportunity to avenge themselves for what has been done against the late K. James and his Friends It is well enough known what hopes they and some People beyond Sea conceive from the Differences that this Treatment of the Scots may probably occasion and as they have an irreconcilable Hatred against our Nation because we declar'd so generally against the late King and are so zealous for his present Majesty there 's no doubt but they will foment our Divisions as much as they can and insinuate themselves with both Parties in order to set them together by the Ears They know that so many as fall in England of those who adhere to the present Constitution and so many as fall in Scotland for supporting the Trade and Freedom of their Country so many Enemies they are rid of therefore there 's no question but they promise themselves a plentiful fishing in such troubled Waters It likewise deserves the consideration of our Neighbours that they don't stand at present in very good terms as to matter of Trade with France Holland and Flanders nor is it well known what the Issue of the present Controversy with Spain about regulating their Succession may be The impending differences betwixt the Northern Crowns may perhaps in a little time imbroil them with one or other of them and affect their Trade also on that side All which being consider'd it would seem to be the Interest of England to assure themselves of the Friendship of the Scots by treating them in a kind and neighbourly manner 4. It will appear in particular not to be the Interest of the Dissenters and sober Churchmen that the Scots should be thus run down because their own Ruin will be the unavoidable Consequence of it This they may soon be convinc'd of if they will give themselves leave to consider how they were treated in K. Charles the First 's time when the Court did swell with so much Rage against the Kingdom of Scotland for asserting their Liberties then as they do now All those Church of England-men that could not conform to the Innovations brought into the Church by Laud and his Party were treated as Puritans and Schismaticks and those that appear'd for the Liberties of the Nation against the Ship-money and other Arbitrary Impositions of the Court were treated as Rebels and Traitors If they look into the two last Reigns it will appear as plain as the Sun that when Scottand was oppress'd and their Liberties wrested from them the Dissenters and moderate Church-men in England were brought under the lash the former were depriv'd of their Religion and Liberties and the latter expos'd to destruction by Sham-plots c. because of their appearing for the Laws of their Country We need mention no more Instances to put this out of Controversy than those deplorable ones of the Earl of Essex and Lord Russel to which we may add the shameful and barbarous Treatment of the worthy Mr. Johnson Chaplain to the latter because he so excellently defended with his Pen the Birth-right and Freedom of all true Englishmen From all this it will appear that England in general must suffer by the Ruin of Scotland and that those who have all along stood up for the English Liberties must lay their Account to come under the lash if once our Necks come under the Yoke therefore we dare appeal to the sober Men of the Church of England Whether it be their Interest that a Nation which agrees with them in all
the Articles of their Church those about Discipline excepted should be destin'd to ruin because we believe with most of the Reformed Churches that there is no Office superiour to that of a Presbyter of divine Institution Must we be denied the Privileges of Men and Christians because we think that the Discipline of the Church may be more safely intrusted and more faithfully administred by the joint Indeavors of the Minister and the Heads of his Congregation by an Association of neighbouring Ministers and the Heads of their Parishes and by Delegates both of the Clergy and Laity of those Associations in a general Convocation than by another Model But enough of this Subject Let any Man peruse the learned Archbishop Vsher's Treatise of Presbytery and Episcopacy reconcil'd and there they will find that the difference is not so great as some People have made it their business to make the World believe But if nothing less than our destruction will serve those Gentlemen because our Church is of a different Constitution from that of England and that our political Principles and original Constitution are diametrically opposite to arbitrary Power let the Dissenters of England and all those Church-men that concurr'd in the late Revolution look to it When their Neighbour's House is on sire it's time for them to prepare their Bucket's If this Digression be thought impertinent H s and the Answerer of the Scots Defence must bear the blame of it They would insinuate to the World that the Affair of our Trade and Colony is a Presbyterian Project on purpose to render it odious and suspected to the Church of England therefore it was necessary to obviate that false and malicious Suggestion and to acquaint our Neighbours that the Company make no difference as to the matter of Perswasion and let it be put to the Test when they please it will be found that those of the Episcopal Opinion are as zealous for the thriving of our Trade and the Honour of our Nation both of which are concern'd in this Affair as any of the other To wind up this matter if any Party in England entertain suspicions of us the better way to prevent us is to treat us kindly and enter into an Union with us on such Terms as his Majesty and the Parliament of both Kingdoms shall agree and so as the Civil and Religious Liberties of both People may be preserved That will be casier and safer than to relie on the Hopes of an uncertain Conquest or if they don't think fit to do so it 's but reasonable they should leave us in the undisturb'd possession of our own Liberties But if they will do neither let them no more accuse those that complain of this Treatment as Incendiaries but seriously examine whether they themselves mayn't with more Justice be accounted Oppressors PART II. Being a more particular Answer to H s's Libel WE come in the next place to take a Survey of H s Libel intituled The Defence of the Scots abdicating Darien and shall speedily shew to how little purpose his Suborners have spent their Pains and Mony on him The first Line of his Performance is a Banter upon his Majesty whom he charges with investing our Company with immense Privileges and Immunities by his Octroy of 1695. There 's no Man can be answerable for more sense than God has given him but tho H s understood no better his Masters at White-hall of whom he brags so much ought to have taken care that he should not run into Nonsense and an Invective against his Majesty at first dash To talk of granting us immense Privileges is to impeach his Majesty's Wisdom as if he had done a thing without parallel which is directly to incense the Kingdom of England against him as some bad People indeavour'd to do when by a Misrepresentation of our Design they stir'd up the House of Commons against it But had the Surgeon or his suborners look'd into the Privileges of 21 Years freedom from all manner of Taxes granted to the Dutch East-India Company by the States of Holland and the vast Immunities granted by the French King the Danes and Brandenburghers to their Companies for trading to the East-Indies or even to those granted to the English East-India Company at first they would have found there was no reason to charge his Majesty with granting us such immense or unparallel'd Privileges or ascribing it to his not well knowing what he did for the noise of the Guns at Namur as this petulant Scribler does Dedication pag. 9. But if H s and his Suborners exclaim against our Privileges as immense they are resolv'd to diminish the Authority by which they were granted and call it only by the name of an Octroy which signifies no more than a Patent whereas our Privileges were granted us by an Act of Parliament which are greater and more sacred than all the Octroys in Europe Thus thro Ignorance or Malice they think fit to vilify his Majesty's Conduct and Authority which they pretend to defend Their Malice is further demonstrated by the Parenthesis to be presum'd in the 2d page of the Decation where they speak of his Majesty's Promise to interpose his Royal Authority to do us right in case of disturbance and that at the publick Charge to be presum'd of his antient Kingdom There might possibly have been some need of their presumption had all Mankind been indow'd with as little Sense and Honesty as H s and his Suborners for no other Body could ever presume it to mean any thing else since our Acts do not oblige England tho if they had presum'd that our Enemies would take eare that the said Promise should not be kept the refusal of lending our Company the 3 Men of War built at the Charge of our own Nation would soon have convine'd the World that they had presum'd too true We have accounted for rejecting Mr. Douglas's Proposal elsewhere nor shall we take notice of H s's scurrilous Reflections on Mr. Paterson which only discover his own Temper but do that honest Man no hurt As to his charging us with squandring away 50000 l. on 6 Hulks at Amsterdam and Hamburgh purely to make a noise of our Proceedings c. we would desire him and his Suborners to reconcile it with what they say from p. 14 to 20. where they own themselves that the Dutch and Hamburgers were both mightily pleas'd with the Design p. 14. That the Dutch were tickled with the Conceit that they should be Sharers in the Scots Trade and p. 16. they say That that which gave the dead stroke to the Scots Design was the East and West-India Companies running open mouth'd to the Lords of Amsterdam shewing what was hatching by the Scots Commissioners in their City to ruine the Trade of the Vnited Provinces P. 17. they tell us That the Hamburgers thought it the more their Interest to embrace the Project the more that the Dutch oppos'd it P. 18. That our Affair was
the Servants and Adventurers of the Company This indeed is something to the purpose and might deserve the Suborners Mony were there no possibility of proving it false but we shall see anon what ground there is for this bold Accusation after observing That perhaps some Gentlemen at the West end of the Town may find at long-run that their Evidence has blab'd out something more in this Paragraph than it 's for their Interest the World should know We will only ask Mr. H s some civil Questions What are those Reasons not as yet publick to the World for which our Colony left Darien Sir William Beeston's Letter acquainted us that it was for want of Provisions and for fear of the great Preparations by the Spaniards The Letters we have had since from New-York say that it was for want of Provisions and because they were brought to their wits end and did not know what to think of their Case by reason of the English Proclamations Then since the very first of these and much more all of them together were reason sufficient and are publick to the World What other private reasons can Mr. H s give us for it We know he boasts of his Interest in those that are concerned in the Secrets of the West End of the Town Did they tell him then that the Government of England took early Measures to prevent the ill Consequences of our Colony If they did so pray what were those Measures Was the sending of Capt. Long thither to debauch our Men traduce us to the Indians as Pirats and to tell them his Majesty of Great Britain would not protect us one of those early Measures Was not their solliciting a foreign Minister to present a Memorial against our Colony as soon as ever the News of it arriv'd another And was not this the reason why they put it upon that Minister and not upon the Spanish Ambassador that the latter had been forbid coming to Court because his Catholick Majesty would not admit of Schonenburg the the Jew as Envoy from the Dutch Were not the Enemies of the Scots Company so zealous in promoting that Memorial that they could not have patience till orders came from Madrid but put the Envoy upon it of themselves And when a Controversy happen'd about receiving it signed or unsign'd because of the difference betwixt the two Courts did not our Enemies agree to it as an Expedient that one of both sorts should be presented Was not this abominable trifling upon a point of Honour when they were plotting to bereave the Kingdom of Scotland of their Honour Men Mony and Colony all at once Were not these more clandestine and indirect Artifices to destroy our Colony than any he charges upon us to destroy the English Colonies Having ask'd Mr. H s more Questions than he and his Suborners dare positively answer we come next to deny his Charge upon our Colony as being malicious and absolutely false for which their own Declaration shall be our Evidence and is as follows CALEDONIA The Declaration of the Council constitured by the Indian and African Company of Scotland for the government and direction of their Colonies and Settlements in the Indies THE said Company pursuant to the Powers and Immunities granted unto them by His Majesty of Great Britain our Soveraign Lord with Advice and Consent of His Parliament of Scotland having granted and conceded unto us and our Successors in the Government for all times hereafter full Power to equip set out freight and navigate our own or hired Ships in warlike or other manner from any Ports or Places in amity or not in hostility with His Majesty to any Lands Islands Countries or Places in Asia Africa or America and there to plant Colonies build Cities Towns or Forts in or upon the places not inhabited or in or upon any other place by consent of the Natives or Inhabitants thereof and not possest by any European Soveraign Potentate Prince or State and to provide and furnish the aforesaid Places Cities Towns or Forts with Magazines Ordinance Arms Weapons Ammunition and Stores of War and by force of Arms to defend the same Trade Navigation Colonies Cities Towns Forts Plantations and other Effects whatsoever and likewise to make Reprizals and to seek and take reparation of damage done by Sea or by Land and to make and conclude Treaties of Peace and Commerce with Soveraign Princes Estates Rulers Governours or Proprietors of the aforesaid Lands Istands Countries or places in Asia Africa or America And reserving to themselves five per Cent. or one twentieth part of the Lands Mines Minerals Stones of value precious Woods and Fishings have further conceded and granted unto us the free and absolute Right and Property in and to all such Lands Islands Colonies Towns Forts and Plantations as we shall come to establish or possess in manner aforesaid as also to all manner of Treasures Wealth Riches Profits Mines Minerals and Fishings with the whole Product and Benefit thereof as well under as above the Ground as well in Rivers and Seas as in the Lands thereunto belonging or for or by reason of the same in any sort together with the right of Government and Admiralty thereof as likewise that all manner of Persons who shall settle to inhabit or be born in any such Plantations Colonies Cities Towns Factories or Places shall be and be reputed as Natives of the Kingdom of Scotland And generally the said Company have communicated unto us a Right to all the Powers Properties and Privileges granted unto them by Act of Parliament or otherwise howsoever with Power to grant and delegate the same and to permit and allow such sort of Trade Commerce and Navigation unto the Plantations Colonies Cities and Places of our Possession as we shall think fit and convenient And the chief Captains and supream Leaders of the People of Darien in compliance with former Agresments having now in most kind and obliging mannet received us into their Friendship and Country with promise and contract to assist and join in defence thereof against such as shall be their or our Enemies in any time to come Which besides its being one of the most healthful rich and fruitful Countries upon Earth hath the advantage of being a narrow ISTHMVS seated in the heighth of the World between two vast Oceans which renders it more convenient than any other for being the common Store-house of the insearchable and immense Treasures of the spacious South Seas the door of Commerce to China and Japan and the Emporium and Staple for the Trade of both Indies And now by virtue of the before-mentioned Powers to us given We do here settle and in the name of GOD establish Our Selves end in Honour and for the Momory of that most Antient and Renowned Name of our Mother Kingdom We do and will from hence-forward call this Country by the Name of Caledonia and our selves Successors and Associates by the name of Caledonians And sutable to the
and the whole Tenor of his Conversation cannot think this any uncharitable Reflection His unnatutal Rancor against his Native Country and unbounded Malice against the Scots Company make it probable enough that he might do such a thing on purpose to render the Natives Enemies to the Colony which he deserted himself about a Month after And this is so much the more probable because he exclaims against those on Board for not taking care of Andreas nor letting him blood after his fall since none was so proper to do it as himself who was a Surgeon and on Board the Ship at the time It is needless to insist any further on his Train of Falshoods and Inconsistencies in his Account of the Country which being contrary not only to all that have wrote of it but also to the Journals and Letters sent from our Colony We have better reason to say that his Description is Calculated to the Humour of our Enemies and his Suborners than that the Colony's and Mr. Wafer's Accounts were Calculated to the Meridian of the Scots Company To put this Matter out of all doubt we shall here subjoin the first Letter sent from Caledonia by the Council of the Colony to the Company which is the Testimony of six against one Right Honourable OVR Last to you was from the Maderas of the 29th of Aug. and sent by the several ways of Holland and Pottugal to the Contents whereof we now refer and in particular to the State of Provisions therewith sent and which we now find doth considerably fall short even of what was then computed by reason of the badness of the Cask The account of the remaining part of our Voyage together with the most material Transactions since you may know by the enclosed Journal or Diary of our Proceedings We now send you our Letters and Dispatches by Mr. Alexander Hamilton Merchant who takes the opportunity of passing to you by the way of Jamaica over England to whom we desire you would order Forty Shillings Sterling to be paid Weekly towards his Expences during the time he shall stay with you negotiating our Affairs The Wealth Fruitfulness Health and good Situation of the Country proves for the better much above our greatest Expectation which God Almighty seems to have wonderfully reserv'd for this Occasion and now to have prepar'd our Way and disposed the Indies to that purpose In our Passage hither several of our Number have been taken from us by Death whose Names we have herewith sent you and whereof the loss of our two Ministers is the most sensible to us We therefore intreat you would use your utmost endeavours with the General Assembly for procuring others so supply that great want As to the Country we find it very healthful for although we arriv'd here in the Rainy Season from which we had little or no shelter for several Weeks together and many Sick among us yet they are so far recover'd and in so good a State of Health as could hardly any where be expected among such a number of Men together nor know we any thing here of those several dangerous and mortal Distempers so prevalent in the English and other American Islands In Fruitfulness this Country seems not to give place to any in the World For we have seen several of the Fruits as Cocoa-Nuts whereof Chocolate is made Bonellos Sugar-Canes Maize Oranges Plantains Mangoe Yams and several others all of them of the best of their kind any where found Nay there is hardly a Spot of Ground here but what may be cultivated For even upon the very tops and sides of the Hills and Mountains there is commonly three or four foot deep of rich Earth without so much as a Stone to be found therein Here is good Hunting and Fowling and excellent Fishing in the Bays and Creeks of the Coast so that could we improve the Season of the Year just now begun we should soon be able to subsist of our selves but fortifying and building will lose us a whole Years planting By the want of Sloops or finall Coasting Vessels we have hitherto had no opportunity of disposing any part of the Cargo or doing other needful things Since the loss of the French Ship mentioned in the Journal we understand that the Captain had an underband Correspondence in tampering with some of the Natives whom be intended to carry away with him which hightens our Jealousy that the French have a design upon this Place or at least to make a Settlement hereabout And we heartily wish that our Most Gracious King were truly informed of what Consequence it will be both to his Greatness and Security to countenance and encourage us his Loyal and Dutiful Subjects here that our Prince and Country be not only depriv'd of so valuable a Jewel but least the same should fall a Prey to some of our Rival Neighbours This will be the Companies part to notice after these Dispatches shall come to hand You have inclosed a List of several Goods and Merchandises vendable and proper for this Place our Situation being incomparable for the Trade of the Coast where besides our Inland Trade there is commonly but 2 or 3 or at most but 8 or 10 days sail to the best Places of Trade upon the Coast and to the outmost considerable Islands adjoining And we desire that particular Merchants in Scotland and elsewhere may be incouraged to trade and correspond hither in which we hope they will sufficiently find their Account We have also sent you a state of what Supplies of Provisions Stores and Merchant Goods are absolutely necessary for the present support of the Colony referring it to the Company to determine what reasonable Consideration they will have for the Sums that shall be advanced for that purpose And we entreat that all possible Expedition may be us'd in sending us these needful Supplies for without that we shall not only be incapable of making you suteable Returns but this hopeful Vndertaking together with our seives will run no small risque of being inevitably lost But however it be by the help of God we shall not fail to do our unmost in making speedy and suteable Returns and shall always account it our greatest Honour to expose our Persons and all that 's most near and dear unto us in promoting this hopeful Design as not only promising Profit and Glory to the Company and all who are concern'd with them but as being the likeliest means that ever yet presented towards the inabling our Countrymen to revive recover transmit to Posterity the Virtue Lustre and wonted Glory of their Renown'd Ancestors And to lay a Foundation of Wealth Security and Greatness to our Mother Kingdom for the present and succeeding Ages In which we can no way doubt of your most hearty Concurrence and utmost Support So praying Almighty God would bless and prosper the Company in all their Vndertaksngs We Remain Right Honourable Your Most Humble Servants Robert Jolley J. Montgomery Dan. Mackay