a more false step in Government for when once People perceive that Princes have no regard to the Laws made for the protection and welfare of the Subject they will naturally think themselves absolv'd from such as require their Allegiance and support of the Soveraign That Mr. Paterson and the Scots Company should insinuate from the Octroy that we were to be assisted or defended by English Men of War or Money is nothing but a mixture of Falshood and Malice The Libeller owns that the Words of our Act cannot bear it and the World knows that our Parliaments never pretend to dispose of English Ships or Mony and therefore no man of sense will believe this Renegado when he says the Scots Company put that Gloss on the Text for their own advantage since that had been directly to expose themselves For we are not to suppose they could think the Dutch and Hamburghers so weak as not to peruse the Act it self which would soon have undeceived them Therefore all those Reflections which he protends the English Traders to India made upon it must vanish of course as having no manner of Foundation Much less can they serve to justify the Memorial given in at Hamburgh by Sir Paul Ricaut against our taking Subscriptions there Which Memorial tho minc'd by our Libeller yet ev'n as he represents it is against the Law of Nations and indeed scarcely reconcileable to good sense in the first place to call our Agents private Men who acted by the Company 's Authority and according to Act of Parliament and in the next place to suppose that the Hamburghers could possibly join with us in hopes of English Protection when the Opposition made to us by the Court of England was known all over Europe nay the Scribler himself owns P. 17. That the more Opposition the English and Dutch offer'd to the Project the more the Hamburghers thought it their Interest to embrace it This is sufficient to convince the Suborners that the next time they hire a Scribler to belie the Scots Company they must be sure to pitch upon one that has a better Memory His next Reflections P. 22 23. That our Ships were neither fit for Trade nor War that our Cargo was not proper that our main Design was the Buccaneer Trade that above 10000 l. was deficient of the first Payments and most of the Subscribers not able to raise their Quota are equally false with the rest The Ships for their Burden and Size are as fit either for Trade or War as any in Europe The Cargo of Cloth Stuffs Shoes Stockins Slippers and Wigs must needs be proper for a Country where the Natives go naked for want of Apparel and fit to be exchanged for other Commodities either in the English Dutch French or Spanish Plantations For Bibles we suppose our Libeller would rather we had carried Mass Books yet others will be of opinion that 1500 of 'em was no unfit Cargo Our own Colony might have dispens'd with that number in a little time nor were they unfit to have been put into the hands of such of the Natives especially of the younger sort that might learn our language For Hoes Axes Macheet Knives c. they were absolutely necessary for our selves and a Commodity much valued by the Natives Fifteen hundred square Buccaneer Pieces and proportionable Ammunition was no such extraordinary Store for eleven or twelve hundred men and whereas he maliciously insinuates that Buccaneering was our main Design the Event hath prov'd it to be false had that been our intent we might easily have invaded the Spanish Plantations at both ends of the Isthmus Sancta Maria nor Panama it self could never have been able to withstand such a force when a few undisciplin'd Buccaneers did so easily take them It 's well enough known there was a parcel of as brave Men that went with our Fleet as perhaps Great Britain could afford many of 'em inur'd to War and Fatigues and knew how to look an Enemy in the Face without being daunted They had giv'n proofs enough of that in Flanders where no men alive could fight with more Bravery and Zeal than they did for the Common Cause tho some People have since thought sit to starve them That there was above 10000 l of the 100000 l not paid in is false there was not above 2000 l wanting For those great men that thought their Countenance enough and therefore refus'd to pay in their Subscriptions he shall have our leave to name them but perhaps his Suborners will not care to have their Friends so much expos'd That most of the Subscribers were unable to raise their Quota is demonstrably false by our sending away two Convoys since the thirds being greater by far than the first and that we are now preparing a fourth As to the Companies charging 25 per Cent. advance on every Article of the 19000 l Stock it 's well enough known that so much Advance is thought nothing in a West-India Trade it was all the profit the Company was to have and only charged in the Books by way of Formality that the Colony might know what they were indebted to the Company His Story p. 23. of its being propos'd in the Company to sell off their Ships and Cargo and divide the Product amongst the Subscribers is nothing eul our dishonour nor at all to be wondred at considering the unreasonable opposition we had met with from Court That we rejected it as inglorious argues still that we are not so mean-spirited as he elsewhere represents us His base Reflections p. 24. on the Company as if they had despair'd of the design and sent their men to Sea on purpose to perish and on Drummellier that be order'd the Colony to get Mony honestly if they could but be sure to get it and if they came home without it then the Devil get them all serve only to discover his own Temper and that he thinks all men act and speak like himself We have faid enough already to demonstrate the Honesty of both Company and Colony Had their design been to get Mony without regard to Honesty they would not have been starv'd to death by the Proclamations and other opposition made them at Court they could quickly have possessed themselves of the Spanish Mines which the Scribler owns p. 164. were within twelve Leagues of them and with much more ease of the 40000 l that was sunk in the French Ship But he serves the Suborners for their Mony much at the same rate he did the Scots Company His Reflection p. 25. that Mr. Stratford was oblig'd to arrest our Ships at Hamburgh for 800 l Flemish as they were fitting out serves only to discover his own malice and folly Mr. Stratford had very good Security for 800 l Flemish when he had four Ships in Port not yet fitted out and his receiving his Mony in a fortnight or three weeks as the Libeller owns in the same Paragraph shows he had no ill
considerable London Merchant The others Name was Daniel Lodge born of Yorkshire Parents in Leith in Scotland per Accident bred a Merchant in Holland but crack'd and turn'd to his Shifts in England This was a pleasant facetious Fellow knew the World exactly and acted his Part in this Tragi-Comedy to a Miracle So much I have offer'd by way of Preliminary that you may have a Glimpse of these dark Pillars by which the Scotch Company was to be lighted down into the Spanish or Darien Mines and over that Isthmus to the Phillipin Islands California China and to Japan it they could turn Dutch Men. The Companies Act being now touch'd with the Royal Scepter and for the more Dispatch pass'd thro' the Seals per Saltum they were empower'd by Virtue of a necessary Clause thereof to take in Foreign Subscriptions to a lesser half of the Capital Stock so that the main Stress of the Project lay in fingering this Money The Three Projectors frankly engag'd to use their Interest with their Correspondents and Friends in England Holland and in the Hans Towns for 300000 l at least in Consideration of which and of the Acquisition and in Token of their Gratitude for the Project the Company was to give the Triumvirate 20000 l So to work all Hands went There being three different Parties in England jarring at that Time about the India Trade and the Old Company having got the Better on 't it was easie to draw a great many of the Male-Contents into the Scotch Companies Net nay the Subscriptions came in so quick that he was the happiest Man that could get his Name first down in their Books For Paterson preach'd up only an India Trade here in England taking no Notice of Darien but to some Select Heads that were able to bear it when once the Mony was in Scotl. they knew how to dispose of it To be short they had now more Money in their View than they knew what to do withal if the House of Commons had not baulk'd them and reprimanded the Subjects of England for their Foolery The Companies Books were cary'd Home with abundance of Secrecy and Care tho' they had as good left them behind there having been never a Groat of the English Money paid in as yet The Projectors follow'd them as the Sons of Levi did the Ark in old Times and when they came to Scotland their chief Business was to preach up the vast Advantages which the House of Commons foresaw to acreu to the Scotch Company and Nation by this Octroy and Trade and to back their Sermons with the greater Authority the Commons Address to the King was printed and reprinted at Edinburgh but not a Syllable of the King's Answer mention'd which confirm'd the whole Country of the Riches they were like to be surfeited with by this Act and Trade To be short they came in Shoals from all Corners of the Kingdom to Edinburgh Rich Poor Blind and Lame to lodge their Subscriptions in the Company 's House and to have a Glimpse of the Man Paterson who satisfy'd them as fast as they came that altho' they sign'd such a Sum for Fashion's sake to give the Company more Reputation Abroad yet the Quarter Part would only be demanded there being no occasion for any more and that they could not lie out of the Use of their Money above 18 Months or 2 Years at most which by that time and the Old Cant of God's Blessing would fetch good Returns and large Dividends The Companies Books had not been long open'd in Edinburgh before 400000 l was sign'd when it will be all paid in the Lord of Hosts knows and it now being high time to shut the Books there and go where the Money lay to wit the 300000 l in Holland and the Hans Towns the Projectors were consulted about it The Result of which was that they might not act precipitately in this Affair it was necessary they should make some real Show of their Resolution and Forwardness by sending a Couple of fit Persons over to Amsterdam and Hamburgh to build half a Dozen of stout Ships of 50 Guns apiece that by laying out their Money in the Dutch Country the Dutchmen might be prepossess'd with a kind Opinion of the Company and thereby make it appear how willing they were to extend the warm Rays of their Octroy to People who deserv'd it better than their ungreatful Neighbours Some warm Debates happen'd on this Occassion what Two Persons should be entrusted with this mighty Affair for by reason the Kirk and Church-money was equally in the Stock both Parties endeavour'd to imploy their own Instruments There were several Meetings on this Affair and it was at long-run amicably concluded that Alexander Stevenson late Kirk-Treasurer or Kirk-Warden of Edinburgh a Zealous and Long-grace Sayer and Capt. James Gibson Merchant and Malignant of Glasco should be the Delegates The next material Thing that came in Course was to lodge a Stock of Cash in London to answer their Delegates necessary Occasions abroad The Sum agreed on was either 18 or 20000 l but what Man to entrust with this Sum that was fed on English Beef and Puddin was another Hesitation The Oracle Paterson being consulted herein sagely responded that his Brother Smith's Business requiring him to go and remain for some time at London he expecting some Ships home from Carolina and New-England wherein he had large Effects he was of Opinion that they could not lodge it safer than in his Hands Smith returns to London and having got the Gelt in his Sack never broke his Rest afterwards about the Project The Company at the same Time had substituted Two other Cashiers abroad to wit Mr. Francis Stratford Mechant at Hamburgh now Governour of that Company and Alexander Hendersson alias Archbisshop at Amsterdam who were to draw from Smith's Bank as the Delegates had Occasion This Walloon Banker and Italian Secretary answer'd the Bills punctually till a better half of the Money was extracted about which Time finding the Company baulk'd of the Holland as well as English Subscriptions he thought it necessary to hold his hand and was passive in suffering a Bill of 200 l of Stratford's drawn on him to be protested at London I shall leave him here for sometime that I may bring the rest along with me and only tell you that Smith now finding himself Master but of 8500 l of the Companies Cash and not sure that he shouldever see so much of it again and looking on this as little more than his Quota for the Project and Subscriptions altho' the Latter happen'd to fail not through any Fault or Neglect of him but by the Frowns of the House of Commons in England and Holland by some surly Dutch Men Proprietors in the East and West-India Companies and Lords of Amsterdam he thought the Premium wrought for sufficiently and that it was but just he should pay himself since his Intention was as honest as if it had succeeded
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
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