to whom he had lately given such large Priviledges by so Solemn an Act of Parliament Upon Notice of all which the Company 's Deputees went immediatly to the Senate and gave in a short Memorial in French which being faithfully Translated is as followeth Noble and Venerable Lords WE the Subscribers Deputees and Directors of the Indian and African Company of the Kingdom of Scotland Understanding that the Gentlemen His Majesty of Great Britain's Ministers here have presented a Memorial to your Lordships in which they seem to quarrel the Powers which have been granted to us by His Majesty and the Parliament of Scotland to make Treaties of Commerce with any Foreign Potentate Prince or State not in War with His Majesty the King our Soveraign for Enlarging the Trade and for the better Establishment of our said Company We pray your Lordships That you would be pleased to Communicat the said Memorial to us that we may take Measures accordingly Hamburgh the 9th day of April 1697. Your Lordships most humble and obedient Servants Jo. Erskine Jo. Haldan Will. Paterson The Senate thereupon recommended the Deputees above-nam'd to the Commercii in whose Hands the Memorial lay who gave them a Copy thereof Doubles of which were by the said Deputees dispatched to both the Secretaries of State for Scotland and to the Court of Directors of the Company And in the mean time the Merchants to assert their own Freedom and Priviledges Sign'd for considerable Sums in the Company 's Books But with a Condition to be void if the Company did not procure some Declaration from the King that might render them secure from the Threatnings and other Insinuations contain'd in the said Memorial To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please Your Majesty WHereas By the 32d Act of the 4th Session and by the 8th Act of the 5th Session of Your Majesties current Parliament as well as by Your Majesties Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom this Company is Established with such Ample Priviledges as were thought most proper for encouraging both Natives and Forreigners to Joyn in the Carrying on Supporting and Advancement of our Trade The most Considerable of the Nobility Gentry Merchants and whole Body of the Royal Burrows have upon the Inducement and Publick Faith of Your Majesties said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent contributed as Adventurers in raising a far more considerable Joynt-Stock than any was ever before rais'd in this Kingdom for any Publick Undertaking or Project of Trade whatsoever which makes it now of so much the more Universal a Concern to the Nation And for the better Enabling us to Accomplish the Ends of Your Majesties said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent we have in Pursuance thereunto appointed certain Deputees of our own Number to Transact and Negotiat our necessary Affairs beyond Sea And at the same time to Treat with such Forreigners of any Nation in Amity with Your Majesty as might be inclinable to Joyn with us for the Purposes aforesaid In the Prosecution of which Commission to our said Deputees Vested with full Power and Authority according to Law we are not a little surpriz'd to find to the great Hindrance and Obstruction of our Affairs That Your Majesties Envoy to the Courts of Lunenburgh and Resident at Hamburgh have under Pretence of special Warrant from Your Majesty given in a Joint-Subscribed Memorial to the Senate of Hamburgh expresly Invading the Priviledges granted to our Company by your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letsers Patent as by the herewith transmitted Copy may appear By the which Memorial we sustain great and manifest Prejudices fince both the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburgh are thereby contrary to the Law of Nations expresly threatned with your Majesty's high Displeasure if they or either of them should countenance or joyn with us in any Treaty of Trade or Commerce whatsoever which deprives us of the Assistance which we had reason to expect from several Inhabitants of that City For Redress whereof we do in all Duty and Humility Apply to your Majesty not only for the Protection and Mantenance of our Priviledges and Freedom of Trade but also for Reparation of Damnages conform to your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent And do further beg leave to Represent to your Majesty That tho by the said Act of Parliament and Letters Patent we conceive our selves legally and sufficiently Authorized to Treat even with any Sovereign Potentate or Estate in Amity with your Majesty for the Support and Advancement of our Trade yet we by our said Deputees have only treated with particular and private Merchants of the said City of Hamburgh without ever making any the least Proposal to the Senate thereof And this we humbly conceiv to be the natural Right and Priviledge of all Merchants whatsoever even tho we had wanted the Sanction of so Solemn Laws And without some speedy Redress be had therein not only this Company but also all other individual Merchants of this Kingdom must from hence forward conclude That all our Rights and Freedom of Trade are and may be further by our Neighbours violently wrested out of our Hands We therefore to prevent the further evil Consequences of the said Memorial to our Company in particular do make our most Humble and Earnest Request to your Majesty that you would be Graciously pleased to grant us such Declaration as in your Royal Wisdom you shall think fit to render the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburgh and all others that are or may be concern'd secure from the Threatings and other Suggestions contain'd in the said Memorial as well as to render us secure under your Majesty's Protection in the full prosecution of our Trade and free enjoyment of our lawful Rights Priviledges and Immunities contain'd in your Majesty's Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mentioned Signed at Edinburgh the Twenty Eight Day of June 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council-General by May it please your Majesty Your Majesties most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant YESTER P. Memorandum That the Council-General of the Company did at the same time come to a Resolution of Representing the Premisses likewise to His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council but were afterwards prevailed upon to supersede that Resolution at the Secretaries of State 's earnest Desire they being both then here and upon their joint Engagement to procure a speedy Answer from his Majesty The King's Answer to the said Address By the Right Honourable John Earl of Tullibardin c. and Sir James Ogilvy Knight Principal Secretaries of State My Lords and Gentlemen WE are impowered by the King to signify unto you That as soon as His Majesty shall Return to England he will take into Consideration what you have Represented unto him
A Full and Exact COLLECTION OF All the Considerable Addresses Memorials Petitions Answers Proclamations Declarations Letters and other Publick Papers Relating to the Company of SCOTLAND Trading to AFRICA and the INDIES since the passing of the Act of Parliament by which the said Company was established in June 1695 till November 1700. Together with a short Preface including the Act it self as also a Table of the whole Contents Forsan haee olim meminisse Juvabit Virg. Grata superveniet quae non â—â—perabitur hora. Hor. Printed in the Year 1700 The Preface THe Endeavours of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies in establishing a Colony and Settlement in so important a place as that Isthmus or narrow neck of Land commonly called Darien situated upon the hight of the World between the spacious South and North Seas and consequently a fit Center for so extended and universal a Trade as seems to have been intended by the Act of Parliament establishing that Company having not only been the Subject-Matter of a great deal of Discourse and Speculation both Abroad and at Home but also raised the Jealousy of some and the Envy of others of the most considerable Courts in Europe That together with the continued course of Opposition which the Company met with in all its Designs and Undertakings gave occasion to the Writing of several very Ingenious Books concerning it But these Books referring very often to several publick Papers contain'd in this Collection it is humbly presum'd that of all that has been written upon that Subject nothing can be more acceptable to the Publick nor of more real use in giving a juct View to indifferent Persons of positive Matters of Fact without any artificial Embellishments or Reflections thereupon than the following Collection taken as near as possible from the very Original Papers themselves It 's true there was a small Collection of this kind Printed formerly under the Title of Original Papers c. But the haste in which it seems that Collection was done giving probably occasion to its being very imperfect in many respects and it containing scarcely the Third Part of what this does it was thought fit for the General Satisfaction of all contending Parties and others to make this Collection with more deliberation and as compleat as possible to the end that there may be no occasion for any further Additions to it unless future events afford matter for a Second Volume And that the Reader may likewise see how far the measures taken by the Company are warranted by the Act of Parliament by which it was established an exact Copy of the Act of Parliament it self is hereunto subjoyned ACT FOR A COMPANY Trading to AFRICA and the INDIES June 26. 1695. OUR SOVERAIGN LORD Taking into His consideration That by an Act past in this present Parliament Intituled Act for Encouraging of Forraign Trade His Majesty for the Improvement thereof did with Advice Consent of the Estates of Parliament Statute and Declare that Merchants more or fewer may Contract and enter into such Societies and Companies for carrying on of 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 followed and particularly beside the Kingdoms and Countries of Europe to the East and West-Indies the Streights to Trade in the Mediterranean or upon the Coast of Africa or in the Northern Parts or else where 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 and in use in other parts consistent always with the Laws of this Kingdom His Majesty with consent foresaid did allow and Ap prove giving and granting to them and each of them all Powers Rights and Priviledges 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 Encouragement did promise to give to these Companies and each of them His Letters patent under the Great Seal confirming to them the whole foresaid Powers and Priviledges with what other Encouragement His Majesty should judge needfull as the foresaid Act of Parliament at more length bears And His Majesty understanding that several Persons as well Forreigners as Natives of this Kingdom are willing to engage themselves with great Sums of Money in an American African and Indian Trade to be exercised in and from this Kingdom if Inabled and Incouraged thereunto by the Concessions Powers and Priviledges needfull and usual in such Cases Therefore and in pursuance of the foresaid Act of Parliament His Majesty with Advice and Consent of the said Estates of Parliament Doth hereby make and constitute John Lord Belhaven Adam Cockburn of Ormistoun Lord Justice Clerk Mr. Francis Montgomery of Giffen Sir John Maxwell of Pollock Sir Robert Chiesly present Provost of Edinburgh John Swinton of that Ilk George Clerk late Baillie of Edinburgh Mr. Robert Blackwood and James Balfour Merchants in Edinburgh and John Corss Merchant in Glasgow William Paterson Esquire James Foulis David Nairn Esquire Thomas Deans Esquire James Chiesly James Smith Thomas Couts Hugh Frazer Joseph Cohen D' Azevedo and Walter Steuart Merchants in London with such others as shall joyn with them within the space of twelve Months after the first of August next and all others whom the foresaid persons and these joyned with them or major part of them being assembled shall admit and joyn into their Joint-Stock and Trade who shall all be Repute as if herein originally insert to be one Body Incorporate and a free Incorporation with perpetual Succession by the Name of the CGMPANY of SCOTLAND Trading to Africa and the Indies Providing always Likeas It is hereby in the first place provided that of the Fond or Capital Stock that shall be agreed to be Advanced and Imployed by the foresaid Undertakers and their Copartners The Half at least shall be Appointed and Allotted for Scots Men within this Kingdom who shall enter and Subscribe to the said Company before the first day of August One Thousand Six Hundred and Ninety Six Years And if it shall happen that Scots Men living within this Kingdom shall not betwixt and the foresaid Term subscribe for and make up the equal half of the said Fond or Capital Stock Then and in that case allennarly it shall be and is hereby allowed to Scots Men residing abroad or to Forreigners to come in Subscribe and to be assumed for the Superplus of the said half and no otherways Likeas the Quota of every Mans part of the said Stock whereupon he shall be capable to enter into the said Company whether he be Native or Forreigner shall be for the least one Hundred lib. sterl And for the Highest or Greatest Three Thousand lib. Sterl and no more directly nor indirectly in any sort With power to the
said Company to have a common Seal and to alter and Renew the same at their pleasure with Advice always of the Lyon King at Arms As also to plead and Sue and be Sued and to purchase Acquire Possess and enjoy Lordships Lands Tenements or other Estate Real or Personal of whatsoever Nature or Quality and to dispose upon and alienate the same or any part thereof at their pleasure and that by Transfers and Assignments made and entred in their Books and Records without any other Formality of Law Providing always that such Shares as are first subscribed for by Scots Men within this Kingdom shall not be alienable to any other than Scots Men living within this Kingdom That the foresaid Transfers and Conveyances as to Lands and other real Estate when made of these only and a part be perfected according to the Laws of this Kingdom anent the Conveyance of Lands and Real-Rights with power likeways to the foresaid Company by Subscriptions or otherways as they shall think fit to raise a Joynt-Stock or Capital Fond of such a Sum or Sums of Money and under subject unto such Rules Conditions and Qualifications as by the foresaid Company or major part of them when assembled shall be Limited and Appointed to begin carry on and support their intended Trade of Navigation and whatever may contribute to the Advancement thereof And it is hereby Declared that the said Joynt-Stock or Capital Fond or any part thereof or any Estate Real or Personal Ships Goods or other Effects of belonging to the said Company shal not be lyable unto any manner of Confiscation Seisure Forfaulture Attachment Arrest or Restraint for and by Reason of any Embargo breach of Peace Letters of Mark or Reprisal Declaration of War with any Forreign Prince Potentate or State or upon any other account or pretence whatsoever But shall only be Transferable Assignable or Alienable in such way and manner and in sucâ— Parts and Portions and under such Restrictions Rules and Conditions as the said Company shall by Writing in and upon their Books Records and Registers direct and appoint and these Transfers and Assignments only and no other shall convey the Right and Property in and to the said Joynt-Stock and Capital Fond and Effects thereof abovementioned or any part of the samen excepting always as is above excepted and that the Creditors of any particular Member of the Company may by their real Diligence affect the share of the Profit falling and pertaining to the Debitor without having any further Right or Power of the Debitors Part and Interest in the Stock or Capital Fond otherways than as above appointed and with this express Provision that whatever Charges the Company may be put to by the contending of any of their Members deceased or of their Assigneys Creditors or any other persons in their Rights The Company shall have Retention of their Charges and Ezpenses in the first place And the Books Records Registers of the said Company or Authentick Abstracts or Extracts out of the same are hereby declared to be good and sufficient for Evidents in all Courts of Indicature and else where And His Majesty with Advice foresaid further Statutes and Declares that the said John Lord Belhaven Adam Cockburn of Ormistoun Lord Justice Clerk Mr. Francis Montgomery of Giffen Sir John Maxwell of Pollock Sir Robert Chiesly present Provost of Edinburgh John Swinton of that Ilk George Clerk late Baillie of Edinburgh Mr Robert Blackwood and James Balfour Merchants in Edinburgh and John Corss Merchant in Glasgow William Paterson Esquire James Foulis David Nairn Esquire Thomas Deans Esquire James Cheisly James Smith Thomas Couts Hugh Frazer Joseph Cohen D' Azevedo and Walter Stuart Merchants in London and others to be joyned with or assumed by them in manner above-mentioned and their Successors or major part of them assembled in the said Company shall and may in all time coming by Plurality of Votes Agree Make Constitute and Ordain all such other Rules Ordinances and Constitutions as may be needfull for the better Government and improvement of their Joynt-Stock or Capital Fond in all Matters and things relating thereunto to which Rules Ordinances and Constitutions all persons belonging to the said Company as well Directors as Members thereof Governours or other Officers Civil or Military or or others whatsoever shall be subject and hereby concluded As also to Administrate and take Oaths de fideli and others requisite to the Management of the foresaid Stock and Company And the said Company is hereby impowered to Equipp Fit set Out Fraught and Navigat their own or hired Ships in any manner as they shall think fit and that for the space of ten years from the date hereof notwithstanding of the Act of Parliament one thousand six hundred and sixty one years Intitituled Act for Encouraging Shipping Navigation wherewith His Majesty with Consent foresaid dispenses for the said time allenaâ—ly in favours of the said Company that from any of the Ports or Places of this Kingdom or fromany other parts or places in Amity or not in Hostility with His Majesty in Warlike or other manner to any Islands Countreys 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 and Inhabitants thereof and not possest by any European Sovereign Potentate Prince or State And to provide and furnish the foresaid Places Cities Towns or Forts with Magazins Ordinances Arms Weapons Ammunition and stores of War and by Force of Arms to defend their Trade and Navigation Collonies Cities Towns Forts and Plantations and other their effects whatsoever As also ro make Reprisals and to seek and take Reparation of Dammage done by Sea or by Land and to make and conclude Treaties of Peace and Commerce with the Sovereigns Princes Estates Rulers Governours or Proprietors of the foresaid Lands Islands Countreys or Places in ASIA AFRICA or AMERICA Providing always Likeas It is hereby specially provided that all Ships imployed by them shall return to this Kingdom with their Effects under the pain of Confiscation Forfaulture and Seizure of the Ship and Goods in case of breaking of Bulk before their return excepting the case of Necessity for preserving the Ship Company and Loadning allenarly And His Majesty with Consent foresaid doth further Statute and Ordain that none of the Leidges of this Kingdom shall or may Trade or Navigat to any Lands Islands Countreys or places in ASIA or AFRICA in any time hereafter or in AMERICA for and during the space of Thirty One Years to be counted from the passing of this present Act without Licence and Permission in writing from the said Company Certifying all such as shall do in the contrair hereof that they shall Forfault and Amit the third part of the Ship or Ships and of the Cargo or Cargoes therein imployed or the value thereof the one half
present Parliament We therefore in all humble Duty lay before your Majesty the whole Nation 's Concern in this Matter and we do most earnestly entreat and most assuredly expect That your Majesty will in your Royal Wisdom take such Measures as may effectually vindicat the undoubted Rights and Priviledges 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 Assurance your Majesty has been pleased to give us of all due Encouragement for promoting the Trade of this Kingdom So we are thereby Encourag'd at present humbly to recommend to more special Marks of your Royal Favour the Concern 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 I. P. D. P. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of the Court of Directors of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies Sheweth THAT whereas the Estates of Parliament have by their Address of the 5th of August instant been pleased to recommend the Concerns of the said Company to some Marks of your Royal Favour for supporting the Credit and Interest thereof which has already suffered in a great measure by reason of the several Obstructions which they have met with in the prosecution of their Trade particularly by a Memorial given in to the Senate of Hamburgh by your Majesty's Ministers there We are thereby encourag'd in all humility to lay before your Majesty That as the said Memorial was given in to the Senate of Hamburgh in a most solemn and publick manner so your Petitioners humbly conceive that the Effects thereof cannot be taken away but by some Intimation made to the said Senate that they may enter into Commerce with your Petitioners as freely and securely in all respects as they might have done before the giving in of the said Memorial That in consideration of the Damages sustain'd by the Company as aforesaid Your Majesty would be pleased for their Incouragement at present as a Gracious Mark of your Royal Favour to bestow upon them the two smallest of the Frigots now lying useless in Bruntisland Harbour That in regard of the time already lost by reason of the Obstructions aforesaid Your Majesty would be graciously pleas'd to continue the Priviledges granted by Act of Parliament to the said Company of being Custom-free for such longer time as your Majesty shall in your Royal Wisdom think fit In respect of all which may it please your Majesty to take the whole Premisses into your Royal Consideration and give such Orders and Directions with relation thereunto as to your Majesty in your Royal Wisdom shall seem meet and expedient Signed at Ediburgh the 16th day of August 1698. in Name Presence and by Warrant of the said Court of Directors by May it please your Majesty Your Majesty's most Loyal most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant Geo. Clark I. P. C. D. Letters from Mr. Stevenson the Company Agent at Hamburgh to the Court of Directors of the Company Hamburgh the 4th of October 1698. Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen I Wrote to you on the 26th past advising you of my going post to Hamburgh in pursuance of your Orders where I arriv'd the 2d instant And the Day following I waited upon the English Resident and in the Company 's Name desired to know if he had yet received his Master's Pleasure ordering him no more to oppose the Transactions of the Indian and African Company of Scotland in this City which I pressing hard answered by his Character and Honour he never received any Orders from his Master that mentions the said Company since his giving in the Memorial against them So I have no further to add but that I am My Lords and Gentlemen Your most faithful Servant to power Alexander Stevenson This was under Cover which contained what followeth Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen BY this within-closed you have a full Answer as to what may be expected here for ever Since my parture from this I am informed that the English here did constantly assert that the Company would never be redressed and the Delay of the same after all your means has made an Impression upon the Minds of People that it will never be at least such as they might trust to Hamburgh the 18th of October 1698. Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen I Wrote to you of the 4th current wherein I advised you of Sir Paul Rycaut English Resident at Hamburgh's Answer given me anent your Affairs to which refers Mr. Cresset Envoy at the Courts of Lunenburgh being returned from waiting upon his Majesty there I thought it my Duty to wait upon him and demanded in your Names to know if his Majesty had signified his Royal Pleasure anent removing of the stop put to the Company 's Affairs in this City through the Memorial given in to the Senate against them To which Answered he received no such Orders and was of the Judgment If the Memorial were yet to be given in it would be done I shall not enlarge what farther past but assure you he seems to insinuate that his private Orders from the Government of England was to act quite contrary to your Expectations This is all from To the Right Honourable the Court of Directors c. My Lords and Gentlemen Your obedient Servant Alex. Stevenson This was under Cover which contained what followeth Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen BY the within-closed you have an account of what relates to your Affairs with respect to have the Merchants in this City concerned I cannot offer to speak to the Commercij about the same but those Merchants here that are Signers in the Books of Subscriptions are as cordial as ever were the Stop removed they doubt not things here would take the desired effect A Letter from the Court of Directors of the Company to the Lord Seafield Secretary of State upon receipt of Mr. Stevenson's Letters Edinburgh Novemb. 29. 1698. My Lord THis is by order of the Council-General of the Indian and African Company of Scotland to cover the inclosed Copies of two Letters lately received from our Company 's Agent at Hamburgh Upon reading whereof yesterday at a meeting of the said Council-General they were not a little surpriz'd at the Contents thereof considering the many repeated Assurances given them formerly by Letters word of Mouth and even in Parliament that the King had already given Orders to his Ministers at Hamburgh with relation to the Memorial given in to the Senate of that City against our Company But after some reasoning thereupon and considering how far your I ordships frank Undertaking when last in Scotland as well as the Station you are in doth engage your best Endeavours to procure the Company Justice and vindicate the
Kingdom 's Rights in this matter They have ordered us the Court of Directors to transmit the said Copies to your Lordship and expect your Lordships Answer to this and our late Petition to his Majesty before they remonstrate any further with relation thereunto This is in presence and by Warrant of the said Court of Directors from To the Right Honourable the Viscount of Seafield Secretary of State for the Kingdom of Scotland My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant John Schaw P. The Secretary's Answer Whitehall Decemb. 13. 1698. SIR I Received a Letter from you as President of a Committee of the East-India Company which relates to Accounts they have had from their Correspondent at Hamburgh with the Copys of two Letters they have received I shall take the first convenient Opportunity I can have to represent this Matter to the King but I cannot as yet expect to have it For his Majesty is very much imployed in the Affairs of his Parliament here This is all the Answer I can give at present and which you may signify to those concerned I am To Sir John Schaw of Greenock c. SIR Your most faithful and humble Servant SEAFIELD A Letter from the Court of Directors in Answe to the Secretary Edinburgh Jan. 13. 1699. My Lord SIR John Schaw of Greenock having some time ago signified to the Court of Directors of our Company the Contents of a Letter which he received from your Lordship bearing date at Whitehall the 13th of December last intimating that your Lordship would take the first convenient opportunity of representing to his Majesty the Company 's Petition with relation to the Parliament's Address as also the Contents of the Company 's Letter to your Lordship bearing date the 24th of November last But in respect we have not all this time heard any further from your Lordship concerning that Matter this is by order of the said Court of Directors to put your Lordship in mind of the Premisses not doubting but you have had before this time a convenient opportunity to represent the same to his Majesty and in expectation of your Lordships speedy and satisfactory Answer I remain To the Right Honourable the Viscount of Seafield Secretary of State My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant Archbald Mure. Pr. The Secretary's Answer Whitehall Febr. 7 1699. SIR I Have presented to his Majesty the Petition of the African Company and I am commanded by him to let you know That there being accounts that the Ships belonging to the Company are arriv'd upon the Coast of America And the particular Design not being communicated to his Majesty he therefore does delay to give any Answer untill he receive certain Information of their Settlement This you may signifiy to the Council or Directors of the Company as being by his Majesty's Command I am To Sir Archibald Mure of Thornton c. SIR Your most humble Servant Seafield A Letter from the Council-General of the Company to his Majesty giving an Account of their Colony's arrival and settlement at Darien c. May it please you Majesty WE your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful Subjects the Council-General of the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies having by express received an Account from the Council of our Companys Colony in America that they arriv'd safe at their intended Port within a League of Golden Island on the Coast of Darien and after having treated on board of our Ships with the Natives who were always ownd to â—e the only Proprietors of that part of the Coast our Men did at the request and with the consent of the said Natives land on the 4th of November last and take possession of an uninhabited Place never before possessed by any European whatsoever and that in pursuance of the said Treaty the chief Men and Leaders of the said Natives have join'd with and taken Commission from the said Council We thought it our Duty at our very first Meeting to give your Majesty an account thereof and likewise that by Letters from our said Council bearing date at New Edinburgh in Caledonia being the Name given to our present Settlement the 28th day of December last we are positively informed that the French have a Design upon all that Coast or at least to make a Settlement somewhere thereabouts And we humbly conceive that the firm Settlement of our Colony in those Parts may be the means of preventing or at least lessening the evil Consequences that may arise to your Majesty's Kingdoms and Dominions every where by the Settlement of any powerful foreign Neighbour in upon or near any part of that Coast And as we are always bound thankfully to acknowledge your Majesty's Goodness for granting us these Priviledges mentioned in the Acts of Parliament and your Majesty's Letters Patent by which our Company is established So we do now in all humility confidently expect your Majesty's Royal Favour and Protection as having in all the Steps of our Conduct through the whole Course of this Affair strictly observed the Conditions required by the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent And referring this together with the Contents of our last Petition to your Majesty's Royal Consideration to give such Directions therein as to your Royal Wisdom shall seem meet and expedient This is in Name Presence and by Warrant of the said Council-General Signed by Edinburgh the 31st day of March 1699. May it please your Majesty Your Majesty's most faithful most dutiful most humble and most obedient Subject and Servant TWEEDDALE A Letter from the Court of Directors to the Lord Carmichael Secretary of State then in waiting My Lord THis being the first Opportunity that we have had to Address your Lordship since your Advancement to that eminent Station and Place of Trust wherein you are We must account it a Happiness that upon Receipt of the late welcome News from our Colony's Company in America we can transmit an Account thereof to his Majesty by the hands of one so much devouted to the Honour and Interest of our Country and Company as your Lordship has upon all Occasions shewn your self and who being often Witness to our Company 's Proceedings from time to time can give a juster account thereof than any other that has no Interest in our Stock nor has ever been amongst us Inclosed you have our Council-General's seal'd Letter to his Majesty which we doubt not your Lordships will carefully deliver together with an exact Copy thereof for your Lordships better Information to which we refer but shall for your further Information enlarge a little upon the several Heads therein mention'd As to our place of Settlement it is so far from having ever been possess'd by any European whatsoever that by all the Accounts that we could ever yet get not only at this time from the Council of our Colony but even by such Letters as we have seen and heard of from Curacao and other American Islands no European did before our
to believe that his not being allowed Access to His Majesty is upon the Account of his carrying an Address from this Company which every Body knows stands in great need of and has a just Right to His Majesties Royal Favour and Protection And which being the General Concern of the whole Nation is confidently expected signified to your Lordship by Order and in name of the Court of Directors by Edinbur the 9th day of January 1700. My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant Pat. Scot. I. P C. D. A Letter from the Company to my Lord Basil Hamilton My Lord WE have your Lordships Letter of the 2d Instant by yesterdays Post in relation to to the Contents of which we send you herewith the Copy of a Letter which we have written by this Nights Post to both the Secretaries of State and likewise the Copy of another Letter which we had this morning from the Lord Chancellour upon the same head As our Company cannot but have a just sense of your Lordships generous condescension to the Council-Generals request in undertaking a troublesome Journey to London this time of the Year to wait upon and Solicite his Majesty about our Company 's Affairs with no other view but frankly to serve the Interest of your Country to the manifest neglect of your own So we cannot but heartily regret that the carrying of the Company 's Commission should be the occasion of putting such a distinguishing Mark upon a Person of your Lordships Quality and merit as to be denied access to His Majesties Person because you did not wait upon His Majesty when you were formerly at London No body can be so blind as not to see through this And whereas we never could hear that your Lordship did ever any thing unworthy of your Quality or inconsistent with the duty of a Loyal and Peaceable Subject So we are still hopefull that by your own prudent management His Majesty may be undeceived of any mis-representation he might have had of you that he will yet condescend to grant your Lordship access to his Royal Person with the Company 's said Address and give you a Gracious Answer to the Contents thereof and to the other particulars mention'd in your instructions An account whereof would be very welcome News in the midst of our misfortunes to the Company in general and particularly to the Court of Directors in whose Name and by whose Order this is from Edinburgh the 9th day of January 1700. My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant Pat. Scot. I. P. C. D His Majesties Letter to His Council of Scotland William R. RIght Trusty and Right well beloved Cousin and Councellor Right Trusty and Entirely beloved Cousin and Councellour Right Trusty and well Beloved Cousins and Councellours Right Trusty and well Beloved Councellours and Trusty and well Beloved Councellours We greet you well WHEREAS The Council-General of the Company of that our Kingdom Trading to Africa and the Indies by their Letter to our Secretaries of the Fourth day of December last did desire That they might give their concurrence to procure a Gracious Return from Us to the Petition which they had sent with Lord Basil Hamilton And the said Lord Basil having communicated to Our Secretaries both the foresaid Petition and His Instructions And they having represented to us what is desired in behalf of the said Company and we having refused the said Lord Basil Hamilton Access to present the the foresaid Petition to Us for the Reasons We did Order our Secretaries to Comunicate to Our Chancellour Yet We being willing to give an Answer to what the said Company does desire You are therefore to call for some of the Council-General and acquaint them that We are resolved in the terms of our Treaties to demand from the King of Spain that Captain _____ Pinkarton and these of his Crew who are detained Prisoners at Carthagena be Released and set at Liberty And you may also acquaint them that our Subjects of that our Kingdom shall be allowed the same Liberty of Trade that others enjoy with the English Plantations And in general you may signifie to them Our Resolution to promote and advance the Trade of the Kingdom And the three Friggots they demand having been given by Parliament for guarding the Trade of the Coasts We are not resolved to dispose of them till we have the Advice of our Parliament And so we bid you heartily Farewel Given at our Court at Kensingtoun the Tenth day of January 1700 and of our Reign the Eleventh Year By his Majesties Command Sic Sub. Seafield Directed thus To Our Right Trusty and Right well Beloved Cousin and Councellor Our Right Trusty and Entirely Beloved Cousin and Councellor Our Right Trusty and well beloved Cousins and Councellours Our Right Trusty and well Beloved Councellours and to our Trusty and well Beloved Councellours Patrick Earl of Marchmont our Chancellor and the rest of the Lords and others of our Privy Council of our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland This is a true Copy taken from the principal and Subscribed by Gilb Eilot Cls. Sti. Con. An other Letter from the Council General of the Company to my Lord Basil Hamilton My Lord YOur Lordships Letters to the Court of Directors having been by them Communicated to us We cannot but acknowledge that as you have at our request frankly undertaken a troublesome Journey and Task to serve the Interest of your Country and our Company So we are fully satisfied that you have acquitted your self with a great deal of Prudence and Discretion in the execution of that Charge for which we render you most hearty Thanks But finding by a Letter of the 10th instant from His Majesty to the Lords of his Privy Council and by a former from the Secretaries of State to the Lord Chancellour Copies of both which are herewith inclosed That his Majesty has determin'd not to to allow your Lordship access to present our Address nor to impart to His Majesty what other things we gave you in charge by your Instructions We are heartily Sorry that your Lordships carrying of our Address should bring you you under any such disagreeable circumstances with His Majesty But the matter being so we cannot think it just to detain your Lordship any longer at London to the neglect of your own affairs at home and do therefore hereby signify that your Lordship may use your own Freedom to take Journey homeward as soon as you think fit and as may sute best with your conveniency This is in Name presence and by order of the Council-General of our Company from Edinburgh the 29th of January 1700. My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant John Home P. Upon the first notice that was given of a National Address or Petition to His Majesty for the fltting of the Parliament the following Proclamation was emitted PROCLAMATION Anent Petitioning WILLIAM By the Grace of GOD King of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith To Macers
and Government the welfare of this Realm both as to its Religious and Civil Interest and to the full quieting the Minds of all your Majesty's good People This Address was presented to His Majesty at Hampton-Court the 16th day of November 1700. By the Right Honourable the Lord Yester Sir John Pringle of Stitchell and Sir Peter Wedderburn of Gosford Baronets Commissioners appointed for that end And upon presenting thereof the Lord Yester in Name of the rest Address'd the King thus Sir We are come here to present an Address to your Majesty Sign'd by a great Number of your Majesty's Loyal Subjects in Scotland who have no other design in it but your Majesty's true Honour and the welfare of their Native Countrey which we desire your Majesty would be pleased to hear read His Majesty after having heard the Address read was Graciously pleased to give the following Answer Gentlemen I Can not take further notice of this Address seing the Parliament is now met and I have made a Declaration of my Mind for the good of my People wherewith I hope all my faithfull Subjects will be satisfied Here I must beg pardon for having omitted the late Address of the House of Lords in England concerning the Endeavours of the Scots for having settled a Colony at Darien and His Majesty's Answer thereunto both which ought according to order of time to have been placed at Page 105 but rather than rob the Reader of having the benefit thereof it was thought fit to insert them here and they are as followeth The Humble Address of the Lords c. presented to His Majesty the 12th day of February 1700. VVE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled being according to our duty solicitous for the preservation Encrease of the Trade of this Kingdom on which the Support of your Majesties Greatness and Honour so much depends as well as the Security and Defence of your People have been very apprehensive that the steps lately made towards a Settlement of your Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland at Darien may tend to the great prejudice of this Nation and possibly to the disturbance of that Peace and good Correspondence with the Crown of Spain which we conceive is very Advantagious to us all We have therefore taken the same into our serious consideration as a matter of the greatest Importance and proper to be laid before your Majesty as the common Father of both Countries And as we are truly sensible of great Losses our Neighbour Kingdom hath sustained both by Men and Treasure in their Expeditions to that place which we very heartily lament so we should not endeavour by any Interposition of Ours to defeat the Hopes they may still entertain of recovering these Losses by their further engaging in that design but that we judge such a Prosecution on their parts must end not only in far greater Disappointments to themselves but at the same time prove very inconvenient to the Trade and quiet of this Kingdom On this occasion we humbly presume to put your Majesty in mind of the Address of both Houses of Parliament presented to your Majesty on the 17th of December 1695. In the close of which Address your Majesty will see the Unanimous Sense of this Kingdom in relation to any Settlement the SCOTS might make in the West-Indies by vertue of an Act of Parliament past about that time in the Kingdom of Scotland which was the occasion of the Address And we humbly represent to your Majesty that having received Information of some Orders your Majesty had sent to the Governours of the Plantations on this Subject the House did on the 18th of January last come this Resolution That your Majesty's pleasure signified to the Governours of the Plantations in Relation to the Scots Settlement at DARIEN was agreeable to the Address of both Houses of Parliament presented to your Majesty on the 17th of December 1695. And on the 18th of this instant February this House came to this further Resolution That the Settlement of the Scots Colony at DARIEN is inconsistent with the good of the Plantation Trade of this Kingdom All which we humbly hope your Majesty will take into your Royal Consideration and we are confident that your Majesty cannot be thought too partial to the Address of this House if your Majesty shall in the first place consider the Advantage and Good of the Trade of this Kingdom by the Preservation and Improvement of which both these Kingdoms and all your other Dominions must on all occasions principally be defended It is remarkable that this Address was carried only by Four or Five Votes and that the House of Commons absolutely refused to concur with it and that about Sixteen Peers entred their Protests against it His Majesties most Gracious Answer to the Address was to this effect Viz. HIS Majesty having received a very dutifull Address from the House of Peers in relation to the Endeavours lately used by some of His Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland towards making a Settlement at DARIEN in which they humbly represent to him their Opinion That such a Settlement is inconsistent with the good of the Plantation-Trade of this Kingdom Is pleased to let the House know That he will always have a very great regard to their Opinion And to assure them that he will never be wanting by all proper means to promote the Advantage and Good of the Trade of England At the same time His Majesty is pleased to declare that he cannot but have a great Concern and Tenderness for his Kingdom of Scotland and a desire to advance their Well-fare and Prosperity is very sensibly touched with the loss His Subjects of that Kingdom have sustained by their late unhappy Expeditions in order to a Settlement at DARIEN His Majesty does apprehend that Difficulties may too often arise with respect to the different Interest of Trade between his two Kingdoms unless some way be found out to unite them more nearly and compleatly And therefore His Majesty takes this opportunity of putting the House of Peers in mind of what he recommended to his Parliament soon after his Accession to the Throne That they would consider of an Union between the two Kingdoms His Majesty is of opinion That nothing would more contribute to the security and happiness of both Kingdoms and is inclined to hope that after they have lived near 100 years under the same Head some happy Expediment may be found for making them one people in case a Treaty were set on Foot for that purpose And therefore he does very earnestly recommend this Matter to the Consideration of the House It is likeways remarkable that when the House of Lords fram'd and past a Bill of Union pursuant to His Majesty's said Answer The House of Commons rejected the same from Motives which I shall not presume to mention the same being already very well known to all those who know any thing of that Matter To His