THE Representation and Petition OF THE COVNCIL-GENERAL OF THE Indian and African COMPANY TO THE PARLIAMENT Edinburgh Printed in the Year 1700. To His Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the Estates of Parliament The humble Representation and Petition of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please your Grace and Right Honourable Estates IT is evident by the whole Strain of Three several Acts of Parliament together with His Majesty's Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kngdom in favours of the said Company That the Wisdom of the King and Right Honourable Estates did intend that all such Advantages as might arise by the establishing of such a Company should be of as universally a National Concern as possible And in order thereunto were pleased to endow it with large Priviledges and Immunities suteable to the Circumstances of an Infant-Company and the Greatness of its Designs And lest that it should fail in the Execution for want of a sufficient Stock to carry on such an Undertaking all imaginable Parliamentary Encouragement was given to Persons of all Ranks Ages and Sexes both within and without the Kingdom whether Natives or Foreigners to become Partners and Adventurers in the Joint-Stock of the said Company as is singularly manifest by the 42d Act of the 5th Session of this current Parliament specially calculated for that end only Upon the publick Faith of having due Protection in the enjoyment of these unquestionable Priviledges and Immunities as having received their Sanction from His Majesty and the unanimous Suffrage of the Great Council of the Nation as aforesaid many Persons of all Ranks and Degrees were thereby induced to become Adventurers in the Joint-Stock of our said Company in so much that in a very short time a much more considerable Stock was subscrib'd for within this Kingdom than was ever before so much as propos'd here upon any Project whatsoever since we were a Nation Being thus entred into a Society We and our Constituents have pursuant to the intentions of the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mention'd with much care and trouble and a great Expense of Treasure after having struggled with many unexpected Obstructions and Difficulties setled a Plantation by the Name of Caledonia in one of the most Healthful Fruitful naturally impregnable and every way valuable Places in all America as is universally acknowledged by all Persons of Experience in such Matters as well as by the General Consent of such as have been there And as a manifest proof thereof tho' our said Plantation be setled most strictly in the terms of the Acts of Parliament and Letters patent above-mentioned yet it has raised the Jealousy of some and Envy of others of the most knowing and considerable Trading Nations in Europe But to our and the Nations great Surprise and inestimable Loss while we were using all ordinary means and big with the hopes of riveting that Settlement upon a lasting Foundation such was the further continued Chain of unexpected Obstructions and most unaccountable Mal treatments that we met with by Proclamations of a very strange Nature and otherwise that the repeated Misfortunes following thereupon put us under an indispensible Necessity of humbly petitioning His Majesty for allowing the Parliament to meet at the day appointed in November last in full confidence and Expectation of having the most natural and cordial Assistance from those who first established our Company and promised it Protection especially since all our other Applications have hitherto proved ineffectual But a meeting of the Estates in Parliament at that time not quadrating it would seem with His Majesty's other Affairs a very considerable Body of the Nobility Gentry and Burgesses of this Kingdom thought fit in a most dutiful and humble manner by their late Address to represent to His Majesty how deeply they were affected with the Nations concern in our Company 's repeated Misfortunes and therefore humbly Petitioned for the sitting of this Parliament as soon as conveniently might be And the King having been most graciously pleased to order the Meeting of the Right Honourable Estates now in Parliament We think our selves in all duty bound to give His Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the Estates a short and naked Narrative of the several Obstructions and Misfortunes that we have been all along forc'd to grapple with in the prosecution of our Company 's Designs to the end that the great Council of the Nation having a perfect View and full Knowledge of these Difficulties which we now Labour under may be the better able to to judge how to apply a Remedy The first attempt for strengthning our Company 's Interest and Stock was at London where a Subscription of 300000 sterl was procured in Nine days time without so much as a publick Advertisement and many knowing Merchants were so far convinc'd of the many Advantages that might probably arise from such a Constitution that they signified their willingness to be concerned for Triple the Sum if allowed But not only did the Parliament of England by their Address to His Majesty of the 13th of December 1695. and otherways render that Subscription ineffectual but the House of Commons did also appoint a Committee to examine what Methods were taken for obtaining the Act of Parliament by which our said Company is established who were the Promoters and Advisers thereof and did afterwards impeach the Nominees in the said Act of Parliament notwithstanding the absolute Independency of this Kingdom Yet after all this Discouragement we went on with our Subscriptions at home and made our next Effort for strengthning thereof beyond Sea both in Holland and Hamburgh In the first of which places many eminent Merchants declared their positive inclinations to be very considerably interested with us and gave some signal Proofs thereof till they were made to understand by Threatnings and other Insinuations that a Higher Power would make them at least very uneasy if they persisted any further in their Resolutions of being concerned with our Company And at Hamburgh where we had the most promising Hopes of foreign Assistance the Commercii or Merchant-Company entred into Contract with our Company 's Deputees to joyn at least 200000 l. Sterl to our Company 's Stock but to our great Astonishment His Majesty of Great Brittains Ministers there did under pretence of special Warrant from the King put a full stop thereto by giving in A Memorial to the Burgo-Masters Gentlemen-Councellours of that City wholly dis-owning the Authority of the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above mention'd and intimating that His Majesty would regard their entring into Treaties with our Company as an Affront to His Royal Authority and that he would not fail to resent it as having neither Credential Letters nor being any otherways Authoriz'd by His Majesty Upon notice whereof we did in all humble Duty Address His Majesty in June 1697 for
in the Terms of the Acts of Parliament as we should be Answerable Yet upon the very first Advice we had of our Colony's Settlement in Caledonia we by our Letters of the 31st of March and 1st of April 1699 gave a very full and dutiful Account thereof to His Majesty and to both the Secretaries of State together with an Account of the French Designs thereabouts and of what Import our said Settlement if duly protected might prove to the Interest and Security of all His Majesties Dominions and referred the same together with the Contents of our former Petitions to His Majesties Royal Consideration About this time it was That His Majesty was pleased to call the President of the Session and the Advocat to Court to the end as we understood that they jointly with both the Secretaries of State might in a Conference with several of the English Ministers satisfy His Majesty as to the Legality of our Company 's Settlement Which by all that ever we could learn was then and otherways since that time made clear beyond all manner of Dispute But while in the mean time we were pawning even our own particular Credits for sending the needful Supplies of Ships Men Provisions Arms Ammunition and other Necessaries for securing so valuable a Settlement to this Nation we were astonished to have Advice That by Orders from England in January 1699 Proclamations had been emitted in the Months of April and May over all His Majesties Plantations and Territories in America strictly Intercommuning our Colony under very severe Penalties to be inflicted on the Contraveeners of these Proclamations in regard that His Majesty as these Proclamations narrate was unacquainted with the Intentions and Designs of the Scots settling at Darien As we humbly considered these Proclamations to be such as were never before published in those parts against any other People upon Earth and of so Barbarous a Nature as we thought no Good Christians would put in Execution even against Infidels So finding our selves unquestionably warranted by all Laws Humane and Divine we persisted in our Endeavours for maintaining that Settlement as hoping that through means thereof this Nation might in time have an Opportunity of raising it self above the open Contempt Reproach and Insults of its unkind Neighbours and of propagating the Gospel amongst the Ignorant good Natur'd Indians of those parts But before our Recruits could possibly arrive at Caledonia our Colony got certain Accounts of these Proclamations and finding at the same time the sad Effects thereof by being denied any the least Help either for Goods or Money at Jamaica from whence they had formerly Supplies And that in the Proclamation issued by Sir William Beston Governour of that Island he had positively declared That by their Settlement in Darien they had actually broken the Peace entred into with His Majesties Allyes which they believed he durst not venture to have done without a sufficient Warrant And finding themselves thereby to be of consequence declared Pirates without any previous Summons or Hearing contrary to the Customs and common Usage of all Nations even in the case of real Piracy and founding a Belief at the same time on the Treatment which they knew our Company had formerly met with in Europe without being Redress'd therein that we were not in a Condition either to supply or protect them they unhappily took the Alarm under such a General Consternation as devested them not only of all manner of patience to struggle with any Inconveniencies they lay under at the time but also of all manner of prudence in taking any reasonable Measures either for their own Security or for our Company 's interest In the midst of which Confusion those of them who had any bad Designs as we could not well suppose such a Number to be free of some made use of these Proclamations as handles by which to perpetrate their own several ends and easily perswaded all the rest to leave the Settlement Which they unadvisedly did the 20th of June last And by that means not only have the Ships Men Goods which were there at that time been exposed to the Arbitrary will of those to whom the Execution of those Proclamations was given in Charge but even all our subsequent Measures brought into inevitable disorder Upon Information of all which we did by our humble Petition to His Majesty of the 19th of October 1699 in all humility and earnestness beg That His Majesty would in His Fatherly care for the good of our Company in particular and of the Nation in General be graciously pleased to give special Testimonies of his Majestys Royal Protection to our Company at that Juncture and particularly to take off the Force and effect of those Proclamations which have been so prejudicial to us and to signify his Royal pleasure to the Governours of his Plantations in America that our Colony might besupplied in the common and ordinary way of Commerce as those of other Nations are And that in the mean time His Majesty would be graciously pleased to allow the Estates of Parliament to meet at the day appointed in November last or as soon as conveniently could be to the end that their Advice and Assistance might be had in such a weighty and General Concern We likewise by our humble Address to His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council of the 20th of October 1699 Represented what we thought in duty and prudence necessary with relation to the Contents of our said Petition to his Majesty Humbly referring the whole to their Lordships most serious consideration and praying that they would be pleased to do us all the good Offices with His Majesty that they 'd think most expedient for supporting our Company and Colonys Interest and to give him an account of our Company 's hard Circumstances and how much the Honour and Interest of the Nation stood concern'd therein His Majesty was graciously pleased by His Royal Letter to us of the 2d of November 1699 to declare that He did very much regret the Loss which the Kingdom the Company had lately sustain'd That he would upon all occasions protect and encourage the Trade of the Nation That he would take care that His Subjects of this Kingdom should have the same freedom of Trade and Commerce with his English Plantations that ever they had formerly and that he would order the Parliament to meet when he 'd judge that the Good of the Nation would require it But in some short time thereafter while we were solacing ourselves with the Hopes of having His Majesty's protection not only as a Company established by His Royal Authority with the Advice and Consent of Parliament but also as Subjects making all the Preparations we could to send the needful Supplies and Advices to those who were last sent for Repossessing the same Settlement We were further astonished to have Advices that by second Orders from England another Fleece of Proclamations had been emitted over all the English
Redress of that open and bold Encroachment upon not only our but also the Nations Rights in its most fundamental Constitution by endeavouring to subvert the Independency of its Parliamentary Laws expresly contrary to the Law of Nations All which His Majesty by His Royal Letter from Flanders in July 1697 Promised to take into Consideration as soon as he would return into England that in the mean time His Majesty would give Orders to His Ministers at Hamburgh not to obstruct our Company in the prosecution of its Trade with the Inhabitants of that City In the full Confidence of His Majesty's Royal Promise we thought our selves secure and took our Measures accordingly till to our further surprize we found by several Instances that His Majesty's said Ministers were as wickedly bent against us as ever and still denying that they had got any such Orders from His Majesty whereupon the Directors of our Company did by their Letter of the 28 of September 1697 expostulate in the first place with both the then Secretaries of State about that further Dis-appointment but having still no Redress the rein we did in most humble and dutiful Manner by our second Address of the 22d day of December 1697. lay the whole Matter again before His Majesty And did likewise at the same time not only humbly Represent the Premisses to His Majesty's most honourable Privy-Council together with the train of ill Consequences that must necessarly attend such Treatment if not prevented by an early Redress but wrote also separatly to both the Secretaries of State and such other Noble Persons of the Government as happen'd to be then at London To use their Joint-Interest for procuring Justice in a Matter of such Universal Concern to the Honour Interest and Independency of the whole Kingdom All the Answer we obtain'd was by a Letter of the 17th of January 1698 from both the Secretaries of State That the King said He had already given Orders to His Resident at Hamburgh in that Matter conform to His Royal Letter from Flanders in July 1697 which was then communicated to the Company By which Answer together with what repeated Advices we had at the same time from Hamburgh that the English Ministers there had still positively disowned their having got any such Orders we were put out of all Hopes of having any Redress until we should have an Oppertunity of laying the whole Matter before a Meeting of the Estates of Parliament But in the mean time we proceeded with all the Strength we had tho' extremely weakned by the Treatment above-narrated to make the best Preparations we could considering the Scarcity of these Years for fitting out an Equipage of Ships Men Provisions and other Necessaries for settling a Plantation in America in the Terms of the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mention'd And its evident by the very Constitutions of the Colony that they were calculated more for the general Advantage of the Nation and Posterity than for the particular and immediat Benefit of the Adventurers And the Parliament happening to meet the very next Day after our Ships had sail'd we did by our Humble Petition of the 22d of July 1698 Represent to his Grace His Majesties then High Commissioner and the Right Honourable Estates then assembled in Parliament the Treatment which our Company met with at London and Hamburgh as aforesaid the great Prejudices which we had sustain'd thereby and the many further Inconveniencies and evil Consequences that must necessarly have followed thereupon if upon any Account whatsoever the Parliament should happen to neglect the taking immediat Cognizance of such Usage And the Parliament having thereupon by their Unanimous Address of the 5th of August 1698 to His Majesty thought fit to manifest their own and the whole Nations Concern in that Matter earnestly entreating and most assuredly expecting That His Majesty would in His Royal Wisdom take such Measures as might effectually vindicat the Undoubted Rights and Priviledges of the said Company and support the Credit and Interest thereof And the Parliament likewise by the same Address recommending the Concerns of the said Company to some special Marks of His Majesties Royal Favour as that Branch of the Trade of this Kingdom in which they and the Nation they represented had a more peculiar Interest The Court of Directors of our Company were thereby encourag'd to renew their Application to His Majesty with relation to the Memorial given in by His Ministers to the Senate of Hamburgh the same being specially mention'd in the Parliaments Address And in Consideration of the Damnages sustain'd by the Company through Means of that Memorial the Directors humbly Petition'd That His Majesty would be pleased for their Encouragement at that time as a Gracious Mark of His Royal Favour to bestow upon them the two smallest of the Frigots then and to this Hour lying useless in Bruntisland Harbour But our Company having no manner of Answer to either of these and being assured by several Letters from Hamburgh That both the English Ministers there had positively denyed their having received any such Orders as were long before promised and declared to have been given with relation to that Memorial the Court of Directors of our Company did by their Letter of the 29th of November 1698 transmit Copies of the said Letters to the Viscount of Seafield then sole Secretary of State and entreated his Lordship to procure some speedy and effectual Answer from His Majesty to the Contents of both that Letter and their former Petition The Secretary by his Letter of the 13th of December 1698 returned for Answer That he would take the first convenient Opportunity he could have to represent that Matter to the King but that he could not expect to have it for some time because His Majesty was then very much imployed in the Affairs of His English Parliament We thereupon waited a full Month in expectation of some further Answer but getting none our Court of Directors did by a Letter of the 13th of January 1699 put the Secretary again in mind of our said Petition of the preceeding August and Letter of the 29th of November The Secretary by his Letter of the 7th of February 1699 signified That he had presented our Company 's Petition to His Majesty and was commanded to let us know that there being Accounts that the Ships belonging to the Company were arriv'd upon the Coast of America and the particular Design not being communicated to His Majesty He therefore delayed to give any Answer until he should receive certain Information of their Settlement Tho' we could not but be surpriz'd to find all our former Addresses and Petitions about Matters of such weighty Concern as are above-narrated Answered after so long Delay only with a seeming Charge for not having communicated to His Majesty a thing that was never in the least demanded of us by either the King Parliament Privy Council or Ministers of State we being limited to settle