Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A39785
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A short and impartial view of the manner and occasion of the Scots colony's coming away from Darien in a letter to a person of quality.
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Fletcher, Andrew, 1655-1716.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing F1297; ESTC R6209
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27,049
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42
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some of them that they not only understood and were pretty much accustomed with Dispatches of that kind tho' differing perhaps in the Degree but that they acted also with as much Care Diligence Integrity and real Zeal for the Company 's Interest as any in the Kingdom could have done so that I reckon whenever that Matter is fully inquired into and all Circumstances considered it will be found that there was no such great Abuse in either the Quantities or Qualities of those Goods and Provisions as some would have us believe there was Tho' at the same time I must confess I have from the beginning heard one or two of those Directors extremely blamed for making some Bargains for the Company with an alledged visible Advantage to themselves And tho' it must be granted that it were much better for the Company 's Interest they had never acted with any such Selfish View yet granting they did so which I do not believe it is very possible they might have contrived Matters so as to have some Advantage by those Bargains to themselves and yet the Company be no great Losers thereby Just as I had done writing of the foregoing Paragraph I came to the Knowledge of a Declaration made by Captain Robert Drummond Commander of the Company 's Ship the Caledonia now lying in Clyde with relation to the Premisses And because of the extraordinary Patness thereof I procured an exact Copy of it which I send you hereunto subjoyned My Lords and Gentlemen WHereas I understand that some People take the Liberty to say and give out that our Provisions which we carried along with us from Scotland were for the most part rotten and damnified before we scarce got to our Voyage's end and that some of them were quite spoiled even before we went from hence I think my self in Duty and Honour bound to declare That on board your Ship the Caledonia which I have the Honour to Command all the Flower and Oat-Meal kept good till the Month of April yea some part thereof until the latter-end of June as did also the Gray Pease till we had little or nothing of them left in the latter-end of April And as for the Bread Beef and Pork they continued sound and good till the very last Pound Weight of them It is true the Irish Beef tho' very sound was nothing near so good as the Scots Beef for which Cause we expended it first And as a Proof of the Scots Beef's being extraordinary when I came from on board on Friday the 15th instant I left four Barrels of it on board as sound as ever it was and Dined on a piece of it very comfortably that same day as did also the whole Ships Crew and I doubt much whether it may not be all eaten up by the Seamen before now tho' they have other Provisions on board I have sailed for the space of eight Years together in America and I must needs say I never in all that time had Provisions which held out so well which I have often signified to several Persons in our passage All this is true as I shall answer to my Maker and if required shall be own'd by the whole Crew Witness my Hand at Edinburgh the day of December 1699. I am My Lords and Gentlemen To the Right Honourable The Court of Directors of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies Your Lordships most Humble and most Obedient Servant ROBERT DRUMMOND Nor is this all for the said Captain Robert Drummond declared further to my own hearing at one time several other Gentlemen being then present and at an other time as I am positively informed before Mr. Mackenzie the Company 's Secretary and Mr. Hamilton Clerk of the Canongate at the Ship Tavern That he the said Captain Robert Drummond caused Over-haul all the Goods and Cargo that were on board the said Ship under his Command when they lay in Caledonia-Harbour and that upon his Conscience there was not one Cask Pack Bundle or Bale in the whole when he compared the Contents with the Invoyce but what contained full as much as was charged in the said Invoyce excepting only one Bundle of Twine which he said did not contain much above half of what it was charged for and some Hundreds of Sail-Needles too which he said was wanting out of a Bundle that was charged in the said Invoyce He declared likewise at the same time That all the time he was in Caledonia he never saw one Piece of Beef or Pork but what he himself or any other Sea-faring Man might make a hearty Dinner on but that possibly such as were all their Days accustomed to nothing else but fresh Provisions could not think so well of it Now after so positive and solemn Declarations made by the Person who of all Men living should and I believe does know best what was under his own immediat Care I must beg leave to say that it cannot but grate upon the Spirit of any good Man to find with what an intolerable Liberty Malice Envy and Ignorance have as it were combined together to derogat from the just Merit of those Noble and Worthy Persons who are concerned in the Management of the Company by endeavouring to asperse their Conduct as if forsooth they had acted like so many Fools or Knaves or both when indeed by what is already said it may evidently appear to any Unprejudiced and Impartial Judge That considering the Novelty of the Undertaking the many unexpected Difficulties they met with the Odness of the Tools they were oblig'd to make use of the Slowness of Payments from the Subscribers and the Faintness of any Countenance they had from Authority they have acquitted themselves of their Trust far beyond what could be reasonably expected from perhaps any Sett of Men in the Nation And I dare confidently averr That some of them have often neglected their own privat Affairs and Interest by their close Attendance and unwearied Endeavours to promote that of the Company without the least Prospect of having any Immediat or Particular Advantage thereby other than the Glory of being the Chief Instruments for laying the Foundation of and Carrying on so Great and Good a Work for the General advantage and Credit of the Nation as well as for the Particular Benefit of the Adventurers And the Matter being so I hope no Good Man will think it Presumptuous in me to say that it may perhaps be thought some kind of Reflection on the Justice of a Nation that the unbridled Licentiousness of some Peoples Tongues and Pens against them should pass so long unpunished when there 's nothing more certain than that Impunity hardens and confirms Men in their Wickedness For Proof whereof we see that some of those Persons who first begun to vent their Malice against the Company only by Whispers and slye Insinuations stick not now to break out into open Exclamations Magnifying their own Prophetick Spirits forsooth as if they had
foreseen all the Misfortunes that must necessarly have attended the Affairs of a Company that was under such Management making even the very Wisest and most Considerat Actions of the Directors Conduct the Subject of their Buffoonry and Ridicule And that they may the better not only impose on the credulous and ignorant Multitude but also distract and confound the Judgement of even Discreet and Unbyass'd Persons they make it their daily Divertisement first to hatch and then give Wing to an indefinit Number of detracting and slanderous Stories that have as little of Truth in them as the Authors have of either Probity Honour or Honesty And knowing that these spurious Brats of their own Invention cannot possibly be long Lif'd because a very short Period of Time must of Course necessarly demonstrat their Falsehood they providently take care to have whole Troops of them ready at Command to succeed one to another thereby to amuse the Brain-sick Multitude with continued false Alarms and having already by such Means declared themselves so openly Enemies not only to the Directors but to the Undertaking in General they think it seems that since they cannot Reasonably expect to regain their lost Credit with the Company they had best according to the common Course of the most Wicked of all Sinners endeavour to justifie always one Crime by another greater than it self And Juvenal aludes very concisely to such sort of Men in his 6 th Satyr Fortem animum proestant rebus quas turpiter audent But how agreeable soever the Poisonous Wit of such Envious and Designing Slanderers may possibly seem to many of the Heedless Unwary and Giddy-headed People of this Age yet what mean Opinion the Generous and Wise Romans entertained not only of them but also of such as gave them any Countenance may be seen in the few following Lines of Horace Absentem qui rodit Amicum Qui non defendit alio culpante solutos Qui captat risus Hominum famamque Dicacis Fingere qui non visa potest Commissa tacere Qui nequit hic Niger est hunc tu Romane caveto But above all The grossness of these Mens Folly does manifestly appear by these Words of Solomon He that hideth Hatred with Lying Lips and he that uttereth a Slander is a Fool Prov. 10. 18. Andho w secure soever these Fools Scoffers and Slanderers may imagine themselves to be at present we have Assurance from the Words of the Wisest of Men that they shall not always escape unpunished Judgements are prepared for Scorners and Stripes for the Backs of Fools Prov. 19. 29. As to the second Objection concerning Advice-Boats not being sent directly from hence to the Colony It is an easy Matter after an Accident is over to propose such a Remedy as might have prevented that Accident But who could have dream'd of such Proclamations unless we had been at open and declared War with England And in the Name of Wonder who could ever have imagined that such Rigorous Proclamations or indeed any at all should be issued forth against us in the Name of our own Sovereign who gave our Company first a Being and of whose Protection we had all possible Assurance not only in common with the rest of the Nation as we are his Subjects but in a very special manner by the Concessions of his Royal Grant by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom as well as by three several Acts of Parliament in favours of our Company By the first of which namely the 32 d. Act of the 4 th Session of this current Parliament It is specially provided for the Encouragement of such as should become Adventurers by Joint-Stock in carrying on of Trade to the East or West-Indies or to the Coast of Africa That if in their Endeavours for the Advancing and Promoting of Trade to any of the said Parts they should happen to be attack'd violently seized or otherways disturbed by Persons not in open War with Their Majesties That then and in that Case Their Majesties would be pleased to order that the Recovery of the Ships and Goods so seized or otherways molested and hindred be carried on and prosecuted by publick Means and at publick Expense By the 32 d. Act of the 4 th Session of this current Parliament The said Company is not only Impowered to Equip Fit Set out Freight and Navigat their own or hired Ships in Warlike or other manner as they shall think fit to any Lands Islands Countreys or Places in Asia Africa or America and there to plant Colonies build Cities Towns or Forts in or upon any Place or Places not Inhabited or in or upon any other Place by Consent of the Natives and Inhabitants thereof the same not being posses'd by any European Sovereign Potentat Prince or State and by Force of Arms to defend their Trade and Navigation As also to make Reprisals and to seek and take Reparation of Dammages done by Sea or by Land and to make and conclude Treaties of Peace and Commerce with the Sovereigns Princes States Rulers Governours or Proprietors of the aforesaid Lands Islands Countreys or Places in Asia Africa or America But also His Majesty amongst several other considerable Concessions is graciously pleased to promise that if contrary to the Rights Liberties Priviledges Exemptions or Agreements mentioned in the said Act or contrary to the general Treaties of Peace and Commerce between His Majesty and any Potentat Prince or State in Amity with His Majesty the Ships Goods Merchandise Persons or other Effects whatsoever belonging to the said Company should happen to be stopt detain'd embezel'd or away taken or in any sort prejudg'd or damnified that His Majesty would interpose his Royal Authority to have Restitution Reparation and Satisfaction made for the Dammage done and that upon the publick Charge And by the 3 d. Act in favours of the Company namely the 42 d. Act of the 5 th Session of this current Parliament It is specially statute and declared that for the Encouragement of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies it should be lawful to the Magistrats and others the Administrators of the common Good of Burrows as also to the Deacon Masters and other Administrators whatsoever of any Incorporation or Body or Company incorporat or Collegiat within this Kingdom to adventure and put in Money belonging to their respective Administrations in the Stock of the said Company Which they could not warrantably do without some such Act. And seing the whole Body of the Royal-Burrows and the most considerable other Incorporations and Bodies Collegiat in this Kingdom as well as many Noblemen Gentlemen and particular Burgesses did upon the Faith of those Acts become Adventurers in the Joint-Stock of this Company it were almost an absurd thing in the Directors especially when perhaps all the Money they were then Masters of was not sufficient to answer the Company 's pressing Occasions to have been at the trouble expense of