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-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-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
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-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
Majesty's Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom We now in all Duty and Humility beg leave to represent further to your Majesty That whereas in the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent there is a special Clause by which your Majesty is graciously pleased to promise That if contrary to the Rights and Priviledges therein-mention'd or contrary to the General Treaties of Peace and Commerce between your Majesty and any Potentate Prince or State in Amity with your Majesty the Ships Goods Merchandize Persons or other Effects whatsoever belonging to the said Company should happen to be stopp'd detain'd embezell'd or taken away or in any sort prejudic'd or damnified That your Majesty would interpose your Royal Authority to have Restitution Reparation and Satisfaction made for the dammage done and that upon the publick Charge And whereas likewise by the X and XI Articles of the Treaty concluded between the Crowns of Great-Britain and Spain at Madrid the 8 18 day of July 1670. It is specially stipulated That in case any of the Subjects of either the Confederates with their Shipping be forc'd at any time through stress of Weather pursute of Pyrates or Shipwrack to retreat and enter for shelter and harbour into any of the Rivers Creeks Bays Havens Roads and Ports belonging to the other in America That the Persons so Shipwrack'd or forced a Shoar shall in no sort be detain'd Prisoners but that on the contrary all friendly Assistance and Relief shall be administred to their Distress both for the Sustenance of their Persons and reparation of their Ships and conveniency of their Vovage and that Letters of safe Conduct shall be given them for their free and quiet passage thence Yet notwithstanding thereof a Ship call'd the Dolphin belonging to our Company being sent from our said Colony to some of the Leeward Islands with a Cargo for buying Provisions and the said Ship in a few days time after her going to Sea and plying to windward for the speedier passage stricking unfortunately upon a Rock sprung a Leak and being forced to run a shoar under the very Walls of Carthagena to escape Shipwrack not only the said Ship and Goods were violently seiz'd and dispos'd of as prize but also the Men to the number of thirty and a Boy whose Names are here subjoyned were detain'd and made close Prisoners contrary to the express Terms of the said Treaty Upon notice whereof the Council of the said Colony sent in your Majesty's and said Company 's Name a Messenger with a very civil Letter to the Governor of Carthagena to demand your said Subjects who were wrongfully detain'd Prisoners as aforesaid and likewise Restitution of the said Ship and Goods pursuant to the Treaty above-recited and sent also Copies of the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above mention'd in English Latin and Spanish for the Governor's Information but instead of any compliance to those just and reasonable Demands the Messenger was threatned to be put in Chains and not so much as allow'd to see any of the said Prisoners And being lately assur'd that notwithstanding of all endeavours hitherto us'd for their Liberation they are contrary to the Rules of Christianity Humanity and the Law of Nations still detain'd Prisoners under very severe Treatments we think our selves in Duty and Conscience bound to lay their deplorable Case before your Majesty and for that effect have commissioned Lord Basil Hamilton one of our number to present this our humble Address on their behalf to your Majesty and to give your Majesty a further account of our Company 's other Affairs as he is particularly instructed therein not doubting but that your Majesty will in your Royal Wisdom take speedy and effectual Measures for the redress of those Dammages and the freedom of those distressed Prisoners in the number of which there are some young Gentlemen of good Quality and related to the best Families in this Kingdom Signed at Edinburgh the 4th Day of December 1699 in Name Presence and by Order of the said council-Council-General by May it please your Majesty Your Majesty's most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant Yester I. P. C. G. The Chancellours Letter to the Directors of the Company Holyrood-house the 9th of January 1700. Right Honourable HIs Majesties Secretaries of State have acquainted me That the King will not allow my Lord Basil Hamilton access to him Because he did not wait on his Majesty when he was formerly in London And that he has never since given any publick Evidence of his Loyalty nor has hitherto owned and acknowledged His Majesties Government But his Majesty will not refuse to hear what my Lord Basil's Instructions are and has declared his willingness to be informed of what the Company desires And if my Lord Basil will give in Writing to His Majesties Secretaries what he had to represent His Majesty will receive Information from their hands of what is demanded and will give his Answer to the Company His Majesty doth not refuse to Receive the Petition tho' he will not allow my Lord Basil to be the Presenter of it This from To the Right Honourable The Court of Directors of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies Right Honourable Your very humble Servant Marchmont Chancellour A Letter from the Directors of the Company to each of the Secretaries for Scotland My Lord THE Council-General of our Company having lately a very frequent Meeting thought fit to send up one of their own Number with an Address to his Majesty and with Instructions concerning the Contents of our Company 's former Petitions they thought that none could be more Capable to Discharge that Trust than Lord Basil Hamilton as being throughly Versed in the course of the Company 's Affairs nor more acceptable to His Majesty as having had no objection made against him when he was appointed several Lords of His Majesties Privy Council Being then present And the Council-General having signified so much to your Lordship by a Letter wherein they entreated that you would be pleased to introduce him to the King and give your Concurrence in procuring a Gracious Return to what he had in Commission and which he was to Communicate to your Lordship We are surpriz'd to find this day by a Letter from the Lord Chancellour that the King will not allow Lord Basil Hamilton to have Access because he did not wait upon his Majesty when he was formerly at London But his Lordship being sent by and having his Instructions from the Council-General We the Court of Directors can say nothing to it other than to entreat your Lordship that you 'd use your Interest with his Majesty to allow Lord Basil Hamilton to have Access to His Royal Person lest the Refusal thereof be not only a great Discouragement to the Company and all its well-wishers under its present Difficulties and repeated Misfortunes but give also ground to the World
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 Right Honourable Estates WHEREAS By our former Petition of the 16th of May last we laid a Representation of the then Circumstances of our Company 's Affairs before your Grace and Right Honourable Estates Which being once read and nothing done thereupon we now humbly intreat that the same still lying in the Clerks Hands may at this time be again read considered in Parliament And do further Represent That since that time we have the Melancholly Assurance of what we then feared from the constant Course of our Discouragements that the Governour of Carthagena for the King of Spain His Majesty's Ally has from the Unneighbourly Instignation of those from whom we ought more reasonably to have expected Assistance been encouraged to make an Attempt for dispossessing our Colony of Caledonia And in order thereunto Blockaded them up by Sea attacked them by Land in the time of profound peace and that some of our said Colony being too easily frighten'd by their Apprehensions of those evil Consequences that they thought must necessarly have attended the many Discouragements and want of Protection which we labour'd under all along have unwarrantably taken upon them the Power to surrender our Company 's said Settlement to the Spaniards to the unspeakable Loss and great Dishonour of the Nation and that the West-India Proclamations mention'd in our former Petition being still as much in force and rigorously executed as ever against us we could not all this time nor cannot as yet expect the Liberty even of carrying off our Ships that are lying perishing at Port-Royal in Jamaica and Amboy-Perth in East-Jersey without your Interposition on our Company 's behalf for procuring to us Warrants from His Majesty directed to the respective Governours of those Parts for that effect especially since the Governour of Jamaica has at several times and to several Persons declared That he will not part with our Company 's Ship the Saint-Andrew without a special warrant from England and that all our Solicitations to the Secretaries of State for that end have hitherto proved ineffectual And we cannot but likewise Represent to your Grace and Right Honourable Estates how that the want of due Protection to our Company all along and the continued Tract of Encroachments upon its Priviledges Abroad without any Redress therein has encouraged some Persons to break in upon the Priviledges of our Company even at Home MAY it therefore Please Your Grace and Right Honourable Estates to take the Contents of this and our former Petition above-mention'd into your most serious Consideration to take such effectual Measures as in your Profound Wisdom you shall think fit for Asserting and Vindicating our Company 's Rights both abroad and at home for enabling it to prosecute its lawful Undertakings for procuring Reparation from the Spaniards and others for the Dammages sustained and for preventing the like Encroachments for the future Signed at Edinburgh the 28th day of October 1700 in Name Presence and by Warrant of the said Council-General By JOHN SCHAW I.P.C.G. FINIS Non solum ferit uncis cornibus hostem Verum etiam instanti laesa repugnat ovis Prop. THE CONTENTS THe Act of Parliament establishing a Company Trading to Africa and the Indies the 26th of June 1695. The Parliament of England's Address to His Majesty concerning the said Act the 13th of December and presented the 17th Ditto 1695 p. 1. His Majesty's most gracious Answer to that Address p 3. A Memorial given in to the Senate of Hamburgh by Sir Paul Rycaut Resident for his Majesty in that City and Mr. Cresset His Majesty's Envoy extraordinary at the Courts of Lunenburgh against the Company the 7th of April 1697. p. 4. The Answer p. 6. A Memorial given in thereupon to the Senate of that City by the Company 's Deputees the 9th of April 1697. Ibid. What was done thereupon p. 7. The Humble Address of the council-Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies to His Majesty upon that occasion the 28th of June 1697. Ibid. His Majesty's Answer to that Address the 2d of August 1697. p. 11 A Letter of Expostulation from the Directors of the Company to the Secretaries of State the 28th of September 1697. Ibid. The humble Address of the council-Council-General of the Company to His Majesty the 22d day of December 1697. p. 14. The humble Representation of the council-Council-General of the Company to His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council the 22d day of December 1697. p. 16. A Letter from the council-Council-General of the Company to His Grace the Duke of Queensberry the 25th day of December 1697. p. 19. A Letter from both the Secretaries of State in Answer to the council-Council-General of the Company 's Second Address to His Majesty January the 17th 1698. p. 20 The humble Petition of the Council-General of the Company to His Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the Estates of Parliament the 22th of July 1698. p. 21. The Parliament of Scotland's Address to His Majesty in relation to the Hamburgh-Memorial and the other Contents of that Petition The 28th of August 1698. p. 26. The humble Petition of the Court of Directors of the Company to His Majesty the 16th day of August 1698 in pursuance of the Parliament's Address p. 27. A Letter from Mr. Stevenson the Company 's Agent at Hamburgh to the Court of Directors of the Company the 4th of October 1698 concerning the Hamburgh-Memorial c. p. 29. A Letter from Ditto the 18th of October 1698. p. 30. A Letter from the Court of Directors of the Company to the Right Honourable the Viscount of Seafield Secretary of State the 29th of November 1698 relative to the former Letters p. 31. The Secretaries Answer the 13th of December 1698. p. 32. A Letter from the Court of Directors of the Company in Answer to the Secretary of State January 13th 1699. p. 33. A Letter from the Secretary of State the 17th of February 1699 in Answer to the Company 's Petition of the 16th of the preceeding August p. 34 A Letter from the council-Council-General of the Company to His Majesty giving an Account of the Colony's Arrival and Settlement at Darien and of the French Designs upon that Coast the 31th of March 1699. Ibid. A Letter from the Court of Directors to the Secretaries of State the 1st of April 1699 enlarging on the Contents of the preceeding Letter to the King p. 36. A Memorial presented to the King of Great Brittain by the Ambassadour Extraordinary of Spain against the Scots Settlement at Darien the 3d. of May 1699. p. 40 The first Memorial presented to his Majesty by the Lord President of the Session and Lord Advocat on behalf of the Company and asserting the legality of
their Settlement in Darien the of May. 1699. p. 41. A Second Memorial by Ditto p. 51 A Third Memorial by Ditto p. 54. A Memorandum concerning the Spanish and French Ambassadours at the Court of England in September 1699. p. 74. The Council of Caledonia's Address to His Majesty delivered to the Secretaries of State the of September 1699. Ibid. A Proclamation by the Governour of Jamaica against the Company and Colony the 8th of April 1699. p. 77. A Proclamation by the Governour of Barbados against Ditto the 13th of April 1699. p 78. A Proclamation by the Governour of New-York against Ditto the 15th of May 1699. p. 79. A Proclamation by Ditto as Governour of New-England against Ditto the 3d. of June 1699. p. 81. A Second Proclamation by the Governour of Barbados against Ditto the 5th of September 1699. p. 83. The Council-General of the Company 's Petition to His Majesty concerning those Proclamations c. the 19th of October 1699. p. 84 His Majesty's Answer The 2d of November 1699. p. 87 The humble Address of the council-Council-General of the Company to His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council upon that occasion The 20th of October 1699. p. 88. A Letter from the council-Council-General of the Company to the Secretaries of State concerning their humble Address to the King with relation to Captain Pinkerton c. the 4th of December 1699. p. 91. The humble Address of the council-Council-General of the Company to his Majesty concerning Captain Robert Pinkarton c. The 4th of December 1699. p. 92. A Letter from my Lord Chancellor to the Directors of the Company the 4th of January 1700. p. 96 A Letter from the Directors to each of the Secretaries of State the 9th of January 1700. concerning the Lord Chancellours said Letter p. 97. A Letter from the Directors of the Company to Lord Basil Hamilton concerning the Premisses the 9th of January 1700. p. 98. His Majesty's Answer to the Company 's Address by a Letter to His Privy Council of Scotland the 10th of January 1700. p. 100 Another Letter from the Council-General of the Company to Lord Basil Hamilton the 29th of January 1700. p. 102 A Proclamation anent Petitioning The 18th of December 1699. p. 103. The humble Address of the English House of Lords against the Company 's Settling a Colony at Darien presented to His Majesty the 12th of February 1700. p. 138. His Majesty's most gracious Answer to that Address p. 140 The first National Address Petitioning that His Majesty would be graciously pleased to allow the Parliament of Scotland to meet c. presented to His Majesty the 25th of March 1700. p. 105 His Majesty's most Gracious Answer p. 107. The humble Representation and Petition of the Company to His Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable Estates of Parliament the 16th of May 1700. p. 108 The humble Address and Petition of the Heretors of the Shire of Haddingtoun presented and read in Parliament the 27th of May 1700. p. 124 The heads of several Addresses from other Shires and Burghs which were likewise read in Parliament at the same time p. 126. An humble Address to His Majesty from the Plurality of the Members of Parliament then present concerning the manner of Adjourning the Parliament presented to His Majesty the 11th of June 1700. p. 127. His Majesty's most Gracious Answer His Majesty's most Gracious Declaration by way of Letter directed to His Grace the King 's High Commissioner and the Privy Council of Scotland Given at Loo the 26th of July 1700 and published after the manner of Proclamations Ibid. The last National Address presented to His Majesty the 16th of November 1700. p. 133 His Majesty's most Gracious Answer p. 137 The humble Representation and Petition of the Council-General of the Company to His Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable Estates of Parliament the 28th of October 1700. p. 142. FINIS A CATALOGUE of the several Books and Pamphlets that have been hitherto Published concerning the Indian and African Company of Scotland set down according to Order of time for the Information of the Curious 1. A Letter from a Member of the Parliament of Scotland to his Friend at London shewing the reasonableness of that Act by which the Company is established Printed 1695 2. Some seasonable and modest Thoughts c. humbly offered to R. H. a Member of the House of Commons of England 1696. 3. A Letter from a Gentleman in the Countrey to his Friend at Edinburgh 1696. 4. A Letter from a Merchant in Amsterdam to his Friend at Hamburgh concerning the Designs of the Scot Indian Company 1697. 5. Some Observations on it in a Letter from Hamburgh by way of Answer to it 1697. 6. A Letter from the Commission of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to the Council and Colony of Caledonia 1699. 7. A Defence of the Scots Settlement at Darien c. 1699. 8. A short and impartial view of the manner and occasion of the Scots Colony's coming away from Darien 1699. 9. A Defence of the Scots Abdicating Darien c. Written by Herostratus Junior alias Harris 1700. 10. A just and modest Vindication of the Scots design for the having established a Coloney at Darien c. with a Prefatory confutation of Harris 11. An Enquiry into the Causes of the Miscarriage of the Scots Colony at Darien containing a full Answer to Harris 's Libel 1700. 12. A short Vindication of the Defence of the Scots Abdicating Darien c. 1700. 13. Scotland 's present Duty Or a Call to the Nobility Gentry Ministry c. 1700. 14. Scotland 's Grievances with relation to Darien c. humbly offered to the consideration of the Parliament 1700. 15. 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 it was established in June 1695 till November 1700 ☞ Nota The 4th 9th and 12th Pamphlets of this Catalogue are written against the Company and all the rest for it except the last which consists of a Collection of several publick Papers of different kinds upon the same Subject promiscuously gathered by an impartial hand Contraria juxta se posita clarius elucescunt
And that in the mean time His Majesty will give Orders to his Envoy at the Courts of Lunenburgh and his Resident at Hamburgh not to make use of his Majesty's Name or Authority for obstructing your Company in the prosecution of your Trade with the Inhabitants of that City Signed at Edbinurgh the second Day of August 1697. To the council-Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies Tullibardin Ja Ogilvy A Letter from the Directors of the Company to the Right Honourable the Earl of Tullibardin c. Principal Secretary of State Edinburgh 28. September 1697. May it please your Lordship IT is not unknown to your Lordship in what Humor the Council-General of our Company and most part of the Nation were in with relation to the Memorial given in to the Senate of Hamburgh against our Company by the English Ministers there Upon which ensued the said Council-Generals late Address transmitted to His Majesty by your Lordship And your Lordship very well knows that at your Request and Desire only upon Promises of using your best Endeavours to procure a Speedy and Satisfactory Answer from His Majesty the said Council-General was prevailed upon to suspend representing that Matter further to the Government till the 2d day of August last past On which day your Lordship did signify His Majesty's Answer to the said Address Upon Receipt whereof the said Council-General did resolve to Supersede any further proceeding therein till His Majesty's arrival in England as not in the least doubting but His Majesty would have in the mean time pursuant to His said Answer given Orders to his Resident at Hamburgh with relation to the subject Matter of the said Memorial But we are extreamly surpriz'd to find by Letters of the 31 ultimo from our Company 's Agent in that City That he had according to our Order been to wait on the English Resident there and with all the Respect due to his Character intimated to him the Contents the said Address and Answer Upon which the said Resident declared That he was Ready and Willing to obey his Masters Orders but that as yet he had got none in that Matter We cannot imagine what should be the occasion of this new Dis-appointment since we cannot suffer our selves to believe but that His Majesty has according to His Letter to your Lordship given Orders as aforesaid which makes us admire the more where the Neglect of that Matter doth now stand Yet we must needs say we are in some measure afraid to acquaint the said Council-General with it lest they be more uneasie thereupon than we could wish till first we have your Lordships Answer For which cause we the several Subscribing Directors of the said Company who are now in Town have thought fit in as quiet a manner as possible to give your Lordship an Account thereof to the end you may in your Wisdom and Prudence advise His Majesty with relation thereunto and doubt not but your Lordship will take such care herein as may prevent our calling another Council-General with relation to the Premisses which we are bound unavoidably to do if we have not your Lordships timely Answer We are May it please your Lordship Your Lordships most Obedient and humble Servants Ad Cockburn Fran Montgomery Arch Mure. Geo Clark Rob Blackwood Ja Balfour William Paterson Mem A Sign'd Duplicate hereof was likewise sent at the same time to the Right Honour able Sir James Ogilvy Knight c. To the King 's 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 BY a former Address of the 28th of June last we have humbly represented to your Majesty how that your Majesty's Envoy to the Courts of Lunenburg and Resident at Hamburgh did under Pretence of Special Warrant from Your Majesty give in a Memorial to the Senate of the said City of Hamburgh contrary to the Law of Nations and expresly invading the Priviledges contained in the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent by which our Company is established Copies of which Address and Memorial we have for Your Majesty's better Information hereto annexed In answer to which Your MAJESTY was then graciously pleased to signifie by Your Royal Letter That upon Your MAJESTY's arrival in England You would take the Contents of our said Address into Consideration And that in the mean time You would give Orders to Your said Ministers not to make use of Your Majesty's Name or Authority for obstructing our Company in the Prosecution of our Trade with the Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburgh In the full Assurance of which we rested secure and took our Measures accordingly till to our further Surprize and great Disappointment we find by repeated Advices from Hamburgh That Your Majesty 's said Resident continues still Contumacious and is so far from giving due Obedience to Your Majesty's said Order that upon Application made to him for that Effect with all the Respect due to his Character he pretended that he had never as yet got any such Order on our Behalf which we thought fit in all Duty and Humility to lay before Your Majesty renewing withal our most humble and earnest Request That Your Majesty would be now graciously pleased to take the Contents of this and our said former Address into Consideration and in Your Royal Wisdom order some speedy and Effectual Redress of our Grievances therein-mentioned and a just Reparation of the manifest Damages which our Company has already sustained by reason of the said Memorial And grant us a Declaration under Your Royal hand to render the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburg and all others with whom we have occasion to enter in Commerce secure from the Threatnings and other false Suggestions mentioned in the said Memorial as well as to render us secure under Your Majesty's Protection in the free Enjoyment of our Lawful Rights and Priviledges contained in Your Majesty's Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mentioned Sign'd at Edinburgh the 22d Day of Decemb. 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council-General by May it please Your Majesty Your Majesty's most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subjest and Servant Fr. Scott Fr. To the Right Honourable The Lord High Chancellor and remanent Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council The humble Representation of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please your Lordships 'T Is not unknown to your Lordships how that in several successive Sessions of this Current Parliament His Majesty's Instructions to His respective High Commissioners and their several Speeches pursuant thereunto have been full of repeated Assurance of His Majesty's good Inclinations for encouraging the Trade and Manufactures of this Nation And whereas accordingly by the 32d Act of the 4th Session and the 8th Act of the 5th Session of the said
Parliament together with His Majesty's Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom our Company is establish'd with such ample Priviledges and Immunities as were thought most proper for encouraging both Natives and Foreigners to joyn in the carrying on supporting and advancement of our Trade We have in pursuance and upon the publick Faith thereof not only contributed at home a far more considerable Joint-Stock than was ever before raised in this Nation for any publick Undertaking or Project of Trade whatsoever but have also had all the promising Hopes and Prospect of Foreign Aid that our Hearts could wish till to our great Surprize the English Ministers at Hamburgh have under Pretence of Special Warrant from his Majesty put a stop thereto by giving in a Memorial to the Senate of that City threatning both Senate and Inhabitants with the King 's utmost Displeasure if they should countenance or joyn with us in any Treaty of Trade or Commerce As by the annexed Copy thereof may appear Upon due Consideration whereof we have in all Duty and Humility address'd His Majesty in June last for Redress thereof In answer to which Address His Majesty was then graciously pleased to signifie by his Royal Letter That upon His return into England He would take into Consideration the Contents of our said Address And that in the mean time He would give Orders to His said Ministers at Hamburgh not to make use of His Royal Name or Authorty for obstructing the Trade of our Company with the Inhabitants of that City In the full Assurance of which we rested secure and took our Measures accordingly till to our further Surprize and unspeakable Prejudice we found by repeated Advices from Hamburgh that the said Resident continues still Contumacious and is so far from giving due obedience to His Majesty's said Order that upon Application made to him by our Agent in that City with all the Respect due to his Character he declared That as yet he had got no such Order on our behalf Which by a further Address we are now to lay before His Majesty But whereas we humbly conceive your Lordships to be more immediatly under His Majesty the Guardians of the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom we think it our Duty to represent to your Lordships the Consequences of the said Memorial both with relation to our Company in particular and the Priviledges Interest Honour Dignity and Reputation of the Nation in general Your Lordships very well know of what Concern the Success of this Company is to the whole Kingdom and that scarce any particular Society or Corporation within the same can justly boast of so unanimous a Suffrage or Sanction as the Acts of Parliament by which this Company is established So that if effectual measures be not taken for putting an early stop to such an open and violent Infringement of and Encroachment upon the Priviledges of so solemn a Constitution 't is hard to guess how far it may in after Ages be made use of as a Precedent for invading and overturning even the very Fundamental Rights Natural Liberties indisputable Independency of this Kingdom which by the now open and frequent Practises of our unkind Neighbours seem to be too shreudly pointed at And should this Company wherein the most considerable of the Nobility Gentry Merchants and whole Body of the Royal Boroughs are concern'd be so unhappy which God forbid as to have its Designs rendred unsuccessful through the unaccountable evil Treatments of our said Neighbours most certain it is that no Consideration whatever can thereafter induce this Nation to join in any such other Publick tho' never so advantageous Undertaking as not doubting but to meet with the like or greater Discouragements from those who give such frequent and manifest Indications of their Designs to wrest our Right and Freedom of Trade out of our Hands For which cause we humbly offer the Premisses to your Lordship's serious Consideration not doubting but you will in your profound Wisdom and Prudence take such effectual Measures for Redress thereof at present and to prevent the like Encroachments for the future as may be capable to remove those Apprehensions and Jealousies which the bare-faced and avowed Methods of the English do now suggest not only to our Company in particular but even to the whole Body of this Nation in general Sign'd at Edinburgh the 22d day of December 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council-General by May it please your Lordships Your Lordships most Obedient and most humble Servant Fran. Scott Pr. A Letter from the Council-General of the Company to His Grace the Duke of Queensberry Edinb the 25th of Decemb. 1697. May it please your Grace THis is by Order of the council-Council-General of the Indian and African Company of Scotland to acquaint your Grace that by this Post there is a Second Address from the said council-Council-General transmitted to the Secretaries of State to be by them presented to His Majesty And the Subject Matter thereof being of so high a concern not only to the Company but also to the whole Nation It is not doubted but that your Grace both as a Patriot and a Party Interested in the Company 's Stock will imploy your Interest to second the same refering your Grace to the Bearer for particular Information of the whole Matter and what has been already done therein I am May it please your Grace Your Graces most Obedient and most humble Servant Fran Scot Pr. Mem That Letters to this purpose were at the same time written to such others of the Scots Nobility and most considerable Gentry as happen'd to be then at London A Letter from both the Secretaries of State in Answer to the Council-General of the Company 's second Address to His Majesty Kensingtoun Jan. 17. 1698. SIR VVE presented this Day to the King the Address of the African Company We could not have Opportunity to do it sooner His Majesty being so much taken up at this time The King said That he had already given Orders to his Resident at Hamburg in that Matter conforme to his Lettter he wrote from Flanders in July last which was communicated to the Company We are SIR Your humble Servants Tullibardin Ja. Ogilvy To Sir Fran Scott of Thirlestane To His Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the Estates of Parliament The humble Petition of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies Sheweth THat whereas the Wisdom of the King and this present Parliament has thought fit by two several solemn Acts and Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom to establish our COMPANY with such Power Priviledges and Immunities as were thought needful to encourage any such New Undertaking in this Nation particulary to raise a Joynt-Stock in such manner as we should think fit And for that End to enfranchise such Foreigners as would become Partners with us and to enter into Treaties
Settlement so much as once set a foot upon that Plot of Ground wherein our Colony is now fix'd And tho the same was altogether uninhabited when our People came there the chief Men and Leaders of the Natives of that part of the Coast nearest adjoining to Golden Island East-ward and Westward have not only treated with the Council of our Colony before Landing but have also in pursuance of that Treaty in a most kind and friendly manner admitted our said Colony into such Places of their Neighbourhood as are not yet possessed and taken Commissions from the said Council in a very solemn manner and joined with our People And that in consideration of our Colony's admiting them and their followers to participate of the Liberties and Priviledges granted to our Company by his Majesty of Great Britain OUR SOVERAIGN LORD with Advice and consent of his Parliament of Scotland entreating to be protected accordingly We repeat these Words as being the express Words of the first Commission which the said Council granted As to the French Designs of setling thereabouts it is a Point not to be doubted of For in order thereunto they have already been tampering with several of the Natives some of whom they endeavour'd to have carried into France and we have very good reason to believe that a further Progress had been made in that matter before now were it not the daily Expectations which that Court had of the King of Spains Death which we humbly conceive is a Matter worthy of his Majesty's consideration and of no small concern to the interest of his whole Dominions tho this Nation and our Company may seem to be more immediatly interested at present Your Lordship sees we have in the inclosed Letter to the King made mention of our last Petition and hope your Lordship will take a convenient Opportunity to back the same For as your Lordship knows we have already suffered considerably by encroaching upon our Priviledges so we ought to be very careful as much as in us lies not to admit of any dangerous Precedents And really we must say We were very much surpriz'd the other day when we understood by Letters from the Council of our Colony that Capt. Long Commander of the Rupert Prize who carries his Majesty's Commission for finding out and fishing of Wrecks should under the colour of that Commission wherever he went traduce our Undertaking and Colony to all sorts of People upon that Coast whether Natives or others declaring that our said Colony was no other than a pack of Rogues Vagabounds Robbers and broken Officers without any Commission and that the King would not own them nay further he himself came into our Harbour where he was very courteously and respectfully treated by all our People there in recompence of which he very ingratefully made it his study all the while to seduce our Men and did carry off one of our chief Carpenters which is a very considerable Loss in that part of the World and in the Infancy of our Settlement considering how necessary a Man he was and the Difficulty of supplying his Place so quickly as they may have occasion for him This kind of Usage is really so provocking that we cannot suppose but that the King may be graciously pleased to interpose his Royal Authority for preventing the like Usage in time to come if his Majesty were duely informed thereof So in the confidence of his Majesty's gracious Countenance and Protection and your Lordship 's hearty Endeavours to procure the same this is by Order of the council-Council-General and in Name Presence and by Warrant of the Court of Directors of our Company Signed by Edinburgh 1st day of April 1699. To the right Honourable the Lord Carmichael Secretary of State My Lord Your Lordship 's most obedient and most humble Servant J. Haldane P. Memorandum There was another Letter to the same purpose written to the Viscount of Seafield with an inclosed Copy of the said Letter to the King A Memorial given in to the King of Great Britain by the Ambassador Extraordinary of Spain against the Scots Settlement at Darien THe Subscriber Ambassador Extraordinary from His Catholick Majesty finds himself obliged by express orders to represent to your Majesty that the King his Master having receivyed Information from different places and last of all from the Governour of Havana of the Insult and attempt of some Scots Ships equipt with Men and other things requisite who design to settle themselves in His Majesty's Soveraign Demains in America and particularly the Province of Darien His Majesty received those Advices with very much discontent and looks upon the same as a token of small friendship as a rupture of the Alliance between the two Crowns which His Majesty hath observed hitherto and always observes very religiously and from which so many Advantages and Profites have resulted both to your Majesty and your Subjects As a consequence of which correspondence His Majesty did not expect such sudden insults and attempts by your Majesty's Subjects and that too in a time of Peace without pretext or any cause in the very heart of his Demains All that the King desires is that this may be represented to your Majesty and that your Majesty may he acquainted that he is very sensible of such Hostilities and unjust procedures against which His Majesty will take such measures as he thinks convenient Given at London the 13 â— day of May 1699. The Three following Memorials were presented to His Majesty in May 1699. by the Lord President of the Session and Lord Advocat on behalf of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies asserting the Legality of their Settlement in Darien 1st MEMORIAL THe Establishment of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies was first prepared by an Act of Parliament 1693. Inviting and Encouraging Persons in General to enter into Societies and Companies for carrying on a Trade to whatsoever Kingdoms Countrie or parts of the World not being in War with His Majesty and thereafter perfected by the Act of Parliament 1695 and a Charter thereon under the Great Seal whereby the said Company was fully Settled with all the Powers Priviledges and Immunities in use to be granted in such cases and particularly with Power to plant Colonies and build Cities Towns and Forts in Asia Africa or America upon Places not Inhabited or upon any other Place by Consent of the Natives and Inhabitants thereof and not possess'd by any European Prince or State The Settling of this Company was so acceptable to the whole Kingdom abounding always with Men and of late Years very desirous to enlarge Trade and Commerce That the Company 's Books being once opened Subscriptions for a vast Sum were compleated long before the Day prefix'd by the Act of Parliament and there were few Persons or Families of any Account within the Kingdom who were not therein particularly concerned But tho' the Subscriptions were soon compleated and
the Advances made as readily as propos'd yet the Directors and Managers did proceed with great Deliberation not being more Cautious to Conceal the Place where they were design'd for than Careful to make such a Choice as might be exactly in the Terms of their Act and Patent To wit Either not Inhabited or freely Consented to by the Natives and not possess'd by any European Prince or State and so lyable to no Exception In pursuance of these Resolutions The Company prepared Men and Provisions and set out their Ships and in the Month of November 1698 arrived on the Noth-side of the Isthmus of Darien in America they pitched upon a Place never before possess'd by the Spaniards and after formal and distinct Treaties obtained the Consent and Good-will of all the Neighbouring Natives and People The Spaniards and French raise a Clamour against the Settlement as an Invasion of the Spanish Possessions and Dominions in as much as the Place where the Company hath fixed lyes as it were in the Middle and Bosom of the Spanish Countries having Carthagena on the East and Porto-Bello on the West and Panama on the South which is also alledged to be contrary to the Treaties betwixt the King of Great Brittain and the King of Spain whereby all these Countrie 's are yeilded and conformed to the Spaniards If these parts of America had been wholly Void and Uninhabited when the Spaniards made their first Discoveries and Plantations there the Question had certainly proceeded upon the head of Occupation the only Ground acknowledg'd by all Lawyers to determine the Property of all Waste and Uninhabited Countries where a formal Division hath not Interveened as Grotius in particular in his Second Book de jure Belli doth abundantly clear and then the Spaniards must have further Subsumed That as they found these Countries Waste so they were the Occupiers and Possessors thereof and in Special that they were the first Occupiers and Possessors of the Isthmus of Darien and the Place where the Company hath Settled it being most certain that Occupation gives no Right save in so far as the Real and Actual Possession extends But seing on the other hand it is Nottour and by all Acknowledg'd That the Spaniards did not find these Parts Waste and Uninhabited this Argument must necessarily fall and all that the Spaniards can now Plead is either present Possession which the Company 's Patent owns to be a sufficient Right to any European Prince or State or the above-mention'd Treaties as exclusive of the King of Great Brittain's Subjects For clearing then the Claim and Point of Possession The Company denies that ever the Spaniard had any Possession of the Place where they have Planted and it s obviously Incumbent to the Spaniard if they alledge Possession to prove and instruct their Alledgance for the Company 's Argument being Negative viz. That the Spaniards did never Possess the Country where the Company hath Settled it Undeniably proves it self as all Lawiers affirm unless the contrary to wit The Spaniards Possession be evidently made out and proved which is impossible Nor do the Spaniards pretend to prove the same But their Alledgance is That in these large Countries of America it were plainly Capricious to require the Actual Possession of every particular Place But since they have the Uncontraverted Right and Possession of Carthagena Porto-Bello and Panama which are the Extremities that in a manner environ the Isthmus of Darien their Possession of these Places must infer a Possession of the Interjacent Country in which the Company hath Settled and consequently that the Company hath Encroached upon and Invaded their Right And further it s said That the Spaniards have actually possess'd Gold and Silver Mines in Darien much nearer to the Company 's Settlement than Carthgena or these other Places and have constantly been in use to Seize and make Prize of all Ships coming upon the Coast betwixt Porto Bello and Carthagena as Invaders of their Possessions tho' these Ships did really pertain to Friends and Allies To all which It is answered 1mo That the above-mentioned Places belonging to the Spaniard are very far distant from the Settlement of the Company Carthagena above Fifty and Porto-bello and Panama above Thirty Leagues which Distances are more then sufficient to render Countries distinct both as to Right and Possession 2do It 's certain that Carthagena Porto-bello or Panama cannot be understood to have unlimited Territories if then their Territories be limited it belongs to the makers of the Objection to show that the Limits of these places do reach to and comprehend the Place possess'd by the Company which neither the Spaniards nor any for them will ever be able to prove by the Law of Nations or any known Rule or Custom in such Cases It hath already been Notic'd That tho' these Countries had been wholly Void when the Spaniards begun to Plant there they could only by their Possession have appropriat as far as they did possess and that what was not possess'd would have remain'd free to be appropriated by the Occupation and possession of any other People a Rule Uncontraverted amongst all Nations on the Face of the Earth But the Case of America being That before any Plantations were Settled there by the Spaniards the Natives were undoubtedly the Possessors and Proprietors It follows necessarly That Colonies coming to Settle among them must derive Right from them and that either by Consent Surrender or Conquest it being impossible in the case of Countries inhabited there can be any other Manner or Mean of Acquisition But so it is That the Spaniards acquiring after this manner neither could nor can pretend to have Right to more than did pertain to the People where they Settled whether by Consent Surrender or Conquest Whence it necessarly follows That since Darien was a distinct Country and the Inhabitants thereof a distinct People from those Countries and Nations where the Spaniards have hitherto Settled whether by Consent Surrender or Conquest The Spaniards cannot pretend to extend their Right beyond that of their Predecessors and the People Country of Darien must still be as free from the Spaniards as they were from their Predecessors and consequently that the Company coming to possess with the Dariens Consent and by their Right must be in the like Condition and noways lyable to either the Claim or Complaint of the Spaniards That the Country and Natives of Darien did never submit to or were conquered by the Spaniards must stand as a sure Position unless the contrary be proven But further it is also certain That the Dariens were never Repute to have any Dependency even on the great Empires of Mexico and Peru much less upon the little places of Carthagena Porto-bello or Panama Besides The Dariens have been in frequent War with the Spaniards since their first arrival into these Parts and were never to this day Conquered All which being attested by the English and other Travellers who
Indian Prince but that Defence was look'd upon as a Jest and it was not for that Reason that he was acquitted It is Answered There was indeed a Treaty in the Year 1670 concerning America in particular whereby it was provided That the King of Brittain should have hold and enjoy for ever with full Right of Sovereignty Dominion and Property all those Lands Regions Islands Colonies and Places whatsoever situated in the West-Indics or any part of America which the said King and his Subjects did then hold and possess From which Article the Spaniards would infer that all the rest of America was lost by the King of Brittain as a Right and Dominion of Spain because that Spain ratifies the Possession obtained by the King of Brittain and there is not a mutual Ratification of the Possession of the King of Spain This Article can bear no such Inference for 1. The King of Brittain and his Subjects did not then nor do they now in the least question the Possessions of the King of Spain and his Subjects but the King of Spain did very much question the Right of the King of Brittain to several of his American Plantations not only upon the general Ground of an Universal Title to all the West-Indies which no European Prince will bear but likewise upon particular Claims that the English had beat out the Spaniards and enjoyed what had been once possess'd by them in several places And the former Treaties with Spain especialy that in the Year 1667 were only general establshing a perpetual Peace betwixt the Dominions and Teritories of Brittain and these of Spain But the Question remaining anent the Right and Dominion of these American Settlements to which the King of Spain did lay still a Claim The Treaty 1670 did renounce his Claim to the Colonies in the English Possession but did determine nothing as to those parts of America which were never Possess'd by the Spaniard or Brittish and if it had been intended that the Right of Spain to all America that was not possess'd by some other European Prince should be asserted and declared the same would not have been left to such remote conjectures but would have been specially express'd 2. The whole Tenor of that Treaty does sufficiently clear that no such thing was intended as to presuppose much less to assert the Right of Spain beyond actual possession For by the Second Article of the Treaty it is provided That there be an Universal Peace in America as in other parts of the World between the Kings of Great Brittain and Spain and between the Kingdoms States Plantations Colonies Forts Cities Islands and Dominions belonging to either of them and between the People and Inhabitants under their respective Obedience This Article in the Treaty relating to America only doth clearly demonstrate that both Kings were set upon an equal foot and did Treat for themselves and the People and Inhabitants under their respective Obedience and no further so that all matters were left untouched that did concern parts not Inhabited or possess'd by Natives who were never under obedience to either Prince nor would the Treaty have been for Plantations Colonies Forts c. equally and mutually if either King had pretended an universal Title or Right beyond Possession 3. The Eight Article doth yet further clear that the King of Spain had no Universal Claim but according to his Possession which Article provides that the Subjects Inhabitants and Mariners of the Dominions of each Confederate shall forbear to Sail to or Trade in the Ports and Havens which are fortified with Castles Magazines or Ware-Houses and in all other Places whatsoever possess'd by the other Party in the West Indies To wit the Subjects of Brittain shall not Sail into and Trade in the Havens and Places which the Catholick King holds in the Indies nor in like manner shall the Subjects of the King of Spain Sail into c. This Clause is plainly restrictive upon the King of Spain That the Subjects of the King of Brittain shall not Trade into these places of the Indies which belong to Spain for thereby it presupposes that Spain has no Universal Title and it s left free to the King of Brittains Subjects to Sail into and Trade in all Ports and Havens which have no Fortifications Castles Magazines or Ware-Houses Possess'd by the King of Spain and consequently it was lawful to have Sailed to and Traded with the Darien Indians where the King of Spain had no Fortifications Castles Magazines or Ware-Houses nor can clear any manner of Possession and if they might Trade with the Indians it must be acknowledg'd they might Settle among them It 's also provided by the Tenth Article that in case the Ships of either Party be forced by stress of Weather or otherwise into the Rivers Creeks Bays or Ports belonging to the other in America they shall be treated there with all Humanity and Kindness Which Article states both Kings again upon an equal foot and mentions the Right of both as restrictive to particular Rivers Creeks Bays c. in America as if neither Party claimed Universal Title over all The 15th Article of the said Treaty provides that the same shall in nothing derogate from any preheminency Right or Dominion of any Confederate in the American Seas Channels or Waters but that they have and retain the same in as full and ample manner as may of right belong unto them providing always that the Liberty of Navigation ought in no manner to be disturbed This Artiele relates to certain Preheminencies and Priviledges claim'd by Spain in the American Sea which by the Treaty was not yeilded but left in the same state as formerly and if the King of Spain had pretended to an Universal Right over all America in so far as is not possess'd by other European Princes why was he more carefull to preserve his Claim of Sovereignty in the Seas and forgot his Dominion upon the main Land There can be no other reason for it but because there was no such thing in prospect as appears by the whole Tenor of the Treaty Nothing hath been alledged in behalf of Spain to make any disparity betwixt all the Settlements that have been made in America by the Subjects of the King of Brittain or other Princes except the Treaty 1670 Which when duly considered makes no disparity at all For albeit the Possession of the King of Brittains Subjects be thereby confirmed yet it will not be acknowledg'd by the King of Great Brittain or any other Prince that the Settlements made by their Subjects were illegal or violent untill confirmed by the King of Spain and all Nations who have Planted there must sustain and justify the Scots Settlement or acknowledge that the Settlement of their own Subjects were injurious to the Right of Spain It is not nor can be denyed that the Dariens have been at frequent War with Spain altho they pretend that the Dariens were rather Rebels than Enemies
May it please your Majesty Your Majesty's most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant Belhaven I. P. C. G. To which his Majesty was pleased to give the following Answer WILLIAM R. RIght Trusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Your Petition has been presented to us by our Secretaries and we do very much regret the Loss which that our Antient Kingdom and the Company has lately sustained We will upon all Occasions protect and encourage the Trade of the Nation And we will also take care that the Subjects of that our Kingdom shall have the same freedom of Trade and Commerce with our English Plantations as ever they had formerly Our current Parliament is adjourn'd to the 5th day of March next and we will order that the Parliament shall meet when we judge that the Good of the Nation does require it And so we bid you heartily farewell Given at our Court at Kensington the 2d day of November 1699 and of our Reign the 11th Year By his Majesty's Command Seafield To our Right Trusty and well-beloved The Council General of the Company of our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies To the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor and remanent Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council The Humble Address of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please your Lordships WE think it needless to trouble your Lordships with a repetition of the many Steps Difficulties and Discouragements that we met with all along both abroad and at home since the beginning of this Undertaking the most considerable of them being already particularly known to your Lordships But maugre all those Difficulties we have with a great deal of Trouble and vast Expenses settled a Plantation in one of the most valuable and impregnable Places in all America situated on the North-side of the Istumus of Darien called by us Caledonia As no Nation in Europe ever begun any such Settlement with so considerable a Strength of Men Ships and other Necessaries as we did So no instance can be given of any Settlement ever heretofore made that had so hopeful an Aspect in so short a time as our Plantation aforesaid But to our and the Nation 's inestimable Loss we have very surprizing Advices of our Peoples having deserted the said Settlement by reason of Proclamations issued forth in all his Majesty's Plantations of America strictly forbidding all his Majesty's Subjects to hold any manner of Correspondence with our said Colony and that no manner of Provisions Arms Ammunition or other necessaries whatsoever should be transported or carried to them either in their own Vessels or any other Ship or Vessel for their use and that under the outmost Pains Penalties and Forfeitures mentioned in the said Proclamations The certain notice whereof could not but have put them in a desperate Condition especially none of our Advices having come to their hands tho we wrote to them at several times by the several ways of Jamaica Barbados Antegoa New-England c. and sent them likewise an illimited Credit for buying of Provisions till our own Ships and Recruits should come up to them We have taken such further measures as seem'd most reasonable to us upon this unexpected Emergency but have too good ground to fear that not only what we have already done but even all that we are able to do must prove ineffectual if the King and his Parliament of this Kingdom do not give some encouraging Marks of their Favour and Protection to our said Company and Colony Wherefore we have in all humble Duty Petition'd his Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to take off the Force of the said Proclamations and allow his said Parliament to meet at the day appointed in November next or as soon as possibly may be to give their Advice and Assistance in such a weighty and general concern Your Lordships may very well know the great Losses both of Men and Treasure that we have already suffered by the unaccountable Proceedings of the Enemies of our Company and Colony Nor can we tell when to expect an end to such Methods against us unless his Majesty and the Great Council of the Nation fall upon proper and effctual Means for supporting so valuable an Undertaking May it the refore please your Lordships to take the whole Premisses into your most serious consideration and do us all the good Offices with his Majesty that in your profound Wisdom you shall think most expedient for supporting our Company and Colony's Interest and give him an account of our present Circumstances and how much the Honour and Interest of the Nation stands concern'd Sign'd at Edinburgh the 20th day of October 1699 in Name Presence and by Order of the said council-Council-General By May it please your Lordships Your Lordships most humble Servant Basil Hamilton J. P. C. G. A Letter from the Company To the Right Honourable The Viscount of Seafield one of the Secretaries of State for the Kingdom of Scotland My Lord THis is by Order of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies to acquaint your Lordship That we have prevail'd upon Lord Basil Hamilton to be at the trouble of going up with an Address to His Majesty from our said Council-General on behalf of Captain Robert Pinkarton and Thirty more who were wrongfully detain'd Prisoners at Carthagena since the beginning of February last and as we are inform'd are most inhumanely treated We are daily importun'd by their Relations who are very considerable for their Relief and it is of great concern to our Company that something material be speedily done therein not only for the sake of the said Prisoners but also that others may thereby see we do not abandon the Interest of such as engage themselves in our Company 's Service Lord Basil Hamilton is fully instructed in all matters relating to the said Address and other Affairs relating to our Company of which he 'll inform your Lordships Wherefore we entreat that your Lordship will be pleas'd to introduce him to His Majesty in presenting of the said Address and to assist him in procuring a gracious return from his Majesty in the considence whereof I remain Edinbr 4th Decr. 1699. My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble Servant Yester I. P. C. G. Memorandum Such another Letter was at the same time written to the Lord Carmichael the other Secretary of State The Company 's Address to His Majesty May it please your Majesty WE your Majesty's most dutiful Subjects the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies having formerly in most humble manner represented to your Majesty how that we have with much Trouble great Expense and after many unexpected Stops and Difficulties settled a Plantation and Colony on the North-side of the Isthmus of Darien on the Continent of America precisely in the Terms of your