above them and its having in Land more than Thirty Nine Millions of Acres is not reckoned to have above Six Millions of People which upon a balance and an adjustment of our extent of Ground and theirs makes them to exceed us more than in a Moyety of Inhabitants And as they have in the vertue of Results from and natural Consequences upon there application unto and Cultivation of Trade attained unto a Naval strength which makes them Superiour in Marine Power to most Nations and Rival Competitors with all for the Sovereignty of the Seas so they are grown able thro' the Treasure which they have acquired by Traffick and Commerce to procure raise and muster such Numerous Forces out of distant as well as out of adjoyning Countries where the want and poverty not only of Subjects but of Princes tempteth the Latter upon the baite and bribe of Pensions to grant and afford them what proportion of Troops they do require and compelleth the former upon the hopes of a Pay that will hardly yield them Food to be willing and ready to serve under their Banner as thereby to be in a Condition to undertake carry on and manage both Offensive and Defensive Wars against the greatest Potentates and the Powerfullest Nations in Europe For as it is with great Judgment and an accurate regard to Truth observed by the most Ingenious Author of an Essay upon waies and means that no Sums dug out of Mines bear any proportion with what may be made to rise by the Labour and Traffick of a Trading and Industrious people So it is no less Morally and Politically certain than any Problem in Euclid is Mathematically that in proportion to the Riches and Treasures which a people is possessed of they may be powerful if they please by Land as well as by Sea Whereas such Nations who do either because of their distance from Navigable Waters stand Incapacitated and Disabled for all Maritime Traffick or who by reason of their Carelesness and Sloth do not Apply themselves unto it with that Industry which they should are notwithstanding their larger as well as their equal extent of Territories with them whom we have mention'd not only unable to support and sustain a full complement of People in proportion to the dimensions of their Land but tho' possibly through the Largeness of their Ground they be overstockt with Inhabitants beyond what some Trading Countries are nevertheless they are uncapable of Maintaining even a Land War especially if it be offensive for so long a time and with so much Reputation and Honour as a Kingdom or State addicted unto Traffick and Commerce are experimentally found to be in a condition to do Whereof I need not assign Instances there being several large Dominions and considerable Republicks in Europe which are undeniable and convincing proofs of it and particularly even Germany as well as Switzerland who notwithstanding their great Numbers both of Men and of Disciplined Troops and their inclination unto and Bravour in War yet thro' their being straitned and scanted in Money which is a Natural and unavoidable Consequence of their Want of Traffick they are neither in a condition to bring such Numerous Armies into the Field nor for any long time to Maintain them there as such Nations who are stored with Treasure as the result effect and produce of Trade easily may and often do But that which in a most especial manner should awaken and oblige every Nation that lies Situated and is provided with Necessaries and conveniencies for Trade to undertake cultivate and promote it is seriously to weigh and consider what our Neighbours who have commodious Ports for Navigation and Natural and Artificial Productions to be both the Source Original and Foundation and the Nerves and Supports of it have been of late and are still industriously doing Namely that the acquisition and enlargement of Trade is the great Study and endeavours of most Princes and States the adjacency of whose Territories to the Sea the growth of their Soil and the Manufactures of their Subjects do in any measure make it practicable and give hopes of succeeding and prospering in it Particularly that Powerful and wise Monarch of France no less to his own Glory than the Benefit of his Dominions makes it the chief business of his Royal care and Authority to encourage advance and protect it Tho' of all Potentates and people whatsoever the French King and his Subjects are in the best condition to subsist comfortably without it And that by reason of their enjoying not only within themselves and at home all things that are absolutely Necessary and Requisite for the pleasure as well as for the Sustentation of life but because of their having so many and such Valuable Superfluities which others do Export from them for which they do both furnish them in way of Exchange with those few conveniencies they do want and do enrich them with Treasure by paying them in Gold and Silver for most part of the Goods and Commodities that they purchase of and import into their own Countries from them And indeed what that Prince hath effected and done within the compass of a few years and the narrow Circle of his own Reign in the encouraging and promoting Manufactures at Home the extending and enlarging Traffick into all Countries tho' at never so great a distance Abroad notwithstanding the Natural aversion as well as the long contracted indisposition of his people thereunto thro' Humour Genius and Custom and his having raised and furnished himself with a Naval Power which for Number and Strength of Ships is not only in a Condition to protect his Commerce and defend his Kingdom against Invasions by Sea but to dispute the very Dominion of the Ocean with those who have long laid claim unto and honorably maintained it I say that the great encouragement which he hath given and the stupendious advancement that he hath made in all these do cloath and adorn him with greater Honour while he liveth and will transmit his Name hereafter to Posterity with a more dazling Lustre and Splendour than either all his Victories and Conquests heretofore or his late sustaining so long a War without any considerable Mortification and disgrace to himself or momentons prejudice or damage to his People And whosoever will give themselves leave to think and are withal qualified to penetrate into the Springs Reasons and proper causes of Matters and Affairs of this nature will easily find and perceive that there is nothing has so much laid the Foundation of his vast Power and Strength of Military Forces at Land and of his Ability to maintain and support them without either their Deserting or their Mutinying thro' want of Food Rayment and Pay and of all the Successes which he hath attain'd unto by means of their Bravour and Discipline as his Manufactures at home and his Commerce abroad have done from and by which most of that great Wealth and Treasure hath flowed in to him
appeareth from the whole which hath been hitherto said how much the Scots have of late discovered their Wisdom and Prudence and how highly their care and zeal are to be Commended in their having made an Essay and a Beginning for the encouragement and enlargement of Manufacture at home and towards the erection and establishment of a Colony abroad and by that Foundation which they have laid for the settlement and advancement of Trade And this unquestionably they have a plenary right to do as they are a Free and Independant Nation without asking the leave or demanding the concurrence of any Rulers and Countries whatsoever provided they be Countenanced and Authorised thereunto by their own King and that they do nothing therein which is inconsistent with the Laws of Nations nor attempt the settling in any Districts or Provinces from which they stand prohibited and excluded by publick and solemn Stipulations between him that now is their Sovereign or those that have been so formerly and other States Princes and Potentates For that Scotland dependeth upon or is a Province Subordinate to any other Nation and Subjected to the Ordinances Constitutions and Municipal Statutes thereof I suppose none will betray the Ignorance or have the Effrontery to affirm It being a Kingdom that holdeth of none Save of God for their Title unto and Possession of their Country and of their own Swords under his providential Blessing and Aid for the Maintaining and Defending of them For tho' there be a very near and close Conjunction and Union between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland thro' their being under one and the same King rather than in the virtue and force of mutual Contracts and Alliances which I do heartily wish may always continue and that all the secret Caballings and Clandestine endeavours of those may prove abortive unprosperous and miscarry who either from Ancient Piques personal Moroseness Envy and ill Nature or upon any other Motives Prospects and Designs whatsoever shall seek to weaken interrupt and especially to dissolve it Yet England doth not Challenge and lay Claim to the having any Authority over Scotland nor pretend to an Imposing of their own Laws upon that Nation or to a Supervising of such Parliamentary Bills as are prepared and formed there in order to the being Enacted into Statutes But the Scots are absolute within themselves and vested with a Power underived from any Nation and in the exercise whereof they are accountable unto none for the making of Laws and falling upon and pursuing all such Ways Methods and Means which are reconcilable with the Fealty and Loyalty which they owe unto their Prince that may be subservient and usefull to their own Safety and Interest And in Testimony and Evidence of their being a Free State and a Kingdom as entirely Independent upon England as upon any other Dominion whatsoever they both can and do often lay what Customs and Impositions they please upon English Productions and Commodities when carried and Imported thither to be vended and disposed of there And by a Power Inherent in themselves which England cannot reasonably dispute nor lawfully Controul they sometimes do and at all times may Inhibit and Forbid their own People the buying using and consuming such Goods as were either Manufactured in England or brought thither by the English from their Plantations and Colonies elsewhere And as in the Vertue of this independent Freedom Liberty Previlege and Right under the Authority and Power of their Kings they have at all times made legal Provision for the Government of their People at home and pursued that little Trade which they had attained unto with such Nations abroad as were in Peace and Amity with their Princes without their being questioned for or disturbed in it by any save by those that were in Hostility with their Sovereigns and that only in Seasons of actual War so they have by a fresh Exertion of this innate Freedom and inherent and independant Right lately contrived and framed a Bill which they have obtained to be passed into an Act and a Law wherein the People and Subjects of that Kingdom are empowered to erect Societies and Companies for the establishment and carrying on Trade with whatsoever Nations and Countries or Places in Asâ—â— Africa or America which are either not Inhabited or where they have the consent of the Natives and Inhabitants thereof under the Limitation and Restriction that such places are not Previously and Antecedently possessed by European Sovereigns Potentates Princes and States And moreover that they may provide and furnish the said Places Cities Towns and Forts with Magazines Ordinance Arms Weapons Ammunitions and stores of War and by force of Arms defend their Trade Navigation Colonies Cities Towns Forts and Plantations and their other Effects As likewise that it shall be Lawful for them to make Reprisals and to seek and take reparation of Damages done unto them by Sea or Land and to make and conclude Treaties of Peace and Commerce with the Sovereign Princes Estates Rulers Governours and Proprietors of the said Lands Islands Countries or Places in Africa or America In relation to which Act for authorising the Scots to establish a Foreign Trade and their being empowered to settle Plantations in the forementioned Parts of the World in order to the better gaining enlarging and protecting of it the few things which I have to offer under this head shall be briefly these Namely That as the Design of Erecting such a Trade and of Planting Colonies in the Subserviency to the Maintaining Improving and Extending thereof was not rashly and unthoughtfully Undertaken by those of that Kingdom so the Act by which in pursuance of that Projection they stand warranted to do whatsoever is before reported was not surreptitiously obtained of his Majesty nor was he by any undue Artifices misled into the Granting of it For how much foever that Nation might be desirous to have a Foreign Settlement towards the better enabling them for such a Traffick and notwithstanding they sufficiently understood it to be their great and indispensible Interest to embark Vigorously both in Manufacture and Commerce yet their unsuccessfulness heretofore in some attempts of that Nature as particularly in the Plantation of Carolina which they held of the Crown of England antecedently to the English planting there from which they became expelled by the Spaniards thro' want of that protection and of those encouragements which were necessary to the having rendred them safe and Prosperous made them proceed slowly and with great Calmness and Discretion in the Forming Digesting and Maturating what they have at last after an adjusting of all that was Prerequired thereunto put in Execution Nor could the King be Surprized into the giving his Royal Assent to the Bill for the premised establishment seeing as they who served his Majesty at that time under the Characters of Commissioner and Secretary of State were persons as entirely in his Interest and zealous for his Honour and Glory
having seriously Considered and duly Weighed whatsoever could be pretended or alledged against them upon their proceeding to establish a Colony there For the examination whereof they allowed themselves sufficient time in that tho' their Subscriptions were perfected and compleated about the beginning of the year 1696 yet they did not send their Ships from Scotland untill the Month of July 1698 which arrived not in that place until November following And as it is not only hoped but morally certain that great advantages of attaining unto Wealth Power and Honour will thereby accrue and be administred to Scotland so it might easily be Demonstrated that very considerable Benefits will infallibly Redound from thence unto England and that both in times of Peace and of War Seeing as it will be a means whereby in a short time a compendious Way and Passage for Trade to China Japan as well as to the East-Indies may be obtained and rendred secure whereby the English will become qualified and enabled not only to outdo the French who begin to Rival them in Traffick to the latter but to equal the Dutch who do at present far exceed them in it So by the conveniency of the Scots Caledonian Plantation both a great quantity more of the Manufactures of that Kingdom will come to be vented in all the East parts of the World as well as in the Spanish West-Indian Provinces and the expence made less and the returns much Speedier and Surer to and from the latter than they are or ever can be by the way of Cadiz and Malaga And as for the English Plantations in America they will not only have larger and more advantageous occasions of Trading into the Spanish American Colonies but the very Scots of the Calidonian Plantation will will take off and consume abundance of their Commodities and Productions especially theirs of New York and New England for which they will pay in Gold and in Silver and such valuable Goods as the Mines Rivers and Land of Darien do yield and furnish And should a War at any time come to be between the Kings of Great Britain and of Spain as who knoweth what may hereafter fall out Calidonia is and will in that case be found the best Situate place of any in the World from whence and by means whereof to do Hurt and Prejudice to the Spaniards and to yield service to his Britannick Majesty and give his Subjects opportunities of enriching themselves Seeing the Scots Colony there will prove to be not only Posted in the middle and bosom of the Spanish American Ports for Traffick having Carthagena on the East Porto Bèllo on the West and Panama on the South but will be found to stand Situated in the direct way and passage that their Flotas Galleons Armados and Armadilals must go and return to and from Mexico and Peru. Nor on the supposition of such a Hostility arising between these two Crowns as I have mentioned will the English meerly have a larger better and more Fortified Harbour for Ships either of War or Commerce than any of their own West India Plantations do afford But they will have one to Receive Cover and Protect them that is nearer and more adjacent by a hundred Leagues to Porto Bello and Panama than Jamaica and by above three hundred than Barbadoes which of all the English American Colonies are the least distanced from them But seeing I shall have occasion to discourse more fully hereafter of the benefits and advantages which will accrue to the Crown and Kingdom of England by the Scots having settled in Darien and how much upon that account it is both the Interest of the King and of the English Nation that they should be maintained and defended in the possession of their Plantation at Calidonia I shall therefore insist no more upon it under this Head but adjourn what is to be further represented and argued to the foregoing purpose until it will lie more naturally before me in some other Paragraph That which I am then in the next place to advance unto is to Justifie and Prove beyond all possibility of any reasonable Reply that the Scots by their establishing a Colony on the Isthmus of Darien have made no Invasion upon the Rights or Dominions and Territories of the King of Spain nor have therein Acted contrary either to the Laws of Nations or to any Articles of publick Treaties that have intervened or have been Conserted Accorded and Stipulated between the Kings of Great Britain and those of Spain 'T is true his Spanish Majesty hath by several Memorials delivered by his Ministers to his Britannick Majesty or to his Secretaries of State represented remonstrated and complained as if the Scots had thereby made an Infraction of the Peace between the Crowns were become guilty of an Insult and Attempt against his Catholick Majesty and that by settling a Plantation in that place they have posted themselves dansles Souverains le plus Interieur de ces Demaines de sa Majeste In the Soveraign and most Inward Territories of and belonging to his Spanish Majesty And as in case that the matter stood as it is represented and as the complaint doth import the blame thereof ought to be wholly and entirely imputed unto the charged upon the Governours and Directors of the Company erected for Trading to Africa and the Indies and no ways either in the Injury that is done or in the clamours and accusations which arise by and from it to affect his Britannick Majesty in his Justice Veracity and Honour so it would be both requisite and necessary on the foot of Righteousness as well as of Truth that full reparation should be made to his Catholick Majesty if the Fact of the Scots in planting on the Isthmus of Darien were disagreable to Royal and National Treaties and a forceable seisure in times of Amity and Peace of the Lands and Demains of that King Yet I hope it will not be accounted Rudeness or Insolence in me to say that it is both expected and demanded that none will discover and betray themselves to be persons of so little Prudence or Equity as upon the single credit and alone evidence of Memorials to submit unto and to suffer their being either surprised or wheedled or menaced and hectoâ—ed into a belief that the settling the aforesaid Colony in the place abovâ—â—mentioned is therefore Injurious and Criminal in the Scots and to be reckoned an Invasion upon the Sovereign Rights and the Lawful Dominions of the King of Spain meerly because it is alledged and affirmed by his Ministers and in his name to be so And I do reckon my self fully warranted in the requiring and exacting this of every man who desires to escape the censure and reproach of being Imprudent Partial and Iniquous in that it hath very often and upon frequent occasions been the custom and practice of States Princes and Potentates to remonstrate and complain of the proceedings of other Rulers Governours and Soveraigns
between the Crown of Great Britain and of Spain divers of the English Nation finding the Islands of Cateline and Tortuga unpossessed and empty of Inhabitants did thereupon seize and begin to plant Colonies on them giving to the former the name of the Island of Providence and to the latter the name of the Island of Association And which they continuing to inhabit and occupy after the establishment of the Peace betwixt his Britannick Majesty and the Catholick King Anno 1630. the Spaniards became thereat offended not only because of its being an extending and an enlargement of English Settlements in America but by reason of the nearness of those Islands to the Spanish West-India Colonies particularly to those of Cuba and Hispaniola and accordingly complained thereof to King Charles the First by their Ambassador who tho' he was a Prince both of those Morals and Politicks that he would not countenance the least thing that was unjust and Illegal towards and against any and much less in relation to Soveraigns and Potentates with whom he was in Leagues and Alliances nevertheless he gave in Answer to the said Complaint that his Subjects having found those Islands both unpossessed by the Spaniards and uninhabited by any other people whatsoever had thereupon by the Laws of Nature as well as of Nations a Liberty and Right to sit down and to plant there And that they ought not to be therein Obstructed or hindred either because of Jealousies which the Spaniards might entertain on the foot of those Islands being so adjacent to their Territories or by reason of any apprehensions they might have that English Colonies there would prove afterwards inconvenient and prejudicial unto them In which Answer the Spaniards were so far forced to acquiesce at that time as not to reckon that Fact of his Britannick Majesty's Subjects to be any Infraction of Alliances or a Rupture of the Peace Tho' I must withall add that upon the arising of misunderstandings between King Charles the First and his People of England and upon his Subjects of Scotland running into Rebellion the Spaniards made those advantages of our quarrelling here at home among our selves as to assault the English in both the forementioned Islands and were therein so successful as first to drive them out of Tortuga Anno 1634. and afterwards out of Cateline Anno 1640. In the attempt whereof as they acted against all the measures of Law and Justice and to the highest degrees of cruelty and barbarity in the execution of it so it is too well known upon whom both the blame and Infamy are to be charged that those Invasions of the Spaniards upon the Rights Properties and Possessions of the English were not Revenged as they deserved and as they undoubtedly would have been had not King Charles been diverted and hinder'd from it by the unhappy differences which sprung up between him and his People Having then done what I hope will be judged sufficient to obviate and prevent all misconstructions and sinistrous thoughts which might otherwise have risen in the minds of any by reason of the late Memorial presented to his Majesty I do reckon that I have thereby paved my way towards an examination of the Fact of the Scots Company in their setling at Darien whether it ought to be accounted illegal and unjust contrary to the Laws of Nature and of Nations and to interfer with solemn Regal Stipulations or whether it may be esteemed Lawful Righteous and Agreeable to all the rules and measures of Wisdom Amity and Justice as that I may now apply and address my self directly and closely to it without finding the forementioned Remonstrances to remain an Impediment and obstruction in my way And as an Introduction thereunto I cannot but both acknowledge and commend the Fair Honourable and Friendly proceedure of the Catholick King in that he hath by Memorials given in to his Britannick Majesty chosen to assert his pretensions and rights in an Amicable way and so affords an opportunity that the whole World may be satisfied on the Foot and Topicks of Reason Custom and Law that neither the Act and Patent which the King of Great Britain hath granted to his Subjects in Scotland are any ways either disagreeable to Treaties with Spain or dissonant from the received Maxims of Equity and Justice by which States and Princes do govern themselves in their Publick and Political actions towards one and other Nor that the Scots Company have either exceeded the limits prescribed unto them in the Statute and Charter by which they are authorized to Trade to Africa and the Indies and to establish Colonies and Plantations there or that they have done any thing prejudicial unto and Invasive upon the Rights of Spain For hereby instead of putting the decision of this great and important affair upon the Strength Power and Success of Arms and the verdict that should result from Hostility and War it is placed on the amicable foundation of Reason Alliances and Laws and made adjudgeable in the Cabinets and at the Councel Boards of Princes and not immediately referred to a determination by Fleets and Armies on the Ocean and Continent And therefore that this matter may be set and represented in the best and clearest light for an amicable adjustment and composure of it between his Brittanick Majesty and the King of Spain I shall in order thereunto propose and lay down some things in the way of so many Premises which which shall carry that intrinsick certainty and evidence in them as to resemble and be of the Nature of Postulata in Mathematicks and which shall be found as undeniable principles in a discourse that is relative unto and concerning right of property in a Country as the other are acknowledged by all men to be in Geometry Whereof the first is this namely that the Original most Ancient and that which is by all Civilians confessed to be the ground and foundation of the uncontrovertible Title and Right of any people to this or that Country is their having been the Primitive Occupiers and Possessors of it Quod enim est Nullius per occupationem acquiritur ejus Dominium say all Civilians For while the greatest or any part of the World lay wholly Void and Vninhabited and for the Occupation whereof no formal Division had intervened and been agreed upon by those who emitted Colonies for the possessing and planting such and such parts of the Earth assigning to every one of those Colonies there several and respective partitions and districts in that case the right of Title unto and of Property in such a Country and place became primi possidentis his or theirs who were the first occupiers thereof 'T is taken for a dictate of Nature and is that which the Universal reason of Mankind conducted them unto in the first and separated division which was made of this habitable World so far as it was void and uninhabited Vt quod quisque occupasset id proprium haberet
they may have been possessed of them and if a peaceable and undisturb'd Occupation for an hundred or two hundred Years be not confessed sufficient time to found Prescription upon the Right of many Princes as well as of Common Men would be very questionable to what they call their Inheritances and Matter and Cause would thereby be administred of Bloody Wars as well as of litigious and expensive Sutes in Courts of Law both between Rulers and between private Subjects in most places in the World But whereas upon this Concession which I have made it may possibly be said and alledged by some that thro' the Spaniards having a right of Soveraignity and Dominion in and over Mexico and Peru they must consequently be own'd to have a legal Title to all the Provinces Districts and Places that had been formerly and particularly at the Castilians landing in America were parts of Feudatory unto or any ways dependant upon those Empires It being a Maxim in the English as well as in all other Laws That the Possession of a part in a Person or Persons that have the Right gives unto them a just Claim of Possession to the whole Whereunto the Answers that may be given are obvious from what hath been offer'd and laid down in the foregoing Postulata and Premises namely first That the whole imported in that Maxim doth only refer unto and obtain in reference to such who had been and were the legal and rightful Proprietors of such and such Dominions and Territories or who had thro' a Conquest in a just War cut out and made a Title to themselves by their Swords whereas it signifieth nothing nor is of any validity to the giving a legal Claim and Title unto and over any parts of a Country further than as they are actually occupyed and possessed to those who neither had ancient Propriety in and over those Dominions nor had come to acquire any in way of Conquest by a just War Which being the plain and direct case of the Spaniards even in relation to the Empires of Mexico and Peru it may therefore be affirm'd and that consonantly both to all the Rules of Laws and the Measures of Equity and Justice and that from the Castilians having inhumanely savagely and treacherously Murder'd the Emperors of Mexico and Peru and the having destroy'd all those of each of those Imperial Lines as they could byfraud or violence get within the circle of their Power and their having set themselves to Slaughter Massacre and Exterminate the Natives as far as their might and strength excited and influenced by Malice Rage Avarice and insatiable thirst after Blood could extend and reach I say it may be affirm'd that from thence and thereupon no Right or Title of Propriety or Dominion did arise unto the Spaniards in and over those Empires further than they came quietly to inhabit and were submitted unto but that rather thereupon the Natives of those two Empires were at liberty to account these two great Monarchies to be entirely dissolv'd and might reckon that they themselves were in effect reduc'd back again to the State of Nature and that whatsoever Power and Authority had either by primitive Compacts and Agreements or by tacit Submissions been vested in those Monarchs and their Hereditary Successors was become wholly vacated and annulled not only as to them and their legal Heirs but to all such who should pretend to arise and set up in their room in the vertue of any Claim resulting from their having destroy'd and murder'd those Monarchs and that the Power and Jurisdiction of the ancient Emperors of Mexico and Peru being altogether extinguish'd there was thereby a Right as well as a Freedom restor'd unto and divolv'd upon the Natives of disposing themselves how to whom and after what manner they pleas'd so that they might choose what Governors and erect what Government they would in order to their being kept in peace and safety among themselves and be protected and defended from and against all such as should hostilely invade them So that whosoever of those Indians who had formerly been dependant upon and subject unto the Empires of Mexico and Peru did for the reasons I have mention'd withdraw themselves from being for the future any ways under those Empires or any parts or branches of them and became united and confederated into distinct separate and independant Communities erecting Governments and choosing Governors of their own As the Spaniards can lawfully pretend to no legal Claim of Right and Authority over them so it is not only free for those Indians to admit any European or other Nation to come and to settle and to plant among them but they may upon the motive and guidance of their own Interest as well invite as receive any sort of People to plant and reside among them that shall shew themselves willing and who may be able to assist those Natives against the Spaniards who make War upon and seek to oppress them For as Civilians do generally agree Si populus vel propriis viribus vel siociorum jugum hostile excusserit sine dubio libertatem statum antiquum recuperat Whensoever a People that hath been drove out of their Possessions do either by their own Power or by the aid and assistance of their Allies rescue themselves from the Yoke and Dominion of their Enemies they immediately thereupon do legally recover both their Liberty and Right to whatsoever they were disseized of and this is call'd Jus postliminium quod nascitur ex reditu in limen To which purpose Grotius says from Pomponius Expulsis hostibus ex agris quos ceperant dominia eorum ad priores dominos redeunt Vpon the expulsion of Enemies out of such Territories whereof they were by Invasion and Vsurpation become possessed the Propriety and Dominion of those Lands do return unto such who had been the first Lords and Owners of them Nor is any length of time allow'd by some of the best Civilians sufficient to give a Title so much as by Prescription unto such who by force and violence were gotten into the Occupation of Countries and Territories in case they whom they had subdued gave no signs of their submission to them nor any ways testify'd their receiving of them for their Rulers and Lords Nullum tempus says one sufficit ad acquirendum sumâ—um imperium aut partem ejus necessariam nolente primo possessore quod significatur etiam silentio quando loqui non audeat No length of time wherein an Vsurper possesseth can vest him in a rightful Jurisdiction and Dominion while he wants the consent in some manner intimated of those that were the first legal Inheritors and that their very silence is enough to shew their refusal of becoming Subjects when their circumstances are such that they dare not express their disclaiming his Soveragnity over them For in some cases it is enough that they murmur tho' they dare not express their hatred seeing that
so closely of thiâ— Affair and to examine it with that accuracy which they ought to do may be inclined and ready to imagine seeing that upon the whole North-side of the Isthmus from the River Darien to the Bastimentos the Spaniards are not in possession of one foot of Ground nor ever were save for a little while at first of Nombre de Dios which they soon relinquish'd And it is against both all the Topicks of Argumentation and all the Measures of Law and Justice that from the Spaniards having made some Settlements on the South-Sea and their having so far as they have obtain'd possession there restricted and confin'd the Natives to narrow bounds to infer and conclude from thence their having a Propriety in and a Jurisdiction over all the Northern Coast. And such a pretence is the more unreasonable and absurd in that the Isthmus of Darien is naturally divided by a ridge of Hills that runneth from East to West Nor can any allegation whatsoever more avowedly offer violence to common Sence and more notoriously attempt the putting an Affront upon the Understandings of Men than from the Spaniards being possessed of and having dominion over one part of Isthmus to deduce and conclude from thence that therefore they must have a Propriety in and a Soveraign Jurisdiction over the whole And from their Title and Right of Prescription upon long Occupation unto some of the Southern Boundaries of that Streight to infer and plead their having in the vertue of that a Title to the Northern parts thereof of which as they were never in possession so the People of the latter are wholly independent upon them of the former and the Rulers of the one altogether Absolute within themselves without deriving the least Authority from or paying any kind or degree of Subjection and Obedience unto the other And for the Spaniards to pretend that thro' their possessing Porto Bello on the South of Darien and Carthagena in a small Island on the North-side of it that therefore and by consequence they ought to be acknowledg'd to have a right of Propriety in and of Jurisdiction over all the adjacent Country which is between two and three hundred English Miles in Dimension and Extent is not to Argue but to Banter and to Ridicule and Lampoon Mankind instead of endeavouring to instruct satisfie and convince them Especially seeing that as all the Settlements and Plantations which the Spaniards have upon or near unto that Isthmus whether upon the Southern or the Northern Oceans were all obtain'd without the consent of the Natives so the Indians who live and inhabit in the interjacent and intervening Countries between the Spaniards Plantations on the South and North-Seas have still preserved the possession of those Territories without the having ever become subject unto or the having any ways acknowledg'd the Soveraignty and Dominion of the Spaniards over them And should we submit to that Way and Method of Reasoning what a Claim would the Kings of France have had long ago to all the Countries Provinces and Dominions which the Catholick King doth possess and bear Soveraignty over in Europe in that all the Spanish Provinces are situated and do lie between the Countries which the French King possesseth upon the Ocean and those which he hath right unto and Soveraignity over on the Mediterranean Nor can any thing carry more intrinsic and self-evidence along with it than that when a People were not the first Occupiers and the original Inhabitants their Title unto and their Tenure and Property in that case in a Country can extend and reach no farther than as they are got into possession of it either by the consent of the Natives or by conquest in a lawful War or by Prescription thro' long Occupation upon an unjust one None of all which do in any manner obtain or hold or can any ways be pleaded by the Spaniards in reference to the Peninsula on the Isthmus of Darien where the Scots are settling and establishing a Colony Moreover to all that is already said under this Head let me further subjoin that no Nations being meerly in actual possession of part of a Country that had not been originally their own hath been accounted sufficient in Equity Law or Justice to preclude and debar others from seeking to settle themselves in such places as those Strangers who had come first to plant there were not in actual possession of whereof it were easie to assign many Instances but it being a matter whereof none that are acquainted with Books of Voyages and Navigations can be ignorant I shall content my self with the mentioning of a few but in the mean time shall be careful that they may be adapted to the case that is under present debate Let it then be observ'd in the first place That notwithstanding the English had planted upon the Continent as well as in several Islands of America and did particularly possess upon the Terra firma from New-England to Carolina without the interposition of Colonies belonging to any European Princes or States whatsoever nevertheless the Dutch finding Long-Island that is since come to be call'd New-York and which lyeth within the foremention'd Limits unoccupy'd yet environ'd and surrounded on all hands by English Plantations they did in a time of full and entire Peace betwixt the Crown of Great Britain and the belgick-Belgick-States sit down and establish a Plantation upon it which without any disturbance from the English or their quarrelling with them upon that account they continu'd to possess until the Year 1667 when after a Treaty of Peace between King Charles II. and the States General for the putting an end to that War which had commenc'd between those two Ruling Powers Anno 1665 Long-Island was exchang'd by the Dutch for Surinam Moreover whereas the Spanish Plate Fleet must of necessity pass between Florida and the Bahama Islands unto both which the Spaniards do likewise lay claim by challenging a property in and a dominion over them yet notwithstaning of this the English possessed themselves of the said Islands and tho' the Spaniards both complained and did highly resent it and so far as they had strength and power did as well Barbarously as Injuriously treat those English whom they found settled there nevertheless the Spaniards being no ways able to Justifie their Right and Title to those Islands the English continued to assert and maintain the Possession which they had acquired as long as they themselves found there Intrest in it and thought it convenient so to do Yea notwithstanding that the Spaniards plead a right unto and a propriety in Jucatan and if the having over-run a great part of a Country which is above 300 Leagues in compass and the having Massacred a prodigious Number of the Native Indians give them a legal Title unto and a Dominion over all the Territories and Districts of it It must be acknowledged that they had them Nevertheless the English have not only Sailed frequently thither
and terms as are agreed upon and expressed By neither of which are the Kings of Great Britain or their Subjects shut out debarred or excluded from Sayling into such Ports Havens and places of America and setthing Plantations any where there as either are not inhabited or where the King of Spain is not in possession and occupation But to set this matter yet further in such a clear and distinct light as that they who are the most Prepossessed and Prejudiced may see and be oblig'd to confess that the Scots have proceeded in the whole affair of their Calidonian Settlement and Plantation both according to the measures of Law Justice and Equity and with a full deference and respect unto and an entire compliance with the Articles of the publick Treaties and particularly of that of 1670 I shall call over the Heads of some of the Articles of that Treaty and make those reflection upon them which they do Naturally suggest and offer Whereas then it is Stipulated agreed and provided by the Second Article that there shall be a Firm and Vniversal Peace in America as well as in other parts of the World between the Kings of Great Britain and Spain and between the Kingdoms States Plantations Colonies Forts Cities and Dominions which do belong to either of them and between the People and Inhabitants under their respective Obedience it doth from thence undeniably appear that as both the Kings were set upon an equal foot and did treat for themselves and for the people and Inhabitants that were under their respective Obedience and no further nor for any other so it is from thence no less evident that all matters and things were left untouched and undetermined that did concern and relate unto such places and parts of America as were either wholly void and not at all Inhabited or that were inhabited only by the Native Indians which as that part of the Isthmus of Darien was where the Scots have Landed and are now begun to settle so it doth in the way of necessary consequence from thence undeniably follow that by the said Article it remained Free and Lawful either for them or for any other of his Britannick Majesty's Subjects so to do and therefore that there neither is nor can thereby any Violation or Infraction be made of the Alliances between the Crowns of Great Britain and of Spain For in that the Right Titles and Claims of the Kings of Great Britain and Spain are defined by and circumscribed unto such Regions Territories Plantations Colonies c. as do severally and respectively belong to either of them it is thereby made uncontrolably Manifest that neither of them by that Treaty had any Rights and Claims granted and allowed unto them in reference to any places in America further than as they were possessed of them and save as those places were in and under their actual occupation And consequently that by the chief purport and design and by the whole Tenor of the Treaty it was left free for each or either of them to make new acquisitions and to establish new Plantations in such parts and places of the West-Indies whether upon the Continent or in Islands as were inhabited by the subjects of neither of the two Kings but were either as I have said wholly void or possessed by the Native Indians Moreover whereas it is Covenanted adjusted and provided by the Eighth Article that the subjects of their Britannick Majesties shall not Sail into nor Trade in such Ports Havens c. as do belong unto the Catholick King unless with leave and upon the terms which are there specified it doth from thence evidently and unquestionably follow that they are left at liberty to Sail into and Trade in such other Ports and Places as are not the King of Spain's And therefore that the Port into which the Scots Sailed and where they are establishing a Colony being neither then nor having been at any time since in the possession of the Spaniards they are in their having so done altogether unaccusable of the being guilty of any crime or misdemeanor or of having in the least transgressed against publick and solemn Treaties Further whereas it is concerted and agreed by the same Article that the Subjects of the King of England should not Sail into any Ports or Havens that had Fortifications Magazins or Warehouses possessed by the King of Spain it may from thence be Apodictically Inferred and Concluded that it continued Free and Lawful for them to Sail into Ports and to Trade where there were no Fortifications Magazins nor Warehouses at all and much less any appertaining unto or in the Possession of the King of Spain Both which being unquestionable with reference to Acla and the Creeks Ports Harbours and Places adjacent thereunto it may thereupon be Justly affirmed and solidly concluded that neither the Scots nor any other of his Britannick Majesty's Subjects were by that Treaty precluded and debarred from Landing Trading and Settling there and that the Scots thro' their having sit down and become Planters in that place are altogether innocent of the Infraction of any such Alliances Moreover whereas it is agreed and provided by the tenth Article that in case the Ships that do belong to either of those Kings or to the Subjects of either of them shall by stress of Weather or otherwise be forced into the Rivers Creeks Bays or Ports belonging to the other in America that thereupon they shall be received kindly harbour safely and be treated with all Humanity and Friendship it may from thence be inferred and deduced that as both the Kings are thereby stated upon an equal bottom and foot and the rights of both and of each of them respectively are restricted and determined to particular Rivers Creeks Bays c. so it is also thereby mutually confessed and acknowledged that there are other and of all those several Kinds in which neither of them have any Property Interest or Concernment and that it might be free for the Ships of either of them to Sail into such and there to Anchor and to furnish themselves with what they wanted and the places afforded and to continue there during their own Pleasure and to do in such places whatsoever they should judge to be for their Advantage and Interest without incurring the imputation of being accounted injurious to one another or of becoming liable to a charge and complaint against them of having Violated Alliances And by consequence that the Port Acla being such the Scots might Sail thither land and settle there without either asking leave of the Spaniards or of becoming thereupon censurable by them of having therein done any thing that is either against the Laws of Nations or an Infraction of Alliances and Treaties between the Crowns of Great Britain and Spain Again whereas it is Concerted and Stipulated in the Fifteenth Article that Nothing in the said Treaty shall derogate from any Preheminence Right and Dominion of any of the Confederates in
to be given that the general Rental of England did not in the year 1600 exceed Six Millions per annum but that thro' the help of that Wealth which had flowed into the Kingdom by Foreign Trade it had risen before the commencement of the late War to Fourteen Millions Yearly So none will have the Effrontery to gainsay but that the Rental of England was the year 1600 greatly encreased beyond what it had been about half a Century before Which the more it is seriously weighed and duly pondred by the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland it will not only both Justifie their Wisdom in procuring an Act of Parliament for Trading to Africa and the Indies and in their having joyned so freely and contributed so Liberally for the forming a Stock and raising a Treasure that may be sufficient as well to Uphold and Promote as to Begin it but it may also animate their Zeal and raise their Courage for the Maintaining and Protecting of it But to shut up this particular it is to be ascribed to the neglect of Trade and their falling below their Neighbours in Riches and Treasure which is the Natural effect of that Omission that Scotland is not only so weak as it is in a Naval Strength notwithstanding the variety goodness and conveniency of its Ports for the Ocean and Mediterranean as well as for the Narrow Seas and the Baltick but that the Nation doth make so mean and inconsiderable a Figure in Europe and that the Scots Nobility and Gentry who for their Natural and acquired accomplishments do equal most of any Country that are of their Rank and Quality and who for Bravour are Universally acknowledged to Come behind few or none are nevertheless so little Valued and Caressed by Princes and in Courts by whom and where persons are chiefly esteemed according to their weight in the balance of an Exchequer and in proportion to their Rental and Capital But the Kingdom of Scotland being at last willing and desirous to redeem it self from the Opprobry and Reproach unto which it hath so long stood exposed among its Neighbours for the having either thro' Supineness or Pride neglected the promoting and pursuing Manufacture and Trade and being now Embarked in an Undertaking that will relieve that Nation against and rescue it from the Inconveniencies and Damages which have ensued upon and accompanied their Omission of Commerce it may not be here improper to represent in a few words the several advantages that Scotland is possessed of and doth enjoy in equality with most Countries and above divers for its being qualified and enabled to succeed and prosper in this Design For the main and great things that are Antecedently needfull and pre-required in order to a peoples engaging in Manufacture at home and Commerce abroad being large Numbers of Men and Women and a Soil producing variety and plenty of usefull Commodities and convenient Ports for the Exportation of their own Commodities and the Importation of such goods from Foreign parts as they shall have either occasion to consume amongst themselves or which by carrying them forth again they can dispose of and vend else where there are few Nations in Europe that are better furnished and accommodated with all those advantages helps and Succours than Scotland is Seeing besides its having divers Harbours and those both safe and conveniently Situated for Sailing to and from the Eastern Southern and Western parts of the World It hath likewise diverse Natural Productions and may have a sufficient plenty of Artificiâ—l to give an Original unto and be both a Foundation and Nourishment for Trade Nor will any deny but that it actually doth or may at least speedily so abound with People as to yield and afford hands enough for Manufacture and Traffick For tho' I do acknowledge that Gold and Silver with which the Scots may probably be but indifferently and scantily furnished whereof nevertheless they may in time by this means acquire more be the measure of Trade yet nothing is more certain than that the Natural and Artificial Products of a Country are the Spring and Source of it and that the Nerves and Sinews thereof are a Multiplicity of Hands properly and industriously employed And with these Scotland doth so abound that many have not only been and still are thro' want of business and labour whereunto to apply themselves an useless and a grievous Burthen to their Native Country but great Numbers have by their Necessities been constrained either to Transport themselves into the Colonies and Plantations of other Nations or to serve Foreign Princes and States in the Wars which they have been carrying on against one another in neither of which ways hath any Benefit accrued to the Kingdom of Scotland nor is it possible that it should unless now and then casually and by accident But those Colonies where they have planted do carry away and engross the Gains of their Industry And the Potentates under whose Banners they bear Arms do reap the Glory of their Bravour and do become possessed of those acquisitions of Towns and Provinces which they purchase at the expence of their Blood and Lives And may I be permitted without giving offence to add That thro' the latter of these Methods Scotland hath had the Misfortune to have more Thousands of lusty and valiant Men kill'd and destroy'd in Wars wherein that Kingdom had no National concern that if they had been employ'd in the gentle and peaceable Arts of Manufacture and Trade would have been sufficient to have render'd it a powerful and opulent Nation Yea such has been the guilt as well as the unhappiness of those who thro' want of Business to give them a Subsistence and Livelihood at Home have betaken themselves to the carrying Arms under Foreign Rulers and Potentates that they have not only been frequently engag'd in the killing of others and expos'd to be kill'd themselves when and where the alone cause of the War hath too often been mâ—erly either the Covetousness Pride and Ambition of the Aggressors or the Fraudulencies and Injustices of the Aggressed But that to the disgrace of the Christian Religion and the infamy of their Country they have many times in Opposite and Hostile Brigades and Battalions been found Encountring and Slaughtring one another So that for the obviating preventing and avoiding that Criminal and Reproachful Course for the future if upon no other Prospects and Motives that Kingdom ought to apply it self more to Manufacture and Trade than it hath hitherto done For which that Nation stands not only exceedingly adapted by reason both of the Sagacity of their Nobility and Higher Gentry for the discerning and advising unto Means Ways and Methods for the encouraging encreasing and maintaining thereof and of the Mercantile Knowledge Skill and Artifice of those of the Middle Rank For adjusting conducting and managing as well what is to be Fabricked at Home as what is to be chiefly Regarded and Cultivated abroad But especially because of its
Subscriptions in order to the raising and constituting a Fund for the setling a Colony and thereby for the promoting of Traffick for which they were allowed by the Act of Parliament from the 16 of June 1695 untill the First of August 1696 were not only Filled Compleated and Perfected long before the elapse of the time that was prefixed by the Statute But whereas it was provided that it should be held a sufficient Compliance with the design and Tenour of that Law if only half the Money that should be Subscribed towards the forming a Stock did Belong unto and were the Proper Cash of such as were Scots and did live within that Kingdom it deserveth to be observed that the whole hath been Subscribed Advanced and Paid in by such as are Scots which is not only beyond what could have been expected but may justly beget Admiration considering what in that Intrim they have been obliged to pay in Taxes for the Maintenance of Troops and what they have been necessitated to carry abroad in specie of their Cash for the purchasing grain to live upon in these late years of extraordinary Scarcity and Dearth which at the modestest Computation may be reckon'd to have exceeded Two hundred thousand pounds Sterling Nor are they meerly Persons of the Middle Rank or of the Mercantile Order that have contributed and put in their Money for the framing of a Bank in order to the foremention'd Ends but they of all Qualities and Degrees have with great liberality and cheerfulness answerable to their several Titles and Figures contributed their shares to that Capital and none with greater Alacrity and in larger Proportions than they of the Grand as well as of the Petite Nobless For none of the greatest Persons of that Kingdom have had the Folly and Pride to excuse and cover themselves from becoming Assistants to the founding and promoting of Trade by pretending it a disparagement to their Garters and Coronets and below the lofty Stiles that they have by Parchments which give them an ascendency above Gentlemen These days of Vanity and Phantasticalness are over and they of the Sublimest Rank do begin to govern themselves by principles of Reason and good Sense and by Maxims of Civil Social and Oeconomical Wisdom and not by the airy whimsical and pernicious Notions of Haughtiness and Luxury Yea even they of the Military order have such of them as were in a condition thro' having acquir'd beyond a naked subsistence during the War readily subscribed and paid in what they could and would have done it more plentifully had they receiv'd all their Arrears and such of that Tribe as were only Subordinate-Officers or private Centinels who are now reduc'd or disbanded that could not bring in Gold and Silver to the encreasing of the Fund and the augmenting of the Capital yet they have with great forwardness offer'd their Bodies and their cold Iron to the Corporation and Company for the protecting of their Traffick and the defending of their Plantation against all such as shall become their Enemies and Assailants And how dangerous soever Men of that Praedicament may be to their Country when kept in too great Numbers regimented at home and how altogether useless they are unto it while they hear Arms under Foreign Princes and States abroad yet they are as capable as any other whatsoever of being serviceable and profitable thereunto when employ'd in the Ways and Methods to which many of them have begun to betake themselves Of whom it will be no presumption nor visionary Dream to add That as they do account their Wages Salaries and Pay to be their Estates so they reckon their Swords and Musquets to be their Title unto it In brief there are few Persons Families or Orders of Men that are of any Consideration or Esteem but who are become associated united and confederated in this Project Enterprise and Design How much distant or different soever Persons are either in their Religions or their Political Principles yet herein they do all of them amicably agree and combine Neither the Bigotry of the Presbyterians nor the resentments of those of the Diocesan Perswasion for the unkind and ill treatment they have met with do in this make any variance or discord between them but herein the Wolf and the Lamb do tamely meet together and the Leopard and Kid do peaceably assemble as in one Field Nor do those great Animosities or late Hostilities which have been between one another about Rights and Claims to the Soveraign Authority and the Royal Jurisdiction occasion any misunderstanding or opposite Sentiments in this but both the Jacobites and the Williamites do shew themselves equally and alike concern'd in the promoting of a National Trade and the setling of a Foreign Colony And which is of very material consideration it deserves to be observ'd That besides what several Persons have in their private Capacities Subscribed towards that Capital not only most of all the Corporations but the Royal Burroughs of the Kingdom have become sharers therein and contributed liberally thereunto out of their Public Revenues From all which I may with great safety as well as with decency and modesty venture to lay open and infer how Mortifying Afflictive and Grievous it will be to that whole Nation to be discourag'd and frustrated of Protection from the King of whom pursuant to the Act and Patent which he hath granted them they expected to be countenanc'd animated and defended Nor dare they entertain such disrespectful and undutiful thoughts of His Majesty as the Proclamations emitted by His Governors over the English West-India Plantations might seem to give occasion and umbrage for Seeing as they have not by their setling at Darien invaded the Territories of any European Prince or State whatsoever nor have been injurious to the Natives in Planting there without their allowance and consent nor in any one particular or circumstance have exceeded the Limits and Regulations prescrib'd unto them by the Act of Parliament and the King's Charter as shall be fully and uncontroulably demonstrated in what is to follow So they have a more engraven and firm belief of His Majesty's Mercy and Justice than to give liberty unto themselves to think that His Majesty's Subjects in the West-India Plantations depending upon and subordinate to England should by an Order Command and Authority from the King be charged and required to hold no Correspondence with the Scots in their Colony at Darien nor to give them any assistance with Arms Ammunitions Provisions or any thing else whatsoever For as much as this is not only inconsistent with and irreconcilable to his Majesty's Goodness Wisdom and Righteousness but directly repugnant to the express Words Terms and Clauses of the forementioned Statute by and wherein his Majesty royally and solemnly promiseth If any of the Ships Goods Merchandize Persons or other Effects whatsoever belonging to the Scots Company trading to Africa and the Indies shall be stopt detained embezled or taken
them which touch upon the head of gratitude and shall think it more advisable to address them by other Topicks namely by those that shall refer to the Benefits of Strength Riches and Honour which will thereby accrue and redound unto the Kingdom of England For how mighty and wealthy soever the Nation must in truth stand acknowledged to be yet it must also be confess'd that under the great variety and plenty of Natural and Artificial productions which their own Country and the Dominions thereunto belonging do afford they have not the advantage of being furnish'd with Gold and Silver Mines which yield the Metal and Bullion that make the Funds of Trade raise the Bulworks of safety administer the Supplies of plenty and pleasure in peace and enableth to muster Armies and equip Fleets in times of War And tho' it is not to be denyed but that by means of their Manufactures and by reason of their Industry and their application unto and skill in the management of a large and universal Commerce they have a great Share of the Treasures of the Spanish West-Indies flowing annually unto them yet it is with great hazard at much expence and after having been long out of their principal that they become possest of it in those methods And it is also demonstrable that a much greater proportion of Gold and Silver will both come into private Banks and into the public Exchequer of England by the Scots having such Mines within the bounds of their Colony of Darien than hitherto hath or ever can in the ways of meer Commerce with the Spaniards Nor ought it here to be omitted that the Mines in the occupation of the Spaniards in that part of Darien which lie nearest to the plantation of Caledonia and in which they work at present do so abound in the very Oare of Gold that every Negro whom they employ is bound to gain daily to his Master as much as doth amount after it is refined to thirty Lewis d'ors whereas such as are employed in the English American Sugar Plantations which are reckoned to be the most profitable of any they have do not after all the expence upon them in their food cloaths and other accommodations earn above one hundred pound Sterling gain a head per annum to their Master which is not near so much in a whole year as the other bringeth in per week And as the Goods and Commodities sent out of England to Spain which bring them returns in Gold and Silver will be transmitted immediately to Darien with more speed and at less expence as well as hazard than they go now to the Spanish Colonies in America by making the Tower of Cadiz Malaga and Sevil and the profit thereupon be much the greater to the English Merchants so a good part of the Treasure which cometh directly into Scotland upon the alone and single account of the Caledonian Company will in divers ways so circulate as to come at last to center in England Seeing besides what must necessarily flow in thither in payments both for what of their own productions and what of Foreign goods that have been first imported to England will be called for and purchased by the Scots it is not to be imagined how much will come to be brought in and spent there in ways of Diversion and Pleasures by all sorts of people of Scotland and especially by the Nobility and Gentry For as it is too well Known that the generality of the Scots whose circumstances do quality them for and allow it have much in them of the humour and even Vanity of Travelling and are inclinable enough to spend in proportion to the quantity of their Cash so thro' London's being the Metropolitical Seat of the Government and the place where the King has his residence the Court is kept and all grand Affairs of State as well as many of the most important concerns of particular men are transacted they will be certain to come thither in far greater Numbers than they now do some out of Courtship and others in complyance with the exigency of their affairs and all of them maintain a Port and live at a Charge answerable to the weight and depth of their pockets Which will not only be of great profit and advantage to the Northern roads thro' which they must go and return and of divers other parts of the Kingdom to which their Pleasure Health or Curiosity may tempt them but especially it will be of great advantage to London seeing besides what they will spend during their Residence and in the making a figure while they are there they will also furnish themselves in that Metropolis with such accoutrements of State and provisions of houshold furniture as they shall esteem to be needful either for their grandeur or their conveniency when they go home Moreover it is not to be questioned but that the English upon very easy and Honourable terms and conditions may be admitted into a Partnership in the Plantation and into a share of Trade with the Scots Which as it will draw a considerable part of all that is either Dug out of Mines or that is otherwise produced within the District of that Colony as well as of whatsoever shall accrue to the Company by a Traffick drove at Darien directly and immediately into England so it will both greatly enlarge the Trade and Commerce of England and mightily encrease their Wealth For as the Scots were so neighbourly and kind upon the enacting of the Law for the establishment of a Company for Trading to Africa and the Indies as to make the first Offer to the English of Joining in the Subscriptions to a Stock and Fund so as to become Partners with them in any Plantation they should settle and in whatsoever they should acquire so it may not only be hoped but confidently affirmed that they will not now be opposite nor averse to the receiving them upon such terms as may be safe and creditable to both Kingdoms Nor can the Parliament of England in their approaching Session fall upon any matter that will be of more National concernment or from which more benefit will arise to the Government and people of England than to consider and advise how the Kingdoms may become so Incorporated with respect to that Colony as that upon a congress between Commissioners authorized respectively by both Nations to treat and agree about it the terms upon which the English shall be admitted sharers in it as well as the degree measure and proportion of Interest in it which they shall be received into may be Adjusted Defined and Stipulated Further it is not unworthy to be observed that the French as well as the Dutch being grown mighty in Naval Power and both of them but especially the latter the Rivals of England not only in Traffick and Commerce but with respect to the prescribing unto others what shall be the terms of Navigating the Seas and what Ceremonies of respect Ships of
as ever any have been known to be that filled those Posts so there was an interposition of two Years whereby the King had all the time an opportunity desirable for the consideration of the most Important and Arduous Affair in which he might have informed and Satisfy'd himself of the Justice and conveniency of what was laid before him and humbly desired of him between the passing of the 32 Act of the Parliament Anno 1693. which invited and encouraged persons in general to enter into Societies and Companies for carrying on a Trade in any or in all such parts of the World as were not in Hostility with his Majesty and the enacting of that Statute which was the 8 Act of the Parliament Anno 1695 whereby that design was Perfected and Compleated thro' a Companies becoming settled by Law vested with the Rights and Powers forementioned and favoured with such immunities as were necessary to encourage so hazardous and expensive an Undertaking as that was likely to be and will infallibly Prove And tho' the Grace and Goodness of his Majesty appear'd very eminently manifested to the Scots therein in vouchsafing to have granted them the privileges That none of their Stock and Effects shall be liable unto any manner of Confiscations Seisures Forfeitures Attachments Arrests or Restraints that they may Freight Outlandish and hired Ships for the space of ten Years notwithstanding the Act for encouraging Shipping and Navigation Anno 1661. And that their Merchandice goods and effects shall be free from all manner of Restraints and Prohibitions and of all Customs Taxes Sesses Supplies or other Duties imposed or to be imposed by Act of Parliament or otherwise for and during the space of 21 years As likewise That no Officer Civil or Military or other person whatsoever within that Kingdom shall Impress Entertain Stop or Detain any of the Members Officers or Servants or others whatsoever of or belonging to the said Company And that all these shall be Free both in their Persons Estates and Goods employed in the said Stock and Trade from all manner of Taxes Sesses Supplies Excises quartering of Souldiers transient or local or levying of Souldiers or other Impositions whatsoever for and during the space of 21 years Yet it must withal be acknowledged that his Majesty's Wisdom and Justice to all the World as well as to his Allies and those that are his own Subjects in his other Territories and Dominions are no less singularly conspicuously and abundantly displayed thro' the Providing expressly and particularly in the said Act that no Prince Country People or Colony shall be Invaded or Molested in what they are rightfully possessed of nor disseised of their properties or of what they can lay Claim unto by the Laws either of Nature or Nations Which shews that what his Majesty did in passing the Act that hath been so often mentioned was the result of great Judgment and mature Deliberation And whosoever will but allow himself time to read and consider it will find himself oblig'd to confess that in no Projection whatsoever towards a settlement of that Nature nor in any Statutes or Edicts enacted and emitted for the authorizing and countenancing of them was there ever such a regard had and expressed to the rights of Foreigners or of Planters elsewhere and of the Natives where that Colony should come to settle as is done in the Scots Act of Parliament Whereunto I will only further Subjoyn that the Scots have not only obtained an Act of Parliament Empowring them to plant and settle Foreign Colonies wheresoever they can without doing Injustice to the Natives invading the Territories and Districts of other Princes or their being injurious to previous and antecedent Planters But they have likewise procured a Patent under the great Seal of that Kingdom whereby all and every thing or things granted to them in the said Act stand ratified and confirmed by a Fact and Deed that is Personally his Majesty's own in the most distinguishing manner and that by which he Speaketh most Vnretractably as well as Sovereignly to his People So that his Majesty being a Prince eminent for his Veracity and his Constancy to his Royal Word as well as for his Courage Justice and Honour He hath made it impracticable without Sullying and Disparaging his own Glorious Perfections which 't is Impossible he should have the Weakness Infirmity and Imprudence to do either to depart from dispense with or by a subsequent relaxing Interpretation to Retract or Supersede what he hath granted unto his Subjects of Scotland or to avoid the Maintaining and Protecting them in it For tho' divers Projects Proposals and Matters that are in themselves very Just and Lawful and which in their effects and consequences would prove exceeding advantageous and usefull may antecedently to their Establishment by Laws and by Royal Facts and Grants be declined and waved as well as procrastinated and adjourned upon the meer foot and the single motive of their being Inconvenient either thro' the Offence or Jealousie that may thereby be administred to Allies and Princes in Amity Yet no publick and Solemn Laws are to be violated or Royal Charters and Patents to be Over-ruled Transgressed against and Vacated upon the Inducement and because some Potentates with whom his Majesty is in Leagues and under Stipulations and Compacts may shew themselves Peevish and become Groundlessly and Causelessly Offended For as all the Affairs that fall under the Executive part of the Administration are Regulated either by Law or by Conveniency and come to be considered under the Notion and Views either of what may be done with Profit to our selves and without injustice to any tho' possibly not without giving Provocation unto divers and the rendring them Discontented or what according to the tenour and Obligation of Laws and the Sacredness of a Princes Word declared and pledged in his Charters must and ought to be done So whatsoever latitude is left and allowed in reference to matters and things of the first kind for acting according to the measures of civil Prudence and the rules of Politicks Yet in relation to such matters as are of the latter sort there is no room or place left to consult and deliberate what is Fit to be done according to Topicks of Convenience Maxims of State and politick Theorems but there ought to be a Conscientious observance and a Vigorous pursuance of as well as a firm and unchangeable adherence unto what is made Legal and which by consequence when and where the case is important and the matter is of that concern and value that the chiefest Interest of a Nation lies in it can neither be omitted nor dispensed with without obnoxiousness to guilt as well as to clamour and blame Nor may it in the next place be unworthy of being represented with what Readiness Vnanimity and Zeal the People of Scotland came into this design of Erecting Trade and Establishing a Foreign Plantation upon the passing the forementioned Act. For the