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
of Violence and Hostility as if every Settlement in America were an Encroachment upon the Right of Spain There is lately a Memorial offered in behalf of the King of Spain to one of the Secretaries of State of the Kingdom of England to the Effect following My Lord Ambassador of Spain finding himself oblig'd by express Order to represent to His Majesty of Brittain what follows Prays Mr. Vernon to represent to his said Majesty That the King his Master being informed from several parts and last of all by the Governour of Havana of the Insult and Attempt of some Scots Ships equipt with Men and Ammunition necessary who endeavours to post themselves in the Soverign Dominions of His Majesty in America and particularly in the Province of Darien His Majesty received this Information with Dissatisfaction as a Mark of little Amity and a Rupture of the Alliance which is betwixt the two Crowns which His Majesty hath always observed very Religiously and from which so much Advantage and Profit hath resulted both to His Majesty and his Subjects after which good Correspondence His Majesty did not exspect such sudden Attempts Insults from His Majestys Subjects and that in time of Peace without any Pretext or Cause in the most inward part of his Dominions All that the King desires That this be presented to His Majesty of Brittain and that His Majesty is very sensible of such Hostilities and Unjust Procedures against which His Majesty will take such Measures as are convenient London May 3d. 1699. THe Charge is great and if it can be made appear that the King of Spain is Invaded as is pretended it is but Reason there should be just Reparation It must be acknowledged That it is a fair way of dealing that the Spanish Rights and Pretensions are thus asserted by Memorial and an Opportunity afforded and that the whole World may be satisfied that His Sacred Majesty the King of Great Brittain hath granted no Patent to His Subjects in Scotland disagreeable to Treaties with Spain and that the Scots Company have not exceeded the Limits of their Patent to the prejudice of Spain There may be many Reasons offered to satisfy Spain and all other Nations of Europe except the French that if the Scots had not settled in that Isthmus or if they were now to remove from it the same would be possess'd by another People more dangerous to the Interest of Spain and in due time it may be made appear that the Scots Settlement is for the Honour of the King the Interest of England but the present design is only to satisfie the World that the Patent granted by His Majesty was agreeable to the Treaty with Spain and that the Scots Company have not exceeded the Terms of their Patent and that they have Right to what they possess in the Isthmus of Darien according to the Law of Nations and that most part of the Nations in Europe have settled Plantations in the American Islands or Continent upon no other Foundation than the Scots It is the Interest and Policy of all Governments to improve the Natural Product of a Countrey and to encourage Forreign Trade The Experience of all Nations makes appear That nothing contributes so effectually to these ends as Forreign Plantations Scotland is amongst the last of the Nations of Europe in settling Forreign Plantations tho' there be few that can propose more Advantage that way because the Nation affords many Subjects of Manufacture and abounds in Men which is the greatest Riches as well as the Strength of a Nation Yet for want of Forreign Plantations many have been useless and burdensome to their Native Countrey and have been constrained to serve Abroad in Forreign Wars or into Plantations of other Countreys And it is to be observed that wherever they have planted they have encreased and multiplied as particularly in Ireland but no part of the Benefit does accrue to their Native Countrey The Nation has very long desired Forreign Settlements of their own and did make some Attempts that way which proved ineffectual for want of due Encouragement but His Sacred Majesty as Father of his Countrey regarding the Welfare of it did endue the same with suteable Encouragements by the 32d Act Par. 1693. and by the 8th Act Par. 1695. Yet both these Laws were granted with a due regard to all former Planters And did only allow them to plant Colonies build Cities Towns and Forts in Asia Africa and America upon Places not inhabited or in or upon any other Place by Consent of the Natives or Inhabitants thereof and not possessed by any European Sovereign Potentate Prince or State By these Acts of Parliament and Patent conform His Majesty did sufficiently provide that the Possession of no European Prince should be invaded or molested And if Spain be injured the Company must acknowledge that the Injury flows from them by exceeding the Limits of their Patent It remains to be cleared in behalf of the Company that they have strictly observed the Rules prescrib'd by the said Acts and Patent The King of Spain's Title to America by the Pope's Bull is rejected by the common Consent of all the Princes and States in Europe who could not have settled there without Injury to Spain if the Pope's Bull had been a sufficient Title and neither Spain or Portugal hath relyed upon that Title the one having planted in the East-Indies and the other in the West without regard to it And this Title is sufficiently discussed by Grotius in his Mare Liberum Cap. 3. and will never be insisted on any where and least of all in Brittain America being inhabited by Natives before Spain or any European People settled there it is most certain that the Right and Property did originally belong to these Natives because the Earth was created for and freely given by the Creator to the Children of Men and the most Ancient and Uncontraverted Right of Property of the Earth is by Occupation and Possession which is an outward Act of the Body quasi positio pedis and not an inward Act of the Mind which cannot be known to others beside many Mens wills might concur in wishing and liking the same thing but their Bodies cannot concur in possessing it and an outward Act of Possession warns others to abstain The Property that originally belonged to the Natives could only be transferred from them to Spain by Conquest or Consent and Spain can pretend neither of these Titles to the Isthmus where the Scots have settled It is alledg'd for Spain That they do possess the Isthmus of Darien in as far as they are undoubted Masters of the Bay of Panama and the whole Coast of the Isthmus upon the South Sea They have likewise Carthagena and Portobello on the North Sea and they are Masters of the whole Countrey betwixt Carthagena and Portobello and so must be reckoned Possessors of all because Possession doth not require the particular Occupation of every part of a Countrey
to whom he had lately given such large Priviledges by so Solemn an Act of Parliament Upon Notice of all which the Company 's Deputees went immediatly to the Senate and gave in a short Memorial in French which being faithfully Translated is as followeth Noble and Venerable Lords WE the Subscribers Deputees and Directors of the Indian and African Company of the Kingdom of Scotland Understanding that the Gentlemen His Majesty of Great Britain's Ministers here have presented a Memorial to your Lordships in which they seem to quarrel the Powers which have been granted to us by His Majesty and the Parliament of Scotland to make Treaties of Commerce with any Foreign Potentate Prince or State not in War with His Majesty the King our Soveraign for Enlarging the Trade and for the better Establishment of our said Company We pray your Lordships That you would be pleased to Communicat the said Memorial to us that we may take Measures accordingly Hamburgh the 9th day of April 1697. Your Lordships most humble and obedient Servants Jo. Erskine Jo. Haldan Will. Paterson The Senate thereupon recommended the Deputees above-nam'd to the Commercii in whose Hands the Memorial lay who gave them a Copy thereof Doubles of which were by the said Deputees dispatched to both the Secretaries of State for Scotland and to the Court of Directors of the Company And in the mean time the Merchants to assert their own Freedom and Priviledges Sign'd for considerable Sums in the Company 's Books But with a Condition to be void if the Company did not procure some Declaration from the King that might render them secure from the Threatnings and other Insinuations contain'd in the said Memorial To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please Your Majesty WHereas By the 32d Act of the 4th Session and by the 8th Act of the 5th Session of Your Majesties current Parliament as well as by Your Majesties Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom this Company is Established with such Ample Priviledges as were thought most proper for encouraging both Natives and Forreigners to Joyn in the Carrying on Supporting and Advancement of our Trade The most Considerable of the Nobility Gentry Merchants and whole Body of the Royal Burrows have upon the Inducement and Publick Faith of Your Majesties said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent contributed as Adventurers in raising a far more considerable Joynt-Stock than any was ever before rais'd in this Kingdom for any Publick Undertaking or Project of Trade whatsoever which makes it now of so much the more Universal a Concern to the Nation And for the better Enabling us to Accomplish the Ends of Your Majesties said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent we have in Pursuance thereunto appointed certain Deputees of our own Number to Transact and Negotiat our necessary Affairs beyond Sea And at the same time to Treat with such Forreigners of any Nation in Amity with Your Majesty as might be inclinable to Joyn with us for the Purposes aforesaid In the Prosecution of which Commission to our said Deputees Vested with full Power and Authority according to Law we are not a little surpriz'd to find to the great Hindrance and Obstruction of our Affairs That Your Majesties Envoy to the Courts of Lunenburgh and Resident at Hamburgh have under Pretence of special Warrant from Your Majesty given in a Joint-Subscribed Memorial to the Senate of Hamburgh expresly Invading the Priviledges granted to our Company by your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letsers Patent as by the herewith transmitted Copy may appear By the which Memorial we sustain great and manifest Prejudices fince both the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburgh are thereby contrary to the Law of Nations expresly threatned with your Majesty's high Displeasure if they or either of them should countenance or joyn with us in any Treaty of Trade or Commerce whatsoever which deprives us of the Assistance which we had reason to expect from several Inhabitants of that City For Redress whereof we do in all Duty and Humility Apply to your Majesty not only for the Protection and Mantenance of our Priviledges and Freedom of Trade but also for Reparation of Damnages conform to your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent And do further beg leave to Represent to your Majesty That tho by the said Act of Parliament and Letters Patent we conceive our selves legally and sufficiently Authorized to Treat even with any Sovereign Potentate or Estate in Amity with your Majesty for the Support and Advancement of our Trade yet we by our said Deputees have only treated with particular and private Merchants of the said City of Hamburgh without ever making any the least Proposal to the Senate thereof And this we humbly conceiv to be the natural Right and Priviledge of all Merchants whatsoever even tho we had wanted the Sanction of so Solemn Laws And without some speedy Redress be had therein not only this Company but also all other individual Merchants of this Kingdom must from hence forward conclude That all our Rights and Freedom of Trade are and may be further by our Neighbours violently wrested out of our Hands We therefore to prevent the further evil Consequences of the said Memorial to our Company in particular do make our most Humble and Earnest Request to your Majesty that you would be Graciously pleased to grant us such Declaration as in your Royal Wisdom you shall think fit to render the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburgh and all others that are or may be concern'd secure from the Threatings and other Suggestions contain'd in the said Memorial as well as to render us secure under your Majesty's Protection in the full prosecution of our Trade and free enjoyment of our lawful Rights Priviledges and Immunities contain'd in your Majesty's Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mentioned Signed at Edinburgh the Twenty Eight Day of June 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council-General by May it please your Majesty Your Majesties most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant YESTER P. Memorandum That the Council-General of the Company did at the same time come to a Resolution of Representing the Premisses likewise to His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council but were afterwards prevailed upon to supersede that Resolution at the Secretaries of State 's earnest Desire they being both then here and upon their joint Engagement to procure a speedy Answer from his Majesty The King's Answer to the said Address By the Right Honourable John Earl of Tullibardin c. and Sir James Ogilvy Knight Principal Secretaries of State My Lords and Gentlemen WE are impowered by the King to signify unto you That as soon as His Majesty shall Return to England he will take into Consideration what you have Represented unto him
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
before His Majesty And did likewise at the same time not only humbly Represent the Premisses to His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council together with the train of ill Consequences that must necessarly attend such Treatment if not prevented by an early Redress but wrote also separately to both the Secretaries of State and such other Noble Persons of the Government as happen'd to be then at London To use their Joint Interest for procuring Justice in a Matter of such Universal Concern to the Honour Interest and Independency of the whole Kingdom All the Answer we obtain'd was by a Letter of the 17th of January 1698 from both the Secretaries of State That the King said He had already given Orders to His Resident at Hamburgh in that Matter conform to his Royal Letter from Flanders in July 1697 which was then communicated to the Company By which Answer together with what repeated Advices we had at the same time from Hamburgh that the English Ministers there had still positively disown'd their having got any such Orders we were put out of all Hopes of having any Redress untill we should have an Opportunity of laying the whole Matter before a Meeting of the Estates of Parliament But in the mean time we proceeded with all the Strength we had tho' extremely weak'ned by the Treatment above-narrated to make the best Preparations we could considering the Scarcity of these Years for sitting out an Equipage of Ships Men Provisions and other Necessaries for settling a Plantation in America in the Terms of the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mention'd And its evident by the very Constitutions of the Colony that they were calculated more for the general Advantage of the Nation and Posterity than for the particular and immediate Benefite of the Adventurers And the Parliament happening to meet the very next Day after our Ships had sail'd we did by our Humble Petition of the 22d of July 1698 Represent to his Grace His Majesties then High Commissioner and the Right Honourable Estates then assembled in Parliament the Treatment which our Company met with at London Hamhurgh as aforesaid the great Prejudices which we had sustain'd thereby and the many further Inconveniencies and evil Consequences that must necessarly have followed thereupon if upon any Account whatsoever the Parliament should happen to neglect the taking immediate Cognizance of such Usage And the Parliament having thereupon by their Unanimous Address of the 5th of August 1698 to His Majesty thought fit to manifest their own and the whole Nations Concern in that Matter earnestly entreating and most assuredly expecting That His Majesty would in His Royal Wisdom take such Measures as might effectually vindicate the Undoubted Rights and Priviledges of the said Company and support the Credit and interest thereof And the Parliament likewise by the same Address recommending the Concerns of the said Company to some special Marks of His Majesties Royal Favour as that Branch of the Trade of this Kingdom in which they and the Nation they represented had a more peculiar Interest The Court of Directors of our Company were thereby encourag'd to renew their Application to His Majesty with relation to the Memorial given in by His Ministers to the Senate of Hamburgh the same being specially mention'd in the Parliaments Address And in Consideration of the Dammages sustain'd by the Company through Means of that Memorial the Directors humbly Petition'd That His Majesty would be pleased for their Encouragement at that time as a Gracious Mark of His Royal Favour to bestow upon them the two smallest of the Frigots then and to this Hour lying useless in Bruntisland Harbour But our Company having no manner of Answer to either of these and being assured by several Letters from Hamburgh That both the English Ministers there had positively denyed their having received any such Orders as were long before promised and declared to have been given with Relation to that Memorial the Court of Directors of our Company did by their Letter of the 29th of November 1698 transmit Copies of the said Letters to the Viscount of Seafield then sole Secretary of State and entreated his Lordship to procure some speedy and effectual Answer from His Majesty to the Contents of both that Letter and their former Petition The Secretary by his Letter of the 13th of December 1698 returned for Answet That he would take the first convenient Opportunity he could have to represent that Matter to the King but that he could not expect to have it for some time because His Majesty was then very much imployed in the Affairs of his English Parliament We thereupon waited a full Month in expectation of some further Answer but getting none our Court of Directors did by a Letter of the 13th of January 1699 put the Secretary again in mind of our said Petition of the preceeding August and Letter of the 29th of November The Secretary by his Letter of the 7th of February 1699 signified That he had presented our Company 's Petition to His Majesty and was commanded to let us know that there being Accounts that the Ships belonging to the Company were arriv'd upon the Coast of America and the particular Design not being communicated to His Majesty He therefore delayed to give any Answer until he should receive certain Information of their Settlement Tho' we could not but be surpriz'd to find all our former Addresses and Petitions about Matters of such weighty Concern as are above narrated Answered after so long delay only with a seeming Charge for not having communicated to His Majesty a thing that was never in the least demanded of us by either the King Parliament Privy Council or Ministers of State we being limited to settle in the Terms of the Acts of Parliament as we should be Answerable Yet upon the very first Advice we had of our Colony's Settlement in Caledonia we by our Letters of the 31st of March and 1st of April 1699 gave a very full and dutiful Account thereof to His Majesty and to both the Secretaries of State together with an Account of the French Designs thereabouts and of what Import our said Settlement if duly protected might prove to the Interest and Security of all His Majesties Dominions and referred the same together with the Contents of our former Petitions to His Majesties Royal Consideration About this time it was That His Majesty was pleased to call the President of the Session and the Advocat to Court to the end as we understood that they jointly with both the Secretaries of State might in a Conference with several of the English Ministers satisfy His Majesty as to the Legality of our Company 's Settlement Which by all that ever we could learn was then and otherways since that time made clear beyond all manner of Dispute But while in the mean time we were pawning even our own particular Credits for sending the needful Supplies of Ships Men Provisions Arms Ammunition and other