S DLA) ay ePaAL Paks & IS. 
ply with an application made by 
Spain fer pecuniary succours, as 
necessary to enable her to act against 
the common enemy. ‘The failure 
of such an application cannot cer-~ 
tainly be matter of surprise to any 
one who considers the situation 
and conduct of Spain during the 
war. It can hardly be alledged, 
even as an excuse for the preci- 
pitate peace concluded by Spain, 
not only: without the knowledge 
of her allies, but in contradiction 
to repeated and positive assurances ; 
but it is difficult to conceive how 
such a refusal can be made the 
ground of hostility towards Great 
Britain, or with what consistency 
the inability of Spain to prosecute 
the former contest without pecu- 
niary aid from its ally, can have 
become a motive of engaging gra- 
tuitously in all the expences and 
difficulties of a new war against 
that very power. 
With regard to the condemnation 
ef the St. Jago, (a prize taken 
from the enemy by his majesty’s 
naval forces) his majesty has only 
to reply to the injurious assertions 
on that subject in the Spanish 
manifesto, that the claims of all 
the parties in that cause were 
publicly heard and decided accord- 
ing to the known law of nations, 
and before the only competent 
tribunal ; one, whose impartiality 
_ is above all suspicion. q 
The conduct of his majesty re- 
‘specting the naval stores, which 
were claimed by Spain on board 
Dutch vessels, has been in like 
manner exempt from all blame, 
nor was any unnecessary delay in- 
terposed respecting those cargoes till 
the unequal conduct of Spain, and 
the strong and just suspicion of her 
hostile dispositions, made it im- 
[143 
possible for his majesty to consent 
to supply her from the ports ofhis 
dominions with the means of acting 
against himself. 
The next charge relates to the 
alledged misconduct of some mer- 
chant ships in landing their crews 
on the Coasts of Chili and Peru, 
with a view of carrying on there an 
illicit commerce, and of recon- 
noitring the country. On this it is 
to be observed, that those views are 
not supported by any fact what. 
ever; that ifany act was in truth 
committed by individuals in those 
territories against the laws of the 
government established there, those 
laws might have been enforced upon 
the spot, and the court of London 
has always been open to receive and 
redress all complaints of that na- 
ture. But that what is assigned in 
the manifesto as a mere cover and 
pretext for fraud; namely, the ex- 
ercise of the whale fishery by the 
English in those parts, is not,-as 
there asserted, a right which the 
English ‘‘ claim under the cons 
vention of Nootka.” It is one 
which was not’ then for the first 
time established, but solemnly re- 
cognized by the court of Madrid, 
as having always belonged to Great 
Britain, and the full and undis- 
turbed exercise of which was 
guaranteed to his majesty’s sub« 
jects in terms so express as to ads 
mit of no doubt, and in a trans- 
action so recent, that ignorance of 
it cannot be pretended. 
Such, it seems, were the offences 
of the British government, and 
such the jealousies and apprehen- 
sion of Spain during the time when 
the courts of London and Madrid 
were united in the bands of alli- 
ance, and engaged in a common 
cause ; and itis on motives as fri- 
2 yolous 
