HISTORY OF- EUROPE. 
direct trade, by affording our ma- 
hufacturcs at a cheaper rate than a 
€ircuitous one, might increase the 
demand for them, it was-not to be 
Supposed, that this could be in any 
proportion to the sanguine’ expec. 
tations and over speculations of the 
public. Inexhaustible mines ; fer- 
tile, salubrious plains; an innocent, 
unoffending population, cruelly op- 
pressed by their former masters, 
and gratefully repaying with sub- 
mission and obedience the British 
valour that had rescued them from 
slavery ; were the false and flat- 
tering images, that dazzled every 
eye, and banished sober and cool 
_ reflection from every bosom. It 
was not considered, that our new 
acquisition was 1800 miles distant 
from the mines of Potosi; that the 
intermediate country was inhabited 
by a hardy, unsettled race, expert 
in the management of their horses 
and spears, and as invincible in de- 
fensive war as the Arabs of the de- 
sert; nor that Buenos Ayres itself 
owed its wealth and importance, 
not to its natural resources derived 
from the fertile but uncultivated 
territory that surrounds it, but to 
its accidental and artificial pre-emi- 
nence, as the capital of an extensive 
government and emporium between 
the mother country and her more 
distant colonies. ‘They who knew 
any thing of South America, were 
sensible that the possession of 
Buenos Ayres, though inconvenient 
0 Potosi and Peru, no more led to 
€ subjugation of these countries, 
an the possession of Macao 
Teads to the conquest of China. 
They foresaw, that our invasion, 
Whatever might be its ultimate con- 
Sequences, would in the first in- 
237 
stance destroy the established chan- 
nels of commerce, and they were 
not sure that it would open others 
in their room. ‘They allowed, that 
Buenos Ayres was an excellent 
agricultural farm; but it must first 
be settled and improved, they con. 
tended, before it could afford a 
market for ourmanufactures. But 
such reasoners were few in humber, 
and amidst the general delusion 
their voice was unattended to and 
unheeded. ; 
When intelligence reached go. 
vernment of sir Home Popham’s un- 
authorised departure from the Cape, 
and meditated invasion of South 
America, orders were instantly dis- 
patched to recal him home, and put 
a stop to his expedition, These 
orders were too late to prevent his 
enterprize ; and when the news of 
his success arrived, the strong obs 
jections to his plan were drowned 
in the universal joy at the fortu= 
nate result of his operations. A 
conquest, which the government 
would not have made, it had not 
the resolution to ‘abandon; or pos. 
sibly, deceived by the ease with 
which the victory had heen gained, 
it gave into the popular delusion, 
and supposed that South America 
required only to be attacked, in 
order to be subdued. {It cannot 
be said, that it countenanced or 
promoted the sanguine calculations 
of the mercantile part of the com- 
munity, except by issuing the cus- 
tomary order of council for regu- 
lating the trade of his majesty’s sub- 
jects with the countries that fall 
under his arms ;* but on the other 
hand, it took no pains to dissipate 
these errors, or to undeceive the 
public with respect to the grossness 
* Sept. 17. 
of 
