42 A. D. 1 7 14. 



On the 9th of June 1714 the houfe of commons addrefled Qiieeii 

 Anne, that her quarter part of the afliento contract with Spain might 

 be apphed to the difcharge of the national debts ; but on the i8th, flie 

 anfwered, that fhe had given the fame up to the South-fea company. 

 And the fame year the queen granted two other fhips of war tofac- 

 company and efcort the other two fliips, which fhe had before granted 

 for carrying out the company's goods, fadors, &c. The ports where 

 that company had leave to trade, and to fettle fadories, were Panama 

 in the South fea, and Portobello, Carthagena, and Vera Cruz, on the 

 North fea, Buenos- Ay res on the Rio de la Plata, and the port of Ha- 

 vanna in the ifle of Cuba, befides their inland fub-fadlories in New 

 Spain, &c. and their agents at Jamaica, as well as at Cadiz and Madrid 

 in Old Spain. So here was a moil pompous and fpecious out-fet. And 

 the queen's grant of her quarter part of the afliento not having been 

 formally conveyed to the company before her death, King George I 

 confirmed that grant on his accefhon to the crown, as alfb that of the 

 four fhips, which failed to America in the beginning of the year 1715.] 

 Neverthelefs, in the debates in parliament, it already too plainly ap- 

 peared, that, from the explanations made by the court of Madrid to 

 their treaty of commerce with Britain, fince figning the treaty of 

 Utrecht, it was not very probable that we fhould be able to carry on an 

 advantageous trade with the Spanifh Weft-Indies, as matters then 

 flood. 



The acceilion of the prefent royal family of Hanover to the Britifh 

 throne, by the death of Queen Anne, gave great fiuisfadlion to the bet- 

 ter part of the nation of all ranks, and efpecially to the monied and 

 trading interefts, who thereupon affumed new life and vigour : and al- 

 though difaffedion foon after broke out into an open rebellion, yet that 

 being alfo foon and eafily quelled, our general commerce and manufac- 

 tures have continued, very fenfibly, to increafe ever fince that happy 

 period. Our mercantile fliipping, not only in London, but in mofl of 

 our other fea-ports, have alfo vifibly increaled, as in Briftol, Liverpool, 

 Glal'gow, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and in many other ports of Britain' 

 and Ireland ; and for a never-failing confirmation of the great increafe 

 of the commerce of thofe cities and towns, let the vaft increafe of the 

 fuburbs of London and Dublin more eminently fpeak fince that pe- 

 riod ; as well as of Briftol and Liverpool, and of fundry inland manu- 

 faduring towns to a great degree alfo ; fuch as Manchefter, Birming- 

 ham, &c. And the like may be fiiid with refped to our American co- 

 lonies. Where liberty and property are inviolably preferved, and the 

 eftablifhed form of religion firmly fecured, while, at the fame time, fuch 

 as dilTent from it, of all perfuafions of proteftants, are made eafy and 

 fi\fe under the protedion of the laws ; what can poffibly hinder fuch a 

 country and people from growing rich and powerful ? on the other 



