124 A. D. 1722* 



the Cape of Good Hope ; that therefor the Auflrian Netherlands, as 

 well as Arragon, Naples, Sicily, and other fubjects of the Spanifh crown, 

 were thereby barred from trading to India ; and that the emperor, as 

 fovereign of the ten Netherland provinces, is likewife bound hereby ; 

 fmce the maritime powers conquered thofe provinces for him, merely 

 On the footing of his right to the Spanifh monarchy, and he could hold 

 thofe provinces no othervvife than the kings of Spain held them. By 

 the 26th article alfo of the barrier treaty, this fame emperor ftipu- 

 lated, that every thing relating to commerce fhould remain as ftipulated 

 by the treaty of Munller. That, on the part of England, it was clear, 

 that by the 8th article of the treaty of Madrid, between England 

 and Spain in 1670, Spain ftipulated, that the king of Great Britain and 

 his fubjeds fhould enjoy every benefit granted to the Dutch by the 

 Munfter treaty ; and confequently hereby, as well as by the barrier 

 treaty, the Englifli company, as well as their fovereign, have an un- 

 doubted right to oppol'e this Oftend trade to India. 



And the Britifli legiflature, in order to prevent his majefty's fubjedts 

 from fubfcribing, or being concerned in encouraging or promoting any 

 fubfcription, for an Eaft-India company in the Auftrian Netherlands, 

 and for better fecuring the lawful trade of his majefty's fubjedts to and 

 frona the Eaft-Indies, enaded, that every Britifh fubjed: who fhould 

 fubfcribe to the ftock of the Oftend company, fhould forfeit the fame, 

 and triple the value thereof; one third to the crown, and two thirds to 

 the Englifh Eaft-India company. Britifli fubjeds found in India, unlefs 

 lawfully authorized, or within our Eaft-India company's limits, are here- 

 by declared guilty of an high crime and mifdemeanor, and liable to fuch 

 corporal punifliment or imprifonment, and for fuch time, as the court 

 where they fhall be tried fhall think fit, &c. [9 Geo. I, c. 26.] Yetthefe 

 •warm arguments did not as yet efFedually prevail. 



This year the king of Great Britain made a grant of the iflands of St. 

 Lucia and St. Vincent, in the Weft-Indies, to John duke of Montague ; 

 whereupon that public-fpirited nobleman fent over two governors for 

 thofe iflands, with fifty-one other ofhcers, and 425 fervants, with all 

 kinds of ftores, provifions, artillery, &c. in fix fhips, under convoy of a 

 king's fhip, very completely fitted and provided for fuch a new colony. 

 But they had no fooner begun to clear the ground for a fort in St. Lu- 

 cia, in December 1722, than they had notice from the governor of Mar- 

 tinico, that his exprefs orders i"rom his mafter, the French king, were to 

 diflodge them by force, unlefs they withdrew from the ifland in fifteen 

 days time ; for which purpofe 2000 men were landed from Martinico, 

 and 500 from Guadaloupe. And as the Englifh were by ficknefs and 

 defertion reduced to 70 men fit to bear arms, Governor Uring judged 

 it prudent, on due confultation, to abandon the iflands on the 14th of 

 January following ; it being alfo now ftipulated with the French com- 



