354 



A. D. 1628. 



Notwithftanding the fomer difappointments in the planting in, or 

 trading to, Guiana, it was now again attempted by a company ; and a 

 patent was granted to Captain North, &c. who had been with Sir Wal- 

 ter Raleigh in the lafl: unfortunate adventure thither. They even went 

 fo far as to make a fettlement on the river of Amazons, and began to 

 ere6l buildings, fortifications, &c. But this came afterwards to nothing, 

 though not immediately : for in Sir William Monfon's Naval trads, 

 publifhed in the year 1635, he reports ' that there was then adually an 

 ' Englifli colony in Guiana, which yielded the beft tobacco ; and that 



* the natives were the mofl tradable of any of our fettlements.' How 

 this came to be dropped, we apprehend, does nowhere appear ; unlefs 

 poflibly this author meant the colony of Surinam, which was firfl; fet- 

 tled by England fomewhat near this time. 



King Charles iffued a proclamation againfl carrying provifions or am- 

 munition to France, Louis XIII having, in the preceding year, publifh- 

 ed two feveral edids, ' full of acrimony,' againft fupp lying England 

 with the fame. {^Fa^dera, V. xix, p. i .] 



King Charles having in the preceding year mifcarried in his expedi- 

 tion againfl: the ifle of Rhee, fent out this year a fleet under the earl of 

 Lindfay for the relief of Rochelle (then cloiely belieged by Louis XIII, 

 Cardinal Richlieu being at that fiege in perfon). Our king this year 

 concluded a treaty with the Rochellers, wherein he promifed never to 

 abandon them, nor to make peace with their king without compre- 

 hending them therein*. {General colkR'ion of treaties, V. ii, p. 259, ed. 

 1732.] Yet that fleet was obliged to return home without being able 

 to effed it. King Charles in the fame year fent out another fleet for its 

 relief under the earl of Danby, which alfo returned unfuccefsful, the 

 boom placed before the entrance into its harbour being too ftrong to be 

 forced. Whereupon the poor Rochellers were forced to furrender to 

 the French king, to the unfpeakable lofs of the French proteftant church, 

 as well as of England, which, by fupportiiig Rochelle and other French 

 proteftants in general, might not only have been much better able to 

 bridle the growing power of the French monarchy, but likewile to keep 

 the balance of trade with that kingdom much more in our favour : for 

 after the furrender of Rochelle and demolifliing the fortifications, firft 



* King Charles's firft letter to the mayor, (he- ' been mi;ch troubled to hear that my fleet was 



nffs, peers, and burgeffes of Rochelle, was of the ' upon the point of returning home without obey- 



igtii of May, 1628. ' Gentlemen, be not difcou- ' iHg my orders in fupplying you with provifions : 



* raged though my fleet be retained ; hold out to ' coll what it will, I have commanded them to rc- 

 ' the laft, for I am refolved my whole fleet fhall ' turn to your road, and not to come away till you 



* peritb rather than you be not relieved. For this ♦ are fupplied. Alfure yourfelvcs that I lliall ne- 



* effedl I have ordered it to return back to your ' ver abandon you ; and that I fhall employ the 

 ' coafts, and am fending feveral fhips to reinforce ' whole power of my kingdom for your delivei- 



* it : with the help of God the fuccefs ftiall be ' ance, until God affill me to obtain for you an 



* happy for you.' His fecund letter to them was « alFured peace. — Your good friend 



of the 27th of May, O. S. ' Geutlemen, I have 'Charles Rex.' 



