A. D. 1672. ^6^ 



fourth company the king and the duke of York fubfcribed, as well as 

 many perfons of rank uad quality ; and the whole capital of Li 1 1 ,000 

 was completed in nine months. In this new fubfcription the late com- 

 pany was allowed L34,oco for their three forts, viz. Cape-eoafl: caftle. 

 Sierra Leone, and James-fort in the river Gambia. The new company 

 foon improved tlicir trade and increafed their forts : and whereas all 

 former companies were obliged to fend to Holland to make up their 

 aflbrtments of goods, they now introduced into England the making of 

 fundry kinds of woollen goods, &c. not formerly known. They alfo 

 imported quantities of gold, out of v/hich 50,000 guineas * were firfl 

 coined in one year (1673). They alfo imported redwood for dyers', 

 elephants teeth, wax, honey, &c. ; and they exported to the value of 

 L70,coo annually in Englifli goods for feveral years: but at the revo- 

 lution the Weft-India planters joined the interlopers in aflerting, that 

 they were always beft ferved with flaves when the trade was O'pcn to alh 

 And the petition arid declaration of right, as that ad of parliam^ent [iwo 

 GuUehni et Maria'] is commonly called, effectually debarring it and all 

 other pretended exclufive companies not authorized by parliament, the 

 trade became open, though the company ftill perfifted in feizing the 

 feparate traders, which occafioned much clamour and no fmall obftruc- 

 tion to the negro trade. Their great difputes with the feparate traders 

 are contained in many large pamphlets, but the fubjed: is long lince be- 

 come fo obfolete, that it would tire our readers to very little purpofe to 

 give a detail of it. 



Copper half})ence and farthings were coined this year by King 

 Charles, having on one fide Carolus a Carolo, and on the reverfe Britan- 

 nia. ' There was,' fays Mr. Tindal in his Notes on Rapin's hiftory, 

 • another fartliing coined of rare copper, having on the reverfe ^atuor 

 ' Maria vindico ; but thefe were called in to pleafe the French king.:' 

 And this coinage now effedually fupprelled the private coins called to- 

 kens. 



This year the Turks, with an army of 150,000 men, invaded Poland, 

 took the ftrong fortreis of Caminiec, and alio brought the Poles fo low 

 as to fubmit to an annual tribute, in order to obtain peace of the Porte, 

 which, however, in the very next year was renounced, when King John 

 Sobiefki gave the Turks a great overthrow, and thereby made better^ 

 and more honourable terms of peace for Poland in the year 1676. 



At the clofe of this memorable year Sir Tobias Bridges, with fix 

 fhips from Barbados, took from the Dutch the iflnnd of Tobago in the 

 Weft-Indies, and alfo St. Euftatia \ which later the Dutch admiral Evertz 

 retook the fame year. On the other hand, the Dutch took St. Helena 

 from England, v/hich was recovered next year by furpriiing tlie Dutch 



* So named from the country which produced the gold whereof they were made. A. 



Vol. it. 4 C 



