A. D. 1786. I r r 



July 14'" — ^Tt had been agreed upon by the fixth article of the late 

 treaty of peace with Spain, that the Britifh fettlers were totally to eva- 

 cuate every part of the main-land of America, whereof the fovereignty 

 is claimed by Spain, except a diftrici allotted for them on the weft coall 

 of the Bay of Honduras. It was now more exprefsly concluded upon, 

 that the Britifli fettlers, fcattered along the Mufquito ihore and on the 

 adjacent illands, fhould entirely abandon their pofleflions. And the 

 king of Spain, in order to accommodate them, enlarged the diftridt, al- 

 lowed to the Britifli logwood-cutters on the Buy of Honduras, by add- 

 ing to it the trad of land extending from the R vtr Balize fouth to the 

 River Sibun : and he confirmed to them the right of cutting and {hip- 

 ping dye-woods, mahogany, and all other kinds of wood, and every other 

 fpontaneous production of the foil. But it was exprefsly provided, thai 

 no plantation of fugar, coffee, cacao, or other fuch articles, nor any ma- 

 nufactures, nor any mills or other machinery, fhould be eftablifhed, fave 

 only faw-mills for preparing the wood for ihipping. He alfo gave them 

 liberty to fettle on a fmall ifland near the coaft, called Cayo Cafina, or 

 S'. George's key. But they were nowhere to ereft any fortifications, or 

 plant any artillery : and every pollible precaution againft fmuggling was 

 to be obferved. 



The fmall handful of Britifh fubjeds, whofe fettlement among the. 

 Mufquito Indians fo powerfully excited the jealoufy of Spain, were not 

 wood-cutters, but cotton-planters : and, I believe, when they left their 

 little plantations in confequence of this convention, not one of them 

 v/ent to the country allotted for them by it. 



It was now (and, ftrange to tell, not till now) difcovered, that France 

 was capable of being a moft valuable commercial connedbon to Great 

 Britain, and that a trade with twenty-four millions of people, pofTefTrng 

 many valuable commodities which we ftand in need of, and wanting 

 many valuable articles which we manufadture, and having moreover a 

 currency of near ninety millions fterling of real gold and filver moneys 

 was likely to be an objedf of greater importance to a manufacturing and 

 commercial people, than a trade with any nation of inferior population 

 and opulence, Belides, France is a near and certain market, with a quick, 

 and comparatively fure, return. And the confequence of legitimating 

 a dired intercourfe with that country muft be, that the demand for our 

 goods, which found their way into France in fpite of prohibitory duties 

 and forfeitures, muft be prodigioufly increafed, when they can be car- 

 ried fairly and openly as articles of lawful commerce : and on the other 

 hand, thofe articles of French produce, which we cannot, or at leaft will 

 not, want, will be brought by a dired and cheap, inftead of a circuitous 

 and expenfive, conveyance ; and the profits of the trade will be tranf- 

 ferred from the fmuggler to the fair and refpedable trader, to the great 



