U E G 



tercd, with tlieir kinds and the admcafurempnt of each, for 

 the ufe of the proprietor and wood managers. 



A great many other forts of particulars regarding the 

 eftatcs may likevvife be ufefully and conveniently put down 

 in thefe regilters. 



REGlSTlcn ijf Seamau See Manmxo the Fleet. 

 Rf.gistkh Ships, or Ships of Regijlcr, in Commerce, were 

 velfcls to which the king of Spain, or the council of the 

 Indies, granted permifiion to go and trallic in the ports of 

 Spanifh America. 



They were thus called, bccaufe the fliips were to be rc- 

 giRered before they fit fail from Cadiz, which was the 

 place where they ufiially loaded for Bueuos Ayres. 



Thefe vefllls, by the tenor of the cedula or permit, 

 wore not to exceed three liundrcd tons ; but there fubfifled 

 tliat sjood underftandinK between the merchants and the 

 council of the Indies, that (liips of five or fix hundred tons 

 frequently pafied unnoted. 



Thefe regifter (hips, which were firfl introduced in order 

 to furnifh America with a regular and timely fupply, and 

 thus to prevent a contraband trade With the Englifh, French, 

 and Dutch ifiands, were fitted out, during tiie intervals be- 

 tween the dated fealons, when the galleons and flota failed, 

 by merchants in Seville or Cadiz, upon obtaining a licence 

 from the council of the Indies, for which they paid a very 

 high premium, and were deflined for thofe ports where any 

 extraordinary demand was forefeen or cxpefted. In pro- 

 portion as experience manifefted the advantages of carrying 

 on trade in this mode, the number of regifter lliips incieafed, 

 and at length, in the year 1748, the galleons, after having 

 been employed upwards of two centuries, were finally laid 

 afide. From that period there has been no intercourfe with 

 Chili and Peru, but by fingle fliips difpatched from time 

 to time, as occafion requires, and when ihe merchants ex- 

 pe£l a market will open. Thefe fail round Cape Horn, 

 and convey direftly to the ports in the South fea the pro- 

 duftions and manufaftures of Europe, for which the people 

 fettled in thofe countries were formerly obliged to repair to 

 Porto Bello or Panama. 



But as all the regifter ftiips Jeftined for the South feas 

 were obliged to take their departure from Cadiz, and were 

 under a nceefiity of returning thither, this branch of the 

 American commerce, even in its new and improved form, 

 continued fubjeft to the reftraints of a fpecies of monopoly, 

 and felt its pernicious effefts. 



The intercourfe between Spain and her colonies has in 

 later times been much improved and facilitated. In the 

 year 1764, Charles III. appointed packet-boats to be dif- 

 patched on the firft day of each month from Corunna to 

 the Havanna or Porto Rico. From thence letters are con- 

 veyed in fmaller veilels to Vera Cruz and Porto Bello, 

 and tranfmitted by poft through the kingdom of Tierra 

 I'lrme, Granada, Peru, and New Spain. Packet-boats 

 alfo fail with the fame regularity, once in two months, to 

 Rio de la Plata, for the accommodation of the provinces 

 to the eaft of the Andes. 



With this new arrangement for facilitating intercourfe 

 a fcheme of extending commerce has been more immediately 

 connefted. Each of the packet-boats, which are veffels of 

 fome confiderable burden, is allowed to take in a loading 

 of filch commodities as are the produft of Spain, and moft 

 in demand in the ports whither they are bound. In return 

 for thefe, they may bring home to Corunna an equal quan- 

 tity of American productions. This regulation may be 

 confidered as the firll relaxation of thofe rigid laws, which 

 confined the trade with the new world to a fingle port, 

 and the firft. attempt to admit the reft of the kingdom to 



II JO Ci 



fome fharc in it. This meafure of relaxation was foou fol- 

 lowed by another more decifive. In the year 1765, 

 Charles III. laid open the trade to the windward iflands, 

 Cuba, liifpaniola, Porto Rico, Margarita, and Trinidad, 

 to his fubjed^s ill every province of Spain. This ample 

 privilege was fiion after extended to Louifiana, and to the 

 provinces of Yucatan and Campeachy. As foon as this 

 general liberty was permitted, it produced the moft bene- 

 ficial effedls : and it has been computed, that fuch a num- 

 ber of fliips was foon employed in the free trade, tliat the 

 tonnage of them far exceeded that of the galleons and flota, 

 at the moft flourifliing era of their commerce. This ar- 

 rangement extended its good effefts through every province 

 of the kingdom ; and by opening a new market for their 

 various productions and manufadtures, encouraged and added 

 avidity to the induftry of the farmer and artificer. Spain 

 has alfo permitted a free trade between the colonies them- 

 felves. In the year 1774 Charles III. publifhed an edift, 

 granting to Peru, New Spain, Guatimala, and Granada, 

 the privilege of a free trade with each other. See Robert- 

 Ion's Hift. of America, vol. iii. 



Register, among Letter Founders, is one of the inner 

 parts of the mould in which the printing types are caft. 

 Its ufe is to direft the joining of them Juftly together again, 

 after opening them to take out the new-caft letter. 



Rkgister, in Printing, the difpofing of the forms of the 

 prels, fo as that the lines and pages printed on one fide of 

 the fheet meet exaftly againft thofe on the other ; which 

 is done by means of two points in the greater or outward 

 tynipan. 



Register, in Organ-luilding, is another word for a ftop 

 in that inftrument ; but is in faft only a lath pierced with 

 holes, correfponding with thofe in the found-board, which 

 by drawing out the ftops opens the holes, and putting them 

 in (huts them. By thefe Aiders each ftop fpeaks or is filent. 

 Regifter is figuratively ufed by muficians in fpeaking of a 

 voice, in which real and falfet notes are not well united. 

 Mr. Braham's high notes, for example, are faid to be of a 

 different regifter from the lotv. 



Registeiis, in Chemijlry, are holes, or chinks, with ftop- 

 ples to tliem, contrived in the fides of furnaces, to regu- 

 late the fire ; i. e. to make the heat immediately more in. 

 tenfe, or remifs, by opening them to let in the air, or 

 keeping them clofe to exclude it. See Fmr-piaces and 

 Furnace. 



REGISTRY, Registrum, comprehends the office, 

 books, and rolls, in which the proceedings of chancery, or 

 any fpiritual court, are rcgiftered or recorded. 



REGISTRY of Shipping, in Commerce. Theregifteringof 

 (hips appears to have been firft introduced into this country 

 by the Navigation Aa, 12 Car. II. c. 18. ^ 10. By this 

 ftatute, however, foreign ftiips only, " Britiftr owned," 

 were required to be regirtered. By ftat. 7 & 8 W. III. 

 c. 22. § 17, Britilli or plantation built fliips, Britifti owned, 

 if intended to be employed in the plantation trade, and alfo 

 all "prize ftiips," were required to be regiftered ; and in 

 confequence of a regulation at the admiralty, ftiips for 

 which Mediterranean paffcs were wanted, were alfo to be 

 regiftered. The provilions in the afts requiring regirtry are 

 founded upon the wifeft policy, and are not lefs calculated 

 to prevent the commiftion of private fraud upon individuals, 

 than to advance the public policy of the ftate. By ftat. 

 26 Geo. III. c. 60. (lord Hawkeft)ury's aft), no (hip 

 or velfel foreign built (except fuch as have been condemned 

 as lawful prize in any court of admiralty), nor any ftiips or 

 veffels built or rebuilt upon any foreign made keel or 

 bottom, although owned by Britifti fubjedts, and navigated 



according: 



