D.j PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 421 



only between Spain and Great Britain, but also between all nations ; for 

 the accomplishment of which object, his majesty has made the greatest 

 efforts in all the courts of Europe, which he certainly would not have 

 done if he had any design to involve England and the other European 

 powers in a calamitous and destructive war. 



El Conde de Florida Blanca. 



(3.) 



Memorial of the Court of Spain, presented by Count de Florida Blanca, 

 the Spanish Minister of State, to Mr. Fitzherbert, the British Ambas- 

 sador at Madrid. 



Madrid, June 13i/t, 1790. 



By every treaty upon record betwixt Spain and the other nations of 

 Europe, for upwards of two centuries, an exclusive right of property, 

 navigation, and commerce, to the Spanish West Indies, has been uniformly 

 secured to Spain, England having always stood forth in a particular man- 

 ner in support of such right. 



By article 8th of the treaty of Utrecht, (a treaty in which all the 

 European nations may be said to have taken a part,) Spain and England 

 profess to establish it as a fundamental principle of agreement, that the 

 navigation and commerce of the West Indies, under the dominion of 

 Spain, shall remain in the precise situation iri which they stood in the 

 reign of his Catholic majesty Charles II., and that that rule shall be invi- 

 olably adhered to, and be incapable of infringement. 



After this maxim, the two powers stipulated that Spain should never 

 grant liberty or permission to any nation to trade to, or introduce their 

 merchandises into, the Spanish American dominions, nor to sell, cede, 

 or give up, to any other nation its lands, dominions, or territories, or any 

 part thereof. On the contrary, and in order that its territories should be 

 preserved whole and entire, England offers to aid and assist the Spaniards 

 in reestablishing the limits of their American dominions, and placing 

 them in the exact situation they stood in at the time of his said Catholic 

 majesty Charles II., if, by accident, it shall be discovered that they have 

 undergone any alteration to the prejudice of Spain, in whatever manner 

 or pretext such alteration may have been brought about. 



The vast extent of the Spanish territories, navigation, and dominion, 

 on the continent of America, isles and seas contiguous to the South. Sea, 

 are clearly laid down, and authenticated by a variety of documents, laws, 

 and formal acts of possession, in the reign of King Charles II. It is also 

 clearly ascertained, that, notwithstanding the repeated attempts made by 

 adventurers and pirates on the Spanish coasts of the South Sea and adja- 

 cent islands, Spain has still preserved her possessions entire, and opposed 

 with success those usurpations, by constantly sending her ships and vessels 

 to take possession of such settlements. By these measures and reiterated 

 acts of possession, Spain has preserved her dominion, which she has ex- 

 tended to the borders of the Russian establishments, in that part of the 

 world. 



The viceroys of Peru and New Spain having been informed that these 

 seas had been, for some years past, more frequented than formerly, 



