OFFICIAL DISPUTES. 



43 



diate ports where the activity of our merchants 

 had found means to introduce a taste for our ma- 

 nufactures ; and all these places required to be oc- 

 casionally visited, that the British interest might 

 not want protection. 



Without going into details which might per- 

 haps seem tedious, it would be difficult to give a 

 comprehensive view of the various duties, which 

 at this juncture devolved upon the captains of his 

 Majesty'^s ships, stationed along the coast of South 

 America, and Mexico. It may be sufficient to 

 mention, that as the whole of the consulate affairs 

 fell to their charge, every dispute which arose be- 

 tween British subjects and the local governments 

 was necessarily carried on through them. This 

 was rather a new class of obligations for naval of- 

 ficers, but it was one which, from their being the 

 only disinterested individuals on the spot, they 

 alone were qualified to undertake. The greater 

 number of the misunderstandings alluded to arose 

 out of commercial regulations, which the mer- 

 chants complained of as oppressive ; sometimes 

 they originate^, in the actual seizure of English 

 vessels, on the plea that attempts were made to 



