Chap. I. 
purfue right Ends by wrong Meafures, more fatal to a 
State than the abfolute Neglect of them ; fince the former 
makes thofe Ends grow into Difrepute with the People for 
ever, whereas the latter occafions only a temporary Suf- 
penfion of the Endeavours to attain them. I am very 
well aware, that all this may be excufed by 'obfervingj that 
the Situation of things in the Spanijh Weft Indies was very 
much changed between the Time that Drake, Candijh , and 
i Spilberghen , undertook their: Expeditions, and the fitting 
out of this Fleet; and, indeed, this very Obfervation is 
made by Sir William Monfon , who was one of the beft 
Judges of Naval Affairs that our Nation has to boaft : But 
then, we, ought to confider, that the firft thing which 
fhould have fallen under the Care of thofe intrufted with the 
Management of this Defign was to obtain proper Intelligence, 
without which they could not reafonably expedt any Suc- 
cefs ; and, if they failed in this, they ought not furely to 
plead fo great an Error as a legal Excufe. We may, how- 
ever, go farther, and, from the Lights afforded us by 
Experience, queftion the Truth of the Fadt : I do not 
mean queftioning, whether the Spaniards fortified them- 
felves in the Weft Indies ; for that, no doubt, is true ; 
but, whether their Fortifications wer% fuch as might 
enable them to have withftood this Force, fuppofing it 
had been properly condudted : And this, I think, cannot 
be allowed, fince the Buccaneers long after took the 
ftrongeft Places in the Spanijh Wejt Indies , even the City 
of Lima , in fpite of the whole Force of Spain. Without 
going, however, out of this Voyage, it is eafy to fhew, 
that it was not want of Force, but want of Conduct, that 
hindered it from fucceeding ; fince, in the lnftance of 
Guiaquily half the Number, under one Officer, took the 
Place, well fortified, which double the Number, under an- 
other Officer, failed of taking when thofe Fortifications 
were deftroyed. It appears likewife, that, after the Death 
of their Admiral, their Councils grew unfteady, infomuch 
that they knew not what to undertake. The Projedt of 
going firft from Puna to Acapulco , and from thence re- 
turning to Chiliy was fo wild and abfurd, that, as we fee, 
fome of the beft Men in the Fleet deferted, as foon as it 
was known : From all which we ought to infer, that a 
wrong Choice of Officers was the Ruin of this Voyage, as 
the Excufes they made ruined the Credit of fuch Expe- 
ditions ; infomuch that we never hear of another being 
undertaken of the like kind. There are, however, fome 
Circum fiances in this Voyage worthy of great Commend- 
ation, fuch as the extraordinary Care taken of the Fleet 
in the Eaft IndieSy that it might be immediately employed 
for the Service of the Company, without remaining there 
ufelefs, and at a large Expence to the State. This fhewed 
a right Correfpondence between the trading Intereft of 
Hollandy and the Sovereign Authority, without which 
this Diftribution of the Ships could not have been made. 
I mention this the rather, becaufe there are other Coun- 
tries in the World, befides Hollandy that depend on Trade, 
where there are fo many Diftindtions, and fo little Sub- 
ordination in Command, that Commerce very frequently 
fuffers without any body’s being called to Account; and, 
if any thing is done for its Advantage and Security, it 
muft be attended with fome fort of Perquifite, as if the 
few? toy 
Commerce of the State was not its moft important Con- 
cern, but Naval Commands were bellowed for the Advan- 
tage of private Families, and to give particular Men a 
legal Authority to domineer over 2 or 300 of their fellow 
Subjedls. The laft thing I fhall take notice of, in this Ex- 
pedition, is, that it affords the cleared: Proof, that the States 
General of the United Provinces did not intend, that their 
exclufive Charter to the Eaft India Company fhould hinder 
the coming of their Ships into the Eaft Indies upon their 
lawful Occafions, and without any Defign of prejudicing 
the Eaft India Company’s Trade ; for, otherwife, they 
would have diredled this Fleet, by their Inftrudions, to 
have returned by the Streights of Magellan ; for, at the 
time of their fetting out, it was a thing taken for granted, 
that there was no returning through the Streights of le 
Maine ; though, as it appears from this Voyage, that was 
a groundlefs Notion, as many fpeculative Points in Navi- 
gation are daily found to be. To conclude, the Freedom 
and Plainnefs with which this Relation is penned, deferves 
the greateft Applaufe. There are fome Countries in which 
Liberty is as much talked of as in Holland ; where, if a 
Man had cenfitred the Conduct of Commanders, and laid 
open the Caufes of a Mifearriage of this Nature, with as 
little Referve as this Writer has done, it would be con- 
fidered as an Affront to the Government, and, what is worfe, 
reputed, if not treated, as a Libel. Yet nothing is more 
certain, than that, in fuch Countries, one Mifearriage 
begets another, till at laft either the State is undone, or 
the Government altered, which are certainly Mifchiefs, that 
deferve to be better guarded againft than the fuppofed In- 
conveniences flowing from fuch free Remarks. It is 
impoffible, that Errors fhould be corrected, where it is penal 
to difeover them ; and it is as impoffible, that Sufpicion 
fhould be avoided, where Inquiries are difeouraged. In the 
prefent Cafe, it was not oniy the abfolute Lofs of the im- 
menfe Sum that this Expedition coft, that fell upon the 
Subjedls of the Republic, but the Lofs alfo of their Hopes, 
and of that Spirit which had been raifed of indemnifying 
themfelves from the Expences of a confuming Land War, 
by the Advantages that might have been gained by a 
proper Application of their Naval Force in the Spaniftj 
Weft Indies. The Negledl of this brought fuch a Load 
of Debt upon the United Provinces, and particularly on 
that of the Province of Hollandy that nothing but the 
fudden Alteration of their Government, which foon after 
happened by the Sufpenfion of the Stadtholderfhip, and 
the wife and frugal Adminiftration of the de Wities , could 
have faved the Republic, which muft have otherwife, 
after their long and glorious Struggle for Liberty againft a 
foreign Enemy, funk under the intolerable Confequences 
of that Corruption which had imperceptibly crept into the 
Management of their domeftic Affairs. After this Expedition 
of the NaJJau Fleet, there is a wide Chafm in our Hiftory 
of the Circum-navigations ; and, as the Reader will per- 
ceive from the enfuing Sections, whatever was attempted 
of this kind for many Years afterwards, was rather the 
Effe£l of Chance, than of Defign: So foon the nobleft 
Spirit is damped by Difappointment, and fo eafily the 
Thirft of Difcoveries check’d, when all proper Encourage- 
ments are taken away ! 
j A QJC E3 le Hermite. 
SECTION XII. 
Captain Cowley’s Voyage round the World \ 
1. The Occafton oj the V yage. 2. A concife Account of the Undertakings and the Commander. 3. Their 
Departure from Virginia, Augtift 23. 1683. 4. Proceed to the Co aft of Gurney, and fo roundCapc 
Horn, to the IJland of Juan Fernandez. 5. Mifs a very rich Prize in the Harbour of Arica. 6 . De- 
fer iption of the Gallapagos Iflands. y. The Revenge feparates from the Nicolas, into which Captain 
Cowley goes as Mafter . 8. Sail from Cape Francifco to Gorgona, or Sharph IJland. 9. Account of 
their prodigious Run from thence to Guam, being 7646 Miles. 10. Their TranfaBions during their 
Stay at that IJland. 11. A copious Defcription of the Ifle, and of its Inhabitants. 12. Proceed to 
Canton, in China, and from thence to an IJland North of Borneo. 13. Captain Cowley quits the Shifts 
and gets a P aft age home from Batavia. 14. Arrival at , and Defcription of y the Cape of Good Hope, 
Numb, 6, X ' " ' ' ’ the 
