The VOYAGES of Book I. 
334 
s to Great Britain, or any Port or Place, unlefs through 
s t h e ft id Streights, or by Terra del Fuego : Nor lhall they 
trade in Eaft India Goods, or in any Places within the 
* Limits granted to the united Company of Merchants of 
England trading to Eaft India (fuch India Goods excepted, 
s as lhall be actually exported from Great Britain , and alfo 
4 fuch Gold, Silver, wrought Plate, and other Goods and 
s Commodities, which are the Produce, Growth or Manu - 
15 fact u res of the Weft Indies , or Continent of America ) : 
s Neither lhall they fend Ships, or ufe them, or anyVeffel, 
s within the South Seas, from Terra del Fuego to the North- 
4 ermoft Parts of America, above 300 Leagues to the Welt- 
4 ward of, and diftant from, the Land of Chili , Peru , 
Mexico , California , or any other the Lands or Shores of 
4 Southern or Northern America , between T err a del Fuego 
and the Northermoft Part of America , on Pain of the 
£ Forfeiture of the Ships and Goods •, one-third to the 
s Crown, and the other two-thirds to the Eaft India Com- 
e pany.f 
But the Reader will obferve, that I mentioned the Eaft 
India and African Companies before ; and that I now men- 
tion the South Sea Company, on a Suppofition, that the 
two former may refuie it. In that Cafe, I prefume, the 
Legiflature will make the fame Diftincfion that the States 
of Holland did, and not fufifer the private Advantage of any 
particular Company to Hand in Competition with the Good 
of a whole People. It was upon this Principle that I laid 
it down as a thing certain, that the African Company would 
be allowed to fettle the Illand of Malaga fear, tho’ it lies 
within the Limits of the Eaft India Company’s Charter, in 
cafe it Ihould be found necelfary for the better carrying on 
Of this Trade. It is upon the fame Principle I fay this 
Southern Continent lies within the Intention of the South Sea 
Company’s Charter, becaufe, I prefume, the Intent of 
that Charter was to grant them all the Commerce in thof e 
Seas, not occupied before by Britifto Subjects ; for, if it 
were otherwife, what a Condition Ihould' we be in as a Ma- 
ritime Power ? If a Grant does not oblige a Company to 
carry on a Trade within the Limits granted to that Com- 
pany, and is, at the fame time, of Force to preclude all the 
Subjects of this Nation from the Right they before had to 
carry on a Trade within thofe Limits, fuch a Law is plainly 
deftrudtive to the Nation’s Intereft, and to Commerce in 
general. I therefore fuppofe, that, if the South Sea Com- 
pany ihould think proper to revive their Trade in the Man- 
ner I propofe, this Provifo would be explained by Parlia- 
ment to mean no more, than excluding the South Sea Com- 
pany from fettling or trading in or to any Place at prefent 
fettled in, or traded to, by the Eaft India Company : For, 
as this Interpretation would fecure the juft Rights of both 
Companies, and, at the fame time, reconcile the Laws for 
eftabliihing them to the general Intereft of Trade and the 
Nation, there is the greateft Reafon to believe this to be 
the Intention of the Legiflature. I have been obliged to 
infift fully upon this Matter, becaufe it is a Point hitherto 
untouched, and a Point of fuch high Importance, that, un- 
lefs it be underftood according to my Senfe of the Matter, 
there is an End of all Plopes of extending our Trade on 
this Side, which is perhaps the only Side, on which there is 
the leaft Probability that it ever can be extended : For, as 
to the North-weft Pafiage into the South Seas, that feems 
to be blocked up by the Rights of another Company, fo 
that, according to the Letter of our Laws, each Company 
Is to have its Rights, and the Nation in general no Right 
at all. 
If therefore the fettling of this Part of Terra Auftralis 
Ihould devolve on the South Sea Company, by way of Equi- 
valent for the Lofs of their Aftiento Contract, there is no 
fort of Queftion but it might be as well performed by them, 
as by any other, and the Trade carried on, without inter- 
fering with that, which is at prelent carried on, either by 
the Eaft India or African Companies. It would indeed, in 
this Cafe, be abfolutely necelfary to fettle Juan Fernandez , 
the Settlement of which Place, under the Direction of that 
Company, if they could, as very probably they might, fall 
into fome Share of the Slave-trade from New Guiney , muft 
prove wonderfully advantageous, confidering the Opportu- 
nity they would have of vending thofe Slaves to the Spani- 
ards in Chili and Peru. The fettling of this Ifland ought 
to be performed at once, and with a competent Force,; 
fince, without doubt, the Spaniards would leave no Means 
unattempted to difpoffefs them : Yet, if a good Fortifica- 
tion was once raifed, the Paffes properly retrenched, and 
aGarifon left there of between 3 and 500 Men, it would 
be fimply impoffible for the Spaniards to force them out of 
it before the Arrival of another Squadron from hence. Nei- 
ther do I fee any Reafon, why, in the Space of a very few 
Years, the Plantation of this Ifland fhould not prove of as 
great Confeqiience to the South Sea Company, as that of 
Curacao to the Dutch Weft India Company, who raife no 
lefs than 60,000 Florins per Annum for licenfing Ships to 
trade there. 
From Juan Fernandez to Van Diemen's Landis not above 
two Months Sail •, and a Voyage for Difcovery mipiit be 
very conveniently made between the Time that a Squadron 
returned from Juan Fernandez , and another Squadron’s 
Arrival there from hence. It is true, that, if once a con- 
fiderable Settlement was made in the moft Southern Part of 
Terra Auftralis , the Company might then fall into a large 
Commerce in the moft valuable Eaft India Goods, very 
probably Gold, and Spices of all forts : Yet I cannot think, 
that even thefe would fall within the exclufive Provifo of 
their Charter ; for that was certainly intended to hinder their 
trading in fuch Goods as are brought hither by our Eaft 
India Company ; and I muft confefs I fee no Difference, 
with refpetft to the Intereft of that Company, between our 
having Cloves, Cinnamon, and Mace, by the South ^Com- 
pany’s Ships from Juan Fernandez , and our receiving them 
from Holland , after the Dutch Eaft India Company’s Ships 
have brought them thither by the Way of the Cape of 
Good Hope. Sure I am they would come to us fooner by 
fome Months by the Way of Cape Horne. If this Reafon- 
ing does not fatisfy People, but they ftill remain perfuaded, 
that the South Sea Company ought not to intermeddle with 
the Eaft India Trade at all, I defire to know, why the 
Weft India Merchants are allowed to import Coffee from 
Jamaica , when it is well known, that the Eaft India Com- 
pany can fupply the whole Demand of this Kingdom from 
Mocha ? If it be anfwered, that the Jamaica Coffee comes 
cheaper, and is the Growth of our own Plantations, I reply, 
that thefe Spices will not only be cheaper, but better, and 
be purchafed by our own Manufa&ures ; and thefe, I think, 
are the ftrongeft Reafons that can be given. 
If it be demanded, what Certainty I have, that Spices 
can be had from thence, I anfwer, all the Certainty that, 
in a thing of this Nature, can be reafonably expefted : Fer- 
dinand de Quiros met with all forts of Spices in the Country 
he difeovered ; William Schovten , and Jaques le Maine , faw 
Ginger and Nutmegs; fo did Dumpier ; and the Author 
of Commodore Roggeweins Voyage afferts, that the free 
Burgeffes of Amhoyna purchafe Nutmegs from the Natives 
of New Guiney for Bits of Iron. All therefore I contend 
for is, that thefe Bits of Iron may be fent them from Old 
England. 
The Reafon I recommend fettling on the South Coaft of 
Terra Auftralis , if this Defign Ihould be profecuted, from 
Juan Fernandez , rather than the Ifland of New Britain , 
which I mentioned before, is, becaufe that Coaft is nearer, 
and is fituated in a better and pleafanter Climate. Befides 
all which Advantages, as it was never hitherto vifited by 
the Dutch , they cannot, with any Colour of Juftice, take 
Umbrage at our attempting fuch a Settlement. To clofe 
then this Subjecft, the Importance of which alone inclined 
me to fpend io much of mine and the Reader’s Time about 
it : 
It is moft evident, that, if fuch a Settlement was made 
at Juan Fernandez , proper Magazines eredled, and a con- 
ftant Correfpondence eftablifhea between that Ifland and the 
T erra Auftralis , thefe three Confequences muft abfolutely 
follow from thence : I. That a new Trade would be opened, 
which muft carry off a great Quantity of our Goods and 
Manufactures, that cannot, at prefent, be brought to any 
Market, or, at leaft, not to fo good a Market, as if there 
was a greater Demand for them. II. It would render this 
Navigation, which is, at prefent, fo ftrange, and confe- 
quently fo terrible to us, eafy and familiar ; which might 
be attended with Advantages that cannot be forefeen, efpe- 
cially fince there is, as I before obferved, in all Probability, 
another 
