2,48 I’he Discoveries S ettleme'nts . Book!. 
ditioii that he fliould make out' this Riglit by Purchafe 
from the Earl of Stefiing ; which lie afterwards did, and 
then fold it to Sir Thomas Temgsle^ who was both Propri- 
etor and Governor at the Reftoration : After v/hich the 
French fettled there again, and remained there in quiet 
Poffeffion till the Year 1690, when they were difpoffeffed 
by Sir William Phips^ then Governor of NcHjd England •, 
■ but it was afterwards given up again to the French^ by. 
King lVilliand% Treaty of Ryfwick. It is not, however, 
to be . underftood that either King Charles II. or King 
William III. by their’ refpeftive Treaties with France^ 
gave up the Claim of this Nation to that Country, nor 
did the Ftench fo underftand it, but only permitted that 
Poffeffion, becaufe, as the Circumftances of things then 
flood, they were unwilling to conteft it. In all thefe 
Changes, however, the Eland of Cape Breton followed 
the Fate ot Nova Scotia, and both continued in the 
Hands of the French till the Year 1710, when Govern- 
or Nicholfon made himfelf Mafler of Port Royal, which 
was become a Place of very great Importance in many 
Refpedts, more efpecially in this, that it gave the French 
an Opportunity of difturbing and diftrelTing our Trade 
to fuch a Degree, that it was very properly ftiled the 
Dunkirk of A^'terica. 
We need not wonder, therefore, that the taking this 
Place w^as looked upon as a very remarkable Service, or 
that the Qiieen fnould beftow her Name upon it to fiew 
that file never meant to part with it. Upon the fame 
Principle, Colonel -Nicholfon, upon his Return to Eng- 
land, had a Commifiion granted him to be Governor of 
Nova Scotia, and of Annapolis Royal, and Commander of 
all her Majefty’s Forces there and in Newfoundland. 
While things were in this Situation, a Negociation for 
Peace was fet on foot, v/hich afterwards produced one 
that has fince made a great deal of Noife, more efpeci- 
ally with regard to tlie Stipulations therein, in reference 
to this Province j and therefore it is requifite for us to 
fee what relates to Nova Scotia in the Utrecht Treaty, the 
Words of which, in the twelfth Article, are, “ AH Nova 
“ Scotia, or Acadia, with all ancient Boundaries, as alfo 
“ the City of Port Royal, now called Annapolis, and all 
“ other things in thefe Parts which depend on Lands 
“ and Elands, together with the Dominion, Property, 
“ PofTefTion of the fiid Elands, Lands, and all Rights 
“ whatfoever, by Treaties or by any other way obtained, 
“ (Cdc.” To which the French King added the Exclu- 
fion of the Subjedts of France from liihing on the Coaft 
of Nova Scotia, and within thirty Leagues, beginning 
from Cape Sable, and ftretching along to the South-weft ; 
there is no doubt but this Article, as it is worded, con- 
tains the Reftitution of Cape Breton, v/hich ought to have 
gone along with Nova Scotia, as it had hitherto done ; 
neither is this a bare Conjetture, or my particular Notion, 
but the general Sentiment of fuch as were beft acquaint- 
ed with this Affair, and with the Negociation that con- 
cerned it ; which induced the Qiieen, in her Inftrudlions 
to the late Duke of Shrewfbury, when he went Embafta- 
dor to France, to declare that fhe looked upon Cape 
Breton to belong to her, and reckoned that Eland a Part 
of the ancient Territory of Nova Scotia. But notv/ith- 
ftanding this Article in 'tlie Queen’s Inftrudions, the 
French were fuffered to keep Cape Breton, but, moft: 
undoubtedly, this gave them no Right to it. 
I am very far from thinking that in this Cafe, I mean 
in the Cafe of Plantations, Poffefiion is the only, or even 
the beft Right, becaufe fuch a Dodtrine might_ confer 
Right upon Pirates, x'he beft Claim of Civilized ISations, 
with refped to new Countries, was always allowed to be 
the firft Difcovery. This Right is that on which is founded 
our Title, and very juftly j for we have certainly difco- 
vered all the Countries that border on Davis’s Sir eights, 
HudfoFs Bay, and fo forwards to the Limits of Georgia ; 
and this Right being in the Crown of England., and inhe- 
rited with the Crov/n of England, could never be granted 
away, yielded to a foreign Power, or otherwife tranf- 
ferred, without the Confent of Parliament *, though the 
temporary PofieiTion might. For, in thofeTreaties by which 
Acadia was left to France, the Crown only ftipulated 
not to deprive the French of their Poffeftion, during the 
Continuance of the Peace, but the Right ftill remiained in ' 
us, and muft always remain in us. 
We have before fhewn that the French acknowledged i 
this, as appears by the King of France’?, purchafing un- 
der our Title ; nor was it ever difputed till the Treaty of 
Utrecht, that the Eland of Cape Breton belonged , to 
Nova Scotia, nor could it be difputed, becaufe the very 
Charter which eftablifhed Nova Scotia as a diftindt Pro- 
vince, included the Eland of Cape Breton in exprefs ' 
VvYrds. _ We may add to this, that our Title to Labra- 
dor or Few Britain is unqueftionable, of which Country 
Nova Scotia was a Part, till feparated by the Charter •, and i 
our Claim to Newfoundland has been always miaintained, ji 
as we fliewed in the former Sedfion : So that on the I' 
whole it miay be juftly affirmed, that our Right to the 
Hand of Cape Breton is as clear and as unqueftionable as 
that of any European Nation to any of its Settlements in 
America, or elfe v/here. But if it fliould be demanded of 
what Ufe this Reafoning is, I anfwer, that having now 
recovered the Pofleffion of that Eland to which we had 
always a Right, and out of which we were cheated at the 
Treaty of Utrecht, the French have no Colour to de- 
mand the Reftitution of it *, nor is the Cafe the fame now, | 
that it was when King Charles II. concluded his Treaty | 
in 1666, when King William concluded the Treaty of I 
Ryfwick, in 1697, or when the Treaty of Utrecht was 
made by Queen Anne, in 1712. 
14. We gave a large Account, in the former Sedtion, 
of the Attempt made by that great Man, and good Pa- 
triot, Sir Walter Raleigh, to eftablifh an Englijh Planta- 
tion in Guiana ; and of his fending, after his Return to 
England, a Ship to profecute that Difcovery : Of 
which fecond Voyage we have likewife a long Account, 
publifhed by Captain Keymifh : But this Defign met with 
continual Interruptions ; or otherwife. Sir Walter him- 
felf tells us in his Apology, there had been, before the | 
Death of Queen Elizabeth, a fufficient Number of Englijh 
fettled in that Part of the World, to have fecured the 
Pofleffion of it for ever to this Crown and Nation. The 
very next Year after Sir Walter’? Return, he was em- 
ployed in the Expedition to Cadiz : The two following 
Years, his Time was taken up in that which was called the 
Jfand Voyage. Then the great Rebellion broke out in 
Ireland, which rendered Queen Elizabeth unwilling to 
encourage any private Expeditions that required a con- 
fiderable Force ; and this Rebellion lafted till theQiieen’s 
Death. Immediately after this. Sir Walter himfelf was 
imprifoned, and fo continued for many Years. Which 
very fairly accounts for this noble Defign remaining 
fo long unpurfued. 
But Things delayed are not always loft •, the Defire of 
fettling Guiana revived in a few Years after Peace was 1 
reftored ; and, as I do not know it has ever yet been done, j 
I fhall give a fuccindl: Account of the feveral Attempts I 
made to carry this Defign into Execution, to the Time | 
they were wholly given over, and the fmall Intereft we | 
had in that Part of the World furrendered up to the | 
Dutch. In the Year 1 604, Capt. Charles Leigh under- | 
took a Voyage Vo Guiana, at his own, and his Brother 
Sir Olive Leigh’?, Charge : He had a Bark of about fifty 
Tons, called the Olive- Plant and his Company, about 
forty-fix Men and Boys. They failed from Woolwich the 
2ift o^i March, with a Defign to make a more complete 
Difcovery of the Country of Guiana than had been yet 
done, and to fix an Englijh Colony there. On the 22ft 
of May they caime into the River of Wyapoco, in the Lati- 
tude of 8 Degrees 30 Minutes to the North of the Line, 
and the Town of Wyapoco, which lies on the Coaft of ■ 
Guiana, was the Place in which they intended to take 
up their Abode. Here the Captain came to an Agree- 
ment with the Inhabitants, who received him very kindly, 
that they fliould allow him a good Space of Ground and 
fome Houfes, for the prefent ; in Confideration of which 
he was to aflift them againft their inveterate Enemies the 
Caribhees, who greatly diftreffed them. 
This Agreement was made by Means of two of the 
Natives of Guiana who had been in England, and could 
fpeak fome Englifo and for the better Security of Per- 
formance on the Part of the Savages, they confented to give 
2 
