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to know if they were really French or not. | years residence there, as chief factor to the The boat was sent with a flag of truce, and south sea company) of the whole country, the orders that were sent are to this purpose; with the coasts, harbors and rivers, both on that we were sorry for the mistake that hap- the north and south seas, and a plan of the pened the night before, but that they were easiest and most practicable method of rethe cause of it themselves, their behavior ducing the same under the power of Great being so very inconsistent with the polite- Britain, in case of a war with Spain. Since ness of the French nation; alluding to their my return from Guinea, having reviewed the not hoisting their colours when they first said papers, and considering the present sitsaw us chase, and in not laying by for us. uation and number of his Majesty's forces in The Lieutenant (ours) said he hoped we had the West Indies, I take the liberty to lay not killed them many men; But too many before you the following proposal, viz': the commodore answered.

The Rippon never fired a gun. The York gave two or three broadsides, and the Dunkirk gave the Oxford a broadside by mistake. The six English ships had about 20 men killed, and most of them on board the Ox-a ford, whose sails are useless by the number of shot going through. About 30 men are wounded and but few of them mortally. Mr. England, a Capt. of Marines, was killed in the Frederick. No other officer was hurt.

I have my Lord given you as faithful an account as my memory and inquiry will admit of, for I am very well acquainted with the six Captains who gave me an account of what had been done on board their ships, and I was a witness of what passed on board the Weymouth.

That a number of forces now at Jamaica, not less than two thousand men (for which I apprehend the forces raised in America will be the most proper) to be double officered and stationed under the command of Governor at Sandy Bay on the Muskuito Shore, which is well known to be the healthiest climate in that part of America, being also excellently well supplied with turtle, manatee, and a great variety of fish, food, &c., for the more convenient undertakings on that coast, which will tend greatly to the advantage of Great Britain, at an easie expence. That the first attempt be made up the Lake of St. Juan which lies a little to the southward of the Muskuito Shore, (where the troops are to be quartered,) at the head of which Lake lies a small island, fortified, which commands the channel of the lake.

I shall say no more of the French than what every body must own: which is, that That a number of our own troops with a they behaved with great prudence and gal- great number of Muskuito Indians be sent lantry. up in Piraguas and flat bottomed boats (to Brigadier Guise and Wolf were in the en-be built with deal boards to be sent there, gagement, but not at the council of the Cap-with nails, carpenters, &c., there being great tains.

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plenty of timber there for building the said boats) to take this fort which (as I have been informed by the people of Leon, &c., with whom I traded whilst at Gautimala) is a place of no great strength, and [which] when reduced will open a communication with the cities of Leon, Granada and several other great towns well inhabited, and [with] the whole province of Costa Rica, to which there is a great trade from Peru-It will therefore be necessary to secure this fortress well, and to keep it, both for a garrison, and [for] a magazine of English goods, which will always be in very great demand there, as well for the supply of Peru, as the said Province.

After well securing this fortress, the next attempt ought to be on the city of Comiagua and other towns which lie inland some distance from the sea coast, on the south side of the gulph of Honduras, which are very

near the gold and silver mines where is pro- | and Yucatan, which may be done with a duced the greatest part of the plate which is small force: which would not only open a sent to be coined at the mint at Guatimala. great trade to the city of Merida and the Here it is proposed to take such money as province of Yucatan, but would remove the belongs to the King, but not to molest the only annoyance to the trade of logwood inhabitants in their possessions; which will cutting which is of no considerable benefit to be a means to reconcile them to the English the English nation, and that in the year 1724 government. The River Looe, where I have I was commodore (in a ship of 400 tons and several times been trading with the people 32 guns) to forty sail of English vessels then of Comiagua, is navigable very near up to lying there and at the river Belise where we the city of Comiagua. all loaded with logwood, and this would entirely put an end to the power of the Spaniards in the gulph or bay of Honduras, and secure the whole trade of logwood from thence to the English.

The next expedition should be to take the castle of St. Phillip which lies five leagues up the River Dulce, in the bottom of the bay of Honduras, being a castle of about thirty old carriage and Paterero guns, in very bad order, and [having] hardly ever more than thirty or thirty-five mulatto soldiers, with four or five whites and a castellan in it. And as to provisions, they are often so distressed that they have only what they take from the sea to subsist on: their dependence being chiefly on Guatamala. When the roads are bad they are frequently some months without any bread kind at all, as I have several times been an eye witness, when I have been down there at the dispatch of my vessels during my residence at Guatamala. This castle is situated on a point of land that stretches pretty far into the river, and wholly commands the channel, and thereby the trade of the great city of Guatamala. And when this castle is once taken and secured, it will open entirely the trade to the city of Guatamala and all the country back to the south seas, which produces in great abundance, gold, silver, cochineal, the best indigo, cocoa, Balsam of Peru, and great variety of useful drugs, with all sorts of dying woods, all which will be willingly exchanged by the inhabitants for our English woollen manufactures, which will necessarily occasion an immense demand for these goods.

N. B.-Vera Paz, where the Indians, the latter end of the year 1734 revolted to the number of 30,000 or 40,000 fighting men, is at about twenty leagues distance from this castle, higher up the same river, and if a greater force be necessary to reduce the city of Guatamala, [they] will readily join against the Spaniards, upon their being supplied with arms.

It will likewise be very proper to take the small castle of Barcallao, which lies on the north side of the gulph of Honduras: it being the Barcadero on that side to Merida

N. B.-Logwood is now so scarce in the river Belise that they are obliged to go above a hundred miles up the river to cut it, and then to take what they can get, whereas, at Baccallao it grows quite down to the river's mouth, and is much better in its kind.

As his majesty has now so considerable a naval force at Jamaica, it might be no difficult matter to take the town of Campeachy, which lies on the western side of the Yucatan. It is a wall'd town, and the walls [are] of a good thickness, (and in the years 1725 and 1726 when I opened a trade there by virtue of powers from the south sea company) it had about two hundred men in garrison. And next to take the fort on the island of Trise in the bay of Campeachy, which would secure to us the valuable trade of Logwood from thence, which we enjoyed for so long a time, and which was so large in 1711 that I was one of a hundred sail which loaded there at one time. I am persuaded that more than double that number were loaded there within that year-and to this bay of Campeachy [England] has a very good claim, as appears from a report from the board of trade, dated in the year 1717, which I well remember to have seen.

To encourage the Spaniards to come in willingly it may be advisable to publish a proclamation in the name of his Majesty, promising them security in their religion and property, and that as to trade they shall be put on the same footing as the English colonies in America. And to the Indians, that they shall be exempt from tribute or any other service than what is voluntary, and shall remain secure in their possessions and free in their persons and property for ever.

But in case the Spaniards should be obstinate in their opposition, it would then be

advisable to encourage the Indians in their fered, as well for the expence of the war, &c., aversion to the Spanish Government, and to the present conjuncture seems the most make fall possible use of their assistance; favorable that was ever offered, or can be and it is not doubted but that if they were wished, or desired. All which is most humsupplied with a sufficient quantity of small bly submitted by

Rt. Hon'ble Sir,

Your Honour's most obedient
and most humble servant,
WM. LEA.

London, March 3d, 1740.

arms, ammunition, &c., such numbers would gladly join the English, particularly those Indians about Vera Paz who are probably still in actual revolt, (for that in the year 1735, when I passed through their country, they declared publicly that they were resolutely determined never more to submit to the Spanish yoke, hoping that the English of whom In the August number of the Review we they had often heard so much and for whom will complete this most curious series of they had so high a value and esteem, would papers. The remaining documents will be at length come to their relief:) as might not found to be still more interesting than those only subdue the province of Guatamala, but now published.

likewise the whole kingdom of Mexico, and We know not what other treasures we enlarge the British Empire in America quite may be able to bring to light from the rich round the bay of Mexico till it joined with historical "placer" we have discovered, but Carolina. And as success in such an attempt hope we may hereafter be able to present to would be the best method to indemnify the our readers others of no less interest than nation for the depredations they have suf- those now given.

SIR AMELOT DE VERE:

A FRAGMENT.

BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT,

AUTHOR OF "THE PROMETHEUS AND AGAMEMNON." &o., &c., &c.

66

"Ir thou wouldst win her-mark me well

Ravenwood's beautiful Isabel,

For the slightest glance of her azurn eye,
Thou must be willing to live or die;
For the lightest smile of her radiant lip,
Or a kiss of her finger's rosy tip,
Thou must be willing to cast away
All that thou holdest dear to-day,

Kindred, and country, and friendship true,
All that is old, for one that is new.

Thou must make her famous o'er land and sea,

By dint of thy dauntless chivalry.

Thou must make her adored by one and all,

Whom thy sword shall save from Paynim thrall.

Thou must make her name a sovereign spell

For all who own Amelot's Isabel,

That they who ne'er saw her shall strike for her fame,
And then render mercy in Isabel's name.

"If thou wouldst win her-mark me well-
Ravenwood's beautiful Isabel,

Thou must be first in the battle's brunt,
When the bravest shrink from its iron front;
The foremost to conquer and first to spare,
Where fame is to win, thou must still be there.
Thou must be first in the courtly hall,
The star of the peaceful festival,
The foremost ever in ladies' grace,

Yet cold as snow to the fairest face.
Men must fear thee, and women love,

But thou must be true as the widowed dove.

"If thou wouldst win her-mark me well— Ravenwood's beautiful Isabel,

Thou must be hers and hers alone,

In every thought thy soul doth own:

Not an eye for the brightest, an ear for the sweetest, Courteous but cold unto all thou meetest;

Not a hope in thy heart but still to be near her,

All to worship, yet something to fear her.

And then, when thy fame is on every tongue,
Broad as thy banner in battle flung;

Then, when thy lance shall have given her glory,

And made her the theme of each minstrel's story; When Europe, and Afric, and Araby

Shall own her the brightest and best to be;

Then, when thy trust is in her alone,

Then, when thy life, thy soul is her own,

Then must thou hold thee guerdoned well

By one cold smile from Isabel.

Like sunbeams on flowers her smiles shall fall,
Lovely and loving on one and all;
And thou shalt win no higher prize
Than leave to look in her lustrous eyes;
Or if she shall give thee her love to-day,
To-morrow's frost shall freeze it away.
And if thou lay thee down to-night,
Blessed with her promise of near delight,
To-morrow shalt tind her as cold and as far
As the wintry sheen of the farthest star.

"If thou wouldst win her-mark me well-
Ravenwood's beautiful Isabel,

If thou wilt do all this I have spoken,

Thus, as I rede thee, thy fate shall be wroken.
Thou shalt make her proud herself to see

In the mirror of thy chivalry;

Thou shalt make her to love thy fame as her own;

To live in the light of thy great renown;

In thine absence to blush when thou art but named
To be eloquent, if she hear thee blamed.
Yet then she shall love thy deeds, not thee;
For false is her bosom, and false shall be.
She shall wear thy brain and wring thy hear
Yet from her thrall thou shalt not depart.

She shall work thee woe, she shall work thee shame,
Yet shalt thou worship her still the same.
Thy friends she shall sever, thy peace undo,
Yet still shall thy love be loyal and true;
All but thine honor shalt lose for her sake.
Pause, then, nor rashly the strife undertake.

"If thou wouldst win her-mark me well-
Ravenwood's beautiful Isabel,

Grant her the sweetest child of earth,
The loveliest creature of mortal birth ;
Grant, if thou wilt, that she may be won,
As all things may beneath the sun,
By talent and toil, by sorrow and sinning-
Mark me well-Is she worth the winning?"

He started from his magic sleep,
Beneath a cedarn thicket deep,
In a glade of Lebanon.
And was it fancy, was it sooth,
A form of air, or a thing of truth?
Athwart the setting sun,

Clad in a robe of hazy light,

There seemed to float a vision bright
Between him and the hoary height
Of the old sacred hill.

He gazed-it faded from his eyn,
Till he could see the sunbeams shine
Beyond, in many a misty line,

And tip the green with golden hue,
And stream that waning vision through;
And yet could see it still.

He bounded forward-it was gone;
And in that haunted glade alone,

With bristling hair, but dauntless breast,
The chosen champion of the West

Stood, like a carvéd stone.

Still in his ears those tones were ringing,
Softer than sweetest human singing;
Still he could hear the burthen float,
Clear as a seraph's liquid note:

"If thou wouldst win her-mark me well-
Ravenwood's beautiful Isabel."

“And I will win her, by the grave
We fight from Infidels to save!
Nor might of man nor demon's power
Shall turn me! Is she not the flower,
The pride, the gem of English earth,
Where more of sweetness hath its birth
Than in the world beside ?
And whoso saith she hath a peer
Beneath bright heaven, I tell him here,
I tell him, Amelot de Vere-

Let him be man of human mould,
Or fiendish knight, such as of old

With mortal champions vied,

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