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 Oxford, 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. I shall say no more of the French than what every body must own: which is, that they behaved with great prudence and gallantry. Brigadier Guise and Wolf were in the engagement, but not at the council of the Cap 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 a 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. That a number of our own troops with a great number of Muskuito Indians be sent up in Piraguas and flat bottomed boats (to be built with deal boards to be sent there, with nails, carpenters, &c., there being great 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 produced the greatest part of the plate which is sent to be coined at the mint at Guatimala. Here it is proposed to take such money as belongs to the King, but not to molest the inhabitants in their possessions; which will be a means to reconcile them to the English government. The River Looe, where I have several times been trading with the people of Comiagua, is navigable very near up to the city of Comiagua. 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 and Yucatan, which may be done with a small force: which would not only open a great trade to the city of Merida and the province of Yucatan, but would remove the only annoyance to the trade of logwood cutting which is of no considerable benefit to the English nation, and that in the year 1724 I was commodore (in a ship of 400 tons and 32 guns) to forty sail of English vessels then lying there and at the river Belise where we 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. 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 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. "IF 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; Thou must be willing to cast away Kindred, and country, and friendship true, Thou must make her famous o'er land and sea, 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, "If thou wouldst win her-mark me well- Thou must be first in the battle's brunt, Yet cold as snow to the fairest face. 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, 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, "If thou wouldst win her-mark me well- If thou wilt do all this I have spoken, Thus, as I rede thee, thy fate shall be wroken. 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 She shall work thee woe, she shall work thee shame, "If thou wouldst win her-mark me well- Grant her the sweetest child of earth, He started from his magic sleep, Clad in a robe of hazy light, There seemed to float a vision bright He gazed-it faded from his eyn, And tip the green with golden hue, He bounded forward-it was gone; With bristling hair, but dauntless breast, Stood, like a carvéd stone. Still in his ears those tones were ringing, "If thou wouldst win her-mark me well- “And I will win her, by the grave Let him be man of human mould, With mortal champions vied, |