THE SCOTTISH COMPANY MAKE A SETTLEMENT ON THE ISTHMUS OF DARIEN.

In Ireland nothing of moment was transacted. The parliament of that kingdom passed an act for raising one hundred and twenty thousand pounds on lands, tenements, and hereditaments, to defray the expense of maintaining twelve thousand men, who had been voted by the commons of England; then the assembly was prorogued. A new commission afterwards arrived at Dublin, constituting the duke of Bolton, the earls of Berkeley and Galway, lords-justices of Ireland. The clamour in Scotland increased against the ministry, who had disowned their company, and in a great measure defeated the design from which they had promised themselves such heaps of treasure. Notwithstanding the discouragements to which their company had been exposed, they fitted out two of four large ships which had been built at Hamburgh for their service. These were laden with a cargo for traffic, with some artillery and military stores; and the adventurers embarking to the number of twelve hundred, they sailed from the Frith of Edinburgh, with some tenders, on the seventeenth day of July in the preceding year. At Madeira they took in a supply of wine, and then steered to Crab-island in the neighbourhood of St. Thomas, lying between Santa-Cruz and Porto Rico. Their design was to take possession of this little island; but when they entered the road, they saw a large tent pitched upon the strand, and the Danish colours flying. Finding themselves anticipated in this quarter, they directed their course to the coast of Darien, where they treated with the natives for the establishment of their colony, and taking possession of the ground, to which they gave the name of Caledonia, began to execute their plan of erecting a town under the appellation of New Edinburgh, by the direction of their council, consisting of Patterson the projector, and six other directors. They had no sooner completed their settlement, than they wrote a letter to the king containing a detail of their proceedings. They pretended they had received undoubted intelligence that the French intended to make a settlement on that coast; and that their colony would be the means of preventing the evil consequences which might arise to his majesty’s kingdom and dominions from the execution of such a scheme. They acknowledged his goodness in granting those privileges by which their company was established; they implored the continuance of his royal favour and protection, as they had punctually adhered to the conditions of the act of parliament, and the patent they had obtained.

By this time, however, the king was resolved to crush them effectually. He understood that the greater part of their provisions had been consumed before they set sail from Scotland, and foresaw that they must be reduced to a starving condition if not supplied from the English colonies. That they might be debarred of all such assistance, he sent orders to the governors of Jamaica and the other English settlements in America, to issue proclamations prohibiting, under the severest penalties, all his majesty’s subjects from holding any correspondence with the Scottish colony, or assisting it in any shape with arms, ammunition, or provisions; on pretence that they had not communicated their design to his majesty, but had peopled Darien in violation of the peace subsisting between him and his allies. Their colony was doubtless a very dangerous encroachment upon the Spaniards, as it would have commanded the passage between Porto-Bello and Panama, and divided the Spanish empire in America. The French king complained of the invasion, and offered to supply the court of Madrid with a fleet to dislodge the interlopers. Colonna, marquis de Canales, the Spanish ambassador at the court of London, presented a memorial to king William, remonstrating against the settlement of this colony as a mark of disregard, and a breach of the alliance between the two crowns; and declaring that his master would take proper measures against such hostilities. The Scots affirmed that the natives of Darien were a free people, who the Spaniards had in vain attempted to subdue; that therefore they had an original and incontrovertible right to dispose of their own lands, part of which the company had purchased for a valuable consideration. But there was another cause more powerful than the remonstrances of the Spanish court to which this colony fell a sacrifice; and that was the jealousy of the English traders and planters. Darien was said to be a country abounding with gold, which would in a little time enrich the adventurers. The Scots were known to be an enterprising and pertinacious people; and their harbour near Golden Island was already declared a free port. The English apprehended that their planters would be allured into this new colony by the double prospect of finding gold and plundering the Spaniards; that the buccaneers in particular would choose it as their chief residence; that the plantations of England would be deserted; that Darien would become another Algiers; and that the settlement would produce a rupture with Spain, in consequence of which the English effects in that kingdom would be confiscated. The Dutch too are said to have been jealous of a company which in time might have proved their competitors in the illicit commerce to the Spanish main; and to have hardened the king’s heart against the new settlers, whom he abandoned to their fate, notwithstanding the repeated petitions and remonstrances of their constituents. Famine compelled the first adventurers to quit the coast: a second recruit of men and provisions was sent thither from Scotland; but one of their ships, laden with provisions, being burnt by accident, they likewise deserted the place. Another reinforcement arrived, and being better provided than the two former, might have maintained their footing; but they were soon divided into factions that rendered all their schemes abortive. The Spaniards advanced against them; when finding themselves incapable of withstanding the enemy, they solicited a capitulation, by virtue of which they were permitted to retire. Thus vanished all the golden dreams of the Scottish nation, which had engaged in this design with incredible eagerness, and even embarked a greater sum of money than ever they had advanced upon any other occasion. They were now not only disappointed in their expectations of wealth and affluence, but a great number of families were absolutely ruined by the miscarriage of the design, which they imputed solely to the conduct of king William. The whole kingdom of Scotland seemed to join in the clamour that was raised against their sovereign, taxed him with double dealing, inhumanity, and base ingratitude, to a people who had lavished their treasure and best blood in support of his government, and in the gratification of his ambition; and had their power been equal to their animosity, in all probability a rebellion would have ensued.