BOOK and these proceedings becoming the subject of XV. serious discussion in England, it was moved in 1770. the British house of commons, that the instructions in consequence of which the parliament of Ireland had been prorogued, should be laid before the house: but this was negatived by a great majority.

Petition and remon

Soon after the rising of parliament, a third strance of address was presented to the king by the city of the city of London to London, in which they lament the heavy displea

the king.

sure under which they had fallen with his majesty, in consequence of the sentiments expressed in their late petition and remonstrance, to which they nevertheless inform his majesty they still adhered; and they again renewed their prayer for the dissolution of the present parliament. His majesty in answer declared, "that he should have been wanting to the public, as well as to himself, had he not expressed his dissatisfaction at their late address; and that he should ill deserve to be considered as the father of his people, could he suffer himself to be prevailed upon to make such an use of his prerogative, as was inconsistent with the interest and dangerous to the constitution of the kingdom."

The lord mayor, Beckford, who presented the petition, a man of an undaunted spirit and much democratic pride, demanded leave to ANSWER the KING. In the momentary confusion which

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this demand occasioned, permission was granted; BOOK and, with great presence of mind and fluency of language, he delivered an extempore address to his majesty, concluding in the following words: "Permit me, sire, farther to observe, that whoever has already dared, or shall hereafter endeavour, by false insinuations and suggestions, to alienate your majesty's affections from your loyal subjects in general, and from the city of London in particular, is an enemy to your majesty's person and family, a violator of the public peace, and a betrayer of our happy constitution, as it was established at the GLORIOUS and NECESSARY REVOLUTION." The KING, who was accused of the incredible indecorum of laughing at the former address, now reddened with anger and astonishment, and remained in profound silence; but when the lord mayor, a short time afterwards, went to St. James's with the customary congratulation on the birth of a princess, he was informed, "that as his lordship had thought fit to speak to his majesty after his answer to the late remonstrance, as it was unusual, his majesty desired that nothing of the kind might happen for the future."

For more than two years the Middlesex election, and the proceedings consequent upon it, had so engrossed the attention of the ministry, the parliament, and the nation, as almost to ex

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BOOK clude the consideration of other subjects in themselves far more important and interesting. 1770. At this period, however, an affair of great political moment forced itself upon the public notice; and the nation at large, wearied with the tedious and fruitless contest with the court, hopeless of redress, and impatient for some change of scene in the political drama, was now fully prepared to fix its regard upon any new object which should happen to present itself.

Transacti- A short time previous to the close of the session, to Falkland lord Chatham had declared, " that a great blow

ons relative

islands.

either was or would soon be struck in some part of the world." The high idea universally entertained of this nobleman's political information and sagacity, necessarily kept the public mind in a state of anxious suspense; but the mystery was quickly developed, and it was in a few weeks publicly ascertained, that a squadron of Spanish ships from Buenos Ayres had seized upon the Malouine or Falkland Islands, situated in the Magellanic Ocean, and of which the English had been for some years the actual occupants or possessors. These islands, consisting of two larger and many of smaller size, divided by very deep intersections of water, are bleak, barren, and marshy; exposed, even during the summer months, to storms and teinpests almost perpetual; and no regular settlement, in the space of two hundred years which had elapsed since the first discovery of them, had BOOK

been attempted by any European nation.

It was first remarked by lord Anson, on his return from his famous voyage round the globe, that the possession of a port to the southward of the Brazils, would be of signal service to future navigators for refitting their ships, and providing them with necessaries previous to their passage through the Straits of Magellan, or the doubling Cape Horn: and Falkland Islands were particularly specified by him as well adapted to the purpose.

On his lordship's subsequent advancement to the head of the admiralty, it was in serious contemplation to form a settlement on the spot. Strong remonstrances against this design being however made by the court of Madrid, with whom the court of London was at that time very solicitous to maintain a good understanding, the project was wisely relinquished. But in the year 1764, under the ill-fated auspices of Mr. Grenville,

66

every capital measure of whose administration," as lord Chatham justly observed, " was radically wrong," lord Egmont being then at the head of the admiralty, commodore Byron was sent out to take possession of these islands; and a settlement was made, and a small fort erected, in the vicinity of a commodious harbor, to which the name of Port Egmont was given. It happened that about the same time a settlement had also been made,

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BOOK and a fortress erected, by the celebrated Frerichi navigator, M. de Bougainville, on another of these 1770. islands to the eastward of the English settlement, under the name of St. Louis; but, in consequence of the representations of the court of Madrid to the court of Versailles, this was in a short time, by a generous policy, freely yielded to the Spaniards, who gave it the name of Port Solidad. It was well known that Brazil, Surinam, and Cayenne, countries long possessed by Portugal, Holland, and France, excepted, Spain pretended to the absolute sovereignty of the whole southern continent of America, with the various islands on the coasts and seas by which it is surrounded. The new settlement of the English, therefore, excited at the court of Madrid the highest alarm and uneasiness, not merely as an encroachment on the right of dominion, but as it was evident that the principal inducement of England to form this settlement, was the facility which it would give, in case of a future war between the two powers, to an attack upon the Spanish territories bordering on the great South Sea. Urgent remonstrances therefore were made to the court of London against an encroachment, considered by the court of Madrid as both unjust and invidious, but without effect, Such however was, at that period, the dread of the power of England, and so recent the recollection of the losses sus