Selected quad for the lemma: master_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
master_n	great_a	part_n	time_n	2,743	4	3.3144	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41175	A just and modest vindication of the Scots design, for the having established a colony at Darien with a brief display, how much it is their interest, to apply themselves to trade, and particularly to that which is foreign.	Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714.; Hodges, James.	1699 (1699)	Wing F742; ESTC R21931	134,853	248

knoweth but that the French may co-operate towards the first in order to their obtaining and compassing of the latter which will be as mischievous if not much more in the effects and consequences of it to England than if it should fall under the power and come into the possession of the Hollanders And we have the more reason to be apprehensive that the French have some such design if we do but observe how jealous and importunate they have been and still are in their offers of assistance to the Spaniards for the dislodging of the Scots which every wise and thinking Man must believe to be done in prospect of advantage to accrue unto themselves rather than of any benefit which they intend shall result thereby to the Spaniards Nor do I think it needful to give along deduction of the mischiefs that may and which in all probability will ensue upon the Settlement of a Colony on the Isthmus of Darien by the French to the affecting of all Europe and particularly the Kingdom of England they being so obvious that they cannot escape the views of any who have Eyes to see and will but vouchsafe to open them Nevertheless in order to the awakening thoughts in such who do not exercise themselves in Speculations of this kind I shall very briefly intimate a few things which carry their own evidence along with them Namely that should the French become possest of any part of Darien and especially of that where the Scots have erected their Calidonian Colony they would thereby be wonderfully enabled both to disturb the Trade of England in all their West-India Plantations and for making encroachments upon them in their best and most profitable Colonies And if what the Author of an Essay upon ways and means doth say of the danger and damage that by the French settling at Meschasipi will arise to England with respect to their American Traffick and Plantations deserveth serious consideration as undoubtedly it doth much more is their establishing themselves upon the Isthmus to be for the same motives and reasons seasonably thought of and prevented Moreover it may be very rationally affirmed that were the French once possessed of such a considerable Port in Darien as Port Acla is they would not long continue contented with that but would be endeavouring to enlarge their Acquisition and Jurisdiction over the whole Ishhmus which as it would lay the Foundation of their becoming Powerful over the Northern Ocean and afford them wonderful means and opportunities of extending their Trade to the East-Indies China and Japan and of getting in a great measure to be Masters of the rich and beneficial Commerce that is carried on and managed by Europeans in those parts of the World so it would infallibly put them into a capacity and condition of gaining in a very little time the Soveraignty both of Mexico and Peru. It being both certain and evident beyond all denial that with fewer than ten Thousand well disciplined Troops they may wrest both those Empires from the Crown of Spain as also whatsoever they do Possess besides upon the American Continent Seeing as the apparent weakness of the Spaniards there is such that they will not be able to withstand the Impression and attacks of a few Battallions of good Military and Regular Forces so it is Morally certain that they will have the aid and assistance of the Criolians who are such as are born in America of Spanish Parents as well as of those who are of the race of the old Native Indians to rescue those Countries and Provinces from under the Power and Dominion of the Crown of Spain Which how fatal it would be to the European Princes and States as well as ruinous to the Spanish Monarchy I need not be at the pains to represent and prove Further should the French become once possessed of any part of Darien and obtain the occupation of the Gold and Silver Mines which are there it would after that be in vain to contest or withstand their Pretension of succeeding to the Crown of Spain and of the Dominions thereunto belonging For as the House of Bourbon hath a great deal to alledge in Justification of its Right and Title of Succession to that Monarchy should his present Catholick Majesty die without Issue as he is like to do and as they have already powerful Forces for the seconding and making good their Claim so it is beyond contradiction that were they once Masters of those Mines which lie within the District where the Scots have their Calidonian Colony it would after that be impossible to defeat and prevent them in their pretensions seeing they would not only thereby be in a condition to possess themselves with ease of the many and Rich Provinces which the Spanish Crown hath in America but they would be furnished with a Fund of Treasure for the payment of all those numerous Troops without burden to their Subjects which they shall think needful to keep on foot in Europe for the asserting of their Right of succession to that Monarchy And I may Justly as well as boldly say that the single supporting of the Scots in their settlement at Darien will be more subservient and effectual for the obstructing of the French in that design than all the Alliances that can be made in Europe against it will in the Issue and Event signifie without the preservation of that Colony And indeed God in his wise Providence seems to have adjusted the Scots settling there at this Juncture in order to be a means and expedient of obstructing the French from succeeding in their pretension if others will have but eyes to see it and prudence to make use of it Finally it is not unworthy the being considered what Jealousies all Nations in this European part of the World have of late entertained and what a general belief they have imbibed as if the French were aspiring after an Vniversal Monarchy And was not the fear of this on the one hand and the obviating it on the t'other the pretended reasons of the late Confederacy and of the War that proved so Bloody and Expensive which tho' they may be thought to have given some check and interruption unto it yet they are far from having either made the French deposite the thoughts of it or from having so weakned and disabled them as to render the prosecution and compassing thereof Impracticable Yea I may venture upon all the Topicks of Reason and Politicks to pronounce that it is Impossible to hinder and disappoint it may they be but connived at in the obtaining the possession of the Gold and Silver Mines which lie in the Neighbourhood and within the District of the Calidonian Colony Whereas if the Scots be protected and upheld in it there will those Treasures flow from thence into Britain as will so enrich his Majesties Exchequer that he may not only make his own Dominion the happiest and most opulent in the World and put the

and of their several and respective Subjects when all that hath been offered attempted and done by those who have been thus applyed and addressed unto and complained of hath been Lawful Friendly Honourable and Just and only accounted inconvenient at the Season or held to administer ground of Jealousie and Fear that it might in the future be prejudicial unto such who were the Complainants and Remonstrants And as no Potentate or Court in the World hath oftener and more clamorously betook themselves unto this Method than they of Spain have done in reference unto and behalf of what they unreasonably challenge and would have others be so weak as to allow them a Right unto the West-Indies so they have commonly in the issue and event been made to understand that they had no Pleadable Valuable and Justifiable reasons grounds or causes for their Remonstrances and Complaints Whereof as the Histories of all Nations are full of Examples and Instances so our own are not barren and unprovided of them Unto which as I shall confine my self on the motive of the Brevity that this discourse is designed to be of so I shall only assign a few out of the many that might be enumerated Whereof the first shall be the Behaviour and Answer of Queen Elizabeth during the time of Amity with Spain and before there was any rupture between her and Philip the Second upon a complaint against one Captain Parker made unto her by the Spanish Minister who resided at her Court under a publick Character which I do the rather mention because it relates to something that fell out at Darien where the Scots having taken the freedom to settle and to establish a Plantation is made the ground of the Memorials presented lately to his Majesty by the Spanish Ambassador in the name of the Catholick King For Captain Parker having in the year 1565 Sailed from England to Darien and begun to manage a profitable Trade with the Natives the Spaniards who have been always Jealous of and offended at any other Europeans coming into and Trafficking in those parts of America came with Armed Ships against him and after having threatned to make prize of him and those that were with him unless he would immediately depart upon his refusal to do so they attempted it But Parker being a gallant man and being likewise assisted by the Natives he not only beat the Spaniards that assaulted him and took one of their Ships but also plundred a place called Castel Dolora for all which he was both commended and justified by the Queen notwithstanding the Complaints and Remonstrances of the King of Spain by his Ambassador Whereunto may be added that famous and remarkable transaction much about the same Season between Queen Elizabeth and Philip the Second in relation to Captain Drake who having in a time of Peace betwixt the two Crowns been seised by the Spaniards for Trading in the Bay of Mexico and who thereupon having been allowed by her Majesty to make himself reparation and satisfaction for the Wrong and Dishonour done to her as well as for the Loss and Injury which he had Sustained sailed to Boco Fero where being shewed the South Sea and also assisted by the Native Indians who had War with the Spaniards he took and plundred some rich Spanish Vessels at St. Lazarus de Chagra Of which Bernardine de Mendoza who was then Spanish Ambassador at the Court of England having by a Memorial which he presented to the Queen complained as a great Act of Depredation committed by Drake upon the Spaniards in the West Indies and thereupon demanded reparation of the Loss and Damage which his Masters Subjects had thereby undergone he was answered by the Queen almost in the very terms and directly to the purpose following Namely That as the Spaniards had drawn these Inconveniencies and Mischiefs upon themselves by their severe and unjust dealing with the English in their American Commerce and their Trade there with the Natives so she did not understand why either her Subjects or those of any other European Princes should be debarred from Traffick in the Indies Vnto which as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title by the donation of the Bishop of Rome so she knew no right they had to any places there besides those that they were in actual possession of Seeing their having touched only here and there upon those coasts given names to Rivers or Capes and possibly built a few Cottages were such insignificant things as could no ways entitle them to a Propriety further than they were actually settled and continued to inhabit And therefore that as all their claim unto other Parts Places and Countries in the West Indies was only Imaginary and Chimerical so it was thereupon Free for other Princes and States and their respective Subjects without the least Breach or Violation of the Laws of Nations both to Trade and Transplant Colonies into all such American Districts and Territories where the Spaniards did not inhabit And that as all pretence to a right to any Country there otherwise than as they were possessed of it is nothing but a vain and unjust Vsurpation which makes no foundation nor gives any right by and according to the laws of Nations for a limited and restrained claim in and over those Countries so it is as lawful for any other Nation as it is for Spain to Navigate that vast Ocean without being inhibited obstructed or therein Disturbed in that the use of the Sea and Air is common unto all and every people whatsoever neither Nature nor custom having given or allowed possession or Propriety thereof to any one particular Country of the World Preclusive of others But tho' this that I have here reported may very reasonably be counted enough to have been said under this head as being so full as well as pertinent for shewing how little reason and cause there may often be of Judging hastily conclusively and prejudically of the proceedings and Facts of the Subjects of any State or Soveraign meerly because of complaints exhibited in Memorials by the Ambassadours of other Princes stiling and representing what hath been done by them under the Characters of being violatious of the Laws of Nations Invasions upon the Territories and Jurisdictions of Potentates and Infractions of publick Treaties and Alliances yet I shall not reckon it either superfluous or impertinent nor will the reader I hope think it tedious to have one Instance more subjoyned that was of a parallel nature and to the same purpose and upon the same occasion which as it referreth to a Memorial of the same importance and kind with those that have been presented lately to his Majesty so it was one delivered into a King of great Britain by an Ambassadour of Spain in the name and in obedience to the Command of his Master Whereof the Story in brief is this Namely that in the year 1629. being after a Rupture and during the time of a War

they do not resist is not because they would not but by reason that they cannot and their being tame and silent under a Force which they can neither withstand nor throw off do no more declare and express their submission than a Man approves of his being robb'd when without contradiction or quarrelling he delivers his Purse to a Thief whom he knows to be too strong for him Yea Secondly it may be farther added in way of answer That the whole which can be suppos'd to follow upon and to result from the foremention'd Maxim in Law is only that the Spaniards may thereupon and from thence pretend to a Title of Right in and of Dominion over all such Places in America as had anciently been either directly and immediately subject to or by one way or another dependant upon the foremention'd Empires but it doth in no manner concern or affect the settlement of the Scots on the Isthmus of Darien nor can it be pleaded as a reason for giving disturbance to their Caledonian Colony Forasmuch as the Country of Darien had never been any part of nor any ways Feudatory or tributary unto nor in any manner whatsoever dependant upon either of the foresaid Empires but was always a distinct free and independent Country and the Natives and Inhabitants thereof a distinct free and independent People Nor hath the place of that Isthmus where the Scots are particularly landed and have begun to erect Forts and do purpose to establish a Colony for Trade and Commerce been ever subdued or inhabited by the Spaniards To which may be further added That as the District on that Isthmus where the Scots have begun their settlement was never dependant upon any part or place where the Spaniards have their Colonies within the Isthmus so the Ruling Natives of that little circuit where the Scots are and of whom they have obtain'd liberty to settle and plant were never subject to any other Indian Sovereign or Government within the Precincts of the Isthmus Which leads me to a second Concession that I am oblig'd to make unto the Spaniards but whereof that they can have no advantages for the weakening or rendring controvertible a right and legal Power and Liberty in the Scots to settle on the Isthmus of Darien I shall give uncontradictable Reasons and those such as shall be founded both upon Laws and Facts That which I do then further grant unto them is this namely That besides the many large and numerous Colonies which the Crown of Spain hath in divers other places of America they have also several of very great importance and profit within and upon the Isthmus of Darien ●eeing the Spaniards are not only the undoubted Masters of several places on the Bay of Panama and of the Coast of the Isthmus upon and towards the South-Sea but they do likewise possess Carthagena which stands on a small Island and Porto bello which is upon the Continent upon the North-Sea Yea I do moreover acknowledge that besides their having heretofore possessed Nombre de Dios and their having Planted upon some part of the River Darien it self which are places nearer and more adjacent to that little District and spot of Land where the Scots have begun to settle than those already mention'd but which they have since relinquish'd and are wholly withdrawn from They have likewise at this very time some small Territories in their Occupation which are not remov'd and distanc'd much above ten or twelve Lěagnes from the Caledonian Colony and New Edenburgh where they are in the possession of Mines out of which they dig Gold In reference to all which places as their Title and Right of Propriety is readily confess'd by the Scots as well as legally asserted by themselves so neither the Scots nor any other Nation whatsoever unless in case of open Hostility in a just War can invade them there or seek to dispossess them from thence without incurring the guilt of great Injustice and becoming violators of the Laws of Nations Nevertheless nothing of all this that I have granted can or ought to be reasonably alledged as a legal plea against a legitimate obstruction unto or a lawful hindrance of the Scots establishing a Colony at the Port Acla or the rendring it injurious and criminal in them and an Infraction of Alliances to possess with the consent of the Natives the Country bordering upon and neigbouring unto it Seeing the Equity and Justice of what they have therein done are easie to be demonstrated from and by all the Topicks of Law Reason and Fact upon which the settlement of Colonies by Aliens Foreigners or Strangers in any parts of the World have been accounted lawful and do in the esteem of Nations stand justify'd In order to the better and fuller clearing whereof it may not be amiss to observe That neither antecedently in the discovery of that part of America by the Spaniards and their becoming at first possessors of any places there nor at any time since was the Soveraignty and Dominion of the whole Isthmus of Darien vested in any one Person whatsoever as the sole and alone Ruler Governor and Prince of it But it anciently was and has always hitherto been divided and distributed into several little Principalities and Jurisdictions over which they who bear the supreme Sway and give Laws unto the rest of the Natives in their different and respective Precincts and both had and still have Obedience paid and yielded unto them by those that were or are the Indigenae or Natural Inhabitants deserv'd rather the Name and Stile of Captains than the Title of Princes and Kings And who tho' they be accordingly call'd by the Natives Caciques which is a much lower appellation than those of Ingas and the being the Off-spring of the Sun by which Emperors of Peru and Mexico were stil'd yet they have been at all times both absolute within their several respective Districts and altogether independent upon and unaccountable to one another or to any Potentate else whatsoever and how contiguous soever their Principalities may be and tho' never so small narrow and contracted in their Dimensions and Extents yet further than as they became confederated and united together by leagues between one another against their Enemies and particularly for mutual defence against the Spaniards whom they ever did and still do account their common Enemy they have at all times had an independent and absolute Power and Authority within each of their own particular Bounds which they have unaccountably to any other Prince Sovereign or Monarch whatsoever exercised over such as did inhabit in their several distinct Circuits Nor is this a thing singular and peculiar to the People on the Isthmus of Darien but what hath been and still is common upon the Continents and in the Isles of Asia and Africk as well as in many other Countries Provinces and Islands of America besides that which I have been speaking of Nor can any Person that pretends to have