monarchy.  It is the money he hath from thence which makes him able to levy and pay soldiers in all places, and to keep an army on foot ready to invade and endanger his neighbours, so that we have no other way but to endeavour to cut him off at the root, and seek to impeach or to supplant him in the West Indies; by part of which course that famous queen, of glorious memory, had heretofore almost brought him to his knees.  And this our undertaking, if it pleases God to bless it, most needs affect it sooner and quicker, the whole body of the kingdom being united, and concurring in a perpetual supply to this action, so that he shall have no free time given him to rest.

“Moreover, this will be a means not only to save, but to fill his majesty’s coffers, enabling the people to give him liberally and often.  The king’s ships will have little to do but to guard the coasts; for the sea-war will be chiefly made at the charge of the subjects.  This I doubt not but that, in a short time, both king and people shall be safe at home, and feared abroad.  To conclude, I shall be very glad to hear any man make objection against this design, so that he do so with an intention to refine and perfect the work; but if any shall speak against it with a mind to hinder and destroy it, I must entreat him to pardon me, if I do scarce think him to be a good Englishman.

“That project of the West India Association had the same fate with most other bold and honest projects in that reign, which was, after being talked of a little, it sunk into oblivion.  Our next difference with Spain was under the protectorate of Cromwell, who encouraged Father Gage to publish his account of the Spanish West Indies, which formed the foundation of his attempt upon Hispaniola, and conquest of Jamaica; but I do not know of any design formed by him to attack the Spaniards in the South Seas.  After the Restoration we were upon good terms with Spain, as certainly was our interest.  Yet Charles II. did not absolutely neglect this navigation, but sent Sir John Marborough, one of the best seamen this nation ever bred, in the Sweepstakes, in the latter end of the year 1669, by way of the Straits of Magellan, into the South Seas.  To say the truth, our privateers, under the command of Captains Sharpe, Davis, Swan, &c. were continually in these seas, during all that reign and the next; so that, in those days, our seamen were no strangers to any of the passages into the South Seas; and, as the reader may have already observed, from the voyage of Captain Cowley, it was then no unusual thing for the traders of London to fit out ships for these parts, but whether with a view to traffic or privateering, is a point not easy to determine at this distance of time.  But whatever the purpose they were sent upon, thither they went, and no complaints were ever heard of with respect to extraordinary hardships in the voyage, which is sufficient to shew how much depends upon keeping all branches of navigation open, in order to be constantly in a condition to secure and extend our trade, and to preserve our reputation as a maritime power.