The Settling Of This Island
Ought To Be Performed At Once, And With A Competent Force, Since,
Without Doubt, The Spaniards Would Leave No Means Unattempted To
Dispossess Them:
Yet, if a good fortification was once raised, the
passes properly retrenched, and a garrison left there of between
three and five hundred men, it would be simply impossible for the
Spaniards to force them out of it before the arrival of another
squadron from hence.
Neither do I see any reason why, in the space
of a very few years, the plantation of this island should not prove
of as great consequence to the South Sea Company as that of Curacao
to the Dutch West India Company, who raise no less than sixty
thousand florins per annum for licensing ships to trade there.
From Juan Fernandez to Van Diemen's Land is not above two months'
sail; and a voyage for discovery might be very conveniently made
between the time that a squadron returned from Juan Fernandez, and
another squadron's arrival there from hence. It is true that, if
once a considerable settlement was made in the most southern part of
Terra Australis, the company might then fall into a large commerce
in the most valuable East India goods, very probably gold, and
spices of all sorts: yet I cannot think that even these would fall
within the exclusive proviso of their charter; for that was
certainly intended to hinder their trading in such goods as are
brought hither by our East India Company; and I must confess I see
no difference, with respect to the interest of that company, between
our having cloves, cinnamon, and mace, by the South Sea Company's
ships from Juan Fernandez, and our receiving them from Holland,
after the Dutch East India Company's ships have brought them thither
by the way of the Cape of Good Hope.
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