We have now, for more than two centuries,
ruled large tracts of the American continent, by a claim which, perhaps,
is valid only upon this consideration, that no power can produce a
better; by the right of discovery, and prior settlement. And by such
titles almost all the dominions of the earth are holden, except that
their original is beyond memory, and greater obscurity gives them
greater veneration. Should we allow this plea to be annulled, the whole
fabrick of our empire shakes at the foundation. When you suppose
yourselves to have first descried the disputed island, you suppose what
you can hardly prove. We were, at least, the general discoverers of the
Magellanick region, and have hitherto held it with all its adjacencies.
The justice of this tenure the world has, hitherto, admitted, and
yourselves, at least, tacitly allowed it, when, about twenty years ago,
you desisted from your purposed expedition, and expressly disowned any
design of settling, where you are now not content to settle and to
reign, without extorting such a confession of original right, as may
invite every other nation to follow you.
To considerations such as these, it is reasonable to impute that anxiety
of the Spaniards, from which the importance of this island is inferred
by Junius, one of the few writers of his despicable faction, whose name
does not disgrace the page of an opponent.
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