no settlement was to be
established. The Spaniard readily replied, that, if this was a voyage of
wanton curiosity, it might be gratified with less trouble, for he was
willing to communicate whatever was known; that to go so far only to
come back was no reasonable act; and it would be a slender sacrifice to
peace and friendship to omit a voyage, in which nothing was to be
gained; that if we left the, places as we found them, the voyage was
useless; and if we took possession, it was a hostile armament; nor could
we expect that the Spaniards would suppose us to visit the southern
parts of America only from curiosity, after the scheme proposed by the
author of Anson's voyage.

When once we had disowned all purpose of settling, it is apparent, that
we could not defend the propriety of our expedition by arguments
equivalent to Carvajal's objections. The ministry, therefore, dismissed
the whole design, but no declaration was required, by which our right to
pursue it, hereafter, might be annulled.

From this time Falkland's island was forgotten or neglected, till the
conduct of naval affairs was intrusted to the earl of Egmont, a man
whose mind was vigorous and ardent, whose knowledge was extensive, and
whose designs were magnificent; but who had somewhat vitiated his
judgment by too much indulgence of romantick projects and airy
speculations.

Lord Egmont's eagerness after something new determined him to make
inquiry after Falkland's island, and he sent out captain Byron, who, in
the beginning of the year 1765, took, he says, a formal possession, in
the name of his Britannick majesty.

The possession of this place is, according to Mr. Byron's
representation, no despicable acquisition. He conceived the island to be
six or seven hundred miles round, and represented it, as a region naked
indeed of wood, but which, if that defect were supplied, would have all
that nature, almost all that luxury could want. The harbour he found
capacious and secure, and, therefore, thought it worthy of the name of
Egmont. Of water there was no want, and the ground he described, as
having all the excellencies of soil, and as covered with antiscorbutick
herbs, the restoratives of the sailor. Provision was easily to be had,
for they killed, almost every day, a hundred geese to each ship, by
pelting them with stones. Not content with physick and with food, he
searched yet deeper for the value of the new dominion. He dug in quest
of ore; found iro