alid 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. The value of the thing
disputed may be very different to him that gains and him that loses it.
The Spaniards, by yielding Falkland's island, have admitted a precedent
of what they think encroachment; have suffered a breach to be made in
the outworks of their empire; and, notwithstanding the reserve of prior
right, have suffered a dangerous exception to the prescriptive tenure of
their American territories.

Such is the loss of Spain; let us now compute the profit of Britain. We
have, by obtaining a disavowal of Buccarelli's expedition, and a
restitution of our settlement, maintained the honour of the crown, and
the superiority of our influence. Beyond this what have we acquired?
What, but a bleak and gloomy solitude, an island, thrown aside from
human use, stormy in winter, and barren in summer; an island, which not
the southern savages have dignified with habitation; where a garrison
must be kept in a state that contemplates with envy the exiles of
Siberia; of which the expense will be perpetual, and the use only
occasional; and which, if fortune smile upon our labours, may become a
nest of smugglers in peace, and in war the refuge of future bucaniers.
To all this the governme