ight disputes
regarding the boundaries of the Portuguese and French Guiana, and
concerning the limits of which, there was an article in Lord
Cornwallis's negotiations with France, or rather the peace of Amiens in
1802.

The indirect effects were greater. Being a good deal left to themselves,
the colonists had leisure to discover what sort of cultivation and crops
suited best with the climate, and were fittest for the market; and some
branches of industry were introduced, and others improved, to the great
advantage of the province. Foreign ships, and even fleets, had also
begun to resort thither[18]: so that, though the ports had as yet been
closed against foreign traders, the entrance of men of war, and such
merchant ships as could find no others to refit in, introduced a virtual
freedom, which it would afterwards have been impossible not to have
confirmed.

[Note 18: That under Sir H. Popham, on Sir D. Baird's expedition to
the Cape of Good Hope, for instance, in 1805, and that of the French
admiral, Guillaumez, in 1806.]

The court of Portugal meanwhile, as if infatuated by the negotiations of
France, consented to buy a disgraceful neutrality at the price of
1,000,000 of livres or 40,000_l._ per month, besides granting free
entrance to French woollens into the kingdom.

It was in vain that frequent representations were made to the ministry
at Lisbon on the subject; that the armament at Bayonne, and the refusal
of Spain to forbid the passage of French troops through her territories,
were pointed out. The Portuguese forces were marched to the sea-coast,
as if they apprehended an invasion from England; thus leaving the
kingdom defenceless on the land side, and the ports were shut against
English commerce, by a proclamation, dated 20th October, 1807. But the
importance of Portugal to England, as neutral ground, or, in the event
of a French government in Spain, as a point whence to attack the great
enemy, was such, that the resentment which at another time would
certainly have been openly declared, was suppressed; but a strong
squadron was always kept up off the coast, partly to watch the
proceedings on shore, partly to prevent the Portuguese vessels from
coming out of port, and joining the French and Spaniards.

While this system of watchfulness was kept up in Europe, the English
ministry was not less attentive to the designs of France on the South
American colonies. As long as Spain and Portugal continued to pay th