ken at your Iſland of Jamaica, nor on that Coaſt, ſince the Ceſſation of Arms; and what Veſſels have been taken ſince that Time, have been for trading in an unlawful Commerce on this Coaſt; and as for thoſe Engliſh Fugitives you mention, they are here as other Subjects of our Lord the King, being brought voluntarily to our holy Catholick Faith, and have received the Water of Baptiſm; but if they ſhould prove Rogues, and ſhould not comply with their Duty, in which they are bound at preſent, then they ſhall be chaſtized according to the Ordinances of our King, whom God preſerve. And we beg you will weigh Anchor as ſoon as poſſible, and leave this Port and its Coaſts, becauſe upon no Account you ſhall be ſuffered to trade, or any Thing elſe; for we are reſolved not to admit thereof. God preſerve you. We kiſs your Hand.
Trinidado,
Feb. 8, 1722.Signed, Hieronimo de Fuentes,
Benette Alfonſo del Manzano.
Mr. Laws’s Reply to the Alcaldes Letter.
‘Your refuſing to deliver up the Subjects of the King my Maſter, is ſomewhat ſurprizing, it being in a Time of Peace, and the detaining them conſequently againſt the Law of Nations. Notwithſtanding your trifling Pretence (for which you have no Foundation but to forge an Excuſe) to prevent my making any Enquiry into the Truth of the Facts I have alledged in my former, I muſt tell you my Reſolutions are, to ſtay on the Coaſt till I have made Reprizals; and ſhould I meet any Veſſels belonging to your Port, I ſhall not treat them as the Subjects of the Crownof
