was then in agitation, the repreſentation made in Anſon’s voyage had ſuch effect upon the ſtateſmen of that time, that (in 1748) ſome ſloops were fitted out for the fuller knowledge of Pepys and Falkland’s Iſlands, and for further diſcoveries in the South Sea. This expedition, though perhaps deſigned to be ſecret, was not long concealed from Wall, the Spaniſh ambaſſador, who ſo vehemently oppoſed it, and ſo ſtrongly maintained the right of the Spaniards to the excluſive dominion of the South Sea, that the Engliſh miniſtry relinquiſhed part of their original deſign, and declared that the examination of thoſe two Iſlands was the utmoſt that their orders ſhould compriſe.
This conceſſion was ſufficiently liberal or ſufficiently ſubmiſſive; yet the Spaniſh court was neither gratified by our kindneſs, nor ſoftened by our humility. Sir Benjajnin Keene, who then reſided at Madrid,
