outskirts of her American dominions
sufficed to disturb her repose and to brace her paralysed nerves. To
imagine that she would tamely suffer adventurers from one of the most
insignificant kingdoms of the Old World to form a settlement in the
midst of her empire, within a day's sail of Portobello on one side and
of Carthagena on the other, was ludicrously absurd. She would have been
just as likely to let them take possession of the Escurial. It was,
therefore, evident that, before the new Company could even begin its
commercial operations, there must be a war with Spain and a complete
triumph over Spain. What means had the Company of waging such a war,
and what chance of achieving such a triumph? The ordinary revenue of
Scotland in time of peace was between sixty and seventy thousand a year.
The extraordinary supplies granted to the Crown during the war with
France had amounted perhaps to as much more. Spain, it is true, was
no longer the Spain of Pavia and Lepanto. But, even in her decay,
she possessed in Europe resources which exceeded thirty fold those
of Scotland; and in America, where the struggle must take place, the
disproportion was still greater. The Spanish fleets and arsenals were
doubtless in wretched condition. But there were Spanish fleets; there
were Spanish arsenals. The galleons, which sailed every year from
Seville to the neighbourhood of Darien and from the neighbourhood of
Darien back to Seville, were in tolerable condition, and formed, by
themselves, a considerable armament. Scotland had not a single ship
of the line, nor a single dockyard where such a ship could be built.
A marine sufficient to overpower that of Spain must be, not merely
equipped and manned, but created. An armed force sufficient to defend
the isthmus against the whole power of the viceroyalties of Mexico and
Peru must be sent over five thousand miles of ocean. What was the
charge of such an expedition likely to be? Oliver had, in the preceding
generation, wrested a West Indian island from Spain; but, in order to do
this, Oliver, a man who thoroughly understood the administration of war,
who wasted nothing, and who was excellently served, had been forced to
spend, in a single year, on his navy alone, twenty times the ordinary
revenue of Scotland; and, since his days, war had been constantly
becoming more and more costly.

It was plain that Scotland could not alone support the charge of a
contest with the enemy whom Paterson was ben