I therefore suppose, that, if the South Sea
Company should think proper to revive their trade in the manner I
propose, this proviso would be explained by Parliament to mean no more
than excluding the South Sea Company from settling or trading in or to
any place at present settled in or traded to by the East India Company:
for, as this interpretation would secure the just rights of both
companies, and, at the same time reconcile the laws for establishing them
to the general interest of trade and the nation, there is the greatest
reason to believe this to be the intention of the legislature. I have
been obliged to insist fully upon this matter, because it is a point
hitherto untouched, and a point of such high importance, that, unless it
be understood according to my sense of the matter, there is an end of all
hopes of extending our trade on this side, which is perhaps the only side
on which there is the least probability that it ever can be extended;
for, as to the north-west passage into the South Seas, that seems to be
blocked up by the rights of another company; so that, according to the
letter of our laws, each company is to have its rights, and the nation in
general no right at all.
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