1 6 0 AP P E N D I X .
T h e LORDS of the ADMIRALTY t o the EARL of ROCHFORD.
Admiralty Office, ISth February 1772.
" Having received by the Florida store-ship, lately arrived at Spithead,
a letter from Captain Burr, of his Majesty's sloop the Hound,
dated at Port Egmont, in Falkland's Islands, the 10th of November
last, giving an account that, in the preceding month, two Spanish
vessels had arrived there with the artillery, provisions, and stores,
which had been taken from thence by the Spaniards, and that he had
received the same from a commissary appointed by Don Philip Ruiz
Puente, to deliver them up to him; we send your lordship herewith
a copy of Captain Burr's said letter, together with ^ a copy of the
inventory of the artUlerj', provisions, and stores, which he had
received as aforesaid, for his Majesty's information."
T h e EARL of RocnpoRn to LORD GRANTHAM.
" St. James's, 6th March 1772.
" It may be of use to inform your Excellency, that his Majesty
has determined to reduce the force employed at Falkland's Island to
a small sloop with about fifty men, and twentj'-five marines on shore,
which will answer the end of keeping the possession: and, at the
same time, ought to malce the court of Spain very easy as to our
having any intention of making it a settlement of annoyance to
them."
T h e EARL of ROCHFORD t o LORD GRANTHAM.
" St. James's, February 11th, 1774.
" I think it proper to acquaint your Excelleney that Lord North,
in a speech some days ago in the House of Commons, on the subject
of the Naval Estabhshment for this year, mentioned the intention
of reducing the naval forces in the East Indies, as a material
object of diminishing the number of seamen; and at the same time
hinted, as a matter of small consequence, that, in order to avoid
the expense of keeping any seamen or marines at Falkland's Island,
they would be brought away, after leaving there the proper marks or
signals of possession, and of its belonging to the Crown of Great
Britain. As this measure was publicly declared in Parhament, it
will naturally be reported to the Court of Spain ; and though there
is no necessity of your Excellency's communicating this notice offi-
A P P E N C I X . 161
ciidly to the Spanish ministers, since it is only a private regulation
with regard to our own convenience; yet, as I am inclined to think,
from what passed formerly upon this subject, that they will rather
be pleased at this event, your Excellency may, if they mention it to
you, freely avow it, without entering into any other reasonings
thereon. It must strike your Excellency that this is likely to discourage
them from suspectmg designs, which they must now plainly
see never entered into our minds. I hope they will not suspect, or
suffer themselves to be made believe, that this was done at the request,
or to gratify the most distant wish, of the French court; for
the truth is, that it is neither more nor less than a small part of an
economical naval regulation."
M. Moreno will perceive that the above authentic papers, which
have been faithfully extracted from the Volumes of Correspondence
with Spain, deposited in the State Paper Office, contain no allusion
W'hatever to any secret understanding between the two Governments,
at the period of the restoration of Port Egmont and its dependencies
to Great Britain, in 1771, nor to the evacuation of Falkland's
Islands, in 1774, as having taken place for the purpose of fulfilling
any such understanding. On the contrary, it wiU be evident to
M. Moreno, that their contents affiDrd conclusive inference that no
such secret understanding could have existed.
The undersigned need scarcely assure M. Moreno, that the correspondence
which has been referred to, does not contain the least
particle of evidence in support of the contrary supposition, entertained
by the Government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la
Plata, nor any confirmation of the several particulars related in
M. Moreno's note.
The undersigned trusts, that a perusal of these details vriU satisfy
M. Moreno, that the protest which he has been directed to deliver
to the undersigned, against the re-assumption of the sovereignty of
the Falkland Islands by his Majesty, has been drawn up under an
erroneous impression, as well of the understanding under which the
declaration and counter-declaration relative to the restoration of Port
Egmont and its dependencies were signed and exchanged between
the two courts, as of the motives which led to the temporary relinquishment
of those islands by the British Government; and the