filled again with water ; but her ladyihip, by her high
rank and polite addrefs, having been able to acquire a
powerful interefl at court, king Philip, out of his natural
benevolence and equity, after being informed of
all thefe tranfa&ions, was pleafed to declare, That lady
Mary Herbert had fulfilled her engagements : giving
a decree in her favour, againft the Spanifh company,
excluding them from all their right in the mine of Guadalcanal,
and granting the fame to lady Mary Herbert,
for the term of thirty years, to her and her heirs, 8cc.
under the fame conditions, and with the fame provifos
o f continuing the works at her own expence, within
the term of two years, of which her ladyfhip afterwards
obtained a prolongation, but never appeared any further
in this bufinefs, though her agents fpared no pains to
procure new adventurers, and profecute their fchemes.
In 1736, Mr. Gage obtained, in his own name, from the
court of Spain, a grant of the mine of Cazalla, which
is called Mina de Puerto Blanco, where they continued
working till 1746; and though it produced fome very
rich mineral, with large quantities of filver, it never
anfwered the expence, added to the plunder of agents
and fervants, particularly after the death of Mr. Richard
Weftley, an Engliihman, on whofe fkill they chiefly depended.
Moreover the buildings of both mines were
robbed of the timber and materials, by the inhabitants
o f the adjacent villages, who, living in a remote part
of
o f the country, did every thing with impunity, as no
effectual methods were taken to prevent it ; all thefe
misfortunes contributing to ruin the mine as much as
the water; while the event of the ten pounds thirteen
ounces o f fine filver, having been printed by authority
and circulated abroad, kept up its reputation in thofe
remote kingdoms, where they were at too great a diilance
to know the real Hate o f the cafe, and only faw the favourable
fide o f the queftion. In the year 1767, Mr. Thomas
Sutton Count de Clonard, who is fettled at Paris, made
his propofals to the court of Spain. The Spanifh council
of commerce and mines being well informed that lady
Mary Herbert, on account of .her great age and other
reafons, was not in a fituation of fulfilling her contra&s,
was willing to grant, the mines on the fame terms
to the Count de Clonard ; accordingly, on the 27th
November, 1767, a cedula or decree, was iffued in hi?
favour, granting him, for thirty years, the royal mines
of Guadalcanal, Cazalla, and Galarofa, declaring the
former grant to lady Mary Herbert mull and void, as well
as all her property therein. By virtue o f this patent,
the Count de Clonard formed a new company at Paris,
in 1768, and in Auguft the works were begun. Hydraulic
machines were ere&ed, and they drained the
ihafts very fa il; but the ruinous flate o f the galleries
requiring them to be fupported anew, great delays
enfued, in fo much that, the draining o f the mine was not
P p entirely