part of England, that Masserano came in October to express ironically the regret of his Court that the claims of Spain against England were still unsettled. "The Spanish Ambassador," says Shelburne,[1] "complained of the points in dispute between the two nations, particularly our settlements in the South Seas or to the south of America, as capable of most dangerous consequences. I told him that I saw the several points remaining unsettled, and the consequences he mentioned, in the same view he did—with this addition on the side of England, that it became every day more and more difficult for an English Ministry to bring the people to a reasonable view of the several differences; that if the Ministry was changed, it would be still more difficult for a new Ministry, inasmuch as every time a new Ministry was formed, it must naturally in this country bring with it fresh attention to the interests of the people; perhaps those might come whose interest it might be to flatter the prejudices of the people. Then as to the present, I felt it so much the duty of a Minister to risk himself, that I thought it fit in every case of this nature for a Minister to correct and stop all such views with the public where they exceeded, that I was willing to do so now, and for this purpose I was willing, as I had before long since told him, as soon as he told me he had the necessary powers, to enter into a full discussion of all points; that I had often told the King, I was emphatically convinced of his personal honour; that I was persuaded, he would not say he had power, merely to draw me in to any discovery of the King's or my private sentiments; that he was incapable of such a ruse; that for myself I was ready to hazard to him my own idea of what might be right for England to do towards accommodation; that there must be both interests considered, and if our settlements alarmed them, they must remember the claim we had on the King of Spain's honour and justice on account of the ransom due on taking the Manilla, into the consideration of which the King would always insist on first entering. He said, that greater things ought to be con-
- ↑ Notes of a conversation with Prince Masserano, October 22nd, 1767.
