fleet being rendezvoused at Batavia, was joined by fifteen sail of the line, of the company's ships, and ten thousand of their land forces; he proceeded immediately for the object of his enterprise: so great a force in that part of the world could meet with little or no resistance: Manilla was taken after an attack of two hours, and all the islands were successively reduced to obedience. The government of them his Majesty entrusted to the company. The accession of trade was immense, which these distant conquests concurred to command; a vast and open trade which was carried on, almost immediately, from Acapulco to Manilla. In short, all the riches of the Spaniards, or their most valuable riches, their trade, (for the mines of Mexico were exhausted long before) fell into the hands of the English. But events were happening in Europe, which drew the attention of all the world.
The
