ABSTRACT
When the first communication was made by the Court of Madrid, of their being apprised of the taking of the Falkland Islands, was it accompanied with an offer of restitution instant, of immediate satisfaction, and the punishment of the Spanish governor. The Falkland Islands affair assumed a steadily increasing place in public attention from June 6, 1770, when the first, hardly-credited reports appeared, until the furious Parliamentary exchanges marking the Session of November 13, 1770 to May 8, 1771. In June and July 1770 “patriot” feeling was concentrated on such things nearer home as Mr. Alderman Beckford’s death and statue, and his successful replacement, as Lord Mayor, by the amenable Trecothick, and as City member, by Richard Oliver, Treasurer of the Bill of Rights Society. The anti-press-gang campaign had not only been attacked as unpatriotic but circumvented by the Admiralty’s claim that an Alderman’s backing for City press-warrants was as effective as the Lord Mayor’s.
