Not far distant to the westward of Port Essington is the large and fertile island of Timor, a portion of which there is no doubt the Government of Portugal would cede willingly for the smallest equivalent, as it has been long virtually abandoned, and is utterly useless to the mother country. The size and situation would render the possession of the Portuguese frontier of this island a desirable acquisition, and the favourable opportunity may not, if allowed to pass over, again recur. The same, indeed, may be said of Leuconia, which, offering no real benefit to Spain, would, in the hands of the English, be a lever to rule both China and the Archipelago. Rich, fertile, and blessed with a fine climate, within a few days’ sail of Canton, and commanding the China sea, it would be an unrivalled jewel in the colonial tiara of England. When our relations with China come to be settled, and settled they must shortly be, the importance of Manila can scarcely be overrated. Spain, distracted and torn by internal factions, and pledged to England by treaty and obligation, would readily place Leuconia in our hands as a guarantee for the sums due, and would probably cede the possession in lieu of the claims we have on her exchequer. For such an acquisition, the present is the time, the tide in our affairs which, taken at the flood, would lead on to fortune; and as I have before stated, that in a political point of view it is only on an extended scale that any real advantage, national or local, is to be gained, I must re-urge my conviction that it is better to leave the Archipelago in its present state until the next general war, when it will again pass into our hands, than, by contenting ourselves with paltry and insignificant stations, convey false impressions of our national importance, not easily removed from the minds of the natives.[17]