I better be careful lest I put my ear at risk.
remember the "War of Jenkins's Ear"!
(for those who wonder, ENCARTA says the following about that war: >in British history, [it is the] name given to the trade war begun in 1739 between Great Britain and Spain. The war developed from British attempts to circumvent the Peace of Utrecht, which in 1714 terminated the War of the Spanish Succession. The commercial provisions of the treaty authorized British trade with Spanish colonies in America, but only on a limited basis. Dissatisfied with this, many British merchants resorted to smuggling. In 1731 Robert Jenkins, a British smuggler in command of the brig Rebecca, was seized by the crew of a Spanish coast guard vessel, who compelled him to surrender his cargo and then cut off one of his ears. The incident received little attention at the time, but subsequent outrages against British seamen engendered widespread anti-Spanish sentiment in Great Britain. The affair was hotly debated in Parliament in 1738, and in the following year, confronted by an implacable opposition, the British statesman Sir Robert Walpole was obliged to declare war against Spain. Hostilities (1739-41) were confined to the New World. The struggle later became part of the War of the Austrian Succession.<)
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] &
http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
