in so great and important a point as this part of Jurisdiction is I appeal to all wise men who I desire may judge of this whether this speech of some in England to wit that the said Councel of defence should alone have judged these conspiratours be agreable to the said Treaty or contrarie to the same I find many Arguments for my Negative opinions to wit that before the Treaty of 1619. the Duch in Amboyna administred Jurisdiction and Judicature upon all and every one who dwelt in or under the Jurisdiction of the Castle as well inhabitants as strangers without difference and that in this said Treaty the Dutch with the English Merchants made onely a league in the matter of commerce and Negotiation of Nutmegs Mace Cloves and Pepper in some quarters without having any further Treaty or communication in the land so that without the bounds of this common Negotiation every one remained free and unhindered in the land by the right and possession which either Company enjoyed and exercised severally according as the same appeareth out of the 23 Article of the Treatie where it is expresly said That castles and Furts shall remain in their hands who at present do possess them And out of the 13.14.15 Articles of the Treatie all may see that this common Councel of Defence hath no more power save onely over the fellowship of the Treatie that is over the Navie of defence in the Sea to the defence of the common Merchandize and liberty of commerce and lastly to tax the charges for the provision of ammunition in the Forts neither can any other thing be sincerely collected out of the said Treaty so far as I can conceive Therefore this second point is found to be untrue and abusive being not founded upon the said Treatie which Treatie not withstanding ought to be the onely rule both of the one and the other Company Finally it is given out in England that in the examination of the Conspiratours there was excess in the Neatherlands Judges in the point of Torture I acknowledge that no argument or pretext against the Justice of this execution hath more moved me in the beginning than this pretence of excess aforesaid because this stirreth Christian compassion although I also judge that wise men will not suffer themselves to be too much transported thereby before the true reasons do fully appear which should move us thereunto For I well remember yet that in the time of former mistakings in the Indies many things were pretended on both parts upon which there were great outcries one either side which yet by due examination were found to be though fair yet false pretexts of some ill-willers and men desirous to wrangle which pretences being throughly sifted by the High and much admired wisdom of his Majesty the Lords the States were well discovered to be no such matters as they were made as it is also undoubtedly to be believed that his Majesty and the States will yet further do in this affair and so the cause of the Dutch Company may be in the carriage hereof rightly justified Of which I understand that the Lords the States have special regard and that they have been throughly informed what is the very truth of the things there past and of the Execution in Amboyna upon the English conspiratours Unto which end the Lords the States resolved to see and peruse all the Papers and Letters touching the said proceedings And now thereupon men speak far otherwise than heretofore for pretences and cavils being once detected cannot stand with truth And it doth plainly appear that there is little truth in the matter of Torture reported to be most cruelly inflicted upon these English conspiratours as in England it is said And I have ever suspected this for a slander for I know the Dutch Nation doth naturally abhor this kind of cruelty and are as much moved to commiseration as any other people But whether these evil minded men who have scattered this great slander in England and have so fowly defaced a just cause have done it by occasion of our use of Tortures in these Lands in some weighty causes according to the custom of the most Dominions of Europe I cannot Judge But is that to be censured Judged to be unjust of the whole world which is repugnant to the Laws of England or any one Nation where Torture is rarely used Nothing so but the Justice or injustice of a cause must be as aforesaid determined according to the Laws where it is done and not of other Lands If this were not so why then should not the whole World much more Judge that as a hard a thing unheard and therefore condemnable which in some causes is used in England according to the Laws there when they proceed against some guiltie persons who being once again asked of the Judge and utterly refusing to be legally tried is adjudged as dumb that is by contumacie whose condemnation then accordingly followeth that he is laid upon a table or plank and another plank upon him and so much weight of stone or lead laid upon him that his body is miserably bruised and so pressed violently to death The which according to the consession of all Nations especially because this kind of justice is not used in other Lands and by the English writers is judged to be one of the most sharp and severe kinds of death that can be invented yet cannot such an execution be called cruel and unlawfull when it is done in England because it is done according to the Laws of that Land though strangers shall judge otherwise of it And in like manner the English Nation cannot complain of the Torture which evil-willers say was used upon these English Conspiratours in Amboyna because it is done according to the Laws of this Government and is not unusual in cases of Treason neither with-us nor almost any Nation in Europe And for England it self it is well known and his most excellent Majesty doth acknowledge by his own Princely pen that the Rack and the Manicles are the onely Tortures that are exercised upon Traitors to force them to confess without concealment what they know to be dangerous to the State And to say the Truth without taking parts the English Conspiratours being affronted with the uniform written confessions of the 11 Japonians their complices which could convince them sufficiently according to the laws find them guilty of the same conspiracie consequently of death if now not withstanding this they had persisted in the stout denial of the fact were not this to speak according to the manner in England enough to judge them dumb by contumacie and so to esteem them worthy of this sore punishment of Pressing to death as is afore-said but this torture of ours if any in Amboyna were so tortured is to be judged far less than that pressing where the Malefactor doth suffer such extream miserie as cannot be imagined and which is
to set his hand to his confession he asked the Fiscal upon whose head he thought the sin would lie whether upon his that was constrained to confess what was false or upon the cōstrainers The Fiscal after a little pause upon this question went in to the Governour then in another room but anon returning told Colson he must subscribe it which he did yet withall made this protestation Well quoth he you make me to accuse my self and others of that which is as false as God is true for God is my witness I am as innocent as the child new born Thus have they examined all that belong to the English Company in the several Factories of the Island of Amboyna The one and twentieth of February John Wetheral examined they examined John Wetheral Factor at Cambello in the Island of Seran He confessed he was at Amboyna upon New-years day but for the consultation whereof he was demanded he said he knew of no other but touching certain cloath of the English Company that lay in the Factories rotting and worm-eaten which they advised together how to put off to the best avail of their Imployers The Governour said they questioned him not about cloath but of treason whereof when he had protested his innocencie he was for that time dismissed But the next day he was sent for again and Captain Towerson brought to confront and accuse him having before it seems confessed somewhat against him But Mr. Towerson spake now these words onely Oh M. Wetheral M. Wetheral speak the truth and nothing but the truth as God shall put into your heart So Captain Towerson was put out again and Wetheral brought to the torture of water with great threats if water would not make him confess fire should He prayed them to tell him what he should say or to write down what they would he would subscribe it They said he needed no Tutor they would make him confess of himself But when they had triced him up four several times and saw he knew not what to say then they read him other mens confessions asked him from point to point as they had done others and he still answered Yea to all Next was called in John Powl John Powl examined Wetherals assistant at Camhello but he proving that he was not at Amboyna since November save now when he was brought thither prisoner being spoken for by one Iohn Joost who had long been well acquainted with him was dismissed without torture Then was Thomas Ladhrook Thomas Ladbrook examined servant to VVetheral Powl at Camhello brought to be examined but proving that he was at Cambello at the time of the pretended consultation and serving in such quality as that he was never acquainted with any of the Letters from the Agent of Amboyna he was easily and quickly dismissed Ephraim Ramsey was also examined upon the whole pretended conspiracie Ephraim Ramsey examined and particularly questioned cōcerning Captain VVelden the English Agent in Banda but denying all and proving that he was not at Amboyna at New-years tide being also spoken for by Iohn Ioost was dismissed after he had hanged in the Rack a good while with irons upon his legs and the cloath about his mouth Lastly Iohn-Sadler John Sadler examined servant to William Grigs at Larica was examined and being found to have been absent from Amboyna at New-years tide when Grigs and others were there was dismissed Thus have we all their examinations tortures and confessions being the work of 8. days from the 15. to the 23. of February After which was two dayes respite before the sentence John Powl being himself acquitted as before said went to the prison to visit John Fardo one of those that had accused Captain Towerson To him Fardo religiously protested his innocencie but especially his sorrow for accusing Master Towerson for said he the fear of death doth nothing dismay me for God I trust will be mercifull to my soul according to the innocencie of my cause The onely matter that troubleth me is that through fear of Torment I have accused that honest and godly man Captain Towerson who I think in my conscience was so upright and honest towards all men that he harboured no ill will to any much less would attempt any such business as he is accused of He further said he would before his death receive the Sacrament in acknowledgement that he had accused Captain Towerson falsly and wrongfully onely through fear of Torment The five and twentieth of February old stile all the prisoners as well the English as the Portugal and the Iaponers were brought into the great Hall of the Castle and there were solemnly condemned except Iohn Powel Ephraim Ramsey Iohn Sadler and Thomas Ladbrook formerly acquitted as aforesaid Captain Towerson having been during all his imprisonment kept apart from the rest so that none of them could come to speak with him writ much in his Chamber as some of the Dutch report but all was suppressed save onely a Bill of debt which one Th. Iohnson a free Burgher got of him by favour of his keepers for acknowledgement that the English Company owed him a certain sum of mony In the end of this Bill he writ these words Firmed by the Firm of me Gabriel Towerson now appointed to die guiltles of any thing that can be justly laid to my charge God forgive them their guilt and receive me to his mercie Amen This Bill being brought to M. Welden the English Agent at Banda he paid the money and received in the acknowledgement VVilliam Griggs who had before accused Captain Towerson writ these words following in his Table-book VVe whose names are here specified John Beomont Merchant of Loho William Griggs Merchant of Larica Abel Price Chirurgian of Amboyna Robert Brown Tailor which do here lie Prisoners in the Ship Rotterdam being apprehended for conspiracie for blowing up the Castle of Amboyna we being judged to death this fifth of March Anno 1622. which we through torment were constrained to speak that which we never meant nor once imagined the which we take upon our deaths and salvation they tortured us with that extream torment of fire and water that flesh and bloud could not endure and this we take upon our deaths that they have put us to death guiltless of our accusation So therefore we desire that they that shall understand this that our Imployers may understand these wrongs and that your selves would have a care to look to your selves for their intent was to have brought you in also they askt cōcerning you which if they had tortured us we must have confessed you also And so farewel written in the dark This Table-book was afterwards delivered to M. Welden afore-named by one that served the Dutch Samuel Colson also another that accused Captain Towerson writ as followeth in the waste leaves of a book wherein were bound together the Common-Prayers the Psalms and the Catechism In one page thus March 5.
the English to atchieve this pretended enterprise The Castle of Amboyna is of a very great strength as is before declared the Garrison therein two or three hundred men besides as many more of their free Burgers in the Town What their care and circumspection in all their Forts is may appear not onely by the quick Alarm they now took at the foolish question of the poor Japon made to the Sentinel above-recited but also by that which a little before happened at Jaccatra where one of their Souldiers was shot to death for sleeping in the watch Durst ten English men whereof not one a Souldier attempt any thing upon such a strength and vigilancie As for the assistance of the Japons they were but ten neither and all un-armed as well as the English For as at the seizure of the English house all the provision therein found was but three swords two Muskets and half a pound of powder so the Japons except when they are in service of the Castle and there armed by the Dutch are allowed to have no Arms but onely a Catan a kind of short sword and it is forbidden to all the Dutch upon great penaltie to sell any hand-gun powder or bullets to the Japons or Amboyners But let it be imagined that these 20 persons English Japons were so desperate as to adventure the exploit how should they be able to master the Dutch in the Castle or to keep possession when they had gotten it what second had they There was neither Ship nor Pinnace of the English in the harbor All the rest of the Japons in the Island were not twenty persons and not one English more The nearest of the rest of the English were at Banda forty leagues from Amboyna and those but nine persons all afterwards cleared by the Governour and Fiscal themselves from all suspition of this pretended crime as were also the rest of the English at Jaccatra On the other side besides the strength of the Castle and Town of Amboyna the Hollanders have three other strong Castles well furnished with Souldiers in the same Island and at Cambello near adjoyning They had then also in the road of Amboyna eight Ships and Vessels namely the Rotterdam of 1200 Tun the Unicorn of 300 Tun the Free-mans Vessel of 100 Tun the Calck of 60 Tun Captain Gamals Junck of 40 Tun the Flute of 300 Tun the Amsterdam of 1400 Tun and a small Pinnace of about 60 Tun and all these well furnished with men and Ammunition It is true that the Stories do record sundry valiant and hardy enterprises of the English Nation and Holland is witness of some of them yea hath reaped the fruit of the English resolution yet no Storie no Legend scarcely reporteth any such hardiness either of the English or others That so few persons so naked of all provisions supplies should undertake such an adventure upon a counter-party so well and abundantly fitted at all points But let it be further granted that they might possibly have overcome all these difficulties yet to what end and purpose should they put themselves into such a jeopardie They knew well enough that it was agreed between both companies at home That the Forts in the Indies should remain respectively in the hands of such as had possession of them at the date of the Treaty Anno 1619. and that the same was ratified by the Kings Majestie and the Lords States General They knew likewise and all the world takes knowledge of his Majesties Religious observation of Peace and Treatie with all his neighbours yea with all the world what reward then could these English hope for of this their Valour and danger Certainly none other than that which is expresly provided by the Treaty it self that is To be punished as the disturbers of the Common Peace and Amity of both Nations But let these English men have been as foolish in this plot as the Hollanders will have them is it also to be imagined that they were so graceless as when they were condemned and seriously admonished by the Ministers to discharge their consciences yet then to persist in their dissimulation being otherwise of such godly behaviour as to spend the time in Prayer singing of Psalms and spiritual comforting one another which the Dutch would have had them bestow in drinking to drive away their sorrow Let Colsons question to the Minister be considered his and the rests offer and desire to receive the Sacrament in sign and token of their innocencie their mutual asking forgiveness for their like false accusations of one another forced by the Torture Tomsons last farewell to Beomont Colsons prayer and his writing in his Prayer book Fardo's farewell to Powel also his conjuring exhortation to his fellows to discharge their consciences and all their answers thereunto craving Gods mercie or judgement according to their innocencie in this cause their general and Religious profession of their innocencie to their Countrey men at their last parting with them and finally the sealing of this profession with their last breath and bloud even in the very Article of death and in the stroke of the Executioner What horrible and unexampled dissimulation were this If some one or more of them had been so fearfully desperate yet would not there one amongst ten be found to think of the judgement to come whereunto he was then instantly summoned without Essoin Bail or Mainprise What had they hope of reprieve and life if they kept their countenance to the last Yet what hope had Tomsom and the rest when Captain Towerson's head was off Nay what desire had Tomson and Clark to live being so mangled and martyred by the Torture They were executed one by one and every one several took it upon his death that he was guiltless Now to blanch and smooth over all this rough and Barbarous proceeding it is here given out that the Governour and Fiscal found such evidence of the plot and dealt so evenly in the process that they spared not their own people having used some of their Native Hollanders partakers of this treason in the same manner as they did the English But this as well by the Relation here truely and faithfully set down grounded upon the sworn Testimonie of six credible witnesses as also by other sufficient reports of diverse lately come out of those parts appeareth to be a meer tale not once alledged by any in the Indies in many moneths after the execution but onely invented and dispersed here for a Fucus and a fair colour upon the whole cause and to make the world believe that the ground of this Barbarous and Tyrannous proceeding was a true crime and not the unsatiable covetousness of the Hollanders by this cruel treachery to gain the sole trade of the Molluccos Banda and Amboyna which is already become the event of this bloudy process To adde hereunto by way of aggravation will be needless the fact is so full of odious and barbarous inhumanity
of this murtherous and tyrannous process being themselves the persons that also formed the Acts would omit those things that made against them It is to be presumed also that the Acts kept by their people at Poloway in Banda have omitted many things of their process against the poor Polaroons whom in August 1622 being about 6 months before this execution of the English their Governour there used in like sort as the Governour of Amboyna did the English and gave him a Model and precedent of this process which it will not be amiss to relate briefly because this Authour in the next place alleadgeth the mercifull disposition of the Netherlands Nation in general to inferr thence that it is therefore unlikely that their Governour at Amboyna was so cruel as is reported in England Polaroon one of the Islands of Banda was in possession of the English at the time of the Treatie Anno 1619 and by the agreement was to remain theirs After the Treatie came to the Indies the Hollanders forbare the publishing thereof in the Islands of Banda untill they had taken Polaroon But knowing that it must be restored again according to the Treatie they first take all courses to make the Island little or nothing worth they demolish and deface the Building transplant the Nutmeg-trees plucking them up by the roots and carrying them into their own Islands of Nera and of Poloway there to be planted for themselves and at last find a means to dispeople the Island and to leave it so as the English might make no use of it worth their charge of keeping and that upon this occasion There was a young man the son of an Orankey or a Gentleman in Polaroon that had committed Felonie for which by the Laws of his Countrey he was to die This fellow to save his life fled to another Island of Banda called Rofinging and there turned Christian but quickly understanding that that would not make him safe from punishment he went back secretly to his own countrey of Polaroon and having lurked there a few days took his passage for Nera another Island where the Dutch have a Fort and told the Dutch Governour that the Orankeys of Polaroon had conspired to Massacre the Dutch as well at Polaroon as at Poloway with help of the people of Seran that should send over thirtie Curricurries for that purpose Immediately upon this indicium of this Malefactor certain Prows or Fisher-boats of the Polaroons that were fishing at Poloway were seised and the people made prisoners Command was sent by the Dutch Governour to Polaroon that the Orankeys should come over to him that there might be further inquisition made of this matter The Priest of the Polaroons and seventie Orankes instantly took a Prow or small vessel of their own and imbarked themselves for Poloway As they were at sea and yet out of the sight of the Dutch Castle they were met by a Fisher-boat of Bandanezes and told how all the rest were apprehended and that if they went to Poloway they were all but dead men Nevertheless the Priest and the rest although they had space and means to have escaped to Seran and other places safe enough from the Hollanders yet were so confident of their innocencie that they would needs to Poloway to purge themselves Where as soon as they were arrived they were instantly carried prisoners to the Castle and withall the Governour with a force of two hundred men went presently for Polaroon whence he fetched all the rest of the Orankeys and brought them prisoners to the same Castle As soon as they were come they were presently brought to the torture of water and fire even in the same sort as our people were afterwards at Amboyna onely herein differing that of those at Poloway two were so tortured that they died in their Tortures the rest being one hundred and sixtie two persons were all upon their own forced confessions condemned and executed The Priest when he came to the place of execution spake these words in the Maliaian tongue All ye great and small rich and poor black and white look to it we have committed no fault And when he would have spoken more he was taken by the hands and feet laid along and cut in two by the middle with a sword Forthwith the Governour caused the Wives Children and Slaves of those of Polaroon to be all carried out of the Island and distributed in other Islands subject to the Dutch and so have made a clear Countrey for the English where they may both plant and gather themselves destitute of the help of any of the Countrey people without whom neither the English nor Hollanders can maintain their Trade in the Indies And yet this is not here recited to the end thereby to charge the Neatherlands Nation with those cruel proceedings but the persons themselves that have committed those Barbarous Tyrannies Who Nootwendich discourse printed An. 1622. under the name of Ymant van Waer mond if we shall believe an Authour of their own are not of the best of that Nation For the Majors as this Authour sayes use the Indies as a Tucht-house or Bride-well to manage their unruly and unthrifty children and kindred whom when they cannot rule and order at home they send to the Indies where they are preferred to Offices and places of Government Yea saith he they prefer such to be Fiscals there as never saw Studie nor Law So that it is no marvel that such persons proceed not with that justice and moderation as is used generally in the Low-Countries by the choice of the Nation there And this agreeth well with the report of our Merchants of credite that came lately from Amboyna who aver that excepting the Governour himself who is well stept in years of the rest of the Councel there as well the Fiscal as others there was scarce any that had hair on their faces yea that most of them are lewd drunken debauched persons and yet must be Judges as well of our English as the poor Indians there Now to return to this Authours proofs that there was no excess used in the proceedings at the last he taketh one Argument by way of comparison from the Law of England to press men to death which he saith hath much more cruelty than their course of Torture used by the Dutch in Amboyna and is holden as well by some Authours of our own Nation as others for damnable How pertinently is this matter of pressing alleadged for justifying of their Tortures since no man in England is pressed for not confessing which is the cause of Torture in Dutchland But the cause why any is pressed is for that he obstinately refuseth the Trial of his Countrey and challengeth the Judges as incompetent which the Law appointeth him which he doth for the most part to save his goods which but by that ordinarie course of Trial cannot be confiscate What is this to the point of confession for refusal whereof the Dutch use
so many dayes before But how shall we believe this Forsooth he hath it out of the Acts of the Process of Amboyna Yea but in these Acts are omitted many material passages of these examinations as is already shewed why may they not then be guiltie of addition as well as of such mutilation and omission But let us peruse the words of the Act it self which are these WE whose names are hereunto subscribed to declare upon our troth in stead of an oath that Gabriel Towerson after that he had been already examined touching his said offence and that the Worshipfull Governour Van Speult had expostulated with him thereupon asking him whether this should have been the recompense of his courtesies from time to time shewed unto him the said Towerson thereupon he the said Towerson with a deep sigh answered him and said Oh! if this were to be begun again it should never be done Actum this ninth of March in the Castle of Amboyna and subsigned Harman van Speult Haurence de Maerschalck Clement Kersse boom Harman Cray-vanger Peter van Zanten Leonart Clock Thus we see the Act it self and this pretended voluntarie confession of Mr. Towerson which is not delivered upon the credit of the Court or Councel at Amboyna and yet how small that is is before shewed but upon the Attestation or Affidavit of the Governour and five others the principal actors in this bloudy Tragedie And this not upon their Oath but upon their troth or honest word forsooth in stead of an Oath The time when these words were uttered by Mr. Towerson is not described by the day when he spake them but onely by the precedent Act of his examination And yet the circumstance of time is not onely an usual and customrie solemnity and requisite in all such Attestations but also in a business of this nature altogether necessarie as likewise in this case that of the place was For if these words were spoken in the place of Torture or incontinently after the examination ended they are by their own Law esteemed no more voluntarie than the confession upon the Rack it self Neither yet doth this Attestation affirm that this confession was voluntarie But this Authour unconscionably reporting the date of the Attestation for the time of the confession collects it to be voluntarie because as he saith it was made the ninth of March being so many dayes after his examination which was taken the 28. of February Can a man attest nothing but what was done upon the very day when he maketh Affidavit The Attestation saith that these words were spoken by M. Towerson after he had been already examined Why may not that have been rather upon the very day of his examination than upon the day when this Act was entred if yet he ever spake any such words or meant them as he is here interpreted the contrarie whereof is the more probable by all the circumstances of this business truely set down in the Relation of the English But in that this Author makes so much of this poor circumstance of M. Towersons profession of sorrow for what was done naming it a voluntary confession it is plain how destitute he was of voluntarie confessions and of all true and concluding circumstances What was there not a Letter or other Paper to be found in all the Chests and Boxes of the English so suddenly seised at Amboyna Larica Hitto and Cambello to discover this treason nor amongst so many complices of diverse Nations a false brother to betray the rest and to accuse them voluntarily but the process must begin with the Torture and the Heathens confession upon Torture be sufficient to bring Christians to Torture the debauched and notoriously infamous persons such as Prive was to draw torture upon the sober orderly and unstained And yet this Relation it self confesseth that Price's confession was drawn from him by the Examiners specifying of place person and time unto him Certainly one of their own Nation had reason to advice that more Advocates might be sent over to the Indies Demonstration to the Lords States tâ—uâ—hing the government of the Majores to aid the accused to make a legal answer For saith he they go to work there so villanously and murtherously that the bloud of the poor people crieth to heaven for vengeance But why have we no particular of any mans confession but this of Price and Mr. Towerson and all the rest blended together in one body Did none of all the rest go farther than his fellows or confess more than they Where is Sharrocks confession that he was at Amboyna upon New-years day when ten or twelve of the Dutch themselves witnessed he was at Hitto Where is his confession of Clarks plot to go to Maccassar to deal with the Spaniards there to come and rob the samll Factories Where is Collins confession of another plot about two Moneths and a half before his examination undertaken by Tomson Johnson Price Brown Fardo and himself Where be the leading Interrogatories that directed them to the accusation framed by the Dutch lest otherwise there had been as many several Treasons confessed as persons examined Not a word of all this nor of a great deal more of this kind which is here in England proved by the oath of six credible persons to have pased in the examinations Whereby appeareth how faithfully the Dutch at Amboyna have entered the Acts of this process Well at last he concludes the Narration of the confessions with the summing up of the number and Nations of the parties that had thus confessed which he saith were ten Japons fourteen English and the Neatherlandish Marnicho or Captain of the Slaves By which last words he would give the Reader occasion to think that the fact was so clear and their own proceeding so even and just that they had executed one of their own Neatherlanders for it Which how true it is is already declared in the conclusion of the English Relation The truth is this Captain of the Slaves was of the Portugal race and born in Bengala His very name Augustin Perez sheweth he was no Neatherlander Having thus finished this Relation this Authour proceedeth to a disputation and taking notice of some aspersions in England cast upon these proceedings at Amboyna he divideth them into two heads the one that the process was without its due formalitie the other that there was excess and extremitie used against the Conspiratours For the point of formalitie he first taketh great pains to prove that the formalities of process in Amboyna are not therefore unlawfull because they agree not with our form in England Which labour he might have spared for no wise man will denie him this point And such as shall be so ignorant as to blame the Dutch for varying from us herein were not worthy the answering Herewithall also he deduceth the Title of the Lords States General to the Sovereignty of Amboyna and so the Governour of Amboyna'es Jurisdiction in causes as
well Criminal as Civil to be rightly grounded Thence he concludes that the Japons being sworn servants to the Dutch and in their pay were Subject to the Jurisdiction of the Dutch Governour Then he telleth us that the Authour and complices of murther and treason are by the Laws of all Nations to be punished with death all which points may be granted him without any prejudice to the cause of the English in this question At last he comes in particular to their case and affirms that the chief of the English there might not apprehend the English complices of this conspiracie because themselves were complices of the fact All which also may be granted in this point of apprehension and safe custodie but how it may proceed also in the point of cognisance shall be anon in due place examined In the mean time this Authour to make the point of apprehension clear beyond exception saith that the English were not apprehended upon the first suspition when yet there was evidence and indicia sufficient to it but after the examination of all the Japons and their joynt confession that the English whom they specified by name and surname had moved and hired them to this treason yea not until Abel Price had also confessed as much and that all the English in the out-Factories were privy thereunto For answer hereof that must be repeated which hath been upon other occasions before alleadged that the first beginning of the process was by the Torture there being no sufficient evidence or indicium to Torture the Japon that onely sought to enform himself of the course of the Watch and of the strength of the Castle wherein himself was a Souldier and so the whole Series of the examination proceeding from the confession of one Tortured person to apprehend and Torture another without other evidence though it brought forth more confessions and those with name and surname and other circumstances according as the Interrogatories or rather directories of the Governour and Fiscal led the prisoners was wholly against the form and rule of all Laws of Tortures Scilicet in fabrica si pravae est regula prima Caetera mendose fieri atque obstipa necesse est But here must be answered an objection that may be made against this from another part of this relation that is that some of the English confessed without or before Torture yea this Price here mentioned was either not Tortured at all or very lightly Yea but he was shewed the Tortured bodies of the poor Japons martyred with fire and water and told that unless he would confess that which they told him they had first confessed he should be Tortured as ill or worse than they This fear of Torture is by their own Law equalled to the Torture it self and consequently the confession thereupon made no better indicium or evidence to bring another man to the Torture than the confession made upon the Rack it self Again it must be here remembred that the very matter of Price his confession here mentioned to wit that all the English Merchants of the out-Factories were privy to the pretended treason was resuted by the process of the Dutch themselves that found Powel Ramsey and two others of those Factories guiltless Next this Authour taketh notice of an objection made in England against the Jurisdiction of the Dutch Governour and his Councel at Amboyna over the English there because this power is by the Treatie of the year 1619. disposed of and agreed to consist in the Councel of defence of both Nations at Jaccatra For information in which point this Authour saith he hath perused over all the several Articles of the said Treatie and findeth in the 23. Article that the Fortresses were to remain in the hands of them that then possessed them and in the thirteenth fourteenth and fifteenth that the Councel of defence hath no other power but onely over the Fleet of defence over the commerce and finally to tax the charges of maintenance of the Forts But he could not see the thirtieth Article which orders that all disputes that cannot be decided by the Councel of defence should be remitted into Europe first to the two companies there and in default of their agreement to the King and States Why then was not this dispute so proceeded in There is nothing in the former Articles to limit the Councel of defence and this general Article appeareth to be added by way of ampliation to provide for that which was not particularly and expresly cared for in the former Which is most plain by the words of the explanation upon this thirtieth Article agreed upon at the first and subscribed by the Commissioners on both sides Anno 1619. where this course of proceeding is expresly directed not onely in disputes about the meaning of the Articles but also about any other matter hapning in their common aboad Since which also the Kings Majestie hath upon a smaller occasion than the life of his Subjects clearly declared himself in the point of Sovereignrie That both Nations in the Indies should wholly lay aside all pretence thereof Which Declaration was sent to the Lords States General and by them accepted before this bloudie butcherie was executed But if it were granted that the Hollanders are absolute Lords of their partners the English in those parts without respect to the Treatie yet at least the Hollanders in Amboyna are bound to observe the Laws of the united Provinces for so saith this Authour himself Do these allow to begin the process at the torture and to bring persons of honest fame to the rack upon others confession made in the torture Do their Laws allow of the leading interrogatories above mentioned to direct the prisoner what to say to avoid the torture Where in the United Provinces is that drowning with water in use or the torture with fire used to Johnson Tompsan and Clark or especially the splitting of their toes and launcing of the breast and puting in Gun-pouder and then firing the same whereby the body is not left intire neither for innocencie nor execution Clark and Tomson were both fain to be carried to their execution though they were tortured many days before Lastly their confessions were contradictorie apparently false and of things impossible to be done much less practised before by the said parties and therefore ought not by their law to have been believed nor the prisoners to have been condemned thereupon without other sufficient indicia or evidence besides In the last place this Authour handleth the excess of torture whereof he taketh notice there is much complaint in England and saith That the Lords States General take great care to inform themselves of all the passages of this business and to that end have desired to see all the Letters Pieces and Papers that concern this processe by which it appeareth not that there was any cruel torture used But suppose the Acts make no mention of them is it any marvel that the Authours