But I cannot determine what the produce or effect thereof will be or amount unto untill some particular and positive proofs be brought in to prove the Silver or at least some part thereof really and truely to belong to some Hollanders specifying their names and the parcells and discovering the fraud in colouring it in other feigned names For as I have humbly declared unto your Lordships for as much as the Onus probandi is by Law cast upon the claimors The result is that for so much as the claimors shall not positively and certainly make speciall and particular proofs of there the judgement will be for confilcation in default of their proof in respect of the Onus Probandi so cast But for so much as the claimors shall make have made positive particular concludent proofs of their real property There I humbly conceive unless more proofs be brought in then yet are or that Mr. Violet can bring in certain and particular proofs to encounter the other that in references and arguments will be of no more force then the casting of the Onus probandi alone will do of it self so that I dare not take upon me to give any opinion But must leave the consideration of Mr. Violet and his service to your Lordships All which I humbly Submit Walter Walker April 14. 1654 By Command from King CHARLES the First of blessed Memory as appears by Warrant under his Royal Hand and Seal I caused these men following to be fined in the Star-Chamber for transporting Gold and Silver and culling and melting down the heavie Coine of the Nation The 25th of Ian. 12. Car. The 17th of Febr. 12 Car. Charles Frank 4000 l. Peter Hern 2000 l. Robert Ellis 4000 l. John Tere 2000 l. Isaac Romeer 3000 l. Timothie Eman 2000 l. Jacob Delew 1000 l. Isaac Brames 1000 l. Roger Fletcher 1000 l. Henry Futter 500 l. Richard Cockram 1000 l. Henry Sweeting 500 l. John Parrat 1000 l. John Perrin 100 l. The Total of the said Fines amount to the summe of 23100 l. This Sentence awed the Transporters of Gold till these Troubles they durst not transport Gold or Silver for fear I should meet with them Sir John Wollaston Knight and William Gibs Esquire both Aldermen of the City of London being informed against in this Information by the then Atturney-General procured a Pardon from your Majesties Royal Father and so were discharged These two villains betrayed your Royal Father 1643. As aforesaid And Mr. Peter Fountain who was informed against for Transporting of Gold by me procured his Pardon upon paiment of 1100 l. to the Lord of St. Albanes then Master Jermyn And all these I did bring to a Trial at my own charge That besides the fourteen offenders sentenced in the Star-Chamber and pardoned as aforesaid there are many other Merchants Gold-smiths and others that have transported Gold and Silver out of the Nation Die Mercurii 1 Sept. 1647. ORdered by the Commons in Parliament Assembled That it be referred to the Committee of the Navie to consider of and take some effectual course to prevent the Transportation of Bullion out of the Kingdom and speedily to report what they have done herein to the House H. Elsing Cler. Parl May it please your Majesty to peruse your Royal Fathers letter which I have printed in this book folio 14 wherein his late Majesty of glorious memory commands me that I should not discover the transpotters of Gold and Silver to the Parliament without his Majesties especial licence His Majesty knew the fines and composition of the offenders would bring the Parliament in great sums of money which they would then imploy against him being then upon the point to call the Scotch then to invade the Kingdom of England destroy his Majesty and the Royal party At the same time I had in the Parliament my Patent under examination in the House of Commons for an Office I have for two lives under your Royal Fathers great Seal of England for the essaying and sealing all Gold and Silver Wire and Silver and Gold Thrid and to warrant the same to the Wearers that it be good Silver and a due proportion of Silver to Silk This Patent was commanded by Sir Robert Harlow being Chair man to a Committee to be brought into the House and referred to a Committee who after several daies hearing referred all parties to the Law concerning the regulation of Gold and Silver wier And I justified my Patent to be for the good of the Kingdom in general and that it saved fifty thousand pounds a year by my said office and by my regulation and tying the workmen to work good Silver and a due proportion of Silver to Silk and this I humbly say at this day to be true as I will prove it at the Council for Trade There was a Committee appointed and Pim Hamden Whittaker Corbet c. to article with me for to discover the transporters of Gold and Silver and if I would do that and raise the Parliament monies by the fines of the offenders then I was by their procurement that the committee of Parliament should report the legalty and justice of my aforesaid Patent and Office and it should have been confirmed by Parliament but first I was to raise the Parliament fourty thousand pounds by the fines of the transporters of Gold This agreement was made between the Committee of Parliament and me in the Court of Wards about the 10th of November 1643. and I prepared to make my discovery accordingly But then may it please your Majestie comes your Majesties Fathers Letter of blessed memorie and commands me not to do this service for the Parliament at my peril as I have it to shew under his Majesties hand and Seal Thereupon presently I obeyed his Sacred Letter and chose Poverty and Loyalty before Riches and to be a Rebel for my Loyalty I have been most Barbarously used I told the Committee that upon enquiry after the business I found the French and Dutch Merchants and strangers that had transported the Gold and silver out of the Nation were removed from Dover and I could not for the present do them that service I had promised them Whereupon Whittaker and Corbet took that but for a flam and said I was your Majesties Royal Fathers Spie a Cavalier and a Malignant and moved the House against me and they sent me to the Kings-bench and there I remained a Prisoner till I made an exchange for Mr. Heslerig then Prisoner at Beaver Castle 1643. in December In January after his late Majestie had exchanged me presently he commands me to bring up the Letter aforesaid from his late Majesty to the Citizens of London which I did and the barbarous abuses which I received from Citie and Parliament for bringing the same up I have humbly declared My humble request unto your Maiesty is that you would be pleased to observe all my suffering is only for my loyalty to your Maiesties Royal
Father would I have obeyed the Parliament and discovered the Transporters of Gold at that time 1643. I had inioyed all my estate and been setled in the Office which I have for two Lives for the regulating Gold and Silver Thred and Wyer And all this damage I suffered for obeying your Maiesties Royal Fathers command to my damage at this day above twenty thousand pounds My most humble Petition to your Majesty is That seeing I was oppressed and traduced by the tyranny of Sir Henry Vane junior Sir Arthur Haselrig and Mr. St. John they being the principal Actors that ruined me that I may have by your Majesties goodness bounty and mercy allotted out of Sir Arthur Haselrigs and Sir Henry Vanes estates such satisfaction and reparation as your Maiesty in your Royal wisdom shall think fit and just for my support after so sad an oppression for my loyalty to your Royal Father the petition to the Parliament and my charge against Vane St. John Haslerig was put into the Parliament before your Majesties gracious Letter from Breda the Lords in Parliament ordered me to respite my Petition to them until your Maiesties happy arrival into England and ever since I watched my opportunity to shew what I have done and suffered for your Royal Father and what I can and will do for Your Majesties Royal service if you please to command me I am at your service as far as my life and estate will go MAY it please your Majesty in the year 1636. your Majesties Royal Father gave Alderman Wollaston and Alderman Gibbs his Gratious pardon Sir Henry Mildmay and the Company of Goldsmiths charged Alderman VVollaston for buying the Kings stollen Plate and Alderman Gibbs for refining and melting of Silver contrary to the Lawes as will appear in the Records of the Councel-Table about March 1635. Had not his Royal Majesty of blessed memory pardoned the then Lord Major Wollaston the Law had hanged him before ever he had come to have been Lord Major of London and then he should have prevented this VVollaston from being such a Traitor to his Majesty the Proverb saith Save a Thief from the gallows and he will hang thee This VVollaston proved a bloody enemy to the King to his dying day and Gibbs as bad as he but is yet living For as soon as ever I delivered his Majesties Message unto my Lord Major he sent for his fellow Traitor Alderman Gibbs and they presently concluded to make Sir Henry Vane junior Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr Sollici or St. John and Francis Allen acquainted with the Kings Letter and ordered presently to apprehend me Sir Basil Brook and Mr. Rily to seize upon our Estates and sequester us And so presently I was that night apprehended and for four years so used that never any man that brought up a Letter from any King of England to London for a Peace was so barbarously and cruelly used that Evening the aforesaid persons and some others examined me they carried me to Goldsmiths Hall they sent for Sir Basil Brock and Mr. Rily and St. John the Kings Sollicitor caused all our Pockets to be searched and found their Letters in Sir Basil Brocks and Rilies but none in mine and as Sir Basil Brook presented him with the Kings Letter which I brought up from Oxford St. John asked Sir Basil Brook for another Letter which the Kings Majesty had sent up the day before I went to Oxford to presse Rily and his party to act their business as soon as they could with a Letter from my Lord George Digby which the Officers found about Sir Basil Brook Touching this business when they had these Letters St. Johns Vane Haselrig Mr. Allen Lord Major Wollaston and Alderman Gibbs and several others made themselves very merry with them There was Mr. Jackson the Essay-Master of Goldsmiths Hall a very honest man and one that saved my life at that time in discovering to me what was confessed by Rily that he had not discovered any thing and that the aforesaid Committee were resolved to face me down Rilie had confessed all and so would have me to discover and I should have mercie They found in Mr. Rilies pockets Reads two Letters aforesaid and threatned him to have him racked if he would not discover the bottom of the businesse and who they were in the Citie that plotted to oppose the Scots coming in But there was an Oath of Secrecy amongst them all and Rilie knew them all but I was not privy to the number that was but only to act with Sir Basil Brook Read and at Oxford with his Majestie the Queens Majestie the Dutchess of Buckingham and Lord Digby and to bring the Kings Letter from Oxford Had Rily but confessed those Gentlemen in London that wete privie with him in this business he had made many score of men in the City of London lose their Lives and Estates And had the Lord Major VVollaston concealed the business twenty four hours it had been out of his power to have stopped this design for peace His late Majesty of blessed memory told me at Oxford That Rily had sent him down by one that came purposely to Read from London a List of above two hundred of the principal men that had ingaged in this business every man upon an Oath of secresie The late King commanded me to tell Mr. Rilie Scoutmaster-general of the City that he should follow his former Directions which was to be careful whom he imparted this business to and to treat with them severally and not together for all their security depended thereon that it did concern all our Lives and Estates to be circumspect We had former Presidents to make us wary Tomkins and Challenor and others and though he was careful of all his Subjects yet of those that were most forward to serve him he was most tender that they should venture themselves telling me he did know more of this design then I did by Gods blessing it will take saith his Majestie I have laid it so with Mr Rily that I am assured of a happy success go thy way I will make thee a man and tell my Lord Major and Mr. Rilie I will make them famous for ever Rily was by all parties trusted to carry on this design and had not the sins of the Nation prevented us of such a mercy for it was not Gods time for our deliverance there was never in all these troubles a design for putting an end to the War without bloodshed so laid and contrived as Sir Basil Brook Col. Read Mr. Rily had laid every man his part severally and so secretly that though the principal men in the City were ingaged in the business to make the City of London to declare for the King and to oppose the Scots invading of England and the Cities Declaration which they intended to publish I brought it to his Majesty my self 1643. and received my Orders and Directions thereupon my self from his Majesty and the Queens most
excellent Majesty the Dutchess of Buckingham and the Lord Georgs Digby his Majesties Secretary and Coll. Read were only privie to this businesse to my knowledge at the Court and no other Two Letters of Col. Read's sent to Mr. Theophilus Rily Scout-master of the City of London from Oxford to incourage the Common-Councel of the City of London to Petition his late Majesty for Peace and to consider the sad Effects that would follow upon the Scots invading England Jan. 1643. SIR I Wrote to you formerly but never had any Answer I assure you faithfully I have not been wanting to do what you desired as you may perceiv by the effects if you have not your desire blame your self and give me leave to tell you that if you neglect the opportunity now offered to you it may be you shall never have the like again for I have made those whom you have given just occasion to be your worst friends to be your best and the only instruments to procure what here is sent you and be you confident shee shall still be so provided you do your part The Queens most Excellent Majesty in my hearing I being sent down to Oxford by order of Rilie and some others to bring up his Majesties Letter Decemb. 1643. did most earnestly intercede for the City of London The King thereupon replied that he had there the best and worst subjects of any King in Christendom and hereupon the Queen replied Violet it shall be my care to see the Gentlemen that come from the City with a Petition to the King shall be well accomodated and have a most Gratious Answer to all their just demands God blesse them God increase their number and thereupon the Queens Majesty wept and the King drew his handkerchief out of his pocket and the tears stood in the Kings eyes which made both Read and I fall a weeping and thereupon the Queen commanded Col. Read to lift up the Hangings to see no body stood behinde the Hangings to hear what shee said which Read did and when the Queen see no body behinde the Hangings Ah Violet said she the King and I am in a most sad condition we have Traytors about us that watch all our Words and Actions we speak nothing nor do nothing but it is seat up to the Parliament and they interpret it in the worst Sence The Queens Majesty at that time was very ill and lookt very carefully and was nothing but Skin and Bones God be thanked for the blessed change that is here at this day the Kings Majesty her Son in the Throne of his Royal Father and King of the hearts of his People these two Papers was found in Rilies pockets and was printed by Order of Parliament and Col. Read charged to be a Jesuite I am sure of it these Papers makes him a true Prophet I saved Reads life in getting him exchanged of the General Essex by a wrong name consider I beseech you what a gap is opened by bringing in of the Scots for the destruction of this Kingdom if there be not a Peace which I pray God Almightie to send speedily you must expect Armies of Strangers from several Places who are now preparing who certainly at their coming in will over-run the whole Kingdom and when it is past remedy you will see your own Errors and therefore to prevent more misery then I am able to expresse to this deplorable Kingdom and the effusion of the bloud of thousands of men women and children which must inevitably be this Summer apply your selves in an humble and submissive way to his Majestie whom I know you will finde ready with Arms out-stretched to receive you to favor and mercy and grant you favors even beyond your expectation Defer no time for God's sake and what you will do do it speedily I say again do it speedily for reasons I may not write Oxford Dec. 10. 1560 Col. Read's Paper to Mr. Rilie Scoutmaster of the City of LONDON SIR I Assure you that I have not been wanting to further your good desires and if it be not your own faults I make no doubt but things will have an happy issue for I finde those that are most concerned in it forward enough Reflect now upon the miserie of the times and upon the groans and sufferings of those you see not which yet have been nothing to what they will be if not speedily prevented by a Peace which to obtain I beseech you let it not only be your own care but the care of all those you love or have power with otherwise be confident of a generall ruine which certainly will be inevitable both to your selves and posteritie and therefore take it into your serious consideration and let no causless jealousies hinder you to apply your selves in an humble and submissive manner to his Majestie who I am sure will yet look upon you with a gracious eie lose no time for the longer you delay it may prove the more difficult no doubt This last Letter I Tho. Violet delivered from Read at Oxford to Mr. Rilie in London Decemb. 20. 1640. This Coll. Read I got exchanged by a wrong name for a private Souldier at the intreatie of Sir Basil Brook who told me I should do a very good service for his Majestie and the Queens Majestie to get Read to be discharged but that must be done by a wrong name or else said Sir Basil Brook the Parliament would never admit of his exchang I did effect it and sent this Coll. Read to the King at Oxford upon condition he would returne to Mr. Rilie the Scout-master of London how he found his Majestie inclined to receive a Petition from the City of London for peace that they would declare themselves for a peace and Petition his Majestie for a cessation of Arms and an accommodation between the late King of Glorious memory And I Tho. Violet was sent down to Oxford Decemb. 29 1643 to bring up his Majesties Gratious Letter the Copie of the Citie of London desire being sent to his late Majestie wherein they desired upon the Copie I brought to Oxford to have his Majestie directed his Letter to the Militia of London but his late Majestie would not own the Militia to treat with them as the Militia of the Citie because his Majestie told me at Oxford they were not impowred by his Commission and he would not own them I told his late Majestie and the Lord Digbie it was contrary to my instructions which I received from Mr. Rilie to alter the superscription of His Majesties Letter but seeing His Majestie would not but direct his Letter To our Lord Mayor and Aldermen of our City of London and all other our well affected Subjects of that our Citie I would venture my life to bring up this Letter to London and going according to my instructions I received from his Maiestie to acquaint Wollaston then Lord Mayor of London and Alderman Gibbs they caused me some few