would take their Case into Our Princely consideration We out of the just sense We then had and still have of their unjust Sufferings in that Business both by Our own Letters under our Sign Manual to the States General of the United Provinces and by Sir George Downing Knight and Bart. Our Envoy Extraordinary to whom We gave Especial Command so to do required satisfaction to be made according to the Rules of Iustice and the Amity and good Correspondence which We then desired to conserve with them firm and inviolable And whereas after several Addresses made to the 〈◊〉 States General by our said Envoy and nothing granted effectual for Relief of Our said Subjects whom We take Ourselves in 〈◊〉 and Iustice concerned to be satisfied and repaired We lately commanded the said Sir George Downing to intimate and signify to the said States That We 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 Answer concerning Satisfaction to be made for the said Ships and Goods by a time then prefixed and since elapsed That we might to govern Our selves thereupon that Our aforesaid Subjects might be relieved according to Right and Iustice And yet no Satisfactory Answer hath been given so that We cannot but apprehend it to be not only a fruitless Endeavour but a prostituting of Our Honour and Dignity to make further Application after so many Denyals and Slightings And whereas John Exton Doctor of Laws Iudg of Our High Court of Admiralty of England upon Our Command to certify to Us the Daâ—ie of the Losses and Dammages Instaine by the said William Courten and Partners whose Interest is now vested in our loving Subjects Sir Edmond Turnor Knight and George Carew Esq and Partners hath upon full Examination and Proofs thereof made by Witnesses in Our High Court of Admiralty Reported and certified under his Hand That the same do amount to the sum of One hundred fifty one Thousand six hundred and twelve Pounds Now know Ye That for a full Restitution to be made to them for their Ships Goods and Merchandizes of which the said William Courten and the Assigns of the said William Courten and Partners were so despoiled as aforesaid with all such Costs and Charges as they shall be at for Recovery of the same Wee by Advice of Our Privy Council have thought fit and by these Presents do Grant License and Authority under our Great Seal of England unto Our said Subjects Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns for and on the behalf of themselves and other persons interessed as aforesaid to Equip Dictual Furnish and set to Sea from time to time such and so many Ships and Pinaces as they shalll think fit Provided alwayes that there be an Entry made and Recorded in the Admiralty Court of the Names of all ships and Vessels and of their Burthen and Ammunition and for how long time they are Victualed and also of the Name of the Commander thereof before the same or any of them be set forth to sea and with the said ships and Pinaces by force of Arms to set upon take and apprehend any of the ships Goods Moneys and Merchandizes of the said States General or any of their subjects inhabiting within any their Dominions or Territories whatsoever of any particular Estate within those Provinces and the Inhabitants thereof wheresoever the same shall be found and not in any Port or Harbor of England and Ireland unless it be the ships and Goods of the Parties that did the Wrong and the said ships goods Moneys and Merchandizes being so taken and brought into some Port of Our Realm or Dominions an Inventory thereof shall be taken by Authority of Our Court of Admiralty and judgment shall be given in Our Court of Admiralty by the Iudg or Iudges thereof for the time being and upon Proof made before him or them That the same ships Goods Wares Merchandizes or Money did belong to the States General or any of their subjects as aforesaid That they shall be lawfull Prize to the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid to keep and retain in their or any of their Possessions and to make sale and dispose thereof in open Market or howsoever else to their and every of their best advantage and benefit in as ample manner as at any time heretofore hath been accustomed by way of Reprisal and to have and injoy the same as lawful Prize and as their own proper Goods so that neither the Captain Master nor any of the Company that shall serve in his own person or shall promote and advance the said Enterprize in manner and form aforesaid shall in any manner of wise be reputed or challenged for any Offender against any of Our Laws And that also it shall be lawful for all manner of Persons as well Our Subjects as any other to buy the said Ships Goods and Merchandizes so taken and apprehended by the said Captains Masters and others and adjudged as aforesaid without any Damage Loss Hindrance Trouble Molestation or Incumbrance to befall the said Buyers or any of them in as ample and lawful manner as if the said Ships Goods Wares and Merchandize had been come and gotten by the lawful Traffique of Merchants or of just Prizes in time of open War Provided always That all ships goods and merchandizes taken by Virtue of this Our Commission shall be kept in safety and no part of them spoiled wasted or diminished nor the Bulk thereof broken untill Iudgment have first past as aforesaid That they are the ships and Merchandizes of the States General or some of their subjects as aforesaid And if by Colour of this Our Commission there shall be taken any ships Goods or Merchandizes of any of Our loving subjects or the subjects of any Prince or State in good League or Amity with Us except the States General or their subjects as aforesaid and the Goods therein Laden sold embezled or â—â—â—â—â—ed or the Bulk thereof broken in any place before they shall be adjudged to belong to the said States General or to some of their subjects as aforesaid That then this Commission shall be of no sufficient Authority to take the said ships Goods and Merchandizes or to Warrant and save harmless such as shall Receive Buy or Intermeddle therein but that both the Prizes so taken and the said ship of War shall be confiscated to Our Vse And further We do hereby declare That it is Our Will and Pleasure That this Our Commission shall remain in full Force and Power to all Intents and Purposes until the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid shall by Virtue thereof have by Force of Arms Apprehended Taken Seized Recovered and Receiv'd from the said States General or their Subjects One hundred fifty one Thousand six hundred and twelve pounds according to Appraisement to be made by sufficient Appraisers upon Oath Nominated and Authorized in our said Court of
Admiralty of all such Ships Goods Wares Merchandizes as shall be taken from the said States General or any of their Subjects by Virtue of this Commission or shall otherwise receive Satisfaction of the Debt aforesaid by Composition to be made between those of the East India Company of the Netherlands and the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid ☞ Notwithstanding it may so happen the present Difference between Us and the States General depending upon General Reprisals may be agreed and composed and that in the Interim a Peace and good Correspondance may be renewed between Us and the said States General In which Case Nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure That in the Execution of this Our Commission no Violence shall be done to the Persons of the said Subjects of the States General but only in Case of Resistance and that after in cold Blood the said Subjects of the said States General if hurt or Wounded shall be used with all convenient Office of Humanity and Kindness ☞ And Further Our Will and Pleasure is That although it shall happen That all Hostility between Us and the States General and Our respective Subjects shall cease yet this Our Commission shall remain and be in full Force and Power to the said Sr Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid by Virtue thereof to apprehend take and seize by Force of Arms so many more of the said Ships and Goods of the said States General or any of their said Subjects as besides the said Summ before mentioned shall countervail satisfie and pay all such Costs and Charges as the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators or Assigns as aforesaid shall from time to time make proof to have disburst and paid towards the Equipping Manning Paying Furnishing and Victualing of the said Ships so licensed and authorized as aforesaid by this our said Commission to be Equipped Manned Payed Furnished or Victualed by the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid for the Purpose aforesaid And Our Will and Pleasure is and We do hereby require Our Iudge or Iudges of Our High Court of Admiralty for the time being and all other Officers of the Admiralty and all other our Iudge or Iudges Officers Ministers and subjects whatsoever to be aiding and assisting to the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid in all points in the due Execution of this Our Royal Commission and to proceed to Adjudication and to adjudge all ships Merchandizes Moneys and Goods by Virtue thereof to be taken and proved to belong to the said States General or any of their subjects to be Lawful Prize to the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators or Assigns as aforesaid according to Our Princely Intention hereby signified and expressed and to take Care that this Our Royall Commission be duely executed and favourably Interpreted and Construed in all respects to the Benefit and best Advantage of the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew their Executors Administrators and Assigns as aforesaid In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patents Witness Our self at Westminster the 19 day of May in the 17 Year of Our Reign Per ipsum Regem Barker Nota That there is due to the Estates of Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pindar the Summ of Two hundred Thousand Pounds sterling and upwards from the Crown of Enland for Moneys lent to the late King upon several Branches of the Revenue before the year 1640. towards the ordinary Charge of the Crown the greatest part of the said Money being taken up at Interest and still standing out and due to several Orphants and Widows who claim their proportionable Shares of the Debt and Dammages mentioned in the Letters Patents aforesaid Memorandum THat King Charles the First found it necessary to put Sir William Courten and his Partners upon Trading Voyages to the East-Indies China and Japan unto whom he gave a Charter under the great Seal of England for the prosecution thereof in the Year 1635. That his said Majesty incouraged Sir Paul Pindar and others to advance divers great Sums of Money as Adventurers in that Expedition and Enterprize That Sir Edward Littleton and others Interessed before the Kings most happy Restoration being under the Notion of Delinquents and Sequestration durst not appear openly against the States and their Subjects for Common Iustice concerning satisfaction and reparation for the Spoyles and Depredations That Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pindar strained their Credits so far by borrowing several great Sums of Money both of Natives and Strangers to carry on this affair That there is not a County nor Corporation in England Wherein there are not either Original Creditors or their Relations at this time Complaining for their Debts It is inconsistent with the Honour and Interest of the King and Kingdom under all the Circumstances attending this Case to let the History of such Oppression remain upon Record when the Creditors have made their humble Proposals to his Majesty that Lyes before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury and Mr. Secretary Jenkins for relief upon easie Terms even out of the Foundations that Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pindar laid The Royal Word of a KING being past and confirmed under his Great Seal That his Grant should not be Obliterated until Satisfaction and Reparation to the Grantees in this Case there ought to be an Inquiry made Whether the Parties Grieved be Satisfied and Repaired and also that they may be duly heard before this Grant be any ways called in by Ministers or Officers of State to be Cancelled and made Null It being repugnant to the Laws of God the Laws of Nature the Statutes of this Realm and even against the Laws of Common Humanity that a particular Interest so ascertained and secured should be taken away from Private persons for a Common Good and not be Satisfyed and Repaired either out of the Publick Purse or suffered to Reprise their Satisfaction and Reparation for the Wrongs and Injuries done them by the Subjects of Holland and Zealand without the Danger of being Hanged as Pyrates and Felons for asking their OWN Three Humble Proposals of the Creditors of Sir William Courten Sir Paul Pyndar William Courten Esq and David Goubard Humbly offered to the KING That in consideration of the Debt and Damages of 151612 l. contraded by the Spoils and Depredations upon the Ships Goods and Factories of Sir William Courten Sir Paul Pyndar and their partners in the East-Indies for which Letters Patents for Reprizals were granted under the Great Seal of England to continue effectual in the Law until the said sum of 151612 l. with Costs and Damages should be recovered and received which is become a Debt incumbent upon the Crown if his Majesty
undertakes to Indempnifie and discharge the States-General and their Subjects concerning the same I. It is therefore humbly proposed That His Majesty should in lieu thereof grant and assign the 4 and ½ per cent arising out of the Barbadoes and the Careebe Islands and the wast Lands there to certain Trustees for the use and benefit of William Courten Grand-child and Heir of Sir William Courten and the Creditors of his Father and Grand-father who were the Original Proprietors of the Island of Barbadoes whereof they were dispoiled by Iames late Earl of Carlisle and his Adherents to the insupportable Damages of Sir William Courten his Family and Creditors That in Contemplation of Sir Paul Pyndar's great Services and Sufferings for the Crown of England and more particularly for the vast sums of Money lent to the late King Charles I amounting to the sum of One hundred and thirty thousand Pounds upon the Allom-Farm Sugar-Farm Collectors of the Papists Compositions in the Northern Counties and other Branches of the Revenue which were diverted in the late troublesom times to other uses leaving Sir Paul Pyndar's Assignments unsatisfied and many of his Creditors undone II. It is therefore humbly proposed That there may be a Privy-Seal granted for Fifty thousand Pounds upon the Reference from His Majesty that lies before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to be raised out of the said Papists Estates at the instance and Petition of Richard Powel Esq and Nathaniel Hill Gent. upon their old Compositions in the eleven Northern Counties as they paid under the Collection of Thomas Viscount Wentworth in the year 1638. which they are willing now to satisfie accordingly That whereas there are divers great Debts and Sums of Money owing and resting in the hands and posessions of the Sons Heirs and Executors of Jacob Pergens of Amsterdam and Peter Boudaen of Middleburgh in Zealand that belongs to the Estates of Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pyndar upon Bills of Exchange Obligations for Money lent and private Contracts in Trade and Merchandizing amounting to the sum of One hundred and twenty thousand Pounds and upwards Whereupon there are Actions depending in the ordinary Courts of Iudicature in Holland and Zealand ready for Sentences and final Decrees wherein Iustice is positively denyed upon vain pretences of extinguishments and mortifications by Treaties of common Amity and Alliance III. It is most humbly proposed That His Majesty would be graciously pleased effectually to recommend the Petition of the Creditors that lies before the Lord Conaway to that purpose for speedy satisfaction to be made therein for relief of His most Oppressed Subjects POSTSCRIPT KInd Reader before you come to peruse the Answer to the Lord Chancellor's Arguments when his Lordship gave that hasty Iudgment for the King upon the Scire facias and Pleadings relating to the Letters Patents for Reprizals without hearing Counsel of the other side It 's necessary that you should first read the Abstract of the Scire facias brought by Sir Robert Sawyer His Majesty's Attorney-General and the Plea thereunto The Demurrer and Rejoynder thereupon being things of form and course to bring the whole matter in Issue are omitted herein for Brevity-sake The Plea being filed in Easter-Term 1681. lay dormant until Easter-Term 1682. Then the Demurrer was brought in generally that the Plea was not sufficient in Law c. Whereupon the Defendents persisting in their Rejoynder that it was the Record was made up and read in Court accordingly An Abstract of the Scire facias returned into the Pety-Bag-Office rendred out of Latine into English CHARLES the second by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King c. To the Sheriff of Middlesex greeting Whereas by our Letters Parents under Our Great Seal dated the 29th of May in the 17th year of Our Reign for restitution to be made to Charles then Earl of Shrewsbury and others for certain Ships Goods and Merchandizes therein mentioned that were unjustly taken and detained from them by the Subjects of the States-General of the United Provinces We gave License and Authority to Sir Edmond Turnor Knight and George Carew Esq their Executors Administrators and Assigns on the behalf of themselves and others to set forth several Ships and Pinnace's to Sea from time to time to take and seize the Ships Goods and Merchandizes of the said States and their Subjects and to detain and keep the same as lawful Prize until the said Turnor and Carew shall have recovered the Money in the saeid Letters Patents mentioned with their Costs and Damages as by the said Letters Patents with the special Clauses and Provisoes therein contained may appear With this that by Articles of Peace and Amity between Vs and the said States-General at Breda July 21. 1667. in the 19th year of Our Reign and ratified under Our Great Seal Aug. 24. following It was agreed and concluded that all Letters of Reprizals Marque and Counter-marque general and special should be inhibited and revoked so that the Subjects of either Party should not exercise any Hostility or Violence afterwards upon any pretext or colour whatsoever And by other Articles of Peace and Amity between Vs and the said States concluded at Westminster Febr. 9. in the 26th year of Our Reign and ratified under Our Great Seal on the 28th of the same month and proclaimed accordingly that the Treaty made at Breda was renewed and confirmed And that further by Our Letters Patents dated June 6. in the 32d year of Our Reign We had superseded revoked and made null and void the said Letters Patents bearing date May 19. in the 17th year of Our Reign as aforesaid And that all and every the Powers Authorities Clauses Commissions Grants and Licenses in the said Letters Patents confirmed to the said Turnor and Carew were thereby made null and void and of no effect in the Law Wherefore to the end that the Treaties of Peace and Amity between Vs and the States might be kept firm and that a further remedy might be provided for that purpose We command you by good and lawful men of your Bailywick to summon the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew to be and appear before Vs in Our High-Court of Chancery 15 days after Easter to shew cause if they can why the Letters Patents aforesaid should not be brought into Chancery and the Enrollment thereof cancelled and made null and void Witness Our Self at Westminster the 12th day of February in the 33d year of Our Reign By virtue of which Writ the said Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew being summoned and the said Writ returned by Slingsby Bethel and Henry Cornish Esqs Sheriffs they appeared and pleaded in Easter-Term accordingly as follows An Abstract of the Plea filed in the Pety-Bag-Office in Easter-Term 1681. THe aforesaid Sir Edmond Turnor and George Carew by Matthew Pyndar Esq their Attorney comes and defends the force and injury c. craving Oyer of the Letters Patents and pleaded the