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To the Right Honourable Lawrence Lord Hyde, Viscount Killingworth, Baron of Wooten Basset, Primier Commissioner of the Treasury; and one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honou∣rable Privy Councel.
Right Honourable,
IT was thought necessary and expedient by the late King Charles▪ and the Lords and others of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Coun∣cel in the year 1635. upon the decay of the East-India Trade, and His Majesties Customs in the Port of London: (The Merchants Trading to the East-Indies, having wasted several great Ioynt Stocks, being undermined and beaten out of Commerce by the Dutch,) to give Command and encouragement to Sir William Courten and his Part∣ners, by a new Charter and Grant under the Great Seal of England, to undertake Trading Uoyages to Goa, the parts of Mallabar, Chyna, Japan, &c. Upon whose Foundations and Discoveries the present East-India Company have taken such Me∣thods and Measures, whereby they have Trebled their Principal Actions, Increased Na∣vigation, and brought Honour and Wealth to this Kingdom.
But Sir William Courten and his Part••ers (as i•• most enterprises for the publick good) 〈…〉〈…〉 great Difficulties, Losses and Damages, after they had settled several Fact 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in places of Strength, and Se••urity, at their vast Expence and Charges, upon hopes of Protection from the Crown of England; which pr••••ed otherwise (pro tempore) by reason of the late Intestine Troubles in England, Scotland, and Ireland that gave opportunity to the Hollanders to spoil those Noble undertakings of Sir William Courten and his Associates.
The King of Great▪ Britain having granted the Priviledge and Favour to Sir William Courten and his Partners in the said Charter, (as an Ensigne that they were imployed by His Maiesty,) to carry i•• all their Ships the same Colours commonly called the Iack o•• English Fl••gg▪ Whereby Captain Proud, and other Old Officers (yet Living) of the East-India Companies Ships, upon the Command of a great Gun Struck their Flaggs and Lowered their Lop-Sails at Goa iii view of thē Portugals and Dutch; such a respect was paid to the Kings Colours, when he was in Prosperity; that soon afterwards in the year 1643. were taken down from the Bona Esperanza, and dragged a••out the Streets by the Hollanders in Battavia, when they had spoiled Courten of his Ships and Goods.
My Lord, It would seem a great piece of Folly to make any impertinent Repetitions, in a Case so well known to the World; wherein every Paragraph is an Abstract out of Matters of Record: Only I am bound to acquaint Your Honour, that the late Lord High Chancellor of England Your Father, was much concerned in several Transactions thereof, who I presume (if he were now Living) would Study all ways and means possible to com∣pose the Differences and Controversies in this Case, rather then suffer those things to be Argued publickly in the Highest Court of Iudicature, and there to remain unto Posterity; wherein the Kings Honour and Iustice would be exposed, by recriminating divers persons that lie under such Circumstances of Grand Mistakes and Oppression.
The Memory of Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pyndar, who had so déeply suffered in the East and West Indies, and of their great Services otherwise for the Crown of England, readily Inclined His now Majesty and the Ministers of State in the year 1660. to recom∣mend their Cases more especially for Satisfaction and Reparation, which were Solicited several years together with great Industry and Expence, both at Home and Abroad, with∣out any effect, otherwise then some preparatory means towards relief in two of their De∣mands as follows, (that is to say.) First, Concerning Sir William Courten's Title to the Barbadoes. wherein he was Absolute Proprietor by Original Right of Discovery and Possession, which was referred to the Committee of Foreign Plantations, who found that by the Laws of Nations, and of this Kingdom, the Heirs and Assigns of Sir William