No. VIII.
Charles
the Second by the grace of God, of
To the most illustrious
and most high Prince, the Lord Nicholas Cottoner,
Grand Master of the Order of
Most illustrious and most high Prince, our well-beloved cousin and
friend.
Some
years have elapsed since we first addressed letters to your highness concerning
certain goods and merchandise, to the value of 4500 pieces of eight, which had
been unjustly seized by some of the ships which it is customary to despatch annually
from your highness' island to cruise against the Turks in the neighbourhood of
Cyprus, from our subject Roger Fowke, a person for many
reasons by us well beloved, and our consul in the island of Cyprus; and also
concerning the sentence which, alter many delays and much trouble, had been at
last unjustly given in favour of your people.
Further
complaints have, however, been received from our subject, stating that our
letters have had little effect with your highness, and that he, already wearied
with long expectation, has not had anything restored, that his expenses are
increasing to a great amount, and that little or no hope remains of reparation
for his loss.
Painful,
indeed, was it to us to hear our subject relate such injustice on the part of
the Knights of Malta; we, however, thought it right to make it clearly appear
that nothing has remained untried to bring back to more sane counsels the
generous minds of the Maltese; and therefore, under the advice of our Privy
Council, we deemed proper to refer, without loss of time, the complaint of
OUT subject, together with the letters which we formerly addressed to your
highness, and those which your highness latterly wrote to us, to our advocate
in our High Court of Admiralty, Sir Robert Wyseman,
Knight; who, having well considered the" whole, has expressed his opinion
in the following terms:
"I
have read and seriously pondered the petition of Roger Fowke,
transmitted to me by your Majesty's special mandate; as also the letters written
by your Majesty to the Grand Master of the Order of Malta in favour of the
above-mentioned, and those from the said Grand Master in reply; and it is
evident to me, after mature examination, that your Majesty has done so much, and
that it is proved that the sentence of the Maltese Tribunal against the said
Roger Fowke was pronounced contrary to right and
justice (as is clearly shown in the letters written by your Majesty to the
Grand Master) ; that therefore it appears to be incumbent on me only to set
forth to your Majesty, and to the Lords of the Privy Council, whether it be my
opinion that sufficient satisfaction has been given by the Grand Master's letters
to your Majesty, who by the above-cited letters demand restitution ; and if
not, whether in consequence it be lawful to your Majesty to grant the so-called
letters of reprisal, on which subject
I beg
humbly to submit to your Majesty, and to the singular prudence and judgment of
the abovementioned Lords, this my opinion ; that is to say, that the answers of
the Grand Master are so far from being in any way satisfactory, that from them it
may be easily perceived that the above-mentioned Grand Master, although he does
not deny in express terms reparation for his loss to the above Roger,
nevertheless does not decree anything certain on this head ; from which your
Majesty may reasonably conclude that the said reparation was refused. Nor does
it tend to his defence that he asserts that all that was done b his tribunal
was done by solemn sentence, that the judges were men of great reputation, and that
it is to be believed that the reasons produced by both sides were justly
considered; for judicial authority is not of the same value as regards foreigners
and subjects. It is not lawful for subjects to demand a re-examination of the sentence
pronounced by their superiors, although to foreign princes it entirely
appertains to make such demand, in cases interesting themselves or their subjects;
otherwise, if all given sentences were considered as freeing nations from
reprisals, such decrees might perhaps be obtained in any case, even though
manifestly unjust; and consequently it is by all agreed to be a just cause for reprisals,
not only when justice is not rendered, but also when in any case, not of a
doubtful nature, judgment may have been given against right; although
certainly, in cases of a doubtful nature, the presumption would be in favour of
those who may have been elected as public judges. Had the Grand Master
indicated to your Majesty that the said Roger Fowke
might have preferred an appeal against the sentence pronounced against him to a
superior tribunal, and that by the negligence of the said Roger the first
sentence had become affirmed, in that case the remedy demanded by your Majesty
would have been untenable; but the said Grand Master makes no mention of such
appeal. I am therefore of opinion that nothing in the law of nations could
militate against the lawfulness of your Majesty's granting letters of reprisal
in the manner demanded.
(Signed)
ROBERT WYSEMAN."
Without doubt the law of
nations would warrant our extorting from the hands of your highness subjects,
by issuing letters of reprisal, that which we have not been able to obtain
after so many years by means of the letters written in favour of our beloved
subject and friend; and the deplorable state of the said Roger requires that we
should now exact by our own authority that which we have in vain sought to
obtain by means of simple communications. But taking into serious consideration
the lamentable present state of Christianity, and the daily augmentation - of
the large empire of our common enemy, and how distinguished has been the valour
of the Maltese knights, always constantly exposing themselves as a bulwark to
so pertinacious an enemy, it .would be very painful to us to be compelled to
have recourse to reprisals, or to any such severe mode of proceeding, for the
reparation of the loss. The glory also of the Christian name, so often
valiantly defended, has caused us willingly to believe that we must not yet
despair of obtaining from your highness' authority that reparation for his loss
which our subject hopes to obtain by reprisal, and therefore, putting aside the
remedy of right, and our Privy Council persuading us to milder measures, we
have thought proper by this letter to seriously request your highness, by that
justice which is the duty of princes, and of the defenders of Christianity, to
deign to procure without delay to our trustworthy subject, who has suffered so great
an injustice from the Maltese Tribunal, and who is exhausted by the delays of
so many years, full compensation for all his losses, including also the amount
of his expenses; so that we may never have cause to regret that we, putting
aside the law of nations, have till now abstained from reprisal, and so that
henceforth the world may eulogise the Maltese as not being less just than valiant.
We have
only now to recommend your highness and all your Knights to the most good and most
great God.
Given in our
Your
Highness' Good Cousin and Friend,
CHARLES
REX.