VIIIa
To the King of
Most serene and invincible King:
A short time since John Ansely, the attorney of Roger Fowke,
delivered to us your most serene Majesty's gracious letters, in reply to mine
regarding the affair of the said Roger; from which, not without great
disturbance of mind, I perceived how incorrectly what had taken place had been
reported to your Majesty. But my grief was in some measure assuaged by your
Majesty's continued benignant protection of this my Order; through which it
came to pass that it was determined to abstain from granting the letters of
reprisal which it was the opinion of your Majesty's advocate in the High Court
of Admiralty, inserted in the above-mentioned Royal Letters, might have been
granted to the aforenamed Roger, for which I truly
return your Majesty my most sincere and humble thanks. The above Roger still
claims of right the sum of 4,500 pieces of eight, which he asserts had been
formerly seized by some armed ships of this island; from which sum, together
with the expenses incurred, or to be incurred, he forms another greater sum of
about 24,500, which lie also claims.
But as it would sufficiently
appear from your Majesty's letter, which contains the above-mentioned opinion
of the said advocate, and also from the verbal report made to me by the said
John Ansely, that your Majesty felt persuaded that
the said Roger had both lost his cause before the Judge of the Prize Court, and
subsequently been denied an appeal to the Supreme Court, and, lastly, that his
attorney had been treated with violence, rather than under any order of right,
I, to confess the truth, being much mortified, cannot but endeavour, with all
due respect in my power, to demonstrate the real state of the case to your
Majesty; and hope, by a more faithful narrative of all that occurred, to
convince your Majesty of that equal distribution of justice which in this place
is constantly observed, both- to the inhabitants and foreigners, with incorruptible
honesty.
Before, however, beginning to
explain the affair from its commencement, it behoves me to inform your Majesty,
that not only subjects of Christian Princes, but Greeks and Armenians, and
other persons subject to the rule of the Turks, the bitterest enemies of this
Order, are continually coming to these islands for the purpose of instituting
or continuing suits at law against the captains of our ships and other
inhabitants, yet we have never heard from them that justice is either denied or
refused. I therefore humbly beseech your Majesty to consider, and with
benignant mind to reflect, what faith ought to be given to those who have dared
to affirm that any contrary course had been pursued or tolerated by me against
the said Roger; and the more so, as it has been the constant wish of my Order
to deserve well of your Majesty's subjects, and to take particular care of all
foreigners. This we trust will be sufficiently shown from the fact of our
always having employed one of the principal lawyers to undertake the defence of
foreigners; not indeed altogether gratuitously, but under such laws and
restrictions that he must remit to them the third part of the usual stipend
which it is customary to receive from the inhabitants, and even my knights.
From which it may be concluded how well and how honourably foreigners are
treated here, and how unlikely it is that justice should be denied to any of
those who it is proved are favoured with such grace and love.
But to return to the affair in
question, I humbly submit to your Majesty, that in the year of our salvation
1661, John, called De St. Amand, acting as attorney
in the name of the above-mentioned Roger, appeared before the aforesaid judge
of the Prize Court, demanding the restitution of different kinds of merchandise,
which he asserted had been seized by certain captains of ships; but it not
appearing to the said judge that he had produced convincing proofs of the fact,
they were declared inadequate, and not sufficiently legal. From this decision
the said attorney, as is usual in such controversies, appealed, on the 10th of
July, 1662, to the Supreme Court of Audience in council, at which I, together
with the Chief Grand Crosses of my Order, assist; but he afterwards of his own
accord neglected to follow up said appeal.
Subsequently, in the year 1665,
there appeared another attorney of the said Roger furnished with letters from
your most serene Majesty, to whom I immediately explained that I had no right
to order the actual restitution of the money demanded; but that if he would act
according to law, and seek it by a judgment, I promised to give my
co-operation, which I undoubtedly would have done; so that he might have been
permitted by the said Court of Audience to recommence the suit, although it had
been in a former instance deserted. But the attorney having replied that he was
not furnished with this authority, left the island of
his own free will and accord.
From that time no other person
has appeared, except the above-mentioned John Ansely,
who recently delivered to me your Majesty's abovementioned letter
; which I having thought proper to communicate to my Council, I procured
that the venerable brethren Henry de Estampes Valancay, the Grand Prior of Campania, and Don Gregory Caraffa, Prior of Rocella, should
be deputed commissioners to examine this case. And they having heard what the
said Ansely had to say, offered to him in my name,
and in that of all my Order, an opportunity to make an appeal which had been
deserted ; but the said Ansely, for want of proper
authority as he stated, did not accept the proposition.
Such being the case, I reverently
submit to your most serene Majesty the following arguments, to which I
earnestly entreat your Majesty to apply your Royal attention, and your
Majesty's accustomed serenity and clemency.
In the first place, it is
possible that the said Roger may have been really deprived of his property; but
it does not follow that the proofs adduced by him of that fact were perfectly
convincing, or entirely in accordance with the law. And even if they had been
such, they might have appeared otherwise to the said judge of the
Secondly, the omission to
continue the above cited appeal, can in no way be attributed to the judges of
this island; neither is it true that any threats were made use of towards the
abovementioned attorney. Such a course would have been diametrically opposed to
the statutes of my Order; neither would its members have dared to act in such a
manner, either against foreigners or the inhabitants my subjects, without
incurring a heavy responsibility.
Finally, as it is impossible for
my knights, putting aside the order of right, and neglecting the rule of our statutes,
to restore to the abovementioned Roger that which he claims, nothing remains in
our power but to grant him the faculty of again prosecuting his right before
the abovementioned Court of Audience as in law so often and earnestly offered
to the aforenamed attorney. Nor certainly can it be
presumed, that your Majesty in your clemency and
justice can desire anything farther. To this conclusion I am the more drawn
from the decision of the advocate of the Admiralty himself, for he proposes the
granting of letters of reprisal not for any other reason than that he supposed
justice had been denied to the said Roger, and that he had been precluded from
the remedy of a Court of Appeal. This having been an erroneous conclusion, the
entire foundation of the above-mentioned opinion is wholly removed. And it is
the more to be hoped that this decision will be approved of by your most serene
Majesty, as my necessary subjection to the Apostolic See and to the Roman
Pontiff cannot be unknown to your Majesty. From which it necessarily results
that so large a sum could not be taken arbitrarily or by force from the parties
concerned, without grave reprehension and prejudice, and also without
infringing the forms of right as prescribed in the statutes above alluded to.
Confiding therefore in the
singular clemency of your Majesty, I entertain a hope that your Majesty, moved
by so many and such valid reasons, and considering also the high respect of
this my Order towards your Majesty, will be pleased to direct the said Roger not
to prosecute his right by other means than by action at law before the said
Court of Audience. And that he at length will cease to excite the mind of your
Majesty against the innocent by any such vain and unjust' complaints; and that
he refrain from any more seeking so inopportune and final a remedy of right, as
the concession of letters of reprisal against an Order obediently subject to
the wishes of your Majesty, and most ready to do anything for the advantage and
utility of your Majesty's subjects, as those who daily touch at these islands
to re-victual or refit-their ships can testify. And now, in my own name, and in
that of my Order, I humbly submit all this to your Majesty by these letters, as
I shall also do shortly by a Nuncio, whom I shall send to your Majesty with the
necessary documents, in order mart clearly to prove the truth of my
statements.
In the mean time, most
submissively kissing your Majesty's most serene hands, I devotedly implore the
benignity of the Most High and the Most Great God to grant to your Majesty
prosperity in all things.
Given at
Your Serene Majesty's
Most obedient Servant,
COTTONER.