The CASE of Thomas Bulkley, late of New Providence, Merchant, briefly represented to the Right Honourable the Lords of His Majesties Councel of TRADE.
THE said Bulkley, (for his Loyal and Zealous Activity in the Discharge of his Bounden Duty to the King and Queen of England, &c. to the Lords Proprietors of the Provinces of Carolina, and the Bahama Islands in America, and to His Majesties Subjects Inhabiting the first named Province, in the Accusation and Prosecution of Cadwallader Jones, late Governour of the said Islands, who was a Wicked Tyrant, Traytor, Murtherer, Felonious Conspirator, confederate with Pirates, Burglarious Robber, and Guilty of other Heinous Misdemeanours, contained in sundry Articles of Accusation Exhibited against him) Under the said Jones's Ʋsurped Power (being Rescued out of Custody) hath been Barbarously Imprisoned 485 days, without any lawful Cause alledged by the Accuser upon his Oath, or the Testimony of any Witnesses; And in the said term of his Imprisonment, his House, &c. therein, hath sundry times been Broke open in a Felonious manner, by Armed Pirates., Instigated to the doing thereof by the said Rescued Criminal, and his Trayterous Complices, the Principal whereof was John Graves, who was the False and Malicious accuser of the said Bulkley. The Affrightments of which Burglarious Assaults on the House, were the cause of Convulsion Pits, Painful Languishing Sickness, and finally of Death, to the said Bulkleys Wife. By all which Monsterous dealings of the said Jones, Graves, &c. the said Bulkley has lost his Virtuous Wife ( Barbarously Murthered) by the Burglarious Assaults of Pyratical Ruffians; His own Health by Extream hard and Long Imprisonment, his Reputation by False and Malicious Accusation of High Treason, his Trassick and Commerce, as a Merchant, has been wholly Confounded, and his Estate Wasted in Extravagant Expences, occasion'd by his Wifes Sickness, and his own Imprisonment, and by other Losses and Damages amounting to the, value of Four Thousand Pounds; for Reparation whereof, and Condign Punishment of those Miscreants, who were the Authors, Abettors, Actors, and Accessories. He hath apply'd himself to the Succeeding Governour of the Bahama Islands, viz. Mr. Nicholas Trott, and to the Lords Proprietors Ministers of Justice at Carolina, who having all of them denyed him the benefit of the Laws (which are said to be the Birth Right of every English Man) he hath been Constrained to leave the place of his Settled Habitation, Lands, Houses, Goods, and Debts there, being of great Value, and to Travel from thence 3000 Miles over the Seas in coming to England, where he hath spent two Years in Addressing to, and Attending on the Lords Proprietors, who have been so Ʋngenerous, as to Disregard his Meritorious Services, and Matchless Sufferings; and so unjust as to Reject his most reasonable Propsitious, viz. That they would put him into such a post of Authority and Power as may inable him to have the benefit of the Laws against all those in their said Provences, who have done Irrepairable Wrongs to the said Bulkley; and also against all those who have denyed him Justice against them, contrary to the Duty of their Offices, and the obligation of their Oaths, for Dispencing Justice freely and imparcialy to all the Kings Subjects, suing for it in the Limits of their Jurisdictions. And seeing there hath been a total failure of Justice in all the Derivative Channels, the said Bulkley now repairs to the Fountain of it, which is a Living Spring, from whence it doth and shall ever flow to the Relief of all His Majesties Oppressed and agrieved Subjects, of whom, none have Served him more Loyally, Dilligently, and Constantly, nor suffer'd for so doing, as hath the said Thomas Bulkley, who hath not only Sustained the Losses and Damages aforesaid, but thereby for the space of Five Years hath been and still is out of all manner of Profitable Employment, whereby to Maintain himself and his Off-spring: In which deplorable Condition for Relief, he hath Petition'd to, and now humbly depends on his Most Just, Generous, and Merciful Soveraign Lord the King, in whose Service he will esteem it his greatest Terrestial Honour and Happiness to Spend the Residue of his Life.