VVE have seen a paper dat. 19. of September, sign­ed by the Earle of Warwick, and sent aboard our Fleet, now riding at Anchor of Helford Sluce, and under our own immediate Command; By which, with strange insolence, and in a manner very disagreeable to a person of honour (whose own condition so absolutely depends upon the preservation of the regall power) he requires our Officers to take downe the Standard, and to render themselves and the Ships under their command, to him (who hee saies, is constituted by authority of Parliament, Lord high Admirall of England) for the use of King and Parliament. To all which ex­travagant expressions & demands, he will receive the most pro­per answer, from the disdaine and courage of those faithfull Officers, and Marriners whom he would corrupt, who have with such eminent affection and Loyalty (which we shall al­waies remember) brought that our Royall Fathers Fleet to be imployed under our command for his service, & who (we are confident, by Gods blessing,) will preserve & desend the same against any such demands or attempts whatsoever. They very well know, that it is in the Kings sole power to make a Lord high Admirall of England, and that though this our Fleet be now required to be given up for the use of the King and Par­liament, the King in truth is still in prison, with such circum­stances of restraint, as to say no more, are not usuall in the case of the most private person, and whose delivery and free­dome all his Subjects are obliged to indeavour, by the Lawes of God and man, with the utmost hazard; and in that pious work, and whatsoever shall contribute thereunto, we have full assurance, all the Officers and Mariners of our Fleet will vigo­rously [Page 2]performe their part, and in so doing publish to the world how much they abhorre those that would seduce them.

And for the encouragement of all those who have any im­pressions in their consciences of honesty and duty to God and the King; and who (wee believe by feares and threats) are led into this desperate & wicked Combination; We do by the authority granted Us by our Royall Father, & in his name, who hath the sole power to grant pardons, and without whose consent no Act of indempnity can secure any guilty person, offer a gracious pardon to all those Officers and Mariners who are now aboard any of the Ships under the command of the Earle of Warwick, if they shall quit that service, and betake themselves to our protection, where they will be received into pay, and into a better condition of subsistence, then they can be in the employment they now have; And if they shall bring with them any of the Ships in which they now are, or o­ther Ships, they shall continue in the same commands they now have, and receive such further encouragement and re­ward as (besides the satisfaction of their Consciences) shall be very advantagious to them: And if that unhappy Earl him­selfe, who hath contributed so much to the destruction of Go­vernment, which himselfe or his posterity can never reasona­bly hope to survive, shall now (upon the observation of the temper and disposition of those, whose commands he now ex­ecutes, and from whom we believe in his first ingagement, he did not expect or apprehend such Commands) out of consci­ence and prudence desire to joyne with us in the rescue of our Royall Father from his unworthy imprisonment, and the re­storing the almost ruined Kingdome to peace and happinesse, and the English Nation to their old Glory and renowne, we shall with all princely sincerity and affection take him into our Arms, and concurre with him to those great and good ends, which can only make the Nation happy.

WE have had the honour to be acquainted with your High­nesse Paper of the 22. of September, expressing your dis­pleasure against that Summons, sent by the Right Honourable the Earl of Warwick (duly constituted, Lord high Admirall of England) to the Admirall, or chiefe Commander of the Fleet of English ships riding off Helvord Sluce; which as it was advised and approved by us (amongst others) at his Lordships Councell of Warre, so upon second thoughts we cannot find to containe either insolencie or extravagancie, it tending to no other end, but the re­turning of those Ships to the service of the King and Kingdome, whose they are, from which they have been perfidiously diverted and betrayed; and for their reduction whereunto, We shall not count the utmost improvement of our courage, (which (blessed be God) will not be blunted with any treacherous reflexions) nor the hazzard of our lives too deare a Sacrifice, and which to endeavour, his Lord­ship is (by the obligations of honour and dutie) so much ingaged.

We have considered your Highnesse invitement of the Officers and Mariners of this Fleet, to quit and exchange this service, which our and their hearts do with the greatest indignation disdaine and abhorre, as that which would be a sinne against God, an injury to His Majesty, a further disturbance of our native Countreyes peace, and a violation of those impressions of honestie and duty, which we owe to our consciences and trust; and so would render us truly un­happy, by really contributing to the destruction of the Parliament, in whose preservation and honour, your Highnesse interest, as well as [Page 4]the Kingdomes, is so much concerned; and to the further effusion of precious blood, whose vast expence, with the true originalls thereof, we beseech your Highnesse to lay sadly to your Princely heart, and to make your serious application to those waies which may most dire­ctly conduce to a safe and well-grounded peace betwixt his Majesty and the Parliament. In order to which, a Treaty is now depending, and His Majestie in a condition of Freedome, honour, and safety: And in such wayes none shall with more faithfull, cheerfull, sincere and humble affections, serve your Highnesse, then

I Will give your Excellency an accompt of our proceedings here a­bout the Arrest of the Constant Warwicke, and Capt. Deare. I under­took to set it a foot before I had received your Excellencies procurati­on; but because I must needs substitute one to follow the businesse, I could not effect it; for no body here would undertake to be my Sub­stitute, until I could shew him procuration under your Excellencies hand and seal, that I got upon Saturday morning last past; Mark Bernarte for a Knave. then forthwith I substituted one Mr. Barnarte, a good trusty man, and forthwith advised with an a­ble Lawyer, who is the onely man here affectionate to the Parliament among all those of that coat, named Isebrand Craft; I desired to know of him, out of which Court we should (for the best expedition) take out our Processe; he told me, that since it was an a­ction of damage, and accompt of meum & tuum in a civill Plea, it must be taken out of the Court of Holland, the Court Provinciall, by reason the Court of Admiralty cannot take connisance of these things here: then hee asked me, whether I had here ready, either the Originall, or a Copie of the Charter Partie, or Commissi­on of the said Captaine Deare: I told him, no: but that I could have it by the next Post; his answer was that for want of it we should find the Court very unwilling to grant out a Processe, it being required by the Instructions of that Court to grant out none untill some summary proof appeare, that the Plaintife is grounded in his sute against the Defendant: However, Ibid the Advocate to try & draw up a Petition to the Court, for without foregoing Petition signed by the Advocates hand, no Warrant is issued forth for the arrest of a Ship and Captaine; he did so, and gave in the Petition upon Munday: the Court demurred upon it all that day: and upon Tuesday sent the Pe­tition into the Assembly of the States of Holland, as a businesse of that Moment, which they durst not take upon themselves: the States forthwith made a resolution, that the Petition should be referred back to the Court Provinciall; And that the Court should do Justice accor­ding as was desired: upon Wednesday this reso­lution of the States was got to be signed, See how he abuses one of the State. & was (together with the Petition) brought into the Court Provinciall; Then the Court passed the Warrant, which on Thursday was sent to the President of that Court, called Wyngarden, for to seale it: This servile fellow (instead of seal­ing it instantly, as his duty is to doe) kept us off untill yester night ten [Page 6]of the Clock; Mr. Barnat my Substitute gave him no respite all that while, but pursued him wheresoever he went; at length he said he would not seale it untill he had acquainted his Highnesse with it as Admirall of the Seas, and went with the Petition and Warrant up to the Prince of Orange his lodgings last night. This morning he sent it home sealed; when he had got a Notarius ready to protest against him, of all losses and dammages which were like to happen to us by this delay of Justice: but this morning a new difficulty arose, which the Mandatory (the Exploycher or Huissier) as they call them here, who would not goe about the executing of his Office untill I would pro­mise him 80. guilders 8. l. sterling, at all adventures, performing his Office, or not performing it, I could by no meanes agree to such a Proposition, for so a knave might sit and drink four daies, take mony besides of the adverse party for betraying his trust, and laugh at us in the end: I offered him the sum demanded after the work done, and the bringing of Deare up to the Hague, this he refused, and flung away; so that hitherto I cannot find any other to do the work upon such termes as we may in reason trust upon: I have had my health but ill since my journey into North Holland, but (by the grace of God) I mend apace: while I have life in me, I am

I have now met with an Explausiter that hath undertook the work, at 8. Guilders per diem, his Waggon and Boat-hire besides, and 25. Guil­ders over and above, if he bring Capt. Deare up to the Hague.