Chap. II from the I 7 oj James, I, to the

1604. upon a better Footing than it had tilltb a xr ^Ben been. They had some Trade withatlz ' es - the Natives, as well round about theirSettlement, as farther up the River;And the chief Merchandizes they gotwere Wax, line white long Feathers,Flax, Tobacco, Parrots, Monkies, greenand black Cotton-Yarn and Wool, sweetGums, red Pepper, Spleen and Matiate-Stones, with several Sorts of Wood,Roots and Berries, partly forMedicines,and partly for Dying. But the Flux,and other Distempers, having carried offa good Number of the Company ; Andthe Captain being seized with it himself,just as he was going on Board for Eng-land,to fetch a compleat Loading of suchThings as were needful for his Colony,died of it likewise. By this unhappytroke,the wholeUndertaking was quash-ed, and every one shifted for himself.Some returned to England in their ownVessel, others in a French Ship, and a-gain others in two Dutch Ships, verymuch to the Regret of the Indians ,

1604;

it

The Cap-tairisDeath.

The Defignquashed.

me here, I have yielded to voltspresent Employment in Sicily, sot RobkeVtwo Respects. First, upon my Deal-^'^i?” 5 ,ing some Weeks since with the Spa^° U 'nijh Ambassador here, about thoseShips which are questioned by theDuke of Feria, and the said Ambassa-dor’s effectual writing in thatAccountto the Duke, there has been sentfrom him hither, unto me, a Reply,and Colour of justification (tho’ ex-ceeding weak and unworthy of hisWisdom) against our Complaints ,•which engages me a little farther,then otherwise I should be, in a mereMercantile Cause, by Reason of theNotorious Violation, offered by thesaid Duke, unto the late Contract ofPeace, between the Kings our Ma-sters, as appeareth alpiost in everyArticle of his Answer; Insomuch as' that he does not, in the fifth Article

Depreda-tions of theSpaniards.

Depredations committed by the

Spaniards.

Notwithstanding the Peace withSpain was concluded, as I have strewnabove, the Spaniards continued theirDepredations on our Merchants. As Ifind this only hinted at by several Au-thors, in general, without descending toparticulars, I can fay no more of themneither. But, as the following Piece,taken from a Manuscript in the CottonLibrary , confirms these Hints, andplainly strews how early the SpaniardsBegan so lead King James by the Nose,of which we shall have many Instancesin the Sequel, as well as the Intrieguesof the Papists to distress a ProtestantGovernment, I think it may very pro-perly be placed here. It does not ap-pear by the Manuscript from whomthese Instructions were given ; But theywere probably from oho of His Maje-sty’s Ministers in Italy, perhaps, atFlorence , to his Secretary.

Ms't./s Bibl. Cotton. Jul. E 2. sol. 102.

The Instructionsgiven to GeorgeRookes,going to Sicily, 1604.

fc

otwithstanding the need-" ful Use of your Person about

thereof, make Mention of the saidPeace, and it might be well doubtedby his Actions, whether that had yetcome to his hearing, as you- mayboldly fay. Secondly, because un-der the Business for the Releasemeritof those Ships, I will make Use ofyou, for some other Occasions, thatly in the very direct Line of the Jour-ny. Therefore, leaving unto Mr.Ja?nes Higgons and Mr. Geojjry Lu-ther, who are here constituted abso-lute Procurators in the Cause of thoseShips to both authorise you to deal inthat, and to illuminate* and informyou how to deal (as hath been partlydone already by their Answers untothe abovenamed Justification) I willonly remember you to tell the Dukeof Feria (if you fall into anyArgument) these Things. (1.) Thatat the Writing of His Majesty’s Bet-ters, (which you carry) he had notyet heard of the Death of the Master,Purser, and Merchant of the Shipcalled the Frial (who all three aresince dead hyTorture, and barbarous/Usage in Prison,) whereby, as thatseems, His Majesty’s Letters arewritten with more Moderation thanperadventure otherwise they would-have been. (2.) That what origiqp .1Action soever might ly against theShip, called xhSTria!, br any other pfHis Majesty’s Subjects Ships, for. anyhostile Act, either intended or commit-ted, before the four and twentieth ofApril, 1603. is absolutely frustrated,by the Contract of Peace, as youS K may