472 James L Naval Expeditions, <3co of the English, Book .111*

1623. " were thus burnt, would it not change

" its Nature, how much more we, who" are Flesli and Blood ? ” And whenthe Dutch Ministers came to the tenEnglish, in the Hall, exhorting them tomake a true Confession, because theyhad but a short Time to live, they stillprofessed their Innocence, and prayedthey might receive the Sacrament, asa Seal of the Pardon of their Sins, andto confirm this their Profession ; Andthis was denied them. But when thePreacher told them, the clearer theywere of any Guilt, the greater wouldbe their Reward, Mr. Colson gave himhis Purse, and prayed him to exhortthe Governour (whom he freely for-gave) to repent of this bloody Trage-dy, acted upon these innocent Souls.And all the Rest of the Englijh signi-fied their Consent to what he said. Andwhen Fardo charged them all, as theywould answer it atGov's Judgment Seat,if any of them were guilty of this Mat-ter, to confess the Truth, for the Satis-faction of the World, Mr. Colson an-swered : “ If I be guilty of it, more" or less, let me never be Partaker of" the Joys of Heaven”: At whichWords every one of the Rest cried out :* r Amen, for me, good Lord.’’ Afterthis, each of them knowing whom hehad accused, went one to another, beg-ging Forgiveness for their false Accusa-tion, being extorted by the Pains orFear of Torture; And they all freelyforgave one another, for none was false-ly accused, but himself had falsely ac-cused another. After this, they spentthe Rest of the Night in Prayer, singingof Psalms, and comforting one another,while the Dutch Guards offered themWine, and bid them drink merrily, anddrive away sorrow.

The seven and twentieth of Februa-ry, being the Day of Execution, the

condemned Person's first requested John ■ 1623'Powle, and afterwards all who were ac-quitted and pardoned, to bear Witnessto their Friends in England, of theirInnocency, and that they were merelyMurdered by the Dutch, whom theyprayed God to forgive, and to haveMercy on their Souls.

Being brought to the Place of Exe-cution, (not by the nearest and commonWay, but round about in Processionthro’ the Town,) they every one ofthem severally took it upon their Death,that they were utterly guiltless, and sothey chearfully submitted to the fatalStroke. The Persons who were execut-ed were, Mr. Towerson, Agent of theEnglijh at Amboyna, Mr. Colson, Thom-son, Johnson, Wether al, Clark, Grigs,

Fardo , Price and Brown ; The Portu-guese, Perez, who swore upon theCross, that he was.innocent j And nineJaponese, who, likewise, in their Way,profess’d their Innocence.

The next Day, the new Dutch Ge-neral sent Beaumont Sharrock, Collinsand Webber, the sour who were pardon-ed, to several Factories, and dispatch’dCollins, who was freed by casting Lotsto Jaccatra, whither Captain Welden ,having sent three of them to otherPlaces, quickly after carried them allin a Pinnace.

The Narrative of these Proceedings(fay my Authors) is taken out of theDepositions of six Englijh Factors,whereof four were condemned and par-doned, and the other acquitted at Am-boyna, being since their Return intoEngland examined upon Oath in the Ad-miralty Court.

The Dutch did not stop here, butseized upon the Englijh Factories in Sc-ran, Pooleroon, and other neighbouringIslands; Becoming by those Means, al-most entire Masters of the Spice-trade.

.$r-

CHAP. XX.

Sundry other Naval Expeditions and Tranfattions of the English, with otherOccurrences, to the Death of King James, I.

T H E seventeenth of February,1623. Charks, Prince of Wales,The Prince afterwards, King Charles, set

JfWzieT out, with the Earl of Buckingham , andgoes to Spain.

only two more, on that strange, rash and i6^3’dangerous, as well as fruitless Journy toSpain, the fatal Consequences of whichare too well known to need a Repetiti-on.