Company in particular do make our most humble and earnest Request to Your Majesty That You would be graciously pleased to grant us such a Declaration as in Your Royal Wisdom You shall think fit to render the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburg and all others that are or may be concerned secure from the Treatnings and other Suggestions contained in the said Memorial as well as to render us secure under Your Majesty's Protection in the full prosecution of our Trade and free enjoyment of our Lawful Rights Privileges and Immunities contained in Your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above-mention'd Sign'd at Edinburgh the 28th Day of June 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council General by May it please Your Majesty Your Majesty's most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant Sic subscribitur Yester P. His Majesty's Answer to the said Address By the Right Honourable John Earl of Tullibardin c. and Sir James Ogilvie Knight Secretaries of State My Lords and Gentlemen WE are impowered by the King to signifie unto you That as soon as His Majesty shall return to England he will take into Consideration what you have presented unto him And that in the mean time His Majesty will give Orders to the Envoy at the Courts of Lunenburg and his Resident at Hamburg not to make use of His Majesty's Name or Authority for obstructing your Company in the Prosecution of your Trade with the Inhabitants of that City Sign'd at Edinburgh the Second Day of August 1697. Sic subscribitur Tullibardine Ja. Ogilvie To the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies THE Company 's Letter TO THE Right Honourable the Earl of Tullibardin Secretary of State Edinburgh Sept. 28. 1697. May it please your Lordship IT is not unknown to Your Lordship in what Humour the Council General of our Company and most Part of the Nation were in with Relation to the Memorial given in to the Senate of Hamburg against our Company by the English Ministers there upon which ensued the Council-Generals late Address transmitted to His Majesty by your Lordship And your Lordship very well knows that at your Request and Desire only upon Premises of using your best Endeavours to procure a speedy and satisfactory Answer from his Majesty the said Council-General was prevail'd upon to suspend representing that Matter further to the Government till the second Day of August last past On which Day your Lordship did signifie his Majesty's Answer to the said Address Upon Receipt whereof the said Council General did resolve to supersede any further Proceeding therein till His Majesty's arrival in England as not in the least doubting but His Majesty would have in the mean time pursuant to his Answer given Orders to His Resident at Hamburg with Relation to the Subject Matter of the said Memorial But we are extreamly surprized to find by Letters of the 31st ultimo from our Company 's Agent in that City that he had according to our Order been to wait on the English Resident there and with all the Respect due to his Character intimated to him the Contents of the said Address and Answer Upon which the Resident declared That he was ready and willing to obey His Master's Orders but that as yet he had got none in that Matter We cannot imagine what should be the Occasion of this new Disappointment since we cannot suffer our selves to believe but that His Majesty has according to his Letter to your Lordship given Orders as aforesaid which makes us admire the more where the Neglect of that Matter doth now stand Yet we must needs say We are in some Measure afraid to acquaint the said Council-General with it lest they be more uneasie thereupon than we would wish till first we have your Lordship's Answer For which Cause we the several under-subscribing Directors of the said Company who are now in Town have thought fit in as quiet a Manner as possible to give your Lordship an Account thereof to the end you may in your Wisdom and Prudence advise His Majesty with Relation thereunto and doubt not but your Lordship will take such Care herein as may prevent our Calling another Council-General with Relation to the Premises which we are bound un avoidably to do if we have not your Lordship's timely Answer We are May it please Your Lordship Your Lordships most Obedient Humble Servants Sic Subscribitur Ad. Cockburn Fran. Montgomery Archb. Mure Geo. Clark Robert Blackwood James Balfour William Paterson To the Right Honourable the Earl of Tullibardin Principal Secretary of State for the Kingdom of Scotland Memorandum The Duplicate hereof was likewise sent at the same time to the Right Honourrable Sir James Ogilvie Knight c. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please Your Majesty BY a former Address of the 28th of June last we have humbly represented to Your Majesty how that Your Majesty's Envoy to the Courts of Lunenburg and Resident at Hamburgh did under Pretence of Special Warrant from Your Majesty give in a Memorial to the Senate of the said City of Humburgh contrary to the Law of Nations and expresly invading the Privileges contained in the Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent by which our Company is established Copies of which Address and Memorial we have for Your Majesty's better Information hereto annexed In answer to which Your MAJESTY was then graciously pleased to signifie by Your Royal Letter That upon Your MAJESTY's arrival in England You would take the Contents of our said Address into Consideration And that in the mean time You would give Orders to Your said Ministers not to make use of your Majesty's Name or Authority for obstructing our Company in the Prosecution of our Trade with the InhaDitants of the said City of Humburg In the full Assurance of which we rested secure and took our Measures accordingly till to our further Surprize and great Disappointment we find by repeated Advices from Hamburg That Your Majesty 's said Resident continues still Contumacious and is so far from giving due Obedience to Your Majesty's said Order that upon Application made to him for that Effect with all the Respect due to his Character he pretended that he had never as yet got any such Order on our Behalf which we thought fit in all Duty and Humility to lay before Your Majesty renewing withal our most humble and earnest Request That Your Majesty would be now graciously pleased to take the Contents of This and our said former Address into Consideration and in your Royal Wisdom order some speedy and effectual Redress of our Grievances therein mentioned and a just Reparation of the manifest Damages which our Company has already sustained by reason of the said Memorial And grant us a Declaration under Your Royal Hand
they have met with in the Prosecution of their Trade particularly by a Memorial presented to the Senate of Hamburgh by your Majesty's Residents in that City tending to lessen the Credit of the Rights and Privileges granted to the said Company by an Act of this present Parliament We therefore in all humble Duty lay before your Majesty the whole Nation 's Concern in this Matter and we do most earnestly entreat and most assuredly expect That your Majesty will in your Royal Wisdom take such Measures as may effectually vindicate the undoubted Rights and Privileges of the said Company and suppor the Credit and Interest thereof And as we are in Duty bound to return your Majesty most hearty Thanks for the gracious Assurances your Majesty has been pleased to give us of all due Encouragement for promoting the Trade of this Kingdom So we are thereby encourag'd at present humbly to recommend to more special Marks of your Royal Favour the Concerns of the said Company as that Branch of our Trade in which we and the Nation we represent have a more peculiar Interest Subscribed at Edinburgh the 5th of August 1698. in Name Presence and by Warrant of the Estates of Parliament Sic-Subscribitur Seafield I.P.D.P. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of the Court of Directors of the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies Sheweth THAT whereas the Estates of Parliament have by their Address of the 5th of August instant been pleased to recommend the Concerns of the said Company to some Marks of your Royal Favour for supporting the Credit and Interest thereof which has already suffered in a great measure by reason of the several Obstructions which they have met with in the prosecution of their Trade particularly by a Memorial given in to the Senate of Hamburgh by your Majesty's Ministers there We are thereby encourag'd in all humility to lay before your Majesty That as the said Memorial was given in to the Senate of Humburgh in a most solemn and publick manner So your Petioners humbly conceive that the Effects thereof cannot be taken away but by some Intimation made to the said Senate that they may enter into Commerce with your Petitioners as freely and securely in all respects as they might have done before the giving in of the said Memorial That in consideration of the Damages sustain'd by the Company as aforesaid Your Majesty would be pleased for their Incouragement at present as a gracious Mark of your Royal Favour to bestow upon them the two smallest of the Frigots now lying useless in Brunti-land Harbour That in regard of the time already lost by reason of the Obstructions aforesaid Your Majesty would be graciously pleas'd to continue the Privileges granted by Act of Parliament to the said Company of being Custom-free for such longer time as your Majesty shall in your Royal Wisdom think sit In respect of all which may it please your Majesty to take the whole Premises into your Royal Consideration and give such Orders and Directions with relation thereunto as to your Majesty in your Royal Wisdom shall seem meet and expedient Signed at Edinburgh the 16th day of August 1698. in Name Presence and by Warrant of the said Court of Directors by May it please your Majesty Your Majesty's most loyal most dutiful most humble and most obedient Subject and Servant Sic-Subscribiur Geo. Clark I. P. C. D. Letters from Mr. Stevenson the Companys Agent at Hamburgh to the Company Hamburgh the 4th of October Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen I Wrote to you on the 26th past advising you of my going post to Hamburgh in pursuance of your Orders where I arriv'd the 2d Instant And the Day following I waited upon the English Resident and in the Company 's Name desired to know if he had yet received his Master's Pleasure ordering him no more to oppose the Transactions of the Indian and African Company of Scotland in this City which I pressing hard answered by his Character and Honour he never received any Orders from his Master that mentions the said Company since his giving in the Memorial against them So I have no further to add but that I am My Lords and Gentlemen Your most most faithful Servant to power Sic-Subscribitur Alexander Stevenson This was under Cover which containeth what followeth Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen BY this within-closed you have a full Answer as to what may be expected here for ever Since my parture from this I am informed that the English here did constantly assert that the Company would never be redressed and the Delay of the same after all your means has made an Impression upon the Minds of People that it will never be at least such as they might trust to Hamburgh the 18th of October Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen I Wrote to you of the 4 th current wherein I advised you of Sir Paul Rycaut English Resident at Hamburgh's Answer given me anent your Affairs to which refers Mr. Cresset Envoy at the Courts of Lunenburgh being returned from waiting upon his Majesty there I thought it my Duty to wait upon him and demanded in your Names to know if his Majesty had signified his Royal Pleasure anent removing off the stop put to the Company 's Affairs in this City through the Memorial given in to the Senate against them To which Answer he received no such Orders and was of the Judgment If the Memorial were yet to be given in it would be done I shall not enlarge what farther past but assure you he seems to insinuate that his private Orders from the Government of England was to act quite contrary to your Expectations This is all from To the Right Honourable the Court of Directors c. My Lords and Gentlemen Your obedient Servant Sic-Subscribitur Alex. Stevenson This was under Cover which contained what followeth Much honoured Lords and Gentlemen BY the within-closed you have an account what relates to your Affairs with respect to have the Merchants in this City concerned I cannot offer to speak to the Commercij about the same but those Merchants here that are Signers in the Books of Subscriptions are as cordial as ever were the Stop removed they doubt not things here would take the desired effect Letter from the President of the Committee of the Company to the Lord Seafield Secretary of State upon receipt of Mr. Stevenson's Letters Edinburgh Novemb. 29. 1698. My Lord THis is by order of the Council-General of the Indian and African Company of Scotland to cover the inclosed Copies of two Letters lately received from our Company 's Agent at Hamburgh Upon reading whereof yesterday at a meeting of the said Council-General they were not a little surpriz'd at the Contents thereof considering the many repeated Assurances given them formerly by Letters word of Mouth and even in Parliament that the King had already given Orders to his Ministers at Hamburgh with relation to the Memorial given in to the
Senate of that City against our Company But after some reasoning thereupon and considering how far your Lordship 's frank Undertaking when last in Scotland as well as the Station you are in doth engage your best Endeavours to procure the Company Justice and vindicate the Kingdom 's Rights in this matter They have ordered us the Court of Directors to transmit the said Copies to your Lordship and expect your Lordship's Answer to this our late Petition to his Majesty before they remonstrate any further with relation thereunto This is in presence and by Warrant of the said Court of Directors from My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble Servant Sic Subscribitur John Shaw P. To the Right Honourable the Viscount of Seafield Secretary of State for the Kingdom of Scotland The Secretary's Answer Whitehall Decemb. 13. 1698. SIR I Received a Letter from you as President of a Committee of the East-India Company which relates to Accounts they have had from their Correspondent at Hamburgh with the Copys of two Letters they have received I shall take the first convenient Opportunity I can have to represent this Matter to the King But I cannot as yet expect to have it for his Majesty is very much imploy'd in the Affairs of his Parliament here This is all the Answer I can give at present and which you may signify to those concerned I am SIR Your most faithful and humble Servant Sic Subscribitur SEAFIELD To Sir John Shaw of Greenock c. A Letter from the President of the Court of Directors in answer to the Secretary Edinburgh Jan. 13. 1699. My Lord SIR John Shaw of Greenock having some time ago signified to the Court of Directors of our Company the Contents of a Letter which he received from your Lordship bearing date at Whitehall the 13th of December last intimating that your Lordship would take the first convenient opportunity of representing to his Majesty the Company 's Petition with relation to the Parliament's Address as also the Contents of the Company 's Letter to your Lordship bearing date the 24th of November last But in respect we have not all this time heard any further from your Lordship concerning that Matter this is by order of the said Court of Directors to put your Lordship in mind of the Premisses not doubting but you have had before this time a convenient opportunity to represent the same to his Majesty and in expectation of your Lordship's speedy and satisfactory Answer I remain My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble Servant Sic Subscribitur Archibald Mure. To the Right Honourable the Viscount of Seafield Secretary of State The Secretary's Answer Whitehall Febr. 7. 1699. SIR I Have presented to his Majesty the Petition of the African Company and I am commanded by him to let you know That there being accounts that the Ships belonging to the Company are arriv'd upon the Coast of America And the particular Design not being communicated to his Majesty he therefore does delay to give any Answer until he receive certain Information of their Settlement This you may signify to the Council or Directors of the Company as being by his Majesty's Command I am To Sir Archibald Mure of Thornton c. SIR Your most humble Servant Sic subscribitur Seafield A Letter from the Company to his Majesty giving an Account of their Colony's arrival at Darien May it please Your Majesty WE your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful Subjects the Council General of the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies having by express receiv'd an Account from the Council of our Company 's Colony in America that they arriv'd safe at their intended Port within a League of Golden Island on the Coast of Darien and after having treated on board of our Ships with the Natives who were always own'd to be the only Proprietors of that part of the Coast our Men did at the request and with the consent of the said Natives land on the 4 th of November last and take possession of an uninhabited Place never before possess'd by any European whatsoever and that in pursuance of the said Treaty the chief Men and Leaders of the said Natives have join'd with and taken Commission from the said Council We thought it our Duty at our very first Meeting to give your Majesty an account thereof and likewise that by Letters from our said Council bearing date at New Edinburgh in Caledonia being the Name given to our present Settlement the 28th day of December last we are positively informed that the French have a Design upon all that Coast or at least to make a Settlement somewhere thereabouts And we humbly conceive that the firm Settlement of our Colony in those Parts may be the means of preventing or at least lessening the evil Consequences that may arise to your Majesty's Kingdoms and Dominions every where by the Settlement of any powerful foreign Neighbour in upon or near any part of that Coast. And we are always bound thankfully to acknowledg your Majesty's Goodness for granting us these Privileges mentioned in the Acts of Parliament and your Majesty's Letters Patent by which our said Company is established So we do now in all humility confidently expect your Majesty's Royal Favour and Protection as having in all the Steps of our Conduct through the whole Course of this Affair strictly observed the Conditions required by the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent And referring this together with the Contents of our last Petition to your Majesty's Royal Consideration to give such Directions therein as to your Royal Wisdom shall seem meet and expedient This is in Name Presence and by Warrant of the said Council-General Signed by May it please Your Majesty Your Majesty's most faithful most dutiful most humble and most obedient Subject and Servant Sic-Subscribitur Tweeddale Edinburgh the 31st day of March 1699. The Company 's Letter to the Lord Carmichael Secretary of State My Lord THIS being the first Opportunity that we have had to address your Lordship since your Advancement to that eminent Station and Place of Trust wherein you are We must account it a Happiness that upon Receipt of the late welcome News from our Colony's Company in America we can transmit an Account thereof to his Majesty by the hands of one so much devoted to the Honour and Interest of our Country and Company as your Lordship has upon all Occasions shewn your self and who being often Witness to our Company 's Proceedings from time to time can give a juster Account thereof than any other that has no Interest in our Stock nor has ever been amongst us Inclosed you have our Council-General's seal'd Letter to his Majesty which we doubt not your Lordship will carefully deliver together with an exact Copy thereof for your Lordship 's better Information to which we refer but shall for your further Information enlarge a little upon the several Heads therein mention'd As to our place of Settlement it is so
thereon depending and Vice-Admiral of the same A PROCLAMATION WHEREAS his most Excellent Majesty having received Advice that several Ships of Force fitted out in Scotland were arrived at the Island of St. Thomas with an Intention as they declared to settle themselves in some parts of America Least the same should derogate from the Treaties his Majesty has entred into with the Crown of Spain or be otherwise prejudicial to any of his Majesty's Colonies in the West-Indies his Majesty has been pleased to signify his Royal Pleasure to me That I should strictly forbid all his Majesty's Subjects or others inhabiting within the Districts of my Government holding any Corespondence with or giving any Assistance to any of the said Persons while they are engaged in the foresaid Enterprize and that no Provision Arms Ammunition or other Necessaries whatsoever be carried to them from thence nor be carried either in their own Vessels or any other Ships or Vessels for their use In observance therefore of his Majesty 's said Royal Will and Pleasure I have thought fit by and with the Advice of his Majesty's Council of this Province to charge and command and do hereby charge and command all and every of his Majesty's Subjects and others within this Province and Territories thereon depending that they forbear holding any Corespondence with or giving any Assistance to any Person or Persons who have been fitted out of Scotland in manner aforesaid and are said to have settled in a certain place in the West-Indies by 'em call'd Caledonia or to enter into any Trafsick or Commerce with them or any of them And that no Provisions Arms Ammunition or other necessaries whatsoever be transported or carried unto them from this Province or any part thereof either in their own Vessels or any other Ship or Vessel for their Use. Of which all his Majesty's Subjects and others within this Province are hereby required to take due notice and conform themselves accordingly as they will answer their acting hereunto under the utmost Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as are by Law in such cases provided And the Officers of his Majesty's Customs and all other his Majesty's Officers are hereby also required to take effectual care that his Majesty 's said Royal Will and Pleasure in all and every of the Premises be duly observed and kept as they will answer the contrary at their Peril Given at the Council Chamber in Boston the third day of June 1699. in the eleventh year of his Majesty's Reign By Order of his Excellency and Council I. Addington Secr. BELLONONT God save the King Boston Printed by Bartholomew Green and John Allen Printers to his Excellency the Governour and Council Edinburgh Reprinted exactly according to the Originals Anno 1699. A second Proclamation published in Barbadoes against the Scots Company and Colony Barbadoes By his EXCELLENCY WHEREAS his Majesty has been pleased to signify his Pleasure to me by Mr. Secretary Vernon That he hath been advised that several Ships of Force are arrived at the Island of Cairat near Darien from Scotland with an intentention to settle themselves their Design being unknown to his Majesty and least the same should derogate from the Treaties his Majesty hath entred into with the Crown of Spain or be otherwise prejudicial to any of his Majesty's Colonies in the West-Indies These are therefore in his Majesty's Name by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council strictly to command all his Majesty's Subjects inhabiting within this Island that they forbear holding any Correspondence with or giving any Assistance to the said Persons and that no Provision Arms Ammunition or other Necessaries whatsoever be carried to them as they shall answer the same at their peril Given under my hand the 5th day of September 1699. and in the eleventh year of his Majesty's Reign R. Gray Reprinted at Edinburgh exactly according to the Originals 1699. The Council-General of the Indian and African Company 's Petition to his Majesty May it please Your Majesty WE your Majesty's most dutiful Subjects The Council General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies do in all humble duty beg leave to lay before your Majesty the present Condition of your our Affairs Your Majesty from an earnest desire of the flourishing of your Antient Kingdom having been graciously pleased by the 32d Act of the 4th Session and by the 8th Act of the 5th Session of this current Parliament and your Majesty's Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom following thereupon to authorize the setling of Plantations and Colonies in Asia Africa or America by the Natives of this Kingdom and such others as should joyn with them as in the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent is more part cularly express'd We and our Constituents Your Majesty's most Loyal Subjects did upon the faith and encouragement of the said Acts and Letters Patent enter into a Society erect a Company of Trade and with great Charge and after many Difficulties settled a Plantation on the Northside of the Isthmus of Darien a place precisely in the terms of the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent And being sensible That as our Company had its Birth from your Majestys most Gracious Favour so it could not subsist but by your Royal Protection We did therefore in all humble manner petition your Majesty's High Commissioner and the Estates of Parliament assembled the 19th of July 1698. Upon which the Estates of Parliament did with great unanimity Address Your Majesty That you would in your Royal Wisdom be pleased to take such Measures as might effectually vindicate the undoubted Rights and Privileges of the said Company and support the Credit and Interest thereof That Session of Parliament ending before any Return could be had from your Majesty Reports have been spread by the Enemies of our Settlement as if our Company had not your Majesty's Protection And as an evidence thereof That Proclamations have been issued out in your Majesty's Name by your Governours in all the American Plantations not only to deprive our said Company and Colony of the friendly Assistance that might reasonably have been expected from our Neighbour Nation but also strictly forbiding all your Majesty's Subjects or others within these Plantations to enter into any Traffick or Commerce with the said Colony and that no Provisions Arms Ammunition or other Necessaries whatsoever should be transported or carried to them either in their own Vessels or any other Ship or Vessel for their use and that under the utmost Pains Penalties and Forfeitures mentioned in the said Proclamations Which Proceedings we have but too much reason to believe have been of fatal consequence to our Company and Colony and consequently to the Interest of all your Majesty's good Subjects in this Kingdom And we being fully persuaded that nothing could be so conducible for the support of our said Company and Colony in our present Circumstances as some special Testimonies and Evidences of your Royal
THE Original Papers AND LETTERS Relating to the Scots COMPANY Trading to Africa and the Indies From the Memorial given in against their taking Subscriptions at Hamburgh by Sir Paul Ricaut His Majesty's Resident there to Their last Address sent up to His Majesty in December 1699. Faithfully extracted from the Companies-Books Printed Anno 1700. The Original PAPERS and LETTERS c. THere having been a great deal printed and said of late concerning the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies and their Colony of Darien In order to obviate all Misrepresentations that may happen on either side in the Heat of Debate it is thought sit to publish the following Originals without any Reflection which will set that Matter in a true Light give the Publick full Information as to the Principal Matters of Fact and cannot justly be taken ill by any Person or Party whatever A MEMORIAL Given in to the Senate of the City of Hamburg in French Faithfully translated into English To their Magnificences the Burgo-Masters and to the Gentlemen Counsellors of this City of Hamburg WE the Under-Subscribers Ministers of His Majesty the King of Great Britain have upon the arrival of Commissioners from an Indian Company in Scotland represented at two several times to Your Magnificences and Lordships from the King our Master That His Majesty understanding that the said Commissioners endeavoured to open to themselves a Commerce and Trade in these Parts by making some Convention or Treaty with this City had commanded us most expresly to notifie to Your Magnificences and Lordships That if you enter into such Conventions with private Men his Subjects who have neither Credential Letters nor are any otherwise authoriz'd by His Majesty That His Majesty would regard such Proceedings as an Affront to his Royal Authority and that he would not fail to resent it Your Magnificences and Lordships had the Goodness to Answer us thereto by Your Deputy That you would no way enter into Commerce with the afore mentioned Commissioners nor encourage them in any Sort. Notwithstanding whereof we the Subscribers do see with Displeasure That without any regard to the Remonstrances made by us in the Name of His Majesty the Inhabitants of this City forbear not to make Conventions and Treaties with the said Commissioners who dare even erect a Publick Office to receive Subscribers as appears by the annexed Print And it is not very credible That Strangers could so openly enterprize Matters of such Importance without being supported by this Government Wherefore we make our just Complaints thereof to Your Magnificences and Lordships beseeching You in the Name of the King our Master to remedy in time that which is begun and to do it so effectually as to prevent any Consequences it may have capable to disturb the Friendship and good Correspondence which we would cultivate between England and the City of Hamburg We wait Your Magnificences and Lordships Answer in Writing to be transmitted to His Majesty our Master and we are Your Magnificences and Lordships most Humble Servants Paul Rycaut Resident for His Majesty the King of Great Britain in the City of Hamburg Cressett His Britannick Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary at the Courts of Lunnenburgh and Plenipotentiary at the Treaty of Pinenberg Done at Hamburg April 7. 1697. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please Your Majesty WHereas by the XXXII Act of the Fourth Session and by the VIII Act of the Fifth Session of Your Majesty's Currant Parliament as well as by Your Majesty's Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom This Company is establish'd with such Ample Priviledges as were thought most proper for encouraging both Natives and Foreigners to join in the Carrying on Supporting and Advancement of our Trade The most Considerable of the Nobility Gentry Merchants and whole Body of the Royal Borroughs have upon the Inducement and Publick Faith of Your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent contributed as Adventurers in raising a far more Considerable Joint-Stock than any was ever before raised in this Kingdom for any Publick Undertaking or Project of Trade what soever which makes it now of so much the more Universal a Concern to the Nation And for the better enabling us to accomplish the Ends of Your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patents we have in pursuance thereunto appointed certain Deputies of our own Number to transact and negotiate our necessary Affairs beyound Sea And at the same time to treat with such Foreigners of any Nation in amity with Your Majesty as may be inclinable to join with us for the Purposes aforesaid In the Prosecution of which Commission to our said Deputies vested with full Power and Authority according to Law we are a little surpriz'd to find to the great Hinderance and Obstruction of our Affairs that Your Majesty's Envoy to the Courts of Lunenburg and Resident at Hamburg have under Pretence of special Warrant from Your Majesty given in a Joint-subscrib'd Memorial to the Senate of Humburg expresly invading the Privileges granted to our Company by Your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent as by the herewith transmitted Copy may appear By the which Memorial we sustain great and manifest Prejudices since both the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburg are thereby contrary to the Law of Nations expresly threatned with Your Majesty's high Displeasure if they or either of them should countenance or joyn with us in any Treaty of Trade or Commerce whatsoever which deprives us of the Assistance which we had reason to expect from several Inhabitants of that City For Redress whereof we do in all Duty and Humility apply to Your Majesty not only for the Protection and Maintenance of our Privileges and Freedom of Trade but also for Reparation of Damages conform to Your Majesty's said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent And do further beg Leave humbly to represent to Your Majesty that tho' by the said Act of Parliament and Letters Patent we conceive our selves legally and sufficiently authorized to treat even with any Sovereign Potentate or Estate in Unity with Your Majesty for the Support and Advancement of our Trade yet we by our said Deputies have only treated with particular and private Merchants of the said City of Hamburg without ever making any the least Proposal to the Senate thereof And this we humbly conceive to be the natural Right and Privilege of all Merchants whatsoever even tho' we had wanted the Sanction of so solemn Laws And without some speedy Redress be had therein not only this Company but also all other individual Merchants of this Kingdom must from henceforward conclude that all our Rights and Freedom of Trade are and may be further by our Neighbours violently wrested out of our Hands We therefore to prevent the further evil Consequences of the said Memorial to our
to render the Senate and Inhabitants of the said City of Hamburg and all others with whom we have occasion to enter in Commerce secure from the Threatnings and other false Suggestions mentioned in the said Memorial as well as to render us secure under Your Majesty's Protection in the free Enjoyment of our Lawful Rights and Privileges contained in Your Majesty's Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent above mentioned Sign'd at Edinburgh the 22d Day of Decemb. 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council General by May it please Your Majesty Your Majesty's most Faithful most Dutiful most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant Sic subscribitur Fran. Scott Pr. To the Right Houourable the Lord High Chancellor and remanent Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council The humble Representation of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies May it please your Lordships 'T Is not unknown to your Lordships how that in several successive Sessions of this current Parliament His Majesty's Instructions to His respective High Commissioners and their several Speeches pursuant thereunto have been full of repeated Assurances of His Majesty's good Inclinations for encouraging the Trade and Manufactures of this Nation And whereas accordingly by the 32d Act of the 4th Session and the 8th Act of the 5th Session of the said Parliament together with His Majesty's Letters Patent under the great Seal of this Kingdom our Company is establish'd with such ample Privileges and Immunities as were thought most proper for encouraging both Natives and Foreigners to joyn in the carrying on supporting and advancement of our Trade We have in pursuance and upon publick Faith thereof not only contributed at home a far more considerable Joint-Stock than ever was raised before in this Nation for any publick Undertaking or Project of Trade whatsoever but have also had all the promising Hopes and Prospect of Foreign Aid that our Hearts could wish till to our great surprize the English Ministers at Hamburgh have under pretence of Special Warrant from His Majesty put a stop thereto by giving in a Memorial to the Senate of that City threatning both Senate and Inhabitants with the King 's utmost Displeasure if they should countenance or joyn with us in any Treaty of Trade and Commerce As by the annexed Copy thereof may appear Upon due Consideration whereof we have in all Duty and Humility address'd His Majesty in June last for redress thereof In answer to which Address His Majesty was then graciously pleased to signifie by His Royal Letter That upon His return into England He would take into Consideration the Contents of our said Address And that in the mean time He would give Orders to His said Ministers at Hamburgh not to make use of His Royal Name or Authority for obstructing the Trade of our Company with the Inhabitants of that City In the full assurance of which we rested secure and took our Measures accordingly till to our further Surprize and unspeakable Prejudice we found by repeated Advices from Hamburgh that the said Resident continues still Contumacious and is so far from due Obedience to His Majesty's said Order that upon Application made to him by our Agent in that City with all the Respect due to his Character he declared That as yet he had got no such Order on our behalf Which by a further Address we are now to lay before His Majesty But whereas we humbly concelve your Lordships to be more immediately under His Majejesty the Guardians of the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom we think it our Duty to represent to Your Lordships the Consequences of the said Memorial both with relation to our Company in particular and the Privileges Interest Honour Dignity and Reputation of the Nation in general Your Lordships very well know of what Concern the Success of this Company is to the whole Kingdom and that scarce any particular Society or Corporation within the same can justly boast of so unanimous a Suffrage or Sanction as the Acts of Parliament by which this Company is established So that if effectual means be not taken for putting an early stop to such an open and violent Infringement of and Encroachment upon the Privileges of so solemn a Constitution 't is hard to guess how far it may in after Ages be made use of as a Precedent for invading and overturning even the very Fundamental Rights Natural Liberties and indisputable Independency of this Kingdom which by the now open and frequent Practises of our unkind Neighbours seem to be too shreudly pointed at And should this Company wherein the most considerable of the Nobility Gentry Merchants and whole Body of the Royal Boroughs are concern'd be so unhappy which God forbid as to have its Designs rendred unsuccessful through the unaccountable evil Treatments of our said Neighbours most certain it is that no Consideration whatever can thereafter induce this Nation to join in any such other Publick tho' never so advantageous Undertaking as not doubting but to meet with the like or greater Discouragements from those who give such frequent and manifest Indications of their Designs to wrest our Right and Freedom of Trade out of our Hands For which cause we humbly offer tbe Premises to your Lordship's Consideration not doubting but you will in your profound Wisdom and Prudence take such effectual Measures for redress thereof at present and to prevent the like Encroachments for the future as may be capable to remove those Apprehensions and Jealousies which the bare-faced and avowed Methods of the English do now suggest not only to our Company in particular but even to the whole Body of this Nation in general Sign'd at Edinburgh the 22d Day of December 1697 in Name Presence and by Order of the said Council-General by May it please Your Lordships Your Lordship 's most Obedient and most humble Servant Sic Subscribitur Fran. Scott Pr. The Answer by the two Secretaries of State to the President of the Company Kensington Jan. 17. 1697 8. SIR WE presented this Day to the King the Address of the African Company We could not have Opportunity to do it sooner His Majesty being so much taken up at this time The King said That he had already given Orders to his Resident at Hamburg in that Matter conform to his Letter he wrote from Flanders in July last which was Communicated to the Company We are SIR Your Humble Servants Sic subscribitur Tullibardin Ja. Ogilvie To Sir FRANCIS SCOTT of Thirlestane To his Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the States of Parliament The Humble Petition of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies Sheweth THat whereas the Wisdom of the King and this present Parliament has thought fit by two several solemn Acts and Letters Patent under the Great Seal of this Kingdom to establish our Company with such Powers Privileges and Immunities as were thought needful
to encourage any such new Undertaking in this Nation particularly to raise a Joint-Stock in such manner as we should think fit And for that end to enfranchise such Foreigners as would become Partners with us and to enter into Treaties of Commerce with any in Amity with His Majesty for that effect c. Those of our Number who were then intrusted with the Management thereof did think it most Natural to make the first Offer of sharing our said Privileges with our Country men and other Neighbours in England as living under the same Monarchy And they not only readily embraced the Offer but in nine Days time subcribed 300000 Sterling as the one half of the Capital Stock then proposed and actually paid in the first fourth Part thereof part in Specie part in Bank-Notes and the rest in Notes payable upon demand That both Houses of the Parliament of England taking umbrage at those Proceedings did not only jointly Address His Majesty for frustraring the Ends of the said Act but the House of Commons did also appoint a Committee to examine What Methods were taken for obtaining the said Act of Parliament here for establishing our Company who were the Subscribers thereto and who were the Promoters and Advisers thereof with Power to send for Persons Papers and Records pursuant to which the said Committee gave Orders to summon not only the English Subscribers but even some Persons then residing in Scotland as by the said Address Votes of the House of Commons and Copy of the said Summons may appear by all which together with some other Measures then taken Our Friends in England were to our great Loss Disappointment and Retardment forced to relinquish c. That notwithsranding of that Discouragement not only most of the Nobility Gentry Merchants and the whole Body of the Royal Boroughs have upon the Inducement and Publick Faith of the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent contributed as Adventurers in raising a far more Considerable Joint-Stock than any was ever before rais'd in this Kingdom for any Publick Undertaking or Project of Trade whatsoever which makes it now of so much the more universal a Concern to the Nation but we have also had all the promising Hopes of Forreign Aid that our Hearts could wish especially at Hamburgh where the Marchants of that City entred into Contract with our Deputees to joyn at least 200000 Sterling with us till to our great Surprize and Loss the English Ministers there did under Pretence of Special Warrant from His Majesty put a Stop thereto by giving in a Memorial to the Senate of that City not only disowning the Authority of the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patents but also threatning both Senate and Inhabitants with the Kings outmost Displeasure if they should countenance or joyn with us in any Treaty of Trade or Commerce as by the annexed Copies thereof in French and English may appear which Memorial We humbly pray may for the better Information of your Grace and Right Honourable Estates be also read in Parliament That after the said Memorial was by the Senate transmitted to the Commercij or Body of Merchants of that City they to assert their own Freedom did advise and prevail upon our Deputees and Agents who were there for the time to open Books in the said Merchants Hall where for some Days they sign'd considerableSumms pursuant to their said Contract though under Condition to be void if we should not procure some Declaration from the King that might render them secure from the Threatnings and other Insinuations contained in the said Memorial And to our great Disappointment thus the Case stands in suspence between them and us to this Day That as the reasonable nay and unquestionable Prospect which we had of a powerful Assistance from Hamburg and several other Places if not obstructed as aforesaid induced us to propose a far greater Equipage at first than otherwise we would have done so the rendring of those Measures abortive has not only weakened our Stock lessened our Credit retarded our first Expedition and dishheartned many of our Partners at Home but even also shackled our Resolutions and Power from prosecuting at present several other Branches of Foreign and Domestick Trades and Improvements which we had in view if we had not met with such Obstructions and Discouragements from time to time That though our Company is more immediately and sensibly touched in many Respects by such Proceedings than any other yet we humbly conceiving also that the Honour and Independency of the Nation as well as the Authority and Credit of the Parliament is struck at through our sides we could not as Country-Men and in Duty to that collective Power which gave our Company first a Being but inform his Grace His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the Estates of Parliament of the Premises to the end that the great Council of the Nation now assembled whom God Almighty direct may do therein as they in their profound Wisdom and Discretion shall think fit That as to what thereof concerns our Company in particular we shall humbly beg leave to suggest further that our Ships being now at Sea on their intended Voyage the former Treatment which our Company met with in England and elsewhere may give us too just Grounds to suspect that if either through multiplicity of Publick Affairs or otherwise howsoever Your Grace and Right Honourable Estates of Parliament should neglect the taking present Notice of such Usage the Enemies of our Company would be thereby encouraged either directly or indirectly to pursue their former Designs of ruining if possible all our Measures May it therefore please your Grace and the Right Honourable the Estates of Parliament to take the Premises into your most serious Consideration to vindicate our Company 's Reputation Abroad by supporting the Credit of the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent by which the same is established and wherein the Honour of the Nation is so much concerned to take effectual Measures as the said Act provides for repairing the great Loss and Damages which we have already sustained thro' the unawarrantable Treatment above mention'd as well as for preventing the like for the future and withal to continue us the Privileges and Exemptions mentioned in the said Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent sor some longer time in Consideration of the time already elapsed without Execution and our Stock lying dead without Improvement by Reason of the Obstructions aforesaid Sign'd at Edinburgh the 22d Day of July 1698. in Name and Presence of the said Council-General by Sic subscribitur Basil Hamilton J. P. C. G. An Address to his Majesty by the Parliament thereupon WE your Majesty's most loyal and faithful Subjects The Noblemen Barons and Burgesses conveened in Parliament humbly represent to your Majesty That having considered a Representation made to us by the Council-General of the Company Trading to Africa and the Indies making mention of several Obstructions