A DISCOURSE WRITTEN BY Sr George Downing The KING of Great Britain's Envoyee Extraordinary to the States of the united-provinces.  
VINDICATING His Royal Master from the Insolences of a Scandalous Libel, Printed under the Title of [An Extract out of the Register of the State's General of the United Provinces, upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing Envoyée, etc.] And delivered by the Agent de Heyde for such, to several Public Ministers:  
WHEREAS No such Resolution was ever Communicated to the same Envoyée, nor any Answer at all Returned by Their Lordships to the said Memorial.  
LONDON, Printed by J. M. Anno Domini, 1664.   

A DISCOURSE Written by Sir George Downing, the King of Great Britain's Envoyée Extraordinary to the States of the United Provinces, etc.  
THE Envoyée Extraordinary of His most Sacred Majesty of Great Britain, etc. having lately seen a certain Paper entitled, [An Extract out of the Register of the Resolutions of the High and Mighty Lords Estates General of the United Provinces, upon the Memorial of Sir George Downing, Envoy Extraordinary from the King of Great Britain,] did not at all think it fit for him to take any notice thereof, but to pass it by as a Pamphlet, (of which sort there come out too many here every day:) in regard that no such Resolution had been communicated to Him by their Lordships, nor any one word given him in Answer to his said Memorial: And he had accordingly past it by, without taking any notice thereof, had he not since by accident been informed by several Public Ministers residing here, that the said pretended Resolution had been brought to them by the Agent de Heyde; Whereupon he now holds Himself obliged to Complain in most serious terms to their Lordships the Estates General of the United Provinces, of this strange and irregular way of proceeding; That while he is Residing here on the behalf of the King his Master: Papers, in form of Answers to his Memorials, should be given to other Public Ministers, here and elsewhere, and sent all over the World, and yet concealed from Him; and thereby neither opportunity of being convinced, if any thing of reason should have been said therein, nor on the contrary of vindicating the Honour and Justice of the King his Master in what he is therein unjustly charged and defamed withal.  
Suppose that he the said Envoy Extraordinary, should have proceeded in that manner, and have given the Memorial (to which the said Paper is a Reply) to all Public Ministers residing here; and have sent it to all Courts abroad, and should have Printed, and exposed it to the view of the World, without giving it to their Lordships, what would they have thought thereof? and what might have been expected that they would have said to it? Can their Lordships imagine that this way of acting doth tend any way to the Justifying of their Cause, as to the working of better impressions concerning the same in the minds of those Public Ministers, or their Masters? Or rather, that they must be exceedingly scandalized thereat, as looking more like a Surprise of them and their Judgements, than otherwise; and considering that they may to morrow be dealt with in like manner, in relation to any Paper they may give in; and see the Affairs of their Masters traduced and defamed without any opportunity or possibility of clearing the same.  
And as to the Matter of the said Paper; Is it enough to say in general terms, That the said Memorial was ill grounded, or abusively informed, without particularising at all how, or wherein; or so much as excepting against any one word thereof, much less disproving the same.  
And again; If the things wherewith they are charged therein be true (as they both are, and must now be taken by all men to be, since nothing is made out by their Lordships to the contrary) To what purpose is the whole sequel of the said Paper? If it be true (as it is) That the Royal Master of the said Envoy was no sooner returned to His Kingdoms, but that he was immediately, and from day to day troubled and importuned with a Crowd of Complaints of His Subjects against those of this Country; all which notwithstanding, His Majesty did not grant any one Letter of Marque, nor betake himself to any way of force for the obtaining of their reparation and satisfaction; But in stead thereof, for an Everlasting memorial of his great kindness and good will towards this Country, and for the facilitating of the bringing to a Conclusion the late Treaty with them, (finding the Complaints and Pretensions of his Subjects to be so numerous and great,) was pleased after all to suffer very many of them, and those to a vast value, to be utterly mortified and extinguished; and the rest (except the business of the Ships Bonadventure, and Bon-Esperanza) after so much money and time had been already expended in the pursuit thereof, and many of them ready for a determination, to be put in a LIST, and proceeded upon anew according to the fifteenth Article thereof; no ways doubting, but that all possible speed would have thereupon been used in bringing the matter to an issue, and that for the future better order would have been observed towards His Subjects: But having waited now above 27 months since the Conclusion of the said Treaty; and in that time their Lordship's being continually called upon by His Said Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary, yea by His Majesty himself in several Audiences to their Ambassador; Yet so it is, that those matters are still so far from being ended, that in truth they seem to be now rather further from it then at the day of the signing of the said Treaty; and on the other side, new injuries daily heaped, and the same designs of the East and West-Indie-Companies carried on for the utter overthrow of all the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects in those parts of the world, as appeared by the business of the Ships Hopewell, Leopard, and other Ships in the East-Indies, and by the business of the Charles, James, Mary, Samson, Hopeful Adventurer, Speedwell, etc. upon the Coast of Africa: All which are matters happened since the Conclusion of the said Treaty. And after all this, and notwithstanding His Parliaments application to Him upon the account of His aggrieved Subjects, in so solemn and extraordinary a manner; His Majesty was yet so far from being inclined to any other than ways of accommodation, as that he did by a public Writing, or Declaration declare, That he would yet try what could be done by amicable endeavours at the Hague, before he would make use of any other means; (the which was also very well known to their Lordships) and did thereupon accordingly give orders to his Envoy Extraordinary to press them afresh: And further to make out his peaceable and moderate intentions, and to take off all umbrage from their Lordships, to let them know, (as accordingly he did in public Conferences with their Deputies) That His Majesty would not in any kind trouble their Fleets which they then expected from the straits, and East-Indies, nor their Fisheries upon His Coasts; Yea, further to put them out of all doubt, ordered a far less equipage of Shipping for the Summer-guard than had been known these many years; but all this was so far from working the desired and intended effect, as that on the contrary their Lordships betook themselves to Arms in an extraordinary manner, ordering the fitting out with all speed a great Fleet, and hundreds of Carpenters forthwith dispatched to work upon it night and day, (holy days as well as working days); whereby His Majesty seeing himself wholly defeated of His good intentions, and instead of satisfaction for His Subjects, braved and threatened with those equipages, which could have no other regard but upon Himself, was at last enforced for His own defence, (though very much contrary to His inclinations and intentions) to arm also.  
And whereas it may be pretended, as if their Lordship's having fitted Their Fleet, did desire that His Majesty would be pleased, (for avoiding of all inconveniences) to keep His Fleet within His Harbours, and that then they would keep in Theirs also; It is to be Considered, that This Proposition was not made until that they had actually put to Sea, a Fleet near as numerous as the whole that His Majesty was equipping, and which was actually gone towards His Coasts; so that this could not but be construed to be rather a mockery, then otherwise; for that thereby they had a Fleet at Sea to do what they pleased, and in the mean while His Majesty had tied His own hands and obliged Himself to keep within doors; but he was yet pleased to assure them, that His (if it did go out) should not do them the least Injury; still in the mean while pressing here at the Hague by His Minister and Himself urging their Ambassador at London, to hasten the dispatch of the matters in difference; And as a further testimony of His desires of living in good Correspondence with This Country, He did declare His willingness to enter into a Treaty for the better regulating of the Trade and Navigation of both, and the prevention of such disorders for the future; and for the quicker dispatch and ripening of so good a work, a project thereof was in His Name tendered to them long ago, and yet to this day not one word of answer thereupon.  
And if it be also true, (as it is) that their Lordships began the seizing of Ships in these Parts; stopping the Ship from Gottenburg bound for London, and though pressed again and again to set her at liberty, yet still retained her, and to this day not so much as a word of answer why or upon what account.  
These things being so, can there be any doubt who is the Attacquer or Aggressor, unless it must be held for a Maxim, That let their Lordships and Their Subjects deal with his aforesaid Majesty and His Subjects from time to time and from year to year as they please, yet they are not Attacquers or Aggressors; but if His Majesty or His Subjects, after never so many years' sufferings, and all amicable endeavours first tried to have obtained their satisfaction, without to this very day having been able to obtain it in any one of those numerous cases of piracy and violence committed by the people of This Country against them, whereof complaint hath been made from time to time unto their Lordships by His Majesty's Minister: If after all, any thing be▪ done by them towards the righting of themselves, his Majesty must be called and reputed the Attacquer and the Aggressor. Let their Lordships make out, That the complaints in the said Memorial are ungrounded, and His Majesty will yield unto them: but if otherwise, Who will think it strange if at last something be done towards the righting of them.  
And as to the Particulars mentioned in the said Paper to have been suffered by them from the English, though those matters have not been treated of between their Lordships and the said Envoy Extraordinary, but between the King his Master and their Ambassador at London, so that it is not properly his business to reply thereunto, but to refer them to that answer which his Majesty hath promised to give concerning the same; yet seeing their Lordships have been pleased not only to mention and insist thereupon in the aforesaid paper, but indeed to say nothing else by way of answer to the complaints in his Memorial, he cannot but say thus much thereunto.  
That the Places and Ships said to be taken from them, were all belonging to the West-Indie-Company of this Country and nothing complained of in the paper to have been taken from them belonging to any else of These Countries And when it shall be considered, that in the LIST of Damages alone, there appears to have been near twenty English Ships successively, within a very few years before the conclusion of the late Treaty, taken in a hostile manner upon the Coast of Africa, only by the Shipping of the said West-Indie-Company, with their whole Lading, to a very great value; and not only so, but the men that belonged to;; them, very many of them most barbarously and inhumanly treated; put into stinking nasty dungeons, and holes at Casteldelmina, there to lie in the midst of their own excrements, nothing but bread and water given them, and thereof not enough to sustain Nature, their Bodies tortured with exquisite and horrid tortures; and when any of them died, the living and the dead left together, and such as escaped, turned out to perish by hunger, or wild beasts in those miserable Countries, or to be carried away Captives by the Natives; by which means, several hundreds of his Majesty's good Subjects have perished and been destroyed: And to this hour, notwithstanding all solicitations and endeavours, not one penny of satisfaction given to the persons concerned in any of the said Ships; And ever since the Conclusion of the said Treaty, Ships of War have been kept by the said Company upon the said Coasts; which though they have not proceeded so far as to take more of the Shipping of his majesty's Subjects, yet they have done that which is equivalent, and as ruinous to that Trade; stopping and hindering every one that they met withal from all Commerce, and to that effect pursuing them in an hostile manner from place to place: And wherever any English anchored by them, hindering and shooting at, and taking by force, with their Lading, all Boats of the Natives that endeavoured to come aboard them, and their Boats that would go on shore; yea, depriving them of so much as any provision or refreshment of fresh water (as appears by the Complaints made by the said Envoy Extraordinary from time to time to their Lordship's concerning the same): And publishing a Declaration in the name as well of the State's General, as of the said Company, wherein they deduce their right to that whole Coast, to the exclusion of all other Nations; And notwithstanding all Complaints to their Lordships, neither the said Declaration disavowed, nor any thing of Satisfaction given, but still new Complaints coming, and among others, that of their having stirred up the King of Fantine by rewards and sums of money given him to that end; and supplying him with all sorts of Arms and Ammunition for the surprise of his majesty's Castle at Cormantine in those parts; concerning which also Proofs have been since given to their Lordships by the said Envoy Extraordinary, so that there was an absolute necessity imposed upon his Majesty and his Subjects, either of losing all that had been actually taken from them, and withal abandoning for ever that Trade itself, or otherwise of betaking themselves to some other ways for their relief. And it will rather be thought strange that their patience did hold out so long, then that now at last something should be done, towards the righting of themselves.  
Besides, as to the business of Capo Corco, did not the said Envoy Extraordinary long ago complain in the name, and by Order of the King his Master, in Public Conferences both with the Deputies of their Lordships the Estates General, and also with those of Holland in particular, of the injurious possessing and keeping of that place by those of the said West-Indie-Company, deducing and remonstrating at large his Masters Right thereunto, the ground having been bought by His Subjects, of the King of That Country for a valuable consideration, and a Lodge or Factory built thereupon; and those of the West-Indie-Company of this Country being got into the possession of the place, merely by fraud and treachery; but no reflection made thereupon by their Lordships, much less any hopes given of ever obtaining any restitution thereof from them. And indeed, if His Majesty had not been able to rescue out of their hands the least Boat, or pennyworth of Goods since His return to His Kingdoms, (concerning which) complaint had been made by His Envoy Extraordinary, of its being forceably taken by them from His Subjects,) what hopes of their quitting to him any such place, especially remembering that business of the Island of Poleroon in the East-Indies, which hath been a restoring by them ever since the year 1622. at which time it was by solemn and particular Treaty promised to be done; and again, by another Treaty, in the year 1654. and by Orders of the Estates General and East-Indie-Company of this Country, in the year 1661. and again, by Treaty in the year 1662. and yet to this day we know nothing of its being delivered; and can it be thought strange, if invited thereunto by the King of the said Country, that His Majesty should after so fair warning condescend to suffer His Subjects to endeavour to repossess themselves thereof?  
And as to the business of New-Netherland (so called) this is very far from being a surprise, or any thing of that nature, it being notoriously known, that That spot of Land lies within the limits, and is part of the possession of His Subjects of New England, (as appears most evidently by their Charter) and that those few Dutch that have lived there, have lived there merely upon connivance and sufferance, and not as having any right thereunto; and that this hath from time to time, and from year to year been declared unto them, but yet so as that the English were contented to suffer them to remain there, provided they would demean themselves peaceably and quietly; but that the said Dutch, not contenting themselves therewith, did still endeavour to encroach further and further upon the English, imposing their Laws and Customs, and endeavouring to raise Contributions and Excises upon them, and in places where no Dutch were or had ever been; Whereupon they have formerly been necessitated several times to send Soldiers for the repelling of them.  
And as to what is said in the said Paper, as if though the English should formerly have had any pretence to the said place, that yet the said pretence is cut off by the fifteenth Article of the late Treaty; To this he doth Reply, That That Article doth only cut off matters of Piracies, Robberies, and Violence, but as to the Rights and Inheritances of Lands and Jurisdictions, that it doth not at all concern or intermeddle with the same. And that this is so, there needs no other Argument but the producing of several Examples out of their own Courts of Justice, whereby it will appear that indeed as to the Plundering and Taking of Ships, or the like, that all such causes (if happened before the time limited in the said Treaty) did cease upon the Conclusion thereof; but as to such as were then depending concerning the Inheritances of Lands, that they have still continued to be pursued: As for Example, the Case of Sir Thomas Lower, an English Man, for certain Lands claimed by him in Zealand. Besides, those of New Neatherlands, had since the Conclusion of the Late Treaty, made new Incursions upon the English, and given them many new Provocations, and by their Charters they have Jura Belli within Themselves, without Appealing first into Europe; And if after all this, his Majesty hath suffered them according thereunto to rescue themselves from such continued Vexations and Mischiefs; Can Any Prince think it strange, or be surprised thereat, much less the most Christian King? (For whose Satisfaction this Paper seems to be more particularly Calculated:) Whereas He hath been pleased this very same year, to Order or Suffer (with his Privity) His Subjects to Repossess themselves in like manner by Force and Arms, of a certain Place called Cayenne, which they pretend to have been wrongfully possessed and kept from them by the same West Indie Company.  
And as to the business of Cabo Verde, and the taking of their Ships, and what else is alleged to have been done in those parts (except that of Cabo-Corco:) 'Twas but in the month of June last, that the first Complaint was made thereof to his Majesty, and did he not immediately return for Answer, That he had given no Order or Direction to Captain Holmes, the Person complained of, for the doing thereof; That he did expect him Home very speedily, and that upon his Return, he would cause those matters to be Examined, and Right to be done them, and the Offenders punished? And did not the said Envoy Extraordinary upon the Twenty Seventh day of July last deliver a Memorial to them to the like Effect? And could more be said or done for their Satisfaction? Yea could their Lordships▪ Themselves within their own Countries demand more of any of their Schepens, or most Inferior Court of Justice? And doth not the Fourteenth Article of the Late Treaty say in express Terms, that In case any thing should happen upon the Coast of Africa, either by Sea or Land, that Twelve months' time shall be given after Complaint, for the doing of Justice; Yet did they not within about Six or Seven weeks after; Resolve to send a Considerable Fleet of Theirs into those Parts, to the Number of Ten Men of War (besides the Ships of the said West-Indie Company,) under the Command of one Van Campen, and strengthened with a Considerable Body of their Milice, under the Command of one Hertsberg? And did they not within about Six or Seven Weeks after that▪ put a Resolution into the hands of the said Envoy Extraordinary by their Agent de Heyde, and about the same time give it to the King, his Master by their Ambassador at London, Denoting and Containing the Instruction given to the said Van Campen?  
And whereas they are pleased to Compliment His most Christian Majesty in the said Paper, as if upon his score in hopes of the good Effects of his good Offices for the Accommodating of Matters, and for the making their Cause the more clear, they had hitherto forborn the Proceeding against his Majesty's Subjects as they might have done: Is it not therein expressly Declared and set Down, that That Force was not sent thither barely to Defend what they had, and to take Care that nothing more should be Attempted upon them; but in down right Terms, to Attack and Fall upon His Majesty's Subjects, and to Carve out their own Satisfaction and Reparation; and to pass by his door's for the doing thereof? And that, Seconded and Backed with another Great Fleet under their Chief Sea Officers; An Affront and Indignity too great for the Name of King to Suffer, and Digest without Just Resentment.  
And moreover, whereas their Lordships had lately invited his Majesty of Great Britain, and other Christian Princes to send Fleets into the Mid-land-Sea to Act Jointly against those Barbarians; And that he did accordingly Declare unto them (in Writing, and by his Envoy Extraordinary,) his Intentions of Sending, and that his Fleet should Act Junctis Consiliis with theirs; Yet so it is, that while it was Acting there, Pursuant thereunto, and in Expectation of being Seconded and Appuyed by theirs, according to their Promise, De Ruyther was on a sudden Commanded thence.  
And whereas their Lordships would make the World believe that they had Proceeded with such Singular and Extraordinary Franchise, and Clearness towards his said Majesty, in Communicating their Intentions and Designs (as abovesaid;) Yet, Is it not evident that the said Orders must have been given to De Ruyther much about the same time?  
And though Sir John Lawson, and his Majesty's Fleet happened to be in the same Port with De Ruyther, when he quitted those Parts; yet neither did he in the least impart unto him his Intentions of quitting the same, or whither he was going; and though the King of Great Britain hath since, several times pressed their Ambassador at London to be Informed whither he was gone, and upon what account, yet to this day his Majesty hath not been able to obtain any Satisfaction or Assurance concerning that matter; Whereupon, and all other Circumstances being laid together, He hath Just Reason to suppose and believe, that he is sent, and employed against Him; And that while his Majesty was continuing (according to common Consert and Agreement between them,) his Fleet against the Common Enemies of the very Name of CHRISTIAN, and at a season, when it more than ordinarily becomed every one to show something of their Zeal against them; Theirs is called off and turned against him: Nor is it to be imagined that De Ruythers Instructions, which are Concealed, should be more Favourable than those which were Avowed to be given to Van Campen.  
And is it then to be wondered, that his Majesty shows himself a little Concerned? Or is it now to be doubted, who is the Attacquer, or Aggressor? And if De Ruyther is in one part of the World, making War against him, what is to be said against it, if his Majesty not having at this time in those Parts a suitable Force to Resist him, doth make use of what he hath nearer home to endeavour to secure himself, or to get something of theirs into his hands? Doth either Common Right, or His Majesty's Treaty with This Country oblige to seek Satisfaction only in that part of the World where the Injury is done; and so doth that at all alter the Case, because that their Forces acting against Him out of Europe, His do something against Them, in Europe?  
His Majesty hath been very far from beginning with them in any Part of the World, but if at this time they are Actually with a Considerable Fleet of the Estates falling upon Him, and his Subjects; and He hath thereupon given Order to the stopping of some of their Ships in These Parts; Will not all the World Justify His Majesty herein? And when withal, Themselves also began the stopping of Ships in These Parts, and that he hath all those reasons of Complaint against them above mentioned.  
Given at the Hague, this 16. of December, 1664. G. Downing.  
FINIS.