A DECLARATION OF HIS HIGHNES, By the Advice of HIS COUNCIL; Setting forth, On the behalf of this Commonwealth, the Justice of their Cause Against SPAIN.  

Friday the 26. of October, 1655.  
ORdered by His Highness the Lord Protector, and the Council, That this Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published.  
Hen: Scobel, Clerk of the Council.   
EDINBURGH, Re-printed by Christopher Higgins, in Harts-Close, over against the Trone-Church. MDCLV.   

A Declaration of His Highness, by the Advice of His Council; Setting forth, on the behalf of this commonwealth, the Justice of their Cause Against SPAIN.  
THE Just and most Reasonable Causes and Grounds of Our late enterprise upon some Islands, possessed by the Subjects of the King of Spain in the West-Indies, are very obvious to any that shall reflect upon the posture wherein the said King and his People have always stood, in relation to the English Nation in those parts of America, which hath been no other then a continual state of open War and Hostility; at the first most unjustly begun by them, and ever since in like sort continued and prosecuted, contrary to the Common Right and Law of Nations, and the particular Treaties between England and Spain.  
It is true indeed, That of late Years the English have for the most part been Patients, and upon the Defensive onely, which may possibly occasion some to look upon the late Expedition into the West-Indies, as an Entrance into a new War, and not, as it was indeed, the prosecution of a War already in being, and still( notwithstanding all Endeavours on the part of this State, for settling a firm Peace and friendly Commerce in those parts) obstinately continued and carried on by the Spaniards; who, as oft as they have opportunity, without any just Cause or Provocation at all, cease not to kill and slaughter, nay, sometimes in could Blood, to murder the People of this Nation, spoiling their Goods and Estates, destroying their Colonies and Plantations, taking also their Ships( if they meet with any) upon those Seas, and using them in all things as Enemies, or rather as Rovers and pirates, for so they most injuriously and ignominiously brand all Nations( except themselves) which shall presume to sail upon those Seas, upon no other or better Right or Title, then that of the Popes Donation, and their first Discovering some parts of the West Indies; whereupon they would appropriate to themselves the sole Signiory of that New World; of which most absurd pretention, there will be occasion to speak more largely, when We come to consider the Causes why the Spaniards should think it reasonable for them to exercise all manner of Hostility in those parts against the English, in so far as to make such of them, as by stress of weather, shipwreck, or other like Casualty, are cast upon those Coasts, Prisoners, nay, Slaves; and yet to account it a great Injury, and Breach of the Peace( even here in Europe) for the English to attempt any thing upon them in those parts by way of Retaliation, and for their just Satisfaction.  
But although the King of Spain's ambassadors( emboldened upon the assurance of a prevalent Spanish Faction, always in the Council of the late King and his Father) have had the Confidence to make most ridiculous and irrational Complaints and Demands, upon any thing done in that kind by the English; yet would not the said Kings( though too much addicted to the Spaniards) ever tie their own Subjects hands, where the Spaniards held their hands to be loose, but suffered them to repel Force by Force, and to exercise Acts of Hostility in those parts against the Spaniards, who never would keep any Peace there; insomuch that about the Year One thousand six hundred and forty, when this Question was brought into debate before the Council of the late King, the Spanish Ambassador demanding the stop of certain Vessels then in the River, ready to set sail for America, with Commissions to exercise Acts of Hostility there against the Spaniards; And the English, upon a Demand made of Commerce in the West-Indies, by the Lords of the Council appointed for that Affair, being denied the same, they determined that the Ships should proceed in their Enterprizes, which they did accordingly.  
Thus far the late Kings owned their Subjects in the War they maintained in those parts, upon their private account, although through the prevalency of the fore-mentioned Spanish Faction, they would never afford them that public Protection which was due unto them, and which was suitable to the Honour and Interest of this Nation. And it would have been as Dishonourable and Unworthy for Us, who, through the goodness and providence of God, were so well furnished with Ships of War fit for Foreign Service, to have let them lye rotting at home, rather than to have employed them for the just Revenge of so much English( why may we not also say) Indian blood, so unjustly, so inhumanly, and so cruelly spilled by the Spaniards in those parts, Since God hath made of one Blood, all Nations of Men, for to dwell on all the face of the Earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; And certainly, at one time or another, by some hand or other, God will have an account of the Innocent Blood of so many Millions of Indians, so barbarously Butchered by the Spaniards, and of the Wrong and Jnjustice that hath been done unto them.  
But We shall have no need to have recourse unto the common Brotherhood between all mankind, which in some sort may interest them in the horrid, and enormous Injuries of each other, the blood and spoils of our own countrymen, being sufficient to warrant the late Expedition, besides the Consideration of Present Interest, and Future Security to this Nation, and all its allies, especially of the Protestant Religion, with sundry other Reasons and Motives, which were Inducements to that Undertaking, the which it is not Our business( at present) particularly to declare, but the Justice and warrantableness thereof; For the better cleared whereof, and manifesting what hath been already alleged in general, it will be necessary to cast our eyes a little back, and to take a view of the Transactions between England and Spain, and the state they have been in, with Relation to each other, since the Reformation of Religion, and the Discovery of the West-Indies; which two great Revolutions, happening near about the same time, did very much alter the State of Affairs in the World, especially in Relation to the English and Spanish Nations, who ever since have taken a Different, and almost a contrary Measure of their Interest, from what they did before. For, although the late King, and His Father, contrary to the Stream and Current of the Affections and Hearts of this Nation, patched up two Treaties of Peace with Spain; yet those New Principles, begotten through the Difference of Religion, and the continual Quarrels in the West-Indies, together with the Spaniards perpetual Jealousies of the English, in respect of his Treasure there, as they have rendered the late Endeavours of this Commonwealth Fruitless, as to the settling of a Firm Peace, upon Just and Honourable Terms, so were they the true Causes that induced Philip the Second King of Spain, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, to break that Ancient and long uninterrupted League, which this Nation had with his predecessors, both of the Burgundian and castilian Line, and entering into a War with the said Queen, to Design( and depending a Treaty of Peace) in the year One thousand five hundred eighty eight, to attempt a total Conquest of this Nation, which must needs ly close by English mens hearts, and will not easily out of their Mindes. And albeit there was after, a kind of Peace and Commerce in Europe( though never such a one, as that an English man durst own his Religion in the Spanish Dominions, or keep a Bible in his House or Ship) yet in the West-Indies the Spaniards would never since admit either of Peace or Commerce, notwithstanding that both are expressly accorded by the Treaty made between Henry the Eighth, King of England, and the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, in the year One thousand five hundred forty two, wherein Peace and free Commerce is agreed upon between the two States, and the Subjects of each Prince in all the Dominions, Ports, and Territories of each other whatsoever, without any exception of the West-Indies, though at that time in possession of the said Emperor.  
And as to the Article of Peace in all parts of the World; It is expressly contained in all the Treaties of Peace, that ever were between the two Nations; neither is there any restriction of Commerce in any Treaty before that of One thousand six hundred and four, whereunto the last Treaty, in the year One thousand six hundred and thirty, doth exactly agree, as to this matter. In which two last Treaties, Commerce is agreed in all and singular the Dominions of both States; In which, before the War between Philip the Second King of Spain, and Elizabeth Queen of England, there had been Commerce between the two Kingdoms, like and according to the use and observance of the Ancient Leagues and Treaties made before the said time: These are the words of the Treaties, which leave the matter doubtful, and so King James was contented to slubber up a Peace with Spain, when he resumed the Treaty, which was on foot a little before the death of Queen Elizabeth; and wherein, amongst other things, she gave her Commissioners Instructions to insist upon Commerce, and a Free Trade in the West-Indies.  
But King James( who was exceeding fond of a Peace with Spain) was content to leave that Point in such sort, as that either part might interpret the Article in their own sense; although if those words of The use and observance of the Ancient Leagues and Treaties are to be understood( as in Reason they ought) according to what of Right ought to have been observed, and not according to what in Fact was practised on the Spaniards part, in direct violation thereof,( which was continual matter of complaint on the part of the English, and of quarrel between the two Nation) it is very evident by the express words of the Ancient Treaties, That the English were to have Commerce, as well as Peace, in all the Spanish Dominions whatsoever.  
But if the measure of the Observance of the Ancient Leagues and Treaties, is to be taken from the manifest Violation and Infringement of them, the Spaniards may have some colour to interpret that Clause of the last Treaties, as restraining Commerce in those parts. And yet, for the first half of the time between the afore-mentioned Treaty 1542. and the breaking forth of the War between Queen Elizabeth and Philip the Second King of Spain, there appeareth as much in matter of Fact for the Permission, as for the Prohibition of Trade in those parts. And after, when the Spaniards utterly refused Commerce, the Exchange of wears was turned into the Enchange of Blows, and of Powder and Shot, as well before the War between Queen Elizabeth, and Philip the Second King of Spain, as after the pieces made by King James in the year 1604, and by his Son in the year 1630, yet so, as that it did not interrupt the Commerce in these parts of Europe; although now the King of Spain by his late Embargo, hath first interpnted the Quarrels of those parts, to extend unto these of Europe also.  
But We do not insist either upon the interpretation of the Treaties, or Right of Commerce thereby, or otherwise, as that whereon We have any need to state our Quarrel, it being founded upon Clear and Undisputable Grounds, as We shall presently declare; yet such things as may not be so necessary Causes whereupon to found and begin a War, may be reasonable Impediments to the concluding of a Peace, or at least to the renewing of a League, wherein We cannot have so much allowed, as in former Leagues have been admitted, and in reason may be expected; which may serve also for an Answer to that Question, Why, having renewed our Leagues with all other Nations, We have not done it with the King of Spain, and that We have not demanded as a Condition thereof; his right Eye, much less( as hath been said) both his Eyes, because We would not be at the Mercy of a cruel Inquisition, where We are admitted to Commerce, and would be admitted to Commerce, where We ought not to be excluded from it, neither by the Ancient Treaties, nor of Common Right; for although the King of Spain hath formerly taken upon him to prescribe us Bounds of Trade, upon a Law made by the Pope, inhibiting all Trade & Commerce with Turks, Jews & other Infidels, 
* Will. Stephens of Bristol, with divers Merchants of London, in the year 1606. and 1607, having three of their Ships on the cost of Barbary, in trade with the People of that country, the King of Spains Men of War ranging that cost, and finding these Ships at anchor in Saphio and Sancta Cruce Road, rifled them of what they had, saying, That the King their Master would not give liberty of Trade with Infidels; Their losses amounted to above two thousand pounds.  and upon that account, his Ships of War in time of Peace, have taken and spoiled Our Ships in other parts of the world, as well as in the West-Indies; And although by the like Authority from the Pope, and upon the Title of his Donation, he claimeth a Right over the Indians, as if they were all his Subjects, even those that actually are not under his Power or Obedience; yet We aclowledge no such Right, neither in the Pope nor King of Spain, to take away from the Indians the Right of their Liberty, or from Us the Right which We have by the Law of Nature, and of Nations, of Converse and Commerce with them, especially such of them as are not actually under the Power and subjection of the King of Spain.  
Another Impediment to the renewing of the League with Spain, is manifest and notorious, and such as cutteth off all Assurance from public Ministers and Agents employed into the Dominions of the King of Spain, upon any Negotiations of Amity, or other Transactions between the two States, where the Prince holdeth forth such Principles, as render him uncapable to give Security and Protection to Ambassadors and public Ministers, against Assassinations and outrageous Attempts of violence upon their Persons, which, for the preserving of intercourse, and a good Understanding between Princes and States, by the Law of Nations, have always been held most inviolable, and more sacred than those Sanctuaries, whose privileges( derived from the Authority of the Pope and Church of Rome) have been pretended to elude and avoid the Execution of Justice from time to time demanded, and insisted upon by this Commonwealth, upon the Assassinates of Mr. Anthony Ascham, sent under a public Character from this Commonwealth into Spain, to procure and settle a good Understanding between the two Nations; for which barbarous Murder, no satisfaction or condign punishment upon the said Assassinates, could ever be obtained, though required 
* This appears by a Clause in a Letter sent from the Parliament, and signed by their Speaker, to the King of Spain in January 1650. viz. We require of your Majesty, and insist upon it, That Satisfaction be at length given to public Justice, touching the flagitious Murder of Anthony Ascham, Our Resident; And the rather, because after due Punishment inflicted upon the Authors of a Wickedness of such a nature, We shall not doubt to sand Our ambassador to your Royal Court, to treat of those things which may be of Advantage, aswell to your Majesty, as to this Our Commonwealth. On the contrary, if We should suffer that Blood, notorious by so many circumstances, to pass unavenged, We shall necessary in the sight of God, Our only Deliverer, and the everlasting Fountain of Our Mercies, and before the whole English Nation, become Partners in the Guilt; especially if We shall afterwards sand another English-man into that Kingdom, where it is lawful for any, without fear of punishment, to murder him; But We for Our parts have so high an esteem of your Majesty, That we cannot easily believe your Royal Power within your own Dominions, to be subjected to any foreign Power whatsoever.  by the Parliament, and often insisted upon by the Council of State in their behalf, which hath been a continual and most just Obstacle, to the renewing of the Leagues between the two Nations, and might well be esteemed( according to what hath been practised amongst other Nations, upon the like occasion) a just Cause of a War.  
But as to the state of Our quarrel in the West-Indies; Whereas We have Colonies in America, as well in Islands as upon the Continent, upon as good and a better Title then the Spaniards have any, and have as good a right to Sail in those Seas as themselves; yet without any just Cause or Provocation( and where the Question of Commerce was not at all in the Case) they have notwithstanding, continually invaded, in an Hostile maner, Our Colonies, slain Our Countrymen, taken Our Ships and Goods, destroyed Our Plantations, made Our People Prisoners and Slaves, and have continued so doing from time to time, till the very time that We undertook the late Expedition against them.  
Whereupon, contrary to what hath been formerly practised, they have also made an Embargo of Our Ships, and Arrested the Persons and Goods of all English men in Spain; so that whether We look to the parts of America or of Europe, they are the first beginners and causers of the War, and of all the Blood and Inconvenience that may ensue thereupon.  
The instances of the continual Acts of Hostility, and Cruelties, exercised by the Spaniards against the English in the West-Indies in the times of Peace, both from the Year, 1604, when a Peace was made by King James, till the War broken out again, and from the conclusion of the last Peace in the Year 1630, till this time, are very many, and very Barbarous, and Bloody, We shall content ourselves with some 
* Ship called the Ulisses, being in Trade upon the cost of Guiana, when the Merchants and mariners went on shore upon the Faith and Oaths of Don Berreo governor of that place; to which Oaths the mariners giving Credit, were notwithstanding Thirty of them suddenly t k en and committed, and Letters written from the governor to the Merchant, That it was true he had taken Thirty of his men prisoners, for that divers Strangers that had formerly traded there, had deceived him of twenty thousand ducats, but if that he would sand him the Twenty thousand ducats, then he vowed presently to sand him all his Thirty men aboard safe, and then to continue their Trade also: whereupon, the Merchants sent him in Plate and Goods, his desired Sum; which when the governor Don Berreo had received, he caused all the Thirty men to be strangled to trees, except the Chirurgeon of the Ship, which was kept alive to cure the Governours disease. This Ransom with other Losses there, amounted to Seven thousand pounds.  few.  
After the Peace concluded in the Year 1605, a Ship called the Mary, Ambrose Birch being Master, was in Trade upon the North-side of Hispaniola in the West-Indies; and the Master with six of his Company being enticed on Shore by a Priest called Father John, to see some merchandise, under promise of secure and fair Trading, and twelve Spaniards going aboard the Ship to view the English wears; whilst the English Merchants were showing them their merchandise, nothing doubting of any fraud, the Watch-word being given from the shore by the Priest, every Spaniard drew out a great Knife, and stabbed all the English men aboard, except two that leaped into the Sea, and the rest on the shore were put to strange deaths, and the Master himself was stripped naked, and bound to a three with cords, and so pinched and stung to death, being naked, by Mosqueto's; where continuing about twenty hours, a Negro hearing a man roar, and cry in that extremity, and finding him, ran him through with his Lance: This Ship and Goods was worth five thousand four hundred pounds.  
Another Ship called the Archer was the same Year taken near to Sancto Domingo, and all her men executed: This Ship was worth Thirteen hundred pounds.  
Another Ship called the Amity of London with her pinnace, was taken by Don Lewis Faczardo governor of the King of Spains Armado, the Ship and Goods were Confiscated, and the Merchants and Mariners all cast into the Sea, except one Boy to do them service: This Ship and pinnace were worth Five thousand six hundred pounds.  
Another Ship called the Scorn, having her men on shore, upon confidence of the Spaniards Oaths, they were notwithstanding all strangled to trees: where their Owners lost their Ship and Goods, amounting to Fifteen hundred pounds.  
In the Year one thousand six hundred and six, 
Mr. John Davies lost two Pinaces with all the Goods in them, and had all the men in the same murdered; to the overthrow of the Voyage, by which he lost Three thousand five hundred pounds.  a Ship called the Neptune, was taken near the Tortugas by the Spanish men of War, being worth Four thousand and three hundred pounds.  
In the same Year, another Ship called the Lark, was taken by Don Lewis Faczardo, and confiscated with her whole Lading, being worth Four thousand five hundred and seventy pounds.  
Aonther Ship called the Castor and Pollux, 
One other Ship belonging to divers Merchants of London,( whereof the Master was John Lock) was by the Spanish Forces taken near the iceland of Tortugas, for trading and cutting Wood; and for the same the Ship and Goods confiscated, and most of the Men taken and executed, and the rest committed to the galleys to the loss of Five thousand three hundred pounds.  was taken by the Spaniards upon the cost of Florida, which they confiscated, and executed all the Men in her, or kept them Slaves, for they could never be heard of since: This Ship with her merchandise was worth Fifteen thousand pounds.  
In the Year 1608, a Ship called The Richard of plymouth, whereof was Captain one Henry Challins, being set forth by the Lord Chief Justice Popham, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and others for Virginia, and by violent Storms being driven to the southward of the Canary Islands, and then bending her course for the place they intended, in 27 degrees, by chance they met with Eleven sail of Spanish Ships coming from St. Domingo, which took the said Ship, notwithstanding that the Captain shewed the Kings Broad Seal for his Warrant, yet the ship and Goods were confiscated, and the men most cruelly used, and sent to row in the Gallies; whereby was lost above Two thousand five hundred pounds.  
The like was done to another Ship called the aid, taken by Don Lewis Faczardo, under colour of friendship, and the Ship and Goods confiscated, and all the men sent to the Gallies, where some were beaten to death with Cudgels, for that they refused to row; which Ship and Goods were worth by the Spaniards own computation, Seven thousand pounds.  
In the same Year, another Ship called the Anne Gallant, Mr. William cury Master, being in Trade upon Hispaniola, the Ship and Goods were confiscated, and the whole company hanged up with papers written upon them, WHY CAME YOU HITHER? This Ship and Goods was worth Eight thousand pounds.  
These particulars may suffice to show what Peace the Spaniards kept with Us in the West-Indies in the time of King James, who was very careful, or rather fearful, to break the Peace with them; And the like Hostile and Bloody Foot-steps, We may trace down from the time of the last Peace concluded in the year 1630, unto this very time.  
We shall begin with the Colonies of this Nation, settled by certain Noblemen and Gentlemen, in the Islands of Cattelina( called by them Providence) and Tortugas( by them name Association) which about the year 1629, being voided of all Inhabitants, and tame Beasts or cattle, were actually possessed by the English in time of Open War between England and Spain; And the next year a Peace being concluded between the two Nations, and no Claim or Reservation therein of the said Islands by the Spaniards, the late King did by his Letters Pattens under the Great Seal of England,( notwithstanding that Peace) assume the said iceland of Providence, with other adjacent Islands, as part of his own Dominions, and did grant the same to divers Noblemen and Gentlemen, and their Successors; and the next year extended his Grant to the aforementioned iceland of Tortugas,  
And notwithstanding that the said Adventurers were in possession of the Islands aforesaid, by the late Kings Grant, founded upon a double Right, that of Nature, the Places not being in the possession of the Spaniards or any others; and that of War, being taken in the time of War, and not excepted in the Treaty of Peace, and consequently the Spaniards pretensions thereunto( if they had any) extinguished, by their own Agreement in the Second Article of the last Treaty; And notwithstanding that neither the said Company, nor any employed by them, did give the least just Cause of Offence unto the King of Spain, or any of his Subjects, until such time as they had first assaulted their Ships and Colonies, and slain divers of the English therein, burning and destroying their Plantations; yet the Spaniards observing no Peace with the English in those parts, about the 22. of January 1632, without any just Provocation, did assault one of the Ships of the said Company, called The Sea-flower, in her peaceable Return from Providence, between the Tortugas and the scape of Florida; in which Assault, they killed some, and wounded others in the said Ship.  
And after about the year 1634, the iceland of Tortuga was assaulted by divers Subjects of the King of Spain, in four Vessels, though there was no Provocation at all on the part of the English; in which assault, threescore or more were slain, divers wounded and taken prisoners, their Plantations spoiled, their Houses burned, their Goods to a great value carried away by the Spaniards, and the iceland wholly dis-peopled thereby of the English, whereof some being hanged, and others carried prisoners to the Havana, were detained in cruel slavery, and one of them called Grymes, formerly a Gunner at Tortuga, was there barbarously murdered; and some of them flying for refuge to Sancta Cruce, an iceland voided of Inhabitants, were pursued thither by the Spaniards in three Friggots, and there assaulted in March 1636; in which, Assault about forty of the English were slain, and the rest carried away prisoners, and used with very much hardship.  
And the 24 of July 1635, the iceland of Providence itself was assaulted by the Subjects of the King of Spain, in two great ships and a Friggot, which maintained a Fight for divers hours, but were beaten off at that time, and forced to discontinue their Attempt, till they renewed it again about the year 1640, with twelve sail of Ships, great and small, whereof the admiral was the Armadillo of Cartagena, one of the King of Spain's Gallioons of his Plate-Fleet; from this Fleet having landed a considerable number of Soldiers, they promised themselves the Conquest of the iceland, but were again repulsed with a considerable loss on their part; yet soon after returning with another Fleet, the Colony being then fallen into Divisions and Distractions amongst themselves, they did not think so much of making a good Defence, as of making good Conditions for themselves, which upon the Delivery up of the iceland, with little or no opposition they obtained; but the iceland was thereby wrested from the said Adventurers, and from the Commonwealth, to the particular loss of the one, above Eighty thousand pounds, and to the public dishonour and Detriment of the other; And being possessed by the Spaniard, a ship that came from New England with some People from thence, that intended to have transplanted themselves into that iceland, was cunningly drawn within the reach of their Canon( being ignorant that the Place was in the Spaniards hands) and got off with a great deal of danger and difficulty, and the loss of the Master of the Ship( a very honest man) who was slain with a Canon shot from the iceland.  
Neither were the Spaniards content to bound their Enterprizes against the said Adventurers within the parts of America, but also extended their acts of hostility against them to these parts of Europe; for on the 25 of December 1638. a ship called the Providence, belonging to the said Company, under the Command of Captain Thomas Newman, was assaulted and surprised two Leagues off Dongenesse upon the Coasts of England, by one Captain Springfield, Captain of a Dunkirk Man of War, and carried to Dunkirk, where the said Goods were detained( being by divers there acknowledged to be of Thirty thousand pounds value) and of the English aboard the said Ship, some were slain, others wounded, and the rest after a barbarous and uncivil Usage aboard, were carried prisoners to Dunkirk, where some were used with much hardship, till they found means to escape; And notwithstanding that the said Adventurers used all due means for to obtain satisfaction, and that the late King by his Agent, Sir balthasar Gerbeere, and by his Letters, as well written by Secretary Cook, as with his own hand, required Justice on their behalf; yet could they not obtain Restitution of any part of the said Goods, or any Reparation in lieu thereof.  
There are Examples of more fresh and bleeding Memory, as that of Sancta Cruce, assaulted by the Subjects of the King of Spain, from Puertorico, about the year 1651. being an iceland formerly voided of all Inhabitants, and possessed at that time by a Colony of the English, under the Command of Captain Nicholas Philips, who, together with about a hundred more of the said Colony, were slain and butchered by the Spaniards, who seized the Ships in the Harbour, pillaged, burnt, and destroyed their Plantations, and Houses, and finding no more men to massacre( part of the Inhabitants escaping by flight into the Woods) the Spaniards returned to Puertorico, and gave opportunity to that miserable, and almost starved Remnant, to betake themselves to other adjacent Islands, and totally desert that of Sancta Cruce; yet the Spaniards returned after a while from Puertorico, to hunt out and murder those who had retired themselves into the Woods, but they found means to escape their hands, and to get into other Islands.  
In the same year 1651. a Ship belonging to Mr. John Turner, being forced into the Port of Cumanagota by stress of Weather, was seized by the governor, and the Ship and Goods confiscated.  
The like was done to another Ship and Goods belonging to Captain Cranley. 
The like had formerly been done in the same Port to a Ship belonging to Mr. John Bland, of which Captain Nicholas Philips was Commander.   
And in the year 1650, a Ship belonging to Mr. Samuel Wilson, bound for Barbadoes, and laden with Horses, was taken at Sea, and carried into the Havana, the Ship and Goods were confiscate, and most of the Men kept Prisoners, and forced to work in the Bulwarks like Slaves.  
The like usage had the Company belonging to a Ship of Barnstable, about two years since at Sancto Domingo in Hispaniola; which Ship, springing a Leak near Hispaniola, as she was returning from some of our Plantations in the Cariby Islands, her Company were forced to save themselves in their Boat upon Hispaniola, where they were taken Prisoners, and made to work like slaves in their Fortifications.  
By these Particulars( and many other of the like nature, which would be too long to rehearse) it is most apparent that the King of Spain and his Subjects, do not account themselves bound to hold any terms of Peace with the English in those parts, but continually exercise all manner of Hostility against them, and worse than Hostility; the Barbarous Usage of the English there, being so far from the Laws of Peace, that it is not agreeable to the Laws and Customs of a fair War: And yet the English must be taxed( as they are by the King of Spain in his Order for the late Embargo) as those, That had been wanting to, and Violaters of the sacred Bonds of Peace and free Commerce( so religiously( as he says) observed by him) and that with so unthought-of and declared Hostility, as the assaulting of the City of St. Domingo in the iceland of Hispaniola: which is laid down as the sole Ground and Cause of the said Embargo of the English Goods, and Arrest of their Persons in Spain, though aggravated against Us, by a Representation of His friendly Admission of Our Fleets into his 
* Capt. Swanley found no such kind entertainment in the Port of Trepanny in sicily, where about June 1653. his Ship called the Henry Bonaventure, together with a Dutch prise called the Peter, a great and rich Ship, were surprised in that Port within Pistol shot of their Fort, by seven Dutch men of War under the command of young Trump, through the treachery of the King of Spain's Governor of that place; whereby the Merchants concerned in the said Ship, lost to the value of sixty three thousand pounds and upwards.  Ports, where they were pleased to come, and had found it convenient for them to touch, without notice taken by his Ministers, according to the rigour of the Capitulations of Peace, between the two Crowns, which doth reciprocally prohibit the entrance into the Ports with more than six or eight Ships of War.  
But as himself in those words cleareth Our Fleets of any Infringement of the Capitulations in what they did, being done by leave and permission of himself, and his Ministers,( if any such thing were done, and connived at, as is alleged) and as all the world well knoweth, he was not so courteous for nought, Considering the advantage and Countenance that his Affairs of late have received from Our Fleets; so on the other side, the said King and his Ministers, have taken very little notice of the Capitulations by him mentioned, wherein it is so expressly Provided in the 23. Article thereof, that if any mis-understanding should happen to arise between the two States, The Subjects of either are thereof so to be admonished, as that they may have six months, from the time of the Monition, to transport their merchandises without any arrest, disturbance or hurt in the mean season to be done, or given unto them, either in their Persons or merchandise. In which, the said King by the late Embargo hath been manifestly wanting to the bonds of those Capitulations by himself remembered against Us, and his Declaration in the said Order, That acts of Hostility exercised in the West-Indies, are a breach of Peace, and of the freedom of Commerce in these parts, is of the first Impression that hitherto hath proceeded from either State; though there have not been wanting several occasions on both sides to have done it.  
But since the King of Spain hath both by word and dead, Declared the Treaties of Peace so to be understood, he hath consequently concluded himself to have first violated the sacred Bonds of friendship, by so many acts of open Hostility, first exercised by him upon the English in those parts, and from time to time continued, ever since the last Treaty of Peace, as before hath been particularly declared; which is a thing so evident and notorious, that our Adversaries themselves cannot certainly have the face to deny the matter of Fact, but will choose rather to insist upon the matter of Right, and that as the King of Spain hath assumed amongst his Titles, that of Rex Indiarum; so indeed all the Indies and Indian Sea, both North and South, are his proper Dominions, and that they are all Enemies and pirates, that come there without his permission. Which truly if it were so, both We and all other Nations, ought to quit to him all We hold in those parts, and displanting our Colonies, ask him pardon for the wrong We have hitherto done unto him. But if We look into the ground of his Claim and Title, it will appear a very poor and weak Foundation, to raise so great, and so bloody a Building upon, as this hath, and is like to prove.  
A double Title is pretended, that of the Popes Donation, and that of first Discovery; For the former, We know very well, the Pope hath indeed been very free in disposing of Kingdoms and Countreys, therein being very unlike him whose Vicar he pretendeth to be, that would not take upon him so much as to be a Judge to divide Inheritances, much less to give them away at his pleasure; as the Pope hath done the Kingdoms of England, Ireland, and others: But We aclowledge no such power in him, nor do We believe, that any Nation is so voided of sense, as to think he hath any such power, or that the Spaniards themselves do believe it, or would affirm it, if the Pope had given as much from them, as he hath given to them: And if the French, and others, who aclowledge the Popes power in ecclesiastical matters, do esteem this Title of the Spaniards ridiculous, it cannot be expected that We should account it any other; and so We leave it as not worthy any further answer.  
And of as little weight is their other Title, as if the Subjects of the King of Spain, having first made discovery of some few parts of America, and having given names to some Islands, Rivers and Promontories, they should thereby be entitled to the sole Signiory of that New-world. But an Imaginary Title, upon such a prescription, without possession, cannot create any real Right: The best Title that any can have to what they possess in those parts of America, is Plantation and Possession, where there were no Inhabitants, or where there were any, by their consent, or at least in such waste and desolate parts of their Countries, as they are not able in any measure to plant, and possess;( God having made the World for the use of men, and ordained them to replenish the same.)  
Upon which grounds, as the Spaniards will have little right to what they hold, having got all which they have, contrary to the consents, and out of the bowels of the first Inhabitants, in whose blood they have founded their Empire; and not found, but made great Islands, and whole Countries voided of Inhabitants, having rooted out all the Natives: So on the other side, the English will have a very clear Title to their Plantations, especially to divers Islands, which the Spaniards have assaulted, and slain their Colonies in, which either never had any Inhabitants, or if destroyed by the Spaniards, were also deserted by them, and left unpeopled; so that by the Law of Nature and of Nations, they rightfully accrue to the Occupiers, and Possessors thereof, according to the known maxim, Quae nullius sunt, & pro derelictis habentur, cedunt occupanti. Although if We had dispossessed the Spaniards of the Places where We planted Our Colonies, and where they had first dispossessed and rooted out the Natives; We, as avengers of those Peoples blood and wrongs, should have had a better Title to their Countries than their Oppressors, and murderers. But Our Plantations having been where neither Natives nor Spaniards had any possession, nor had left behind them any Habitations; Cattle, or other thing, which might in any sort retain or preserve their Claim or Title, Our right in those Places was the more clear, and the wrongs and injuries done unto Us by the Spaniards, the more apparent; especially in such places which were seized upon in time of open War between the two Nations( as were the Islands of Providence and Tortuga) whereunto, if the Spaniards could have pretended any precedent Dormant Title, yet, not making their Claim upon the Close of the last Peace, by the Second Article thereof, they concluded themselves, as to any such pretensions, and extinguished all future Claim and Right thereunto.  
We need not enlarge Our Discourse upon this subject, for there is not any understanding man who is not satisfied of the vanity of the Spaniards pretensions to the sole sovereignty of all those parts of the World. But We have opened a little the weak and frivolous pretences, whereupon the Spaniards ground all their cruel and unworthy dealings with the English in the West-Indies; enslaving, hanging, drowning, and cruelly torturing to death, Our countrymen, spoiling their Ships and Goods, and destroying their Colonies in the times of greatest Peace, and that without any just cause or provocation at all, That the English Nation reflecting upon the indignity of such proceedings against their own flesh and blood, and the Professors of the same true Christian Religion with them, might consider with themselves how the Honour of this Nation would lye rotting, as well as their Vessels of War, if they should any longer suffer themselves to be used, or rather abused in this manner, and not onely excluded from Commerce with so great and rich a part of the World, against all right and reason; but also be accounted, and executed as Rovers and pirates, for offering to sail, or look into those Seas, or having any intercourse( though with our own Plantations only) in those parts of the world.  
We say nothing of the bloody Spanish Inquisition( a common cause of quarrel to all Protestants) nor of so many Seminaries of English Priests and Jesuits in the Spanish Dominions( a particular ground of offence and of danger to this Commonwealth) Our scope principally being, to declare the causes and grounds of Our quarrel in the West-Indies. And We trust, by what hath been said, We have sufficiently manifested unto the Consciences of all indifferent and impartial men; that Our Necessity, Our Honour, and Our Justice, have called us forth to the late Engagement: Our Necessity; for We must have War, where the Spaniards will not let Us have Peace: Our Honour and Our Justice, for it cannot stand with either, to sit down and suffer such vile indignities to be continually done in the West-Indies, to the People of this Nation, as before hath particularly been declared.  
Besides, they look but a little way, that take a measure of the Spanish interest and intentions, from the late shape and countenance that the present exigent of their affairs, have made them to put on towards Us in these parts of the World; as if their mind, or the sense of their interest, were altered( and not rather heightened, together with their hatred and jealousy upon the late Changes, and temper of this State) from what they had in the year 1588. when they designed the total Conquest of the English Nation; and if this point of time, which through some late accidents may possibly ●… ister an occasion to lay some foundation for securing ourselves( by Gods blessing) from so inveterate and irreconcilable an Enemy of our Religion and country, be let pass, he may soon recover again a Power( for a mind he neither can, nor will ever want) to become as intolerable and dangerous as heretofore; and We in the meantime suffering such Barbarous usage of our countrymen in the West-Indies, without requiring any satisfaction or Justice for the same; and our whole Nation to be excluded out of so considerable a part of the World, and suffering Our grand and known Enemies, quietly to bring home that vast treasure from the West-Indies( having now also a Peace with the Dutch) and thereby to repair his present Breaches, and put himself into a condition again to resume that Debate which he had in the year 1588. Whether it were not better to begin with England in order to reduce the United Provinces, or to begin first with them in order to reduce England: And no doubt he will find as many and more reasons than he did then, to begin first with England: In which attempt, if God should permit him to obtain his Will, We might justly expect upon Us first, and after upon all Protestants wheresoever, a second part of that sad Tragedy which was lately acted upon Our Brethren in the Valleys of Piedmont. Which( if We may believe the Remonstrance of those poor Protestants) had its source and first Contrivance from the Missionary friars, through the influence of the Court of Spain.  
All these things considered, We hope all true hearted English men will lay by their private animosities against each other, and rather deny themselves in their particular concernments, then out of covetousness of a little gain by Trade( which cannot be had but upon Dishonourable, and in some sort, Dishonest terms, and may be supplied otherwise) hazard the Souls( as they do of many young Merchants and Factors upon the Terms they live and trade in Spain) and sacrifice the Lives and Estates of many of their Christian Brethren in America, together with the Honour of this Nation: And, which is worst of all, sell away the precious opportunities which God hath put into their hands for his Glory, and the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ, which We do not doubt will in the end( all Mists being dispelled and cleared) appear to have been the principal end of the late expedition and undertaking against the Spaniards in the West-Indies.   

Friday, October 26. 1655.  
ORdered by His Highness the Lord Protector, and the Council, That this Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published.  
Hen: Scobel, Clerk of the Council.