264 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 230. 



Majesty's special mandate ; as also the letters 

 written by your Majesty to the Grand Master of 

 the Order of Malta in favour of the above-men- 

 tioned, and those from the said Grand Master in 

 reply ; and it is evident to me, after mature ex- 

 amination, that your Majesty has done so much, 

 and that it is proved that the sentence of the 

 Maltese Tribunal against the said Roger Fowke 

 was pronounced contrary to right and justice (as 

 is clearly shown in the letters written by your 

 Majesty to the Grand Master) ; that therefore it 

 appears to be incumbent on me only to set forth 

 to your Majesty, and to the Lords of the Privy 

 Council, whether it be my opinion that sufficient 

 satisfaction has been given by the Grand Master's 

 letters to your Majesty, who by the above-cited 

 letters demand restitution ; and if not, whether in 

 consequence it be lawful to your Majesty to grant 

 the so-called letters of reprisal, on which subject 

 I beg humbly to submit to your Majesty, and to 

 the singular prudence and judgment of the above- 

 mentioned Lords, this my opinion ; that is to say, 

 that the answers of the Grand Master are so far 

 from being in any way satisfactory, that from them 

 it may be easily perceived that the above-men- 

 tioned Grand Master, although he does not deny 

 in express terms reparation for his loss to the 

 above Roger, nevertheless does not decree any- 

 thing certain on this head ; from which your Ma- 

 jesty may reasonably conclude that the said re- 

 paration was refused. Nor does it tend to his 

 defence that he asserts that all that was done by 

 "his tribunal was done by solemn sentence, that 

 the judges were men of great reputation, and 

 that it is to be believed that the reasons pro- 

 duced by both sides were justly considered ; for 

 judicial authority is not of the same value as re- 

 gards foreigners and subjects. It is not lawful 

 for subjects to demand a re-examination of the 

 sentence pronounced by their superiors, although 

 to foreign princes it entirely appertains to make 

 such demand, in cases interesting themselves or 

 their subjects ; otherwise, if all given sentences 

 were considered as freeing nations from reprisals, 

 such decrees might perhaps be obtained in any 

 case, even though manifestly unjust ; and conse- 

 quently it is by all agreed to be a just cause for 

 reprisals, not only when justice is not rendered, 

 but also when in any case, not of a doubtful 

 nature, judgment may have been given against 

 right ; although certainly, in cases of a doubtful 

 nature, the presumption would be in favour of 

 those who may have been elected as public 

 judges. Had the Grand Master indicated to 

 your Majesty that the said Roger Fowke might 

 have preferred an appeal against the sentence 

 pronounced against him to a superior tribunal, 

 and that by the negligence of the said Roger the 

 first sentence had become affirmed, in that case 

 the remedy demanded by your Majesty would 



have been untenable ; but the said Grand Master 

 makes no mention of such appeal : I am therefore 

 of opinion that nothing in the law of nations 

 could militate against the lawfulness of your Ma- 

 jesty's granting letters of reprisal in the manner 

 demanded. 



(Signed) Robert Wyseman." 



Without doubt the law of nations would war- 

 rant our extorting from the hands of your high- 

 ness' subjects, by issuing letters of reprisal, that 

 which we have not been able to obtain after so 

 many years by means of the letters written in 

 favour of our beloved subject and friend ; and the 

 deplorable state of the said Roger requires that we 

 should now exact by our own authority that which 

 we have in vain sought to obtain by means of 

 simple communications. But taking into serious 

 consideration the lamentable present state of 

 Christianity, and the daily augmentation of the 

 large empire of our common enemy, and how dis- 

 tinguished has been the valour of the Maltese 

 knights, always constantly exposing themselves as 

 a bulwark to so pertinacious an enemy, it would 

 be very painful to us to be compelled to have re- 

 course to reprisals, or to any such severe mode of 

 proceeding, for the reparation of the loss. The 

 glory also of the Christian name, so often valiantly 

 defended, has caused us willingly to believe that 

 we must not yet despair of obtaining from your 

 highness' authority that reparation for his loss 

 which our subject hopes to obtain by reprisal, and 

 therefore, putting aside the remedy of right, and 

 our Privy Council persuading us to milder mea- 

 sures, we have thought proper by this letter _ to 

 seriously request your highness, by that justice 

 which is the duty of princes, and of the defenders 

 of Christianity, to deign to procure without delay 

 to our trustworthy subject, who has suffered so 

 great an injustice from the Maltese Tribunal, and 

 who is exhausted by the delays of so many years, 

 full compensation for all his losses, including also 

 the amount of his expenses ; so that we may never 

 have cause to regret that we, putting aside the 

 law of nations, have till now abstained from re- 

 prisal, and so that henceforth the world may eu- 

 logise the Maltese as not being less just than 

 valiant. 



We have only now to recommend your high- 

 ness and all your Knights to the most good and 

 most great God. 



Given in our Palace of Whitehall on the 29th 

 day of April, of the year of Human Redemption 

 1668, and of our reign the twentieth. 

 Your Highness' 



Good Cousin and Friend, 



Charles Rex. 



Raphael Cottoner, to whom the last letter was 

 addressed, ascended the Maltese throne in Octo- 

 ber, 1663, on the decease of his brother Raphael. 



