I. 
Bgi An hiflorical Account 
u Dealings of the "Dutch at Jaccatra , which were too long 
< 4 here to recite, were all advertifed, from time to time, 
to Mr. Towerfon , who therefore was fare he could 
44 expedt no Affiftan.ce from them, that were themfelves 
« 4 in finch a Predicament. 
44 The other Part of Mr. Towerfon * s Refolution is faid 
66 to have been to keep the Caftle for himfelf, and to agree 
44 with the Indians , in Default of Help from the Englifh. 
44 This is yet more improbable than the former: Were 
44 the Portugueze and Indians not able to keep out the 
se Dutch from Amboyna , when they had no Footing there ; 
and fhall Captain Towerfon with twenty Englifh and Ja- 
“ ponefe , without Ship or Pinnace) be able, with the Help 
of the poor naked Indians , to drive them out, having 
66 three Caftles in the Hand of Amboyna and at Cambello 
44 hard by, all well furnifhed with Men and Provifions, 
44 befides their Power of Shipping, which makes them 
44 ftile themfelves Lords of the Sea ? And yet how could 
44 Mailer Towerfon hope to win the Amboynefe (the Hol- 
84 landers A worn Subjects) to his Side? He might rather 
44 affure himfelf, that after he had maftered the Hollanders , 
■ 44 if yet that mull be believed to be poffible, the Amboy- 
44 nefe would have furprifed him, and call him out, being 
® 4 fo weakly provided to Hand of himfelf, that fo they 
“ might utterly free themfelves from their Servitude : 
44 Here alfo muft be remarked, that this Author himfelf 
44 in his Preamble faith, that the Indians themfelves durft 
44 not undertake fuch a great Defign as he there feigneth 
44 againft the State of Amboyna , without fome great Aid 
44 of fome Nations of Europe , either of Spaniards or Por- 
44 tuguefe , or fome other ; whereby is not only confeffed 
44 how weak the Indians of themfelves are, but withal it 
86 followeth, how fmali Hope Mr. Towerfon might have, 
44 being deferted of his own Nation, as here the Cafe is 
sc put, to hold the Caftle for himfelf by the Help of thofe 
46 Indians , if yet he could once have won it. 
44 In a Word, they that know the Power of the Dutch 
84 in Amboyna , and thereabouts, and the Weaknefs of the 
« 4 poor Indians , will judge this Conceit of Mr. Towerfon* % 
44 to keep the Caftle for himfelf, to be a mad Plot, and 
44 for which Mailer Towerfon ftiould rather have been fent 
44 to Bedlam , or the Dullen Kift, as the Dutch call it, than 
44 to the Gallows. But this Author hath one voluntary 
44 Confellion, upon which he taketh efpecial Hold, to wit, 
« 44 that Mailer Towerfon , after his Examination was finiffi- 
44 ed, being expoftulated with by the Dutch Governor, and 
44 demanded whether this fhould have been the Recom- 
44 pence of his (the Governor’s) manifold Courtefies to- 
44 wards him, anfwered with a deep Sigh, Oh ! were this 
44 Matter now to do , it fhould never be done. This volun- 
44 tary Confeffion, and penitent Acknowledgment, faith 
44 this Author, was made the Ninth of March , being the 
44 Day when the Execution was to be done, and the Exa- 
44 mination of Towerfon was ended the Twenty-eighth of 
44 February , fo many Days before. But how fhall we be- 
44 lieve this ? Forfooth, he hath it out of the Adis of the 
® 4 Procefs of Amboyna j yea, but in thefe Ads are omitted 
44 many material Paflages of thefe Examinations, as is al- 
84 ready Ihewed, why may they not then be guilty of Ad- 
64 dltion, as well as of fuch Mutilation and Qmiffion ? 
84 But let us perufe the Words of the Ad itfelf,. which are 
44 thefe * 
44 We whofe Names are hereunto fubferibed, do de- 
w clare upon our Troth, inftead of an Oath, that Gabriel 
44 Towerfon , ..after that he had been .already examined 
44 touching his faid Offence ; and that the worfhipful Van 
84 Speult had expoftulated -with him thereupon, afked 
86 him, whether this ftiould have been the Recompence of 
his Courtefies from Time to Time fhewed unto him 
“ the faid Towerfon ? Thereupon he the faid Towerfon , 
S4 with a deep Sigh, anfwered him, and faid. Oh! if this 
44 were to be begun again, it fhould never be done. Ac- 
44 turn this Ninth of March , in the Caftle of Amboyna , 
u and fubfigned, 
44 Harman Van Speult, 
, 44 Laurence de Maerfchalck , 
. 64 Clement Herffeboom, 
• 44 Harman Crayv'anger > 
..... 44 Peter Van. Zantem 
54 Leonart Clock. 
of the Inter courfe ’Book 
44 Thus we fee. the Ad itfelf, and this pretended volun- 
44 tary Confeffion of Mr. Toiverfon , which is not deliver- 
44 ed upon the Credit of the Court or Council at Ambcn- 
u na i but upon the Atteftation or Affidavit of the Cover- 
44 nor, and five others, the principal Adors in this bloody 
44 Tragedy ; and this not upon their Oath, but upon their 
44 Troth, or honeft. Word, fbribpth, inftead of an Oath. 
44 The Time when thefe Words were uttered by Mr. 
44 Towerfon , is not defcribed by the Day when he fpake 
44 them, but only by the precedent Ad of his Examina- 
44 ti.on j and yet the Circumftance : of Time is not only an 
44 ufual and cuftomary Solemnity, and requifite in all fuch 
44 Atteftations, but alfo in a Bufinefs of this Nature alto- 
44 gether neceffary, as likewife in this Cafe that of the 
44 Place was ; for if thefe Words were fpoken in the Place 
44 of Torture, or incontinently after the Examination end- 
44 ed, they are by their own Law efteemed.no more vo- 
44 luntary, than the Confeffion upon the Rack itfelf : Nei- 
44 ther yet doth this Atteftation affirm, that this Confef- 
44 fion was voluntary. 
44 But this Author, unconfeionabfy reporting the Date 
of the Atteftation for the I i me of the Confeffion, colleds 
44 it to be voluntary, becaufe, as he faith, it was made 
44 the^ Ninth of March y being fo many Days after his Ex- 
44 amination, which was taken the 28th of February j can 
44 a Man atteft nothing but what was done upon the very 
44 Day when he maketh Affidavit? The Atteftation faith, 
44 that thefe Words were fpoken by Mr. Towerfon , after 
44 he had been already examined ; why may not that rather 
44 have been upon the very Day of his Examination, than 
44 upon the Day when this Ad was entred, if yet he ever 
fpake any fuch Words, or meant them, as he is here 
44 interpreted, the contrary whereof is the more probable, 
by all the Circumftances of this Bufinefs truly fie t down 
44 in the Relation of the Englifo. 
44 But in that this Author makes fo much of this poor 
44 Circumftance of Mv.,Towerfin*s Profeffion of Sorrow 
44 for what was done, naming it a voluntary Confeffion, 
44 it is plain how deftitue he was of voluntary Confieftions, 
44 and of all true and. concluding Circumftances. Whar, 
44 was there not a Letter, or other Paper to be found in 
44 all the Chefts and Boxes: of the Englifh , fo fuddenly 
44 feized at Amboyna^ Larica , Hit to and Cambello , to dif- 
44 cover’ this Treafon? Nor amongft fo many Accom- 
44 plices of diverfe Nations, a falfe Brother to betray the 
44 reft, and to accufe them voluntarily, but the Procefs 
44 muft begin with the Torture, and the Heathens Con- 
44 feffions upon Torture be fufficient to bring Chriftians 
44 to Torture. 
44 That debauched and notorioully infamous Perfons 
44 (fuch as Price was) to draw Torture upon the fober, 
44 orderly and untainted ? And yet this Relation itfelf con- 
44 fefteth, that Price* s Confeffion was drawn from him by 
44 the Examiners, fpecifying of Place, Perfon and Time 
44 unto him ; certainly one of their ov/n Nation had Rea- 
44 fon to advife that more Advocates might be fent over 
44 to the Indies to aid the accufed, to make a legal An- 
“ fwer ; for, faith he, they go to work there fo villamoufly 
44 and murderoufly, that the Blood of the poor People 
44 crieth to Heaven for Vengeance. But why have we 
44 no Particular of any Man's Confeffion but this of Price 
44 and Mr. Towerfon , and all the reft blended together in 
44 one Body ? Did none of all the reft go farther than his 
44 Fellows, or confefs more than they ? Where is Shar- 
44 rock’s Confeffion, that he was at Amboyna upon New- 
44 Years-Day, when ten or twelve of the Dutch them- 
44 felves witneffed he was at Hitto ? Where is his Confef- 
44 fion of Clark* s Plot to go to Maccaffar , to deal with 
44 the Spaniards there to come and rob the fmali Fadlo- 
44 ries ? Where is Collins* s Confeffion ef another Plot 
44 about two Months and a half before his Examination, 
44 undertaken by Thomfon , Johnfon, Price, Brown , Far- 
44 do and himfelf? Where be the leading Interrogatories 
44 that diredled them to the Accufation framed by the 
44 Dutch , left otherwife there had been as many feveral 
44 ’Treafons confeffed as Perfons examined ? Not a Word 
44 of all this, nor of a great deal more of this kind, which 
44 is here in England proved by the Oath of fix credible 
V Perfons to haye paffed in the Examinations, whereby 
3 44 appeared! 
