Factum, or rehearsall of the whole cause, with proofes and reasons to maintaine and defend it

Factum, or rehearsall of the whole cause, with proofes and reasons to maintaine and defend it

Table of contents

Factum, or Rehearsall of the whole Cause, with Proofes and Reasons to maintaine and defend it.

[Page]

[Page]

Factum, or Rehearsall of the whole Cause, with Proofes and Reasons to maintaine and defend it.

FOr William Noel, Substitute of William Willaston, Robert Houe, Citizens of the Towne of Morlais, Mathew Harvey, Richard Beauais, Iames Goult, Edward Blancare, Thomas Helcott, and other partners, English Marchants, both Plaintiffes, and Defendants. Against Andrew de Launay, both Defendant & Plaintiffe, and Marteau substitute to the right and roome of Helias Frute, lately deceased, ioyning and interposing himselfe to this [...]; The said Noel and Houe being Denizons and naturalised in France; and the rest of their partners being Englishmen, who haue daily traded there fifteene yeares in the Towne of Morlais: the sayd Noel and Houe, are house-keepers, and the rest held as Inhabitants of the Kingdome, did in October 1620. Fraught & furnish a Barke, called the George, laden with whole packs of linnen cloth, to be transported into England, the said Launay of Roscoff, with his complices, to the number of twelue Robbers, [Page] by him armed, did follow her with a Pinnace the nineteenth of the said month, and by force and violence, tooke, robbed, and ransackt her at the going out of the Ryver or Haven of Morlais, and stript naked, the Master, and foure Mariners, which were in the same, without any weapons, and set them forsaken, in a desart Iland, barren and dry of any sweet water, but onely with a loafe of rye bread of six pence, with a wicked intent, to starue them with thirst and hunger, as no doubt it had happenned, had not God in his providence sent by chance a Fisher-boat that way the fourth day, that tooke them vp, and set them to land almost readie to perish. And as for the said Wares, the sayd Pyrates did vnlade many packes of them by night, at the said Roscoff, and ile of Bas, whereof the sayd Launay, his wife, and children, did dispose at their pleasure, transporting and hiding them in divers places, and there caused the sayd Barke to be sent and set a-ground, at Angels Haven, where it was againe pillaged, and finally forsaken, whereof the Kings Attorney taking notice, caused an Inventory to be made of the sayd Barke, and goods, and did examine the said Mariners, yea, some of the very Robbers, making his report of it, and seazing vpon the residue, to be kept and preserved to the vse of the right owners, by which report it is to be seene, that the English did lay clayme to the sayd Barke, and goods, therevpon making their complaint, and requiring that they should be set free; and delivered into their hands, wherevpon the said Iudge being fully enformed of the sayd Robbery [Page] and Depredation, and that those goods did belong to those English and French Marchants, by his sentence the thirtieth of October, did fully discharge and res [...]ore them into their hands, having first given good and sufficient Suerties for the price and vallew of them, by expert and skilfull men, and chosen by vertue of his place, as Iudge for his owne discharge and securitie, and so in consideration of the sayd Suerties, they received their Barke and goods, and sent and sould them in England, vpon which Informations, there went forth an Order against Laun [...]y, and his Complices, and they were so appeached and indicted, as that they were condemned by a sentence the thirteenth of Iune, 1621. Daniell Rowland, Mandoux les Marec, Father and Sonne, Couault and Conefer, for to be hanged and strangled, and the said Launay with two other men, Galles and Loges, banished for fiue yeares, and solitarily all together, or one of all condemned to restore to the sayd English, nine packes and fardles of the sayd Wares, which had beene landed and set ashore to the same Towne of Roscoff, or els the iust vallew of them, and over and aboue to all their costs and expences, and as for his other Complices, Querovarts, Pallu, and Enhabasque, who had broken the Prison, and made an escape: it was ordered, that they should bee publiquely summoned to appeare within three short dayes. But to make these pursutes and Iudgements voyde, the sayd Launay fledde to the Councell, where disguising the fact, and against all truth, informing them his proceedings had beene but by [Page] way of seisure and attachment against the English, and by right of some Letters of Mart, for a Ship of his which hee pretended to haue beene taken from him some nine yeares since by some English Piratts, which he himselfe termeth to be such, in whose taking, he pretended to haue lost some 1200. pound Sterling, and so making himselfe a Plaintiffe, and requiring a discharge of his pretended and imiginary Attachment, or extent of the same goods. Wherevpon the parties being called, and appearing before the Councell, the sayd Launay (to giue a better collour to his cause) did practise, and got the sayd late Helias Frute, a Dutch Marchant, to ioyne and interpose himselfe to him in this cause; the sayd Frute having beene once Master of a Dutch Shippe, whereof Sir Iohn Fernes was Captaine. And againe, the sayd Frute calling, and intituling himselfe one of the Directors of a Companie established in France, for the Trading into the East Indies; which Frute this Launay did set of purpose, to require, that the rest of the sayd goods belonging to the said English, might be sold for his satisfaction, and repayment of the summe of 9200. pound Sterling, which hee pretended to haue beene taken from him foure yeares before by some other English Pyrates, for which hee sayd, hee could get no Iustice in England.

Moreouer, the sayd Laun [...]y and Marteau, substitute in the pretended right of Helias Fruit deceased, being so ioyned together, did demand the second time, the cassation and disannulling of the [Page] sayd criminall proceedings, and sentence of the Iudge of the sayd Lesnevers, to the end that Launay might haue a discharge or release for his owne goods, which were seized and extended by vertue of the sayd sentence and Iudgement: whereupon the said Launay and Marteau got so much fauour, that although the English did proceed in the said Councell but declinatorely (that is to say, standing vpon exception, and refused to bee tryed by that Court) desiring that the cause and parties might be sent back into Brittaine, before the naturall and ordinary Iudges, for execution of their former Iudgements, and in case of Apeale if neede were before the high Court of Parliament of the Province.

Neverthelesse, without appointing that the parties should ever write or enter into any proofes in the maine cause or principall: yea, without so much as hearing them at all theretn, the Priuie Councell was pleased against all formes of Iustice, to pronounce and enact their Decree in the maine cause, the 27. of Ianuary, 1622. which Decree contrarying and contradicting it selfe, doth award that the whole criminal proceedings, should be brought to the office of the Councell, to doe right vnto the parties, according to reason: and in the meane time the former sentences of death and banishment to surcease, with full leaue and power to the sayd Launay, to reside and dwell in the Countrey as hee might haue done before those Iudgements, yea with a generall discharge, and freedome for all his goods seazed by vertue of them, of which the [Page] Commissioners or Depositaries shall make him iust account, and giue him the residue or surplus, and without any regard to the sayd sentence of the thirtith of October, 1620. whereby the English had a discharge and a release of their Barke and goods, they did order that without any preiudice or hinderance to the maine cause and principall, and rato prevent the decay and perishing of the wares, both the wares and Barke should bee sould at Saint Malloes, to the vttermost, and the price thereof put into the hands of sufficient Marchants, on whom the parties should agree before the Commissioner; who should transport himselfe in those places, and that as well the English parties, as their sureties, and Depositaries should be constrained to represent the sayd Barke and goods in paine of imprisonment.

Against this so extraordinary Decree, both the said English and French parties sought their redresse by petition, as well because that Decree is all formes and custome, because they did contest; but declinatorily, and by way of exception: a difficulty which was first to be discussed, and yet it doth pronounce and decide at once vpon the main and principall. Whereupon there was yet no contestation: as also that it is wholly contrary to it selfe. First in so much as it being ordered, that the whole criminall cause should bee brought, that right might bee done vnto the parties accordingly, if followeth, that there could no right be done to them till it had beene brought and answered. Secondly, is there any thing more contrary to it selfe, [Page] then to order that without preiudice to the right of the parties, in the principall, and to prevent the decay and perishing of the seazed goods, and without any regarde to the sentence of the thirtith of October, by which the English had got a discharge and release of their owne goods and Barke, in giving good and sufficient sureties. Now all those things shall be sould, and the monies issuing out of it, sequestered into the hands of sufficient men, and that as well the English as their Sureties shall be forced to represent all those old goods, euen by restraint of their owne persons, or can there be any more hurt or preiudice done to the English, and French parties, then to force them meere impossibilities, in representing that which was sould, and gone a whole yeare before, by vertue of their discharge and release, or else to force them to bring backe againe and consigne the value of their owne goods, and that the Commissioner shall transport himselfe so farre, with great expence for the execution of all this: was it not sufficient that the English had given Sureties, and was not that equivolent to an evaluation and consignation of the price of the sayd goods, and what greater decay and deperishing could happen more then the costs and expenses, for the execution of the sayd Decree, and the great losses and damages that the sayd English haue suffered. For the Commissioners being come to the place with Launay and Marteau, and at their suite (who for their part confined not any thing for the iourney) finding that the sayd Barke and goods were no more to bee found, in [Page] stead of contenting themselues with their former Sureties, and of a new supply of others, offered by the said English, whereof hee should haue made his report to the Councell, he caused out of hand many other Ships to be seazed and stayed, laden with store of marchandice, belonging as well to the sayd English Marchants, as to diverse others of ther nation, their Chambers to bee lockt and sealed, hindering the transport of all marchandises, and causing all trade and commerce to cease, during his aboad of sixe weekes long in the towne: yea more, caused the sayd English and French Factors, and their Sureties to bee arrested and imprisoned, for not representing of the sayd Barke and goods, so that as well to redeeme themselues and their Sureties, from the imprisonment of their bodies, and to procure their liberties againe, as also to haue a release and discharge for those shippes and goods newly seazed vpon, that were constrained to suffer a new rate and valuation of their old Barke and goods, to bee made to the smmme of 1854. pound sterling, and to deposet the sayd sum (though most impertinent) seeing the first estimation made of the goods alone, was 1714. pound sterling, and that the interest of Launay in his pretended losse, by the English Pirate was by himselfe claymed to be but 1200. pound sterling. Now vpon this summe of 1854. pound, the Commissioner tooke some 300. for fees and taxations, as well for himselfe, his Clarke, and Register in the said Commission, as for the Counsellors, and Atturneys of the parties, & even for those of Launay and Marteau: [Page] yea, for the very Sergeents which were imployed for the imprisoning of men, seazure and sale of the goods of one William Baskrvile, lately deceased, being one of the English partners, which goods were sould for the said consignation, by this meanes the Commissioner caused onely the English to beare the burden, notwithstanding all their former losses almost inestimable, which amount to more then 5000. pound sterling, onely in this last seazure and retention of their ships, discontinuation and cessation of trade and Commerce, which rigorous kind of proceeding did so seaze the heart of poore Baskervile, one of the most interressed in the businesse among the parties, that hee dyed for the meere griefe of it, within two dayes, as is witnessed by the very report of the Commissioner, who vpon complaints of the rest of the English, had sent backe againe all the parties to the Priuy Councell. Whereupon, to witnesse the lawfulnes of their iust plants, and the whole truth of all the premises, the English haue caused the sayd criminall cause and sentence against Launay and his complicies, to bee brought, together with the report and relation of of the sayd Commissiouer, which doth proue and iustifie all that which is aforesayd, and shewes that the fact of Launay and his Complices, is but a meer robbery and pyracy, not any action of Mart or reprisall, and that the sayd Decree of the Counsell, with the execution thereof, hath been such a great and notorious hurt and damage to the English, as it cannot bee coloured nor maintained. Moreover, to prooue that this robbery cannot by any meanes [Page] be cloaked with any title of Mart, or reprisall. The English doe represent three things.

First, The Peace and Amitie betweene the two Kings, during which, and the libertie of Commerce and Trade; it is an absurd and contradictory thing, to talke of Mart or reprisall.

Secondly, They produce the Articles of Peace, agreed vpon betweene their Maiesties, whereby it is most specially concluded, That all Letters of Mart and Reprisall, which before then had beene graunted by any of the two Kings, shall absolutely surcease, without being put to any execution, as well of one side as of the other, and that for the time to come, there shall not any more be graunted, but that the Ambassadours shall respectiuely haue warning of it before hand, and those Letters be seene and well considered in the Councell of both Princes, sealed with their great seales, and generally, all the solemnities in such case required be well observed.

Thirdly, Launay, and his complices cannot pretend any right of Reprisall, since they are not bearers of, nor vpheld with any such Letters at all, granted either with any of the former solemnities, nor in any other manner howsoever, so that this fact cannot otherwise be called, but meere robbery, and pyracy, for all these reasons, therefore the sayd English doe conclude, and require by their said Petition, that the sayd Decree of the Councell of the twentie-seaventh of Ianuary last, and all that therevpon is ensued, bee altogether revoked, casheired, and disanulled, and in stead thereof awarded, [Page] that the said summe of 1854. pound Sterling, which they haue beene constrained to deposet, as well for their liberties, and their Suerties, as for the release of their Shippes and goods seazed, and from them detayned, shall be wholly restored vnto them, as well by the said Launay and Marteau, as by their Serieants, Advocates, Attorneyes, Depositaries, and others, which haue any wayes touched any part of it, every one according to their severall rates and portions, and so doing it may be ordered, that the Depositaries and Snerties shall remaine fully free, and altogether discharged, as also the sayd Launay, and his complices, with Marteau and his partners, condemned in all the cost, damage, and interest, of the sayd both English and French Marchants, and so all with Launay, and his complices sent backe againe; before such Royall Iudges in those places, as his Maiestie will be pleased to appoynt, for the execution of their said former sentence and Iudgements, as well Criminall as Civill, of the sayd Iudge of Lesnevers, with reservation of Appeale, (if need be) to the high Court of Parliament in Brittany.

Information about this book

Title statement

Factum, or rehearsall of the whole cause, with proofes and reasons to maintaine and defend it

Edition statement

1622

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A08263

ID [STC]

STC 18599.5

ID [STC]

ESTC S2829

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

25209309

ID [OCLC]

ocm 25209309

ID [VID]

27883

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A08263)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 27883)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1857:10)

Source

— Factum, or rehearsall of the whole cause, with proofes and reasons to maintaine and defend it,

Extent

11 p.

J. Dawson,. [London :: 1622?]. ("[Petition to reverse a decree of the French Privy Council of 27 Jan. 1622, concerning piracy committed by Andrew de Launay off the coast of Brittany.]"--STC (2nd ed.).) (Caption title.) (Attributed to William Noel and others by STC (2nd ed.).) (Place of publication suggested by NUC pre-1956 imprints; name of publisher and date of imprint suggested by STC (2nd ed.).) (Signatures: A⁴ B².) (Reproduction of original in the Harvard University Library.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.