A brief and true Remonstrance of the Illegal Pro­ceedings of Roger Osburn (an Irish man born) Governour of MOUNT SERRAT, one of the Caribba Islands, with his Irish Complices against Samuel Waad the younger, of Topsham in the County of Devon, Gent. And of his barbarous and inhuman murthering of the said Waad in the said Island upon the first day of May 1654.

THat the said Samuel Waad took to wife Elizabeth the Relict of one Anthony Brisket in the year 1650, who had been some time Governour of the Island, the which Waad shortly upon his mar­riage went with his said wife unto the Island aforesaid to pos­sesse the estate that his Predecessour formerly enjoyed, and at his arrival there the estate was valued by the then Governour Roger Osburn and others of the Island; since which time the said Waad hath paid of the debts of the said Anthony Brisket more then the then value thereof, so about the end of De­cember 1653. the said Elizabeth his wife dyed, who was sister to the then Governour Roger Osburn, the which Osburn maligning the said Waad, who lived in better state than himself, reported in the presence of one Eliza­beth Collings wife to the then Secretary, that if his Sister (meaning the wife of the said Waad) were dead, that he would order him the said Waad well enough, and ever after the said Governour and his Irish Complices, used what means they could to entrap the said Waad by affronts, suggesting ala­rums upon the Island, but his devices prevailed not. And about the begin­ning of April following the said Governour took an occasion to send for one Mr. Thomas Hurst by his Marshall from out of the said Waads house, and committed him to prison for stiking a Taylor with his Cane that affronted him, which occasioned the Writing of a Letter by the said Waad unto the said Governour, bearing date April 2. 1654, the Copy whereof (written by the said Waads own hand) is as followeth.

A true Copy subscribed, To the Honourable Col. Reger Os­burn Governour of Mount Serrat.

SIR,

SƲspending the Circumstances you were pleased yesterday by virtue of an [...]ll favoured Capias ad Respondendum to fetch an English Gentleman out of my house, and without Baylor Mainprize to commit him close Priso­ner, had you dealt so with the Irish Murderer or late acquitted fellon im­mediately imployed in your service, it had been just. I cannot think of these passages without Reluctancy, it will be one day accounted for, with the pre­tended alarum. Is this the way to preserve the Peace of an Island, by you wholly neglected and left as a Prey to the next Invader? have we not ene­mies enough abroad to ruin us, but that you must command and keep the Barbarous Irish and their Abetters in arms, I will not say to the terror but to the admiration of our Nation, should we be so precipitate as to meet your spleen in its full career upon the Defensive posture, you might have just cause to repent it. Surely the plot is spoiled, we are resolved to bear with patience the yoke till God in Mercie remove it. Sir had I been of yoar Council, I should have put you in minde of the word Moderation, and not have ani­mated a Crew of idle Fellows to prosecute the deserved consequences of Af­fronts. Give me leave to tell you, it is beneath a Gentleman; and if you think to catch me by so mean a stratagem't will not hold twice. I know you too well already, and onely now desire you either to enlarge the Prisoner upon my Recognizance of 1000. l. sterling, to his Highness the Lord Protector of England, &c. for his Appearance at the next Sessions, according to Law; or give me leave to supply his necessity during restraint; for I may not in point of Honour suffer a Gentleman to perish for want of sustenance. We are to be regulated by Law, not your exorbitant will, nor the satisfaction of a La­dies fancy. I should be loath to hazard my Estate upon a Frolick; yet ra­ther than comply with palpable injustice, let me die a Beggar. All these forced Depositions will come to nothing but your shame at last. For your own sake I beseech you, Remember there is a God which can never fail.

April 2. 1654.
Sir,
Your very humble Servant. SAM: WAAD.

Then the 26. of the same April the said Waad having occasion in their Court then held, did voluntarily repair thither, being one of the eminentest men of the Island, amongst other business, he the said Waad with one Cap. Mathew Floyer disliking the exorbitant Government of the Island did sollicite the Go­vernour in open Court that they might be regulated by due course of Law, as other of the Islands were, which was to be by a Common Council and as­sembly, and with all told him that he would justifie the contents of the said Letter and much more before the Lord Protector of England, upon which the said Governor committed the said Waad and Floyer to several prisons, kee­ping Floyer in Irons for certain days, and upon submission released him, so Apr. 25. he commanded a strong guard of Irish to be in arms, and the 29. (being Sa­day in the afternoon) the said Governour constituted Officers, that is to say, Nathanael Read who married an Irish woman, William Bentley a Papist, one Dabram an Irish Papist, Lieutenant, and Nathaniel Stephens a Chy­rurgian, who together with himself, on Munday following, being the first of May, condemned the said Waad to be shot to death, his hands manakled with Iron by five Irish and one English man, which about two of the clock the same day was accordingly done, never suffering all the time of the said Waads imprisonment, nor hour of death, any one Friend or Servant of his to speak with him, but as is reported, the said Waad wrote much the time of his imprisonment; but the said Governour (the said Waad being dead) seaz­ed all his estate real and personal, entering into his house, taking possession of all his books and writings, which amounted to a very great value, and to our best knowledge we here declare.

A plantation called Newark, whereon is one of the stateliest Sugar works in all the Caribba Islands, set up by the said Waad.

A plantation at the Wind-ward of the Island, whereon is a fair house, be­ing a Tobacco Plantation.

A plantation whereon the said Waad lived, called States Castle, whereon is a Stately built Stone-house richly furnished, with all sorts of furniture, to a great value, being esteemed the fairest of any house in the Caribba Islands; In the which house was great store of merchandice, to what value we can­not express. Belonging to these plantations were

Seventy head of Cows, Bulls, and Oxen.

Five hundred Sheep, Two Horses and two Colts.

Hoggs a great number.

Thirty Christian Servants. Fifty Slaves young and old.

Many debts, amongst which the said Osburn owed him about twenty thou­sand weight of Sugar and Tobacco.

Twenty thousand weight of sugar and a great quantity of Tobacco at the time of his death in his Magazine, all which as aforesaid the said Governor took possession of, and presently shipped aboard the Ship called The Industry of Plymouth, Henry Wiseman Master, three hundred and fifty Rolls of the said Waads Tobacco, being about four and twenty thousand weight, and consigned it unto his Brother Robert Osburn, a Minister in the County of Cornwall, which said goods came to the hands of the said Robert Osburn, and by him sold to one Mr. Richard Lobb of the Parish of Myler in the County of Cornwall, about the end of August last, at the price of sixteen pounds the thousand pound, clear of all cost and charges.

This we are ready to testify upon our Oaths, when ever we shall be there­unto called, who were all then resident upon the said Island.

  • Henry Waad.
  • Richard Waad.
  • Henry Wheeler.
  • William Medford.
  • George Wyke.

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