(CVIII.) To M. DE BORDEAUX, AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY FOR THE FRENCH KING, August 1657:—­There has been presented to the Lord Protector a petition from Samuel Dawson, John Campsie, and John Niven, merchants of Londonderry, stating that, shortly after the Treaty with France in 1655, a ship of theirs called The Speedwell ("name of better omen than the event proved"), the master of which was John Ker, had been seized, on her return voyage from Bordeaux to Derry, by two armed vessels of Brest, taken into Brest harbour, and sold there with her cargo.  The damages altogether are valued at L2,500.  The petitioners have not been able to obtain redress in France.  The matter has been referred by the Protector to his Council.  They find that the petitioners have a just right either to the restitution of their ship and cargo or to compensation in money.  “I therefore request of your Excellency, and even request it in the name of the most Serene Lord Protector, that you will endeavour your utmost, and join also the authority of your office to your endeavours, that as soon as possible one or other be done.”  The wording shows that the letter was not signed by the Protector himself, but only by Lawrence as President of the Council.  It was probably not in rule for the Protector personally to write to an Ambassador in such a case.

(CIX.) TO THE GRAND-DUKE OF TUSCANY, Sept. 1657:—­A letter of rather peculiar tenor.  A William Ellis, master of a ship called The Little Lewis, had been hired at Alexandria by the Pasha of Memphis, to carry rice, sugar, and coffee, either to Constantinople or Smyrna, for the use of the Sultan himself; instead of which the rascal, giving the Turkish fleet the slip, had gone into Leghorn, where he was living on his booty.  “The act is one of very dangerous example, inasmuch as it throws discredit on the Christian name and exposes to the risk of robbery the fortunes of merchants living under the Turk.”  The Grand-Duke is therefore requested to be so good as to arrest Ellis, keep him in custody, and see to the safety of the ship and cargo till they are restored to the Sultan.

(CX.) TO THE DUKE OF SAVOY (undated)[1]:—­This letter to the prince on whom the Piedmontese massacre has conferred such dark celebrity is on very innocent and ordinary business.  The owners of a London ship, called The Welcome, Henry Martin master, have Informed his Highness that, on her way to Genoa and Leghorn, she was seized by a French vessel of forty-six guns having letters of marque from the Duke, and carried into his port of Villafranca.  The cargo is estimated at L25,000.  Will the Duke see that ship and cargo are restored to the owners, with damages?  He may expect like justice in any similar case in which he may have to apply to his Highness.

[Footnote 1:  Not in Printed Collection nor in Phillips; but in the Skinner Transcript as No. 120 with the title Duci Subaudiae, and printed thence by Mr. Hamilton in his Milton Papers (pp. 11-12).  No date is given in the Skinner Transcript; and the insertion of the letter here is a mere guess.  The place where it occurs in the Skinner Transcript suggests that it came rather late in the Protectorate, perhaps even after the present point.  The years 1656 and 1657 seem the likeliest.]