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<DATE>2011-04-12</DATE>
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<NAME>Susie Lorand</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="W">R1553</STC>
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<VID>170436</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<P><PB REF="1" MS="y">
ENGLANDS SLAVERY, OR BARBADOS MERCHANDIZE;</P>
<P>Repre&s;ented In a Petition to the High and Honourable Court of Parliament, by <HI>Marcellus Ri|vers</HI> and <HI>Oxenbridge Foyle</HI> Gentlemen, on the behalf of them&s;elves and three|&s;core and ten more Free-born <HI>Engli&s;h-men</HI> &s;old (uncondemned) into &s;lavery: Together with Letters written to &s;ome Honou|rable Members of Parliament.</P>
<Q><BIBL>Exodus 26.1. 21.16.</BIBL>
<P><HI>And, God &s;pake all the&s;e words, &s;aying, He that &s;tealeth a man and &s;elleth him, Or if he be found in his hand, He shall &s;urely be put to death.</HI></P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed in the Eleventh year of <HI>Englands</HI> Liberty. 1659.</P>
<PB REF="2">
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burge&s;&s;es a&s;&s;embled in Parliament, the Repre&s;entative of the Free-born People of <HI>England: The humble Petition of</HI> Marcellus Rivers, <HI>and</HI> Oxenbridge Foyle <HI>Gentlemen, a&s;well on behalf of them&s;elves, as of three&s;core and ten more, Free-born People of this Na|tion, now in &s;lavery.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER>Humbly sheweth,</OPENER>
<P>_THat your di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Petitioners, and the others became pri&s;oners at <HI>Ex|ceter</HI> and <HI>Ilche&s;ter</HI> in the We&s;t, upon pretence of the <HI>Salisbury Ri&s;ing,</HI> in the end of the year 1654. although many of them never &s;aw <HI>Salisbury,</HI> or bore arms in their lives, and your Petitioners and divers of the others were pickt up, as they travelled upon their lawfull occa&s;ions. Afterwards upon an Indictment preferred again&s;t your Petitio|ner <HI>Rivers, Ignoramus</HI> was found, your Petitio|ner <HI>Foyle</HI> never being indicted, and all the re&s;t,
<PB N="4" REF="3">
were either quitted by the Jury of life and death, or never &s;o much as tryed or examined; yet your Petitioners and the others, were all kept pri&s;oners by the &s;pace of one whole year, and then on a &s;udden (without the lea&s;t prepa|ration) &s;natcht out of their pri&s;ons (the great|e&s;t number by the command and plea&s;ure of the then high Sheriff <HI>Cople&s;ton,</HI> and others in power in the County of <HI>Devon,</HI> and driven through the &s;treets of the City of <HI>Exon</HI> (which is witne&s;&s;e to this truth) by a guard of hor&s;e and foot, none being &s;uffered to take leave of them, and &s;o hurried to <HI>Plymouth,</HI> aboard the &s;hip, <HI>Iohn of London,</HI> Captain <HI>Iohn Cole</HI> Ma&s;ter, where after they had lain on &s;hip-board four|teen dayes, the Captain hoi&s;ed &s;ail, and at the end of five weeks, and four dayes more, ancho|red at the <HI>I&s;le Barbados,</HI> in the We&s;t Indies, be|ing (in &s;ailing) four thou&s;and and five hun|dred miles di&s;tant from their native countrey, wives, children, parents, friends, and all that is near and dear unto them, the captive Petitio|ners and the others being all the way kept lockt under decks (and guards) among&s;t hor&s;es, that their &s;ouls through heat and &s;team, (under the Tropick) fainted in them, and never till they came to the I&s;land, knew, whether they were going.</P>
<P>Being &s;adly arrived there, on the 7. of <HI>May</HI> 1656. the Ma&s;ter of the &s;hip &s;old your mi&s;era|ble Petitioners &amp; the others, the generality of
<PB N="5" REF="3">
them to mo&s;t in humane and barbarous per&s;ons, for 1550. pound weight of Sugar apiece, (more or le&s;&s;e, according to their working faculties,) as the goods and chattels of <HI>Martin Noel,</HI> and Major <HI>Thomas Alderne</HI> of <HI>London,</HI> and Captain <HI>Henry Hat&s;ell</HI> of <HI>Plymouth,</HI> neither &s;paring the a|ged of three&s;core and &s;ixteen years old; nor Divines, nor Officers, nor Gentlemen, nor any age or condition of men, but rendred all alike in this mo&s;t in&s;upportable Captivity, they now generally grinding at the Mills attending the Fornaces, or digging in this &s;corching I&s;land, having nothing to feed on (notwith&s;tanding their hard labour,) but Potatoe Roots, nor to drink but water, with &s;uch roots ma&s;ht in it, (be&s;ides the bread and tears of their own affli|ctions) being bought and &s;old &s;till from one Planter to another, or attached as hor&s;es and bea&s;ts for the debts of their ma&s;ters, being whipt at their whipping-po&s;ts, as Rogues, for their ma&s;ters plea&s;ure, and &s;leep in &s;tyes wor&s;e then hogs in <HI>England,</HI> and many other wayes made mi&s;erable, beyond expre&s;&s;ion or Chri&s;ti|an imagination.</P>
<P><HI>Humbly</HI> your Petitioners do remon&s;trate on behalf of them&s;elves and the others, their mo&s;t deplorable (and as to <HI>English-men</HI> unparallel'd,) condition, and earne&s;tly beg, &s;ince they are not under any preten|ded conviction of Law, that this high and
<PB N="6" REF="4">
honourable Court will be plea&s;ed to exa|mine this arbitrary power, and to que&s;tion by what warrant, &s;o great a breach is made upon the free People of <HI>England,</HI> they ha|ving never &s;een the faces of tho&s;e their pre|tended owners (Merchants that deal in &s;laves and &s;ouls of men) nor ever hearing of their names before Ma&s;ter <HI>Cole</HI> made Affidavit in the office of <HI>Barbados,</HI> that he &s;old them as their goods. But whence they derived their authority for the &s;ale and &s;lavery of your poor Petitioners and the re&s;t, they are wholly ignorant to this very day.</P>
<P>That this high Court will be further plea|&s;ed, to intere&s;t their power for the redem|ption and reparation of your di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Petitioners and the re&s;t; or if the names of your Petitioners, and number of the re&s;t, be &s;o incon&s;iderable as not to be wor|thy Relief, or your tender compa&s;&s;ion, yet at lea&s;t, that this Court will be plea&s;ed on behalf of them&s;elves, and all the Free-born people of <HI>England,</HI> by who&s;e &s;uffra|ges they &s;it in Parliament, (any of who&s;e ca&s;es it may be next) whenever a like force &s;hall be laid on them, to take cour&s;e to curb the unlimited power under which the Petitioners and the others &s;uffer, that neither you nor any of their Brethren, up|on the&s;e mi&s;erable tearms, may come into
<PB N="7" REF="4">
this place of torment, a thing not known a|mong&s;t the cruell <HI>Turks,</HI> to &s;ell and en|&s;lave the&s;e of their own Countrey and Re|ligion, much le&s;&s;e the Innocent.</P>
<CLOSER><HI>The&s;e things being granted as they hope, their grieved &s;ouls shall pray,</HI> &amp;c.
<SIGNED><HI>Marcellus Rivers.</HI> Oxenbridge Foyle.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="8" REF="5">
<HEAD>The Copie of a Letter, written, to a Noble Per&s;on, in Parliament.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>My mo&s;t noble Lord;</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Be&s;eech your Lord&s;hips pardon, for this rude approach of a Slave, One of tho&s;e many mentioned in the Slaves Petition to the Parliament, thrown together, out of this, (&s;ometime free and noble) Nation of <HI>England,</HI> and ob&s;curely buried alive in the di&s;con&s;olate vault, the Prote&s;tants Purgatory, <HI>Barbados,</HI> whence I am e&s;caped, I cannot &s;ay free, but ra|ther, as one brought over in a Coffin, out of which I may not peep, untill the protection of this Parliament unlock it, and &s;ay, <HI>Ari&s;e Free|man and walk;</HI> In the mean time, I account my &s;elf, equally mi&s;erable with my fellow &s;ufferers left behind, who do all unanimou&s;ly by me cry unto your Lord&s;hip and to all the members of your great A&s;&s;embly, (the A&s;&s;ertors of <HI>Eng|lands</HI> Freedome) in the words of the Souls un|der the Altar, <HI>Quou&s;que Domine, quou&s;que?</HI> They are now become Pri&s;oners indeed, and Slaves of hope, looking upon this great body, (made up of &s;o many generous &s;ouls) to be the Angel of their Deliverance, and humbly beg your Lord&s;hip vigorou&s;ly to pro&s;ecute the Re&s;titu|tion of poor <HI>Englands</HI> freedome. They look u|pon them&s;elves as lea&s;t concerned in this great bu&s;ine&s;&s;e (though &s;ufficiently mi&s;erable) being
<PB N="9" REF="5">
but a poor handfull compared to <HI>Englands</HI> mul|titude: the Lot is ca&s;t upon them to be whipt, as ('tis &s;aid) other youths are, in the pre&s;ence of young Princes; That they may be &s;en&s;ible, of the &s;mart due to them&s;elves, (and which they may expect, if they will not learn their books better,) And if our Torment will but make this Princely A&s;&s;embly look about them, and in us, as in a looking-Gla&s;&s;e, to behold the face of their own Condition, they will certainly find, that 'tis but <HI>hodie mihi,</HI> &amp; <HI>cras Tibi,</HI> &amp; can promi&s;e them&s;elves no longer freedome from our Con|dition, then they continue members of the Peo|ples Repre&s;entative<HI>:</HI> For the Hou&s;e being once di&s;&s;olv'd, they are expo&s;ed to a po&s;&s;ibility, (I may not &s;ay a probability) of the like violence, Parliament-protection onely makes the diffe|rence; El&s;e, my Lord, for ought I know, I ought to be as free from being the goods and chattels of <HI>Martin Noel</HI> and <HI>Henry Hat&s;el,</HI> (for <HI>Thomas Aldern</HI> that had the thirds of us, hath al|ready, (I hear) given an account of his un|righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e to a greater Tribunall) as any man, though he might have been once a mem|ber of Parliament; For I never made any con|tract with them, nor do I know whether there be &s;uch per&s;ons, or whether the Ma&s;ter of the &s;hip u&s;ed their names &s;ictitiou&s;ly, as Lawyers do formally, <HI>Iohn Anokes</HI> and <HI>Iohn A&s;tiles: My Lord</HI> I do not go about to conceal that I was &s;ome|time an unworthy Officer in the late <HI>Kings</HI>
<PB N="10" REF="6">
Army: But this I affirm, I was never in any mili|tary Action, &s;ince we were disbanded upon Ar|ticles at <HI>Truro</HI> in <HI>Cornewall</HI> in the end of the year 1644. Indeed I have had my &s;hare in the &s;uffe|ring part &s;ince, upon jealous &s;ugge&s;tions and fal&s;e &s;urmi&s;es<HI>:</HI> After that disbanding, I have al&s;o had the benefit and protection of an Act of Oblivion from the Parliament, and further be|ing upon unju&s;t pretences indicted as a Traitor at <HI>Exon</HI> in the We&s;t in 1655, I was there by the grand Jury of the County of <HI>Devon,</HI> pronoun|ced Innocent, by their <HI>Ignoramus,</HI> and &s;o de|clared in form of Law; And if neither the <HI>Arti|ticles</HI> of a <HI>Victorious Army,</HI> nor the Act of <HI>Oblivion</HI> of an <HI>English Parliament,</HI> nor the formality of a Tryal by a <HI>Iury,</HI> and the Declaration of Law make us Innocent, and pre&s;erve us ftom being &s;old for Slaves, whence &s;hall we expect freedom. <HI>My Lord</HI> your &s;patious &s;oul, can certainly never undertake a more charitable Office, then to en|deavour the Redemption of the Innocent Slaves at <HI>Barbados,</HI> and the prevention of the further &s;lavery of <HI>England.</HI> (Our ca&s;e, is but your Touch&s;tone, by which you may di&s;cover whether <HI>English,</HI> be Slaves or Freemen,) which I humbly beg you Lord&s;hip to be zealous in, I can only pray for your Lord&s;hips good &s;ucce&s;s, &amp; heartily &s;ub&s;cribe my &s;elf, to be, (as far as without my pretended Owners con&s;ent, I can promi&s;e)</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>My Lord,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your Lord&s;hipps humble and faithfull Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="11" REF="6">
<HEAD>A Copie of a &s;econd Letter written to an|other worthy Member of Parliament.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>HAving had former Experience of your goodne&s;&s;e, and having been ea&s;ed by your hand, upon my Letter, when I was heretofore under &s;ome oppre&s;&s;ion (though of nothing &s;o high a nature as now, being with &s;ome &s;cores more of free-born <HI>English</HI> men, &s;old into &s;lavery,) That gives me the confidence, &amp; you the trouble of this &s;econd Letter, though you cannot now, (as then) &s;ingly help me, yet in conjunction with others, of your great A&s;|&s;embly, (all inclin'd for the freedome of the people) I hope you will further mine and all the others liberties, who are now <HI>Slaves</HI> at <HI>Barbados,</HI> and Petitioners at your Bar; For if this man-&s;tealing trade hold good, that all they that were at the <HI>Salisbury</HI> Ri&s;ing &s;hall be &s;old to the <HI>Indies</HI> for Slaves, becau&s;e they were there; And all tho&s;e too, that were not at the <HI>Salisbury</HI> Ri&s;ing, &s;hall be al&s;o &s;ould thither, becau&s;e they were not there; which is the ca&s;e of a great number of the Petitioners who never either &s;aw <HI>Salisbury,</HI> or heard of that Ri&s;ing, nor knew why they were committed to Pri&s;on, yet found them&s;elves indicted for trea&s;on, and being thereupon quitted by the Iury of life &amp; death,
<PB N="12" REF="7">
which is the ca&s;e of <HI>Augustine Greenwood</HI> and <HI>Ni|cholas Broadgate</HI> (two of the Petitioners) to my knowledge, (whatever more of that petitioning number were &s;o quitted, which I do not remem|ber) are notwith&s;tanding that acquitment in|&s;laved: If this be allowed, an ea&s;ie under&s;tand|ing will quickly find, what mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be|come, of all the (formerly free) People of <HI>Eng|land:</HI> And the&s;e Merchants of men &s;helter them|&s;elves, and hope to continue hidden from the puni&s;hment of their Iniquities, and to continue and encrea&s;e <HI>Englands</HI> &s;lavery, by an unheard of wile, which unle&s;&s;e this brave A&s;&s;embly of Parliament doe wi&s;ely look into, and vigo|rou&s;ly &s;tand to their own, and the Peoples pre|&s;ervation; They them&s;elves, may chance to be cheated of lives, liberties and e&s;tates. And the Maior, Aldermen, and Citizens of <HI>London,</HI> by this law, (or rather lawfulne&s;s) will in time, not be &s;pared by the&s;e <HI>We&s;t Indian</HI> &s;pirits; though they begin with Countrey Gentlemen and others, as a more private and &s;ilent thing: The&s;e &s;ubtile Sophi&s;ters, do not &s;eem to be &s;o impu|dent, as publickly to e&s;tabli&s;h Iniquity by a Law, for that the free People would perceive, (and at lea&s;t murmure at, though they might not be able to help) But the&s;e u&s;e the way of a more &s;ly violence, and pick up free People tra|velling upon their occa&s;ions, and take others out of their hou&s;es upon pretences of publick Iu&s;tice, and &s;o do piou&s;ly &s;helter their own
<PB N="13" REF="7">
private and profitable malice, of the former number. I believe the greate&s;t part, (if not all) of the Petitioners were, (among&s;t whom, is not any one condemned per&s;on) but that's no mat|ter, they were as proper men as tho&s;e taken in Arms at <HI>South-moulton,</HI> and &s;ome of them of bet|ter trades, and &s;o would prove more profitable Commodities, and yield more Sugar, then tho&s;e Gentlemen, that could not work &s;o lu&s;ti|ly) But I'le in&s;tance but in one taken out of his hou&s;e, (though I could name more) there was one Ma&s;ter <HI>Diamond,</HI> a <HI>Devonshire</HI> Gentle|man, (as proper as ancient) being at his &s;ale, three&s;core and &s;ixteen years of age, he was ta|ken up at <HI>Tiverton,</HI> (where he dwelt) and the greate&s;t offence, that they accu&s;ed him guilty of, (for ought I could ever hear) was, that when Sir <HI>Io&s;eph Wagg&s;taffe,</HI> and the party, came through that town, and the poor old Gentle|man, wondering to &s;ee, &s;o unexpectedly, &s;o ma|ny gallant men, travelling together, askt who they were, and 'twas an&s;wered, <HI>Cavaliers.</HI> Marry, &s;aid he, (as they pretend) they are very brave Gentlemen, were I, as young as I have been, I would goe along with them, whither he &s;aid &s;o or no, God knows, I know not, but that was all they had to alledge again&s;t him, which they ne|ver went about to prove, though he were kept pri&s;oner a whole year, mo&s;t of the time in the inner pri&s;on, of the common Goal, among&s;t the felons and murderers, from which the high
<PB N="14" REF="8">
Goal of <HI>Exon,</HI> is never free, and the re&s;t of the time, in a Room in &s;traw, among&s;t three or four&s;core Pri&s;oners more; and he was &s;o far from being indicted, that he was never, (I am confident) &s;o much as examined by a Iu&s;tice of Peace; and yet was this good old Gentle|man ravi&s;ht away with the re&s;t of us, from the bo&s;ome of the wife of his youth, and from the youthfull, (but now unhappy) Children of their aged Parents, and notwith&s;tanding his age and Innocencie (for it might have been chari|tably lookt upon as an effect of his doteage, though he &s;hould have &s;aid as dangerous words, (as had I wi&s;ht, comes to) be; this aged Gentlemen was driven on &s;hipboard, the grave Matron his wife, and their dutifull chil|dren. (Having fir&s;t made application (but in vain) to the inexorable High Sheriff) followed him with their affectionate teares, and heart-breaking groans, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> far as <HI>Plymouth,</HI> but could never &s;ee him, &s;o much as to take leave of him but &s;ent to him on &s;hip-board, to let him know, that they were come thither to mourn with him at parting; but off from the &s;hip-board, he might not pa&s;s, to &s;alute his wife, and ble&s;s his children, though it had been to have &s;aved his &s;oul; and to him, he forbad them to come, upon his love and ble&s;&s;ing, for fear they &s;hould make him yet more mi&s;erable, in being &s;natcht away with him: thus was this ancient Gentleman thrown out of the Conver&s;ible world at be&s;t, (if not
<PB N="15" REF="8">
really into his grave,) then all the voyage, be|moaning him&s;elf, (to the great grief of all the re&s;t,) as a mi&s;erable man, to be &s;tolne away from his aged wife, of who&s;e con&s;tant affections he had &s;cores of years experience, and who he feared would now break her heart for grief, and never be able to &s;ee her own home again. In this high agony of love, and grief, and fear, and danger, above all he was troubled, that he &s;hould goe out of the world, leaving his poor Countrey, in this &s;lavi&s;h condition, which he had &s;o many years heretofore &s;een noble and free. Now Sir, if this be the liberty and privi|ledge of the &s;ubject, &s;o long promi&s;ed us, the people of <HI>England</HI> are in but a &s;ad condition. And if there be no redemption of us, already &s;o en&s;laved by a tyrannicall force, for who&s;e &s;er|vice our ma&s;ters have nothing under our hands to &s;hew, nor have we any thing under their hands to &s;hew, whether ever or never the tearm of our &s;lavery &s;hall end. Sir, I know it cannot but grieve your righteous &s;oul, to hear of the&s;e afflictions of your Brethren, if this be not re|dre&s;&s;ed, you know not how &s;oon, the Citizens and Commons of <HI>London,</HI> who&s;e Repre&s;entative you are, may likewi&s;e be carried into the like &s;ad captivity; to prevent which, methinks, &s;ince Petitions are voted the peoples priviledge, they &s;hould petition to the Parliament, (if not for our freedome, yet for them&s;elves, that there may an Act pa&s;&s;e to &s;ecure them, and all
<PB N="16" REF="9">
the free people of <HI>England,</HI> from this violent &s;piriting, lea&s;t they al&s;o upon the&s;e mi&s;erable tearms, &s;hould be brought into this place of torment. Sir, I &s;hall pray, that God will ble&s;&s;e you, and all the great A&s;&s;embly, in the pre&s;er|vation of <HI>Englands</HI> Freedome, and re&s;t,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Sir,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your mo&s;t obliged and faithfull Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="17" REF="9">
<HEAD>The Copy of a third Letter, written to ano|ther member of Parliament.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THe great Report of your publick &s;pirit, and high a&s;&s;erting of the en&s;laved people of <HI>Englands</HI> freedome gives me this confi|dence, to bemoan to you in particular, and to the great coun&s;ell of the whole nation in gene|rall, the mi&s;ery of my own, (and of the many o|ther &s;laves at <HI>Barbados)</HI> &s;ad and to be pitied fate, for though we have never forfeited our &s;elves to the Law, by any guilt, yet, notwith|&s;tanding our innocency, by a &s;trange my&s;teri|ous riddle, a blu&s;tering power, furious as a &s;tor|my Harricane, blowing from all the points of the compa&s;&s;e, (but fixed in none) are we hurri|ed to the heatheni&s;h <HI>Indies,</HI> and are &s;old in the publick market, as bea&s;ts, and become to all in|tents and purpo&s;es, like tho&s;e our fellow-crea|tures that have no under&s;tanding, being bought and &s;old &s;till, from ma&s;ter to ma&s;ter, or attacht as their goods, by the proce&s;&s;e of their cruell creditours, &s;o that he that hath a good ma&s;ter too day (for &s;ome &s;uch there are) may have a tyrant too morrow, that &s;hall whip him at the whipping-po&s;t, as a revenge on his baffling debtour. Oh Sir, did this glorious nation, who&s;e complacent and tender (mixt with a
<PB N="18" REF="10">
couragious) di&s;po&s;ition, was wont to make them appear lovely, to all the nations of the world, ever think that this would have been <HI>the</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>Tran&s;lation,</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>Latine</HI> words, which are as a Proclaimation throughout the earth, being &s;o eminently written in capitall Letters of gold. Over the place of the di&s;placed &s;tatue of the late King <HI>Charls,</HI> upon the Royall Ex|change, <HI>London,</HI> (the intelligible center of Chri|&s;tendome,)</P>
<P><HI>Anno primo, libertatis Angliae re&s;titutae.</HI> 1648.</P>
<P>Sir, had the&s;e men-&s;tealers committed this hor|rid violence, before that publication of liberty, we might have had &s;omewhat le&s;s cau&s;e to won|der at their felony (though cau&s;e enough,) being a thing unknown before in any part of the world, and which the Low-Countreys, <HI>Holland,</HI> and other free nations will not yet believe, though we &s;hould &s;wear it unto them. Sir, I be|&s;eech you therefore to be in&s;trumentall to|wards the obtaining of a Committee (or &s;ome other Court) impowred for the hearing of the poor &s;laves, (who&s;e Petition is already in your hou&s;e) that &s;o your &s;ervant, (for that title I would fain exchange for &s;lave) may make all the points of their Petition appear true, by the te&s;timony of able per&s;ons, upon their oaths, to which purpo&s;e your Petitioner de&s;ires the Par|liaments protection of his per&s;on, which ob|tained, he &s;hall be able to make good both in
<PB N="19" REF="10">
&s;ub&s;tance and circum&s;tances the &s;adde&s;t relati|on of the mo&s;t unparallel'd breach upon <HI>En|glands</HI> freedome, that was yet ever committed &s;ince the Creation, and from which flavi&s;h con|dition I do earne&s;tly beg, that you would u&s;e all your powers, (in a Parliamentary way) to redeem us, and to re&s;tore us once again, to our pri&s;tine condition of being men, and then &s;hall I be able more properly to &s;ub&s;cribe my &s;elf, (which now being not my own) I do pre&s;um|ptuou&s;ly,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Sir,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your mo&s;t humble Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB N="20" REF="11">
<HEAD>The Copy of a fourth Letter, written to ano|ther Member of Parliament.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Be&s;eech you accept of my thanks, for your charitable and cheerfull delivering of the Slaves Petition to the grand Committee of Grievances, which, I hear was not onely di&s;cu&s;|&s;ed before them; but the next day &s;olemnly debated in the Hou&s;e: Sir in this your gallant a&s;&s;erting of the Freedome of your Native Countrey, you have &s;hown a <HI>Mo&s;aicall</HI> courage, that dare do &s;o much towards the relieving of the oppre&s;&s;ed <HI>English,</HI> from their (more then <HI>Egy|ptian)</HI> Taskma&s;ters. Sir you cannot but know (I believe,) the truth of that part of the Petiti|on which concerns the <HI>Ignoramus</HI> returned upon my <HI>Indictment</HI> the acquitment of <HI>Nicholas Broad|gate</HI> by the Iury of life and death, and the Inno|cency of all the re&s;t of your Petitioners that were &s;ent from <HI>Exeter:</HI> (for although Eight of the there condemned per&s;ons, were &s;ent and &s;old with us, yet we have not intermix'd them within our Petition; referring that to &s;ome other way of their own, or friends, (as time &amp; opportunity &s;hall permit.) Sir I believe al&s;o you have often heard from the &s;ad and charita|ble Citizens of <HI>Exon,</HI> the Tragicall hi&s;tory of our being barbarou&s;ly driven thence, into the Land of our Captivity, with much like vio|lence, I believe, as the Heard of &s;wine were dri|ven
<PB N="21" REF="11">
into the &s;ea, and they needs mu&s;t goe that are &s;o driven; when two foot &s;ouldiers and one hor&s;e-man, all armed, were allotted to the guard of every two (intended) Slaves, the hor&s;e-man riding between every Couple, and on each &s;ide of the paired Pri&s;oners, a foot &s;ouldier guar|dant, beating &s;ome that came to pity us; and the Power impri&s;oning one for wi&s;hing, <HI>God ble&s;&s;e us,</HI> thus they hurried us through the City<HI>:</HI> Being upon the Forlorn march, which conti|nued three dayes; tho&s;e few of us, which were allowed beds by the way, had a Guard of armed &s;ouldiers all night in the Room to guard us in our &s;leeps, lea&s;t we might make an e&s;cape in our dreams: and we were not &s;uffered to write back this &s;ad kind of u&s;age, to our friends at <HI>Exon,</HI> lea&s;t it &s;hould appear too har&s;h a truth: the breathle&s;&s;e pri&s;oners having been &s;tifled up, for a whole year, more then three|&s;core, lying in a room all that while in &s;traw to|gether, were not able to march &s;o lu&s;tily, as their high fed and furious drivers expected, yet being &s;urbated and almo&s;t dead, through &s;ore|no&s;&s;e of travelling, and fainting down through wearine&s;&s;e, were thence cudgell'd up again, by the&s;e unchri&s;tian Jani&s;aries, more cruelly, then a mercifull man would have beaten his ru&s;ty jade. Thus began our mi&s;ery, and &s;o we were brought on &s;hip-board, where it continued, for we were all put under deck together, and lockt down. On the &s;ame deck was a bulk-head
<PB N="22" REF="12">
(&s;o called) or a partition boarded, we being kept on one &s;ide, and a main Guard of &s;eamen on the other &s;ide of that bulk-head, through which were port-holes made, and through them great guns, laden with ca&s;e-&s;hot, levell'd again&s;t us, that &s;o, if there &s;hould have been any rebel|lion under that tyranny (which any one or two rude fellows, again&s;t the con&s;ent of the re&s;t, might &s;eem to begin, if they had plea&s;ed, then might the Guard and Gunners more ea&s;ily de|&s;troy us, which happily vpon a jealou&s;y (which was once among&s;t them,) they would have done, had not our provident and covetous ow|ners (tho&s;e merchants of <HI>Babylon,</HI> (taken care to bring us to a more profitable market, to &s;ecure which Vice Admiral <HI>Hat&s;ell</HI> offered the Mr. of our &s;hip, a &s;tates man of war for his Convoy. In this voyage, &s;o great oppre&s;&s;ion was laid upon us by our invi&s;ible Owners, that whereas every vitious &s;ervant which <HI>Bridewell</HI> and <HI>Newgate</HI> had vomited into that &s;hip, had an <HI>Hamaka</HI> to &s;leep in, and keep him from the vermin, which among&s;t &s;uch a crew mu&s;t inevitably &s;warme all the voyage, untill the Extremity of heat (under the <HI>Tropick)</HI> de&s;troy them, we were for|ced to ly on the bare hard boards, they refu|&s;ing to let us to have &s;o much as mattes to ea&s;e our weary bones; though their Factour mo|ved them, (or one of them) to allow it, and he would have disbur&s;ed the money. Being arri|ved at <HI>Barbados,</HI> we were there &s;old as Bea&s;ts,
<PB N="23" REF="12">
and made otherwayes mi&s;erable, beyond the power of my tongue or pen to expre&s;&s;e: From this bruiti&s;h condition, Sir, if you plea&s;e to &s;et too your helping hand to free us, and look|ing upon us, as Bea&s;ts fallen into a ditch, will u&s;e your endeavour to help us out, 'tis &s;uch a piece of charity, as will be acceptable to God, and all good men. So the reward of the merci|full attend you, for they &s;hall receive mercy, I re&s;t,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Sir,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your mo&s;t gratefull and hum|ble Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
