1

Officers of the Custom-Houfe are to wait on your A. C. Excellency this Morning, to caufe the Equipages 1708. to be tranfported without any Moleftation, and

I hope they have already done it to your Excellency's Satisfaction.

I alfo give my felf the Honour to notify to your Excellency, That an extraordinary Meeting of the Lords of the Queen's Privy-Council, is to be held this Day, at Noon, to enquire farther into "the Circumftances of that difmal Affair: They have made a ftrict Search after thofe who were in any wife concern'd therein, and have caus'd Ten others to be apprehended; fo that there are at prefent, Seventeen Perfons confin'd in Prifon, for being concern'd in that enormous Action against your Excellency. And further, exprefs Orders have been given again to the Attorney-General, to profecute them with the utmost Rigour, and to omit nothing that may contribute towards the making to your Excellency, the moft fignal Repa'ration that can be, according to our Laws.

I have already had the Honour to affure your Excellency of the Queen's Sentiments touching this Outrage: But I am to repeat it again, That her Majefty will not forbear, by all poffible Means, to fhew the extraordinary Indignation fhe has conceiv'd against thofe, who have put fo notorious an Affront upon the Ambaffador of her good Friend and Ally, his Czarish Majefty, your Master.

I cannot conclude, without returning Thanks to your Excellency, for your laft Letter of yefterday; affuring you, That my Duty, as well as "Inclination, engages me to ufe my utmoft Efforts, in order to procure the most ample Satisfaction 'for your Excellency; and that nothing affords me. greater Delight, than being perfuaded, that you'll do me the Juftice to believe, That I am, with a great deal of Refpect and Affection, Sir, your Ex⚫cellency's, &c.

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Sign'd,

H. BOTLE.

Notwithstanding all these Steps towards a Repa- The Ambafration, the Ambaffador having refufed the ordinary fador rePrefent, made to Ministers of his Character, which tires to Holland.

was

A. C.

was offer'd him from the Queen, retired, in Dif 1708. guft, to Holland, from whence he fent fome time after, a Memorial, with the following Letter from the Czar of Muscovy, to her Britannick Majefty:

The Czar's c

Letter to

WE

(After Both Titles.)

E cannot forbear notifying to your Ma jefty, with how great Trouble of Mind the Queen. and Horror, by the humble Remonftrance of Andrew de Matveof, our Ambaffador at our Court, charged with feveral important Commiffions, we have receiv'd an unexpected Piece of News, viz. That the faid Ambaffador, after having obtain'd an Audience of Leave of your Majefty at London, the Place of your Refidence; out of premeditated Malice, and of fet Purpose (as it appears) was fet upon, in the open Street, by feveral Bailiffs, who receiv'd their Commiffion from a certain Viscount or Sheriff, and acted like Robbers, against the publick Laws of Nations, with an unheard of,and unparelel'd Barbarity: For by difperfing his Servants, violently breaking his Coach, taking away his Sword, Cane, and Hat, and tearing his Cloaths, put upon him, fuch a notorions Affront, as no civiliz'd Perfon would prefume to offer to a foreign Minifter of his Character, nor even to a Commoner, unless he would run the Rifque of being moft feverely punished. And what moft of all enhances the •Heinousness of the Fact, while our faid Ambaffador, crying out for Help against the Outrage and Robbery, had got together fome Perfons, who in intended to refcue him out of the Hands of the Pillagers; and when they, for that Purpose had ftop'd the Coach, and being defirous to know the Caufe, brought him into the next VictuallingHoufe; the audacious Mifcreants, produc'd a Warrant from the Magiftrate to detain the faid Ambaffador, for the Sum of 501. Sterling, due from him to certain Merchants; and when the People who ran together, began to feparate again upon the Discovery of the Matter, they forthwith hurry'd him into a Hackney-Coach,taken byForce, and deliver'd him up to be confin'd in a certain infamous House, call'd The Black Raven. And although our faid Ambaffador had notify'd this unheard

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heard of, and flagitious Outrage to the Secretary A. C. of State; nevertheless he could not be found, and 1708. Secretary Walpool only came to the faid Houfe, not to fet him at Liberty (as it moft evidently appears) but to be an Eye-witnefs of this barbarous Ufage, the like to which was never yet feen under 'the Sun. Neither did he offer any Affiftance to our Ambaffador, as a Perfon skill'd in the publick Law of Nations, which protects the Character of an Ambaffador from all manner of Infults,but went away: So that our faid Ambaffador being deftitute of Help, and forfaken, was forc'd to redeem himfelf from the Houfe of Bondage, and after a long Space of Time, to procure his Liberty.

"Forafmuch then as our Majefty is apparently affaulted by this wicked Attempt, and Indignity put upon the Perfon of our Ambaffador, fuch as was never practis'd, nor even heard of in the whole World, much less among civiliz'd People, not only profaning, but quite fubverting the Law of Nations: Therefore, hoping that your Royal Majefty will have a due Regard to the grievous Affront offer'd to us, in the Perfon of our Ambaffador, together with the Infringement of the Law of Nations, occafion'd primarily by the Sheriff, as the Author of the whole Mischief, inasmuch as the faid Sheriff countenanc'd fo audacious an Attempt, and look'd upon the detaining of our Ambaffador, as a Trifle, and fecondarily by the Bailiffs, who prefum'd to abuse our faid Ambaffador, in the open Street, after the above-mention'd manner; and laftly, by the Merchants, who occafion'd his Confinement, (as is evident from their malevolent Inftigation, in order to overthrow the ancient Friendship, eftablifh'd with us and our Empire.) Wherefore we being perfuaded, That your Majefty will efteem thofe Perfons no otherwife than as the moft profligate of Pillagers and Violators of the Law of Nations, proportionably to their Guilt, we entreat your Majefty to confent, that for an Example to others, a diligent Search be made after the reft of the Accomplices R

⚫ of

A. C.

of the Crime, and that a Capital Punishment, aċ1708. cording to the Rigour of the Law, be inflicted on them all, or at leaft fuch an one as is adequate to the Nature of the Affront, which every particular • Perfon put upon the Ambassador.

The fame Ambaffador, by Virtue of the In'ftructions given him on this Subject, will more largely explain our Request to your Majefty; which has been already declar'd by our Minifters to your Majefty's Refident in our Court. On thefe Confiderations we have Reafon to hope from your Majefty's Juftice, fuch a Satisfaction for this intolerable Outrage; and the rather, in regard that your Majefty's Honour, and the Reputation of all your Subjects of Great Britain, will, by this Means, become famous throughout the whole World; and we fhall be certainly "affur'd of the Continuance of your Royal Friendfhip, and all Effects of a contrary Opinion will be entirely remov'd; and left, upon failure of a Satisfaction worthy of, and equivalent to the injur'd Honour, we be compell'd to obtain it by way of Reprifal, which indeed would be very irkfome to us, upon account of_that_particular Efteem we have for your Majefty's Friendship. Finally, We wish your Majefty Health and a profperous Reign.

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Given at our Camp near the Village of Sowolewo, the 17th Day of September, O. S. in the Year of our Lord 1708. and the 27th of our Reign, by your affectionate Brother.

Sign'd, By his Sacred Czarish Majefty PETER; underneath, Count Golofkin, Peter Scapfirof, Secretary of the Privy Council.

In the Month of August Her Majefty was pleas'd D. Adams to make Dr. Adams, one of Her Chaplains in Ordimade Pre-nary, one of the Prebendaries of Windfor, in the Room bendary of

Windfor, Dr. Fleetwood Bishop of St. Afaph, and Dr. Roderick Dean of Ely.

of

A. C.

1708.

Privy

Piety and

Virtue.

of Dr. William Fleetwood, promoted to the See of St. Afaph, vacant by the Deceafe of Dr. William Beveridge; and not long after Dr. Charles Roderick, Provoltof King's Colledge in Cambridge, was created Dean of Ely, in the Room of Dr. Lamb, deceas'd. On the 18th of the fame Month, Richard Earl of Scarborough, Counsellors John Earl of Mar, and Charles Viscount Townshend, Sworn. were fworn of Her Majefty's most honourable Privy Council; and the fame Day, the Queen Proclama figned Two Proclamations, one for Encouraging the tions for Defign of Erecting Schools, for Propagating the Know- Encouragledge of CHRIST in the High-lands and Islands of ing the Scotland; the other, for the Encouragement of Piety Knowledge. and Vertue, and for the Preventing and Punishing Vice, of Chrift, Profaneness and Immorality. The next Day, being appointed by her Majefty's Proclamation, for a Aug. 18th. Publick Thanfgiving, Her Majefty went, with the Thanksgivufual Solemnity, to the Cathedral Church of ing Day! St. Paul's, where Te Deum was fung to excellent obferv'd. Mufick; Dr. Fleetwood, Bishop of St. Asaph, preach'd Aug 19th an excellent Sermon; and Divine Service being ended, Her Majefty returned to St. James's in the fame Order of State, that She came. The great Guns of the Tower, thofe upon the River, and the Train in St. James's Park, were thrice difcharg'd; the first time when Her Majefty took Coach at St. James's; the fecond at the Singing Te Deum, and the third when her Majefty came back to her Palace. In the Cities of London and Westminster, there were Bonefires, Illuminations, Ringing of Bells, and all other Demonftrations of Loyalty and Affection to Her Majefty's Perfon and Govern, ment, and of the publick Joy upon fo Glorious and Happy an Occafion. The fame Evening the The Queen Queen lay at Kenfington, from whence the return'd returns to the 20th of August to Windfor, having been pleas'd Windfor. to constitute Walter Hungerford Efq; a Commiffio- Mr. Hun. ner of Appeals in matters of Excife. The 29th gerford of the fame Month, Mr. Methuen, her Majefty's miffioner of late Ambaffador Extraordinary to the King of Appeals. Portugal, being returned from his Embaffy, had the Mr. MeHonour to kifs her Majefty's Hand, and was re- thuenkisses ceiv'd very gracioufly. On the 7th of September, the the Queen's Lord Hand,

R 2

made Com

Aug.29th.