Europe - The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques And Discoveries Of The English Nation - Volume 4 - Collected By Richard Hakluyt
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Which Sayd Letter Written From The Emperor To Her
Maiesty Hath Beene Considerately And Aduisedly By Her Highnesse Read And
Perused, And The Matter Of Complaint Against Ierome Horsey Therein
Comprised Thorowly Examined:
Which hath turned the same Horsey to some
great displeasure.
I did also acquaint our Maiesty with the contents of
your Lordships letters written to mee, and enformed her of your Lordships
honourable fauour shewed to her Highnesse merchants from time to time: who
tooke the same in most gracious part, and confessed her selfe infinitly
beholding vnto your Lordship for many honourable offices done for her sake,
the which she meant to acknowledge by her letters to be written to your
Lordship vnder her princely hand and seale. And forasmuch as it hath
pleased your good Lordshippe to take into your handes the protection of her
Maiesties merchants, and the redresse of such iniuries as are, or shall be
offered vnto them contrary to the meaning of the priuiledges and the free
liberty of the entercourse, wherein some points your Lordship hath already
vsed a reformation, as appeareth by your sayd letters: yet the continuance
of traffique moouing, new occasions and other accidents tending to the
losse of the sayd merchants, whereof some particulars haue beene offered
vnto me to treat with your lordship vpon: I thought it good to referre them
to your honourable consideration, that order might be taken in the same,
for that they are apparantly repugnant to the Emperours letters written to
her Maiestie, and doe much restraine the liberty of the trade: one is, that
at the last comming of our merchants to the port of Saint Michael the
Archangel, [Sidenote: This is a new port.] where the mart is holden, their
goods were taken by the Emperours officers for his Highnesse seruice at
such rates, as the sayd officers were disposed to set vpon them, so farre
vnder their value, that the merchants could not assent to accept of those
prices: [Sidenote: The English merchants 3 weeks restrained from their
Mart.] which being denied, the sayd officers restrained them of all further
traffique for the space of three weekes, by which meanes they were
compelled to yeeld vnto their demaund how vnwillingly soeuer. Another is,
that our sayd merchants are driuen to pay the Emperours officers custome
for all such Russe money as they bring downe from the Mosco to the Sea side
to employ there at the Mart within the Emperours owne land; which seemeth
strange vnto me, considering the same money is brought from one place of
the Countrey to another, and there imployed without any transport ouer the
borders [Footnote: The original reads: _ouer the sayd of money_. As this is
unintelligible, I have ventured to insert a new reading.] of the sayd
country. These interruptions and impositions seeme not to stand with the
liberties of the Emperours priuileges and freedome of the entercourse,
which should be restrained neither to times or conditions, but to be free
and absolute:
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