SHeweth unto Your most Sacred Majesty , That Your Petitioner having been employed by one Edward Melish of London Merchant , to be Master of a small Ship called the Valentine , of about 60 Tun , in the years 1672. and 1673. from London to Fare in Portugal , and from thence to Newfound-land , to buy Fish , and to carry the same to Oporto , and to come from Oporto to London : In which Voyage Your Petitioner proceeded , but in his Return to London , was taken by a Dutch Privateer , not far from the Downs ; Afterwards Your Petitioner was forc'd to pay the Sea-men their wages for the prosperous Voyages ; Melish from time to time promising to pay Your Petitioner ; but not doing it in the space of near 3 years time , Your Petitioner su'd him in the Admiralty for his own and Sea-mens wages , amounting to near 200 l. Whereupon Melish exhibited his Bill in Chancery against Your Petitioner , pretending breach of Orders ; and that Your Petitioner refused to give an Account of the Goods and Moneys wherewith he was intrusted in the foresaid Voyages ; and thereby , and by other false suggestions , he obtained an Injunction to stop Your Petitioners Proceedings in the Admiralty for the wages , till a hearing in Chancery ; and after a tedious ( and to Your Petitioner a Chargeable ) Proceeding there , the Cause came to hearing in Easter-Term 1679. and the Lord Chancellor then decreed that Sir Samuel Clerk K nt . one of the Masters of that Court , should inspect Your Petitioners Account ; which Account had been given in to Melish six years before , and no objection made against it , till Your Petitioner su'd for his wages ; And his Lordship also decreed , that Your Petitioner should have his and his Sea-mens wages , but no consideration for the long detaining it ; yet that the said Master should make all other just & fitting allowances on both sides , and what the Master should report due to either party , should accordingly be paid ; But as to Mellish's pretended breach of Orders , his Lordship left Mellish to his remedy at Law , if he should be so advised ; and further declared , that if Mellish did not try it that Terus , his Lordship would take it for granted , there was no breach of Orders ; whereupon Mellish brought his Action against Your Petitioner , for refusing to go back from Oporto to Newfound-land , in Septemb. 1673. and for neglecting to put into some Port in the West of England , in his way from Oporto to London , whereby the said Ship was taken ; and laid his Damages to 2000 l. though Your Petitioner gained for Mellish in the said Voyages above 1000 l. more then his Losses ; And Mellish having laid his Action in London , and brought the same to Tryal , and after appearing at Guild-hall several times , as if he would try his Cause , he prevailed to have it put off divers times , to Your Petitioners extraordinary Charge , till such time as Your Petitioners Occasions forc'd him beyond-Sea , and until Mellish had obtain'd a Jury of most Merchants , some of them being Brothers to those to whom a considerable part of the Goods in the Ship ( when lost ) were consign'd , as afterwards appear'd ; and some of them were afterwards of that remaquable Grand-Jury that refus'd to find the Bill against the Earl of Shaftsbury ; yet very freely gave a Verdict against Your Petitioner for 200 l. for refusing to go from Oporto to Newfound-land , and for not putting into some Port of the West of England , though it was fully proved the Ship was so rotten and decay'd , that she was not capable to perform the Voyage to Newfound-land , and that the Ships Rudder broke off , before Your Petitioner got near the English Coast ; & that when he came into the Channel , the Wind blew so hard N. and N. W. that he could not possibly put into any Port in the West of England , and no proof was made to the contrary .

* * I. Cause of Complaint . And Your Petitioner further sheweth unto Your Sacred Majesty , that after many motions made in the Common-Pleas , where the Action was brought for a new Tryal , which is usual in such Cases ; And though the Lord Chief-Justice North ( before whom the Cause was try'd ) acknowledg'd that Your Petitioners Agents were Out-solicited ; and that if he had been of the Jury he would not have given such a Verdict ; yet he gave Judgment against Your Petitioner for 230 l. the 30 l. being for Cost of Suit ; and soon after Mellish obtain'd an Order from the Lord Chancellor that the said 230 l. should be deducted out of Your Petitioners demands before Sir Samuel Clerk ; whereupon Your Petitioner exhibited a Bill before his Lordship , to be relieved against the said Verdict , by having a new Tryal by an Indifferent Jury ; And such Proceedings were thereupon had , that the Cause was by his Lordships own Order set down to be heard on the 11th . of January 1681. and ought to have been heard in course a long time since ; but by Mellish's Art and Skill it is hitherto kept off from hearing .

And Your Petitioner further sheweth unto Your Sacred Majesty , that during the Transactions aforesaid , Sir Samuel Clerk inspected Your Petitioners Account , and having made unjust abatements of what Your Petitioner paid for Fish for Mellish at Newfound-land , though Your Petitioners Account is no way disproved , and though Your Petitioner accounts for those Fish at far cheaper rates than others have paid from the year 1672. till this time , as is most manifestly proved ; And the said Sir Samuel Clark did make Your Petitioner account to Mellish for Your Petitioners own Fish , that Your Petitioner brought from Newfound-land , as Fish caught by Your Petitioner at Sea , because Your Petitioner could not at that time of day ( being 8 years after ) prove he bought them for his own use , although Mellish's Factor proves Your Petitioner carried from Faro to Newfound-land as much Wines and other Commodities as would have purchased so much Fish , according to the Bargain made for Mellish ; * * II. Cause of Complaint . and Sir Samuel Clerk abated considerably of the wages , thereby incroaching on the course of Tryals by the Common-Law , as to what the said Fish cost at Newfound-land , and how much Fish was caught , and how much wages Your Petitioner and Sea-men were to have by agreement ; the same being all matters of Fact , and tryable by Jury , in regard the Original Contract touching the same was was made in England ; And the said Sir Samuel Clark made Your Petitioner account twice for the same things , and made such other unjust allowances , whereby not only Your Petitioner and Sea-mens wages were wholly swallowed up , but Your Petitioner was thereby made Debter to Mellish in near 300 l. and about July 1681. Sir Samuel Clerk made his Report accordingly , and Mellish obtained an Order that the said Report should stand confirmed , unless cause were shown to the contrary ; And it so happened , that before the time was expired for shewing cause against the said Report , Your Petitioners Agents had notice that one John Rice that had been Your Petitioners Mate in the said Voyages to New-found-land , was come into England , having been a Captive in Sally for divers years , so that Your Petitioner could not have his Testimony since the controversie did arise ; * * III. Cause of Complaint . Therefore his Lordship was petitioned that the said Rice might be examined , as to what he knew touching the matters in variance , and in regard Sir Samuel Clerke was not then in London ; it was also pray'd , that the Accompts might be Transmitted to some other Master , and the report Review'd and altered , if upon Rice's Evidence there should cause appear for so doing , But his Lordship refus'd to grant it ; However , upon a Petition to the Master of the Rolls for that purpose , it was by him ordered , that Rice should be examin'd , and that Sir Samuel Clerke should Review his Report , and thereupon Rice was Examin'd , and prov'd , that Your Petitioner pay'd for the Fish at New-found-land , according to the rates in Your Petitioners Accompts ; but the time for shewing cause against the confirmation of the said Report being neer claps'd , and Your Petitioner not having had the benefit of Rice's Testimony before the Master ; Sir Samuel being then in the Countrey , and it being deny'd by the Lord Chancellor , that the Report should be review'd by another Master ; Your Petitioners Agents fil'd Exceptions to the said Report , which were afterwards set down to be heard before the Lord Chancellor , and ought in course to have been heard on some day appointed for hearing Exceptions , but by Mellishes procurement , the said Exceptions came on to be heard upon a day appointed to Argue Demurrers which was not expected ; whereby Sir Robert Sawyer Your Majesties Attorney General being Your Petitioners Principal Councel , happened not to be present , * * IV. Cause of Complaint . and his Lordship was made accquainted therewith ; and intreated not to hear the said Exceptions , in the absence of the said Sir Robert Sawyer ; However , his Lordship would hear them , by reason whereof there was not so good a defence made for Your Petitioner , as otherwise might have been done : And his Lordship did then confirm the said Report in most of the particulars excepted thereunto , whereby Your Petitioner , and his Seamens Wages was still wholly swallowed up , and Your Petitioner made a Debtor to Mellish in 282 l. which his Lordship ordered should forthwith be pay'd to Mellish , together with Costs of Suit to be Tax'd by Sir Samuel Clerke , which perhaps may amount to 200 l. more . * * V. Cause of Complaint . And although 230 l. of the said 282 l. was the Money Recover'd by the said ill Verdict and Judgment thereupon , and the Cause to be Reliev'd against it , was then ready for his Lordships hearing ; and his Lordship both then and since , was often defired to hear the same , or stop the Payment of the Money till it were heard , there being Security given by Your Petitioner to abide the final order of that Court , but his Lordship would do neither .

And Your Petitioner further sheweth unto Your Sacred Majesty , * * VI. Cause of Complaint . that the next day after hearing the said Exceptions , Sir Robert Sawyer moved his Lordship , that the said Exceptions might be Re-heard , but his Lordship refused it , and not long after Sir Robert Wright , one of Your Majesties Serjeants at Law , Paul Bowes and Walter Williams of the Midle-Temple Barristers at Law , and of long Practice , finding Your Petitioner was wronged by the confirmation of the said Report ; They Signed a Petition to his Lordship , thereby praying the said Exceptions might be Re-heard , and certifying his Lordship , that they conceived there was good cause to Re-hear them , but his Lordship rejected the Petition , though it be his Common and almost daily practice in other Cases , to Re-hear upon such Petitions : And though divers of the best Councel in Your Majesties Dominions have divers times since gone about to shew his Lordship Reasons for Re-hearing the said Exception , yet he hath silenc'd them without hearing their Reasons , and i● 〈◊〉 … g , 〈…〉 bidding Your Petitioner Appeal to Parliament , by which proceedings Your Petitioner is Injured above a Thousand Pounds , which amounts to almost his whole Substance , and will be the utter ruin of himself and Family , unless aided by Your Sacred Majesty .

Forasmuch as Your Sacred Majesty is the Fountain of Justice , in whom the Supreme Judicative power of the Law resides , and to whom it appertains upon Appeal , to Examine , Correct or Reverse Decrees in Chancery , and otherwise to Relieve in Case of Delay or Denyal of Justice in the said Court , either in Your Sacred Person , or by Commissioners , to be Delegated by Your Most Excellent Majesty , or otherwise as Your Majesty shall please to Order at Your Royal Will and Pleasure .

Your Petitioner therefore doth in all Humility Appeal in the premises to Your Most Excellent Majesty , and doth most Humbly beseech Your Majesty to Order the hearing thereof in such ways and methods , as to Your Majesty in Your Royal Wisdom shall seem meet for Your Petitioners Relief according to Equity and Justice .