ABSTRACT
From a letter of the Council to Sir Thomas Smith, dated 9 March, we know that the merchants' petition was 'lately exhibited unto his Majesty . . . whereof his Majesty apprehending in his great wisdom, and careful tendering above all things the preservation of lives, goods, and the liberties of his loving subjects, hath therefore recommended the petition unto this Board ... to assist and advise his Majesty for some remedy'. To this end the Council thought fit to prepare by conferring with the merchants, ordering Smith, 'as governor of many companies', to call representatives to meet with them.1 Three days later Smith replied that he had met with 'such of the said several companies as be in town' and found 'a true sense and feeling in them of the losses & miseries of such who have suffered by the violence of their robberies'. But he went on to say that they felt 'unfit and unable to direct in so weighty a course' being bold only 'to present their opinions how some part of the charge may be raised from the merchants and owners of ships . . . that (with your lordships' help and assistance, twenty thousand pounds a year for the term of two years) may be collected (with some reasonable contentment from the said parties)'.2
