To the most illustrious and most high Prince, the Lord Nicholas Cottoner, Grand Master of the Order of Malta, our well-beloved cousin and friend--Greeting: Most illustrious and most high Prince, our well-beloved cousin and friend. Some years have elapsed since we first addressed letters to your highness concerning certain goods and merchandise, to the value of 4500 pieces of eight, which had been unjustly seized by some of the ships which it is customary to despatch annually from your highness' island to cruise against the Turks in the neighbourhood of Cyprus, from our subject Roger Fowke, a person for many reasons by us well beloved, and our consul in the island of Cyprus; and also concerning the sentence which, after many delays and much trouble, had been at last unjustly given in favour of your people. Farther complaints have, however, been received from our subject, stating that our letters have had little effect with your highness, and that he, already wearied with long expectation, has not had anything restored, that his expenses are increasing to a great amount, and that little or no hope remains of reparation for his loss. Painful, indeed, was it to us to hear our subject relate such injustice on the part of the Knights of Malta; we, however, thought is right to make it clearly appear that nothing has remained untried to bring back to more sane counsels the generous minds of the Maltese; and therefore, under the advice of our Privy Council, we deemed proper to refer, without loss of time, the complaint of our subject, together with the letters which we formerly addressed to your highness, and those which your highness latterly wrote to us, to our advocate in our High Court of Admiralty, Sir Robert Wyseman, Knight; who, having well considered the whole, has expressed his opinion in the following terms: