ALEXANDRE BRAS-DE-FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
Bras-de-Fer compared to Alexander the Great--His adventures and
stratagems--Montbars--Anecdotes of his childhood--Goes to sea--His
first fight--Meets and joins the Buccaneers--Defeats the Spanish
Fifties--His uncle killed--His revenge--The negro vessel--Adam and
Anne le Roux plunder Santiago.
We now come to a class of Buccaneers who lived at we scarcely know what
period, although they were probably contemporaries of Oexmelin. Their
adventures, though on a narrower scale, are perhaps more interesting
than those that had subsequently taken place, and are valuable as
illustrations of manners.
Oexmelin relates, in his usual shrewd and vivacious manner, the singular
exploits of Alexandre Bras-de-Fer, a French adventurer, with whom he was
acquainted, and who, unlike his contemporaries, never joined in large
expeditions, preferring the promptitude of a single swift cruiser, with
none to share his risks or subtract from his booty. His life seems to
have been crowded with romantic and strange incidents. His character
appears to have been a strange combination of bravery and chivalry, a
love of rapine, and a fantastic vanity. Oexmelin says naively, that this
modern Alexander was as great a man among the adventurers of Tortuga as
the ancient Alexander was among the conquerors of the East. Nor does he
see much difference between the two worthies, except that the Macedonian
was the adventurer upon the larger scale.
Our Alexandre was vigorous in body and handsome in feature--so, at
least, vouches Oexmelin, who, a surgeon by profession, once cured him of
a severe wound that he had received--a cure which, if Alexandre had been
generous (which he was not, in this instance at least), might have made
the doctor's fortune.
Bras-de-Fer displayed as great judgment in the conception of his
enterprises as he did courage in the carrying them out. His head and
hand worked well together, and he seldom had to fight his way out of
dangers into which his own incautiousness had led him. The vessel which
he commanded he called the _Phoenix_, because it was of such a unique and
peculiar structure that it was said to be among vessels what the phoenix
was fabled to be among birds.
Alexandre always went alone, in preference to crowding in a fleet. His
pride or his prudence may have given him a fondness for solitary
cruises, for the _Phoenix_ was a bird of prey. A picked crew and a single
swift vessel had many advantages over a rebellious flotilla--and
subordinate captains were often mutinous if not treacherous. If solitude
increased his risk, it also increased his probability of success.
Oexmelin, the only writer who mentions Alexandre, relates but one of his
adventures, which he took down, as he tells us, from the hero's own
lips. The rest of his exploits he suppresses, either from a fear of
being tedious or a dread of being considered a mere romancer.
On the occasion of which he speaks, Alexandre was bound upon an
expedition of great consequence--which, however, as it did not succeed,
the narrator, with a wise modesty, does not think worth mentioning.
After lying some time imprisoned in a tedious calm, his prayers for a
change of weather were answered by a great storm, that blew up the sea
into mountains--wind and fire seeming to struggle together in the air
for the possession of the helpless ship and its pale crew. The furious
thunder drowned the very roar of the sea, and the masts soon went by the
board. The lightning, striking its burning arrows through the deck, set
fire to the powder-magazine, and blew up the part of the vessel in which
it was stored. Half of the crew were hurled into the air, and were
killed before they reached the boiling sea that eagerly waited for their
fall. The remainder of the crew, finding the vessel going down by the
head, took to swimming, and soon reached dry land: Alexandre--strong and
brawny, brave, but desirous of life, and always awake to the means of
its preservation--by no means the last, setting an example at once of
prudence, coolness, and decision. On shaking the brine from their limbs
and looking around, the wrecked men found that they had been thrown upon
a tract of land as much to be dreaded by the Buccaneer as the realm of
Polyphemus was by the wise Ulysses. They stood upon an island near the
Boca del Drago (Dragon's Mouth), inhabited by a tribe of Indians, fierce
and cruel cannibals. Remaining for some time upon the shore, they
exerted themselves in recovering what they could from the scorched
driftings of the wreck. Amongst other things they saved--what was more
valuable than food, because they presented the means of saving their
lives for the present and for the future--a number of their hunters'
muskets, sufficient to arm all their number, together with a quantity of
powder and lead for bullets. Without either of the three requisites the
other two had been useless. They now gathered courage from the
possibility of escape, and determined to secure themselves from the
Indians, reconnoitre the place for fear of surprise, and after that
remain patiently encamped till some friendly vessel should arrive.
One day, while some of the band were smoking, singing, and talking,
their past dangers already half forgotten in the desire of escaping the
present by encountering fresh in the future, the sentinels on the
look-out hill gave the signal of an approaching vessel. On all rushing
to the spot, the keener eyes detected a large ship, dark against the
grey horizon. It presently discharged a gun at the shore, and in the
direction in which they stood. Preparing for the worst, Alexandre and
his men hid themselves in a wooded hollow and held a council of war.
Some were of opinion that they should wait for the stranger's arrival,
and then quietly beg the captain to take them on board. The more
impatient and lawless, less pacific in such an emergency, believed that
such a plan would lead, if the vessel proved, as it probably would, a
Spaniard, to their all being taken prisoners, and at once strung from
the yard-arm, without inquiry, as Frenchmen and pirates. Bras-de-Fer
spoke last, and crushed all opposition by his voice and gesture. He was
for war to the death, and escape at any risk. Better Spanish rope than
Indian fire, better pistol shot than starvation. Quick in decision and
firm in execution, he had at once determined not merely to stand on the
defensive, but at all risks to assume the aggressive. The adventurers
yielded as if an angel had spoken, for Alexandre had more than the usual
ascendancy of a leader over them. Both his mind and body were of a more
athletic bulk and iron mould. He could dare and suffer more. His active
and his passive, his moral and physical courage, were greater than
theirs. They loved him because he shared their dangers, and did not
humiliate them by the assumption of his real superiority. He wore the
crown, but he was not always dazzling their eyes with its oppressive
glitter. They respected him, because he could control both his own
passions and those of the men whom he led to victory and never to
defeat. The success of his victories he doubled by the prudence with
which they were followed up, and the skill with which he conducted a
retreat rendered his very defeats in themselves successes.
The vessel, which proved to be a Spanish merchant ship, with war
equipments, approached nearer, standing off and on, attracted by the
fruit and flowers whose perfume spread over the level sea, and allured
by that fragrance, a sure proof of the existence of good water not far
from the shore. The boats were lowered, and a well-armed party landed
with much caution. The captain marched at their head, followed by his
best soldiers, dreading an ambuscade of the Indians of that coast, who
were known to be warlike and treacherous, but not suspecting the
Buccaneers, who kept themselves in the wood, ready to swoop down upon
their prey, like the kite upon the dovecote.
Already well acquainted with the paths and foot-tracks, Alexandre's men
crept quietly through the trees, which grew thick and dark, and,
defiling by secret avenues, surrounded the principal approach by which
the Spaniards had already entered, in good order and on the alert, but
with apprehensions already subsiding. The adventurers being very
inferior in number and scantily armed, kept themselves hidden, waiting
for chance to give them some momentary advantage. When the enemy was
well encircled in the defile, mistaking perhaps the lighted matches for
fire-flies among the branches, the French suddenly opened a murderous
fire upon the soldiers, who found themselves girt by a belt of flame,
coming from they knew not where. A pilgrim seeing a volcano opening at
his feet could not be more astonished. The Spaniards, seeing no enemies
to aim at, withheld their fire, thinking that the Indians were burning
the forest. The absence of arrows, and the report of muskets, convinced
them more deadly enemies awaited them, and that Europeans and not
Indians were the preparers of the ambush. With much promptitude,
instead of flying in a foolish headlong rout, they threw themselves upon
their faces; and the captain gave the word of command not to fire till
the enemy came in sight, being ignorant yet of their number and their
nation.
The adventurers looked through the loopholes which they had cut in the
thick underwood for the passage of their firearms, to see what effect
their volley had produced, the smoke now clearing away and permitting
them to see more clearly. To their astonishment they could see no one;
the enemy had vanished, as if blown to pieces by the fire. They began to
think that they had retreated, although they had heard no sound of their
retreat; they could scarcely believe that they were all dead.
Alexandre's impatience soon decided the question; determined to conquer,
he chafed at the delay and mystery. His resolution was soon made. He
left his ambush and broke out from the wood into the open. The mystery
was quickly solved, for he was instantly attacked by the Spaniards,
who, when they saw him break cover, sprang up to their feet, with a
shout, as swift as the foes of Cadmus. Alexandre, retreating for a
moment to make his spring the surer, leaped upon the hostile captain and
aimed a blow at his head with his sabre, which was warded off by a large
scull-cap, from which the steel glanced. Bras-de-Fer was about to repeat
his blow with better effect, when his foot caught in a root and he fell.
Closely pressed by his antagonist, and requiring all his skill to save
his life, rising up, with his left hand and with his strong right arm,
he struck the uplifted sabre from the hand of his enemy. This lucky blow
of a defenceless man gave Alexandre time to leap up and call the
adventurers, who had not then left the ambush, and were now pouring out
on every side, pressing the enemy in the rear and on the flank. Having
made a great carnage among the Spaniards, the Flibustiers, at a signal
from Alexandre, closed in, and, bearing down upon the craven and
terrified foe sword in hand, slew them to a man, taking special care
that not a single one should escape, for fear of spreading an alarm.
The Spanish crew remaining to keep guard in the vessel, had heard the
sound of musketry, and at once supposed that their people had fallen in
with some hostile Indians, but knowing that their troops were brave and
numerous, and believing they could easily cut a few savages to pieces,
they sent no reinforcement, but contented themselves by discharging a
noisy broadside to turn the scale of the supposed battle, and increase
the terror of the fugitives. On the other hand, the victorious
adventurers lost no time in following up their ambush by an ingenious
stratagem. They stripped the dead, and arrayed themselves in their dress
and arms. They then collected a quantity of their own Indian arrows,
which they had previously taken from savages which they had killed. Then
pulling their broad-brimmed Panama hats over their eyes (even the
captain's, with a red gash through it), and shouldering their arms,
imitating the Spanish march, and uttering shouts of "victory, victory,"
proceeded to the shore at the point nearest the vessel. The guards on
board, seeing their supposed companions returned so soon, victorious,
laden with spoil, and each one carrying a sheaf of arrows, received them
with open arms as they clambered up by the main-chains. Before they
could recover from their astonishment, the Buccaneers were masters of
the vessel. There was scarcely any struggle, for only the sailors and a
few marines had been left on board. The surprise was complete and
sudden, and the most watchful might be pardoned for being deluded by
such an artifice. The adventurers found the vessel laden with costly
merchandise, and soon started with it upon a trip of a very different
nature from that for which it had been first intended.
Oexmelin laments that in many other adventures which Alexandre told him,
he found that he passed too lightly over his own exploits, and
attributed all the glory to the courage of his companions. But when his
comerades related the story, they were not so generous to him as he had
been to them, and, either from envy or shame, suppressed many of his
noblest actions. He concludes his sketch of the two Alexanders with
incomparable _naivete_ in the following manner: "Au reste, je ne
pretends pas que la comparaison soit toute-a-fait juste, car s'il y a
quelque rapport, _il y a encore plus de difference_. En effet il etoit
aussi brave que temeraire, et lui etoit brave que prudent. Alexandre
aymoit le vin, et lui l'eau-de-vie. Aussi Alexandre fuyoit les femmes
par grandeur d'ame, et luy les cherchoit par tendresse de coeur; et pour
preuve de ce que je dis il s'en trouve une assez belle dans le vaisseau
dont j'ay parle, qu'il prefera a tout l'avantage du butin."
"To conclude: if I have compared him to the Great Alexander, I do not
pretend that the comparison is altogether just; for, if there are some
points of resemblance, there are many more of difference. Of a truth,
the one Alexander was as brave as he was headstrong, the other as brave
as he was prudent; the one loved wine, and the other brandy; the one
fled from women through real greatness of heart, the other sought them
from a natural tenderness of soul; and, as a proof of what I say, he met
a beautiful woman in the vessel of which I have spoken, whom he valued
more than all the other spoil."
Providence, a French moral philosopher ventures to suggest, raised up
the Buccaneers to revenge on the Spaniards all the sufferings and
injustices of the Indians. The Spaniard was the scourge of the Indian,
and the Buccaneer the scourge of the Spaniard.
Lolonnois and Montbars are always considered as equal claimants for the
hateful pre-eminence of being the most ferocious of the whole Buccaneer
brotherhood, considering them from their origin to their extinction. But
the sovereignty of blood must be at once awarded to Lolonnois. Montbars
seldom killed a Spaniard who begged for mercy, while Lolonnois delighted
to spurn them from his feet, and slew all he could without pity, or even
regard for ransom. It was from the very lips of Lolonnois that Oexmelin
was informed that Montbars was sprung from one of the best families in
Languedoc. He was well educated, but soon disregarded every other study
to practise martial exercise, and particularly shooting. These warlike
sports he pursued with a concentrated, unremitting eagerness,
approaching insanity. Even as a boy, when firing with his cross-bow, he
said he only wished to shoot well that he might know how to kill a
Spaniard. His mind had already become filled with a generous but cruel
determination, which grew rapidly into monomania. The animal force of a
strong but ill-balanced mind all grew to this point, and his thoughts by
day, and his dreams by night, became but a reiteration and reblending of
the one master passion. No one ever became his confidant, but the
following is the general explanation given of the deeds of his after
life. It is said that, in his early childhood, Montbars had read of the
almost incredible cruelties practised by the Spaniards during the
conquest of America. In the Antilles, they had exhibited the horrors of
the Inquisition in broad daylight. Fanaticism, avarice, and ambition had
ruled like a trinity of devils over the beautiful regions, desolated
and plague-smitten; whole nations had become extinct, and the name of
Christ was polluted into the mere cypher of an armed and aggressive
commerce. These books had impressed the gloomy boy with a deep,
absorbing, fanatical hatred of the conquerors, and a fierce pity for the
conquered. He believed himself marked out by God as the Gideon sent to
their relief. Dreams of riches and gratified ambition spurred him
unconsciously to the task. He thought and dreamed of nothing but the
murdered Indians. He inquired eagerly from travellers for news from
America, and testified prodigious and ungovernable joy when he heard
that the Spaniards had been defeated by the Caribs or the Bravos.
He indeed knew by heart every deed of atrocity that history recorded of
his enemies, and would dilate on each one with a rude and impatient
eloquence. The following story he was frequently accustomed to relate,
and to gloat over with a look that indicated a mind capable of even
greater cruelty, if once led away by a fanatic spirit of retaliation. A
Spaniard, the story ran, was once upon a time appointed governor of an
Indian province, which was inhabited by a fierce and warlike race of
savages. He proved a cruel governor, unforgiving in his resentments, and
insatiable in his avarice. The Indians, unable any longer to endure
either his barbarities or his exactions, seized him, and, showing him
gold, told him that they had at last been able, by great good luck, to
find enough to satisfy his demands. They then held him firm, and melting
the ore, poured it down his throat till he expired in torments under
their hands.
On one occasion, Montbars openly showed that his reason was somewhat
disturbed, and that, on the one subject of his thoughts, he had ceased
to be able to reflect calmly. While a boy, he had to take part in a
comedy which was to be acted by himself and the fellow-students of the
college, for his friends either ignored or disregarded his dreams and
fancies. Amongst other scenes was a prologue, in the shape of a dialogue
between a Spaniard and a Frenchman. Montbars was to represent the
Frenchman, and his companion the Spaniard. The Spaniard, appearing first
upon the stage, began to utter a thousand invectives against France,
mingled with much ribald rhodomontade, and Montbars became excited, and
could not contain his impatience. To his heated mind the mimic scene
became a reality. He broke in upon the stage, furiously interrupted his
comerade in the middle of his speech, and, loading him with blows, would
certainly have put him to death on the spot, as "a Spanish liar and
murderer," had the combatants not been separated by the terrified
bystanders.
His father, rich, and loving his son much, perhaps all the better for
these wayward eccentricities, which, he believed, contact of the world
and the pleasures of youth would soon drive from his memory, desired to
enrol him in the army, or induce him to enter some profession. But to
all his questions and entreaties the boy only replied, that all he
wanted was "to fight against the Spaniards." Seeing that his friends
would oppose his project, he ran away from his father's house, and took
refuge at Havre with an uncle who commanded one of the French king's
ships. He was about to start on a cruise against Spain, with whom France
was then at war, and, pleased at the boy's avowed attachment to a
maritime life, wrote to his father, approving of the boy's resolution.
The father reluctantly gave what could be construed into a consent, and
in a few days the vessel sailed.
During the voyage out, the young fanatic evinced the greatest eagerness
for an engagement, and directly a vessel appeared in sight ran to arm
himself, hoping it might be a Spaniard. At length, one did in reality
appear, and he had an opportunity of distinguishing himself against his
declared enemies. They gave chase to the Spanish vessel, and received
her broadside. The elder Montbars, seeing his nephew intoxicated with
joy, and, disregarding all risk of exposure, determining to throw away
his life, clapped him under hatches, as a reckless boy, and only let him
rush out when the boarding commenced, and the enemy's vessel was
evidently their own. The liberated youth led the boarders with all the
calmness of a veteran man-of-war's-man. Leaping, sabre in hand, upon the
foe, he fought with them pell-mell, broke through their thickest ranks,
and, followed by a few whom his courage animated to rival his own
rashness, rushed twice from end to end of the Spanish vessel, mowing
down all he met to the right and left. The Spaniards were refused
quarter, those who escaped the sword perished in the sea, and Montbars,
to whom the honour of the victory was unanimously awarded, refused
quarter to a single one. The prize was found full of spoil, the hold
crammed with riches, containing 30,000 bales of cotton, 2000 bales of
silk, besides Indian stuffs, 2000 packets of incense, and 1000 of
cloves, which made up the treasure. In addition to all this, they found
a small casket of diamonds, the case clasped with iron, and fastened
with four locks, which alone outvalued all the bulkier merchandise.
While his uncle and the sailors exulted over these treasures, Montbars
was counting the dead Spaniards, and gloating over the first victims of
the hecatomb he still hoped to slay. Blood, and not booty, was his
object.
In spite of the young victor, a few Spanish sailors and officers had
been spared in the general carnage. From these survivors they learnt
that two other vessels had been parted from them in a storm, near where
they then were (St. Domingo), and that their rendezvous had been fixed
at Port Margot. Captain Montbars determined to wait for them there, and
to capture them by the stratagem of sending the captured vessel with its
Spanish colours out to meet them, as a decoy. While the French vessel
and its prize lay waiting at the rendezvous, some huntsmen's boats came
off to sea, bringing boucaned meat to barter for brandy. The Buccaneers
apologised for bringing so little meat, saying, "that a band of Spanish
Fifties had lately ravaged their district, burnt their hides, stolen
their dried meat, and burnt their boucans."
"And why do you suffer it?" said Montbars, impetuously, for he had been
listening eagerly all this time, to the recital of a new proof of
Spanish perfidy.
"We do not suffer it," answered the huntsmen, roughly. "The Spaniards
know well what sort of people we are, and they chose a time when we were
all away cow-killing; but our day is coming. We are now collecting our
companions, who have suffered worse than we have; we have given notice
far and wide, and if the fifty grow to 1000, we shall soon bring them to
bay."
"If you are willing," says Montbars, "I will march at your head. I do
not want to command you, but to expose myself first, to show you what I
am ready to do against these accursed Spaniards."
The old hunters, astonished at the daring of a mere youth, and glad of
another musket, accepted his proposal. His uncle, unable to rein him in,
and already weary of so hot-brained a volunteer, yielded to his
entreaties. He permitted him to go, giving him a party of seamen to
guard him, and supplied him with but few provisions, in hopes of
bringing him quickly back. He threatened, on parting, to leave him
behind if he was not on board to the very hour, then calling him a
foolish madcap, and cursing him for a hair-brain, he dismissed him with
his blessing, swearing the next minute there wasn't a braver lad at that
moment treading a plank.
Montbars departed with some uneasiness, not caring about his uncle's
advice or the scantiness of provisions, but only afraid that he might
miss the Spaniards on land, and be absent also when the Spanish vessels
were attacked. He wanted no greater inducement to hurry his return than
the prospect of a naval engagement. He had scarcely landed with his men,
when the hunters brought them into a small savannah surrounded by hills
and woods. They had not taken many steps across this broad
hunting-ground before they saw some mounted Spaniards appear in the
distance--these men were part of a troop that had collected, hearing
that the Buccaneers were assembling to attack them.
Montbars, transported with rage at the sight of a Spaniard, would have
rushed at once upon them, single-handed, but an old experienced
Buccaneer caught him by the arm: "Stop," said he, "there is plenty of
time, and, if you do what I tell you, not one of these fellows shall
escape." These words, "not one," would at any time have arrested
Montbars, and they did so then. The old Buccaneer, crying a halt, bade
the men turn their backs on the Spaniards, as if they had not seen them.
He next unrolled the linen tent, which he carried in the usual fashion
of his craft, and began to pitch it, followed by all his companions, who
did the same, imitating their fugleman, without inquiry, trusting to the
address that had often before delivered them out of danger. They then
drew out their brandy flasks and affected to prepare for a revel,
intending to deceive the Spaniards, who, they knew, would give them time
to drink, in hopes of surprising them, an easy prey, when asleep. The
empty horns were passed round with jokes, and songs, and shouts, and the
corked flasks circulated as merrily as if the feast had been a real one.
Without appearing to observe, they could see the Spanish patrols
disappear over the ridge of the hill, to warn their men in the valley
to prepare for a night surprise. The Buccaneer leader, passing the
signal from hand to hand, sent an _engage_ into the woods to quickly
rouse all the "brothers" in the neighbourhood, to bid them come and help
them, and to prepare an ambush in the opposite forest. In the mean time,
other scouts were sent to watch the motions of the enemy, to be sure
that they were coming, and were not making any flank movement.
At dusk the Buccaneers slipped quietly from beneath their tents, and
crept into the adjacent woods. Here they found their companions and
their _engages_ already assembled and eager for the attack. Montbars,
weary of all preparations, was now burning to see the Spaniards,
declared they never would come, and that they had better go out and
surprise them while night lasted; but the Spaniards were purposely
delaying, knowing that the longer they delayed the deeper would be the
sleep of the revellers. At daybreak, they could see a dark troop
beginning to move forward over the ridge, and soon to descend the hill
into the plain in good order, a small detachment marching before them as
a forlorn hope. The Buccaneers, well posted and unobserved, waited for
them, sure of their prey, for the tents being pitched at some distance
one from the other, they could see every movement of the Spaniards. As
they drew nearer, the Fifties broke into small troops, and each
encircled a tent. To their astonishment, at that moment the wood grew a
flame, and a hot rolling fire led on the advancing Buccaneers, who,
breaking out with yell and shout, very terrible in the silence of the
dawning, overthrew horse and rider. Montbars, inspired by the fever of
the onslaught, which always seemed for a moment to restore the balance
of his mind, leaped on a horse, whose rider he had killed, and headed
the attack. Wherever resistance was made, he rode in, charging every
knot of troopers as they attempted to rally. Hurrying on too far beyond
his companions, while breaking into the heart of the squadron, he was
surrounded, and would have been quickly overpowered had he not been
rescued by a determined rush of his men. More furious at this escape,
he pursued the scattered enemy right and left, with increased fury,
inflicting blows as dreadful as they were unusual. One of the
Buccaneers, seeing many of his men suffering from the Indian arrows,
cried out to the Indians, in Spanish, pointing to Montbars, "Do you not
see that God has sent you a liberator, who fights for you, to deliver
you from the Spaniards, and yet you still fight for your tyrants?"
Hearing these words, and astonished at Montbars' contempt for death, the
archers changed sides and turned their arrows against the Spaniards, who
fled, overwhelmed by this new misfortune, and perhaps impelled by an
undefinable and superstitious terror.
Montbars looked upon this day as the happiest in his life. He had seen
the Indians he had so pitied fighting by his side, and regarding him as
their protector. Cleaving down a wounded Spaniard, who clung to his
knees and begged for mercy, he cried, "I would it were the last of this
accursed race." An eye witness of the battle describes the carnage as
horrible--the living trampling on the living, and stumbling over the
dying and the dead. The Buccaneers and the Indians, rejoicing in their
liberty and their revenge, entreated Montbars to follow up his
successes, and wanted at once to ravage the Spanish plantations, and
extirpate the survivors, while they were still discouraged. Montbars
gladly consented to the proposal, and was about to march exultingly at
their head, when the boom of a cannon was heard. It was the report of a
gun from his uncle's vessel, and he could not resist obeying a signal
that might be the signal of an approaching battle. He instantly hurried
back, but found, to his annoyance, that the signal had been only fired
as a warning to announce the hour of instant sailing.
The hunters, already attached to their young leader, refused to leave
him, and the Indians were afraid to abide the vengeance of the
Spaniards. They were all therefore at once placed on board the prize,
and supplied with muskets and sabres. The delighted uncle appointed
Montbars as captain, with an old officer, under the name of lieutenant,
to act as his guardian.
After eight days' sail, Montbars was attacked, at the mouth of a large
key, by four Spanish vessels, each one larger than his own. They
surrounded him so suddenly that he had no time to escape, and he lay
amongst them like a wolf at bay. They formed, in fact, the van of the
great Indian plate fleet, which was, every year, as eagerly expected by
the king of Spain as it was by all the marauders of the Spanish main.
The elder Montbars, bold and hardy, unhesitatingly attacked two of the
vessels, and several times drove back their boarders. Although gouty
himself and unable to move, the staunch old Gascon shouted his orders
from his elbow chair; and, cursing alternately the enemy and the
disease, defended his ship to the last extremity. Having fought for more
than three hours with ferocious obstinacy, and seeing his young hero
terribly pressed by his two adversaries, he resolved upon a final
effort, the last struggle of a wild beast that feels the knife is at his
throat. Firing a tremendous broadside, he attacked both his enemies
with such fury that he sank them and himself, and died "laughing" in all
the exultation of that revenge which is the only victory of despair.
Montbars the younger made great exertions to save himself and to avenge
his uncle. The old lion was dead, but the cub had much life in him yet.
He sank one of his antagonists with a crashing shot and boarded the
other. His Indians, seeing their leader enter the Spanish vessel at one
end, threw themselves into the water and clambered promptly up the
other. Their war-cries and arrows produced a powerful diversion, and
took the Spaniards by surprise. Throwing many into the sea, they killed
others, while Montbars put all that resisted to the sword. In a short
time he was master of a vessel larger even than those that had been
sunk. The friendly Indians, who now looked upon him as an invincible
demigod, he employed in a fruitless search for his uncle's body.
Conquerors and conquered were destined to remain locked in each other's
arms, and piled over with bloody trophies of burnt wreck until the day
that the sea should give up her dead.
The hunters renewed their proposal of a descent upon the mainland, and
Montbars agreed to any scheme which would enable him to avenge his uncle
and his friends. He had formerly lived to avenge the wrongs of others,
to these were now added his own. The governor of the province, hearing
of the contemplated attack, prepared an ambuscade of negroes and
militiamen. Putting himself at the head of 800 men, divided into three
battalions, his wings strengthened with cavalry and his van guarded with
cannon, he prepared to prevent the landing of the "Exterminator."
These preparations only increased the ardour of Montbars. It seemed
cowardly to ravage an unprotected country: its devastation, after
defeating its defenders, was a reward of conquest. Montbars was the
first to leap from the canoes, and the first to rush upon the Spanish
pikes. The front battalion was soon repulsed, and some Indians taking
the reserve force in the flank, they were driven back in great
disorder. Montbars, hotly pursuing, made a prodigious carnage of the
enemy, and carried fire and sword far into the interior.
One day, while at sea, the young captain, already a veteran in
experience, was obliged to put into a bay to careen. To his great
surprise, although the place was a mere track of sand, he saw some
Spaniards on a distant plain, marching in good order and well-armed.
Fearing that if they saw his men they would take to flight, he sent a
few of his favourite Indians to decoy them towards him. Then falling
upon them with fury as they cried out for quarter Montbars shouted, in
Spanish, that they had nothing to hope for till they had killed himself
and all his men. These dreadful words, together with his revengeful
looks, drove them to take up their arms and fight with dogged and brutal
despair, till they were slain almost to a man. Advancing into the
country in search of more human prey, Montbars carried off the arms of
the Spaniards and a great quantity of fruits and provisions.
It appeared, from a survivor, that the Spaniards had arrived in that
country in a singular manner. They had formed the crew in guard of a
vessel full of negro slaves who had conspired together to drive the ship
on shore. They had secretly bored holes in the ship's hold, in which
they had placed pluggets, which they drew out, and replaced, unseen, and
in a moment. While the Spaniards were seated together, talking with
their usual stately, stolid phlegm, this unaccountable leak would break
out and fill the cabin, or drench them in their hammocks. The slaves
never seemed alarmed, but always astonished, and filled the air with
interjections, in the Congo language. The water rushing in pell-mell,
even the ship's carpenter did not know from where, drove all hands, at
great danger to the ship, almost to leave the helm to save the cargo,
which was already damaged. The negroes, quiet and orderly, would
generally succeed, after a time, in stopping the leak, and excited
general admiration by their promptitude and naval skill. All then went
on well for a time; but with the least wind or storm the leak
recommenced, till the very captain began reluctantly to confess, with
tears in his eyes, that they were all as good as lost, for the vessel
was dangerous, and not seaworthy. In the middle of the night, or at meal
time, this supernatural leak would recommence, till the pumps were all
but worn out, and the men faint with want of sleep. One day, when the
vessel was skirting a reef, the negroes watched the opportunity, and the
leak commenced with redoubled fury, the slaves howling as if from the
very disquietness of their hearts. The Spaniards, thinking all hope
lost, and the vessel, as they declared, already beginning to settle
down, abandoned the ship, and threw themselves on that very tongue of
land where Montbars afterwards surprised them. The trick had been
cleverly planned and cleverly executed, but a hitch in the machinery had
nearly ruined all. One of the blacks, more timid or less sagacious than
the rest, seeing the water pour in with more than usual impetuosity, and
on all sides, lost his presence of mind. Not able at once, in his panic,
to find the hole which he had to stop, he believed that his companions
had also failed, and that all was indeed lost, and, throwing himself
overboard without inquiring, he joined the Spaniards, who were thanking
God (prematurely) for their deliverance.
Looking back for his companions, to his horror he saw a dozen of them
tugging at the helm, and putting out wildly to sea. The truth flashed
upon him, and he knew in a moment that his safety was a loss. Giving way
to uncontrollable despair, he tore his wool, and stamped his feet, and
cursed his fetish, and stretched out his hands, as if to stay the
parting vessel. The Spaniards, astonished at this apparently passionate
desire to be drowned, began slowly to discover the successful stratagem.
They looked: "Demonio, St. Antonio!"--the vessel did not sink, but
glided swiftly out to sea. They could see the blacks laughing, pulling
at the ropes, and grinning from the port-holes. They turned with fury on
the unhappy survivor, and put him to the torture till he confessed the
truth.
And this story completes all that history has preserved of one of the
strangest combinations of fanatic and soldier that has ever appeared
since the days of Loyola. In another age, and under other circumstances,
he might have become a second Mohammed. Equally remorseless, his
ambition, though narrower, seems to have been no less fervid. If he was
cruel, we must allow him to have been sincere even in his fanaticism.
Daring, untiring, of unequalled courage, and unmatched resolution, the
cruelty of the Spaniards he put down by greater cruelty. He passes from
us into unknown seas, and we hear of him no more. He died probably
unconscious of crime, unpitying and unpitied.
Oexmelin, who saw Montbars at Honduras, describes him as active,
vivacious, and full of fire, like all the Gascons. He was of tall
stature, erect and firm, his air grand, noble, and martial. His
complexion was sun-burnt, and the colour of his eyes could not be
discerned under the deep, arched vaulting of his bushy eyebrows. His
very glance in battle was said to intimidate the Spaniards, and to drive
them to despair.
In 1659, Santiago was pillaged by the Flibustiers, in revenge for the
murder of twelve Frenchmen, who had been shot by a Spanish captain, who
took them from a Flemish vessel, sparing only a woman, and a child who
hid itself under the robe of a monk.
Determined on retaliation, the people of the coast assembled to the
number of 500. Obtaining an English commission, they embarked on board a
frigate from Nantes, and a number of small craft--De L'Isle being their
commander, and Adam, Lormel, and Anne le Roux their lieutenants. They
landed at Puerto de Plata, "le Dimanche des Rameaux," and marched upon
St. Jago at daybreak. Passing over the bodies of the guards, they rushed
to the governor's house, and surprised him in bed. He, knowing French,
threw himself on his knees, and told them that peace was about to be
declared between the two nations. They replied, that they carried an
English commission, and, reproaching him for his cruelties, bade him
either prepare for death, or pay down 60,000 crowns. Part of this ransom
he instantly paid in hides. The pillage of the town lasted twenty-four
hours, and nothing was spared; the very bells were carried from the
churches, and the altars stripped of their plate. No violence, however,
we are glad to record, was offered to the women, the Brotherhood having
agreed, that any such offender should lose his share of the spoil.
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.
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LIVES
OF THE
QUEENS OF ENGLAND.
BY AGNES STRICKLAND.
Dedicated by Express Permission to her Majesty.
EMBELLISHED WITH PORTRAITS OF EVERY QUEEN,
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light since the appearance of earlier impressions, is now offered to the
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properly verified sources. The series, commencing with the consort of
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sovereign of the royal house of Stuart, Queen Anne, and comprises
therein thirty queens who have worn the crown-matrimonial, and four the
regal diadem of this realm. We have related the parentage of every
queen, described her education, traced the influence of family
connexions and national habits on her conduct, both public and private,
and given a concise outline of the domestic, as well as the general
history of her times, and its effects on her character, and we have done
so with singleness of heart, unbiassed by selfish interests or narrow
views. Such as they were in life we have endeavoured to portray them,
both in good and ill, without regard to any other considerations than
the development of the _facts_. Their sayings, their doings, their
manners, their costume, will be found faithfully chronicled in this
work, which also includes the most interesting of their letters. The
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* * * * *
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
FROM THE TIMES.
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interesting to all, and more particularly interesting to that portion of
the community to whom the more refined researches of literature afford
pleasure and instruction. The whole work should be read, and no doubt
will be read, by all who are anxious for information. It is a lucid
arrangement of facts, derived from authentic sources, exhibiting a
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met with in biographers of crowned heads."
MORNING HERALD.
"A remarkable and truly great historical work. In this series of
biographies, in which the severe truth of history takes almost the
wildness of romance, it is the singular merit of Miss Strickland that
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passages, to bring forth fresh facts, and to render every portion of our
annals which she has described an interesting and valuable study. She
has given a most valuable contribution to the history of England, and we
have no hesitation in affirming that no one can be said to possess an
accurate knowledge of the history of the country who has not studied
this truly national work, which, in this new edition, has received all
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original form."
MORNING CHRONICLE.
"A most valuable and entertaining work. There is certainly no lady of
our day who has devoted her pen to so beneficial a purpose as Miss
Strickland. Nor is there any other whose works possess a deeper or more
enduring interest."
MORNING POST.
"We must pronounce Miss Strickland beyond all comparison the most
entertaining historian in the English language. She is certainly a woman
of powerful and active mind, as well as of scrupulous justice and
honesty of purpose."
QUARTERLY REVIEW.
"Miss Strickland has made a very judicious use of many authentic MS.
authorities not previously collected, and the result is a most
interesting addition to our biographical library."
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"A valuable contribution to historical knowledge. It contains a mass of
every kind of historical matter of interest, which industry and research
could collect. We have derived much entertainment and instruction from
the work."
CHEAP EDITION OF
PEPYS' DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.
_Now ready, a New and Cheap Edition, printed uniformly with the last
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DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
SAMUEL PEPYS, F.R.S.,
SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II.
EDITED BY RICHARD LORD BRAYBROOKE.
The authority of PEPYS, as an historian and illustrator of a
considerable portion of the seventeenth century, has been so fully
acknowledged by every scholar and critic, that it is now scarcely
necessary to remind the reader of the advantages he possessed for
producing the most complete and trustworthy record of events, and the
most agreeable picture of society and manners, to be found in the
literature of any nation. In confidential communication with the
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head of the Scientific and Learned of a period remarkable for
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and everybody whose characteristics were worth noting down; and
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A New and Cheap Edition of this work, comprising all the restored
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OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON PEPYS' DIARY.
FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.
"Without making any exception in favour of any other production of
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FROM THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.
"There is much in Pepys' Diary that throws a distinct and vivid light
over the picture of England and its government during the period
succeeding the Restoration. If, quitting the broad path of history, we
look for minute information concerning ancient manners and customs, the
progress of arts and sciences, and the various branches of antiquity, we
have never seen a mine so rich as these volumes. The variety of Pepys'
tastes and pursuits led him into almost every department of life. He was
a man of business, a man of information, a man of whim, and, to a
certain degree, a man of pleasure. He was a statesman, a _bel-esprit_, a
virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an unwearied, as
well as an universal, learner, and whatever he saw found its way into
his tablets."
FROM THE ATHENAEUM.
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the reader is taken into his inmost soul. Pepys' Diary is the ablest
picture of the age in which the writer lived, and a work of standard
importance in English literature."
FROM THE EXAMINER.
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manners in the latter half of the seventeenth century."
FROM TAIT'S MAGAZINE.
"We owe Pepys a debt of gratitude for the rare and curious information
he has bequeathed to us in this most amusing and interesting work. His
Diary is valuable, as depicting to us many of the most important
characters of the times. Its author has bequeathed to us the records of
his heart--the very reflection of his energetic mind; and his quaint but
happy narrative clears up numerous disputed points--throws light into
many of the dark corners of history, and lays bare the hidden substratum
of events which gave birth to, and supported the visible progress of,
the nation."
FROM THE MORNING POST.
"Of all the records that have ever been published, Pepys' Diary gives us
the most vivid and trustworthy picture of the times, and the clearest
view of the state of English public affairs and of English society
during the reign of Charles II. We see there, as in a map, the vices of
the monarch, the intrigues of the Cabinet, the wanton follies of the
court, and the many calamities to which the nation was subjected during
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IMPORTANT NEW HISTORICAL WORK.
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THE QUEENS BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
BY MRS. MATTHEW HALL.
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FROM THE LITERARY GAZETTE.
"Mrs. Hall's work presents a clear and connected series of records of
the early female sovereigns of England, of whom only a few scattered
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book is of great interest, as containing many notices of English life
and manners in the remote times of our British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish
ancestors."
SUNDAY TIMES.
"These volumes open up a new and interesting page of history to the
majority of readers. What Miss Strickland has achieved for English
Queens since the Norman era, has been accomplished by Mrs. Hall on
behalf of the royal ladies who, as wives of Saxon kings, have influenced
the destinies of Britain."
SUN.
"Mrs. Hall may be congratulated on having successfully accomplished a
very arduous undertaking. Her volumes form a useful introduction to the
usual commencement of English history."
CRITIC.
"The most instructive history we possess of the pre-Conquest period. It
should take its place by the side of Miss Strickland's 'Lives of the
Queens.'"
OBSERVER.
"Of all our female historico-biographical writers, Mrs. Hall seems to us
to be one of the most painstaking, erudite, and variously and profoundly
accomplished. Her valuable volumes contain not only the lives of the
Queens before the Conquest, but a very excellent history of England
previously to the Norman dynasty."
BELL'S MESSENGER.
"These interesting volumes have been compiled with judgment, discretion,
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history worthy of the characters she has essayed to illustrate. The book
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British people."
NEW QUARTERLY REVIEW.
"These volumes have long been a desideratum, and will be hailed as a
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world-famous biographical history."
THE PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
BY SIR BERNARD BURKE,
ULSTER KING OF ARMS.
A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED FROM THE PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS OF
THE NOBILITY, &c.
With 1500 Engravings of ARMS. In 1 vol. (comprising as much matter as
twenty ordinary volumes), 38s. bound.
* * * * *
The following is a List of the Principal Contents of this Standard
Work:--
I. A full and interesting history of each order of the English Nobility,
showing its origin, rise, titles, immunities, privileges, &c.
II. A complete Memoir of the Queen and Royal Family, forming a brief
genealogical History of the Sovereign of this country, and deducing the
descent of the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, and Guelphs, through their
various ramifications. To this section is appended a list of those Peers
and others who inherit the distinguished honour of Quartering the Royal
Arms of Plantagenet.
III. An Authentic table of Precedence.
IV. A perfect HISTORY OF ALL THE PEERS AND BARONETS, with the fullest
details of their ancestors and descendants, and particulars respecting
every collateral member of each family, and all intermarriages, &c.
V. The Spiritual Lords.
VI. Foreign Noblemen, subjects by birth of the British Crown.
VII. Extinct Peerages, of which descendants still exist.
VIII. Peerages claimed.
IX. Surnames of Peers and Peeresses, with Heirs Apparent and
Presumptive.
X. Courtesy titles of Eldest Sons.
XI. Peerages of the Three Kingdoms in order of Precedence.
XII. Baronets in order of Precedence.
XIII. Privy Councillors of England and Ireland.
XIV. Daughters of Peers married to Commoners.
XV. ALL THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, with every Knight and all the Knights
Bachelors.
XVI. Mottoes translated, with poetical illustrations.
* * * * *
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"For the amazing quantity of personal and family history, admirable
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acknowledged book of reference upon all questions touching pedigree, and
direct or collateral affinity with the titled aristocracy. The lineage
of each distinguished house is deduced through all the various
ramifications. Every collateral branch, however remotely connected, is
introduced; and the alliances are so carefully inserted, as to show, in
all instances, the connexion which so intimately exists between the
titled and untitled aristocracy. We have also much most entertaining
historical matter, and many very curious and interesting family
traditions. The work is, in fact, a complete cyclopaedia of the whole
titled classes of the empire, supplying all the information that can
possibly be desired on the subject."--_Morning Post_.
CHEAP EDITION OF THE DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
JOHN EVELYN, F.R.S.
_Now completed, with Portraits, in Four Volumes, post octavo (either of
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COMPRISING ALL THE IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL NOTES, LETTERS, AND OTHER
ILLUSTRATIONS LAST MADE.
"We rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of Evelyn. It
is intended as a companion to the recent edition of Pepys, and presents
similar claims to interest and notice. Evelyn was greatly above the vast
majority of his contemporaries, and the Diary which records the
incidents in his long life, extending over the greater part of a
century, is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable and interesting
books in the language. Evelyn took part in the breaking out of the civil
war against Charles I., and he lived to see William of Orange ascend the
throne. Through the days of Strafford and Land, to those of Sancroft and
Ken, he was the steady friend of moderation and peace in the English
Church. He interceded alike for the royalist and the regicide; he was
the correspondent of Cowley, the patron of Jeremy Taylor, the associate
and fellow-student of Boyle; and over all the interval between Vandyck
and Kneller, between the youth of Milton and the old age of Dryden,
poetry and the arts found him an intelligent adviser, and a cordial
friend. There are, on the whole, very few men of whom England has more
reason to be proud. He stands among the first in the list of Gentlemen.
We heartily commend so good an edition of this English
classic."--_Examiner._
"This work is a necessary companion to the popular histories of our
country, to Hume, Hallam, Macaulay, and Lingard.--_Sun._
LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF ENGLAND.
By MRS. EVERETT GREEN,
EDITOR OF THE "LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES."
6 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 10s. 6d. each, bound. Either of
which may be had separately.
"This work is a worthy companion to Miss Strickland's admirable 'Queens
of England.' That celebrated work, although its heroines were, for the
most part, foreign Princesses, related almost entirely to the history of
this country. The Princesses of England, on the contrary, are themselves
English, but their lives are nearly all connected with foreign nations.
Their biographies, consequently, afford us a glimpse of the manners and
customs of the chief European kingdoms, a circumstance which not only
gives to the work the charm of variety, but which is likely to render it
peculiarly useful to the general reader, as it links together by
association the contemporaneous history of various nations. We cordially
commend Mrs. Green's production to general attention; it is
(necessarily) as useful as history, and fully as entertaining as
romance."--_Sun._
SIR B. BURKE'S DICTIONARY OF THE
EXTINCT, DORMANT, AND ABEYANT PEERAGES
OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.
Beautifully printed, in 1 vol, 8vo, containing 800 double-column pages,
21s. bound.
This work connects, in many instances, the new with the old nobility,
and it will in all cases show the cause which has influenced the revival
of an extinct dignity in a new creation. It should be particularly
noticed, that this new work appertains nearly as much to extant as to
extinct persons of distinction; for though dignities pass away, it
rarely occurs that whole families do.
HISTORY OF THE LANDED GENTRY.
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* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Mismatched quotation marks in one paragraph of Chapter III
were left as in the original.
Pg 26: nomade changed to nomadic
Pg 41: Manchete changed to Machete