_Disputes between the French Government and their West-India
Colonies. =Morgan= becomes Deputy Governor of =Jamaica=. =La
Vera Cruz= surprised by the Flibustiers. Other of their
Enterprises._
[Sidenote: 1680. Proceedings of the Buccaneers in the West Indies.
Prohibitions against Piracy by the French Government;] Whilst so many of
the English Buccaneers were seeking plunder in the _South Sea_, the French
Flibustiers had not been inactive in the _West Indies_, notwithstanding
that the French government, after the conclusion of the war with _Spain_,
issued orders prohibiting the subjects of _France_ in the _West Indies_
from cruising against the Spaniards. A short time before this order
arrived, a cruising commission had been given to Granmont, who had
thereupon collected men, and made preparation for an expedition to the
_Tierra Firma_; and they did not choose that so much pains should be taken
to no purpose. The French settlers generally, were at this time much
dissatisfied on account of some regulations imposed upon them by the
Company of Farmers, whose privileges and authority extended to fixing the
price upon growth, the produce of the soil; and which they exercised upon
tobacco, the article then most cultivated by the French in _Hispaniola_,
rigorously requiring the planters to deliver it to the Company at the
price so prescribed. Many of the inhabitants, ill brooking to live under
such a system of robbery, made preparations to withdraw to the English and
Dutch settlements; but their discontent on this account was much allayed
by the Governor writing a remonstrance to the French Minister, and
promising them his influence towards obtaining a suppression of the
farming tobacco. Fresh cause of discontent soon occurred, by a monopoly of
the French African Slave Trade being put into the hands of a new company,
which was named the _Senegal_ Company.
[Sidenote: Disregarded by the French Buccaneers.] Granmont and the
Flibustiers engaged with him, went to the coast of _Cumana_, where they
did considerable mischief to the Spaniards, with some loss, and little
profit, to themselves.
[Sidenote: 1680-1. Sir Henry Morgan, Deputy Governor of Jamaica. His
Severity to the Buccaneers.] In the autumn of this same year, the Earl of
Carlisle, who was Governor of _Jamaica_, finding the climate did not agree
with his constitution, returned to _England_, and left as his Deputy to
govern in _Jamaica_, Morgan, the plunderer of _Panama_, but who was now
Sir Henry Morgan. This man had found favour with King Charles II. or with
his Ministers, had been knighted, and appointed a Commissioner of the
Admiralty Court in _Jamaica_. On becoming Deputy Governor, his
administration was far from being favourable to his old associates, some
of whom suffered the extreme hardship of being tried and hanged under his
authority; and one crew of Buccaneers, most of them Englishmen, who fell
into his hands, he sent to be delivered up (it may be presumed that he
sold them) to the Spaniards at _Carthagena_. Morgan's authority as
Governor was terminated the following year, by the arrival of a Governor
from _England_[30].
The impositions on planting and commerce in the French settlements, in the
same degree that they discouraged cultivation, encouraged cruising, and
the Flibustier party so much increased, as to have little danger to
apprehend from any Governor's authority. [Sidenote: 1683.] The matter
however did not come to issue, for in 1683, war again broke out between
_France_ and _Spain_. But before the intelligence arrived in the _West
Indies_, 1200 French Flibustiers had assembled under Van Horn (a native
of _Ostend_), Granmont, and another noted Flibustier named Laurent de
Graaf, to make an expedition against the Spaniards.
[Sidenote: Van Horn, Granmont, and de Graaf, go against La Vera Cruz.] Van
Horn had been a notorious pirate, and for a number of years had plundered
generally, without shewing partiality or favour to ships of one nation
more than to those of another. After amassing great riches, he began to
think plain piracy too dangerous an occupation, and determined to reform,
which he did by making his peace with the French Governor in _Hispaniola_,
and turning Buccaneer or Flibustier, into which fraternity he was admitted
on paying entrance.
The expedition which he undertook in conjunction with Granmont and de
Graaf, was against _La Vera Cruz_ in the _Gulf of Mexico_, a town which
might be considered as the magazine for all the merchandise which passed
between _New Spain_ and _Old Spain_, and was defended by a fort, said to
be impregnable. The Flibustiers sailed for this place with a fleet of ten
ships. They had information that two large Spanish ships, with cargoes of
cacao, were expected at _La Vera Cruz_ from the _Caraccas_; and upon this
intelligence, they put in practice the following expedient. [Sidenote:
They surprise the Town by Stratagem.] They embarked the greater number of
their men on board two of their largest ships, which, on arriving near _La
Vera Cruz_, put aloft Spanish colours, and ran, with all sail set,
directly for the port like ships chased, the rest of the Buccaneer ships
appearing at a distance behind, crowding sail after them. The inhabitants
of _La Vera Cruz_ believed the two headmost ships to be those which were
expected from the _Caraccas_; and, as the Flibustiers had contrived that
they should not reach the port till after dark, suffered them to enter
without offering them molestation, and to anchor close to the town, which
they did without being suspected to be enemies. In the middle of the
night, the Flibustiers landed, and surprised the fort, which made them
masters of the town. The Spaniards of the garrison, and all the
inhabitants who fell into their hands, they shut up in the churches, where
they were kept three days, and with so little care for their subsistence
that several died from thirst, and some by drinking immoderately when
water was at length given to them. With the plunder, and what was obtained
for ransom of the town, it is said the Flibustiers carried away a million
of piastres, besides a number of slaves and prisoners.
Van Horn shorty after died of a wound received in a quarrel with De Graaf.
The ship he had commanded, which mounted fifty guns, was bequeathed by him
to Granmont, who a short time before had lost a ship of nearly the same
force in a gale of wind.
Some quarrels happened at this time between the French Flibustiers and the
English Buccaneers, which are differently related by the English and the
French writers. The French account says, that in a Spanish ship captured
by the Flibustiers, was found a letter from the Governor of _Jamaica_
addressed to the Governor of the _Havannah_, proposing a union of their
force to drive the French from _Hispaniola_. [Sidenote: Story of Granmont
and an English Ship.] Also, that an English ship of 30 guns came cruising
near _Tortuga_, and when the Governor of _Tortuga_ sent a sloop to demand
of the English Captain his business there, the Englishman insolently
replied, that the sea was alike free to all, and he had no account to
render to any one. For this answer, the Governor sent out a ship to take
the English ship, but the Governor's ship was roughly treated, and obliged
to retire into port. Granmont had just returned from the _La Vera Cruz_
expedition, and the Governor applied to him, to go with his fifty gun ship
to revenge the affront put upon their nation. 'Granmont,' says the
Narrator, 'accepted the commission joyfully. Three hundred Flibustiers
embarked with him in his ship; he found the Englishman proud of his late
victory; he immediately grappled with him and put all the English crew to
the sword, saving only the Captain, who he carried prisoner to _Cape
Francois_.' On the merit of this service, his disobedience to the royal
prohibitory order in attacking _La Vera Cruz_ was to pass with impunity.
The English were not yet sufficiently punished; the account proceeds, 'Our
Flibustiers would no longer receive them as partakers in their
enterprises, and even confiscated the share they were entitled to receive
for the _La Vera Cruz_ expedition.' Thus the French account.
If the story of demolishing the English crew is true, the fact is not more
absurd than the being vain of such an exploit. If a fifty gun ship will
determine to sink a thirty gun ship, the thirty gun ship must in all
probability be sunk. The affront given, if it deserves to be called an
affront, was not worthy being revenged with a massacre. The story is found
only in the French histories, the writers of which it may be suspected
were moved to make Granmont deal so unmercifully with the English crew, by
the kind of feeling which so generally prevails between nations who are
near neighbours. To this it may be attributed that Pere Charlevoix, both a
good historian and good critic, has adopted the story; but had it been
believed by him, he would have related it in a more rational manner, and
not with exultation.
English writers mention a disagreement which happened about this time
between Granmont and the English Buccaneers, on account of his taking a
sloop belonging to _Jamaica_, and forcing the crew to serve under him; but
which crew found opportunity to take advantage of some disorder in his
ship, and to escape in the night[31]. This seems to have been the whole
fact; for an outrage such as is affirmed by the French writers, could not
have been committed and have been boasted of by one side, without
incurring reproach from the other.
The French Government was highly offended at the insubordination and
unmanageableness of the Flibustiers in _Hispaniola_, and no one was more
so than the French King, Louis XIV. Towards reducing them to a more
orderly state, instructions were sent to the Governors in the _West
Indies_ to be strict in making them observe Port regulations; the
principal of which were, that all vessels should register their crew and
lading before their departure, and also at their return into port; that
they should abstain from cruising in times of peace, and should take out
regular commissions in times of war; and that they should pay the dues of
the crown, one _item_ of which was a tenth of all prizes and plunder.
[Sidenote: Disputes of the French Governors with the Flibustiers of Saint
Domingo.] The number of the French Flibustiers in 1684, was estimated to
be 3000. The French Government desired to convert them into settlers. A
letter written in that year from the French Minister to the Governor
General of the French West-India Islands, has this remarkable expression:
'His Majesty esteems nothing more important than to render these vagabonds
good inhabitants of _Saint Domingo_.' Such being the disposition of the
French Government, it was an oversight that they did not contribute
towards so desirable a purpose by making some abatement in the impositions
which oppressed and retarded cultivation, which would have conciliated the
Colonists, and have been encouragement to the Flibustiers to become
planters. But the Colonists still had to struggle against farming the
tobacco, which they had in vain attempted to get commuted for some other
burthen, and many cultivators of that plant were reduced to indigence. The
greediness of the French chartered companies appears in the _Senegal_
Company making it a subject of complaint, that the Flibustiers sold the
negroes they took from the Spaniards to whomsoever they pleased, to the
prejudice of the interest of the Company. It was unreasonable to expect
the Flibustiers would give up their long accustomed modes of gain,
sanctioned as they had hitherto been by the acquiescence and countenance
of the French Government, and turn planters, under circumstances
discouraging to industry. Their number likewise rendered it necessary to
observe mildness and forbearance in the endeavour to reform them; but both
the encouragement and the forbearance were neglected; and in consequence
of their being made to apprehend rigorous treatment in their own
settlements, many removed to the British and Dutch Islands.
The French Flibustiers were unsuccessful at this time in some enterprises
they undertook in the _Bay of Campeachy_, where they lost many men: on the
other hand, three of their ships, commanded by De Graaf, Michel le Basque,
and another Flibustier named Jonque, engaged and took three Spanish ships
which were sent purposely against them out of _Carthagena_.