_Second Plunder of =Carthagena=. Peace of =Ryswick, in 1697=.
Entire Suppression of the =Buccaneers= and =Flibustiers=._
[Sidenote: 1697. May.] The share which M. de Pointis had allotted of the
plunder of _Carthagena_ to the Buccaneers, fell so short of their
calculations, and was felt as so great an aggravation of the contemptuous
treatment they had before received, that their rage was excessive, and in
their first transports they proposed to board the Sceptre, a ship of 84
guns, on board which M. de Pointis carried his flag. This was too
desperate a scheme to be persevered in. After much deliberation, one among
them exclaimed, 'It is useless to trouble ourselves any farther about such
a villain as De Pointis; let him go with what he has got; he has left us
our share at _Carthagena_, and thither we must return to seek it.' The
proposition was received with general applause by these remorseless
robbers, whose desire for vengeance on De Pointis was all at once
obliterated by the mention of an object that awakened their greediness for
plunder. They got their vessels under sail, and stood back to the devoted
city, doomed by them to pay the forfeit for the dishonesty of their
countryman.
The matter was consulted and determined upon without M. du Casse being
present, and the ship in which he had embarked was left by the rest
without company. When he perceived what they were bent upon, he sent
orders to them to desist, which he accompanied with a promise to demand
redress for them in _France_; but neither the doubtful prospect of distant
redress held out, nor respect for his orders, had any effect in
restraining them. M. du Casse sent an officer to M. de Pointis, who had
not yet sailed from the entrance of _Carthagena Harbour_, to inform him
that the Buccaneers, in defiance of all order and in breach of the
capitulation which had been granted to the city, were returning thither to
plunder it again; but M. de Pointis in sending the Commissary's account
had closed his intercourse with the Buccaneers and with the Colonists, at
least for the remainder of his expedition. M. du Casse's officer was told
that the General was so ill that he could not be spoken with. The Officer
went to the next senior Captain in command of the fleet, who, on being
informed of the matter, said, 'the Buccaneers were great rogues, and ought
to be hanged;' but as no step could be taken to prevent the mischief,
without delaying the sailing of the fleet, the chief commanders of which
were impatient to see their booty in a place of greater security, none was
taken, and [Sidenote: June.] on the 1st of June the King's fleet sailed
for _France_, leaving _Carthagena_ to the discretion of the Buccaneers. M.
de Pointis claims being ignorant of what was transacting. 'On the 30th of
May,' he says, 'I was taken so ill, that all I could do, before I fell
into a condition that deprived me of my intellect, was to acquaint Captain
Levi that I committed the care of the squadron to him.'
If M. de Pointis acted fairly by the people who came from _France_ and
returned with him, it must be supposed that in his sense of right and
wrong he held the belief, that 'to rob a rogue is no breach of honesty.'
But it was said of him, '_Il etoit capable de former un grand dessein, et
de rien epargner pour le faire reussir_;' the English phrase for which is,
'he would stick at nothing.'
On the 1st of June, M. du Casse also sailed from _Carthagena_ to return to
_St. Domingo_. Thus were the Flibustiers abandoned to their own will by
all the authorities whose duty it was to have restrained them.
The inhabitants of _Carthagena_ seeing the buccaneer ships returning to
the city, waited in the most anxious suspense to learn the cause. The
Flibustiers on landing, seized on all the male inhabitants they could lay
hold of, and shut them up in the great church. They posted up a kind of
manifesto in different parts of the city, setting forth the justice of
their second invasion of _Carthagena_, which they grounded on the perfidy
of the French General De Pointis ('_que nous vous permettons de charger de
toutes les maledictions imaginables_,') and on their own necessities.
Finally, they demanded five millions of livres as the price of their
departing again without committing disorder. It seems strange that the
Buccaneers could expect to raise so much money in a place so recently
plundered. Nevertheless, by terrifying their prisoners, putting some to
the torture, ransacking the tombs, and other means equally abhorrent, in
four days time they had nearly made up the proposed sum. It happened that
two Flibustiers killed two women of _Carthagena_ in some manner, or under
some circumstances, that gave general offence, and raised indignation in
the rest of the Flibustiers, who held a kind of trial and condemned them
to be shot, which was done in presence of many of the inhabitants. The
Buccaneer histories praise this as an act of extraordinary justice, and a
set-off against their cruelties and robberies, such as gained them the
esteem even of the Spaniards. The punishment, however merited, was a
matter of caprice. It is no where pretended that they ever made a law to
themselves to forbid their murdering their prisoners; in very many
instances they had not refrained, and in no former instance had it been
attended with punishment. The putting these two murderers to death
therefore, as it related to themselves, was an arbitrary and lawless act.
If the women had been murdered for the purpose of coming at their money,
it could not have incurred blame from the rest. These remarks are not
intended in disapprobation of the act, which was very well; but too highly
extolled.
Having almost completed their collection, they began to dispute about the
division, the Flibustiers pretending that the more regular settlers of the
colony (being but landsmen) were not entitled to an equal share with
themselves, when a bark arrived from _Martinico_ which was sent expressly
to give them notice that a fleet of English and Dutch ships of war had
just arrived in the _West Indies_. This news made them hasten their
departure, and shortened or put an end to their disputes; for previous to
sailing, they made a division of the gold and silver, in which each man
shared nearly a thousand crowns; the merchandise and negroes being
reserved for future division, and which it was expected would produce much
more.
The Commanders of the English and Dutch squadrons, on arriving at
_Barbadoes_, learnt that the French had taken _Carthagena_. They sailed on
for that place, and had almost reached it, when they got sight of De
Pointis' squadron, to which they gave chase, but which escaped from them
by superior sailing.
[Sidenote: An English and Dutch Squadron fall in with the Buccaneers.] On
the 3d or 4th of June, the Flibustiers sailed from _Carthagena_ in nine
vessels, and had proceeded thirty leagues of their route towards
_Hispaniola_, when they came in sight of the English and Dutch fleet. They
dispersed, every one using his best endeavours to save himself by flight.
The two richest ships were taken; two were driven on shore and wrecked,
one of them near _Carthagena_, and her crew fell into the hands of the
Spaniards, who would have been justified in treating them as pirates; but
they were only made to work on the fortifications. The five others had the
good fortune to reach _Isle Avache_. To conclude the history of the
Carthagena expedition, a suit was instituted in _France_ against M. de
Pointis and the _armateurs_, in behalf of the Colonists and Flibustiers,
and a decree was obtained in their favour for 1,400,000 livres; but the
greater part of the sum was swallowed up by the expenses of the suit, and
the embezzlements of agents.
The Carthagena expedition was the last transaction in which the
Flibustiers or Buccaneers made a conspicuous figure. It turned out to
their disadvantage in many respects; but chiefly in stripping them of
public favour. [Sidenote: September. Peace of Ryswick.] In September 1697,
an end was put to the war, by a Treaty signed at _Ryswick_. By this
treaty, the part of the Island _St. Christopher_ which had belonged to the
French was restored to them.
In earlier times, peace, by releasing the Buccaneers from public demands
on their services, left them free to pursue their own projects, with an
understood license or privilege to cruise or form any other enterprise
against the Spaniards, without danger of being subjected to enquiry; but
the aspect of affairs in this respect was now greatly altered. [Sidenote:
Causes which led to the suppression of the Buccaneers.] The Treaty of 1670
between _Great Britain_ and _Spain_, with the late alliance of those
powers against _France_, had put an end to buccaneering in _Jamaica_; the
scandal of the second plunder of _Carthagena_ lay heavy on the Flibustiers
of _St. Domingo_; and a circumstance in which both _Great Britain_ and
_France_ were deeply interested, went yet more strongly to the entire
suppression of the cruisings of the Buccaneers, and to the dissolution of
their piratical union; which was, the King of _Spain_, Charles the IId.
being in a weak state of health, without issue, and the succession to the
crown of _Spain_ believed to depend upon his will. On this last account,
the kings of _Great Britain_ and _France_ were earnest in their endeavours
to give satisfaction to _Spain_. Louis XIV. sent back from _France_ to
_Carthagena_ the silver ornaments of which the churches there had been
stripped; and distinction was no longer admitted in the French Settlements
between Flibustier and Pirate. The Flibustiers themselves had grown tired
of preserving the distinction; for after the Peace of _Ryswick_ had been
fully notified in the _West Indies_, they continued to seize and plunder
the ships of the English and Dutch, till complaint was made to the French
Governor of _Saint Domingo_, M. du Casse, who thought proper to make
indemnification to the sufferers. Fresh prohibitions and proclamations
were issued, and _encouragement_ was given to the adventurers to become
planters. The French were desirous to obtain permission to trade in the
Spanish ports of the _Terra Firma_. Charlevoix says, 'the Spaniards were
charmed by the sending back the ornaments taken from the churches at
_Carthagena_, and it was hoped to gain them entirely by putting a stop to
the cruisings of the Flibustiers. The commands of the King were strict and
precise on this head; that the Governor should persuade the Flibustiers to
make themselves inhabitants, and in default of prevailing by persuasion,
to use force.'
Many Flibustiers and Buccaneers did turn planters, or followed their
profession of mariner in the ships of merchants. Attachment to old habits,
difficulties in finding employment, and being provided with vessels fit
for cruising, made many persist in their former courses. The evil most
grievously felt by them was their proscribed state, which left them no
place in the _West Indies_ where they might riot with safety and to their
liking, in the expenditure of their booty. Not having the same inducement
as formerly to limit themselves to the plundering one people, they
extended their scope of action, and robbed vessels of all nations. Most of
those who were in good vessels, quitted the West Indian Seas, and went
roving to different parts of the world. Mention is made of pirates or
buccaneers being in the _South Sea_ in the year 1697, but their particular
deeds are not related; and Robert Drury, who was shipwrecked at
_Madagascar_ in the year 1702, relates, 'King Samuel's messenger then
desired to know what they demanded for me? To which, Deaan Crindo sent
word that they required two _buccaneer_ guns.'
At the time of the Peace of _Ryswick_, the Darien Indians, having
quarrelled with the Spaniards, had become reconciled to the Flibustiers,
and several of the old Flibustiers afterwards settled on the _Isthmus_ and
married Darien women.
[Sidenote: Providence Island.] One of the _Lucayas_, or _Bahama Islands_,
had been settled by the English, under the name of _Providence Island_. It
afforded good anchorage, and the strength of the settlement was small,
which were conveniencies to pirates that induced them to frequent it; and,
according to the proverbial effect of evil communication, the inhabitants
were tempted to partake of their plunder, and assist in their robberies,
by purchasing their prize goods, and supplying them with all kinds of
stores and necessaries. This was for several years so gainful a business
to the Settlement, as to cause it to be proverbial in the _West Indies_;
that 'Shipwrecks and Pirates were the only hopes of the _Island
Providence_.'
[Sidenote: 1700-1. Accession of Philip Vth. to the Throne of Spain.] In
three years after the Peace of _Ryswick_, Charles the IId of Spain died,
and a Prince of the House of Bourbon mounted the Spanish Throne, which
produced a close union of interests between _France_ and _Spain_. The
ports of Spanish America, both in the _West Indies_ and in the _South
Sea_, were laid open to the merchants of _France_. The _Noticia de las
Expediciones al Magalhanes_ notices the great resort of the French to the
_Pacific Ocean_, 'who in an extraordinary manner enriched themselves
during the war of the Spanish succession.' In the French Settlements in
the _West Indies_ the name of Flibustier, because it implied enmity to the
Spaniards, was no longer tolerated.
On the breaking out of the war between _Great Britain_ and _France_ which
followed the Spanish succession, the English drove the French out of _St.
Christopher_, and it has since remained wholly to _Great Britain_. M. le
Comte de Gennes, a Commander in the French Navy, who a few years before
had made an unsuccessful voyage to the _Strait of Magalhanes_, was the
Governor of the French part of the Island at the time of the
surrender[90].
During this war, the Governors of _Providence_ exercised their authority
in granting commissions, or _letters of reprisal_; and created Admiralty
Courts, for the _condemnation_ of captured vessels: for under some of the
Governors no vessels brought to the adjudication of the Court escaped that
sentence. These were indirect acts of piracy.
The last achievement related of the Flibustiers, happened in 1702, when a
party of Englishmen, having commission from the Governor of _Jamaica_,
landed on the _Isthmus_ near the _Samballas Isles_, where they were joined
by some of the old Flibustiers who lived among the Darien Indians, and
also by 300 of the Indians. They marched to some mines from which they
drove the Spaniards, and took 70 negroes. They kept the negroes at work in
the mines twenty-one days; but in all this exploit they obtained no more
than about eighty pounds weight of gold.
Here then terminates the History of the Buccaneers of _America_. Their
distinctive mark, which they undeviatingly preserved nearly two
centuries, was, their waging constant war against the Spaniards, and
against them only. Many peculiarities have been attributed to the
Buccaneers in other respects, some of which can apply only to their
situation as hunters of cattle, and some existed rather in the writer's
fancy than in reality. Mariners are generally credited for being more
eccentric in their caprices than other men; which, if true, is to be
accounted for by the circumstances of their profession; and it happens
that they are most subjected to observation at the times when they are
fresh in the possession of liberty and money, earned by long confinement
and labour.
It may be said of the Buccaneers that they were, in general, courageous
according to the character of their leader; often rash, alternately
negligent and vigilant, and always addicted to pleasure and idleness. It
will help to illustrate the manners and qualifications of the Buccaneers
in the _South Sea_, to give an extract from the concluding part of
Dampier's manuscript journal of his Voyage round the World with the
Buccaneers, and will also establish a fact which has been mentioned before
only as a matter surmised[91]. Dampier says,
[Sidenote: Extract from Dampier.] 'September the 20th, 1691, arrived in
the _Downs_ to my great joy and satisfaction, having in my voyage ran
clear round the Globe.--I might have been master of the ship we first
sailed in if I would have accepted it, for it was known to most men on
board that I kept a Journal, and all that knew me did ever judge my
accounts were kept as correct as any man's. Besides, that most, if not all
others who kept journals in the voyage, lost them before they got to
_Europe_, whereas I preserved my writing. Yet I see that some men are not
so well pleased with my account as if it came from any of the Commanders
that were in the _South Sea_, though most of them, I think all but
Captain Swan, were incapable of keeping a sea journal, and took no account
of any action, neither did they make any observations. But I am only to
answer for myself, and if I have not given satisfaction to my friends in
what I have written, the fault is in the meanness of my information, and
not in me who have been faithful as to what came to my knowledge.'
Countenanced as the Buccaneers were, it is not in the least surprising
that they became so numerous. With the same degree of encouragement at the
present time, the Seas would be filled with such adventurers. It was
fortunate for the Spaniards, and perhaps for the other maritime Nations of
_Europe_, that the Buccaneers did not make conquest and settlement so much
their object as they did plunder; and that they took no step towards
making themselves independent, whilst it was in their power. Among their
Chiefs were some of good capacity; but only two of them, Mansvelt and
Morgan, appear to have contemplated any scheme of regular settlement
independent of the European Governments, and the time was then gone by.
Before _Tortuga_ was taken possession of for the Crown of _France_, such a
project might have been undertaken with great advantage. The English and
French Buccaneers were then united; _England_ was deeply engaged and fully
occupied by a civil war; and the jealousy which the Spaniards entertained
of the encroachments of the French in the _West Indies_, kept at a
distance all probability of their coalescing to suppress the Buccaneers.
If they had chosen at that time to have formed for themselves any regular
mode of government, it appears not very improbable that they might have
become a powerful independent State.
In the history of so much robbery and outrage, the rapacity shewn in some
instances by the European Governments in their West-India transactions,
and by Governors of their appointment, appears in a worse light than that
of the Buccaneers, from whom, they being professed ruffians, nothing
better was expected. The superior attainments of Europeans, though they
have done much towards their own civilization, chiefly in humanising their
institutions, have, in their dealings with the inhabitants of the rest of
the globe, with few exceptions, been made the instruments of usurpation
and extortion.
After the suppression of the Buccaneers, and partly from their relicks,
arose a race of pirates of a more desperate cast, so rendered by the
increased danger of their occupation, who for a number of years preyed
upon the commerce of all nations, till they were hunted down, and, it may
be said, exterminated. Of one crew of pirates who were brought before a
Court of Justice, fifty-two men were condemned and executed at one time,
in the year 1722.