THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE.
The seventeenth century was a period of transition between the middle
ages, that were exhaling their last sigh, and the modern era, which the
great thinkers of the eighteenth century were destined to constitute so
splendidly.
Under the repeated blows of the implacable Cardinal de Richelieu,
that gloomy filler of the unity of the despotic power of kings, an
immense reaction had been effected in ideas. It was a silent reaction,
that from the outset sapped the minister's work, and he was far from
suspecting its causes or power. It was more especially in the latter
half of the seventeenth century that the world offered a strange
spectacle.
At that period, the Spaniards, who were possessors, by the right of
force, of the greater part of America, where they had multiplied
colonies, were masters of the sea which the celebrated "broom of
Holland" had not yet swept. The English navy was only beginning to
be formed, and, in spite of the continuous efforts of Richelieu, the
French navy was not in existence.
Suddenly several adventurers sprang up, no one knew whence, who, alone,
castaways of civilization, men of all classes, from the highest to
the most humble, belonging to all nations, but chiefly to the French,
perched themselves like vultures on an imperceptible islet in the
Atlantic, and undertook to contend against the Spanish power, after
declaring a merciless war on their private authority. Attacking the
Spanish fleet with unheard-of audacity, and, like a gadfly fastened to
a lion's flank, holding in check the Spanish Colossus, they compelled
it to treat with them on equal terms, with no other help but their
courage and their energetic will.
In a few years their incredible exploits and audacious coups de main
inspired the Spaniards with such terror, and acquired for themselves
such a great and merited reputation, that the disinherited of fortune,
the seekers of adventures, flocked from all parts of the world to the
island that served them as a refuge, and their number was so enormously
augmented, that they almost succeeded in forming themselves into a
nationality by the sole force of their will, and their boldness. Let
us say in a few words, who these men were, and what was the origin of
their strange fortune.
For this purpose we must return to the Spaniards.
The latter, after their immense discoveries in the New World, had
obtained from Pope Alexander VI. a bull which conceded to them the
exclusive possession of the two Americas.
Supported by this bull, and considering themselves the sole owners of
the New World, the Spaniards tried to keep all other nations away from
it, and began to treat as corsairs all the vessels they came across
between the two tropics.
Their maritime power, and the important part they played at that time
on the American continent did not leave the governments the power of
protesting, as they would have desired, against this odious tyranny.
Then it happened that English and French outfitters, excited by the
thirst of gain, and paying no heed to the Spanish pretensions, equipped
vessels which they dispatched to the so-coveted rich regions, to cut
off the Spanish transports, plunder the American coast, and fire the
town.
Treated as pirates, these bold sailors frankly accepted the position
offered them, committed awful excesses wherever they landed, carried
off rich spoil, and despising the law of nations, and not caring
whether the Spaniards were at war or not with the countries to which
they belonged, they attacked them wherever they met them.
The Spaniards, entirely engaged with rich possessions in Mexico, Peru,
and generally on the Continent, which were mines of inexhaustible
wealth for them, had committed the fault of neglecting the Antilles,
which stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of Maracaibo, and
only established colonies in the four large islands of that archipelago.
Hidden in bays behind the windings of the coast, the adventurers dashed
suddenly at the Spanish vessels, carried them by boarding, and then
returned ashore to share the plunder.
The Spaniards, in spite of the great number of their vessels, and the
active watch they kept up, could no longer traverse the Caribbean Sea,
which the adventurers had selected as the scene of their exploits,
without running the risk of obstinate engagements with men, whom the
smallness and lightness of their vessels rendered almost intangible.
This wandering life possessed such charms for the adventurers, who had
assumed the characteristic name of filibusters or freebooters, that
for a long time the idea did not occur to them of forming a permanent
settlement among the islands, which they employed as a temporary
retreat.
Things were in this state when, in 1625, a cadet of Normandy, of the
name of d'Esnambuc, to whom the law of entail left no hope of fortune,
except what he could acquire by his industry or courage, fitted out at
Dieppe a brigantine of about seventy tons, on board which he placed
four guns and forty resolute men, and set out to chase the Spaniards
and try to enrich himself by some good prize.
On arriving at the Caymans, small islands situated between Cuba and
Jamaica, he suddenly came across the track of a Spanish vessel bearing
thirty-five guns and a crew of three hundred and fifty men; it was a
critical situation for the corsair.
D'Esnambuc, without giving the Spaniards time to look about them,
steered down and attacked them. The action lasted for three hours with
extraordinary obstinacy; the Dieppois defended themselves so well, that
the Spaniards despairing of conquest and having lost one-half their
crew, were the first to decline fighting, and shamefully fled from the
small vessel.
Still, the latter had suffered severely, and could be hardly kept above
water, ten men had been killed, and the rest of the crew, being covered
with wounds, were not worth much more.
As the isle of Saint Kitts was no great distance off, d'Esnambuc
reached it with much difficulty, and took refuge there to careen his
vessel, and cure his wounded. Then calculating, that, for the success
of his future expeditions, he required a sure retreat, he resolved to
establish himself on this island.
St. Kitts, which the Caribs called Liamuiga, is situated in 17 to 18
degrees N. latitude and 65 W. longitude. It is 23 leagues W.N.W. of
Antigua, and about 3 leagues to the N.W. of Guadeloupe, and is one of
the Caribbean Islands.
The general aspect of this island is remarkably beautiful, it is
commanded by Mount Misery, an extinct volcano, three thousand five
hundred feet high, which occupies the whole northwest part, and
gradually descends in lower ranges, till it dies away on the South in
the plains of the Basse terre.
The barrenness of the mountains forms a striking contrast with the
fertility of the plains.
The valleys display a really extraordinary wealth of vegetation, while
the mountains only offer to the eye a confused chaos of broken rocks,
whose interstices are filled up with a clayey matter that checks all
vegetation.
Water is rare, and of a bad quality, for the few streams that descend
from Mount Misery are strongly impregnated with saline particles, to
which strangers find a difficulty in growing accustomed.
But a precious thing for the filibusters, Saint Kitts possesses two
magnificent ports, well sheltered and easy of defence, and its coasts
are serrated with deep bays, where, in case of danger, their light
vessels would easily find a shelter.
D'Esnambuc, on landing, found several refugee Frenchmen who lived on
good terms with the Caribs, and who not only received him with open
arms, but joined him and selected him as their leader.
By a singular chance, on the same day that the Dieppois landed at St.
Kitts, English freebooters commanded by Captain Warner, who had also
suffered in an engagement with the Spaniards, took refuge at another
point in it.
The corsairs of the two nations who could not be separated by any
idea of conquest, agriculture, or commerce, and who pursued the same
object, fighting the Spaniards, and establishing a refuge against the
common enemy, easily came to an understanding; then, after dividing the
island, they settled down side by side, and lived for a long time on
excellent terms, which nothing disturbed.
On one occasion they even combined their arms against the Caribs, who,
alarmed by the progress of their new settlement, attempted to expel
them.
The filibusters made a horrible carnage among the Indians, and forced
them to implore for mercy.
A few months after, Warner and d'Esnambuc put out to sea again; the
latter proceeded to Paris, the former to London, each for the purpose
of soliciting the protection of his government for the rising colony.
As usual, these men, who at the beginning had only sought a temporary
refuge, now felt a desire to see the development of a settlement
founded by themselves, and which in a short time had assumed a real
importance.
Cardinal de Richelieu, ever disposed to favour projects tending to
augment the foreign power of France, received the filibuster with the
greatest distinction, entered into his views, and formed a company,
called "The Company of the Islands," in order to promote the interests
of the colony.
The capital was 45,000 livres, of which Richelieu subscribed for his
part 10,000.
D'Esnambuc was invested with the supreme command.
Among the claims stipulated in his commission there is one which we
must quote, owing to its strangeness, for it imposed on white men in
America a temporary slavery harsher even than that of the Negro.
This is the clause, whose sinister consequences we shall see developed
during the course of this story.
"No labourer intended for the colony will be allowed to embark, unless
he engages to remain for three years in the service of the company,
which will have the right to employ him on any task it thinks proper,
without granting him the right to complain or break the contract
entered into by him."
These labourers were called Engagés or "thirty-six monthers," a polite
way of getting rid of the word slave.
Captain Warner, who had been more highly favoured, returned with a
large body of colonists. Still the good understanding was kept up for
some time between the two nations; but the English took advantage of
the weakness of the French, who could not oppose their usurpations, to
encroach on their rights, and formed a fresh settlement at Nevis, the
next island to St. Kitts.
Still d'Esnambuc did not despair of the fate of the colony. He
proceeded again to France, and solicited of the Cardinal help in men
and money, to repulse the undertakings of his troublesome neighbours.
Richelieu granted his request.
By his orders, Rear Admiral de Cussac arrived at St. Kitts, with six
heavily armed ships; he surprised ten English vessels in the roads,
captured three, sank three others, and put the rest to flight.
The English made no further attempts to leave their boundaries, and
peace was re-established.
M. de Cussac, after supplying the colony with rum and provisions, set
sail, and went to found a settlement on St. Eustache, an island four
leagues N. W. of St. Kitts.
The Spaniards, however, who, since the appearance of the filibusters in
American waters, had suffered so greatly from their depredations, saw
them with great alarm settling permanently on the West India islands.
They understood of what importance it was to them not to allow fixed
settlements in these regions, unless they wished to see their colonies
destroyed and their commerce ruined.
They consequently resolved to act vigorously against those fellows whom
they regarded as pirates, and to utterly destroy their lurking places,
which had already acquired formidable proportions.
In consequence Admiral don Fernando de Toledo, whom the court of
Madrid had placed at the head of a powerful fleet, sent in 1630 to
Brazil to fight the Dutch, received orders to destroy in passing, the
viper's nest formed by the filibusters at St. Kitts.
The sudden apparition of this immense force off the island filled the
inhabitants with stupor. The united resources of the English and French
adventurers and their desperate courage were not sufficient to avert
the danger that menaced them, and repulse so formidable an attack.
After a desperate fight, in which a great number of filibusters,
especially Frenchmen, were killed, the others got into their light
canoes and fled to the adjacent isles of St. Bartholomew, Antigua, St.
Martin, and Montserrat, or to any place in short where they hoped to
find a temporary refuge.
The English, we are unfortunately compelled to state, shamefully
fled at the beginning of the action, and eventually asked leave to
capitulate.
One half of them were sent to England on board Spanish ships, while the
rest engaged to evacuate the island as soon as possible,--a promise
which was forgotten immediately after the departure of the Spanish
fleet.
This expedition was the only one that Spain seriously attempted against
the filibusters.
The French soon left the islands where they had sought refuge, and
returned to St. Kitts, where they re-established themselves, though
not without a quarrel with the English, who had taken advantage of the
opportunity to seize their land, but whom they forced again beyond
their old borders.
It is a singular fact, which proves that the filibusters were not
bandits and nameless men, as attempts have been made to brand them,
that the inhabitants of St. Kitts were remarkable beyond all the
other colonists for the gentleness and urbanity of their manners; the
traditions of politeness left by the first Frenchmen who settled there,
have been maintained even to the present day; in the eighteenth century
it was called the Gentle Island, and there is a proverb in the Antilles
to the effect, that "the nobility were at St. Kitts, the citizens at
Guadeloupe, the soldiers at Martinique, and the peasants at Grenada."
Things remained for a long time in the state we have just described;
the filibusters, growing bolder and bolder through the Spanish
cowardice, enlarged the scene of their exploits, and retaining a bitter
memory of the sack of their island, felt a double hatred for the
Spaniards, who had branded them with the name of Ladrones (robbers).
They no longer displayed any moderation, and seated in the light canoes
that composed their entire fleet, they watched for the rich transports
from Mexico, dashed boldly aboard them, carried them, and returned to
St. Kitts loaded with plunder.
The colony prospered, the land was well cultivated, and the plantations
were carefully made.
For these men, the majority of whom had no hope left of ever returning
to their native land, had performed their work with the feverish
ardor of people who are creating for themselves a new nationality
and preparing a last asylum, so that only a few years after the
destruction of the colony by the Spaniards, St. Kitts had again become
a flourishing colony, thanks in the first instance to its fertility and
the energy and intelligence of its inhabitants, but above all to the
incessant toil of the engagés of the company.
We have now to explain what these poor fellows were and the fate they
met with at the hands of the colonists.
We have already stated that the company sent to the islands, men whom
they had engaged for three years.
They accepted anybody, workmen belonging to all trades, even surgeons
who, persuading themselves that they were destined to carry on their
own profession in the colonies, allowed themselves to be seduced by the
fair promises which the company did not hesitate to lavish.
But once their consent was given, that is to say, signed, the company
regarded them as men belonging to it body and soul; and when they
reached the colonies, agents _sold_ then for three years to the
planters, at the rate of thirty or forty crowns a head, and did so in
the broad daylight and in the governor's presence.
They thus became real slaves, subject to the adventurers of the colony,
and condemned to the rudest tasks.
Hence, the poor wretches, so unworthily abused, beaten terribly and
worn out by a fatigue under a deadly climate, generally succumbed ere
they had attained the third year, which was to set them at liberty.
This was carried so far that the masters at last attempted to prolong
the stipulated slavery beyond three years. Toward the end of 1632, the
colony of St. Kitts incurred great dangers, for the engagés whose time
was up and whom their masters refused liberty, took up arms, organized
a resistance, and prepared to attack the colonists with that energy of
desperation which no force can resist. M. d'Esnambuc only succeeded in
making them lay down their arms and arrest bloodshed by conceding their
just demands.
At a later date, when the sad condition in which the company's agents
placed the engagés, became known in France, it became almost impossible
for the latter to find volunteers; hence they were obliged to go about
the roads and highways to enlist vagabonds whom they intoxicated and
induced to sign, while in that condition, an engagement which it was
impossible to break.
We will dwell the more earnestly on this point, because during the
course of our narrative, we shall have frequently to revert to the
engagés. We will only add one word about the wretches whom England sent
to the colonies under the same conditions.
If the fate of the French engagés was frightful, that of the English,
history proves to us, was horrible.
They were treated with the most atrocious barbarity. They formed an
engagement for seven years, and then, at the end of that time, when
the moment to regain their liberty had at length arrived, they were
intoxicated, and advantage was taken of their condition to make them
sign a second engagement for the same period.
Cromwell, after the sack of Drogheda, sold more than 30,000 Irish for
Jamaica and Barbados.
Nearly two thousand of these wretched succeeded in escaping on board a
vessel, which, in their ignorance of navigation, they allowed to drift
and the current cast it ashore at Saint Domingo. The poor fellows, not
knowing where they were, and being without food or resources, all died
of hunger. Their piled-up bones, bleached by time, remained for several
years on Cape Tiburón, at a spot which was called Irish Bay on account
of the terrible catastrophe, and still bears the name.
The reader will pardon us for having entered into such lengthened
details about the establishment of the filibusters of St. Kitts; but
as it was on this little island that the terrible association of
adventurers, whose history we have undertaken to tell, had its birth,
it is necessary to make the reader fully acquainted with these facts,
so that we might not be obliged to return to them hereafter. Now, we
will resume our narrative to which the preceding chapters serve, so to
speak, as a prologue, and leaping at one bound across the space that
separates Sainte Marguerite from the Caribbean islands, we will proceed
to St. Kitts a few months after the escape, for we dare not say the
liberation, of Count Ludovic de Barmont Senectaire.