(Vol. v., p. 510.)
The crime imputed to the Dutch authorities (that of reducing English
subjects to slavery) is of so atrocious a character, that any explanation
that should place the matter in a less offensive light, would be but an act
of justice to the parties implicated. With this view I venture to submit to
URSULA and W. W. the following conclusions which I have arrived at, after a
careful consideration of all the circumstances.
I am of opinion that the writer of the letter in question (charging the
Dutch Governor with the above mentioned offence) was the officer commanding
the troops in the English division of St. Christopher; and, in that
capacity, invested with the civil government. At that period, the {50}
administration of our West Indian possessions was generally confided to the
military commandants: our policy, in that respect, being different from
that of the French, who have contrived at all times to maintain, in each of
their colonies, an uninterrupted succession of Governors appointed from
home.
The name of the Dutch Governor of St. Martin, to whom the letter was
addressed, has not been ascertained. He was probably some buccaneering
chief, who cared as little for the States-General as he did for the
Governor of St. Christopher. If not actually engaged in the piratical
enterprises of his countrymen, he certainly had no objection to receive,
according to usage, the lion's share of the booty as a reward for his
connivance.
It is very doubtful whether the outrage imputed, in this instance, to the
Dutch Governor, was perpetrated, or even attempted. The buccaneers,
English, French, and Dutch, began by uniting their efforts against the
Spaniards. After a time they "fell out" (as thieves will sometimes do),
and, turning from the common enemy, they directed their marauding
operations against each other. It was doubtless during one of these that
the Dutch captured the English ship in question; detaining the passengers
and crew at St. Martin, in the hope of extorting some considerable ransom
for their release. When, therefore, the English Governor threatened to
complain to the States-General of the "reduction to slavery of English
subjects," we must presume that, by the words "reducing to slavery," he
meant to describe the forcible _detention_ of the passengers and crew; and
that, in doing so, he merely resorted to the expedient of magnifying a
common act of piracy into an outrage of a more heinous character, with the
view of frightening the Dutch authorities into a compliance with his
wishes, and obtaining the restitution of the property and subjects of his
"dread Sovereigne Lord y^e King." The annals of that period are replete
with similar adventures; and Labat relates several of them which he
witnessed during a voyage to Guadaloupe in a vessel belonging to the French
buccaneers. As to the English, the daring exploits of Sir Henry Morgan and
his followers, and the encouragement which they received, both at home and
in the colonies, show that _we_ were not behind our neighbours in those
days of marauding notoriety.