History of the Buccaneers of America Part 19

M. du Ca.s.se nevertheless chose to go, though it was generally thought he was not allowed the honours and consideration which were his due as Governor of the French Colonies at _St. Domingo_, and Commander of so large a portion of the men engaged in the expedition. It was settled, that the Flibustiers should embark partly in their own cruising vessels, and partly on board the s.h.i.+ps of M. de Pointis' squadron, and should be furnished with six weeks provisions. A review was made, to prevent any but able men of the Colony being taken; negroes who served, if free, were to be allowed shares like other men; if slaves and they were killed, their masters were to be paid for them.

Two copies of the agreement respecting the sharing of booty were posted up in public places at _Pet.i.t Goave_, and a copy was delivered to M. du Ca.s.se, the Governor. M. de Pointis consulted with M. du Ca.s.se what enterprise they should undertake, but the determination wholly rested with M. de Pointis. 'There was added,' M. de Pointis says, 'without my knowledge, to the directions sent to Governor du Ca.s.se, that he was to give a.s.sistance to our undertaking, without damage to, or endangering, his Colony. This restriction did in some measure deprive me of the power of commanding his forces, seeing he had an opportunity of pretending to keep them for the preservation of the Colony.' M. du Ca.s.se made no pretences to withhold, but gave all the a.s.sistance in his power. He was an advocate for attacking the City of _San Domingo_. This was the wish of most of the colonists, and perhaps was what would have been of more advantage to _France_ than any other expedition they could have undertaken. But the armament having been prepared princ.i.p.ally at private expence, it was reasonable for the contributors to look to their own reimburs.e.m.e.nt. To attack the City of _San Domingo_ was not approved; other plans were proposed, but _Carthagena_ seems to have been the original object of the projectors of the expedition, and the attack of that city was determined upon. Before the Flibustiers and other colonists embarked, a disagreement happened which had nearly made them refuse altogether to join in the expedition. The officers of De Pointis' fleet had imbibed the sentiments of their Commander respecting the Flibustiers or Buccaneers, and followed the example of his manners towards them. The fleet was lying at _Pet.i.t Goave_, and M. de Pointis, giving to himself the t.i.tle of General of the Armies of _France_ by Sea and by Land in _America_, had placed a guard in a Fort there. M. du Ca.s.se, as he had received no orders from _Europe_ to acknowledge any superior within his government, might have considered such an exercise of power to be an encroachment on his authority which it became him to resist; but he acted in this, and in other instances, like a man overawed. The officer of M. de Pointis who commanded the guard on sh.o.r.e, arrested a Flibustier for disorderly behaviour, and held him prisoner in the fort. The Flibustiers surrounded the fort in a tumultuous manner to demand his release, and the officer commanded his men to fire upon them, by which three of the Flibustiers were killed. It required some address and civility on the part of M. de Pointis himself, as well as the a.s.sistance of M. du Ca.s.se, to appease the Flibustiers; and the officer who had committed the offence was sent on board under arrest.

The force furnished from M. du Ca.s.se's government, consisted of nearly 700 Flibustiers, 170 soldiers from the garrisons, and as many volunteer inhabitants and negroes as made up about 1200 men. The whole armament consisted of seven large s.h.i.+ps, and eleven frigates, besides store s.h.i.+ps and smaller vessels; and, reckoning persons of all cla.s.ses, 6000 men.

[Sidenote: April. Siege of Carthagena by the French.] The Fleet arrived off _Carthagena_ on April the 13th, and the landing was effected on the 15th. It is not necessary to relate all the particulars of this siege, in which the Buccaneers bore only a part. That part however was of essential importance.

M. de Pointis, in the commencement, appointed the whole of the Flibustiers, without any mixture of the King's troops, to a service of great danger, which raised a suspicion, of partiality and of an intention to save the men he brought with him from _Europe_, as regarding them to be more peculiarly his own men. An eminence about a mile to the Eastward of the City of _Carthagena_, on which was a church named _Nuestra Senora de la Poupa_, commands all the avenues and approaches on the land side to the city. 'I had been a.s.sured,' says M. de Pointis, 'that if we did not seize the hill _de la Poupa_ immediately on our arrival, all the treasure would be carried off. To get possession of this post, I resolved to land the Buccaneers in the night of the same day on which we came to anchor, they being proper for such an attempt, as being accustomed to marching and subsisting in the woods.' M. de Pointis takes this occasion to accuse the Buccaneers of behaving less heroically than M. du Ca.s.se had boasted they would, and that it was not without murmuring that they embarked in the boats in order to their landing. It is however due to them on the score of courage and exertion, to remark, though in some degree it is antic.i.p.ation, that no part of the force under M. de Pointis shewed more readiness or performed better service in the siege than the Buccaneers.

There was uncertainty about the most proper place for landing, and M. de Pointis went himself in a boat to examine near the sh.o.r.e to the North of the city. The surf rolled in heavy, by which his boat was filled, and was with difficulty saved from being stranded on a rock. The proposed landing was given up as impracticable, and M. de Pointis became of opinion that _Carthagena_ was approachable only by the lake which makes the harbour, the entrance to which, on account of its narrowness, was called the _Bocca-chica_, and was defended by a strong fort.

The Fleet sailed for the _Bocca-chica_, and on the 15th some of the s.h.i.+ps began to cannonade the Fort. The first landing was effected at the same time by a corps of eighty negroes, without any mixture of the King's troops. This was a second marked instance of the Commander's partial attention to the preservation of the men he brought from _France_. M. de Pointis despised the Flibustiers, and probably regarded negroes as next to nothing. He was glad however to receive them as his companions in arms, and it was an honour due from him to all under his command, as far as circ.u.mstances would admit without injury to service, to share the dangers equally, or at least without partiality.

The 16th, which was the day next after the landing, the Castle of _Bocca-chica_ surrendered. This was a piece of good fortune much beyond expectation, and was obtained princ.i.p.ally by the dexterous management of a small party of the Buccaneers; which drew commendation even from M. de Pointis. 'Among the chiefs of these Buccaneers,' he says, 'there may be about twenty men who deserve to be distinguished for their courage; it not being my intention to comprehend them in the descriptions which I make of the others.'

[Sidenote: May. The City capitulates.] De Pointis conducted the siege with diligence and spirit. The _Nuestra Senora de la Poupa_ was taken possession of on the 17th; and on the 3d of May, the City capitulated. The terms of the Capitulation were,

That all public effects and office accounts should be delivered to the captors.

That merchants should produce their books of accounts, and deliver up all money and effects held by them for their correspondents.

That every inhabitant should be free to leave the city, or to remain in his dwelling. That those who retired from the city should first deliver up all their property there to the captors. That those who chose to remain, should declare faithfully, under penalty of entire confiscation, the gold, silver, and jewels, in their possession; on which condition, and delivering up one half, they should be permitted to retain the other half, and afterwards be regarded as subjects of _France_.

That the churches and religious houses should be spared and protected.

The French General on entering the Town with his troops, went first to the cathedral to attend the _Te Deum_. He next sent for the Superiors of the convents and religious houses, to whom he explained the meaning of the article of the capitulation promising them protection, which was, that their houses should not be destroyed; but that it had no relation to money in their possession, which they were required to deliver up. Otherwise, he observed, it would be in their power to collect in their houses all the riches of the city. He caused it to be publicly rumoured that he was directed by the Court to keep possession of _Carthagena_, and that it would be made a French Colony. To give colour to this report, he appointed M. du Ca.s.se to be Governor of the City. He strictly prohibited the troops from entering any house until it had undergone the visitation of officers appointed by himself, some of which officers it was supposed, embezzled not less than 100,000 crowns each. A reward was proclaimed for informers of concealed treasure, of one-tenth of all treasure discovered by them.

'The hope of securing a part, with the fear of bad neighbours and false friends, induced the inhabitants to be forward in disclosing their riches, and Tilleul who was charged with receiving the treasure, was not able to weigh the specie fast enough.'

M. du Ca.s.se, in the exercise of what he conceived to be the duties of his new office of Governor of _Carthagena_, had begun to take cognizance of the money which the inhabitants brought in according to the capitulation; but M. de Pointis was desirous that he should not be at any trouble on that head. High words pa.s.sed between them, in consequence of which, Du Ca.s.se declined further interference in what was transacting, and retired to a house in the suburbs. This was quitting the field to an antagonist who would not fail to make his advantage of it; whose refusal to admit other witnesses to the receipt of money than those of his own appointment, was a strong indication, whatever contempt he might profess or really feel for the Flibustiers, that he was himself of as stanch Flibustier principles as any one of the gentry of the coast. Some time afterwards, however, M. du Ca.s.se thought proper to send a formal representation to the General, that it was nothing more than just that some person of the colony should be present at the receipt of the money. The General returned answer, that what M. du Ca.s.se proposed, was in itself a matter perfectly indifferent; but that it would be an insult to his own dignity, and therefore he could not permit it.

The public collection of plunder by authority did not save the city from private pillage. In a short time all the plate disappeared from the churches. Houses were forcibly entered by the troops, and as much violence committed as if no capitulation had been granted. M. de Pointis, when complained to by the aggrieved inhabitants, gave orders for the prevention of outrage, but was at no pains to make them observed. It appears that the Flibustiers were most implicated in these disorders. Many of the inhabitants who had complied with the terms of the capitulation, seeing the violences every where committed, hired Flibustiers to be guards in their houses, hoping that by being well paid they would be satisfied and protect them against others. Some observed this compact and were faithful guardians; but the greater number robbed those they undertook to defend.

For this among other reasons, De Pointis resolved to rid the city of them.

On a report, which it is said himself caused to be spread, that an army of 10,000 Indians were approaching _Carthagena_, he ordered the Flibustiers out to meet them. Without suspecting any deception, they went forth, and were some days absent seeking the reported enemy. As they were on the return, a message met them from the General, purporting, that he apprehended their presence in the city would occasion some disturbance, and he therefore desired them to stop without the gates. On receiving this message, they broke out into imprecations, and resolved not to delay their return to the city, nor to be kept longer in ignorance of what was pa.s.sing there. When they arrived at the gates they found them shut and guarded by the King's troops. Whilst they deliberated on what they should next do, another message, more conciliating in language than the former, came to them from M. de Pointis, in which he said that it was by no means his intention to interdict them from entering _Carthagena_; that he only wished they would not enter so soon, nor all at one time, for fear of frightening the inhabitants, who greatly dreaded their presence. The Flibustiers knew not how to help themselves, and were necessitated to take up their quarters without the city walls, where they were kept fifteen days, by which time the collection of treasure from the inhabitants was completed, the money weighed, secured in chests, and great part embarked.

De Pointis says, 'as fast as the money was brought in, it was immediately carried on board the King's s.h.i.+ps.' The uneasiness and impatience of the Flibustiers for distribution of the booty may easily be imagined. On their re-admission to the city, the merchandise was put up to sale by auction, and the produce joined to the former collection; but no distribution took place, and the Flibustiers were loud in their importunities. M. de Pointis a.s.signed as a reason for the delay, that the clerks employed in the business had not made up the accounts. He says in his Narrative, 'I was not so ill served by my spies as not to be informed of the seditious discourses held by some wholly abandoned to their own interest, upon the money being carried on board the King's s.h.i.+ps.' To allay the ferment, he ordered considerable gratifications to be paid to the Buccaneer captains, also compensations to the Buccaneers who had been maimed or wounded, and rewards to be given to some who had most distinguished themselves during the siege;--and he spoke with so much appearance of frankness of his intention, as soon as ever he should receive the account of the whole, to make a division which should be satisfactory to all parties, that the Buccaneers were persuaded to remain quiet.

[Sidenote: Value of the Plunder.] The value of the plunder is variously reported. Much of the riches of the city had been carried away on the first alarm of the approach of an enemy. De Pointis says 110 mules laden with gold went out in the course of four days. 'Nevertheless, the honour acquired to his Majesty's arms, besides near eight or nine millions that could not escape us, consoled us for the rest.' Whether these eight or nine millions were crowns or livres M. de Pointis' account does not specify. It is not improbable he meant it should be understood as livres.

Many were of opinion that the value of the booty was not less than forty millions of livres; M. du Ca.s.se estimated it at above twenty millions, besides merchandise.

M. de Pointis now made known that on account of the unhealthiness of the situation, he had changed his intention of leaving a garrison and keeping _Carthagena_, for that already more Frenchmen had died there by sickness than he had lost in the siege. He ordered the cannon of the _Bocca-chica Castle_ to be taken on board the s.h.i.+ps, and the Castle to be demolished.

On the 25th of May, orders were issued for the troops to embark; and at the same time he embarked himself without having given any previous notice of his intention so to do to M. du Ca.s.se, from whom he had parted but a few minutes before. The s.h.i.+ps of the King's fleet began to take up their anchors to move towards the entrance of the harbour, and M. de. Pointis sent an order to M. du Ca.s.se for the Buccaneers and the people of the Colony to embark on board their own vessels.

M. du Ca.s.se sent two of his princ.i.p.al officers to the General to demand that justice should be done to the Colonists. Still the accounts were said not to be ready; but on the 29th, the King's fleet being ready for sea, M.

du Pointis sent to M. du Ca.s.se the Commissary's account, which stated the share of the booty due to the Colonists, including the Governor and the Buccaneers, to be 40,000 crowns.

What the customary manner of dividing prize money in the French navy was at that time, is not to be understood from the statement given by De Pointis, which says, 'that the King had been pleased to allow to the several s.h.i.+ps companies, a tenth of the first million, and a thirtieth part of all the rest.' Here it is not specified whether the million of which the s.h.i.+ps companies were to be allowed one-tenth, is to be understood a million of _Louis_, a million crowns, or a million livres.

The difference of construction in a large capture would be nearly as three to one. It requires explanation likewise what persons are meant to be included in the term 's.h.i.+ps companies.' Sometimes it is used to signify the common seamen, without including the officers; and for them, the one-tenth is certainly not too large a share. That in any military service, public or private, one-tenth of captures or of plunder should be deemed adequate gratification for the services of all the captors, officers included, seems scarcely credible. In the _Carthagena_ expedition it is also to be observed, that the dues of the crown were in some measure compromised by the admission of private contributions towards defraying the expence. The Flibustiers had contributed by furnis.h.i.+ng their own vessels to the service.

Du Ca.s.se when he saw the account, did not immediately communicate it to his Colonists, deterred at first probably by something like shame, and an apprehension that they would reproach him with weakness for having yielded so much as he had all along done to the insulting and imperious pretensions of De Pointis. Afterwards through discretion, he delayed making the matter public until the Colonists had all embarked and their vessels had sailed from the city. He then sent for the Captains, and acquainted them with the distribution intended by M. de Pointis, and they informed their crews.

CHAP. XXVII.

_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 s.h.i.+p 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 Ca.s.se being present, and the s.h.i.+p 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 Ca.s.se 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 Ca.s.se'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 Ca.s.se 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 ent.i.tled 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps were taken; two were driven on sh.o.r.e 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 inst.i.tuted 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 circ.u.mstance 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 s.h.i.+ps of the English and Dutch, till complaint was made to the French Governor of _Saint Domingo_, M. du Ca.s.se, 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+pwrecked 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 a.s.sist 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 's.h.i.+pwrecks 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.