Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Part 39

Our house is a full mile from the place." In 1835 the editor's grandfather saw the six pirates of the _Mexican_, almost the last of their profession, hanged at about the same spot. I find that Mr. Paine has printed this piece, in _Buried Treasure_, but I know no other that so well ill.u.s.trates its particular aspect of our theme.]

An Account of the Behaviour and Last Dying Speeches Of the Six Pirates, that were Executed on Charles River, Boston side, on Fryday, June 30th, 1704. _Viz._, Capt. John Quelch, John Lambert, Christopher Scudamore, John Miller, Erasmus Peterson and Peter Roach.

The Ministers of the Town had used more than ordinary Endeavours, to Instruct the Prisoners, and bring them to Repentance. There were Sermons Preached in their hearing, Every day,[2] And Prayers daily made with them. And they were Catachised; and they had many occasional Exhortations. And nothing was left, that could be done for their Good.

[Footnote 2: One of the sermons preached by Cotton Mather to the unfortunate men was printed by him this year under the t.i.tle _Faithful Warnings to prevent Fearful Judgments_.]

On Fryday the 20th [30th] of June 1704, Pursuant to Orders in the Dead Warrant, the aforesaid Pirates were guarded from the Prison in Boston, by Forty Musketeers, Constables of the Town, the Provost Marshal and his Officers, etc. with Two Ministers,[3] who took great pains to prepare them for the last Article of their Lives. Being allowed to walk on Foot through the Town, to Scarlets Wharff,[4] where, the Silver Oar being carried before them, they went by Water to the place of Execution, being Crowded and thronged on all sides with Mult.i.tudes of Spectators. The Ministers then Spoke to the Malefactors, to this Effect.

[Footnote 3: Rev. Thomas Bridge of the First Church, and Cotton Mather of the Second.]

[Footnote 4: At the foot of Fleet Street, near the present South Ferry. Thus the grim procession went around most of the water front of the town. Sewall says his cousin counted 150 boats full of spectators of the execution, besides the mult.i.tude on land. The silver oar was the emblem of the admiralty.]

"We have told you often, ye[a] we have told you Weeping, That you have by Sin undone your selves; That you were born Sinners, That you have lived Sinners, That your Sins have been many and mighty, and that the Sins for which you are now to Dy are of no common aggravation. We have told you, That there is a Saviour for Sinners, and we have shewn you, how to commit your selves into His Saving and Healing Hands. We have told you, That if He Save you, He will give you an hearty Repentance for all your Sins, and we have shown you how to Express that Repentance. We have told you, What Marks of Life must be desired for your Souls, that you may Safely appear before the Judgment Seat of G.o.d. Oh! That the means used for your Good may by the Grace of G.o.d be made Effectual. We can do no more, but leave you in His Merciful Hands!"

When they were gone up upon the Stage, and Silence was Commanded, One of the Ministers Prayed, as followeth.

The Prayer made by One of the Ministers, after the Malefactors were first upon the Stage.[5] (As near as it could be taken in Writing in the great Crowd.)

[Footnote 5: This prayer is unmistakable Cotton Mather; to whom we may be sure this whole occasion was one of extraordinary enjoyment.]

"O Thou most Great and Glorious Lord! Thou art a Righteous, and a Terrible G.o.d. It is a Righteous and an Holy Law that thou hast given unto us. To break that Good Law, and Sin against thy Infinite Majesty, can be no little Evil. Thy Word is always True; and very Particular, that Word of thine which has told us and warn'd us, _Evil Pursueth Sinners_. We have seen it, we have seen it; We have before our Eyes a dreadful Demonstration of it. Oh! Sanctify unto us a Sight that has in it so much of the Terror of the Lord! We have Reason to Glorify the Free Grace of G.o.d, that we are not our selves the Instances. We have before us very astonis.h.i.+ng Examples of _Evil Pursuing Sinners_. Here is a Number of men that have been very Great Sinners, and that are to Dy before their Time, for their being wicked overmuch. G.o.d knows the Prayers, the Pains, the Tears, and the Agonies that have been Employ'd for them. And now, the Last Thing that we have to do for them, is to pour out with Anguish of Soul our Prayer on their behalf; Our Prayer, to that G.o.d, who heareth Prayer; to that G.o.d, with whom there is Mercy and Plenteous Redemption; to that G.o.d, who is Rich in Mercy and Ready to Pardon. But how can we make our Prayer, without a Rapturous Adoration of that Free-Grace, which has distinguished us! We, even we also, have every one of us an horrible Fountain of Sin in our Souls.

There are none of the Crimes committed by these Miserable Men, or by the worst of those Criminals that go down into the Pit, but we have the seeds of them, in that Original Corruption, which we brought into the World with us. If G.o.d had left us to our selves, as He justly might have done, there is not the best among us all, but what would soon have done the worst things in the World. Oh! The Free-Grace! Oh!

The Free-Grace! Oh! The Riches of that Grace, which has made all the Difference! But now, we Cry mightily to Heaven, we Lift up our Cries to the G.o.d of all Grace, for the Peris.h.i.+ng Souls which are just now going to Expire under the Stroke of Justice, before our Eyes. We Mourn, we Mourn, that upon some of them, at Least, we do unto this Minute see no better Symptomes. But, Oh! is there not yet a Room for Sovereign Grace to be display'd, in their Conversion and Salvation!

They Perish, if they do not now Sincerely Turn from Sin to G.o.d, and give themselves up to the Lord Jesus Christ; They Righteously and Horribly Peris.h.!.+ And yet, without influences from above, they can do none of those things which must be done if they do not perish. Oh! Let us beg it of our G.o.d, that He would not be so Provoked at their Multiplied and Prodigious Impieties, and at their obstinate Hardness under means of Good formerly afforded them, as to withhold those Influences from them! We cry to thee, O G.o.d of all Grace, That thou wouldest not Suffer them to continue in the Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity, and in the Possession of the Devil. Oh! Knock off the Chains of Death which are upon their Souls; Oh! s.n.a.t.c.h the prey out of the Hands of the Terrible.

"Yet once again! Once again! We bring them, and lay them before the Spirit of Grace. O Almighty Spirit of Grace, May these Poor, blind, mad Sinners become objects for the Triumphs of Grace! O Almighty Spirit of G.o.d, and of Grace, cause these poor men to see their own Sinfulness and Wretchedness! Make them willing to be Saved from such Sinfulness and Wretchedness; Discover to them the only Saviour of their Souls. Oh! Dispose them, Oh! a.s.sist them to give the Consent of their Souls unto His Wonderful Proposals. Let them Dy, Renouncing all Dependence on any Righteousness of their own; Alas, what can they have of their own to Depend upon! As a Token and Effect of their having Accepted the Righteousness of G.o.d, Let them heartily Repent of all their Sins against thee, and Abhor and cast up every Morsel of their Iniquity. Oh! Let them not go out of the World, raging and raving against the Justice of G.o.d and Man; And whatever part of the Satanick Image is yet remaining on their Souls, Oh! Efface it! Let them now Dy in such a State and such a Frame, as may render them fit to appear before G.o.d the Judge of all. What shall we do for them? What shall plead for them?

"Great G.o.d, Grant that all the Spectators may get Good by the horrible Spectacle that is now before them! Let all the People hear and fear, and let no more any such Wickedness be done, as has produced this woful Spectacle. And let all the People beware how they go on in the Ways of Sin, and in the pathes of the Destroyer, after so Solemn Warnings; Lest thou shouldest not only leave them to the grossest Acts of Wickedness, but also give them up unto the most amazing Impenitency, when the Punishment of their Iniquity comes to be inflicted on them.

"Oh! but shall our Sea faring Tribe, on this Occasion, be in a Singular manner affected with the Warnings of G.o.d! Lord, May those of our dear Brethren be Saved from the Temptations which do so threaten them! so ruine them! Oh! let them not Abandon themselves to Profanity, to Swearing, to Cursing, to Drinking, to Leudness, to a cursed Forgetfulness of their Maker, and of the End for which He made them!

Oh! Let them not be abandoned of G.o.d, unto those Courses that will hasten them to a d.a.m.nation that slumbers not. Oh! Let the men fear the Lord Exceedingly, We Pray thee! We Pray thee! Let the Condition of the Six or Seven men, whom they now see Dying for their Wickedness upon the Sea, be Sanctified unto them.

"And now, we fly, we fly to _Sovereign Grace_. Oh! that the Poor men, which are immediately to appear before the awful Tribunal of G.o.d, may first by _Sovereign Grace_ have produced upon their Souls those Marks of thy Favour, without which tis a dreadful Thing to appear before that awful Tribunal. Oh! Great G.o.d, Let thy _Sovereign Grace_ Operate on this fearful Occasion! G.o.d be Merciful to us all, for the Sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto whom with the Father and the Spirit, be ascribed the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, for ever more, _Amen_."

They then Severally Spoke, Viz.

I. _Capt. John Quelch._ The last Words he spake to One of the Ministers at his going up the Stage, were, "I am not afraid of Death, I am not afraid of the Gallows, but I am afraid of what follows; I am afraid of a Great G.o.d, and a Judgment to Come." But he afterwards seem'd to brave it out too much against that fear: also when on the Stage first he pulled off his Hat, and bowed to the Spectators, and not Concerned, nor behaving himself so much like a Dying man as some would have done. The Ministers had, in the Way to his Execution, much desired him to Glorify G.o.d at his Death, by bearing a due Testimony against the Sins that had ruined him, and for the ways of Religion which he had much neglected: yet now being called upon to speak what he had to say, it was but thus much; "Gentlemen, 'Tis but little I have to speak; What I have to say is this, I desire to be informed for what I am here. I am Condemned only upon Circ.u.mstances. I forgive all the World: So the Lord be Merciful to my Soul." When Lambert was Warning the Spectators to beware of Bad-Company, Quelch joyning, "They should also take care how they brought Money into New-England, to be Hanged for it!"

II. _John Lambert._ He appeared much hardened, and pleaded much on his Innocency. He desired all men to beware of Bad Company; he seem'd in a great Agony near his Execution; he called much and frequently on Christ, for Pardon of Sin, that G.o.d Almighty would Save his innocent Soul; he desired to forgive all the World; his last words were, "Lord, forgive my Soul! Oh, receive me into Eternity! blessed name of Christ receive my Soul."

III. _Christopher Scudamore._ He appeared very Penitent since his Condemnation, was very diligent to improve his time going to, and at the place of Execution.

IV. _John Miller._ He seem'd much concerned, and complained of a great Burden of Sins to answer for; Expressing often, "Lord! What shall I do to be Saved!"

V. _Erasmus Peterson._ He cryed of injustice done him; and said, it is very hard for so many mens Lives to be taken away for a little Gold.

He often said, his Peace was made with G.o.d; and his Soul would be with G.o.d: yet extream hard to forgive those he said wronged him. He told the Executioner, he was a strong man, and Prayed to be put out of misery as soon as possible.

VI. _Peter Roach._ He seem'd little concerned, and said but little or nothing at all.

_Francis King_ was also Brought to the place of Execution, but Repriev'd.

Printed for and Sold by Nicholas Boone, at his Shop near the Old Meeting-House in Boston. 1704.

_Advertis.e.m.e.nt._

There is now in the Press, and will speedily be Published: The Arraignment, Tryal and Condemnation of Capt. John Quelch, and others of his Company, etc. For sundry Piracies, Robberies and Murder, committed upon the Subjects of the King of Portugal, Her Majesties Allie, on the Coast of Brasil, etc. Who upon full Evidence were found Guilty, at the Court-House in Boston, on the 13th of June 1704. With the Arguments of the Queen's Council, and Council for the Prisoners, upon the Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy. With an account of the Ages of the several Prisoners, and the Places where they were Born. Printed for and sold by Nicholas Boone, 1704.[6]

[Footnote 6: The publication of the pamphlet here advertised was by authority of Governor Dudley, who gives the Board of Trade the following excuse for printing the minutes of the trial before sending them to that body (letter of July 25, 1705), "My Lords, I should not have directed the printing of them here, but to satisfy and save the clamour of a rude people, who were greatly surprised that any body should be put to death that brought in gold into the Province, and did at the time speak rudely of the proceeding against them and a.s.sisted to hide and cover those ill persons". _Cal. St. P. Col._, 1704-1705, p. 585.]

_105. Deposition of Paul Dudley. August 15, 1705._[1]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, C.O. 5:1263, no. 57 XXVI. Paul Dudley was the governor's oldest son. The deposition is one of 55 enclosures in the governor's letter of Nov. 2, 1705, to the Board of Trade respecting his complaints of irregularities in the governments of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Though Dudley's commissions as governor confined his civil authority to Ma.s.sachusetts and New Hamps.h.i.+re, his commission as vice-admiral (printed in the _Publications_ of the Colonial Society of Ma.s.sachusetts, II. 220-224) gave him authority in Rhode Island also. The a.s.sembly of that colony, however, claimed the right under their charter to erect admiralty courts of their own, and for their governor the right to commission privateers. Queen Anne wrote to them in March 1704, repealing their act erecting a court, but they held that her letter did not forbid the commissioning of privateers. See _Records of the Colony of Rhode Island_, III. 508-510, 535-540.]

The Deposition of Paul Dudley, Esquire, Her Majestys Attourney General for the Province of the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay in New England, and Advocate of the Court of Admiralty--who saith

That on or about the fifth day of June last past, being at Newport on Road Island in Company with the Honourable Nathaniel Byfield, Esquire, Judge of the Court of Admiralty, etc.[2] at the House of Samuel Cranston, Esquire, Governour of said Island, The said Judge complaining of the said Governours granting a Commission to Captain Halsey, a Privateer,[3] after the Receipt of her Majesties Commands to the Contrary, The said Samuel Cranston replyed, That he had taken the advice of the Generall Court[4] of that Colony, who were all of opinion That her Majesties Commands did not forbid him or restrain him from Granting Commissions for Privateers, And that their Charter granting them Power of Vice Admiralty,[5] he was determined to Exercise that power, and Grant such Commissions untill their Charter was actually and wholly taken away; And that they would not part with their powers or Government by piece meal, but would Die all at once, And that they had parted with too many of their priviledges already....

PAUL DUDLEY.

BOSTON in New England 15 August 1705

Sworne in presence of his Excellency the Governour before us

ISA. ADDINGTON } ANDREW BELCHER } of the Council

[Footnote 2: Nathaniel Byfield--founder of Bristol, Ma.s.s, (now R.I.), nephew of Archbishop Juxon and grandson of that Rev. Richard Byfield who was vicar of Stratford-on-Avon during most of Shakespeare's life--was commissioned admiralty judge for Ma.s.sachusetts and Rhode Island during brief periods in 1698 and 1703, again 1704-1715 and 1728-1732.]

[Footnote 3: Nov. 7, 1704, Cranston had given a privateer's commission to Capt. John Halsey of the brigantine _Charles_, the vessel that had been Quelch's. The governor's confidence seems not to have been justified, for presently Halsey entered upon a large and lurid career of piracy, duly described in Johnson, _General History of the Pyrates_, II. 110-118.]

[Footnote 4: a.s.sembly.]

[Footnote 5: It would be hard to find any such grant in the Rhode Island charter of 1663.]

_106. Commission for Trial of Piracy. November 1, 1716._[1]

[Footnote 1: Charleston, Records of the Court of Vice-admiralty of South Carolina, vol. A-B. The doc.u.ment is spread upon the records of the court for Nov. 27, 1716, at the beginning of the day's proceedings. This commission is a peculiar one. As has been explained in note 2 to doc. no. 51 and in note 1 to doc. no. 104, the act 28 Henr. VIII. ch. 15 (1536) provided for the trial of piracy by commissions specially appointed for the purpose, and with a jury, but did not extend to the oversea plantations, while the act 11 and 12 Will. III. ch. 7 (1699-1700) extended to those dominions the crown's authority to appoint such commissions. Before the pa.s.sage of the latter statute, colonial governors had as vice-admirals appointed such commissions, which had then proceeded under the civil (Roman) law, and not under the statute. But South Carolina had in 1712 expressly adopted the act of 28 Henr. VIII. (Cooper, _Statutes at Large_, II.

470) and here we have a commission issued by the deputy governor and council, under authority of the proprietors of Carolina, for trial under the act of 1536, though action could have been taken under that of 1700. The accused persons for whose trial the commission was issued were acquitted. For the whole subject of piracy in or near Carolina, where it was rife in these years, see S.C. Hughson, "The Carolina Pirates and Colonial Commerce", in _Johns Hopkins University Studies_, XII. The most famous case was that of Major Stede Bonnet, but the original records of that case are fully printed in _State Trials_, ed.

Hargrave, vol. VI.]

South Carolina.

His Excellency John Lord Carteret, Palatine, The most n.o.ble Henry Duke of Beaufort, the Right Hon'ble William Lord Craven, the Hon'ble Maurice Ashley Esqr., Sir John Colleton Baronet, John Danson Esqr., and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of Carolina,[2] To Nicholas Trott Esq., Judge of the Vice Admiralty in South Carolina and chief Justice of the said Province,[3] The Hon'ble Capt. Thomas Howard Commander of his Majestys s.h.i.+p the _Shoram_, the Hon'ble Charles Hart Esqr., one of the Members of our Council in South Carolina, the Hon'ble Thomas Broughton, Speaker of the Lower House of a.s.sembly in South Carolina, Arthur Middleton and Ralph Izard Esqrs., Capt. Philip Dawes, Capt. Willm. Cuthbert, Commander of the _Fortune_ Frigate, Capt. Allen Archer, Commander of the Brigantine _Experiment_, and Samuel Deane and Edward Brailsford, merchants, Greeting.

[Footnote 2: The six proprietors of Carolina here named held at this time six of the eight shares in the property. The holder of the seventh was a minor; the eighth was in litigation.]