*20
/        "SOME MASTERS IN PIRACY"
/  FROM THE VERY EARLIEST DAYS OF HISTORY THERE HAVE BEEN
/PIRATES, AND IT IS, THEREFORE, NOT AT ALL REMARKABLE
/THAT, IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE HISTORY OF THIS CONTINENT,
/SEA-ROBBERS SHOULD HAVE MADE THEMSELVES PROMINENT; BUT
/THE BUCCANEERS OF AMERICA DIFFERED IN MANY WAYS FROM
/THOSE PIRATES WITH WHOM THE HISTORY OF THE OLD WORLD HAS
/MADE US ACQUAINTED.
/  IT WAS VERY SELDOM THAT AN ARMED VESSEL SET OUT FROM A
/EUROPEAN PORT FOR THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF SEA-ROBBERY IN
/AMERICAN WATERS. AT FIRST NEARLY ALL THE NOTED BUCCANEERS
/WERE TRADERS. BUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH SURROUNDED THEM
/IN THE NEW WORLD MADE OF THEM PIRATES WHOSE EVIL DEEDS
/HAVE NEVER BEEN SURPASSED IN ANY PART OF THE GLOBE.
/  THESE UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND AMAZING TEMPTATIONS DO
/NOT FURNISH AN EXCUSE FOR THE EXCEPTIONALLY WICKED
/CAREERS OF THE EARLY AMERICAN PIRATES; BUT WE ARE BOUND
/TO REMEMBER THESE CAUSES OR WE COULD NOT UNDERSTAND THE
/RECORDS OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST INDIES. THE BUC-
/CANEERS WERE FIERCE AND RECKLESS FELLOWS WHO PURSUED
/THEIR DARING OCCUPATION BECAUSE IT WAS PROFITABLE,
/BECAUSE THEY HAD LEARNED TO LIKE IT, AND BECAUSE IT
/ENABLED THEM TO WREAK A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF VENGEANCE UPON
/THE COMMON ENEMY. BUT WE MUST NOT ASSUME THAT THEY INAUG-
/URATED THE PIRATICAL CONQUESTS AND WARFARE WHICH EXISTED
/SO LONG UPON OUR EASTERN SEACOASTS.
/  BEFORE THE BUCCANEERS BEGAN THEIR CAREERS, THERE HAD
/BEEN GREAT MASTERS OF PIRACY WHO HAD OPENED THEIR SCHOOLS
/IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA; AND IN ORDER THAT THE CONDITION OF
/AFFAIRS IN THIS COUNTRY DURING PARTS OF THE SIXTEENTH AND
/SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES MAY BE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD, WE WILL
/CONSIDER SOME OF THE EARLIEST NOTED PIRATES OF THE WEST
/INDIES.
/  WHEN WE BEGIN A JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO THE CONDITION OF
/OUR FELLOW-BEINGS, WE SHOULD TRY TO BE AS COURTEOUS AS WE
/CAN, BUT WE MUST BE JUST; CONSEQUENTLY A MAN"S FAME AND
/POSITION MUST NOT TURN US ASIDE, WHEN WE ARE ACTING AS
/HISTORICAL INVESTIGATORS.
/  THEREFORE, WE SHALL BE BOLD AND SPEAK THE TRUTH, AND
/ALTHOUGH WE SHALL TAKE OUR HATS OFF AND BOW VERY RE-
/SPECTFULLY, WE MUST STILL ASSERT THAT CHRISTOPHER
/COLUMBUS WAS THE FIRST WHO PRACTICED PIRACY IN AMERICAN
/WATERS.
/  WHEN HE SAILED WITH HIS THREE LITTLE SHIPS TO DISCOVER
/UNKNOWN LANDS, HE WAS AN ACCREDITED EXPLORER FOR THE
/COURT OF SPAIN, AND WAS BRAVELY SAILING FORTH WITH AN
/HONEST PURPOSE, AND WITH THE SAME REGARD FOR LAW AND
/JUSTICE AS IS POSSESSED BY ANY EXPLORER OF THE PRESENT
/DAY. BUT WHEN HE DISCOVERED SOME UNKNOWN LANDS, RICH IN
/TREASURE AND OUTSIDE OF ALL LEGAL RESTRICTIONS, THE VIEWS
/AND IDEAS OF THE GREAT DISCOVERER GRADUALLY CHANGED.
/BEING NOW BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF CIVILIZATION, HE ALSO
/PLACED HIMSELF BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF CIVILIZED LAW.
/ROBBERY, MURDER, AND THE DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, BY THE
/COMMANDERS OF NAVAL EXPEDITIONS, WHO HAVE NO WARRANT OR
/COMMISSION FOR THEIR CONDUCT, IS THE SAME AS PIRACY.
/COLUMBUS CEASED TO BE A LEGALIZED EXPLORER. AGAINST THE
/EXPRESSED WISHES, AND EVEN THE PROHIBITIONS, OF THE ROYAL
/PERSONNAGES WHO HAD SENT HIM OUT ON THIS EXPEDITION, HE
/BEGAN TO DEVASTATE THE COUNTRIES HE HAD DISCOVERED, AND
/TO ENSLAVE AND EXTERMINATE THEIR PEACABLE NATIVES. HE
/BECAME A MASTER IN PIRACY, FROM WHOM THE BUCCANEERS
/LEARNED MANY A VALUABLE LESSON.
/  IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR US TO ENTER VERY DEEPLY INTO
/THE CONSIDERATION OF THE POLICY OF COLUMBUS TOWARD THE
/PEOPLE OF THE ISLANDS OF THE WEST INDIES. HIS SECOND
/VOYAGE WAS NOTHING MORE THAN AN EXPEDITION FOR THE SAKE
/OF PLUNDER. HE HAD DISCOVERED GOLD AND OTHER RICHES IN
/THE WEST INDIES AND HE HAD FOUND THAT THE PEOPLE WHO
/INHABITED THE ISLANDS WERE SIMPLE-HEARTED, INOFFENSIVE
/CREATURES, WHO DID NOT KNOW HOW TO FIGHT AND WHO DID NOT
/WANT TO FIGHT. THEREFORE, IT WAS SO EASY TO SAIL HIS
/SHIPS INTO THE HARBORS OF DEFENSELESS ISLANDS, TO SUBJUG-
/ATE THE NATIVES, AND TO TAKE AWAY THE PRODUCTS OF THEIR
/MINES AND SOIL, THAT HE COMMENDED A VERITABLE COURSE OF
/PIRACY.
/  THE ACQUISITION OF GOLD AND ALL SORTS OF PLUNDER SEEMED
/TO BE THE SOLE OBJECT OF THE SPANISH EXPEDITION; NATIVES
/WERE ENSLAVED, AND SUBJECTED TO THE GREATEST HARDSHIPS,
/SO THAT THEY DIED IN GREAT NUMBERS. AT ONE TIME THREE
/HUNDRED OF THEM WERE SENT AS SLAVES TO SPAIN. A PACK OF
/BLOODHOUNDS, WHICH COLUMBUS HAD BROUGHT WITH HIM FOR THE
/PURPOSE, WAS USED TO HUNT DOWN THE POOR INDIANS WHEN THEY
/ENDEAVORED TO ESCAPE FROM THE HANDS OF THE OPPRESSORS. IN
/EVERY WAY THE ISLAND OF HAITI, THE PRINCIPAL SCENE OF THE
/ACTIONS OF COLUMBUS, WAS TREATED AS IF ITS INHABITANTS
/HAD COMMITTED A DREADFUL CRIME BY BEING IN THE POSSESSION
/OF THE WEALTH WHICH THE SPANIARDS DESIRED FOR THEMSELVES.
/  QUEEN ISABELLA WAS GREATLY OPPOSED TO THESE CRUEL AND
/UNJUST PROCEEDINGS. SHE SENT BACK TO THEIR NATIVE LAND
/THE SLAVES WHICH COLUMBUS HAD SHIPPED TO SPAIN, AND SHE
/GAVE POSITIVE ORDERS THAT NO MORE OF THE INHABITANTS WERE
/TO BE ENSLAVED, AND THAT THEY ALL WERE TO BE TREATED WITH
/MODERATION AND KINDNESS. BUT THE ATLANTIC IS A WIDE
/OCEAN, AND COLUMBUS, FAR AWAY FROM HIS ROYAL PATRON, PAID
/LITTLE ATTENTION TO HER WISHES AND COMMANDS; WITHOUT
/GOING ANY FURTHER INTO THE HISTORY OF THIS PERIOD, WE
/WILL SIMPLY MENTION THE FACT THAT IT WAS ON ACCOUNT OF
/HIS ALLEGED ATROCITIES THAT COLUMBUS WAS SUPERSEDED IN
/HIS COMMAND, AND SENT BACK IN CHAINS TO SPAIN.
/  THERE WAS ANOTHER NOTED PERSONAGE OF THE SIXTEENTH
/CENTURY WHO PLAYED THE PART OF PIRATE IN THE NEW WORLD,
/AND THEREBY SET A MOST SHINING EXAMPLE TO THE BUCCANEERS
/OF THOSE REGIONS. THIS WAS NO OTHER THAN SIR FRANCIS
/DRAKE, ONE OF ENGLAND"S GREATEST NAVAL COMMANDERS.