Chap XXII. front the Revolution, to theT>eath os Æ.Wiliiastl, 727

1698. Refreshments, he reached Barbadoes,the seven and twentieth of February .From thence he proceeded to Mevis,and steering his Course thence to the^oa^ art ° a " Continent, made the High Land of St.

Martha , and so to Cart hag ena , wherehe obliged the Governour to deliver uptwo or three Englijh Merchant-Ships,that they had seized, on Occasion ofthe Scotch Settlement at Darien, which^octi-res the they then talked of dislodging. From°f thence he stood away for Jamaica,lift * Shits w ^ ere t ^ ie Governour and Merchants

* ' entreated him to fail to Puerto-Bello, todemand Satisfaction of the Spaniards,for several Depredations which they hadcommitted, on their Ships, Goods andMen. He sailed accordingly, with theGloucester, Falmouth, Lynn, and Sauda-does Prize, and arrived there the twen-ty-second of March. Upon his Demand

of Satisfaction, the Admiral of the Bar- 1 699.lovento- Fleet, at whose Instigation, these Satisfa&io*Depredations had been chiefly commit- flfspanf-ted, gave him a rough Answer, andards for De-alledg’d the Attempts of the Scotch,P Te dationswhose Interest he accounted to be xhe committe ^ :same with that of England, as a Reasonfor it. But after several Messages, hewas, at Length, assured, if he wouldretire from before the Port, everyThing should be restored. However, But iil vain -after his Departure, notwithstandingtheir solemn Promises, nothing was ef-fected. The Rear

He returned to Jamaica, the fifteenth Admiral *

of May, where, having Intelligence that seeks KiddCaptain Kidd was hovering on the Coast, without Suc-he went in Quest of him, but without ce “‘Success; As he did once more after-wards. (d)

b Y After

V

This being done, He was to bend his Course di-rectly to Jamaica , and haying remained there aslong, as it should be judged necessary, for thepublick Service, he was to visit Barbadoes , andthe Carribbee-Ittznds, and so to employ the Shipsunder his Command, from Time to Time j asmight be most proper, for the Defence of thePlantations and Trade, as aforesaid.

And since the Government was informed, thatone Kidd , who failed from England , a considera-ble Time before, on a private Account, in a Shipcalled the Adventure-Gally , with a Commission,under the Great Seal, and Power to seize on Pirats,and their Effects, had so far broke his Instructi-ons, and, indeed, the real and only Design ofhis Voyage, as to commit several notorious Pira-cies himself, the Rear-Admiral was particularlycharged, to make diligent Enquiry after him, andto seize on, and secure his Person, together withhis Men, Ship and Effects, that so they might bebrought to deserved Punishment.

(d) As the Affair of Kidd. made afterwards nolittle Noise, and I shall have Occasion to makefarther Mention of it, it may not be amiss to givethe Reader an Account, on what Occasion, and mwhat Manner he was lent to Sea.

Some Pirats had got together in the IndianSeas, and robbed some of the Mogul's Ships, inparticular one, which he was sending with Pre-sents to Mocca. Most of them were Engltjh.The East-India Company having represented theDanger of the Mogul $ taking Repnzals of them,for these Losses, it appeared, that there was aNecessity of destroying these Pirats, who wereharbouring themselves in some Creek, in Mada-gascar • So a Man ofWar was to be set out to de-stroy them, and one Kidd , who knew their Haunts,

3nd was thought a proper Man lor the Service, waspitch’d upon to command it; But there was not aFund to bear the Charge of this ; hor the Parliament

had so appropriated the Mony given for the Sea,that no Part of it could he apphed to this Expe-dition. The King proposed the Management ofit by a private Undertaking, and said he wouldlay down three Thousand Pounds himself, andrecommended it to his Ministers to find out theRest ; In Compliance with this, tne Lord hommers:he Earls of Orford, Romney , Bellamont , andome others, contributed the whole. Expence 3

For the King excused himself, by Reason os otherAccidents, and did not advance the Sum that hehad promised: Lord Sommers understood nothingof the Matter* and left it wholly to the Manage-ment of others, so that he never saw Kidd, onlyhe tqought it became the Post he was in, to con-cur iji such a Publick Service. A Grant was madeto the Undertakers, of all that should be takenfrom those Pirats, by their Ship. Here was aHandle for Complaint • For as it was against Lawto take a Grant of the Goods of any Offendersbefore Conviction, so a Parity between that andthis Case was Urged ; But without any Reason :The Provisions of Law being very different, inthe Case of Pirats and that of other Criminals.The former cannot be attack’d but in the Wayof War; And, therefore, since those, whoundertook this, must run a great Risk inexecuting it, it was but reasonable, and accordingto the Law of War, that they should have aRight to all that they found in the Enemy'sHands ; Whereas those, who seized common Of-fenders, have such a Strength by the Law, to a-ssist them, and are in so little Danger in doing it, thatno just Inference can be drawn from the one Caseto the other. When this Kidd was thus sent out*he turn’d Pirat himself ; So a heavy Load wascast on the Ministry, chiefly on him, who was atthe Head of the Justice of the Nation ; It wassaid, he ought not to have engaged in such a Pro-ject ; And it was maliciously insinuated, that thePrivateer turned Pirat, in Confidence of the Pro-tection of those who employed him, if he hadnot secret Orders from them for what he did.Such black Constructions (continues the Bishop)are Men, who are engaged in Parties, apt to makeof the Actions of those, whom they intend to dis-grace, even against their Own Consciences: Sothat an Undertaking, that was not only innocentbut meritorious, was traduced as a Design forRobbery and Piracy. Thi* was urged, in theHouse of Commons, as highly criminal, for which allwho were concerned in it, ought to be turned outof their Employments 5 And a question wasput upon it, But it was rejected by a great M a _jority.

I Shall not enter into the Merits of the Case,on either Side, as related above : But, in the Re-flection on it, the Historian seems to have run a-