sovereignty, in that he hath parted from the
crown, and therewith the power of granting
such commissions."

DR. O. " A king may be deposed of his crown,
and yet hath a right to war— and with it all the
ways and consequences of war pignorations
and reprisals."

SEC. T. "Yea, that is law, when the king is
deposed. But how if he abdicate?"

DR. O. " If he did truly abdicate, then he is
no other than a private gentleman, and cannot
grant commissions." (The doctor went on to
point out that King James, though driven from
England, renewed the war in Ireland, where his
followers were treated as enemies, not as
"rogues," and that a colourable authority
remained in King James, at all events, in France,
where his abdication was still unrecognised.)

LORD DEVON. " What if Monsieur Pompone,
or any other minister of state, should grant the
like commissions?"

DR. O. " Why, then they would not be good,
such power being only given to the admiral."

SEC. T. AND LORD FAULKLAND (in great
heat). " I——Pray, doctor, let us deal more
closely with you, for your reasons are such as
amount to high treason! Pray what do you think
of the abdication?"

DR. O. "That is an odious, ensnaring question.
I think of the abdication as you do; for
since it is voted, 'tis binding in England. But
these men were in a foreign country, and though
King James be not king here, yet the common
reputation of him as king there shall excuse
them."

Sir Thomas Pinfold declared himself of the
same opinion. Doctor Newton desired space to
consider. Doctor Wallner scrupled to meddle
with an affair of blood.

Doctor Littleton wound up the question:
"King James was as a private person. We had
no war with such; and, if he did desire any—
"ærarium non habet'— he has no cash, no treasury,
no capacity for making war. Wherefore
these persons who adhere to him are not
privateers, but pirates."

Doctor Oldish thereupon resigned; and Doctor
Littleton, who had so successfully snubbed him,
succeeding to his post, tried and condemned the
prisoners.

The latter drew up a petition, showing, with
much acuteness, how, after the surrender of
Limerick, thousands of soldiers, with guns,
horses, ammunition, &c., had been fairly
exchanged, and allowed to pass into the service of
the King of France. If so, why should King
James's sea-service commissioners be considered
"annul?"

"However, some of them, if not all, were
executed."*

* Cobbett's State Trials, v. xii.

The palmy days of maritime knight-errantry
were, perhaps, about the beginning of the last
century. The bold British captain had his full
share. In justice let us say, he did not always
begin it; but when the grasping Spanish West
Indian authorities, on pretence of stopping free
trade, commissioned armed vessels to seize every
ship that ventured within fifteen miles of their
coast; and when many an honest, innocent
Jamaica ship fell a victim to a liberal interpretation
of that decree; mercantile patience gave
way, and " something" in the way of reprisal
being winked at, soon grew into a very bulky
matter indeed.

For, quite a little fleet two ships and three
sloops— sailing from Jamaica, under Captain
Henry Jennings, to the Gulf of Florida, there
found the Spaniards busy, at the bottom of the
sea, groping for the relics of their plate fleet,
lost there two years before. A little exchange
of civilities ensued, ending in the departure of
Captain Henry Jennings with the whole of the
recovered treasure (excepting what had been
previously sent to the Havannah), amounting,
with the proceeds of a Spanish vessel bagged
on the way home, to four hundred and ten
thousand pieces of eight, or about ninety
thousand pounds.

The Spaniards complained to the Jamaica
government. The latter— first permitting the
adventurers to dispose of their cargo to good
advantage and furnish themselves with all necessary
stores frankly repudiated the entire transaction;
and Captain Jennings, placed without
the pale of the land, put to sea.

Reprisal begets reprisal. The Spaniards,
with some small war-ships, fell upon our vessels,
twenty-one in number, cutting logwood in
Campeachy Bay. The prisoners, crowded into three
sloops, were set at liberty, and, in their
despoiled and desperate condition, falling in with
the rovers, threw in their lot among their
countrymen.

Even these children of the sea need some
friendly haven, and an occasional dockyard; and
Providence, the largest of the Bahamas, with a
fine harbour, was henceforth their chosen
refuge. From this point, the gentlemen carried
on their game so much to the discontent of the
whole sea-going public, that some vigorous steps
became indispensable. George Rex accordingly
sent a proclamation, and a fleet numbering fourteen
vessels, with three hundred and thirty-six
guns (not Armstrong's) to enforce it.

The proclamation went first, and was
captured, ship and all. But, the fleet approaching,
things took a turn, and a somewhat disorderly
debate resulted in the surrender of Commodore
Jennings and his most distinguished lieutenants,
including the honoured names of Hornigold,
Teach (the renowned black-beard), Martel, Fife,
Williams, La Bouche, Peunar, England, Burgess,
Cocklyn, Sample, and Vane.

If it be permitted to dispose at once,
parenthetically, of this band of illustrious men, it is
only more effectually to point the moral of their
tale. Thus then it befel:

Hornigold, Williams, Burgess, La Bouche—
cast away.

Teach and Pennar, slain, and their crews
taken.

Fife, killed by his own men.