1909.] The Two Painters. No, he had not come to woo; Since the thought was in his head, "Kimi had a twisted nose, And a foot too small, for me, "So it is," said Tenko. VII. Great Sawara, the painter, Lo, as he leapt o'er the creaming Roses of faery foam, Out of the green-lipped green-lipped caverns Under the isle's blue dome, White as a drifting snow-flake, White as the moon's white flame, White as a ghost from the darkness, Little O Kimi came. "Long I have waited, Sawara, Here in our sunset isle, Why is your VOL. CLXXXV.-NO. MCXIX. heart so cold?" H wears upon his weather-beaten THE corsair or privateer, shares. All rules, which were well under- which he had a share, was stood on either side, and he getting ready for sea. "Away with Sir W. Pen," he wrote. "We did discourse about our Privateer, and hope well of that also, without much hazard, as, if God blesses us, I hope we shall do pretty well toward getting a penny." The penny was never got; the Flying Greyhound brought to the excellent Pepys more trouble than profit. But the intention was sound enough, and all the shareholders wished, in fighting their country's foes, was to consult their own advantage. Nor, in those days, was opportunity lacking. Never was there so fine a theatre of enterprise as the Spanish Main. It was far distant enough to escape the censure of prying eyes. If a bold captain forgot the ordinances of decent warfare, the rumour of his cruelties was a long time coming home, and it reached London dim and dissipated in the fog of space. And distance was not its only merit. It was the home of plunder and freebooting. The buccaneers themselves followed a well-recognised trade, and the line which separated them from the loyal servants of the State was thin indeed. Only a pedant, skilled in dichotomies, could distinguish with certainty between piracy and privateering. The same broad road led to Whitehall and Execution Dock. The divergence came only at the very end. Teach himself, the monstrous Black beard, is said to have sailed with letters of marque, and his head was cut off with perfect justice and hung at the end of his own bowsprit. Henry Morgan, the intrepid captor of Panama, won a knighthood and the approval of John Evelyn. And yet the two differed rather in character than in morals. They were equally cruel, equally dishonest, equally bold. Teach, it is true, was a vulgar rascal, who thought it a rare jest to blow out the lights and fire at his companions' legs under the table. Morgan, on the other hand, added the forethought of the statesman to the intrepidity of the buccaneer. It is easy and proper to condemn him. The brutality with which he treated the inhabitants of Panama deserves all the harsh things that have been said about it. The riot of his followers, which he made no attempt to check, was in accordance with the best (or worst) traditions of buccaneering. Nor can it be said that he acted with justice in the distribution of the spoil. He had no respect for the honour which is supposed to exist among thieves. He laid his own greedy hand upon the treasure, and bade his companions content themselves with the handful of dollars that he flung to each. In other words, he did not rise above the standard of life which Main. prevailed upon the But in character and skill he surpassed the other buccaneers as far as the Thames surpasses the Fleet Ditch. His taking the city of Panama was a gallant feat of arms that needs no praise and fears no obloquy. Deserted by the French, who refused to risk an attack, Morgan and his men rowed along the coast in canoes: purchased the Bahama Islands they took by assault the for twenty-one years, and was three forts which defended appointed by his Government Panama, slew the governor, captain-general and governorand sacked the town, whose in-chief over them. In other treasure had long been a myth. words, he began life as That he had gone beyond his pirate-he ended it as a prosorders, which permitted him to perous statesman. Very differfight by sea only and not on ent were the corsairs of France, land, does not lessen the splen- the old sea-wolves with salt dour of his exploit, and the foam upon their lips, who Governor of Jamaica did well would ride out any storm, to commend him to the author- and who were never so happy ities at home. For he exem- as when they were boarding plified in his single person the a rich English merchantman. virtues and vices of his kind. The success at which they Such cruelties as he practised aimed was immediate. They were the accepted custom of had no wish to make themhis time and place. The spirit selves masters of wealthy of dauntless courage which sus- colonies, like Morgan and tained him in the face of vast Rogers. Their ambition was odds was his own, and still de- limited by the taking of a serves to be remembered with rich prize or two and the prospect of a quiet retirement With Woodes Rogers' famous in Boulogne when old age voyage in the Duke-a ship should surprise them. Their fitted out in Bristol, and count- best chance of distinction came ing among his owners not a when France and England few peaceful Quakers-priva- were engaged in a deathteering in England reached struggle; and, if we may beits zenith. The expedition is lieve their own simple words, memorable for many reasons. Napoleon would never have In the first place, Rogers car- been the man he was without ried with him the intrepid their aid. Fortunate in their Dampier, and his second cap- lives, they have been fortunate tain was Thomas Dover, the also in finding an admirable physician who won immortal- historian. M. Henri Malo 1 has ity by a powder. And then, his composed his work in the p account of Alexander Selkirk, spirit of enthusiasm. Though whom he found on the island he has collected documents with of Juan Fernandez, was an in- all the curiosity of a scholar, spiration to Daniel Defoe, and he does not forget for a the only begetter of Robinson moment that his heroes were Crusoe. The prizes which he men of bone and blood, willthe money that fell to his lot he call of adventure and patriottook were many and rich. With ing to risk their lives at the admiration. 1 Les Corsaires. Mémoires et Documents Inédits. Société du Mercure de France, proper Par Henri Malo. Paris: |