Elizabeth of England, with more open asperity answered a complaint made by the Spanish ambassador, of Spanish ships being plundered by the English in the West Indies, 'That the Spaniards had drawn these inconveniencies upon themselves, by their severe and unjust dealings in their American commerce; for she did not understand why either her subjects, or those of any other European prince, should be debarred from traffic in the Indies. That as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title by the donation of the Bishop of Rome, so she knew no right they had to any places other than those they were in actual possession of; for that their having touched only here and there upon a coast, and given names to a few rivers or capes, were such insignificant things as could no ways entitle them to a propriety further than in the parts where they actually settled, and continued to inhabit[4].' A warfare was thus established between Europeans in the West Indies, local and confined, which had no dependence upon transactions in Europe. Brethren of the Coast. All Europeans not Spaniards, whether it was war or peace between their nations in Europe, on their meeting in the West Indies, regarded each other as friends and allies, knowing then no other enemy than the Spaniards; and, as a kind of public avowal of this confederation, they called themselves Brethren of the Coast.
The first European intruders upon the Spaniards in the West Indies were accordingly mariners, the greater number of whom, it is supposed, were French, and next to them the English. Their first hunting of cattle in Hayti, was for provisioning their ships. The time they began to form factories or establishments, to hunt cattle for the skins, and to cure the flesh as an article of traffic, is not certain; but it may be
concluded that these occupations were began by the crews of wrecked vessels, or by seamen who had disagreed with their commander; and that the ease, plenty, and freedom from all command and subordination, enjoyed in such a life, soon drew others to quit their ships, and join in the same occupations. The ships that touched on the coast supplied the hunters with European commodities, for which they received in return hides, tallow, and cured meat. The appellation of Boucanier or Buccaneer was not invented, or at least not applied to these adventurers, till long after their first footing in Hayti. At the time of Oxnam's expedition across the Isthmus of America to the South Sea, A. D. 1575, it does not appear to have been known.
There is no particular account of the events which took place on the coasts of Hispaniola in the early part of the contest between the Spaniards and the new settlers. It is however certain, that it was a war of the severest retaliation; and in this disorderly state was continued the intercourse of the English, French, and Dutch with the West Indies, carried on by individuals neither authorized nor controlled by their governments, for more than a century.
In 1586, the English Captain, Francis Drake, plundered the city of San Domingo; and the numbers of the English and French in the West Indies increased so much, that shortly afterwards the Spaniards found themselves necessitated to abandon all the Western and North-western parts of Hispaniola.
CHAP. IV.
Iniquitous Settlement of the Island Saint Christopher by the English and French. Tortuga seized by the Hunters. Origin of the name Buccaneer. The name Flibustier. Customs attributed to the Buccaneers.
The increase of trade of the English and French to the West Indies, and the growing importance of the freebooters or adventurers concerned in it, who, unassisted but by each other, had begun to acquire territory and to form establishments in spite of all opposition from the Spaniards, attracted the attention of the British and French governments, and suggested to them a scheme of confederacy, in which some of the principal adventurers were consulted. The project adopted by them was, to plant a royal colony of each nation, on some one island, and at the same time; by which a constant mutual support would be secured. In as far as regarded the concerns of Europeans with each other, this plan was unimpeachable.