“We have our mistress, too,” he said; “but she exacts no tribute. All that is gained goes to enrich her subjects, while all that she knows is cheerfully imparted for their use. If we are obedient, it is because we have experienced her justice and wisdom I hope Queen Anne deals as kindly by those who risk life and limb in her cause?”
“Is it part of the policy of her you follow, to reveal the fate of the Patroon; for though rivals in one dear object—or rather I should say, once rivals in that object—I cannot see a guest quit my ship with so little ceremony, without an interest in his welfare.”
“You make a just distinction,” returned Seadrift, smiling still more meaningly—“Once rivals is indeed the better expression. Mr. Van Staats is a brave man, however ignorant he may be of the seaman’s art. One who has showed so much spirit will be certain of protection from personal injury, in the care of the ‘Skimmer of the Seas.’”
“I do not constitute myself the keeper of Mr. Van Staats; still, as the commander of the ship whence he has been—what shall I term the manner of his abduction?—for I would not willingly use, at this moment, a term that may prove disagreeable—”
“Speak freely, sir, and fear not to offend. We of the brigantine are accustomed to divers epithets that might startle less practised ears. We are not to learn, at this late hour, that, in order to become respectable, roguery must have the sanction of government. You were pleased, Captain Ludlow, to name the mystifications of the Water-Witch; but you seem indifferent to those that are hourly practised near you in the world, and which, without the pleasantry of this of ours, have not half its innocence.”
“There is little novelty in the expedient of seeking to justify the delinquency of individuals, by the failings of society.”
“I confess it is rather just than original. Triteness and Truth appear to be sisters! And yet do we find ourselves driven to this apology, since the refinement of us of the brigantine has not yet attained to the point of understanding all the excellence of novelty in morals.”
“I believe there is a mandate of sufficient antiquity, which bids us to render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s.”
“A mandate which our modern Cæsars have most liberally construed! I am a poor casuist, sir; nor do I think the loyal commander of the Coquette would wish to uphold all that sophistry can invent on such a subject. If we begin with potentates, for instance, we shall find the Most Christian King bent on appropriating as many of his neighbors’ goods to his own use, as ambition, under the name of glory, can covet; the Most Catholic, covering with the mantle of his Catholicity, a greater multitude of enormities on this very continent, than even charity itself could conceal; and our own gracious Sovereign, whose virtues and whose mildness are celebrated in verse and prose, causing rivers of blood to run, in order that the little island over which she rules may swell out, like the frog in the fable, to dimensions that nature has denied, and which will one day inflict the unfortunate death that befell the ambitious inhabitant of the pool. The gallows awaits the pickpocket; but your robber under a pennant is dubbed a knight! The man who amasses wealth by gainful industry is ashamed of his origin; while he who has stolen from churches, laid villages under contribution, and cut throats by thousands, to divide the spoils of a galleon or a military chest, has gained gold on the highway of glory! Europe has reached an exceeding pass of civilization, it may not be denied; but before society inflicts so severe censure on the acts of individuals, notwithstanding the triteness of the opinion, I must say it is bound to look more closely to the example it sets, in its collective character.”
“These are points on which our difference of opinion is likely to be lasting;” said Ludlow, assuming the severe air of one who had the world on his side. “We will defer the discussion to a moment of greater leisure, sir. Am I to learn more of Mr. Van Staats, or is the question of his fate to become the subject of a serious official inquiry?”