ALLEGED REDUCTION OF ENGLISH SUBJECTS TO SLAVERY.
(Vol. v., p. 510.)
The crime imputed to the Dutch authorities (that of reducing English subjects to slavery) is of so atrocious a character, that any explanation that should place the matter in a less offensive light, would be but an act of justice to the parties implicated. With this view I venture to submit to Ursula and W. W. the following conclusions which I have arrived at, after a careful consideration of all the circumstances.
I am of opinion that the writer of the letter in question (charging the Dutch Governor with the above mentioned offence) was the officer commanding the troops in the English division of St. Christopher; and, in that capacity, invested with the civil government. At that period, the
administration of our West Indian possessions was generally confided to the military commandants: our policy, in that respect, being different from that of the French, who have contrived at all times to maintain, in each of their colonies, an uninterrupted succession of Governors appointed from home.
The name of the Dutch Governor of St. Martin, to whom the letter was addressed, has not been ascertained. He was probably some buccaneering chief, who cared as little for the States-General as he did for the Governor of St. Christopher. If not actually engaged in the piratical enterprises of his countrymen, he certainly had no objection to receive, according to usage, the lion's share of the booty as a reward for his connivance.
It is very doubtful whether the outrage imputed, in this instance, to the Dutch Governor, was perpetrated, or even attempted. The buccaneers, English, French, and Dutch, began by uniting their efforts against the Spaniards. After a time they "fell out" (as thieves will sometimes do), and, turning from the common enemy, they directed their marauding operations against each other. It was doubtless during one of these that the Dutch captured the English ship in question; detaining the passengers and crew at St. Martin, in the hope of extorting some considerable ransom for their release. When, therefore, the English Governor threatened to complain to the States-General of the "reduction to slavery of English subjects," we must presume that, by the words "reducing to slavery," he meant to describe the forcible detention of the passengers and crew; and that, in doing so, he merely resorted to the expedient of magnifying a common act of piracy into an outrage of a more heinous character, with the view of frightening the Dutch authorities into a compliance with his wishes, and obtaining the restitution of the property and subjects of his "dread Sovereigne Lord ye King." The annals of that period are replete with similar adventures; and Labat relates several of them which he witnessed during a voyage to Guadaloupe in a vessel belonging to the French buccaneers. As to the English, the daring exploits of Sir Henry Morgan and his followers, and the encouragement which they received, both at home and in the colonies, show that we were not behind our neighbours in those days of marauding notoriety.
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.