"Therefore I posted away a messenger to Gov. Cranston and Col. Sanford to make a strict search of Paine's house before he could have notice.

It seems nothing was then found, but Paine has since produced 18 ounces and odd weight of Gold, as appears by Gov. Cranston's letter, Nov. 25, and pretends 'twas bestowed on him by Kidd, hoping that may pa.s.s as a salve for the oath he has made. I think it is plain he foreswore himself. I am of opinion he has a great deal more of Kidd's goods still in his hands, but he is out of my Power and being in that Government I cannot compel him to deliver up the rest...."

That "Edward Davis, Mariner," who came home with Kidd and who made the statement already quoted concerning Gillam's chest, found himself in trouble with the others of that crew, and the tireless Bellomont refers to him in this fashion:

"When Capt Kidd was committed to Gaol, there was also a Pyrate committed who goes by the name of Captain Davis, that came pa.s.senger with Kidd from Madagascar. I suppose him to be that Captain Davis that Dampier and Wafer speak of, in their printed relations of Voyages, for an extraordinary stout man; but let him be as stout as he will, here he is a prisoner, and shall be forthcoming upon the order I receive from England concerning Kidd and his men.

"When I was at Rhode Island there was one Palmer, a Pyrate, that was out upon Bail, for they cannot be persuaded there to keep a Pyrate in Gaol, they love 'em too well. He went out with Kidd from London and forsook him at Madagascar to go on board the _Mocha Frigate_, where he was a considerable time, committing several Robberies with the rest of the Pyrates in that Ship, and was brought home by Sh.e.l.ly of New York.

"I asked Gov. Cranston how he could answer taking bail for him, when he had received so strict Orders from Mr. Secretary Vernon to seize and secure Kidd and his a.s.sociates with their effects. I desired Col.

Sanford to examine Palmer on oath. I enclose his Examination where your Lordships may please to observe that he accuses Kidd of murdering his Gunner, which I never heard before."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Statement of Edward Davis, who sailed home with Kidd, concerning the landing of the treasure and goods.]

It may be that the "old Pyrate," Thomas Paine buried a bag of Kidd's gold but it is much more likely that whatever had been stored with him was turned over to that astute helpmeet, Mrs. William Kidd, for whom it has been left in his keeping. As for that "most impudent, hardened Villain," James Gillam, it is unreasonable to suppose that his sea chest was buried by the friends who took it off his hands in Delaware Bay. Indeed, there was no motive for putting booty underground when it could be readily disposed of in the open market. Bellomont complained in one of his letters of this same eventful summer:

"There are about thirty Pyrates come lately into the East end of Na.s.sau Island and have a great deal of Money with them, but so cherished are they by the Inhabitants that not a man among them is taken up. Several of them I hear, came with Sh.e.l.ly from Madagascar. Mr. Hackshaw, one of the Merchants in London that plotted against me, is one of the owners of Sh.e.l.ley's Sloop, and Mr. De Lancey, a Frenchman at New York is another. I hear that Capt. Kidd dropped some Pyrates in that Island (Madagascar). Till there be a good Judge or two, and an honest, active Attorney General to prosecute for the King, all my Labour to suppress Pyracy will signify even just nothing. When Fred Phillip's ship and the other two come from Madagascar, which are expected every day, New York will abound with Gold. 'Tis the most beneficial Trade, that to Madagascar with the Pyrates, that ever was heard of, and I believe there's more got that way than by turning Pirates and robbing. I am told this Sh.e.l.ley sold rum, which cost but 2 s. per Gallon in New York for 50 s. at Madagascar, and a pipe of Madeira wine, which cost him 19 pounds at New York, he sold for 300 pounds. Strong liquors and gun powder and ball are the commodities that go off there to best Advantage, and those four ships last summer carried thither great quant.i.ties of things."

There is another authentic glimpse of Kidd and his men and his spoils, as viewed by Colonel Robert Quarry,[15] Judge of the Admiralty Court for the Province of Pennsylvania.

"There is arrived in this Government," he reported, "about 60 pirates in a ship directly from Madagascar. They are part of Kidd's gang, and about 20 of them have quitted the Ship and are landed in this Government. About sixteen more are landed at Cape May in the Government of West Jersey. The rest of them are still on board the ship at Anchor near the Cape waiting for a sloop from New York to unload her. She is a very rich Ship. All her loading is rich East India Bale Goods to a very great value, besides abundance of money.

The Captain of the Ship is one Sh.e.l.ley of New York and the ship belongs to Merchants of that place. The Goods are all purchased from the Pirates at Madagascar which pernicious trade gives encouragement to the Pirates to continue in those parts, having a Market for all the Goods they plunder and rob in the Red Sea and several other parts of East India."

Colonel Quarry caught two of these pirates and lodged them in jail at Burlington, New Jersey, and later tucked away two others in Philadelphia jail. From the former two thousand pieces of eight were taken, a neat little fortune to show that piracy was a paying business.

A few days later Colonel Quarry got wind of no other than Kidd himself and would have caught him ahead of Bellomont had he been properly supported. He protested indignantly:

"Since my writing the enclosed I have by the a.s.sistance of Col. Ba.s.s, Governor of the Jerseys, apprehended four more of the Pirates at Cape May and might have with ease secured all the rest of them and the Ship too, had this Government (Pennsylvania) given me the least aid or a.s.sistance. But they would not so much as issue a Proclamation, but on the contrary the people have entertained the Pirates, convey'd them from place to place, furnished them with provisions and liquors, and given them intelligence, and sheltered them from justice. And now the greater part of them are conveyed away in boats to Rhode Island. All the persons I have employed in searching for and apprehending these Pirates are abused and affronted and called Enemies of the Country for disturbing and hindering honest men (as they are pleased to call the Pirates) from bringing their money and settling amongst them....

"Since my writing this, Capt. Kidd is come in this (Delaware) Bay. He hath been here about ten days. He sends his boat ash.o.r.e to the h.o.r.e Kills where he is supplied with what he wants and the people frequently go on board him. He is in a Sloop with about forty men with a Vast Treasure, I hope the express which I sent to his Excellency Governor Nicholson will be in time enough to send the man-of-war to come up with Kidd....

"The Pirates that I brought to this Government have the liberty to confine themselves to a tavern, which is what I expected. The six other Pirates that are in Burlington are at liberty, for the Quakers there will not suffer the Government to send them to Gaol. Thus his Majesty may expect to be obeyed in all places where the Government is in Quakers' hands...."

[1] Mr. F. L. Gay of Boston very kindly gave the author the use of his valuable collection of doc.u.mentary material concerning Captain Kidd, some of which is contained in this chapter. In addition, the author consulted many of the original doc.u.ments among the state papers in the Public Record Office, London.

[2] Damaged.

[3] Clarke managed to clear himself and this threat was not carried out.

[4] Ms. torn.

[5] Genuine.

[6] Ms. torn.

[7] Ms. torn.

[8] Prize, or plunder.

[9] t.i.tus Gates, the notorious informer, who revealed an alleged "Papist plot" to ma.s.sacre the English Protestants in the reign of Charles II. He was later denounced, pilloried, and publicly flogged within an inch of his life.

[10] Ms. torn.

[11] Lieutenant-governor at New York.

[12] Ms. torn.

[13] Ms. torn.

[14] Ms. torn.

[15] Colonel Robert Quarry cut a rather odd figure as a prosecutor of pirates in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He had been secretary to the Governor of Carolina and a.s.sumed that office without authority from the proprietors, at the death of Sir Richard Kyle who was appointed in 1684.

"A few months before it had been recommended that 'as the Governor will not in all probability always reside in Charles Town, which is so near the sea as to be in danger from a sudden invasion of Pirates,' Governor Kyle should commissionate a particular Governor for Charles Town who may act in his absence." (South Carolina Historical Society Collections.)

Governor Kyle suggested as a suitable person for this office his secretary, Robert Quarry, and "probably this recommendation made Quarry feel justified in a.s.suming control when Kyle died. So flagrant was Quarry's encouragement of pirates, and his cupidity so notorious that he was removed from office after two months. Later "he went north and was appointed Admiralty Judge for New York and Pennsylvania." ("The Carolina Pirates," by S. C. Hughson, Johns Hopkins University Studies.)

CHAPTER IV

CAPTAIN KIDD, HIS TRIAL, AND DEATH

As the under dog in a situation where the most powerful influences of England conspired to blacken his name and take his life, Captain William Kidd, even at this late day, deserves to be heard in his own defense. That he was unfairly tried and condemned is admitted by various historians, who, nevertheless, have twisted or overlooked the facts, as if Kidd were, in sooth, a legendary character. This blundering, careless treatment is the more surprising because Kidd was made a political issue of such importance as to threaten the overthrow of a Ministry and the Parliamentary censure of the King himself. At the height of the bitter hostility against Somers, the Whig Lord Chancellor of William III, the Kidd affair presented itself as a ready weapon for the use of his political foes.

"About the other patrons of Kidd the chiefs of the opposition cared little," says Macauley.[1] "Bellomont was far removed from the political scene. Romney could not, and Shrewsbury would not play a first part. Orford had resigned his employments. But Somers still held the Great Seal, still presided in the House of Lords, still had constant access to the closet. The retreat of his friends had left him the sole and undisputed head of that party which had, in the late Parliament, been a majority, and which was in the present Parliament outnumbered indeed, disorganized and threatened, but still numerous and respectable. His placid courage rose higher and higher to meet the dangers which threatened him.

"In their eagerness to displace and destroy him, they overreached themselves. Had they been content to accuse him of lending his countenance, with a rashness unbecoming his high place, to an ill-concerted scheme, that large part of mankind which judges of a plan simply by the event would probably have thought the accusation well founded. But the malice which they bore to him was not to be so satisfied. They affected to believe that he had from the first been aware of Kidd's character and designs. The Great Seal had been employed to sanction a piratical expedition. The head of the law had laid down a thousand pounds in the hopes of receiving tens of thousands when his accomplices should return laden with the spoils of ruined merchants. It was fortunate for the Chancellor that the calumnies of which he was object were too atrocious to be mischievous.

"And now the time had come at which the h.o.a.rded ill-humor of six months was at liberty to explode. On the sixteenth of November the House met.... There were loud complaints that the events of the preceding session had been misrepresented to the public, that emissaries of the Court, in every part of the kingdom, declaimed against the absurd jealousies or still more absurd parsimony which had refused to his Majesty the means of keeping up such an army as might secure the country against invasion. Angry resolutions were pa.s.sed, declaring it to be the opinion of the House that the best way to establish entire confidence between the King and the Estates would be to put a brand on those evil advisers who had dared to breathe in the royal ear calumnies against a faithful Parliament.

"An address founded on these resolutions was voted; many thought that a violent rupture was inevitable. But William returned an answer so prudent and gentle that malice itself could not prolong the dispute.

By this time, indeed, a new dispute had begun. The address had scarcely been moved when the House called for copies of the papers relating to Kidd's expedition. Somers, conscious of his innocence, knew that it was wise as well as right and resolved that there should be no concealment.

"Howe raved like a maniac. 'What is to become of the country, plundered by land, plundered by sea? Our rulers have laid hold of our lands, our woods, our mines, our money. And all this is not enough.

We cannot send a cargo to the farthest ends of the earth, but they must send a gang of thieves after it.' Harley and Seymour tried to carry a vote of censure without giving the House time to read the papers. But the general feeling was strongly for a short delay. At length on the sixth of December, the subject was considered in a committee of the whole House. Shower undertook to prove that the letters patent to which Somers had put the Great Seal were illegal. Cowper replied to him with immense applause, and seems to have completely refuted him.

"At length, after a debate which lasted from mid-day till nine at night, and in which all the leading members took part, the committee divided on the question that the letters patent were dishonorable to the King, inconsistent with the laws of nations, contrary to the statutes of the realm, and destructive of property and trade. The Chancellor's enemies had felt confident of victory, and made the resolution so strong in order that it might be impossible for him to retain the Great Seal. They soon found that it would have been wise to propose a gentler censure. Great numbers of their adherents, convinced by Cowper's arguments, or unwilling to put a cruel stigma on a man of whose genius and accomplishments the nation was proud, stole away before the doors were closed. To the general astonishment, there were only one hundred and thirty-three Ayes to one hundred and eighty-nine Noes. That the city of London did not consider Somers as the destroyer, and his enemies as the protectors of trade, was proved on the following morning by the most unequivocal of signs. As soon as the news of the triumph reached the Royal Exchange, the price of stocks went up."

There is a very rare pamphlet which illuminates the matter in much more detail. It was written and published as a defense of Bellomont and his partners and the very length, elaboration, and heat its argument shows how furiously the political pot was boiling while Kidd was imprisoned in London awaiting his trial. This _ex parte_ production is ent.i.tled "A Full Account of the Actions of the Late Famous Pyrate, Captain Kidd, With the Proceedings against Him and a Vindication of the Right Honourable Richard, Earl of Bellomont, Lord Caloony, late Governor of New England, and other Honourable Persons from the Unjust Reflection; Cast upon Them. By a Person of Quality."[2]