Chapter XI
A Buccaneer Boom
The condition of affairs in the West Indies was becoming very serious in
the eyes of the Spanish rulers. They had discovered a new country, they
had taken possession of it, and they had found great wealth of various
kinds, of which they were very much in need. This wealth was being
carried to Spain as fast as it could be taken from the unfortunate
natives and gathered together for transportation, and everything would
have gone on very well indeed had it not been for the most culpable and
unwarranted interference of that lawless party of men, who might almost
be said to amount to a nationality, who were continually on the alert to
take from Spain everything she could take from America. The English,
French, and Dutch governments were generally at peace with Spain, but
they sat by quietly and saw their sailor subjects band themselves
together and make war upon Spanish commerce,--a very one-sided commerce,
it is true.
It was of no use for Spain to complain of the buccaneers to her sister
maritime nations. It is not certain that they could have done anything
to interfere with the operations of the sea-robbers who originally
sailed from their coasts, but it is certain they did not try to do
anything. Whatever was to be done, Spain must do herself. The pirates
were as slippery as they were savage, and although the Spaniards made a
regular naval war upon them, they seemed to increase rather than to
diminish.
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