under in Barbadoes.[241] Modyford, meanwhile,
greatly disappointed by the miscarriage of the design against Curacao,
called in the aid of the "old privateer," Captain Edward Mansfield, and
in the autumn of 1665, with the hope of sending another armament against
the island, appointed a rendezvous for the buccaneers in Bluefields
Bay.[242]

In January 1666 war against England was openly declared by France in
support of her Dutch allies, and in the following month Charles II. sent
letters to his governors in the West Indies and the North American
colonies, apprising them of the war and urging them to attack their
French neighbours.[243] The news of the outbreak of hostilities did not
reach Jamaica until 2nd July, but already in December of the previous
year warning had been sent out to the West Indies of the coming
rupture.[244] Governor Modyford, therefore, seeing the French very much
increased in Hispaniola, concluded that it was high time to entice the
buccaneers from French service and bind them to himself by issuing
commissions against the Spaniards. The French still permitted the
freebooters to dispose of Spanish prizes in their ports, but the better
market afforded by Jamaica was always a sufficient consideration to
attract not only the English buccaneers, but the Dutch and French as
well. Moreover, the difficulties of the situation, which Modyford had
repeatedly enlarged upon in his letters, seem to have been appreciated
by the authorities in England, for in the spring of 1665, following upon
Secretary Bennet's letter of 12th November and shortly after the
outbreak of the Dutch war, the Duke of Albemarle had written to Modyford
in the name of the king, giving him permission to use his own discretion
in granting commissions against the Dons.[245] Modyford was convinced
that all the circumstances were favourable to such a course of action,
and on 22nd February assembled the Council. A resolution was passed that
it was to the interest of the island to grant letters of marque against
the Spaniards,[246] and a proclamation to this effect was published by
the governor at Port Royal and Tortuga. In the following August Modyford
sent home to Bennet, now become Lord Arlington, an elaborate defence of
his actions. "Your Lordship very well knows," wrote Modyford, "how great
an aversion I had for the privateers while at Barbadoes, but after I had
put His Majesty's orders for restitution in strict execution, I found my
error in