to have received thirty shares for himself and his two ships. He
and Laurens, who had never been on good terms, quarrelled and fought
over the division, and Vanhorn was wounded in the wrist. The wound
seemed very slight, however, and he proposed to return and attack the
Spanish fleet, offering to board the "Admiral" himself; but Laurens
refused, and the buccaneers sailed away, carrying with them over 1000
slaves. The invaders, according to report, had lost but four men in the
action. About a fortnight later Vanhorn died of gangrene in his wound,
and de Grammont, who was then acting as his lieutenant, carried his ship
back to Petit Goave, where Laurens and most of the other captains had
already arrived.[447]

The Mexican fleet, which returned to Cadiz on 18th December, was only
half its usual size because of the lack of a market after the visit of
the corsairs; and the Governor of Vera Cruz was sentenced to lose his
head for his remissness in defending the city.[448] The Spanish
ambassador in London, Ronquillo, requested Charles II. to command Sir
Thomas Lynch to co-operate with a commissioner whom the Spanish
Government was sending to the West Indies to inquire into this latest
outrage of the buccaneers, and such orders were dispatched to Lynch in
April 1684.[449]

M. de Cussy, who had been appointed by the French King to succeed his
former colleague, de Pouancay, arrived at Petit Goave in April 1684, and
found the buccaneers on the point of open revolt because of the efforts
of de Franquesnay, the temporary governor, to enforce the strict orders
from France for their suppression.[450] De Cussy visited all parts of
the colony, and by tact, patience and politic concessions succeeded in
restoring order. He knew that in spite of the instructions from France,
so long as he was surrounded by jealous neighbours, and so long as the
peace in Europe remained precarious, the safety of French Hispaniola
depended on his retaining the presence and good-will of the sea-rovers;
and when de Grammont and several other captains demanded commissions
against the Spaniards, the governor finally consented on condition that
they persuade all the freebooters driven away by de Franquesnay to
return to the colony. Two commissioners, named Begon and St. Laurent,
arrived in August 1684 to aid him in reforming this dissolute society,
but they soon came to the same conclusions as the governor, and sent a
memoir to the French King advising less seve