he committee, ordered that a draft of the Jamaican law
against pirates be sent to all the plantations in America, to be passed
and enforced in each as a statute of the province.[471] On 12th March
1684 a general proclamation was issued by the king against pirates in
America, and a copy forwarded to all the colonial governors for
publication and execution.[472] Nevertheless in Massachusetts, in spite
of these measures and of a letter from the king warning the governors to
give no succour or aid to any of the outlaws, Michel had been received
with open arms, the proclamation of 12th March was torn down in the
streets, and the Jamaica Act, though passed, was never enforced.[473] In
the Carolinas, although the Lords Proprietors wrote urging the governors
to take every care that no pirates were entertained in the colony, the
Act was not passed until November 1685.[474] There were few, if any,
convictions, and the freebooters plied their trade with the same
security as before. Toward the end of 1686 three galleys from St.
Augustine landed about 150 men, Spaniards, Indians and mulattos, a few
leagues below Charleston, and laid waste several plantations, including
that of Governor Moreton. The enemy pushed on to Port Royal, completely
destroyed the Scotch colony there, and retired before a force could be
raised to oppose them. To avenge this inroad the inhabitants immediately
began preparations for a descent upon St. Augustine; and an expedition
consisting of two French privateering vessels and about 500 men was
organized and about to sail, when a new governor, James Colleton,
arrived and ordered it to disband.[475] Colleton was instructed to
arrest Governor Moreton on the charge of encouraging piracy, and to
punish those who entertained and abetted the freebooters;[476] and on
12th February 1687 he had a new and more explicit law to suppress the
evil enacted by the assembly.[477] On 22nd May of the same year James
II. renewed the proclamation for the suppression of pirates, and offered
pardon to all who surrendered within a limited time and gave security
for future good behaviour.[478] The situation was so serious, however,
that in August the king commissioned Sir Robert Holmes to proceed with a
squadron to the West Indies and make short work of the outlaws;[479] and
in October he issued a circular to all the governors in the colonies,
directing the most stringent enforcement of the laws, "a practice having
grown up of bringing