ose who
returned that home-coming was bitter.

Shortly after Morgan's return to Jamaica, a new Governor arrived from
England with orders to suppress the gangs of privateers. He had
instructions to proclaim a general pardon for all those buccaneers who
cared to take advantage of the proclamation within a given time. Those
who wished to leave "their naughty way of life" were to be encouraged by
grants of land (thirty-five acres apiece), so that they might not starve
when they forsook piracy. But this generous offer was merely a lure or
bait to bring the buccaneers to port, in order that the Governor might
mulct them "the tenths and fifteenths of their booty as the dues of the
Crown for granting them commissions." The news of the intended taxation
spread abroad among the pirates. They heard, too, that in future they
would find no rest in Port Royal; for this new Governor was earnest and
diligent in his governorship. They, therefore, kept away from Port
Royal, and made Tortuga their rendezvous, gradually allying themselves
with the French buccaneers, who had their stronghold there. Some of
them, who returned to Port Royal, were brought before the magistrate,
and hanged as pirates. Their old captain, Henry Morgan, left his former
way of life, and soon afterwards become Governor of Jamaica. He was so
very zealous in "discouraging" the buccaneers that the profession
gradually lost its standing. The best of its members took to logwood
cutting or to planting; the worst kept the seas, like water-Ishmaelites,
plundering the ships of all nations save their own. They haunted
Tortuga, the keys of Cuba, the creeks and inlets of the coast, and the
bays at the western end of Jamaica. They were able to do a great deal of
mischief; for there were many of them, and the English Colonial
governors could not spare many men-of-war to police the seas. Often the
pirates combined and made descents upon the coast as in the past. Henry
Morgan's defection did but drive them from their own pleasant haunt,
Port Royal. The "free-trade" of buccaneering throve as it had always
thriven. But about the time of Morgan's consulship we read of British
men-of-war helping to discourage the trade, and thenceforward the
buccaneers were without the support of the Colonial Government. Those
who sailed the seas after Morgan's time were public enemies, sailing
under the shadow of the gallows.

_Authorities._--W. Nelson: "Five Years at Panama." P. Mimande:
"S