tion and the Gauls. By the peace of Ryswick, moreover, in
1697, peace was restored between France and Spain, and it then became
the interest as well as the policy of Europe to put an end to the
associated existence of the most extraordinary combination of men who
ever trod the earth. History affords no parallel to the buccaneers.
'Without any regular system, without laws, without any degree of
subordination, and even without any fixed revenue, they became the
astonishment of the age in which they lived, as they will be of
posterity.' In their actions is to be found a mixture of the most
opposite feelings and principles. They were at once undauntedly brave,
and cowardly brutal; full of justice and honor to each other, and yet a
lawless banditti. As an evidence of their feelings of honor,
it is related that on a certain occasion a company of their
fraternity--'Brothers of the Coast,' as they styled themselves--had
stipulated, for a certain sum, to escort a Spanish ship richly laden.
One of them ventured to propose to his companions to enrich themselves
at once by taking the ship. Montauban, the commander of the troop, had
no sooner heard the proposal, than he desired to resign his command and
be set on shore. 'What!' replied the freebooters, 'would you then leave
us? Is there one among us who approves of the treachery you abhor?' A
council was thereupon called, and it was agreed that the person who had
made the proposition should be thrown upon the first coast they should
reach. 'The history of past times,' says a quaint writer, 'doth not
offer, nor will that of future times produce, an example of such an
association, almost as marvellous as the discovery of the New World.
Their swords and their daring spirit, which they exercised with such
terrible effect, were the only fortune they possessed in Europe. In
America, being enemies of all mankind, and dreaded by all, perpetually
exposed to the most extreme dangers, and considering every day as their
last, their wealth was dissipated in the same manner in which it was
acquired. They gave themselves up to all excesses of debauchery and
profusion, and on returning from their expeditions, the intoxication of
their victories accompanied them in their feasts: they would embrace
their mistresses in their bloody arms and fall asleep for a while,
lulled by voluptuous pleasures, from which they were aroused to proceed
to fresh massacres. It was a matter of indifference to them whether