the year
1695, that the English pirates had fitted out the vessels in the harbor
of New York. On the arrival of the pirate vessels from their cruises,
their goods were openly sold in the city, and the conduct of the
Colonial Government was such, that collusion, if not actual partnerships
between them and the public authorities, was not doubted. Colonel
Fletcher, a poor and profligate man, was governor at that time. He was
beyond doubt concerned with the freebooters, as also was William Nicoll,
a member of the privy council. Complaints upon this subject having
reached England, Fletcher was succeeded, in 1695, by the Earl of
Bellamont, the appointment being made in the belief that, from his rank
and the wealth of his character, he would be able to retrieve the
character of the Colonial Government.

Justice, however, to the memory of Kidd requires it to be said that he
was not at that period, so far as it is known, a pirate himself. Before
Lord Bellamont sailed from England for his government, he met with
Robert Livingston of New York--the ancestor of the Livingstons of
Livingston's Manor--with whom he held a conversation respecting the
pirates, and the best means that could be adopted to put them down. The
project of employing a swift-sailing armed ship of thirty guns, and one
hundred and fifty men, to cruise against them, was spoken of; and
Livingston recommended his lordship to Kidd, as a man of integrity and
courage, acquainted with the pirates and their places of rendezvous, and
as one in all respects fit to be intrusted with the command of a vessel
engaged in such a difficult service. He had, indeed, commanded a
privateer, in regular commission, against the pirates in the West
Indies, in which service he had acquitted himself as a brave and
adventurous man. The project not being entertained by the Board of
Admiralty, a private adventure against the pirates was suggested by Mr.
Livingston, one fifth part of the stock of which he would take himself,
besides becoming security for the good conduct of Kidd. The proposition
was approved by the king, who became interested to the amount of one
tenth; and the residue of the expense was supplied by Lord Chancellor
Somers, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earls of Romney and Oxford, and Sir
Edmund Harrison and others. The ship having been procured and equipped,
Kidd sailed for New York under a regular commission, in April, 1696--the
direction of the enterprise being committed to the