Among the captives taken by the adventurers on this occasion, one lady attracted particular attention. She was a native of Spain, and the wife of an opulent mer chant, whose business had some time before called him to Peru. She was still in the hloom of youth ; her raven tresses waved over her ivory brow, " like shadows o'er the winter's snow ;" her cheeks, naturally ruddy, were heightened by a tropical sun into a warmer glow; and her fine black eyes,dazzling with uncommon lustre, gave animation to the noblest countenance that ever the hand of nature delineated, or poets' fancy conceived. The in terest which her unhappy situation excited, was height ened into admiration by her elevated mien ; and her whole deportment indicated a soul incapable of being degraded from its native rank by any reverse of condi tion, or any depth of misery. Even the heart of Morgan, unused as it was to the tender emotions, did homage to this dignified beauty. lie felt for her a kind of affec tion, for which he could not well account; and the natu ral impetuosity of his temper was checked by an invo luntary respect, which her dignity inspired. He assigned her a separate house, with a retinue of servants, whom he directed to treat with a regard adequate to her for mer rank. He visited her frequently; he was daily more charmed with her beauty and her conversation ; he felt the respect which she had at first inspired, growing into a passion that could no longer be resisted. One of her servants, to whom he disclosed his secret, was employed to learn the opinion formed of him by the lady, and to prepare her tair compliance with his desires. At length he ventured to throw out sonic hints of his attachment, and to usurp some freedoms which her delicacy could not brook. " Morgan," said she, with overawing com posure, " your treatment of me, since I became your cap tive, has given me a high opinion of your benevolence; do not, I entreat you, compel me to change that opinion, by attempting to take an ungenerous advantage of my present misfortunes." He retired abashed; but his dis appointment only gave new ardour to his passion. Next day he renewed his visit ; avowed his design in still more offensive terms ; and chagrined by the lady's de termined rejection of his proposals, grasped her with violence, and was proceeding to force her to compliance with his brutal desires. For this emergency the lady was prepared ; and displaying a dagger, which she had concealed in her bosom, ' Infamous man !" cried she, " urge me no farther. This dagger shall be my protec tion from your insults. I can bear to die, but shall never be dishonoured." Morgan, perceiving her resolution unalterable, desisted from his attempts, and left her in despair. His pride, mortified by her obstinacy, now con verted his passion into deep-rooted hatred ; and with the meanness inseparable from ignorance and vulgarity, he revenged with brutal cruelty that inviolable virtue, which a more generous heart would, in similar circum stances, have been inclined to idolize. He deprived her of her attendants ; confined her in an unwholesome cel lar ; and, to give some plausible apology for this unac countable change in his conduct towards a lady for whom all were interested, pretended that he detected her in a correspondence with his enemies. But his persecution only gave new fortitude to this Spanish Lucretia ; and his comrades, impatient of their delay in a place where they could find no more plunder, urged him to depart. Unable longer to withstand their remonstrances, he set fire to Panama ; released his prisoners for an immense ransom ; and came to the mouth of the Chagre with the richest booty which any party of Buccaneers had ever acquired. He contrived to have the most valuable part of the spoils conveyed on board his own ship, with which he set sail for Jamaica, before dawn of the day appoint ed for the general distribution, without having given any warning to the rest of his fleet.
After this treacherous act, no expedition of conse quence was undertaken by the Buccaneers, till they were conducted by Van Horn, on an enterprize of great daring and importance. This man had served all his life among the French. Himself a strangerto fear, he would allow no symptom of it to appear among his crew. In the heat of engagement, he ranged about his ship, keenly observing all his men ; and if any of them be trayed the slightest alarm, he immediately put hint to death. This dreadful discipline, while it effectually de terred the faint-hearted from his service, rendered bins the idol of the brave. With those whom he approved, lie was always ready to share the plunder which he ac quired; thus heightening, by his frank Iii)erality, the ad miration which his intrepidity naturally commanded. On his former expeditions, which were chiefly confined to cruising, he sailed in a frigate, which was his own property. In his new designs, which required a greater force to curry them into execution, he was assisted by Grammont, Godtrey, Jonque, and Lawrence de Graff, whose exploits had gained them distinguished renown.
Twelve hundred Buccaneers joined themselves, on this occasion, to these celebrated captains, and sailed in six vessels for Vera Cruz. They landed, under cover of the night, about three leagues from the town, for which they instantly marched without being discovered. By break of day they were in complete possession of the place ; and the greater part of the citizens were kept pis isoners in the churches, to which they had fled for shelter. At the door of each church was laid a train of gunpowder, to blow up the building ; and a Buccaneer stood by, with a lighted match, ready to set fire to it on the least appearance of insurrection. Thus the city was pillaged without resistance ; and, after three days, the citizens confined in the churches, who had tasted neither meat nor drink during all that time, agreed to ransom their lives and liberties for 10,000,000 livres, equivalent to 437,500/. sterling. Half of the motley was paid the same day. The other halt was levying in the internal parts of the country, when a large body of troops ap peared on an eminence ; a fleet of seventeen ships at the same time approaching the harbour. The Buccaneers thinking it prudent to retreat, carried off whith them 1500 slaves, as an indemnification for that part of the ransom which remained unpaid. They sailed boldly through the midst of the Spanish fleet, which allowed them to pass without firing a single gun; happy to be so easily rid of such dangerous enemies.
About a year after the return of these adventurers from the Gulf of Mexico, the French and English pi rates, without any communication with each other, pro jected an expedition against the country of Peru. Your thousand men embarked in this enterprize ; and, had their courage been directed by a skilful commander, they would have wrested from the Spaniards that im portant country. Instead of acting in concert, they formed themselves into small parties, and after plunder ing many rich towns, they continued for some years in the country, giving themselves up, as usual, to riot and debauchery. Many of them fell victims to their excess. Of those who survived, some were shipwrecked, on their return, in the straits of Magellan, and at Cape Horn; and some, who attempted to march by land to the North ern Sea, either lost their lives or their plunder, by fall ing into ambuscades which were laid for them by the Spaniards. In short, the French and English colonies gained little by this expedition, which had lasted four years, and which had deprived them of their bravest in habitants.
While these adventurers were ravaging the shores of the Southern sea, another band of Buccaneers, com tnanded by Grammont, was committing similar outrages in the North. Campcachy was the object of their at tack ; where an incident happened, too honourable to the English character to be here omitted. The citadel, after holding out for some time, was abandoned by its defenders. One gull alone continued to annoy the as sailants, which, on storming the fort, they found to be served by an English officer, who had determined to ex pose himself to any danger rather than basely relinquish his post. Grammont knew how to appreciate such cou rage ; he received this brave officer with every mark of distinction, r anted him his liberty, wit) all his effects, and complimented him, besides, with some valuable pre sents. The conquerors of Campeachy spent two months in pillaging the city and the surrounding country. Af ter burning the city, and demolishing the citadel, which the governor refused to ransom, they returned to St Domingo.
The next achievement of the Buccaneers was the cap ture of the city of Cartnagena. here their bravery was crowned with the most brilliant success, though tarnish ed with the most atrocious cruelties. Returning home with an immense plunder, they fell in with a fleet of Dutch and English ships, both those nations being then in alliance with Spain. Several of the pirates were taken or sunk, the rest made their escape to St Domin go. This was the last important expedition undertaken by the Buccaneers. Tne war, on account of the Prince of Orange, which separated the French and English na tions ; the successful efforts of both nations to engage these enterprising men in the cultivation of land ; their prudence in entrusting the most distinguished of the Buccaneers with civil and military employments ; and the protection which they both successively engaged to afford the Spanish settlements, concurred to put an end to the society of Buccaneers, certainly the most extraor dinary which history records. Sec Raynal's History of the East and West Indies, vol. iii. Histoire des dvantu riers yui Sc sont signales dans les hides, par Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin. History of the Buccaneers of dmeri ca, by John Esquemeling. Edwards's History of West Indies, vol. i. (k)