New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-02-03
BUCCANEERTNG-

Recent transactions along the banks of the
Rio Grande, recall to memory the history OF the
buccaneers Francis Drake, although honored
with the patronage and sanction of Queen Eliza
beth, in an expedition, during time of profound
peace, against the Spaniards and Portuguese VINO
traded on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, then
termed the South Seas and although he performed
deeds sufficiently daring and adventurous to be
entitled heroic unto all posterity, was neverthe-
less, as much pirate and freebooter, although
licensed one, as Morgan or Lolonois.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Spain and Portugal enjoyed the monopoly OF the
great mines of gold and silver and precious stones
on the continent of South America, on the 18TH
mus and in Mexico. Their seamen and soldiers,
though still race of bold, brave men, had sadly
degenerated from the contemporaries of Pizarro
and Cortez, and were no match for the athletic
desperadoes from the shores of Great Britain
France and Holland.
In those days might made right. Drake, full Of
ardor and genius, obtained an interview with
Elizabeth. He intlamed her naturally covetous
mind and her Unsuitable ambition with descriptions
of the fabulous wealth annually brought over tc
the Spanish Peninsula in unwieldy and defenseless
conveys from the South Seas and finally, in VIC
lation of all law and national comfy, prevailed or
the Queen to send him in command of piratica
expedition against these treasure ships their an
nual voyage from the Spanish Main. The feats
| of Drake SAVIOR more of the fctions related by
| poets and romancers of Orlando and Amadis than
| of the occurrences of actual life. The great
| armada had not then bean destroyed, and the SUI
premacy of Spain was undisputed on the ocean !;
| but the fearless Drake with two or three cranky
little ships, sailed boldly out through the BRUSH
| Channel, rounded the stormy cape, attacked tiie
| Spanish men-of war that conveyed the precious
argosies and after scattering or sinking Ten iies
his numbers and strength, returned to the Inaiies
with millions sterling of igotten wealth., anu fe.
ceived the honors of Knighthood at the hahas OF
| the Queen herself.
| Stimulated by his successes anu py MS ialne'
other aYenturers more obscure ana less apie 'nall
Drake. bent their course towards the spanish
Main. Establishing themselves upon the unfre-
onented islands along the coast, they built vessels
| and formed crews to prey on Spanish commerce.
The Southern and Central American colonies of
4 Snain had f1ourished with remarkable vigor under
| the mild government of the viceroys, who, how
ever had no consideration for the unfortunate abo
rigines These poor people, together with the i'm
ported slaves were forced to toll without rest in
the mines whilst the faculties of the colonists and
the rulers were too much engrossed in adding to
their glittering heaps to heed the defenseess
dition of their towns.
brakes operations had not been confined to the
sea /; he had attacked and carried more than one
of the strongest Spanish works along the shores of
the Pacific, against odds with which none but a
mailman or freebooter would have thought of
contending. His easy conquests exposed the
weakness as well as the riches of the Spanish and
Portuguese colonies, as Sherman, by pushing
boldly and recklessly forward, exposed the weak
ness of the Confederacy. The egg once made to
stand on end, the result was plain From every
quarter of Northern and Western Europe, desper-
ADDE'S focked to the standard of him from amongst
them who had given proofs of the most reckless
cruelty and the most fragrant disregard of law.
Their rendezvous were unfrequented and desc
late islands along the Spanish Main where, in full
security and out of the way of commerce and
intercourse, they could strengthen their numbers
and mature their plans. They poured upon the
treasure laden galleons and the unthnking and
defenseless towns with a fury that admitted of no
resistance. They committed atrocities unparal-
leled, and after pillaging everything within
their reach and carrying off the women, would
which the bacchanalians of the later Empire
would have stood aghast. But the outrages per-
petrated by them finally became so terrible and
unnatural as to excite the horror and execration
of the world: Even the government of Great
Britain set its face against them, and the pirates
were totally exterminated or scattered over other
regions of the globe.
But the troubles of the Iberian Colonies did not
IL
Discussions succeeded amongst the petty vice
royalties, which have kept on increasing to the
present day in virulence and bloodshed, so that,
when the yoke of the parent countries had been
thrown off, there was initiated a system of in
yasion by the stronger State upon the weaker, as
oovetousness or vindictiveness prompted sys-
tenn which still endures in all its hideousness.
The term buccaneer was derived from the habit
the pirates of those seas were addicted to, of
smoking the meat of their cattle in order to pre-
serve it. Of late years it has been exchanged for
that Of fiibuster, which signifies freebooter, or
one who depredates in small vessel upon the
high seas. The flibusters who lately crossed from
the Texan side of the Rio Grande and pillaged the
the Mexican town of Bagdad, were not of SO
steadfast and reckless a nature as their truculent
prototypes, the buccaneers the deed was boldly
conceived, but the actors did not keep pace in the
sequel with the hardwood and courage which were
| expected of them They carried the unsuspecting
town in a perfectly lawless style. and violated
every human and divine law with the same indis-
| criminate unconcern; but they abandoned the
scene Of conquest in inglorious haste, bundling of
the plumber which now seems to have been their
chief aim, if not their only incentive.
1t is unfortunate in some respects, that this
affair was concocted on the United States side OF
the Rio Grande; for that circumstance will have
exceeding weight in the negotiations of this coun
try with the governments Of Mexico and France
We can hardly believe the United States authori-
ties were cogizant of the intentions of the out
laws; but when the matter comes up for explana-
ton and arbitration, it will be difficult to persuade
the great powers of Europe that band of men,
principally negroes clothed in the uniform of the
| army of the United States, and carrying weapons
and ammunition of the kind furnished to the
soldiers of that army, and even transporting Par,
rott artillery from one bank of the river to the
other, could have accomplished their designs with
out the knowledge of those very authorities.
| ----------------s = <---------
1 Army and Navy.
| Major Gen. Augur, commanding in the Depart.
ment OF Washington, has issued an order in which
he directs that, within that portion of Virginia en-
| braced in his department no prosecution be per.