New-York tribune., 1874-12-26
PTR1TES NOW dND THEN.

There ia certain rare old folio to be found
in curious collections from which we have
been wont to snatch fearful JOY IN readlnS
tho "Vcritable Histories of Noted Pyratcs and
&" IIighwaymcn." Therein one may learn how
persons of Quality could not adventure mile
out of London without armed guards how
the Golden Farmer and Turpin and other
"Gentlemcn Collectors of tho ROadn attacked
coaches in midday in Pail Mall; how Claude
Duyal, highway robbcr and cut-thrOat, was
escorted to trial and to the gallOws by some
of the most highly born and bred of English
danes how they, weeping as for kinsman,
laid his body in state, and deckcd it with vel
vet and flowers how pirates openly fitted out
vessels in the London docks and rayaged the
coasts of Spain, England and France. The
chroncler fingers upon their "deeds of high
"emprisen with savage gustO mingled with
maudln sentiment quite unique and delight
full in its way.
The most curious trait of the old records is
that they do not suggest or act as foil to
our progress in civilization, but rather bear
an exact family likeness to our own daily pO-
lice reports. Perhaps in those earlier days
there was glamour Of romance thrown over
crimes which with us arc made business
matter, and there was too an uneasy con-
seriousness of il-dOing in the criminals that
gave them certain mauraise hOnte with which
ours are never afflicted. The mode of dealing
with these superhuOus members of society,
too, was more sharp and crude than
ours; but these points OF difference aside,
human nature but repeats its crimes from age
to age, until the very manner of them is
tedious as twice told tale. Catharino Hayes
CThackeray's herOine) jOirted and disscctcd
her husband after the Huntingdon fashion
and threw him into the Thames, but was hung
on Candlcmas Eve for it. The reverend rector
of county parish being found guilty of
adultery, was glbbeted for the same, making
before all men penitental confession, and
entreating them not to hold the holy religion
he profaned responsible for his crime
Whereby says the record, "althOugh the
"Devl received tribute in his guilt, God was
"Openy worshiped in the sight of the world
Sin his honest repentance"
But we cannot perceive that the tithcs paid
to the Devil have fallen off one whit now
adays, nor that the telegraph, steam engine,
police force, or any other agent of civilization
hinders the payment of them. "Gcntleman
collectors" do not frequent the highway
now, but cOngregate about the hotels to levy
booty; young women in lack of money then
sometimes boldly took "to the pad" in mems
gear, mounted and with pistols at their
holsters; they wear their own dress now and
lie in wait at every corner, tacitly licensed to
rob not only the money but the souls of men.
The pirates do not set sail for Spain, but
hover about the Sound, landing on the coasts
of Long Island and New-YOrk to rob and
burn and murder. They have their secret
hiding places within stones throw of police
stations, and they carry off children and hold
them for ransom, while the whole country
searches for them with an uprOar of indignation,
and fury of teegraphing and advertising and
speeding to and fro Of thousands of police
men, such as our ancestors never dreamed of.
There can be no doubt of our advance in
civilization and in all systematic moral order
ing of social life; wo have bOasted of these
things, and huggod ourselves for them for
two generations. But tho fact remains that
the Noted Pyrates frequented the Sound, and
that with q reward Of twenty thousand dollars
for him, and tho entire police force of New
York and Philadelphia on his track, Charley
Ross has been hidden by them for six months,
and "a yet undiscovered. Tho history Of cgimo