The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-15

cofnfnefclal freedom gains the nrst
place I'm the wealth OF the world. Com
merce. a source of national as well as
individual wealth. is never at it's best
until Il is free. "A lesson which we have
yet TO learn i'm the United States.
whose restrictive methods are claimed
To be scientific i'm their selfish enlight-
eminent, but are in truth as barbarous
as the old-time British practice that
lost her the American colonies. Spain
decreed as did Britain that no Euro
pean goods should reach her Ionic
save from a Spanish home port. Ma
tive monopoly and greed thus protect
ed preyed upon the colonist. who was
compelled to lake from Spanish gall
Icons at ruinous prices the goods that
he might have I'm fair exchange of com-
modities for living prices If free trade
were .he rule.
This extortion encouraged snug
Cling, the humble but daring pioneer
Of commercial liberty, Iawless, accord
ing To monopoly-made statutes. lawful
as necessarily cunning exercise of a
natural right denied by brute strength.
smuggling at times is great protest
against governmental tyranny. In the
Antilles IL degenerated into brutal pi-
racy. TIE wild rover defied God and
man. Ia freebooter met and fire.
quently overcame the forces employed
by his majesty. Lust for fighting was
unbridled and with successful assault
came the corsair's reward-plunder.
The more deadly barbarism of the pi-
rate answered the criminally foolish
barbarism of grasping kings. CONNER
cial extortion practiced under favor of.
law was answered with the black flag,
the yardarm and the plank. The strife
was continuous for "A whole century. 1t
had been encouraged by nations at war
with Spain until civilization cried out
unitedly against its monstrous cruel
ties.
Frenchmen e~ndeavored TO settle i'm
some of the Antilles. though all were
claimed by Spain. which In the 18th
century was the mightiest of the ma
tons. The adventurous French were
driven out of st. Christopher. They
went tp Hispaniola. an island I'm which
immense droves of cattle ran wild. for
the colonial policy Of Spain has depleted
the population of the island and do
mestic animal nature became wild.
These cattle We're captured and the
meat and hides sold To Dutch traders.
The meats were preserved by curing
In smoke or subjecting to the heat of
the sun. The men who practiced this
industry. inciDient Nels Morrises and
Phil Armours. were called boucaniers.
But Spain sought to drive them from
" P''''iu TN aiii' ~ ii'i
which it had no tribute. She an
noyed and harassed them. out of the
feeling of resentment her course en-
gendered arose an organization called
the Brethren Of the. Coast" who
bound themselves by oath TO assist one
another and to wreak vengeance upon
all their foes. especially upon SPAIN,
against which at the time every mans
hand seemed To be raised. These
brethren were poor, i'm "A measure with
out arms or munitions or ships. but in
1880 they seized the island of Tortugas,
driving the Spaniards thence and forti-
flying themselves. In small numbers
they went forth in open rowboats
manned SO fully that there was no
room for men to do more than stand,
and boldly attacked Spanish wal YES
sells. graphing. boarding and seiZing
them and as a rule putting the last
man to the sword. They lay in wait
for Spanish galleons as their strength
grew and enriched themselves with
their plunder. The Spanish govern
ment was as vigorous, but not always
as successful, i'm hunting them down
as pirates as il had been in hunting
them down as smugglers. If they were
taken IL was short shrift. the yardarm
or the plank. The brethren were Joined
by Dutchmen and Englishmen, at
tracted by the hope. never disappoint-
ed. of unlimited plumber. The West
Indies were the Klondike of the time.
Pierre of Dieppe. in nothing more for
midable than a longboat. captured a
Spanish admiral's ship freighted with
treasure. marooned her crew and took
his prize To France. The fame of the
buccaneers spread on the continent of
Europe and they did not lack for re-
cruits. To them as 10 the cave of
Adullum in young David's time there
IL $50 oil 49,
that was i'm distress and every one that
was In debt and every one that was
discontinued Men Joined because they
loved adventure or lusted for wealth.
Broken men. outcasts. the cankers of "A
calm world, made for a field which
promised adventure. The buccaneers
grew formidable. If the English or the
French or the Dutch were at war with
Spain they sought these "buccaneer as
allies. In 1855 Cromwell. the heaviest.
perhaps the ablest, hand that ever
welded the scepter of England. sent a
fleet to the West Indies and with the
assistance of the buccaneers captured
Jamaica after a futile attempt upon
Hayti. 1t has ever since been held by
the British crown. which. like other
nations. seized stands i'm the Caribbean
archipelago. Among the adventures
was n Olonnois. who captured "A
spanish ship with a crew of 90 men
and beheaded every one of them by his
own hand. With Mikel Labaste and
$50 men he captured the towns of Glib
raltar and Maracaibo in the Gulf of
Venezuela, capturing some 81, 600. 900. A
violent life had in his case a violent
ending. Captured by cannibals, he
was boiled and eaten n the 90 men
who fell under his saber We're i'm some
fashion avenged.
Perhaps the best known of these
buccaneers who waged incessant war
upon Spain in the new world was Hem
ny Morgan, a WelshInan. who attained
great a~scendancy among his fellows.
Fitting out an expedition in the friend
ly harbor of Jamaica i'm 1870. he at
tacked and captured Porto Relln aud