USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume I > Part 7
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When we speak of a "river Pirate," we mean a thief who
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has stolen a slushbucket or a bit of rope; but when our great grandparents heard their great grandparents tell about the pirates in the Delaware, they heard stories which might keep a sleepy boy from bed or throw a timid girl into nightmare. The sea in the sixteenth and even throughout the eighteenth century was beset by lawless cruisers, and in many cases per- sons in authority shared in the spoil. With no wire to flash the news of the crime, no telephone to summon the authori- ties, and no newspaper to demand the removal of sluggish admirals, pirates could make a great deal of money in brisk seasons. It must, however, be remembered that chapters of piratical history must always be vague. Men in criminal pursuits do not keep the records that abound in armies and fleets. A fragment here, an old custom there, a descent on the coast, a fight at a harbor's mouth are the materials to which we turn, and these relics of the past are numerous enough to prove that the pirates of the Delaware were dreaded far and wide.
So far back as 1653 an Englishman named Baxter began to plunder tne Dutch in New Netherlands. Only three years before a very different Baxter had published "The Saint's Everlasting Rest." The pirate Baxter was the first corsair known to have robbed the colonists of this region, but his imitators were numerous, for the Dutch, instead of capturing Baxter and handing him over to Cromwell, retaliated by attacks on English commerce. It would be impossible to state how many Englishmen and how many Dutchmen were engaged in these cruises under the black flag, for men whose business renders them liable to the halter do not leave their names with government officials. Nor can it be stated how often a public official left town just long enough for a pirate to run in, land her cargo, and take on needed supplies.
Every merchant in London and Amsterdam knew that pirates entered the South River, and a generation after Bax- ter's first appearance, James II solemnly proclaimed that any pirate captured within twelve months who should give security
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to keep the peace should receive a free pardon. There is no doubt that James ineant to advance the cause of morals on the high seas, but the effect of the proclamation was to leave the unlucky pirate in danger of the vengeance of the law, while the prosperous pirate, who was growing tired of a sea life, could easily buy a pardon and settle in a quiet home. The English navy, urged on by a King who had commanded great fleets, captured or sunk many pirate vessels ; and yet the freebooters continued to carry on business and to find direct or indirect support. In 1697 a letter written by Penn mentions the rumor that some of the colonists had protected and har- bored the sea rovers, and in the following year Lewistown was attacked and pillaged.
Men in authority resented the charge that they were lax in the enforcement of the laws. When it was proven that two men, known to be pirates, were allowed to walk about the streets of Philadelphia, the jailer stated that they did not walk out without his leave, and that they were under the care of an officer. The mild jailer argued that pirates should be allowed to take a walk in hot weather, but the general tone of his superiors was adverse to lenity. Sternness was the order of the day, and it was ordered that pirates were not to be allowed out of doors even in the season of the raging dog-star. In 1699 New Castle deplored the ravages of pirates and asked for protection, only to learn that the Council objected to the expense ; while the next year the great and only Captain Kidd, he whom the ballad-mongers have saved from oblivion, and for whose treasure the dreamers still dig, visited the Del- aware. Kidd was a particularly gross offender, for he, like Avery, was specially exempted from pardon. All good citi- zens were forbidden to give shelter to pirates, to supply them with food or water, or to traffic with them, but residents of Lewistown boarded Kidd's vessel and bought a portion of his cargo.
Then, as in later years, there were respectable citizens who, without taking an active part in criminal transactions, covered
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the evil deeds and shared in the profit. More than a century and a half nearer to our own times, the Welsh Mountain gang of robbers hid their booty in the quiet Pennsylvania farm- houses, and the James boys found sympathizers among Mis- sourians who would never have been allies. Kidd had friends in high places. Penn might call on the Assembly to legis- late against piracy, but there is little doubt that Governor Fletcher favored Kidd, and there are always men in office who will take considerable trouble to save a Governor's friend from a tight-fitting hempen cravat.
Legislation sought to break up lawless conspiracies by order- ing that all travelers must show passes, that unknown per- sons must not be carried over the ferries, that innkeepers must notify the authorities of the arrival of strangers. Messengers were to be in readiness should it be necessary to send word to Philadelphia. Either the precautions were effective or other regions were more tempting, for piracy declined and seemed ยท to fall into innocuous desuetude. Years passed without any hostile descents, but in 1708 villages along the shore were in extreme peril and commerce was practically suspended. French, Dutch and Spanish pirates or privateers-the distinc- tion sometimes verbal rather than real-were on the lookout for prizes, and grim danger was at hand. The Governor wished to raise more taxes, the Assembly hinted that former supplies had been injudiciously spent, and the relations be- tween the province of Pennsylvania and the lower territories, never cordial, were still more strained.
James Logan declared that in four days three vessels had been burned and sunk. Men of war, he declared, with some acidity, could always see the pirates but never fight them. Advice was sent to England not to send any vessels directly to the Delaware, but to Maryland, and there to learn if it be safe to enter the bay. Lord Baltimore's agents, eager to press their claims, and on the alert to win adherents among the Delawareans, would certainly urge as a reason for joining their ranks that Maryland would be a protector against the
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robbers and murderers who infested the high seas. When in 1709 Lewistown was again plundered by a hostile cruiser, many bitter attacks were made on the Friends. Their scru- ples were derided, they were accused of hypocrisy and parsi- mony, the agitators who disliked Penn vowed that matters would never go well until the colony was properly protected. Out of all the complaints and protests arose come good, for the navy again came to the rescue, the waters were scoured, and the pirates, like other people, followed the line of least resistance.
After a period of tranquillity, trouble once more arose, and 1717 was a year of excitement. Rewards were offered for the capture of freebooters. The Governor promised that he would do his utmost to secure pardon for those surrendering them- selves. Five men yielded themselves prisoners, but were set at liberty, the evidence not warranting their detention. Others complained that they had shipped on board a vessel, not knowing its character. It occasionally happened that a stranded pirate, hungry, penniless and lonely, would make a confession to the authorities, obtain pardon, and then hoist the black flag anew. At other times magistrates were inex- orable and evidence was clear, and then the wretches who had made others walk the plank were themselves obliged to ascend the gallows. Frigates and corvettes did their share, and a number of rovers swung from the yard arm.
By 1739 privateering had become a thriving industry, and the authorities were put to their mettle. All male persons from fifteen to sixty-three years of age, except Friends, were obliged to arm themselves. Everywhere the traveler might see men drilling. Pilots were forbidden to board inbound vessels without a permit from the Governor. The Friends, by steadily protesting against every measure that might save houses from the torch and children from slaughter, laid them- selves open to adverse criticism ; just as further in the interior they gave offence by their leniency toward the Indians. If any vigorous officer sought to organize the militia there was
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an outcry from the Friends, and it was claimed that it was no fault of theirs that the privateers did not lay waste the entire coasts.
Frenchmen and Spaniards complained that England set the example of privateering, but they followed the example, and it was dangerous to enter the Delaware Bay. Had a fifteen- year-old boy named George Washington wished to sail up to Philadelphia he would have found that many restrictions were imposed on vessels entering these waters. In former days the enemies had been foreigners; now there was constant dread that the best trained pilots were in the pay of foreigners and a percentage of them undoubtedly were. Confidence was destroyed. As the houses of James Hart and Edmund Liston were plundered so might others be, and the merchant who had employed a pilot for twenty-five years shuddered as he thought of the man's experience being at the service of the French or Spaniards.
Meanwhile the Assembly refused to buy cannon for the defence of the river, and considered it undesirable to station a cruiser near the capes. Once more the waters were practically cleared, but so late as 1788, James McAlpine was convicted of piracy on the Delaware. McAlpine's conviction took place the year before Washington took his oath as President; the Barbary pirates troubled our first four Presidents ; there were occasional troubles in the West Indies and Mediterranean within the memory of hundreds who still live ; and within half a century we have subdued the cuthroats at Formosa. Such conditions as young Farragut found in the West Indies existed on the Delaware sixty years before Farragut was born. The Delaware pirates worried Penn perhaps as sorely as the Tripol- itan pirates worried Jefferson.
Colonial Delaware had many a political fight in which even the most thorough-going antiquarian can take but little inter- est. Old controversies over tax rates and boundary lines, dis- putes between the proprietary and discontented landowners, the inevitable clashing between the great province on the
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upper Delaware and the small territories below are as obsolete as the antique garments and wigs of our remote progenitors. Yet then, as now, there were loud complaints that prosperous and respectable citizens shirked the labors of voting, while unprosperous and disreputable citizens voted more than once. Sheriffs were accused of passing liquor around until the poll- ing places were besieged by howling mobs. Bribery was as common as it is to-day. The record of a colonial election, barring the quaintness in spelling and a few English terms which sound odd to later generations, is only too much like the record of a Tammany Hall district or a stronghold of the Philadelphia organization.
Discontent is more or less prevalent in all societies. In the early days of Penn's regime sundry laws passed at New Castle were confirmed at Philadelphia. This aroused the pride and resentment of the territories, and a protest against such action was signed by John Brinkloe, William Rodeney, John Walker, William Morton, Luke Watson, Jr., Jasper Yeates, Richard Halliwell, Adam Peterson and John Donaldson. By the pro- testants it was urged that if laws were passed at New Castle there was no need of re-enacting them ; that the re-enactment cast an uncertainty over the whole statute book; and the question was asked-if laws were passed at Philadelphia, would it be necessary to re-enact them the next time the Assembly met at New Castle ? The Governor replied that the laws were passed a second time merely as a matter of form and to avoid misunderstanding. He was grieved at the action of the lower counties, and probably not less grieved at the hostile stand taken by Jasper Yeates, who assured him that Delaware had the utmost respect for Governor Penn, but that she was mindful of her own rights. Murmurs continued, and it was not unusual to hear Delawareans say that the union had, from the first, been a tax upon them rather than a benefit to them. Penn's new charter recognized that a separation would probably take place, and gave the colonists three years in which to decide. In Penn's absence many important mat-
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ters were placed in the hands of Andrew Hamilton and James Logan. Pennsylvania was growing more rapidly than Dela- ware, and the smaller partner in the firm grew suspicious. There seemed to be no hope of cordiality, and, in spite of Governor Hamilton's opposition, the representatives from the upper counties favored separate Assemblies. Difficulties arose about the time and conduct of elections; representatives from the lower territories refused to sit with members from the province. Beneath all that was said there lay two lurking apprehensions. The Pennsylvanians believed that Delaware was leavened with Maryland influence, the Delawareans be- lieved that trade and immigration would pass from them to the northward, that they had not a fair share of officers, and that the Friends would never take the vigorous action necessary to check Indians on the land or drive pirates from the sea.
When people are in a quarreling mood new pretexts can easily be found. The lower counties raised difficulties about the charter, the Council declared that the censors had been elected under that instrument, and that fault should have been found at an earlier date. On November 19, 1701, the Council submitted to the Assembly three questions : Are rep- rentatives of the province willing to meet representatives of the territories for the purpose of forming an Assembly ? Are representatives of the territories willing to meet representatives of the province for the purpose of forming an Assembly ? If either refuse, what methods do they propose for the formation of an Assembly to prevent the province from suffering when such grave questions remain unconsidered ? A reply indicat- ing that union was not desired was signed by Robert French, Richard Halliwell, Jasper Yeates, Evan Jones, Thomas Sharp, John Foster, John Hill and Joseph Booth. Council advised that the governor dismiss the Assembly until further direc- tions came from England, and this recommendation was cheerfully followed by a weary Executive. Much time had been consumed in these discussions, important business had been neglected, and the Governor was faulted by many for
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not pouring oil on the troubled waters. The members from the province again asked that Delaware might have a separate Assembly, and also requested that two more members be given to Philadelphia. Governor Hamilton's death threw the bur- den of decision on Edward Shippen, president of the Council, who found the Pennsylvania members willing to organize an Assembly, howbeit its regularity might be questioned. In 1703 came Lieutenant Governor John Evans, who waved an olive branch, studied the matter from the beginning-not to an end, for it had no end, but through several of its phases- chose Jasper Yeates, William Rodeney and other men from the lower counties as members of his Council, and induced Council to say that union was desirable. Alas, it was only too evident that this resolution was merely a civility to the Governor. The counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware in 1704 organized their own Assembly, although they were still to acknowledge the provincial government, and this adjustment lasted until all colonial adjustments were shattered by a certain document issued on the fourth of July, 1776.
We can never say that ten per cent. of a historical incident was due to this cause, and twenty-five per cent. to that ; but we can be sure that Lord Baltimore's agents had aggravated the differences between the province and the territories. There is no doubt that they had encouraged the complaints of 1684, and a strong probability that they had a hand in the protests of 1690. In that year, indeed, the members of the Council from the territories held a secret meeting without notifying their colleagues or the governor, and this clandestine action was denounced, and the ill feeling caused by it may have led the Council to refuse the demand of the lower counties that all their judges and other officers should be chosen by the repre- sentatives from the lower counties.
In 1691 Penn asked the Council to pass on three modes of government, viz .: through a deputy governor, through a com- mission of five, or through the Council itself. A majority
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favored the first plan, which was emphatically in the interests of Pennsylvania. Delaware preferred the rule of five commis- sioners, but was prepared to accept the rule of the Council itself. Strenuous objections were made to the Governor as likely to be tyrannical and certain to be expensive, and the promised submission to the Council was coupled with the pro- vision that the officers should be sent to the lower counties without the consent of the members from those counties. Lloyd's efforts at conciliation were unsuccessful ; and the sky appeared stormy. Under Fletcher there was something like an armed neutrality, despite a quarrel over expenses in 1700 ; but the next year there was another financial controversy, and the Delaware members left the Assembly. It is difficult to read over some of these early feuds without fancying that envoys from Maryland were at hand, sailing on the river with a discontented taxpayer or drinking in a tavern with a would-be officeholder. There was always some spark of suspicion in Delaware, and there was always some one from Maryland to blow the flame.
After twenty and more years of dissatisfaction there seemed to be a change of sentiment. The Pennsylvania members who had upheld the union looked with good-humored eyes on the proposed separation, while the Delawareans at the last spoke as if they were casting a longing, lingering look behind. It may be, however, that they were heartsick of the old condi- tions, and yet wished to throw the blame of disunion on others. In November, 1704, James Coutts filled the Speaker's chair in the Delaware Assembly. New acts were multiplying. It was decided that seven years' possession of land should give an unquestionable title thereto, except in the case of infants, mar- ried women, lunatics, persons beyond the seas, those who pos- Sess estates for a term of years, for life or entail. Various judicial abuses were, if not extirpated, forbidden ; an oath for attorneys and solicitors was prescribed, weights and measures were regulated ; the Assembly increased from four to six mem- bers from each county. Whispers of total separation from the
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province were uttered, only to die away, for Governor Evans was more popular in the lower territories than in Pennsyl- vania. Delaware supported him in his efforts at raising militia, while the Friends in the provinces would not, and his efforts at overcoming the anti-military feeling were ridicu- lous rather than sublime.
Annual fairs were great events to the quiet Friends of Penn's "green country town ;" and in May, 1706, Philadelphia was as gay as her traditions permitted. By pre-arrangement a herald from New Castle rode up to Governor Evans, telling him that the province was in danger, that the foemen were coming up the bay, and that grim war trod at hand. Gov- ernor Evans pretended to be in great agony for the safety of his trust; he rode through the town like a warder of the Scotch marches, called on the people to arm themselves, and so frightened a handful of timid folks that they left the city and sought a convenient hiding-place in the woods. It did not, however, take long for the worthy Friends to find out that the Governor had been crying "Wolf, wolf," and, like the boy in the fable, the Governor had cause to regret his folly. Many times when there was actual peril the memory of this absurd demonstration gave a spice of the farcical to appeals and manifestoes.
Better fortune attended the rational movement in favor of a fort at New Castle. It was ordered that vessels going up the river were to pay a tax in powder ; and that vessels going in either direction were to anchor until the captain should go on shore and obtain leave to pass. A strong mercantile interest fought this bill, but it passed with the concession that vessels owned by persons residing on the river were not taxable. No other relief could be obtained, and a vessel, no matter how urgent her errand, was liable to inconvenient detention, or, in case of disobedience, to a heavy penalty, viz., fine, a forfeiture for the attempt, and fines of increasing value for every gun that might be fired at the delinquent vessel. The officers of the .
fort would see that plenty of guns were fired, enough to seri-
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ously mulct the offender who ignored the command of the dignitaries. In the winter of 1707, Her Majesty's engineer, Captain Rednap, came from New York at the Governor's in- stance to build the fort. A few disobedient skippers were brought to account, and then came a test case,
Richard Hill of Philadelphia prepared his sloop, the Phil- delphia, for her first cruise, a run to the Barbadoes. He and the other owners of the Philadelphia bade the master sail by the fort. Hill called on the Governor and requested permis- sion to pass, and, on meeting with a refusal, stated that he would pass in any event. Open defiance a Governor's soul cannot brook, and the Governor mounted his horse to ride to New Castle and warn the men behind the guns to do their full duty. A special guard was ordered to see that the Phila- delphia did not get by in the darkness. The wrath of the Governor did not daunt the soul of Richard Hill, but Hill feared that it might daunt the soul of his captain, hence Sam- uel Preston, Isaac Norris and Richard Hill, owners of the aforesaid sloop Philadelphia went on board the sloop to see that nobody flinched. At New Castle Preston and Norris requested leave to pass, and were refused. Hill then took. charge of the sloop and ran by with no damage except a shot through the mainsail-better luck, by the way, than fell to the lot of another Philadelphia, off Tripoli harbor. John French, commander of the fort, pursued the vessel in a boat. Hill threw him a rope, drew him on board, and then bade him consider himself a prisoner. On meeting Lord Cornbury of the English navy, Hill surrendered his captive, and the Admiral liberated French, after he had severely reprimanded him for endeavoring to interfere with free Englishmen in the exercise of their right to sail up and down Her Majesty's waters. Hill's direct challenge to the authorities was followed the next year by a written protest against the fort as an in- fringement on their liberty, and citizens who recognized the possible utility of a fort objected to the regulations which were more likely to hamper commerce than to destroy piracy. The
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Governor promised to suspend the objectionable features, but the people were not easily soothed, and many colonists signed petitions asking for the removal of John Evans as Governor. About the middle of 1708 he was superseded by Charles Gookin.
Evans did not retire with graceful calmness. He had in- vested in a farm at Swanhook and had made a number of im- provements. Offended dignity joined with loss of money and the Governor was wroth. The partisans of Evans hinted that in the event of a total separation he might be Governor of Delaware; while his enemies questioned if he had ever been Governor at all, and revived the ancient and fish-like story that Penn's title to the lower counties was not clear. Several devoted Evans men withdrew from the Assembly, to return, however, on the arrival of Governor Gookin, who found that Indians and pirates were quite worthy of his attention. William Penn hoped for a reunion of the province and the territories, and persevered in his hope after everybody on this side of the ocean looked on the division as permanent. The colonists, at least the tranquil spirits among them, were pleased to observe that, after the separation, the upper and lower counties grew more friendly. Each section, it is true, desired to outstrip the other, but Pennsylvania did not want to injure Delaware or Delaware to injure Pennsylvania. As soon as they were apart, they recognized this, and as the years passed the old asperities faded away.
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