laws were well enough, but those who had the putting into execution of the laws were careless as to their duty. Often, too, bribery was charged. It also made considerable difference as to the nationality of the vessel seized and robbed. When the sailors came on shore with their pockets full of pistoles and doubloons and with rich pieces of satin, lace, and silk for their friends, taken from French and Spanish vessels, Oh, then they were gallant fellows indeed! or at the worst privateers. It was only when British vessels were seized that they became pirates. Even then little was done to apprehend them. It is a well-known fact that the king him self (Charles II), on his restoration, openly encouraged piracy, or privateering, as he was pleased to call it, for the profit it brought him. He knighted Henry Morgan, the no torious pirate, and made him deputy gov ernor of Jamaica. William also commis sioned privateers against vessels of France and Spain, knowing well that these papers but gave broader scope for plunder and bloodshed to men already in bad repute. One of the most desperate and successful of the pirates who for some time harassed the Carolina coast, was Stede Bonnet, the very last man one would have supposed could have lent himself to such a calling. For he was a man of wealth and position, had served faithfully and with much distinc tion with the king's army in Barbadocs, be ing commissioned to the rank of major for brave conduct. He was a man of refine ment and education, with many accomplish ments for those times. His piratical career began in company with Edward Thatch, the notorious Black Beard, whose name had spread such terror along the entire North American shore. After having made several cruises with Thatch, plundering and slaying, Bonnet suddenly cut loose from the noted pirate and proceeded to England, where he availed himself of the proclamation of Wil liam granting pardon to pirates on certain conditions, took the oath, and received the
proper clearance papers for his vessel. Then, under the pretence of privateering, with the king's sanction, he entered upon a career of plunder and bloodshed second to that only of the notorious Captain Kidd, armed with a like authority. He fitted a vessel, mounted it with the newest and best guns, and gathered about . him a crew of seventy desperate men. He soon became such a terror to the whole Carolina water way, under the name of Captain Thomas, that Governor Johnson, of Carolina, in 1718. determined to capture him and his crew. He therefore dispatched Col. William Rhett in command of two sloops. Rhett sailed for the mouth of the Cape Fear river Septem ber 20. He came upon the pirates in their hiding place, took them completely by sur prise, and, after a desperate encounter and much bloodshed, accomplished the capture of Bonnet and the remainder of his crew, about thirty in number. Soon after being brought to Charleston, Bonnet managed to escape, it is said, in the disguise of a woman. He was recaptured by Colonel Rhett, while hiding in the dense myrtle cop pices on Sullivan's Island, just off the har bor. In the meantime his crew had been brought to trial and twenty-two of them sentenced to death, two turning State's evi dence, and five or six proving that they were captives from peaceful vessels, and had been pressed into the pirate's service against their will. Chief-Justice Trott's charge to the grand jury when the pirates were brought up for indictment was able and exhaustive. So clear and forceful was it, pruned of a certain amount of pedantry, so accurately did it deal with the various points of the law, that it was included among the " State Trials" published in London, copies of which may be found in the older law libraries of Eng land and of a few in this country. This charge is also quoted at some length in "Phillimore's International Law." Bonnet was brought to trial on November
