登陆注册
4807700000046

第46章 JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES(1)

WE, of these times, protected as we are by the laws and by the number of people about us, can hardly comprehend such a life as that of the American colonies in the early part of the eighteenth century, when it was possible for a pirate like Capt. Teach, known as Blackbeard, to exist, and for the governor and the secretary of the province in which he lived perhaps to share his plunder, and to shelter and to protect him against the law.

At that time the American colonists were in general a rough, rugged people, knowing nothing of the finer things of life. They lived mostly in little settlements, separated by long distances from one another, so that they could neither make nor enforce laws to protect themselves. Each man or little group of men had to depend upon his or their own strength to keep what belonged to them, and to prevent fierce men or groups of men from seizing what did not belong to them.

It is the natural disposition of everyone to get all that he can.

Little children, for instance, always try to take away from others that which they want, and to keep it for their own. It is only by constant teaching that they learn that they must not do so; that they must not take by force what does not belong to them. So it is only by teaching and training that people learn to be honest and not to take what is not theirs. When this teaching is not sufficient to make a man learn to be honest, or when there is something in the man's nature that makes him not able to learn, then he only lacks the opportunity to seize upon the things he wants, just as he would do if he were a little child.

In the colonies at that time, as was just said, men were too few and scattered to protect themselves against those who had made up their minds to take by force that which they wanted, and so it was that men lived an unrestrained and lawless life, such as we of these times of better government can hardly comprehend.

The usual means of commerce between province and province was by water in coasting vessels. These coasting vessels were so defenseless, and the different colonial governments were so ill able to protect them, that those who chose to rob them could do it almost without danger to themselves.

So it was that all the western world was, in those days, infested with armed bands of cruising freebooters or pirates, who used to stop merchant vessels and take from them what they chose.

Each province in those days was ruled over by a royal governor appointed by the king. Each governor, at one time, was free to do almost as he pleased in his own province. He was accountable only to the king and his government, and England was so distant that he was really responsible almost to nobody but himself.

The governors were naturally just as desirous to get rich quickly, just as desirous of getting all that they could for themselves, as was anybody else only they had been taught and had been able to learn that it was not right to be an actual pirate or robber. They wanted to be rich easily and quickly, but the desire was not strong enough to lead them to dishonor themselves in their own opinion and in the opinion of others by gratifying their selfishness. They would even have stopped the pirates from doing what they did if they could, but their provincial governments were too weak to prevent the freebooters from robbing merchant vessels, or to punish them when they came ashore. The provinces had no navies, and they really had no armies; neither were there enough people living within the community to enforce the laws against those stronger and fiercer men who were not honest.

After the things the pirates seized from merchant vessels were once stolen they were altogether lost. Almost never did any owner apply for them, for it would be useless to do so. The stolen goods and merchandise lay in the storehouses of the pirates, seemingly without any owner excepting the pirates themselves.

The governors and the secretaries of the colonies would not dishonor themselves by pirating upon merchant vessels, but it did not seem so wicked after the goods were stolen--and so altogether lost--to take a part of that which seemed to have no owner.

A child is taught that it is a very wicked thing to take, for instance, by force, a lump of sugar from another child; but when a wicked child has seized the sugar from another and taken it around the corner, and that other child from whom he has seized it has gone home crying, it does not seem so wicked for the third child to take a bite of the sugar when it is offered to him, even if he thinks it has been taken from some one else.

It was just so, no doubt, that it did not seem so wicked to Governor Eden and Secretary Knight of North Carolina, or to Governor Fletcher of New York, or to other colonial governors, to take a part of the booty that the pirates, such as Blackbeard, had stolen. It did not even seem very wicked to compel such pirates to give up a part of what was not theirs, and which seemed to have no owner.

In Governor Eden's time, however, the colonies had begun to be more thickly peopled, and the laws had gradually become stronger and stronger to protect men in the possession of what was theirs.

Governor Eden was the last of the colonial governors who had dealings with the pirates, and Blackbeard was almost the last of the pirates who, with his banded men, was savage and powerful enough to come and go as he chose among the people whom he plundered.

Virginia, at that time, was the greatest and the richest of all the American colonies, and upon the farther side of North Carolina was the province of South Carolina, also strong and rich. It was these two colonies that suffered the most from Blackbeard, and it began to be that the honest men that lived in them could endure no longer to be plundered.

The merchants and traders and others who suffered cried out loudly for protection, so loudly that the governors of these provinces could not help hearing them.

同类推荐
  • 太上老君经律

    太上老君经律

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送傅管记赴蜀军

    送傅管记赴蜀军

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Going into Society

    Going into Society

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 正易心法

    正易心法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 画图缘

    画图缘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 时光与你有染

    时光与你有染

    古董收藏家傅时谨粉丝千万,微博10条,关注数0。某天,关注数突然变成1。当事人一直没反应,粉丝们将她的微博扒了个底儿朝天,这一扒可不得了!这名字很挫的“你好好想想”来头可不小,某知名歌手和她互关,某集团官微是她的粉丝,几天前,连“平安西京”也关注了她……某天后,向来低调的傅时谨晒了两本结婚证,并@你好好想想。最后,你好好想想是谁?
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 欢喜娘子:腹黑相公快认栽

    欢喜娘子:腹黑相公快认栽

    他,裴家大庄的继承人,俊美温润如璞玉,却又腹黑似灰狼,双腿之疾掩尽一身光华;她,教书夫子的掌上珠,身边人的开心果,却心思单纯如白兔,没心没肺让人又爱又恨。当小白兔遇上大灰狼,是谁吃定谁?当欢喜娘子对上腹黑相公,又是谁认栽?!“相公,你觉得奴家聪明机智么?”“嗯。”“相公果然诚实!”“为夫怕说了实话,今晚你又让为夫打地铺。”“……今晚不许踏进房门。”“……”当晚,某灰狼翻窗入房。【轻松小宠文,1v1,QQ群:609877592】
  • 梧桐树里的今生

    梧桐树里的今生

    那一日,大火蔓延,从祖母的静堂斋直接就烧到了全部的地方,那个火甚是奇怪,怎么灭都灭不掉。云水雾只是记得,他们一开始是在一起的,家门口有人闹事,说她不应该从梧桐林出来。然后城中开始起火,东西南北,像是预示着刚才黑衣人的说法一样。可是不知怎么回事,她后来就什么都不知道了,等醒来的时候,就是在一个不知道地方。家人那?后来他才知道,她从云水城出来了,她是怎么出来的,她这一辈子是出不了城的不是吗?云水城,是外面人想进去,进不去的地方。梧桐林是只能守护者进去的地方。可是出来的守护者为什么会出现在竹林郡,竹林郡和梧桐林没有联系,可以说毫无关系。可是从梧桐林出现的守护者出现了在了竹林郡。这些所有的东西,都交给了这一代的守护者云水雾去探出究竟。除了云水雾在梧桐林的千棵,千默和千梦,也在寻找着一些秘密。他们就是想找到上一任守护者,因为其他守护者都是走出去的。只有她是掉落悬崖而失踪的,到云水雾进来,都没有找到人,是生是死,不知。
  • 随遇而安

    随遇而安

    本书收录了汪曾祺百读不厌的代表性的散文,全书分为回忆个人经历与亲人的“自报家门”、回忆故乡的“故里杂忆”、回忆裘盛戎、谭富英、老舍、沈从文、潘天寿等人的“故人偶记”三辑。汪曾祺一生经历了很多大事,然而这些都没有在他身上留下多少痕迹。汪曾祺用他的笔创造了一个随遇而安、恬淡安闲的美好世界。他的语言之独到,堪称文坛一绝。
  • 1984:汉英对照

    1984:汉英对照

    本书是一部政治寓言小说,也是一部幻想小说。在书中作者为我们展现了他惊人的想象力、伟大的创造力、深邃的洞察力,用他独有的风格和高超的技巧为我们描绘了一个恐怖世界。故事讲述的是1984年的世界被三个大国瓜分后的社会场景,主人公正处在三国之一“大洋国”,此时的世界战火纷飞,国家高度集权,以统一历史和语言、拆散家庭等方式维持运转,监视人们的行为,控制人们的思想。书中的每一个场景都触目惊心。
  • 浮屠月

    浮屠月

    玄修之道,乃百破化圣。然赤瞳所至之处,万物尽噬。一袭黑袍,一双血瞳。臂锁血链,驱邪碎魅。身怀魔血,心具浮屠。来历不明的鬼血,缠绕在手臂之上的诡异锁链,遭人唾弃的异族身份,软弱,即是罪过!扬尘,意味着风起。风起,天亦变色!
  • 塔

    如果熟悉晦涩难读的《一座幽灵城的拓扑学结构》,居延泽对自己所置身的幽禁之地一定不会陌生。就像常说的,现实早已在书中存在,很多时候我们实际上并不生活在现实中而是生活在文本中。那书的开头这样写道:头一眼叫人震惊的,是墙的高度;那些墙太高了,通体白色,同人的身材比较显得特别高大,使得这样一个问题根本不必提出:它的天花板到底是有呢,还是没有?居延泽不熟悉那本书,但并不等于就不存在互文性。如果我熟悉那本书,居延泽又跟我讲了,互文就已经成立。
  • 不抱怨的人生

    不抱怨的人生

    当今世界,很多人都在抱怨,抱怨命运的不公,抱怨出身的寒微,抱怨人际关系难处,抱怨自己赚钱少,怨天怨地、怨社会,抱怨冷,抱怨热,怨刮风,怨下雨,怨……如果把我们一天到晚的抱怨整理出来的话。那恐怕要有一火车了。爱抱怨是影响人生的通病之一,抱怨的人并不是不善良,但是绝对不受欢迎。偶尔抱怨一次,还可能是某种情感的宣泄,也无不可,但是习惯性的抱怨而不谋求改变,这就不是聪明的人了。人活于世,挫折失败不可避免,抱怨只会磨灭你的斗志,所以。积极地直面人生,迎接挑战,这样你的人生才会绚丽多彩。
  • 骚动的小城

    骚动的小城

    王志强的纪实小说《骚动的小城》是一部很有才气的小说,挥洒自如,内容丰富。大量使用民间语言,生动俏皮。作品描写上世纪80年代后发生在一座苏北小城的故事,众多人物活色生香,有很强的可读性,真实记录了那段鲜活的历史。这种来自民间的写作,有原生态的品质,和当下一些故弄玄虚、装神弄鬼的专业写作,有很大的不同,令人耳目一新。