ngland--Despatch of squadron
under Warren--Littleton at Madagascar--Kidd sails for New York--Arrested
and tried--His defence and execution--Justice of his sentence--His
character--Diminution of piracy--Lowth in the _Loyal Merchant_--Act for
suppression of piracy--Captain Millar.

War with France was being actively prosecuted by land and sea. In 1695
the nation was still smarting under reverses in the Low Countries and the
repulse of the Brest expedition. At sea the navy was holding its own,
though English commerce suffered terribly under the attacks of French
corsairs of Dunkirk and St. Malo. The Company applied for a ship to be
sent to the Indian seas to deal with the pirates; but Lord Orford, the
head of the Admiralty, refused to spare one. It was the fashion for
wealthy men to obtain letters of marque for privateering, and a syndicate
was formed, to which the Chancellor, Lord Somers, Lord Orford, Lord
Bellamont, and other Whig nobles were parties, to send out a privateer
against French commerce. For this purpose the _Adventure_ galley was
purchased and fitted out, and the command was given to William Kidd, who
was suggested to Lord Bellamont as a fit person for the task. Kidd was an
old privateers-man who had gained some reputation in the West Indies
during the war. Lord Bellamont had been appointed Governor of New York,
though he did not proceed there till two years later. The king had
charged him to use his utmost endeavours to put a check on the pirates
who sailed from New England, and nothing better occurred to him than to
obtain a commission for Kidd to act against the rovers. A general reward
of L50 was offered for the apprehension of each pirate, and L100 for
Every, increased in the following year to L500.

In December, a commission under the Admiralty Seal was issued to Kidd,
authorizing him to proceed against French shipping. He was to keep a
journal of his proceedings, and any ship captured was to be carried into
the nearest port and legally adjudged by a competent court. If condemned,
he might dispose of it according to custom. Six weeks later, a second
commission under the Great Seal was granted him, in his capacity of a
private man of war, to apprehend all pirates, freebooters, and sea rovers,
the names of Thomas Too (? Tew), John Ireland, Thomas Wake, and William
Maze, or Mace, being specially mentioned. Again, he was enjoined to keep
an exact journal of his doings, and the pirate ships he captured we