gorously, in order to discover what the expressions of their shipmate referred to.

Among other persons interrogated, a black slave of the captain (surely a most suspicious witness) told a story, that the Worcester, during their late voyage, had, upon the Coromandel coast, near Calicut, engaged, and finally boarded and captured a vessel bearing a red flag, and manned with English, or Scotch, or at least with people speaking the English language; that they had thrown the crew overboard, and disposed of the vessel and the cargo to a native merchant. This account was in some degree countenanced by the surgeon of the Worcester, who, in confirmation of the slave's story, said, that being on shore in a harbour on the coast of Malabar, he heard the discharge of great guns at sea; and saw the Worcester, which had been out on a cruize, come in next morning with another vessel under her stern, which he under stood was afterwards sold to a native merchant. Four days afterwards he went on board the Worcester, and finding her decks lumbered with goods, made some enquiry of the crew how they had come by them, but was checked for doing so by the mate, and desired to confine himself to his own business. Farther, the surgeon stated, that he was called to dress the wounds of several of the men, but the captain and mate forbade him to ask, or the patients to answer, how they came by their hurts.

Another black servant, or slave, besides the one before mentioned, had not himself seen the capture of the supposed ship, or the death of the crew, but

had been told of it by the first informer, shortly after it happened. Lastly, a Scottish witness declared that Green, the captain of the vessel, had shown him a seal bearing the arms of the Scottish African and Indian Company.

This story was greatly too vague to have been admitted to credit on any occasion when men's minds were cool and their judgments unprejudiced. But the Scottish nation was almost frantic with resentment on the subject of Darien. One of the vessels belonging to that unfortunate Company, called the Rising Sun, and commanded by Captain Robert Drummond, had been amissing for some time; and it was received as indisputable truth, that this must have been the vessel taken by the Worcester, and that her master and men had been murdered, according to the black slave's declaration.

Under this cloud, of prejudice, Green, with his mate and crew, fifteen men in all, were brought to trial for their lives. Three of these unfortunate men, Linstead, the supercargo's mate, Bruckley, the cooper of the Worcester, and Haines, whose gloomy hints gave the first suspicion, are said to have uttered declarations before trial, confirming the truth of the charge, and admitting that the vessel so seized upon was the Rising Sun, and that Captain Robert Drummond and his crew were the persons murdered in the course of that act of piracy. But Haines seems to have laboured under attacks of hypochondria, which sometimes induce men to suppose themselves spectators and accomplices in

Linstead,

crimes which have no real existence. like the surgeon May, only spoke to a hearsay story, and that of Bruckley was far from being clear. It will hereafter be shown, that if any ship was actually taken by Green and his crew, it could not be that of Captain Drummond, which met a different fate. This makes it probable, that these confessions were made by the prisoners only in the hope of saving their own lives, endangered by the fury of the Scottish people. And it is certain that none of these declarations were read, or produced as evidence, in court, nor were those stated to have made them examined as witnesses.

The

The trial of Green and his crew took place before the High Court of Admiralty; and a jury, upon the sole evidence of the black slave,—for the rest was made up of suggestions, insinuations, and reports, taken from hearsay,-brought in a verdict of guilty against Green and all his crew. Government were disposed to have obtained a reprieve from the crown for the prisoners, whose guilt was so very doubtful; but the mob of Edinburgh, atall times a fierce and intractable multitude, arose in great numbers, and demanded their lives with such an appearance of uncontrollable fury, that the authorities became intimidated, and yielded. Captain Green himself, Madder his first mate, and Simpson the gunner, were dragged to Leith, loaded by the way with curses and execrations, and even struck at and pelted by the furious populace; and finally executed in terms of their sentence, denying with their last breath the crime which they were accused of.

April,

1705.

The ferment in Scotland was somewhat appeased by this act of vengeance, for it has no title to be called a deed of justice. The remainder of Green's crew were dismissed after a long imprisonment, during the course of which cooler reflection induced doubts of the validity of the sentence. At a much later period it appeared, that, if the Worcester had committed an act of piracy upon any vessel, it could not at least have been on the Rising Sun, which ship had been cast away on the island of Madagascar, when the crew were cut off by the natives, excepting Captain Drummond himself, whom Drury, an English seaman in similar circumstances, found alive upon the island1

This unhappy affair, in which the Scots, by their precipitate and unjust procedure, gave the deepest offence to the English nation, tended greatly to increase the mutual prejudices and animosity of the people of both countries against each other.

But

'This, however, supposes Drury's Adventures in Madagascar to be a genuine production, of which there may be doubts. ["The Adventures of Robert Drury during fifteen years captivity in the Island of Madagascar, containing a description of that Island, an account of the manners, customs, wars, religion, and policy of its inhabitants, with a vocabulary of the Madagascar language. Written by himself." London, 1729. Reprinted at Edinburgh, 1808.]

2 [" In Scotland, it was said the court of England would protect Green and his crew, and they would be pardoned, only because they were Scotsmen that were murdered: In England, it was said the rabble cried out to hang them, because they were Englishmen; that they had said, they wished they could hang the whole nation so, and that they insulted them as they went to execution, with the name of English dogs," &c. "Nor can I forget to note, that no sooner was the sacrifice made, and the men dead, but even the same rabble, so fickie is the multitude, ex

the very extremity of their mutual enmity inclined wise men of both nations to be more disposed to submit to a Union, with all the inconveniences and difficulties which must attend the progress of such a measure, rather than that the two divisions of the same island should again engage in intestine war.

The principal obstacle to a Union, so far as England was concerned, lay in a narrow-minded view of the commercial interests of the nation, and a fear of the loss which might accrue by admitting the Scots to a share of their plantation trade, and other privileges. But it was not difficult to show, even to the persons most interested, that public credit and private property would suffer immeasurably more by a war with Scotland, than by sacrificing to peace and unity some share in the general commerce. It is true, the opulence of Eng. land, the command of men, the many victorious troops which she then had in the field, under the best commanders in Europe, seemed to ensure final victory, if the two nations should come to open war. But a war with Scotland was always more easily begun than ended; and wise men saw it would be better to secure the friendship of that kingdom by an agreement on the basis of mutual advantage, than to incur the risk of invading, and the final necessity of securing it as a conquered country, by means of forts and garrisons. In the one case, Scotland would become an integral part

claimed at their own madness, and openly regretted what they had done, and were ready to tear one another to pieces for the excess."-DEFOE, Hist. of the Union, 4to, p. 82.)