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Morgan has not been surpassed, though its brilliance is clouded by the cruelty of the victors a force levied without pay or discipline, and unchecked, if not encouraged in brutality by Morgan. But if we may credit Exquemeling, the invaders, owing to their drunkenness and dissolute indulgences, neglected to prevent the escape of a Spanish galeon, which put to sea, as soon as the Spaniards saw their men were defeated, with all that was of value in the town, including money and church plate, as well as many nuns. Much of the spoil was thus lost, and on 14 Feb. the bucneers began their backward march. On the 26th they arrived at Chagre, and there the plunder was divided, every man receiving his share, or rather, according to Exquemeling, 'what part thereof Captain Morgan pleased to give them.' This, he says, was no more than two hundred dollars per head. Much discontent followed, and the men believed themselves cheated. But Captain Morgan, deaf to all complaints, got secretly on board his own ship, and, followed by only three or four vessels of the fleet, returned to Jamaica. Several of those left behind, the French especially, 'had much ado to find sufficient provisions for their voyage to Jamaica.'

At Jamaica Morgan received the formal thanks of the governor and the council on 31 May. But meantime, on 8 July 1670, that is, after the signing of Morgan's commission, a treaty concerning America had been concluded at Madrid; and although the publication of this treaty was only ordered to be made in America within eight months from 10 Oct. (Cal State Papers, A. and W.I., 31 Dec. 1670, p. 146), and though in May 1671 Modyford had as yet no official knowledge of it (ib. No. 531), he was sent home a prisoner in the summer of 1671, to answer for his support of the buccaneers; and in April 1672 Morgan was also sent to England in the Welcome frigate (ib. No. 794). His disgrace, however, was short. By the summer of 1674 he was reported as in high favour with the king (ib. p. 623), and a few months later he was granted a commission, with the style of Colonel Henry Morgan, to be lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, 'his Majesty,' so it ran, 'reposing particular confidence in his loyalty, prudence and courage, and long experience of that colony' (ib. 6 Nov. 1674, No. 1379). He sailed from England, in company with Lord Vaughan, early in December, having previously, probably early in November, been knighted. His voyage out was unfortunate. 'In the Downs,' wrote Vaughan from Jamaica, on 23 May 1675, 'I gave him orders in writing to keep me company… However, he, coveting to be here before me, wilfully lost me,' and sailed directly for Isle de la Vache, where, through his folly, his ship was wrecked, and the stores which he had on board were lost (Dartmouth MSS., Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. v. p. 25; cf., Annals of Jamaica, i. 273).

For the rest of his life Morgan appears to have remained in Jamaica, a man of wealth and position, taking an active part in the affairs of the colony as lieutenant-governor, senior member of the council, and commander-in-chief of the forces. When Lord Vaughan was recalled, pending the arrival of the Earl of Carlisle, Morgan was for a few months acting governor, and again on Carlisle's return in 1680, till in 1682 he was relieved by Sir Thomas Lynch [q. v.] 'His inclination,' said the speaker in a formal address to the assembly on 21 July 1688, 'carried him on vigorously to his Majesty's service and this island's interest. His study and care was that there might be no murmuring, no complaining in our streets, no man in his property injured, or of his liberty restrained' (Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica, i. 121). About a month later Morgan died; he was buried at Port Royal, in St. Catherine's Church, on 26 Aug. 1688 (Add. MS. 27968, f. 29).

With very inadequate means Morgan accomplished a task—the reduction of Panama—which the great armament in the West Indies in 1741 feared even to attempt (cf. ). Both in that expedition, and still more in his defeat of Don Alonso and his escape from the Lake of Maracaybo, his conduct as a leader seems even more remarkable than the reckless bravery of himself and his followers. By his enemies he was called a pirate, and if he had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards he would undoubtedly have experienced the fate of one. But no charge of indiscriminate robbery, such as was afterwards meant by piracy, was made against him. He attacked only recognised enemies, possibly Dutch or French, during the war, and certainly the Spaniards, with whom, as was agreed on both sides, 'there was no peace beyond the line,' a state of things which came to an end in 1671, when the Spaniards recognised our right to Jamaica and the navigation of West Indian waters. Moreover, all Morgan's acts were legalised by the commissions he held from the governor and council of Jamaica.

The brutality and cruelty which he permitted, or was unable to restrain, have unfortunately left a stain on his reputation; as also has his dishonesty in the distribution of the spoil among his followers (Cal. State Papers, A. and W.I., No. 580); 60l. per man for the