CAPTAIN KLOFF- 



kong, according to the object of the expedition, or to tlieir 

 expectation of meeting an enemy : but " the smaUer the 

 vessel,'* sajK Curtain Khff, tho quicker its progress ; 

 for this reason, in tltese expeditions, for which tlie piriites 

 Jiavo collected together a great number of vessels, they 

 leftve tho laigcr onos behind some island, reserving them 

 for the purpose of covering a more impoitant attack, 

 wliile they proceed on theii' piratical projects Avith the 

 smaller craft.^' 



Captain Ivloil' m a Dutch officer who was employed in 

 the Eastern Seas, to collect for his Goveriiment "all the 

 details that could be obtained respecting piracy." The 

 reader will decide which is the best authority on pirates' 

 boats. 



I find myself folloATing up this subject more particularly 

 than I at first intended : but it canuot hare lost ita 

 general interest ; for it iovolves no mere ij^signiBcant 

 squabble, although much personality has been on one 

 side reported to. 



I bold the question to be this, — ^whether individual 

 spleen and rancour, having succeeded in mystifying a 

 handful of public men — not all disposed nor all qualified* 

 as their speeches show, to form an unprejudiced opinion 

 for themselves— shaJl be permitted, through these par- 

 liamentary auKfUaries^ to harass an etnineut servant of 

 bis Sovereign ; one who, by a chain of singular events 

 such as is witnessed only once in many generations, 

 ha^ acquired the power, and is blest also \\ith the will, to 



