In consequence of complaints made by the Spaniards,
a proclamation was issued at this time by the king of
Great Britain, James II., specified in the title to
be "for the more effectual reducing and suppressing
of pirates and privateers in America, as well on the
sea as on the land, who in great numbers have
committed frequent robberies, which hath occasioned
great prejudice and obstruction to trade and commerce".
A twenty years' truce had, in the year 1686, been
agreed upon between France and Spain, but scarcely
a twentieth part of that time was suffered to elapse be-
fore it was broken in the West Indies. The flibustiers
of Hispaniola did not content themselves with their
customary practice: in 1688 they plundered the
Danish factory at the island St. Thomas, which is one
of the small islands called the Virgins near the east
end of Porto Rico. This was an aggression beyond
the limits which they had professed to prescribe to
their depredatory system, and it is not shown that they
had received injury at the hands of the Danes. Never-
theless, the French West- India histories say: "Our
flibustiers {nos flibustiers), in 1688, surprised the Danish
factory at St. Thomas. The pillage was considerable,
and would have been more if they had known that the

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352 BUCCANEERS OF AMERICA.
