Ansons Voyage Round the World | Page 2

of the north and west, and nowhere more firmly than
among his subjects in the Netherlands and among the English. England
for years he had seemed to hold in the hollow of his hand. The Dutch,
at the beginning of their great struggle for freedom, appeared even to
themselves to be embarking upon a hopeless task. Yet from their
desperate struggle England and Holland rose up two mighty nations full
of genius for commerce and for war, while Spain had already advanced
far along that path of decline which led rapidly to the extinction of her
preeminence in Europe and the loss of her colonies beyond the seas.
By the daring genius of Drake and the great English seamen of the age
of Elizabeth the field of operations was transferred from the Channel to
the American coast. The sack of Spanish towns and the spoil of treasure
ships enriched the adventurers, whose methods were closely akin to
piracy, and who rarely paused to ask whether the two countries were
formally at war. "No peace beyond the line" was a rule of action that
scarcely served to cloak successful piracy. In Spanish eyes it was, not
without reason, wholly unjustifiable.
The colonial policy of Spain was calculated to raise up everywhere a
host of enemies. In her mistaken anxiety to keep all the wealth of her
colonies to herself she prohibited the rest of the world from engaging in
trade with them. Only with her might they buy and sell. The result was
that a great smuggling trade sprang up. No watchfulness could defeat

the daring and ingenuity of the English, Dutch, and French sailors who
frequented the Caribbean Sea. No threats could prevent the colonists
from attempting to buy and sell in the market that paid them best. The
ferocious vengeance of the Spaniards, which in some cases almost
exterminated the population of their own colonies, converted the
traders into the Buccaneers, an association of sailors of all nations who
established themselves in one of the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and
who for three-quarters of a century were the scourge of the Spanish
trade and dominions. Their cruelty was as remarkable as their skill and
daring. They spared neither man, nor woman, nor child. Even half a
century after their association had been broken up the memory of their
inhuman barbarity was so vivid that no Spanish prisoner ever mounted
Anson's deck without a lively dread, which was only equalled by the
general surprise at his kindly and courteous treatment. The sight of an
English sailor woke terror in every heart.
At last, in 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, that closed the famous War
of the Spanish Succession, in which Marlborough gained his wonderful
victories, Spain consented to resign her claim to a monopoly of trade
with her colonies so far as to permit one English ship a year to visit the
American coasts. But the concession was unavailing. It granted too
little to satisfy the traders. The one ship was sent, but as soon as her
cargo had been cleared she was reloaded from others which lay in the
offing, and the Spanish colonists, only too glad to enrich themselves,
actively connived at the irregularity. The Spanish cruisers endeavoured
to enforce respect for the treaty. They claimed, not without justice, to
search English vessels seen in American waters and to confiscate
forbidden cargoes. English pride rebelled, and English sailors resisted.
Violent affrays took place. The story of Jenkins' ear kindled a wild,
unreasoning blaze of popular resentment, and by 1739 the two
countries were on the verge of war. In the temper of the English people
Walpole dared not admit the Spanish right of search, and he was
compelled by popular feeling to begin a war for which he was not
prepared, in a cause in which he did not believe.
It was at this point that Anson's expedition was fitted out.

George Anson was born in 1697. He came of a lawyer stock in
Staffordshire. In 1712 he entered the navy as a volunteer on board the
Ruby. His promotion was rapid, owing partly to his own merit, partly
to the influence of his relations. By 1724 he was captain of the
Scarborough frigate, and was sent out to South Carolina to protect the
coast and the trading ships against pirates, and also against the Spanish
cruisers, which were already exercising that right of searching English
vessels that finally provoked the war of 1739. There he remained till
1730. He was again on the same station from 1732 to 1735. In 1737 he
was appointed to the Centurion, a small ship of the line carrying sixty
guns, and was sent first to the West Coast of Africa and then to the
West Indies. In 1739 he was recalled