Introduction
Dans la première moitié de 1687, un certain Thomas Chinn, un flibustier anglais qui n'avait pas mis les pieds à la Jamaïque depuis au moins quatre ans, et cinq de ses camarades sont capturés par le H.M.S. Falcon à la côte de Porto Belo. Ces hommes ont tous servi sous les ordres du capitaine Laurens De Graff, avec qui ils ont participé à la prise de Campêche et dont ils venaient à peine de se séparer peu de temps après le naufrage du flibustier néerlandais à la côte de Carthagène (pour cet incident, voir la lettre du gouverneur de la Jamaïque, de novembre 1686 et le mémoire de celui de Saint-Domingue, d'août 1687). Une fois à Port Royal, le capitaine Talbot, commandant le Falcon, s'empresse de faire juger Chinn qui est acquitté. Mais Talbot refuse de rendre au flibustier l'argent qu'il lui a précédemment confisqué. Le gouverneur de la Jamaïque, le colonel Molesworth, alors à Spanish Town (St. Jago de la Vega), somme l'officier de la Royal Navy, d'obéir à la loi. Tout en reconnaissant qu'il est vrai que Chinn et ses compagnons soient des pirates, il remarque qu'ils doivent être condamné en toute légalité. De plus, le gouverneur reproche la manière prise pour obtenir cette condamnation: en effet, dans sa hâte, le capitaine Talbot n'a pas, selon lui, utilisé la bonne procédure et il est seul à blâmer pour l'acquittement de Chinn.
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Lieutenant Governor Molesworth to Captain Talbot, R.N. St. Jago de la Vega, June 18, 1687 [28 juin 1687]. The judges complained to me last night that you had refused to obey the order of the Court for the return of Chinn's money to him, and told me that in consequence Chinn's counsel had moved for an attachment against you. I told them that the King protected none of his officers against the law, but desired them to give you fair notice of it. The Chief Justice replied that he had spoken to you himself about it, and that you positively refused to deliver it, pretending that you had spoken to the Attorney-General to prosecute him in another way. The Attorney-General denies this. in short, you are very much in the wrong, and have no just reason for keeping Chinn's property. The law has given it against you, and the law must be obeyed by you as much as by any of the King's subjects. I advise you to submit or you will have to undergo the shame of being compelled to do it, and if any mischief befall in the execution of the King's writ you must answer for you. I give you this warning. source: P.R.O. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies, 1685-1688: no. 1314. Captain Charles Talbot, R.N., to Lieutenant Governor Molesworth to Port Royal, June 18, 1687 [28 juin 1687]. The six pirates I brought in from Porto Bello were examined on board the Falcon by Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Beckford and the Attorney-General, and on their confession that they were all with Laurens when he took the Spanish barque, they were ordered into custody. Last Grand Court I heard one of them, Thomas Chinn, tried and found not guilty, there being no evidence to shew that he had lived in the island within the last four years. I then told the Attorney-General that he ought to have prosecuted him in the admiralty as a pirate, and that I expected he should do so. I spoke to him next day, and his answer was that he would take your orders; but within three days I found that Chinn was at liberty, and an order, signed only by the Clerk of the Court, was brought to me to deliver up some broken plate and other plunder to the said Chinn. I replied that I would prosecute him in the admiralty for a pirate, and have told the Chif Justice as much. I beg you, therefore, to issue your warrant for his arrest, and to order the Attorney-General to do his duty. If he refuse, as he did lately, I suppose that he ought to be suspended and another put in his place who will act for the King's service. signed: Charles Talbot. inscribed by Lieutenant Governor Molesworth: His answer to the Chief Justice and to the Marshal's man was otherwise than here represented, though I knew it not till afterwards. source: P.R.O. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies, 1685-1688: no. 1315. Lieutenant Governor Molesworth to Captain Charles Talbot June 18, 1687 [28 juin 1687]. I have received your answer to my letter, wherein you inform me of some new matter against Chinn, and that you intend to prosecute him as a pirate. This should have been done before, or I should have been informed of it, which I never was. I am no favourer of such villains, certainly not of Chinn, who openly boasted how many churches he had robbed. The Attorney-General's choice of his method of prosecuting was good, for he knew that if he prosecuted Chinn as a pirate his confession before witnesses would not be taken for proof if he denied the confession in Court, and he had no other evidence. So being well able to prove that he had served under Laurens at the taking of Campeachy he preferred to prosecute him under that head, for it was generally supposed that the hostilities there committed by a French fleet were done under a commission. Though that proof as to the term of Chinn's residence here miscarried, yet tue acquittal was due rather to the over-nicety of the jury than to any fault of the Attorney-General's. There never was a person fitter for his place, nor one more active against privateers, whereof you mistake him and me also very much when you call upon me to suspend him. The Judges of the Court declare that all you said to the Attorney-General when Chinn was acquitted was: "Mr. Attorney, you knew well enough how to deal with him at civil law". He denies that you ever said any more, and I never heard of your intention to raise a new prosecution. I will, however, order the arrest of Chinn and his prosecution by the new General-Attorney, but unless you have other evidence than his confession against him it will be useless. source: P.R.O. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies, 1685-1688: no. 1316. Lieutenant Governor Molesworth to William Blathwayt [extrait] Jamaica, June 24, 1687 [4 juillet 1687]. I have further intelligence as to the vessel that came from the South Seas. Her commander and another landed here, having been chased and forced to leeward by another ship. The master [William Jules] of the sloop that brought them would not speak, for fear of bringing himself into trouble, until I refused him his pass and promised to take no advantage of his confession. He then made the deposition herein enclosed. As the master belonged to Nevis I sent thither a notorious pirate named Welch who played all his pranks thereabouts, so that he might be tried where witnesses against him could be forced. I have had reason enough to complain of Captain Talbot before this time, but I am now forced to report as follows. On his way to Porto Bello he met a sloop belonging to Laurens, with some of his people on board, and among them one Chinn, the most notorious rogue of them all, who having once belonged to Jamaica had made himself more liable to law than any of the rest. This Chinn, when he fell into Captain Talbot's hands, had some momney and broken plate with him, which Talbot took into his possession, but on Chinn's acquittal here his counsel moved for the restitution of his property. The Court ordered it accordingly, but Captain Talbot, when it was shewn to him, said he had nothing to do with it. Chinn's counsel then applied to the Judges for a capias, who before they would grant it came to me and told me of the application, and that they were bound in duty to assent to it. I replied that the King protected no man against the law, but that I would have it enforced with all respect to Captain Talbot's place, and therefore ordered that the writ should not be delivered to the Marshal until Talbot had been apprised of it, and of the necessity of complying with it, by a letter from myself. But it happened that on the very day when I wrote to him he wrote to me acusing Chinn of piracy in other matters, and desired that he might be tried for it in the Court of Admiralty. I had no time to delay the delivery of my letter, and wrote to the Judge Admiral to appoint a day for the trial, and to the Attorney-General to prosecute. Talbot, however, had no vidence except Chinn's own confession before witnesses, which Chinn denied in Court and was consequently acquitted. Nevertheless Captain Talbot still refuses to restore the money or to comply with the order. The Counsel for the prisoner has asked me for leave to serve the capias, but I said that he must first deliver my letter to Captain Talbot, and forbear till I had received his answer; but I have received no answer yet, and I am told that he intends to remain on board ship until the Duke of Albemarle arrival. signed: Hder. Molesworth. source: P.R.O. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies, 1685-1688: no. 1320. |
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