answer

was returned, "This is the 'Polly' from Charleston, bound for London."

His fighting temper aroused, Captain Williams seized the trumpet and his lion roar mingled with the thunder as he shouted, "Haul down your colors or I'll blow you out of the water." The "Polly" which had undoubtedly seen the American flag flying on the "Protector," obeyed, and when morning came, Captain Williams put a prize crew aboard her and sent her to Boston. She letter of marque of

was a

twenty guns.

Abandoning his plan to cruise in West Indian waters, Captain Williams proceeded north. While off Sandy Hook he captured a brig and as he was putting a prize crew aboard her, a sail on the port bow was reported. This proved to be only a schooner bound for New York and from her Captain Williams obtained information which led him to believe it would be dan

gerous longer to remain near New York. He determined to move on toward Boston, convoying his prizes.

Two days later the large ships appeared and immediately gave chase to the "Protector" which was carrying the brig in tow. Captain Williams ordered that the brig be cast off and the prizes left to their own resources, with instructions to look out for themselves and make all speed to Boston.

Both the strangers flew the French colors but Captain Williams' experienced eye was not deceived. He knew they were British men-o'-war. As a matter of fact one was the "Roebuck," with forty guns and a double deck, and the other the "May-Day" of twenty-eight guns. Loyalist spies in Boston had filed information about the tector" with the British authorities and the "Roebuck" and "May-Day" it so happened, had been keeping an alert eye out for the plucky Yankee.

"Pro

Captain Williams felt that capture

A WATCH TOWER ON THE NEW ENGLAND COAST

was imminent but he clung to hope and determined if possible to get away. He was at that moment confronted with another dilemmathe care of a large sum of specie which had been intrusted to him by one Captain Cunningham, who was bound from Havana to Boston, and feared capture. As the "Protector" was a much larger vessel than his, he thought it advisable to transfer the money to her. Captain Williams gladly consented to be its custodian.

Now that his own capture appeared to be only a question of minutes he apportioned this money among the crew, giving to each man $15.00 with instructions that if he escaped it was to be returned to the rightful owner. The men secreted the money about their persons.

"Now boys," said the captain, "we have capture and British prisons to fear and so this day eat, drink and be merry." By his orders the men were told off in squads and took turn in eating heartily of crackers, cheese

and porter that had been taken from the prizes. All the while the enemy was working to get the plucky little craft into a pocket. The "Roe-Buck" took her place on the starboard quarter and the "May-Day" on the port bow. By way of warning an eighteen-pound shot was fired over the "Protector's" quarter deck.

Captain Williams at last heard the words he had dreaded. "Strike your colors," came the order from the enemy. Williams was half a mind to give fight but his officers showed him. the uselessness of such a course, and reluctantly he ordered "Old Glory" down and surrendered. In true British fashion of that time the enemy boarded the "Protector" kicking and striking every man that came in their way, cursing them, and calling them rebels. From stem to stern and from hold to officers quarters and the forecastle, the British searched for things of value and then ordered the "Protector's" crew taken in boats to their own ships, but with the warning the warning that they were not to take anything of value with them. In the excitement of all this the prizes this the prizes got away and although chased some distance by the "May-Day," escaped and reached Bos

ton.

With a view of currying favor for himself, a member of the "Protector's" crew, said to have been an Englishman, bore information to the British of the money that had been distributed among the crew, even going so far as to state the amount each man had received. A sergeantat-arms was at once ordered to search the prisoners until the sum of $15.00 was found on each. Some, with the art that is often shown nowadays by the Kaffirs in the South African diamond mines, had succeeded in hiding their share so ingeniously that it was not until they had been stripped that the money was found. One man, indeed, had secreted his with such art that even when deprived of his clothing the

He

money still remained hidden. was kicked and cuffed and cast into the hold where his bed was pig iron bars and like things which, by the vividness of the contrast, served to bring back to his memory, visions of his soft and comfortable boyhood's bed in Boston.

When the "Roe-Buck" and "MayDay" returned to New York, such of the prisoners as proved to be able-bodied and sea-worthy were accused of being Englishmen and despite their protests impressed into the British service. British naval officers of those days had no conception of the square deal. In all, 113 members of Captain Williams' crew were impressed in this brutal fashion. Some escaped by jumping over board. The others were unceremoniously bundled off to the dreaded old Jersey prison ship in the "Wallabout." Captain Williams, Lieutenant Little and Mr. Lemon, the "Protector's" sailing master, were sent to England. Mr. Lemon was an Englishman and as he sailed he had the assurance of his captors that he would he hanged upon landing.

Midshipman Preble was among those sent to the old Jersey in the "Wallabout," but he did not remain there long and returned to Boston where he reported to the provincial congress, the loss of the "Protector." He was commissioned first lieutenant, and in 1781 Lieutenant

Little, who had escaped from England, was entrusted with the command of the state cruiser Winthrop, Preble joined him as second officer. Little's escape was daring and romantic. With some companions he had bribed a sentinel and making his way to the coast, crossed the channel to France in a small boat.

Captain Williams was held a prisoner until the close of the war when he returned to Boston.

When the Federal Constitution was ratified by Massachusetts in February, 1788, it was celebrated in Boston with a parade in which all

trades, occupations and classes of people took part, the idea being to show off the industrial life of the state at that time.

Picturesque to the last, Captain Williams, with some of his old shipmates, rigged up a ship on wheels drawn by thirteen white horses, each representing one of the original states. Grizzled old sea fighters under Captain Williams manned it, the Captain in Continental unform standing on the quarter deck, speaking trumpet in hand, while his companions were throwing the lead, reefing the sails and firing an occasional salute from a three-pounder.

In High Street between Summer and Federal Streets, a tree obstructed the progress of the ship and the parade stopped for a moment while. Captain Williams' hardy tars jumped out, and amid the huzzas of the populace, cut it down.

Reference to this ship on wheels is made in the following song composed on the occasion, and now rare enough to merit reproduction here: Massachusetts Convention

Tune, Yankee Doodle.
The 'vention did in Boston meet,
But State House could not hold 'em
So then they went to Fed'ral Street,
And there the truth was told 'em.

Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy;
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

Then ev'ry morning went to prayer,
And then began disputing,
Till opposition silenced were
By arguments refuting.

Yankee Doodle, etc.

Then Squire Hancock like a man.
Who dearly loves the nation,
By a conciliatory, plan
Prevented much vexation.

Yankee Doodle, etc.

He made a woundy Fed'ral speech, With sense and elocution,

And then the 'Vention did beseech,

O, then a whapping feast began,
And all hands went to eating,
They drank their toasts, shook
hands and sung-

Huzza for 'Vention meeting.

Yankee Doodle, etc.

Now politicians of all kinds
Who are not yet decided,
May see how Yankees speak their
minds,

And yet are not divided.

Yankee Doodle, etc.

Then from this 'xample let 'em cease Inflammatory writing,

For freedom, happiness and peace, Are better far than fighting.

Yankee Doodle, etc.

So here I end my Fed'ral song,
Composed of thirteen verses;
May Agriculture flourish long,
And Commerce fill our purses.

Yankee Doodle, etc.

Captain Williams remained in the service of his country to the last. Washington, in 1790 put him in command of a revenue cutter, an important post in those days of piracy, smuggling and the impressment of seamen. Full of years and honors, he died, June 24, 1814, aged seventy

one.

P

RIVATE loans by subjects of Great Britain and Germany have been successfully established in countries whose governments are unstable, because their inviolability has been guaranteed by British or German warships. This has not been a boastful sentiment, but a sound foundation for doing business At the first intimation of a tendency on the part of any such country to play fast and loose with credits of

this kind, a great, grey, ghost-like mass of steel with protruding guns has slipped silently into the principal harbour of the suspected country, and dropped a big mud-hook within easy range. This may have been followed by no more than banquets and other high civilities in scarlet and gold, between naval officers and government officials. None the less has it been efficacious. It may at times been unnecessarily

brutal, and, to our ideas, unendurably insolent. But, strange to say, not only has such a policy made loans of this nature safe; it has actually cemented friendship between those countries and Europe, such as they do not feel toward the United States, with its fastidious avoidance of such displays of power.

The reasons for this are not far to seek. Confident of the backing of their home governments, the merchants and bankers of Europe have been able to deal in an open and just manner with the individual traders and debtors of the most distant and unsettled regions. The citizen of the United States, on the other hand, having no security based on the attitude of his government toward his business relations with the citizens of foreign countries, has been compelled to look out for his own safety, by exacting harsher securities, and not unfrequently by sharp practice? Yankee business men are thus compelled to take on a reproach which they do not merit, through the indifference of their government to their rightful interests.

The attitude of the present administration toward the vast sums of American capital invested in Mexico is a case very much to the point. Such investments were anxiously sought by the people of Mexico. Our business men are led to invest their wealth in Mexico by the strongest representations and most urgent invitations of the Mexican government. Bounties, special privileges, inducements of every nature were made to American business men to carry their enterprise and their wealth into that country. Today, when this property is being wantonly destroyed, confiscated, taxed, stolen, by insolent brigands, and those Americans who seek to defend their all, are being imprisoned, mal-treated, and not infrequently slain, the only answer of our government is, "We warn you to leave Mexico, because of the unsettled state of the country." If American sentiment will allow an

265

administration to wash its hands in this easy manner of one of the most sacred responsibilities of government, history will not so easily absolve us. The stain of blood will not be so easily washed from hands that have so neglected a manifest obligation.

The mere fact that it is troublesome to look out for our citizens in this distress, or that it complicates diplomatic situations, or interferes with some. pet scheme, or chosen procedure, of the administration, is not an excuse.

It is no kindness to Mexico. It does not win for us their friendship. Not even at the time of the Mexican war, was the appelative "Goingo" so expressive of hatred and contempt as it is today, and that hatred has increased a hundred fold during the years of forebearance of the present administration in Washington. In order to live up to an academic notion of high statesmanship, the administration has been false to its obligations toward its own citizens in Mexico.

The president's policy toward Mexico has been near-great. It has many of the fundamental qualities of the highest and most constructive statesmanship. But it has fallen short of its own high aim by just the margin that spells error. The exact point at which the administration has failed in its attitude toward Mexico, is that indicated above-it has failed in that which was its prime concernthe proper care of its own citizens. Omitting this, the remainder of its conduct, however high interlined, has borne to the Mexican people an appearance of meddlesomeness. the same time that the respect of the violent elements of the country has been lost by the weakness of the United States in the defence of its citizens, the more orderly elements have been offered by a policy which, not based on that sound interna

At

tional foundation, has appeared to them to be captious and over-bearing.

Our business is looking longingly toward foreign commerce, and wonders at the difficulties that oppose