Читать книгу The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. With an account of the English settlement of the island of Jamaica онлайн

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Attacks by parties of fugitive slaves gave them much annoyance and sometimes inflicted serious loss of life. "They have", so Sedgewick reported, "no moral sense, and do not understand what the laws and customs of civil nations mean; we know not how to capitulate or treat with them; but be assured they must either be destroyed or brought in upon some terms or other, or else they will prove a great discouragement to the settling of the Country."[16]

Fortescue had described the island as "a fruitful and pleasant land and a fit receptacle for honest men." Sedgewick had confirmed this report, and on the 4th of January, 1656, he published a proclamation jointly with Admiral Goodson, urging the soldiers to cultivate plots of land which would be allotted for them. Some of the officers opposed this by presenting a petition in the name of their men, advising the entire abandonment of the island. But Goodson kept his squadron of ships actively employed. His cruisers lay in wait for Spanish ships and brought in many prizes. Embarking some soldiers he took Santa Marta and Rio de la Hacha, two ports of some importance on the mainland of Veragua. But Sedgewick gave him grudging support in these distant excursions, which he did not fail to condemn as both impolitic and unprofitable.