We are all familiar with the names of certain English navigators with reference to Spanish South America; but it is somewhat difficult to introduce a notice of their deeds at the precise date when they occurred, without interrupting the course of the general narrative. Neither do their actions belong especially to any ocean or country. They appeared sometimes on the Atlantic and at others on the Pacific; sometimes on the Isthmus of _Darien_, at others on the coast of _Peru_. They plundered the enemy wherever they found him vulnerable, and treated the inhabitants of one side of the continent and of the other with perfect impartiality. I have therefore thought it better to gather together in one chapter some short records of the deeds of certain amongst the most famous of these free-lances of the ocean. Foremost amongst the English navigators to Spanish American waters comes the redoubtable Hawkins. That he was an admirable seaman and a most courageous man, no one will question. He was likewise as patriotic as it was possible for man to be, and was most considerate and fair towards those under his command, by whom he seems to have been respected and beloved. But it may help to form a more correct opinion of the age in which he lived, and may serve somewhat to modify our judgment respecting the Spaniards and Portuguese of the sixteenth century in the matter of slavery, if we remember that Sir John Hawkins, of whom most Englishmen are to a certain extent proud, was, in plain terms, an atrocious slave-dealer. This article was, in fact, the staple commodity in which he trafficked, and he pursued his course to the coast of Africa, there to capture his cargo of negroes, with not a whit more concern for them or their rights than would have been displayed by Rob Roy or by Roderick Dhu for the cattle which they carried off from the Lowlands. It may be well also to bear in mind that his course of life was well known to Queen Elizabeth and Her Ministers, and that Her Majesty, in token of Her approval of his proceedings, placed at his disposal one of Her vessels, the “Jesus” of Lubeck, of 700 tons.