The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII CenturyHaring, Clarence Henry
History
The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century
Haring, Clarence Henry
Buccaneers; West Indies -- History
On the 24th of August 1684 Sir Thomas Lynch died in Jamaica, and Colonel
Hender Molesworth, by virtue of his commission as lieutenant-governor,
assumed the authority.[458] Sir Henry Morgan, who had remained
lieutenant-governor when Lynch returned to Jamaica, had afterwards been
suspended from the council and from all other public employments on
charges of drunkenness, disorder, and encouraging disloyalty to the
government. His brother-in-law, Byndloss, was dismissed for similar
reasons, and Roger Elletson, who belonged to the same faction, was
removed from his office as attorney-general of the island. Lynch had had
the support of both the assembly and the council, and his actions were
at once confirmed in England.[459] The governor, however, although he
had enjoyed the confidence of most of the inhabitants, who looked upon
him as the saviour of the island, left behind in the persons of Morgan,
Elletson and their roystering companions, a group of implacable enemies,
who did all in their power to vilify his memory to the authorities in
England. Several of these men, with Elletson at their head, accused the
dead governor of embezzling piratical goods which had been confiscated
to the use of the king; but when inquiry was made by Lieutenant-Governor
Molesworth, the charges fell to the ground. Elletson's information was
found to be second-hand and defective, and Lynch's name was more than
vindicated. Indeed, the governor at his death had so little ready means
that his widow was compelled to borrow L500 to pay for his funeral.[460]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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