He had found out his mother, and now he expended the money he had made
in purchasing a good property about seven miles from Rio, where he
placed his mother and some slaves to take care of it, and cultivate
it. He contrived to defraud his crew as much as he could, and before
he went to the coast again, he married an amiable young person, the
daughter of a neighbour. He made a third and a fourth voyage with
equal success, but on the third voyage he contrived to get rid of a
portion of his English crew, who were now becoming troublesome, by
taking some Portuguese sailors out with him, and leaving the English
on the coast, as if by mistake. Previous to the fourth voyage, it
appears that he satisfied the remainder of the English crew by
producing accounts, and sharing out to them several hundred dollars
previous to their departure for the coast. He made a slight addition
to his Portuguese sailors, not putting too many on board, to avoid
suspicion, and when on the coast of Africa, a portion of the English
crew died; whether by poison or not is not known, and the others he
put on shore, seizing all their property, and the dollars with which
he had satisfied them. On his return from his fourth voyage, having
now nothing to fear from the partners in his atrocious deed, having
realized a large sum, he determined to remain on shore altogether, and
live on his property with his mother and wife. He did so, and sent out
the schooner under a Portuguese captain and crew, to be employed for
him as owner in the slave traffic, and she has made two voyages since,
and is expected back again every day. Now, my son, retribution has
fallen heavily upon this bad man. Had he been discovered and punished
when he first did the deed, it would have been as nothing compared to
what it has been now; he then had no property--no ties--in fact,
nothing or little to regret; but now, with a wife and child, with a
valuable property, living in independence, and increasing that wealth
daily--now, when he is at the very summit of his ambition, restored to
his own country, respected and considered as being a man of wealth, he
has been seized, thrown into a dungeon, put to the question, and now
lies in a state of misery, awaiting the sentence of death which has
been pronounced against him. Neither has he the consolation of knowing
that he leaves those whom he loves in a state of affluence, for all
his property, having been gained by making use of your property,
necessarily is your property, and not his, and it has been confiscated
accordingly for your use and benefit. As soon as every thing is
collected, it will be paid into your hands. Thus, my son, I have at
last attained justice for you."
I was, as you may imagine, my dear Madam, profuse in my
acknowledgments, but he stopped me, saying,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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