mission of the officers of the Royal Navy, but exclusively to capture and bring into port captured vessels and cargo, there to be duly adjudicated on by the properly constituted tribunals (Admiralty Courts) of the country, and under no pretext whatever were they allowed to break bulk. Any violation of these obligations was severely and summarily punished, and commanders of privateers were required to find large pecuniary security for their conduct.
That these regulations were not always sufficient to restrain lawless men and to prevent abuses may be true, but has never been very clearly established. It clearly will not do to go for examples of excesses to the days of Captain Kidd and his compeers, for those were lawless days, and the exploits of these heroes can be matched by those of regular commissioned officers in those days. Buccaneering was then in vogue, and the code of honour of buccaneers was such as might be expected.
