\ £wa7~mounted at the stern, and a Ken muskets and boarding pikes. I THE PIRATE SCHOONER Lupin the wake of the brig, with Iff sprit and bows studded with men Sd to board, and fired a volley of '■nfketry which fortunately did no execu i and was replied to by a discharge 5 the biff (ran and musketry under the Etion of Mr. Johnson, the chief mate, "Si swept the bowsprit of the schooner tdid fearful execution among the pirates. Wn was fired three times, when it 5 dismounted and rendered useless. I pirates made three attempts to board, ■Jwere gallantly repulsed, every man \ Jing desperately for his life. Iho tner finally got clear of the brig and I ered off, when only seven men could Ken on her deck. The slaughter . I Jut have been terrible. In the heat of I J engagement, while bravely repelling i Orders, Captain Jacobs was struck in I L forehead by a musket-ball and died a I days afterward. Mr. Walker, the ■ tond mate, was killed during the action, j Mr Johnson, the chief mate, was '■ Handed in the thigh, but nevertheless deeded in navigating the brig safely to fa Orleans. The brig Hannah, ot ' iiladelphia, was boarded by a pirate in itsamo neighborhood, and plundered of Suable articles. Her crew were treated A extreme cruelty. The Captain, his ■.•other and five passengers were roasted jorder to make them confess there was ,} B ey on board. They were afterward : listen and hacked with cutlasses. In Member, 1822, Lieutenant Allen of the fjited States schooner Alligator, while jiatanzas harbour, received intelligence ii't several American vessels had been jptured by pirates and carried into a Jirje bay about fifteen leagues east of ! jfjtanzas. Lieutenant Allen got tho ! jtooner under way at once and pro i up. | THE OLD BAHAMA CHANNEL fjrard the bay, where the vessels were jitained. On entering the bay, a number ([vessels were seen at anchor, and among li'sm was a schooner of formidable size jid armament, and her deck crowded with sea. On the approach of the Aligator ]li schooner slipped her cables, got out iieeps, and endeavoured to escape up the jip, Three of tho Aligator's boats were gnediately manned, one of which was jmmanded by Lieutenant Allen in person, (d gave chase to the pirate schooner, jaich hoisted the bloody flag and opened lire on the boats with round and grape iiofc. The boats gained on the schooner, lien other piratical craft came to her lijistance. Several men in the boats were Hied and wounded, and Lieutenant Allen, jhile standing up and bravely urging his nm to exert themselves and range along ile the pirate, received two wounds, one tfahich was by a musket shot through to body, that caused his death in a, few liars. The pirate schooner was boarded md captured, but most of the crew escaped lithe shore in their boats. On boarding lat vessel the red flag was found nailed •othe mast, and trains were ignited, lead ig to the magazine, but were fortunately fecove'red in time to prevent the vessel fern being blown up. It was subsequently pertained that the pirates had fourteen an killed and a large number wounded in the action. The American vessels that rare thus rescued proved to be the ship William Henry, of New York, brigs Sarah lorrill, and Iris, _of Boston, and two schooners, one of which belonged to Salem. lie Alligator returned to Malanzas with tie rescued vessels, where the remains of Lieutenant Allen were buried with, the honours due to his gallantry and rank. Shortly after the above affair, three pirate schooners were seen cruising between Point Yeasos and Havana. Two Ameri eaa vessels were known to have been robbed, and the unfortunate crews, after Wing been terribly beaten and tortured, lere lashed to the standing rigging and THE VESSELS SET ON FIRE. The bring Belvidere, Captain Lamson, bund from Hayti to New Orleans, easily beat off three launches full of men, off Capo Cruz. Proceeding on her wav, the Selvidcre, off Cape Antonio, was chased ty a pirate schooner, armed, and with a irew of thirty or forty men. The ichooner soon came up. with the brig, and loisted the black flag with a death's head tad cross-bones, and fired a gun. Hanging up alongside, until within hail, the pirate ordered Captain Lamson to leave to, and poured in upon his brig a tolley from muskets and blunderbusses. la the meantime, on board the Belvidere, i twelve-poundcarronade, crammed to the mouth with grape and canister, was carefully pointed, and the covering re moved which had concealed it from the pirates. It was fired, and, with the addition of a well-directed volley from a dozen muskets, made dreadful havoc among tho sea-robbers. At the first discharge, the pirate Uaptain, who was easily distinguished by his dress and authoritative manner, was seen to fall, and many ot his men. At the third discharge, the pivot gun of tho pirate was dismounted. He still kept up a faint fire from muskets and blunderbusses, but soon dropped astern. There he received a terrible cutting-up from a brass three pounder, loaded with round shot and forty musket balls, which effectually silenced him. He soon after sheered off, with not a dozen men on deck. The Belvidere in this spirited engagement lost only one man, who was shot through the bad; another was. slightly wounded.

Captain Grozer, in a schooner belonging to Boston, loaded with molasses, left Matanzas one morning bound home. A few miles outside the bay, a

SMALL, RAKISH-LOOKING SCHOONER Was seen coming down before the wind with her decks full of men. The second mate, whose name was Alfred .Hill, since well-known as a respectable shipmaster belonging to Portsmouth, represented to Captain Grozcr that as tho schooner was undoubtedly one of the pirate cruisers that infested the coast, and were now in the habit of murdering tbe crews of vessels that they captured, it was their daty to act on the defensive and fight them to the death. As if to give weight to his remarks, the strange vessel now hoisted the black flag. Unfortunately there were no arms on board, not even a musket. Capt. Grozor thought it would be folly to make any attempt at resistance, and promptly obeyed the orders of the pirate to heave to. A boat was launched, and in a few minutes a gang of the ferocious ruffians, armed to the teeth, stood on the deck of the Ameri can vessel. While the pirates wero coming alongside, Mr. Hill quietly slipped below into the steerage, thence into the hold, and concealed himself among the cargo. The pirates called for the Captain's papers, in quired for money and valuables, but getting none of any consequence, beat tho officers and crew, and ordered them all into the forecastle. After ransacking tho vessel, the officers and crew wore brought on deck, one at a time, and led aft to the gangway, where their throats were deliberately cut by these demons in human shape ! The second mate, from his hiding place in the hold, listened with agony to the prayers and supplications of his unfortunate ship mates for mercy. NOT ONE WAS SPARED.

Captain Grozer was the last man who was murdered, after having pleaded earnstly and eloquently for life. The pirates were aware that one of the crew had concealed himself in the hold, and sought for him in vain. Hill remained in his hiaing-place for a couple of hours, supposing from noises produced by the flapping of the sails that the pirates were still on board ; but on finding that the hold was half full of water he became alarmed, and cau tiously ventured on deck, where he soon assertained that he was tho only person on board and no vessel was in sight. The deck was slippery with the blood of his massacred companions, but their bodies had been thrown into the sea. Tho pirates had broken in the lumber port to scuttle the schooner, which was rapidly sinking. Hill lost no time in lashing a few spars together to form a sort of raft, upon which he embarked as night was approaching, with the hope of reaching the Cuban shore, then in sight from the dock. He succeeded in his attempt after much labor and peril, and the next morn ing landed on the coast about twenty miles from Matanzas. He was treated, with kindness by the planters, and furnished with means for reaching Matan zas. These repeated atrocities caused a sensation throughout not only our own country, but the civilized world. Memo rials and. petitions poured into Washing ton from all quarters, urging vigorous action on the part of our Government. The pressure was such that the

AUTHORITIES AWOKE FROM THEIR

LETHARGY, And soon after the meeting of Congress in December, 1822, a bill was adopted autho rizing the equipment of a formidable flotilla to cruise against the pirates. This flotilla, besides the vessels already on that station, consisted of the steamer Sea Gull, the Decoy store ship, eis*lit small schooners, named the Ferret, Weasel, Greyhound, Terrier, Beagle, Fox, Jackal and Wildcat, and four barges, which bore the names of Mosquito, Sandfly, Gnat, and Gallinippor. Commodore David Porter was appointed to the command of the squadron in the West Indies. He sailed the following February, and reached Matanzas on the 28th of March 1823. He lost no time in despatching his vessels in various directions to protect the mariner in those seas. The schooners wero of light draft of water, and could be propelled by sweeps in a calm, and, although unsafe and very uncomfortable sea boats, were well calculated for cruising amid the cays and reefs and bays which were frequented by the pirates. One or more of this flotilla was stationed at Matanzas or Havana to give convoy to vessels bound through the Gulf Stream or Gulf of Mexico. The shores of Cuba at this time swarmed with pirates, who eager for booty, had hastened there from all parts of the world—the scum and lees of every nation. When fast-sailing schooners could not be had, they captured vessels off'the principal harbours in open boats. The brig Alert was boarded in this way off Moro Castle, plundered of valuable articles, and the Captain and two men were murdered. A French vessel was captured under similar circumstances, and the ship's company and passengers were tortured in a shocking manner to compel them to surrender money or other valuable property. There was reason to believe that several vessels were boarded within sight of the harbour of Havanna, and the crews murdered. The pirates were now so numerous and bold that they did not confine their operations to the waters which washed the shores of Cuba, Piratical vessels now appeared in the New Providence Channel, and several vessels were robbed within sight of Stirrup Cay, on the Bahama Bank. They were also mot with in the Gulf oi Mexico. In March

1823, the brig, Belisarius, of Kennobunk, Captain Clement Perkins, was boarded by A PIRATICAL SCHOONER,

Off Camseaclty. The pirates demanded money. Captain Perkins imprudently denied having any on board. The pirates then beat him and stabbed him in several places- One of the crew having given in formation where money was concealed, the pirates proceeded to murder the Captain in the most cruel manner. They cut off two of his limbs, and continued to torturo him as long as life remained. The mate was inhumanly beaten and stabbed, and tho crew shockingly mal treated. The brig was robbed of every thing valuable which they could carry off, and abandoned by the pirates. On her wayto New Orleans she fortunately fell in with somoAmerican vessels and received

assistance. For a short time the appear ance of Commodore Porter's flotilla

checked to some extent tho outrages of the pirates on the water, and they com menced a system of robberies on the land. Bodies of men, well mounted and armed, plundered plantations, and robbed and murdered people in the interior of the island of Cuba, and even made raids on the city of Havana, and robbed ships at anchor in the harbor. The Govern ment of Cube, the provisional fthcad of which, after the death of Don Nicholas Mahy, in July,, 1822, was the Calo Subaltcrno, Don Sebastian Kondelan, was powerless to protect even their own people from the outrages of this countless host of land and water banditti. Don Francisco Dionisio Viveg, having been appointed Governor-General of Cuba, ar rived in May, 1823, soon after Commodore Porter reached the coast, and immediately began to adopt measures for crushing out this banditti and giving protection to life and property. But the pirates had so strongly established themselves in their strongholds, in unfrequented places, with emissaries in the principal sea-ports, that the work was a tedious and difficult one, Mtid many months elapsed before the waters in the neighborhood of Cuba were free from piratical cruisers. In June, 1823, Captain Smith of

THE SLOOP-OF-WAR "HORNET," Learning that piratical depredations had been committed off Matanzas, caused Lieutenant Platt and a number of seamen to be transferred from the Hornet to a merchant brig, and thus disguised, tocruise off that port and entrap the pirates. After remaining several days on that station and meeting no piratical vessels, Lieutenant Platt entered tho harbor, waited on the Actin^Goveraorof Matanzas and made knowr the object of his visit, and solicited his co-operation. But so far from meeting with sympathy and assistance, he was grossly insulted by that official, who denounced Commodore Porter and the officers and men belonging to his squadron as a set of pirates, and vilified them by outrageous epithets ! Commodore Porter, on being informed of the conduct of the Governor, addressed an official noto to General Vives, to which a polite answer was returned, and the Governor of Mat anzas, who had been more than suspected of having for a long time been in loague with tho pirates, was removed from office. In July. 1826, two of the American barges, the Gallinipper with Lieutenant Watson and eighteen men, and the Musquito, with Lieutenant Inman and ten men, while on a cruise through the Old Bahama channel, entered Jiquape bay, where Lieutenant Allen was killed. Seeing a large armed schooner under way, and full of men, the barges pulled toward her. The schooner rounded to, run up the bloody flag, fired her pivot gun in defiance, and then filled away, steering directly for the shore. When close in with the beach she anchored with a spring upon her cable, thus presen ting her broadside in the barges, and commenced a heavy but

INEFFECTIVE FIRE OF CANNON AND MUSKETRY. The men in the barges now redoubled their labors at the oars, and the pirates, knowing that their pursuers would soon be alongside and springing on their decks, did not wait to cross weapons, but jumped overboard and commenced swim ming to the shore. The sailors in the barges gave three cheers, and raising the rallying cry of ' Allen! Eevenge his death !' dashed in among them before they reached the land, cutting and slashing in the most vigorous manner whilo the doomed wretches were swimming in the water or struggling on the beach. The sailors were terribly excited, and having the enemy within reach of their cutlasses, and believing that if any were captured they would be pardoned by the President of the United States, were determined to do their work thoroughly, and no prisoners were made ! After the battle—if such it might be called—was over, the lifeless bodies of 27 of the pirates were found in the shallow water near the shore, and it was known that 15 or 20 hud been mortally wounded and sunk in deep water some distance from the beach. The captured schooner was armed with a long 12-pouuder on a pivot, and four 0-pound, ers, beside swivels, blundors busses and muskets, and had on board between fifty and sixty men, coma an' c II y a notorious ruffian by the title of * Diaboio,' or ' Little Devil.' This imp of darkness was killed in the action, and hardly half a dozen of his meri escaped. In this year, 1823, while our barges were breaking up the nests of pirates on the north side of Caba, our small schooners were cruising along the southern shores, where many fiendish

scenes had been enacted. The schooner Greyhound, Lieut. Kearney, and Beagle. Lieutenant Newton, after scouring the shoals and bays to the eastward of Trinidad, anchored near Cape Cruz, in a bay which was a famous resort for pirates. A boat was sent towavds the shore to reconnoiter, and was fired upon by men concealed among the bushes. The boat returned, and five boats were promptly manned, and proceeded toward the beach to effect a landing, but they were met not only with VOLLEYS OP MUSKETRY,

But by a cannonade from heavy guns planted on a hill at some distance from the beach. The schooners were now warped in, and opening a fire from their carriage guns, covered the landing of the men. The pirates retreated through the under brush and trees to their defenses on the hill.but wore soon dislodged and scattered. A cluster of houses, the dwellings of the pirates, wore burnt. The large guns, and a great number of muskets, pistols, cut lasses, etc., were captured, and eight boats, suitable for boarding vessels in the offing, were destroyed. A cave 150 feet in length was discovered, in which was found an immense amount of plunder, consisting of dry goods, women's dresses, silks, laces, broad cloths, etc. Human skeletons were also found there, supposed to bo those of unfortunate prisoners who had been ruthlessly murdered. Some articles of value were brought away, and the remain der were destroyed. A number of the pirates were killed by the boats' crews when they landed, and also by the attack on the fort, but the greater part fled to i the bushes and escaped. In the early part of 1824, owing to the vigilance of our squadron, and the British cruisers on the coast, and the energetic course adopted by General Vives, piracies became less frequent, and some vessels belonging to the American squadron were withdrawn. But it soon appeared that ' the snake was only scotched, not killed,' and piratical depredations were renewed and carried on along the coast of Cuba with as much energy as ever.

In May, 1821, several vessels were boarded and robbed off Matanzas by men in open boats. Off Cape San Antonio an English man-of-war's launch was attacked by a piratical sohooner which had captured several vessels, and was roughly handled. The Lieutenant in command was killed, and threo of the seamen, and others wounded. The crew of the launch, how ever, succeeded in carrying the schooner by boarding, and as no prisoners were reported, it is fair to presume that they received the treatment they so richly deserved! Aboub this time piracies were also numerous in the neighborhood of Porto Rico, in the Sail Rock Passage, and the Mone Passage.

THESE OUTRAGES Were committed by armod men in open boats, the scoundrels emulating the wickedness of their brethren in Cuba— murder being often added to the crime of robbery. In October, 1824, Commodore Porter, learning that a large quantity of valuable goods of which pirates had robbed American vessels, had been carried into Foxardo, a small seaport on the eastern end of Porto Rico, sent the schooner Beagle to investigate the matter. But the Spanish authorities took umbarge, would allow no foreign interference, aud even threw the officers of the Beagle into prison. On learning this Commodore Porter, after the officers were released proceeded to Foxardo, landed two hundred men, took possession cf the place, and at the point of the bayonet compelled an humble apology. In this the gallant Commodore's zeal outran his discretion. The Court at Madrid complained of this violation of international law ; the Com modore was recalled, tried by court-mar tial, and sentenced to suspsnsion from duty for six months. Commodore Porter believing himself uDj'ustly treated, imme diately resigned his commission in the United States service, and accepted the command which was tendered him of the Mexican IS avy.

THE COBAN PIRATES, At this period, manifested especial hatred to the small and defenceless British traders on the coast, and many instances of rob bery and violence might be given. The Endeavour left Lionto^o Bay, in Jamaica, in quest of turtle among the small bays on the south side of Cuba, and was board ed by a pirate. As one of the sea-robbers stepped on board, an honest dog, not liking his looks, showed symtoms of hos tility, and was quickly killed. The master of the sloop imprudently exhibited dissatisfaction at the act, and was told that he should be served in the same way. The ruffian then plunged bis long knife into the body of the Englishman and threw him overboard. The wounded man still being able to swim, the pirate seized a musket and shot him through the head. Three others of the crew were murdered. One only escaped by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. In June, 1824, the schooner Thetis, of ISTew York, had a hard and successful fight with a gang of pirates near Manzanilla, on the south side of Cuba. The pirates came out from under the land in three large boats and attacked the schooner. But the schooner had arms on board, and the captain was a brave and resolute man, and knew how to use them. He gave the cut-throats a warm reception. Ten of the pirates v*3re killed while attempting to board, and a larger number wounded; a few only reached the shore. The schooner Merea

tor, of New York, during the Summer was captured by pirates off the harbour at Matanzas. A Spaniard, who was a passenger, was pinioned and

HOISTED UP BY THE NECK, To estort information in relation to the concealment of money. He was subse quently put on shore. His nationality saved his life. The vessel had a cargo on board insured for §50,000, but was never heard of afterward., She was undoubtedly plundered and scuttled and the crew murdered. In October, 1824, Commander Skinner, in the TJniied States schooner Porpoise, after convoying a fleet of mer chantmen out of Matanzas, stretched off to the eastward in the old Panama chan nel, although he had received no informa tion that piracies had been recently com mitted in that neighborhood. Fe manned his boats and placed them under the command of Lieutenant Hunter, with instructions to examine the inlets about Point Yeasos, Camriosa and other places which had long been notorious as the haunts ofs pirates. JS Tear Point Yeasos the boats "captured a piratical schooner and several boats that had evidently been taken from American vessels. Off Camriosa they captured another schooner, after a long chase, but most of the crew escaped to the shore. The piratical vessel was in the act of

RCHASING AN AMERICAN BRIG, When discovered by Lieutenant Hunter, and was armed with one long pivot-gun and abundance of small arms, and on board were found nautical instruments, trunks of clothing, rigging and sails, three sets of American colors, a medicine chest, etc., being conclusive proof that several vessels must have been captured and plundered. Stains of blood upon the clothing and on the decks and other cir cumstances gave rise to the belief that the crews of the vessels captured by the pirates had nofc only been robbed, but murdered. In March, 1825, the boats of the steamship Sea Gull and the British frigate Dartmouth, acting in concert, cap tured a piratical schooner about sixty miles east of Matanzas. The schooner was armed with four guns and abundance of small arms, and had a crew of thirty men. The action lasted about ten minutes, when a number of the pirates being killed or disabled, they attempted to reach the shore by swimming, but nearly all were sabered while in the water, or shot as they reached the beach. A few days after this the Sea G-ull fell in with a small schooner, the crew of which was ascertained to be tli3 same monsters who had burned the whole crew of a brig belonging to Wiscas set a fow weeks previous. But the villains escaped to the shore and concealed themselves among the mangrove bushes. The figure-head of a missing American ship was found on board the schooner, and on the shore, near the spot where the pirates had disappeared, the bodies of thirteen men were found tied to trees and perforated with bullets ! In this year, 1825, an Americrn vessel belonging to Boston was

CAPTURED BY A PIRATE

Vessels manned by Spaniards, in the Atlantic. The officers and crew were treated with great cruelty, after which the sailors were made 'to walk the plank,' but the Captain, mates and supercargo were reserved for a more horrible fate. They were bound, taken on board the piratical vessel, and in turns tied in a standing position to the taffrail to serve as targets for the pirates while trying their skill with the pistol. This pirate vessel was afterward captured and carried into Cadiz, where her officers and crew were tried and executed. During the trial these horrible details were given. In May 1825, a British Government cutter of small size had a severe action with a large piraticd schooner off the Bay of Matanzas. Ten of the pirates were killed intheaction, and others wounded, when the schooner surrendered. The remainder of the pirate crew were sent to Havana, where they were promptly tried and garroted. This gang of pirates was notorious for the out rages of which they had been guilty. They had assisted in capturing a number of Americans, vessel|andmurderingalltheir crews. Comparatively few cases of piracy occurred after the Spring of 1825. The pirates were zealously pursued and hunted by American and British expeditions, not only on the sea, but on tke land. Their haunts were broken up and THE VESSELS DESTROYED.

Many had been taken prisoners and promptly banged in Porto Kico, Cuba, Jamaica, and new Providence, and some in the United States. But I regret to say that many who were captured by our brave officers and men in perilous naval expeditions were allowed to go unhanged through a mistaken sense of humanity on the part of the President of the United States. Some were pardoned on the singular condition that they should immediately quit this country, which they were glad enough to do, and in a few weeks returned to their old haunts and pursued with, redoubled ferocity their Hellish occupation. One of the last'official acts of President Monroe was to pardon seven pirates who had been captured red-handed on the coast -6T Cuba, sent' to Savannah, tried, found guilty, an d sentenced to be hanged! Commodore Warrington, who succeeded Commodore Porter in command of the West India squadron, in a dispatch dated Havana, August 29, 1825, furnished" the' "following gratifying intelligence : 'If the pirates are now in force on either side of Cuba they have concealed themselves so effectually

Evening Stajr Jiane 3, ISTO