20

IIISTOEY OP ENGLAND.

chap, duping others, was at first disposed to listen with favour.

^7jj;~But the truth soon came out. The governor did his dutyfirmly; and Kidd was placed in close confinement tillorders arrived from the Admiralty that he should be sent toEngland.

To an intelligent and candid judge of human actionsit will not appear that any of the persons at whose expensethe Adventure Galley was fitted out deserved seriousblame. The worst that could be imputed even to Bella-mont, who had drawn in all the rest, was that he had beenled into a fault by his ardent zeal for the public service,and by the generosity of a nature as little prone to suspectas to devise villanies. His friends in England might surelybe pardoned for giving credit to his recommendation. Itis highly probable that the motive which induced some ofthem to aid his design was genuine public spirit. But, ifwe suppose them to have had a view to gain, it was tolegitimate gain. Their conduct was the very opposite ofcorrupt. Not only had they taken no money. They haddisbursed money largely, and had disbursed it with thecertainty that they should never be reimbursed unless the• outlay proved beneficial to the public. That they meantwell they proved by staking thousands on the success oftheir plan; and, if they erred in judgment, the loss of thosethousands was surely a sufficient punishment for such anerror. On this subject there would probably have been nodifference of opinion had not Somers been one of the con-tributors. About the other patrons of Kidd the chiefs of