CHAPTER XV
THE EXPLOITS OF CAPTAIN AVERY
If the sixteenth century was the "grand" period of the
Moslem corsairs of the Mediterranean, the eighteenth
will ever remain memorable for the manifold activities
of those English seamen who took to piracy as a far more
remunerative profession than carrying freights. If we look
for any explanation of this, I think it is not far to seek.
You have to take into consideration several points. Firstly, it seems to me, in all phases whether political or otherwise, whether concerned with the sea or with land affairs, you must get at personal and national character—the very fount and origin of all human energies. Whatever else the seventeenth century was, it was not a very distinguished era. There were, of course, exceptions, but speaking broadly, it was a most disappointing period. Morally it was corrupt, politically it was degenerate, and artistically it was insincere and pompous. You have only to read the history of that period in its various aspects to realise this. This was the time when the reaction after the Puritan period had led to a dereliction of high principles, when intrigue and bribery had made such an onslaught on political life that votes were bought for money, that even admirals allowed petty politics to interfere with their loyalty when fighting at sea the nation's enemies. Smug respectability
