Ramage And The Rebels

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'It's not exactly making war, sir,' Ramage said, putting as much disapproval in his voice as he dared. 'It seems to me to be half - way between poaching and gamekeeping. I've never understood why we allow it ourselves.' 'It dam' well isn't war,' the Admiral said angrily, 'it's coldblooded murder, and these orders - ' he tapped the sealed packet on the highly - polished table in front of him - 'tell you to put a stop to it all. These privateers are no better than pirates. Oh yes, they may have parchment commissions covered with big seals and signed by the king of this or the queen of that, but the fact is they're privateering just for plunder.' He tapped the packet again. 'I say in here and I repeat it now, Ramage: any privateer you find, French, Spanish or Dutch, whose captain can't produce a regular commission, then well take him before the Admiralty Court and charge him with piracy, and hell hang from a gibbet along the Palisades. So search well and warn each captain before you take him off his ship - I don't want any of 'em claiming afterwards they had no time to collect their papers. Commission, certificate of registry, charter party, muster list, log everything. And witnesses - I want witnesses. The privateer's mate and at least two of your officers. Seal up in a packet all the papers you're given and make the privateer captain sign his name beside the seal.'

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