Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). New York. 1906.
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| on lonely beaches and islands; and finally the earl caught his backsliding friend, who was shortly afterward hung in chains at Execution Dock. The peculiar circumstances attendant upon Kidd’s turning pirate attracted widespread attention, though his exploits were, in reality, less remarkable than those of scores of other freebooters. He became a favorite subject for ballads, and gradually grew to be accepted in the popular mind as the archetype of his kind; while the search for his buried treasure, having been successful in one or two instances, became almost a recognized industry among the more imaginative of the dwellers by the sea. |
| Bellomont distinctly perceived the vast evils produced by the system of huge landed estates; and on behalf of the small freeholders he fearlessly attacked the manorial lords. He forfeited such of their grants as he considered to have been illegally secured; no inconsiderable number when the estates fraudulently purchased from the Indians were added to those acquired by judicious presents to the Crown officials. His aim was ultimately to establish the rule that no one estate larger than a thousand acres should be permitted. In attacking laymen he did not spare the Church; and assailed alike the excessive land-grants of the Dutch Reformed clergy and the Anglican bodies. His term of office was too short to permit him to put |