|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 63
"FINIS."
The government was destined to last far longer than either the governor
or his government. But, while it lasted, Andros's government was
bitterly hated, and with good reason. The reasons are more peculiarly
appropriate to the history of Massachusetts, where they were felt more
keenly than in Connecticut; but even in Connecticut, poor as was the
field for plunder, and distant as it was from the "ring" which
surrounded Andros, the exactions of the new system were wellnigh
intolerable to a people whose annual expense of government had been
carefully kept down to the lowest limits, so that, says Bancroft, they
"did not exceed four thousand dollars; and the wages of the chief
justice were ten shillings a day while on service."...
April, 1689, came at last. The people of Boston, at the first news of
the English Revolution, clapped Andros into custody. May 9, the old
Connecticut authorities quietly resumed their functions, and called the
assembly together for the following month. William and Mary were
proclaimed with great favor. Not a word was said about the
disappearance or reapeparance of the charter; but the charter
government was put into full effect again, as if Andros had never
interrupted it. An address was sent to the king, asking that the
charter be no further interfered with; but operations under it went on
as before. No decided action was taken by the home government for some
years, except that its appointment of the New York governor, Fletcher,
to the command of the Connecticut militia, implied a decision that the
Connecticut charter had been superseded.
Late in 1693 Fitz-John Winthrop was sent to England as agent to obtain
a confirmation of the charter. He secured an emphatic legal opinion
from Attorney General Somers, backed by those of Treby and Ward, that
the charter was entirely valid, Treby's concurrent opinion taking this
shape: "I am of the same opinion, and, as this matter is stated, there
is no ground of doubt." The basis of the opinion was that the charter
had been granted under the great seal; that it had not been surrendered
under the common seal of the colony, nor had any judgment of record
been entered against it; that its operation had merely been interfered
with by overpowering force; that the charter therefore remained valid;
and that the peaceable submission of the colony to Andros was merely an
illegal suspension of lawful authority. In other words, the passive
attitude of the colonial government had disarmed Andros so far as to
stop the legal proceedings necessary to forfeit the charter; and then
prompt action, at the critical moment, secured all that could be
secured under the circumstances. William was willing enough to retain
all possible fruits of James's tyranny, as he showed by enforcing the
forfeiture of the Massachusetts charter; but the law in this case was
too plain, and he ratified the lawyers' opinion in April, 1694. The
charter had escaped its enemies at last, and its escape is a monument
of one of the advantages of a real democracy.
[1] From Johnston's "History of Connecticut." By permission of,
and by arrangement with, the authorized publishers, Houghton,
Mifflin Co. Copyright, 1887, by Alexander Johnston.
THE COLONIZATION OF LOUISIANA
(1699)
BY CHARLES E.T. GAYARRE[1]
On February 27, 1699, Iberville and Bienville reached the Mississippi.
When they approached its mouth they were struck with the gloomy
magnificence of the sight. As far as the eye could reach, nothing was
to be seen but reeds which rose five or six feet above the waters in
which they bathed their roots. They waved mournfully under the blast of
the sharp wind of the north, shivering in its icy grasp, as it tumbled,
rolled, and gambolled on the pliant surface. Multitudes of birds of
strange appearance, with their elongated shapes so lean that they
looked like metamorphosed ghosts, clothed in plumage, screamed in the
air, as if they were scared of one another. There was something
agonizing in their shrieks that was in harmony with the desolation of
the place. On every side of the vessel, monsters of the deep and huge
alligators heaved themselves up heavily from their native or favorite
element, and, floating lazily on the turbid waters, seemed to gaze at
the intruders....
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|