scarce less imperfect; but there are some manuscripts amongst the archives of that board, which throw a glimmering light upon the intrigues and animosities which prevailed during this administration. Sir Thomas Modyford is charged with two faults; a boundless ambition, and a suspicious temper, which was always haunting him with imaginary enemies. He envied the wealth, or feared the influence, of the patentees, the total extirpation of whose authority he contemplated as necessary to secure his own. Under a frivolous pretence, he deprived Major Povey, the island secretary, of his office; and bestowed it on his own nephew. He perversely directed writs for Port Royal, to Major Man, the surveyor-general, who was a magistrate there; and the election of Beeston and Loveing was opposed. It was urged that another should have been returned in Loveing's room. Many harsh epithets issued from the Speaker's chair upon this occasion; and nothing could be done until the election was allowed or annulled. At length it was carelessly put to the vote, not whether Loveing's election only, but the election at Port Royal, were correct; and it was declared illegal. Beeston walked to the bar, thanked the House for freeing him from a troublesome duty, and took his leave; but he was recalled by the Speaker, who assured him that the Assembly meant not him, but Loveing: thus the vote was entered in the Journals contrary to the express words of it. Beeston however withdrew;

refused to obey the warrant, and was committed to prison. The Governor, to inflame the wound, perhaps, nominated Provost-marshal Lynch to the council, and to the bench. Under his patent, he was desired to bring Beeston before the council; and was then arraigned and deposed, for so far demeaning the dignity of a judge. The office of surveyor-general was subdivided by the moderation, or malice, of the governor, and rendered of no value; while the spirit of party caused the "business of the house," I adopt the language of the record, "to go on like bells rung by boys, all jarring; and every day caused more ill-blood."

In November the Assembly adjourned till March; and, to heal all differences, the members resolved to give the governor and council a public dinner. The wine, however, produced an inflammation of old wounds, and, in an unlucky moment, Captain Rutter, a member of Assembly, was killed by Major Joy of the council. When the House met again, it was but to be adjourned, and never to be resumed during this administration; but most of the members, before they parted, received commissions of the peace. The dissension between the Governor and the Assembly, though originating in individual prejudice, was ostensibly founded on the omission of the King's name in the enacting clause of the Revenue bill. This caused the subsequent commitment of Mr. Long, the clerk, under the governor's warrant ; in whose instructions the due form of enactment had

been prescribed. An objection was urged by Mr. Long, and supported by the House, to the insertion of the King's name in a money-bill, whose provisions, taking immediate effect, differed essentially from those of all other acts which were not in force until confirmed at home. The spirit of this legislative effort was, however, to exclude the crown from the privilege of a double negative; and if the point had been carried in this instance, the same form might have been introduced into all other acts; which would have established the desired principle, "that the Governor being here the representative of the Crown, his act should bind the Crown; and the operation of the laws thus passed should not be impeded or suspended, by waiting for the King's determination upon them."

This early spirit of opposition to the parent state served only to hasten the arrangement then under consideration, for introducing a new system of colonial legislation, so planned as to deprive the Assembly of the means of defending itself against any future act of tyranny exercised by the Crown: an experiment which produced the memorable struggle which was carried on, with little intermission, through sixty-four successive years.

War was again proclaimed against Holland, and De Ruyter was hovering around this island with a powerful fleet. The privateering system, however, continued unabated. An expedition was prepared against Curaçoa, and five sail were intrusted to

A.D.

Lieutenant-general Morgan, who succeeded only in the attempt upon Eustatia and Saba, where he died. Another expedition, under Captain Fack1665. man, met with better success in the plunder of Tobascoe and Villa de Moos, in the bay of Mexico. About the same period the Royal African Company's factors first came to Jamaica to arrange their slavetrade. Ships from Carthagena soon crowded the Jamaica ports, eager to purchase them; and they were profusely furnished by the Company, under the advantageous terms of the Spanish contract. But the Governor, finding the monopoly ill suited to his views of personal interest, broke the agreement; and although charged to preserve peace with Spain,

and to stop the system of privateering, Feb. 22. he assumed the extraordinary power of proclaiming war. The eloquence of entreaty, or the force of gold, prevailed; and commissions were issued with greater liberality than ever. It has even been affirmed that Sir Thomas Modyford

A.D. 1666.

was pleased graciously to accept a leopard's skin filled with pistorins, as a fine for the irregularity of requesting them. Certain it is, that, under his sanction alone, the town of Saint Spiritus, in Cuba, was plundered; Providence taken, garrisoned by British troops, and lost again to the Spaniards; while Charles, with that want of faith which was characteristic of his weakness, connived at these lawless, but profitable, acts of his representa

A.D. 1667.

During these eventful times of predatory prosperity, the planting interest was not forgotten; for Modyford, determining to profit by his power, had patented vast tracts of land, on which he erected salt-works, and planted cocoa groves. These, however, never thrived in English hands; and Beeston discovered, and officially reported, a reason, in the appearance of a comet, on the fourth of December, 1664: "the forerunner,' he said, "of the blasting of the cocoa-trees; after which time they generally failed in Jamaica." The plunder of Porto Bello amply compensated the damage sustained by the comet; "the Oxford frigate arrived, sent by the King to countenance the war with Spain. Certain persons then entered into a kind of co-partnership with the Governor, in behalf of Charles, to supply the pressing necessities of that monarch from this illegitimate source *." Captain Collier was immediately appointed to the Oxford, and sent to the rendezvous at the Isle de Vache. There he seized a French ship commanded by M. Vivien, whom he sent in chains to Port Royal, although peace with both France and Holland had been long concluded. An attempt on Carthagena was resolved on; and a general invitation 1668. to celebrate this promising expedition, assembled all the officers of the fleet. While at dinner the ship blew up; two hundred and fifty men were destroyed; and Morgan alone, with those who sat on

A.D.

*Beeston's Narrative.