among the records, and that it be represented by Sir George Ayscue and the Commissioners to the Parliament of England, or the Council of State established by the authority of the Parliament: that an act made the 3rd day of October, whereby the inhabitants have been declared traitors, may upon this accord be taken off the file from among the records.

"7. That all and every the inhabitants of this island comprised in these articles be restored to all their lands and possessions, goods and moneys which they have in England, Scotland or Ireland.

"8. That no oaths, covenants, or engagements whatsoever be imposed upon the inhabitants of this island, who receive the benefit of these articles against their consciences.

"9. That all port-towns and cities under the Parliament's power shall be open unto the inhabitants of this island in as great a freedom of trade as ever, and that no companies be placed over them, nor the commodities of the island be ingrossed into private men's hands; and that all trade be free with all nations that do trade and are in amity with England.

"10. That whereas the excise upon strong liquor was laid for the payment of public debts, and other public uses; it is therefore agreed that the Lord Willoughby of Parham, and all employed by him, and all other persons whatsoever, shall be acquitted and discharged from the payment of any public debts, and that the same be discharged by the said excise, and such other ways as the General Assembly shall think fit; provided that care and respect therein had to such as have eminently suffered in their estates.

"11. That all persons be free at any time to transport themselves and estates when they think fit, first setting up their names, according to the custom of this island.

"12. That all persons on both sides be discharged and set free with the full benefit of enjoying these articles, and that all horses, cattle, servants, negroes and other goods whatsoever, be returned to their right owners, except such servants as had freedom given them, and came on board before Saturday the third of January.

"13. That such particular persons as are in this island, together with Sir Sydenham Pointz, who have estates in Antegoa, may peaceably return thither, and there enjoy the benefit of these articles.

"14. That for a certain time all executions be stopped, sufficient caution being given, that at the expiration of it payment be made, and that the Commissioners, together with the General Assembly, be judges of the time and caution.

"15. That the three small vessels or barks now on ground before the Bridgetown do remain to their owners, and have liberty to go to any port laden. "16. That the Lord Willoughby of Parham have all his lands, rents, or estate whatsoever real and personal in England (without any fine or composition paid) restored to him, or his assigns, free from all incumbrances laid on the same by the Parliament of England, or any by them authorised since the time of its first seizure or sequestration; and that what settlements the said Lord Willoughby of Parham has made at Surinam, or any other he shall make on any part of the main of Guiana, shall be by him enjoyed and kept without any

disturbance either of himself or those that shall accompany him thither, and that he has free liberty to bring servants from any part in England or Ireland, and that his plantation in Antegoa according to the bounds already laid out be reserved to him; and that what state soever of right doth belong unto the said Lord Willoughby of Parham in this island of Barbados be to him entirely preserved.

“17. That all such persons of this island or elsewhere, whose estates have been sequestered or detained from them upon the public difference be forthwith restored to their plantations, goods or estates in the island.

"18. That the island of Barbados with all the forts, sconces and fortifications thereof, and all the artillery, all public arms and ammunitions be delivered up into the hands of Sir George Ayscue for the use of the States of England, before Monday twelve of the clock at noon, being the twelfth of this instant January, and that no garrison be kept here, but that all the forces shall be disbanded within twenty-four hours after the sealing of these articles; and that for the safety of the island, the militia shall be disposed of as to the Parliament, Commissioners and future Governors shall seem fit; these articles not to be construed to take away the private arms of any particular person within this island.

"19. That the government of this island be by a Governor, Council and Assembly, according to the ancient and usual custom here: that the Governor be appointed by the States of England, and from time to time received and obeyed here, the Council be by him chosen, and an Assembly by a free and voluntary election of the freeholders of the island in the several parishes; and the usual custom of the choice of the Council be represented by the Commissioners to the Parliament of England, or to the Council of State established by authority of Parliament, with the desires of the inhabitants for the confirmation thereof for the future.

"20. And whereas, it has been taken into serious consideration, that the main and chief cause of our late troubles and miseries has grown by loose, base and uncivil language, tending to sedition and derision, too commonly used among many people here: it is therefore further agreed that at the next General Assembly a strict law be made against all such persons, with a heavy penalty to be inflicted upon them that shall be guilty of any reviling speeches of what nature soever, by remembring or raveling into former differences, and reproaching any man with the cause he has formerly defended.

"21. It is agreed that the articles may with all convenient speed be presented to the Parliament of England, to be by them ratified and confirmed to all intents, constitutions and purposes.

"22. It is further agreed that all laws made heretofore by General Assemblies, that are not repugnant to the law of England, shall be good, except such as concern the present differences.

"23. That the right honorable the Lord Willoughby have free liberty to go into England, and there to stay or depart at his pleasure without having any oath or engagement put upon him, he acting or attempting nothing prejudicial to the State or Commonwealth of England.

"In witness whereof we the Commissioners appointed by the Lord Wil

loughby of Parham, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 11th day of January 1652.

"It is my pleasure that the above-written articles be published by the several ministers in this island. Given under my hand this 17th of January 1652,

'This is a true copy with the original attested by me. "Jo. JENNINGS,

Clerk of the Assembly."

"GEORGE AYSCUE.

These articles appeared so advantageous and mild that the inhabitants would have had every reason to congratulate themselves if they had been held inviolable. Two months however had not passed since the signing of the treaty, when the new Legislature which had been elected and summoned passed (on the 4th of March) an act by which Lord Willoughby was ordered to embark on the 12th of March on board the ship called the Red Lion, under penalty of being considered an enemy to the peace, nor was he to return unless permitted by Parliament. A similar act was passed the same day, banishing for the term of one year Colonel Humphry Walrond, Mr. Edward Walrond, Colonel Shelly, Major Byam, Lieutenant Colonel Guy, Colonel Ellis, Captain Jarmin, Captain Bowcher, and Captain Usher'. To justify this harsh measure, which was a direct violation of the sixth article of the convention, a peculiar kind of sophistry was employed. It was asserted that these individuals could not justly say that any wrong had been committed towards them, as this banishment was the act of their representatives, whom they had themselves assisted in electing, and it was a maxim both in law and reason that no man can strictly call that a wrong done to him which is done with his own consent.

On the 12th of March Sir George Ayscue signed an act of the Legislature, authorising Colonel Daniel Searle, one of the States Commissioners, to take upon him the government without dissolving the Assembly, and another providing that all acts passed under Lord Willoughby for the defence of the island were to be repealed, expunged and blotted out

1 An Act was passed the 17th September 1652, enjoining them not to return even after the stipulated period without having first received permission from the Parliament.

of the books of records, "to the intent that they may be no more seen and perused, but buried in oblivion."

Sir George left Carlisle Bay on the 29th of March, and arrived in Plymouth in the ensuing June, with thirty-six prizes from Barbados1.

On the 7th of September 1652, such of the statutes of former days as had been approved of, as well as those which had been made since the island was taken by Sir George Ayscue, were published in the churches. They consisted of one hundred and two acts and statutes?.

Governor Searle administered the government to the general satisfaction; numerous laws were passed, and the island seemed to recover from the effects of the internal conflict. In December 1652, the Legislature enacted that a regiment of horse should be established: every proprietor of a hundred acres of land had to provide an able man and horse wellaccoutred. It was considered that such a militia would prove very efficient; "since, by the blessing of God on the labours of the inhabitants of this island, the same in many places had become open and champaigne ground, which would greatly facilitate their military operations."

A number of persons who were apprehended on account of the Salisbury rising of Penruddock and Grove, were sold to Barbados for fifteen hundred and fifty pounds of sugar each, more or less, according to their working faculties. Two of these unfortunate men, Marcellus Rivers and Oxenbridge Foyle, petitioned Parliament on behalf of themselves and their fellow-sufferers to be released: they stated in their memorial that having been taken prisoners at Exeter and Ilchester, the greater part had been imprisoned without trial, and without having been implicated in the Salisbury plot. After a year's imprisonment, they were taken out of confinement by the command of high-sheriff Copleston, driven through the streets of the city of Exon by a guard of horse and foot, and hurried to Plymouth, on board the ship John of London, Captain John Cole master, where they remained lying fourteen days, and were carried to Barbados. During their passage they were kept locked up under deck amongst horses. They arrived in Barbados on the 7th of May 1656, and were sold as the goods and chattels of Martin Noel, Major Thomas Alderne of London, and Captain Henry Hatsell of Plymouth. Among these unfortunate men were divines, officers and gentlemen, who were employed in menial work, "grinding at the mills, attending at the furnaces and digging in that scorching island, being bought and sold from one planter to another, or attached like horses or beasts for the debt of their masters, being whipped at the whipping-post as rogues, and sleeping in sties worse than hogs in England." Augustine Greenwood, Nicholas Broadgate, Master Diamond, a Devonshire gentleman, who was 1 Whitelocke's Memorial, p. 534.

2 They were published by John Jennings, clerk of the Assembly, and are dated 'Barbados, from my office at Indian Bridge, July 9th, 1654.”

at the time he was sold seventy-six years of age, are mentioned as being among these poor wretches1.

The Lord Protector had declared war against Spain, which power he accused of having committed the greatest cruelties towards the English in the West Indian Colonies. A strong squadron under Admiral William Penn and Colonel Venables, consisting of thirty sail, and manned by three thousand men, arrived in 1655 in Barbados, where they were reinforced by a troop of horse raised in the island at the expense of the inhabitants, and three thousand five hundred volunteers.

The expedition sailed from Carlisle Bay on the 31st of March, with the object of reducing Hispaniola, in which they completely failed. The fleet then sailed for Jamaica, where they were more successful; they took possession of the island, and forced the Spaniards to evacuate it. This new conquest opened a wide field for English enterprize, and many opulent planters from Barbados and other islands settled in Jamaica, where land could be procured at a cheap rate.

Cromwell died in 1658; he had appointed his eldest son Richard to succeed him, but the mild character of the latter rendered him unfitted to hold the reins of a government composed of such heterogeneous and troublesome persons; and having been compelled by the mutinous officers to dissolve Parliament, he voluntarily abdicated the Protectorship in April 1659.

The committee of public safety, who assumed the management of the national affairs, appointed Colonel Thomas Modyford Governor of Barbados on the 16th of July 1660. The active part which he took when Sir George Ayscue blockaded Barbados, no doubt recommended him to the Council of State. His administration was short, as the restoration of Charles the Second produced a change in the affairs of government. The Legislature passed an act during that period limiting the existence of the General Assembly to one year, in order to render the representatives more dependent upon the constituency.

16

'England's Slavery, or Barbados Merchandize. Represented in a petition to the high and honourable court of Parliament, by Marcellus Rivers and Oxenbridge Foyle, Gentlemen, on behalf of themselves and three-score and ten more of freeborn Englishmen, sold uncondemned into slavery. London, printed in the eleventh year of England's liberty, 1659.'