where it remains to this day, though not in such a fair and gaudy
condition as the newspaper announcement. V
Under the fostering care of the East India Company, this little
colony continued to grow up and flourish, during the next hundred
and thirty-years. They lavished large sums of money upon it
in doing all that could be done to make it prosper ; they fortified it
in almost every spot where cannon could he placed, so that at the
present time it is dotted all over with obsolete batteries and guns.
They viewed it, in fact, as their pet child, and as many another has
done, it turned out in the end to be their spoilt child. So jealous
were they of its welfare, that lest it should in any way become contaminated,
they punished witchcraft severely, turned Quakers away,
and would not suffer a lawyer to dwell there, lest unnecessary litigation
should occupy the minds of the people. But with all their
anxiety, the Company was sadly unfortunate in the selection of its
clergy ; one after another they served to cause dissension instead ot
union, and to such an extent that, in 1719, Governor Pike deemed
it necessary to interfere, and very justly “ reprimanded the parson for
making great alterations and omissions in the Church service ; and
since then, to make us amends, he had read the prayer for the
Honble Company, hut leaves out their being Lords proprietors of the
Islan d ; and whereas, before it was used by all chaplains that has
been here to insert, immediately after the-petition for those in the
Company’s service abroad, these words ‘More especially the Gov1' and
Council of this p l a c e a n d since he constantly omitts that sentence,
and has given out by his brother that he don’t think them worth
praying for, the Governor says there is an old Proverb ‘No penny
no paternoster,’ so we say, no paternoster, no penny, and are very
well contented because we think the prayers of such a fellow can do
us but little good.” What effect the withholding of the parson s
salary had is not recorded, but there is reason to think it only
hardened him in the pursuit of his refractory course, because soon
after he was “ locked up and confined for persisting m reading the
collect, epistle, and gospel for the 1st Sunday in Advent after the
Governor call’d to him, in a very mild manner, saying ‘ Doctor, you
are wrong, this is the second Sunday in Advent.’
Neither was the Company always successful in obtaining very
high-class men to rule their Island people, for, during the temporary
succession of Governors Poirier and Goodwin, a period of disorder,
through their administrative weakness, occurred. The energy and
vigour of Captain John Roberts, who arrived in 1708, and Captain
Mashborne’s co-operation, however, caused matters to assume a
healthier state; industry was encouraged, lime burnt, Munden’s
Battery erected, sugar-canes planted, bricks and tiles made, with many
such undertakings, which gave employment to the islanders. The
succession of Captain Bouchier was unfortunate, for of him it is chiefly
recorded, that the Government gardens were laid waste and thrown
into pasture for his asses, of which he kept a numerous stud; and in
order to indulge in his favourite exercise of riding them in all
weathers he erected a shed 400 feet in length at the Company’s
expense. His eccentricities continued until the close of his government,
and it is said that “ he stripped Government House of all that
was portable when he left, even the locks and the keys from many
of the doors, and everything else that might be serviceable to him
on his voyage home.”
• At this period the population numbered 832, in about equal proportions
of whites and blacks, and it went on steadily increasing at
the rate of about forty-five or fifty each year.
Governor Pike’s speciality appears to have been agricultural
improvement. He also constructed the first safe roadway from the
town to the country by way of Ladder Hill. His administration was,
however, characterized by much severity, of which an anecdote is
told that some soldiers, whom he had unjustly punished, escaped
from the Island and his power in an open boat, and performed a
voyage of near 4500 miles, eventually arriving at Nevis. He was
transferred to Bencoolen, but was, in 1731, reappointed Governor
of the Island, where he died seven years afterwards. On the
13th June, 1719, Mr. Edward Johnson assumed the government,
and died after four years’ administration. The Senior Member
of Council, Mr. Edward Byfield, succeeded him for a short time
until Captain John Smith arrived from England, who is described
as a man capable of seeing others’ faults more than his own; and,
seeking popularity as a moral reformer, like others of his class,
fell into disfavour through his inconsistency, and by orders from the
Company was succeeded by Mr. Byfield, as Governor for the second
time.
The change that was coming over the Island, through the destruction
of the native vegetation, at this time attracted attention,