38 J A M A I C A. 



yet recovered the blow which it received during the adminlftratioii 



of governor Kn ^s; who, in order to carry a favourite point 



againft the country, and in furtherance of this delign to gain a 

 majority in the two other branches of the legiflature, veiy artfully 

 cajoled into his intereft feveral opulent merchants and principal 

 inhabitants of Kingfton, by hinting to them a plan of removing 

 the feat of government, the courts of juftice, and public records, 

 to their town. The lucrative confequences of this proje6t were 

 defcribed in fuch captivating terms, that they joined heart and 

 hand with. .him to effe£t it; and at length, after a violent ftruggle 

 which threw the whole country into commotions, they fucceeded 

 by gaining a corrupt majority in the houfe of aflembly, garbled 

 by very iniquitous and illegal pra£lices. 1'he deprivation of thefc 

 main fupports, and the uncertainty of property in a town liable 

 to fuch mutations at the arbitrary will of a governor, reduced its 

 inhabitants to the utmoft dillrefs : fome quitted it ; and many per- 

 fons were deterred from purchafing land, or occupying houfes in 

 it ; while all thofc, who fubfifted in its neighbourhood by fup- 

 plying the market were agitated with the dread of inevitable ruin. 

 Upon a full difcuffion of this matter before the board of trade, and 

 a juft reprefentation fubmitted to the king in council, the fcheme 

 appeared fo wicked and injurious to private rights, as well as pub- 

 lic welfare, that the projector of it was recalled, and exprcfs in- 

 ftrudtions given his fucceflbr to fummon a new and legitimate af- 

 fembly of reprefentatives : which being complied with, they 

 paffed a law, reinftating the feat of government, offices of record, 

 &c. in Spanifli Town, and eflablifhing them there immutably: 

 and this law was afterwards confirmed by the crown. 



But the town has not yet recovered its former population and 

 Opulence. The proprietors of houfes and lands in and near it are 

 fcarcely yet free from apprehenfions of another removal ; and their 

 terrors have fince been awakened, more than once, by attempts 

 from the Kingfton quarter to repeat the blow, by purfuing the 

 former mode of acquiring an undue majority in the houfe of al- 

 fembly, for the purpole of repealing that law. Hence has arifen a 

 confirmed party in that branch of legiflature; and the great ftruggle 

 at every eledlion is, to regulate the balance of power in the new 



houfe. 



