~^/ 



104 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



that ' he that makes a present of the most Quintals is sure to 

 have the matter determined in his favour' — an observation 

 which recalls Macaulay*s essay on Bacon. In their capacity 

 j' of judges the convoy-captains used to issue orders and edicts, 

 * of which/ says Larkin, ' there has not been any registry/ so 

 that * what one commander-in-chief hath confirmed the next 

 hath vacated. I have prevailed with this' convoy-captain 

 (i 701) 'to leave an abstract of all such as have been made 

 during his time ', whereby these pretorian edicts of the sea 

 became perpetual, and the decisions began to mature into a 

 code ; began only, because the records were not continued, 

 and twenty-seven years later similar records were introduced 

 into Placentia by Lord Vere Beauclerk, who seemed to regard 

 himself as their inventor. As soon as commandants were 

 appointed they imitated their appointers when their appointers 

 were away. They were as evanescent as the convoy-captains, 

 and Gibson, Handasyd, Lilburne, Haven, Powell, Richards, 

 Lloyd, and Moody succeeded one another in the first seven 

 years. Of these imitation-governors, Handasyd provisioned 

 kthe inhabitants in a time of want ; and Lilburne charged fees 

 [for issuing warrants, and imprisoned or fined runaway ser- 

 vants and tyrannous masters, and, it being doubtful into whose 

 pockets the fees and fines went, was recalled. The r61e of 

 judging 'greiveiences . . . im abscent of the convoy' was thrust 

 upon Powell ; ^ and it was a role which neither his inclination 

 nor his orthography qualified him to assume. Lloyd was the 

 too-willing arbiter, and plied the stick too readily with his own 

 hands. Under him legislation began, and he persuaded or 

 forced the inhabitants — the better sort of whom were nothing 

 loath — to bring timber for the fort and for the boom across the 

 harbour-mouth (1703-4). He levied services, and not only 

 services, but for spying purposes, as we saw, a subsidy or 

 voluntary tax. He also exacted tithes in the shape of three 



■ ^ Captain Powell's dispatch, Oct. 12, 1702. 



