WEST INDIES. 
CHAP. I.] 
15 
been condemned and deprived of his property un¬ 
heard ; and the monarch on the throne, who seems, 
through the whole of Ms unfortunate reign, rather 
to have wanted resolution to pursue the right path, 
than sagacity to discern it, trod back his ground a 
second time; for unable to resist the clamorous im¬ 
portunity of a worthless favourite, he v actually an¬ 
nulled the grant to the earl of Pembroke, and, by 
second letters patent to the earl of Carlisle, again 
restored to him the privileges of which he had 
himself a short time before deprived him. 
Thus, by an act of power which its repugnancy 
and absurdity alone rendered illegal, the earl of Car¬ 
lisle again found himself lord paramount of Barba- 
does ; and in order completely to ruin all the inte¬ 
rests in the colony of his competitor, he proceeded 
to distribute the lands to such persons as chose to 
receive grants at his hands on the terms proposed 
to them. A society of London merchants* accepted 
ten thousand acres, on conditions which promised 
great advantages to the proprietors ; but they were 
allowed the liberty of sending out a person to pre¬ 
side over their concerns in the colony, and they 
made choice for this purpose of Charles Wolfer- 
stone, who repaired to the island, accompanied 
with sixty-four persons, each of whom was autho¬ 
rized to take up one hundred acres of land. 
* The names of those merchants were Marmaduke Brandon, Wil¬ 
liam Perkin, Alexander Banister, Robert Wheatley, Edmond Foster, 
Robert Swinnerton, Henry Wheatley, John Charles, and John Far- 
fingdon. 
