i8 HISTORY OF THE [book iii. 
and bloody, and the support which he received 
from the proprietor, had alienated the minds of the 
new settlers from power thus delegated and abused; 
and the proprietor’s authority lost ground every day. 
In the mean time the civil war in England caused 
many people, of peaceable tempers and disposi¬ 
tions, chiefly royalists to take refuge in this island; 
and the consequent ruin of the king’s affairs in¬ 
duced a still greater number, many of whom had 
consent, and approbation of the governor, council, and freeholders out 
of every parish of the island, intituled, A General Assembly for that 
purpose elected, made , and chosen. And it is thereby enacted, that 
none of those laws shall he altered, or any thing ad'ed to them, with¬ 
out the consent of a like General Assembly, And that every parish 
should have two representatives at least, to be elected by the free¬ 
holders. 
sd. An addition to an act intituled, “ An act for settling the estates 
and titles of the inhabitants of this island to their possessions ; n their 
several plantations within the same it is therein recited, that in a 
clause in the first act it is ordained, that all the inhabitants of this 
island, that were in quiet possession of any lands or tenements by 
virtue of any warrant from any former governor, or by conveyance 
or other act in law, from them who had the same warrant, should 
have, hold, and enjoy the same, as their f ee estate: and as some 
scruples had since arisen, whether an estate for life or inheritance 
might be construed from the same, for want of the words their heirs ; 
to the intent the same might be more fully explained, and all 
disputes of that kind for the future abolished, it is enacted, that by 
the words as their free estates , was meant, the whole estate and inhe¬ 
ritance of the respective plantations within this island, so that by 
Such possession in manner as by the said act is expressed, the said 
inhabitants are thereby adjudged and declared to have and to hold 
their lands of right to them, to dispose of or alienate, or otherwise to 
descend, or be confirmed to their heirs for ever.” 
