i6 
HISTORY OF THE [book hi. 
cent labours, was a demand of a contribution, 
which they stated would amount to ten per cent, 
on the clear profits of their estates for ever. 
But their complaints, though well founded, were 
unavailing. The king and his governor were too 
deeply interested to recede 5 the assembly was call¬ 
ed upon to forge chains for themselves and their 
children; and if persuasion should fail, force was not 
only at hand, but was actually employed to compel 
them to submission. Colonel Farmer, who led the 
party in opposition, was arrested and sent prisoner 
to England, on a charge of mutiny and treason, 
nor was he released till after a tedious and severe 
confinement. Awed by this example, and sensi¬ 
ble that no support could be expected from the peo¬ 
ple at home, whose privileges lay prostrate at the 
feet of the restored monarch, the assembly passed 
an act for the purposes required of them; and their 
posterity still bear, and it is apprehended will long 
continue to bear, the burthen of it!* 
* I have thought it may he satisfactory to the reader to have an op¬ 
portunity of perusing the act at large, which I therefore subjoin, pre¬ 
mising, that the clause which exempts the lands called the 10,000 acres-, 
and also that which stipulates for the building a sessions-house, and a 
prison, and providing for all other public charges incumbent on the 
government, out of the monies to be raised by the act, have been 
equally disregarded by the crown. The session-house and prison were 
not finished until the year 1730, and the expense (upwards of £.5,000) 
was then defrayed by a special tax on the inhabitants; and there was 
raised by other taxes no less a sum than £.19,440 ,j. 4 d. in three 
years (viz. from 1745 to 1748) for the repair of the fortifications. 
