chap, iv.] WEST INDIES. 163 
By these, and a thousand other odious and in¬ 
temperate proceedings, the whole country became 
a party against him, and despatched an agent to 
England, to lay their grievances before the crown, 
adopting, in the first instance, all moderate and 
legal means to procure his removal; but from the 
•delays incident to the business, the people lost all 
temper, and began to consider forbearance as no 
longer a virtue. More than one attempt was made 
on the governor’s life, in the last of which he was 
grieviously, but not mortally, wounded. Unhap¬ 
pily, the furious and exasperated state of men’s 
minds admitted of no compromise, and the rash im¬ 
petuous governor was not of a disposition to soften, 
•or conciliate, if occasion had offered. 
At length, however, instructions came from the 
crown, directing Mr. Park to resign his command 
to the lieutenant-governor, and return to England 
by the first convenient opportunity; at the same 
time commissioners were appointed to take exa¬ 
minations on the spot, concerning the complaints 
which had been urged against his conduct. It 
would have been happy if the inhabitants of An¬ 
tigua had borne their success with moderation; but 
;the triumphant joy which they manifested, on re¬ 
ceipt of the Queen’s orders, provoked the governor 
into desperation. He declared, that he would con¬ 
tinue in the government in spite of the inhabitants, 
and being informed, that a ship was about to sail 
for Europe, in which he might conveniently have 
embarked, he refused to leave the country. In the 
