ose whom they called "the enemy to the peace of the island."

This was to have been published on April 15, 1650, and kept secret until
proclaimed, to prevent trouble. But it appears that Colonel Codrington,
a member of the Assembly, divulged it in his cups, for which he was
fined twenty thousand pounds of sugar, and banished from the island. A
deputation of Parliamentarians then waited upon the Governor, to enter
their protest against the new law, and were asked to leave the matter in
his hands, as he had to deal with "violent spirits." Finally, the
proclamation was delayed, on the ground that there were many errors in
the copy, and the two parties stood at bay.

On the 23rd of April the Roundheads petitioned the Governor to issue
his writ for a new Assembly, on the ground that the present body had sat
for its full term. This he agreed to do, and thus alienated the
Cavaliers, who said he was a most emphatic Roundhead and enemy to the
king. Handbills and posters now began to be circulated calling attention
to the "damnable designe" of the Independents, of which, they said,
Colonel Drax, "that devout zealot (of the deeds of the Devil, and the
cause of that seven-headed Dragon at Westminster), is the Agent." One of
the writers declared that he should think his best rest but disquiet
until he had sheathed his sword in the bowels of the same obnoxious
personage.

The Cavaliers were still adding to their numbers by the arrival of more
refugees, while Colonel Drax and his friends fell into the background.
The new-comers had mostly been ruined by the civil war, and were
naturally desirous of doing something to retrieve their fortunes; it
followed, therefore, that anything that led to the confiscation of the
estates of the obnoxious party would be to their advantage. The
Cavaliers set to work to rouse the island by going about on horseback,
fully armed, everywhere challenging those they met to drink the health
of Charles the Second and confusion to the Independent dogs. This, with
the rumours of a Roundhead plot and the various manifestoes, induced the
Governor to issue a proclamation declaring that in future if any persons
spread such scandalous papers they would be proceeded against as enemies
of the public peace, at the same time forbidding any one to take up arms
in a hostile manner.

This produced little effect, for the leader of one of the roving bands,
Colonel Shelley, refused to disband. On this the Governor issued
c