Читать книгу The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. With an account of the English settlement of the island of Jamaica онлайн

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A legislative council of twelve members, including a secretary, was formed under the presidency of the governor, which proceeded to enact ordinances and levy taxes for the expenses of the civil government, estimated at first at £1,640 per annum. Judges and justices of the peace were appointed, most of them as a matter of course being officers of the army. Colonel Philip Ward was commissioned as chief justice, to be soon succeeded by Colonel Samuel Barry. In confirming a sentence of death passed by the court, D'Oyley grimly remarked that it was necessary "to let them see that the law could do as much as a court martial."[31]

Immigrants arrived in considerable numbers from Barbados, Nevis, Bermuda, and even from New England. They were allotted tracts of land and began planting and breeding horses, horned cattle, and hogs. The willingness of many persons to migrate then from one colony to another whenever they became discontented with their condition deserves notice. At the end of the civil war and the subsequent hostilities with Spain, many soldiers and seamen had been discharged and were obliged by debt or poverty to seek a living out of England. Numbers of adventurous, reckless men gradually made their way to the West Indies in the hope of making a fortune as planters or privateers, preferring as a rule the latter occupation.