Orange in England reached Boston by way of Virginia. Outraged by the highhanded measures of Andros, the news caused great excitement. Andros, affecting to disbelieve it, undertook to imprison those who brought the information. But. the spirit of the people was fully roused. On the 18th of April, as the commander of the Rose frigate, which the governor had in the harbor, was stepping on shore he was seized by the crowd. The sheriff, endeavoring to disperse the mob, was similarly treated. The whole town was in commotion. The militia gathered together and formed under their old leaders; the ship's barge was intercepted, as it came off to rescue Andros, who had fled for safety to the fort, against which the guns of the battery were turned by the people. Andros, obliged to submit, was forthwith conducted to prison. Simon Bradstreet, now at the advanced age of eighty-seven, who had already honorably distinguished himself in office, happening to appear at this conjuncture, was pronounced governor by general acclamation. This sudden movement, by which the castle and frigate fell into the hands of the insurgents, was fully sustained by the population of the surrounding country, who rapidly flocked into Boston to the assistance of their brethren in the city. The news flew rapidly to Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, where similar risings took place. Connecticut brought forth her Charter from its hiding place, and Robert Treat was chosen governor; and in Rhode Island, though some difficulty was experienced in finding the men willing to assume the magistracy, Henry Bull, an energetic Quaker, was prevailed upon to accept the post of governor.
In Massachusetts there was some difference of opinion as to the wisdom of resuming the Charter. The majority of the people seemed to wish it, but the Council of Safety did not like to commit themselves to the measure. It was thought best therefore to wait a while, and send additional agents to England in behalf of the colony. Ashurt, Cooke, and Oates, were commissioned to act with Increase Mather in England for Massachusetts.
Although the news of William's accession had reached Virginia first of all, the Council were slow to act upon it; and, notwithstanding the wishes of the people, who were a good deal roused by apprehensions of a popish dynasty, the Council delayed till near the end of May before they proclaimed William and Mary "Lord and Lady of Virginia."
In Maryland, too, there was a rising, directed especially against the Roman Catholic rule. A rumor was put in circulation that those in authority had combined with the Indians with whom a treaty had been renewed in March to massacre all the Protestants.[1] John
- ↑ The history of the Protestant revolution in 1689 has never yet been fully written. But there is evidence upon the records of the English government to show it was the result of a panic, produced by one of the most dishonorable falsehoods which has ever disgraced any religious or any political party by the story, in a few words, that the Roman Catholics had formed a conspiracy with the Indians, to massacre the Protestants!"—See Mr. George Lynn-Lachlan Davis's "Day-Star of American Freedom," p. 87. We regret that this eloquent and high-toned work, vindicating the claim of the Roman Catholic founder and freemen
