Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/83

Though Sir Edmund Andross was foiled in possessing himself of this instrument, he still proceeded to assume the government of Connecticut. He began, with protestations of regard for the welfare of the people, but his arbitrary sway so soon disclosed itself, that a historian of that period, remarked, that "Nero concealed his tyrannical disposition more years than Sir Edmund did months." The charges of public officers, during his administration, were exorbitant; the widow and fatherless, however distant or destitute, were compelled to make a journey to Boston, for all business connected with the testamentary settlement of estates; the titles of the colonists, to the lands which they had purchased, were annulled; and he declared all deeds derived from the Indians, "no better than the scratch of a bear's paw." At length, the spirit of the "Old Bay State" roused itself, determining no longer to submit to such oppression: and on the 18th of April, 1689, the Bostonians, aided by the inhabitants of their vicinity, made themselves masters of the Castle, and threw Sir Edmund and his council into prison, from whence they were remanded to England for trial.

When the abdication of James, and the establishment of William and Mary on the throne, removed the cloud from Great Britain and her dependences, the oracular Oak opened its bosom, and restored the intrusted Charter to the rejoicing people. This venerated tree stands on the domain, originally belonging