untrymen. Jeffries heard of the
scramble, and indignantly addressed the king:

"I beseech your majesty, that I inform you, that each prisoner will be
worth ten pound, if not fifteen pound, apiece, and, sir, if your majesty
orders these as you have already designed, persons that have not
suffered in the service will run away with the booty." Under this appeal
of the lord chief justice the spoils were divided and his honor was in
part gratified. Many of the convicts were persons of family and
education, and were accustomed to ease and elegance.

"Take all care," wrote the monarch, under the countersign of Sunderland,
to the government in Virginia, "take all care that they continue to
serve for ten years at least, and that they be not permitted in any
manner to redeem themselves by money or otherwise, until that term be
fully expired. Prepare a bill for the assembly of our colony, with such
clauses as shall be requisite for this purpose."

No legislature in any of the American colonies seconded such malice, for
the colonies were never in full accord with James II. Tyranny and
injustice peopled America with men nurtured to suffering and adversity.
The history of our colonization is the history of the crimes of Europe,
and some of the best families in America are descended from the indented
servants of the Old World.

In Bristol, kidnapping had become common, and not only felons, but young
persons of birth and education were hurried across the Atlantic and sold
for money.

Never did a king prove a greater tyrant or more inhuman and cruel than
James II. After the insurrection of Monmouth had been suppressed, all
the sanguinary excesses of despotic revenge were revived. Gibbets were
erected in villages to intimidate the people, and soldiers were
intrusted with the execution of the laws. Scarce a Presbyterian family
in Scotland, but was involved in proscription or penalties. The jails
were overflowed, and their tenants were sent as slaves to the colonies.
Maddened by the succession of murders; driven from their homes to caves,
from caves to morasses and mountains; death brought to the inmates of a
house that should shelter them; death to the benefactor that should
throw them food; death to the friend that listened to their complaint;
death to the wife or parent that still dared to solace husband or son;
ferreted out by spies; hunted with dogs;--the fanatics turned upon their
pursuers, and threatened to retaliate on the men