igious toleration, but were not willing to
grant to others who differed from them in their religious belief the
same privileges as they themselves enjoyed.

The company discovered by degrees that the Bermudas were not the
Eldorado which they had fondly imagined them to be. The colonists were
now numerous, and every day showed a strong disposition to break away
from the control of the company. The company had issued an order
forbidding the inhabitants to receive any ships but such as were
commissioned by them. The company complained against the quality of
tobacco shipped to London, as well as the quantity.

The people were forbidden to cut cedar without a special license, and as
they were in the habit of exporting oranges in chests made of this wood,
the regulation operated very materially to the injury of the place.
Previous to this order many homeward-bound West Indiamen arrived at
Castle Harbor to load with this fruit for the English market. Whaling
was claimed as an exclusive privilege, and was conducted for the sole
benefit of the proprietors. Numerous attempts were made to boil sugar,
but the company directed the Governor to prevent it, as it would require
too much wood for fuel.

In consequence of instructions from England Governor Turner called upon
all the inhabitants of the islands to take the oath of supremacy and
allegiance to his majesty, but as the Puritans had left their native
country on account of their republican sentiments, they refused to
comply, and the prisons were soon filled to overflowing.

The rapid change of affairs in England during the civil war, in which
the Puritans were victorious, and Cromwell was elevated to the
Protectorship, opened the doors of the prisons, and stopped all further
persecutions, both political and religious.

It must be said in favor of the company that they had, at an early
period, established schools throughout the colony, and appropriated
lands in most of the tribes or parishes, for the maintainance of the
teachers.

From 1630 to 1680 many negro and Indian slaves were brought to the
colony; the negroes from Africa and the West Indies, and a large number
of Indians from Massachusetts, prisoners taken in the Pequot and King
Philip's wars. The traces of their Indian ancestry can readily be seen
in many of the colored people of these islands at the present time.

In October, 1661, the Protestant inhabitants were alarmed by rumors of a
proposed combination between