Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/311

OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 71 dies of men prevents anything like the control of con science, and the most ruthless wrongs are committed, equally without reflection and without remorse. Mark Woolston had thought too much on the subject, to be the dupe of any of these visionary theories. Instead of fancying that, men never knew anything previously to the last ten years of the eighteenth century, he was of the opinion of the wisest man who ever lived, that there was nothing new under the sun. That circumstances might alter cases he was willing enough to allow, iioj^didLJie - intend to govern the crater by precisely the same laws as lie would govern Pennsylvania, or Japan ; but he well under stood, nevertheless, that certain great moral truths existed as the law of the humanTamlly, and that" they were not to be set aside by visionaries; and least of all, with impunity. Everything connected with the colony was strictly practi cal. The decision of certain points had unquestionably given the governor trouble, though he got along with them pretty well, on the whole. A couple of young lawyers had desired to go, but he had the prudence to reject them. Law, as a science, is a very useful study, beyond a question ; but the governor, rightly enough, fancied that his people could do without so much science for a few years longer. Then another doctor volunteered his services. Mark remem bered the quarrels between his father and his father-in-law, and thought it better to die under one theory than under two. As regards a clergyman, Mark had greater diffi culty. The question of sect was not as seriously debated half a century ago as it is to-day; still it was debated. Bristol had a very ancient society, of the persuasion of the Anglican church, and Mark s family belonged to it. Bridget, however, was a Presbyterian, and no small por tion of the new colonists were what is called Wet-Quakers ; that is, Friends who are not very particular in their opi nions or observances. Now, religion often caused more feuds than anything else ; still it was impossible to have a priest for every persuasion, and one ought to suffice for the whole colony. The question was of what sect should that one clergyman be? So many prejudices were to be con sulted, that the governor was about to abandon the project in despair, when accident determined the point. Among