A Masterpiece of Constitutional Folly. was in a state of ferment. An uprising might take place at any moment. On the I2th of March a third set of the fundamental constitutions was presented to the inhabitants of the Province, thirty-eight articles in all, which, it was declared, took the place of all "former instructions and laws." But in stead of lessening the dissatisfaction of the people, they increased it. An open conflict was imminent. On the one hand was the pride and interests of the Proprietors, and on the other the rights and privileges of the people as they claimed them under the text of the charter. In making their own sets of laws, which sought to evade all provision that secured to freemen the. right to participate in the government of the Province, the Pro prietors had not only wilfully disregarded the very spirit of the charter, but they had also proceeded in direct violation to its rulings, which declared that no laws could be made and enacted except " by and with the advice, consent, and approval of the freemen of the Province." The spirit of long suffering had reached its limit; endurance was no longer a virtue. The representatives of the people in the Par liament absolutely refused to accept the third set of the " constitutions," though again some modification had been made. A suc cession of stormy scenes ensued, among the stormiest in the history of the Province. The end was that the peoples' representatives were expelled from the Parliament. The
315
conflict was on in earnest. The people had taken their heads from the yoke; they would never put them back again. The Proprietors had now to face the situation, to pay heed to the demand of the people for a form of con stitutional government in accordance with their rights under the charter. As usual they dallied. An outbreak took place. The people seized and imprisoned Paul Gimbrall, the Secretary of the Colony, and took pos session of all public records. The whole Province was thrown into a state of revolu tion. The Proprietors promised satisfaction. Various remedies were proposed. Sets of laws were drafted and presented, and as per sistently rejected. Through the next twelve years the Proprietors clung lovingly to the va rious remnants of the old Model, inserting them into the patchwork of the new, but were forced in the end to abandon the very last shred of the " grand " pattern, and to in struct the governor of the Province to make provision for the framing of a system of gov ernment " suitable to the charter," to take the place of " the excellent system of Locke." They died game, in their pride at least. It took thirty years for " the Model " to run its course. Considering the temper of the freemen of the Colony and the fact that "the laws " were never constitutionally of force, the mystery is that it ever held to gether so long as it did.
