Page:Aristopia (1895).pdf/170

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chapter XVII.

The terrible storm of civil war in England between the partisans of the King and those of the Parliament was almost unfelt in the American colonies, and especially in Aristopia. Its principal effect was to send many royalist refugees to Virginia, when the King's cause met with final disaster, and many to Aristopia of those who abhorred the excesses of both sides. Though Governor Morton had little cause to complain of Charles I, he naturally hoped the struggle might pave the way for a republic in England. Seeing in Cromwell, after the execution of Charles, the man in whom he thought lay England's only hope of extrication from the anarchy into which the factions of Parliament had plunged the country, he sent that general ten thousand pounds to assist him.

In 1649 Governor Morton went to Holland, with a large amount of gold, to arrange some business in person, being also desirous of see-