Page:Aristopia (1895).pdf/182

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functions of governor, and after the departure of Arundel the government of Aristopia moved on exactly as before his coming. The cautious old governor would rather pay out a few thousand pounds than to plunge the commonwealth into a struggle with the King or let the royalist tool remain to meddle with the affairs of the commonwealth.

But Arundel's pension was of short duration. The reckless and stubborn James so aroused England against himself that he was forced to abdicate in 1688, and Dutch William ascended the English throne. The pension to the nominal governor of Aristopia was immediately stopped, and the tool of the exiled king saw the hopelessness of any attempt to enforce the payment.

In the first year of the reign of James II the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II., raised an insurrection, which was speedily suppressed. A thousand of his followers were sold into servitude. Governor Morton's agents bought and shipped nearly all of them to Aristopia. Their joy may be imagined when they found themselves freemen in the new world, with brighter prospects than they had ever hoped for in their most prosperous days.