were spent at Boston in consolidating the legislation necessary for the future guidance of the government.

He had at this time the misfortune to lose his wife, who died January 22, 1687-8, and was buried in the church-yard adjoining King's Chapel.[6]

In April, 1688, Andros visited Portsmouth and Pemaquid, where he repaired the fort, and proceeding to Penobscot, he seized some property of Castine, a Frenchman who had settled there among the Indians. Returning to Boston, "he found a great promotion awaiting him in a new commission, creating him Governor of all the English possessions on the mainland, except Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia."[7] His command embraced New England, New York and New Jersey, with its capital at Boston.

In July, August and September, 1688, Andros made a tour through the Colonies, going through the Jerseys, and visiting New York city, Albany and Hartford. During this visit he had held a conference with the chiefs of the Five Nations, and had notified the Governor of Canada that these tribes were under the protection of the English. He must therefore have been surprised and disgusted to find that hostilities were imminent in the Colony of Maine. The cause of this outbreak was probably the resentment of Castine, whose property had been taken by Andros in the spring, and whose influence with the Penobscots was great.

At first, the Governor tried the effect of conciliation, but finding this useless, he collected some seven hundred troops,[8] and in November, 1688, he proceeded to Maine to defend the settlers there. He established and garrisoned several forts, a list of which will be found in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 3rd S. i. 85. At Pemaquid, he received information of the probable designs of the Prince of Orange upon England, and January 10th, 1689, he issued the Proclamation which will be found on p. 75 of the present volume.

He returned to Boston early in March,[9] and the chief event of that month was the accusation that he had entered into a conspiracy with the Indians against the Colony, a base and foolish calumny. On the 4th of April, 1689, the news of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England was brought to Boston from Nevis by John Winslow, who had a copy of the Prince's Declaration. Andros had been previously warned however, by his friends in New York.

From this time until the 18th of April, there were doubtless plots and conspiracies without end. On that day the people of Boston rose against Andros and his government, but no hint is given us of the real contrivers of the revolution. Palfrey, iii. 579, writes, "It would be very interesting to know when and how the rising in Boston was projected. But conspirators do not show their hands while they are at their game; and after the settlement under King William, it became altogether unsuitable for those who had been privy to the facts to let it be known that the insurrection at Boston was a movement independent of his enterprise." The contemporary accounts of the proceedings are numerous and full of detail. Byfield's Account was printed very soon and will be found in this volume; Hutchinson gives in his History, (i. 374-377,) a copy of a letter sent to Gov. Hinckley; Palfrey in the notes to his History, gives a number of citations from original papers, including the narrative of John Riggs, a servant of Sir Edmund's; and last, O'Callaghan, (N.Y. Col. Documents, iii. 722,) prints Andros's own version. The events themselves are so fully described in the following pages, that it is necessary to say only that Andros, who was in the fort on Fort-hill, was obliged to surrender on the first day, April 18th, and was lodged under guard at Mr. Usher's house. On the 19th he was forced to order the surrender of the Castle in the harbor, and the Rose frigate was also given up and partially dismantled. A provisional government was at once formed, and Andros was transferred to the custody of John Nelson at the fort. We have printed in the present collection a statement by the Captain of the Castle, of the good treatment afforded Andros and his companions. It seems by Byfield's story, that Sir Edmund made an unsuccessful attempt to escape disguised in woman's apparel, in April; he was more successful on the 2nd of August, when by the treachery of one of the corporals, he escaped from the Castle and reached Rhode Island. Waiting there too long, probably for some vessel bound to New York or to England, he was captured by Major Sanford and sent back to his former prison.

The following named persons were imprisoned with Andros. (R.I. Records, iii. 257.) "Joseph Dudley, Judge Palmer, Mr. Randolph, Lt. Col. Lidgett, Lt. Col. Macgregry, Captain George, Major Brockholes, Mr. Graham, Mr. West, Captain Treffry, Mr. Justice Bullivant, Mr. Justice Foxcroft, Captain White, Captain Ravencroft, Ensign Pipin, Dr. Roberts, Mr. Farewell, Mr. Jemeson, Mr. Kane, Mr. Broadbent, Mr. James Sherlock, sheriff, Mr. Larkin, Captain Manning, Lt. Jordaine, Mr. Cutler,"—25 in all, to which Byfield adds Mr. Crafford and Mr. Smith, and Hutchinson says that the number seized and confined amounted to about fifty. Probably some were soon released, or were too obscure in rank to be recorded.

It is our intention now to trace the personal fortunes of the deposed Governor, rather than the course of his successors. He was kept prisoner until February, 1690, when, in accordance with an order from England, Sir Edmund and his companions were sent thither for trial. The order, which was caused by letters which they had managed to convey to the Court, was dated July 30, 1689, but it did not reach Boston till very late in the year, and the prisoners were sent by the first opportunity.[10]

The Colony sent over Elisha Cooke and Thomas Oakes to assist their agents, Sir Henry Ashurst and Increase Mather, in prosecuting their charges against Sir Edmund and his associates. We find in the New York Col. Documents, iii. 722, and also in R.I. Records, iii. 281, an account by Sir Edmund of his administration, which is termed by Palfrey (iii. 587) "extremely disingenuous," though we cannot assent to this term. In it he says that he and his friends were sent to England "where, after summons given to the pretended agents of New England, and their twice appearance at the Council Board, nothing being objected by them or others, they were discharged."

Hutchinson, indeed, (i. 394,) attempts to lay the blame of this release of Andros and his more guilty associates, upon Sir John Somers, the counsel employed by the agents. It may be nearer the truth to say that Andros had committed no