This Hon. John Johnson appears to have crept into the government with nothing more than a verbal commission from some great courtier; and it is said that, in order to gain the Antiguans over to his cause, he allowed them to frame and pass what acts they pleased. He was an officer in Colonel Thomas Whetham’s regiment, (the Enniskillen, or 27th regiment of the line,) where he held the rank of brevet-colonel. About the year 1706, after the government had devolved to the captain-general, Colonel Parke, Colonel Johnson had a fracas with a Mr. Poxton, a native of St. Christopher’s, which ended fatally to the ex-governor, and for which Mr. Poxton was tried for murder, but acquitted by a jury of his countrymen.
CHAPTER VII.
Governor Colonel Daniel Parke—His birth-place and parentage—His actions at the battle of Holchet and Blenheim—His arrival at Antigua—Dissensions with the Antiguans—Complaints against him sent to England—Results of the applications at the court of Queen Anne—Tyrannical behaviour of Colonel Parke—Events of the 7th December, 1710—Death of Colonel Parke.
The year 1706 is celebrated in the annals of Antigua as that in which that abominable and atrocious governor, Daniel Parke, arrived to blast for a time with his unhallowed breath this beautiful little island. Parke was an American of rather low birth, a tobacco-planter in the state of Virginia, but who succeeded in marrying a lady of good fortune, and of a respectable family in that province. As money was the only thing he cared for in this alliance, he contrived to secure that, and then left his wife a prey to sorrow and regret, for having sacrificed her peace for a handsome but unworthy man. After acting in this inhuman manner to a woman whose only fault was her love for him, Parke proceeded to one of the northern states, where he committed a crime at a gaming-table, which obliged him to fly to England to escape the punishment so justly due. Here he purchased an estate, situated near Whitchurch, county of Hants, of about 500l. a year, and got himself returned member for that borough. He was, however, expelled the House for bribery, and ordered to be prosecuted, but through the interference of the Earl of Pembroke, he eluded his trial. His next action was to form a liaison with a lady, the wife of a captain in the Guards; and, to escape the vengeance of the incensed husband, he left England, and fled into Holland, where he entered into the army as a volunteer, under the celebrated John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough.
The Duke of Marlborough appears to have been caught with Mr. Parke’s insinuating manners and agreeable person, and made him one of his aides-de-camp at the battle of Hochet; but having had a quarrel with an officer in the Queen’s Guards, Parke quitted the service a few days previous to the memorable battle of Blenheim. He still, however, remained within the precincts of the camp until the very day when that decisive action was fought; and when victory was about to be declared for the allied army, he presented himself before Marlborough, and requested that he might be the bearer of a line or two to acquaint the Queen of the glorious conquest likely to be achieved. The brave General reined up his panting war-horse, and with a heart bounding with exultation, and a face flushed with expected success, wrote, with a lead pencil, the following brief and soldier-like billet to his duchess:—
August 13, 1704.
“I have not time to say more, than to beg of you to present my duty to the Queen, and let her majesty know that her army has had a glorious victory. Monsieur Tallard and two other generals are in my court, and I am following the rest. The bearer, my aide-de-camp, Colonel Parke, will give her majesty an account of what has passed; I shall do it in a day or two, by another, more at large.
“Marlborough.”
At the English court, Colonel Parke gained the patronage of Sarah, the haughty but fascinating Duchess of Marlborough; through whose interest he became such a favourite with Queen Anne, that she presented him with her picture, richly set in diamonds, a purse of one thousand guineas, and afterwards made him governor and captain-general of Antigua and the rest of the Leeward Islands; where he arrived 6th July, 1706, in the squadron commanded by Capt. Kerr, and where he gave full scope to his licentious disposition.
Upon the first arrival of Colonel Parke, the assembly voted him 1000l. a year for house-rent, and great satisfaction was expressed at his appointment. It was not long, however, before this fair prospect of colonial happiness changed; and the governor, by his arbitrary behaviour, forfeited all claims to the good feeling and respect of the inhabitants. One of the earliest offences Colonel Parke gave the Antiguans, was his making a low man he brought to the island with him a member of the assembly. Being a vulgar man, he delighted in vulgar associates; and becoming acquainted with a private named Ayon, belonging to a regiment of foot stationed in Antigua, he prevailed upon the governor to appoint him provost- marshal. To the remonstrance of the Antiguans against this proceeding, Parke replied, he should make whom he chose provost-marshal; and that he would never appoint any person to that office who did not agree to act exactly as he wished, as well as empannel such juries as he should direct.
The next act of the governor gave equal displeasure. This was calling upon the Codrington family to shew their right to the Island of Barbuda,38 (which had been granted to General Codrington by William III.;) and the Antiguans not only felt interested in the affairs of him who had been their friend and governor, but they supposed Parke would also be calling upon them to shew their claim to their estates—an indignity which they felt no inclination to put up with.
Another crime of huge magnitude was the seduction of Mrs. Chester, the wife of Edward Chester, Esq., one of the most opulent of the Antiguan merchants, and a member of the house of assembly. Not content with injuring this gentleman in the deepest manner by thus robbing him of the affections of his wife, Colonel Parke, in his office of governor, proceeded to offer Mr. Chester every insult which a little mind was capable of. Upon one occasion, the governor had all his cocoa and other merchandise seized, on an unfounded suspicion of its being illegally gained; and then, supposing that all these several aggravations would cause him to be justly disliked, he (Colonel Parke) accused Mr. Chester of joining with other disaffected parties, in endeavours against his government; and, upon the plea of doing it for the establishment of the public peace, he broke into Mr. Chester’s house one evening, when that gentleman was entertaining a few of his friends, who were obnoxious to the governor—and, by the assistance of some of his armed sycophants, among whom was the provost-marshal, dragged Mr. Chester and his friends to prison. In order to give some face to his proceedings, Colonel Parke accused other gentlemen of joining in this pretended insurrection, and, accordingly, he sent some of his brutal partisans to an estate called “Denbows,” with orders to take into custody Mr. Ffrye and Mr. Cockran, (members of the assembly,) and bring them to town to stand their trial upon that charge. While the magistrates were taking depositions in this case, Sergeant Bowes, a creature of the governor, beat Captain Kallabane (one of the witnesses for the defendant) in the open court. For this offence the sergeant was broke by his colonel, and ordered to be whipped; but when this circumstance came to the ears of the governor, he immediately restored Bowes to his rank of sergeant, and protected him from all further punishment.
Another source of dissatisfaction, upon the part of the assembly, arose from the circumstance of the governor taking the soldiers off duty to watch his private property. The following extract, taken from a message addressed to his excellency from the members of the house of assembly, relates to this subject:—“We always conceived her Majesty’s troops were sent to do duty on our standing guards, and not to be altogether employed in guarding your excellency’s person, your several buildings, your lumber, your heaps of bricks, mortar, and pantiles.”
It must not be supposed that these were the only complaints alleged against Colonel Parke. His whole conduct, both in public and private life, was arbitrary in the extreme; and so supercilious was his treatment of the magnates of the island, that before he had held the government for twelve months, articles of impeachment were prepared to be forwarded to England.
In 1707, a petition was drawn up and signed by eighty of the principal inhabitants, praying for his recall; a sum of money