PREFACE.

        The administration of Gov. Blakiston ran its course much more

      smoothly than that of the masterful Nicholson. Blakiston was an

      amiable man, and very desirous to keep on good terms with the

      Assembly, while they in turn liked, trusted, and respected him; and,

      in consequence, halcyon weather prevailed in the Province during his

      term of office.

        The Act for the Establishment of Religion which made the Church

      of England the Established Church of the Province, was the most

      important act of Blakiston's administration. It was not the first act

      of the kind: the first Assembly convened under the royal government

      IN 1692 passed an act establishing the Church of England and pro

      viding for the division of the counties into parishes and the election

      of vestrymen, and also for a tax of forty pounds of tobacco per poll

      for the support of the clergy. This act was modified by a supple

      mentary act in 1693, and in 1694 both were superseded by a third.

      This was disapproved by the crown, and a fourth was passed in 1696.

      This, however, contained a clause providing that the people of the

      Province should have the benefit of the laws of England in all cases

      where the provincial laws were silent. This clause was held not ger

      mane to the title of the act, which spoke of religion only, and it was

      therefore disallowed by the crown in 1699. Under the influence of

      Dr. Thomas Bray, commissary of the Bishop of London, an act was

      passed in 1700 [p. 91] which it was hoped would be satisfactory. It,

      however, contained a clause requiring the use of the Prayer-Book “in

      every church or other place of public worship ;“ and this deprived the

      Quakers and other dissenters of the measure of toleration they had

      enjoyed. It was seen that this act would not be approved by the

      crown; so Dr. Bray had a new bill drawn according to the instructions

      of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and this was passed by the

      Assembly in 1702 [p. 265] and substantially remained the law until

      the Revolution.

        It preserved the tax of forty pounds per poll for the support of the

      clergy, gave a certain amount of toleration to the Quakers and other

      Protestant Dissenters, but left the Roman Catholics, to the penal laws

      of England.