This year (1705) a general council and assembly was held at Nevis, when an act was passed to regulate such meeting, and retain for each island its several laws. In future, the general assembly was to consist of five freeholders, elected from each respective island within the government. No member was to be sued or arrested for debt ten days before or after the sessions; and, while serving in general council and assembly, each member was to be paid 20s. per day, and their expenses allowed them for going from island to island. ------ [34] “A stool, in which scolds are tied, and _ducked_ under water.”—Dr. Johnson. [35] For a genealogy of the Codrington family, see Appendix, No. 9. [36] Vide Mathew pedigree, Appendix, No. 10. [37] 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.