the government from April till November, when Gabriel Johnston, a Scotchman and man of letters, received, through the influence of his patron, Lord Wilmington, the royal appointment. For nearly twenty years he prudently administered the affairs of the colony. At first he found a formidable obstacle to a successful management of the people in their disregard of laws and of gubernatorial dignitaries, imposed upon them by foreign authority. Many hard things have been said of the people by those who, perhaps, did not consider the neglect, mismanagement, and tyrannical provocation under which they lived for two generations, and the increasing intercolonial influences in behalf of popular sovereignty. One of the Virginia commissioners, for laying off (in 1727) the northern boundary, states that the borderers preferred to belong to the Carolina side, “where they pay no tribute to God or to Cæsar.” Governor Johnston, at this time, was in need of the latter kind of tribute. The salaries of the crown officers were to be paid from quit-rents due to the Crown, the collection of which depended on enactments of the assembly. The governor, finding great difficulty in having a satisfactory enactment passed, prorogued the assembly and attempted to collect the rents on his own authority. Not only was this resisted by the people, but the assembly, being again convened, denied the legality of the acts of the governor, and imprisoned his officers who had distrained for the rents.[733] The assembly was consequently dissolved (March, 1736). At the next session, in the following September, the governor addressed the representatives of the people on the general condition of the province, the lack of moral and educational advancement, and of proper regard for law and good order, and assured them “that while he was obliged by his instructions to maintain the rights of the Crown, he would show a regard to the privileges, liberties, and happiness of the people.” In the spirit of compromise a law was passed with the concurrence of the governor, but which the authorities in England rejected as yielding too much to the demands of the popular assembly.