[Footnote 148: Of the fitness of Jorgenson to discuss theological questions, the reader may judge from the following passage taken from his preface:--"No religion on earth, except the Christian, establishes the link of the chain which must necessarily exist between the creator and intelligent creature. After consulting history, chronology, the laws of mechanism and the laws of nature, as unfolded by observation and experience, he discovered that events must have happened nearly at the time mentioned, and precisely after the manner described. At length his mind was satisfied, that God had made our yoke easy and our burden light."--_Religion of Christ the Religion of Nature._ Written in the condemned cells of Newgate, by Jorgen Jorgenson, late governor of Iceland. Capes, London, 1827.] SECTION IV. The retirement of Lord Bathurst, and accession of Lord Goderich, gave some hope of a change in the form, if not the agents of government. The colonist expected much from the improved tone of the English executive; but, except the rescue of the press, the sole effect was a reduction of British expenditure for the civil government, and in 1827 its total cessation. Mr. Hood, a surgeon on half-pay, had offended Arthur by a letter: a _Gazette_ announcement informed him that he was placed under a ban;[149] and his name recorded, to prevent his participating in the "favors or indulgencies of the local government"--a help to official remembrance, which rulers seldom require. Thus official and opposition parties were organised: as the distinction became more marked, a social gloom overspread the capital. Whispers were heard with jealousy. The mercantile class, who alone could defy the government, and who were excluded from the "court circles," headed the opposition. "The official corps," said a satirical lady, who drew a picture of the times, "are punctilious; fearful of compromising their rank; all _etiquette_." The entertainments at government-house were ceremonies, rather than parties of pleasure. As the servant opened the door, he seemed to say, "you may come in, but don't speak." Some more daring spirit would venture a remark, as ballast is thrown out to send a balloon above the fogs; but caution, like Sancho's physician, interdicted the perilous indulgence, and restored the watchful silence. No Dutchman would willingly endure the Humdrumstadt on the Derwent, notwithstanding its natural advantages and commercial promise--a town without a library, and where the common spirit of detraction was exasperated by competition for those favors the governor could refuse or transfer. The presence of power was everywhere felt, and dreaded wherever it could not be defied.[150]