such as were made and published by his Excellency and Council, or the laws of England where they had not provided." As towns could no longer hold meetings "to make complaints of grievances," so, before long, "whereas by constant usage any person might remove out of the country at his pleasure, a law was made that no man should do so without the Governor's leave";- a measure reasonably regarded by the people as an interdiction of attempts to seek redress in England.2 When these strong measures had taken partial effect, and it seemed that opposition, if not crushed, was intimidated and disabled, the business of vacating the an cient titles to land was entered upon with new vigor. Several instances of this sort of proceeding are on record, attested by the oaths of the parties concerned. Under this sanction, Joseph Lynde, of Charlestown, a man of character and of substance, told his story as follows: .... of intrusion. "In the year 1687, Sir Edmund Andros . . . . did inquire of him, the said Lynde, what title he had to his lands; who showed him many deeds for land Issue of writs that he the said Lynde possessed, and particularly for land that the said Lynde was certainly informed would quickly be given away from him if he did not use means to obtain a patent for it. The deed being considered by Sir Edmund Andros, he said it was worded well, and recorded according to New-England custom, or words to the same purpose. He further inquired how the title was derived. He, the said Lynde, told him, that 1 Conn. Rec., III. 441. 2 Revolution in New England Justified, &c., 12; Vindication of New England, 11; comp. Sixth Collection of Papers relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England, 30.—The title of this Act was, "An Act requiring all Masters of Ships or Vessels to give Security." I do not know the date of its enactment; but, though "moved" when "Mr. Mather was known to be intending for New England," which was in the spring of 1688, it was opposed in Council in Boston, and was at last "carried as far as New York, and there an opportunity found for the obtaining of it." (Narrative of the Proceedings, &c., 8.) But Andros held no Council in New York till after midsummer of 1688. he that he bought it of had it of his father-in-law in marriage with his wife; and his said father, from Charlestown; and the said town, from the General-Court grant of the Massachusetts Bay, and also by purchase from the natives. And he said, my title was nothing worth if that were all. At another time, after showing him an Indian deed for land, he said that their hand was no more worth than a scratch with a bear's paw, undervaluing all my titles, though every way legal under our former Charter government. I then petitioned for a patent for my whole estate; but Mr. West, Deputy-Secretary, told me, I must have so many patents as there were counties that I had parcels of land in, if not towns. Finding the thing so chargeable and difficult, I delayed; upon which I had a writ of intrusion served upon me, in the beginning of the summer, 1688. ..... I I gave Mr. Graham, Attorney-General, three pounds in money, promising that, if he would let the action fall, I would pay court charges, and give him ten pound when I had a patent completed for that small parcel of land that said writ was served upon me for.. . About the same time Mr. Graham, Attorney-General, asked said Lynde what he would do about the rest of his land, telling him, the said Lynde, that he would meet with the like trouble about all the rest of his lands that he possessed, and, were it not for the Governor's going to New York at this time, there would be a writ of intrusion against every man in the Colony of any considerable estate, or as many as a cart could hold; and, for the poorer sort of people, said Sir Edmund Andros would take other measures, or words to the same purpose."1 1 Revolution Justified, &c., 20-22; Frothingham, History of Charlestown, 219.- Randolph had a sentiment for the picturesque. Among his other ambitions was that of appropriating to himself the peninsula of Nahant, now the summer resort of luxurious Bostonians. (Lewis, History of Lynn, 171 – 175.) The Selectmen of Lynn had a sharp struggle for this promontory, describing it as "the only secure place for the grazing of some thousands of their That this system of extortion might not fail through any hope of indulgence on the part of the government, writs of intrusion were served upon some of the most considerable of those persons who did not come forward to buy new patents for their lands. Samuel Shrimpton, a man of large property, was a Counsellor by the King's appointment. If he could not be spared, less important men could scarcely hope for favor. The rent of Deer Island, in Boston harbor, had from an early time been appropriated to the maintenance of a school. Shrimpton hired the island of the town, and kept it by a tenant. Sherlock, the sheriff, came thither and seized the tenant, "and turned him and his family afloat on the water when it was a snowy day, and put two men, whom he brought with him, into possession of the said island, as he said on behalf of King James the Second." ... Two of the Selectmen made oath to a conversation which on that occasion occurred between themselves and Gra ham, the Governor's Attorney. "We, the deponents, told him we would answer in behalf of the town. The sheep, and without which their inhab- new patents gratis, that others might be drawn in by the anthority of his example; but, when he was apprised of their design, he chose rather to have his lands seized (and they were seized) than by such a base compliance betray his countrymen." This explains the record of the Council for December 19, 1687, at which time Dudley and others had the property of certain lands and houses confirmed to them, without any condition of quitrent. So resolute a man as Judge Samuel Sewall yielded to the seeming necessity. He wrote to Increase Mather, July 24: "The generality of people are very averse from complying with anything that may alter the tenure of their lands, and look upon me very sorrowfully that I have given way." (Mather MSS., VII. 28.) said Graham replied, there was no town of Boston, nor was there any town in the country. We made answer, we were a town, and owned so to be by Sir Edmund Andros, Governor, in the warrant sent us for making a rate. Then the said Graham told us we might stand the trial, if we would; but bid us have a care what we did, saying it might cost us all we were worth, and something else too, for aught he knew."1 June 21. The people of Plymouth Colony were much incensed by ill-treatment offered to Mr. Wiswall, minister of Duxbury. Clark's Island, in Plymouth harbor, had been appropriated to the support of the poor of that town. Andros gave it to the Counsellor Nathaniel Clark, one of his creatures. Mr. Wiswall interested himself in a collection of some money, by voluntary contribution, to defend at law the right of the town. This was construed as an offence, and Mr. Wiswall was summoned to Boston to answer for it. "He was then lame in both feet with the gout, fitter for a bed than a journey; therefore wrote to the Governor, praying that he might be excused until he should be able to travel, and engaged that then he would attend any court." But the Governor was inexorable, and the minister had to go to Boston. There, the Council having kept him standing in their presence" till the anguish of his feet and shoulders had almost overcome him," he was compelled to enter into a recognizance for a second appearance, and to pay more than four pounds for fees. These hardships were repeated, and then brought on an illness which threatened to prove fatal. A third appearance at the capital town was required, at which he was at length judicially "delivered from the hands and humors of his tyrannical 1 Mather MSS., VII. 26. James Graham, a Scotchman, was one of the rapacious persons who came from New York to push their fortunes under the patronage of Andros. Graham was a merchant in that city as early as 1678 (Wooley, Two Years' Journal, 69.) oppressors, who had exposed him to great difficulties and charges, and to two hundred and twenty-eight miles' travel in journeying to and from Boston." The lesson was cogently taught, that it was altogether unsafe to interfere with the Governor's gifts of other people's property, and that no gravity of character, or public estimation, or distance of place, would protect from his vindictiveness. 2 3 In their distress, the people turned to England with faint hope of relief. Perhaps it was thought that the King's exultation in the new prospect of an heir to his throne might incline him to greater lenity than could be obtained from his representative. Perhaps there was more hope than the facts would justify of effective aid to be obtained from the Dissenting interest in the parent country. It was resolved to send Mr. Mather to make solicitation at court. Increase Mather, now forty-eight years old, was minister of the Second Church in Boston. The most eminent among the clergy of Massachusetts, he had been twice invited to become President of Harvard College, and now held that office provisionally, by an arrangement with his Boston congregation, which could not be prevailed upon to release him. A resolute adherence to the old charter 1 Revolution Justified, &c., 26, 27. 2 See above, p. 467.- April 18, Andros, by proclamation, appointed a Thanksgiving to be held in the churches of the "Dominion" on the eleventh day after, for the Queen's pregnancy. (Conn. Rec., III. 443.) 3What should be made of the political views in the court at this time, who can say? Upon the numbering of the people, it was then reckoned that there were [in England] . .... about eleven hundred thousand Protestant Non-conformists, of several denominations." (Cotton Mather, Parentator, 104.) Mission of Increase Mather to England. 4 After the resignation of President Hoar in 1675 (see above, p. 96), the office remained vacant for four years. Within that time the Reverend Urian Oakes, of Cambridge, and John Rogers, preacher and physician, were elected to it; but both excused themselves, the former probably on account of the displeasure he had excited in high quarters by his complicity in tae cabal against Hoar. He, however, exercised substantially the functions of President, till, in February, 1679, a second election prevailed with him, and he administered the office with ability, diligence, and success for a little more |