might be, ripen their consultations beforehand, that their vote in public might bear as the voice of God; that, in meetings out of court, the magistrates should not discuss the business of parties in their presence, nor deliver their opinions, &c.; that trivial things should be ended in towns":1 that certain rules of order should be observed in public meetings; that the magistrates should cultivate a frank, friendly, and familiar intercourse with each other; that a more distinct precedency should be given to the Governor in the conduct of the public business; that Assistants should refrain from embarrassing each other's proceedings; that the magistrates should " grace and strengthen their under officers in their places"; and finally, that "all contempts against the Court, or any of the magistrates, should be speedily noted and punished, and that magistrates should appear more solemnly in public, with attendance, apparel, and open notice of their entrance into the Court." 2 Vane chosen May 25. At the first election after his arrival, Vane was chosen Governor, with Winthrop for his Deputy. It is likely that the resentment of the freemen Governor. against Cotton's doctrine of a vested estate in the highest offices was not yet exhausted. It may have been believed that Haynes intended to leave Massachusetts. And the remarkable personal qualities of Vane, set off by his eminent social position, required no long time to make themselves felt.3 The Assistants now chosen were 1 There was one good fruit, at least, of this conference, if it led to the law respecting towns, which was passed at the next General Court, six weeks afterward (see above, p. 434). 2 Winthrop, I. 177–179. 3 In Boston, indeed, he had been welcomed with expressions of a confidence which, considering his youth, seems almost like infatuation. "November 30, 1635, [at which time Vane had been here less than two months,] at a general meeting upon public notice, it is agreed. that none of the members of this congregation or inhabitants amongst us shall sue one another at the law before that Mr. Henry Vane and the two elders, Mr. Thomas Oliver and Thomas Leverett, have had the hearing and deciding of the cause, if they can." (Town Records of Boston.) the same as in the last year, except that Hough, for some reason which is not apparent, was left out, and the Governor and Deputy-Governor of that year were added to the list, with Endicott, whose term of penance had expired, and Roger Harlakenden, a young man of August. good family and fortune, who had arrived in the preceding autumn. 1635. The accession of Vane was greeted with unusual pomp. "Because he was son and heir to a Privy Counsellor in England, the ships congratulated his election with a volley of great shot." The enthusiasm awakened in his behalf he had the good sense to turn to account for the public advantage. "The next week, he invited all the masters (there were then fifteen great ships) to dinner." And he profited by the interview to make them agree that vessels bound to Boston should anchor below the castle, till their friendly character should be ascertained; that the magistrates should have the first offer of commodities which they brought; and "that their men might not stay on shore, except upon necessary business, after sunset."1 The king's mutilated flag flapped forthwith in the face of the son of the king's Privy Counsellor and Secretary. A seaman "spake to some of our people aboard his ship, that because we had not the king's colors at flag. our fort, we were all traitors and rebels." The The royal 1636. May 31. magistrates apprehended and committed him. "He acknowledged his offence, and set his hand to a submission, and was discharged. Then the Governor desired the masters that they would deal freely, and tell us if they did take any offence, and what they required of They replied that, as they should be questioned when they got home, they should like to see the national flag displayed at the castle. And now a singular fact appeared. In an English colony, six years old, the royal ensign was not to be found. "It was answered, that we 1 Winthrop, I. 187. had not the king's colors." The shipmasters offered to furnish them, and they were hoisted accordingly over the fort, but not till after solemn consultation, and, as far as some of the magistrates were concerned, with no other consent than connivance. Winthrop, who was evidently dissatisfied, says: "We had conferred over night with Mr. Cotton, &c., about the point. The Governor and Mr. Dudley and Mr. Cotton were of opinion that they might be set up at the fort upon this distinction, that it was maintained in the king's name," and so "that his own colors might be spread there." "Some others, being not so persuaded, could not join in the act, yet would not oppose, as being doubtful."1 Institution for life. In plain defiance of the charter, a new order of magistracy was instituted at the General Court which elected Vane to be Governor. Winthrop "was chosen to be one of the Standing Council for the term of of a council his life." The same dignity was conferred upon Dudley at the same time, and upon Endicott in the following year; and never upon any other person. The appointments were made in fulfilment of a vote, passed at the General Court two months before, "that the General Court to be holden in May next, for election of magistrates, and so from time to time, as occasion shall require, shall elect a certain number of magistrates, for term of their lives, as a standing council, not to be removed but upon due conviction of crime, insufficiency, or for some other weighty cause, the Governor for the time being to be always President of this Council, and to have such further power out of Court as the General Court shall from time to time endue them withal." 2 This attempt was a revival of Cotton's doctrine of perpetuity in office, as well as probably a concession to the proposal of Lord Say and Sele to introduce an aristocratical 1 Winthrop, I. 187-189. Mass. Col. Rec., I. 176, 178. Comp. 2 Mass. Col. Rec., I. 167. March 3. element into the government.1 But the plan was not pressed; it acquired no favor with the people, and came to nothing. March 25. At the same General Court a committee was raised "to make a draught of laws agreeable to the word of God, which may be the fundamentals of this commonProposal for a wealth, and to present the same to the next Gencode of laws. eral Court." The committee consisted of the Governor and Deputy-Governor, the magistrates, Dudley, Haynes, and Bellingham, and the ministers Cotton, Peter, and Shepard. The General Court of the preceding year had given a like charge to Haynes, Bellingham, Winthrop, and Dudley. But it was several years before this object, diligently pursued by the freemen, was accomplished. The magistrates and ministers, who did not favor it, knew how to interpose embarrassments and delays. 2 3 “The people ..... thought their condition very unsafe, while so much power rested in the discretion of magistrates." At first view, their apprehensions and their demand appear unquestionably just; yet reasons "which caused most of the magistrates and some of the elders not to be very forward in this matter," were not without weight. The practical and cautious habit of thought of the more influential minds led them to the opinion, that a code of statute law, which must be framed, would not prove so fit and safe as a system of Common Law, which could only grow; they reflected on the "want of sufficient experience of the nature and disposition of the people, 1 Cotton wrote to Lord Say and Sele, that "the General Court had already condescended unto" one of his Proposals, "in establishing a Standing Council, who, during their lives, should assist the Governor in managing the chiefest affairs of this little state. They have chosen for the present only two, Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Dudley, not willing to choose more, till they see what fur- 2 Mass. Col. Rec., I. 174. considered with the condition of the country and other circumstances, which made them conceive that such laws would be fittest for us which should arise pro re natâ, upon occasions." Their patriotic vigilance discerned another material difficulty. A formal code, with provisions such as were needed or desired, "would," said Winthrop, "professedly transgress the limits of our charter, which provides we shall make no laws repugnant to the laws of England, and that we were assured we must do; but to raise up laws by practice and custom had been no transgression; as, in our church discipline and in matters of marriage, to make a law that marriages should not be solemnized by ministers, is repugnant to the laws of England; but to bring it a custom by practice for the magistrates to perform it, is no law made repugnant." The subject will repeatedly recur hereafter. 2 Dec. 13. A General Court convened by Vane towards the close of his term, "taking into consideration the great danger and damage that might accrue to the state by all the freemen's leaving their plantations to come to the place of elections," passed an order making it "free and lawful for all freemen to send their votes for elections by proxy the next General Court in May, and so for thereafter"; " an approach to the mode of local voting in use at the present day. At the same Court, a military organization was matured. It was "or Military or dered, that all military men in the jurisdiction ganization. should be ranked into three regiments," according to a division which subsequently became the basis of counties. The elder Winthrop was provisionally appointed Colonel, and Dudley Lieutenant-Colonel, of the troops of the southern district; Haynes and Harlakenden received the like appointments for Charlestown and the western settlements; and Endicott and Winthrop the younger for Saugus, Salem, Ipswich, and Newbury. After this first 1 Winthrop, I. 322, 323. 2 Mass. Col. Rec., I. 188. |