judged, out of the ordinary road thereof, in the making of his last will and testament, which defect, if there' were any, was abundantly supplied by the power of the General Court, so as that no prejudice did arise to his successors about his estate.

In the following year, 1673, May 7th, Major John Leverett was invited by the free and general consent of the freemen of the Massachusetts, to take the Governor's place after him, which he held ever since unto his life's end. His choice at this time was a little remarkable, in that he, being one of the junior magistrates, was called first to be Deputy, then Governor, which, according to the usual course of succession, belonged to the senior. Thus many times things so fall out that the last shall be first. What his administration hath been in the time past, as to wisdom, justice, courage, and liberality is known to all; in that which is to come, is left to be related by them to whose lot it may fall to write the Epilogue of New England's story, which God grant it may not prove so tragical as it hath been in the four last years preceding. But, as is well known, since God took him out of this troublesome world, March 16, 1678,' he hath, in his merciful Providence, called one2a to preside as chief in authority over the Colony of the Massachusetts, who, by his sage wisdom, and long experience, (even ever since the first coming over of the Patentees,) hath been found the best able to take upon him the conduct of affairs in those difficult times, that have since happened, sufficient to have tried the wisdom of all that preceded in that station.3 This year, Monsieur Colve, coming with a few ships and soldiers from the West Indies, surprised the fort at Manhatos, or New York, in the absence of Colonel Lovelace, the Governor under his Highness the Duke of York, which might have proved no small disadvantage to the Colonies of New England, the Dutch having thereby an opportunity to seize many of their vessels, as they passed to and from the West Indies, who were wont to stop on the other side of the Cape Shoals; and many of their vessels were, during the time he held the place, surprized by his orders, which put the country upon a resolu1 Old style. His funeral, which was very splendid, took place on March 25, 1679. See Whitman's Hist. Anc. and Hon. Artil. Company, (2d ed., 8vo. Bost. 1842,) p. 95.-H. • Simon Bradstreet.-H. 3 Conjectural.-H. 4 July 30, 1673. See Thompson's Long Island, i. 150, et seq.—H.

4

tion to secure their vessels on that side of the Cape; but by good Providence the quarrel betwixt the English and the Dutch being ended, those places were again peaceably surrendered into the hands of the English, so as from that time free intercourse and traffic being allowed for the trading vessels, it is hoped the country may now flourish for the future more than formerly.

The Court of Election, from the beginning of this lustre, fell out in 1671, May 31; 1672, May 15; 1673, May 7; 1674, May 27; 1675, May 12; 1676,2 May 3; 1677, May 27; in every of which, since the year 1672, unless in 1678,3 May 8, when Mr. Bradstreet was first chosen Governor, and Mr. Danforth, of Cambridge, Deputy, Major Leverett hath been honored with the place of Governor over the Massachusetts Colony. And the principal transactions which have since happened there, relate either to their troubles with the Indians, (of which more may be seen in the narrative forementioned, and the continuation thereof in the following chapter,) or else to the controversy which lately arose, and is yet depending between the heirs of one Captain Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who have several times complained against the said Colony to his Majesty, and, by reiterated petitions, requested for an hearing thereof before him, [and] have, by much importunity, at last obtained their desire.

The substance of their complaint was, that whereas, as they pretended, a grant had been made by the Council of Plymouth to the said Captain John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, of a distinct Province to each of them, the one called Hampshire, the other Maine, both in the years 1621, 1622, and 1629 and 1635, and that they had, by the expense of many thousand pounds there, taken possession by their agents, yet that they had been dispossessed thereof, by violence and strong hand, by some persons employed by the government of the said Colony of the Massachusetts, and, notwithstanding all applications made unto them, could obtain no redress or relief of their injuries and wrongs, &c."

By these kind of petitions they prevailed so far as to

See in N. H.

By the Treaty of Westminster, Feb. 9, 1674.-H. Hist. Coll. iii. 99-100, "The Names of eighteen Gentlemen, who had most Votes for Magistrates, as appears at opening the sd Votes at Boston, April 11t: 1676, with the number of votes for each."-H.

3 A mistake; it should be 1679. See page 611.-н.

obtain letters from his Majesty, March 10th,' 167, requiring the Colony aforesaid to send over agents to appear before him in six months after the receipt of the said letters, with full instructions impowered to answer for them, that so they might receive his royal determination in that matter depending for judgment before him.

This command of his Majesty was carefully observed by the Massachusetts, and notwithstanding the many difficulties they were at that time incumbered withal, by reason of their war with the Indians, and the great distance of place, and other sad calamities, they deputed as their agents, Mr. William Stoughton and Mr. Buckley, to take that service upon them, who were ready to attend his Majesty's pleasure at Whitehall, within the time limited in his royal letters; and not long after, upon a just hearing of the allegations of each party, his Majesty was pleased to give his final determination, wherein he saw cause to confirm unto the Massachusetts their Charter, with the original bounds of the same, contrary to the expectation of the petitioners, who had, at least one of them, endeavored by sundry allegations, to have vacated the same; and the Province of Maine was also, by the said determination, not altered, but left to the heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, both as to the soil and government. But as for the Province which was demanded by Mr. Mason, his plea not being made for any right of government, himself was left at liberty to take his course at law to recover his interest, whatever it was, in the soil. But how the government of the said Province shall be disposed of, was then left to his Majesty's determination, who then gave his subjects in that country a ground of hope, that as they have given a good example to all the rest of his Plantations in America, of industry and sobriety, so they shall not want any due encouragement from himself, both of protection, and an equal participation of all other acts of his royal grace and favor, which others already have had, or hereafter have hope to receive.

a

The gentlemen forenamed, having been detained in England for the space of three years, to give answer to

Edward Randolph, who brought these letters, sailed from the Downs March 30th, and arrived at Boston June 10th, 1676. See his Narrative in Hutch. Coll. Papers, in which the letters of the King are said to have been dated" 20th of March last."-H. 2 They sailed for England Oct. 30, 1676. Hutchinson, i. 281.—H.

such allegations as Mr. Mason and his adherents had given in against them, at the last were for the present dismissed, upon demand of others to be sent in their room, with more full instructions and power to make answer to whatever the Lords Commissioners for Foreign Plantations should see cause to require satisfaction in, in reference not only to the claims of Mr. Robert Mason aforesaid, but also to make answer to whatever else might be alleged about the Charter of the Massachusetts and the regulation thereof. Accordingly Mr. William Stoughton and Mr. Peter Buckley returning home in the year 1679,1 there were two other gentlemen deputed in their room to attend that service, viz. Mr. Joseph Dudley and Mr. John Richards, who were sent to England in the year 1682,3 which was as soon as things could be prepared and dispatched for their journey, which they safely accomplished, arriving at London about the latter end of August in the same year. Not long before the honored gentleman, Edward Cranfield, Esq., appointed by his Majesty's special commission' to be Governor of New Hampshire, arrived there, a Province situate between the river Merrimack and Pascataqua, challenged by Mr. Mason to be his propriety, concerning whose right thereunto, at this time, sub judice lis est; and because many motions have been occasioned by the pretensions of said Mr. Mason, it may not be amiss to take a view of the several grants made to his grandfather, Captain John Mason, in former times, with the opinion of a great lawyer, Sir William Jones, the King's Attorney, about them. The copy of a Grant made by the Council of Plymouth, to Captain John Mason, of the land betwixt Naumkeag and Merrimack, in New England, Anno 1621.

This Indenture, made the 9th of March, Anno 1621, the 19th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, James, by the grace of God, &c., between the President and Council of New England on the one part, and John Mason, Gent. &c., on the other part, witnesseth, That whereas our Sove

They arrived at Boston Dec. 23d, bringing with them a letter from the King, dated July 24, 1679, (requiring other agents to be sent over "in six months after the receipt of these letters,") which may be seen in Hutch. Coll. Papers, pp. 519-22.-н. Though not until a letter of Sept. 30, 1680, had been received from the King, reproving them for "wholly neglecting the appointment of other agents.' lbid. 522-5.-H. 3 They sailed May 31.-H. Dated May 9, 1682. See Farmer's Belknap, pp. 96, 496.-H.

reign Lord, King James, for the making a Plantation and establishing a Colony, &c. Now this Indenture further witnesseth, that the said President and Council, of their full, free, and mutual consent, as well to the end that all the lands, woods, waters, islands, &c., hereafter in these presents mentioned, may be wholly and entirely invested, appropriated, severed and settled in and upon the said John Mason, his heirs and assigns forever; as for divers special services for the advancement of the said Plantation, and other good causes and considerations them especially hereunto moving, have given, granted, bargained, sold, assigned, enfeoffed, set over and confirmed, and by these presents do give, &c., unto the said John Mason, his heirs and assigns, all that part of the seacoast in New England, being a great headland, or Cape, and lying in the northernmost parts of the Massachusetts Country, and to the northeastwards of the great River of the Massachusetts, stretching itself out into the sea eastwards five leagues or thereabouts, and lying betwixt the latitude of 42 and 43 degrees or thereabouts, and commonly called and known by the name of Tragabigsenda, or Cape Anne, with the north, south, and east shores thereof; the back bounds toward the main land to begin at the head of the next great river, to the southward of the said Cape, which runs up into the country of the main land westward, and supposed to be called Naumkeag, or by what other name or names the said river is or may be called, and to a river lying to the northwestward of the said Cape, and to the furthest head of the said river, from which period to cross over land to the head of the other great river which lies southward of the foresaid Cape, where the perambulation began, and half way over, that is to say, to the midst of either of the said two rivers which bounds or limits the aforesaid lands, both on the north and south thereof, together with the great isle or island, henceforth to be called Isle Mason, lying near or before the Bay, Harbor, or River of Agawam, together with all the sects, isles, or islands adjoining to any part of the precincts of the lands aforesaid, or lying within three miles of any part of the same, as also all the lands, soil, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, pearls and precious stones, woods, quarries, marshes, waters, lakes, fishings, hunting, hawking, fowling, com