towns, seventeen of which belonged to Plymouth; and the number of congregational churches was nearly the same, almost all the churches having one minister, and some being served by two. Boston had not far from a thousand houses and seven thousand inhabitants, being much the most considerable place on the continent. Other principal commercial and fishing towns were Salem, Charlestown, Ipswich, Newbury, and Scituate. The people were farmers, woodmen, fishermen, and merchants. With rare exceptions, all were poor. No kind of business was flourishing. Ten years had passed since the last despairing appeal had been made for the old charter. It was eight years since that instrument was cancelled. It was six years since King James had imposed the grinding tyranny of Andros. For three years a desolating Indian war had been going on, in the midst of which a disastrous military expedition on a large scale of cost had reduced the Colony fifty years," that is, fifty years sachusetts for 1865 says (Abstract, 173), "The population of Massachusetts, subsequently to the union of Plymouth therewith, is stated, in 1696, at sixty-three thousand;" which I reckon to be not far from the truth. In 1690, Sir Edmund Andros reported to the Board of Trade that the number of enrolled militia men was 7021 in Massachusetts proper, and 1392 in Plymouth. (British Colonial Papers.) And in sufficient accordance with this is the Board's information from Lord Bellomont, in 1700, that there were 9304 men in the several regiments in the government of Boston." (Ibid.) In 1695, the ten richest towns in the new Province were the following, arranged in the order of their valuation: viz., Boston, Ipswich, Salem, Newbury, Charlestown, Dorchester, Watertown, Marblehead, Lynn, Cambridge. The richest town in the Old Colony was Scituate, taxed for £167. The tax levied on Boston was £1,666; on Ipswich, £466; on Cambridge, £180. Comp. Williamson, II. 37. to living on its deteriorated paper notes, imposed a crushing burden of taxation, destroyed confidence and killed enterprise in commercial transactions, and enforced that hard frugality which puts an end to the healthy relation between the need of being served and the capacity of service. Scarcely, it seemed, could there be a more disheartening state of things. It might be thought that there was absolutely no circumstance of encouragement, except that the discouraging prospect was spread before the eyes of a sort of people not apt to be unmanned and cast down. In fact, they addressed themselves with quiet resolution to the new business in hand, seeking carefully to do the best that circumstances and the times allowed. Debts and the war made imperative demands; but still there was attention to spare for permanent social interests, and provisions for the schools, for the College, and for the observances of religion had their place in the legislation of the first months of the newly instituted government.' And from the first moment the uses which the new constitution might be made to serve for the public benefit in future generations were deliberately and sagaciously inquired into and provided for. First pro vincial Court. Except in matters rearranged by the new system, the internal administration of Massachusetts proceeded, throughout the time of Sir William Phips, in methods much the same as had been followed General under the colonial governors. When the Court came together, which was convened by his writ, William Bond, on his presentation as Speaker of the Deputies, "prayed his Excellency, in their behalf, that June 8there might be allowed unto them the accustomed privileges of an English assembly, which he expected as their due;" and he specified them as being liberty of debate, free access to the Governor, and security from arrest 1692 July 2. 1 Acts and Resolves of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, I. 38, 58, 62. June 27. 1695. for themselves and their servants, except for felony and treason, during sessions of the General Court and journeys to and from the place of meeting.', A bill for the erecting of a Naval Office was passed, another "for the holding of courts of justice," and another to incorporate the College; but all three were destined Aug. 22. to be disallowed by the Privy Council. Overlooking the power vested in the Governor by the new charter to nominate civil officers, Phips allowed them to be chosen by the Council,3 — an irregularity, however, which did not pass into precedent, being remarked and set right by his less careless successor. Some necessary financial arrangements were made; and the Governor was authorized, should a sufficient exigency occur, to march the militia of the Province into New York or any New England Colony. And the court adjourned after enacting that all such laws of Massachusetts and Plymouth, existing at the abrogation of the old charter, as were not inconsistent with the new charter or with English law, should be revived and be in force till the following autumn, when it was to meet again. The legislation which followed was for the first few years prosecuted in embarrassing circumstances. While changes were unavoidable to meet the obligations legislation. of the new constitution, the Legislature was aiming to admit as few alterations as possible of the ancient system. The consequence was an unsettled condition of the law. Statutes would be enacted and sent to England for confirmation, going into effect meanwhile. At some Early provincial 1 Bond's prayer was modest; for, before this period, the privilege of Parliament extended much further. 2 Acts and Resolves, &c., I. 34; comp. 30, 163, 269, 347. at the time of the consolidation of New England at the end of Andros's first year (Dec. 29, 1687). A Council Journal, beginning May 16, 1692, with the administration under the new charter, was regularly kept thenceforwards. 3 Provincial Council Records. -A Journal of the Proceedings of the Council of Massachusetts - begun In this year Sir John Trenchard May 25, 1686, with the Presidency succeeded Lord Sidney as Secretary of Dudley — had been discontinued of State. time within three years a notice of their being disapproved would come back. The General Court would try some other way of disposing of the same question, and repeated attempts on their part were liable to meet a similar discomfiture. 1692. The Legislature came together for its second session, with the task before it of conforming the inherited institutions to the new order of things, and of doing Oct. 12. this in a manner to retain as much as might be of what had been valued in the past. The primitive provincial legislation was marked by comprehension of the circumstances, by foresight and good sense. The law-makers knew only too well that their action on the weightiest matters could be no more than tentative. But they saw no serious discouragement in the character of their Governor, nor in his relation to themselves. And, as to the. further action of the King's Privy Council, they had only to do their own part bravely and discreetly, and await the issue with hopeful patience. The confidence with which the General Court was at first inclined to proceed is indicated by the first measure of its second session under the new charter. The thoughtful Legislature passed, and the easy Governor approved, an Act which provided that "no aid, tax, . . . or imposition whatsoever" should be "levied on any of their Majesties' subjects or estates, on any pretence whatsoever, but by the act and consent of the Governor, Council, and Representatives of the people assembled in General Court." If this had been confirmed, the cause of dispute which brought about the independence of the United States would have been taken away. But such proved to be not the will of the Privy Council of King William. 1 Provincial Acts and Resolves, I. 40. See Chalmers, Introduction to the History of the Revolt, &c., I. 236. According to Chalmers (Ibid., Oct. 13. 234), Elisha Cooke, as early as this time," gave warning to his constituents to establish no officer's salary, to perpetuate no public revenue." Some features of the ancient criminal code were modified by Acts" for the Punishment of Criminal Offenders" and "for the Punishment of Capital Offenders." The recent insecurity of landed property under the government of Andros gave rise to a law which vested a title after an undisturbed possession of three years. Other laws provided for municipal regulation, for the support of ministers and schools, for the solemnizing of marriages by ministers or justices, for the observance of the Lord's day, and for various matters of ordinary administration.1 A revisal of the judicial system had become necessary. An Act "for the establishing of judicatories and courts of justice within the Province" created a Superior Nov. 25. Court, Courts of Common Pleas, Courts of Sessions, and the office of Justice of the Peace, of which the duties had, under the old charter, been performed by the Assistants. The Superior Court, which was to consist of a Chief Justice and four associates, was vested with original jurisdiction in cases involving an amount not less than ten pounds; it heard appeals from the inferior courts; and was authorized by a supplementary Act to issue writs of habeas corpus.3 William Stoughton was the first Chief Justice, with Thomas Danforth, Wait Winthrop, John Richards, and Samuel Sewall for his associates; no one of the five having been bred a lawyer. Richards died within three years, and Elisha Cooke was appointed in his place. Dec. 14. The Act provided for a Court of Common Pleas for each of the eight counties, each court to consist of four judges. They were to have original jurisdiction in all civil actions, their judgments being subject to appeal; and they could entertain appeals from decisions of justices of the peace. The Courts of Sessions, of which also each county had one, were constituted of all the justices of the peace Provincial Acts and Resolves, I. 41, 51, 55, 58, 61, 62, 64. 2 Ibid., 72. 8 Ibid., 95. |