HARVARD HISTORICAL STUDIES PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY FROM THE INCOME OF THE HENRY WARREN TORREY FUND VOLUME VII HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY APPROPRIATION FOR DUPLICATE BOOKS COPYRIGHT, 1898 BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE First Edition, October, 1898 PREFACE. THIS essay was in its original form presented as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Harvard University. It has since been revised and in considerable part rewritten. Though in the process of revision many errors of fact and errors of judgment have been corrected, there are doubtless many which have escaped the author's notice, and which remain to be pointed out by others. It is hoped, however, that the conclusions here set forth may at least serve to provoke discussion and investigation in a comparatively unworked and exceedingly important field of research. The title and scope of the work require some explanation. The term Provincial Governor has been chosen to designate the chief executive of the royal and proprietary colonies. As will be subsequently explained, the internal constitution of the proprietary colony became so nearly like that of the royal province that the two may with advantage be treated together. In the proprietary and in the royal governor alike we have the representative of an externally imposed authority. The elective governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut stood upon an essentially different footing, and do not |