& subscribe in the behalfe of our sd Townes, & do acknowledge ourselves subject unto & Ingage to remayne obedient to the Laws & ordinances of his majesty as now established under the authority of the Massachusetts, until his majesty otherwise command us, according as by articles wee are already Ingaged.' This act of the town, by its attorney, was accepted by the commissioners as a sufficient atonement for its late disaffection. This is evident from the course taken with the following presentment by the grand jury. "Wee psent the Towne of Scarborrough for disobeying the warrant wch was lately to them directed for chusing of officers to serve upon the countrys occasions at this court, contrary to yr oaths. Their non appearance manifested ye truth hereof." When this was brought up for action the Court immediately discharged the town. Alger's promise of due obedience for the future was faithfully observed by the town for at least one year. This Court of July 1663 also passed a general order against "all who in any manner go about to disturb his Majesty's peace under pretence of any power expressed immediately from his Majesty." This was apparently another shaft aimed at Jocelyn and other distinguished men of the Province, who held their authority more 'immediately from his Majesty' inasmuch as Massachusetts did not intervene between them and him. It was also ordered, "that the next Court of Associates shall have power to call over all presentments against all persons who have not as yet answered to them, and to proceed with them according to Law and usual custom, Mr. Jocelyn, Maj. Shapleigh, Capt. Champenoon, and Mr. Emerson, only to bee excepted." These were all principal men in the opposition, and were possessed of great influence in the Province. Shapleigh and Champenoon, who *York Records. was nephew of the first Sir Ferdinando Gorges, were of Kittery, and Emerson was of Wells. The Court seems to have come to the conclusion that it was a waste of time to call over the presentments against these gentlemen. The commissioners nevertheless added a new presentment. Jocelyn, Jordan, Champenoon and Shapleigh were presented, " for acting against this authority Wee are under, and soe renouncing the authority of the Massachusetts, raising means for the subvirting thereof under pretence of a sufficient power from Esqr. Gorges to take off ye people which is manifest to the contrary." But all these proceedings against Jocelyn and his associates seem to have no other effect than to strengthen them in their opposition to the usurping power. The next year Scarborough made returns of officers to the Court. Jocelyn, Foxwell, and Watts, had been chosen Town Commissioners, and Christopher Collins, Constable. These, excepting Watts, were approved by the Court. Why the Court should thus reject Watts, when they could accept Jocelyn, we cannot explain. It evidently could not have been on account of Watts' past opposition to Massachusetts, since they approved Jocelyn who had been much more active against her. The only charge we can find presented against Watts on the records, excepting the single one already noticed, is one entered by the Court of the preceding year, which represents him as having neglected public worship. But such presentments are too numerous upon the records, to allow us to suppose that they were considered by the Massachusetts authorities as disqualifying one from holding any civil office. There are also many instances which prove the contrary. This is the only instance in which an officer elected by the inhabitants of this town was rejected by the Court. We regret the necessity of leaving it unexplained. Soon after his application to the King for a restoration of his rights, Gorges sent an agent from England with commissions to twelve gentlemen of the Province as magistrates under his authority. Two of these magistrates were Jocelyn and Watts. The young Sir Ferdinando was induced to take this first step in the government of the Province by the favorable manner in which his petitions to the Crown had been answered. Massachusetts had not yet transferred to him the right of jurisdiction, which she pretended to hold, but with the King and justice on his side he cared little for the opposition. In 1664 King Charles appointed four Commissioners, who were empowered to "settle the peace and security" of the colonies. During the next year three of the Kings Commissioners visited this Province for the purpose of adjusting its afiairs. On the twenty-third of June they issued a proclamation from York in which they severely rebuked the Massachusetts Colony for its unloyal conduct, and, by the power conferred by the King," received all his Majesty's good subjects living within the Province of Maine into his Majesty's more immediate protection and government." They also appointed eleven of the principal men of the Province royal Justices, of whom two, Jocelyn and Rishworth, were empowered to administer the oath. of office to the others. Any three of these Justices constituted a Court, with the power of determining all civil and criminal causes within the Province. These Commissioners in the King's name "forbid as well the commissioners of Mr. Gorges, as the corporation of Massachusetts Bay, to molest any of the inhabitants of this Province with their pretences, or to exercise any authority within the Province, until his Majesty's pleasure be further known."* Thus the Province of Maine came under a new form of government, one which brought the inhabitants nearer the King, and at the same time removed them beyond. the reach of their long-armed neighbor. In case the Justices * York Records. of the Province were equally divided upon any subject, the Commissioners directed that Jocelyn should have the casting vote, thus constituting him the Chief Justice of the Province. This was an honorable distinction for Jocelyn, and well deserved by him. To Scarborough then must be allowed the honor of having furnished to Maine its first and only chief maigistrate appointed by royal authority. With the establishment of the royal government in the Province the jurisdiction of Gorges ceased, and was never resumed. The first Court under this government was held at Wells, in July of the same year. τε was then ordered, amongst other interesting matters, "that every towne should take care that there be a pair of stocks, a cage, and a coucking stool erected between this and the next Court." The "coucking stool," or ducking stool as it was oftener styled, consisted of a convenient seat attached to the end of a beam, precisely as a bucket is hung from the end of a well-sweep; this was placed over a pond or any deep water, and the person to be punished having been well secured in the seat, was let down, or "ducked," into the water at the pleasure of the officer. This was the most cooling mode of punishment then in use, and was therefore especially reserved for scolding women. At the next Court in November, Scarborough, with some other towns, was fined forty shillings for not obeying this order. This is satisfactory evidence that there was no need of such an instrument here; for judging of their estimation of such characters by our own, if there had been scolds, there would have been such appropriate seats prepared for them even at an expense of many times forty shillings to each afflicted planter. Bridgett Moore of Black Point was punished by this *There was also a provision for the erection of a whipping-post in the vicinity of every Justice of the Peace. One of these posts remained standing near Dunstan Landing as late as the year 1780. Court "for complaining against her neighbors and not making out the charge." William Batten was also presented for the like offence. Another curious presentment was that of Joseph Winnock of Black Point " for abusing Mr. Francis Hooke Just: of peace by saying that he was no more drunk than Mr. Hooke, and called the sd Hooke' Mowne Calfe."" For this offence of the tongue, Winnock paid the round sum of forty shillings and went home, having exchanged the contents of his purse for a lesson on the propriety of calling a Justice of the Peace "moon-calf," which he was not likely to forget. Soon after the establishment of the King's Justices over the Province, the royal Commissioners departed, leaving the gov ernment in the hands of those officers. The Province remained quiet under their judicious management, until in 1668 a few of the inhabitants who preferred the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, especially when they were not under it, became so dissatisfied with their condition that they addressed a petition to the General Court asking the Massachusetts government to take them again into its protection. The Goneral Court did not hesitate with regard to the answer they should return such applicants as these, but immediately ordered four commissioners to repair to York, and resume jurisdiction over the Province. In the meantime the Court issued a proclamation declaring their intention of assuming again the government of Maine, and requiring the several towns to make their proper returns of officers by the first Tuesday in July, the day appointed for the Commissioners' Court at York. We may well suppose that this sudden movement on the part of Massachusetts somewhat startled the royal Justices, and many others of the inhabitants, although experience had taught them what they might expect from that quarter. Judge Jocelyn and others of the Justices went to York and awaited the arrival of the commissioners. On the sixth day of July, the day before the court-day, the visitors so anxiously |