For thirteen years before King William came to the throne the colonial administration 1675. had been conducted by a committee of the Dec. 21. Privy Council. The new committee appointed from that body on his accession pronounced the management to have been unsatisfactory. They represented that "the present circumstances 1689. and relation the colonies stood in to the May. government of England was a matter worthy of the consideration of Parliament, for the bringing of those proprieties and dominions under a nearer dependence on the crown, as his Majesty's revenue in the plantations was very much concerned therein." He had too many affairs on his hands to be able to spare attention for questions that might be deferred; and a reference to Parliament, which might involve a concession of prerogative, was not to be made without consideration. Complaints from the merchants of Bristol and Liverpool that the Navigation Laws were evaded to their private loss, and to the damage of the commercial interests of the realm, awoke a new jealousy on the subject of colonial lawlessness, and steps were taken in Parliament towards the establishment of a Council of Commerce, which it was thought would have been followed up but for a diversion of public attention to a plot for the assassination of the king. Taking the question into his own hands, he proceeded to revive the Board of Trade and Plantations, with au- 1695. thority to ascertain the condition of the Dec. 16.

colonies in respect both to internal administra1696. tion and to commerce; to examine the May 15. instructions which had been given to colonial governors, and propose amendments; to recommend suitable persons for colonial appointments; and to scrutinize the acts of colonial legislatures. The Board, now constituted of fifteen commissioners, continued to exist till the close of the war of American Independence.

Jan.

John Locke, who had been Secretary to 1672. the Council for Trade in the time of King Charles the First, was one of the commissioners 1697. now appointed, but he soon withdrew, finding the studious habits which he cherished inconsistent with the active duties of the place, and the necessity which it imposed of converse with numbers of men. An Act of Parliament confirmed the existing regula1696. tions of trade, and increased their oppressiveness by some minor provisions. Edward Randolph was appointed Surveyor-General of the Customs for America; and the enforcement of English doctrines as to colonial commerce seemed effectively provided for by the establishment, in all the colonies, of Vice-Admiralty courts empowered to decide questions without a jury.

CHAPTER II

TROUBLES AFTER THE REVOLUTION.

THE emancipation from the tyranny of Governor Andros and of his infatuated master was an immense relief to New England; but it would have been without a parallel among political revolutions, if it had been followed at once by a satisfactory condition of affairs. In Massachusetts, the government which was set up was on all hands understood to be provisional merely. This admission was unfortunate for the public repose, both as indicating timidity on the part of the persons at the head of affairs, and as keeping alive a question which left the obligations of citizens undetermined. The case of Massachusetts differed from that of Rhode Island and Connecticut in the very important particular that her charter had. been formally vacated by legal process. But this had been done with circumstances of such injustice, and so resembling those which in England had excited extreme resentment when the municipal corporations were the sufferers, that the new King and his servants would not probably have taken offence had Massachusetts reconstituted her ancient government as still of right ex

isting; while the local administration would have derived respect and authority from the confidence displayed in that pretension.

The first General Court, constituted according to 1689. the ancient charter, adjourned after a five July 13. weeks' session, having first declared all laws to be provisionally revived which were in June 22. force at the time of the inauguration of July 5. the council under Dudley's presidency, and instructed the judicial courts to resume their functions as exercised at that time. This was all which for the present could be done, and everything remained in suspense till, near the Dec. 3. end of the year, Bradstreet was able to

Aug. 12.

communicate to the court a letter from the King giving authority to the persons now in office to "continue the administration of the government" till his further pleasure should be made known, which did not come to pass till after nearly three years more.

Instead of retaining their places by virtue of this sanction, as it seems they would have been justified in doing, the Magistrates chose to interpret it as authority for maintaining the old charter government, and annual elections were accordingly ordered and held for the present as in former times, resulting in three successive elections of Bradstreet and Danforth to the two highest offices. The General Court must have considered itself as increasing its chances for a reFeb. 12. newal of the charter when it modified the

1690.

law for admission to the franchise, reducing the amount of the pecuniary qualification, and repealing the provision which required a testimonial to the candidate's religious character from his minister, a certificate from selectmen to the effect that he was "not vicious in life" being recognized as an equivalent. Bradstreet was probably infirm in health during the first winter of his new administration, as he appears to have been absent from all the meetings of the Magistrates for six months. On an alarm from Albany, which 1690. is presently to be spoken of, Wait Win- May 28. throp was made "Major-General of the Feb. 13. military forces."

Dec. 4

The degree of good order which prevailed during this long suspension of a legitimate government gave evidence, on the whole, of the peaceable disposition of the people, and of their attachment to the leaders whom they had empowered for the existing crisis. But it was impossible that quiet and content should be complete, while questions of such moment were unsettled. Would the old charter be restored, with or without alteration of its grants? If not, what frame of government would succeed it? What degree of self-government would be allowed? What force would be conceded, not only to acts of the existing provisional authority, but to the colonial legislation of two generations, during which the powers conveyed by the charter had been differently understood in the colony and in