from England to send over a map of the contested territory; and commissioners were appointed by both colonies. Again they failed to agree, and again Rhode Island appealed to the King, sending over her deputy-governor, Jenckes, to urge her claim, and charging treacherous conduct upon John Winthrop in obtaining the charter

1723.

1721. for his colony. The King in Council reJune 19. ferred the matter to the Board of Trade. The Board reported that the case of Rhode Island was not good in law, though they thought March 22. it probable "that King Charles the Second was surprised in his grant to Connecticut"; and they concluded that, as a convenient end to the dispute, "it were to be wished that they would both voluntarily submit themselves to his Majesty's immediate government, as some other colonies have done, and that they might be annexed to New Hampshire."

July 17.

The Privy Council communicated this judgment to Partridge, agent for Rhode Island, and to Dummer, agent for Connecticut, who both, after a time sufficient to communicate with America, reported the disinclination of their respective principals to the proposal. Again com

1724 missioners were appointed by the two October. colonies to establish the boundary by mutual agreement, but no account of proceedings of theirs has been preserved. Connecticut, perhaps alarmed by the scheme of union with New Hampshire, had resolved to agree to any settlement,

rather than have the dispute prolonged. That colony wrote to the Board of Trade, "notwithstanding the priority of our charter to that of Rhode Island, his Majesty's determination will, on our part, put a perpetual end to the controversy, and confirm that peace between us and them which your Lordships have been pleased to express such a regard for." An order 1726. in Council accordingly determined the Feb. 8. boundary to be "a line drawn from the mouth of Ashaway River, where it falls into the Pawcatuck River, and thence extending north to the south line of the Massachusetts Bay." The boundary thus established has been continued to this day. King's Province, thus included within 1729. Rhode Island, took the name of King's County (changed after fifty years to Washington County), the other counties being called respectively, Newport, and Providence.

June.

The settlement of the eastern boundary of Connecticut by the Privy Council might seem to be a confirmation of the charter of that colony from the highest authority, and a relinquishment of the long-cherished scheme to make Connecticut a royal estate. But the permanent jealousy in England of Connecticut as well as of Massachusetts, as aspiring to be independent, and as failing to enforce the English laws for the regulation of commerce, was constantly stimulated by the selfishness of English merchants. It has been related that, even before the death of King William, Joseph

Dudley, tnen in Parliament, had been concerned in the preparation of a bill for vacating the three New England charters, as well as those of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and some of the West India governments. The bill was defeated, when offered early in the next reign, a result which was in no small part due to the exertions of Sir Henry Ashurst. Dudley and Lord Cornbury next presented complaints to the Privy Council, which after a hearing were dismissed. A similar attempt by the same parties, some years later, met with no better success. After Dudley's retirement it was renewed in England by the mercantile interest,

1705.

1713.

and again a bill was brought into Parlia1715. ment for the abolition of the charter governments. It was on this occasion that Jeremiah Dummer, then agent in England for Connecticut, wrote his famous treatise entitled "Defence of the American Charters." Again the project miscar

ried, and again it was revived. The quarrel 1721. in Massachusetts between Shute and the Representatives renewed the dissatisfaction in England against colonial privileges, and a resolute movement against them was reasonably feared. The damage was averted for the time. by the publication of Dummer's book, which he dedicated to Lord Carteret (afterwards Earl of Granville), then newly made Secretary of State for the colonies.

His argument was disposed under four heads:

1. "That the charter governments have a good and undoubted right to their respective charters," which he urged by showing not only that they were grants from the sovereign, who had a right to make an irrevocable grant, but, further, "that the American charters were of a higher nature, and stood on a better foot, than the corporations in England," because "the former were given as premiums for services to be performed, and therefore were to be considered as grants upon a valuable consideration." 2. "That these governments have by no misbehavior forfeited their charters," under which head he showed that they had at much cost and with great valor defended their people and assailed the common enemy; that they had treated the natives equitably and humanely; that their administration of justice had been efficient and blameless; that they had observed and executed. the laws of trade; that their legislation had not been "repugnant to the laws of Great Britain"; and that there was no danger of their becoming formidable to the mothercountry. 3. "That it was not for the interest of the crown to resume the charters, if forfeited"; for such a resumption would impair colonial prosperity, and "whatever injures the trade of the plantations must in proportion affect Great Britain, the source and centre of their commerce, from whence they have their manufactures, whither they make their returns, and where all their superlucration is lodged." 4. "That it seemed in

consistent with justice to disfranchise the charter colonies by an Act of Parliament instead of by a prosecution in the lower courts."

It was in the second year after Shute's return 1724. to England that a fit of apoplexy put an Sept 20. end to the life of Governor Saltonstall, when he had administered the government of Connecticut for sixteen successive years. A clergyman in the chief magistracy was a new thing in New England; but the experiment was in this instance grandly justified by its success. Winthrop, whom Saltonstall succeeded, was not equal to the demands of a time when the rigor of ancient opinions and manners was unavoidably abating. There was some danger that the pendulum would swing back too far; that the receding tide would pass into the region of extravagance and turbulence. The perpetual example of contiguous Rhode Island was unfavorable to good order; and that this influence was not unfelt may be inferred from the factious conduct of Mason and his friends, neighbors of that colony, in their dispute with the people of New London about the Mohegan lands, and of Fitch and his Coventry friends in the gaol-breaking riot. Saltonstall became governor in the year of the synod which arranged the Consociation of the churches. He forwarded that measure with all his great influence, and it was charged that in return the clergy had no little agency in promoting his elevation to civil office. His hand upon the helm.