visible all over the Anglo-American continent. In addition to the instances of intractability, just referred to, even Pennsylvania, though opposed to carnal, was willing to indulge in political conflicts, and bartered her money for the support of government, on the express condition of settling the people in their former constitution.' Maryland, more obedient than many others, still resolved, "that the great charter of England should be observed in all points." Two new doctrines were promulgated, and found willing advocates every where, one (which originated with a Puritan minister of Boston) was: "That they were not bound in conscience to obey English laws, as they were not represented in Parliament:" the other was: That colonists were as much Englishmen, as the inhabitants of that country; and therefore had a right to all the same privileges."

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The misconduct of Phipps and other governors, in conniving at the evasion of the laws of trade, brought about at this period some very important changes. Complaints were constantly made to the ministry by governors who were unable to execute their orders, and by merchants whose commerce was injured by the total disregard of the colonists to the Navigation Acts. During the war," says Davenant, "the colonies have presumed, as it were, to set up for themselves, and to load their effects on board of ships belonging to foreigners, and to trade directly with other nations; sending them their commodities, and receiving from thence manufactures, to the great damage of this kingdom." To meet the exigencies of the times, the Board of Trade was established in 1696, of which the celebrated Locke was a member. This was

a permanent commission, consisting of a president and eleven members, known as Lords of Trade," who succeeded to the authority and oversight hitherto exercised by plantation-committees of the Privy Council. Subsequently the powers of this Board were somewhat curtailed, but down to the period of the American Revolution, it continued to exercise a general superintendence of the colonies, watching the Assemblies with a jealous eye, struggling hard to uphold the prerogatives of the king and authority of Parliament, laboring to strengthen the hands of the royal governors, and systematically to carry out the policy of rendering America completely subservient to the views which then prevailed of the commercial interests of the mother country.

Parliament devoted a large portion of its sittings that year to

American affairs. The House of Lords represented to the king that, Having considered the state of the trade of this kingdom to the plantations, they had found many abuses of the several good laws made for their government, and very illegal practices carried on, to the great detriment of the kingdom, whereby the act lately passed had been greatly obstructed;" they recommended therefore, "That the proprietaries should be obliged to give security in England, that their governors shall constantly obey the royal instructions for the execution of the laws; and that courts of admiralty should be erected in the various plantations, in order that offenses against the laws of navigation might be no longer decided by judges and jurors, who were themselves often the greatest offenders." The proprietaries declined to give the security demanded of them, which they thought no law required; the resolution of the peers, they considered, could not, however respectable, compel them to perform what they deemed in itself unreasonable, as their sovereign had the power of withholding his approbation from their appointments, and they pleaded their charters, in opposition to the royal nomination of admiralty officers. Having heard their counsel, the crown lawyers determined that no colonial patent prevented the king from establishing an admiralty jurisdiction within every dominion of the crown. The right of appeal from the colonial courts to the king in council was also sustained, and by this double means the mother country acquired at length a judicial control over the colonies, and with it a power, afterward imitated in the Federal Constitution of the United States, of bringing her authority to bear not only upon the colonies as political corporations but, what was much more effectual, upon the colonists as individuals.

By a contemporaneous act of Parliament, the various statutes for carrying the acts of trade into effect were consolidated, and new and more stringent provisions were added. Any direct trade between Ireland and the plantations was totally prohibited, that country being put, in this respect, in a worse position than any in the world. The pretense was, that if trade of any sort was allowed, it would be made a cover for smuggling innumerable articles. An oath to enforce the acts of trade was imposed upon the governors of the chartered colonies, their appointment also was made subject to the royal approval; all colonial statutes or usages conflicting with acts of trade, past or future, were declared

void. The same powers were conferred on the king's revenue officers in America, which they possessed in England; their number was increased, and at their head was placed, as surveyorgeneral, the active and persevering Randolph, so conspicuous formerly in the history of Massachusetts.

Free trade soon made freebooters, who found (with the honorable exception of Maryland) shelter for their ships, and provisions for themselves every where, among a sanctimonious people, who while they piteously sighed over their offensive occupation, encouraged it by purchasing their plunder, and it was with great difficulty and expense that piracy was finally suppressed.

After a long interval, in which the deputy and lieutenantgovernors administered the affairs of the state, Lord Bellamont arrived at Boston, and was duly sworn into office. He also had the mortification to find that he had no fixed salary, and that his official income depended upon an annual vote in the Legislature, a humiliating position that opened a door to constant annoyances, and enabled the two Houses to make it his interest to neglect his duty, by starving him into submission. In the subsequent administrations, it became the rallying point for the two contending parties of Patriots and Loyalists, and excited contentions, in which the authority of the Crown was gradually weakened, and its dignity greatly diminished. He experienced, however, no difficulty on this subject himself, and as there was but little that occurred in his time, bearing on the subject of this inquiry, we might dismiss him, with this short notice. But he was a man in advance of the age in which he lived, and we may spare a moment to pause and admire him.

He was a true specimen of a great liberal governor. He made the most of his rank by his great condescension and suavity of manner; he was accessible at all times, and affable and courteous on all occasions. Although an Episcopalian, he professed to entertain most tolerant opinions on the subject of dissent, and a special respect for Congregational churches, and their pastors, and above all a most pious horror of Popery. He avoided any thing like controversy with individuals, or either branch of the Legislature, and what he could not obtain by address, he refused to secure by compulsion. He attended the weekly lectures at the principal conventicle, and listened with the utmost attention, and evident edification, to the long, confused, and prosy compositions

of the divines. On one occasion, when returning from a selfimposed penance of this kind, he thus addressed an apothecary, whom he saw standing near the door of his dispensary-"Oh! doctor, you have lost a precious sermon to-day." Yes, my lord," was the equivocal reply; "I have, but if I could get only half as much by being there as your lordship will, I should have attended also." This double entendre deserved and received a most gracious smile of approbation.

He was the first governor, who, in imitation of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, opened the Legislature by delivering a formal written address. It was a novelty, and as such not likely to be acceptable to a people who disliked all innovation on their established forms; but while it well comported with his dignity, it conferred additional weight and importance on themselves, and was therefore approved. He knew how much the family of the Stuarts was dreaded and hated in New England, and how acceptable a censure upon them and their principles would be. His first and last speech was filled with pious horror at their religion, and patriotic indignation at their arbitrary conduct. His lordship was only fourteen months in the province, when he went to New York. For this short period the Assembly voted £2500, an infinitely larger sum than any of his predecessors ever received, or any of his successors could obtain, even when the inhabitants were more numerous, and more opulent; and money, when compared with the necessaries of life, had become less valuable. To engage the attention in this manner of the cold and cautious Puritans, and set them gaping with wonder and delight, while their pockets were emptied of their contents, was a feat of professional skill, which does equal honor to his lordship's dexterity, and to his sound liberal principles.

The government was now conferred upon Mr. Dudley, who had been the first president, after the loss of the charter, and who thereby rendered himself so unpopular, that when Sir Edmund Andross, was seized and sent to England, he was also imprisoned and transported with him, to take his trial. As a governor of Massachusetts, the selection was unfortunate. It was known that from fortuitous circumstances, he was obnoxious to his countrymen; and the slightest knowledge of human nature, would have suggested to the Ministry, that in a small and isolated community like Massachusetts, he would have to encounter the

jealousy of rivals, the hatred of party (when his opinions were all known) and the odium arising from personal infirmities, from which no man ever was, or can be exempt. As a ruler of any other American colony, no man could be better qualified than he was. Intimately acquainted with American feeling and prejudices, he knew how to respect the one, and how to avoid shocking the other. He was well informed as to their wants, the resources, and the common danger to which they were all exposed, from the Indian tribes and their French neighbors. A lawyer, a man of business and talents, and above all a colonist, having a sympathy with the people, who were his countrymen, and an affection for the continent where his lot and that of his children were cast, his interest was identified with those on whom he was to exercise jurisdiction, while his desire to serve the Crown, was restrained from running into tyranny by the knowledge that while he abrogated the rights of the inhabitants, he was restricting the liberty of his own posterity.

To appoint a colonist to preside over his native province, for the reasons above stated, would at any time, be a hazardous experiment; but there is no class of men so competent, and so desirable for those at a distance, while at the same time no course of policy could be more conciliatory and grateful. The experiment, however, was not doomed to be often tried. When the office became worth having, needy dependents at home found that family connection or parliamentary interest, was a better recommendation than experience or ability, and politicians discovered that the greatest advantage of a colony, was that it presented a field for patronage.

The republican or patriot party, availing themselves of the unpopularity of the governor, gained the ascendency in the Legislature. Their first step was to choose a Speaker personally offensive to him, and when he rejected him, to deny his right under the charter to do so. By special instructions from England, he laid three commands of his Majesty before them. First, the rebuilding a fort in Maine, which had become dilapidated; second, the erection of another in the same territory, as a check upon the Indians and French; and thirdly, establishing fixed and suitable salaries on the governor, and lieutenant-governor, and the judges; but they refused all three, and the Council supported them in their contumacy. With respect to the last, they felt the advant