The able defence and magnanimous bearing of Christison produced such an effect upon the people that the magistrates were forced to interpose and commute his punishment to banishment. Afterwards, only the lighter, but still disgraceful, penalties were inflicted upon the Quakers, and even these were gradually abandoned as the members of the sect ceased to disturb the public peace and became more sober in their conduct. We cannot but condemn the fierce and cruel intolerance of the authorities of Massachusetts, as displayed in their course of action against the Quakers; the penalties imposed were beyond all proportion to the offences, and those things were regarded as offences which were nothing more than an exercise of the rights of judgment and conscience. But it must be admitted that they were perfectly justifiable in adopting such measures as would preserve the public peace and security.

When the news of Cromwell's death was received in New England, the colonists, apprehending that the Restoration of the Stuarts to the English throne was at hand, refused to recognize the authority of Richard Cromwell, or the Long Parliament. Yet they did not expect that favor from Charles II. which they had received from Cromwell and the Parliament. In the month of July, a vessel arrived from England, with Whalley and Goffe, two of the judges of Charles I. on board. These fugitives found hospitable shelter in the province.

HARLES II. was now restored, and in 1660 authentic tidings were received that the royal authority was again established in England, and that complaints against the colony of Massachusetts had been presented by various royalists, Quakers, and others, enemies of its institutions and policy, to the privy council and the Parliament. The general court was im

mediately convened and an address voted to the king, in which the colonists justified their whole conduct, professed a dutiful attachment to the sovereign, and entreated his protection and favor, which they declared themselves the more willing to hope for from one who, having been himself a wanderer, was no stranger to the lot and the feelings of exiles. They solicited the king to protect their ecclesiastical and civil institutions, declaring that they considered the chief value of the latter to consist in their subservience to the cultivation and enjoyment of religion. A similar address was made to Parliament, and letters were written to Lord Manchester, Lords Say

and Seal, and other persons of distinction, who were known to be friends. of the colony, soliciting interposition in its behalf.

Leverett, the agent for the colony in London, was instructed, at the same time, to use every effort to procure a continuance of the exemption from customs, which the colonists had hitherto enjoyed. But before he had time to make any such vain attempt, the Parliament had already established the duties of tonnage and poundage over every portion of the empire. The disappointment, however, was softened by a gracious answer returned by the king to the provincial address, which was accompanied by an order for the apprehension of Whalley and Goffe. So prompt a display of good-will and confidence excited general satisfaction; a day of thanksgiving was appointed, to acknowledge the favor of Heaven in moving the heart of the king to incline to the desires of the people. With regard to the regicides, the provincial authorities were not a little perplexed between their acknowledged duty to the sovereign and their desire to screen the offenders from his vengeance. It is supposed that a private intimation was conveyed to them, which enabled them to elude the vigorous pursuit which was immediately set on foot. They were enabled by the assistance of their friends, by dexterous evasion from place to place, to end their days in New England. Dixwell, another of the regicides, lived more openly among the colonists.

The restoration proved highly favorable to the people of Rhode Island. They obtained a charter from Charles II. which secured to them all the civil and religious rights which they held. This charter continued to be the fundamental law of Rhode Island until a very late period. Connecticut, through the exertions of John Winthrop, obtained a similar charter. The consequences which would naturally result from the liberal character of these charters do not seem to have been understood by the British government until a subsequent period. How much of the Revolutionary War is to be traced to them! They habituated the colonists to the exercise of the rights of freemen and republicans, and taught them to look upon arbitrary measures as things to be resisted.

One of the most flagrant violations of justice committed by the restored government was the execution of a former governor of Massachusetts, Sir Harry Vane. He made a noble defence upon his trial, but his doom was fixed beforehand. Upon the scaffold he displayed all that calmness and elevation of mind for which he had through life been distinguished, and his bearing created such a powerful feeling in his favor among the people, that the court party were induced to restore to his family their titles and estates.

For many years previous to the period at which we have now arrived,

a number of Christian missionaries, the most eminent of whom were John Elliot and Thomas Mayhew, had been making sincere efforts to civilize the Indians; and so far had they succeeded, that several Indian towns were founded and the inhabitants became comparatively civilized. Elliot translated the Scriptures into the Indian language, and devoted himself to instructing the red men in reading and writing. In 1660, there were

ten Christian Indian settlements in Massachusetts, alone. Mayhew and his coadjutors prosecuted their labor of love successfully in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Elizabeth Isles, and the territory comprehended in the Plymouth patent.

HE colonial policy of Charles II. was as feeble and oppressive as his domestic government. The Navigation Act was applied to the New England colonies as well as to Virginia, and proved a fertile source of discontent and complaint. The enemies of the Puritans, numerous, of course, at the court of Charles II., were constantly spreading rumours of intended rebellion in the northern colonies; and four commissioners, Sir Robert Carr, Colonel Nicholls, George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, were appointed to proceed to New England, hear and determine according to their own discretion all complaints and disputes, and take every step they might judge necessary for settling the peace and security of the country on a solid foundation.

The news of the intended visitation of the commissioners created a strong feeling of indignation and alarm in New England. The general court of Massachusetts appointed a day of solemn fasting and prayer, committed the charter to four members for safe keeping; and passed an ordinance forbidding the landing of officers and soldiers from ships, except from small ships, and in small parties. Petitions were sent to the king and principal noblemen of England, complaining of the extensive power given to the commissioners, and praying that they might be recalled. But the king was resolved, and would not be swerved from his resolution.

When the commissioners arrived, they adjusted the boundary question between Connecticut and New York, and some claims of the Duke of Hamilton and other persons. As these acts in no way conflicted with the interests of the colony, the commissioners met with no resistance, and in their report, praised the obedience of Connecticut. In Rhode Island they were favorably received. Plymouth declined their promises of a new charter, and preferred to retain her old privileges. In Massachusetts, the pretensions of the commissioners were resisted at every step. Their conferences with the general court were anything but amicable, and their attempt to assume the judicial government was defeated by the authorities and derided by the people.

Suspending for a time their operations at Boston, the commissioners repaired to New Hampshire and Maine, and setting aside the claims of