120 NEW HAMPSHIRE A ROYAL PROVINCE. CHAP. neck, and conveyed out of the province. If rioters XII. were committed, they were rescued by a new riot, 1684. if the troop of horse of the militia were ordered out, not a man obeyed the summons. Cranfield, in despair, wrote imploringly to the government in England, "I shall esteem it the greatest happiness in the world to be allowed to remove from these unreasonable people. They cavil at the royal commission, and not at my person. No one will be accepted by them, who puts the king's commands in execution." The conduct of Cranfield met with the entire approbation of the lords of trade; he was allowed to withdraw from the province; but the government in England had no design of ameliorating the political condition of the colonists. The character of New Hampshire, as displayed in this struggle for freedom, remained unchanged. It was ever esteemed in England "factious in its economy, affording no exemplary precedents" to the friends of arbitrary power. Massachusetts might, perhaps, still have defied the king, and escaped or overawed the privy council; but the merchants and manufacturers of England, fearing the colony as their rival, possessed intelligence to discern how their monopoly might be sustained, and perseverance to press steadily towards their object. 1675. Their complaints had been received with favor; their selfish reasoning was heard with a willingness to be convinced; and the English statesmen who maintained the absolute sovereignty of parliament, must have esteemed Massachusetts without excuse. 1676. The agents of Massachusetts had brought with them no sufficient power; an amnesty for the past would XII. readily have been conceded; for the future, it was CHAP. resolved to reduce Massachusetts to "a more palpable dependence." That this might be done with the 1676. consent of the colony, the agents were enjoined to procure larger powers. But no larger powers were granted. It was against fearful odds that Massachusetts continued the struggle. All England was united. Whatever party triumphed, the mercantile interest would readily procure an enforcement of the laws of trade. "The country's neglect of the Acts of Navigation," wrote the agents, "has been the most unhappy neglect. Without a compliance in that matter, nothing can be expected but a total breach." "All the stormis of displeasure" would be let loose. It was not, therefore, a surprise, when the committee of plantations raised the question, whether the original charter had any legal entity. The crown, however, would not deny the validity of the patent, but suggested the avoiding it by a quo warranto. The colony resolved, if it must fall, to fall with dignity. Religion had been the motive of the settlement; religion was now its counsellor. The fervors of the most ardent devotion were kindled; a more than usually solemn form of religious observance was adopted; a synod of all the churches in Massachusetts was convened, to inquire into the causes of the dangers to New England liberty, and the mode of removing the evils. Historians have mentioned this incident with levity; no more fit mode could have been devised to awaken the attention of every individual in the commonwealth to a consideration of the subject. 1678, Meantime the general court had enacted several laws, partially removing the ground of complaint. But 1679. 122 THE LIBERTIES OF MASSACHUSETTS IN DANGER. 1679. CHAP. they related to forms, rather than to realities. High XII. treason was made a capital offence; the oath of alle1678, giance was required; the king's arms were put up in the court-house. But it was more difficult to conform to the laws of trade. The colony was unwilling to forfeit its charter and its religious liberties on a pecuniary question; and yet, to acknowledge its readiness to submit to an act of parliament, was regarded as a cession of the privilege of independent legislation. It devised, therefore, an expedient. It declared that "the Acts of Navigation were an invasion of the rights and privileges of the subjects of his majesty, in the colony, they not being represented in parliament." "The laws of England," they add, “do not reach America." In connection with this declaration, the general court gave validity to the laws of navigation by an act of its own. Such is the renewed direct denial, on the part of a colony, of the supremacy of parliament, on the ground of a want of representation. Massachusetts adopted towards Charles II. the same views which she had successfully avowed to the English nation in the days of the Long Parliament. The troubles connected with the popish plot delayed the settlement of the affairs of New England. 1679. The agents, Stoughton and Bulkley, returned in 1679, Dec. and reached Boston in December. With them came Randolph, now appointed an officer of the customs. The new command of the king, that other agents should be sent over with unlimited powers, was disregarded. It was evident the subversion of the charter was designed. Twice did Charles II. remonstrate against the disobedience of his subjects; twice did Randolph cross the XII. Atlantic, and return to England, to assist in directing CHAP the government against Massachusetts. The commonwealth was inflexible. At length, in February, 1682. 1682, the aspect of affairs in England rendered delay more dangerous; and Dudley and Richards were selected as agents. Yet, while the prayers of the whole commonwealth went up for their safety, and ne safety of the patent, they were expressly enjoined to consent to nothing that should infringe the privileges of the government established under the charter. A singular method was also attempted. In the English court every thing was venal. France had succeeded in bribing the king to betray the political interests of England; Massachusetts was willing to bribe the monarch into clemency towards its liberties. The commission of the deputies was not acceptable. They were ordered to obtain full powers for the entire 1682. Sept. regulation of the government, and the threat of a judicial process was renewed. The agents represented the condition of the colony as desperate. A general war against corporations was begun; many cities in England had surrendered. Was it not safest for the colony to decline a contest, and throw itself upon the favor or forbearance of the king? Such was the theme of universal discussion throughout the colony; the common people spoke of it at their firesides; the topic went with them to church; it entered into their prayers; it filled the sermons of the ministers; and, finally, Massachusetts resolved, in a manner that showed it to be distinctly the sentiment of the people, to resign the territory of Maine, which was held by purchase, but not to concede one liberty or one privilege which was held by charter. If liberty was to receive its death-blow, better that it should die by the 124 MASSACHUSETTS DEFENDS ITS CHARTER. CHAP. violence and injustice of others, than by their own weakness. XII. The message closed the duties of the agents. A A quo 1683. warranto was issued; Massachusetts was arraigned before an English tribunal, under judges holding their office at the pleasure of the crown; and Randolph, Oct. the hated messenger, arrived with the writ. At the same time, a declaration from the king asked once more for submission, promising as a reward the royal favor, and the fewest alterations in the charter consistent with the support of a royal government. The people of Massachusetts had been close observers of events in England. They had seen a popular party, of which Shaftesbury assumed the guidance, and of which the house of commons was the scene of victories, rise, act, and become defeated. They had seen Charles II. gradually establish despotic power. They had seen the people of England apparently acquiescing in the subjection of parliament. An insurrection had indeed been planned; the doctrine had indeed been whispered, that resistance to oppression was lawful. But the doctrine had been expiated by the blood of Sidney and of Russell; and the colonists 21. knew, that, on the very day of the death of Russell, the university of Oxford, recalling the days of Henry VIII., and asserting an historical fact rather than a principle, had declared "submission and obedience. clear, absolute, and without exception, to be the badge and character of the church of England." They knew that many cities of England had surrendered their charters; that London itself, the metropolis which had sheltered Hampden against Charles I., had found resistance ineffectual; and to render submission in Massachusetts easy, by showing that opposition was desperate, two July |