CHAPTER XLVI.

The Massachusetts charter revoked.-Accession of James II.-His arbitrary character.-Establishment of tyranny in New England.-Administration of Andros. -Policy of James.-Remonstrances of the colonists.-The charter of Rhode Island surrendered.-Andros at Hartford.-Attempts to seize the charter of Connecticut.-Oppressive government of Andros.

Wadsworth concealing the charter of Connecticut in the oak.

CHARLES II. was so eager to complete the execution of his design against the liberties of Massachusetts, that immediately after the court of King's Bench had given its decision against the charter, in November, 1684, he proceeded to arrange a new government for the colony. Colonel Kirke, a man infamous for his bloody excesses, was appointed governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Plymouth. No representative system was to exist, but a governor and council, appointed by the king, were to exercise the whole control. Had this arbitrary scheme been persisted in, the colonists would most surely have taken up arins, and the American revolution might have been accelerated by a century. Horror and dismay took possession of the minds. of people at the first tidings of this audacious design against them; but in the midst of their alarm the sudden death of the king was announced at Boston. This somewhat relieved the apprehensions of the colonists, although they could have scanty hopes of favor from his bigoted and arbitrary successor, James II.,

who was proclaimed in the capital of New England with melancholy solemnity.

James, indeed, was too much enamored of arbitrary power to be deterred from the indulgence of it by any obstacle inferior to invincible necessity; and, accordingly, after some temporary arrangements, without paying the slightest regard to opinions supported only by the pens of lawyers, he determined to establish a complete tyranny in New England, by combining the whole legislative and executive authority in the persons of a governor and council, to be named by himself. Kirke had been found too useful, as an instrument of terror in England, to be spared to America. But Sir Edmund Andros, who had signalized his devotion to arbitrary power, in the government of New York, was now appointed captain-general, and vice-admiral of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Plymouth, and certain dependent territories during the pleasure of the king. He was empowered, with the consent of a board of counsellors, to make ordinances for the colonies, not inconsistent with the laws of England, and which were to be submitted to the king for his approbation or dissent, and to impose taxes for the support of government. He was directed to govern the people according to the tenor of his commission, of a separate letter of instructions with which he was at the same time furnished, and of the laws which were then in force or might be afterwards enacted. The governor and council were also constituted a court of record; and from their decisions an appeal to the king was to be allowed. The greater part of the instructions that were communicated to Andros are of a nature that would do honor to the patriotism of the king, if the praise of this virtue were due to a barren desire to promote the welfare of the people, accompanied with the most effectual exertions to strip them of every security by which their welfare might be guarded. Andros was directed to promote no persons to offices of trust, but colonists of fair character and competent estate, and to displace none without sufficient cause; and to respect and administer the existing laws of the country, in so far as they were not inconsistent with his commission or instructions; to dispose of the crown lands at moderate quit rents; "to take away or to harm no man's life, member, freehold or goods, but by established laws of the country, not repugnant to those of the realm;" to discipline and arm the inhabitants for the defence of the country, but not to obstruct their attention to their own private business and necessary affairs; to encourage freedom of commerce by all proper means; to check the excessive severity of masters to their servants, and to punish with death the slayers of Indians

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or negroes; to allow no printing press to exist, and to grant universal toleration in religion, but special encouragement to the Church of England. Except the restraint of printing, (which, though enjoined, appears not to have been carried into effect,) there are none of these instructions that express a spirit of despotism; and yet the whole system was silently pervaded by that spirit; for as there were no securities provided for the accomplishment of the king's benevolent directions, so there was no check established to restrain the abuse of the powers with which the governor was entrusted. The king was willing that his subjects should be happy, but not that they should be free, or enabled to pursue a scheme of happiness independent of his agency or control; and this conjunction of a desire to promote human welfare, with an aversion to the means most likely to secure it, suggests the explanation, perhaps the apology, of an error to which despotic sovereigns are inevitably liable. Trained in habits of indulgence of their own will, and in sentiments of respect for its force and efficacy, they learn to consider it as what not only ought to be, but must be, irresistible; and feel no less secure of ability to make men happy without their own concurrence, than of the right to balk the natural desire of mankind to be the providers and guardians of their own welfare. The possession of absolute power renders self-denial the highest effort of virtue; and the absolute monarch who should demonstrate a just regard to the rights of his fellow-creatures, would deserve to be honored as one of the most magnanimous of human beings. Furnished with the instructions which we have seen for the mitigation of his arbitrary power, and attended with a few companies of soldiers for its support, Andros arrived in Boston; and presenting himself as the substitute for the dreaded and detested Kirke,-and commencing his administration with many gracious expressions of good will, he was at first received more favorably than might have been expected. But his popularity was short-lived. Instead of conforming to his instructions, he copied, and even exceeded, the arbitrary conduct of his master in England, and committed the most tyrannical violence and oppressive exactions. Dudley, the late president, and several of his colleagues, were associated as counsellors of the new administration, which was thus loaded, in the beginning of its career, with the weight of their unpopularity, and in the end involved themselves in deeper odium and disgrace.

It was the purpose of James to consolidate the strength of all the British colonies in one united government; and Rhode Island and Connecticut were now to experience that their destiny was

involved in the fate of Massachusetts. The inhabitants of Rhode Island, on learning the accession of the king, immediately transmitted an address, congratulating him on his elevation, acknowl edging themselves his loyal subjects, and begging his protection for their chartered rights. Yet the humility of their supplications could not protect them from the consequences of the plans he had embraced for the general government of New England. Articles of high misdemeanor were exhibited against them before the lords of the committee of colonies, charging them with breaches of their charter, and with opposition to the acts of navigation; and before the close of the year 1685, they received notice of the institution of a process of quo warranto, against their patent. Without hesitation, they resolved that they would not contend with their sovereign, and passed an act, in full assembly, formally surrendering their charter and all the powers it contained. By a fresh address, they "humbly prostrated themselves, their privileges, their all, at the gracious feet of his majesty, with an entire resolution to serve him with grateful hearts." These servile expressions dishonored but did not avail them; and the king, accounting legal solemnities a superfluous ceremony with persons so devoted to his will, proceeded, without further delay, to impose the yoke which the people sought to evade by deserving it. His eagerness, however, to accomplish his object with rapidity, though it probably inflicted a salutary disappointment on this community at the time, proved ultimately beneficial to their political interests, by preserving their charter from legal extinction; and this benefit, which a similar improvidence afforded to the people of Connecticut, was ascertained at the era of the British revolution. In consequence of the last address that had proceeded from Rhode Island, Andros had been charged to extend his administration to that province; and in the same month that witnessed his arrival at Boston, he visited Rhode Island, when he dissolved the provincial corporation, broke its seal, and, admitting five of the inhabitants into his legislative council, assumed the exercise of all the functions of government.

Connecticut had also transmitted an address to the king on his accession, and vainly solicited the preservation of her privileges. When the articles of misdemeanor were exhibited against Rhode Island, a measure of similar import was employed against the governor and assembly of Connecticut, who were reproached with making laws contrary in tenor to those of England; of extorting unreasonable fines; of administering an oath of fidelity to their own corporation, in contradistinction to the oath of allegiance; of intolerance in ecclesiastical polity, and of denial of justice. These

charges, which were supposed to infer a forfeiture of the charter, were remitted to Sawyer, the Attorney General, with directions to expedite a writ of quo warranto against the colony. The writ was issued, and Randolph, the general enemy of American liberty, offered his services to carry it across the Atlantic. The governor and the assembly of Connecticut had for some time beheld the storm approaching, and knowing that resistance was vain, they endeavored, with considerable address, to elude what they were unable to repel. After delaying as long as possible to make any signification of their intentions, the arrival of Sir Edmund Andros at Boston, and his conduct in Rhode Island, convinced them that the designs of the king were to be rigorously pursued, and that they could not hope to be allowed to deliberate any longer. They wrote accordingly to the Secretary of State, expressing a strong desire to retain their present constitution; but requesting, if it were the irrevokable purpose of their sovereign to dispose otherwise of them, that they might be incorporated with Massachusetts, and share the fortunes of a people with whom they had always maintained a friendly correspondence, and whose principles and manners they understood and approved. This was hastily construed by the British government into a surrender of the provincial constitution; and Andros was commanded to annex this province also to his jurisdiction. Randolph, who seems to have been qualified, not less by genius than inclination, to promote the execution of tyrannical designs, advised the English ministers to prosecute the quo warranto to a judicial issue; assuring them that the government of Connecticut would never consent to do, nor acknowledge that they had done, what was equivalent to an express surrender of the rights of the people. It was matter of regret to the ministers and crown lawyers of a later age, that this politic suggestion was not adopted. But the king was too eager to snatch the boon that was within his reach, to wait the tedious formalities of the law; and no farther proceedings ensued on the quo warranto. In conformity with his orders, Andros marched at the head of a body of troops to Hartford, the seat of the provincial government, where he demanded that the charter should be delivered into his hands.

The people had been extremely desirous to preserve, at least, the document of rights, which the return of better times might enable them to assert with advantage. The charter was laid on the table of the assembly, and some of the principal inhabitants addressed Andros at considerable length, relating the exertions that had been made, and the hardships that had been incurred. in order to found the institutions which he was come to destroy;