MASSACHUSETTS DEFIANT
Massachusetts was yet to be taken in hand. The English authorities had
become convinced that a satisfactory settlement of all the difficulties
in New England could be undertaken not in England, where the facts were
hard to get at, but in America. Lord Clarendon, the Chancellor, had been
in correspondence with Samuel Maverick, an early settler in New England
and for many years a resident of Boston and New Amsterdam. As an
Anglican, Maverick had sympathized with the opposition in Massachusetts
led by Dr. Robert Child, and had been debarred from all civil and
religious rights in the colony; but he was a man of sobriety and good
judgment, whose chief cause of offense was a difference of opinion as to
how a colony should conduct its government. The fact that he had been
able to get on with the Massachusetts men shows that his attitude had
never been seriously aggressive, for though he certainly had no liking
for the policy of the colony, he does not appear to have been influenced
by any hostility towards Massachusetts.
Happening to be in England at this juncture, Maverick was called upon by
the Chancellor to state the case against the colony, and this he did in
several letters, giving many instances of the colony's disloyalty and
injustice, and recommending that its privileges be taken away, just as
it had taken away the privileges of others. To this suggestion Clarendon
paid no heed, for it was no part of the royal purpose to drive the
colonies to desperation at a time when the King was but newly come to
his throne and needed all his resources in the struggle with the Dutch.
But to Maverick's further suggestions that New Netherland be reduced,
that Massachusetts be regulated, and that commissioners be sent over to
accomplish these ends, he expressed himself as favorable, and all were
finally accepted by the Government. Maverick's opinion that British
control should be exercised over a British possession and that the
government of such a possession should not be conducted after the
fashion of an ecclesiastical society happened to coincide with that of
the King's advisers and, as Maverick had lived in America for thirty
years, his advice was listened to with respect and approval. All thought
that, while Massachusetts might not be driven with safety, she could
probably be persuaded to admit some alteration in her methods of
government by tactful representatives.
Had the Duke of York, to whom was entrusted the task of selecting the
new commissioners, chosen his men as wisely as Clarendon had shaped his
policy, the results, as far as Massachusetts was concerned, might have
been more successful. The trouble lay with the character of the work to
be done. On the one hand the Dutch colony was to be seized by force of
arms, a military undertaking involving boldness and executive ability;
on the other, the Puritan colonies were to be regulated, a mission which
called for the utmost tact. The men chosen for the work were far from
the best that might have been selected to bring back to the path of true
obedience and impartial justice a colony that was deemed wilful and
perverse. They were Richard Nicolls, a favorite of the Duke of York and
the only commissioner possessed of discrimination and wisdom, but who,
as governor of the yet unconquered Dutch colony, was likely to be taken
up with his duties to such an extent as to preclude his sharing
prominently in the diplomatic part of his mission; Colonel George
Cartwright, a soldier, well-meaning but devoid of sympathy and ignorant
of the conditions that confronted him; Sir Robert Carr, the worst of the
four, unprincipled and profligate and without control either of his
temper or his passions; and, lastly, Maverick himself, opposed to the
existing order in Massachusetts and convinced of the necessity of
radical changes in the constitution of the colony. Nicolls was liked and
respected; Cartwright and Carr were distrusted as soldiers and
strangers, and their presence was resented; whereas Maverick was
objected to as a malcontent who had gone to England to complain and had
returned with power to make trouble. When the colony heard of his
appointment, it sent a vigorous address of protest to the King. If
Clarendon expected from the last three of these men the wisdom and
discretion that he said were essential to the task, he strangely
misjudged their characters. He thought, to be sure, of adding other
commissioners from New England, but he did not know whom to select and
was fearful of arousing local jealousies. Yet considering the work to
be done, it is doubtful if any commissioners, no matter how wisely
selected, could have performed the task, for Massachusetts did not want
to be regulated.
The general object of the commission was "to unite and reconcile persons
of very different judgments and practice in all things," particularly
concerning "the peace and prosperity of the people and their joint
submission and obedience to us and our government." More specifically,
the commissioners were to effect the overthrow of the Dutch, investigate
conditions among the Indians, capture the regicides, secure obedience to
the navigation acts, look into the question of boundaries, and determine
the title to the Narragansett country, henceforth to be called the
King's Province. The commissioners were to make it clear that they were
not come to interfere with the prevailing religious systems, but to
demand liberty of conscience for all, though Clarendon could not repress
the hope that ultimately the New Englanders might return to the Anglican
fold. The secret instructions were even more remarkable as evidence of a
complete misunderstanding of conditions in New England. Clarendon wished
to secure for the Crown the power to nominate or at least to approve
the governor of Massachusetts, to control the militia, and to examine
and correct the laws--powers, it may be noted, which were exercised in
every royal colony as a matter of course. He suggested that the
commissioners interest themselves in the elections so far as "to gett
men of the best reputation and most peaceably inclined" chosen to the
assembly, but he cautioned them to "proceed very warily" in some of
these things. He had a hope that Massachusetts might be so wrought upon
as to choose Nicolls for her governor and Carr for her major-general,
but in this, as in the pious hope of a return of the Puritans to the
Church of England, he reckoned without a knowledge of the grimness of
the Massachusetts temper.
The commissioners reached Boston, _en route_ for New Amsterdam, late in
July, 1664, asked for troops, and demanded the repeal of the franchise
law. The magistrates took the precaution to conceal the charter; they
were also heartily glad when the commissioners departed on their errand
of conquest and hoped they would not return. The general court, having
modified the franchise law sufficiently to meet the letter of the King's
command, wrote His Majesty that they wished he would recall his
emissaries; and when the magistrates discovered that this impertinent
demand not only failed of its object but drew down upon the colony a
royal rebuke, with characteristic shrewdness they shifted their ground
and prepared to meet the commissioners in fair contest, wearing out
their patience and thwarting their plans by every available device. In
the meantime, the four men were completing the conquest and pacification
of New Netherland, and rearranging the boundary difficulties with
Connecticut. Then Maverick and Cartwright passed on to Boston, where
they were joined in February by Carr, Nicolls remaining in New York. The
three men, making Boston their headquarters, visited Plymouth, Newport,
and Hartford, where they were received, according to their account,
"with great expressions of loyalty"--a statement which, if true, shows
how successfully the colonists suppressed their deeper feelings. Having
taken the King's Province under the royal protection, and postponed for
later consideration the question of the boundary line between Rhode
Island and Connecticut, with new complaints against Massachusetts
ringing in their ears, they returned to Boston to meet the defiant
magistrates. There Nicolls joined them in May.
The Massachusetts mission was hopeless from the beginning. The
magistrates and general court would not admit the right of the
commissioners to interfere in any way with governmental procedure or
with the course of justice; and standing with absolute firmness on the
powers granted by the charter and pointing to the recent renewal by the
King as a full confirmation of all their privileges, they denied the
validity of the royal mission and refused to discuss the question of
jurisdiction. The commissioners said very plainly that Massachusetts had
not administered the oath of allegiance or permitted the use of the Book
of Common Prayer, as she had promised to do, and, as for the new
franchise law, they did not understand it themselves and did not believe
it would meet the royal requirements. To none of these points did the
magistrates make any sufficient reply, but, feeling convinced that
safety lay in avoiding decisions, they preferred rather to leave the
matter ambiguous than to attempt any clearing up of the points at issue.
But when the commissioners took up the question of appeals and announced
their determination to sit as a court of justice, the issue was more
fairly joined. The magistrates quoted the text of the charter to show
that the colony had full power over all judicial affairs, while the
commissioners cited their instructions as a sufficient warrant for their
right to hear complaints against the colony. A deadlock ensued, but in
the end the colony triumphed. After spending a month in fruitless
negotiations, the commissioners gave up the struggle, preferring to
leave the conduct of Massachusetts to be passed upon by the Crown rather
than to prolong the controversy. For the time being, the Massachusetts
men had their own way; but they had raised a serious and dangerous
question, that of their allegiance and its obligations, for, as the
commissioners said, "The King did not grant away his soveraigntie over
you when he made you a corporation. When His Majestie gave you power to
make wholesome lawes and to administer justice, he parted not with his
right of judging whether those laws are wholsom, or whether justice was
administered accordingly or no. When His Majestie gave you authoritie
over such of his subjects as lived within the limits of your
jurisdiction, he made them not your subjects nor you their supream
authority." Had the magistrates been wiser men, less homebred and
provincial, and possessed of wider vision, they would have foreseen the
dangers that confronted them. But Bellingham and Leverett, the leading
representatives of the policy of no surrender, were not men gifted with
foresight, and they remained unmoved by the last threat of the
commissioners that it would be hazardous to deny the King's supremacy,
for "'tis possible that the charter which you so much idolize may be
forfeited."
The magistrates were undoubtedly influenced by the character of the
commissioners and their rough and ready methods of procedure. Had all
been as honorable and upright as Nicolls, who unfortunately took but
little part in the negotiations, the outcome might have been different.
But there is reason to think otherwise. The Massachusetts leaders took
the ground that if they yielded any part they must eventually yield all,
and they wanted no interference from outside in their government. Having
ruled themselves for thirty years as they thought best, they were not
disposed to admit that the King had any rights in the colony; and they
believed that by steady resistance or by dilatory practices they could
stave off intervention and that, with the danger once removed, the
colony would be allowed to continue in its own course. In a measure they
were justified in their belief. The King recalled the commissioners,
and, though he wrote a letter declaring that Massachusetts had shown a
great want of duty and respect for the royal authority, he went no
further than to command the colony to send agents to England to answer
there the questions that had not been settled during the stay of the
commissioners at Boston. But the colony did not take this command
seriously and sent no agents. Nicolls, always temperate in speech, wrote
in 1666: "The grandees of Boston are too proud to be dealt with, saying
that His Majesty is well satisfied with their loyalty."
The "grandees" were playing a shrewd but none too wise a game. Affairs
in England were not favorable to the pursuit of a rigorous policy at
this time. The Dutch war, the fire and epidemic in London, and the
consequent suspension of all outside activities, had thrown governmental
business into disorder and confusion. Clarendon, whose influence was
waning, was soon to lose his post as Chancellor. The negotiations which
ended in the treaty of Breda, and the threatening policy of Louis XIV,
now beginning to take a form ominous to the Protestant states of Europe,
distracted men's minds at home, and the Massachusetts problem was for
the moment lost sight of in the presence of the larger issues. The
colony returned to its former position of independence and soon
reasserted its former authority over New Hampshire and Maine. To all
appearances the failure of the royal commissioners was complete, but
appearances were deceptive. The issue lay not merely between a Stuart
King and a colony seeking to preserve its liberties; it was part of the
larger and more fundamental issue of the place of a colony in England's
newly developed policy of colonial subordination and control. Neither
was Massachusetts a persecuted democracy. No modern democratic state
would ever vest such powers in the hands of its magistrates and clergy,
nor would any modern people accept such oppressive and unjust
legislation as characterized these early New England communities. In any
case, the contemptuous attitude of Massachusetts and her disregard of
the royal commands were not forgotten; and when, a few years later, the
authorities in England took up in earnest the enforcement of the new
colonial policy as defined by acts of Parliament and royal orders and
proclamations, the colony of Massachusetts Bay was the first to feel the
weight of the royal displeasure.