USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > East Boston > History of East Boston; with biographical sketches of its early proprietors, and an appendix > Part 13
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > East Boston > History of East Boston : with biographical sketches of its early proprietors, and an appendix. > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
1 Massachusetts Records, Vol. IV. Part 2, p. 168.
2 Hist. N. E. p. 579.
141
CLARENDON'S LETTER.
1664.]
to Maverick. In this letter, after expressing his disappoint- ment at the conduct of Sir Robert Carr, and his great confi- dence in Colonel Nichols, he continues : -
" Worcester House, 5 March, 1664.
" I find by an address we have lately received from Boston, that the Governor and Council there are not at all pleased with your Commission, and that they will needs believe all their privileges are to be destroyed; but I suppose they are better informed since, and that the answer they have received from the King to their address, will dispose them to a better temper, and that the discretion and wisdom of the Commissioners will make them see how much they are mistaken in their apprehen- sions. I must tell you they seem most offended and troubled that you, whom they look upon as their enemy, should have any authority over them; but I am very confident the knowl- edge of their prejudice towards you, will make you much the more careful and watchful in your carriage, that they may have no just exception against any thing you do, and that they plainly discerne that you are quite another man in a public trust than what they took you to be as a neighbor, and that you have wiped out of your memory all impressions which ill treatment heretofore might have made in you. For if you should revenge any old discourtesies, at the King's charge, and as his Commissioner should do any thing upon the memory of past injuries, the King would take it very ill, and do himself justice accordingly. But I am confident I have not been so much mistaken in the observation I could make of your nature and disposition, that you can be liable to any of these reproaches, - however, the advertisement I am sure can do you no harm, and proceeds from much kindness.
" Remember me very kindly to Colonel Cartwright, and I am very glad your success hath been so good in the other Prou- inces. I hope that of the Massachusetts will not deserve a worse report. I wish you all happiness, and am
" Good Mr. Maverick, " Your affectionate serv't, " CLARENDON." 1
1 Colonial Hist. N. Y. Vol. III. p. 92.
142
HISTORY.
[1665.
The supposition of Clarendon, that, through better informa- tion, the wisdom and discretion of the commissioners, and the answer of the king to the address from Boston, the governor and council might have become of a "better temper," did not prove correct. Nor were all the commissioners the most dis- creet and conciliating. Carr's conduct, as appears from Claren- don's letter above, was such as to disappoint and offend the government. Cartwright also is represented as totally unfit for the business they came upon. Hutchinson says that he and Carr, "by their violent proceedings, rendered themselves odious ;" and Maverick seems to have been not altogether the most peaceably inclined, as appears by his letter from Ports- mouth, before his arrival, interfering with the government, which he had been instructed to carefully avoid.
There is a manuscript paper in the Massachusetts archives, purporting to be an affidavit of Captain James Oliver and his wife, in which they state that Maverick, being at their house " some time about January " of that year (1665), and, " speak- ing about divers things and persons in the country said, we should know that they [the commissioners] were the men we were to obey." The captain then told him that he supposed he was commanded one thing by the governors, from whom he had received his commission, and another by them; and asked him which he should obey. Maverick replied that he "might obey them [the governors] till after election, but no longer." He " further said we were both rebels and traitors for minting money and printing, which was treason for the country to do." In another manuscript, also in the archives, which is the testi- mony of three other individuals, Maverick is represented as complaining of the claims of the colonists, and saying that they included the territory of thirteen patents under their own.
The general court being at last compelled, by the direct ques- tions of the commissioners, to abandon the equivocal position they had been holding, and openly announce their intentions, on the 24th of March, 1665, "with sound of trumpet in the Market Place in Boston below the Court House, and at the Dock head, and at the cross-way by Capt. Breedons " published a " Declaration," setting forth their views and position relative to the commissioners. In this, the court " Declare to all the
--
143
THE CONTEST.
1665.]
people of this Colony, that in the observance of our duty to God and His Matie and the trust committed to us by His Maties good subjects in this Colony, wee cannot consent unto or give our approbation of the proceedings of the aforesaid Gentlemen (referring to the commissioners), neither can it consist with our allegiance that we owe to His Matie to countenance any that shall in so high a manner go cross unto His Maties direct charge or shall be their abettors or consent thereunto."1 To this paper the commissioners made a short and severe reply, informing the court that they should " not loose more of their labours upon them, but referr it to his Majties wisdom, who is of power enough to make himself obedyed in all his dominions." 2
The contest between the commissioners and the colonial government was warm; both parties were earnest and persist- ent, and many letters passed between them; and at the same time the commissioners kept the lord chancellor fully informed of the difficulties under which they labored. The correspond- ence shows the determination on either side to maintain their respective positions, and it is probable that personal animosity added to the difficulties of amicably adjusting the points in dispute. The position taken by the governor and council of Massachusetts, and as resolutely maintained by them, called forth from the officers of the crown strong accusations accom- panied with threats, and it is not uncharitable to indulge the thought that Maverick felt some pleasure in having the right to address his former persecutors, as he deemed them, with author- ity and severity. In one letter to the governor and council, the following significant language is used, with much more of a similar character : " Striveing to grasp too much, may make you hold but a little. 'Tis possible that the charter which you so much idolize may be forfeited, and it may probably be sup- posed that it hath been many ways forfeited; untill you have cleared yourselves of those many injustices, oppressions, vio- lences, and bloud for which you are complained against, to which complaints you have refused to answer; or untill you have His Maties pardon, which can neither be obteined by nor bee effectuall to those who deny the King's supremacy." In
1 Col. Hist. N. Y. Vol. III. p. 95.
2 Ibid. 96.
144
HISTORY.
[1666.
this letter the governor and council are accused of using bad grammar in their last letter; and it was asserted that they had " palpably (and we feare wilfully) misconstrued too many of His Maties gracious letters." 1
With all his zeal, Maverick was not without discretion. Hutchinson relates that in a dispute with one Mason, a con- stable, in Boston, in 1666, after another constable had been beaten when attempting to arrest him: " Sir Robert Carr said it was he that beat him, and that he would do it again. Mason replied, that he thought his majesty's commissioners would not have beaten his majesty's officers, and that it was well for them that he was not the constable that found them there, for he would have carried them before authority. Sir Robert asked, if he dare meddle with the king's commission- ers ? Yes, says Mason, and if the king himself had been there, I would have carried him away; upon which Maverick cried out, treason! thou shalt be hanged within a twelvemonth. Sir Robert Carr spake to Sir Thomas Temple and some others of the company, to take notice of what had passed; and the next day Maverick sent a note to Mr. Bellingham, the governor, charging Mason with high treason for the words spoken, and requiring the governor to secure him. The governor appointed a time for Maverick to come to his house and to give bond to prosecute the constable himself, at the next court of assistants ; but Maverick, instead of appearing, thought proper only to send another note, promising to appear against the constable and charge him home, and therefore required that his person should be secured. The governor now thought it advisable to cause Mason to recognize, as principal, in five hundred pounds, with two sufficient sureties in two hundred and fifty each, for his appearance; but the day before the court, Maverick sent another note to the governor, desiring to withdraw his charge, being ' satisfied that although the words were rash and incon- siderate, yet there was no premeditated design in Mason to offer any injury to the king or his government.' The governor returned for answer, 'that the affair was of too high a nature for him to interpose in, Mason being bound over to answer.'
1 Col. Hist. N. Y. Vol. III. p. 99.
145
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS.
1665.]
Upon his appearance a bill was laid before the grand-jury, wherein he was charged with maliciously and treasonably uttering the treasonable words mentioned. According to the liberty taken by grand juries at that day, they only found ' that the words charged were spoken;' and Mason being brought upon trial and the words fully proved, the court of assistants suspended judgment, and referred the cause to the next general court, where it was resolved, that although the words were rash, insolent, and highly offensive, yet, as his accusers and witnesses all cleared him from any overt act, or evil intended against the king, the court did not see cause to adjudge him a capital offender, but sentenced him to be admonished in a solemn man- ner by the governor."1 "However trivial this anecdote may appear," continues Hutchinson, "yet there are circumstances which throw some light upon the character of the commis- sioners, as well as that of the governor and the judiciary and ministerial powers of the government at that time."
The commissioners' report concerning Massachusetts gives to the government a very severe account of the resistance of that colony to the officers of the crown; mentions in considera- ble detail the various causes of dissatisfaction with the condi- tion of civil, judicial, and religious affairs in that colony, and states, that, with the few who remain loyal subjects of the king, it is "as it was with the King's party in Cromwell's time." The closing sentence of the report is: "Their way of govern- ment is Commonwealth-like; their way of worship is rude and called Congregational ; they are zealous in it, for they persecute all other formes." The whole report is too long to be trans- ferred to these pages; the reader who desires to see it in full is referred to the Colonial Hist. N. Y. Vol. III. pp. 110- 113.
Of the numerous attempts of the commissioners in issuing civil and military orders in other colonies, in some of which they succeeded, as in Maine and Rhode Island, we need not speak; our narrative has more particular reference to their labors, and the results of their labors, in Massachusetts.
1 Hutchinson's Hist. Mass. Vol. I. pp. 254, 255.
13
146
HISTORY.
[1665.
The commissioners were at last recalled, having been defeated in almost every measure they attempted. Perhaps they did as well as any men would have done under similar circumstan- ces ; but the ministry was ignorant of the state of the colo- nies, and the commission was undoubtedly a stretch of power, infringing in some respects upon the rights granted in the charter ; wherefore the colonists considered themselves justified in resisting its authority. They had remarkable powers granted to them, extending over very many and important points of dispute, and they made a great many new ones; and they were determined to exercise all the authority which their com- mission and instructions would allow. On the other hand, the colonies, especially Massachusetts, supposing the commis- sioners were exercising more power than was conferred upon them, and with good reason suspicious of the ministry, opposed these officers at every step, and, in fact, thwarted all their undertakings. The correspondence between the colonial au- thorities and the commissioners, and between each of these parties and the home government, is voluminous. The Massa- chusetts colony presented and urged its own case with signal ability and shrewdness, showing itself ostensibly the most loyal of provinces, when in fact it was in real rebellion, defeating the royal officers in their every effort, and at the same time pretend- ing to do this in the name of the king! At this very time they addressed the king, assuring him of their loyalty, and making him valuable presents to appease his displeasure at their treat- ment of his officers; one present which they sent was a ship load of masts, of which the king was in need, and which he " most graciously acknowledged." But it was not until after the commissioners had found out to their satisfaction that they could do nothing that they obtained from the general court a statement of its true position.
As might naturally be supposed, the recall of the commission- ers, which was in 1665, was a cause of rejoicing to the colonists, and they doubtless took pleasure in supposing, however erro- neously, that it was a virtual yielding of the contest. Nichols, writing from Fort James, in New York, to Secretary Arlington, concerning incursions of the French from Canada, says: " I have turned one third of the country militia into horse and
147
THE ROYAL APPROVAL.
1666.]
dragoons ; the like is done in Conecticot Colony, but the gran- dees of Boston are too proud to be dealt with, saying that his Majesty is well satisfied with their loyalty, and hath recalled both his Commission, and disgraced his Commissioners." There is no evidence that such was the case, and the statement simply shows the state of feeling in the colony. The king appears to have been satisfied with the general conduct of the commissioners, and particularly with Maverick, whom he re- tained in service and to whom he made a valuable present, and recalled them only when it was evident that nothing more could then be accomplished. Touching this point Maverick remarks, in a letter to Arlington, " In the afore mentioned signification (of August 6th, 1666), his Matie declared that he was well pleased with the acting of his Commissioners, and expressly commanded that noe alteration should be made in what they had done."
" After all," says a discerning writer, who has lately had this subject under consideration, " it is difficult to see how any com- missioners, upon such an errand, could have given satisfaction. For a moment's consideration is sufficient to convince any one that the difficulty was not so much in the commissioners as in the undertaking. The king, of course, knew nothing about New England affairs, except from interested parties, and hence, when he gave these commissioners authority to come here and take the government out of the hands of the people, he acted with the same kind of inconsistency which ruined his father. The fathers of Boston had cause, not long after, to speak of 'a remarkable providence,' by which much expected mischief was averted from their heads. The commissioners had collected all the unfavorable circumstances they could against the country, intending, on their return to England, to use their information to the prejudice of New England. All the papers collected for this purpose were in the keeping of Cartwright, who, on his passage to England, fell into the hands of the Dutch, who stripped him of every thing, even the papers in question, and he never could recover them." 1
1 Drake's Hist. Bost. pp. 372, 373.
148
HISTORY.
[1666.
Maverick's duties under the ministry did not wholly cease with the recall of the commission ; for the king's confidence in him was so great that he was selected from all the other com- missioners to continue his labors in the royal service. This cir- cumstance suggests the inference that his services had been very acceptable to those under whom he acted. The king and ministry were highly displeased with the treatment the commis- sioners had received, and were not inclined to suffer the indig- nity to pass unnoticed. More than all, it seemed necessary to take some decided measures to suppress the growing feeling of independence and of rights of self-government, which were becom- ing so very prominent in the Massachusetts colony. Charles II. doubtless remembered the " ill concealed joy" of this refractory colony at the fate of his father, and felt no small desire to assert triumphantly his own authority. This will serve to intro- duce the following statement in the record : " It being put to the question whither the Council mentioned in the paper given into the magists by Mr. Samuel Mauerick be meant of this Generall Court according to our sence the Court resolved it on ye affirmative."1 And again (p. 315) : "The Court hauing pervsed the paper presented to the magistrates by Mr Samuel Mauericke, now in Court, judge that some meete answer be given therevnto by this Court, & to that end haue chosen and appointed the honored Dept. Gover, Capt. Gookin, Majr Gen. Leueret, Capt. Waldern, Capt. Johnson, Mr. Humphrey Davie, & Mr. Peter Tilton as a committee who are hereby desired to drawe vp what they shall judge meete to be donne in the case by way of answer thereto, making their returne thereof to this Court."
The "paper" presented by Maverick was " a signification from his Majesty requiring the Council of this Colony to send five able and meete persons to make answer for refusing the jurisdiction of his Commissioners last year, whereof Mr. Rich- ard Bellingham and Mr. Hawthorne to be two of them, whom he requires on their allegiance to come by the first opportu-
1 Mass. Records, Vol. IV. Part 2, p. 314.
1666.]
SESSION OF THE GENERAL COURT. 149
nity."1 The record appropriately calls this a " weighty matter," and it must have been peculiarly disagreeable to the court to have had it brought before them by their old acquaintance, Maverick, of any thing but " blessed memory."
A special session of the court was called by the governor on the 11th of September, 1666, and the " elders" (ministers) were invited to be present, and " affoord their advice." The forenoon of the 12th was spent in prayer, and on the 13th they proceeded to business. A long debate ensued, in which Bellingham, Bradstreet, Dudley, Willoughby (deputy-gover- nor), Hawthorne, Stoughton, Winthrop, Sir Thomas Temple, and others participated. Some favored the request upon the ground that the king, as such, should be obeyed ; that " right may not be denied because it may be abused ;" that " the king can do no wrong because he acts according to law," etc .; while, on the other hand, it was .maintained that " we must as well consider God's displeasure as the king's; the interests of our- selves and God's things, as his Majesty's prerogative, - for our liberties are of concernment, and to be regarded as to their preservation, for if the king may send for me now, and another to-morrow, we are a miserable people."2 There had been many who from the first had held to the opinion that the commis- sioners should be received, and their authority acknowledged and submitted to; and when the " signification" of the king was presented to the general court, petitions in favor thereof were sent in from numerous towns. These petitioners were censured by the court for intermeddling,3 and a different course decided upon.
An answer to the "signification" was returned by the colonial government, which shrewdly evaded as much as pos- sible the real and well-known intent of the troublesome paper presented to them by Maverick, by throwing a doubt over its genuineness, thus giving to it a secondary importance, and while expressing their loyalty and humility still persisted in their
1 Danforth Papers, which contain a full and interesting account of this special session of the general court. Hutchinson's Hist. Mass., Vol. I. p. 253.
2 Danforth Papers.
* Ibid. ; Mass. Records, Vol. IV., Part 2, p. 317 ; Hutchinson's Hist. Coll. 13 *
150
HISTORY.
[1666.
independent course, and refused to obey the direction! And in the answer, they cannot resist the temptation to cast an impli- cation upon their old " enemy," as will be seen in the follow- ing extract : -
" Wee may not omitt to acquaint your honors that a writing was delivered to the Governor & Majestrates, by Mr. Samuel Mauerick, the 6th Sept. wthout direction or seale, which he saith is a copie of a signification from his majestie, of his pleasure concerning this colony of Massachusets, the certeinty whereof seems not to be so cleare vnto us as former expresses from his majesty haue usually been.1 Wee haue in all humillity given our reasons why wee could not submitt to the commissioners & their mandates the last yeare, wch wee understand lye before his majesty, to the substance whereof wee have not to add, & therefore cannot expect that the ablest persons among us could be in a capacity to declare our cause more fully," etc.
Immediately following the passage of this letter in the gen- eral court, a vote was passed to make a valuable present of masts to the king, and to raise one thousand pounds to defray the expenses. Of course, this could be looked upon only in the light of a peace-offering. The court well knew that the refusal to grant his request would naturally incur his displeasure, and it also well knew that kings, like other human beings, were susceptible of impression in this disinterested manner, and that at this particular time he was really in need of this very kind of timber for his royal navy. Maverick alludes to this present in a letter given on an advance page.
In this manner did the colonists maintain their position until the long continued and steadily increasing troubles found a full development in the overthrow of Andros. The course of action pursued by the colonial authorities throughout the con- troversy with the commissioners evinces an ability which excites our admiration, and the principles there maintained so firmly gained strength from year to year, until at last they resulted in a separation of the colonies from the mother coun- try.
1 There was not much real doubt as to the authenticity of this paper, or of its importance, as it was presented on the 6th of Sept., and the court assembled on the 11th of the same month to act upon it.
151
MAVERICK TO NICHOLS.
1666-9.]
The recall of the commission did not oblige its members to return to England, and we find that Maverick remained in the country. In a letter to Col. Nicholls, under date of April 13, 1666, Lord Clarendon writes : "Though his Majesty thinks fit to recall his commissioners, who have in truth done all they ought to do, at least as much as they are suffered to do, yet it is not his purpose to recall any body whose business or inclina- tion makes it convenient for them to reside there; and I hear Mr. Maverick resolves to stay in those parts."1
Hutchinson says that Maverick "was in the colony (of Mas- sachusetts) again in 1667 with a message from Col. Nichols, which is the last account given of him."2 But notwithstand- ing this remark, there are letters from Maverick, at New York, to Col. Nichols, then in England, as late as 1669. In one of them he says: -
" I have lately written to you by way of Boston and Vir- ginia, giving you an account briefly how things stand in the northern parts, as how those of the Massachusetts have un- ranckled all that was done in the Province of Maine; although His Majesty expressly commanded that nothing should be altered until his pleasure were further known. They have further proceeded in committing Major Phillips and others to prison for receiving commissions from the commissioners to be Justices of the Peace and Military officers. They have given out that if they could take any of those that signed those com- missions they would punish them severely ; so that as the case stands at present it will not be safe for me to go thither. Not long since they sent a party of horse to demand tribute of the Naragansett Sachems, but they paid them not, telling them that they would pay King Charles and none else.
" Now give me leave to acquaint you a little how things go here at Yorke. Trials have been made several times this spring for cod fish, with very good success ; a small ketch sent out by the governor hath found several good fishing banks; amongst the rest one not above 2 or 3 leagues from Sandy Hook, on which in a few hours 4 men took 11 or 12 hundred of excellent good Codd the last time they were out; and most of the ves-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.