New England, Massachusetts. (Journal.)
July 24.
Robert Mason's second petition to the Council read. (Cal., § 512.)
"To Council. Mr. Surveyor brought us a plot for the building of our Council Chamber, to be erected at the end of the Privy-garden, in Whitehall." (Evelyn's Diary, p. 66.)
August 3.
Agreement about Commissioners to New England. (Cal., § 512.)
Address regarding sending two ships to Surinam. (Cal., §§ 596, 850.)
"A full appearance at the Council. The matter in debate was whether we should send a deputy to New England, requiring them of the Massachusetts to restore such to their limits and respective possessions, as had petitioned the Council; this to be the open commission only; but in truth, with secret instructions to inform us of the condition of those Colonies, and whether they were of such power, as to be able to resist his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the Crown, which we were told and which of late years made them refractory. Colonel Middleton being called in, assured us they might be curbed by a few of his Majesty's first-rate frigates, to spoil their trade with the islands; but, though my Lord President was not satisfied, the rest were, and we did resolve to advise his Majesty to send Commissioners with a formal Commission for adjusting boundaries, etc., with some other instructions." (Evelyn's Diary, II, p. 66.)
August 12.
Report concerning New England, a representation of the present state of New England and the sending over of Commissioners. (Cal., §§ 512, 598, 850.)