In the meantime the people of Massachusetts had resolved upon their line of conduct, which was manly and straightforward. A remonstrance was drawn up to the king, and even this some of the sturdy democrats thought more than necessary, their compact being, it was argued, merely one-fifth of all gold and silver ore; “which was an obligation, any notice of the king beyond which was only by way of civility.” This remonstrance stated to the king that the first planters of the colony obtained a patent which empowered them to govern themselves by men chosen from themselves, and according to such laws as they should enact. “A royal donation,” said they, “under the great seal, is the greatest security that may be had in human affairs;” having, therefore, now for more than thirty years enjoyed the privilege of government within themselves, as their undoubted right in the sight of God and man, they required that the same should be left to them.
As regarded the appointment of a commission, one member of which was a professed enemy, with power to receive and decide complaints according to their will and pleasure, the remonstrants state, “that if these things are to go on, his majesty’s subjects will either be forced to seek new dwellings, or will sink under intolerable burdens, which would be a loss to the king in the customs of exported and imported goods.” And fearing, reasonably enough, that Charles’s rapacious courtiers might be casting longing looks towards the now prosperous colony, they very sagaciously observe: “If the aim should be to gratify some particular gentlemen by livings and revenues here, that will also fail, because of the poverty of the people. If all the charges of the whole government by the year were put together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted by one of these gentlemen a considerable accommodation.
“God knows,” pursue they, “our greatest ambition is to have a quiet life in a corner of the world. We came not into this wilderness to seek great things to ourselves; and if any come after us to seek them here, they will be disappointed. We keep ourselves within our line; a just dependence upon and subjection to your majesty, according to our charter, it is far from our hearts to disacknowledge. We would gladly do anything within our power to purchase the continuance of your favourable aspect. But it is a great unhappiness to have no testimony of our loyalty offered but this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our lives, and for which we have willingly ventured our lives, and passed through many deaths to obtain.”
The conclusion is characteristic: “It was Job’s excellency, when he sat as king among his people, that he was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favour, wealth and power, now cry unto their lord the king. May your majesty regard their cause and maintain their right; it will stand among the marks of lasting honour to after generations.”
This remonstrance was not well received in England. The commission was justified and submission recommended. But the sturdy magistrates would not yield; and the commissioners, perfect jacks-in-office, were pompous and over-bearing. Each day increased the mutual dislike of the two parties. In the interval, however, between the remonstrance being sent and the answer returned, the commissioners visited Plymouth and Rhode Island. In Rhode Island all went smoothly. Plymouth, the weakest of all the colonies, was offered the bribe of an independent charter, for which she had long been urgent, if she would set an example of compliance, and allow the king to nominate the governor. But Plymouth was nobly true to the great principle of democratic liberty; and, to the sound of the trumpet, to give emphasis to their decision, the representatives declared, in the face of the commissioners, that, “by authority of the charter, and in observance of their duty to God, to the king, and their constituents, they would not suffer any to abet his majesty’s honoured commissioners in their proceedings.”
“Since you will misconstrue our endeavours,” said the angry commissioners, “we will lose no more of our labours upon you!” And leaving Plymouth, they proceeded to the north, to establish the boundaries and re-assert proprietary claims in New Hampshire and Maine; and here again they came to issue with Massachusetts, which at once forbade the towns on the Piscataqua, which had put themselves under her jurisdiction, to obey the commissioners on their peril.
In Maine a strong party existed favourable to episcopacy and royalty, and for some little time the commissioners had the ascendancy there; the officers appointed by Massachusetts, under the jurisdiction of which Maine was at this time governed, were deposed, and others, selected by the commissioners, appointed in their stead. Two violent parties were thus created in the province, which caused after troubles. Leaving Maine, the commissioners returned to Boston, where they were formally accused by the inflexible magistrates of having fomented disturbances in Maine, and their prolonged stay in this contumacious city became anything but agreeable. They were accustomed to hold every Saturday evening a social party at a tavern, and this species of entertainment, on that evening of the week which the strict Puritans regarded as the commencement of the Sabbath, being contrary to their law, it was resolved to put an end to. Accordingly a constable was sent to break up the first which was now held. The constable, however, was soundly beaten and driven off by Sir Robert Carr and his servant. Another and much more determined constable, named Mason, now made his appearance, but the party had in the meantime adjourned to a house over the way, whither he followed them, and, entering the room where they sate, reproached them for not setting a better example, and for beating a constable, saying, it was well for them that they had changed their quarters, otherwise he would have arrested every one of them. “What!” cried Carr, “arrest the king’s commissioners!” “Yes,” replied Mason, “the king himself had he been there.” “Treason! treason!” shouted Maverick; “knave, thou shalt presently hang for this.”
The next day the commissioners accused the second constable of treason, and the governor informed Sir Robert Carr that the first constable had lodged a complaint against him for assault and battery. The affair was brought before the court, but very little came of the accusations either way. In the meantime, the commissioners having sent to England a report of their general proceedings received their recall, together with his Majesty’s approval of their conduct, and of the conduct of all the colonies, with the exception of Massachusetts, which was ordered to send over Bellingham, the governor, Hawthorne, a magistrate of great influence, and three others, to answer for the charges which were brought against the colony.
A general court was convened to deliberate on the letter of the king; the next day was spent in prayer and religious exercises; and on the third they again met for deliberation, the end of which was a refusal to comply. “We have already,” replied the court, with dignity, “furnished our views in writing, so that the ablest persons amongst us could not declare our case more fully.” Therefore they declined to send over deputies.
Willing, however, to evince their loyalty, they sent provisions to the English fleet in the West Indies, and a cargo of masts as a present to the English navy; “a blessing,” says Pepys, in his diary, “mighty unexpected, and but for which we must have failed the next year.”