Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-12-16

ne luTIneT OUSeTVSS, tlldL ILLS iuuHcy uiu nv
obtain currency any where except in the
New England Colonies. Probably it did not
circulate much out of the Massachusetts,
colony, as there was a heavy penalty for
circulating it elsewhere.
In the time of julius Caesar the early
Britons used iron rings, or pieces of brass
for money. Utuntur aut acre, aut annulis
ferreis ad certum pondus examinatis, pro
nummo. But as early as the time of the
Saxons, it seems that money was coined in
England. For several centuries, however,
it was not considered as a branch of the
royal prerogative. In the reign of Stephen
!" all the great men, the bishops, counts and
barons coined their own money" This we
are told caused so great confusion and cor
ruption in money and commerce, that Henry
the second made new coin, uniform through
out the Kingdom, and established it as the
only legal currency. Ever since, the coin
ing of money has been an act of the sove-
i---s .-.>;shnnent has
followed those who have encroached upon il
The exercise of this power by the General
Court Of the Massachusetts bag was indeed a
daring act No other colony ever put its
charter in jeopardy by coming money.
Probably the strong religious sympathy ex-
isting in 1862 between the ruling party in
England, with Cromwell at their head, and
our own puritans, saved the colony from i'm
mediate danger. But after the restoration
1t seems that Charles was exceedingly acrotlt,
when he discovered what they of Massachu-
sets had done. Sir Thomas Temple who
had resided some time in New England and
was friendly to the colony, told the King
that the colonists had but little acauaint-
ance with law and that they thought it no
crime to make money for their own use."
Sir Thomas showed the King some of the
money. On one side of the coin was a
pine tree; Charles asked what tree that
was? Sir Thomas informed him it was the
royal oak, which preserved his Maiestys life.
This account of the matter brought the
King into good humour, and disposed him to
hear what Sir Thomas had to say in their
favour, calling them parcel of honest dogs
In consequence of this forbearance on the
part of the King, the mint was kept in ope
ration, and was winked at until the charter
was declared void in 1854.
This sketch of the early history of the
coin in Massachusetts illustrates the charac-
ter OF the colonists. They were not always
disposed to ready and willing obedience to
the supreme power OF England. When
they yielded submission it was often with
reluctance and with tacit determination on
heir own part to preserve in existence the
spirit of resistance. They studied to avoid
LONG any thing thatmight be construed into
precedent for parliament to interfere with
heir local government. They were bold to
trench upon the line of authority, to exercise
all their real and constructive rights, and to
embrace within themselves the reality-the
essence-if not the form of an independent
community. We may look through their
whole history and we shall find that ieal-
busy of interference from abroad was bred
in the very bone and muscle of the commu-
nifty. The seminal principle of liberty was
IN the infant, it budded in the youth, it ri
pened in the manhood of the colony It
spread itself around, and its fruits descend
I'D from generation to generation. We
might mention many instances of the de-
pelopement of this principle-our early his
tory is full Of them; but this article is al
ready overloaded. x