The Washington herald., 1915-04-27
THE RESTORATION

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y protected under the copyright laws,
nEement by use either entire or In part.
and manned by English seamen. might
thereafter lawfully carry any merchan-
disc directly out of Europe to the colo
MES.
To obey these acts meant to. exclude
all foreign ships from English ports in
America. the ships of the neighborly
Dutch at New Amsterdam with the rest.
and TO cut the colonies of from all d.
rect transactions with foreign markets.
making them dependent upon England
whether they bought or sold.
The acts might be disobeyed with some
impunity at the safe distance of Amer
lea. NV England did. In fact. openly
ignore them For more than fifteen
years after the passage of the act OF
1863 she traded as she pleased. in entire
disregard of the authority of Parliament
These acts of navigation tfor so they
We're calledD had not been passed with
their consent. the Massachusetts Cen
crdl Court declared and we're not bind
ing upon them.
Massa husctts was kecnly aware how
open she WAS to attack. if ii came to a
question of obedience. Her magistrates
were not surprised. therefore. when. in
1854 the King appointed commissioners
+" look into their dealings with the
crown. with their neishbors. and with
their own subjects. and prepared them
selves for as shrewd a defens, and fight
for their independent powers as the Cir
cumstanCes might permit.
Massachusetts. moreover. had been
very slow about proclaiminG Charles ii
king. Her magistrates had waited more
than A year after first hearing of the
Restoration before they publicly and in
proper form proclaimed his authority.
wishing to make sure that the unwel-
come news was true and the King actual
~ accepted in England. The ship which
brought the news. in August. 1869. had
brought also two officers of Cromwclls
army. Edward Whallpy and William
COTE. VIII" had signed the late King
Charles death warrant. and were now
fusitives from England: for the Parlia-
ment had excluded from the act of in
demnity and pardon. which had accom-
panied the new Kings return. all reg
icides" all who had been directly con-
ccrned in the death of Charles |. Many
OF those who had not fled were already
under arrest Sir Harry Nane among the
rest. presently to be sent to the scaffold:
but the colonists in New England be-
and col. John Dixwcll also. who soon fol-
lowed them: and kept them safe against
all searches of the Kings officers until
they died.
MasSa Chusetts sent agents of her own
into England to make her peace with
the King: hut they returned with letter
from his majesty which commanded an
immediate recognition of his authority.
the administration of justice in his name.
the tolera ton of the Church of England.
and a repeal of the laws by which the
right to vote was restricted to members
of their Puritan churches. 1t WAS the
sharp tenor of this letter that made them
anxious how they should fare at the
hands OF the royal commissioners who
came in 1864.
Fortunately for Massachusetts. the set
Element of her government was not the
first or chief business of the commits
sioners. They came with a fleet of three
ships of war and a transport carrying
80 soldiers. to capture New Amsterdam
and make New Netherland once for all
an English province.
The thing proved easy enough. The
doughty Stuyvesant was taken entirely
by surprise. had no force with which 10
Withstand Charles ships. found the
peaCeable burghers about him loath to
fight. and yielded without a blow struck.
though he would rather have lain in his
grave. ne said. bitterly, than make such
a surrender. There was no choice with
but $50 men trained to arms and but
twenty guns upon the fort against the
Kings frgates and an army.
The settlement of the forms of govern
ment under which the English should
rule was almost as easily effected; for
Col. Nicolls the English commander,
loss than soldier
knew how to be wisely generous and
make liberal provision for privileges and
securities of right and property which
should belong to the Dutch settlers as
freely as to the English, and within a
year Of his CominG had transformed New
Nctherland into New York. under laws
which promised liberation and good
government. and which all sensible men
accepted with satisfaction.
The King .missone.s did not fare
very well when Icy turned from the
nation and settlement of affairs in Mass
achusetts In the other colonies which
they had been directed to set In order
they had little difficulty. Connecticut
and Rhode Island were just now in favor
at court. and gave the commissioners
little to do except settle the boundaries
between them. Rhode Island had OBJ
tanned a new CHI ter from the King in
July. 1868. scarcely car after Mr.
Winthrop had go: his for Connecticut:
and. though she had had some difficulty
in saving an impo sant strip Of territory
which Connecticut's charter had been
made to include. that matter was in the
way to be adjusted before the commits
sio1ars came. In Plymouth they found
the magistrates ready to make most of
the concessions his majesty had instruct
ed them to demand. But in Massachu-
sets they were utterly defeated of their
purpose.
The commissioners more than once put
themselves In the wrong by a loss Of
temper or an unwarranted assumption of
authority. and the whole matter had at
last to be referred back, unsettled. to the
King \ letter thereupon came out OF
England commanding Massachusetts to
send agents over to deal with the au
thoritics there; but they found a way TO
avoid obedience to the summons. and
once again. as when their charter had
been attacked thirty years before. the
attention of statesmen at home was
called off from their business to matters
of more pressing consequence. Claren-
don. who was the master spirit Of the
Of he I'd