Thus the great topic of variance between England and her continental colonies of America, lay in the mercantile system and its consequences. Controversies were also occurring in every part of the country. Did the lumberers in Maine, on any land first purchased since the grant of the new charter of Massachusetts, cut some stately pine-tree into logs for the sawmill, the officer of the British crown came to measure its diameter, and to arraign them for a trespass in destroying a mast reserved for the English navy. The colonial legislatures hated the restriction, and parliament repeatedly interfered to extend and confirm the royal monopoly in the American forests. The ministers of Massachusetts, by the hand of Cotton Mather, desire a synod, to recover and establish the faith and order of the gospel: a reprimand from England forbids the authoritative meeting, as a bad precedent for dissenters. The people of Massachusetts resolutely withheld a regular salary from the governor of royal appointment, but, by its legislature, voted, each year, such a grant as his good offices might seem to merit. Burnet is instructed to insist on an established salary. The rustic patriots, firmly asserting every source of popular influence over the executive, scorned to betray the great trust reposed in them by their principals. Burnet, dying, bequeathed the contest to Belcher, his successor. The general court still persevered in its stubbornness; and at last, as Belcher obtained leave of the crown to accept the annual grants, the controversy subsided, leaving victory to the strong will of Massachusetts. History of the Colonization of the United States, 1841
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 11:46:30 +0000
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