nserted prejudicial to their Government or
Plantation in New England. And it is also thought fit that none of the
letters from Mr. Samuel Brown shall be delivered, but to be kept for use
against him as occasion shall be offered." (Young's Chronicles, &c., pp.
91, 92.)

"Upon the desire of John and Samuel Brown it is thought fit that they
should have a copy of the accusation against them, to the end they may
be better prepared to make answer thereto."

The accusation against the Browns seems to have been simply for sedition
and seditious speeches--a charge brought by persecutors for religion
against the persecuted since the days of our Lord and his Apostles--a
charge for being the victims of which the Puritans in England had loudly
complained in the reigns of James and Charles.

There is but one other record of the Company on the affair of Endicot
and the Browns, but the suppression of their letters shows clearly that
the publication of them would have been damaging to the Company.

The intercepting and seizure of private letters, after the example of
the Company in seizing private letters of the Browns and punishing their
authors, was reduced to a system by the Government of Massachusetts Bay,
whose officers were commanded to inspect all letters sent by each vessel
leaving their port, and to seize all suspected letters, which were
opened, and, if found to contain any complaint or statement against the
local authorities, were retained and the authors arraigned and punished.
Thus the Government and public in England were kept in perfect ignorance
of what was transpiring at Massachusetts Bay, except what the local
Government chose to communicate; and aggrieved persons in the
Plantations were deprived of all means of appealing to the higher
tribunals in England, and were condemned and punished for sedition in
attempting to do so. This practice continued (as will be shown
hereafter) until the death of King Charles and the usurpation of the
regicides in England.

The following extract from the Company's Records seems to explain the
manner in which the further proceedings of the Browns was stayed. In
order to get some compensation for their losses, they seem to have
agreed to the stipulations of the Company. But previous to this meeting
of the Company, their Governor had written to Endicot, Higginson, and
Skelton, in letters dated Oct. 18, 1629. These letters will be found in
a note on a subsequent page. The extract from