he
colony returned to its former position of independence and soon
reasserted its former authority over New Hampshire and Maine. To all
appearances the failure of the royal commissioners was complete, but
appearances were deceptive. The issue lay not merely between a Stuart
King and a colony seeking to preserve its liberties; it was part of the
larger and more fundamental issue of the place of a colony in England's
newly developed policy of colonial subordination and control. Neither
was Massachusetts a persecuted democracy. No modern democratic state
would ever vest such powers in the hands of its magistrates and clergy,
nor would any modern people accept such oppressive and unjust
legislation as characterized these early New England communities. In any
case, the contemptuous attitude of Massachusetts and her disregard of
the royal commands were not forgotten; and when, a few years later, the
authorities in England took up in earnest the enforcement of the new
colonial policy as defined by acts of Parliament and royal orders and
proclamations, the colony of Massachusetts Bay was the first to feel the
weight of the royal displeasure.

CHAPTER VIII

WARS WITH THE INDIANS

The period from 1660 to 1675, a time of readjustment in the affairs of
the New England colonies, was characterized by widespread excitement and
deep concern on the part of the colonies everywhere. Scarcely a section
of the territory from Maine to the frontier of New York and the towns of
Long Island but felt the strain of impending change in its political
status. The winning of the charters and the capture of New Amsterdam
were momentous events in the lives of the colonists of Rhode Island and
Connecticut; while the agitation for the annexation of New Haven and the
acrimonious debate that accompanied it must have stirred profoundly the
towns of that colony and have led to local controversies, rivalries, and
contentions that kept the inhabitants in a continual state of
perturbation. On Long Island before 1664, the uncertainty as to
jurisdiction, due to grave doubts as to the meaning of Connecticut's
charter, aroused the towns from Easthampton and Southold on the east to
Flushing and Gravesend on the west, and divided the people into
discordant and clashing groups. Captain John Scott, already mentioned,
an adventurer and soldier of fortune who at one time or another seems to
have made trouble in nearly every part of the British world, appeared