at
this time in Long Island and, denying Connecticut's title to the
territory, proclaimed the King. In January, 1664, he established a
government at Setauket, with himself as president. This event set the
towns in an uproar; Captain Young from Southold, upholding Connecticut's
claim, came "with a trumpet" to Hempstead; New Haven men crossed Long
Island Sound to support Scott's cause; and at last Connecticut herself
sent over officers to seize the insurgents. Though Scott said he would
"sacrifice his heart's blood upon the ground" before he would yield, he
was taken and carried in chains to Hartford.

Both Plymouth and Massachusetts sent letters protesting against the
treatment of Scott, and the heat engendered among the members of the New
England Confederation was intensified by the controversy over New Haven
and the "uncomfortable debates" regarding the title to the Narragansett
territory. Massachusetts wrote to Connecticut in 1662, "We cannot a
little wonder at your proceeding so suddenly to extend your authority to
the trouble of your friends and confederates"; to which Connecticut
replied, hoping that Massachusetts would stop laying further temptations
before "our subjects at Mistack of disobedience to this government." The
matter was debated for many years, and it was not until 1672 that
Massachusetts recognized Connecticut's title under the charter and
yielded, not because it thought the claim just but because "it was
judged by us more dangerous to the common cause of New England to oppose
than by our forbearance and yielding to endeavour to prevent a mischief
to us both."

In Rhode Island conditions were equally unsettled, for the inhabitants
of the border towns did not know certainly in what colony they were
situated or what authority to recognize; and though these doubts
affected but little the daily life of the farmer, they did affect the
title to his lands and the payment of his taxes, and threw suspicion
upon all legal processes and transactions. The situation was even more
disturbed in the regions north of Massachusetts, where the status of
Maine and New Hampshire was undecided and where the coming of the royal
commissioners only served to throw the inhabitants into a new ferment.
The claims of Mason and Gorges were revived by their descendants, and
the King peremptorily ordered Massachusetts to surrender the provinces.
Agents of Gorges appeared in the territory and demanded an
acknowledgment of their aut