ut however conciliatory
Dudley might wish to be, his acceptance of a royal commission rankled in
the minds of his countrymen; and his ability, his friendly policy, his
desire to leave things pretty much as they had been, counted for nothing
because of his compact with the enemy. In the opinion of the old guard,
he had forsaken his birthright and had turned traitor to the land of his
origin. Time has modified this judgment and has shown that, however
unlovely Dudley was in personal character and however lacking he was at
all times in self-control, he was an able administrator, of a type
common enough in other colonies, particularly in the next century,
serving both colony and mother country alike and linking the two in a
common bond. Under him and his council Massachusetts suffered no
hardships. He confirmed all existing arrangements regarding land, taxes,
and town organization, and, knowing Massachusetts and the temper of her
people as well as he did, he took pains to write to the King that it
would be helpful to all concerned if the Government could have a
representative assembly. To grant the people a share in government
would, he believed, appease discontent on one side and help to fill an
empty treasury on the other; but nothing came of his suggestion.

Throughout New England as a whole, the daily routine of life was pursued
without regard to the particular form of government established in
Boston. In Massachusetts the election of deputies stopped, but in other
respects the town meetings carried on their usual business. In other
colonies no changes whatever took place. Men tilled the soil, went to
church, gathered in town meetings, and ordered their ordinary affairs as
they had done for half a century. The seaports felt the change more
than did the inland towns, for the enforcement of the navigation acts
interfered somewhat with the old channels of trade and led to the
introduction of a court of vice-admiralty which Dudley held for the
first time in July to try ships engaged in illicit trade. Over the forts
and the royal offices fluttered a new flag, bearing a St. George's cross
on a white field, with the initials J. R. and a crown embroidered in
gold in the center of the cross, that same cross which Endecott had cut
from the flag half a century before. To many the new flag was the symbol
of anti-Christ, and Cotton Mather judged it a sin to have the cross
restored; but others felt with Sewall, the diarist, who said o