position than
the address had met with. On its first introduction it was received with
general applause, and it was pushed on with such vigour that it passed
through both houses within fourteen days, and on the 31st of March it
received the royal assent: the trade of Boston was annihilated.

While the Boston Port Bill was before the lords, North, in a committee
of the whole house, brought in a bill "for better regulating the
government of Massachusets Bay." The object of this bill was to alter
the constitution of that province as it stood upon the charter of
William III.; to do away with the popular elections, which decided
everything in that colony; to take the executive power out of the hands
of the democratic party; and to vest the nomination of the members of
the council, of the judges, and of magistrates, including sheriffs, in
the crown, and in the king's governor. In support of this bill, Lord
North said, that the province of Massachusets Bay had been turbulent
beyond all bearing, and had set an ill example to all the colonies; that
an executive power was required in that province, inasmuch as the force
of the civil power consisted solely in the _posse comitatus_: that is,
in the very people by whom the tumults were excited. He asked if the
democratic party exhibits a contempt for the laws, how any governor
was to enforce them, if he had not the power either of appointing or
removing magistrates? He could now, he said, give no order without the
assent of seven members of the popularly elected council; and he urged
that it was in vain laws and regulations were made in England, when
there were none found to execute them in America. In conclusion, he
expressed a hope that the present bill would create an executive power,
and give strength and spirit to the civil magistracy; and professed
himself open to discussion and a change of opinion, if his views were
proved to be erroneous.

This bill encountered more opposition than that of the Boston Port Bill,
and it was considerably altered in committee. As it stood when presented
anew, after the Easter recess, the council of Massachusets Bay was
placed on the same footing as the councils of other colonies: the
nomination was vested in the crown., and they were to have no negative
voice, or power to appoint, as hitherto, the judicial officers of the
province. Moreover, the mode of choosing juries was altered, and the
continual assemblies and town-meetings held in Boston w