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1696—1748.

before the peace of Ryswick, on the complaint of English merchants that the acts of trade had been violated by the colonists, there was established the. "This was a permanent commission, consisting of a president and seven members, known as 'Lords of Trade,' who succeeded to the authority and oversight hitherto exercised by plantation committees of the Privy Council. Subsequently the powers of this Board were somewhat curtailed, but down to the period of the American Revolution it continued to exercise a general oversight of the colonies, watching the Assemblies with a jealous eye, struggling hard to uphold the prerogatives of the king and the authority of parliament, laboring to strengthen the hands of the royal governors, and systematically to carry out the policy of rendering America completely subservient to the narrow views which then prevailed of the commercial interests of the mother country." Accordingly the acts of trade were urged anew, and the hands of all revenue officers in the colonies strengthened: vice admiralty courts were also established, with the right of appeal to the king in council.

Lord Bellamont, an Irish nobleman of agreeable manners and polished demeanor, was appointed to the governorship of Massachusetts, the duties of which office, after the death of Phipps in 1695, had been discharged by Stoughton, lieutenant governor. Lord Bellamont having left New York, arrived in Boston in May, 1699, and by his address soon succeeded in gaining the good will of all parties. In imitation of the practice of the Irish lord lieutenant, Bellamont

