Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/90

 50 actual settlers. The company had already become alarmed at the extent of their own expenditures, and there were but faint hopes of any speedy reimbursement. They entertained some doubts of the legality of the course of transferring the charter. But at length it was determined in August, 1629, "by the general consent of the company, that the government and patent should be settled in New-England." This resolution infused new life into the association; and the next election of officers was made from among those proprietors, who had signified an intention to remove to America. The government and charter were accordingly removed; and henceforth the whole management of all the affairs of the colony was confided to persons and magistrates resident within its own bosom. The fate of the colony was thus decided; and it grew with a rapidity and strength, that soon gave it a great ascendancy among the New-England settlements, and awakened the jealousy, distrust, and vigilance of the parent country.

§ 66. It has been justly remarked, that this transaction stands alone in the history of English colonization. The power of the corporation to make the transfer has been seriously doubted, and even denied. But the boldness of the step is not more striking, than the silent acquiescence of the king in permitting it to take place. The proceedings of the royal authority a few years after sufficiently prove, that the royal acquiescence was not intended as any admission of right. The subsequent struggles between the crown and the colony, down to