Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 1.djvu/111

 ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.

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��EOYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.

��BY PROF. E. D. SANBORN.

��The union of New Hampshire and Massachusetts lasted thirty-nine years. Both States were benefitted by it. One government could be more economically and efficiently administered than two. Its strength was greater, and its man- dates were better obeyed. The two prov- inces, to all intents, were one, and peace and harmony prevailed between them throughout the entire period of union. In 1680 the King of England severed the political connection of the two States, and appointed for the first time a royal governor over New Hampshire. The entire population, which then amounted to about 4000 souls, were sorely grieved at this tyrannical decree. Its only object seemed to be the robbery of the people by royal favorites and territorial propri- etors. From this date to the close of the Revolutionary war the people had little rest. Kings, royal governors, landlords, savages and Frenchmen continually as- sailed them. In the seventeenth century kings and priests still claimed to rule by divine right. In England that claim had been sorely crippled by the execution of .Charles I., yet his successor, when he donned the royal robes, began to utter "great swelling words of vanity,'' like his ancestors. He left to the legal voters of the Province, who then numbered only two hundred and nine, the privilege of electing the representatives to the legis- lature, but assumed the right to veto all their enactments, and retained the power of appointing the President, Council aud all the executive officers of the State.

The first legislature under the royal government met at Portsmouth in March, 1680. The meeting was opened by prayer and an election sermon by Rev. Mr. Moodey- Their first act was an acknowl- edgement of their obligations to Massa- chusetts. They say : "We acknowledge your care of us," — it was thus that the feeble colony addressed its more power-

��ful neighbor,— "we thankfully acknowl- edge your kindness while we dwelt un- deryour shadow, owning ourselves deeply obliged that, on our earnest request, you took us under your government and ruled us well. If there be opportunity for us to be any wise serviceable to you, we shall show how ready we are to embrace it. Wishing the presence of God to be with you. we crave the benefit of your prayers on us, who are separated from our brethren." In this resolution we see how much of the Puritan spirit had been imbibed by them while under the protec- tion of the old Bay State. A love of lib- erty was equally prominent. Their first recorded decree was in these words : "No act, imposition, law or ordinance shall be valid unless made by the assem- bly and approved by the people." In this brief enactment are contained the Declaration of Independence, the causes of the Revolutionary war, and the funda- mental principles of the Constitution of the United States. When the code of this infant government was transmitted to England it was condemned for its style and matter ; its provisions were re- jected as "incongruous and absurd." The first President, John Cutt, was a wealthy merchant of Portsmouth. He lived about one year after his appoint- ment. The Councillors were natives of the Province. They accepted the offices conferred upon them by the king, hoping to serve as mediators between the king's prerogative and the people's rights. But they had an accuser of his brethren among them. As it was in ancient days, when the sons of God assembled, "Satan came also among them." The king had adopted the claim of Robert Mason, the successor of John Mason, the proprietor of New Hampshire. John Mason died in 1635, leaving a daughter, who married John Tufton. Her son, Robert Tufton, took the surname of Mason, and, as heir

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