als were
executed.

These discontents did not arrest the growth of the colony. A letter
from sir William Berkeley, dated in June, 1671, states its population
at forty thousand, and its militia at eight thousand. A letter from
lord Culpeper in December, 1681, supposes that there might then be in
the colony fifteen thousand fighting men. This calculation however is
probably exaggerated, as the report of general Smith, prepared in 1680
from actual returns, represents the militia as then consisting of
eight thousand five hundred and sixty-eight men, of whom thirteen
hundred were cavalry.[103]

[Footnote 103: Chalmer.]

CHAPTER VI.

Prosperity of New England.... War with Philip.... Edward
Randolph arrives in Boston.... Maine adjudged to Gorges....
Purchased by Massachusetts.... Royal government erected in
New Hampshire.... Complaints against Massachusetts.... Their
letters patent cancelled.... Death of Charles II.... James
II. proclaimed.... New commission for the government of New
England.... Sir Edmond Andros.... The charter of Rhode
Island abrogated.... Odious measures of the new
government.... Andros deposed.... William and Mary
proclaimed.... Review of proceedings in New York and the
Jerseys.... Pennsylvania granted to William Penn.... Frame
of government.... Foundation of Philadelphia laid....
Assembly convened.... First acts of the legislature....
Boundary line with lord Baltimore settled.

{1680}

[Sidenote: Prosperity of New England.]

After the departure of the commissioners, New England was for some
time quiet and prosperous. The plague, the fire of London, and the
discontents of the people of England, engrossed the attention of the
King, and suspended the execution of his plans respecting
Massachusetts. In the mean time, that colony disregarded the acts of
navigation, traded as an independent state, and governed New Hampshire
and Maine without opposition.[104]

[Footnote 104: From a paper in possession of the British
administration, it appears that in 1673, New England was
supposed to contain one hundred and twenty thousand souls,
of whom sixteen thousand were able to bear arms.
Three-fourths of the wealth and population of the country,
were in Massachusetts and its dependencies. The town of
Boston alone contained fifteen hundred families.]

[Sidenote: War with Philip.]

{1675}