t or contempt by them shewed
therein, their Lordships will cause a strict course to be taken against
them, and will move his Majesty to resume into his hands the whole
Plantation.'" (_Ib._, pp. 118, 119.)]

[Footnote 72: "To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for
Foreign Plantations.

"The humble Petition of the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay, in New
England, of the Generall Court there assembled, the 6th day of
September, in the 14th year of the Reigne of our Soveraigne Lord King
Charles.

"Whereas it hath pleased your Lordships, by order of the 4th of April
last, to require our patent to be sent unto you, wee do hereby humbly
and sincerely professe, that wee are ready to yield all due obedience to
our Soveraigne Lord the King's majesty, and to your Lordships under him,
and in this minde wee left our native countrie, and according thereunto,
hath been our practice ever since, so as wee are much grieved, that your
Lordships should call in our patent, there being no cause knowne to us,
nor any delinquency or fault of ours expressed in the order sent to us
for that purpose, our government being according to his Majestie's
patent, and we not answerable for any defects in other plantations, etc.

"This is that which his Majestie's subjects here doe believe and
professe, and thereupon wee are all humble suitors to your Lordships,
that you will be pleased to take into further consideration our
condition, and to afford us the liberty of subjects, that we may know
what is layd to our charge; and have leaive and time to answer for
ourselves before we be condemned as a people unworthy of his Majestie's
favour or protection. As for the _quo warranto_ mentioned in the said
order, wee doe assure your Lordships wee were never called to answer it,
and if we had, wee doubt not but wee have a sufficient plea to put in.

"It is not unknowne to your Lordships, that we came into these remote
parts with his Majestie's license and encouragement, under the great
seale of England, and in the confidence wee had of that assurance, wee
have transported our families and estates, and here have wee built and
planted, to the great enlargement and securing of his Majestie's
dominions in these parts, so as if our patent should now be taken from
us, we shall be looked up as renegadoes and outlaws, and shall be
enforced, either to remove to some other place, or to returne into our
native country againe; either of which will put us to