"13, 7mo., 1666. The Court met and the elders were present after lecture
and some debate had in Court concerning the duty we owe to his Majesty
in reference to his signification."

On the 14th sundry petitions were presented from the "minority" in
Boston, Salem, Ipswich, and Newbury, in favour of compliance with the
King's requirement; and the subject was debated in Council some days,
when, on the 17th, the Court adopted an answer to the "King's
signification," containing the following words addressed to the King's
Secretary of State, Mr. Morrice:

"We have, in all humility, given our reasons why we _could_ not submit
to the Commissioners and their mandates the last year, which we
understand lie before his Majesty. To the substance thereof we have
nothing to add; and therefore can't expect that the ablest persons among
us could be in a capacity to declare our case more fully.

"We must therefore commit this our great concernment unto Almighty God,
praying and hoping that his Majesty (a prince of so great clemency) will
consider the estate and condition of his poor and afflicted subjects at
such a time, being in imminent danger, by the public enemies of our
nation, by sea and land, and that in a wilderness far remote from
relief; wherefore we do in this wise prostrate ourselves before his
Majesty, and beseech him to be graciously pleased to rest assured of our
loyalty and allegiance _according to our former professions_. Thus with
our humble service to your Honour, and earnest prayers to God for his
Majesty's temporal and eternal happiness, we remain your Honour's humble
servants.

"17, 7mo., 1666."[152]

But even in their Council, where the "elders" or ministers and their
nominees were supreme, both to rule and to persecute, and to maintain
which they were plotting and struggling with the intensity of the Papacy
of late years against the Government of Italy, there were yet among
their number men of distinction, who contended for the rights of the
Crown, to decide questions of appeal from the colony, and to appoint a
special commission for that purpose, such as Mr. Simon Bradstreet, who
had been Governor, and as their Commissioner to England, with Mr.
Norton, had obtained the famous letter of Charles the Second, dated 10th
of June, 1662, which filled the Court of Massachusetts Bay with
inexpressible joy; and Mr. Dudley, son of a former Governor, and himself
first Governor appointed by the Crown after the cancellin