ade respecting the state of
affairs in the New England colonies, the appointment of this Commission
was decided upon after the restoration of the King, and the agents of
those colonies were informed of it. Col. Nichols, the head of the
Commission, stated in his introductory address to the Massachusetts Bay
Court, May 2, 1665, that "The King himself and the Lord Chancellor
(Clarendon) told Mr. Norton and Mr. Bradstreet of this colony, and Mr.
Winthrop of Connecticut, Mr. Clarke of Rhode Island, and several others
now in these countries, that he intended shortly to send over
Commissioners." (_Ib._, p. 56.)]

[Footnote 131: It was in refutation of such reports that Col. Nichols
made the statements quoted on a previous page; in the course of which,
referring to the slanders circulated by persons high in office under the
Court, he said: "Some of them are these: That the King hath sent us over
here to raise _L5,000 a year out of the colony_ for his Majesty's use,
and 12d. for every acre of improved land besides, and to take from this
colony many of their civil liberties and ecclesiastical privileges, of
which particulars we have been asked the truth in several places, all of
which reports we did, and here do, disclaim as false; and protest that
they are diametrically contrary to the truth, as ere long we shall make
it appear more plainly."

"These personal slanders with which we are calumniated, as private men
we slight; as Christians we forgive and will not mention; but as persons
employed by his Sacred Majesty, we cannot suffer his honour to be
eclipsed by a cloud of black reproaches, and some seditious speeches,
without demanding justice from you against those who have raised,
reported, or made them." (_Ib._, p. 56.)

These reports were spread by some of the chief officers of the Council,
and the most seditious of the speeches complained of was by the
commander of their forces; but they were too agreeable to the Court for
them even to contradict, much less investigate, although Col. Nichols
offered to give their names.

Hubbard, the earliest and most learned of the New England historians,
says:

"The Commissioners were but four in number, the two principal of whom
were Colonel Nichols and Colonel Cartwright, who were both of them
eminently qualified, with abilities fit to manage such a concern, nor
yet wanting in resolution to carry on any honourable design for the
promotion of his Majesty's interest in any of those