ilies at Merry-meeting Bay; though they soon set them free, except
five men whom they kept to exchange for the four hostages still detained
at Boston.[257] At the same time they seized several small vessels in
the harbors along the coast. On this the governor and Council declared
war against the Eastern Indians, meaning the Abenakis and their allies,
whom they styled traitors and robbers.

In Massachusetts many persons thought that war could not be justified,
and were little disposed to push it with vigor. The direction of it
belonged to the governor in his capacity of Captain-General of the
Province. Shute was an old soldier who had served with credit as
lieutenant-colonel under Marlborough; but he was hampered by one of
those disputes which in times of crisis were sure to occur in every
British province whose governor was appointed by the Crown. The
Assembly, jealous of the representative of royalty, and looking back
mournfully to their virtual independence under the lamented old charter,
had from the first let slip no opportunity to increase its own powers
and abridge those of the governor, refused him the means of establishing
the promised trading-houses in the Indian country, and would grant no
money for presents to conciliate the Norridgewocks. The House now
wanted, not only to control supplies for the war, but to direct the war
itself and conduct operations by committees of its own. Shute made his
plans of campaign, and proceeded to appoint officers from among the
frontier inhabitants, who had at least the qualification of being
accustomed to the woods. One of them, Colonel Walton, was obnoxious to
some of the representatives, who brought charges against him, and the
House demanded that he should be recalled from the field to answer to
them for his conduct. The governor objected to this as an encroachment
on his province as commander-in-chief. Walton was now accused of obeying
orders of the governor in contravention of those of the representatives,
who thereupon passed a vote requiring him to lay his journal before
them. This was more than Shute could bear. He had the character of a
good-natured man; but the difficulties and mortifications of his
position had long galled him, and he had got leave to return to England
and lay his case before the King and Council. The crisis had now come.
The Assembly were for usurping all authority, civil and military.
Accordingly, on the first of January, 1723, the governor sailed