George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 2, 17th edition.

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Chapter 12:

Massachusetts and Charles II.

MASSACHUSETTS never enjoyed the favor of the re-

Chap. XII.} 1660.

stored government. The virtual independence which had been exercised for the last twenty years, was too dear to be hastily relinquished. The news of the restoration, brought by the ships in which Goffe and Whalley were passengers, was received with skeptical

July 27.

anxiety; and no notice was taken of the event. At the session of the general court in October, a motion for an address to the king did not succeed; affairs in England were still regarded as unsettled. At last it

Nov. 10.

became certain that the hereditary family of kings had recovered its authority, and that swarms of enemies to the colony had gathered round the new government; a general court was convened, and

Dec. 19.

addresses were prepared for the parliament and the monarch. By advice of the great majority of elders, no judgment was expressed on the execution of Charles I., and ‘the grievous confusions’ of the past. The colonists appealed to the