^Provincial  Papers,  vol.  i,  pp.  395,  39^,  403»  passim;  Laws  of  New
Hampshire,  vol.  i,  pp.  38,  40,  42,  43-


393]  ^^^  LAND  SYSTEM  211

When,  too,  they  considered  that  they  had  purchased  their
lands  from  the  heathen — the  natural  proprietors  thereof —
that  they  had  long  remained  in  quiet  possession,  uninter-
rupted by  any  legal  claim,  and  that  they  had  defended  the
same  against  the  savages  at  their  own  cost  and  with  their
own  lives,  they  were  encouraged,  they  said,  to  hope  that
they  would  be  maintained  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  those
lands,  without  being  tenants  to  those  who  could  show  no
such  title  thereto.  Finally,  they  humbly  suggested  whether
the  practice  of  allowing  appeals  to  the  king  in  council,  as
prescribed  in  the  royal  commission,  might  not  be  used  by
malignant  spirits  for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  justice
among  them.^  Then  again  almost  a  year  later,  the  presi-
dent and  council  informed  the  king  that  their  chief  difficulty
was  with  Mr.  Mason's  pretensions  to  the  proprietorship  of
the  lands  of  the  province.  Although  some  countenance,
they  said,  was  given  to  his  claim  in  the  commission,  they
could  not  but  think  that  it  had  been  obtained  "  by  indirect
means  and  untrue  information,"  in  which  he  abounded
Moreover,  they  declared  that  the  latter's  statement  that
Captain  Mason  had  spent  great  sums  in  the  province,  was
"  mostly  if  not  entirely  pretense,"  for  most  of  the  money
"  was  spent  in  Maine  .  .  .  and  for  carrying  on  an  Indian
trade  in  Laconia,  in  all  of  which  his  grandfather  was  but
a  partner."  Furthermore,  the  captain  was  not  expelled
from  the  place  but  deserted  it  "  many  years  before  Massa-
chusetts was  concerned  therewith  or  had  extended  their
line,  so  far  "  north.  Such,  they  continued,  was  the  "  af-
fecting cry  "  of  the  poor,  distressed  inhabitants  that  the  lat-
ter believed  their  only  hope  was  in  his  Majesty's  goodness,
mercy,  and  equity.  They,  therefore,  craved  leave  to  speak
for  themselves,  not  doubting  that  they  would  be  found  loyal

"^ Provincial  Papers,  vol.  i,  pp.  410,  412.
