transcribe a few passages from the letter. "I am glad to find the quiet condition of your government notwithstanding the late troubles that have been in your neighbourhood." "In regard you express a desire to come for England for some time to look after your own concerns, if you shall towards the end of this summer continue to be of that mind, (not doubting your care to settle all things during your absence from your government in the best and safest manner), I do agree that you come away with the latest shipping, so as having the winter to yourself, you may be ready to return to your government with the first ships that go hence in the spring."

Andros indeed, up to this time had merited the thanks of his employer. He had kept the country at peace, and had already made its revenue equal to its current expenses. The former laws in force during the English rule had been re-established, and it would seem that he had even tried to persuade the Duke of York to concede to the settlers some form of a legislative Assembly. (N.Y. Col. Doc. ii. 235.) He therefore communicated to the Council and General Court of Assizes, in October, the permission he had received to visit England, and arranged all matters likely to arise in his absence. On the 17th November, 1677, he sailed from New York, not accompanied by his wife probably, as we find no mention of her.

During his stay in England at this time, Sir Edmund Andros was knighted, a sufficient proof of the favor in which he was held at court. On the 8th April, 1678, he was called before the Committee for Trade and Plantations, and was examined in regard to affairs in New England as well as in his own Colony. His answer was quite elaborate, and is printed in the New York Colonial Documents, iii. 260-265. In regard to his own Colony of New York, he estimates the towns, villages, and parishes at about twenty-four in number, the militia as numbering 2,000, the value of all estates at £150,000. He thinks a substantial merchant is one worth £500 to £1,000, and a planter is rich who has half as much in moveables.

His opinion of the settlements in New England certainly does not seem unfriendly. He states indeed that "the acts of trade and navigation are said, and is generally believed, not to be observed in the Colonies as they ought," yet he adds, "I do not find but the generality of the magistrates and people are well affected to the King and Kingdom, but most knowing no other government than their own, think it best and are wedded to and opinionate for it. And the magistrates and others in place, chosen by the people, think that they are obliged to assert and maintain said government all they can, and are Church-members and like so to be chosen, and to continue without any considerable alteration and change there, and depend upon the people to justify them in their actings."

Andros at this time brought before the Council the matter of the false charge that he had supplied the Indians with ammunition, and the Agents for Massachusetts, William Stoughton and Peter Bulkley accordingly replied, promising "To do their utmost endeavour" to remove any misunderstanding between Sir Edmund and their government.

On the 27th of May, 1678, he sailed for New York in the "Blossom," taking with him William Pinhorne, James Graham, John White, John West and others, including his chaplain, the Rev. Charles Woolley, whose Journal was published in 1701.[4]

He arrived on the 7th September, 1678, and found his Colony at peace, though there were still difficulties to be apprehended in dealing with the Indians. During the next two years Andros seems to have been much disturbed by controversies with some of the leading merchants, and complaints were freely made to the Duke of York that his Governor was dishonest. Accordingly, James wrote, May 24, 1680, to Andros, (N.Y. Col. Doc. iii. 283,) that he wished him to return to England "by the first convenience," turning over the government to Anthony Brockholst, the Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. John Lewen was sent hither as a special commissioner to investigate the accounts of the government, and his report (printed in N.Y. Col. Doc. iii. 302-8) was decidedly unfavorable to Andros. The Governor, however, who had sailed from New York, January 7, 1681, was able to refute the charges made against him, and ends his reply as follows:—

"Lastly, I answer to the whole report, I do find all the imputations upon myself to be wholly untrue and deny every part thereof."... "But if any objections or doubts remain, I am still ready to subject them to the greatest scrutiny his Royal Highness shall think fit, not doubting his Royal Highness's justice and my own vindication." (N.Y. Col. Doc. iv. 313.)

We have learned nothing respecting Andros's position in England for the next five years, except that he was in favor at Court, being, in 1683, sworn Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to the King, Charles II. He very probably devoted his attention to his estates in Guernsey, as in this year he and his wife received from the Crown a grant of the Island of Alderney for ninety-nine years, at a rent of thirteen shillings. In 1685, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Princess of Denmark's Regiment of Horse, commanded by the Earl of Scarsdale.

The accession of James II. however, February, 1685, opened a new prospect of advancement. Andros seems to have been a staunch member of the Church of England, but his long intimacy with the Duke of York had doubtless given that Prince a favorable impression of his abilities. The Charter of Massachusetts, after a contest extending through many years, had been declared vacated, October 23rd, 1684. The notorious Col. Piercy Kirke[5] had been designated as the new Governor by Charles II. and confirmed by James, but New England had been spared the affliction of his presence. Joseph Dudley had been commissioned as President of the Council, and served as chief magistrate from May 15th, 1686, till December 19th following.

Andros was commissioned Governor in chief in and over the dominion of New England, June 3, 1686, though his appointment is spoken of as settled, in a letter from Randolph, dated at Boston, July 28th of that year. (Hutchinson Papers, ii. 288, Prince Society's edition.)

It would seem as if Andros had received less than justice from the historians of Massachusetts. Hutchinson (Hist. i. 353) writes of him, "he was less dreaded than Kirke, but he was known to be of an arbitrary disposition. He kept a correspondence with the Colony whilst he was Governor of New York. His letters then discovered much of the dictator." So Palfrey (iii. 517) in his admirable History, says that James "had known Andros many years as a person of resolution and capacity, of arbitrary principles, and of habits and tastes absolutely foreign to those of the Puritans of New-England; and could scarcely have been ignorant of his personal grudge against Massachusetts, on account of old affronts. It was not to be doubted that here was a man prepared to be as oppressive and offensive as the King desired."

It is certainly but justice to an officer who filled so many important positions to the entire satisfaction of employers so different as James II. and William of Orange, to scrutinize with deliberation such charges against his character, and to insist upon undoubted evidence of his personal iniquities.