The patentees, having no common object to prosecute, resolved to divide their lands; and, in the expectation of receiving a deed of confirmation for the particular portion which fortune should allot to each, cast lots, in the presence of James, for the shares each should hold in severalty. They continued, however, to act some years longer as a body politic, during which time, they granted various portions of the country to different persons; and executed under the seal of the corporation, deeds of feoffment for the lots drawn by each member of the company; patents of confirmation for which were solicited, but appear to have been granted only to Gorges, for Maine. The charter was surrendered by the company and accepted by the crown.[62]
Charles, in pursuance of his determination to take the government of New England into his own hands, issued a proclamation directing that none should be transported thither who had not the special license of the crown, which should be granted to those only who had taken the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and had conformed to the discipline of the church of England. This order, however, could not be completely executed; and the emigrations, which were entirely of non-conformists, still continued. Those who were disgusted with the ceremonials rigidly exacted in England, estimated so highly the simple frame of church policy established in Massachusetts, that numbers surmounted every difficulty, to seek an asylum in this new Jerusalem. Among them were men of the first political influence and mental attainments. Pym, Hampden, Hazlerig, and Cromwell, with many others who afterwards performed a conspicuous part in that revolution which brought the head of Charles to the block, are said to have been actually on board a vessel prepared to sail for New England, and to have been stopped by the special orders of the privy council.[63]
The commissioners for the regulation and government of the plantations having reported that Massachusetts had violated its charter, a writ of _quo warranto_ was issued, on which judgment was given in favour of the crown. The process was never served on any member of the corporation; and it is therefore probable that the judgment was not final. The privy council however ordered the governor and company to send their patent to England to be surrendered. The general court answered this order by a petition to the commissioners in which they said, "we dare not question your Lordship's proceedings in requiring our patent to be sent unto you; we only desire to open our griefs; and if in any thing we have offended his Majesty or your Lordships, we humbly prostrate ourselves at the foot stool of supreme authority; we are sincerely ready to yield all due obedience to both; we are not conscious that we have offended in any thing, as our government is according to law; we pray that we may be heard before condemnation, and that we may be suffered to live in the wilderness." Fortunately for the colonists, Charles and his commissioners found too much employment at home, to have leisure for carrying into complete execution, a system aimed at the subversions of what was most dear to the hearts of Americans.