History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

396 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1688.
the rigor of performance soon thrnst aside the mask of pro-
fession, and the true animus of the new administration became
speedily apparent. Sir Edmund Andros was unpo^Dular
throughout New England. His administration was
arbitrary, his demeanor overbearing, his demands oppressive
and burdensome.
A tax of twenty pence on each poll, and one penny in the
pound on estates, was among the first of his unsatisfactory
acts. The evident illegality of such an assessment caused
considerable excitement, and payment was refused by a
number of towns. Several town clerks, as well as other
prominent citizens, were arrested, fined and imprisoned for
resistance against this unjust tax. The fees of law officers
were largely increased, causing great hardship in the settlement
of estates ; land titles were declared defective, and
could be rectified only by the paj^ment of an amount satis-
factory to the government officials. Each town was ordered
to elect a commissioner, who in connection with the
selectmen, should assess upon the town such sums as the
Governor and Council demanded. He established the
Episcopal Church, and caused a church edifice to be erected
in Boston for that sect. He even interfered with the pre-
vailing system of town government, antagonizing the pa-
triotic sentiment of the people, which above all things re-
sented any dictation in town affairs, by prohibiting all
town meetings but one in each year, "upon any pretence or
color whatsoever. " The dislike occasioned by his course during
King Philip's war, while Governor of New York, added
to his unpopularity, and it was strongly emphasized by the
suspicion that he secretly favored the Roman Catholic re-
ligion. Aware of the general discontent and anxious to
allay it, he made a tour of New England, ostensibly to take
"measures to prevent a second Indian war." He was absent
from Boston eleven weeks, visited Hartford, New
York, and Albany, and extended his travels through the
Connecticut Valley. He was at Springfield and Northampton,
and made a flying visit to Northfield. ^ About the
15"' of October, 1688, he held a meeting of the leading
1 Randolph wrote that he intended to visit those places, but there is no evidence
that he crossed the Connecticut River. The committee for the re-settlement of
Northfield had a conference with him at Hadley by his own request. It would not
have been necessary to have called them to Hadley, if he came to Northampton, for
the majority of them were residents of the last named town.