U.S., Vol.

I., pp.

475-477.] [Footnote 89: By the "people" here Mr.Bancroft must mean the members of the Congregational Churches (one-sixth of the whole population), for they alone were _freemen_, and had all the united powers of the franchise--the _sword_, the _legislation_--in a word, the whole civil, judicial, ecclesiastical, and military government.] [Footnote 90: But Mr.Bancroft seems to forget that in less than forty years after this the Charter was revoked, and that very system of government was established which the General Court of Massachusetts Bay now deprecated, but under which Massachusetts itself was most prosperous and peaceful for more than half a century, until the old spirit was revived, which rendered friendly government with England impossible.] [Footnote 91: Mr.Hutchinson says: "The Earl of Warwick had a patent for Massachusetts Bay about 1623, but the bounds are not known." (History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol.

I., p.

7.)] [Footnote 92: Mr.Palfrey says: "While in England the literary war against Presbytery was in great part conducted by American combatants, their attention was presently required at home.