rights of English subjects, and to throw some semblance at least of the
sanction of law over the organization of their new state. Accordingly, a
patent [Footnote: March 4, 1629.] was obtained from the crown, by which
twenty-five persons were incorporated under the name of the Governor and
Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England; and as the extent of the
powers therein granted has given rise to a controversy which is not yet
closed, it is necessary to understand the nature of that instrument in
order to comprehend the bearings of the bitter strife which darkens the
history of the first fifty years of the colony.

The germ of the written charter is so ancient as to be lost in obscurity.
During the Middle Ages, oppression was, speaking generally, the accepted
condition of society, no man not noble having the right in theory, or the
power in practice, to control his own actions without interference from
his feudal superior. Under such circumstances the only hope for the weak
was to combine, and most of the early triumphs of freedom were won by
combinations of commons against some noble, or of nobles against a king.
Organization is difficult for a peasantry, but easy for burghers, and from
the outset these seem to have united for their common defense against the
neighboring barons; and thus was born the mediaeval guild.

The ancient townsmen were not usually strong enough to fight for their
liberties, so they generally resorted to purchase; they agreed with their
lord upon a price to be paid for a privilege, and were given for their
money a grant, which, because it was written, was called a charter.

The following charter of the Merchants' Guild of Leicester is very early
and very simple. It presupposes that there could be no doubt about the
local customs, which are therefore not enumerated, and it shows that the
guild of Leicester existed as a corporation at the Conquest, and must