[5] The first government of Plymouth Colony was practically a town meeting. The first town to set up a local government in Massachusetts was Dorchester (1633). Thus started, the system spread over all New England. Nothing was too petty to be acted on by the town meeting. For example, "It is ordered that all dogs, for the space of three weeks after the publishing hereof, shall have one leg tied up.... If a man refuse to tye up his dogs leg and he be found scraping up fish [used for fertilizer] in the corn field, the owner shall pay l2_s._, besides whatever damage the dog doth." The proceedings of several town meetings at Providence are given in Hart's _American History told by Contemporaries_, Vol. II, pp. 214-219. [6] Penn's charter required him to keep an agent in or near London. [7] Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York (proprietor of the colony of New York), who reigned as James II. [8] New Hampshire, which had been annexed by Massachusetts in 1641, was made a separate province in 1679; but during the governorship of Andros it was again annexed. [9] These were Massachusetts (including Maine), New Hampshire, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey--eight in all. The only other colonies then in existence were Pennsylvania (including Delaware), Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. For an account of the attack on the New England charters, read Fiske's _Beginnings of New England_, pp. 265-268. [10] The Protestant Episcopal Church of England was established in the colony (1692), and sharp laws were made against Catholics. From 1691 till 1715 Maryland was governed as a royal province; but then it was given back to the fifth Lord Baltimore, who was a Protestant. [11] Read Fiske's _Dutch and Quaker Colonies_, Vol. II, pp. 199-208. _In Leisler's Times_, by Elbridge Brooks, and _The Segum's Daughter_, by Edwin L. Bynner, are two interesting stories based on the events of Leisler's time. [12] Berkeley put so many men to death for the part they bore in the rebellion that King Charles said, "The old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father." Berkeley was recalled. Read Fiske's _Old Virginia and her Neighbours_, Vol. II, pp. 44-95; or the _Century Magazine_ for July, 1890.