Restraints were now put upon emigration in England; a law was passed, in 1634, that no one above the rank of a serving-man should leave the country without leave from the commission, and even those should first be compelled to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. Besides the jealousy of the supreme power in England, other causes were now operating against the colony at home. The grand council of Plymouth having long since made grants of all the lands included in their charter, and that two or three times over in some cases, and unable any longer to derive benefit from it, resigned their charter, and as a final act divided the whole coast, “from Acadia to beyond the Hudson,” into lots, which were distributed among the members of the defunct corporation. To divide the land by lots on paper was easy; to gain possession, was quite a different thing. A second strong power was, however, by this means raised up in England against the American colonies. “Now was the season,” says Bancroft, “of greatest peril to the rising liberties of New England. The king and council, fearing the unbridled spirits of the Americans, the Court of King’s Bench issued a writ, in Trinity term, 1635, against the Massachusetts Bay Company; and the following term judgment was pronounced against such of the members as residing in England made their appearance, and they and the rest of the patentees were outlawed.” At this moment Mason, the proprietary of New Hampshire, as we have mentioned, and one of the prime movers in these unjust proceedings, suddenly died, and they went no further.