The information which has been preserved respecting him leads to the conviction that he was a useful and an exemplary man, to a considerable extent influential and beloved; and respected even by his enemies. He had enemies. They who congratulate themselves on having none, have, frequently, cause to inquire whether they are discharging the duties incumbent upon them as members of society, with that high regard to principle which characterized the puritans, and is as remote from the meanness of indecision as from the rancour of mere party zeal. During Mr. Fleming’s ministry in Beccles, a warm and long continued dispute, occurred between the first grantees from the crown of the tract of marshes already mentioned, {70a} and some of the inhabitants. The grant had been accompanied by extensive powers, which were employed with little moderation. This was naturally a source of dissatisfaction, and led to animosities which ended in a surrender of the property in question to the queen. {70b} The incorporating of the “portreeve, surveyors, and commonalty of the Fen of Beccles,” was the result; an arrangement which met with considerable opposition, from a person named Harsault and others. The plan, however, was probably approved by the more judicious inhabitants, as calculated, in the _then existing_ state of things, to preclude the evils of either a narrower or a broader system of municipal government. Mr. Fleming appears to have lent his influence in support of the new charter. A commission was issued to Sir Robert Wingfield and others, to attempt an arrangement of these differences. The commissioners met accordingly, at Beccles, and made a return, in which, after expressing their persuasion that the government of the town was likely to proceed in peace, they add: “And furder, whereas by vertue of the same yor ho: letters we are directed to th’ examynac’on of certeyn trobles and molestac’ons brought upon one Mr. Flemyng, the minister there; we fynde the man to be _of verie good desert bothe concerning life and doctryne_, _and to have p’fited the peple there verie greatly_, yet had he ben much trobled by some sorrie instruments issueing from the same spring as we take it; for having hym and them before us, they alledged no cause of offence, but rather iustified the man, and reconciled themselves to hym, except one Harsault, whome we fownde factious, and a man utterlie unworthye of eny good allowance or regarde emongst his honest neighbors.” {72a}