The sentences on Borland and his five companions were annulled by the Queen and Council, on the ground that the Assembly was not competent to try the case.[91] The passionate charges against Dudley and a petition to the Queen for his removal were equally unavailing. The Assemblies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the chief merchants, the officers of militia, and many of the ministers sent addresses to the Queen in praise of the governor's administration;[92] and though his enemies declared that the votes and signatures were obtained by the arts familiar to him, his recall was prevented, and he held his office seven years longer. FOOTNOTES: [77] _Vaudreuil et Beauharnois au Ministre, 17 Novembre, 1704._ [78] _Vaudreuil et Beauharnois au Ministre, 17 Novembre, 1704_; _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 16 Novembre, 1704_; _Ramesay au Ministre, 14 Novembre, 1704_. Compare Penhallow. [79] _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Novembre, 1708_; _Vaudreuil et Raudot au Ministre, 14 Novembre, 1708_; Hutchinson, ii. 156; _Mass. Hist. Coll. 2d Series_, iv. 129; Sewall, _Diary_, ii. 234. Penhallow. [80] The rewards for scalps were confined to male Indians thought old enough to bear arms,--that is to say, above twelve years. _Act of General Court, 19 August, 1706._ [81] _Dudley to Lord ----, 21 April, 1704._ _Address of Council and Assembly to the Queen, 12 July, 1704._ The burden on the people was so severe that one writer--not remarkable, however, for exactness of statement--declares that he "is credibly informed that some have been forced to cut open their beds and sell the feathers to pay their taxes." The general poverty did not prevent a contribution in New England for the suffering inhabitants of the Island of St. Christopher. [82] _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 12 Novembre, 1708._ Vaudreuil says that he got his information from prisoners. [83] _Resume d'une Lettre de MM. de Vaudreuil et de Beauharnois du 15 Novembre, 1703, avec les Observations du Ministre._ Subercase, governor of Acadia, writes on 25 December, 1708, that he hears that a party of Canadians and Indians have attacked a place on the _Maramet_ (Merrimac), "et qu'ils y ont egorge 4 a 500 personnes sans faire quartier aux femmes ni aux enfans." This is an exaggerated report of the affair of Haverhill. M. de Chevry writes in the margin of the letter: "Ces actions de cruaute devroient etre moderees:" to which Ponchartrain adds: "Bon; les defendre." His attitude, however, was uncertain; for as early as 1707 we find him approving Vaudreuil for directing the missionaries to prompt the Abenakis to war. _N. Y. Col. Docs._, ix. 805. [84] _Dudley to ----, 26 November, 1704._ [85] _Abrege d'une lettre de M. de Vaudreuil, avec les notes du Ministre, 19 Octobre, 1705._ [86] On the negotiations for neutrality, see the correspondence and other papers in the _Paris Documents_ in the Boston State House; also _N. Y. Col. Docs._, ix. 770, 776, 779, 809; Hutchinson, ii. 141.