Excerpt from Talvi's History of the Colonization of America, Vol. 2 of 2<br><br>Years before, the question had been mooted in Massa chusetts. Did the settlements on the Piscataqua belong to their patent or not And, taken literally, the definition of their northern boundary, three miles north of the Merrimak in its most northerly direction, comprised not only the present New Hampshire, but also a great part of Maine. For the Merrimak descends from the White Mountains, and flows about a hundred and twenty miles southwardsfi when it suddenly turns east and runs towards the huge Atlantic in a somewhat northerly direction. This latter part was all that was known to the givers of the patent, and consequently that which they alluded to in the letter of possession. But the fathers of Massachusetts, inclined to give to this an extension of meaning which greatly enlarged their territory, had already planted separate colonies, ten and even twenty miles eastward of the Merrimak, and con sequently accepted as their due the submission of the Piscataqua settlers. When, some time previously, deputies had been obliged to investigate the disposition of the people, and establish peace among the authorities and churches, commissioners were formally sent off to the settlements there, in order, in conjunction with some select men, to call together the people, to take from them the oath of fealty, and establish quarterly courts after the pattern of theother distant subordinate colonies.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.