20 THOMAS HUTCHINSON 



to appease the popular indignation, the same British 

 government that sustained his policy transferred him 

 to the inferior position of governor of New Jersey, and 

 put William Shirley, a man of more tact, in his place. 

 But the legacy of distrust and discontent remained. 

 This was the first, but not the last, time that serious 

 trouble between England and America was brought 

 about by disregarding Thomas Hutchinson's advice. 



In the midst of this controversy Hutchinson was 

 intrusted by his fellow-citizens with an important 

 miss-ion. The boundary line between Massachusetts 

 and New Hampshire had for some time been matter 

 of dispute, and he was sent over to England to adjust 

 the affair. His conduct seems to have been satisfac- 

 tory, but his diary gives little information as to the 

 details of what he saw and did in the mother country, 

 save that homesickness assailed him, and that in all 

 his life he could not " remember any joy equal to that 

 of meeting his wife again," after an absence of thirteen 

 months. On his return he was chosen representative, 

 and was annually reflected until 1749. In 1746 and 

 the two following years he was Speaker of the House, 

 and in this capacity he came once more into conflict 

 with popular prejudice, and for a long time to come 

 enjoyed a well-earned triumph. By the treaty of Aix- 

 la-Chapelle in 1748 the stronghold of Louisburg, which 

 New England troops had captured in 1745, was re- 

 stored to France in exchange for Madras in Hin- 

 dustan. 



In an empire extending over half the globe, it was 

 not always easy to reconcile imperial with local inter- 

 ests. The people of New England were naturally 

 indignant. Their capture of Louisburg was the first 



