In the year following the beginning of Mr. Ward^s ministry,

a welcome addition to the settlement was made, when Richard

Saltonstall, eldest son of Sir Richard, conspicuous for wealth

and highest social standing, chose this town for his home. He

was only twenty-five years old^^but had already graduated

from Emmanuel College. With him came his young wife, Meriel

or Muriel Gurdon, only twenty-two years old, and the baby

Muriel of nine months. The old minister was more than glad,

we are sure, when Saltonstall built his house only a few rods

away, somewhere on the sightly fourteen acres, .that bordered

on the Green, the Highway, and the River, not far from the

ancient Merrifield house. ^'SrrSrT''

The community honored young Saltonstall at once with

responsible public office. He was elected Deputy to the Gen-

eral Court, and in 1636, was appointed to hold court in Ipswich.

He was chosen Assistant in 1637, and was re-elected annually

until 1649. In March, 1635-6, the General Court passed an

order providing that a certain number of magistrates should

be elected for a life term as a standing council. The measure

proved unpopular. The people saw in it an irresponsible body,

the existence of which was-whQUy__contrary to democratic ideas.

Some action was taken by the Court looking toward its

dissolution, but the Council still remained. Whereupon, Mr.

Saltonstall, then an Assistant, -with fair prospect of becoming a

member of this life board/wrote a book, in which he argued

with much force that it was contrary to the Charter and a sinful

innovation. The book gave great offence, and many demanded

that summary punishment be visited upon its author, but the

book was referred to the elders. They all met in Ipswich on the

18th of October, 1642, differed much in their judgment about

it, but acknowledged the soundness of the propositions ad-

vanced.

A^ain in 1645, single-handed and alone, he lifted up his

voice like a trumpet in the Great and General Court, when Capt.

James Smith, master of the ship Rainbow, brought into the

country two negroes kidnapped from the Guinea coast. He

denounced the heinous act of stealing these poor blacks, as con-

trary to the Law of God and of the country, demanded that

the officers of the ship be imprisoned, and addressed a petition,

signed by himself alone, praying that the slaves be returned at

the public expense. Mr. Saltonstall lived to be an old man, full

of honors, but nothing gives such lustre to his name as this

strong blow for the emancipation of these two African slaves.⁾