The affairs of New England were often discussed; but the privy council was overawed by the moral dignity, which they could not comprehend.
Amid all the discord and threats, the New England colonies continued to advance in population, and their villages assumed the dignity of towns.
It is difficult to form exact opinions as to the population of the several colonies in this early period of their history.

The colonial accounts are incomplete, and those furnished by emissaries from England are grossly false.

The best estimate that can be obtained gives to New England, in 1675, fifty-five thousand souls.

Of these it is supposed that Plymouth contained not less than seven thousand, Connecticut, nearly fourteen thousand, Massachusetts proper, more than twenty-two thousand, and Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each perhaps four thousand.

The settlements were chiefly by agricultural communities, planted near the seaside, from New Haven to Pemaquid.