Attack on Swanzey.The English were apprized of the plots of the Indians, and made preparations to meet their hostilities. They hoped, however, that the threatened storm would pass by, as others had, and that peace would be preserved. But the insolence of Philip, and the number of his adherents, increased daily; and, in June, 1675, some of them entered the town of Swanzey, in Plymouth, where, after slaughtering the cattle, and plundering the houses, they fired upon the inhabitants, killing and wounding several. The troops of that colony marched immediately to Swanzey, and were soon joined by a detachment from Massachusetts. The Indians fled, and marked the course of their flight by burning the buildings, and fixing on poles by the way side, the hands, scalps, and heads of the whites whom they had killed. The troops pursued, but unable to overtake them, returned to Swanzey. The whole country was alarmed, and the number of troops augmented. By this array of force, Philip was induced to quit his residenceat mount Hope, and take post near a swamp at Pocasset. At that place the English attacked him, but were repulsed. Sixteen were killed, and the Indians by this success were made bolder.Most of the settlements were surrounded by thick forests, and as the Indians lived intermixed with the whites, the former were acquainted, of course, with the dwellings of the latter, and all the avenues to them; could watch their motions, and fall upon them in their defenceless and unguarded moments. Many were shot dead as they opened their doors in the morning; many while at work in their fields, and others while travelling to visit their neighbors, or to places of worship; their lives were in continual jeopardy; and no one could tell but that, in the next moment, he should receive his death shot from his barn, the thicket, or the way side. Whenever the enemy assembled in force, detachments were sent against them; if weaker than these, they would retreat; if stronger, assault and harass, or destroy them. Defenceless villages were suddenly attacked, the houses burned, and the men, women and children killed, or carried into captivity. Their ruin was the work of a moment; and when accomplished, its authors vanished. The colonists found their numbers sensibly diminished, and their strength impaired; and they began to apprehend even total extinction. Nothing but a vigorous effort could save them.The commissioners of the three United Colonies met on the9thof September, and it was concluded, that the war was just and necessary; that it ought to be jointly prosecuted by all the United Colonies; and that there should be immediately raised 1000 soldiers out of the colonies, in such proportion as the articles of confederation established: Massachusetts, 527; Plymouth, 158; Connecticut, 315. At an adjourned meeting, the commissioners declared the Narragansets to be deeply accessory in the present bloody outrages of the Indians that were at open war, and determined that 1000 more soldiers be raised, for the Narraganset expedition, to obtain satisfaction of those Indians, or to treat them as enemies. On the8thof December, the Massachusetts forces marched from Boston, and were soon joined by those of Plymouth. The troops from Connecticut joined them on the18th, at Petaquamscot. At break of day the next morning they commenced their march, through a deep snow, toward the enemy, who were about fifteen miles distant in a swamp, at the edge of which they arrived at one in the afternoon. The Indians, apprized of an armament intended against them, had fortified themselves as strongly as possible within the swamp. The English, without waiting to draw up in order of battle, marched forward in quest of the enemy’s camp.The Indian fortress stood on a rising ground in the midst of the swamp, and was composed of palisades, which were encompassed by a hedge, nearly a rod thick. It had but one practicable entrance, which was over a log, or tree four or five feet from the ground; and that aperture was guarded by a block-house. Falling providentially on this very part of the fort, the English captains entered it, at the head of their companies. The two first, with many of their men, were shot dead at the entrance; four other captains were also killed. When the troops had effected an entrance, they attacked the Indians, who fought desperately, and compelled the English to retire out of the fort; but after a hard-fought battle of three hours, they became masters of the place, and set fire to the wigwams, tothe number of five or six hundred, and in the conflagration many Indian women and children perished. The surviving Indians fled into a cedar swamp, at a small distance; and the English retired to their quarters. Of the English there were killed and wounded about two hundred and thirty; of the Indians one thousand are supposed to have perished.Attack on the Indian Fortress.From this blow, the confederated Indians never recovered; but they still remained sufficiently strong to harass the settlements by continual inroads. In retaliation, the English sent several detachments into their territories, nearly all of which were successful. Captain Church, of Plymouth, and captain Dennison, of Connecticut, were conspicuous for their bravery and success. In the midst of these reverses, Philip remained firm and unshaken. His warriors were cut off; his chief men, his wife and family, were killed, or taken prisoners; and at these successive misfortunes, he is represented to have wept with a bitterness which proves him not to have been destitute of the noblest affections; but he disdained to listen to any offers of peace. He even shot one of his men, who proposed submission. At length, after being hunted from swamp to swamp, he was himself shot, by the brother of the Indian he had killed. This event was certainly the signal of complete victory. The Indians in all the neighboring country now generally submitted to the English, or fled, and incorporated themselves with distant and strange nations. Never was peace more welcome. In this short, but tremendous war, about six hundred of the inhabitants of New England, composing its principal strength, were either killed in battle, or murdered by the enemy; twelve or thirteen towns were entirely destroyed; and about six hundred buildings, chiefly dwelling-houses, were burnt. In addition to these calamities, the colonies contracted a very heavy debt; while, by the loss of their substance through the ravages of the enemy, their resources were greatly diminished. But, in their deepest distress, they forbore to apply to the mother country for assistance; and this omission excited surprise and jealousy. ‘You act,’ said a privy counsellor, ‘as though you were independent of our master’s crown; and though poor, yet you are proud.’In this unsettled state of the country, the French in Canada and Nova Scotia instigated the northern and eastern Indians to commence hostilities against the English settlements. Dover and Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, Casco, in Maine, and Schenectady, in New York, were attacked by different parties of French and Indians, and the most shocking barbarities perpetrated on the inhabitants. The Indians having taken the fort at Pemaquid, and the French privateers from Acadie still infesting the coast of New England, the general court of Massachusetts determined to make an attempt on Port Royal. A fleet, with seven or eight hundred men, under the command of Sir William Phipps, sailed on that expedition in the latter end of April. The fort at Port Royal, not being in a state to sustain a siege, surrendered, with little or no resistance; and Sir William took possession of the whole sea-coast, from Port Royal to the New England settlements.Regarding Canada as the principal source of their miseries, New England and New York formed the bold project of reducing it to subjection. By great exertion they raised an army, which, under the command of general Winthrop, was sent against Montreal, and equipped a fleet, which, commanded by Sir William Phipps, was destined to attack Quebec. The fleet, retarded by unavoidable accidents, did not arrive before Quebec until the5thof October. Phipps, the next morning, sent a summons on shore, but received an insolent answer from count Frontenac. The next day he attempted to land his troops, but was prevented by the violence of the wind. On the8th, all the effective men, amounting to between twelve and thirteen hundred, landed at the isle of Orleans, four miles below the town, and were fired on from the woods by French and Indians. Having remained on shore three days, they received information from a deserter of the strength of the place, and precipitately embarked. A tempest soon after dispersed the fleet, which made the best of its way back to Boston. A successful result had been so confidently expected, that adequate provision was not made at home for the payment of the troops. In this extremity, the government of Massachusetts issued bills of credit, or paper money; and these were the first that were ever issued in the American colonies; but though it afforded relief at the moment, it produced in its consequences extensive and complicated mischief.The first trials for witchcraft in New England occurred in the year 1645, when four persons charged with this crime were put to death in Massachusetts. For more than twenty years after, we hear but little of similar prosecutions. But in the year 1688, a woman was executed for witchcraft in Boston, after an investigation conducted with a degree of solemnity that made a deep impression on the minds of the people. Suspicions having been thus violently roused, the charges of witchcraft began gradually to multiply, till at length there commenced at Salem that dreadful tragedy which rendered New England for many months a scene of bloodshed, terror and madness, and at one time seemed to threaten the subversion of civil society.In the year 1692, the frenzy of the colonists reached the highest pitch of extravagance. Suspicions and accusations of witchcraft became general among them; and on this fanciful charge many persons were put to death. This pestilential visitation first showed itself in the town of Salem. A fanatic, who was minister of a church there, had two daughters subjectto convulsions. He fancied they were bewitched; and fixed his suspicions on an Indian girl who lived in the house, as the accomplice and tool of Satan in the matter. By harsh treatment he made the poor savage acknowledge herself a witch. Among a people like the New Englanders, this was throwing a firebrand into a powder magazine; and the explosion was dreadful. Every woman subject to hysterical affections instantly believed herself bewitched; and was seldom at a loss to discover the guilty cause of her malady. Persons accused of the imaginary crime of witchcraft were imprisoned, condemned, hanged, and their bodies left exposed to wild beasts and birds of prey. Counsellors who refused to plead against these devoted victims, and judges who were not forward in condemning them, were doomed to share their fate, as accomplices in their guilt.Children of ten years of age were put to death; young women were stripped naked, and the marks of witchcraft sought for on their bodies with unblushing curiosity. Scorbutical or other spots on the bodies of old men were reckoned clear proofs of a heinous commerce with the infernal powers. Dreams, apparitions, prodigies of every kind, increased the general consternation and horror. The prisons were filled, the gibbets left standing, and the citizens were appalled. Under this frightful delirium, the miserable colonists seemed doomed to destruction by each other’s hands. The more prudent withdrew from a country polluted by the blood of its inhabitants, and the ruin of the colony seemed inevitable; when, ceasing to receive countenance from those in authority, this awful frenzy passed away, almost as suddenly as it had arisen, leaving to future ages a fearful warning against such popular insanity.It is matter of satisfaction to the historian, that his attention is not again to be diverted, in the annals of this state, from his peculiar province, to record events which, had the intention of religion been rightly apprehended, would not have intermixed with civil affairs in fact, and therefore not in history. The legislature, at its first session under the new charter, passed a law which indicates the same independent spirit that afterwards resisted the usurpations of the British parliament. It provided that no tax should be imposed upon any of his majesty’s subjects, or their estates, in the province, but by the act and consent of the governor, council, and representatives of the people, in general court assembled. It is almost needless to add, that this law was disallowed by the king.The war with the French and Indians, which began in 1690, was not yet terminated. For several years were the frontier settlements harassed by the savages, and the English were employed in expeditions against them. This continuance of the war on the part of the Indians, instigated and aided by the French, induced repeated applications for a force from the British government, to act in conjunction with land forces to be raised in New England and New York, for the reduction of Canada; and it was at length determined, that an expedition should be undertaken for that purpose. A fleet was to be employed in the winter in the reduction of Martinico; and, after the performance of that service, was to sail to Boston, take on board a body of land forces under Sir William Phipps, and proceed to Quebec. By attempting too much, the whole of this extensive project entirely failed.The attacks of the natives on the English continued with little intermissiontill the peace of 1697. They were carried on with Indian cunning, treachery, and cruelty. ‘To these causes of suffering were superadded the power of all such motives as the ingenuity of the French could invent, their wealth furnish, or their bigotry adopt. Here all the implements of war and the means of sustenance were supplied; the expedition was planned; the price was bidden for scalps; the aid of European officers and soldiers was conjoined; the devastation and slaughter were sanctioned by the ministers of religion; and the blood-hounds, while their fangs were yet dropping blood, were caressed and cherished by men regarded by them as superior beings. The intervals between formal attacks were usually seasons of desultory mischief, plunder, and butchery; and always of suspense and dread. The solitary family was carried into captivity; the lonely house burned to the ground; and the traveller waylaid and shot in the forest. It ought, however, to be observed, to the immortal honor of these people, distinguished as they are by so many traits of brutal ferocity, that history records no instance in which the purity of a female captive was violated by them, or even threatened.’The peace of Ryswick, which had been signed on the20thof September, was proclaimed at Boston on the10thof December, and the English colonies had a brief repose. By the seventh article it was agreed, that mutual restitution should be made of all the countries, forts, and colonies taken by each party during the war.In a few years war again broke out in Europe, and hostilities speedily recommenced in America. The first blow fell upon Deerfield. In February, 1704, it was surprised in the night, about forty persons were killed, and more than one hundred were made prisoners, among whom wereMr.Williams, the minister, and his family. The killed were scalped, and the prisoners commanded to prepare for a long march to Canada. On the second day,Mrs.Williams was so exhausted with fatigue that she could go no farther. Her husband solicited permission to remain with her; but the retreating savages, according to their custom in such cases, killed her and compelled him to proceed. Before the termination of their journey, twenty more became unable to walk, and were in like manner sacrificed. Those who survived the journey to Canada were treated by the French with humanity; and after a captivity of many years, most of them were redeemed, and returned to their friends.New York having agreed with the French and the western Indians to remain neutral, the enemy were enabled to pour their whole force upon Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the inhabitants of which, for ten years, endured miseries peculiar to an Indian war, of which the description we have given falls below the truth. The enemy were at all times prowling about the frontier settlements, watching in concealment for an opportunity to strike a sudden blow, and to fly with safety. The women and children retired into the garrisons; the men left their fields uncultivated, or labored with arms at their sides, and with sentinels at every point whence an attack could be apprehended. Yet, notwithstanding these precautions, the Indians were often successful, killing sometimes an individual, sometimes a whole family, sometimes a band of laborers, ten or twelve in number; and so swift were they in their movements, that but few fell into the hands of the whites. It was computed, that the sum of one thousand pounds was expended for every Indian killed or made captive.In 1707, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, despatched an armament against Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, then in possession of the French, which returned, however, without effecting its object; but in 1710, the troops of New England, assisted by a British fleet, succeeded in reducing the place; and in compliment to queen Anne, changed its name to Annapolis.We pass over various topics of interest, in regard to contests in Massachusetts between the people and their governors, relative to certain prerogatives of the crown. After a struggle of more than thirty years, the crown was compelled to yield to a bold and persevering opposition, and the controversy was not again renewed till the year 1773.In 1744, war again broke out between England and France, and the colonies were again the theatre on which the great drama was to be acted. Commerce generally, and in particular the fisheries, suffered greatly during these hostilities from privateers fitted out at Louisburg, a French port on Cape Breton. This post was considered of vast importance, and nearly six millions of dollars had been expended on its fortifications. This post it was determined to subdue, and an expedition was sent against it under the command of Sir William Pepperell, of Kittery. In conjunction with other forces from England under the command of commodore Warren, batteries were erected before the town, and an assault eventually resolved upon. Discouraged by these adverse events and menacing appearances, the French commander consented to capitulate, and on the sixteenth of June articles were accordingly signed. After the surrender of the city, the French flag was kept flying on the ramparts, and several rich prizes were thus decoyed.Fired with resentment at their loss, the French made extraordinary exertions to retrieve it, and to inflict chastisement on New England. The next summer they despatched to the American coast a powerful fleet, carrying a large number of soldiers. The news of its approach spread terror throughout New England; but an uncommon succession of disasters deprived it of all power to inflict injury. After remaining a short time on the coast, it returned to France, having lost two admirals, both of whom it was supposed put an end to their lives through chagrin; having also, by tempests, been reduced to one half its force, without effecting any of the objects anticipated.In the month of November, 1747, a great tumult occurred in the town of Boston, arising from the following circumstance: Commodore Knowles, while lying at Nantasket with a number of men of war, losing some of his sailors by desertion, thought it reasonable that Boston should supply him with as many men as he had lost. He therefore sent his boats early in the morning, and surprised not only as many seamen as could be found on board any of the ships, but pressed some ship carpenters’ apprentices, and other laboring landsmen. This conduct was universally resented as outrageous; and as soon as it was dusk, several thousand people assembled in King’s street, where the general court was sitting. Stones and brickbats were thrown into the council chamber through the windows. A judicious speech of the governor from the balcony, disapproving of the impress, promising his utmost endeavors to obtain the discharge of the persons impressed, but reprehending the irregular proceedings of the people, had no effect.Riot in State Street.The seizure and restraint of the commanders and other officers who were in town were insisted on, as the only effectual method to procure the release of the inhabitants aboard the ships. The militia of Boston was summoned the next day to the aid of government, but refused to appear. The governor, judging it inexpedient to remain in town another night, withdrew to castle William; but kept up a communication with the commodore, urging the liberation of the townsmen. Meanwhile, the council and house of representatives passed some vigorous resolutions, and the tumultuous spirit began to subside. The inhabitants, assembled in town meeting, while they expressed their sense of the great insult and injury by the impress, condemned the riotous transactions. The militia of the town the next day promptly made their appearance, and conducted the governor with great pomp to his house; and the commodore dismissed most, if not all of the inhabitants who had been impressed; and the squadron sailed, to the joy and repose of the town.In October, 1748, a treaty of peace between England and France was signed at Aix la Chapelle. By the articles of this treaty, Cape Breton was given up to the French, in a compromise for restoring the French conquests in the low countries to the empress queen of Hungary and the States General, and for a general restitution of places captured by the other belligerent powers. It was naturally a mortification to the inhabitants of New England, that what they termed, not unjustly, ‘their own acquisition,’ should be restored to France; but so long as peace continued, they sustained no disadvantage. In most respects, Massachusetts Bay was never in a more easy and happy situation, than at the close of this war.NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE.It was in the year 1623, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges, John Mason, and others, having obtained of the Plymouth or New England company grants of several tracts of land, lying north of Massachusetts, sent from Englanda few persons to begin a settlement. Part landed, and for a short time remained at Little Harbor, on the west side Piscataqua river, and near its mouth, where they erected the first house, calling it Mason Hall; the remainder, proceeding higher up the river, settled at Cocheco, afterwards called Dover. Fishing and trade being the principal objects of these emigrants, their settlements increased slowly.The persecuting policy of the Massachusetts colony peopled this country, when money and persuasion had been tried in vain. It has already been stated, that among those who were expelled from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, at the time of the dissensions occasioned by opposition to the spread of antinomian sentiments at Boston, was theRev.John Wheelwright. Previously to the date of Mason’s patent, he had purchased the land of the Indians, and laid the foundation of Exeter. In the year 1630, thirty-five persons residing in that town combined and established civil government; and within a year or two afterwards, the inhabitants of Dover and Portsmouth followed their example, each town remaining distinct and independent.From Indian hostilities, this colony suffered more severely than her neighbors. The surprise of Dover, in 1689, was effected with the most shocking barbarity; though the natives having been ill-treated by one of the principal inhabitants may account for, if not palliate, their ferocious revenge. Having determined upon their plan of attack, the Indians employed their usual art to lull the suspicions of the inhabitants. So civil and respectful was their behavior, that they occasionally obtained permission to sleep in the fortified houses in the town. On the evening of the fatal night, they assembled in the neighborhood, and sent their women to apply for lodgings at the houses devoted to destruction. When all was quiet the doors were opened and the signal given. The Indians rushed into Waldron’s house, and hastened to his apartment. Awakened by the noise, he seized his sword, and drove them back, but when returning for his other arms was stunned with a hatchet, and fell. They then dragged him into his hall, seated him in an elbow chair upon a long table, and insultingly asked him, ‘Who shall judge Indians now?’ After feasting upon provisions, which they compelled the rest of the family to procure, each one with his knife cut gashes across his breast, saying, ‘I cross out my account.’ When, weakened with the loss of blood, he was about to fall from the table, his own sword was held under him, which put an end to his tortures. At other houses, similar acts of cruelty were perpetrated; in the whole, twenty-three persons were killed, and twenty-nine carried prisoners to Canada, who were mostly sold to the French. Many houses were burned, and much property was plundered; but so expeditious were the Indians, that they had fled beyond reach before the neighboring people could be collected. The war thus commenced, was not easily terminated. The French, by giving premiums for scalps, and by purchasing the English prisoners, animated the Indians to exert all their activity and address, and the frontier inhabitants endured the most aggravated sufferings. The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, closed the distressing scene till 1703, when another war began, which continued ten years.A few years only transpired before the inhabitants again suffered the afflictions of an Indian war. Following the example of the French, the government offered premiums for scalps, which induced several volunteercompanies to undertake expeditions against the enemy. One of these, commanded by captain Lovewell, was greatly distinguished. In April, 1725, with thirty-four men, he fought a famous Indian chief, named Paugus, at the head of about eighty savages, near the shores of a pond in Pequackett. Lovewell’s men were determined either to conquer or die, although outnumbered by the Indians more than twice. They fought till Lovewell and Paugus were killed, and all Lovewell’s men but nine were either killed or dangerously wounded. The savages having lost, as was supposed, sixty of their number out of eighty, and being convinced of the fierce and determined resolution of their foes, at length retreated, and left them masters of the ground. The scene of this desperate and bloody action, which took place in the town that is now called Fryburgh, is often visited with interest to this day, and the names both of those who fell, and those who survived, are yet repeated with exultation.CONNECTICUT.The Connecticut colony consisted of people who first emigrated from England to Massachusetts, and, in the years 1630 and 1632, settled and formed themselves into churches at Dorchester, Watertown, and Cambridge, where they resided several years. But either because the number of emigrants to Massachusetts did not allow them all such a choice as they wished of good lands, or because some jealousies had arisen between their pastors and leaders, and the leading men of the colony, they took the resolution of seating themselves again in the wilderness; and in the years 1635 and 1636 they removed their families to Windsor, Weathersfield, and Hartford, on the Connecticut river.From the commencement of the Connecticut colony, the natives discovered a hostile disposition. Their principal enemy was the Pequods, the most numerous and warlike nation within the limits of the state, and perhaps in New England. They inhabited the country which environs the towns of New London, Groton, and Stonington. Sassacus, the great prince of the Pequods, had under him six-and-twenty sachems, and could bring into the field seven hundred or a thousand warriors, who had been long accustomed to victory. The royal residence was at a large fort situated on a beautiful eminence in the town of Groton, which commands an extensive prospect of the sea and of the surrounding country. There was also another fortress, called Mystic fort, situated in the town of Stonington. After suffering repeated injuries, and the murder of about thirty of their people, principally by the Pequods, the general court, which had been convened for the purpose, resolved on active hostilities, and immediately raised an army of ninety men, half the effective force of the colony. These were to be joined by two hundred men from Massachusetts, and forty from Plymouth.The court which declared war was holden on the1stof May; the men were raised and embarked on the river, under the command of captain Mason, on the10th; and, after being wind-bound several days, sailed from the mouth of the river for Narraganset bay on the19th. They were accompanied by sixty Mohegan and River Indians, under Uncas, a Mohegan sachem. On reaching Narraganset bay, they landed to the number of seventy-seven Englishmen, marched into the country of theNarragansets, and communicated their design to Miantonimoh, the sachem of the country, who offered to join them. Information was here received that captain Patrick had reached Providence, with a company of Massachusetts troops, but it was resolved not to wait for this reinforcement. On the next day, they marched twenty miles through the west part of Rhode Island,and reached Nihantick, which bordered on the Pequods’country.99The army wheeled directly to Mystic fort, which was immediately attacked; the contest, though tremendously severe, terminated in favor of the English, and in the destruction of the Indians. Although this victory was complete, the situation of the army was extremely dangerous and destressing. Several were killed, and one-fourth of their number were wounded; the remainder were exhausted with fatigue, and destitute of provisions; they were in the midst of an enemy’s country, many miles from their vessels, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted; they were but a few miles distant from the principal fortress of their foe, where there was a fresh army, which they knew would be exasperated in the highest degree on learning the fate of their brethren. In the midst of their perplexity, while they were consulting on the course to be pursued, their vessels appeared in sight, steering with a fair wind directly into the harbor. The army was received on board with great mutual joy and congratulation.The troops employed on this successful expedition reached their homes before the expiration of a month from the day that the war was resolved upon. The Pequods, on the departure of captain Mason, burnt their wigwams, destroyed their principal fort, and scattered themselves throughout the country. Sassacus, with a party of his chief warriors, abandoned his country, and moved by slow marches towards the Hudson river. They were followed by a party of Massachusetts and Connecticut troops; and, in a great swamp in Fairfield, near the western part of Connecticut, they were overtaken, and a battle ensued. Sassacus, and about twenty of his most hardy men, escaped, and fled to the Mohawk country; but there he found no safety; he was surprised by the Mohawks, and killed, with all his party, except Mononotto, who, after being wounded, made his escape. The Pequods who remained were divided between the Mohegans and Narragansets, and the nation became extinct. The vigor and boldness with which this war was prosecuted on both sides, give it the air of romance. Its decisive termination, which was so fatal to one party, was productive of the most happy consequences to the other. It struck the Indians throughout New England with such a salutary terror, that they were contented, in general, to remain at peace for nearly forty years.In the year 1637,Mr.John Davenport, a celebrated London minister, accompanied by several eminent merchants, made overtures to the native proprietors for the purchase of all the lands between the rivers Hudson and Connecticut. This purchase they in part effected, and from this originated the colony of New Haven. At first they recognised the authority of Massachusetts, but it being evident that they were not within the limits of the Massachusetts colony, they convened an assembly at Hartford, and formed a constitution of government of the most popular kind. The people of New Haven followed their example, and framed a similar government; and these continued the constitutions of the two colonies, till their union in 1661. On the completion of the union among the several colonies of New England, several Indian sachems came in and submitted themselves to the English government, among whom were Miantonomoh, the Narraganset, and Uncas, the Mohegan, chief.After the restoration, the Connecticut colony sent outMr.Winthrop of Massachusetts to England, with a petition for a charter with the royal signature. This charter he obtained, and it was one of the most liberal description. It established a government of a highly popular kind, and continued the fundamental law of Connecticut for one hundred and fifty-eight years. ‘It is remarkable,’ says a writer in the North American Review, ‘that although it was granted at a period of the world when the rights of the people were little understood and little regarded, and by a sovereign who governed England with a more arbitrary sway than any of his successors, the form of government established by this charter was of a more popular description, and placed all power within the more immediate reach of the people, than the constitution for which it has been deliberately exchanged, in these modern days of popular jealousy and republican freedom.’ In this new charter was included the colony of New Haven; though it was not for some years that the union was finally adopted.Connecticut was destined to suffer, with the rest of the colonies, from the violent acts committed in the last years of the reign of the Stuarts.Massachusetts had been deprived of her charter, and Rhode Island had been induced to surrender hers, when, in July, 1685, a writ ofquo warrantowas issued against the governor and company of Connecticut. The colonial government was strongly advised by Vane to comply with the requisition, and surrender the charter; but it was determined neither to appear to defend the charter, nor voluntarily to surrender it. Sir Edmund Andros made repeated applications for its surrender, but without success.The singular mode of its escape from his demand in person is thus recorded by Trumbull: ‘The assembly met as usual, in October, 1687, and the government continued, according to charter, until the last of the month. About this time, Sir Edmund, with his suite, and more than sixty regular troops, came to Hartford, where the assembly were sitting, demanded the charter, and declared the government under it to be dissolved. The assembly were extremely reluctant and slow with respect to any resolve to surrender the charter, or with respect to any motion to bring it forth. The tradition is, that governor Treat strongly represented the great expense and hardships of the colonists in planting the country; the blood and treasure which they had expended in defending it, both against the savages and foreigners; to what hardships and dangers he himself had been exposed for that purpose; and that it was like giving up his life now to surrender the patent and privileges so dearly bought, and so long enjoyed. The important affair was debated and kept in suspense until the evening, when the charter was brought and laid upon the table where the assembly were sitting.‘By this time, great numbers of people were assembled, and men sufficiently bold to enterprise whatever might be necessary or expedient. The lights were instantly extinguished, and one captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, in the most silent and secret manner, carried off the charter, and secreted it in a large hollow tree, fronting the house of the honorable Samuel Wyllys, then one of the magistrates of the colony. The people appeared all peaceable and orderly. The candles were officiously relighted, but the patent was gone, and no discovery could be made of it, or of the person who had conveyed it away.’ Though Sir Edmund was thus foiled in his attempt to obtain possession of the charter, he did not hesitate to assume the reins of government, which he administered in a manner as oppressive in this as in the other colonies. When, on the arrival of the declaration of the prince of Orange at Boston, Andros was deposed and imprisoned, the people of Connecticut resumed their previous form of government, having been interrupted little more than a year and a half.In the Indian war, in which Philip acted so conspicuous a part, Connecticut had her share of suffering, though it was not so great as that of some of her sister colonies. Hostilities were commenced by the aborigines, on the Connecticut river, in the summer of 1675; and, on the first of September, the inhabitants of Hadley were alarmed by the Indians during the time of public worship, and the people thrown into the utmost confusion; but the enemy were repulsed by the valor and good conduct of an aged, venerable man, who, suddenly appearing in the midst of the affrighted inhabitants, put himself at their head, led them to the onset, and, after the dispersion of the enemy, instantly disappeared. This deliverer of Hadley, then imagined to be an angel, was general Goffe, (one of the judges of CharlesI.,) who was at that time concealed in the town.But a short time elapsed, before the colonists were again called on to defend their privileges from what they deemed an unjust encroachment. Colonel Fletcher, governor of New York, had been vested with plenary powers to command the militia of Connecticut, and insisted on the exercise of that command. The legislature of Connecticut, deeming that authority to be expressly given to the colony by charter, would not submit to his requisition; but, desirous of maintaining a good understanding with governor Fletcher, endeavored to make terms with him, until his majesty’s pleasure should be further known. All their negotiations were, however, unsuccessful; and, on the26thof October, he came to Hartford, while the assembly was sitting, and, in his majesty’s name, demanded submission; but the refusal was resolutely persisted in. After the requisition had been repeatedly made, with plausible explanations and serious menaces, Fletcher ordered his commission and instructions to be read in audience of the trainbands of Hartford, which had been assembled upon his order.Captain Wadsworth, the senior officer, who was exercising his soldiers, instantly called out, ‘Beat the drums!’ which, in a moment, overwhelmed every voice. Fletcher commanded silence. No sooner was a second attempt made to read, than Wadsworth vociferated, ‘Drum, drum! I say.’ The drummers instantly beat up again, with the greatest possible spirit. ‘Silence, silence,’ exclaimed the governor. At the first moment of a pause, Wadsworth called out earnestly, ‘Drum, drum, I say;’ and, turning to his excellency, said, ‘If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment.’ Colonel Fletcher declined putting Wadsworth to the test, and, abandoning the contest, returned with his suite to New York.RHODE ISLAND.The settlement ofPROVIDENCEANDRHODEISLANDwas made by Roger Williams, in 1636. This man was far in advance of his age. He set the first example of perfect religious equality and toleration; and extended his humane labors to enlighten, improve and conciliate the savages. When the New England colonies, in 1643, formed the celebrated confederacy, Rhode Island applied to be admitted to the union; but Plymouth objected, on the ground that the settlements were within her boundaries.Upon the application of the inhabitants, in 1663, a charter was granted by CharlesII.to the Rhode Island and Providence plantations. On the accession of JamesII., the assembly of Rhode Island immediately transmitted an address, acknowledging themselves his loyal subjects, and begging protection for their chartered rights. But reformation of abuses in New England was then the order of the day, and articles of high misdemeanor were exhibited against them before the lords of the committee of colonies, accusing them of breaches of their charter, and of opposition to the acts of navigation. This committee ordered that Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of Massachusetts, should demand the surrender of their charter, and govern them as other colonies of New England. In December, 1686, Andros accordingly dissolved the government of Rhode Island, broke its seal, and assumed the administration of affairs. When the revolution put an end to his power, Rhode Island and Providence resumedtheir charter, on the ground that an act which was extorted by terror might justly be recalled when restraint no longer remained.The wise, peaceful and beneficent counsels of Williams, had preserved the colonists from the dangers of Indian incursions. Their prosperity was proportionate to their moderation. The population increased with great rapidity, and in 1761 amounted to forty thousand. Brown university was founded at Warren, in 1764. Six years afterwards it was removed to Providence, where a large and elegant building was erected for the students.NEW YORK.NEWYORKwas first settled by the Dutch, who erected a fort near Albany, which they called fort Orange, and a few trading-houses on the island of New York, then called by the Indians Manhattan. The claims of the Dutch to the property of the soil were disputed by the king of Great Britain, who founded an adverse claim on the discovery of the Cabots in the previous century. In the first year of their settlement, they were visited by captain Argal, who claimed the country for his sovereign, and warned them to acknowledge his authority. The colony was small, and prudently acquiesced in the demand: but within a twelvemonth their number was increased, and the demands of the English were promptly resisted. For a series of years they continued in undisturbed quiet, and by toil, perseverance and unwearied activity, surmounted the dangers and troubles of an infant colony.In 1621, the Dutch republic granted to their West India company an extensive territory on both sides of the Hudson, and called it New Netherlands. Under the management of this company, the settlement was soon both consolidated and extended; and the foundations were laid of the cities of New Amsterdam, afterwards New York, and of Albany. In 1623, they erected a fort on the Delaware, which they called Nassau; and, ten years afterwards, another on the Connecticut, which they called Good Hope. Near the former the Swedes had a settlement; and from the interfering claims of the two nations, quarrels arose between the settlers, which, in a few years, terminated in the subjugation of the Swedes.The policy of the Dutch, in extending their settlements so far eastward as Connecticut, soon brought them into collision with more powerful neighbors. Numberless causes of dispute arose between New Netherlands and the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven; but neither party allowed itself to forget the substantial claims of humanity, or the forms of ordinary courtesy. In the Indian wars, the English never delayed to render due assistance to their Dutch neighbors, who were so unwarlike that they found it necessary to invite captain Underhill, who had been banished from Boston for his eccentricities in religion, to take command of their troops. Collecting a flying party of one hundred and fifty men, he was enabled to preserve the Dutch settlements from destruction. The number of Indians whom he killed in the course of the war, was supposed to exceed four hundred. In 1646, a severe battle was fought on that part of Horse-Neck called Strickland’s Plain. The Dutch were victorious; on both sides great numbers were slain; and for a century afterwards the graves of the dead were distinctly visible.When CharlesII.ascended the British throne, he did not hesitate to assert his claim to the province of New Netherlands; and without any attempt at negotiation with the states, he executed a charter, conveying to the duke of York the whole territory from the eastern shore of the Delaware to the western bank of the Connecticut. This grant took no notice of the existing possession of the Dutch, or of the recent Connecticut charter, which it entirely superseded. No sooner did the duke of York obtain this grant, than he conveyed to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all that portion now constituting the province of New Jersey. To carry such a grant into effect, it was necessary to call in the aid of the military, and an armament was despatched from England under the command of colonel Nichols; who was also appointed governor of the province he was about to conquer. After touching at Boston, the fleet sailed to the Hudson and took a position before the capital of New Netherlands. The Dutch governor, Stuyvesant, had determined on a resolute resistance, but his followers were of a less gallant temperament, and compelled him to agree to a treaty of capitulation.Immediately after its subjugation, New Amsterdam, and the whole conquered province, received the name of New York. Few of the inhabitants thought proper to remove from the country; even governor Stuyvesant lived and died there. Nichols at once assumed command of the conquered territory, and proceeded to reduce the affairs of the state to one uniform constitution and policy. Many of the Dutch forms of government were retained, but English influence gradually brought about a change; and on the twelfth of June, 1665, the inhabitants of New York were incorporated under a mayor, five aldermen, and a sheriff. At the peace of Breda, New York was regularly ceded to England in exchange for Surinam, by a general stipulation that each of the belligerents should retain what its arms had acquired since the commencement of hostilities.The interior of New York was originally inhabited by a confederacy, which consisted at first of five, and afterwards of six, nations of Indians. This confederacy was formed for mutual defence against the Algonquins, a powerful Canadian nation, and displayed much of the wisdom and sagacity which mark the institutions of a civilized people. By their union they had become formidable to the surrounding tribes. Being the allies of the English, the French were alarmed at their successes, and became jealous of their power. In the year 1684, De la Barre, the governor of Canada, marched to attack them, with an army of seventeen hundred men. His troops suffered so much from hardships, famine, and sickness, that he was compelled to ask peace of those whom he had come to exterminate. He invited the chiefs of the Five Nations to meet him at his camp, and those of three of them accepted the invitation. Standing in a circle, formed by the chiefs and his own officers, he addressed a speech to Garrangula, of the Onondago tribe, in which he accused the confederates of conducting the English to the trading grounds of the French, and threatened them with war and extermination if they did not alter their behavior. Garrangula, knowing the distresses of the French troops, heard these threats with contempt. After walking five or six times round the circle, he addressed De la Barre in the following bold language, calling him Yonnondio, and the English governor, Corlear:—‘Hear, Yonnondio, I do not sleep; I have my eyes open, and the sunwhich enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he was dreaming. He says that he only came to smoke the great pipe of peace with the Onondagas. But Garrangula says, that he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. We carried the English to our lakes, to trade there with the Utawawas, and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacs brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither depend on Yonnondio nor Corlear. We may go where we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies are your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no other but your people. Hear, Yonnondio! what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. When they buried the hatchet at Cadaracui, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved, that instead of a retreat for soldiers, the fort might be a rendezvous for merchants. Take care that the many soldiers who appear there do not choke the tree of peace, and prevent it from covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you that our warriors shall dance under its leaves, and will never dig up the hatchet to cut it down, till their brother Yonnondio or Corlear shall invade the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors.’De la Barre was mortified and enraged at this bold reply; but, submitting to necessity, he concluded a treaty of peace, and returned to Montreal. His successor, De Nonville, led a larger army against the confederates; but fell into an ambuscade, and was defeated. These wars within the limits of the colony served to perpetuate the enmity of the Indians against the French, and their attachment to the English.When JamesII.ascended the throne, it was determined to superadd New York and the Jerseys to the jurisdiction of the four colonies of New England; and a new commission was issued, appointing Sir Edmund Andros captain-general and vice-admiral over the whole. His authority, however, was a brief one. In the following year, intelligence was received of the accession of William and Mary to the British throne; and while the principal officers and magistrates were assembled to consult for the general good, Jacob Leisler, a captain of militia, seized the fort and held it for the prince of Orange. The province was for some time subsequently ruled by a committee of safety, with Leisler at their head. In a few months, a letter arrived from the ministry in England, directed ‘to such as, for the time being, take care of administering the laws of the province,’ and conferring authority to perform all the duties of lieutenant governor. This letter Leisler understood as addressed to himself, and assumed the authority conferred by it, without ceremony.The people of Albany acknowledged king William, but refused to submit to Leisler. Force was resorted to, with the view of compelling obedience; and the estates of the rebellious were confiscated. In this disturbed state, the colonists of New York remained nearly two years; when the miseries of foreign aggression were added to those of internal discord.War had been declared between France and England; and De Nonville had been replaced in the governorship of Canada by count Frontignac, a veteran officer, whose skilful and energetic measures, aided by a large reinforcement, soon raised the affairs of the French from the brink of ruin,and enabled them to act on the offensive. Frontignac was indefatigable in his efforts to gain over the Five Nations, who had made two attacks upon Montreal, and murdered a great number of inhabitants. He held a great council with them at Onondaga; and, as they seemed to be somewhat inclined to peace, he resolved to give their favorable disposition no time for change, and, at the same time, to inspirit his own drooping countrymen, by finding them immediate employment against the English colonies. On the19thof January, a party of about two hundred French, and some Cahnuaga Indians, set out, in a deep snow, for Schenectady; they arrived on the8thof February, at eleven o’clock at night; and the first intimation the inhabitants had of their design, was conveyed in the noise of their own bursting doors. The village was burnt, sixty persons were butchered, twenty-seven suffered the worse fate of captivity, the rest made their way naked through the snow towards Albany, where some arrived in extreme distress, while many perished in the attempt. A party of young men, and some Mohawk Indians, set out from the latter place, pursued the enemy, and killed or captured twenty-five.To avenge these barbarities, and others perpetrated in New England, a combined expedition against Canada was projected. An army, raised in New York and Connecticut, proceeded as far as the head of lake Champlain, whence, finding no boats prepared, they were obliged to return. Sir William Phipps, with a fleet of more than thirty vessels, sailed from Boston into theSt.Lawrence, and, landing a body of troops, made an attack by land and water upon Quebec; but the return of the army to New York allowing the whole force of the enemy to repair to the assistance of the garrison, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise. Leisler, transported with rage when he was informed of the retreat, caused Winthrop, who commanded the New England forces, to be arrested, but was instantly compelled, by universal indignation, to release him. It was to the misconduct or incapacity of Leisler and Milborne, (the latter of whom, as commissary-general, had made no adequate provision for the enterprise,) that the failure of this expedition was attributed.Leisler was afterwards superseded by colonel Sloughter, and, together with Milborne, was executed for refusing to surrender his authority to the officer legally appointed to receive it. Sloughter’s administration was inefficient and turbulent. He was succeeded by colonel Fletcher, a man of great energy of character, but violent in his disposition and mean. His administration was signalized by no occurrence worthy of particular record. The war between the French and the Five Indian Nations raged with great fury, and both parties seemed inspired with a mutual emulation of cruelty in victory, no less than of prowess in battle. Prisoners were tortured, and put to death, without the least regard to the rights of humanity, or the laws of war.In 1697, the peace of Ryswick, which was concluded between Great Britain and France, gave security and repose to the colonies. The next year, the earl of Bellamont was appointed governor. He was particularly desirous of clearing the American seas of the pirates with which they had for some time been grievously infested. The government, however, declining to furnish an adequate naval force, the earl engaged with others in a private undertaking against them. Among the associates were lord chancellor Summers and the duke of Shrewsbury; the king himself, too,held a tenth share. The company, having procured a vessel of war, gave the command to captain Kid, and despatched him on a cruise against the pirates. He had been but a short time at sea, when he made a new contract with his crew, and, on the Atlantic and Indian oceans, became himself a daring and successful pirate. Three years afterwards he returned, burned his ship, and, with a strange infatuation, appeared in public at Boston.The earl of Bellamont wrote to the secretary of state, desiring that Kid might be sent for, and a man-of-war was despatched upon this service; but being driven back by a storm, a general suspicion prevailed in England, that there was collusion between the ministry and the adventurers, who were thought unwilling to produce Kid, lest he might discover that the chancellor and the other associates were confederates in the piracy. So powerful was this feeling, that a motion was made in the house of commons, that all who were concerned in the adventure might be deprived of their employments; but it was rejected by a great majority, and all subsequent attempts to implicate the unfortunate shareholders, only proved more satisfactorily their entire innocence of any participation either in the designs or the profits of captain Kid; although their imprudence in selecting a person whose previous character was very indifferent, was evident and undeniable. Ultimately Kid was conveyed to England, where he was tried and executed.Lord Bellamont found affairs in great confusion, and the colony divided into two bitter factions, contending with increased animosity. His administration was prudent, and promised to be highly beneficial; but was early terminated by his death, in March, 1701. Lord Cornbury was appointed his successor, a man eminent only for his meanness and profligacy: dismissed by his friends to place him out of the reach of his creditors. His rule was oppressive and extravagant; and the infamy of his private character exposed him to universal odium. He was finally removed, and was succeeded by lord Lovelace. His lordship died soon after his arrival, and general Hunter was appointed to the vacant chair. He brought with him nearly three thousand Germans, who were dispersed through New York and Pennsylvania.In the year 1709, extensive preparations were made for an attack on the French settlements in Canada; the plan was afterwards abandoned, but in 1711 resumed. It was unsuccessful, and nothing was accomplished by it. To defray its expenses, the newly-elected assembly passed several bills, which the council persisted in amending. A contest ensued between these two bodies, in which the governor took side with the council, and finally dissolved the assembly. At the ensuing election, most of the members chosen were opposed to the governor. This assembly was dissolved by the death of the queen. The next met a similar fate from the governor soon after it met, a majority being known to be unfriendly to his views. At length, however, the people became weary of contending, and sent representatives who were not disposed to differ from the governor.General Hunter quitted the province in 1719, and his authority devolved on Peter Schuyler, the oldest member of the council. William Burnet succeeded him in the following year. He was a man of good sense, and kind feelings, and he entertained just views of policy. His most vigilant attention was directed to Indian affairs, and to the danger to be apprehended from the vicinity of the French.Turning his views towards the wilderness, he perceived that the French, in order to connect their settlements in Canada and Louisiana, to secure to themselves the Indian trade, and to confine the English to the sea-coast, were busily employed in erecting a chain of forts from theSt.Lawrence to the Mississippi. He endeavored to defeat their design, by building a trading-house, and afterwards a fort, at Oswego, on lake Ontario. But the French had the command of more abundant resources, and applied them to the accomplishment of their object with great activity and zeal. They launched two vessels upon that lake; and, going farther into the wilderness, erected a fort at Niagara, commanding the entrance into it; they had previously erected fort Frontignac, commanding the outlet. The Jesuit Charlevoix does no more than justice toMr.Burnet, in declaring that he left no stone unturned to defeat the French at Niagara. Besides supplanting his favorite trade at Oswego, these operations tended to the defection of the Five Nations; and, in case of a rupture, exposed the frontiers of the southern colonies to the ravages of the French and their allies.Mr.Burnet, upon whom these considerations made the deepest impression, laid the matter before the house, remonstrated against the proceedings to Longuiel, in Canada, wrote to the ministry in England, who complained of them to the French court, and met the confederates at Albany, endeavoring to convince them of the danger they themselves would be in from an aspiring, ambitious neighbor.He spoke first about the affair privately to the sachems, and afterwards, in the public conference, informed them of all the encroachments which the French had made upon their fathers, and the ill-usage they had met with, according to La Potherie’s account, published with the privilege of the French king, at Paris, in 1722. He then reminded them of the kind treatment they had received from the English, who constantly fed and clothed them, and never attempted any act of hostility to their prejudice. This speech was extremely well drawn, the thoughts being conceived in strong figures, particularly expressive and agreeable to the Indians. The governor required an explicit declaration of their sentiments concerning the French transactions at Niagara, and their answer was truly categorical. ‘We speak now in the name of all the Six Nations, and come to you howling. This is the reason why we howl, that the governor of Canada encroaches on our land, and builds thereon.’ After which they entreated him to write to the king for succor.Mr.Burnet embraced this favorable opportunity to procure from them a deed, surrendering their country to his majesty, to be protected for their use, and confirming their grant in 1701, concerning which there was only an entry in the books of the secretary for Indian affairs.It was an unfortunate circumstance, which tended to prevent the execution ofMr.Burnet’s vigorous designs, that the electors of the colony had become dissatisfied at the length of time which had elapsed since they had been called on to exercise their functions. The assembly elected in 1716 had been on such good terms with the governor, that he continued its existence during the long period of eleven years. In the year 1727, however, the clamors of the people induced him to dissolve it; and, as might be expected, that which next met, was composed almost exclusively of his opponents. The court of chancery, in which he presided, had become exceedingly unpopular. It had been instituted by an ordinance of thegovernor and council, without the concurrence of the assembly, and some of the decisions had given great offence to powerful individuals. The house passed resolutions, declaring it ‘a manifest oppression and grievance,’ and intimating that its decrees were void.Mr.Burnet no sooner heard of these votes, than he called the members before him, and dissolved the assembly. They occasioned, however, an ordinance in the spring following, as well to remedy sundry abuses in the practice in chancery, as to reduce the fees of that court, ‘which, on account of the popular clamors, were so much diminished,’ says Smith, ‘that the wheels of the chancery have ever since rusted upon their axles, the practice being contemned by all gentlemen of eminence in the profession.’Mr.Burnet was soon after appointed governor of Massachusetts, and was succeeded at New York by colonel Montgomery, who devoted himself so much to his ease that he has left nothing else to distinguish his brief rule. Upon his death, in 1731, the supreme authority devolved upon Rip Van Dam, the senior member of the council. Under his inefficient administration, the French were permitted to erect a fort at Crown Point, within the acknowledged boundaries of New York, from which parties of savages were often secretly despatched to destroy the English settlements.In August, 1732, Van Dam was superseded by William Crosby. Having been the advocate in parliament of the American colonies, he was at first popular, but he soon lost the affection and confidence of the people. One of his most unpopular acts was the prosecution of Zenger, the printer of a newspaper, for publishing an article derogatory to the dignity of his majesty’s government, bringing him to trial, after a severe imprisonment of thirty-five weeks from the printing of the offensive articles. Andrew Hamilton, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, though aged and infirm, learning the distress of the prisoner and the importance of the trial, went to New York to plead Zenger’s cause, which he did so effectually that the jury brought in the prisoner not guilty. The common council of the city of New York, for this noble and successful service, presentedMr.Hamilton the freedom of their corporation in a gold box.Governor Crosby was succeeded, in 1736, by George Clark. During his administration, the contest which had ended, twenty years before, in the victory gained by governor Hunter over the house of representatives, was revived. The colony being in debt, the house voted to raise the sum of six thousand pounds; but, in order to prevent its misapplication, declared that it should be applied to the payment of certain specified debts. Offended by this vote, Clark immediately dissolved the assembly. At the election which ensued, the popular party was triumphant. In their second session the house voted an address to the lieutenant governor, in which, after stating some of the vital principles of free government, and referring to recent misapplications of money, they say, ‘We therefore beg leave to be plain with your honor, and hope you will not take it amiss when we tell you, that you are not to expect that we will either raise sums unfit to be raised, or put what we shall raise into the power of a governor to misapply, if we can prevent it; nor shall we make up any other deficiencies than what we conceive are fit and just to be paid; nor continue what support or revenue we shall raise for any longer time than one year; nor do we think it convenient to do even that, until such laws are passedas we conceive necessary for the safety of the inhabitants of this colony, who have reposed a trust in us for that only purpose, and which we are sure you will think it reasonable we should act agreeable to; and, by the grace of God, we shall endeavor not to deceive them.’With men so resolute in maintaining their rights, Clark wisely declined to contend; and promised his cordial co-operation in all measures calculated to promote the prosperity of the colony. Harmony did not, however, long continue. Clark, in his speech at the opening of the next session, declared that unless the revenue was granted for as long a time as it had been granted by former assemblies, his duty to his majesty forbade him from assenting to any act for continuing the excise, or for paying the colonial bills of credit. The house unanimously resolved, that it would not pass any bill for the grant of money, unless assurance should be given that the excise should be continued and the bills of credit redeemed. The lieutenant governor immediately ordered the members to attend him. He told them that ‘their proceedings were presumptuous, daring, and unprecedented; that he could not look upon them without astonishment, nor with honor suffer the house to sit any longer;’ and he accordingly dissolved it. In April, 1740, the assembly again met. It had now risen to importance in the colony; and the adherence of the representatives to their determination, not to grant the revenue for more than one year, made annual meetings of the assembly necessary. Their attachment to liberty was construed by the lieutenant governor into a desire for independence: in a speech delivered, in 1741, he alludes to ‘a jealousy which for some years had obtained in England, that the plantations were not without thoughts of throwing off their dependence on the crown.’George Clinton superseded Clark in the government of the colony in 1743. Like most of his predecessors he was welcomed with joy; and one of his earliest measures confirmed the favorable accounts which had preceded him, of his talents and liberality. To manifest his confidence in the people, he assented to a bill limiting the duration of the present and all succeeding assemblies. The house evinced its gratitude by adopting the measures he recommended for the defence of the province against the French, who were then at war with England. In 1745, the savages in alliance with France made frequent invasions of the English territories; and their hostilities were continued, with little intermission, till the war which terminated the French dominion in Canada.In the middle of the seventeenth century, the whole colony of New York contained scarcely one hundred thousandinhabitants,100not half the number which the city of New York alone can now boast. That the population would have been much more numerous at this time, had not the inhabitants been so continually exposed to the irruptions of the French and their Indian allies, is evident from its rapid increase when those unfavorable circumstances ceased to exist. The consideration of this period belongs, however, to another department of the work.NEW JERSEY.It was not till the year 1640 that any attempt was made by the English to colonize that portion of the continent now known as New Jersey, and then they were resisted and expelled by the Swedes. This nation remained in possession of the country on both sides of the Delaware until 1655, when the governor of New Netherlands conquered all their posts, and transported most of the Swedes to Europe. The Dutch consequently possessed themselves of the whole territory of New Jersey, New York, and Delaware; but their settlements in New Jersey shared the fate of those on the Hudson, when in the year 1664 they were captured by the English under colonel Nichols. In the same year the duke of York conveyed that portion of his grant lying between Hudson and Delaware rivers to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This tract was calledNEWJERSEY,in compliment to Sir George, who had been governor of the island of Jersey, and had held it for the king in his contest with the parliament.The early history of this province is a history of disputes between the inhabitants and the proprietaries. It would not be interesting to go into their details, as they are mere claims and adjudications of title. Suffice it to say, that in the course of the disputes it became partitioned into East and West Jersey, and fell into the hands of different proprietors. The former was released, in July, 1676, by William Penn and his three associates, assignees of lord Berkeley, to Philip Carteret; and he in return conveyed to them the latter, the government of which the duke retained as a dependency of New York, while that of the first was resigned to Carteret.Philip Carteret, a natural son of Sir George, returned to East Jersey in the beginning of 1675, and was now kindly received by the inhabitants, because they had felt the rigors of conquest, which had not been softened by Andros, who had been appointed by the duke of York lieutenant over all his territories, from the western bank of the Connecticut to the farther shore of the Delaware. Having postponed the payment of quit-rents to a future day, and published new concessions with regard to the tenure of lands, tranquillity was perfectly restored. Desirous to promote the commercial interests of the colony, because he perceived its neighbor growing great and rich by trade, Carteret began, in 1676, to clear out vessels from East Jersey; but he was steadily opposed by Andros, who claimed jurisdiction over the Jersies, insisting that conquest by the Dutch divested the proprietors of all their rights. He forcibly seized, transported to New York, and there imprisoned, those magistrates why refused to acknowledge his authority. He imposed a duty upon all goods imported, and upon the property of all who came to settle in the country.The inhabitants made repeated and energetic complaints of this injustice to the duke of York; and at length, wearied with their continual importunity, this prince consented to refer the matter to commissioners, who ultimately agreed to adhere to the opinion of Sir William Jones.The commissioners pronounced their judgment, in conformity with the opinion of SirW.Jones, ‘that as the grant to Berkeley and Carteret had reserved no profit or jurisdiction, the legality of the taxes could not be defended.’ In consequence of this adjudication, the duke resigned allhis claims on West Jersey, and confirmed the province itself in the amplest terms to its new proprietaries; and soon after granted a similar release in favor of the representatives of Sir George Carteret in East Jersey. The whole of New Jersey thus rose to the rank of an almost independent state, maintaining only a federal connection with the British crown.The accession of numerous companies of settlers now rapidly promoted the population and prosperity of West Jersey. In the year 1681, the first representative assembly was held; and during its session were enacted the ‘Fundamental Constitutions,’ and other laws for the preservation of property, and the punishment of criminals.Frequent disputes arising between the proprietary government of East Jersey and the colonists, the trustees of Sir George Carteret, apprehending they should derive little emolument from retaining the government under their control, offered their rights in the province for sale, and accepted the proposals of William Penn, to whom, and his associates, East Jersey was conveyed. Among the new proprietors was the author of the well-known ‘Apology;’ and his colleagues, by a unanimous vote, conferred on him the office of governor for life, with the extraordinary permission to appoint a deputy, instead of his residing at the scene of his authority.The number of proprietors, and the frequent transfers and subdivisions of shares, introduced such confusion into titles to land, and such uncertainty as to the rights of government, that, for twenty years afterwards, both Jerseys were frequently in a state of disturbance and disorder. In 1702, the proprietors, weary of contending with each other, and with the people, surrendered the right of government to the crown. Queen Anne reunited the two divisions, and appointed lord Cornbury governor over the provinces of New Jersey and New York. From the period of his appointment till his deprivation of office, the history of New Jersey consists of little else than a detail of his contests with the colonial assemblies; and exhibits the resolution with which they opposed his arbitrary conduct, his partial distribution of justice, and his fraudulent misapplication of the public money. After repeated complaints, the queen yielded to the universal indignation; and he was superseded, in 1709, by lord Lovelace.These provinces continued, for several years, to be ruled by the same governor, but each chose a separate assembly. In 1738, the inhabitants, by a petition to the king, desired that they might, in future, have a separate governor; and their request was granted.
Attack on Swanzey.
Attack on Swanzey.
The English were apprized of the plots of the Indians, and made preparations to meet their hostilities. They hoped, however, that the threatened storm would pass by, as others had, and that peace would be preserved. But the insolence of Philip, and the number of his adherents, increased daily; and, in June, 1675, some of them entered the town of Swanzey, in Plymouth, where, after slaughtering the cattle, and plundering the houses, they fired upon the inhabitants, killing and wounding several. The troops of that colony marched immediately to Swanzey, and were soon joined by a detachment from Massachusetts. The Indians fled, and marked the course of their flight by burning the buildings, and fixing on poles by the way side, the hands, scalps, and heads of the whites whom they had killed. The troops pursued, but unable to overtake them, returned to Swanzey. The whole country was alarmed, and the number of troops augmented. By this array of force, Philip was induced to quit his residenceat mount Hope, and take post near a swamp at Pocasset. At that place the English attacked him, but were repulsed. Sixteen were killed, and the Indians by this success were made bolder.
Most of the settlements were surrounded by thick forests, and as the Indians lived intermixed with the whites, the former were acquainted, of course, with the dwellings of the latter, and all the avenues to them; could watch their motions, and fall upon them in their defenceless and unguarded moments. Many were shot dead as they opened their doors in the morning; many while at work in their fields, and others while travelling to visit their neighbors, or to places of worship; their lives were in continual jeopardy; and no one could tell but that, in the next moment, he should receive his death shot from his barn, the thicket, or the way side. Whenever the enemy assembled in force, detachments were sent against them; if weaker than these, they would retreat; if stronger, assault and harass, or destroy them. Defenceless villages were suddenly attacked, the houses burned, and the men, women and children killed, or carried into captivity. Their ruin was the work of a moment; and when accomplished, its authors vanished. The colonists found their numbers sensibly diminished, and their strength impaired; and they began to apprehend even total extinction. Nothing but a vigorous effort could save them.
The commissioners of the three United Colonies met on the9thof September, and it was concluded, that the war was just and necessary; that it ought to be jointly prosecuted by all the United Colonies; and that there should be immediately raised 1000 soldiers out of the colonies, in such proportion as the articles of confederation established: Massachusetts, 527; Plymouth, 158; Connecticut, 315. At an adjourned meeting, the commissioners declared the Narragansets to be deeply accessory in the present bloody outrages of the Indians that were at open war, and determined that 1000 more soldiers be raised, for the Narraganset expedition, to obtain satisfaction of those Indians, or to treat them as enemies. On the8thof December, the Massachusetts forces marched from Boston, and were soon joined by those of Plymouth. The troops from Connecticut joined them on the18th, at Petaquamscot. At break of day the next morning they commenced their march, through a deep snow, toward the enemy, who were about fifteen miles distant in a swamp, at the edge of which they arrived at one in the afternoon. The Indians, apprized of an armament intended against them, had fortified themselves as strongly as possible within the swamp. The English, without waiting to draw up in order of battle, marched forward in quest of the enemy’s camp.
The Indian fortress stood on a rising ground in the midst of the swamp, and was composed of palisades, which were encompassed by a hedge, nearly a rod thick. It had but one practicable entrance, which was over a log, or tree four or five feet from the ground; and that aperture was guarded by a block-house. Falling providentially on this very part of the fort, the English captains entered it, at the head of their companies. The two first, with many of their men, were shot dead at the entrance; four other captains were also killed. When the troops had effected an entrance, they attacked the Indians, who fought desperately, and compelled the English to retire out of the fort; but after a hard-fought battle of three hours, they became masters of the place, and set fire to the wigwams, tothe number of five or six hundred, and in the conflagration many Indian women and children perished. The surviving Indians fled into a cedar swamp, at a small distance; and the English retired to their quarters. Of the English there were killed and wounded about two hundred and thirty; of the Indians one thousand are supposed to have perished.
Attack on the Indian Fortress.
Attack on the Indian Fortress.
From this blow, the confederated Indians never recovered; but they still remained sufficiently strong to harass the settlements by continual inroads. In retaliation, the English sent several detachments into their territories, nearly all of which were successful. Captain Church, of Plymouth, and captain Dennison, of Connecticut, were conspicuous for their bravery and success. In the midst of these reverses, Philip remained firm and unshaken. His warriors were cut off; his chief men, his wife and family, were killed, or taken prisoners; and at these successive misfortunes, he is represented to have wept with a bitterness which proves him not to have been destitute of the noblest affections; but he disdained to listen to any offers of peace. He even shot one of his men, who proposed submission. At length, after being hunted from swamp to swamp, he was himself shot, by the brother of the Indian he had killed. This event was certainly the signal of complete victory. The Indians in all the neighboring country now generally submitted to the English, or fled, and incorporated themselves with distant and strange nations. Never was peace more welcome. In this short, but tremendous war, about six hundred of the inhabitants of New England, composing its principal strength, were either killed in battle, or murdered by the enemy; twelve or thirteen towns were entirely destroyed; and about six hundred buildings, chiefly dwelling-houses, were burnt. In addition to these calamities, the colonies contracted a very heavy debt; while, by the loss of their substance through the ravages of the enemy, their resources were greatly diminished. But, in their deepest distress, they forbore to apply to the mother country for assistance; and this omission excited surprise and jealousy. ‘You act,’ said a privy counsellor, ‘as though you were independent of our master’s crown; and though poor, yet you are proud.’
In this unsettled state of the country, the French in Canada and Nova Scotia instigated the northern and eastern Indians to commence hostilities against the English settlements. Dover and Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, Casco, in Maine, and Schenectady, in New York, were attacked by different parties of French and Indians, and the most shocking barbarities perpetrated on the inhabitants. The Indians having taken the fort at Pemaquid, and the French privateers from Acadie still infesting the coast of New England, the general court of Massachusetts determined to make an attempt on Port Royal. AÂ fleet, with seven or eight hundred men, under the command of Sir William Phipps, sailed on that expedition in the latter end of April. The fort at Port Royal, not being in a state to sustain a siege, surrendered, with little or no resistance; and Sir William took possession of the whole sea-coast, from Port Royal to the New England settlements.
Regarding Canada as the principal source of their miseries, New England and New York formed the bold project of reducing it to subjection. By great exertion they raised an army, which, under the command of general Winthrop, was sent against Montreal, and equipped a fleet, which, commanded by Sir William Phipps, was destined to attack Quebec. The fleet, retarded by unavoidable accidents, did not arrive before Quebec until the5thof October. Phipps, the next morning, sent a summons on shore, but received an insolent answer from count Frontenac. The next day he attempted to land his troops, but was prevented by the violence of the wind. On the8th, all the effective men, amounting to between twelve and thirteen hundred, landed at the isle of Orleans, four miles below the town, and were fired on from the woods by French and Indians. Having remained on shore three days, they received information from a deserter of the strength of the place, and precipitately embarked. AÂ tempest soon after dispersed the fleet, which made the best of its way back to Boston. AÂ successful result had been so confidently expected, that adequate provision was not made at home for the payment of the troops. In this extremity, the government of Massachusetts issued bills of credit, or paper money; and these were the first that were ever issued in the American colonies; but though it afforded relief at the moment, it produced in its consequences extensive and complicated mischief.
The first trials for witchcraft in New England occurred in the year 1645, when four persons charged with this crime were put to death in Massachusetts. For more than twenty years after, we hear but little of similar prosecutions. But in the year 1688, a woman was executed for witchcraft in Boston, after an investigation conducted with a degree of solemnity that made a deep impression on the minds of the people. Suspicions having been thus violently roused, the charges of witchcraft began gradually to multiply, till at length there commenced at Salem that dreadful tragedy which rendered New England for many months a scene of bloodshed, terror and madness, and at one time seemed to threaten the subversion of civil society.
In the year 1692, the frenzy of the colonists reached the highest pitch of extravagance. Suspicions and accusations of witchcraft became general among them; and on this fanciful charge many persons were put to death. This pestilential visitation first showed itself in the town of Salem. AÂ fanatic, who was minister of a church there, had two daughters subjectto convulsions. He fancied they were bewitched; and fixed his suspicions on an Indian girl who lived in the house, as the accomplice and tool of Satan in the matter. By harsh treatment he made the poor savage acknowledge herself a witch. Among a people like the New Englanders, this was throwing a firebrand into a powder magazine; and the explosion was dreadful. Every woman subject to hysterical affections instantly believed herself bewitched; and was seldom at a loss to discover the guilty cause of her malady. Persons accused of the imaginary crime of witchcraft were imprisoned, condemned, hanged, and their bodies left exposed to wild beasts and birds of prey. Counsellors who refused to plead against these devoted victims, and judges who were not forward in condemning them, were doomed to share their fate, as accomplices in their guilt.
Children of ten years of age were put to death; young women were stripped naked, and the marks of witchcraft sought for on their bodies with unblushing curiosity. Scorbutical or other spots on the bodies of old men were reckoned clear proofs of a heinous commerce with the infernal powers. Dreams, apparitions, prodigies of every kind, increased the general consternation and horror. The prisons were filled, the gibbets left standing, and the citizens were appalled. Under this frightful delirium, the miserable colonists seemed doomed to destruction by each other’s hands. The more prudent withdrew from a country polluted by the blood of its inhabitants, and the ruin of the colony seemed inevitable; when, ceasing to receive countenance from those in authority, this awful frenzy passed away, almost as suddenly as it had arisen, leaving to future ages a fearful warning against such popular insanity.
It is matter of satisfaction to the historian, that his attention is not again to be diverted, in the annals of this state, from his peculiar province, to record events which, had the intention of religion been rightly apprehended, would not have intermixed with civil affairs in fact, and therefore not in history. The legislature, at its first session under the new charter, passed a law which indicates the same independent spirit that afterwards resisted the usurpations of the British parliament. It provided that no tax should be imposed upon any of his majesty’s subjects, or their estates, in the province, but by the act and consent of the governor, council, and representatives of the people, in general court assembled. It is almost needless to add, that this law was disallowed by the king.
The war with the French and Indians, which began in 1690, was not yet terminated. For several years were the frontier settlements harassed by the savages, and the English were employed in expeditions against them. This continuance of the war on the part of the Indians, instigated and aided by the French, induced repeated applications for a force from the British government, to act in conjunction with land forces to be raised in New England and New York, for the reduction of Canada; and it was at length determined, that an expedition should be undertaken for that purpose. AÂ fleet was to be employed in the winter in the reduction of Martinico; and, after the performance of that service, was to sail to Boston, take on board a body of land forces under Sir William Phipps, and proceed to Quebec. By attempting too much, the whole of this extensive project entirely failed.
The attacks of the natives on the English continued with little intermissiontill the peace of 1697. They were carried on with Indian cunning, treachery, and cruelty. ‘To these causes of suffering were superadded the power of all such motives as the ingenuity of the French could invent, their wealth furnish, or their bigotry adopt. Here all the implements of war and the means of sustenance were supplied; the expedition was planned; the price was bidden for scalps; the aid of European officers and soldiers was conjoined; the devastation and slaughter were sanctioned by the ministers of religion; and the blood-hounds, while their fangs were yet dropping blood, were caressed and cherished by men regarded by them as superior beings. The intervals between formal attacks were usually seasons of desultory mischief, plunder, and butchery; and always of suspense and dread. The solitary family was carried into captivity; the lonely house burned to the ground; and the traveller waylaid and shot in the forest. It ought, however, to be observed, to the immortal honor of these people, distinguished as they are by so many traits of brutal ferocity, that history records no instance in which the purity of a female captive was violated by them, or even threatened.’
The peace of Ryswick, which had been signed on the20thof September, was proclaimed at Boston on the10thof December, and the English colonies had a brief repose. By the seventh article it was agreed, that mutual restitution should be made of all the countries, forts, and colonies taken by each party during the war.
In a few years war again broke out in Europe, and hostilities speedily recommenced in America. The first blow fell upon Deerfield. In February, 1704, it was surprised in the night, about forty persons were killed, and more than one hundred were made prisoners, among whom wereMr.Williams, the minister, and his family. The killed were scalped, and the prisoners commanded to prepare for a long march to Canada. On the second day,Mrs.Williams was so exhausted with fatigue that she could go no farther. Her husband solicited permission to remain with her; but the retreating savages, according to their custom in such cases, killed her and compelled him to proceed. Before the termination of their journey, twenty more became unable to walk, and were in like manner sacrificed. Those who survived the journey to Canada were treated by the French with humanity; and after a captivity of many years, most of them were redeemed, and returned to their friends.
New York having agreed with the French and the western Indians to remain neutral, the enemy were enabled to pour their whole force upon Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the inhabitants of which, for ten years, endured miseries peculiar to an Indian war, of which the description we have given falls below the truth. The enemy were at all times prowling about the frontier settlements, watching in concealment for an opportunity to strike a sudden blow, and to fly with safety. The women and children retired into the garrisons; the men left their fields uncultivated, or labored with arms at their sides, and with sentinels at every point whence an attack could be apprehended. Yet, notwithstanding these precautions, the Indians were often successful, killing sometimes an individual, sometimes a whole family, sometimes a band of laborers, ten or twelve in number; and so swift were they in their movements, that but few fell into the hands of the whites. It was computed, that the sum of one thousand pounds was expended for every Indian killed or made captive.In 1707, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, despatched an armament against Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, then in possession of the French, which returned, however, without effecting its object; but in 1710, the troops of New England, assisted by a British fleet, succeeded in reducing the place; and in compliment to queen Anne, changed its name to Annapolis.
We pass over various topics of interest, in regard to contests in Massachusetts between the people and their governors, relative to certain prerogatives of the crown. After a struggle of more than thirty years, the crown was compelled to yield to a bold and persevering opposition, and the controversy was not again renewed till the year 1773.
In 1744, war again broke out between England and France, and the colonies were again the theatre on which the great drama was to be acted. Commerce generally, and in particular the fisheries, suffered greatly during these hostilities from privateers fitted out at Louisburg, a French port on Cape Breton. This post was considered of vast importance, and nearly six millions of dollars had been expended on its fortifications. This post it was determined to subdue, and an expedition was sent against it under the command of Sir William Pepperell, of Kittery. In conjunction with other forces from England under the command of commodore Warren, batteries were erected before the town, and an assault eventually resolved upon. Discouraged by these adverse events and menacing appearances, the French commander consented to capitulate, and on the sixteenth of June articles were accordingly signed. After the surrender of the city, the French flag was kept flying on the ramparts, and several rich prizes were thus decoyed.
Fired with resentment at their loss, the French made extraordinary exertions to retrieve it, and to inflict chastisement on New England. The next summer they despatched to the American coast a powerful fleet, carrying a large number of soldiers. The news of its approach spread terror throughout New England; but an uncommon succession of disasters deprived it of all power to inflict injury. After remaining a short time on the coast, it returned to France, having lost two admirals, both of whom it was supposed put an end to their lives through chagrin; having also, by tempests, been reduced to one half its force, without effecting any of the objects anticipated.
In the month of November, 1747, a great tumult occurred in the town of Boston, arising from the following circumstance: Commodore Knowles, while lying at Nantasket with a number of men of war, losing some of his sailors by desertion, thought it reasonable that Boston should supply him with as many men as he had lost. He therefore sent his boats early in the morning, and surprised not only as many seamen as could be found on board any of the ships, but pressed some ship carpenters’ apprentices, and other laboring landsmen. This conduct was universally resented as outrageous; and as soon as it was dusk, several thousand people assembled in King’s street, where the general court was sitting. Stones and brickbats were thrown into the council chamber through the windows. A judicious speech of the governor from the balcony, disapproving of the impress, promising his utmost endeavors to obtain the discharge of the persons impressed, but reprehending the irregular proceedings of the people, had no effect.
Riot in State Street.
Riot in State Street.
The seizure and restraint of the commanders and other officers who were in town were insisted on, as the only effectual method to procure the release of the inhabitants aboard the ships. The militia of Boston was summoned the next day to the aid of government, but refused to appear. The governor, judging it inexpedient to remain in town another night, withdrew to castle William; but kept up a communication with the commodore, urging the liberation of the townsmen. Meanwhile, the council and house of representatives passed some vigorous resolutions, and the tumultuous spirit began to subside. The inhabitants, assembled in town meeting, while they expressed their sense of the great insult and injury by the impress, condemned the riotous transactions. The militia of the town the next day promptly made their appearance, and conducted the governor with great pomp to his house; and the commodore dismissed most, if not all of the inhabitants who had been impressed; and the squadron sailed, to the joy and repose of the town.
In October, 1748, a treaty of peace between England and France was signed at Aix la Chapelle. By the articles of this treaty, Cape Breton was given up to the French, in a compromise for restoring the French conquests in the low countries to the empress queen of Hungary and the States General, and for a general restitution of places captured by the other belligerent powers. It was naturally a mortification to the inhabitants of New England, that what they termed, not unjustly, ‘their own acquisition,’ should be restored to France; but so long as peace continued, they sustained no disadvantage. In most respects, Massachusetts Bay was never in a more easy and happy situation, than at the close of this war.
NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE.
It was in the year 1623, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges, John Mason, and others, having obtained of the Plymouth or New England company grants of several tracts of land, lying north of Massachusetts, sent from Englanda few persons to begin a settlement. Part landed, and for a short time remained at Little Harbor, on the west side Piscataqua river, and near its mouth, where they erected the first house, calling it Mason Hall; the remainder, proceeding higher up the river, settled at Cocheco, afterwards called Dover. Fishing and trade being the principal objects of these emigrants, their settlements increased slowly.
The persecuting policy of the Massachusetts colony peopled this country, when money and persuasion had been tried in vain. It has already been stated, that among those who were expelled from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, at the time of the dissensions occasioned by opposition to the spread of antinomian sentiments at Boston, was theRev.John Wheelwright. Previously to the date of Mason’s patent, he had purchased the land of the Indians, and laid the foundation of Exeter. In the year 1630, thirty-five persons residing in that town combined and established civil government; and within a year or two afterwards, the inhabitants of Dover and Portsmouth followed their example, each town remaining distinct and independent.
From Indian hostilities, this colony suffered more severely than her neighbors. The surprise of Dover, in 1689, was effected with the most shocking barbarity; though the natives having been ill-treated by one of the principal inhabitants may account for, if not palliate, their ferocious revenge. Having determined upon their plan of attack, the Indians employed their usual art to lull the suspicions of the inhabitants. So civil and respectful was their behavior, that they occasionally obtained permission to sleep in the fortified houses in the town. On the evening of the fatal night, they assembled in the neighborhood, and sent their women to apply for lodgings at the houses devoted to destruction. When all was quiet the doors were opened and the signal given. The Indians rushed into Waldron’s house, and hastened to his apartment. Awakened by the noise, he seized his sword, and drove them back, but when returning for his other arms was stunned with a hatchet, and fell. They then dragged him into his hall, seated him in an elbow chair upon a long table, and insultingly asked him, ‘Who shall judge Indians now?’ After feasting upon provisions, which they compelled the rest of the family to procure, each one with his knife cut gashes across his breast, saying, ‘I cross out my account.’ When, weakened with the loss of blood, he was about to fall from the table, his own sword was held under him, which put an end to his tortures. At other houses, similar acts of cruelty were perpetrated; in the whole, twenty-three persons were killed, and twenty-nine carried prisoners to Canada, who were mostly sold to the French. Many houses were burned, and much property was plundered; but so expeditious were the Indians, that they had fled beyond reach before the neighboring people could be collected. The war thus commenced, was not easily terminated. The French, by giving premiums for scalps, and by purchasing the English prisoners, animated the Indians to exert all their activity and address, and the frontier inhabitants endured the most aggravated sufferings. The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, closed the distressing scene till 1703, when another war began, which continued ten years.
A few years only transpired before the inhabitants again suffered the afflictions of an Indian war. Following the example of the French, the government offered premiums for scalps, which induced several volunteercompanies to undertake expeditions against the enemy. One of these, commanded by captain Lovewell, was greatly distinguished. In April, 1725, with thirty-four men, he fought a famous Indian chief, named Paugus, at the head of about eighty savages, near the shores of a pond in Pequackett. Lovewell’s men were determined either to conquer or die, although outnumbered by the Indians more than twice. They fought till Lovewell and Paugus were killed, and all Lovewell’s men but nine were either killed or dangerously wounded. The savages having lost, as was supposed, sixty of their number out of eighty, and being convinced of the fierce and determined resolution of their foes, at length retreated, and left them masters of the ground. The scene of this desperate and bloody action, which took place in the town that is now called Fryburgh, is often visited with interest to this day, and the names both of those who fell, and those who survived, are yet repeated with exultation.
CONNECTICUT.
The Connecticut colony consisted of people who first emigrated from England to Massachusetts, and, in the years 1630 and 1632, settled and formed themselves into churches at Dorchester, Watertown, and Cambridge, where they resided several years. But either because the number of emigrants to Massachusetts did not allow them all such a choice as they wished of good lands, or because some jealousies had arisen between their pastors and leaders, and the leading men of the colony, they took the resolution of seating themselves again in the wilderness; and in the years 1635 and 1636 they removed their families to Windsor, Weathersfield, and Hartford, on the Connecticut river.
From the commencement of the Connecticut colony, the natives discovered a hostile disposition. Their principal enemy was the Pequods, the most numerous and warlike nation within the limits of the state, and perhaps in New England. They inhabited the country which environs the towns of New London, Groton, and Stonington. Sassacus, the great prince of the Pequods, had under him six-and-twenty sachems, and could bring into the field seven hundred or a thousand warriors, who had been long accustomed to victory. The royal residence was at a large fort situated on a beautiful eminence in the town of Groton, which commands an extensive prospect of the sea and of the surrounding country. There was also another fortress, called Mystic fort, situated in the town of Stonington. After suffering repeated injuries, and the murder of about thirty of their people, principally by the Pequods, the general court, which had been convened for the purpose, resolved on active hostilities, and immediately raised an army of ninety men, half the effective force of the colony. These were to be joined by two hundred men from Massachusetts, and forty from Plymouth.
The court which declared war was holden on the1stof May; the men were raised and embarked on the river, under the command of captain Mason, on the10th; and, after being wind-bound several days, sailed from the mouth of the river for Narraganset bay on the19th. They were accompanied by sixty Mohegan and River Indians, under Uncas, a Mohegan sachem. On reaching Narraganset bay, they landed to the number of seventy-seven Englishmen, marched into the country of theNarragansets, and communicated their design to Miantonimoh, the sachem of the country, who offered to join them. Information was here received that captain Patrick had reached Providence, with a company of Massachusetts troops, but it was resolved not to wait for this reinforcement. On the next day, they marched twenty miles through the west part of Rhode Island,and reached Nihantick, which bordered on the Pequods’country.99The army wheeled directly to Mystic fort, which was immediately attacked; the contest, though tremendously severe, terminated in favor of the English, and in the destruction of the Indians. Although this victory was complete, the situation of the army was extremely dangerous and destressing. Several were killed, and one-fourth of their number were wounded; the remainder were exhausted with fatigue, and destitute of provisions; they were in the midst of an enemy’s country, many miles from their vessels, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted; they were but a few miles distant from the principal fortress of their foe, where there was a fresh army, which they knew would be exasperated in the highest degree on learning the fate of their brethren. In the midst of their perplexity, while they were consulting on the course to be pursued, their vessels appeared in sight, steering with a fair wind directly into the harbor. The army was received on board with great mutual joy and congratulation.
The troops employed on this successful expedition reached their homes before the expiration of a month from the day that the war was resolved upon. The Pequods, on the departure of captain Mason, burnt their wigwams, destroyed their principal fort, and scattered themselves throughout the country. Sassacus, with a party of his chief warriors, abandoned his country, and moved by slow marches towards the Hudson river. They were followed by a party of Massachusetts and Connecticut troops; and, in a great swamp in Fairfield, near the western part of Connecticut, they were overtaken, and a battle ensued. Sassacus, and about twenty of his most hardy men, escaped, and fled to the Mohawk country; but there he found no safety; he was surprised by the Mohawks, and killed, with all his party, except Mononotto, who, after being wounded, made his escape. The Pequods who remained were divided between the Mohegans and Narragansets, and the nation became extinct. The vigor and boldness with which this war was prosecuted on both sides, give it the air of romance. Its decisive termination, which was so fatal to one party, was productive of the most happy consequences to the other. It struck the Indians throughout New England with such a salutary terror, that they were contented, in general, to remain at peace for nearly forty years.
In the year 1637,Mr.John Davenport, a celebrated London minister, accompanied by several eminent merchants, made overtures to the native proprietors for the purchase of all the lands between the rivers Hudson and Connecticut. This purchase they in part effected, and from this originated the colony of New Haven. At first they recognised the authority of Massachusetts, but it being evident that they were not within the limits of the Massachusetts colony, they convened an assembly at Hartford, and formed a constitution of government of the most popular kind. The people of New Haven followed their example, and framed a similar government; and these continued the constitutions of the two colonies, till their union in 1661. On the completion of the union among the several colonies of New England, several Indian sachems came in and submitted themselves to the English government, among whom were Miantonomoh, the Narraganset, and Uncas, the Mohegan, chief.
After the restoration, the Connecticut colony sent outMr.Winthrop of Massachusetts to England, with a petition for a charter with the royal signature. This charter he obtained, and it was one of the most liberal description. It established a government of a highly popular kind, and continued the fundamental law of Connecticut for one hundred and fifty-eight years. ‘It is remarkable,’ says a writer in the North American Review, ‘that although it was granted at a period of the world when the rights of the people were little understood and little regarded, and by a sovereign who governed England with a more arbitrary sway than any of his successors, the form of government established by this charter was of a more popular description, and placed all power within the more immediate reach of the people, than the constitution for which it has been deliberately exchanged, in these modern days of popular jealousy and republican freedom.’ In this new charter was included the colony of New Haven; though it was not for some years that the union was finally adopted.
Connecticut was destined to suffer, with the rest of the colonies, from the violent acts committed in the last years of the reign of the Stuarts.Massachusetts had been deprived of her charter, and Rhode Island had been induced to surrender hers, when, in July, 1685, a writ ofquo warrantowas issued against the governor and company of Connecticut. The colonial government was strongly advised by Vane to comply with the requisition, and surrender the charter; but it was determined neither to appear to defend the charter, nor voluntarily to surrender it. Sir Edmund Andros made repeated applications for its surrender, but without success.
The singular mode of its escape from his demand in person is thus recorded by Trumbull: ‘The assembly met as usual, in October, 1687, and the government continued, according to charter, until the last of the month. About this time, Sir Edmund, with his suite, and more than sixty regular troops, came to Hartford, where the assembly were sitting, demanded the charter, and declared the government under it to be dissolved. The assembly were extremely reluctant and slow with respect to any resolve to surrender the charter, or with respect to any motion to bring it forth. The tradition is, that governor Treat strongly represented the great expense and hardships of the colonists in planting the country; the blood and treasure which they had expended in defending it, both against the savages and foreigners; to what hardships and dangers he himself had been exposed for that purpose; and that it was like giving up his life now to surrender the patent and privileges so dearly bought, and so long enjoyed. The important affair was debated and kept in suspense until the evening, when the charter was brought and laid upon the table where the assembly were sitting.
‘By this time, great numbers of people were assembled, and men sufficiently bold to enterprise whatever might be necessary or expedient. The lights were instantly extinguished, and one captain Wadsworth, of Hartford, in the most silent and secret manner, carried off the charter, and secreted it in a large hollow tree, fronting the house of the honorable Samuel Wyllys, then one of the magistrates of the colony. The people appeared all peaceable and orderly. The candles were officiously relighted, but the patent was gone, and no discovery could be made of it, or of the person who had conveyed it away.’ Though Sir Edmund was thus foiled in his attempt to obtain possession of the charter, he did not hesitate to assume the reins of government, which he administered in a manner as oppressive in this as in the other colonies. When, on the arrival of the declaration of the prince of Orange at Boston, Andros was deposed and imprisoned, the people of Connecticut resumed their previous form of government, having been interrupted little more than a year and a half.
In the Indian war, in which Philip acted so conspicuous a part, Connecticut had her share of suffering, though it was not so great as that of some of her sister colonies. Hostilities were commenced by the aborigines, on the Connecticut river, in the summer of 1675; and, on the first of September, the inhabitants of Hadley were alarmed by the Indians during the time of public worship, and the people thrown into the utmost confusion; but the enemy were repulsed by the valor and good conduct of an aged, venerable man, who, suddenly appearing in the midst of the affrighted inhabitants, put himself at their head, led them to the onset, and, after the dispersion of the enemy, instantly disappeared. This deliverer of Hadley, then imagined to be an angel, was general Goffe, (one of the judges of CharlesI.,) who was at that time concealed in the town.
But a short time elapsed, before the colonists were again called on to defend their privileges from what they deemed an unjust encroachment. Colonel Fletcher, governor of New York, had been vested with plenary powers to command the militia of Connecticut, and insisted on the exercise of that command. The legislature of Connecticut, deeming that authority to be expressly given to the colony by charter, would not submit to his requisition; but, desirous of maintaining a good understanding with governor Fletcher, endeavored to make terms with him, until his majesty’s pleasure should be further known. All their negotiations were, however, unsuccessful; and, on the26thof October, he came to Hartford, while the assembly was sitting, and, in his majesty’s name, demanded submission; but the refusal was resolutely persisted in. After the requisition had been repeatedly made, with plausible explanations and serious menaces, Fletcher ordered his commission and instructions to be read in audience of the trainbands of Hartford, which had been assembled upon his order.
Captain Wadsworth, the senior officer, who was exercising his soldiers, instantly called out, ‘Beat the drums!’ which, in a moment, overwhelmed every voice. Fletcher commanded silence. No sooner was a second attempt made to read, than Wadsworth vociferated, ‘Drum, drum! I say.’ The drummers instantly beat up again, with the greatest possible spirit. ‘Silence, silence,’ exclaimed the governor. At the first moment of a pause, Wadsworth called out earnestly, ‘Drum, drum, I say;’ and, turning to his excellency, said, ‘If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment.’ Colonel Fletcher declined putting Wadsworth to the test, and, abandoning the contest, returned with his suite to New York.
RHODE ISLAND.
The settlement ofPROVIDENCEANDRHODEISLANDwas made by Roger Williams, in 1636. This man was far in advance of his age. He set the first example of perfect religious equality and toleration; and extended his humane labors to enlighten, improve and conciliate the savages. When the New England colonies, in 1643, formed the celebrated confederacy, Rhode Island applied to be admitted to the union; but Plymouth objected, on the ground that the settlements were within her boundaries.
Upon the application of the inhabitants, in 1663, a charter was granted by CharlesII.to the Rhode Island and Providence plantations. On the accession of JamesII., the assembly of Rhode Island immediately transmitted an address, acknowledging themselves his loyal subjects, and begging protection for their chartered rights. But reformation of abuses in New England was then the order of the day, and articles of high misdemeanor were exhibited against them before the lords of the committee of colonies, accusing them of breaches of their charter, and of opposition to the acts of navigation. This committee ordered that Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of Massachusetts, should demand the surrender of their charter, and govern them as other colonies of New England. In December, 1686, Andros accordingly dissolved the government of Rhode Island, broke its seal, and assumed the administration of affairs. When the revolution put an end to his power, Rhode Island and Providence resumedtheir charter, on the ground that an act which was extorted by terror might justly be recalled when restraint no longer remained.
The wise, peaceful and beneficent counsels of Williams, had preserved the colonists from the dangers of Indian incursions. Their prosperity was proportionate to their moderation. The population increased with great rapidity, and in 1761 amounted to forty thousand. Brown university was founded at Warren, in 1764. Six years afterwards it was removed to Providence, where a large and elegant building was erected for the students.
NEW YORK.
NEWYORKwas first settled by the Dutch, who erected a fort near Albany, which they called fort Orange, and a few trading-houses on the island of New York, then called by the Indians Manhattan. The claims of the Dutch to the property of the soil were disputed by the king of Great Britain, who founded an adverse claim on the discovery of the Cabots in the previous century. In the first year of their settlement, they were visited by captain Argal, who claimed the country for his sovereign, and warned them to acknowledge his authority. The colony was small, and prudently acquiesced in the demand: but within a twelvemonth their number was increased, and the demands of the English were promptly resisted. For a series of years they continued in undisturbed quiet, and by toil, perseverance and unwearied activity, surmounted the dangers and troubles of an infant colony.
In 1621, the Dutch republic granted to their West India company an extensive territory on both sides of the Hudson, and called it New Netherlands. Under the management of this company, the settlement was soon both consolidated and extended; and the foundations were laid of the cities of New Amsterdam, afterwards New York, and of Albany. In 1623, they erected a fort on the Delaware, which they called Nassau; and, ten years afterwards, another on the Connecticut, which they called Good Hope. Near the former the Swedes had a settlement; and from the interfering claims of the two nations, quarrels arose between the settlers, which, in a few years, terminated in the subjugation of the Swedes.
The policy of the Dutch, in extending their settlements so far eastward as Connecticut, soon brought them into collision with more powerful neighbors. Numberless causes of dispute arose between New Netherlands and the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven; but neither party allowed itself to forget the substantial claims of humanity, or the forms of ordinary courtesy. In the Indian wars, the English never delayed to render due assistance to their Dutch neighbors, who were so unwarlike that they found it necessary to invite captain Underhill, who had been banished from Boston for his eccentricities in religion, to take command of their troops. Collecting a flying party of one hundred and fifty men, he was enabled to preserve the Dutch settlements from destruction. The number of Indians whom he killed in the course of the war, was supposed to exceed four hundred. In 1646, a severe battle was fought on that part of Horse-Neck called Strickland’s Plain. The Dutch were victorious; on both sides great numbers were slain; and for a century afterwards the graves of the dead were distinctly visible.
When CharlesII.ascended the British throne, he did not hesitate to assert his claim to the province of New Netherlands; and without any attempt at negotiation with the states, he executed a charter, conveying to the duke of York the whole territory from the eastern shore of the Delaware to the western bank of the Connecticut. This grant took no notice of the existing possession of the Dutch, or of the recent Connecticut charter, which it entirely superseded. No sooner did the duke of York obtain this grant, than he conveyed to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all that portion now constituting the province of New Jersey. To carry such a grant into effect, it was necessary to call in the aid of the military, and an armament was despatched from England under the command of colonel Nichols; who was also appointed governor of the province he was about to conquer. After touching at Boston, the fleet sailed to the Hudson and took a position before the capital of New Netherlands. The Dutch governor, Stuyvesant, had determined on a resolute resistance, but his followers were of a less gallant temperament, and compelled him to agree to a treaty of capitulation.
Immediately after its subjugation, New Amsterdam, and the whole conquered province, received the name of New York. Few of the inhabitants thought proper to remove from the country; even governor Stuyvesant lived and died there. Nichols at once assumed command of the conquered territory, and proceeded to reduce the affairs of the state to one uniform constitution and policy. Many of the Dutch forms of government were retained, but English influence gradually brought about a change; and on the twelfth of June, 1665, the inhabitants of New York were incorporated under a mayor, five aldermen, and a sheriff. At the peace of Breda, New York was regularly ceded to England in exchange for Surinam, by a general stipulation that each of the belligerents should retain what its arms had acquired since the commencement of hostilities.
The interior of New York was originally inhabited by a confederacy, which consisted at first of five, and afterwards of six, nations of Indians. This confederacy was formed for mutual defence against the Algonquins, a powerful Canadian nation, and displayed much of the wisdom and sagacity which mark the institutions of a civilized people. By their union they had become formidable to the surrounding tribes. Being the allies of the English, the French were alarmed at their successes, and became jealous of their power. In the year 1684, De la Barre, the governor of Canada, marched to attack them, with an army of seventeen hundred men. His troops suffered so much from hardships, famine, and sickness, that he was compelled to ask peace of those whom he had come to exterminate. He invited the chiefs of the Five Nations to meet him at his camp, and those of three of them accepted the invitation. Standing in a circle, formed by the chiefs and his own officers, he addressed a speech to Garrangula, of the Onondago tribe, in which he accused the confederates of conducting the English to the trading grounds of the French, and threatened them with war and extermination if they did not alter their behavior. Garrangula, knowing the distresses of the French troops, heard these threats with contempt. After walking five or six times round the circle, he addressed De la Barre in the following bold language, calling him Yonnondio, and the English governor, Corlear:—
‘Hear, Yonnondio, I do not sleep; I have my eyes open, and the sunwhich enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he was dreaming. He says that he only came to smoke the great pipe of peace with the Onondagas. But Garrangula says, that he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. We carried the English to our lakes, to trade there with the Utawawas, and Quatoghies, as the Adirondacs brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. We are born free; we neither depend on Yonnondio nor Corlear. We may go where we please, and buy and sell what we please. If your allies are your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no other but your people. Hear, Yonnondio! what I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. When they buried the hatchet at Cadaracui, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved, that instead of a retreat for soldiers, the fort might be a rendezvous for merchants. Take care that the many soldiers who appear there do not choke the tree of peace, and prevent it from covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you that our warriors shall dance under its leaves, and will never dig up the hatchet to cut it down, till their brother Yonnondio or Corlear shall invade the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors.’
De la Barre was mortified and enraged at this bold reply; but, submitting to necessity, he concluded a treaty of peace, and returned to Montreal. His successor, De Nonville, led a larger army against the confederates; but fell into an ambuscade, and was defeated. These wars within the limits of the colony served to perpetuate the enmity of the Indians against the French, and their attachment to the English.
When JamesII.ascended the throne, it was determined to superadd New York and the Jerseys to the jurisdiction of the four colonies of New England; and a new commission was issued, appointing Sir Edmund Andros captain-general and vice-admiral over the whole. His authority, however, was a brief one. In the following year, intelligence was received of the accession of William and Mary to the British throne; and while the principal officers and magistrates were assembled to consult for the general good, Jacob Leisler, a captain of militia, seized the fort and held it for the prince of Orange. The province was for some time subsequently ruled by a committee of safety, with Leisler at their head. In a few months, a letter arrived from the ministry in England, directed ‘to such as, for the time being, take care of administering the laws of the province,’ and conferring authority to perform all the duties of lieutenant governor. This letter Leisler understood as addressed to himself, and assumed the authority conferred by it, without ceremony.
The people of Albany acknowledged king William, but refused to submit to Leisler. Force was resorted to, with the view of compelling obedience; and the estates of the rebellious were confiscated. In this disturbed state, the colonists of New York remained nearly two years; when the miseries of foreign aggression were added to those of internal discord.
War had been declared between France and England; and De Nonville had been replaced in the governorship of Canada by count Frontignac, a veteran officer, whose skilful and energetic measures, aided by a large reinforcement, soon raised the affairs of the French from the brink of ruin,and enabled them to act on the offensive. Frontignac was indefatigable in his efforts to gain over the Five Nations, who had made two attacks upon Montreal, and murdered a great number of inhabitants. He held a great council with them at Onondaga; and, as they seemed to be somewhat inclined to peace, he resolved to give their favorable disposition no time for change, and, at the same time, to inspirit his own drooping countrymen, by finding them immediate employment against the English colonies. On the19thof January, a party of about two hundred French, and some Cahnuaga Indians, set out, in a deep snow, for Schenectady; they arrived on the8thof February, at eleven o’clock at night; and the first intimation the inhabitants had of their design, was conveyed in the noise of their own bursting doors. The village was burnt, sixty persons were butchered, twenty-seven suffered the worse fate of captivity, the rest made their way naked through the snow towards Albany, where some arrived in extreme distress, while many perished in the attempt. A party of young men, and some Mohawk Indians, set out from the latter place, pursued the enemy, and killed or captured twenty-five.
To avenge these barbarities, and others perpetrated in New England, a combined expedition against Canada was projected. An army, raised in New York and Connecticut, proceeded as far as the head of lake Champlain, whence, finding no boats prepared, they were obliged to return. Sir William Phipps, with a fleet of more than thirty vessels, sailed from Boston into theSt.Lawrence, and, landing a body of troops, made an attack by land and water upon Quebec; but the return of the army to New York allowing the whole force of the enemy to repair to the assistance of the garrison, he was obliged to abandon the enterprise. Leisler, transported with rage when he was informed of the retreat, caused Winthrop, who commanded the New England forces, to be arrested, but was instantly compelled, by universal indignation, to release him. It was to the misconduct or incapacity of Leisler and Milborne, (the latter of whom, as commissary-general, had made no adequate provision for the enterprise,) that the failure of this expedition was attributed.
Leisler was afterwards superseded by colonel Sloughter, and, together with Milborne, was executed for refusing to surrender his authority to the officer legally appointed to receive it. Sloughter’s administration was inefficient and turbulent. He was succeeded by colonel Fletcher, a man of great energy of character, but violent in his disposition and mean. His administration was signalized by no occurrence worthy of particular record. The war between the French and the Five Indian Nations raged with great fury, and both parties seemed inspired with a mutual emulation of cruelty in victory, no less than of prowess in battle. Prisoners were tortured, and put to death, without the least regard to the rights of humanity, or the laws of war.
In 1697, the peace of Ryswick, which was concluded between Great Britain and France, gave security and repose to the colonies. The next year, the earl of Bellamont was appointed governor. He was particularly desirous of clearing the American seas of the pirates with which they had for some time been grievously infested. The government, however, declining to furnish an adequate naval force, the earl engaged with others in a private undertaking against them. Among the associates were lord chancellor Summers and the duke of Shrewsbury; the king himself, too,held a tenth share. The company, having procured a vessel of war, gave the command to captain Kid, and despatched him on a cruise against the pirates. He had been but a short time at sea, when he made a new contract with his crew, and, on the Atlantic and Indian oceans, became himself a daring and successful pirate. Three years afterwards he returned, burned his ship, and, with a strange infatuation, appeared in public at Boston.
The earl of Bellamont wrote to the secretary of state, desiring that Kid might be sent for, and a man-of-war was despatched upon this service; but being driven back by a storm, a general suspicion prevailed in England, that there was collusion between the ministry and the adventurers, who were thought unwilling to produce Kid, lest he might discover that the chancellor and the other associates were confederates in the piracy. So powerful was this feeling, that a motion was made in the house of commons, that all who were concerned in the adventure might be deprived of their employments; but it was rejected by a great majority, and all subsequent attempts to implicate the unfortunate shareholders, only proved more satisfactorily their entire innocence of any participation either in the designs or the profits of captain Kid; although their imprudence in selecting a person whose previous character was very indifferent, was evident and undeniable. Ultimately Kid was conveyed to England, where he was tried and executed.
Lord Bellamont found affairs in great confusion, and the colony divided into two bitter factions, contending with increased animosity. His administration was prudent, and promised to be highly beneficial; but was early terminated by his death, in March, 1701. Lord Cornbury was appointed his successor, a man eminent only for his meanness and profligacy: dismissed by his friends to place him out of the reach of his creditors. His rule was oppressive and extravagant; and the infamy of his private character exposed him to universal odium. He was finally removed, and was succeeded by lord Lovelace. His lordship died soon after his arrival, and general Hunter was appointed to the vacant chair. He brought with him nearly three thousand Germans, who were dispersed through New York and Pennsylvania.
In the year 1709, extensive preparations were made for an attack on the French settlements in Canada; the plan was afterwards abandoned, but in 1711 resumed. It was unsuccessful, and nothing was accomplished by it. To defray its expenses, the newly-elected assembly passed several bills, which the council persisted in amending. AÂ contest ensued between these two bodies, in which the governor took side with the council, and finally dissolved the assembly. At the ensuing election, most of the members chosen were opposed to the governor. This assembly was dissolved by the death of the queen. The next met a similar fate from the governor soon after it met, a majority being known to be unfriendly to his views. At length, however, the people became weary of contending, and sent representatives who were not disposed to differ from the governor.
General Hunter quitted the province in 1719, and his authority devolved on Peter Schuyler, the oldest member of the council. William Burnet succeeded him in the following year. He was a man of good sense, and kind feelings, and he entertained just views of policy. His most vigilant attention was directed to Indian affairs, and to the danger to be apprehended from the vicinity of the French.
Turning his views towards the wilderness, he perceived that the French, in order to connect their settlements in Canada and Louisiana, to secure to themselves the Indian trade, and to confine the English to the sea-coast, were busily employed in erecting a chain of forts from theSt.Lawrence to the Mississippi. He endeavored to defeat their design, by building a trading-house, and afterwards a fort, at Oswego, on lake Ontario. But the French had the command of more abundant resources, and applied them to the accomplishment of their object with great activity and zeal. They launched two vessels upon that lake; and, going farther into the wilderness, erected a fort at Niagara, commanding the entrance into it; they had previously erected fort Frontignac, commanding the outlet. The Jesuit Charlevoix does no more than justice toMr.Burnet, in declaring that he left no stone unturned to defeat the French at Niagara. Besides supplanting his favorite trade at Oswego, these operations tended to the defection of the Five Nations; and, in case of a rupture, exposed the frontiers of the southern colonies to the ravages of the French and their allies.Mr.Burnet, upon whom these considerations made the deepest impression, laid the matter before the house, remonstrated against the proceedings to Longuiel, in Canada, wrote to the ministry in England, who complained of them to the French court, and met the confederates at Albany, endeavoring to convince them of the danger they themselves would be in from an aspiring, ambitious neighbor.
He spoke first about the affair privately to the sachems, and afterwards, in the public conference, informed them of all the encroachments which the French had made upon their fathers, and the ill-usage they had met with, according to La Potherie’s account, published with the privilege of the French king, at Paris, in 1722. He then reminded them of the kind treatment they had received from the English, who constantly fed and clothed them, and never attempted any act of hostility to their prejudice. This speech was extremely well drawn, the thoughts being conceived in strong figures, particularly expressive and agreeable to the Indians. The governor required an explicit declaration of their sentiments concerning the French transactions at Niagara, and their answer was truly categorical. ‘We speak now in the name of all the Six Nations, and come to you howling. This is the reason why we howl, that the governor of Canada encroaches on our land, and builds thereon.’ After which they entreated him to write to the king for succor.Mr.Burnet embraced this favorable opportunity to procure from them a deed, surrendering their country to his majesty, to be protected for their use, and confirming their grant in 1701, concerning which there was only an entry in the books of the secretary for Indian affairs.
It was an unfortunate circumstance, which tended to prevent the execution ofMr.Burnet’s vigorous designs, that the electors of the colony had become dissatisfied at the length of time which had elapsed since they had been called on to exercise their functions. The assembly elected in 1716 had been on such good terms with the governor, that he continued its existence during the long period of eleven years. In the year 1727, however, the clamors of the people induced him to dissolve it; and, as might be expected, that which next met, was composed almost exclusively of his opponents. The court of chancery, in which he presided, had become exceedingly unpopular. It had been instituted by an ordinance of thegovernor and council, without the concurrence of the assembly, and some of the decisions had given great offence to powerful individuals. The house passed resolutions, declaring it ‘a manifest oppression and grievance,’ and intimating that its decrees were void.Mr.Burnet no sooner heard of these votes, than he called the members before him, and dissolved the assembly. They occasioned, however, an ordinance in the spring following, as well to remedy sundry abuses in the practice in chancery, as to reduce the fees of that court, ‘which, on account of the popular clamors, were so much diminished,’ says Smith, ‘that the wheels of the chancery have ever since rusted upon their axles, the practice being contemned by all gentlemen of eminence in the profession.’
Mr.Burnet was soon after appointed governor of Massachusetts, and was succeeded at New York by colonel Montgomery, who devoted himself so much to his ease that he has left nothing else to distinguish his brief rule. Upon his death, in 1731, the supreme authority devolved upon Rip Van Dam, the senior member of the council. Under his inefficient administration, the French were permitted to erect a fort at Crown Point, within the acknowledged boundaries of New York, from which parties of savages were often secretly despatched to destroy the English settlements.
In August, 1732, Van Dam was superseded by William Crosby. Having been the advocate in parliament of the American colonies, he was at first popular, but he soon lost the affection and confidence of the people. One of his most unpopular acts was the prosecution of Zenger, the printer of a newspaper, for publishing an article derogatory to the dignity of his majesty’s government, bringing him to trial, after a severe imprisonment of thirty-five weeks from the printing of the offensive articles. Andrew Hamilton, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, though aged and infirm, learning the distress of the prisoner and the importance of the trial, went to New York to plead Zenger’s cause, which he did so effectually that the jury brought in the prisoner not guilty. The common council of the city of New York, for this noble and successful service, presentedMr.Hamilton the freedom of their corporation in a gold box.
Governor Crosby was succeeded, in 1736, by George Clark. During his administration, the contest which had ended, twenty years before, in the victory gained by governor Hunter over the house of representatives, was revived. The colony being in debt, the house voted to raise the sum of six thousand pounds; but, in order to prevent its misapplication, declared that it should be applied to the payment of certain specified debts. Offended by this vote, Clark immediately dissolved the assembly. At the election which ensued, the popular party was triumphant. In their second session the house voted an address to the lieutenant governor, in which, after stating some of the vital principles of free government, and referring to recent misapplications of money, they say, ‘We therefore beg leave to be plain with your honor, and hope you will not take it amiss when we tell you, that you are not to expect that we will either raise sums unfit to be raised, or put what we shall raise into the power of a governor to misapply, if we can prevent it; nor shall we make up any other deficiencies than what we conceive are fit and just to be paid; nor continue what support or revenue we shall raise for any longer time than one year; nor do we think it convenient to do even that, until such laws are passedas we conceive necessary for the safety of the inhabitants of this colony, who have reposed a trust in us for that only purpose, and which we are sure you will think it reasonable we should act agreeable to; and, by the grace of God, we shall endeavor not to deceive them.’
With men so resolute in maintaining their rights, Clark wisely declined to contend; and promised his cordial co-operation in all measures calculated to promote the prosperity of the colony. Harmony did not, however, long continue. Clark, in his speech at the opening of the next session, declared that unless the revenue was granted for as long a time as it had been granted by former assemblies, his duty to his majesty forbade him from assenting to any act for continuing the excise, or for paying the colonial bills of credit. The house unanimously resolved, that it would not pass any bill for the grant of money, unless assurance should be given that the excise should be continued and the bills of credit redeemed. The lieutenant governor immediately ordered the members to attend him. He told them that ‘their proceedings were presumptuous, daring, and unprecedented; that he could not look upon them without astonishment, nor with honor suffer the house to sit any longer;’ and he accordingly dissolved it. In April, 1740, the assembly again met. It had now risen to importance in the colony; and the adherence of the representatives to their determination, not to grant the revenue for more than one year, made annual meetings of the assembly necessary. Their attachment to liberty was construed by the lieutenant governor into a desire for independence: in a speech delivered, in 1741, he alludes to ‘a jealousy which for some years had obtained in England, that the plantations were not without thoughts of throwing off their dependence on the crown.’
George Clinton superseded Clark in the government of the colony in 1743. Like most of his predecessors he was welcomed with joy; and one of his earliest measures confirmed the favorable accounts which had preceded him, of his talents and liberality. To manifest his confidence in the people, he assented to a bill limiting the duration of the present and all succeeding assemblies. The house evinced its gratitude by adopting the measures he recommended for the defence of the province against the French, who were then at war with England. In 1745, the savages in alliance with France made frequent invasions of the English territories; and their hostilities were continued, with little intermission, till the war which terminated the French dominion in Canada.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, the whole colony of New York contained scarcely one hundred thousandinhabitants,100not half the number which the city of New York alone can now boast. That the population would have been much more numerous at this time, had not the inhabitants been so continually exposed to the irruptions of the French and their Indian allies, is evident from its rapid increase when those unfavorable circumstances ceased to exist. The consideration of this period belongs, however, to another department of the work.
NEW JERSEY.
It was not till the year 1640 that any attempt was made by the English to colonize that portion of the continent now known as New Jersey, and then they were resisted and expelled by the Swedes. This nation remained in possession of the country on both sides of the Delaware until 1655, when the governor of New Netherlands conquered all their posts, and transported most of the Swedes to Europe. The Dutch consequently possessed themselves of the whole territory of New Jersey, New York, and Delaware; but their settlements in New Jersey shared the fate of those on the Hudson, when in the year 1664 they were captured by the English under colonel Nichols. In the same year the duke of York conveyed that portion of his grant lying between Hudson and Delaware rivers to lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This tract was calledNEWJERSEY,in compliment to Sir George, who had been governor of the island of Jersey, and had held it for the king in his contest with the parliament.
The early history of this province is a history of disputes between the inhabitants and the proprietaries. It would not be interesting to go into their details, as they are mere claims and adjudications of title. Suffice it to say, that in the course of the disputes it became partitioned into East and West Jersey, and fell into the hands of different proprietors. The former was released, in July, 1676, by William Penn and his three associates, assignees of lord Berkeley, to Philip Carteret; and he in return conveyed to them the latter, the government of which the duke retained as a dependency of New York, while that of the first was resigned to Carteret.
Philip Carteret, a natural son of Sir George, returned to East Jersey in the beginning of 1675, and was now kindly received by the inhabitants, because they had felt the rigors of conquest, which had not been softened by Andros, who had been appointed by the duke of York lieutenant over all his territories, from the western bank of the Connecticut to the farther shore of the Delaware. Having postponed the payment of quit-rents to a future day, and published new concessions with regard to the tenure of lands, tranquillity was perfectly restored. Desirous to promote the commercial interests of the colony, because he perceived its neighbor growing great and rich by trade, Carteret began, in 1676, to clear out vessels from East Jersey; but he was steadily opposed by Andros, who claimed jurisdiction over the Jersies, insisting that conquest by the Dutch divested the proprietors of all their rights. He forcibly seized, transported to New York, and there imprisoned, those magistrates why refused to acknowledge his authority. He imposed a duty upon all goods imported, and upon the property of all who came to settle in the country.
The inhabitants made repeated and energetic complaints of this injustice to the duke of York; and at length, wearied with their continual importunity, this prince consented to refer the matter to commissioners, who ultimately agreed to adhere to the opinion of Sir William Jones.
The commissioners pronounced their judgment, in conformity with the opinion of SirW.Jones, ‘that as the grant to Berkeley and Carteret had reserved no profit or jurisdiction, the legality of the taxes could not be defended.’ In consequence of this adjudication, the duke resigned allhis claims on West Jersey, and confirmed the province itself in the amplest terms to its new proprietaries; and soon after granted a similar release in favor of the representatives of Sir George Carteret in East Jersey. The whole of New Jersey thus rose to the rank of an almost independent state, maintaining only a federal connection with the British crown.
The accession of numerous companies of settlers now rapidly promoted the population and prosperity of West Jersey. In the year 1681, the first representative assembly was held; and during its session were enacted the ‘Fundamental Constitutions,’ and other laws for the preservation of property, and the punishment of criminals.
Frequent disputes arising between the proprietary government of East Jersey and the colonists, the trustees of Sir George Carteret, apprehending they should derive little emolument from retaining the government under their control, offered their rights in the province for sale, and accepted the proposals of William Penn, to whom, and his associates, East Jersey was conveyed. Among the new proprietors was the author of the well-known ‘Apology;’ and his colleagues, by a unanimous vote, conferred on him the office of governor for life, with the extraordinary permission to appoint a deputy, instead of his residing at the scene of his authority.
The number of proprietors, and the frequent transfers and subdivisions of shares, introduced such confusion into titles to land, and such uncertainty as to the rights of government, that, for twenty years afterwards, both Jerseys were frequently in a state of disturbance and disorder. In 1702, the proprietors, weary of contending with each other, and with the people, surrendered the right of government to the crown. Queen Anne reunited the two divisions, and appointed lord Cornbury governor over the provinces of New Jersey and New York. From the period of his appointment till his deprivation of office, the history of New Jersey consists of little else than a detail of his contests with the colonial assemblies; and exhibits the resolution with which they opposed his arbitrary conduct, his partial distribution of justice, and his fraudulent misapplication of the public money. After repeated complaints, the queen yielded to the universal indignation; and he was superseded, in 1709, by lord Lovelace.
These provinces continued, for several years, to be ruled by the same governor, but each chose a separate assembly. In 1738, the inhabitants, by a petition to the king, desired that they might, in future, have a separate governor; and their request was granted.