CHAPTER VIII

The year 1742 marks the crisis of Oglethorpe's career, for it was then that he won for himself a reputation for daring and strategy. The Spaniards attacked the colony and, knowing of their approach by means of his Indian allies, Oglethorpe concentrated all his forces upon the town of Frederica. The Spanish vanguard made an impetuous onslaught against which the Governor led with considerable daring his own ill-organised men. He showed that spirit of courage and prowess that fascinated even hiswretched followers, who gave him willingly what support they could. He himself captured single-handed two of the Spaniards. But his strategy was yet to be displayed. As the fight continued, he sent through the wood a flank force which fell upon the Spaniards so suddenly and unexpectedly that they were routed with heavy loss, and the panic was sustained by an expedient of Oglethorpe's invention. By means of a deserter he succeeded in hoodwinking the enemy, declaring that he was ready for a second assault, which would be welcomed with the same hearty spirit that had been accorded to the first; at the same time he informed them, in mere bravado, that he was expecting an English fleet. As a matter of fact the desire for a second attack and the arrival of English vessels were mere figments of Oglethorpe's imagination. But as the gods fight on the side of the brave, so Oglethorpe was rewarded by the almost miraculous appearance of a few men-of-war. From that moment Georgia may be said to have earned her safety. She owed her existence to Oglethorpe, and to him and his cunning she owed her salvation. It may be truly said that at last the colony had thoroughly justified its existence and had fulfilled one of the main functions for which it had been created. The aforetime debtors of England had not shown particular courage, but their leader had fulfilled the promise of ten years before, and Georgia had stood firm and strong as a bulwark defending its more prosperous neighbours who lay upon the northern frontier. Those neighbours had much for which to thank the weakly colony, to whom in time of stress they had given little or no assistance. It was only one more example of the lack of unity, and one more instance ofthat failure to secure really effective co-operation which, had it existed, would have made so great a difference to the advance of the colonies. Georgia's position was, however, all the more exalted, for under Oglethorpe she had stood alone and had not been found wanting.

The colony was now safe from invasion, but there were many internal difficulties that had to be confronted. The debtors of England were not like the hardy and cheerful Salzburgers who managed to flourish and enjoy life. The climate itself was one of the most serious drawbacks to white labour, and an influential party saw that the colony could hardly compete against the other southern states where slave labour was employed. This party was supported in its views by George Whitefield, who had come, to Georgia in 1738 and who strongly advocated negro slavery. When it is remembered that one of the most permanent triumphs of the Evangelical party was the abolition of slavery, it is curious that one of the earliest and greatest of its leaders should have defended and encouraged the slave owners. But his advocacy had no effect upon the Trustees, who were firm in their determination to prevent negro slave traffic. The settlers sent a strong protest to England in 1739, stating that "Timber is the only thing we have here ... yet we cannot manufacture it for a Foreign Market but at double the Expense of other Colonies; as for Instance, the River of May, which is but twenty miles from us, with the Allowance of negroes, load Vessels with that Commodity at one Half of the Price that we can do.... We are very sensible of the Inconveniences and Mischiefs that have already, and do daily arise from an unlimited Use ofNegroes; but we are as sensible, that these may be prevented by a due Limitation."[200]The Trustees replied that the introduction of negroes would be the introduction of a "baneful Commodity, which, it is well known by sad Experience, has brought our Neighbour Colonies to the Brink of Ruin, by driving out their White Inhabitants, who were their Glory and Strength, to make room for Black, who are now become the Terror of their unadvised Masters."[201]Excellent as the answer of the Trustees was, there can be little doubt that for lack of proper executive both the restrictions on liquor and on slavery were systematically evaded and after 1752 were allowed to lapse.

Oglethorpe, promoted to the rank of General, left Georgia in 1743, never to return. The colony cannot be called an entire success; the very philanthropy upon which it was founded deprived it to a certain extent of those enduring qualities which had made the New England colonies strong and healthy provinces. But though Oglethorpe had not accomplished all that he had wanted to do, a modern writer has paid him a high tribute when he says that he "had attained a far larger measure of success than most men could have won with such material."[202]That the colony was prospering is shown by Edmund Burke in 1759, when he said, "At present Georgia is beginning to emerge, though slowly, out of the difficulties that attended its first establishment: It is still but indifferently peopled, though it is now twenty-six years since its first settlement. Not one of our colonies was of so slow a growth, though none hadso much of the attention of the Government, or of the people in general, or raised so great expectations in the beginning. They export some corn and lumber to the West Indies; they raise some rice, and of late are going with success into indigo. It is not to be doubted but in time, when their internal divisions are a little better composed, the remaining errors in the government corrected, and the people begin to multiply, that they will become a useful province."[203]

Some of the "errors in the government" had come up for discussion as early as 1751, when for the first time a representative assembly was called, but it was only granted deliberative functions. The whole character of the government of Georgia was radically altered when, according to the original agreement, the colony passed into the hands of the Crown. The population now consisted of 2380 whites and 1060 negroes, and these came to be governed under a constitution of normal type consisting of a governor, council, and executive officers nominated by the Crown, and a representative assembly elected by the freeholders.

WILLIAM PITT, FIRST EARL OF CHATHAMWILLIAM PITT, FIRST EARL OF CHATHAMFROM THE PAINTING BY W. HOARE IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

WILLIAM PITT, FIRST EARL OF CHATHAMFROM THE PAINTING BY W. HOARE IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

Such, then, was the history of the last colony to be founded, completing the unlucky number thirteen, and it remained the weakest and least efficient of all. From small beginnings the English colonies came into being along the Eastern seaboard of America. Puritans and cavaliers, profligates and mechanics, all helped to create what might have been except for sad misunderstandings part of the British empire of to-day. Behind the Alleghany slopes another great power was attempting to form a colonial empire. North of the St Lawrence, New France had alreadybeen established; by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana had already been named. In some places not inaccessible hills, in others not unnavigable rivers divided the Briton from the Gaul. It was inevitable that sooner or later the struggle between the two great powers must come. It might be fought in Europe upon battlefields which are familiar to all, but it was also fought out upon the far distant border line, and the struggles of the colonial militia with the French Canadian backwoodsman presents a story of endurance, courage, and determination equal if not superior to the annals of those English regiments which fought in the Netherlands or on "the plains of Germany."

[187]Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 587.

[188]Compare theN.J. Archives, ii., p. 420.

[189]Quoted in theEnc. Britannica.

[190]Janney,Life of William Penn(1852).

[191]Pastorius,Geographical Description of Pennsylvania(1850).

[192]New Jersey Historical Society,Proceedings(1849-1850).

[193]The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Robert Boyle, etc. (1726).

[194]Force,Tracts(1836).

[195]Ibid.

[196]Force,Tracts(1836).

[197]Massachusetts Historical Society,Collections(1814).

[198]Wesley,Journal, June 22, 1736.

[199]Wesley,Journal, December 2, 1737.

[200]Force,Tracts(1836).

[201]Ibid.

[202]Doyle,Cambridge Modern History(1905), vol. vii. p. 63.

[203]An Account of the European Settlements in America(1760).

"God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness."[204]With regard to New England this statement was in part true, for the people of those northern colonies exhibited a remarkable homogeneity, and their leaders were men of a peculiarly lofty character. That this population grew with leaps and bounds during the first century of settlement is well attested by records. As early as 1643, Massachusetts had a population of 20,000; while Plymouth, Connecticut, and Newhaven, taken together, must have numbered between eleven and twelve thousand. At the Restoration the total population is placed at 80,000, of which two-thirds dwelt in Massachusetts. The eighteenth century statistics show a steady increase, 100,000 whites and 4000 negroes being a rough computation for the year 1714.

The people dwelt for the most part in little towns, each one of which was a separate commonwealth possessing representative government. The corporations were the chief landholders and watched with the greatest jealousy any increase of individual possession which might trespass upon their rights. The systemwas one of antiquity and carries our thoughts back to mediæval methods where police, finance, justice, and agriculture were all concentrated in one manorial district. Just as in England in Plantagenet days there were the division of the land into strips, the rights of common pasture, and the tilling on a communal principle, so in the New England of the seventeenth century these systems were employed with partial success. The houses in which the settlers dwelt were for the most part built of wood, and stretched in orderly rows along trim streets. Each homestead was detached, and like the houses of our Teutonic forefathers, "was surrounded with a clearing," which in America was usually allotted to fruit trees.

The comfort of the houses was of a very doubtful character, log huts were extremely draughty, so that houses of brick and stone were most coveted, but only obtainable by the rich. Although in Plymouth as early as 1645 glass seems to have been common in the windows, yet the houses were mainly of wood, which was also the case at Newport as late as 1686. Governor Bradstreet six years before this had recorded that Boston had suffered severely by fire and that the houses were therefore to be rebuilt with brick or stone, "yet hardily to be obtained by reason of the inhabitants' poverty."[205]Wooden houses continued to be built, and in fact in a few instances exist to this day. In Boston they were still common in 1750, if we are to believe Captain Francis Goelet. "Boston," he writes, "the Metropolis of North America, Is Accounted The Largest Town upon the Continent, Haveing about Three Thousand Housesin it, about two Thirds them Wooden Framed Clap Boarded, &c."[206]

The men of Boston, and of New England in general, were, owing to natural circumstances, traders. They had found themselves in a land of splendid harbours, and so they went down to the sea in ships and trafficked upon its waters. It has of course been urged that this trade of the colonies was sadly restricted by the English people, who as a nation of shopkeepers were determined that "the cultivators of America might be confined to their shop."[207]For this reason the Navigation Act of 1660, on the lines of the famous Act of 1651, insisted on certain enumerated articles being landed in British ports only; and this was still further extended by two later enactments. But even Adam Smith allows that "though the policy of Great Britain with regard to the trade of her colonies has been dictated by the same mercantile spirit as that of other nations, it has, however, upon the whole, been less illiberal and oppressive than that of any of them."[208]The colonial system was in truth a mistake, but it never undermined the trade of the British settlements, as was the case in French Canada, owing to the corrupt and negligent methods of Bigot and his gang. The result was that the New England trader flourished. The trade had of course small beginnings; at first merely fish and fur were exported to Virginia. Then corn, cattle, and butter were sent to the West Indies, and exchanged for cotton and fruits. More distant voyages followed,and in 1643, wine, iron, and wool were imported from Spain. In the meantime iron had been discovered in Massachusetts by the younger Winthrop at Lynn and Braintree; and the Commissioners in 1665 certified that there was "good store of iron made in this province."[209]The Commissioners were, however, too optimistic, for the iron raised proved to be of inferior quality; partly because of this inferiority, but chiefly owing to trade regulations, scarcity of labour, and high wages, all cutlery and farm implements were imported from England well into the eighteenth century. The reported discovery of silver in Rhode Island in 1648 caused a nine days' wonder, and then the excitement subsided for nothing came of it. Lead was also found as early as 1650 in Lynn, but these mineral industries never rose to great importance under British rule.

Minor commercial industries seem to have flourished, as there are frequent references to masons, bricklayers, ropemakers, powder and pitch-makers, and in 1650 Boston had its own goldsmith. Clothmaking was not altogether unknown, as certain clothiers from Yorkshire settled at Rowley in 1639 and established weaving and spinning. The venture was, however, unsatisfactory, and although New England encouraged by bounties the textile industry, yet it took long to mature, and as late as 1700 there was only one small cloth mill in Connecticut. At the same time it is evident that the different colonies varied very much in their prosperity. Plymouth is reported to the Committee of Trade and Plantations to have no trade beyond the sea. About the same time Governor Bradstreet complains of the poverty of Boston, andsays "the country in general is very poor, and it is hard for the people to clothe themselves and families."[210]The general trade of New England, however, in the eighteenth century seems to have been good. Daniel Neale, a very careful writer of the day, records in 1720 that the imports from England were "all sorts of Woollen Drapery, Silks, Stuffs, and Hats; all Sorts of Linnen and printed Callicoes, all sorts of Iron Manufacture ... to the value of 100,000l.annually and upwards. In Return for these Goods, our Merchants export from thence about 100,000 Quintals of dried Cod-fish Yearly, which they send to Portugal, Spain, and several Ports of Italy, the returns for which are made to London out of the Products of those Countries, and may amount to the value of about 80,000l.annually."[211]

Governor Wentworth reports in 1730 that New Hampshire manufactured timber "into beams, planks, knees, boards ... and sometimes into house-frames."[212]But long before this it had been exported to England for naval purposes, and on two occasions at least the Massachusetts Government bought the goodwill of the home authorities by a timely present of masts. In particular, however, this timber was used by the colonies for shipbuilding, which became an industry of importance, and in later years those employed in it actually excelled the English shipwrights. In 1631 Winthrop built a thirty-ton vessel, soon to be followed by others of a hundred and even three hundred tons; and seven years later the first New England vesselsailed safely across the Atlantic into the Thames. Although in 1643 Massachusetts could only boast five ships ranging from one hundred to five hundred tons, yet in 1665 the colony had one hundred and ninety-two ships of all sizes; and in 1708 possessed two hundred, twenty of which were over one hundred tons burthen. Rhode Island ran Massachusetts very close in this shipbuilding race. Between 1690 and 1710 her vessels are said to have increased six-fold, and in 1740 the inhabitants could proudly boast that they owned no fewer than one hundred and twenty ships. Connecticut never competed in this form of industry, and in 1708 she is reported to have had only thirty vessels. New Hampshire too carried on her over-sea traffic by means of strange vessels, possessing only five ships of her own. In 1748, although trade was supposed to be in a very depressed state, five hundred and forty ships sailed from Boston, a fact which showed a considerable export and import commerce.

It would be erroneous to imagine that the colonies in the eighteenth century were in any way struggling, poverty-stricken communities. Their trade had grown with leaps and bounds, and they carried on a profitable commerce with England which Sir Robert Walpole had encouraged on the grounds that "the greater the prosperity of the colonies, the greater would be their demand for English goods."[213]That this proved true is shown by William Pitt saying in 1766, "the profits to Great Britain from the trade of the colonies are two millions a year. That was the fund that carried you triumphantly through the last war.... And shall a miserable financier come witha boast that he can filch a peppercorn into the exchequer to the loss of millions to the nation?"[214]For the same reason Adam Smith has given a conspicuous place to colonial trade in hisWealth of Nations. "Though the wealth of Great Britain," he writes, "has increased very much since the establishment of the Act of Navigation, it certainly has not increased in the same proportion as that of the colonies.... The industry of Great Britain, instead of being accommodated to a great number of small markets, has been principally suited to one great market.... The expectation of a rupture with the colonies accordingly has struck the people of Great Britain with more terror than they ever felt for a Spanish Armada or a French invasion."[215]

The colonists did not, however, simply depend upon trade for their means of livelihood; many of them engaged in agriculture. During the winter months their beasts suffered as much as those in England, for until the eighteenth century there were no winter roots. In the same way the rotation of crops was much restricted, as the settlers were totally ignorant of artificial grasses. They had still to wait for Lord Townshend to make his agricultural experiments at home before they could grow turnips, cereals, and grasses on scientific principles. On the other hand they seem to have anticipated the discoveries of Mr Jethro Tull of Mount Prosperous, and some years previous to his work on husbandry they had inaugurated deep tillage. Tobacco, the principal commodity of the southern colonies, was not introduced intoNew England until 1660, but its place as a staple was taken by the cultivation of large quantities of rape, hemp, and flax. The colonists also, after many disappointments, came to be enthusiastic breeders of sheep, horses, goats, and cattle. At first the sheep fared very badly; the wool crop was short, and the climate proved unsuitable to the English stock. By 1642, however, there were one thousand sheep in Massachusetts, and these increased very rapidly. The authorities were most anxious to encourage sheep-farming, and in 1654 the exportation of sheep was forbidden. In Rhode Island and Connecticut they flourished upon the public lands, and by 1670 the latter colony was able to export a fairly large quantity of wool.

During the whole period there was a great lack of specie, which in the early years had not been a very serious drawback, as barter was the ordinary method of exchange, but as the colonies advanced in importance it was a decided check upon foreign commerce. In 1631, Massachusetts declared corn to be legal tender, and four years later it was ordained that public dues were to be paid in this commodity at the rate of 6s. per bushel. This system was employed in the next decade by both Connecticut and Newhaven, with decidedly disadvantageous results, for it brought about the inconvenience of a double price; the monetary payment being about half the actual value of the payment in kind. For many years in the Indian trade the settlers had used Indian shell money or wampum. This medium of exchange was first applied in New Plymouth in 1627, and was afterwards employed by Coddington when he bought Aquedneck. In 1641, wampum was declared legal tender under£10, but within eight years the Massachusetts Assembly refused to accept it for taxes. The fact was that it depended solely upon Indian trade, and when this began to decline, wampum was valueless. Rhode Island was the last colony to discontinue its use for taxes, which it did in 1662; though it acted as small change in Newhaven well into the eighteenth century.

As early as 1642, Massachusetts, by means of its foreign trade, began to obtain coined money in the shape of Dutch ducats and rix-dollars. But the extraordinary mixture of coins was very awkward, so that in 1652 a mint was established in the colony. John Hall, the goldsmith of Boston, was made its master. The coins had stamped upon them the word Massachusetts encircling a tree, which was in early years a willow, later an oak, and finally a pine. Charles II. was furious at this attack upon his coinage, and the story goes that to appease his wrath he was told that the emblem of the oak was in grateful memory of his glorious escape at Boscobel.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century the amount of coin in the country had very largely increased, but in the commercially backward Connecticut, barter was still common. As late as 1698, gold was very scarce, and taxes continued to be paid entirely in silver. The colonists firmly believed in the enriching powers of paper money, which in New England was issued in particularly large quantities by Rhode Island. The real disadvantage was intercolonial, and not internal, so that most of the colonists failed to understand the interference of the home authorities, either in 1740, when the Lords Commissioners forTrade and Plantations forbade the governors to sanction the issue of bills of credit, or again in 1744, when an Act of Parliament was passed forbidding paper money altogether. The fact was that the settlers believed, like Governor Burnet, "that this manner of compulsive credit does in fact keep up its value here, and that it occasions much more trade and business than would be without it, and that more specie is exported to England by reason of these Paper Bills than could be if there was no circulation but of specie."[216]

It is not surprising that the colonists should also labour under the economic delusion that it was necessary to regulate wages and prices. At first Massachusetts left them both free, but after three years, wages were found to have risen to what was then regarded as the monstrous rate of 3s. a day for carpenters and 2s. 6d. a day for common workmen. In 1633, therefore, a scale of wages was proposed by the General Court, and "they made an order that carpenters, masons, etc., should take but two shillings the day, and labourers but eighteenpence, and that no commodity should be sold at above fourpence in the shilling more than it cost for ready money in England."[217]The enactment, however, proved fruitless, and was repealed two years later. The enormous rise in wages and the extortionate prices still exercised the minds of those in authority, and a committee was appointed in 1637. The outcome of their deliberations was that about 1643 the wages of farm labourers were fixed at 1s. 6d. a day. This remuneration appears tohave been ample, and it has been calculated that a careful man could save enough in five years to become the tenant of a small farm. This was not so difficult as it might seem, for small holdings were common, and as succession was by gavelkind and not through primogeniture, holdings tended to be kept limited in extent. The accumulation of land was rather the exception than the rule, though there are occasional examples, as in Newhaven, where some estates contained as many as three thousand acres.

The thriftless man could not, of course, save very much out of such a wage, and there were therefore many paupers. The burden of their support fell upon the towns, and in the case of New Plymouth, it was not long before the township became "the poor law unit."[218]The decision as to a man's settlement caused as much difficulty in the Puritan colonies as it was doing in England at the time. In 1639, Massachusetts ordained that two magistrates should decide this momentous question. Six years later the power of decision was put in the hands of a committee; while immediately before the Restoration a three months' residence was selected as the period of settlement necessary to denote a man's parish.

The richer inhabitants of the Puritan colonies no doubt had slaves, but throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries negro slavery in New England was never a very flourishing institution. The tenets of Calvinism naturally warred against such a practice, while "the main influence ... was no doubt the unfitness of the climate and soil for servile industry."[219]The Rhode Island authorities were from the firstagainst perpetual bondage, and in 1646, Massachusetts also raised its voice against slavery. As late as 1680 there were, according to Governor Brodstreet, only one hundred and twenty negro slaves in the colony, and they sold for £10, £15, and £20 apiece. The methods of employment do not seem to have been harsh, and according to Mrs Knight in 1704, the slaves and masters in Connecticut had their meals together: "into the dish goes the black hoof as freely as the white hand."[220]Towards the end of the seventeenth century slavery slightly increased in New England, and it was found necessary to pass several laws for the better regulation of the negro. In 1703, in Massachusetts, slaves were not to be set free unless their masters guaranteed that they would not become a burden on the poor rate. Two years later the marriage between slaves and whites was forbidden, and a £4 duty was placed upon every imported negro. In 1708 the blacks in Rhode Island numbered only four hundred and twenty-six, but within twelve years they had risen to one thousand, three hundred. At the same time Connecticut had eight hundred, while Massachusetts was the worst offender with three thousand.

The actions and protestations of the New Englanders were somewhat contradictory. Although negro slavery was preached against, it was nevertheless practised. So too with regard to the Indians. The New Englander treated the savage with contempt, yet several efforts were made, not without some success, to convert the Redskin to the Christian faith. Thomas Mayhew has earned for himself historic fame by being the first who really made definite attempts to bringthe natives into touch with the doctrines of Christianity. In 1643, with the ready assistance of his Indian colleague Hiacoomes, he did what he could, and at least succeeded in founding schools in some of the Indian villages. Massachusetts made state efforts in 1646, but they were surpassed by the individual enterprise of John Eliot of Roxbury, who had laboriously learnt the Indian tongue to accomplish this great work. Excellent as the work was, it compares but feebly with the self-denial of the Jesuits in Canada, whose missionary labours far surpassed in deeds of heroism and suffering anything that was ever undertaken by the English settlers. A progressive move was made in 1649, when Parliament incorporated the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England. The work then spread more rapidly, so that in two years a convert settlement of four hundred "praying Indians" was established at Natich. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was encouraged to still further action when in 1662 it was granted a Royal Charter. For this reason it may be said that the Restoration stimulated missionary effort, the partial success of which is to be found in the issue of an Indian Bible and the creation of converted Indian villages in Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.

In New England the church and township were inseparable, their members being for the most part Congregationalists. In the early days a body of believers simply entered into a Church covenant and that was all. The methods of worship were somewhat peculiar, and it is asserted that for sixty years these Puritans had no marriage or funeral ceremonies.Throughout all the colonies there was the principle that the members of the church must support their minister, and in 1637 Massachusetts issued an order to that effect. In 1650 Connecticut and in 1657 Plymouth did the same. The Churches were separate in their governance, and the synods of United Churches held at Boston in 1646, 1657, and 1662 were not viewed with entire favour by all the congregations. At first, as has already been shown, the Puritans were the most intolerant of people, and tried to enforce the law that a freeman must be a member of the Church. Gradually, however, this fanatic flame burnt itself out, and by the end of the seventeenth century the intensity of feeling on matters of Church and toleration began to relax. Fifty years later there were men in Massachusetts and elsewhere who blushed for shame at the harsh bigotry of their grand-parents, and one writer is able to say "at present the Congregationalists of New England may be esteemed among the most moderate and charitable of Christian professions."[221]Nevertheless even in that eighteenth century there was no lack of factions and parties, and this was intensified by the preaching of George Whitefield in 1739. He certainly created a religious revival amongst the dissenters, but at the same time his words drove many of the Independents into the arms of the Church of England, which, though by no means welcomed in Massachusetts, had long been tolerated in Connecticut. Even after this event, however, the Established Church never really succeeded in the colonies, for there was no colonial episcopate, and it was regarded as doing little or nothing for spiritual life. In 1758, Archbishop Thomas Seeker urgedmanfully "the establishment of Bishops of our Church in America,"[222]but it was too late, and the fear of such an establishment was a main cause of uneasiness in New England at the outbreak of the War of Independence.

The lack of unanimity in the religious question does not seem to have existed with regard to education. Unlike the southern and middle colonies, the Puritans from the outset encouraged the education of the young with praiseworthy enthusiasm. This owed its origin to several circumstances, not the least being the fact that so many men from the two ancient Universities emigrated during the period 1630 to 1640. The foundation of Harvard, as already mentioned,[223]did something to encourage teaching. In 1640, Rhode Island, with extraordinary promptitude, established public education, but without any definite system. Seven years later, Massachusetts went further still by creating elementary schools in small villages of fifty householders, and grammar schools in the larger and more populous towns. The same was done in Connecticut; but curiously enough New Plymouth seems to have done nothing for education until the end of the seventeenth century. Providence had its own school three years after the Restoration; and by 1693 Hartford, Newhaven, New London, and Fairfield were all in possession of state-supported schools. Connecticut's energy did not stop here; for Yale College was founded, and in 1717 was permanently established at Newhaven, where a house had been built "for the entertainment of the scholars belonging to the Collegiate School."[224]Thus the clergy ofConnecticut were freed from their dependence upon Harvard. For nothing does New England deserve more unstinted praise than for these early efforts in the cause of education, the results of which have proved so eminently satisfactory.

Whether University education had much effect upon the literature of New England it would perhaps be a little difficult to say. Connecticut, for example, even with Yale College as a starting-point, produced no great literary achievements. Nevertheless throughout the first century of New England's story there was a well-defined and living school of literature. The school naturally divided into two parts: that of theology, which to the ordinary modern critic is somewhat meaningless; and that of history. The historical section was composed for the most part of chronicles, glowing with patriotism, alive with the picture of the daily life, and filled with "a dignity of diction belonging to those who have assimilated the English Bible till their speech instinctively adopts its form."[225]There was the work of Winthrop; the impulsive, triumphal hymn of Edward Johnson; "The Simple Cobbler of Agawam" of Nathaniel Ward, and the writings of many others. But this period of history and theology died away as the century neared its close. At the beginning of the eighteenth century Cotton Mather may be regarded as one of the best known of Boston authors. But the curious thing about the New England literature is the total absence of anything that might be called secular. The colonies, however, were not without their poets, for they had Anne Bradstreet and MichaelGigglesworth, the works of both of whom were recognised in the seventeenth century as being of real poetical merit.

This outburst of literature could never have been accomplished had it not been for the introduction of the printing-press. As early as 1638 a press was brought by Day to Boston and set up at Cambridge. A second press was introduced in 1655 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Rhode Island had its press in 1708; while Short of Boston established printing in New London, Connecticut, in 1709. By the end of the seventeenth century newspapers began to be printed, such asThe Public Occurance both Foreign and Domesticat Boston in 1690, to be followed fourteen years later by John Campbell'sBoston Letter.

The increase of newspapers was the natural outcome of better means of travel and circulation of news. At first the different townships had been divided by vast forests; gradually, however, roads were built and communication between the different settlements was established. As early as 1638, three bridges were ordered to be built in Plymouth, and in 1652 we read of bridges that were strong enough for horsemen. Travelling, however, was generally on foot, for coaches were very rare and were only possessed by the more wealthy citizens of Boston. A postal service was established in the reign of Charles II. between Boston and New York; but it was not until 1710 that a General Post Office, with several sub-offices, was erected by Act of Parliament. The inns were not of any particular comfort, though they were fairly numerous. The Puritan was not hospitable like his southernbrother, so that throughout New England taverns were insisted upon by law.

This was probably an excellent enactment and far better than many of the extraordinary laws that stained the pages of the New England records. Numerous sumptuary laws were passed against the wearing of gold or silver girdles, ruffs, or slashed sleeves. Drunkards had to proclaim their fault by wearing a red D; while Hawthorne'sScarlet Letterhas familiarised all with the cruel punishment meted out to the fallen woman. In 1658, lying, drinking, and swearing could be punished by flogging; dancing and kissing also fell under severe penalties, though Cotton does say he only condemns "lascivious dancing to wanton ditties and in amorous gestures and wanton dalliances, especially after great feasts."[226]The attempt to prevent immorality was carried to the most absurd lengths, and even in the eighteenth century stage plays and rope dancing were forbidden as "likely to promote idleness and a great mispence of time."[227]

The laws may have been foolish, but it is perhaps uncharitable to judge them too sternly at this period. The men who passed them were undoubtedly conscientious; harsh they may have been, cruel in their punishments, but their hearts were in what they conceived to be the work of the Lord. They were bold men in a "howling wilderness"; they were the pioneers of a great nation. The American spirit to-day is compounded of much that once animatedthese first Americans on the eastern sea-coast. Their industry, their untiring energy, their honesty, their masculine character have been handed down through many generations to descendants not unworthy of such an ancestry as that of the Pilgrim Fathers.

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