diff options
Diffstat (limited to '40244-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 40244-0.txt | 10347 |
1 files changed, 10347 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/40244-0.txt b/40244-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fed5d64 --- /dev/null +++ b/40244-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10347 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40244 *** + + +-----------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | The ^, used in some abbreviations, has | + | been retained. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------+ + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA + + + + +[Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON _From the painting attributed +to Gilbert Stuart in the National Portrait Gallery._] + + + + + THE HISTORY + OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES + OF NORTH AMERICA + 1497-1763 + + + + + BY + REGINALD W. JEFFERY, M.A. + BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD + + + + + WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP + + + + + METHUEN & CO. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + +_First Published in 1908_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +It has been my object in this small book to put into a handy form a +short narrative of the History of the Thirteen Colonies. In the limited +space at my command I have endeavoured to give as often as possible the +actual words of contemporaries, hoping that the reader may thereby be +tempted to search further for himself amongst the mass of documentary +evidence which still needs so much careful study. I cannot send this +book into the world without acknowledging my indebtedness to both the +Beit Professor of Colonial History, Mr H. E. Egerton, and the Beit +Lecturer on Colonial History, Mr W. L. Grant, whose kind suggestions +have proved most valuable. At the same time I must thank Mr E. L. S. +Horsburgh, for by his action the writing of this little work was made +possible. + + R. W. J. + + OXFORD, 1908 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I + + INTRODUCTION: EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES TO NORTH AMERICA + + Spanish, French, and Dutch colonisation--English colonisation + --The Cabotian discoveries--The Cabots' second voyage--The + Bull of Alexander VI.--The voyages of John Rut and Master Hore + --Newfoundland Fishery--Cabot, Willoughby, and Chancellor--The + attraction of the West--The North-West Passage--Martin + Frobisher--Sir Humphrey Gilbert--Sir John Hawkins and Sir + Francis Drake--Sir Walter Raleigh--The Elizabethan Period 1 + + + CHAPTER II + + VIRGINIA: THE FIRST GREAT COLONY OF THE BRITISH + + Character of the men--Raleigh's Virginian colonies--Motives + for colonisation--Gosnold and Pring--Richard Hakluyt--Elizabeth + and James I.--Formation of the London and Plymouth Companies-- + The government of the London Company--The Virginian settlers-- + Foundation of Jamestown--Captain John Smith--The lust for gold + --Smith's good work--English interest in Virginia--Sir George + Somers and Sir Thomas Gates--Lord Delawarr--Improvements in + Virginia--The Princess Pocahontas--Samuel Argall--Sir Thomas + Dale--Yeardley and the first Representative Assembly--The + Company in danger--The abolition of the Company--A change in + the character of Virginian history--Wyatt and Harvey as + Governors--A land of peace and plenty--Sir William Berkeley + --Trouble with the Indians--Virginia and the Civil War-- + Berkeley's dislike of education--Arlington and Culpeper-- + Virginia under Berkeley--Bacon's rising--Sir Herbert Jeffreys + --Virginia and the Revolution--Virginia in the eighteenth + century--Robert Dinwiddie 19 + + + CHAPTER III + + THE COLONISATION OF MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS + + The colonisation of Maryland--Lord Baltimore--Leonard Calvert + --Quarrel over the Isle of Kent--The Civil War--The Commonwealth + --Lord Baltimore restored--A spirit of unrest in Maryland-- + Francis Nicholson--Irreligion of the colonists--Industry in + Maryland--The Carolinas--The foundation of the colony--Its + progress--The Fundamental Constitutions--State of anarchy-- + South Carolina--William Sayle--Joseph West--Amalgamation of + the two Carolinas--Danger from French and Spaniards--Queen + Anne's War--Indian troubles--The Treaty of Utrecht--The + Carolinas become a Crown colony--Interest of Carolina history 54 + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE PURITANS IN PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS + + Character of New England colonies--The Plymouth Company--The + Puritans--William Bradford--The Pilgrim Fathers--The + foundation of New Plymouth--Life in the colony--Description + of the colony--Development of government--The Civil War-- + Ineffectual attempts to obtain a charter--The foundation of + Massachusetts--Ferdinando Gorges, John White, and John + Endecott--A charter granted--John Winthrop--Government of + Massachusetts--Puritan intolerance--Roger Williams--Harry + Vane, John Wheelwright, and Mrs Anne Hutchinson--Harvard + College--The New England Confederacy--Massachusetts and the + Home Government--Brutality to Quakers--King Philip's War-- + Edward Randolph's complaints--The rule of Sir Edmund Andros + --The Revolution of 1688--A new charter--Sir William Phipps + --The Earl of Bellomont and Governor Fletcher--Advance of + the colony 76 + + + CHAPTER V + + CONNECTICUT; RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATION; NEW + HAVEN; MAINE; NEW HAMPSHIRE + + Quarrelsome provinces--The foundation of Connecticut--The Pequod + War--The Restoration--Sir Edmund Andros--Connecticut's progress + --Foundation of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation--Samuel + Gorton--Government of the colony--The Royal Commissioners in + Rhode Island--James II. and the Revolution--The foundation of + New Haven--The regicides in New Haven--The foundation of Maine + --Sir Ferdinando Gorges--The Restoration in Maine--Descriptions + of Maine--Gorges sells his rights--The foundation of New + Hampshire--The greed of Massachusetts--New Hampshire and the + Revolution--The necessity of union 107 + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE FIGHT WITH THE DUTCH FOR THEIR SETTLEMENT OF NEW NETHERLANDS + + The Dutch Wars--The position of New York--The New Netherlands + --Stuyvesant's attack on New Sweden--Nicolls' attack on the + New Netherlands--Splendid work of Nicolls--The character of + New York--Government of New York and Albany--Francis Lovelace + --The Dutch recapture New York--New Jersey--Thomas Dongan--The + Leisler Rising--Lack of a Constitution--The Earl of Bellomont + and Lord Cornbury--Governors of the early eighteenth century + --Lucrative character of governor's post 128 + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE QUAKER SETTLEMENTS AND GEORGIA + + The Quakers in America--East and West New Jersey--Delaware-- + The Jerseys under one governor--The Jerseys united--William + Penn--The foundation of Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--Penn's + constitution--The Revolution and after--Penn regains + proprietorship--Intercolonial disputes--An asylum of rest-- + John and Thomas Penn--The foundation of Georgia--Oglethorpe's + difficulties--John and Charles Wesley--War with Spain--Attack + on St. Augustine--Oglethorpe's daring--Quarrels concerning + slavery--Oglethorpe's work--Georgia becomes a Crown colony-- + The coming struggle with France 146 + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND + + Population of Puritan colonies--Towns--Wooden houses--Industry + and commerce--Minor industries--Shipbuilding--Eighteenth-century + commerce--Agriculture--Want of money--The colonial mint--Paper + money--Wages and prices--The poor-law--Slavery--Missionary + efforts--Religion--Education--Literature--Printing--Means of + travel--Curious laws--The character of the settlers 168 + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN + AND MIDDLE COLONIES + + Character of the colonies--Classes in colonial society-- + Indentured servants--Slavery--White population--Industry + and commerce--Money--Education--Literature--Religion--Town + life--Conclusion 187 + + + CHAPTER X + + THE FRENCH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA + + Early French voyages--Jacques Cartier--The Marquis de la Roche + --Samuel Champlain--A passage to the East--The Franciscans and + Jesuits--The Company of the One Hundred Associates--Character + of Champlain--Colbert and colonisation--The Company of the West + --System of government--Count Frontenac--Western discoveries-- + Joliet and Marquette--La Salle--The Mississippi--La Salle's great + expedition--His failure--His place in history--The Iroquois--The + Treaty of Utrecht 200 + + + CHAPTER XI + + FRENCH AGGRESSION + + The colonies were not united--Dongan and Denonville--King + William's war--The Albany Conference--Expedition against Quebec + --The Abenaki Indians--Incapacity of the colonies--The Treaty + of Ryswick--The War of the Spanish Succession--The horrors of + Indian warfare--Samuel Vetch--Colonial jealousies--English + indifference--The capture of Acadia--Colonial fear of English + interference--The English view of the colonials--The Hill-Walker + expedition--Walker's cowardice--The character of the expedition + --The Treaty of Utrecht--A lost opportunity--Relations between + Indians and Canadian Government--The French scheme--Crown Point + --The War of the Austrian Succession--Louisburg--Character of + forces--The capture of Louisburg--Shirley's plans--The Treaty + of Aix-la-Chapelle 224 + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE CLIMAX: THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONISTS + + The colonial share in the capture of Canada--The internal + jealousies of the colonies--French aggression in the Ohio + valley--George Washington--Results of the campaign of 1754-- + Character of General Braddock--Schemes for 1755--Braddock's + disaster--The work of Dinwiddie and Johnson--The deportation + of the Acadians--The results of the campaign of 1755--The + Seven Years' War--The character of the Marquis de Montcalm-- + Webb, Abercromby, and Loudoun--Unsuccessful attack upon + Louisburg--Montcalm at Fort William Henry--The rise of William + Pitt--The plan of campaign of 1758--The character of General + Wolfe--The capture of Louisburg--Abercromby's disaster at + Ticonderoga--The character of Lord Howe--Capture of Forts + Frontenac and Duquesne--The campaigns of 1759--Amherst's + delay--The siege of Quebec--English despair--The discovery of + the path--Death of Wolfe--Wolfe and Montcalm--The climax--The + collapse of the French Empire in the West--The rise of a new + nation 254 + + CHRONOLOGY 285 + + BIBLIOGRAPHY 296 + + INDEX 299 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + GEORGE WASHINGTON _Frontispiece_ + + _From the painting attributed to Gilbert Stuart in the + National Portrait Gallery._ + + _To face page_ + + SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 14 + + _From an engraving by J. Honbraken in the British + Museum._ + + + CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 30 + + _From an engraving in his "Generall Historie of Virginia."_ + + + MAP OF NORTH AMERICA, 1755 144 + + + WILLIAM PITT, LORD CHATHAM 166 + + _From the painting by W. Hoare in the National Portrait + Gallery._ + + + QUEBEC FROM POINT LEVY IN 1761 200 + + _From an engraving by R. Short._ + + + THE MARQUIS DE MONTCALM 246 + + _From a painting by J. B. Massé._ + + + GENERAL JAMES WOLFE 270 + + _From the picture by Schaak in the National Portrait + Gallery._ + + + THE DEATH OF WOLFE 278 + + _After the painting by B. West._ + + + + +THE HISTORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION: EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES TO NORTH AMERICA + + +It would be out of place in this small book to give in detail a history +of all the discoveries which were made along the shores of North and +South America at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth +centuries. As the main object is to depict briefly the political history +of the Thirteen English Colonies on the North American seaboard, it will +be unnecessary to say more than a few words about the discoverers whose +enterprise and bravery made colonisation possible. With the Spanish, +French, and Dutch voyagers it is not proposed to deal; their stories are +well known, and affected but little the establishment of our early +settlements in the West. Like the British nation, these three peoples +also strove to create lasting empires in America; but unlike their +rival, they failed. The Spaniards made the fatal error of attempting to +settle during the period of exploration. They based their colonies upon +slavery, and a mistaken commercial policy; and the sparseness of their +colonists made them incapable of contending against the pressure of +surrounding savagery. The result was that they, who were without the +traditions of public morality and who were to a certain extent lacking +in administrative powers, became intermixed with the inferior races with +whom they came in contact. The French were no more successful in their +endeavours to establish a New France beyond the sea; they failed, partly +because of the French temperament, and partly through obvious errors. +The French character was buoyant and cheerful--both excellent natural +gifts for colonists--but they were unable to combine the spirit of +adventure with that patient commercial industry which so wonderfully +distinguished the Puritan emigrants. The Dutch might have proved serious +rivals to the British in the West had they been able to rise from the +position of mere traders, and had they had a sufficiently large +population on which to draw. Their commercial system deteriorated, +becoming uneconomic and non-progressive; while their arduous and gallant +struggle against Philip II. and Alva had necessarily handicapped them in +the race for colonial aggrandisement. + +The English, in strong contrast to these competitors, never drew a +distinct or sharp line between the soldier and the trader. The story of +Great Britain's expansion contains the names of hundreds of gallant +heroes, but they were at the same time sober and industrious men. The +plodding and commercial characteristics possessed by the British +colonial saved him from perpetrating those foolish errors of the +Spaniard which arose from a desire to gain rapid wealth and a tawdry +glory. One fact stands out pre-eminent amongst the reasons of British +success--the English kept their period of exploration almost entirely +separate from their epoch of settlement. The glorious dreams of +Eldorado, the visions of the golden city of Manoa had been dispersed +like a morning mist when the period of colonisation dawned bright and +clear at the beginning of the seventeenth century. + +The period which coincides with the reign of Henry VII. forms one of the +greatest epochs of history; it was indeed the veritable Renaissance, the +birth of the New World. It was at this moment that the history of +America, the modern history of England, and the present history of +Europe practically began. These startling facts were due to the +simultaneous discoveries in the East and the West. The voyages of +Bartholomew Diaz, of Christopher Columbus, and of Vasco de Gama might +well have astonished the world, but seem to have had very little effect +upon the English as a nation. England was not yet ready to take up the +position of Mistress of the Seas; the time was not yet ripe for colonial +advancement. The country, from both political and social points of view, +was still suffering from the confusion and anarchy which had resulted +from the rule of the Lancastrians, and from the chaos left by the Wars +of the Roses. Two men, however, seem to have understood something of the +possibilities that lay open to them in the West. John and his son +Sebastian Cabot, of Genoese stock, but sometime resident in Venice, +sailed, under the patronage of Henry VII., from Bristol, in 1497, to +discover the island of Cathay. John Cabot is described as one who had +"made himself very expert and cunning in knowledge of the circuit of the +world and Ilands of the same, as by a Sea card and other +demonstrations."[1] The royal charter, granted to these men in March +1496, contained a most important clause, "to saile to all parts, +countreys, and seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under +our banners and ensignes, ... to set up our banners and ensignes in +every village, towne, castle, isle, or maine land of them newly found +... as our vassals, and lieutenants, getting unto us the rule, title, +and jurisdiction of the same."[2] Bacon, in his _History of Henry VII._, +refers to Cabot's now celebrated voyage. "There was one Sebastian +Gabato, a Venetian living in Bristow, a man seen and expert in +cosmography and navigation. This man seeing the success and emulating +perhaps the enterprise of Christopherus Columbus in that fortunate +discovery towards the south-west, which had been by him made some six +years before, conceited with himself that lands might likewise be +discovered towards the north-west. And surely it may be that he had more +firm and pregnant conjectures of it than Columbus had of his at the +first. For the two great islands of the Old and New World, being in the +shape and making of them broad towards the north and pointed towards the +south, it is likely that the discovery just began where the lands did +meet. And there had been before that time a discovery of some lands +which they took to be islands, and were indeed of America towards the +north-west."[3] Bacon is here calling attention to what has since become +the great controversial question of whether or not the Norsemen +discovered the American continent in the eleventh century. It is very +improbable that the Cabots knew anything of this tradition; and this +voyage was solely the outcome of the discoveries of Columbus. Their +object is definitely stated to have been a "great desire to traffique +for the spices as the Portingals did."[4] It is a remarkable fact that +very little is known of this voyage, and there are practically no +English records available in which to find the history of so great an +event. A Bristol book contains this terse mention of the exploring +expedition: "In the year 1497, the 24th of June, on St John's day, was +Newfoundland found by Bristol men in a ship called the _Mathew_."[5] +Carrying out the commands of the charter, John Cabot and his son planted +the English standard upon American soil, but they did little besides: no +explorations were made into the interior; they were completely satisfied +with the all-important fact of discovery. As a proof of their success, +Sebastian Cabot brought back three Indians "in their demeanour like to +bruite beastes," but who seem to have settled down and taken up English +customs, for Robert Fabian says, "of the which upon two yeeres after, I +saw two apparelled after the maner of Englishmen in Westminster pallace, +which that time I could not discerne from Englishmen."[6] + +The restless ambition of the Cabots incited them to a further voyage in +February 1498, the charter on this occasion being granted only to the +father. They again started from Bristol, and sailed along the North +American coasts from the ice-bound shores of Newfoundland[7] to the +sunny Carolinas or Florida. The younger Cabot afterwards wrote that he +sailed "unto the Latitude of 67 degrees and a halfe under the North Pole +... finding still the open Sea without any maner of impediment, he +thought verily by that way to have passed on still the way to Cathaia +which is in the East."[8] This voyage is recorded by Sir Humphrey +Gilbert, and was frequently quoted as a reason for England's claim to +North America. "The countreys lying north of Florida, God hath reserved +the same to be reduced unto Christian civility by the English nation. +For not long after that Christopher Columbus had discovered the Islands +and continent of the West Indies for Spaine, John and Sebastian Cabot +made discovery also of the rest from Florida northwards to the behoofe +of England."[9] The Cabots disappear from English history for a time and +there are no records of the reception of this voyage. It was undoubtedly +of twofold importance; it started that "will o' the wisp" of the +North-West Passage, that led so many men to risk and lose their lives; +and it may also be regarded as the foundation-stone of the English power +in the West. + +The next few years of the history of the exploration of America is +filled with the records of Spaniards, Italians, and Frenchmen. The +voyage of the Bristol merchants by which North America had just been +discovered had no effect, and awakened no enthusiasm in the hearts of +the English during the early portion of the sixteenth century. Henry +VII. and his more adventurous son were both such severe and orthodox +Catholics that they hesitated to trespass upon the limitations laid down +by the bull of Alexander VI., by which everything on the western side of +an imaginary line between the forty-first and forty-fourth meridians +west of Greenwich belonged to Spain; while the Brazil coast, the East +Indies, and Africa south of the Canary Islands fell to Portugal. +Between 1500 and 1550 only two true voyages of discovery have been +chronicled. The first was in 1527, when a canon of St Paul's, +erroneously named Albert de Prado, sailed with two ships in search of +the Indies. It is probable that this was the voyage of John Rut of the +Royal Navy, with whom, there is reason to suppose, a Spaniard, called +Albert de Prado, sailed. They failed to make any real discoveries, but +brought back a cargo of fish from the inhospitable shores of +Newfoundland and Labrador. The second voyage was that of Master Hore, in +1536, who, it is supposed, set out in the spirit of a Crusader, but who +was more probably a briefless barrister accompanied by "many gentlemen +of the Innes of Court and of the Chancery."[10] They were shipwrecked on +the Newfoundland coast, where, as none of them knew how to fish, and +although Hore told them they would go to unquenchable fire, they began +to eat one another. "On the fieldes and deserts here and there, the +fellowe killed his mate, while he stooped to take up a roote for his +reliefe, and cutting out pieces of his bodie whom he had murthered, +broyled the same on the coles and greedily devoured them."[11] Luckily +for the remainder, a French ship was blown into the harbour, and they +seized her with all the food she had on board, sailing home in safety, +leaving the French sailors to a horrible fate, which they seemed to have +escaped; for "certaine moneths after, those Frenchmen came into England +and made complaint to King Henry the 8: the king ... was so mooved with +pitie, that he punished not his subjects, but of his owne purse made +full and royale recompense unto the French."[12] + +The two voyages here set forth are the only ones that are actually +recorded, but there is reason for supposing that English ships were +quite familiar with the coast of what was afterwards called Maine. +Between 1501 and 1510 there are many scattered intimations of English +voyages; and one patent in particular, in the first year of the +sixteenth century, shows that men of some importance were granted leave +to sail and discover in the West. In 1503 a man brought hawks from +Newfoundland to Henry VII.; and in the next year a priest is paid £2 to +go to the same island. In or about the eighth year of Henry VIII., +Sebastian Cabot was again in the employ of the English and in command of +an expedition to Brazil, which only failed owing to "the cowardise and +want of stomack" of his partner, Sir Thomas Pert.[13] It is evident from +the first Act of Parliament relating to America, passed in 1541, that +the Newfoundland fishery was carried on by Devonshire fishermen almost +continuously from the discovery of the island; and the Act of 1548, +prohibiting the exaction of dues, shows "that the trade out of England +to Newfoundland was common."[14] Anthony Parkhurst corroborates this +fact in a letter to Richard Hakluyt in 1578, in which he says, "The +Englishmen, who commonly are lords of the harbors where they fish, and +do use all strangers helpe in fishing if need require, according to an +old custome of the countrey."[15] It may, therefore, be inferred that +the growth of the Newfoundland fisheries, together with the increasing +knowledge of the country and its products, helped to suggest to the +Englishmen of the period the possibilities of future colonisation. + +The great voyager Sebastian Cabot returned to England in 1548 from his +sojourn in Spain. Under the patronage of Charles V. he had made several +voyages, including one of particular importance to the Rio de la Plata. +On his arrival in England he was rewarded by Edward VI. with a pension +of £166, 13s. 4d., as a slight evidence of that king's appreciation of +his manifold services. Old man though he was, his mind still ran on the +discovery of a North-West, or North-East Passage to the Indies, and he +became the governor of a company of merchant adventurers for the +discovery of regions beyond the sea. He did not participate in any of +these discoveries, "because there are nowe many yong and lustie Pilots +and Mariners of good experience, by whose forwardnesse I doe rejoyce in +the fruit of my labours and rest with the charge of this office."[16] +Amongst the young and lusty pilots were Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard +Chancellor, who turned their attentions to a North-East passage. The +former died on his vessel in the midst of the ice floes in 1553, while +the latter succeeded in reaching Archangel, and so brought about, +through a successor, Anthony Jenkinson, the foundation of the Muscovy +Company. + +It was, however, the discovery of America, and in particular of the +North-West Passage, that offered great inducements to Englishmen. The +American continent had an ever fascinating attraction, for the reports +of its vast wealth drew adventurous spirits as with a magnet. The gold +of Mexico and Peru dazzled their eyes and made them hope to find some +similar hoard on every barren strip of shore from Patagonia to +Newfoundland. "It was thought that in those unknown lands, peopled by +'anthropophagi and men whose heads did grow beneath their shoulders,' +lay all the treasures of the earth. That was an irresistible temptation +to the great merchants of England, citizens of no mean city, pursuing no +ignoble nor sordid trade."[17] Thus early in the reign of Elizabeth +there was an attempt at American plantation; it certainly was only an +attempt, for it in no way furthered the schemes of colonisation. Thomas +Stukeley, a member of a good Devonshire family, planned, with the +sanction of the queen, in 1563, to colonise Florida. He made the fatal +mistake of so many others, of converting a colonising expedition into +one of mere buccaneering. Spanish and French vessels were his real +objects, not the foundation of an English settlement in the New World. +The scheme naturally failed; and Stukeley removed his activities to +Barbary, where he met a glorious death amongst the chivalry of Portugal +upon the classic field of Alcazar. + +The search for the North-West Passage was even more tempting than the +projection of imaginary colonies in the South; it opened before the eyes +of speculative voyagers a promise of all the wealth of the East. A large +proportion of Hakluyt's great prose epic--that marvellous work of +adventure--is filled with the search for Cathay. That mystic land became +the purpose and the goal of hundreds of seamen who, during the +centuries, struggled and toiled through overwhelming perils, ever to be +baffled by the solid and impenetrable ice. Those wild north seas seem +to have caused little terror to the Tudor sea-dogs; Master Thorne, for +example, deserves to live in the memory of Englishmen for all time +simply for one remark with which he is credited. When the objection of +the ice was proposed to him, he waived it on one side with words which +might well be taken as the motto of the British Empire: "There is no +land unhabitable and no sea innavigable."[18] Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in +particular, tried to encourage men to push forward in their adventurous +discoveries, and there is no doubt that his famous work, _A Discourse to +prove a passage by the North West to Cathaya and the East Indies_, did a +great deal to stimulate men in their hopeless task. + +It was largely due to this _Discourse_ that Martin Frobisher sailed to +find the tantalising passage, in June 1576, under the patronage of the +all-powerful Earl of Warwick. He sighted Greenland, and then reached +that inlet on the American coast which he called Frobisher Bay. He +brought back with him samples of a black stone which were supposed to +contain gold, and thus added the temptation of easily acquired wealth to +the sufficiently delusive and dangerous task of discovering the passage. +The possibility of mineral wealth in the Arctic Regions brought about +the formation of the Company of Cathay, under the government of Michael +Lok; and as its Captain-General, Frobisher undertook a second voyage in +May 1577. His object was "the further discovering of the passage to +Cathay, and other Countreys, thereunto adjacent, by West North-West +navigations: which passage or way is supposed to be on the North and +North-West part of America ... where through our Merchants may have +course and recourse with their merchandise."[19] Frobisher took +possession of the barren territory, and on his return Queen Elizabeth +"named it very properly Meta Incognita, as a marke and bound utterly +hitherto unknown."[20] The gold-refiners of London were still deceived +by the black stones; and again Frobisher sailed, in May 1578, to work +this imaginary mine. He took with him on this occasion "a strong fort or +house of timber" for the shelter of "one hundreth persons, whereof 40 +should be mariners for the use of ships, 30 Miners for gathering the +gold Ore together for the next yere, and 30 souldiers for the better +guard of the rest, within which last number are included the Gentlemen, +Gold finers, Bakers, Carpenters & all necessary persons."[21] This might +be regarded as an early attempt to found a colony, for Frobisher seems +to have hoped to establish a thriving industry in this desolate and +ice-bound land; but as a matter of fact these "necessary persons" did +nothing at all except to discover an island which existed only in their +imaginations, and they returned to England in the autumn. Frobisher's +efforts as a discoverer now ceased; for his seamanship and courage were +required in home waters for the protection of his native land. + +[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE _From an engraving by J. +Honbraken in the British Museum._] + +Sir Humphrey Gilbert, half-brother of Raleigh, was the "first of our +nation that carried people to erect an habitation and government in +those northerly countreys of America."[22] He was a man bold in action +and chivalrous in character; he was one of those giants of the +Elizabethan period, and if he had any faults they were only those of his +age, while his virtues were all his own. As early as 1563 he was +connected with schemes for colonisation in the formation of a company +for the discovery of new trades. He it is who has the proud position of +being the founder of our premier colony, Newfoundland. In 1578, letters +patent were granted to him by Queen Elizabeth for establishing a colony +in North America. He made his first voyage in that year, sailing from +Dartmouth in September. The expedition was a complete failure, and +fearing lest his patent should expire, he undertook that voyage which +has made him one of the most famous men in history. In 1583 he sailed to +Newfoundland, and took possession in the name of the Virgin Queen, "and +signified unto al men, that from that time forward, they should take the +same land as a territorie appertaining to the Queene of England."[23] +His great action was not allowed to be forgotten; the gallant knight +himself never saw England again, but passed to his grave beneath the +rough waters of the Atlantic. Hakluyt, however, printed the story of an +eye-witness, Edward Hayes, who gave a graphic account of the whole +expedition. Gilbert insisted on returning in the _Squirrel_, a small +crazy craft, rather than in the larger vessel, known as the _Hinde_. The +weather became very foul; and on Monday afternoon, the 9th of September, +Hayes says, "the frigate was neere cast away oppressed by the waves, yet +at that time recovered: and giving foorth signes of joy the Generall, +sitting abaft with a booke in his hand cried out unto us in the Hind (so +oft as we did approach within hearing) We are as neere to heaven by sea +as by land." About twelve that night, the frigate being ahead of the +Hinde, her lights suddenly went out; and after a minute's awful +silence, the men of the Hinde exclaimed, "the General was cast +away."[24] Thus the hero, strong in his belief and fear of God, with +chivalrous and stainless name, found his last resting-place in the sea. +He was a forerunner of the very noblest type, an example to the men of +his own generation, and to those fearless adventurers who have helped to +create the British Empire in all parts of the world. + +The northern portions of America were for the most part more easily +accessible to the English, and the dangers of Spanish and Portuguese +attacks were more remote. The West Indies, however, and even South +America, were not without their fascination, and many Englishmen made +voyages to those parts, not so much for the purposes of discovery as for +trade, buccaneering, and booty. The earliest of these West Indian +trading voyages was that of Thomas Tison, who, it is known, sailed to +the West, some time previous to the year 1526. He dwelt on one of the +West Indian Islands as a secret factor for some English merchants; and +"it is probable that some of our marchants had a kinde of trade to the +West Indies even in those ancient times and before also: neither doe I +see," says Hakluyt, "any reason why the Spaniards should debarre us from +it at this present."[25] As a trader, pirate, and slave-dealer, Sir John +Hawkins made three celebrated voyages in 1562, 1564, and 1568, between +Guinea and the West Indies. On one of these he was accompanied by +Francis Drake, who was destined for far greater things than +slave-dealing. After many adventures off the Spanish main, Drake, in the +spirit of a Crusader, started on his momentous voyage round the world. +In a small vessel called the _Golden Hinde_ or _Pelican_, with a still +smaller ship, the _Elizabeth_, the great seaman sailed from Plymouth in +February 1577. Sailing down the South American coast, he at last arrived +at the Straits of Magellan, where one of his company, Master Thomas +Doughty, mutinied and was executed. After being deserted by the +_Elizabeth_, the voyage proceeded along the shores of Chili and Peru; +and passing still farther north, it is probable that Drake discovered +"that portion of North America now known as Oregon, and anticipated by +centuries the progress of English colonisation: the New Albion, which he +took over from the Indians, being probably the British Columbia of +to-day."[26] Drake's return was made without any very serious mishaps, +and he dropped anchor in Plymouth Sound in November 1580. It was a fine +exploit, and roundly applauded throughout the country. No one, however, +realised at that time, nor indeed for generations to come, that Drake +had discovered and annexed what was afterwards to become so large a +portion of the British dominions beyond the seas. + +One man in particular could not fail to be moved to enthusiasm by these +voyages of discovery. The dream of a great country in the far West, +peopled by the Anglo-Saxon race, was ever before the eyes of Sir Walter +Raleigh. The character of this great man of action was not without many +faults, for it was composed of much fine gold tempered with clay. His +endeavours, however, to extend the limits of Britain's rule excite the +imagination and entrance the mind of the reader. The mantle of Gilbert +fell upon the shoulders of Raleigh, who at once attempted to carry on +the work of colonisation which had been started by his half-brother in +Newfoundland; and the road to which was about to be pointed out by +Richard Hakluyt in his _Discourse of Western Planting_. Raleigh must +have appreciated the appeal made by Sir George Peckham, friend of +Gilbert, when he said, "Behold heere, good countreymen, the manifold +benefits, commodities and pleasures heretofore unknowen, by Gods +especiall blessing not onely reveiled unto us, but also as it were +infused into our bosomes, who though hitherto like dormice have +slumbered in ignorance thereof, being like the cats that are loth for +their prey to wet their feet: yet if now therefore at the last we would +awake, and with willing mindes (setting frivolous imaginations aside) +become industrious instruments to ourselves, questionlesse we should not +only hereby set forth the glory of our heavenly father, but also easily +attaine to the end of all good purposes that may be wished or +desired."[27] Up to this time, by a curious chance, the coastline of the +modern United States, from the St Lawrence to the Savannah River, had +scarcely been visited and was, in fact, very little known. Here then was +an opportunity for Raleigh; and a land, where, if effort was made, the +greatest success might be achieved. The land had been unspoilt and +untouched by the Spaniards; those few hardy seamen who had entered +harbour or creek had found no signs of gold, and had sailed away again. +But it was a land of excellent climate, freed from the ice and fogs of +the more northern latitudes in which the Elizabethan seamen had shown +such pluck and powers of endurance. Captain Carlile, the son-in-law of +Francis Walsingham, had already in 1583 issued his encouraging report +concerning American trade. Raleigh could not fail to be struck by the +sentence, "that whereas one adventureth in the great enterprise, an +hundred for that one will of themselves bee willing and desirous to +adventure in the next."[28] Gilbert's patent for the colonisation of +North America had been transferred to Raleigh, who, with great caution, +in 1584 dispatched two sea-captains, Amidas and Barlow, to spy out this +land of promise. The narrative of these adventurers as given in +_Hakluyt's Voyages_ is extremely picturesque. They steered a more +southerly course than that of any previous British explorer, and finally +reached the island of Roanoke, now within the limits of North Carolina. +They described it as a land flowing with milk and honey. "The second of +July, we found shole water, wher we smelt so sweet and so strong a smel, +as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden abounding with +all kinde of odoriferous flowers.... We found the people most gentle, +loving, and faithfull, voide of all guile and treason, and such as live +after the maner of the golden age."[29] Amidas and Barlow thus brought +back to their patron Raleigh a story full of hope and wondrous +possibilities. They had found a land worthy of colonisation and well +suited to the English; and this land of promise and of future greatness +was christened by the Virgin Queen--Virginia. + +The days of exploration and discovery by sea in the West had practically +come to an end; the great epoch of colonisation was about to begin. When +Elizabeth came to the throne, English ships had seldom sailed further +than Iceland in the north and the Levant in the south-east, where a +lucrative trade had sprung up as early as 1511. But by the end of the +sixteenth century, owing to the encouragement of the Tudor sovereigns, +the religious persecutions, and the "peculiar" policy of Elizabeth, the +English flag had been proudly borne into all the seas of the world. The +globe had been circumnavigated by Drake and Cavendish; trade through +Archangel had been established with Russia; spices had been brought from +the Indies by the East India Company; "the commodious and gainful voyage +to Brazil"[30] was regularly undertaken by the merchants of Southampton; +while a vast fishing trade had steadily grown up off the coasts of +Newfoundland. Above all the "navigations, voyages, traffiques, and +discoveries of the English nation" had laid the foundation for greater +things. Raleigh's dreams were to be accomplished, though not by himself. +Like so many others he was attracted by gold; his thoughts lay too +readily in the discovery of an El Dorado in South America, of which the +Elizabethan poet wrote:-- + + "Guiana whose rich feet are mines of gold." + +The grain of mustard seed had, however, been planted; the idea had been +put forth to the world; a new nation was to rise in the Western +hemisphere; and, although no definite results were to be seen by the +eyes of the Elizabethans, yet their wild adventures, their acts of +knight-errantry, their perils and their sufferings had paved the way for +the industrious, sober, steady, and more prudent enterprises of Stuart +Cavaliers and of Puritan Pilgrims. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vii. p. 154. + +[2] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 143. + +[3] _Bacon's Works_ (ed. 1870), vi. 196. + +[4] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vii. p. 153. + +[5] Barrett, _History and Antiquities of Bristol_ (1789), p. 172. + +[6] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vii. p. 155. + +[7] It is thought by some that Cabot sailed to Greenland. Cf. Biggar, +_Voyages of the Cabots and of the Corte Reals_ (Paris, 1903). + +[8] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 150. + +[9] _Ibid._, viii. p. 37. + +[10] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, viii. p. 3. + +[11] _Ibid._, viii. p. 5. + +[12] _Ibid._, viii. p. 7. + +[13] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, x. p. 2. + +[14] _Ibid._, viii. p. 9. + +[15] _Ibid._, viii. p. 10. + +[16] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 149. + +[17] Fletcher, _Cornhill Magazine_, Dec. 1902. + +[18] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, ii. p. 178. + +[19] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, vii. p. 212. + +[20] _Ibid._, vii. p. 320. + +[21] _Ibid._, vii. p. 321. + +[22] _Ibid._, vii. p. 38. + +[23] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, viii. p. 54. + +[24] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, viii. p. 74. + +[25] _Ibid._, x. pp. 6, 7. + +[26] Egerton, _Origin and Growth of the English Colonies_, p. 65. + +[27] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), viii. p. 123. + +[28] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), viii. p. 141. + +[29] _Ibid._, viii. pp. 298 and 305. + +[30] _Hakluyt's Voyages_, xi. p. 25. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +VIRGINIA: THE FIRST GREAT COLONY OF THE BRITISH + + +The English settlers in America may be less romantic and less +interesting figures than their Elizabethan predecessors, but they were +undoubtedly fitter instruments for the specific work. The Elizabethan +seamen had played their part, and men now arose who were to fulfil a +greater destiny. The Gilberts and the Drakes were of a race which had +ceased to be, and Fuller justly remarks "how God set up a generation of +military men both by sea and land which began and expired with the reign +of Queen Elizabeth, like a suit of clothes made for her and worn out by +her; for providence so ordered the matter that they almost all attended +their mistress before or after, within some short distance, unto her +grave."[31] Although the adventurous spirit of the Golden Age had passed +away, men were still left who could echo the words of Sir Humphrey +Gilbert and say, "and therefore to give me leave without offence always +to live and die in this mind, that he is not worthy to live at all that +for fear or danger of death shunneth his country's service and his own +honour, seeing death is inevitable and the fame of virtue +immortal."[32] The one great figure who appears to connect the old +period with the new was Sir Walter Raleigh. As has already been +mentioned, he had sent out an expedition in 1584 to see what possibility +there was of establishing a colony in America. The glowing accounts +brought back by his two captains made Raleigh decide upon an undertaking +which, though it proved a failure, must ever be regarded as memorable in +the world's history. + +In 1585 Raleigh sent seven ships and one hundred and eight settlers to +the land which had been granted to him by patent. The territory had +already been named Virginia, in honour of the Queen, and it was here +that he hoped to establish a little colony composed of sturdy +Englishmen. In June the settlers, having landed in Roanoke, were left +under the leadership of Ralph Lane; the other generals, Grenville, +Cavendish, and Amidas, returning to the mother country. From the outset +it was certain that Raleigh's colony must fail. The man chosen as leader +had no special aptitude for the post, being possessed with the mania for +discovery rather than the desire to teach the settlers to form a +self-supporting community. But even worse than this, Lane made the fatal +error of estranging the natives by the severity and brutality of his +punishments. Exactly a year after the settlers had landed, Sir Francis +Drake put in to see how his friend Raleigh's Utopian schemes progressed. +He found the colony in a miserable plight and, yielding to the earnest +entreaties of the settlers, took them on board and sailed to England. +Raleigh, however, had not forgotten his colony, and had dispatched Sir +Richard Grenville with supplies; but when he reached the settlement he +found it deserted. Sir Walter Raleigh's buoyant nature was not depressed +by this first failure, and in 1587 a fresh attempt to settle Virginia +was made. Under the command of White, one hundred and thirty-three men +and seventeen women were sent out. White soon returned to England for +supplies, leaving his daughter Eleanor Dare, who gave birth to the first +white child born in the New World. The unhappy emigrants received but +little assistance from the home authorities. Certainly two expeditions +were sent out to help them, but they failed because their captains found +it more lucrative and exciting to go privateering. The stirring times in +Europe and the coming of the Armada were sufficient to absorb the minds +of such men as Raleigh and Drake, and the colony in Virginia was left to +its fate. What that fate was can only be imagined, for, when White at +last reached Virginia in 1589, not a trace of the colony was to be +found, while another expedition in 1602 proved equally unsuccessful in +the search. Hunger and the Indians had done their cruel work, and the +hand of destiny seemed turned against the foundation of an Anglo-Saxon +colony in the mysterious West. + +There were, however, dominant motives for colonisation at the beginning +of the seventeenth century, and these, together with the intrepidity of +certain of the Elizabethan school, changed the aspect of the whole +question. The previous incentives for discovery and adventure upon the +high seas had been the tricks of imagination, the more glorious scheme +of spreading Christianity and the race for gold. But now there was a +fear amongst the more intellectual thinkers in England that the country +was suffering from a surplus population. This purely imaginary danger +gave birth to the idea that America might provide new homes for this +surplus, and, at the same time, bring new markets into existence which +in the future would very materially help to develop the naval resources +of the English. + +One of the most able and energetic of the new patrons of colonisation +was Shakespere's friend, the Earl of Southampton, who in March 1602 +dispatched to the West, Bartholomew Gosnold with thirty-two companions. +This little band of adventurers landed further north than Raleigh's +ill-fated colonists, probably at a spot where in later years the Puritan +settlers established themselves. The chief feature of Gosnold's venture +was the discovery of a new route to the West by way of the Azores, and +thus a week was saved in future voyages. In the following year the +_Discovery_ and _Speedwell_ were sent out under Martin Pring, the +patrons of the expedition having first obtained formal permission from +Sir Walter Raleigh, whose patent rights were still regarded as valid. It +is interesting to notice that with this concession on Raleigh's part his +connection with Virginia ceased for ever. + +One of Pring's patrons was Richard Hakluyt, to whom all Englishmen are +indebted for his great prose epic and for the stimulus he gave to the +early founders of the British Empire. Hakluyt was born in London about +the year 1552. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, +Oxford, where he took his degree in 1574. His interest in geography and +discovery had been aroused when quite a boy by seeing a map in the +possession of a relative, and from that moment, he writes, "I constantly +resolved, if ever I was preferred to the University, where better time +and more convenient place might be ministred for those studies, I would, +by God's assistance, prosecute that knowledge and kinde of literature, +the doores whereof (after a sort) were so happily opened before me."[33] +Hakluyt's first book was published in 1582, under the title, _Divers +Voyages touching the discoverie of America and the Ilands adjacent unto +the same, made first of all by Englishmen and afterwards by the +Frenchmen and Britons_. This work consisted of a collection of documents +to support England's claim to the prior discovery of America. In the +autumn of 1584 he presented to Queen Elizabeth his _Discourse of Western +Planting_, the writing of which was largely due to the inspiration of +Sir Walter Raleigh. The subject matter had been supplied by the two +voyagers to Virginia, Captains Amidas and Barlow. The first edition of +his great work saw light in the year after the Armada; but Hakluyt was +not satisfied, and for nine more years laboured on, until in 1598 he +produced the second edition in three volumes, and the world was +infinitely the richer for the _Principal Navigations, Voyages, +Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation_. + +The year that Hakluyt sent out Pring to make discoveries is ever famous +for the death of Queen Elizabeth. The great queen, whatever her faults +may have been, had indeed bound her subjects to her by affection and +admiration, and created amongst them a remarkable spirit of both +patriotism and gallantry. It was therefore a fitting and happy +circumstance that associated the last of the Tudors with the first of +our American colonies. Virginia, named from Elizabeth, the child, so to +speak, of a queen, came in time to be the mother of Presidents. It is +not, however, until the accession of the pedantic James that a stern +resolve to accomplish the establishment of a colony seems to have been +taken. The irony of history is better illustrated in this fact than +perhaps elsewhere. The mean mind and timid heart of James I. could never +arouse or inspire enthusiasm as Elizabeth's actions had done. And yet +the appreciation of the importance of a great Empire was reserved for +the reign of the first Stuart rather than during the rule of the +greatest of the Tudors. + +The pressing question of surplus population which had reached a climax +at the accession of James I., together with the prosperity and success +of the newly formed East India Company may have had something to do with +the momentous decision that was taken in 1606. In that year two +companies were formed: the first was the London Company, which was given +permission by the Crown to plant in North America between 45° and 38° +north latitude; the second division was the Plymouth Company, whose +rights of plantation overlapped those of the London Company, their +district being between 41° and 34° north latitude. With the history of +this second company we shall deal later. + +The London Company consisted of various members, such as Richard +Hakluyt, the recorder of voyages; Sir George Somers, "a lamb on shore, a +lion at sea";[34] and Sir Thomas Gates. The Council was nominated by the +King, and included many well-known men of the day; in particular, Sir +Ferdinando Gorges, who played an important part in colonial history for +many years,[35] and Sir Edwin Sandys, who, in the perilous time which +came upon the Company, fought manfully for the right. The system of +administration was of considerable complexity, as the control of affairs +was both divided and qualified. In return for finding the capital for +the proper working of the scheme, the Company was to receive certain +trading privileges. The actual government was vested in two councils, +both of which were nominated by James I., the one to be resident in +England and supreme in all political and legislative affairs, the other +to be established in the colony and liable for the proper administration +of all local matters. The orders given to those in office, when the +first settlement was made, were to a certain extent harsh, but in no way +contrary to the spirit of the times. The Church of England was to be +supported and the supremacy of the King to be acknowledged. All serious +crimes were to be tried by jury and punished with death, but the penalty +for minor offences was left to the discretion of the resident council. +The Company took care that no trade was carried on by private +individuals, and it was insisted that magazines should be erected for +the produce of the colony and for supplying necessities to the +colonists. It may be stated finally that the old ideas of enterprise and +adventure were not lost sight of, and what had stirred Columbus and many +another voyager was now definitely mentioned in the commands. The +settlers were told "to show kindness to the savages and heathen people +in those parts, and use all proper means to draw them to the true +knowledge and service of God."[36] + +By the middle of December 1606, one hundred and forty-three +colonists[37] were on board three ships ready to sail for their new home +in the West. On the morning of New Year's Day, 1607, the little fleet +sailed down the Thames. All praise be to them for showing so brave a +spirit in launching out into an unknown world at the very dawn of +England's expansion. And yet it must be acknowledged that they were the +very worst type of settlers that could have been chosen for such an +undertaking. They were idle, discontented, impatient, and incapable. +Many of them were gentlemen, who had no idea of manual labour; some were +goldsmiths and jewellers, who were without knowledge of agriculture, +building, or even protecting themselves from savages. But even worse +than this was the fact that they had no leader with natural gifts for so +important a position. At their head, to begin with, was Christopher +Newport, famous as a raider off the Spanish main. In council with him +were Gosnold, the intrepid voyager, and Captain John Ratcliffe, a +discontented man, as proved by his later actions, although a +contemporary describes him as "a very valiant, honest, and painful +soldier."[38] From the very outset there were quarrels, and Captain John +Smith, whom we shall meet again, was kept in confinement during the +greater part of the voyage. + +On the 16th April 1607, the storm-tossed adventurers sighted the +southernmost extremity of Chesapeake Bay, and called it Cape Henry in +honour of the Prince of Wales. On the 13th May they selected a place for +settlement, and Jamestown, the first permanent plantation, was +established in Virginia on the James River. Almost immediately Edward +Maria Wingfield was elected president, which proved to be one of the +many mistakes made by the settlers. Nobody can question Wingfield's +bravery, honesty, and desire to act justly, but it is very evident from +the records that he was formal and pompous in manner, and filled with a +too conscious sense of his own dignity. No sooner had the president been +elected than the colony was weakened by a division of their party. +Captain John Smith with a few followers preferred to accompany Newport +on an exploring expedition, and reached a spot where now stands Richmond +City. The Indians, under their leader Powhattan, appeared friendly to +this party, but native friendship could only bear a slight strain, and +trouble was only too likely to arise from the careless conduct of the +settlers who had remained at Jamestown. The time was passed in a series +of petty squabbles, and the infant colony struggled through a period of +the gravest vicissitudes. Gosnold, one of the best of the party, died, +and this was followed by the deposition of Wingfield, Captain Ratcliffe +being made governor in his place. His period of office was marked by +troubles with the Indians, and dire sickness which broke out amongst the +settlers, owing to bad water, want of food, and the unhealthy situation +of Jamestown. + +At last the dominant character of Captain John Smith manifested itself, +and he was chosen chief by common consent. This man's remarkable +adventures read like fiction, but there is little doubt that there is a +great deal of truth in all that he has left on record. Some of the most +romantic episodes that he lays before the reader may perhaps be regarded +as exaggerations or even untrustworthy, but it would be entirely +erroneous to look upon him as a mere Baron Munchausen or a foolish +braggart. He was brave beyond words, robust in person and self-reliant +in mind. In all his actions he was public-spirited, and, at the same +time, for his age and for his training, tolerant, kindly, and humane. He +was one of the most romantic figures of the period, and as such appeals +in his narrative to the sympathy of his readers and captures their +affection. As a soldier in the wars in the Netherlands he had passed +through many a danger. As a traveller in France, Italy, and the near +East he had learnt to understand and command men. As a hardy crusader +and captain in the Turkish wars he had fought manfully against the +infidel in Hungary. He had suffered all the horrors of slavery, from +which he had escaped through the forests of Transylvania. This man of +many adventures may be regarded by posterity as the chief promoter of +the colonisation of Virginia, and, if not her founder, at least her +saviour. + +The early settlers in Virginia would have suffered the fate of Raleigh's +colony of 1587 had it not been for Captain John Smith's perseverance, +steady courage, and determination. He struggled hard to teach the +colonists the necessity of making themselves a self-sufficing community. +Most of the men thought that gold was to be picked up anywhere, failing +to see that if they did not strive manfully they must inevitably starve. +Smith himself says, "our diet is a little meal and water, and not +sufficient of that";[39] and his words are proved by the fact that +within the past six months fifty of the colonists died, and to use the +words of the chronicler, "for the most part they died of famine." Smith +determined that this should not continue, and he took for his motto, +"Nothing is to be expected except by labour." Excellent as was the +motto, the material from which he had to build up a colony was of the +very worst, and it is only natural that he should write home and ask for +"thirty carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees' roots, +rather than a thousand of such as we have."[40] His past experiences now +stood him in good stead, and he proved himself a capable leader by +succeeding in forcing the colony into a small, settled community. When +he felt that the colony was for the time being fairly secure he went on +exploring expeditions among the Indians. This was part of the purpose +and duty of the colony, for men were eager to find a short passage to +India, and no one imagined that America was of the gigantic size that +later discovery proved it to be. Whilst on these expeditions the +adventures of Smith were most extraordinary, and may possibly have been +coloured by lapse of time and a brilliant imagination. Once he saved his +life by the marvels of his compass and by the writing of notes to his +friends in Jamestown; and once indeed, according to his own record, he +was saved by the lovely Pocahontas, who pleaded with her father +Powhattan for his life. This latter story is, however, extremely +unlikely, for the Indian princess could have been only a child at the +time, and it is probable that Smith added the account when the fame of +Pocahontas had spread to Europe. + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH _From an engraving in his +"Generall Historie of Virginia."_] + +Smith spent the whole of the spring of 1609 in Jamestown endeavouring to +make the settlers industrious by prosecuting the manufacture of tar, +pitch, and soap ashes. Up to this time, with absurd carelessness, the +Jamestown fortification had been left without a well, and Smith now +remedied this obvious defect. With equal energy he turned to building, +and during the months of February, March, and April, he erected twenty +houses, besides a blockhouse, and re-roofed the church. Agriculture and +the fishing industry were no longer neglected, and while some of the +settlers under Smith's guidance brought forty acres under cultivation, +others undertook to supply the colony with fish. Struggle as he did, +Smith continually suffered reverses, and many disasters overtook the +colonists, the most serious being the destruction of their corn by rats. +Starvation stared them in the face, but Smith's firmness and activity +overcame the horrors of famine, and instead of allowing the settlers to +mass together, the men were quartered in different localities where they +had to seek food for themselves. When this remarkable man at last left +the colony, it can scarcely be said to have been in a prosperous state, +but there were four hundred and ninety strong colonists who had been put +on the right road towards progress, partly by Smith's example and partly +by his doctrine "that he who would not work might not eat." + +About the time that Smith was preparing to return to England there was +in that country a reawakening of interest in what Drayton called, +"Virginia, earth's only Paradise." The keener interest that was now +being shown was largely due to a number of pamphlets that had been +published, and also to the enthusiastic sermons of many of the clergy of +the day. In a pamphlet named the _Nova Britannia_ it was pointed out +that Virginia was a valuable opening as a new market for English cloth, +and, in addition, that trade between the two countries would stimulate +the merchant navy. "We shall not still betake ourselves to small and +little shipping as we daily do beginne, but we shall rear againe such +Marchants Shippes, both tall and stout, as no forreine sayle that +swimmes shall make them vayle or stoop; whereby to make this little +northern corner of the world to be in a short time the richest +storehouse and staple for marchandise in all Europe."[41] With this idea +of making England "the richest storehouse," a new charter was granted to +the Company in May 1609. The London Company was now put under a number +of influential men, including Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, and Sir +Francis Bacon, while at the same time the old directors remained upon +the board. Under the new charter the dual control of the two councils +disappeared, and the government was to be in the hands of one council +nominated in the first case by the King, and afterwards, as vacancies +occurred, they were to be filled by men elected by the Company. The +powers of the Company were also extended, for besides the right of +levying duties, it was conceded that defensive war might be waged if it +were thought expedient. By these means the Company practically became an +independent body. + +The outcome of the change was immediately seen in an expedition which +set out under Sir George Somers and Sir Thomas Gates. In July 1609 these +adventurers were wrecked upon the uninhabited Bermudas, but in the +following spring they succeeded in reaching Virginia. The attractive +picture of the settlement as drawn in pamphlet and sermon in England was +scarcely true to life. As a matter of fact no sooner had Smith left the +colony than its inhabitants dropped back into their slothful ways, +which were at once taken advantage of by the cunning Redskins, who, +peaceful while the great captain was present, had now become most +hostile. Thus Sir Thomas Gates in this year records, "the state of the +Colony ... began to find a sensible declyning: which Powhattan (as a +greedy Vulture) obseruing, and boyling with desire of reuenge, he +inuited Captaine Ratclife and about thirty others to trade for Corne, +and vnder the colour of fairest friendship he brought them within the +compasse of his ambush, whereby they were cruelly murthered and +massacred."[42] + +The fate of the colony once more hung in the balance; starvation was +once again at the door. Very fortunately for the settlers, Lord Delawarr +arrived as Captain-General and Governor, with, what was most important, +supplies. The Company, however was becoming disheartened. The colony had +now been in existence for three years and the returns to the +shareholders were meagre indeed. Something had to be done and strong +measures seemed appropriate. In June 1611, Delawarr embarked for +England, but Sir Thomas Dale had already been dispatched with the title +of High Marshal of Virginia. He was armed with a military and civil code +of the greatest severity, for he was confronted with the arduous task of +governing a people made up of "the scourings of London." The military +code was from the first practically a dead letter; but the civil +enactments were so extremely harsh and so peculiar to modern ideas that +they deserve some attention. Daily worship according to the service of +the Church of England was enforced by a penalty of six months in the +galleys. To refrain from attending Sunday service meant death. If any +man "unworthily demean himself unto any preacher or minister of God's +word" he was to be openly whipped three times, and after each whipping +he was to confess his crime. But these laws were almost mild in +comparison with the vague and brutal enactment that "no man shall give +disgraceful words or commit any act to the disgrace of any person in +this colony, or any part thereof, upon pain of being tied head and feet +together upon the ground every night for the space of one month."[43] + +These harsh laws continued, but did not affect the tide of emigration +from England. In August 1611, Sir Thomas Gates returned as Governor with +three hundred fresh settlers.[44] From this moment a much better class +of colonists began to come out, bringing with them their own servants, +and forming the nucleus of a sound colonial population. There were, of +course, other reasons for the improved state of affairs, not the least +important being the fact that Gates worked hard for the benefit of the +colony. An excellent change was carried out when the settlers deserted +unhealthy Jamestown for the more salubrious Henrico. Here a church, a +hospital, and good houses of brick were erected, and a palisade was +raised as a protection from the Indians. Industries, too, began to +thrive, for the records show that both silk and iron were manufactured, +while vines were cultivated with success by some Frenchmen introduced +by Lord Delawarr. Even in England the affairs of the Company had changed +for the better, as in 1612 a fresh charter had been obtained, by which +the Bermudas or Somers Islands were added to its dominions. + +Prosperous as the colony appeared there was ever the menace of the +Indian tribes with whom an intermittent war had been waged for some +time, and during which Powhattan had taken captive several of the +settlers. Peace, however, existed between the English and Japazaus, the +Indian chief of the district along the Potomac, to whom Samuel Argall +was sent by the Governor to trade for corn. This was not Argall's first +visit to Japazaus, and a certain friendship existed between the two, the +Indian chief regarding himself as indebted to the Englishman. With the +King of the Potomac district, as wife of one of his captains, was the +romantic Pocahontas, daughter of Powhattan. To the unscrupulous and +ready-witted Argall this appeared a glorious opportunity of demanding +the Princess as a hostage, and paying off old scores against Powhattan. +Argall broached the subject to Japazaus, who readily accepted the plan. +The story is told with strict truth by Ralph Hamor, the secretary of the +colony, who says, "Capt. Argall, having secretly well rewarded him, with +a small copper kettle, and som other les valuable toies so highly by him +esteemed, that doubtlesse he would have betraied his owne father for +them, permitted both him and his wife to returne,"[45] but Pocahontas +remained a captive. Hearing of his daughter's plight Powhattan +immediately restored some of his prisoners and demanded her surrender, +but the English not being satisfied, asked for more. By this time other +influences were at work, and Pocahontas exhibited no desire to return to +her people. In the spring of 1613, she was baptised by the name of +Rebecca, and married to one of the most influential settlers, John +Rolfe, "a gentleman of approved behaviour and honest cariage."[46] The +marriage was welcomed by the Indian chief, and peace was restored for +the time being. Pocahontas and her husband went to England in 1616, +where she was fêted and presented at court, but the English climate did +not suit the Indian beauty, and she died in the spring of the following +year at Gravesend. + +The year 1614 is memorable in Virginian history for the first hostile +action between the English and their French rivals. Samuel Argall, who +has been classified as "a sea-captain with piratical tastes," attacked a +French settlement on the coast of Maine and sacked Port Royal, the +capital of Acadia or Nova Scotia. These acts were contrary to all the +principles of international law, but France, under the weak rule of +Marie de' Medici, was in no state to avenge her wrongs, and the matter +dropped after a formal complaint by the French ambassador. This and +other weighty questions caused an animated discussion in Parliament +concerning the rights and privileges of Virginia. Martin, the advocate +of the Company, told the House to look to the advantages to be gained in +Virginia, and not to waste their time on the trifles that generally +engaged their attention. In fact, his speech was so heated that he was +forced to confess his errors on bended knee, and with that the House of +Commons was satisfied, and dropped the subject. + +After the retirement of Gates, Sir Thomas Dale continued the government +of Virginia under the merciless code; and yet the colony prospered, +private industry and private property being allowed. Dale's second +period of office was for two years only, and he departed at a time when +a greedy and unprincipled set of men began to administer the affairs of +the Company. In 1617 they selected as their Deputy Governor in Virginia +the most unsuitable Samuel Argall. Certainly he was a man endowed with +ability and resolute courage, but he was one of the few unscrupulous +villains who have disgraced colonial history. Immediately on coming into +power he issued a series of edicts of arbitrary character. Trade with +the Indians was forbidden, but this was not for the advantage of the +shareholders of the Company, but for the benefit of their deputy. The +settlers were made to work as slaves for Argall, for whom the +constitution of the colony afforded splendid opportunities. Such a state +of affairs was not to last for long; the despotic conduct of the +Governor leaked out at identically the moment the Company passed into +the hands of a more honest and capable set of directors.[47] Sir Edwin +Sandys, a leader of that party which was soon to turn boldly against the +King, together with the brilliantly versatile Southampton and the +skilled John Ferrars, were now at the head of Virginian affairs in +England. + +The history of Virginia changed for the better in 1619, when Sir George +Yeardley superseded the piratical Argall. The new Governor was not a +particularly strong man, and in many of his actions he proved himself a +weak successor of the stern Sir Thomas Dale. On the other hand there was +beneath the somewhat too gentle exterior a man of considerable worth, +for he succeeded in governing peaceably a turbulent people without +falling back upon unnecessary severity. Yeardley's first year of +administration is ever famous for the establishment of the earliest +representative assembly in the New World. It is only natural that a +fully developed scheme was not evolved at once. There is some +uncertainty as to what classes actually obtained the franchise, but it +is probable that every freeman possessed a vote. Certain it is, however, +that each plantation and each county returned two members, and it is +equally well-known that the assembly took upon itself both legislative +rights and judicial powers. Thus the year 1619 witnessed the creation of +Virginia as an almost independent power heralding a revolutionary change +in the near future. + +The colony seemed prosperous in every way, but there were dark clouds +overshadowing the Company on all sides. It was rumoured, and with some +truth, that five thousand emigrants had landed in Virginia, and yet only +one thousand were actually resident. Men asked themselves the question, +"had the settlers returned, or had they died in this so-called land of +promise"? The new board of directors, if they had been left to +themselves, would have put the Company upon an assured footing, and +success would most certainly have attended their efforts. But this was +not to be; the Company was attacked from within and without. Lord +Warwick's party, a clique within the Company, showed every sign of +hostility to Southampton and Sandys. The external attacks came from +three sources, not the least important being that of the Crown. James I. +was jealous of the power of that Company which he himself had created. +His fears were increased by the insidious attacks of the Spanish +ambassador, Gondomar, who informed the King that "a seditious Company +was but the seminary to a seditious Parliament."[48] Even the English +people, little realising the work that the Company was painfully +accomplishing for Imperial purposes, now turned against the men whom, +for sentimental reasons, they ought to have supported, and used the +popular cry against monopolies to bring about the downfall of the +founders of a new nation. The dangers of the Company were increased by +the perils of the colony itself. The old Indian hostility had for a few +years slumbered, but after the death of Powhattan and the succession of +Opechancanough in 1618 the horrors of Indian warfare once more +threatened the colony. In the following year the death of a famous +Indian, Jack the Feather, was a sufficient pretext, and Opechancanough +attacked Virginia. The English proved successful in the end, but not +before they had lost three hundred and seventy of their number. It is +not to be wondered at that the Assembly issued a severe order that "the +inhabitants of every plantation should fall upon their adjoining +savages";[49] this the planters readily obeyed; and the steps taken, +though harsh, appear to have been effectual. + +The news of the Indian massacres, the action of Spain and the absurd +desire of a Spanish marriage, worked upon the mind of James I. to such +an extent that he determined to abolish the Company.[50] In 1623 the +King demanded the surrender of the charter, which Sandys and his party +stoutly refused. A writ of _quo warranto_ was then issued to decide +whether the privileges of the Company were purely a monopoly, or whether +they were exercised for the public good. The Law Courts gave a verdict +against the Company, and the charter was declared null and void. The +storm cloud, which had long hung over the Company, had now burst upon +the heads of the devoted directors. They were forced to succumb to the +most pernicious of all influences, for they had been crushed by greed +and covetousness, together with the intrigues of disgraceful courtiers +and disappointed speculators who showed a lack of public spirit that too +often marked the early years of the Stuart period. In reviewing the +actions of the Company it is universally agreed that they had in almost +every case been for good; it is, however, acknowledged with similar +unanimity that for the actual benefit of the colony in the future it was +as well that the Company's powers should pass to the Crown. Had the +actions of the Company been disliked in the colony itself, it is +inexplicable that the colony should have supported the Company at the +time of its trial. The settlers could not foresee what might be the +outcome of a continuance of the Company's rule. At the time they merely +realised with disgust that James had acted as he had done, solely to +gain the fickle and grudging favour of the decadent Spain; but they did +not understand that the Company must inevitably in the future, if it had +not already done so in the past, act as a trammelling influence upon the +progress and prosperity of the little settlement. Unwittingly James, by +his action, had removed the fetters, and had given an opportunity of +free growth to the colony. It was no longer possible for the welfare of +the individual planter to be sacrificed to the merely temporary +advantage of the English trader and shareholder. "Morally and +politically, indeed, the abrogation of the Virginian charter was a +crime"; but "the colony, happily for its future, passed under the +control of the Crown while it was yet plastic, undeveloped and +insignificant."[51] Henceforth the constitution of Virginia was of the +normal type; the administration was carried on by a governor and two +chambers, the one nominated, the other popularly elected. + +The first chapter of Virginian history may be said to have closed when +the Company ceased to exist, and at the same time the romantic and +heroic aspect of the colony was concluded. Although perhaps no +individual connected with the foundation of the colony can be compared +with the glorious figures of the Elizabethan epoch, yet in the +characters of Hakluyt, Southampton, Sandys, and Captain John Smith there +was something of the old order. The heroism of the first actors upon the +Virginian stage was probably as great as that of their predecessors, but +the new order of things did not call upon them to exhibit such feats of +strength or of bravery. By the abrogation of the Company's charter a +revolution had indeed been effected. From this moment the history of +Virginia can only be dealt with in a brief and hasty sketch, for happy +is the country that has no history, and such is the case with regard to +the later years of England's first great colony. The interests of the +settlers are in the future mainly confined to the growth of tobacco, as +will be shown in a later chapter, and from 1623 the chroniclers cease to +record the story of the terrible struggle for bare existence, but tell +rather the tale of a steady but unheroic prosperity amongst a rich class +of planters employing negro labour. + +The first Governor under the Crown was Sir Francis Wyatt, who was of +good character and inspired the colonists with a self-reliant temper. He +was succeeded in 1626 by Sir George Yeardley, who had already won the +affection of many of the settlers in the days of the Company's rule. The +following year, however, Yeardley died; and the Crown appointed a +creature of its own, Governor Harvey, who quarrelled with the Assembly +on every possible occasion. In fact so bitter did these quarrels become +that a settler, Mathews by name, as leader of the popular party, seized +Harvey in 1635, and placed him upon a vessel where he was kept in +honourable confinement until the old country was reached. It is hardly +likely that the colonists imagined that the Crown would take their part +against the Governor, but their action was probably due to a general +desire to impress the Crown with their power. Charles I., who had +previously shown good feeling towards the colony, now behaved foolishly +in sending Harvey back to Virginia, where he remained for four years, +filling up his time by sending numerous petty and querulous complaints +to the home country of the misdoings of the settlers. During Harvey's +administration the old proprietors made several attempts to obtain a +fresh grant of the charter and the reinstitution of the Company. But +with the same ardent spirit as the colonists had supported the Company +in 1623, so now they opposed its re-establishment and for the same +reason. The change that they had imagined must inevitably take place by +the abolition of the Company was a loss of their titles; but having been +firmly settled under the Crown they were frightened that if the Company +should be again created their titles would be again endangered. The +advocate of the colonists was the pliant and pliable Sandys, who, when +he reached England, deserted his constituents, and pleaded for the +restoration of the old rule. The colony immediately on hearing of this +sent word to the King that their representative was acting contrary to +their wishes, and in 1639 they received the satisfactory reply that +Charles had no intention of restoring the Company. + +From this time the settlers appear from contemporary records to have +been contented. The writers point out how nature gave freely, how +beautiful was the land, and how peaceful were the natives. There can be +no doubt that this was the content and boastfulness of a young people, +and that it was unduly exaggerated. On the other hand it must also be +allowed that though Virginia was not quite the paradise represented in +some of the letters written by the settlers, yet it was, when the Civil +War broke out in England, a land of comparative peace and plenty. + +Sir Francis Wyatt was again sent out to succeed Governor Harvey in 1639, +but his period of office was short and uneventful. More stirring times +came when the colony passed under the rule of Sir William Berkeley. He +was a typical cavalier, bluff in speech, hot in temper, brave in danger, +and contemptuous of learning. He may, in later years, have exercised a +merciless tyranny, but it was the hardship of his fortunes together +with something closely akin to lunacy that drove him to such actions. On +his appointment, his instructions were more carefully formulated than +had hitherto been the case. This was only natural as the Court party at +home were beginning to see the dangers that were looming ahead, and so +they trusted that in Virginia trouble might be checked by the exaction +of the strictest oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and by the +insistence on the service of the Church of England. This latter was +hardly necessary as speaking widely the Church of England was the Church +of the Virginians. There were, however, three parishes, the members of +which were almost entirely nonconformists until dispersed and scattered +by a conformity act between the years 1642 and 1644. + +Sir William Berkeley had hardly taken up the reins of government when +the history of the colony was marked by a great calamity. Opechancanough +was now an old man, enfeebled in body and physically incapable of +leading his people; but his mind was still as active as ever, his savage +cunning was in no way dimmed by years, and he had ever nursed the hatred +he had felt for the settlers since the failure of his attack in the days +of the Company. The rumours of the outbreak of the Civil War in England +soon reached the ears of the Indians, some of whom had actually seen two +ships of the white settlers bombarding each other in the Bay. +Opechancanough seized this opportunity of division and strife among the +Virginians, and fell upon the colony. Before the settlers were ready to +resist, three hundred men, women and children had been slain. The local +militia at last made headway against the savages, and after the capture +and death of the old chief in 1646 a treaty was made as to the boundary +between the English and the Indians, under which peace reigned for +thirty years. + +It has been the fashion to regard Virginia as a purely Cavalier colony; +this is probably due to an attempt to accentuate the difference between +the Southern colony and the New England group. It is, however, an +exaggeration to say that Virginia was entirely composed of those +supporting cavalier principles. Certainly there were large landowners +who sympathised with Charles and his party, but there was a very large +and prosperous middle class, composed of small landowners and well-to-do +tradesmen, amongst whom it was only natural to find various opinions and +sympathies. As a whole, however, Virginia may be said to have been +Royalist, not from any rooted objection to the Commonwealth, but rather +because the Royalist party was temporarily predominant in the +settlement. Sir William Berkeley, as a loyal Governor, forbade the +showing of any sympathy to the Parliamentary rebels, and he was +supported in his action by Charles II., who, in 1650, before he left +Breda, despatched a commission empowering Berkeley to act in his name. +The far-reaching power of Cromwell was not to be stayed by any such +commission, for the Commonwealth was determined "to grasp the whole of +the inheritance of the Stuart Kings,"[52] and so Ayscue was sent in 1651 +to reduce the colonies to submission. On March 12 of the following year, +Virginia acknowledged the new power in England, much to the rage and +discontent of the Governor. Berkeley had indeed done his best, and had +issued a stirring declaration which concluded with these words, "But, +gentlemen, by the Grace of God we will not so tamely part with our King +and all those blessings we enjoy under him, and if they oppose us, do +but follow me, I will either lead you to victory or lose a life which I +cannot more gloriously sacrifice than for my loyalty and your +security."[53] The settlers, however, were not stirred, and though a +thousand men had been collected at Jamestown, the Assembly refused their +support, not so much for the love of Cromwell as because they feared +material loss if they resisted him. Had the great Protector lived longer +the history of the American colonies might have been very different. He +was the first Englishman who can really be said to have understood in +its fullest sense the word Empire. But the gods were not generous to +this imperialist, and they did not grant to him the necessary time for +the achievement of a policy which Cromwell himself classed as similar to +that of "Queen Elizabeth of famous memory."[54] As it was, the rule of +the Commonwealth had little definite effect upon Virginia, except that +it necessitated a change in governors. The first was Richard Bennet, who +was elected by the Assembly in 1652, and ruled for three years. His +successor, Edward Digges, was a worthy and sensible man, under whose +administration the colony continued a calm and happy existence for one +year. In 1656 Samuel Mathews was chosen, but during his rule Virginian +history was unimportant, and the only cloud upon the horizon was an +Indian panic which came to nothing. + +The submission of Virginia was for the time only, and at the +restoration of Charles II. once more the royalist party became supreme. +The King was accepted with perfect quiescence, and it is probable that +the Virginians, like the English, rejoiced at the change, looking +forward to the return of more mirthful and joyous days. As England +learnt to repent the return of the Stuarts, so also Virginia found that +she had fallen upon evil times, a fact which is partially shown in +Berkeley's report in 1671. "As for the boundaries of our land, it was +once great, ten degrees in latitude, but now it has pleased his Majesty +to confine us to halfe a degree. Knowingly I speak this. Pray God it may +be for his Majesty's service, but I much fear the contrary.... I thank +God, there are _no free schools, nor printing_, and I hope we shall not +have these hundred years; for _learning_ has brought disobedience, and +heresy, and sects into the world, and _printing_ has divulged them, and +libels against the best government. God keep us from both."[55] + +The greed of the cavaliers under Charles II. is notorious, and it +affected Virginia just as much as it did England. Lord Arlington and +Lord Culpeper obtained in 1672 the most monstrous rights, together with +a grant by which the whole soil of the colony passed into their hands. +An agency was at once sent to England to oppose this discreditable +action, at the same time taking with them a charter for which they hoped +to obtain ratification from the King. Needless to say in this they were +unsuccessful; but the charter is historically important, because it +contained a clause stating that the colonists could not be taxed without +the consent of their own legislature. The work of the agency partly +failed owing to the supineness of Governor Berkeley; chiefly, however, +because the people of Virginia were unable to see that agencies could +not be sent without expenditure. When a poll-tax was enacted to cover +the necessary expenses of their agents, there was a popular outburst. + +The inhabitants of Virginia at this time were much divided, and composed +of distinct classes, the well-to-do planter, the tradesman, the "mean +whites," the negro and the criminal. The last class had been growing +steadily for some years as the colony had been used as a dumping-ground +for gaol-birds, and indeed the criminal section would have increased +still more had it not been for the better class of settlers who +determined to stop it. In April 1670, the General Court held at +Jamestown issued a notice "because by the great numbers of felons and +other desperate villains being sent over from the prisons in England, +the horror yet remaining of the barbarous designs of those villains in +September 1663, who attempted at once the subversion of our religion, +laws, liberties, rights and privileges," we do now prohibit "the landing +of any jail-birds from and after the 20th of January next upon pain of +being forced to carry them to some other country."[56] Although this law +tended to exclude a cheap form of labour, nevertheless between 1669 and +1674 Virginia, commercially, was in a most flourishing condition, +raising a greater revenue for the Crown than any other settlement. Sir +John Knight informed Lord Shaftesbury that £150,000 in customs on +tobacco alone had been paid, "so that Virginia is as of great importance +to his Majesty as the Spanish Indies to Spain, and employs more ships +and breeds more seamen for his Majesty's service than any other +trade."[57] + +Commercial success was not the only thing that went to make up Virginian +history, for there were signs of external danger only too plainly +exhibited by numerous outrages on the part of the Indians. Had Berkeley +shown any skill or energy in suppressing these disorders all might have +gone well; as it was he did nothing, with dire results. The incapacity +of the Governor at last aroused the wrath of a young, honest, +courageous, but indiscreet, member of the Assembly, named Nathaniel +Bacon. He took up arms and was at first pardoned, but when he once again +attempted to seize Jamestown he was taken, and died in so mysterious a +manner as to give rise to rumours of poison and treachery, though it was +also reported, "that, he dyed by inbibing or taking in two _(sic)_ much +Brandy."[58] Bacon's rising had the effect desired in so far as it +brought about the recall of Berkeley. So vindictively and cruelly did +the Governor punish Bacon's followers that in 1677 the Crown sent three +Commissioners, Sir John Berry, Colonel Francis Moryson, and Colonel +Herbert Jeffreys to look into the grievances of either side. They almost +immediately quarrelled with the Governor, who was anxious to carry on +his severe punishments. The King, however, had commanded the +Commissioners to show, if possible, the greatest lenience. As a matter +of fact out of a population of 15,000, only 500 were on the side of the +Governor, and this small party who claimed to be the loyalists, very +naturally advocated confiscations and fines. Berkeley obstructed the +Commissioners as well as he was able, showing himself reckless of all +consequences, and exhibiting gross discourtesy to the King's +representatives. The truth was that Berkeley was growing old, and had +possessed unlimited power far too long, supported as he had been by a +most corrupt Assembly. The end of the quarrel came when the Governor, or +more probably, Lady Berkeley, insulted the officials beyond forgiveness. +After a consultation at the Governor's house the Commissioners were sent +away in his carriage with "the common hangman" for postillion.[59] This +outrage upon the laws of hospitality was too much; and Jeffreys +immediately assumed the reins of government. Sir William Berkeley gave +one more snarl, informing the new Governor that he was "utterly +unacquainted"[60] with the laws, customs, and nature of the people; he +then sailed for England, which he reached just alive, but "so unlikely +to live that it had been very inhuman to have troubled him with any +interrogations; so he died without any account given of his +government."[61] + +Sir Herbert Jeffreys had a difficult task before him in trying to purge +the Assembly. Within a year of taking up office he died, leaving no +lasting memorial of his skill as Governor, but he is "to be remembered +as the first of a long series of officers of the standing army who have +held the governorship of a colony."[62] Jeffreys' successor, Sir Henry +Chicheley, only held office for a few months, and at his departure the +old type of governor disappears. The year 1679 is remarkable for the new +method of administration, a method which proved injurious to the +colony. Thomas, Lord Culpeper, was the first of the new scheme, and +though he resided in the colony for four years he did nothing for its +inhabitants. The appointment of Culpeper was most ill-advised, as he was +already detested owing to the grant of 1672. He took up his office at +identically the same time as the burgesses acquired the right of sitting +as a separate chamber, and he found the council refractory, the colony +unprosperous, and the Company of his Majesty's Guards in "mutinous +humours."[63] His tenure of office expired in 1684, and he was succeeded +by Lord Howard of Effingham. It cannot be said that the new Governor was +idle, but whatever he did was to the disadvantage of Virginia and the +Virginians. By a scandalous system of jobbery he inflicted grievous +financial injury upon individuals, and at the same time retarded the +progress of the colony by a system of new imposts. By his skill he +obtained for the Governor and the Council the right of appointing the +Secretary to the Assembly, which ought not to have been allowed by a +free representative body. From this time the evils of the English +colonial system became apparent, and it is now that absentee governors +enrich themselves at the expense of their settlements, the actual +administration being left to lieutenant governors in the confidence of +their chiefs, who remained at home. + +The great stumbling-block to colonial prosperity was the lack of unity +between the different settlements on the eastern coast of North America. +In 1684 an attempt was made to bring about united action against +Indians, who had desolated the western borders of the English colonies. +A conference was called at Albany, and Virginia, like all the other +colonies, sent delegates to discuss the possibility of creating the +United States under the British Crown. Nothing, however, came of it, for +the jealousies and wranglings of the delegates only too well illustrated +the feelings of the different settlements for each other. The Revolution +of 1688 was accepted with tranquillity in Virginia, and two years later +Francis Nicholson was appointed King William's lieutenant governor. +Nicholson was a man of much colonial experience, of violent temper, and +scandalous private life. He strongly opposed the desire for political +freedom, but at the same time he made an excellent governor, and during +his rule, which lasted until 1704 (except for a period of six years, +1692-1698), the colony prospered. A desire for education evinced itself +at this period, and in 1691 Commissary Blair was sent to England to +obtain a patent for the creation of a college. He returned within two +years, his labours having been crowned with success, and in 1693 the +second university[64] in America was established under the title of +William and Mary College. + +As the seventeenth century drew to a close, Virginian progress was +stimulated by the settlement, on the upper waters of the James River, of +De Richebourg's colony of Huguenots, which is said to have "infused a +stream of pure and rich blood into Virginian society." If the test of a +colony is its population, Virginia at this time must have been most +flourishing. Less than a century had passed since Newport and his one +hundred and forty-three settlers had sailed into the James River; the +colony had suffered privations, had witnessed many a fluctuation of +fortune, but at the dawn of the eighteenth century about one hundred +thousand souls were living there in peace, plenty and happiness. During +the century that had passed, the settlers had won for themselves +political rights, and practically, political freedom. They were to a +certain extent restricted by the Navigation Acts, but the influence of +the Crown or of the English Parliament was hardly felt. Their interest +in English political life was meagre; the importance of getting +trustworthy lieutenant governors was far greater to the Virginian than +whether Whig or Tory was in power at home. Sometimes the colony was +fortunate, sometimes the reverse, but in every case the lieutenant +governor was opposed to any extension of political rights. The +difficulty of united effort on the part of the planters was, to a +certain extent, intensified by a want of towns. Hampton was Virginia's +chief port, and was composed of a hundred poor houses, while +Williamsburg cannot be regarded as a true centre of either economic or +intellectual activity. This lack of town life is pointed out by +Commissary Blair, who informed the Bishop of London, "even when attempts +have been made by the Assembly to erect towns they have been frustrated. +Everyone wants the town near his own house, and the majority of the +burgesses have never seen a town, and have no notion of any but a +country life."[65] The lieutenant governors during the eighteenth +century had not only to contend with the supineness of the settlers, but +also with intercolonial discord. Thus Alexander Spotswood, in 1711, +attempted to assist North Carolina against the Tuscarora Indians, but he +received no support from either the Council or Assembly of Virginia. +Five years later Spotswood was met with similar bickerings and squabbles +when South Carolina was invaded by the Yamassees. In 1741 Oglethorpe +begged assistance to protect the newly established Georgia; instead of +sending their best we are told that his officer brought back "all the +scum of Virginia."[66] + +The worst feature of Virginian life was the omnipresent and omnipotent +slave system, but from the mere commercial aspect this was in favour of +the colony at the time. The planters, however, were never ready to leave +the colony for imperial purposes owing to the fear of a negro rising at +home. This was one of the chief difficulties with which the Governor, +Robert Dinwiddie, had to contend, during that trying period of French +and Indian attack, which prepared the way for the Seven Years' war. With +this period it is not proposed to deal now, but to leave it to a later +chapter concerning the struggle between the French colonists in the +north and west, and the English settlers upon the eastern seaboard +during that period which is peculiarly connected with Britain's imperial +story. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[31] Quoted by Professor Raleigh in Introduction to _Hakluyt's Voyages_ +(ed. 1904), xii. p. 24. + +[32] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vol. vii. p. 190. + +[33] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (ed. 1904), vol. i. p. xviii. + +[34] Quoted by Doyle, _The English in America_, Virginia (1882), p. 145. + +[35] _American Historical Review_, vol. iv. No. 4, pp. 678-702. + +[36] Quoted by Doyle, _op. cit._, p. 147. + +[37] Doyle says 143 colonists; neither Percy nor Newport mention the +exact number; Bradley, in his life of _Captain John Smith_, says 105. + +[38] _Cf._ footnote, Doyle, _op. cit._, p. 149. + +[39] Smith's Letter to the Virginia Company. + +[40] Quoted by Bradley, _Captain John Smith_ (1905), p. 144. + +[41] Force, _Tracts_ (1836-46), vol. i. + +[42] Gates, _A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in +Virginia_ (1610). + +[43] Force, _Tracts_ (1836-46), vol. iii. + +[44] Sir Thomas Dale was Governor 1611 and 1614 to 1616. Sir Thomas +Gates as Governor organised the colony 1611 to 1614. See _Dictionary of +National Biography_, xxi. p. 64. + +[45] Hamor, _A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia_ (ed. +1860). + +[46] Hamor, _A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia_ (ed. +1860). + +[47] The characters of the two parties is controversial owing to the +scarcity of documentary evidence. + +[48] Doyle, _op. cit._ p. 220. + +[49] _Ibid._, p. 226. + +[50] There was no question of abandoning the colony itself, which was +what Spain desired. + +[51] Doyle, _op. cit._ pp. 242, 244. + +[52] Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth_, i. 317. + +[53] Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_ (1886), p. 215. + +[54] _Cromwell's Speech V._, Sept. 17, 1656. + +[55] Hening, _Statutes at Large_ (New York, 1823), ii. p. 517. + +[56] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 64. + +[57] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 530. + +[58] _Strange News from Virginia_ (1677), p. 8. + +[59] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 64. + +[60] _Ibid._, p. 67. + +[61] _Ibid._, p. iv. + +[62] Fortescue, _Introduction to Calendar_, 1677-1680, p. v. + +[63] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 589. + +[64] See p. 93. + +[65] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1697, p. 642. + +[66] _Itinerant Observations_, p. 62. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE COLONISATION OF MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS + + +"Maryland is a province not commonly knowne in England, because the name +of Virginia includes or clouds it, it is a Country wholy belonging to +that honorable Gentleman the Lord Baltamore."[67] Such is the +description of the colony that now comes before us, and at the time it +was penned John Hammond, the writer, told the truth. The colony had +arisen under rather peculiar circumstances, which neither resembled the +foundation of Virginia nor the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers. In +1632 Charles I. granted to George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, an +ill-defined tract of territory to the north of Virginia. Baltimore was +an old hand at colonisation, for he had some years previous attempted to +form a settlement in Newfoundland which had not been successful. David +Kirke, who took over the Baltimore lands there, said that Newfoundland +agreed with all God's creatures except Jesuits and schismatics, and that +a great mortality among the former tribe had driven Baltimore away. +Whether this was the true reason, or whether, as it has been proposed, +Baltimore was practically driven out by the Presbyterians, it is hard to +decide. His next trial as a colony founder was made in the more +southern lands of Virginia, but here his Roman Catholicism was sternly +opposed by the English Church party. Under these circumstances his +Maryland colony seemed likely to flourish, for there were neither +schismatics nor churchmen, nor Presbyterians, but only Indians to +contend against. Before the first Lord Baltimore could accomplish +anything he died, but the grant was transferred to his son Cecil. The +charter is an important one, for by it the Proprietors gained both +territorial and political rights; the freemen or representative assembly +were to be consulted, and with their advice the Proprietor could enact +laws. All places of worship were to be consecrated according to the +Church of England, and so the Roman Catholic faith had only a +subordinate position in a colony which owed its foundation to a true +upholder of that belief. From the very first Maryland was better off +than several of the other colonies, as the Crown divested itself of the +right of levying taxes within the province; but in other respects the +constitution was normal, consisting of a governor and two chambers, the +proprietor possessing the privilege of creating councillors. + +Leonard Calvert, brother of the second Lord Baltimore, sailed to take +possession in 1633, accompanied by two Jesuit priests and three hundred +emigrants. These colonists were neither gaol-birds nor religious +fanatics; they had been selected with great care and were well provided. +One of the Jesuits, Father White, has left on record his _Impressions_ +in which he says that the colony was founded with a definite religious +and educational purpose. "We had not come thither for the purpose of +war, but for the sake of benevolence, that we might imbue a rude race +with the precepts of civilisation, and open up a way to heaven, as well +as impart to them the advantages of remote regions."[68] When the +settlers came to the place of landing they "beheld the natives armed. +That night fires were kindled through the whole region, and since so +large a ship had never been seen by them messengers were sent everywhere +to announce 'that a canoe as large as an island had brought as many men +as there was trees in the woods.'"[69] From this moment and onwards the +relations with the natives were always friendly. The small independent +landowners being free from this danger, at first, lived happy and +contented lives, but they were gradually crushed out of existence by +large estate-holders working with gangs of indentured labourers. + +The people of Virginia looked with some scorn upon their modern +neighbours, and it was not long before a quarrel took place. The Isle of +Kent lay in such a position off the coast that under Baltimore's patent +it ought to have been included in the province of Maryland. But in 1625 +the Virginians had settled there for trading purposes, and were +determined not to be brought under the yoke of Baltimore's +proprietorship. Two years after the establishment of Maryland, the Isle +of Kent was under the rule of William Clayborne, a strong Protestant, a +contentious man, who was described by his enemies as "a pestilent enemie +to the wel-faire of that province and the Lord Proprietor."[70] + +Calvert, anxious to establish the rights of his brother, sent two ships +to the Isle of Kent, and these were attacked by the crew of a pinnace +belonging to Clayborne, lives being lost on both sides. The quarrel +continued with so much fervour that it became merged in the greater +struggle of the Civil War. Calvert was granted by the King letters of +marque for privateering purposes, and he took good care to prey upon his +enemy, Clayborne, whose friend Ingle had been furnished with similar +letters from Parliament. Thus having placed the quarrel which was really +personal under the banners of King and Parliament, the two rivals +contended with each other. + +The Parliamentary forces were, at first, successful; Ingle and Clayborne +invaded Maryland, seized St Mary's, and Calvert was obliged to fly. But +with assistance from Governor Berkeley of Virginia, he returned and +drove out the Clayborne faction which had disgusted the people by its +incapacity and greed. The quarrel ceased for a short time, owing to +Calvert's death; but it was not long before it was renewed. Lord +Baltimore appointed as his deputy William Stone, an ardent nonconformist +and Parliamentarian, who repaid the Proprietor's generosity by leaguing +with the people of the Isle of Kent. Traitor though he was, it is to be +remembered that during his period of rule one good act was passed. +Maryland was already celebrated for its toleration, but in 1649 it was +still further enacted that a Christian was not to be "in any ways +molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion, +nor in the free exercise thereof."[71] + +For the peace of their minds and the preservation of their property +Stone and the settlers acknowledged the Parliamentary commissioners, +including Clayborne, who landed in 1652. They first displaced Stone, but +realising that he was popular, and thinking that it would be +advantageous for them, reinstated him. Stone, however, once more proved +a trimmer, and sided with the Proprietor; his late followers deserted +him and turned to Clayborne. On the establishment of the Protectorate in +1654 Lord Baltimore asserted his rights, claiming that he now held from +the Protector Cromwell, and declaring that the commissioners' privileges +had ceased. Clayborne and his companions were not the men to take such a +rebuff as this. "It was not religion, it was not punctilios they stood +upon, it was that sweete, that rich, that large country they aimed +at."[72] With this desire, according to a contemporary, Clayborne +asserted his authority by disfranchising the Roman Catholics and +forbidding the oath of loyalty to the Proprietor. William Stone, stung +to resistance and filled with importance as the representative of Lord +Baltimore, took up arms and was defeated by the Protestant party at +Providence in 1655. Many of Stone's followers were executed, and their +property confiscated; Stone himself was sentenced to death, but was +reprieved. Clayborne's party now seemed triumphant, but the home +authorities refused to bestow upon him the Isle of Kent, and within two +years the Protector restored to Baltimore his proprietorship of +Maryland. Trouble still continued, and in 1659 Josias Fendall, the +Proprietor's Governor, so worked upon the members of Assembly that they +claimed full legislative rights and complete independence of the +Baltimore family. + +At the Restoration the quarrel came to an end, and Lord Baltimore +re-established his rights with nothing more than a mere show of force. +Philip Carteret was appointed Governor, and during his term of office a +mint was set up in the colony. He was succeeded in 1662 by Charles +Calvert to the alarm of the Protestant inhabitants, who sent an +extraordinary document to the Lord Mayor and London merchants entitled, +"_Complaint from heaven with a hue and cry and a petition out of +Virginia and Maryland, to the King and his Parliament against the +Barklian and Baltimore parties. The platform is Pope Jesuit determined +to overthrow England with fire and sword and destructions, and the +Maryland Papists to drive us Protestants to purgatory._"[73] These, +however, were purely imaginary troubles, and a more real one fell upon +both Virginia and Maryland on August 27, 1667, when a terrific gale +destroyed in two hours four-fifths of their tobacco and corn, and blew +down 15,000 houses. On the whole Virginia suffered perhaps more than +Maryland, but neither colony was really subject to such perils; and +both, during the first fifteen years of Charles II.'s reign, enriched +themselves as well as the Proprietor or the Crown by the fertility of +their soil. This period of prosperity, however, gave way to one of +unrest. + +By the death of Cecil, Lord Baltimore in 1675, Charles Calvert, the late +Governor, succeeded as heir to the family titles, estates and +proprietorship of Maryland, the latter being placed under his deputy, +Thomas Notley. The Proprietor was not at first upon the best of terms +with the home government. He was severely reprimanded by the Privy +Council for the imprisonment and assassination of a collector of +customs. It is not hinted that Baltimore had any actual hand in this +crime, but it is thought that he connived "at least _ex post facto_ in +his murder." No sooner had the Proprietor got over this difficulty, than +he fell out with the settlers, who were caused much uneasiness in 1681 +by the limitation of the franchise to those freeholders of 50 acres or +those owners of other property of the value of £40. A spirit of unrest +was therefore abroad, and there were not wanting those who were ready to +snatch the opportunity and pose as patriots against the aggression of +the Proprietor. Josias Fendall, who had already tried to deprive the +Baltimore family of their rights, and who had now become an unworthy +demagogue, leagued with John Coode, a clergyman, and revolted. The +insurrection, as such, was short-lived. But exciting events were taking +place in England, and Coode again seized his chance when news of the +Revolution of 1688 drifted across the Atlantic. He placed himself at the +head of the Association for the Defence of the Protestant Religion, and +in 1689, pretending that he was serving William III., seized in the +King's name the government of Maryland. The King bestowed some signs of +favour upon this clever rebel, but his designs were soon discovered, and +the government of Maryland was radically changed. In 1691 the colony was +placed under the direct control of the Crown; the political rights of +the Proprietor were annulled; the Church of England was established, and +the Roman Catholics were persecuted. + +The first royal Governor was Francis Nicholson, who had served elsewhere +successfully, but was regarded with suspicion and dislike by many of +the inhabitants of Maryland. Gerald Slye's accusations against +Nicholson, in May 1698, give some idea of this dislike, and are of some +interest as an indication of the means used by an ignorant colonist to +discredit the Governor in England. A few of the accusations will show +how utterly foolish these complaints were. Slye began by asserting that +"all thinking men are amazed that such a man should have twisted himself +into any post in the government, for besides his incapacity and +illiteracy, he is a man who first in New York, then in Virginia, and at +last in Maryland, has always professed himself an enemy to the present +King and government." The next charge was that the Governor "makes his +chaplain walk bareheaded before him from home to church." This is +further extended by the fact that he "usually makes his chaplain wait +ten or twelve hours for service so that often morning prayer is said in +the evening." But there are more charges concerning Nicholson's +treatment of his chaplain, for he, "a pious and good gentleman, the +credit of the clergy in this province, happening one day by the +Governor's means [to be] a little disguised in drink"[74] was suddenly +summoned to conduct Divine Service. And so charge after charge of the +same absurd character were brought against Nicholson not so much because +of his ill-doing, but because he had the misfortune to be Governor. + +The people of Maryland were not content until in 1715 the fourth Lord +Baltimore became a Protestant, and by his conversion it was held that +his full rights had revived. Fourteen years later the Proprietor's +title obtained an everlasting memorial in the foundation of the city of +Baltimore as a port for the planters. The restoration of the Calverts to +their former rights was by no means advantageous to the religious life +of the colony. The fourth lord was a hanger-on of Frederick, Prince of +Wales, while the fifth to hold the title was a notorious profligate. +These men insisted on exercising their right of clerical patronage +without any regard to the welfare of the Church. Thus George Whitefield, +who visited the colony in 1739, failed to arouse religious fervour. His +preaching in Maryland was far less successful than it had been in +Virginia. The former colony he found in "a dead sleep," and to use his +own words, he "spoke home to some ladies concerning the vanity of their +false politeness, but, alas! they are wedded to their quadrille and +ombre."[75] + +If the Marylanders were conspicuous for their irreligion, they were +equally noticeable for their industry. A large number of German +emigrants had come to the colony, and had started a continuous movement +of extension towards the West. To these Germans is entirely due the +improved state of the country, and the better means of communication +even beyond the mountains. But the rolling westward of the Maryland +population brought the colony into close touch with the power of France; +and like the other colonies it was destined, about the middle of the +eighteenth century, to contend against the policy of the French King, by +which, if it had been successful, the seaboard colonies would have been +deprived of the possibility of further expansion towards the Pacific. + +The history of the Carolinas only resembles that of Maryland in the fact +that they were both proprietary colonies. The swampy and low-lying coast +to the south of Virginia had, in the early years of colonisation, +offered little temptation to settlers, and long remained uninhabited by +Englishmen or Spaniards. Certainly in 1564, Laudonnière, a Huguenot +gentleman and naval officer, attempted a plantation at Port Royal in +South Carolina, and named his fortress Caroline, "in honour of our +Prince, King Charles";[76] but it was an absolute failure, and the +history of the fate of these Huguenots at the hands of the brutal +Spaniard, Menendez, is as well-known as the tremendous retribution which +followed his barbarous cruelty. Captains Amidas and Barlow, in 1584, at +the charge and direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, visited this portion of +the North American continent, but nothing came of it, and "Caroline" was +left strictly alone as if a curse were upon the land. Adventurers from +Virginia at last broke down the old prejudices, and by the year 1625 +landseekers and discoverers had penetrated as far south as the Chowan. +By a strange chance the country named by Laudonnière was destined in +1629 to receive much the same name from an Englishman for much the same +reason. In that year Sir Robert Heath obtained from Charles I. a grant +of land to the south of Virginia, which was called after the King "the +province of Carolina." No practical result, however, came from this +grant, and Carolina, as it may now be called, still remained uninhabited +except for the natives. + +The first real charter to the Lords Proprietor of Carolina was dated the +24th March 1663, but owing to the previous grant of Charles I. numerous +legal steps had to be taken before matters were satisfactorily arranged. +The land between Virginia and Florida was now granted to eight +patentees, amongst whom were the Duke of Albemarle, the Earl of +Clarendon, Sir William Berkeley, but above all the Earl of Shaftesbury. +These Proprietors had political and territorial authority, but there was +also to be an assembly of freeholders with legislative powers. Twenty +thousand acres of land were reserved for the original Proprietors, but +at the same time a notice was issued inviting planters to settle in the +colony, promising one hundred acres to each settler within five years, +together with the privilege of residing in a land blest with the +doctrine of freedom of conscience. This notice was published not only in +England, but also in Barbadoes, the Bermudas, Virginia and New England, +so that the colonisation of the Carolinas was not only, nor even mainly, +undertaken by adventurers from the home country. On Albemarle River a +settlement was made from Virginia, which formed the nucleus of North +Carolina. Near Cape Fear the New Englanders also had a little colony +which was absorbed by a more prosperous settlement from Virginia. +Settlers soon came from Barbadoes, for there the news had been welcomed, +and hundreds of experienced planters showed themselves willing to accept +the offer of the Proprietors, and expressed a desire to come with their +negroes and servants. They had, no doubt, been tempted by the extra +inducements published in August 1663, when the Carolinas were advertised +as wonderfully healthy and a land capable of bearing commodities not yet +produced in other plantations as wine, oil, currants, raisins, silks, +etc. Most of the Barbadoes planters were afterwards absorbed in the +colony sent out from England forming the nucleus of South Carolina. + +The history of the first year in the Carolinas is practically unknown, +except that in September the province was divided into two, and the +northern section seems to have been already settled. The growth of the +colony must have been steady, for in June 1665, Thomas Woodward, +surveyor for the Proprietors in Albemarle county, shows that the +population has increased, and that "the bounds of the county of +Albemarle, fortie miles square, will not comprehend the inhabitants +there already seated."[77] He continues to give the Proprietors +excellent advice, and recommends that they should show generosity if +they wish to encourage settlers; "so if your Lordships please to give +large Incouragement for some time till the country be more fully Peopled +your Honore may contract for the future upon what condition you please. +But for the present, To thenke that any men will remove from Virginia +upon harder Conditione then they can live there will prove (I feare) a +vaine Imagination, It bein Land only that they come for."[78] There were +however, others who continued to praise the colony, and one writer in +1670 says of Ashley River, "it is like a bowling alley, full of dainty +brooks and rivers of running water; full of large and stately +timber."[79] The reader can hardly refrain from wondering where the +resemblance to a bowling alley is to be found. Again the panegyrist says +in a somewhat peculiar sentence, "as of the land of Canaan, it may be +said it is a land flowing with milk and honey, and it lies in the same +latitude."[80] The Proprietors were very anxious to preserve this lovely +land for the "better folk," and in December 1671 Lord Ashley wrote to +Captain Holstead not to invite the poorer sort to Carolina, "for we find +ourselves mightily mistaken in endeavouring to get a great number of +poor people there, it being substantial men and their families that must +make the plantation which will stock the country with negroes, cattle, +and other necessaries, whereas others rely and eat upon us."[81] + +Carolina's presiding genius and champion was Lord Shaftesbury's medical +adviser, secretary, and personal friend, John Locke. He is supposed in +1667 to have drawn up the Fundamental Constitutions which contained an +elaborate scheme of feudal government. Whether he did produce this +astounding document has never been conclusively proved, nor is it of +much value, since the principles contained in it were never enforced as +a working system, for they were neither adapted to the times nor the +conditions of a colony of freemen. By the year 1670 the elective +Assembly possessed the definite powers of appointing officers, +establishing law courts, and superintending the military defences of the +colony. These privileges did not prevent them committing a great blunder +by which the colony was converted into a paradise for the bankrupt and +the pauper, but a hell for the honest and willing settler. It was now +enacted that no colonist for the first five years after the true +foundation of the colony should be liable for any exterior debts; that +no newcomer need pay any taxes for his first year; and that marriage +should be regarded as valid if mutual consent should be declared before +the governor. + +The northern section of the colony suffered most, and for fifty years +this part of Carolina was wearied by ever recurring disputes and +insurrections. "The colony indeed seems to have reached that chronic +state of anarchy when the imprisonment and deposition of a governor is a +passing incident which hardly influences the life of the community."[82] +Thus during the government of Thomas Eastchurch, who was sent out by the +Proprietors to Albemarle in 1677, there was much trouble. Eastchurch +appointed as his deputy the immoral Thomas Miller of the King's Customs. +"Now Miller had a failing, not as the Proprietors point out, the common +one of religious bigotry which had bred such dissension in New England, +but a weakness for strong liquor."[83] On his arrival he undertook to +model the Parliament, "no doubt with alcoholic readiness and assurance, +which proceeding we learn without surprise gave the people occasion to +oppose and imprison him."[84] Thereupon certain unscrupulous men took +Miller's place and began at once to collect the Customs and so defrauded +the Crown. For some short time angry words passed between the home +Government and the colony, but the storm was calmed by the restoration +of the King's duties. Eastchurch was succeeded by Culpeper, who +controlled affairs until Seth Sothel came out as governor in 1683. The +new ruler's rapacity and arbitrary conduct caused the Assembly to +depose and banish him, paying no attention to the feeble remonstrance of +the Proprietors. + +Meanwhile the southern portion of Carolina, particularly the settlements +of Yeamans at Cape Fear and Sayle at Charleston, proved themselves more +orderly and promising than the anarchic Albemarle; and probably for this +reason the Proprietors displayed towards them more consideration. The +constitution which was granted to Charleston in 1670 was most liberal in +character, for not only were the freemen allowed to elect the members of +the House of Representatives, but they also possessed the privilege of +nominating ten out of the twenty councillors. As so many of the settlers +had come from Antiqua, "weary of the hurricane,"[85] or from Barbadoes, +they naturally reproduced their old methods of life, and having been +accustomed to slaves, they tried to force the Indians into servility; +but they found the Red Indian very different from the African negro, for +he was possessed of a proud spirit and remarkable cunning that saved him +from serfdom. The community of the South was one of wealthy traders who +generally lived in the capital, partly because of the fine harbour and +the insalubrious swamps inland, and partly because of the scheme of the +Proprietors by which every freeholder had a town lot one-twentieth the +extent of his whole domain. + +The first governor was William Sayle, of Barbadoes, described in 1670 as +"a man of no great sufficiency."[86] It is very difficult at this +distance of time to deduce the character of this governor, for Henry +Brayne wrote, "Sayle is one of the unfittest men in the world for his +place"; and he then proceeded to call him "crazy."[87] On the other +hand, when Sayle died in 1671, being at least eighty years of age, he is +called "the good aged governor";[88] and the Council of Ashley River, on +March 4, 1671, recorded that he was "very much lamented by our people, +whose life was as dear to them as the hopes of their prosperity."[89] +Sayle's chief work during his short period of office was an attempt to +inculcate godly ways amongst the somewhat ungodly colonists. He urged +the Proprietors to send out an orthodox minister, and proposed the man +"which I and many others have lived under as the greatest of our +mercies."[90] He knew very well that some special inducement would have +to be held out to the Proprietors, and so uses the scriptural words, +"for where the Ark of God is, there is peace and tranquillity."[91] + +Sayle was succeeded by Joseph West as governor in 1671, but his +appointment was only temporary, as Lord Shaftesbury in the autumn of +that year sent a commission to Sir John Yeamans. His unpopularity, +however, caused his deposition; and Joseph West was again nominated as +governor in 1674, a post which he filled with conspicuous satisfaction +and success for eleven years. While West was still in office, the Lords +Proprietor issued an order in December 1679 for the proper establishment +of Charlestown. "Wherefore we think fit to let you know that the Oyster +Point is the place we do appoint for the port-town, of which you are to +take notice and call it Charlestown, and order the meetings of the +Council to be there held, and the Secretary's, Registrar's, and +Surveyor's offices to be kept within that town. And you are to take care +to lay out the streets broad and in straight lines, and that in your +grant of town-lots you do bound everyone's land towards the streets in +an even line, and suffer no one to encroach with his buildings upon the +streets, whereby to make them narrower than they were first +designed."[92] Such was the town to which West welcomed the Huguenots +who were excluded from the colonies of their own country. The +Proprietors, too, appreciating the wisdom of their governor, afforded +the unhappy French means of cultivating their native produce of wine, +oil, and silk, so that they soon established new homes for their +distressed brethren, "who return daily into Babylon for want of such a +haven."[93] By the end of West's administration the Clarendon +settlements centering round Charlestown had become extremely well-to-do, +and the town government, which was of excellent character, administered +the affairs of about three thousand people. But the southern territory +fell into the evil ways of North Carolina; and after West's retirement, +which finally took place in 1685, a series of unsatisfactory governors +caused a continual bickering, ill-feeling, and well nigh insurrection. +Sothel, whose bad government in Albemarle was already known in the +south, was appointed governor in 1690; but after a year the southern +settlers, taking example from their northern brethren, drove him out. + +The Proprietors at last found that they had had enough of this +disgusting incompetence and anarchy. The Locke Constitutions had failed +in every way; a change must be made; and it appeared that an +amalgamation of North and South under one governor might have the effect +desired. Their first choice of an administrator was most unsuccessful; +Philip Ludwell of Virginia found he had a hard task before him in +restoring peace out of chaos and anarchy. The task was too much for him, +and having proved himself incapable was succeeded by a Carolina planter, +Thomas Smith, in 1692. Bickering and quarrels continued; Indian attacks +were occasionally met and dealt with; but the southern Spaniards were an +ever present danger that made Smith's rule no sinecure. After three +years Joseph Archdale, a quaker, and one of the Proprietors, came out as +governor, but after a few months in the colony he was succeeded by his +nephew, Joseph Blake. The benign rule of both these governors gave at +last to the Carolinas a peace which they had not known for twenty years. +The Huguenots were once again welcomed by Blake, and although they had +been steadily settling in the Carolinas, particularly since the +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, yet they now obtained a more +hearty welcome and complete toleration. So much had Blake's government +done for the Carolinas that the royal special agent in 1699 records, "if +this place were duly encouraged, it would be the most useful to the +Crown of all the Plantations upon the continent of America." + +There were, however, two external dangers to which the Carolinas were +exposed at the very moment they seemed to have obtained internal peace. +The first was the new French settlement on the Mississippi; the second +was the fear of Spanish aggression from Florida. The French danger was +never really very extreme, and the Carolinas escaped many of the horrors +of New England history. But the Spanish peril was true enough, for as +early as 1680 a party of Scotch Presbyterians were routed from their +little settlement at Port Royal, and this was regarded by the Carolina +settlers as a just cause of complaint and an insult to his Majesty King +Charles. To their great disappointment in 1699, when Edward Randolph was +sent out to make investigations concerning Spanish intrusions, he +brought with him no troops for their protection. At the beginning of the +eighteenth century, therefore, it appeared best to the settlers that for +their own defence they should take offensive action. + +The war of the Spanish Succession, or, as it was called in the colonies, +Queen Anne's war, had broken out, and rumours had reached the settlers +of a coming Spanish onslaught. To meet this, James Moore, a political +adventurer, but a very brave and capable man, led 500 English and 800 +Indian allies into Spanish territory and took the unprotected town of St +Augustine; but the fort, which was used as a last stronghold, resisted +him for three months, and as he was unprovided with siege guns, he was +obliged to retire on the appearance of a Spanish man-of-war. Nothing +daunted, but rather elated with their previous success, a larger raid +was made in 1704. Sir Nathaniel Johnstone was now governor, and he +commissioned Colonel Moore to attack Apalachee, eighty miles to the west +of St Augustine. In this action Moore was again successful, as Colonel +Brewton records that "by this conquest of Apalachee the Province was +freed from any danger from that part during the whole war."[94] The +Spaniards, however, did not remain idle, and in 1706, in alliance with +the French from Martinique, with a fleet of ten sail and a force of 800 +men attacked Charlestown. The inhabitants were terrified, and their +anguish was intensified by the horror of a severe outbreak of yellow +fever. Many of them, therefore, fled from the town, but Sir Nathaniel +Johnstone routed the combined forces of France and Spain and captured no +fewer than 230 prisoners. + +Factious quarrels within the Province itself now threatened the safety +of the settlers. Since 1691 North and South Carolina had been united +under one governor, but the custom had been established that the +northern portion of the colony was always under the administration of a +deputy. In 1711 Thomas Cary disputed with Edward Hyde as to which held +the office; it was decided in favour of the latter. The purely personal +quarrel drove Cary to forget his feelings of patriotism, and flying from +Carolina he stirred up the Tuscarora Indians, who, with fiendish +delight, attacked a small settlement of Germans from the Palatinate. +South Carolina, where the supreme governor dwelt, immediately dispatched +an army to the assistance of the North, with the effect that apparent +peace was gained and the army was no longer required. Immediately upon +its withdrawal, however, the Tuscaroras again fell upon the helpless +people; this was too much, vengeance must be taken; and this fierce +Indian tribe was practically decimated and forced to migrate north. + +Although the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713, and the Spanish War +of Succession came to an end, yet there was little hope of peace in the +West as long as either side allied with the Indians. The fate of the +Tuscaroras may have stimulated the Yamassee Indians to revenge in 1716. +In April, headed by Spaniards, they massacred about eighty inhabitants +of Granville County, South Carolina. Charles Craven, the governor, +proved himself a man of vigour, activity, and stern resolve, and by his +efforts within a few months the colony was assured of safety, and there +was apparent peace between the settlers of Carolina and the Spaniards of +Florida. + +In the winter of 1719 that perpetual love of dissension, and dislike of +any federal action, was once more manifested by the Assembly of South +Carolina. The governor was a son of Sir Nathaniel Johnstone, and he had +done his best for the Proprietors, but unlike the northern portions the +South now disowned all proprietary rule and elected a governor under the +Crown. The home authorities immediately sent out Francis Nicholson, a +capable colonial official who had already had experience in New York, +Virginia, and Maryland. Ten years later the Proprietors accepted the +inevitable, and being compensated financially, handed over the Carolinas +to the Crown. They probably never regretted the bargain, as in 1739 the +war against Spain once more jeopardised the existence of the English +settlements in the south, the inhabitants of which were in chronic fear +of murder and rapine. The chief Spanish attack was made in 1742, when an +army of 5000 landed at St Simon's, owing to the failure of Captain Hardy +to intercept the enemy's fleet. The expedition was unsuccessful; the +colonists held their own; eighty prisoners were brought into +Charlestown; and the Spaniards retired. + +The share taken by the two Carolinas in American history during the next +few years was far less than that of other colonies, but will be dealt +with in another chapter. The great interest of the early history of the +Carolinas is that the colony won for itself against very considerable +odds the rights of local government and freedom from the shackles of the +Proprietors. The settlers exhibited from first to last that full +determination which is peculiarly associated with those of English stock +to control their own destiny without the leading-strings of a few, +perhaps benevolent, but generally misguided, human beings, whose powers +have been conferred upon them by chance. The settlers of the Carolinas +were a dogged type of men who faced external dangers with courage and +good sense, distinctly contradictory of their pig-headed, factious, +anarchic spirit in all internal affairs. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[67] Hammond, _Leah and Rachel_ (London, 1656), p. 20. + +[68] White, _A Relation of the Colony of the Lord Baron Baltimore in +Maryland_ (ed. 1847). + +[69] _Ibid._ + +[70] Hammond, _ut supra._ + +[71] Bozman, _History of Maryland, 1633-60_ (1837), vol. ii. p. 661. + +[72] Hammond, _ut supra._ + +[73] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 119. + +[74] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1697-1698, p. 246. + +[75] _Letters_, vol. i. p. 135. + +[76] _Hakluyt's voyages_ (edit. 1904), vol. ix. p. 17. + +[77] Saunders, editor of _Colonial Records of North Carolina_, p. 99. + +[78] _Ibid._, p. 100. + +[79] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 186. + +[80] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 187. + +[81] _Ibid._, p. 297. + +[82] Doyle, _Cambridge Modern History_ (1905), vol. vii. p. 35. + +[83] Fortescue, _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. ix. + +[84] _Ibid._, p. ix. + +[85] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 620. + +[86] _Ibid._, p. 130. + +[87] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 137. + +[88] _Ibid._, p. 187. + +[89] _Ibid._, p. 169. + +[90] _Ibid._, p. 70. + +[91] _Ibid._, p. 86. + +[92] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 455. + +[93] _Ibid._, p. xi. + +[94] _Historical Collections of South Carolina_ (New York, 1836). + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PURITANS IN PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS + + +It has been customary to regard the members of the colony of Virginia as +Cavaliers of the most ardent type, but, as has been shown, this is +scarcely correct, and amongst the Virginians there were many who did not +approve of either the actions of Laud or the dissimulation of Charles. +In much the same way it would be erroneous to ascribe to the New England +group a plebeian origin. The Virginian gentleman found his counterpart +in the New England colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts. It is, +however, more true to describe these two colonies as the offspring and +embodiment of Puritanism, than to describe Virginia as purely +monarchical. In the northern colonies, congregationalism was the chief +form of religious worship, and this, as was natural, determined their +political form; it was no insurmountable step from a belief in +congregations to a belief in republics. The men who found this step so +easy were a very different pattern to the early ne'er-do-wells of +Virginian colonisation. The northern colonies were founded by the yeoman +and the trader, both of whom were patient, watchful, and ready to assert +with an Englishman's doggedness all political rights. These men formed +small organic communities filled with the very strongest sense of +corporate life. Not that these forms took an absolutely exact line, for +in some cases the community was a pure democracy with limitations and +restrictions; in others there was a very wide and modified oligarchy. +The men were the very best of settlers; they knew what they wanted, and +were ready to work and even sacrifice their lives to gain that object. +It is not surprising that in the New England colonies prosperity raised +its head long before it had come to Virginia, though the soil of the +latter was far more fertile than the sterile lands of the northern +group. + +The Plymouth Company had been formed at the same time as the London +Company, but it had accomplished very little.[95] In 1607 it dispatched +an expedition under George Popham and Raleigh Gilbert to the River +Kennebec, in the territory afterwards called Maine. The climate, +however, did not suit the adventurers, and owing to the mismanagement of +the leaders and the indifference of the Company nothing came of the +undertaking. For thirteen years the Plymouth Company made no further +effort, but in 1620 it was entirely reorganised, placed upon a new +footing, and renamed the New England Company. This may have been caused +by two things. In the first place Captain John Smith had made a voyage +to New England in 1614; it was indeed that resourceful but perhaps +boastful adventurer who either gave the name by which the country was +afterwards known, or gave currency to an already existing though not +generally accepted title. "In the moneth of Aprill, 1614 ... I chanced +to arrive in _New-England_, a parte of _Ameryca_ at the _Ile of +Monahiggin_, in 43-½ of Northerly Latitude."[96] But even this voyage +and the several others that followed would not have been sufficient to +arouse the Plymouth Company. It was in truth a second and deeper cause +that started the reorganisation of a corporation that had so long lain +dormant. A new force had now entered into colonisation that was to do +much for the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon race in America. Religion +had sent men to convert the savages, but now religious persecution sent +men to make homes amongst those barbarians. + +It is unnecessary here to discuss the rise of the Puritans as an +important sect in English history. They were those "whose minds had +derived a peculiar character from the daily contemplation of superior +beings and eternal interests."[97] They differed in nearly every respect +from the ordinary Englishman of the Elizabethan period, and yet they +were in many instances intellectual and well-bred. They saw, however, +that "they could not have the Word freely preached and the sacraments +administered without idolatrous gear," and so they concluded to break +away from the Church. It was this separation that gained for them the +name of Separatists, and brought upon them the punishment of the State. +To avoid this some sought leave from Elizabeth to settle in the land +"which lieth to the west," their object being to "settle in Canada and +greatly annoy the bloody and persecuting Spaniard in the Bay of +Mexico."[98] Such was the knowledge of geography about 1591, and it was +very fortunate for the would-be-colonists that nothing came of the +scheme. Two years later some Independents of London fled to Amsterdam, +where they hoped to exercise their religion unmolested. Soon after the +beginning of the seventeenth century the Nonconformists of Gainsborough +took refuge in the Low Countries, to be followed in 1606 by the +Congregationalists from Scrooby. They first found shelter in Amsterdam, +and later, some, choosing John Robinson as their minister, moved to +Leyden. + +The laws of England had driven these men abroad, but they never forgot +the fact that they were Englishmen. They found their families growing up +around them and naturally imbibing foreign ideas. This fact deeply +pained the parents, who looked back upon their own happy youths in Tudor +England. They determined, therefore, to leave the Netherlands, and +William Bradford, their faithful chronicler, tells in quaint but honest +words why they were driven to this decision. "In y^e agitation of their +thoughts, and much discours of things hear aboute; at length they began +to incline to this new conclusion, of remooual to some other place. Not +out of any new fanglednes, or other such like giddie humor, by which men +are oftentimes transported to their great hurt & danger. But for sundrie +weightie & solid reasons."[99] The most serious of these reasons "and of +all sorowes most heauie to be borne; was that many of their children, by +these occasions (and y^e great licentiousnes of youth in y^t countrie) +and y^e manifold Temptations of the place, were drawne away by euill +examples into extrauagante & dangerous courses, getting y^e raines off +their neks & departing from their parents. Some became souldjers, +others took vpon them farr viages by Sea; and other some worse courses +... so that they saw their posteritie would be in danger to degenerate & +be corrupted."[100] It was for this reason, then, in particular, that +the people of the congregation of Leyden turned their thoughts to the +"countries of America which are frutful & fitt for habitation; being +deuoyed of all ciuill Inhabitants; wher ther are only saluage & brutish +men which range vp and downe, litle otherwise than y^e wild beasts of +the same."[101] And yet though they sought a home for themselves where +they might worship as they pleased, they were at the same time filled +with that missionary spirit which had encouraged Columbus and many +another adventurer to persevere. Their great aim was to lay "some good +foundation or at least make some way thereunto, for y^e propagating & +advancing y^e gospell of y^e Kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of +y^e world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping stones unto +others for y^e performing of so great a work."[102] + +With these intentions the ever famous Pilgrim Fathers came to England, +bringing with them a document admitting the supremacy of the State in +religious matters. The wording of the clauses, however, was so artful +that these Puritans proved that though gentle as doves they were not +without the wisdom of the serpent. They obtained leave from James I. to +set out on their voyage; but they were financed by certain London +traders who were to receive all the profits for the first seven years, +when the partnership was to be dissolved. Until this dissolution the +whole band was to live as a community with joint property, trade, and +labour. A few labourers were sent out by the London partners, but the +group to which the term of Pilgrim Fathers strictly applies was composed +of forty-one Puritan emigrants and their families, who had, as a friend +said, "been instrumental to break the ice for others; the honours shall +be yours to the world's end."[103] The voyage of the _Mayflower_ is now +one of the most familiar events in the history of the British Empire. +The little vessel, accompanied by the _Speedwell_, which had to return, +sailed from Plymouth in August 1620. The original intention of the +emigrants had been to land on part of the shores of Virginia; but owing +to storms, the fragile character of the vessel, and the obstinacy of the +captain, they reached Cape Cod, "which is onely a headland of high hils +of sand ouergrowne with shrubbie pines hurts and such trash."[104] While +lying off this inhospitable promontory the emigrants with forethought +bound themselves together by a social compact, thus forming a true body +politic. + +The Pilgrims landed at a spot "fit for habitation" in Cape Cod Harbour +on the 22nd of December. Exploring expeditions were undertaken by the +more adventurous under Miles Standish, a man after the type of Captain +John Smith, but less boastful and of sterner religious character. No +definite settlement was fixed upon and the people were therefore forced +to remain in the neighbourhood of Cape Cod, where they faced the winter +unprepared. Although their minister, John Robinson, had described them +months before as "well-weaned from the delicate milk of the Mother +country and inurred to the difficulties of a strange land,"[105] yet +their sufferings during those wild and stormy months must have been +terrible. Several of the party died, amongst them their first governor, +William Carver. His successor was the already mentioned chronicler, +William Bradford, who served the colony well and faithfully for twelve +years. He was the first American citizen of English birth who was +selected as governor by free choice. His strength of character, moral +rectitude, and lofty public spirit made him worthy of the high office +conferred upon him. Fortunately his first year of government was freed +from the burden of Indian attacks. The truth was that the Pilgrim +Fathers always preserved friendly relations with the neighbouring +Redskins; partly because they had been so reduced in numbers by +pestilence that they were never a serious danger, and partly owing to +Edward Winslow, one of the ablest and most highly educated of the +settlers, who had saved, by his knowledge of medicine, the Indian +chief's life, thus establishing from the first amicable relations. + +Amidst the most heart-rending adversity the Pilgrim Fathers worked at +the communal industry, and struggled through those months of cold and +semi-starvation, helped no doubt by the fact that they were religious +enthusiasts filled with a sense of a divine mission. In May 1621 +Bradford records the first marriage amongst the settlers, which was +conducted on somewhat novel lines, for "according to y^e laudable +custome of y^e Low-cuntries, in which they had liued was thought most +requisite to be performed, by the magistrate."[106] In November fifty +additional settlers came out from the Leyden congregation, and these not +only increased the difficulty of supplying food for everyone, but also +introduced a feeling of dissatisfaction with what they found. Bradford +had, however, the laugh on his side. On Christmas Day the Governor +called them to work as usual, but "the new company ... said it wente +against their consciences to work on y^t day." They were therefore +allowed to remain at home, the rest of the colony going out to work; but +when the governor came home at noon, "he found them in y^e streete at +play openly; some pitching y^e barr & some at stoole-ball and such like +sports. So he went to them and tooke away their Implements and tould +them that it was against his conscience, that they should play & others +worke."[107] + +The settlers had indeed laboured hard and not in vain, for a definite +grant of their territory was issued by the New England Company, and +there was now no fear of their log-fort, their houses, or their +twenty-six acres of cleared ground being seized by the original members +to whom the land had been granted by James I. The little plot of ground +thus carefully tended seems to have been a real oasis in the wilderness. +An eye-witness, Edward Winslow, has drawn an ideal picture of the +settlement. "Here are grapes, white and red, and very sweet and strong +also; strawberries, gooseberries, raspas, etc.; plums of three sorts, +white, black and red, being almost as good as a damson; abundance of +roses, white, red and damask; single but very sweet indeed. The country +wanted only industrious men to employ."[108] With such a tempting +account it is not surprising that thirty-five new settlers went out in +1622. + +The communal principle gradually began to break down. The younger men +did not care to work so hard and find that they gained no more than the +weak and aged; nor were the married men pleased with the idea of their +wives cooking, washing, and sewing for the bachelors. As early as 1623, +signs of the disappearance of the system were beginning to show +themselves; and by 1627 its break up was completed when the interests of +the London partners were transferred to six of the chief settlers with a +general division of land and live stock. The government of the +settlement was now placed on an assured footing; the laws were passed by +the whole body of freemen, who had also the double right of electing the +governor and a committee of seven assistants. Under the new methods the +colony throve apace, and three years after the change, two new townships +were formed and these sent delegates to an assembly which was primarily +composed of the whole body of freemen, but which, owing to the existence +of these delegates, gradually developed, until in New Plymouth there was +a proper bicameral legislature with a governor at its head. + +The Plymouth colonists set "the example of a compact religious +brotherhood."[109] In 1636 they passed a code of laws which in no way +clashed with those of England, but applied more especially to the style +of life which they had adopted. The brotherhood extended its bounds year +by year, and hardly a score of years had passed since their first +landing before eight prim, clean, and comfortable towns had been built, +containing a population of about 3000 inhabitants. By this time the +Civil War had broken out in England, but the settlers were little +affected by it, for they lived their own quiet lives and went on their +way, filled with religious fervour and working hard to support +themselves. + +After the Restoration, however, they felt bound to bestir themselves in +political affairs, and in June 1661 their general court sent a petition +to Charles II., asking him to confirm their liberties, explaining to him +that they were his faithful subjects "who did hither transport ourselves +to serve our God with a pure conscience, according to His will revealed, +not a three days' journey as Moses, but near three thousand miles into a +vast howling wilderness, inhabited only by barbarians." They concluded +their petition in the quaintest words, saying that if only the King will +grant their wishes, "we say with him, it is enough, our Joseph (or +rather) our Charles is yet alive."[110] The poverty of the Plymouth +brethren about this time is evidenced by their lack of funds necessary +for the renewal of their charter in 1665; and also in the fact that the +people were not able to maintain scholars for their ministers, "but are +necessitated to make use of a gifted brother in some places."[111] +Nevertheless in this same year they are computed to have had a fighting +force of 2500 men; and on two later occasions (1676 and 1690) they were +strong enough to make strenuous but ineffectual attempts to obtain a +charter from the Crown. The little colony that has perhaps the proudest +of all positions in American history was finally, in 1691, merged in its +more arrogant and pushing neighbour Massachusetts, and the land of the +Pilgrim Fathers lost its identity. + +Just as Puritanism had been the cause of the foundation of New Plymouth, +so it was in the case of Massachusetts. Lord Macaulay has pointed out +that "the Puritan was made up of two different men, the one all +self-abasement, penitent gratitude, passion; the other proud, calm, +inflexible, sagacious."[112] The first type represented New Plymouth, +where Puritanism was distressed, and where its followers struggled +manfully but were self-abased. Massachusetts, on the other hand, +resembled the second type; here Puritanism was vigorous; the upholders +of the belief were aggressive, strong, determined, and pushing. Thus the +two colonies were not only different in character, but for that very +reason were destined to differ in prosperity. + +As early as 1620, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others had been interested +in the colonisation of New England; and in a document issued in the +following year, strict injunctions were laid down for the carrying out +of material fit for the foundation of a settlement. Thus, every "shipp +of three score tons shall carry w^{th} them twoe Piggs, two Calves, twoe +couple of tame Rabbetts, two couple of Hens and a cocke."[113] Nothing, +however, seems to have been permanently established, and within two +years this New England Company is said to have been "in a moribund +condition."[114] In 1623 some Dorchester traders started a fishing +station at Cape Ann, Massachusetts Bay. The manager was Roger Conant, +who had disagreed with his brethren in New Plymouth and had separated +from them. Three years later the scheme was abandoned; most of the +settlers returned except Conant and a small band who "squatted" at +Naumkeag, better known in later years as Salem. The failure of the +merchants did not discourage John White, incumbent of Dorchester, and he +determined to form a settlement for Puritans, from which there sprang +the colony of Massachusetts. Matters were at once hurried on, and in +1629 six Puritan partners obtained a grant of land from the New England +Company, which was to extend westward as far as the Pacific Ocean, then +believed to be but a short distance. One of the partners, John Endecott, +was selected to occupy the land. On his arrival he had some trouble with +an earlier but somewhat disreputable squatter called Morton, who had +formed a little colony, Merry Mount, where, apparently, his perfectly +innocent sports, such as dancing round the Maypole, annoyed the stern +New Englanders, and made them class such diversions as "beastly +practices." Endecott took strong measures, and as the Maypole was +particularly disgusting to the Puritan mind, he settled the matter by +hewing "down the _infelix arbor_."[115] + +A royal charter was readily granted in March 1629, establishing the +Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, but omitting to insist on the +Company's meetings being held in England. It was not a very great step, +therefore, to transfer the schemes of a mere trading company to the +principles of a self-sufficing colony; and before the end of the year +the interests of the traders passed into the hands of ten persons who +were particularly concerned in the prosperity of the colony, which in +the future was regarded as perfectly distinct from the Company. The +necessary preliminaries having been satisfactorily concluded, emigration +began at once. The character of the colonists was very superior to that +of the "riff-raff" that had been sent to Virginia. Some of the most +intellectual clergymen of the day took a deep interest in the +undertaking, a few indeed actually accompanied the three hundred and +fifty settlers who embarked for their new homes. + +"The first beginning of this worke seemed very dolorous," writes the +chronicler, but the people were most fortunate in their choice of +governor, John Winthrop. He was a man of forty-three years of age, who +had received a good education at Cambridge and had some knowledge of the +law; he had passed the latter years of his life, before emigration, as a +Suffolk squire, and had been moulded in the school of Hampden. His +character was of the best, and he is revered as one of the strongest and +certainly one of the most lovable of the early settlers in America. He +was a thorough Puritan, but of that type of which Charles Kingsley wrote +and made so attractive. Like his brethren the governor showed humility, +but unlike so many he was sweet-tempered and moderate; not that he was +too gentle, for his decisive mind and sound constructive statesmanship +saved him from any appearance of weakness. It may be said, in short, +that Winthrop, as a man of wealth, of good birth, and of great +abilities, was the most remarkable Puritan statesman in colonial +history. He was assisted in his work by "the worthy Thomus Dudly, +Esq.,"[116] as Deputy Governor, and Mr Simon Brodstreet as Secretary. +Endecott's original settlement had been at Charlestown, where the +colonists had pitched some tents of cloth and built a few small huts; +but in 1630 Winthrop moved to Boston, which became the capital, and +within a few months eight small settlements were established along +Boston Bay. + +A regular representative assembly with governor and assistants soon +became necessary, its importance being brought forward by the Watertown +protest. The freemen of this settlement refused to pay a tax of £60 to +fortify the new town of Cambridge, "and delivered their opinions, that +it was not safe to pay moneys after that sort for fear of bringing +themselves and posterity into bondage."[117] Thus it was seen that a +representative assembly was indispensable; it was not, however, until a +lost pig in 1644 had caused a petty civil suit which led to a quarrel +between the deputies and assistants that the Massachusetts parliament +became bicameral. Long before this the colony had been regarded with +disfavour in England. Archbishop Laud was only too ready to listen to +any stories against the Puritans; the colony was therefore solemnly +arraigned before the Privy Council and the three chief members were +questioned as to the conduct of the rest; and as an immediate +consequence the intending settlers of the year 1634 were not allowed to +sail without taking the oath of allegiance and promising to conform to +the Book of Common Prayer. The emigrants were willing enough to +subscribe to these as England was becoming unbearable. Laud with his +Arminian theories, Pym with his revolutionary ideas, and Charles with +his irresolution, were gradually causing a distinct emigration to what +the newcomers imagined was a land of peace. They arrived to find it in a +bellicose state, for the fact that a royal Commission of twelve, with +Laud at the head, had been appointed to administer the affairs of the +colonies, had so alarmed them that the colonists had started to fortify +Dorchester, Charlestown, and Castle Island. + +Nothing perhaps is more astonishing than the bitter intolerance of those +who had fled to find toleration; but to the Puritan toleration was only +significant of indifference, and was therefore an abhorrent principle at +the very time he so sorely needed it. The religious dissensions during +the early years of the colony of Massachusetts illustrate the fanatical +and bigoted character of the Puritan quite as clearly as any particular +event or series of events in English history. It is painful to find even +in the first few months of the settlement, when Endecott was still in +command, many evidences of intolerance. John and Samuel Browne collected +a congregation and conducted the service according to the Book of Common +Prayer; but so horrible did this appear to Endecott that these luckless +men were expelled from the colony. Two years later political and social +rights were intimately connected with religious privileges by an +ordinance that no one was to be a freeman unless he belonged to a +church; and this was still further extended in 1635, so that no man +could vote at a town meeting unless he possessed the ecclesiastical +qualification. + +Religious troubles were fomented, after 1631, by the able but bigoted +Roger Williams. He was a man of very considerable gifts, being both an +energetic and attractive preacher, but at the same time filled with an +intense hatred of Erastianism. As soon as he arrived he was chosen +minister of Salem, where he exhibited his imperfect sense of proportion +and gained for himself the title of "a haberdasher of small +questions."[118] His energy and impulsiveness led him astray, and the +more intellectual could hardly fail to see that his mind was incapable +of distinguishing the vital from the trifle. His political doctrines +forced him into extraordinary actions, such as that of persuading +Endecott to cut the cross out of the royal ensign; while at the same +time he not only denied the English sovereign's right to grant territory +in North America, but also with equal vehemence repudiated all secular +control in religious affairs. For four years the freemen of +Massachusetts quietly suffered Roger Williams' whimsicalities, but in +October 1635 their patience had come to an end, and the General Court of +the Colony banished him with twenty of his disciples, as his sympathetic +chronicler says, "and that in the extremity of winter, forcing him to +betake himselfe into the vast wilderness to sit down amongst the +Indians."[119] The kindly governor, John Winthrop, does not seem to have +approved of the verdict, for many years afterwards Roger Williams wrote +"that ever honoured Governour Mr Winthrop privately wrote to me to steer +my course to Nahigonset Bay.... I took his prudent motion as an hint and +voice from God, and waving all other thoughts and motions, I steered my +course from Salem (though in winter snow which I feel yet) unto these +parts, wherein I may say Peniel, that is, I have seene the face of +God."[120] + +During the year 1635 three notable personages came to the colony. The +first was Henry Vane, the younger, "who," wrote Winthrop, "being a young +gentleman of excellent parts, and had been employed by his father (when +he was ambassador) in foreign affairs; yet, being called to the +obedience of the gospel, forsook the honors and preferments of the +court, to enjoy the ordinances of Christ in their purity here."[121] The +other two recruits were, John Wheelwright, a clergyman, and his sister +Mrs Anne Hutchinson, who was a woman of great learning and brilliance, +but by instinct an agitator of a most indiscreet and impetuous +character; although both acute and resolute, she allowed herself to be +carried away by her passion for theological controversy. Her religious +views were Antinomian and were strongly opposed to the doctrines of the +Puritans, who believed in justification by faith, strengthened by +sanctified works. To Governor Winthrop the distinction between the two +doctrines appeared to be a mere jargon of words, and he was not very far +wrong when he said "no man could tell, except some few who knew the +bottom of the matter, where any difference was."[122] Mrs Hutchinson +soon had a large following, including Wheelwright, Thomas Hooker, and +John Cotton, but the latter deserted her and refused to follow her in +all her heresies. In 1636 she was strongly supported by Harry Vane, who +was for a short time the governor; but in the following year both she +and her brother were tried before the General Court and were banished +as heretics. + +Meantime the education of Massachusetts was not neglected, as is proved +by the foundation in 1636 of Harvard College at Cambridge, for "it +pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr Harvard (a godly gentleman +and a lover of learning, then living amongst us) to give the one halfe +of his Estate (it being in all about 1700 _l._) towards the erecting of a +Colledge, and all his Library."[123] The building was erected rapidly +and was "very faire and comely within and without,"[124] says an +anonymous writer in 1641; but Charles II.'s commissioners do not seem to +have been so much impressed, as twenty years later they speak of it as a +wooden college. The great days of Harvard had not as yet arrived; nor +indeed was the learning more advanced even as late as 1680, for the +whole place is described by two Dutch visitors as smelling like a +tavern. "We inquired," they say, "how many professors there were, and +they replied not one, that there was no money to support one."[125] But +out of such small beginnings a great educational establishment rose +which has won for itself a famous name and added lustre to the annals of +the colony. + +It seemed extremely likely that the war-clouds that had arisen in the +Old Country might drift across the Atlantic to New England. It was for +this reason that some sort of confederation between the colonies was +proposed; and in 1643 Massachusetts, New Haven, Plymouth, and +Connecticut formed the first New England Confederacy. A distinct desire +for religious and political unity had been in the air for some time, +not only because of the dread of Dutch and Indian attack, but also +because it was hoped that intercolonial quarrels might be checked, and a +firm and united attitude might be shown towards any encroachments on the +part of the British Government. There were, however, in this +confederation two essential weaknesses which sooner or later would +inevitably wreck the whole scheme. In the first place Massachusetts was +by far the largest, richest, and most prosperous of the colonies; it was +therefore called upon to contribute the largest share, but received no +more than the weaker and poorer members of the Union. Secondly, although +the federal government was exactly what was wanted, it could exercise no +direct control over the citizens of any particular colony. This latter +was probably the chief cause of the non-success of the confederation. +Maine and the settlements along the Narragansett Bay in vain pleaded to +be enrolled in the first United States; but they were refused as being +neither sufficiently settled nor possessing political order. The four +confederate colonies bound themselves by written conditions and were +denominated "The United Colonies of New England." It was obvious from +the very beginning that disagreement would come, if for no other reason +because of the struggle that was taking place in England. Massachusetts +was no more for the Parliament than for the King, while the other New +England colonies were as a whole sturdy supporters of Pym and his party. +Disagreement bred disagreement, as is seen in the proposal to fight the +Dutch in America, while Blake was winning fame in European waters. This, +however, was prevented by the commissioners of one colony standing out +against the opinions of the others. A similar lack of unity was only +too apparent in 1654, when Massachusetts consented to make war against +the Nyantic Indians, but the indifference and incapacity of their +captain caused general dissatisfaction among the rest of the +confederation. + +The attitude of Massachusetts toward England during the Civil Wars was a +most unsatisfactory one; it was as it were prophetic of what was to +come. The contemptuous and haughty indifference shown by the colony to +Cromwell was not because of any deep-seated loyalty to Charles I.; it +was rather the exhibition of an independent spirit and a desire to leave +England and English affairs strictly alone, if they were allowed, in +turn, to live under the government of a governor and magistrates of +their own choosing and under laws of their own making. This feeling does +not seem to have been understood in England, and at the time of the +Restoration the colony was regarded as having been Parliamentarian in +its sympathies, whereas indeed it had been separatist. The Royal +Commissioners in 1661 found that Massachusetts "was the last and hardest +persuaded to use his Majesty's name in their forms of justice";[126] and +yet in February the King was petitioned to look upon the colonists +kindly and "let not the Kinge heare men's wordes: your servants are true +men, fearers of God and the Kinge, not given to change, zealous of +government and peaceable in Israel, we are not seditious as to the +interest of Cæsar nor schismaticks as to the matters of religion."[127] + +The religion of Massachusetts was, at this time, of the narrowest and +most bigoted type. The colonists were intolerant of any opinion save +their own, and their cruel fanaticism was excited particularly against +the humble and law-abiding sect of Quakers. The General Court at Boston +regarded the Quakers as a positive danger to the State, and as people +"who besides their absurd and blasphemous doctrines, do like rogues and +vagabonds come in upon us."[128] In 1656 two Quaker women landed at +Boston; they were immediately treated with extreme brutality and finally +banished to the Barbadoes. This led to further definite enactments, and +at the instigation of some of the most intolerant clergy of Boston, an +act was passed imposing the penalty of death in cases of extreme +obstinacy. So brutal were the punishments inflicted even where no +extreme obstinacy was shown that it is probable that death was +preferable and welcomed by the ill-treated wretches who had fallen into +the hands of these fanatics. At the Restoration, Edward Burrough, an +English Quaker, took up the case of his brethren in Massachusetts, and +laid before Charles II. a list of brutalities that were only equalled by +the horrors of the Inquisition. We read of men being whipped +twenty-three times, receiving 370 stripes from a whip with three knotted +cords; two unhappy wretches were cut to bits by 139 blows from pitched +ropes, one being "brought near unto death, much of his body being beat +like unto a jelly."[129] Others were put neck and heels in irons, or +burnt deeply in the hand; some had their ears cut off by the hangman; +while many other free-born subjects of the King were "sold for bondmen +and bondwomen to Barbadoes, Virginia, or any of the English +Plantations."[130] Burrough succeeded in persuading the King to take +some action, and the Massachusetts Council was severely reprimanded for +the treatment it had meted out to the Quakers. As a result of the King's +interference the General Court at Boston determined in 1661 to act with +as much lenity as possible to the Quakers, but to prevent their +intrusion it was recognised that "a sharp law" against them was a +necessity. + +During the last quarter of the seventeenth century the New England +Confederacy, including Massachusetts, was disturbed by all the horrors +of Indian warfare. In the year 1670 the Pokanoket Indians under their +chief Metacam, or as he was generally known, King Philip, became +unfriendly. For some time the warfare was not of a very serious +character, but at last in 1674 an Indian convert brought news of a +general attack, and paid the penalty of his fidelity to the English by +being murdered by Philip or one of his braves. The Indian chief now fell +upon the extreme south of New Plymouth, and fire, murder, and rapine +were common throughout the land. The Puritans of Boston, under their +Governor Leverett, saw in this terrible slaughter the hand of the Lord, +and in November the whole city passed a day of humiliation. Within the +chapels and homes their sins were openly acknowledged, but the people +showed more of the spirit of the Pharisee than of the Publican in this +humiliation before God. They penitently confessed that they had +neglected divine service, but what was to them still worse, they had +shown sinful lenity to the heretical sect of Quakers, and had indeed +invited the Almighty's wrath by an extravagance in apparel and in +wearing long hair. Pharisaical as this day of humiliation sounds, the +greater number of the people were probably genuine in their attitude +towards what they regarded as sin; and certainly when the time came they +were ready to prove themselves sturdy fighters. It was only natural that +the settlers should be successful in the end, for as a civilised people +they were better armed and better organised, but their victory was +delayed in the coming, and when the war was really over they found that +it had cost them dear. Edward Randolph writing at the time sums up the +English losses at a high figure. "The losse to the English in the +severall colonies in their habitations and stock, is reckoned to amount +to 150,000 l., there having been about 1200 houses burned, 8000 head of +cattle great and small, killed, and many thousand bushels of wheat, +pease and other grain burned ... and upward of 3000 Indians, men, women +and children destroyed."[131] King Philip, who had caused all this +destruction, was in 1676 hunted down and shot "with a brace of bullets +... this seasonable prey was soon divided, they cut off his Head and +Hands and conveyed them to Rhode Island, and quartered his Body and hung +it upon four trees."[132] With this last act of unnecessary barbarity +the Indian power was broken, and Philip's war was at an end. + +Meantime the administration of New England had been vested in the hands +of special commissioners, whose powers were transferred to the Privy +Council. Under this system, revenue officers appointed in England were +sent out in 1675 to enforce the Navigation Acts, which were excellent as +a stimulus to English shipping, but were nevertheless retrograde with +regard to the colonies. Edward Randolph was despatched to America to +report upon the working of the colonial system under these famous laws, +and he showed, even as early as this, that the revenue acts were openly +violated by the people, who, a century later, were to be notorious for +their smuggling proclivities. Massachusetts was looked upon by the home +authorities with the strongest suspicion, which was still further +intensified by Edward Randolph's eight specific charges against the +settlers. (1) That they have no right to the land or government in any +part of New England, and that they have always been regarded as +usurpers; (2) that they have formed themselves into a commonwealth, +denying appeals to England, and refusing to take the oath of allegiance; +(3) that they have protected the regicides; (4) that they coin their own +money with their own impress; (5) that in 1665 they opposed the King's +commissioners with armed force; (6) that they have put men to death for +matters of religion; (7) that they impose an oath of fidelity to their +government; (8) that they have violated all the acts of Trade and +Navigation to the annual loss of £100,000 to the King's Customs. After +these charges had reached England, the agents of the Massachusetts +government, William Stoughton and Peter Bulkeley, were called upon to +answer the serious indictment. They pleaded that they were unable to +answer any other questions but those concerning the business on which +they had come; but they agreed that as private individuals they would +make some kind of defence, and at the same time promised, on behalf of +the settlers, amendment in the future. This submission only acted as an +incentive for further attack, and Randolph now charged the "Bostoners" +with denying the right of baptism to those not born in church +fellowship; and also with fining certain persons for absenting +themselves from the meeting-houses. The Committee of Trade and +Plantations next turned to the Charter of the colony, and this was +severely criticised; then the Laws of the colony were discussed, and +many illegal imposts were discovered. Amongst other things it was seen +that three shillings and fourpence was the fine levied for galloping in +the streets of Boston; that five shillings was demanded from those who +dared to observe Christmas Day, and that no less than £5 was the fine +for importing playing cards; with all of which they now found serious +fault, though it must be allowed that they tended to create "an ideally +holy and unhappy community."[133] All this time Stoughton and Bulkeley +were most anxious to return to America, but they were obliged to stay +all through 1678, and it was only in 1679 that they were able to leave, +because England was too busy with the Popish Plot to worry about the +affairs of the far distant Massachusetts. The matter, however, was by no +means finished. Randolph was determined to bring the colony to book; and +when he was again sent out in 1680 to supervise the customs he at once +renewed his charges. "The Bostoners, after all the protestations by +their agents, are acting as high as ever, and the merchants trading as +freely; no ship having been seized for irregular trading, although they +did in 1677 make a second law to prevent it."[134] He then says that +his life was threatened by these smugglers, and that as he has only life +and hope left, he is unwilling to expose himself to the rage of a +bewildered multitude. He concludes by beseeching for strong measures, +which he considers are essential, and "for his Majesty to write more +letters will signify no more than the London Gazette."[135] This appeal +had its effect, and the King practically threatened to land redcoats in +Boston "a century before their time, when there should be no Washington +to organise resistance, no European coalition to distract their +operations, and no French fleet and army to drive them from the +Continent."[136] + +Even after this thundering declaration the actions of the settlers were +not always in accordance with strict loyalty, and in 1684, though their +agents loudly protested, the Court of Chancery decreed the Massachusetts +Charter to be null and void. James II.'s well-intentioned efforts +carried out in the wrong way by the wrong methods, and generally by the +wrong men, deprived him of popularity both in his home dominions and in +his growing Empire in the West. His great scheme for the colonies was +one of union; but his action was far more destructive than anything that +George III. ever proposed or imagined. The representative principle was +snatched from the youthful colonies; and they were deprived of their +legislative, executive and financial rights, which were given to a royal +Governor and Council, ruling an united province entitled New England, +and bearing a special flag of its own. The Governor appointed by the +King was Colonel Sir Edmund Andros, a very active and most capable +administrator, but an ardent churchman, and therefore particularly +unacceptable to the Puritan colonies of the New England group. He was by +no means a young man when he arrived to take over the administration in +December 1686, but with surprising energy he set about doing what he +could by extending the frontier against the Indians, and establishing a +line of garrisoned forts to keep them in awe. Discontent, however, was +visible on every side; Connecticut refused to give up its charter, +which, according to tradition, was hidden in an oak; while the town of +Ipswich, Mass. refused like Watertown many years earlier to pay taxes +without representation. When James issued his Declaration of Indulgence +some of the best of the Massachusetts colonists imagined that it meant +real toleration; Increase Mather was one of these. He had conducted the +diplomatic relations of the colony during the struggle over the charter; +he was well-beloved as the minister of the old North Church of Boston, +and as President of Harvard College. For these reasons he was once again +selected as mediator, and was deputed to plead with James on behalf of +his colony, but like so many in England he found that he had come on a +fruitless errand, and that genuine toleration was very far from the +thoughts of the Papist King. + +The news of the Revolution in England in November 1688 aroused the +people of Massachusetts. Sir Edmund Andros, instead of accepting the +inevitable, arrested John Winslow, the bearer of the good tidings. The +discontent which had long been simmering beneath the surface now broke +out. The covetousness of the rulers, the ruination of trade, the +oppression of the people, and that "base drudgerie" to which they had +been put stirred them to a state of frenzy. Boston and Charlestown +armed; Andros was unable to quell the fury, and he was captured by his +subordinates, who claimed that "the exercise of Sir Edmund's commission, +so contrarie to the Magna Charta, is surely enough to call him to +account by his superiors."[137] In this the people of New England made a +mistake, for although Andros was sent over to England with a party of +his accusers, he was only examined by the Lords of the Committee for +Trade and Plantations, and was almost immediately released without being +finally tried. + +The rule of William and Mary in England was acknowledged willingly in +Massachusetts. A new charter was granted to the colony, in which it was +stated that the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Secretary were to be +appointed by the Crown. The franchise was now based upon a property +qualification, and the religious oligarchy was swept away. The first +Council was nominated by the Crown, but in the future the members were +to be selected by the General Court. The little colony that owed its +origin to the Pilgrim Fathers was incorporated within the prosperous +bounds of Massachusetts, which from this date to the great schism +remained a Crown colony with distinct tendencies towards, and sometimes +clearly expressed desires of, emancipation and independence. "It was not +as though the colony complained of grievances which could be enquired +into and put right; it simply adopted towards England now openly and +now by equivocation an attitude of 'hands off.'"[138] + +The first Governor of the new Crown colony was that romantic character, +Sir William Phipps. He was born in 1650 on a small plantation on the +banks of the Kennebec; he was one of twenty-six children, and until +eighteen years of age kept "sheep in the wilderness." There is little +doubt that from early times he was determined to succeed, and he always +prophesied that one day he would be the owner of a fair brick house in +Green Lane, North Boston. According to his earliest biographer he was +one of the most remarkable men of his day, being "of an Enterprising +Genius and naturally disclaimed Littleness: But in his Disposition for +Business was of the Dutch Mould, where with a little show of Wit, there +is much Wisdom demonstrated, as can be shewn by any Nation. His Talent +lay not in the Airs that serve chiefly for the pleasant and sudden Turns +of Conversation; but he might say as Themistocles, Though he could not +play the Fiddle, yet he knew how to make a little City become a great +One. He would prudently contrive a weighty Undertaking, and then +patiently pursue it unto the End. He was of an Inclination, cutting +rather like a Hatchet than like a Razor."[139] Such was the character of +this man, who, in 1683, found himself the Captain of a King's ship. In +1687 he was fortunate enough to discover a wrecked vessel filled with +treasure, and after being entertained and knighted by James II. he +returned to New England to build the "fair brick house" of which he had +foretold. After the resettlement of Massachusetts, which now +practically extended from Rhode Island to New Brunswick, excluding New +Hampshire, Phipps was appointed Governor. He owed his appointment to the +favour of Increase Mather, but it seems to have been welcomed generally, +for Phipps was at first popular, generous, and well-meaning. At the +outset he was confronted by difficulties that would have baffled a man +of far greater capacity. The taxation of the colony had not been +specifically mentioned in the charter, and the colonists seized upon the +opportunity to enact that no taxes were to be levied without the consent +of the Assembly. The home government immediately rejected this, and so +opened the door for the squabbles and recriminations eighty years +afterwards, which led to the separation of the American colonies from +the mother country. Gradually Phipps lost his popularity, which had to a +certain extent been founded upon his romantic history. He became brutal, +covetous and violent, and so in 1694 the Bostonians turned against him. +His temper had never been calm, and it is said that by the end of his +period of office he was engaged in violent quarrels with every man of +importance in the province. + +The governorship of the colony between 1698 and 1701 was amalgamated +with those of New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. The Earl of +Bellomont was given supreme control, and won the goodwill of the people +by favouring the democratic party and recommending many reforms. His +special title to Fame is his suppression of the pirates along the +coasts, who according to Bellomont's complaint in 1698 had been +protected and encouraged by Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York. "I +have likewise discovered that protections were publickly exposed to sale +at the said rates to Pyrats that were of other companies ... and made +discovery of the bonds the Pyrates entered into to Coll: Fletcher when +he granted them Commissions."[140] Bellomont was determined to save the +colonies from these sea-wolves, and in 1701 he had the satisfaction, +just before he died, of bringing the infamous Captain Kidd to the +gallows. + +The later history of Massachusetts must be left to the chapter on French +Aggression. The colony founded first as a trading Company by a few +adventurous Puritans had in seventy years become not only one of the +most prosperous, but also one of the largest of the thirteen States. It +had embraced several of the smaller and weaker settlements, the history +of one of which has already been traced; the story of the others has yet +to be told. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[95] See p. 24. + +[96] Smith, _A Description of New England_ (1616), p. 1. + +[97] Macaulay, _Essays_ (ed. 1891), p. 23. + +[98] _Calendar of Domestic State Papers_, 1591-1594, p. 400. + +[99] Bradford, _History of the Plimoth Plantation_, p. 15. + +[100] Bradford, _History of the Plimoth Plantation_, p. 16. + +[101] _Ibid._, p. 17. + +[102] _Ibid._ + +[103] Quoted by J. R. Green, _Short History of the English People_ +(1893), iii. p. 1051. + +[104] Smith, _A Description of New England_ (1616), p. 27. + +[105] Quoted by J. R. Green, _op. cit._, p. 1049. + +[106] Bradford, _op. cit._, May 12. + +[107] Bradford, _op. cit._ + +[108] Young, _Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers_ (ed. 1841). + +[109] Thwaites, _The Colonies, 1492-1750_ (1891), p. 123. + +[110] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 36. + +[111] _Ibid._, p. 344. + +[112] Macaulay, _Essays_ (ed. 1891), p. 23. + +[113] _American Historical Review_, vol. iv. No. 4, p. 689. + +[114] _Ibid._, p. 702. + +[115] Doyle, _The English in America_ (1887), vol. i. p. 119. + +[116] _A History of New England_ (1654), p. 38. + +[117] Winthrop, _The History of New England from 1630 to 1649_. [1633, +Feb. 17.] + +[118] Doyle, _Cambridge Modern History_ (1905), vol. vii. p. 17. + +[119] _Simplicities Defence against Seven-Headed Policy_ (1646), p. 2. + +[120] Massachusetts Historical Society, _Collections_, i. + +[121] Winthrop, _The History of New England from 1630 to 1649_ (1853), +vol. i. p. 170. + +[122] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 213. + +[123] _New England's First Fruits_ (1643), p. 12. + +[124] _Ibid._ + +[125] _Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80._ + +[126] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 344. + +[127] _Ibid._, p. 9. + +[128] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 32. + +[129] Burrough, _A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution and +Martyrdom of the ... Quakers, etc._ (1660). + +[130] Burrough, _A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution, and +Martyrdom of the ... Quakers_, etc. (1660). + +[131] Hutchinson, _A Collection of Original Papers_, etc. (1769). + +[132] _The Warr in New-England Visibly Ended_ (1677). + +[133] Fortescue, Introd.: _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, +1677-1680, p. xiv. + +[134] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. xviii. + +[135] _Ibid._, p. 545. + +[136] Fortescue, _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. +xxi. + +[137] Hutchinson, _A Collection of Original Papers relative to the +History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay_ (1769). + +[138] Egerton, _A Short History of British Colonial Policy_, p. 62. + +[139] Mather, _Magnalia Christi Americana, II._ (1702). + +[140] O'Callaghan, editor, _Documents relative to the Colonial History +of the State of New York_ (1854). + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CONNECTICUT; RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATION; NEW HAVEN; MAINE; +NEW HAMPSHIRE + + +The early history of the group of colonies which is now to engage the +attention is less interesting than that of either Virginia or +Massachusetts. There is not the glamour of a first colony as in the case +of Virginia; the men were not Pilgrim Fathers in the true sense as in +Plymouth; the prosperity of Massachusetts, the rivalries of Maryland, +and the Spanish danger in the Carolinas, are all wanting in this portion +of New England. There is therefore not only a lack of romance, but there +is too a pettiness in the quarrels which continually occurred in these +colonies. + +The New England Company, when once it had started an active existence, +made every effort to extract some advantage from the land which had been +granted to it. In 1631 Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Brooke and others +obtained from the Company a tract of land in the rich valley of the +Connecticut River. Very little, however, came of this scheme; and the +first true settlement was made against the strenuous opposition of the +Dutch, by a party from New Plymouth. A fresh influx of settlers came +from the already rising colony of Massachusetts, for they had found +that the land was somewhat sterile, at any rate not sufficiently fertile +to support them all. The settlers on the Connecticut came from the town +of Dorchester, and planted themselves at Windsor, to the disgust of the +New Plymouth settlers, who were at last forced to retire. This proved, +as often enough in future years, that the unscrupulous and overbearing +temper of the men of Massachusetts earned for them a reward which they +did not deserve. The patentees, seeing their rights invaded by these +Dorchester filibusters, sent out a small party to establish their +privileges, but these in turn were routed, and the men of Massachusetts +were left in possession, though contrary to the wishes of their +mother-settlement. When, however, the versatile John Winthrop, son of +the more statesmanlike Governor, arrived with a commission as Governor +of the new colony on behalf of the patentees, Massachusetts ceased to +complain, and allowed the secession to become complete. Within two years +the new colony of Connecticut had a population of eight hundred men, +women and children, grouped in three towns, Hartford, Wethersfield, and +Windsor. The freemen of these towns declared in 1638 that their +constitution was the same as that of Massachusetts; but there was one +great dissimilarity, for no religious test was imposed. This +constitution occupies a famous place in the world's history, for not +only was it the first written constitution that actually created a +government, but it has also been characterised as "the oldest political +constitution in America."[141] By means of this important document, +issued in January 1639, all possible claims to sovereignty on the part +of Massachusetts were placed on one side for ever; or was there any +reference to the sovereignty of Charles I. or the home parliament. The +document was merely an agreement amongst the colonists themselves, and +by abstaining from any religious tests, or intolerance, they earned the +gratitude and admiration of mankind, and throughout the whole colonial +period bravely sustained this liberal spirit which had distinguished +them so early in their history. + +Before accomplishing this great work the colonists had a hard fight for +existence against the Pequod Indians. As early as 1633 a Virginian +ship's captain, Stone, was killed by this tribe near the mouth of the +Connecticut River; two years later John Oldham, a trader, was also +murdered by a party of Narragansetts inhabiting Block Island. It was +evident that the redskins must be taught a severe lesson if Englishmen +were to live in peace. Endecott, with a small force from Massachusetts, +was despatched to punish the Narragansetts, but he utterly failed in his +attack upon the island tribe. In retaliation the settlers in Connecticut +were surrounded by the murderous Pequods, and cut off from the sea; +fortunately, Roger Williams, having the confidence and goodwill of the +redskins, managed, at this time of trial, to obtain the neutrality of +the Narragansetts. This was a great advantage, as Massachusetts deserted +the new settlement, leaving it to fight its own battles. Leaders with +plenty of courage were not wanting, and Captains Mason and Underhill, +with ninety men, marched against the Pequods. Two hundred of these +tribesmen had attacked Wethersfield, and "having put poles in their +Conoos, as we put Masts in our boats, and upon them hung our English +mens and womens shirts and smocks in stead of sayles, and in way of +bravado came along in sight of us as we stood upon Seybrooke Fort."[142] +Captain John Mason was not the man to be discouraged by such warlike +displays, and with considerable strategy attacked them on the flank and +assaulted their chief stronghold. The action was a hot one, for although +only two Englishmen were slain, many were wounded, and six hundred +Pequods are reported to have fallen. The men of Connecticut were +desperate, and fighting for their lives. They were determined to +annihilate the Pequod tribe once for all, and to establish peace by +means of a sanguinary slaughter. Their actions may appear brutal, but +they were necessary as Captain John Underhill took care to explain. +"Great and dolefull was the bloudy sight to the view of young souldiers +that never had beene in Warre, to see so many soules lie gasping on the +ground so thicke in some places, that you could hardly passe along. It +may be demanded, Why should you be so furious (as some have said), +should not christians have more mercy and compassion? But I would refer +you to David's warre, when a people is growne to such a height of bloud +and sinne against God and man, and all confederates in the action, there +hee hath no respect to persons, but harrowes them and sawes them and +puts them to the sword."[143] This massacre and total destruction of the +Pequods had the important effect of reversing the territorial relations +between the English and the Indians; direct communication between the +mouth of the Connecticut and Boston was now made possible, and some form +of union could only be a matter of time. + +As has already been shown Connecticut did join in such an union when it +entered into the Confederation of New England in 1643, and it was as a +member of that group that it passed through the period of the civil +wars. With the Restoration the ambitions of the settlers increased, and +in 1661 John Winthrop went to England to obtain a charter which would +define the boundaries of the colony, and include within it the smaller +settlement of New Haven, the members of which protested in vain. The +patent of incorporation was granted in 1662, and the document concludes +with the words which illustrate the interesting but absurd legal fiction +under which the King granted land in America. The Governor and Company +of the English colonists of Connecticut are to hold "the same of his +Majesty, his heirs and successors as of the manor of East Greenwich in +free and common soccage, yielding the fifth part of all gold or silver +ore."[144] So ridiculous was this fiction that the colonists were +actually supposed to be represented in the home parliament by the member +of the borough containing the manor of East Greenwich. It is not +surprising that even as early as this period these rigid Presbyterians +felt that if the actions of the home government endangered their welfare +they would be justified in ignoring that authority, and relying only +upon the common weal as supreme law in the colony. But though they +regarded with jealousy any attempt to limit their rights, they were too +weak, owing to internal dissension, to throw off the yoke of the home +authorities. They had in no way added to their strength by the +incorporation of New Haven, but rather increased their weakness. This +unstable condition is illustrated in particular, first by the +emigration of the people of the town of Branford, who, armed with their +civil and ecclesiastical records, preferred to occupy lands near the +Delaware rather than stay under the jurisdiction of Connecticut; and +secondly by the description of Connecticut itself, as recorded by the +Governor, William Leete, in 1680. He shows that for the last seven years +the popularity of the colony had evidently declined in England, for only +one or two settlers had come from the home country each year. The +population had certainly increased by about five hundred in eight years; +from 2050 in 1671 to 2507 in 1679; but there was very little unity of +feeling or purpose owing to the religious sects being peculiarly mixed, +some being Presbyterians, some "strict congregational men," some "more +large congregational men," some Quakers, and four or five are classified +by the Governor as "seven-day men."[145] + +For twenty-three years the people of Connecticut imagined that they +enjoyed the benefits of the charter gained by Winthrop in 1662, "ye +advantages and priviledges whereof made us indeed a very happy people; +and by ye blessing of God upon our endeavours we have made a +considerable improvement of your dominions here, which with ye defense +of ourselves from ye force of both forraign and intestine enemies has +cost us much expence of treasure & blood."[146] James II., however, +cared for none of these things; the charter was forfeited in 1685; and +like Massachusetts, Connecticut felt the heavy hand of the too zealous +Sir Edmund Andros. Being "commissionated by his Majesty,"[147] Andros +appeared with sixty grenadiers in 1687 at Hartford, and took over the +government. On his capture, as already recorded, the people of +Connecticut in May 1689 joyfully fell back upon their old form of +government under the late charter, the forfeiture of which had been +declared illegal in England. + +Owing to King William's War, Connecticut was within an ace of losing its +government, and for purposes of defence being united, in 1690, with its +stronger neighbour New York; the proposals fell through, and the fears +of the citizens were set at rest by a legal confirmation of their +constitution. The colony from this time undoubtedly advanced. Its system +of government was active and vigorous; each township controlled its own +affairs, and in the early years of the eighteenth century local +government lay entirely in the hands of the Select-men, to the exclusion +of English officials. At the same time education was encouraged; a +college was established by the clergy in 1698, which found its final +home at Newhaven in 1717. Before this printing had been undertaken, the +first press being erected in 1709 at New London; the immediate work done +was not of a first-rate character, but it was the beginning of better +things. At the same time it is only fair to point out that the colony +was cursed by the presence of turbulent and quarrelsome negro and +mulatto slaves; it was regarded with suspicion by the English governors +as a protector of pirates; and it certainly must be blamed for its +niggardly contributions of both men and money in the great expeditions +against the French. + +Connecticut was not the only settlement that was partly formed by a +secession from the parent colony of Massachusetts; nor was it an +isolated example of colonial establishments, for during the same period +several other colonies grew up along the Eastern seaboard. The Reverend +Roger Williams, after his banishment from Massachusetts in October 1635, +purchased land from the Indians, and with twelve other householders +settled at Providence, by the advice of Mr Winslow, the Governor of New +Plymouth. Thus Williams was able to describe himself many years later as +"by God's mercy the first beginner of the mother town of Providence and +of the Colony of Rhode Island."[148] Williams' settlers immediately +started a simple form of government, by which all freemen were to hold +quarterly meetings and settle judicial questions, while five Select-men +were to transact all executive business. Following Williams' example, +Mrs Anne Hutchinson, as another refugee from the intolerance of +Massachusetts, came to much the same district in 1637. She purchased +from the Indians the island of Aquedneck, or, as it was afterwards +known, Rhode Island. Her heretical followers soon founded the town of +Portsmouth, and here the government was carried on by William Coddington +as judge. Mrs Hutchinson, having now time for inventing new heresies, +almost immediately caused a fresh secession, and some of her hitherto +ardent admirers, finding her new doctrines intolerable, left Portsmouth, +and under Coddington established themselves at Newport. The colonies +were reunited in 1640, with Coddington as Governor, and a regular +government was instituted composed of two "assistants" from each +township. + +Providence and Rhode Island were regarded with dislike and suspicion by +all the other colonies, being classified as the asylum for sectaries, +the hot-bed of anarchy, and the true home of extreme democracy. This +attitude is not surprising when it is remembered that both colonies owed +their existence to parties of religious outcasts. Rhode Island +nevertheless prospered, although throughout the first few years of its +existence it was the centre of disorder, bickerings, and factious +quarrels. At the bottom of most of the trouble was Samuel Gorton, a +contentious and troublesome man, leader of a band of fanatics, who had +forced themselves upon a party of Williams' settlers at Pawtuxet. The +settlers appealed to Massachusetts to remove him as "a proud and +pestilent seducer";[149] and had indeed placed themselves under the +jurisdiction of that colony for this very purpose. In 1643, Gorton, of +"insolent and riotous carriage," with nine of his followers, was +imprisoned for some months at Boston, for blasphemy. The quarrel, +however, did not end here. It was carried by Gorton to England, where he +appealed to the Parliamentary Commissioners, who commanded the General +Court to allow Gorton and his band to dwell in peace. This, at last, the +Massachusetts' government consented to do with contemptuous +indifference, but when Gorton pleaded for their protection against the +Indians he pleaded in vain. + +In the same year as the conclusion of the Gorton controversy, +Providence, Portsmouth and Newport, combined into a properly constituted +community. This was the outcome of a visit paid to England in 1643 by +Roger Williams, who asked for a definite charter of incorporation. In +1647, therefore, a general assembly of freemen, governor and assistants, +with a court of commissioners, was established for the "Colony of Rhode +Island and Providence Plantation." At first the assembly met in the +different towns by rotation, and the method of voting was most +complicated and non-progressive; every matter had to be voted on in each +town, and was to be considered as lost unless it was carried by a +majority in every town. So complex a system proved inadequate, and in +1664 an ordinary representative assembly was created. What was equally +important and showed Rhode Island to be more enlightened than most of +the other colonies, was the clear announcement of the doctrine of +freedom of conscience to all who "live civilly." To the annoyance of +Massachusetts the Rhode Island authorities consistently adhered to this +doctrine, and refused to join in the barbarous persecutions of the +Quakers. + +The settlers expressly thanked Charles II. for sending Commissioners, +and made great demonstration of their loyalty and obedience in 1665. +Such actions are rather surprising in a Puritan colony, but they may +have been due to the King's grant of a charter, two years before, in +which they obtained a definition of their boundaries. The colony of this +period was described with some minuteness by the Commissioners, who +called attention to the fact that Quakers and Generalists were admitted, +and that owing to the variety of sects there were no places for the +worship of God, "but they sometimes associate in one house, and +sometimes in another."[150] The colony certainly did not advance with +the strides that had been made by Massachusetts, and the people were +still extremely unpopular with the other colonists, being denounced on +one occasion as "scum and dregs." Nevertheless under the government of +Peleg Sandford in 1680, Rhode Island was a small, happy, self-sufficing +colony. The chief town was Newport, built almost entirely of timber. As +to exterior commerce it seems to have been non-existent; "wee have no +shippinge belonginge to our Colloney, but only a few sloopes," and "as +for Merchants wee have none, but the most of our Colloney live +comfortably by improvinge the wildernesse."[151] + +This happy state of affairs was somewhat rudely disturbed by James II.'s +action in depriving Rhode Island and Providence Plantation of that +charter of which they were so proud, and which gave "full liberty of +conscience provided that the pretence of liberty extend not to +licentiousnesse."[152] James' harsh treatment did not last for long, and +to the joy of the inhabitants after the Revolution the action of the +Papist King was declared illegal. A time of peace and prosperity now +followed. From 1696 to 1726 Rhode Island increased in wealth and +population, under the annually elected Governor, Samuel Cranston, who, +during these thirty years of office, proved himself a firm, popular, and +successful administrator. + +During the year in which Rhode Island was established, another colony, +New Haven, was founded to the South. In 1637 Theophilus Eaton, a leader +in the Baltic Company, and "of great esteem for religion,"[153] +together with a party of settlers who were wealthier men than most +colonists, settled at the mouth of the Quinipiac River, facing Long +Island. The religious beliefs of the settlers were of the most bigoted +kind; their freemen were strictly limited to Church members; and their +minister, "the reverend, judicious and godly Mr John Davenport,"[154] +asserted that the scripture was sufficient guide for all civil affairs. +They soon found "a fit place to erect a Toune, which they built in very +little time, and with very faire houses and compleat streets; but in a +little time they over-stockt it with Chattell, although many of them did +follow merchandizing and Maritime affairs, but their remoteness from +Mattachusets Bay, where the chiefe traffique lay, hindered them +much."[155] Ten years after its foundation, the colony was seen to be +commercially on the decline, although other towns had grown up such as +Guildford, Milford, and Stamford. They were all governed as one town +without representation, and the executive was placed in the hands of an +elected Governor and four assistants. The commercial depression did not +last for long; trade began to increase again, and Newhaven became a +flourishing state, the inhabitants of which were noted for the +magnificence of their buildings and their astonishing opulence. + +After the Restoration the colony fell under the displeasure of the +Crown. Two of the regicides, William Goffe and Edward Whalley had, +first, come to Boston, then to Connecticut, and finally to New Haven. +The home government ordered their arrest, and Winthrop was very active +in sending these orders to the Governors of the different colonies, +including the Governor of New Haven, who knew that these men had come +within his rights of jurisdiction but took no steps to effect their +arrest. For some time the King had had strong doubts as to the loyalty +of New England as a whole; here, in any case, was a colony that needed +watching; and so, in 1662, as has already been shown, New Haven was +absorbed by Connecticut. There can be no doubt that Charles had now +struck two hearty blows against the much vaunted New England +Confederation. His refusal to allow the ill-treatment of the Quakers, +and his punishment of New Haven, were sufficient to make the +Confederation nothing more important than a triennial meeting of federal +commissioners, who sat till 1684, but whose powers were nil, whose +mutual beliefs were non-existent, and who were only in complete concord +in resistance to the Indian raids. + +Maine was yet another colony of New England, which had a purely +independent foundation, but which was destined to be absorbed by its +more prosperous neighbour. As early as 1623, Levitt established a +settlement on Casco Bay;[156] while at the same time, Sir Ferdinando +Gorges, "the Father of English Colonisation in North America,"[157] made +a plantation at Saco. He followed this up by the formation of a company +in 1631, but four years later the whole territory then called New +Somersetshire was granted to Gorges. Five years later he received from +Charles I. a charter granting to him "all that part and portion of New +England lying and between the River Pascataway ... to Kenebeck even as +far as the head thereof."[158] Sir Ferdinando very soon drew up a most +grotesque constitution for his colony, creating almost more officials +than there were citizens, and whose titles were very magnificent, but +quite meaningless. In exactly the same district the New England Company +claimed to have proprietary rights, and it was not long before many +semi-independent settlements were made in the neighbourhood of Gorges +Colony. + +The Civil War having broken out in 1642 Sir Ferdinando Gorges was too +much engaged at home to pay any attention to Maine, "for when he was +between three and four score years of age did personally engage in our +Royal Martyr's service; and particularly in the siege of Bristow, and +was plundered and imprisoned several times, by reason whereof he was +discountenanced by the pretended Commissioners for foreign +plantations."[159] Soon after his exploits at Bristol, Gorges died after +proving himself a man of resolute purpose, but endowed with narrow +ideas. He had certainly taken an active part in the struggle for gain +and position amongst a large number of the most worthless and servile +courtiers, but still around him and his memory there is a halo of +grandeur, borrowed perhaps from the generation to which he really +belonged, nevertheless reflecting upon his person something of that +glory that ought to belong to him who was the last figure of that grand +procession of giants which numbered amongst its train, Gilbert and +Drake, Smith and Raleigh. + +No sooner had Gorges passed away than Edward Rigby claimed the whole of +Maine under a grant from the New England Company. Against this the +heirs of Sir Ferdinando put in a strong counter-claim; the decision +between the disputants was left to the authorities in Massachusetts, who +divided the towns into equal halves, three being allotted to Rigby, and +three to the Gorges claimant. The inhabitants of the colony were not +consulted, and in 1649 they took the matter into their own hands and +declared themselves a body politic with an elective governor and +council. But this was not to last. In the early days of the settlement +the colonists showed no signs of religious bigotry or of any religious +views at all, but gradually they came to sympathise with both the +religion and the political opinions of Massachusetts, so that between +1651 and 1658 the townships of Maine readily accepted the authority of +the greater colony. + +Soon after the Restoration, Ferdinando Gorges, the grandson of the +original patentee, sought to assert his authority over Maine, but his +exertions were not supported by the Crown, and he was unsuccessful. In +1665 the home authorities set up a provisional government in the colony, +but concerning its history very little is known. According to the +Commissioners of that year the inhabitants themselves petitioned that +they might continue under his Majesty's immediate government. They +expressed their gratitude to Charles II. for his "fatherly care of them +after so long a death inflicted on their minds and fortunes by the +usurpation of the Massachusetts power,"[160] and they ask that the +insults of others towards them may be prevented for the future by the +appointment of Sir Robert Carr as their governor. But this statement +seems very improbable and can hardly have expressed the general wishes +of the people. + +It is not surprising that Sir Robert Carr was anxious to obtain the +government of the colony, as from contemporary descriptions it appears +to have been a fertile and productive territory. "In these Provinces are +great store of wild ducks, geese, and deer, strawberries, raspberries, +gooseberries, barberries, bilberries, several sorts of oaks and pines, +chestnuts and walnuts, sometimes four or five miles together; the more +northerly the country, the better the timber is accounted."[161] The +true value of Maine was realised by William Dyre, who pointed out to +Charles II. the manifold advantages that he would gain if he purchased +Maine for himself. By such an action the King would have absolute +dominion over those seas and might settle a duty on all fisheries there; +at the same time he might very easily reduce the turbulent spirits in +Massachusetts "to a ready subjection," while enriching himself with +masts, tar, timber, etc., and thus "conduce to the safety of his +maritime affairs."[162] There were, however, other very different views +on Maine, and John Josselyn, an Englishman of good family, does not +speak well of either the country or its inhabitants, but there are +reasons for supposing that he may have been maliciously inclined. The +people of Maine in 1675 "may be divided," he writes, "into Magistrates, +Husbandmen or Planters, and fishermen; of the magistrates some be +Royalists, the rest perverse Spirits, the like are the planters and +fishers.... The planters are or should be restless pains takers, +providing for their Cattle, planting and sowing of Corn ... but if they +be of a droanish disposition as some are, they become wretchedly poor +and miserable.... They have a custom of taking Tobacco, sleeping at +noon, sitting long at meals sometimes four times in a day, and now and +then drinking a dram of the bottle extraordinarily."[163] + +The people of Maine may have been all that Josselyn said, but it is far +from likely. They were sufficiently alert to resent the government of +the Crown, and in 1668 the majority of the settlers acquiesced in the +reassertion of authority by Massachusetts. For ten years the quarrel +between Ferdinando Gorges and Massachusetts continued, but in 1678, +although his grandfather is reported to have spent £20,000 on the +colony, the grandson's claims were extinguished by the purchase of his +rights for £1250. From this moment Maine ceased to exist as a separate +colony, and continued incorporated with Massachusetts for many years. + +The last of this early group of colonies was New Hampshire, which, in +turn, like its weaker brethren, became amalgamated with the colony of +Massachusetts. Early in the reign of Charles I., Captain John Mason, +with Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others, formed for colonial purposes the +Laconia Company. When Gorges was granted rights in Maine in 1635, +Captain John Mason also received a grant of territory to the south, +where a settlement was formed, and though by no means a true political +community, was called New Hampshire. Mason died soon after the naming of +his colony and received no benefits from his grant, which had embraced +two earlier settlements: the first founded by David Thompson near the +Piscataqua; the second fifteen miles up the Cocheco, founded by Bristol +and Shrewsbury merchants, who had transferred their rights to Lord Saye +and Sele and Lord Brooke. It was in this latter stretch of territory +that purely independent settlements were made, such as Dover, Exeter, +and Hampton. The latter town, realising its weakness as an independent +community, soon chose to be regarded as within the jurisdiction of +Massachusetts. + +The authorities of Massachusetts undoubtedly suffered from "earth +hunger," and the transfer of Hampton was merely the first of a series of +aggressions, for between 1642 and 1643 the other towns of New Hampshire +were swallowed within the greedy maw of the stronger colony. No +remonstrance came from England, for the people of the home country had +enough difficulties to contend with; while the Mason family appear to +have made no serious attempts to recover their rights. After the +Restoration, however, following the example of Ferdinando Gorges, the +heirs of Mason petitioned the Privy Council to restore to them the +rights and privileges contained in the grant of 1635. The law officers +of the Crown took the matter into serious consideration, and although +their verdict was against the Mason family, they declared at the same +time that the colony of New Hampshire was outside the jurisdiction of +Massachusetts, which had annexed it and wrongfully renamed it Norfolk. +This was one more blow for the New England Confederation and for +Massachusetts in particular. The King and his ministers were only too +pleased to have had such an opportunity, for the Royal Commissioners had +but recently accused Massachusetts of disloyalty. They had, in fact, +declared that unless the King punished the authorities, the +well-affected inhabitants would never dare to own themselves loyal +subjects. To better effect the total subjugation of the colony, one of +the Commissioners, Sir Robert Carr, proposed that he should be made +governor of New Hampshire, a proposal which shows only too clearly the +selfish aims of the Crown officials. The actual state of New Hampshire +did not seem to trouble the Commissioners, and whilst the bickering +between the home country and Massachusetts continued, the unfortunate +inhabitants of New Hampshire were suffering all the horrors of the +already mentioned King Philip's Indian war. For this reason the settlers +took the matter into their own hands and turned to the more powerful +colony of Massachusetts for assistance and protection. In 1678 the +inhabitants of Portsmouth and Dover supplicated the Crown to be kept +under the jurisdiction of the stronger colony. The petition from Dover +is particularly noteworthy because of its tawdry character. The +petitioners speak of the favour of his Majesty, "which like the sweet +influences of superior or heavenly bodies to the tender plants have +cherished us in our weaker beginnings, having been continued through +your special grace, under your Majesty's protection and government of +the Massachusetts, to which we voluntarily subjected ourselves many +years ago, yet not without some necessity in part felt for want of +government and in part feared upon the account of protection."[164] In +spite of this petition the Crown created New Hampshire a separate +province, with a council and representative assembly. The first governor +selected was John Cutts, "a very just and honest but ancient and infirm +man,"[165] and with his appointment the people of Massachusetts revoked +all former commissions. + +The colony did not forget its old guardian, and looked upon it always +with loyal affection, a feeling which was intensified during the +tyrannical governorship of Edward Cranfield. From 1682 to 1685 this +man's disgraceful conduct was tolerated, but at last the men of New +Hampshire could bear his despotism no longer, broke into open rebellion, +and Cranfield fled for refuge to the West Indies. The desired result was +immediately obtained, for New Hampshire was reunited to Massachusetts. +This, however, was not to last for long, for after the Revolution in +England the proprietorship of New Hampshire was again debated. Samuel +Allen had purchased from the heirs of Captain Mason any rights which +they continued to imagine they possessed; and by the corrupt connivance +of an English official, Allen succeeded in obtaining a proprietary +governorship with a council partly nominated by the Crown and partly by +himself. It is a remarkable fact that, unlike the other colonies at this +time, New Hampshire obtained no charter. The only freedom allowed to its +inhabitants was the exercise of a few independent rights by means of the +representative assembly elected by the freeholders. + +The acceptance of the Revolution in America marks an epoch of American +history. All the New England colonies had been established, and had +either proved themselves sturdy enough to stand alone, or had been +forced to find shelter beneath the wing of the more powerful Connecticut +or Massachusetts. The New England Confederation had been tried and +found wanting. The time for union was evidently not ripe, but this +embryo of the United States ceased to exist at identically the hour it +was most wanted. A union of all the colonies was what might have been +expected when French aggression and Canadian pluck taxed all the +resources of the colonists; the scheme of union, however, failed, and +the French had to be met in that haphazard and unprepared way in which, +it would appear from history, Englishmen are accustomed not only to meet +supreme danger, but to come through it with success. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[141] Bryce, _American Commonwealth_. + +[142] Underhill, _Newes from America_ (1638). + +[143] _Ibid._ + +[144] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 88. + +[145] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 577. + +[146] _Ibid._ + +[147] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1685-1688, p. 472. + +[148] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 398. + +[149] Quoted by Doyle, _Puritan Colonies_ (1887), vol. i. p. 249. + +[150] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 343. + +[151] Arnold, _History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence +Plantations_ (1859). + +[152] _Ibid._ + +[153] Winthrop, _History of New England_ (1853), vol. i. p. 226. + +[154] Johnson, _A History of New England_, etc. (1654). + +[155] _Ibid._ + +[156] _Mass. Hist. Col._, Series iii., vol. viii. p. 171. + +[157] _American Historical Review_, vol. iv, No. 4, p. 683. + +[158] Josselyn, _An Account of Two Voyages to New England_ (1675). + +[159] _Ibid._ + +[160] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 315. + +[161] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 348. + +[162] _Ibid._, 1669-1674, p. 579. + +[163] Josselyn, _ut supra._ + +[164] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1677-1680, p. 211. + +[165] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1677-1680, p. 488. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE FIGHT WITH THE DUTCH FOR THEIR SETTLEMENT OF NEW NETHERLAND + + +A new epoch in colonial history was reached when England adopted a +warlike policy to obtain mastery in the West. During the Protectorate, +England and Holland were for the first time engaged in desperate +warfare. The numerous common interests that existed in the two +countries, such as religion and republicanism, were of no avail to keep +the peace. The war that brought such honour to Admiral Blake was not a +war against a "natural enemy," but rather a contest between trade rivals +using the same methods and having the same opinions. The spirit which +animated Cromwell in naval affairs was not Puritanic; it was rather that +of the Elizabethan epoch. The old naval enthusiasm which had so long +slept in the stagnant days of the first Stuarts had now awakened with +renewed vigour, as if its long years of drowsiness had afforded true +refreshment. The celebrated Navigation Act, "the legislative monument of +the Commonwealth,"[166] was the outward and visible sign of this change +in 1651. "It was the first manifestation of the newly awakened +consciousness of the community, the act which laid the foundation of the +English commercial empire.... It consummated the work which had been +commenced by Drake, discussed and expounded by Raleigh, continued by +Roe, Smith, Winthrop, and Calvert."[167] The Dutch, "the Phoenicians +of the modern world, the waggoners of all seas,"[168] were severely +injured by the new law, for goods were no longer to be imported into +England save in English vessels or those vessels belonging to the +country of which the goods were the natural product or manufacture. This +important protective enactment was reissued in the reign of Charles II., +and, as on the former occasion, it was one of the main causes of +embroiling England and Holland. + +For the proper enforcement of the Navigation Act, the English colonies +in the West required a geographical compactness which in the central +period of the seventeenth century they did not possess. A formidable +foreign rival held a valuable commercial settlement between the northern +and southern colonies, for the Dutch possessed in New Amsterdam the very +best harbour along the coast. By the reign of Charles II. the hatred of +the Dutch had become a passion amongst Englishmen, and it had not only +been fostered by the Cromwellian war, but by trade-jealousy both in the +East and in the West. In America the rising colonies of New England, in +particular, looked with greedy eyes upon the splendid waterway of the +River Hudson, which was the finest route for Indian trade. They had, +too, suffered at the hands of their rivals; both the settlements in +Connecticut and Long Island had for many years engaged in innumerable +land disputes with the Dutch, nor did the people of New Haven forget +that some of their brethren had been driven out of New Sweden, which the +Dutch now held. + +The Dutch had made their first settlement in 1626 as an outcome of the +foundation of the Dutch West India Company five years before. In its +functions this corporation very closely resembled the English East India +Company, for it made a special combination of naval and commercial +affairs, and almost its first work was the establishment of the New +Netherland settlement on Long Island and along the River Hudson. Their +chief town was planted on Manhattan Island and called New Amsterdam, the +population of which soon after its foundation was 270 souls. A +contemporary narrative speaks cheerfully of the probable success of the +colony, and states that they had a prosperous beginning and that "the +natives of New Netherland are very well disposed so long as no injury is +done them."[169] But from the very first the governors were bad; it was +in fact irregularities in administration and want of enterprise and +courage that caused the recall of Van Twiller in 1637. His successor +Kieft proved himself equally incapable, for he was arbitrary and +ill-advised, earning the detestation of both Dutch patroons and English +settlers. The colonists themselves were few and poor, and the methods +employed by the Company lacked any trace of liberality or real knowledge +of colonial affairs. Peter Stuyvesant, "that resolute soldier," came +into office in 1647; he was the best governor who up to that time had +been sent out, but he was nothing more than a martinet, without either +sympathy or flexibility. Van der Douch in 1650 described the colony as +sadly decayed, and gave as the reasons that "the Managers of the Company +adopted a wrong course at first, and as we think had more regard for +their own interests than for the welfare of the country.... It seems as +if from the first the Company have sought to stock this land with their +own _employés_, which was a great mistake, for when their time was out, +they returned home.... Trade, without which, when it is legitimate, no +country is prosperous, is by their acts so decayed that the like is +nowhere else. It is more suited for slaves than freemen in consequence +of the restrictions upon it ... we would speak well of the government +... under Director Stuyvesant, which still stands, if indeed that may be +called standing, which lies completely under foot."[170] + +It may have been this complaint or feelings similar to those stated +therein that forced Stuyvesant to do something that would show that his +rule over the colony had a stimulating effect. He had regarded for some +time with jealousy the little settlement of New Sweden, or as it was +known in later years, Delaware. This colony had been established by one +Minuit, who had been formerly employed by the Dutch West India Company. +He was a friend of William Usselinx or Ussling, who had as early as 1624 +obtained a charter from Gustavus Adolphus for a trading company "to +Asia, Africa, America, and Magellanica."[171] But it was not until 1638 +that Minuit's Swedish following arrived in America and erected Fort +Christina, named after that extraordinary royal tomboy, the Queen of +Sweden. They soon had so far settled themselves as to be strong enough +to drive out a party from New Haven, but they had not calculated on the +hostility of the Dutch. Stuyvesant was determined to seize New Sweden, +and set out in 1651 to exert Dutch rights, and for their protection +established Fort Casimir on the site of what is now Newcastle, Del. This +was merely the beginning of a larger policy of annexation, which was +accomplished in 1655 when the Swedish settlement passed into the hands +of the Dutch without bloodshed on the appearance of the Governor with an +army of 700 men. The conquered territory was immediately sold to the +city of Amsterdam and a colony was established there under the name of +New Amstel. On the surface this energetic policy had much to recommend +it from the Dutch point of view; but in reality the people of the New +Netherlands gained but little, as in that colony there were no popular +institutions, no true self-government, and not even the advantage of a +really efficient despotism to give interior strength or possibilities of +exterior advance. The fact was that Stuyvesant's action resulted only in +harm to his colony, for in carrying out the extirpation of the Swedish +settlement in Delaware he absolutely drained his own resources and left +himself unprepared and incapable of resisting the onslaught of the +English. + +The crushing blow fell in August 1664. In the March of that year Charles +II. granted to his brother James, Duke of York, all the territory then +held by the Dutch, on the plea that it was really British soil by right +of discovery. This was the mere reassertion of an old claim, for James +I. had demanded the territory by right of "occupancy" as early as 1621, +and Charles I. did the same by "first discovery, occupation, and +possession"; Cromwell too had attempted to make possession a real thing +in 1654, but the first Dutch War ended too soon. The action of Charles +II. may well be regarded as a very practical declaration of war. Colonel +Richard Nicolls was appointed to seize the New Netherlands. He was the +most important of the Commissioners sent out to report on the state of +the colonies, and was a good soldier, a man of great courage, but at the +same time forbearing and lenient. The colony which he was ordered to +attack contained a population of about 1500 souls, 600 of whom were of +English stock, dwelling for the most part on Long Island, which was +partially Anglicised by an influx of settlers from Connecticut and New +Haven. At the end of August Nicolls arrived off New Amsterdam with four +ships, and 450 soldiers and Connecticut volunteers. On September 4 he +sent terms to Stuyvesant, stating that "His Majesty, being tender of the +effusion of Christian blood, confirms and secures estates, life and +liberty to every Dutch inhabitant who shall readily submit to his +Government, but those who shall oppose his Majesty's gracious intention +must expect all the miseries of a war which they bring on +themselves."[172] Stuyvesant offered very little resistance, and Nicolls +soon found himself in possession of New Amsterdam. The Dutch West India +Company failed to see that they had been largely to blame for leaving +their colony inadequately defended, and preferred to pour out the vials +of their wrath upon the unfortunate Stuyvesant, who, according to the +Company, "first following the example of heedless interested parties, +gave himself no other concern than about the prosperity of his +bouweries, and, when the pinch came, allowed himself to be rode over by +Clergymen, women and cowards, in order to surrender to the English what +he could defend with reputation, for the sake of thus saving their +private properties."[173] + +The conquest of the main city did not leave Colonel Nicolls idle. The +rest of the province had to be subdued, and by his commands the +Assistant Commissioner, Cartwright, went forward, took Fort Orange, +better known as Albany, and above all laid the foundations of that +friendship between the English and the Iroquois which was to prove of +such importance in future years. Sir Robert Carr was also sent to take +the settlements along the Delaware; but his violence and rapacity in +this work contrasted very strongly with the calm and firm rule of +Nicolls, and Carr earned for himself unenviable notoriety for his +severity, which, it has been said, was "the one exception to the +humanity and moderation shown by the English."[174] There were other +difficulties which presented themselves to the Governor of New York, not +the least being the foundation of New Jersey. James, Duke of York, +immediately after the capture of the Dutch settlements, granted all the +territory from the Hudson to the Delaware to Sir George Carteret and +Lord Berkeley. The district was named New Jersey, and Philip Carteret +was sent out by his kinsman to supervise his interests. Nicolls strongly +disapproved of this measure; he was a man with a keen political insight, +and he saw in this mangling of the province the seed of much commercial +and political dispute. His warning was, of course, unheeded, but that +he was right was amply proved by the later history of New Jersey. +Nicolls had also to undo the ill done in Albany by his second in +command, Brodhead, who had shown an extraordinary lack of administrative +ability, treating the Dutch colonists as an inferior and conquered +people, and making numerous arbitrary arrests upon the most trifling +charges. Fortunately for the safety of the colony, news of Brodhead's +action reached Nicolls and the despotic deputy was suspended. + +The government of New York was no sinecure. It was probably the most +cosmopolitan town in North America, and though perhaps it is an +exaggeration, it has been asserted that eighteen languages could be +heard in the streets of the late Dutch capital. Before its capture it +had become more Anglicised, as Stuyvesant had not feared but favoured +the English. The first thing done by Nicolls was to put the town in a +state of defence so as to resist any attempt on the part of the Dutch to +regain possession, which was essayed by De Ruyter in 1665, but without +success. A far more oppressive burden to a man who really had his heart +in his work was the difficulty of obtaining supplies for the soldiers. +The English Governor wrote a most pathetic appeal to the Duke of York, +telling him how he was paying what he could out of his own pocket, but +that the people were starving. He describes how the inhabitants of Long +Island were in terrible poverty, and how New York was in "a mean +condition ... not one soldier has lain in a pair of sheets or on any bed +but canvas and straw" since the capture of the town. He said very +pluckily that he did not mind the ruin of his own fortune, but that he +could not bear the loss of his reputation; and then, probably to gain +his way, he concluded with a delightful sentence of praise that ought to +have won the Duke's heart, and which Nicolls no doubt intended that it +should. The colony, he writes, exhibited general joy and thanksgiving +for the signal victory of the Duke over the Dutch off Lowestoft in June, +and for the preservation of His Royal Highness's person, "the very news +whereof has revived their spirits and is antidote both against hunger +and cold."[175] + +Meantime representatives from the English-speaking towns met in February +1665 on Long Island; here, acting in accordance with the wishes of the +Governor, a scheme of administration was drawn up; a code of laws was +promulgated, and no attempt was made to interfere with the Dutch +language. Every town was granted powers of assessment, and the right of +choosing a church was given to the freemen who were to declare its +denomination. In the cases of the two main Dutch towns of New York and +Albany, Nicolls was careful not to arouse ill-feeling, and he allowed +them to keep their own mayors. When the first governor retired in 1668, +a tribute to his excellent work was paid him by his fellow commissioner +Maverick; "he has done his Majesty very considerable service in these +parts," he says, "having kept persons of different judgments and divers +nations in peace, when a great part of the world was in wars: and as to +the Indians, they were never brought into such a peaceable posture and +fair correspondence as by his means they now are."[176] + +Richard Nicolls was succeeded by Francis Lovelace, who had already acted +for three years as deputy governor of Long Island. He had before him as +governor of New York a far harder task. He followed a man of wonderful +power, and it was now his duty to carry on Nicolls' policy and bring the +preponderant Dutch population surely but quietly under the but recently +established British authority. To accomplish this he adopted a paternal +rule; he granted toleration to all religions; he attempted to gain the +goodwill of the Indians by purchasing their lands and refraining from +any action which might be regarded as aggressive. At the same time he +helped the colony very considerably by opening up intercourse between +New York and Massachusetts, and by the establishment of a regular post +between the two capitals. On the other hand, however, Lovelace was not +really suited to his post. He was a courtier of the conventional type, +and regarded his stay in New York as a form of exile. He speaks of being +in "Egyptian darkness," and asks in one of his letters what is stirring +on the stage in "Brittang." In writing to Sir Joseph Williamson he tries +to arouse his sympathy and says, "we had as well crossed Lethal as the +Athlantiq Ocean." The news from home came to him far too seldom, for the +conveyance of letters was as slow "as the production of _ellephats_, +once almost in two years."[177] + +Lovelace's rule soon became unpopular for he was determined to carry out +his plan of paternal despotism and resisted very firmly every attempt to +create popular representation, which was continually demanded. He +angered the settlers by what they regarded a severe tax for defensive +purposes, and he showed his contempt for the freeholders of Long Island +by ordering their protest against his actions to be burnt. It was +unfortunate that this man should have so alienated both Dutch and +English alike, for his period of government coincided with a most +critical epoch in the world's history. In 1670 Charles had allied with +Louis XIV. against the Dutch, and one of the first acts of retaliation +on the part of the authorities in Holland was to retake their colony of +the New Netherlands. In July 1673 the Dutch Admiral Cornelius Eversen +appeared off Fort James when Francis Lovelace was away at New Haven. The +settlers, instead of resisting the Dutch, remembered their hatred of the +Governor, and Captain Manning, second in command, having fired one gun, +surrendered, an action which was called at the time "a shame and +derision to their English nation as hath not been heard of."[178] +Lovelace on his return found the Dutch flag flying over the settlement, +and, having no supporters, fled to Long Island, where the English towns +had refused to give way, not because of goodwill towards the Governor, +but because of patriotism. Here Lovelace met with a scanty welcome and +within a few days was arrested, ostensibly on account of a debt owing to +the Duke of York, and was sent back to England on the 30th July 1673, +where he died soon after. + +Weary of a war which was solely for the advantage of the French, Charles +II. came to terms with the Dutch at the Treaty of Westminster, 1674. The +New Netherlands once more became New York, but the English ministers +made a great error in also restoring to Carteret and Berkeley their +rights in New Jersey. The advice of Nicolls was again neglected, and +instead of making New York a compact province, the chance of unity was +lost by severing from its jurisdiction the territory of New Jersey. Sir +Edmund Andros, who was now appointed governor, did his best to +neutralise the effect of this by contending that New Jersey was still +tributary to New York, asserting his rights with considerable vigour. +But the partners in New Jersey were too great favourites at court to +suffer any loss, and before the question was settled Andros was recalled +in 1680. His rule was particularly wise and moderate, and during his +governorship New York experienced a healthy expansion. One thing, +however, he would never grant, though the settlers were always +clamouring for it, and that was a clearly defined constitution with +political rights and privileges similar to those in the New England +colonies. + +The exceptionally able Thomas Dongan succeeded Andros, but did not +arrive until 1683. He was forced to contend, as will be shown later, +with French aggression in the valley of the Hudson; his method being a +firm alliance with the Five Nations or Iroquois. They were a wild and +dangerous people, and as such have been described by one who knew them +well. "They likewise paint their Faces, red, blue, &c., and then they +look like the Devil himself ... they treat their Enemies with great +Cruelty in Time of War, for they first bite off the Nails of the Fingers +of their Captives, and cut off some Joints, and sometimes the whole of +the Fingers; after that the Captives are obliged to sing and dance +before them ... and finally they roast them before a slow Fire for some +Days, and eat them." It is interesting to note that the writer records +what must have been a great relief to his readers in the colonies, that +"they are very friendly to us."[179] This amicable relationship between +the English and the Five Nations was largely due to Dongan's good sense +and administrative genius. He persuaded them to become so much subjects +of Great Britain as to set up the arms of James II. upon their wigwams. +The English king, when he heard of his governor's action, informed Louis +XIV. that, as the Iroquois were now true British subjects, he expected +them to be treated as such. Dongan's work did not stop here. He was well +aware that the Iroquois' friendship was an uncertain prop on which to +depend, and therefore palisaded the towns of Albany and Schenectady, +thus beginning the famous system of frontier forts. By his actions he +gained the goodwill of the New Yorkers, to whom, on behalf of the +Proprietors, he granted a charter of incorporation in 1685. But this +acceptance of the views of the people was only very temporary, as it was +reversed in the next year, while at the same time all rights of +legislation were vested in a Council appointed by the Crown. + +As has already been shown, James II. amalgamated the colonies in 1685 +under Sir Edmund Andros and New York became part of New England. The +Governor was kept far too busy in Massachusetts to pay any attention to +New York, which was placed under a deputy-governor, Colonel Francis +Nicholson, with three Dutch councillors. Nicholson was a clearheaded, +observant man, who had had colonial experience, and would have been a +success except for the fact that he lacked moral force. His position +soon became a very awkward one, for in 1689 he heard that William III. +was all-powerful in England, while he held his commission from Andros, +the Stuart governor, who was in captivity at Boston. At the same time +France had declared war and the Canadians might invade the colony at any +moment. Unfortunately for Nicholson, although he summoned the +authorities, he quarrelled with his subordinate Cuyler, and things were +at a deadlock. At this point the people, seething under the restraints +and burdens which had been placed upon them during the reign of James +II., rose in open revolt, led by a German brewer, Jacob Leisler. +Nicholson was immediately deposed; a convention met, and ten out of the +eighteen representatives invested Leisler with dictatorial authority. He +was a man of some cunning, and under the pretence of possessing a +commission, by intercepting letters and by maltreating their writers, he +succeeded in keeping himself in office for very nearly three years. His +period of government was distinguished by the first Colonial Congress at +Albany, to which he summoned representatives from all the colonies to +discuss definite and united action against the French. Leisler himself +proposed a joint invasion of Canada, and it is probable that it was only +his own arrogance that prevented it. His followers soon came to be as +much hated as their leader, and one indignant citizen wrote in January +1690, "never was such a pack of ignorant, scandalous, malicious, false, +imprudent, impertinent rascals herded together, out of hell."[180] +Careful though Leisler had been to search letters and prevent the news +of his usurpation reaching England, he was unsuccessful. In 1690 the +English Government dispatched Colonel Slaughter to take Leisler's +place. The usurper was first met by a force under Major Ralph Ingoldsby, +second in command to the new Governor; a slight resistance was offered, +and Leisler "fired a vast number of great and small shot in the City, +whereby several of his Majesty's subjects were killed and wounded as +they passed in the streets upon their Lawful Occasions."[181] But +Leisler had lost his former following and he was captured and hanged, +together with his chief supporter Jacob Millborne. + +As James II. had left New York without a constitution, a representative +assembly was called in May 1691, and a declaratory act was passed which +annulled Leisler's proceedings. It required that all elections in the +future should be annual, that the franchise should belong to the 40s. +freeholders only, and that the colony itself should be apportioned into +constituencies. At the same time it laid down liberty of conscience +except for Papists, allowing a declaration instead of an oath to please +the Quakers. But above all it declared that no tax was to be imposed +unless it was voted by the colony. The act seemed satisfactory enough, +except the important reservation with regard to taxation; a reservation +which was sufficient to cause the Crown to veto the whole document, and +New York was again without a true and defined constitution. Such a state +of affairs was particularly bad when the colony in 1692 passed under the +rule of the notoriously corrupt Benjamin Fletcher. There are, however, +two things to be said for this man, whose work has been spoken of as +full of deceit, fraud, and subterfuge. In the first place it has been +proved that in military matters he showed considerable skill and +activity; while in the second he undoubtedly realised before many men of +his day the danger of disunion. In May 1696 he wrote, "The Indians, +though monsters, want not sense, but plainly see we are not united, and +it is apparent that the stronger these colonies grow in parts, the +weaker we are on the whole, every little government setting up for +despotic power and allowing no appeal to the Crown, but valuing +themselves on their own strength and on a little juggling in defeating +all commands and injunctions of the King."[182] On the other hand it +must be allowed that Fletcher's methods were particularly scandalous, +for not only did he practically license smuggling and piracy by levying +blackmail upon those who carried on these lucrative trades, but he made +personal friends of them, as for example Captain Tew, "a most notorious +pirate," with whom, to the scandal of the inhabitants, he occasionally +dined. + +As has been shown in another chapter, the Earl of Bellomont was made +governor in 1698 to prevent these nefarious undertakings, and as ruler +of New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts he did such +good work that he was universally and sincerely regretted when he died +in 1701. He was succeeded by Lord Cornbury, who was a profligate in +character and overbearing in manner. His rule was one of petty spite and +conflict, and having won the especial hatred of the dissenters and +generally alienated popular support, his recall in 1708 was as much a +cause of rejoicing as Bellomont's death had been of lamentation. + +The first sixty years of the eighteenth century were to the inhabitants +of New York years of anxiety and peril, for there was the ever present +danger of the French to the north and west. The story of these years +will be told elsewhere, and here only a rapid sketch can be given of the +domestic history of the colony. Four governors or deputy-governors +attract particular attention during this period. The first was Governor +Burnet,[183] son of the celebrated Bishop, who made himself conspicuous +in 1724 by writing a pamphlet in defence of paper money. The +governorship of William Cosby was not without a constitutional interest, +ten years later, in the prosecution of John Peter Zengler, publisher of +the _New York Weekly Journal_, for criticising the government. He was +described as a "seditious Person, and a frequent Printer and Publisher +of false News and seditious Libels."[184] The same Governor had also a +hard struggle with his people, which caused him to write to the home +Government for more power and patronage, for "ye example and spirit of +the Boston people begins to spread amongst these Colonys In a most +prodigious maner, I have had more trouble to manige these people then I +could have imagined, however for this time I have done pritty well with +them; I wish I may come off as well with them of ye Jarsys."[185] + +[Illustration: MAP OF NORTH AMERICA, 1755] + +It is evident that as late as 1740 the position of governor was one of +lucrative importance; in that year George Clarke, junior, offered the +Duke of Newcastle £1000 if he would appoint Mr Clarke, senior, +governor, instead of lieutenant-governor as he then was. But this must +have been almost the last case that the post was financially desirable, +for it was clearly the reverse between 1743 and 1753, when George +Clinton was governor. He himself writes, "The Govern^t of New York will +not be near so valuable to Gov^r Clinton as it has been to his +predecessors.--The Province of New Jersey having always till now been +united with New York, and under the same government, and the salary paid +by New Jersey has always been £1000 besides other considerable +advantages, so that the making New Jersey a separate and distinct +govern^t makes New York at least £1000 a year less in value to Gov^r +Clinton than it was to his predecessors."[186] There were, however, +other reasons which in the near future would make the financial position +of the Governor still more precarious, and Clinton could hardly be +expected to foresee that the advantages gained over the French during +his lifetime would in later years be one of the main causes of entire +independence of official governors sent from England. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[166] Seeley, _Growth of British Policy_ (1897), vol. ii. p. 25. + +[167] Seeley, _Growth of British Policy_ (1897), vol. ii. p. 25. + +[168] Quoted by Fitchett, _Fights for the Flag_ (1900), p. 3. + +[169] _Description and First Settlement of New Netherland_ (_1888_). + +[170] _The Representation of New Netherland_ (ed. 1849). + +[171] _Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New +York_ (1877). + +[172] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 227. + +[173] _Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New +York_ (1858). + +[174] Doyle, _Cambridge Modern History_ (1905), vii. p. 41. + +[175] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 337. + +[176] _Ibid._, p. 606. + +[177] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 111. + +[178] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1669-1674, p. 525. + +[179] Hazard, _Historical Collections_ (1792). + +[180] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1689-1692, p. 209. + +[181] _A Letter from a Gentleman of the City of New York_ (1698). + +[182] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1696-1697, p. 5. + +[183] He was also governor of Massachusetts, and died in 1729. + +[184] _A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zengler_, +etc. (1738). + +[185] _Document relative to the Colonial History of the State of New +York_ (1855). + +[186] _Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New +York_ (1855). + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE QUAKER SETTLEMENTS AND GEORGIA + + +There are few examples in history of the possessions of an ardent Roman +Catholic passing quietly and amicably into the hands of members of the +Society of Friends, but the Quaker colonies stand pre-eminent as one +instance of this exceptional circumstance. The Quakers were probably the +most persecuted of all religious sects in North America, and yet by the +irony of fate, one of the most thriving settlements owed its origin to +them; its capital Philadelphia became the most important town of the +Thirteen Colonies, and for one hundred and seventeen years was regarded +as the commercial, political, and social capital of the bickering and +jarring states. In the history of these Quaker settlements the disunited +character of the colonies is peculiarly apparent, and in no colony or +group of colonies is it better exemplified than in those of New Jersey +and Pennsylvania. + +The high-handed action of Charles II. in claiming Dutch territory and +granting it to his brother James, Duke of York, has already been +noticed. As soon as his claim had been authenticated by the victory of +Richard Nicolls, the Duke lavishly granted to Sir George Carteret and +Lord Berkeley the land from the Hudson to the Delaware, and it was +renamed East and West New Jersey. From the very first the settlers +hated the Proprietors for being pronounced absentees endeavouring to +exercise control over those who had already purchased the titles to +their lands, and demanding an unearned increment in a most repellent +form. For three years Philip Carteret, the Governor, did not call a +representative assembly, and at last when he did so, imagining the +spirit of the colonists to be broken, he met with a point-blank refusal +from two of the towns. The colony was, in fact, in a state of mutiny. It +was all very well for those in authority to refrain from claiming quit +rents for five years, but this was only a sop to the settlers, who were +angered by the demand that all patents of lands must be obtained from +the Proprietors. The colonists therefore broke into open revolt; set up +their own representative and deposed Carteret. The rebellion was soon +crushed by the Proprietors, but with this state of affairs within, New +Jersey was not in a condition to resist the attack of the Dutch from +without, and in 1673 the old owners took possession. + +The Treaty of Westminster in 1674 restored English rule, and the Duke of +York claimed that all previous titles were annulled by the Conquest. The +new arrangement now made was, that the Duke reserved to himself the left +bank of the Delaware; Carteret was granted a tract of land on the +southern bank of the Hudson; while Berkeley's share was no longer +existent, for he had sold his rights to two Quakers, John Fenwick and +"Edward Byllinge, of Westminster, gent, in whom the title thereunto then +was."[187] Fenwick appears to have been a man of energy, for he +endeavoured to form a settlement on the right bank of the Delaware, +which was strenuously opposed by Sir Edmund Andros, as representative +for the Duke of York. Fenwick, however, won in the end, and established +the colony of Salem. About the same time Edward Byllinge transferred any +rights he might possess to William Penn, the world-famed Quaker. He with +others of the Society of Friends began to colonise on the Delaware, and +their plans were still further encouraged in 1680 by a grant from the +Duke of York including the new colony of Salem. As a balance to this +gift to the Quakers, James, in the following year, increased the +territories of the Carteret family and restored the government to Philip +Carteret, who found, on his return, that his old methods were no longer +possible; the proprietary power had already been considerably weakened, +and the settlers had learnt to manage their own affairs. Sir George +Carteret, recognising that his rights, privileges, and perquisites were +practically nil, very sensibly sold this valueless property to William +Penn, Gawen Laurie, and other Quakers. With that extraordinary desire +for the construction of fantastic constitutions, the new Proprietors at +first attempted to foist upon the settlers a scheme of government which +was so elaborate that it was useless and unworkable. In a very short +time they found that they were obliged to fall back upon the more simple +system of a governor, council, and representative assembly. + +The results of this action on the part of Carteret and Penn were on the +whole satisfactory. It so happened that some of the new Proprietors were +Scotsmen, and they stimulated emigration from the North, and New Jersey +was all the better for a strong infusion of the vigorous Scottish race. +The action, too, had the effect of bringing East and West New Jersey +into closer contact, and so paved the way for union. In 1692 another +step was taken in this direction, for the Proprietors of both colonies +appointed Andrew Hamilton as joint-governor. There were, however, many +difficulties to be overcome before union was possible. In the first +place there were unending disputes with New York about the levying of +duties; while secondly, the Proprietors' rights had now become so +complicated by frequent sale and transfer that matters were in dire +confusion; besides these very rights appeared to the settlers themselves +as injurious to the welfare of the colony. They looked for political +privileges for themselves, which would, according to the Proprietors, +clash with their interests. To grant to the settlers rights which were +on the surface merely political, appeared, and indeed would be, the +abnegation of all proprietary territorial claims. The man who might have +done so much for the union of the New Jerseys had unfortunately +transferred his affections elsewhere. Penn, filled with schemes of pure +philanthropy, had left his first settlement to look after itself and had +brought all his energies to bear upon his new venture in Pennsylvania. + +Even without Penn's assistance the union of the two Jerseys was bound to +come. In 1701 it was pointed out by the Colonial Office of that day, +that "by several letters, memorials, and other papers, as well from the +inhabitants as Proprietors of both these provinces, that they are at +present in confusion and anarchy; and that it is much to be apprehended +lest by the heats of the parties that are amongst them, they should +fall into such violences as may endanger the lives of many persons and +destroy the colony."[188] It seemed obvious to those in London that some +form of union was necessary to save the colony from this fate, and so +New Jersey from the River Hudson to the River Delaware became a united +province when the Proprietors surrendered all their political and +territorial rights in 1702. For a short time New Jersey with New York +suffered under the scandalous administration of the brainless and +profligate Lord Cornbury, but his evil work was to a certain extent +remedied by Governor Robert Hunter, who proved himself an able colonial +administrator. + +The tract of land to which Penn had transferred his philanthropic +schemes lay to the south of the river Delaware. It had been taken from +the Swedes and at one time had been granted to Maryland, but up to the +year 1681 it had remained unoccupied. The Quaker Penn, a man of high +social position, friend and favourite of James II., readily accepted +this piece of territory in liquidation of a debt of £16,000 owed to him +by the Crown. The agreement now drawn up between Penn and the Duke of +York was remarkable for its utter indifference to all constitutional +forms. Penn was appointed Proprietor, but his powers were to a certain +extent limited; on all legislative matters the Crown reserved the right +of veto, and in all financial affairs the newly formed colony was to be +regarded as an integral portion of the realm; while, as a further hold +over revenue, an accredited agent of the colony was to reside in England +and was to explain any infraction of the revenue laws. + +Pennsylvania, as first conceived by the Proprietor, was not a colony for +one sect only. He offered no particular inducements to Quakers rather +than to others. The early emigrants were a veritable olla podrida, and +consisted of English Quakers, Scottish and Irish Presbyterians, German +Mennonites, and French Huguenots. It was not long, however, before the +Quaker element distinctly preponderated, with two obvious results. In +the first place one of the strongest tenets of Quakerism was a horror of +war and bloodshed, which belief was steadily upheld by the +Pennsylvanians and proved in later years most baneful to the colony when +the French began their aggressions. The second result was just as good +as the first had been bad. The Quakers taught and believed the equality +of all men before God; to them there was no distinction between settler +and savage, and unlike some of the colonists in the Puritan group, +offered the best of treatment to the Red Indians. + +In the autumn of 1681, William Penn dispatched four commissioners to +found the colony that was in later years to become so famous. William +Crispen, Nathaniel Allen, John Bezar and William Heage were chosen by +the Proprietor to select a site on the Delaware; Crispen, Penn's +kinsman, died on the voyage, but the other three faithfully carried out +their orders and selected a spot where the river "is most navigable, +high dry and healthy; that is where most ships can ride, of deepest +draught of water, if possible to load or unload at the bank or key +(_sic_) side without boating or lightering of it."[189] Thomas Howe had +been appointed surveyor-general and at once proceeded to lay out the +city of Philadelphia upon a modification of the plans of Penn and +covering a surface area of about 1200 to 1300 acres. William Penn stands +alone as the founder of a great city of which he was justly proud, and +in 1683 he was able to write, "Philadelphia: the expectation of those +who are concerned in this province is at last laid out, to the great +content of those here who are anyways interested therein. The situation +is a neck of land and lieth between two navigable rivers, Delaware and +Sculkill, whereby it hath two fronts upon the water, each a mile, and +two from river to river."[190] + +Penn was quick to foresee a prosperous future for his colony, but he +nearly ruined it at the outset by drawing up a well-intentioned but +somewhat cumbersome constitution. There were to be two elective +chambers: the Upper or council, consisting of 72 members, and the Lower, +which was at first to contain 200, and later 500 members. This +constitution, however, was impossible to manage; the Lower assembly was +obviously far too large and proved superfluous; while the Upper was +found to be too bulky for a Cabinet or executive government; for these +reasons a few months after its conception it was radically altered. The +pruning-knife was called into use and the 72 of the Upper chamber were +cut down to 18; at the same time the absurd number of 200 was reduced to +26, and the right of initiating legislation was taken from the +representatives. But Penn was not yet satisfied and undertook still +further alterations in 1686, when he appointed five Commissioners of +State, three of whom were to be a quorum, and to whom the right of veto +in all legislative affairs was granted. This scheme was almost as bad as +his first constitution, for it gave excessive powers to three or four +men; fortunately for the colony it was not perpetuated. + +Early in its history troubles came upon Pennsylvania, which had been +founded "with the pious wish and desire that its inhabitants might dwell +together in brotherly love and unity."[191] The flight of James II. was +the first serious blow to Penn's colonial prosperity; it may be that he +was one of the few men who sincerely and deeply regretted the fall of +the last male Stuart ruler of England, for in James' misfortune Penn +also suffered for a time, and his plans as a colony promoter received a +severe check. At the same time Pennsylvania was torn by internal +quarrels concerning what were called the "Territories" or Delaware. This +district, on the south bank of the Delaware River, had been transferred +from the administration of New York and placed under that of +Pennsylvania. The dispute that arose had for its cause the appointment +of magistrates, and it was only settled by a compromise in which +Delaware was for the future to have its own executive, but there was +only to be one elective chamber for the whole province. Still worse days +came to Pennsylvania when the colony was included in the commission to +the pirate-loving Benjamin Fletcher. As in New York, so in the Quaker +settlement he proved himself arbitrary in conduct, brutal and unwise in +action, immoral and corrupt in his private life. The only comfort to the +Pennsylvanian settlers during his rule was that they won their right to +initiate legislation. + +A promise of the renewal of the good days of the past appeared when Penn +succeeded in 1694 in regaining his proprietary rights, now somewhat +shorn of their former privileges. The Proprietor immediately set about +the restoration of his colony's prosperity, but excellent as his work +was, Pennsylvania was still more fortunate in having amongst its members +Gabriel Thomas, one of the brightest colonial authors of that period. He +has not only left some writings of particular merit, but his name has +been handed down to posterity as one who laboured hard for seventeen +years to build up, firmly and strongly, the Quaker settlements in the +West. Such work was necessarily slow, and Penn, when he again visited +his colony, must have been much grieved with its moral condition if +Lewis Morris, Governor of New Jersey, wrote the truth. "Pennsylvania is +settled by People of all Languages and Religions in Europe, but the +people called Quakers are the most numerous of anyone persuasion ... the +Church of England gains ground in that Country, and most of the Quakers +that came off with Mr Keith are come over to it: the Youth of that +country are like those in the neighbouring Provinces very Debaucht and +ignorant."[192] + +A long series of disputes with the other colonies began in 1701, which +intensified the danger already only too obvious, caused by the disunion +of the American states and left them the more open to French attack. In +addition to their antipathy to war, the Pennsylvanians now pleaded +poverty as an excuse for refusing to assist in contributing funds +towards the restoration of the fortifications of New York. Penn's common +sense forced him to advocate the contribution, but all his eloquence was +wasted upon his settlers, and he pleaded and remonstrated in vain. A +fresh dispute followed, again arising from the government of Delaware. +Since the last quarrel the Assembly had met alternately at Newcastle and +Philadelphia. The people of Pennsylvania, as members of the more +important state, demanded that in the future any legislation passed at +Newcastle should be ratified and confirmed at Philadelphia. This was +naturally intolerable to the weaker side, and the outcome of the dispute +was the granting of a new charter and the complete separation of +Delaware in 1703. + +The last official act of William Penn was the incorporation of his +beloved city of Philadelphia, which had steadily increased in size and +population. A contemporary in 1710, possibly Daniel Defoe, has left on +record a description of the town which gives some idea of its character +and importance. Philadelphia "is a noble, large and populous city, +standing on as much ground as our English City of Bristol.... It is +built square in Form of a Chess-Board with each Front facing one of the +Rivers. There are several Streets near two Mile long, as wide as +Holborn, and better built, after the English Manner. The chief are Broad +Street, King-street, High-street, tho' there are several other handsome +Streets that take their Names from the Productions of the Country: as +Mulberry, Walnut, Beech, Sassafras, Cedar, Vine, Ash and Chestnut +Streets.... The Number of the Inhabitants is generally suppos'd to be +upwards of 15,000 besides Slaves.... And if I were oblig'd to live out +of my native Country, I should not be long puzzled in finding a Place of +Retirement, which should be Philadelphia. There the oppress'd in Fortune +or Principles may find a happy Asylum, and drop quietly to their Graves +without Fear or Want."[193] Such was the happy city within thirty years +of its foundation, and as a political centre it remained supreme until +after the American War of Independence. + +Penn retired from the colony in 1701, but continued to take the keenest +interest in all that went on. At one time he remonstrated with the +assembly for attacking his secretary and staunch supporter, James Logan, +who acted as the Proprietor's agent during his long years of absence. As +long as Penn lived he was able to exercise some control, but when he +died in 1718 he left to his heirs a proprietary claim over a colony torn +in pieces by disputes and factions. The brothers John and Thomas Penn +were never popular, and up to the resignation of their claims in 1759 +there were continual quarrels, sometimes over the Governor's salary, and +sometimes because the Proprietors, who possessed three-fourths of the +province, refused to allow the taxation of their lands for military +operations against the French. + +It is a noticeable fact that the two last colonies of the famous +Thirteen were founded on philanthropic bases. The excellent William Penn +established Pennsylvania as a home of toleration and peace; and the last +of the original states, Georgia, was founded, upon motives that were +highly creditable to their originator. The colony of Georgia owed its +existence to James Oglethorpe, who, after serving a short time in the +army, became a Member of Parliament and was placed upon a Parliamentary +Committee to inquire into the state of the prisons, at that time +conducted on barbarous lines. What he then learnt led Oglethorpe to +propose the formation of a colony where men might honestly work and +better their position instead of pining away in the horrible debtors' +gaols. In addition to this, as he said, "Christianity will be extended +by the execution of this design; since the good discipline established +by the Society will reform the manners of these miserable objects."[194] +There is, too, in his account of the advantages of the colony, a hint as +to the possible pecuniary gain of the individual and of the nation, for +"when hereafter it shall be well-peopled and rightly cultivated, England +may be supplied from thence with raw Silk, Wine, Oil, Dyes, Drugs, and +many other materials for manufactures, which she is obliged to purchase +from Southern countries."[195] Tempted by these proposals, the +Government readily fell in with his scheme and granted to Oglethorpe and +his associates, including the famous Thomas Coram, a tract of land to +the south of the Savannah River and north of the Spanish settlements in +Florida, and here the debtors' colony was to serve as a barrier and +rampart against Spanish aggression. The Corporation was called "The +Trustees for the colonisation of Georgia," and was given full powers of +administration for twenty-six years, at the expiration of which all +privileges were to pass to the Crown. + +In the autumn of 1732, James Oglethorpe embarked with 114 settlers; they +were unsatisfactory colonists, for the men who had so hopelessly failed +in England had not that grit and sturdy endurance necessary for founders +of new homes in the West. The colony, however, started well, for +Oglethorpe immediately won the goodwill of the natives, and made a wise +selection of a site for the first settlement about twenty miles from +the mouth of the Savannah River. The town itself was guarded on the +water side by high banks, while impenetrable swamps on the land side +served as sufficient barrier to any warlike incursions that might be +attempted. Besides these advantages, Oglethorpe had also made friendly +overtures to the neighbouring colonies, and in 1733 was able to say with +satisfaction that "if the colony is attacked it may be relieved by sea +from Port Royal, or the Bahamas; and the militia of South Carolina is +ready to support it, by land."[196] Oglethorpe's satisfaction must have +been very short-lived. From the very first the colonists grumbled, +quarrelled, and disputed, and their resident minister, the Reverend +Samuel Quincy, gives a horrible but exaggerated account of the colony in +1735. "Affairs here are but in an ill-condition, through the +discouragements attending the settlement.... The magistrate, to whom the +government of the colony was left, proves a most insolent and tyrannical +fellow. Several just complaints have been sent home against him, which +do not meet with a proper regard, and this has made people very +uneasie.... In short, Georgia, which was seemingly intended to be the +asylum of the distressed, unless things are greatly altered, is likely +to be itself a mere scene of distress.... Notwithstanding the place has +been settled nigh three years, I believe, I may venture to say there is +not one family which can subsist without further assistance."[197] +Affairs though gloomy were scarcely as black as Quincy depicted them, +for in the next few years there was every sign of progress. Already in +1734 there had been a large increase of population by the immigration +of Salzburg Germans under their pastor Martin Bolzius, who had fled from +the persecution of their Prince Bishop. Two years later the colony had +grown sufficiently to found a second settlement, Frederica, seventy +miles south of the Savannah, at the mouth of the Alatamaha River; and a +party of Highlanders about the same time founded New Inverness. Trade +also began to increase and a definite commercial station was established +at Augusta. + +In the same year as the foundation of Frederica, John Wesley, +accompanied by his brother Charles, came out as chaplain to the Georgian +flock. He was in residence for a year and nine months, during which +period he seems to have quarrelled with many of the inhabitants and +particularly with the Moravians, and proved himself both indiscreet and +ill-tempered. He himself records in his _Journal_ that he was told by +one man, "I will never hear you any more. And all the people are of my +mind. For we won't hear ourselves abused. Besides, they say, they are +Protestants. But as for you, they can't tell what Religion you are of. +They never heard of such a religion before. They do not know what to +make of it. And then, your private behaviour--all the quarrels that have +been here since you came, have been long of you. Indeed there is neither +man nor woman in the Town, who minds a word you say. And so you may +preach long enough; but nobody will come to hear you."[198] Wesley seems +to have allowed his own personal feelings to enter into his religious +life. He desired to marry a young woman of his congregation, Sophia +Hankey by name, but she preferred to marry a Mr Williamson. Thereupon, +apparently without any other reason than his own personal feelings, +Wesley excluded Mrs Williamson from communion. Her husband very +naturally regarded this as a slur upon his wife's character and brought +an action against Wesley, who was forbidden to leave the colony while +the question was pending. He records in his _Journal_ for December 2nd +what then took place. "In the Afternoon the Magistrates publish'd an +Order requiring all the Officers and Centinels, to prevent my going out +of the Province; and forbidding any person to assist me so to do. Being +now only a Prisoner at large, in a Place, where I knew by experience +every Day would give fresh opportunity, to procure Evidence of words I +never said, and actions I never did; I saw clearly the Hour was come for +leaving the Place: And as soon as Evening Prayers were over, about Eight +o'clock, the tide then serving, I shook off the dust of my Feet, and +left Georgia, after having preach'd the Gospel there (not as I ought but +as I was able) one Year and nearly Nine Months."[199] In regarding +Wesley's action at this time, it is to be remembered that he was a +self-confident, impulsive young enthusiast, lacking knowledge of human +nature, and also that he had not passed through those years of struggle +and earnest work which in later times made him a man of tact and +forbearance. + +Meantime a serious danger threatened the colony. In 1736, the Spaniards, +who had long viewed Georgia with suspicion, made an armed +reconnaissance, but nothing could be done, for there was at that time no +war between the two countries in Europe. It was not until 1739 that +Walpole was forced by popular demand to declare war against Spain, an +act which he regarded with disgust as contrary to all his principles and +desires. Georgia was in a particularly exposed position with regard to +Spanish aggression, and Oglethorpe decided to take the offensive as a +defensive measure and carry the war into the enemy's country. Reading +the signs of the times and knowing what was hatching in Europe, the +English Governor collected a force of about 600 volunteers and boldly +marched for Florida in October 1738. He had been partly led to this +action by the fact that news had been brought that the Spanish troops +had been increased in St Augustine, and that the civil inhabitants had +been turned out of their houses to give quarters to the royal forces. +Oglethorpe's move was an unsatisfactory one, not through want of bravery +on his part, but rather because he was a poor judge of men and his +soldiers were wanting in the spirit of loyalty; some had even concerted +a plot with the Spanish, while others had actually deserted to the +enemy. Nothing daunted, Oglethorpe spent the summer of 1739 securing the +alliance of most of the neighbouring Indian tribes, and when war was +formally declared against Spain the Georgian Governor was in a better +position for whatever fate might have in store. + +The home authorities ordered Oglethorpe to attack St Augustine, but +before he could do so the Spaniards struck the first blow. Some fifty +miles south of the town of Frederica, the Governor had thought it +advisable to erect a military station on Amelia Island. This was the +first natural object of Spanish attack, but their success was limited to +the murder of two invalids. Oglethorpe, on the other hand, was more +fortunate in capturing a Spanish outpost, which tempted him to risk an +attack on St Augustine itself. He set out in March 1740, with a land +force of about 2000 men, composed of Georgian militia and Indian allies; +being supported at sea by four King's ships and a small schooner from +South Carolina. This latter was practically the only help from the +members of the richer colony, the generosity of which was of a very +limited character; they ought really to have assisted Oglethorpe as well +as they were able, for their danger from the Spaniards was almost as +extreme as that of Georgia. Ill-supported as he was, the Governor +captured three small fortresses, but soon found that the seizure of the +capital of Florida was beyond his slender resources. The few Carolina +troops deserted; his own men were struck down by fever; and his Indian +allies left him in disgust because he tried to restrain their natural +ferocity. In June, having realised that his attempt was hopeless, he +retreated. His work, however, was not entirely unsuccessful, for +although he had failed to do what he had intended, he succeeded in +staving off from Georgia any serious Spanish attack for the next two +years. + +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 +his wretched 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 of that 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 of Negroes; 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. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM PITT, LORD CHATHAM _From the painting by +W. Hoare in the National Portrait Gallery._] + +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 +had so 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. + +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 already been +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." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[187] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 587. + +[188] Compare the _N.J. Archives_, ii., p. 420. + +[189] Quoted in the _Enc. 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). + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND + + +"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 system was 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 Houses in 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, and says "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 100,000 _l._ 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 +80,000 _l._ 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 vessel sailed 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 with a 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 his _Wealth 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 into New 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 for Trade 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 to have 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 first +against 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 bring the 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 urged manfully "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 of Connecticut 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 Michael Gigglesworth, 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 as _The +Public Occurance both Foreign and Domestic_ at Boston in 1690, to be +followed fourteen years later by John Campbell's _Boston 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 southern brother, 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's _Scarlet Letter_ has +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 animated these 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. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[204] Words of Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. + +[205] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 529. + +[206] _New England Historical and Genealogical Register_ (1870), xxiv. +p. 62. + +[207] Adam Smith, _Wealth of Nations_ (ed. 1845), p. 254. + +[208] _Ibid._, p. 240. + +[209] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, No. 50. + +[210] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 529. + +[211] _History of New England_, II. (1720) ch. xiv. + +[212] New Hampshire Historical Society, _Collections_, i. p. 228. + +[213] Morley, J., Walpole, _Twelve English Statesmen_ (1896), p. 168. + +[214] 1 Green, W., William Pitt, _Heroes of the Nations_ (1901), p. 258. + +[215] Smith, A., _Wealth of Nations_ (ed. 1845), pp. 245 and 249. + +[216] O'Callaghan, _Documents relative to Colonial History of State of +New York_ (1855), v. p. 738. + +[217] Winthrop, _History of New England_ (ed. 1853), i., Nov. 1633. + +[218] Doyle, _The English in America_, vol. ii. p. 64. + +[219] _Ibid._, p. 506. + +[220] Knight, _Journal_ (1825), p. 40. + +[221] Quoted by Thwaites, _The Colonies_, 1492-1750 (1891), p. 189. + +[222] O'Callaghan, _ut supra_, vii. 348. + +[223] See p. 93. + +[224] Clap, _The Annals or History of Yale College_ (1766), p. 22. + +[225] Doyle, _Cambridge Modern History_ (1905), vol. vii. p. 60. + +[226] _Mass. Hist. Coll._, Series II. vol. x. p. 183. + +[227] Quoted by Doyle, _Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. +13. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN AND MIDDLE COLONIES + + +The southern colonies in their geographical formation, their soil and +climate, were of a uniform character; nor were there any decidedly +marked religious differences. In the middle colonies this was by no +means the case, but even here the style of life in such states as +Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey had many points of resemblance. +In all the colonies except Maryland and Virginia there was a +heterogeneous population of English, Irish, Scots, Dutch, Huguenots, and +Germans, but in New York State mixed nationalities were most apparent. + +The distinction between the grades of society was well-marked in both +the southern and middle colonies. In South Carolina in early times there +was practically no middle class, but at the end of the seventeenth +century a few Ulster Protestants settled in the colony as small farmers +and remained in spite of economic conditions. In Maryland there were +yeomen farmers and tradesmen, who were for the most part rude and +uneducated. A professional middle class was unknown until the eighteenth +century; doctors, for example, were not licensed in New York till 1760. +In New Jersey there was a tendency to insist on democratic principles, +though there is every reason to think that the gentleman farmer was +treated with the same respect accorded to the Quaker squire of +Pennsylvania, or the Dutch patroon of New York. In the South the upper +classes resembled their contemporaries in England. Some were indolent, +haughty, and vain, showing the greatest contempt for honest toil; many +were confirmed gamblers and horse-racers. The bottle and the dice were +the household deities of not a few; but they were nevertheless +bountiful, generous, and patriotic, and proved themselves good specimens +of England's manhood in time of peril. + +Below these classes were the indentured servants and negro slaves. The +former were composed of paupers and criminals sent out from England, the +earliest instance being in 1618, when Ambrose Smythe, a felon, was +transported to America, as a servant bound for a limited period. The +life in Virginia on the tobacco plantations must have been of the +hardest, but it was evidently preferable to that in the West Indian +islands, as Penruddock, the conspirator against Cromwell, petitioned in +1656 to be sent to Virginia rather than to the Barbadoes. The evil of +the system of indentured servants lay for the most part in the ease with +which _inconvenient_ people were got rid of, and in the kidnapping of +harmless children. Fugitives from justice, guilty husbands or wives, the +felon and the innocent were all to be found on those ships that sailed +from Bristol. The scandal increased from year to year, so that in 1661 +the new Colonial Board was obliged to make an effort to regulate +indentured servants, while three years later a commission under the Duke +of York was appointed to look into the whole matter. The outcome of this +was a most salutary enactment by which kidnapping was made a capital +offence. The inquisitorial system necessary for the proper enforcement +of this Act soon came to be burdensome, as proved by a complaint of the +merchants in 1682, concerning vexatious prosecutions; but that it was +absolutely essential is shown by a fresh Order in Council, four years +later, against kidnappers. The one great advantage possessed by the +indentured servant over the negro slave was that no hereditary +disqualification attached to the children of such servants, whereas in +the case of the blacks the stigma of slavery passed from the parents to +their offspring. + +The system of binding servants for so many years tended to check the +growth of slavery; but there is little doubt that during the first +hundred years of American colonisation the influx of negro slaves +reached alarming proportions. In 1620 a Dutch ship landed twenty negroes +from the Guinea coast at the recently established Jamestown. From this +small beginning the cursed traffic grew, and so rapidly that in 1637, +and on many later occasions, enactments were passed to check all +intercourse between whites and blacks. Within twenty years of the +introduction of slavery there were in Virginia about three hundred +blacks, while twelve years later the number had reached one thousand. It +is not to be wondered at that the growth was so rapid, for the trade was +a lucrative one,[228] and it was difficult to check when the first in +the land participated in its spoils. Thus in 1662 the Royal African +Company was founded with James, Duke of York, at its head, and with his +brother Charles II. as a large shareholder. The negroes were in theory +regarded as mere chattels, and to check risings such as those of 1678, +1712, and 1741, barbarous laws were passed against them. On the other +hand, as individuals they were as a general rule comfortably clothed, +fed, and housed; they had many amusements, and their work was not as +arduous as has so often been described. At one time it was an understood +thing in the colonies that the lord had the _jus vitae necisque_ over +his slaves, but at the beginning of the eighteenth century the Crown +made the murder of a negro a capital offence, a decision vigorously +upheld by Governor Spotswood. The number of slaves on each plantation +varied very much; the average may, perhaps, be placed at thirty. But the +largest owner in Virginia possessed 900; while in Maryland this was +easily beaten by an owner with 1300. In the eighteenth century the +negroes far outnumbered the whites in South Carolina; but in New York +they only formed about one-sixth the total population. In Maryland and +Virginia they were as one to three, while in the middle colonies it is +calculated that a ratio of one to seven would give a rough estimate of +their numbers. + +Figures and statistics with regard to the white population can only be +surmised. In 1650, Virginia, as the oldest of the colonies, may +possibly have had 15,000 inhabitants. Stuyvesant's calculation for New +York fourteen years later was probably exaggerated when he placed that +cosmopolitan people at 10,000. At the time of the Revolution the total +population of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas was about 90,000; +but the two first colonies had by far the largest proportion, for +although Shaftesbury and Locke had worked so hard, the Carolinas had +only 4000 settlers all told. The population of East Jersey at the +beginning of the eighteenth century was, according to Governor Lewis +Morris, "about eight thousand souls";[229] while that of Pennsylvania +and Delaware may have been 20,000, at least one-half of whom were +English Quakers. Later in the century more exact figures are +ascertainable. Virginia in 1724 was still the largest with 65,000; +Maryland ran it close with 53,000. Pennsylvania and Delaware had +steadily increased owing to immigration to 32,000; and New York, which +in 1705 had had 25,000 people, had by 1724 increased to 30,000. New +Jersey came next with 26,000, while North and South Carolina lagged +behind with 14,000 and 9000 respectively. + +With so large a population it is only natural that there were various +kinds of trade. Tobacco was the staple of Virginia and of Maryland; but +by 1701 Virginia tobacco was acknowledged as far superior to that from +the Baltimore plantations. South Carolina for the first ninety years of +its history relied mainly upon rice, the export of which was encouraged +by Sir Robert Walpole in 1730. The colony was now allowed to export rice +to any port in Europe, south of Finisterre, provided it was sent in +British ships, manned by British seamen. "The result was that the rice +of the American plantations beat the rice of Egypt and Northern Italy +out of the markets of Europe."[230] After 1741 or 1742, indigo planting +became an important industry in the colony, for the seed which was then +introduced was found to flourish in the swamps of the South. Iron was +worked in Virginia to a small extent. Its value was pointed out by the +Company in defence of their charter in 1623: "during these 4 last years +that hath been expended in setting up of iron works (the oar whereof is +there in great plenty and excellent) above five thousand pounds, which +work being brought in a manner to perfection was greatly interrupted by +the late massacre."[231] The industry continued throughout the century, +but never on a large scale. In Philadelphia a more profitable iron +industry existed, while in Maryland in 1749 seventeen iron furnaces were +regularly employed. New Jersey made some slight profit from working her +minerals, such as iron and copper, but her chief exports were cattle and +tanned hides. The exports of Pennsylvania were even more varied, +consisting of horses, pipe staves, salted pork and beef, bread-flour, +peas, beans, tobacco, potashes and wax; while from Germantown in +particular there was paper, glass, and coarse cloth. New York carried on +a small linen and woollen manufacture, but the chief industry, until +checked by the policy of Andros, was tanning. After the revolution New +York was famous for its fur trade, particularly that in beaver. Busy as +most of the settlers were, yet almost every necessary of life was +brought from England, including such common articles as wooden bowls. In +a list of the imports of Pennsylvania at the end of the seventeenth +century we find rum, sugar, molasses, silver, salt, wine, linen, +household goods, and negroes. In 1733, to the annoyance of the +colonists, a heavy duty was imposed on all molasses imported from +foreign countries. Tobacco, at the same time, was not allowed to be +exported to any European ports, save those of Great Britain. This, +however, was easily evaded, for the numerous rivers and private +landing-stages in the southern colonies made effective supervision +impossible. + +As in the case of the New England colonies, the main check to commerce +lay in the serious want of money. The steady influx of coin was +prevented by the lack of retail trade, and also by the fact that the +planter was nearly always in debt to the merchant. In Virginia and +Maryland the scarcity of specie was overcome by the use of tobacco, +which, "as the staple product of the country, established itself as the +accepted medium of exchange."[232] But even in these colonies a desire +for good money was shown on various occasions. The Virginia Assembly, in +1645, tried to fix the legal value of the Spanish coins which were in +common use, and also proposed a copper coinage of their own. Cecil +Calvert, as a careful proprietor, attempted to assist his Maryland +settlers by establishing a coinage, but nothing came of it. In the +eighteenth century, therefore, most of the southern and middle colonies +fell under the fascinating influence of paper money; New York and +Virginia being the only two to escape this economic evil. + +Brief reference has been made to the educational indifference of the +southern settlers. As has already been shown, Governor Berkeley thanked +God that there were no schools in Virginia.[233] To the rich planter +this was not so disastrous, as his sons were either provided with a +tutor or sent to England. But this absence of schools for the small +freeholders presented a great difficulty. Certainly in the Carolinas the +lack of education was not so marked, for there, as society was more +urban, the opportunities of a school training were more numerous. "Their +cohabiting in a town has drawn to them ingenious people of most +sciences, whereby they have tutors amongst them that educate their youth +_à la mode_."[234] South Carolina was particularly famous for its +educational advantages, and in one year there were no fewer than four +hundred educational advertisements in the _South Carolina Gazette_. +Although William and Mary College in Virginia was founded by Blair at +the end of the seventeenth century, it remained for many years nothing +more than a rather superior boarding school. In Philadelphia there was +some attempt to instruct the young, not only in several German and +Moravian seminaries, but also, after 1698, in the Penn Charter School. +New York had its first Church of England School in 1704, but it was not +until fifty years later that King's College, afterwards Columbia +College, was established. A college was founded in New Jersey in 1746, +but two years later Governor Belcher complained that "they are a very +rustical people and deficient in learning."[235] Owing to the energies +of the indefatigable Benjamin Franklin an academy was built in +Philadelphia in 1750 in which the Quaker youth of the colony had the +greater part of their training. + +There can be no doubt that the lack of education in the southern and +middle colonies was reflected in the absence of any vigorous literary +development. Virginia is easily first in its possession of three writers +of repute: Robert Beverley, who wrote the history of his own colony; or +the Rev. William Stith, whose work though fragmentary is never dull, and +"might have been produced by a learned, leisurely, and somewhat pompous +English clergyman";[236] or finally, Colonel William Byrd, a man of +education and wealth, who has left on record a witty and interesting +account of his travels. New York was not without two famous names, those +of William Smith, author of _The History of New York_, and Cadwallader +Colden, who has left to posterity a chronicle of the Five Nations, +filled with picturesque descriptions. Pennsylvania, unlike the other +colonies, has to revere the name, not of an historian, but a poet and +tragedian, in Thomas Godfrey, whose short life lasted only from 1736 to +1763. + +The religion of the southern and middle colonies was not of the harsh +character of the northerners. The Church of England had more power than +in the Puritan settlements, though its position was a peculiar one. In +New York and New Jersey up to 1693 it was supported owing to orders +from the Crown. From that date its preponderance over other sects was +due to the habit of the governors to appoint Church of England +clergymen. In Maryland and Virginia the Church was established by acts +of the colonial legislature; while in the Carolinas it owed its position +to the Proprietary Charter. In the southern colonies the clergy for the +most part shared the vices of the planters, and "drunkenness is the +common vice"[237] is not an unusual complaint. In North Carolina the +people seem to have been at first utterly indifferent; they were a +lawless population and cared for none of these things. In 1703 there was +no episcopalian minister, nor was there a church until 1705. Six years +later Governor Spotswood reported that there was only one clergyman in +the whole colony. Nor did South Carolina evince a more ardent religious +spirit, for at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were only +two Episcopalian churches, the one at Charlestown, the other at Goose +Creek. Virginia and Maryland seem to have been better than this, for +from quite early times the clergy were readily supported and paid in so +many pounds of tobacco. In Virginia George Whitefield's preaching had +some little effect, but on the whole he failed to arouse any great +religious enthusiasm in the other southern colonies. Maryland and +Pennsylvania were the most tolerant of all the colonies. In the first +Roman Catholics and Protestants had lived together, though not always +peaceably, since its foundation; while in the latter colony there were +Quakers, Lutherans, and Presbyterians tolerating each other. After the +capture of New York by Nicolls, everyone was supposed to conform to the +Church of England; each township was commanded to maintain its own +church and minister. At first the New York authorities were strongly +against Jesuits and Popish priests, but as the eighteenth century grew +in years, there is every reason to believe that within this state there +were Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Lutherans living +happy lives and seeing much that was good in their religious +antagonists. + +Church life was in no way connected with town life as in New England, +for the simple reason that towns were very uncommon, having "no place in +the social and industrial economy of the south."[238] They consisted for +the most part of scattered houses, an inn, a gaol, and a court-house. +They were visited by the planters nominally for business, but mostly for +pleasure, and the tavern, which was in some cases enforced by law, +became the meeting-place for gossip. Jamestown and Williamsburg in +Virginia, St Mary's and Annapolis in Maryland, are not worth considering +as busy centres of trade. They were rather the meeting-places of +pleasure parties who came for balls and horse races, and when these +gaieties were over they slumbered until again roused for the next joyous +gathering. Charlestown in South Carolina had always been somewhat +different; from its foundation it had taken upon itself the position of +the most important town in the south, and it proved that it was ready to +progress with the times by being the first town to possess a theatre, +which was built in 1735. In the middle colonies the towns played a very +considerable part in the social and economic life of the settlers, and +in this way resembled the northern corporate communities. New York and +Philadelphia were both good towns with wide streets lined with trees; +along the edge were the orchards and gardens surrounding stone or brick +houses with overhanging gables. The two other towns of importance were +Germantown which was very busy, and Newport which is described as +ill-built. + +Such in brief were the towns, industries, and style of living of the +southern and middle colonists. The English-born planter depended upon +slave labour or indentured servants; he lived upon a large estate in a +magnificent and often too lavish manner. But they were men of as much +grit as the New Englanders; certainly they were descended from a +different stock, and they looked upon the present life and the future +with very different eyes, but that was all. The settlers of the middle +colonies plunged with readiness into the intricacies of trade, and the +merchant and tradesman were far more conspicuous figures in daily life +than in either Virginia or Maryland. The colonists were, too, far more +cosmopolitan than in the north. In the Carolinas there were a few +Huguenots, Swiss, and German Palatines, but in Virginia and Maryland +there was little trace of any foreign element. But in the middle +colonies there were regular waves of aliens from Germany and Switzerland +intermixed with the earlier Dutch and English settlers. They all helped +to play their little parts in the world's history, and they all came to +look upon England as the home country. Then by the middle of the +eighteenth century they were called upon to resist the aggressions of +France; and during those years of struggle they partly learnt their +power. United at last, English settler and foreigner, Northern Puritan +and Southern planter, they made the one supreme effort, throwing off the +yoke of England, and became no longer colonists, but Americans. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[228] So lucrative did the slave trade become that, even after the +Abolition Act of 1807, slave dealers realised an enormous profit if one +ship out of three with its living cargo reached an American port. + +[229] New Jersey Historical Society, _Proceedings_ (1850), iv. p. 118. + +[230] Morley, Walpole, _Twelve English Statesmen_ (1896), p. 168. + +[231] _A Declaration of the Present State of Virginia_, etc. + +[232] Doyle, _The English in America, Virginia, etc._ (1882), p. 525. + +[233] See p. 46. + +[234] Lawson, p. 3. + +[235] Quoted by Thwaites, _op. cit._, p. 221. + +[236] Doyle, _Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. 289. + +[237] Meade, _Old Churches of Virginia_ (1861), i. p. 385. + +[238] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), pp. +42-43. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FRENCH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA + + +"The French empire in the New World has vanished, leaving behind it +ineffaceable monuments of the grand political conception of which it +formed part."[239] Frenchmen were amongst the earliest to be roused by +the discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, and Vasco da Gama; but it was not +until the sixth year of the sixteenth century that any real attempt at +discovery was made. In that year, 1506, Denys of Harfleur sailed across +the Atlantic, hoping to reach the East, but finding instead the great +Gulf of St Lawrence. He was not the only adventurer, for Aubert of +Dieppe followed two years later and astonished his countrymen by +bringing to France some natives of North America. Baron de Léry was the +first to see the advantages of colonisation, and long before Sir Walter +Raleigh was born the quick-witted Frenchman had planned within his +fertile brain a new France beyond the sea. He attempted to carry out his +purpose in 1518, but it was bound to fail, for the time was not yet ripe +for a French colony, since France itself was still unsettled and +imperfectly concentrated. Francis I., realising the advantages gained by +his rival Charles V. from the rich mines of Peru, employed Verrazano, a +Venetian, to "discover new lands by the ocean." He sailed in January +1524, and first reached that part of America now known as the Carolinas, +and then coasted as far north as Newfoundland. "Sayling northeast for +the space of 150 leagues," Verrazano writes, "we approached to the land +that in times past was discovered by the Britons, which is in fiftie +degrees. Having now spent all our provision and victuals, and having +discovered about 700 leagues and more of new countries, and being +furnished with water and wood, we concluded to return into France."[240] + +[Illustration: QUEBEC FROM POINT LEVY IN 1761 _From an +engraving by R. Short._] + +The year 1534 is the most memorable of all concerning those early French +voyages; it is a year of the very greatest importance in the history of +both France and North America; from this time may be dated the beginning +of New France, for now Jacques Cartier made his first voyage to the St +Lawrence. He found that the people had "great store of Mushe-milions, +Pompions, Gourds, Cucumbers, Peasen and Beanes of every colour.... There +groweth also a certaine kind of herbe, whereof in Sommer they make great +provision for all the yeere, ... and onely men use it, and first they +cause it to be dried in the sunne, then weare it about their neckes +wrapped in a little beast's skinne made like a little bagge, with a +hollow peece of stone or wood like a pipe: then when they please they +make pouder of it, and then put it in one of the ends of the said Cornet +or pipe, and laying a cole of fire upon it, at the other ende sucke so +long, that they fill their bodies full of Smoke, till that it commeth +out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the Tonnell of a +chimney.... We our selves have tryed the same smoke and having put it in +our mouthes, it seemed almost as hot as Pepper."[241] On his return to +St Malo, Cartier brought with him some Indian children as a proof of the +success of his enterprise. He was not content with this voyage, and in +the following year sailed again to this land of promise. On this +occasion he penetrated still further up the St Lawrence, bringing his +ship to anchor beneath the cliffs where now stands the city of Quebec. +"It is called," he writes, "Stadacona, ... & beyond, is as faire and +plaine as ever was seen."[242] This second voyage was marked by the +naming of his discoveries, and it is recorded that the new found lands +were by him called New France. Six years later Cartier sailed again to +the West, associated with a royal officer of the name of De Roberval. +Cartier started first and was met by his superior when returning in +disgust. De Roberval, with the title of Lord of Norumbega, proceeded as +he was bound to establish a colony, but by 1542 he proved unsuccessful +owing to the insufficiency of supplies and his own brutal despotism. +There can be little doubt that all concerned in De Roberval's venture +were deeply disappointed with its disastrous failure; its chief interest +lies in the fact that it marks the end of the prologue of this drama of +discovery, and the curtain was rung down not to rise again for half a +century. + +In the year celebrated for the Edict of Nantes, the Treaty of Vervins +and the death of Philip II., the French once again started their +attempts to colonise Canada. In that year, 1598, the Marquis de la Roche +established a small settlement of convicts on Sable Island, which lies +off the coast of Nova Scotia. The settlers, however, were incapable, +the callous nobleman sailed away to sunny France, and the unhappy +survivors were left to quarrel among themselves, till eleven only of the +original forty remained alive to be rescued after five long years of +misery and starvation. The spirit of adventure was not crushed, and in +1599 Chauvin, a sea captain, and Pontgravé, a St Malo merchant, obtained +a patent to colonise Canada, and so established a settlement at +Tadoussac. Their object was to monopolise the lucrative fur trade, +rather than to establish any permanent colony. Four years later De +Chastes, a grey-haired veteran of the civil wars, associated himself +with Pontgravé, and they were fortunate in obtaining the services of +Samuel Champlain, whose name is the greatest in the history of French +colonisation. Almost immediately the small association of Chastes was +amalgamated with another under De Monts, a Huguenot nobleman of the +King's household, and together in 1604 they entered the Bay of Fundy. In +the next year Port Royal was established in Nova Scotia on Annapolis +Basin, and the fur traders passed the winter there under the leadership +of Champlain. Supplies were brought out in 1606 by an expedition, which +was accompanied by Lescarbot the historian, but, as De Monts' patent was +cancelled in 1607, Port Royal was abandoned. + +The French colonies differed in many respects from the British, but in +one particular most essentially. The story of the British settlements +which has already been told is the story of the progress of communities; +in the case of the French colonies the history is really composed of a +long series of entrancing biographies. The record of Canada from 1608 to +1635 is in fact the biography of Samuel Champlain. His first exploit +was the erection of a _habitation_ at Quebec in 1608, his two main +objects being to support exploration and encourage missionary work. He +thus established the French nation in Canada less than twelve months +after the settlement of the British in Virginia; the two rival nations, +therefore, started their great work of colonisation at practically the +same moment. The progress and results of their settlements resembled +each other in no single item. Not content with founding Quebec, the +adventurous Frenchmen left Pontgravé to encourage commerce and pushed up +the St Lawrence. In 1609 he discovered the Lake that still bears his +name; and for the first time came into direct hostile contact with the +warriors of the Five Nations, whom he defeated at Ticonderoga. In the +same year he returned to France, but re-sailed to Canada in 1610, +leaving a few months afterwards for his native country. On landing in +France he was dismayed to find that his patron, Henry of Navarre, had +been assassinated by the fanatic Ravaillac in the streets of Paris. The +year 1611 found the intrepid voyager once again in Canada preparing the +way for a French settlement at Montreal. + +The great change in France, and indeed throughout Europe, caused by +Henry IV.'s untimely end, was felt with almost equal intensity in the +far-distant region of Canada. A new system was immediately inaugurated, +and that most unsatisfactory Regent, Marie de Medici, appointed the +Count de Soissons as supreme Governor of New France. Before the Count +could take over his unaccustomed duties, he died, and the Prince de +Condé was nominated in his place. Champlain was at once created his +deputy, with the main work of regulating the fur-trade and keeping some +semblance of order amongst the turbulent French backwoodsmen. +Champlain's objects, however, were neither commercial nor pecuniary. His +ambition soared above the merely lucrative, and he looked to the +increase of French possessions, and if possible by means of the great +waterways to the discovery of a short route to China and the East. It +was for this latter reason that he was persuaded by Nicholas Vignau, one +of his companions who had passed the previous winter among the northern +Indians, to explore toilfully the waters of the upper Ottawa in 1613; +Vignau having concocted a story about an outlet to the east, a +fabrication which, when discovered after many hardships, nearly cost him +his life. + +It is an interesting fact that behind all these adventurous expeditions +undertaken by either the English or the French, there was always +something of the missionary spirit. The first French attempt to convert +the Indians was in 1615, when the Recollet branch of the Franciscan +Order sent out a few brethren to undertake the hazardous task of +instructing the savages in the doctrines of the Christian faith. The +chief of this worthy band was Le Caron, who, taking his life in his +hands, penetrated far into the dangerous Huron country. Ten years had +still to elapse before the Jesuits embarked on a duty which, though in +many ways erroneously carried out, has rightly received the admiration +of the world. It so happened, in 1625, that the Viceroy of Canada, the +Duc de Ventadour, was closely connected with the Jesuit order; and he +celebrated the beginning of his term of office by introducing Jesuit +priests and supporting them from his private purse. The difference +between the newcomers and the Franciscans, who had already bought their +experience, was very marked. The Franciscans, although devoted +missionaries, were not bigots, and they claimed no religious monopoly; +the Jesuits, on the contrary, imported religious despotism. The coming +of the Jesuit fathers had two effects which may perhaps seem +contradictory. They stimulated in many ways the progress of Canada and +did much for her advance; but equally they retarded the true evolution +of the young nation. They were brave men who were ready to sacrifice +themselves for the cause; no body of men have ever shown to the savages +such tactfulness and diplomacy as these members of the Society of Jesus. +As map-makers and discoverers they were pre-eminent. On the other hand +they were the upholders of exclusiveness and the bitterest enemies of +freedom; they formulated a rigid system which was necessarily inimical +to the expansion of a youthful community. Above all, deeming the +Huguenots to be heretics, they excluded from Canada the very people who +might have made the French in Canada a great nation. In supporting the +Jesuits in this action the French Government did itself a double injury, +for by debarring the best artizans of France from French colonies, it +turned them in after years to the British settlements, and they thus +helped to advance those very colonies which were the inveterate foes of +their native land. + +Between the years 1620 and 1627 the government of Canada passed through +numerous hands, including those of the Duc de Montmorenci and the +already mentioned Duc de Ventadour; but had it not been for the striking +qualities of Champlain, all must have failed. These years were troubled +by continuous squabbles, and it was only Champlain's steadfastness that +saved the colony. At last in 1627 affairs began to improve. Richelieu +had now become a power in France, and for the better regulation of +Canada he formed the "Company of the One Hundred Associates." Even now +the difficulties of Champlain appeared overwhelming, not the least being +the war between England and France. Richelieu had successfully defeated +the Huguenots and their English allies, and the "weathercock fancy" of +Buckingham had been incapable of devising any further scheme for the +protection of La Rochelle. The war, however, lingered on, and although +it was extremely languid in Europe, it was waged with more smartness in +the New World. David Kirke, nominally a captain in the British service, +but really little more than a pirate, with his three sons entered the St +Lawrence in July 1628; they attacked the French trading station of +Tadoussac, and in the following year starved Champlain into surrender at +Quebec. The victory proved a barren one, for before it had actually been +accomplished, Richelieu had brought about a treaty with Charles I. at St +Germain-en-Laye, by which the newly conquered Canada was restored to the +French in 1632. + +Champlain returned to his adopted country in May 1633, and for the next +two years he controlled the affairs of the French Company until his +death on Christmas Day, 1635. New France then lost the man to whom she +owed her all, and the French nation was deprived of one who has been +fitly called "the Father of French Colonisation." From thirty-six years +of age to the time of his death, Champlain had given up the whole of +his energies to increase the power of his native country and to +encourage the welfare and prosperity of New France. He was a hardy +explorer, an excellent administrator, and one of the most trustworthy +writers of his time. His ambitions were lofty, his foresight keen and +intelligent, while the whole of his life was pure and resolute. His +biography is one of the most interesting among the many entrancing +stories of colonial founders, and his memory receives the lasting +respect and honour which his great works naturally demand, not only from +the Frenchman or French Canadian, but from posterity throughout the +civilised world. + +Champlain was succeeded by Monsieur de Montmagny, who arrived at Quebec +in 1636. Six years later the first permanent settlement was established +at Montreal, which was at first entirely of a religious character; this +was soon to be followed by another at Fort Richelieu at the point where +the Richelieu River joins the St Lawrence. These new settlements may be +taken as an indication of the progress and general advance of the French +Empire in the West. But as a matter of fact up to the year 1663 the +government of Canada was far from being satisfactory, for the "Company +of One Hundred Associates" had been continually checked by Indian wars, +and was by no means capable of creating a great nation. Colbert, the +successor of Mazarin, and chief minister of Louis XIV., realised the +incapacity of the Company, and in 1663 deprived it of all rights. It is +not surprising that the minister should take this action if a colony's +prosperity is to be judged by its population. It has already been shown +how remarkably the English settlements increased in number; but the +French colony starting at practically the same time had in 1663 a meagre +population of 2500. Father Christian le Clercq, writing at that time, +says, "The colony far from increasing began to diminish. Some returned +to France, others were taken and killed by the Indians. Many died of +misery; the clearing and cultivation of lands advanced but little, and +they were obliged to expect all from France."[243] The Jesuits were to a +certain extent to be blamed for this lack of population; they had for +some years been expending their energies upon the spiritual needs of +Canada, but what Canada wanted, as a new colony, was what the English +settlements had got, married men and women who willingly found new +homes, whose children grew up around them, and whose aims were to create +no temporary but permanent abiding-places. The Jesuits supplied rather +both by teaching and example martyrs and virgins, whose history is +filled with heroic records, but whose actual value to a new colony was +extremely slight. The mission of Le Moyne to the Iroquois in 1653 and +the establishment of those from St Sulpice under Maisonneuve at +Montreal, are both fine examples of reckless devotion and +self-sacrifice, but the outlook on life of these religious enthusiasts +was an erroneous one. + +The clear-sighted judgment and the financial genius of Colbert was +needed to remedy the mistakes in the work which had been started so +rashly by Richelieu. As Le Clercq recorded, the progress of New France +required "a more powerful arm than that of the gentlemen of the +Company."[244] Colbert, in 1663, supplied the "more powerful arm" by +making Canada a royal province, and in the following year creating the +"Company of the West." The members of the Company claimed to be the +Seigniors of New France, with the right of nominating the Council for +the government of Canada. The Crown, however, insisted on retaining the +privileges of appointing the Governor and the Intendant. As soon as +Canada became a Crown Colony with such a splendid guide as Colbert the +progress and prosperity of the settlers were assured. + +The government of Canada was purely despotic under the all-powerful +Governor, Intendant, and Supreme Council, and the settlers were never +allowed the political freedom exercised by the English colonists in New +England or the Southern States. The law was the customary law of Paris, +added to which were certain ordinances and, on occasions, royal edicts +which received the ratification of the Council. This body had both +legislative and judicial functions, and for the better maintenance of +peace and order minor law-courts were established at Quebec, Three +Rivers, and Montreal. In addition to these courts the seigniors had in +some cases the right to try crimes that were committed on their estates, +and nominally to pass the extreme penalty of death upon their vassals. +The Governor controlled the armed forces, and was in continual conflict +with the Intendant, for each was jealous of the other. The latter was +the King's steward, a civilian, and usually a member of the legal +profession; he was President of the Council, and by controlling the +sinews of war was often more powerful than the Governor. The Bishop sat +in Council with these two, and was spiritually supreme in name and fact. +The great defects of Canada's political system were over-centralisation +and lack of popular representation. The feudal system had been +transferred to Canadian territory, and by its means the seigniors +attempted to tie the peasant to the soil. The whole scheme was that of a +benevolent despot exercising power over a closely restricted people; and +yet the system itself, which was purely artificial, proved the skill of +its originators, for under it the peasants of Canada lived happy and +contented lives for almost a hundred years after they had passed under +British rule. + +This scheme of government as devised by Colbert and Louis XIV. was put +into execution by the Marquis de Tracy, who arrived at Quebec in 1665 as +Lieutenant-General of all the French forces in America. His coadjutors +were Courcelles, the Governor, and Talon, the Intendant. These men made +numerous expeditions against the Indians, and in particular against the +Iroquois; but their work was completely overshadowed by that of the next +Governor. The name of Count Frontenac has been ever dear to the French +Canadian from the moment that he came to administer New France in 1672. +He is one of those great figures in history who are perhaps particularly +human; he was not a cold image, but composed of warm flesh and blood; he +was neither a villain nor a saint. His great merits are to a certain +extent balanced by his great defects; his temper was most violent, his +manner haughty, pretentious, and arrogant. It is said with some truth +that he was not altogether clean-handed in the methods he employed in +repairing his fortunes; but grave as his faults were, they were weighed +down on the other side not so much by his kindness, his firm alliance +with those he regarded as his friends, but because his heart warmed to +the land and the people of the land to whom he had been sent as a guide +and governor. Frontenac's memory remains a happy one, because, like +Champlain, he believed in the great future of the Daughter of the Snows. +Canada was unknown to him when he was fifty years of age; when he was +appointed Governor for the second time he was twenty years older; but +this long roll of years did not prevent him from adapting himself to his +surroundings, and with such excellent effect that at the time of his +death in 1698 he left Canada on the highroad to prosperity and +greatness. In particular he must be praised for ridding Canada of +murdering savages, as a means towards which he established, in 1673, an +outpost at Fort Frontenac.[245] His return to France, however, +emboldened the Seneca Indians, the most numerous of the Five Nations, to +make frequent raids until his restoration to office in 1689. Five years +later Frontenac began his great work of suppression, which was marked by +an act of ferocious brutality in 1695, which has deeply stained the old +man's reputation. In the same year he retook Fort Frontenac, which had +been lost, and twelve months later was so successful against the +Iroquois that he not only humbled their pride but actually won their +respect. Ruthless he may have been; brutal in a time when brutality was +common; but whatever his faults, he came to Canada when Canada cried +aloud for such a man, and had the future governors been of the +character and possessed the daring spirit of Frontenac, the Great +Dominion might still have been the New France in the West. + +Meantime, brave, devoted adventurers and Jesuits had been endeavouring +to extend the French dominions west and south-west. It has already been +mentioned that Champlain, in 1613, had been tempted to make an arduous +journey to discover by means of the numerous waterways some route to +China. The Great Lakes were first explored; but it was found that none +of these vast sheets of water contained the tantalising secret that was +interesting and engaging the attention of so many European seamen. From +Lake Michigan, then called the Lake of Illinois, the discoverers moved +to the narrows of Lake Huron and onward to the Fox River, following the +course of which they came to Lake Winnebago. Moving still farther south, +they found that a narrow strip of land divided them from another +waterway, the Wisconsin, and that in turn they were destined to discover +was a tributary of the mighty Mississippi. But some adventurers were +more daring than their brethren, and instead of clinging to their canoes +and following the course of streams, boldly skirted the territory of the +dreaded Five Nations and found the "Beautiful" River, or Ohio. + +As early as 1635 Jean Nicollet had reached Lake Michigan, and so +successful was he in his explorations of the rivers and lakes that it +has been supposed that he was the original white discoverer of the +Mississippi. Plausible as this would seem, historians have conclusively +disproved his claims; and that honour must be divided between the two +famous explorers Joliet and Marquette.[246] Louis Joliet was a layman, +though connected by early training with the Jesuits; he was a Canadian +born, and had been employed by the Intendant Talon to discover copper in +the neighbourhood of Lake Superior. His companion, Jacques Marquette, +was a Jesuit in priest's orders; he was a man of pure and saintly life, +and within his delicate body there burnt a fiery spirit of endeavour to +convert, a spirit which consumed him, as it were, so that his life was +but a brief one in labouring for his faith. He landed in Canada in 1666; +two years later he was sent forward into the almost unknown wilds and +established himself on Lake Superior, teaching both the Hurons and the +Illinois. It was indeed from the latter that he first heard of the +Mississippi. Being forced by the savages to retire from this outpost, he +and his little following took refuge in 1670 at the mission station of +St Ignace, now known as Mackinaw. It was here that Marquette determined +to make an expedition for the discovery of the great river of which he +had heard. He has left an account of his journeyings written from +memory, as unfortunately he lost his papers on his return. "I embarked +with M. Joliet, who had been chosen to conduct this enterprise, on the +13th May 1673, with five other Frenchmen, in two bark canoes. We laid in +some Indian corn and smoked beef for our voyage. We first took care, +however, to draw from the Indians all the information we could +concerning the countries through which we had designed to travel, and +drew up a map, on which we marked down the rivers, nations, and points +of the compass to guide us in our journey."[247] The discoverers +followed the route laid down by others as far as Lake Winnebago, but no +white man had up to that time crossed over to the river Wisconsin. +Canoeing down that stream, hardly realising where fortune was leading +them, the plucky Jesuit and his companions were carried out on the face +of the broad waters of the Mississippi on 17th June 1673. "We met from +time to time monstrous fish, which struck so violently against our +canoes that at first we took them to be large trees, which threatened to +upset us. We saw also a hideous monster; his head was like that of a +tiger, his nose was sharp and somewhat resembled a wild cat; his beard +was long; his ears stood upright; the colour of his head was grey, and +his neck black."[248] But even this terrible apparition did not +discourage them, and they still pushed on, hoping at first that the +great river would bear them into the Gulf of California. They passed the +mouths of the Illinois, the Missouri, and the Ohio, and came to the +Arkansas; here they learnt their mistake. "We judged by the compass that +the Mississippi discharged itself into the Gulf of Mexico. It would, +however, have been more agreeable if it had discharged into the South +Sea or Gulf of California."[249] They turned back, therefore, having +found out what they wanted to know, and "we considered that the +advantage of our travels would be altogether lost to our nation if we +fell into the hands of the Spaniards, from whom we could expect no other +treatment than death or slavery."[250] Neither Marquette nor Joliet +reaped any great advantage during their lifetime for their plucky +endeavour, but they have had and will have the respect of those who +come after them. Marquette made one more voyage on the stream that was +his own. His burning zeal for the faith made him set out in the winter +of 1674-5 to carry the Christian religion to the Indians of the Illinois +River. He returned to Lake Michigan in the May of 1675, but he was a +dying man. Death came suddenly, and his companions rapidly interred him +far away from his friends; but so great was the love inspired by this +faithful priest amongst the savages that they fetched his bones and laid +them, with every sign of affection, respect, and grief, in the little +mission-chapel where he had laboured for the faith. + +Marquette was followed by a man whose name is even better known, but who +was cast in a different mould. Réné Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, +was born at Rouen and had landed in Canada in the same year as +Marquette. His object was to discover a route to the East, and the name +that he gave to his seignory, La Chine, testifies to this desire. He +began his work of discovery in 1669, and in the next two years he passed +from Lakes Ontario and Erie right through the Illinois country, finally +discovering the Ohio. In 1675 he took up his seignory on the Cataraqui +River at Fort Frontenac. He was only thirty-two years of age, but he had +already made himself famous. He was a man of strong character, and as +such had many enemies amongst his fellow French Canadians; his want of +sympathy turned men against him, and his want of tact wounded their +feelings. To the Jesuits he was most unwelcome, for they recognised in +him a rival discoverer; with the merchants and traders he was no less +unpopular, a fact which was possibly intensified by his seignory being +one of the best positions in New France for pecuniary gain. He was in +every way an austere man, solitary and self-communing; and as his mind +was filled with ambitions and even statesmanlike conceptions for New +France, it is not surprising that the trading element and even his own +followers failed to understand him. From 1675 to 1677 this man of +extraordinary energy employed himself in commerce with the Indians by +means of vessels of his own construction on Lake Ontario; but such work +was too petty for La Salle. He therefore, in 1678, obtained from Louis +XIV. permission "to labour at the discovery of the Western parts of New +France through which to all appearance a way may be found to +Mexico,"[251] in addition to which La Salle was strengthened in his +possession of Fort Frontenac and was granted the privilege of +constructing forts if necessary on his expeditions. On his enterprises +he was accompanied by Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer and ever +faithful to La Salle, and by Father Hennepin, a brave Flemish friar, +whose overwhelming vanity tempted him in later years to try to rob his +leader of the honour of first reaching the sea by the Mississippi River. + +The early efforts of La Salle were unsatisfactory. He built a fort at +Niagara and constructed a vessel called the _Griffin_, which foundered +on Lake Michigan and left him in a hostile country swarming with +savages, without supplies, and with mutinous followers. Nevertheless he +kept on and descended the Illinois River, determined to reach the Gulf +of Mexico. In 1680 his men began to desert, but Tonty and a faithful few +assisted him to construct Fort Crèvecoeur on the Illinois. Here the +discoverer left his lieutenant for a time while he returned to Canada +for supplies. The men mutinied, abandoned the fort, and followed La +Salle with the intention of murdering him. Meantime he had sent out an +expedition under Father Hennepin which had been captured by the Sioux +Indians on the Upper Mississippi in what is now Minnesota. The Flemish +friar and his followers were rescued by a Canadian backwoodsman, Du +Luth, and Hennepin returned to France to write his account of the +Mississippi. + +Father Membré has left a record of La Salle's great expedition. "M. La +Salle having arrived safely at Miamies on the 3rd of November 1681, +began with his ordinary activity and vast mind to make all preparations +for his departure.... The whole party consisted of about fifty-four +persons, including the Sieur de Tonty and the Sieur Dautray, the son of +the late Sieur Bourdon."[252] The expedition safely passed the mouths of +the Missouri and Ohio; after building a fort, the adventurers reached +the Arkansas, where they were welcomed by the Indians, who knew nothing +of white men. "The Sieur de la Salle took possession of this country +with great ceremony. He planted a cross and set up the king's arms, at +which the Indians showed a great joy.... On our return from the sea we +found that they had surrounded the cross with a palisade."[253] Passing +still farther south, "we arrived on the 6th of April at a point where +the river divides into three channels. The Sieur de la Salle divided his +party the next day into three bands, to go and explore them. He took the +western, the Sieur Dautray the southern, the Sieur Tonty ... the middle +one."[254] On the 9th of April the three parties met on the shores of +the Gulf of Mexico. This success was marked by the ceremony of planting +the cross and raising the arms of France. La Salle took possession of +the river and all the country round in the name of the king, and amidst +a volley of muskets a leaden plate inscribed with the action and the +names of the discoverers was deposited in the ground. Such was the +foundation of the French in Louisiana. La Salle and his party returned +to the North, but he was not the man to rest upon his laurels, for in +the autumn of 1682 and the spring of 1683 he is to be found busily +establishing a French colony on the Illinois. Fort Louis was built on a +rocky summit and promised to be a most important station in the future, +always on the one condition that the connection with Canada was in no +way broken, or even threatened. + +Perpetual envy and jealousy tended to keep Canada weak and the French in +the West powerless. When La Salle returned he found himself surrounded +by enemies, and without his friend and supporter, Count Frontenac, who +had retired to France. Seeing no chance of accomplishing anything in +Canada, La Salle sailed to Europe to put his version of the story before +King Louis. He reached Versailles at exactly the right moment for his +fortunes. France and Spain in 1683 were again on the verge of war; and +even before La Salle's arrival, Seignelay, the son of the late grim +Colbert, had proposed to Louis a scheme for the seizure of some port on +the Gulf of Mexico so as to discomfit Spain. La Salle was heard with +respect and attention, and was, in fact, welcomed as the very man +required to carry out the prearranged plans of the king and his +minister. All La Salle's possessions in Canada were restored, and he was +commissioned to conduct a party for the purpose of colonising some strip +of territory upon the Mexican Gulf. The scheme was from the outset +hopeless. La Salle may have seen that it was the last toss of the dice, +fortune or ruin. He may have been blinded by his successful discovery; +but it is impossible to imagine that a man who had always kept his ends +clearly in view, and who had accurately measured the means to attain +them, should now have embarked blindly upon so hazardous a task. +Whatever his private opinions were, he readily undertook the leadership +in conjunction with Admiral Beaujeu. The party embarked in four vessels, +and sailed from La Rochelle on July 24, 1684. At the very outset their +troubles began. One of the most important of the vessels carrying their +supplies was captured by a Spanish buccaneer. The other three ships +managed to reach San Domingo, where the little band of soldiers, +artizans, and women were kept in idleness for two months owing to their +leaders being stricken with fever. At last on January 1, 1685, La Salle +brought the expedition to the shores of Texas, where the colony was +settled within a palisade at a point called Fort St Louis. The distress +of the settlement was terrible, and still further intensified by the +realisation of their distance from Canada. In October, La Salle, driven +to despair, set out to discover a way to the outposts of the northern +colony. In March 1686 he was back again, but unsuccessful. Having rested +for a month, he once more started for Canada, but after wandering until +October he returned to the settlement utterly baffled. What was worse +still was that he found a heavy mortality amongst the colonists; out of +one hundred and eighty who had originally started he now had but +forty-five followers, and very few of these he could really trust. All +his ships were lost, escape to France was impossible, starvation stared +them in the face. The only thing to do was to try to cut a way through +to Canada. On January 7, 1687, La Salle, his brother, two of his +nephews, and half his party set out; mutiny was evident from the +beginning, and on March 19th, ambushed by his own men, the daring +explorer was murdered. His brother, one of his nephews, and Jontel, who +told the tale, escaped, and succeeded after terrible suffering in +reaching Canada. + +Louis XIV. and his ministers were far too busy at home to care about the +death of one who had dared so much for France. The insane idea of Louis' +European policy blinded him to the prospects of an empire in the West, +which La Salle might, had he been properly supported, have made so +great. The people in authority in Canada were equally oblivious to the +loss of one of Canada's greatest sons. They were too envious of this +remarkable man who had done so much. One man, however, remembered his +old master. Henri de Tonty, the faithful friend, had set out in 1686 to +find this man whom he regarded with such affection. When he discovered +that La Salle had been murdered, he did what he knew his great leader +would have done and turned his attention to the rescue of the remnant at +Fort St Louis. His efforts were unavailing, for the Spaniards had +learnt, and from them Tonty heard, that the few who had remained on the +shores of Texas had been annihilated by the Indians. Thus the grandiose +schemes of La Salle appeared to end in failure, mystery, and death; but +like his forerunner Marquette, his name still lives in Canada, where the +names of his detractors have long since been forgotten. La Salle will be +remembered as one of the boldest explorers, as a man who, even above any +Englishman of his day, really grasped the imperial idea of a New France +beyond the sea. He was the first to realise the great conception of +uniting the French settlement from the snow-clad plains of Canada to the +sunny shores of Mexico; and he it was who saw that should this dream be +turned to reality, the Anglo-Saxon people would be confined to the +narrow strip along the coast, and the illimitable expanses of the North +American continent, with the enormous wealth of the West, would be the +inheritance of the Gallic race. + +There were, however, a few Frenchmen who had glimmerings of the dream of +La Salle. As early as 1686 a party under Du Luth established a French +outpost between Lakes Huron and Erie. Eight years later La Mothe +Cadillac urged upon the French government the importance of holding this +post, which in fact controlled the outlet of the two lakes. The consent +of those in authority having been obtained, the French began in 1701 the +erection of the city of Detroit. The Iroquois at last realised what was +happening; they saw that, just as Fort Frontenac some years before had +very seriously curtailed their rights of hunting and had indeed +endangered their power, so now that they might again be trapped. To +prevent this, on July 19, 1701, they ceded their hunting grounds to the +King of England, retaining the right of free hunting. They were not +versed in European politics; nor did they know that the magnificent +Louis was gradually being ruined by William III. and Marlborough. The +war of the Spanish Succession, fought for the most part in the +Netherlands and Spain, had a vital effect upon those Iroquois nations of +the Western prairies. The victories of Marlborough brought to England +many possessions, and amongst them those lands which had been so +trustingly conceded in 1701. + +The Treaty of Utrecht, although it brought peace after a long and +expensive war, may be said to mark a new epoch in the stories of both +British and French colonial expansion. This epoch is not one of peace in +the true sense; the actual fighting, when it occurred, was not always +sanctioned by the home government; but the period was one of aggression +on the part of the French in Canada and resistance on the part of the +British colonists along the Eastern seaboard. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[239] Bateson, _Cambridge Modern History_ (1905), vol. vii. p. 70. + +[240] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (1904), viii. 438. + +[241] _Hakluyt's Voyages_ (1904), viii. p. 242. + +[242] _Ibid._, p. 244. + +[243] Le Clercq, _First Establishment of the Faith in New France_ +(1881), p. 52. + +[244] Le Clercq, _First Establishment of the Faith in New France_ +(1881), p. 52. + +[245] The modern Kingston. + +[246] These men were the first to explore the river, but it was +undoubtedly reached in 1659 by two fur traders, Radisson and Des +Grosseilliers. + +[247] _French, Historical Collections of Louisiana_ (1850), Part II. + +[248] _Ibid._ + +[249] _Ibid._ + +[250] _Ibid._ + +[251] Parkman, _La Salle_ (edition eleven), p. 112. + +[252] French, _Historical Collections of Louisiana_ (1850), Part IV. + +[253] _Ibid._ + +[254] French, _Historical Collections of Louisiana_ (1850), Part IV. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +FRENCH AGGRESSION + + +In a previous chapter reference has already been made to the fatality of +having no form of union among the Thirteen Colonies. Every chance of +concentration existed towards the end of the seventeenth century, for +the colonies were contiguous, they lay in compact and continuous +territory along the eastern seaboard, backed by the boundary of the +Alleghanies. They were too, for the most part, inhabited by Englishmen, +who may originally have been driven to emigrate for very different +reasons, but who were in reality of the same stock and blood. But though +everything pointed to union, the necessary concomitants were comparative +only, and union was impossible. The colonies were squabbling, jarring +communities, without any constitutional links; they were surrounded and +separated by vast tracts of impenetrable forest; their traditions, +religions, and beliefs were entirely opposed; and each colony was as +much divided in thought and feeling from its neighbours as from the home +country. This lack of concentration was one of the main differences +between the English on the American coast and the French in Canada. This +want of union was unknown in New France, where centralisation, perhaps +over-centralisation, was the predominating feature. One governor at the +head of all, a semi-feudal system, and an absolute reliance upon each +other and upon support from home made the numerically inferior Canada in +some respects superior to the Thirteen Colonies. At the end of the +seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, therefore, +the French possessed great advantages over their southern rivals; and +the English, disunited and internally jealous, were likely to prove +impotent against the Government of Quebec. + +From the very first the relations between the colonies and Canada had +been unfriendly, but the feelings of antagonism increased as the +seventeenth century grew in years; and by the time that Frontenac ruled +Canada and Thomas Dongan was English Governor at New York, this feeling +had reached a climax. So pressing had the question become that the +colonies, in 1684, held a general conference at Albany, the outcome of +which, to the alarm of the French, was a firm alliance with the Five +Nations or Iroquois. No greater struggle, however, resulted than an +acrimonious literary warfare between the energetic Dongan and the +capable Denonville concerning numerous attacks upon English and Dutch +traders. + +The English Revolution, the recall of Dongan, and the reappointment of +Count Frontenac as governor of Canada were contemporaneous and were +sufficient reasons for more trouble. The acceptance of William and Mary +in England meant war in Europe; and Frontenac, seeing his opportunity, +began what was called by the English settlers King William's war. The +French governor made elaborate plans to attack New York, but having +failed, found on his return that the Iroquois had disastrously raided +Canada and massacred the people of Lachine. A fresh expedition was +planned at a most unfortunate moment for the English colonists, who were +suffering from the effects of the Revolution; and New York, in +particular, was in the throes of the already mentioned Leisler rising. +For Frontenac it was the ideal chance; now if ever he felt that he was +bound to succeed against the English. His plans were well laid: his +force was divided into three parties, which were to strike their blows +at the same time and paralyse the settlers with terror. The first party +with a band of Indians, under the famous rangers the brothers +D'Iberville, started along the familiar waterway of the Richelieu River, +Lake Champlain, and the Hudson, to attack Albany. By mischance they +turned to the west and fell upon the little Dutch settlement of +Schenectady, which was unguarded except for a few militiamen from +Connecticut. The scene can only be described as one of helpless and +hideous massacre; all who resisted were butchered and the place was +deliberately and ruthlessly burnt. The second expedition was no less +successful in carrying out their horrible task. It was mere murder. For +three months they worked their way down to the settlement of Salmon +Falls on the borders of New Hampshire and Maine. Here the settlers, +little expecting such a terrible visit, were murdered while sleeping. +Elated with these horrors, the French and Indians moved on to join their +other comrades, and together, between four and five hundred strong, +attacked Fort Loyal in the settlement of Falmouth, where now stands the +town of Portland. Sylvanus Davies, the commander of the fort, +surrendered on the promise of quarter and freedom; the promise was so +much waste paper, and some of the English suffered the fate of the +inhabitants of Schenectady, while others were led captive to Quebec. + +The lesson learnt by the English colonists was a salutary one, and the +immediate result of Frontenac's three successes was a tendency on the +part of the settlers to unite. At a solemn conference held in 1690 at +Albany, the colonies came to the conclusion that a combined naval and +military force must attack the French at once. The authorities in +Massachusetts took the lead; the "Bostonnais," as the French called +them, were seamen to the backbone. They had come, as has been shown, of +a sturdy Puritan stock, and as dwellers by the sea and traders on its +waters, they possessed those very characteristics which the Canadians so +sadly lacked. It was therefore the people of Boston who did all they +could to further the attack by sea, by which the main effort was to be +made; the land forces were not supported with the same enthusiasm and +were thereby insufficient for the work in hand, as events afterwards +proved, and instead of a magnificent military exhibition against Canada, +the soldiers did little more than raid a French settlement at La +Prairie. + +The memory of David Kirke's attack upon Quebec was still green, although +sixty years had passed since that event. The aforetime ship's carpenter +and sea-rover, Sir William Phipps, governor of Massachusetts, was now +burning to renew the old glories of the colonial navy at the expense of +France. He had already, at the time of the French attack upon Falmouth, +taken possession of their one stronghold in Acadia, Port Royal, and +returned with much booty, some prisoners, and an increased reputation as +a brave, patriotic man. In August 1690, with 34 ships and 2200 men, +Phipps sailed from Nantucket to attack Quebec, the headquarters of the +French Government. The inhabitants had been lulled by continuous peace +into a sense of security, which was neither justified by past experience +not by daily occurring events. The expedition, however, landed too late +in the year. What happened to it was what Wolfe dreaded nearly seventy +years later. It was late in October before the men had disembarked and +the wet and cold season had already set in. The food supplies ran short; +sickness broke out and the little party was easily outnumbered. Phipps +bombarded the lower town to his heart's content, but he made the fatal +mistake of trying to attack from Beauport, instead of by means of the +path, which was afterwards discovered by Wolfe, and which had already +been shown to the "Bostonnais" general. The failure of the gallant band +from Massachusetts was complete; but there was something truly +magnificent about the whole affair. The man who had once tended sheep, +who had been a common seaman, and worked his way up the rungs of the +ladder of fame and prosperity, now pitted himself against the Count de +Frontenac, noble of France; the humble citizens of Boston, who, up to +that moment, had shown more interest in religious intolerance and the +rejection of any unnecessary pressure from England, had dared to attack +the ancient fortress of New France, garrisoned by trained forces and +skilled backwoodsmen warriors; practically one humble Puritanic colony +strove against the pomp and might of his Catholic Majesty, Louis +Quatorze. + +The New England colonies, headed by Massachusetts, were bound to +struggle against the French with more determination than any of their +colonial brethren. New York did occasionally suffer severe attacks such +as that which had been intended for Albany; but the French realised very +clearly that their raids in this direction were always liable to be +repulsed, not by the settlers themselves, but by the warlike Iroquois, +who were in every way bound to the English and antagonistic to France. +The Puritan colonies, on the other hand, were threatened by Indian foes +just as friendly to the Canadians as the Iroquois were towards the New +Yorkers. The Abenaki Indians were an ever constant danger along the New +England borders, and their hostile attitude was intensified by the +Jesuits, who had acquired over them an influence even greater than that +which they had gained over other tribes. It was, in fact, the priests' +main task, particularly during the latter years of the seventeenth +century, to incite the Indians in their attacks upon the English. Wild, +looting, scalping, murdering bands poured in upon the unhappy settlers +who dwelt along the borders of New Hampshire and Maine. The French +feared, and with reason, that unless they kept this blood-lust at fever +heat, the Abenaki like the Iroquois would be won over by the English +owing to the fascination of a lucrative commerce. + +The onslaughts that had to be resisted were not only from the Indians. +The success of Phipps at Port Royal, and his daring attack upon Quebec, +forced the Canadians to cry aloud for some form of retaliation, which +swiftly came. No sooner had Villebon recaptured Port Royal in Acadia, +than, in 1692, a definite series of massacres were organised along the +colonial sea-coast, and for years the English frontiers were swept with +desolating raids. York in Maine was the first to suffer the horrors of +this combined Indian and French warfare. Wells, further north, was more +successful in its resistance; for here Convers and thirty militiamen +drove back a party of Indians and French who had hoped to perpetrate the +usual butchery. The terror began again in 1694, and the settlers at +Oyster River were either immediately killed or carried into captivity. +That such things were tolerated by the New Englanders, and especially by +the people of Massachusetts, who had been so energetic in their naval +expeditions, is extremely surprising; there can be little doubt that the +settlers in the larger towns exhibited extraordinary indifference to +these raids upon their more isolated brethren. Massachusetts, with a +population of 50,000, was quite capable of building a strong line of +forts and organising a well-equipped border police. A few forts they +certainly had, but these were ill-protected and worse cared for. The +only one of any importance was that of Pemaquid, which lay as a rampart +in the path of any Abenaki attack on New England; but so dilatory was +the conduct of the settlers that, at the very moment when they might +have expected serious trouble with the French, they withdrew most of +their troops and in 1689 allowed the fort to be taken by the Indians. +The energetic Phipps had done his best, and in 1692 Pemaquid was rebuilt +and regarrisoned. The later story of this fort is one that causes +Englishmen to blush for the scandalous and dastardly action of one of +their countrymen. In 1696, acting under the orders of Stoughton, +lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, Chubb tempted a party of Abenaki +to come to the fort, and there killed some and kidnapped others. The +French immediately seized the opportunity to revenge this cowardly +treatment of the savages, and on August 14, Iberville, after making a +triumphal progress from Quebec, capturing English vessels as he sailed +along the coast, appeared before Fort Pemaquid. Chubb scornfully refused +to surrender, and supported his vainglorious words by capitulating the +very next day. + +So delighted were the French by their success that in the following year +they determined to capture Boston. The Marquis de Nesmond was to command +the fleet, while Frontenac was to lead the land forces. Delay for one +reason or another, contrary winds and stormy weather, kept the +expedition back until the summer was passed, when it was found to be too +late in the season to proceed. By the time that any fresh expedition +could be undertaken King William's War was over, and the Treaty of +Ryswick had been signed and was proclaimed in America in 1698. The +importance of the treaty with regard to the American colonies is to be +found only in the fact that it gave breathing-space to the combatants. +Both parties regarded it as a truce more than a treaty, and both looked +forward to a not far distant date when their differences might once +again be decided by the arbitrament of war. + +The long-looked-for day came in 1701 when James II. died, and Louis +XIV., with that spirit, half-bravado half-chivalrous, declared the Old +Pretender James III. of England. The real fighting that now ensued took +place not in the forests of North America but in the lowlands of Europe. +The Netherlands, the cockpit of Europe, were once again to be drenched +with blood. The battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and +Malplaquet played an important part in the history of North American +colonies. Fighting, however, was not unknown in the West, and on May 4, +1702, war was openly declared. The old raiding expeditions began again, +and the French led the way by an attack on Wells, situated on Casco Bay. +The little town was terribly beset by the marauding Abenaki Indians, and +was almost at its last gasp when succoured by an armed force by sea from +Massachusetts. Then followed the historic attack upon Deerfield in 1704. +It was a small town of 300 inhabitants on the north-west border of +Massachusetts. The French and their Indian allies burst upon it in +February. Fifty of the people were butchered and one hundred were +carried into a captivity made famous by John Williams, one of the +prisoners, in _The Redeemed Captive returning to Sion_. "The direct and +simple narrative of Williams is plainly the work of an honest and +courageous man."[255] He tells of his own and his fellow-captives' +sufferings; and, in particular, of how the Jesuits promised him untold +wealth if he would be converted, to which he replied, "the offer of the +whole world would tempt him no more than a blackberry."[256] As years +went by the captives were either exchanged or, having been converted, +married Canadians and settled at Quebec or Montreal. + +The disgrace of these murdering expeditions falls upon the French +Government, for they were planned by French officials and were carried +out for the most part by savage Indians. It must be allowed, however, +that the havoc on the border settlements of Canada had been caused by +the Five Nations, the friends of the English. Thus retaliation was the +feeling that grew up on both sides. The Canadians cared nothing for the +horrors that they perpetrated in the New England colonies; while the +English settlers naturally vented their wrath upon the nearest object of +attack, Acadia, for their indignation had been fanned to white heat by +the unspeakable horrors of Indian war. In revenge for the massacre at +Deerfield, Major Benjamin Church with a force from New England appeared +before Port Royal in 1704, and burnt the French settlement at Grand Pré. +Three years later Colonel John March, supported by a company of +volunteers from Massachusetts, made an attack upon Acadia, which proved +abortive. This expedition, together with a French raid upon Haverfield +on the Merrimac, had the effect of stirring Massachusetts to more +grandiose schemes, and in 1708 Samuel Vetch was sent to England to ask +for the assistance of regular troops. + +The emissary selected by the "Bostonnais" had been well-chosen, for in +the colonies he was one of the most notable men of his day. He had lived +in the tropical heats of Darien; he had sojourned amongst the French +Canadians; and he had mixed with the cosmopolitan population of New +York. His adventurous life had given him an intimate knowledge of the +affairs and methods of the English and French colonial systems. He was a +shrewd, self-made man; very impetuous and sanguine, but at the same time +astute and wary. Above all he was filled with determination and +ambition, and if he had his own advance at heart, it was only in +conjunction with the true welfare of his country and her colonies. His +great ambition was, that "Her Majesty shall be sole empress of the vast +North American Continent." Vetch had the common sense to see that this +glorious object could only be accomplished by a united and aggressive +action against France. The first-hand knowledge that Vetch possessed +seems to have had considerable influence at the English Court; and as +Marlborough's victories had been so decisive in Europe, it was thought +that something might be done in America. In fact, the agent was granted +all that he had asked, and he returned to Massachusetts with a promise +of a fleet and five regiments, amounting in all to about 3000 men. + +The prospect of conquering Canada now appeared less visionary than ever +before; the settlers ought to have felt that they were entering on the +last great struggle, had it not been for the fact that, as always, +colony was divided against colony. Pennsylvania, the home of the Quaker, +disapproved of war on principle; it was a safe theory for the +Pennsylvanians, for they were out of reach of French attack, and they +knew that they were well protected by those colonies which lay in the +zone of danger. Then, too, instead of acting like true men, the people +of New Jersey refused any actual help in the way of a force, though they +were not so mean as the Pennsylvanians, for they did send a contribution +of money. The New Yorkers exhibited a more magnanimous spirit; they +threw in their lot with the people of New England and roused the Five +Nations against the French. The chief expedition by land was under the +command of Colonel Francis Nicholson, who wrote to Lord Sunderland in +July, and said that if "I had not accepted the command, there would have +been insuperable difficulties."[257] This sentence tells its own story, +for the writer knew that any other commander would have been without +support owing to the shameful provincial jealousies which were the +everlasting reproach and curse of the American states. Nicholson was a +man of robust strength, a clear, practical brain, though ambitious, +vehement, and bold. He had already proved himself a fairly capable +colonial governor in Virginia, New York, Maryland, and Carolina, where, +though his private life may not have been a pattern of strict morality, +his conduct in official affairs was unimpeachable. With 1500 men he +entrenched himself at Wood Creek, near Lake Champlain, where he was +besieged by Ramesay, governor of Montreal. The settlers were able to +drive back the French, but were forced to wait anxiously for news of the +grand naval expedition that was to do so much; they waited in vain, day +by day being struck down by disease and pestilence; and Nicholson was +finally compelled to retreat, leaving behind him innumerable graves as +proofs of the patience and courage of his little force. + +The British squadron with the promised regiments was long overdue. The +forces of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were encamped +at Boston ready, on the appearance of the fleet, to sail to Quebec. From +May to July they were diligently drilled, and Vetch wrote in August, +"The bodies of men are in general better than in Europe and I hope their +courage will prove so too; so that nothing in human probability can +prevent the success of this glorious enterprise but the too late arrival +of the fleet."[258] If it should not come, "it would be the last +disappointment to her Majesty's colonies, who have so heartily complied +with her royal order, and would render them much more miserable than if +such a thing had never been undertaken."[259] The fleet never came! To +the grief and despair of the colonies, it had been sent to Portugal to +meet the exigencies of the European war. Although the hearts of the +English settlers had been made sick by hope deferred, yet a tenacious +energy had always been one of their strongest characteristics; and the +representatives of Massachusetts still urged the home Government to make +a supreme effort against New France. They asked Nicholson, who sailed +for Europe, to point out how much assistance was needed, how +advantageous the undertaking would be to the Crown, and how impoverished +and enfeebled the colony was by the long and expensive war. The last +plea was true enough, for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island +had spent on the disastrous military schemes of 1709 no less than +£46,000. Like Massachusetts, the colony of New York was equally anxious +to impress the English Crown with the importance of the question at +stake, and in 1710 sent five Mohawk chiefs under the guidance of Peter +Schuyler to interest the English in colonial affairs, and at the same +time to so impress the chiefs with England's power as to dispose them to +hold fast to their alliance. + +The resolution and tenacity shown by the colonies had some effect in the +home country. An English force of over three thousand men was at last +dispatched to Boston; and though timed to arrive in March, it did not +reach that port until July. Meantime the people of Massachusetts had +once again stirred themselves; raised their own militia; tempted the +soldiers of 1709 to rejoin by a promise of the Queen's musket; and +actually quartered troops on private houses, "any law or usage to the +contrary notwithstanding."[260] This fresh outburst of energy culminated +in Nicholson again taking command and sailing for Port Royal. On +September 24, 1710, he reached his object of attack; and on October 1 +the French, finding themselves outnumbered, readily surrendered; the +town became Annapolis, and Acadia or Nova Scotia passed permanently into +the possession of Great Britain, owing to the bravery of her American +colonists. + +The capture of Acadia was to Nicholson merely a stepping-stone towards +the greater defeat of the French and the final subjugation of New +France. He returned to England to further his schemes and was there ably +supported by Jeremiah Dummer, who was at that time in the service of +Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke. The Sacheverell trial of 1710 had, +amongst other things, caused the fall of the Whigs and concluded +Marlborough's warlike schemes. The Tories, champions of peace, were left +in power with St John and Harley as their leaders; but so ably did the +two colonials plead the cause of their brethren, that in April 1711 +fifteen men-of-war and forty-six transports, containing five thousand +regular troops, sailed for America. To their intense surprise the +officers of this great armament found on their arrival that they were +regarded by the colonists with the strongest suspicion. The ships had +only been provisioned to reach America; definite orders as to their +further destination had not been issued; and the French had attempted to +poison the minds of the Bostonians by the idea that the British forces +were to subvert colonial liberties and reduce Massachusetts, Rhode +Island, and New Hampshire to the position of Crown colonies. One +Frenchman wrote, "There is an antipathy between the English of Europe +and those of America, who will not endure troops from England even to +guard their forts."[261] Another, Costobelle, had said as early as +December 1709, "I do not think that they are so blind as not to see that +they will insensibly be brought under the yoke of the Parliament of Old +England; but by the cruelties that the Canadians and Indians exercise in +continual incursions upon their lands, I judge that they would rather be +delivered from the inhumanity of such neighbours than preserve all the +former powers of their little republic."[262] For the reasons stated in +this report the New England colonists were on the horns of a dilemma; +they feared the British troops, but they were equally afraid of their +French neighbours. + +There were, however, other difficulties. The presence of the British +regulars acted as an incentive to ill-feeling, which showed itself in +the deliberate lack of provisions and pilots, and in the willing shelter +offered to deserters from the army. The English officers, too, failed +entirely to understand now, as again in later years, the character of +the colonists; they were often arrogant or at least patronising; and to +the republican New Englander they appeared bumptious aristocrats. The +colonist was a brave and experienced man, and it was irksome to him to +find himself in an inferior position to men who really knew less than he +did about Indian warfare and forest fighting. On the other hand, the +English troops felt quite as bitterly as the colonists, and Colonel King +wrote to St John in July 1711, "You'll find in my Journal what +Difficultyes we mett with through the Misfortune that the Coloneys were +not inform'd of our Coming two Months sooner, and through the +Interestedness, ill Nature, and Sowerness of these People, whose +Government, Doctrine and Manners, whose Hypocracy and canting, are +insupportable; and no man living but one of Gen'l Hill's good sense and +good nature could have managed them. But if such a Man mett with nothing +he could depend on, altho' vested with the Queen's Royal Power and +Authority, and Supported by a Number of Troops sufficient to reduce by +force all the Coloneys, 'tis easy to determine the Respect and Obedience +Her Majesty may reasonably expect from them ... they will grow more +stiff and disobedient every day unless they are brought under our +government and deprived of their charters."[263] + +The inhabitants of Boston may have shown many signs of coolness, but the +authorities of Massachusetts loyally supported the expedition which was +supposed to be about to accomplish so much. On the 30th July the fleet +sailed from Boston to the St Lawrence under the command of Sir Hovenden +Walker, of whom little is known, and who in no way added lustre to his +name. The colonial contingent that went by sea consisted of about +fifteen hundred men, led by the experienced and buoyant Samuel Vetch. +Another colonial force was commanded by Francis Nicholson, whose object +was to move north by way of Lake Champlain and attack the Canadian +strongholds. At the head of all was General Hill, or Jack Hill, the man +about town, who was no soldier, and owed his position to his sister +Abigail Hill, the famous supplanter of the Duchess of Marlborough. +General Hill made no attempt to gain laurels for himself or his country, +and his troops struggled back to Boston disgraced, not by their own +actions, but by the want of action on the part of their leader. + +Walker's fleet entered the St Lawrence on the 22nd of August. The +Admiral, totally ignorant of the navigation of the gulf, steered his +vessels in misty weather straight for the northern shore. His own ship +was saved just in time, but not so those which followed, and eight of +the transports were dashed to pieces on the rocks, with a loss of almost +a thousand lives. Walker, as proved by his own writings, never possessed +any true ability; and he was only too ready, like Jack Hill, to look for +some pretext for retreat. This horrible disaster was sufficient for the +Admiral's purpose, and three days later the mighty armament turned away +from Quebec, and New France was for the time saved. Walker looked upon +the wreck as providential, and that the army had been saved from worse +disasters. It was indeed a strange action for a British sailor to pen +words of sincere gratitude for the loss of half his fleet. "Had we +arrived safe at Quebec," he writes, "our provisions would have been +reduced to a very small proportion, not exceeding eight or nine weeks at +short allowance, so that between ten and twelve thousand men must have +been left to perish with the extremity of cold and hunger. I must +confess the melancholy contemplation of this (had it happened) strikes +me with horror; for how dismal must it have been to have beheld the seas +and earth locked up by adamantine frosts, and swoln with high mountains +of snow in a barren and uncultivated region."[264] Walker sailed back to +Boston and then with his fleet returned to England, where as a final +completion to the horrible fiasco, the Admiral's ship was blown up. +Swift records this event as taking place in the Thames, but it more +probably occurred at Spithead, owing "to an accident and carelessness of +some rogue, who was going as they think to steal some gunpowder: five +hundred men are lost."[265] + +Every disgraceful plot deserved to come to a bad end. The ignominious +conclusion of the Walker and Hill expedition was only to be expected, +since its true object had been to eclipse the victories of Marlborough +and bring about his entire downfall. St John and Harley had not been +animated by patriotic or imperial sentiments when Mrs Masham had agreed +to assist them in the backstairs attack upon the Churchill family. The +price of her assistance was a high military command for her incapable +brother Jack Hill. The two Tory ministers cared nothing for the success +or failure of the colonies; all they required at the time was the fall +of the Whigs with Marlborough at their head. The blame therefore must to +a certain extent rest upon the English Crown ministers; but the +incompetence of the two commanders, though not unparalleled in English +history, was worse than most instances, because it bordered very closely +upon cowardice. Muddle-headed as some British generals have proved +themselves, it is almost impossible to find another case where the more +serious charge can be brought or sustained. Marlborough had certainly +fallen; but his unpatriotic enemies had not succeeded in effacing the +glories of the four battles which still stand out as the chief features +of the War of the Spanish Succession. Although St John's plot was +disgraceful and deserved the failure that it earned, yet the disaster +fell very hardly upon New England. It has been hinted that the colonials +were themselves to blame, and that they were so afraid of the presence +of an English force that they preferred failure to success. They feared, +according to Colonel King's _Journal_, that "the conquest of Canada will +naturally lead the Queen into changing their present disorderly +government."[266] The New Englanders could not, however, be so +indifferent as is supposed, for the people of Massachusetts at any rate +did their utmost to make the attack a success; and it was afterwards +found that one in five of her male population was on active service in +1711; while many years had to elapse before the colony recovered from +the effects of her financial exhaustion.[267] + +The War of the Spanish Succession in Europe had for all practical +purposes ceased, and the echo of it in America was dying away. The +belligerents were weary; the English began to feel the burden of their +National Debt; while the French were utterly exhausted, for in 1709 even +nature had turned against the omnipotent Louis, and the country was +impoverished by a winter which killed the fruits and vines. In 1713 +terms were at last agreed to; and the Treaty of Utrecht, the first +really great colonial treaty, was the result. It is idle to speculate on +what enormous gains might have fallen to the English if party spirit and +spite had not cut short the remarkable career of England's great +captain. Had Marlborough been allowed to continue his unbroken series of +triumphant victories, and had he been permitted to select a +commander-in-chief in the West, it is most probable that the Treaty of +Utrecht would have contained those clauses which made the Treaty of +Paris so famous half a century later. As it was, the gains to England in +the colonial world were not to be despised. Acadia was surrendered to +Great Britain, with Hudson Bay and Newfoundland; on the other hand, Cape +Breton Island was restored to France. The great faults of the treaty, as +far as it concerned the Western Hemisphere, lay first in allowing the +French certain fishing rights off the shores of Newfoundland, which +remained until recently "a dangerous cause of quarrel between two great +nations, a perpetual irritating sore, a bar to the progress and +prosperity of the Colony;"[268] and, secondly, it was unwise to restore +Cape Breton to the French, as it was the key to the St Lawrence. A +Frenchman pointed this out in 1745, when he said that "it was necessary +that we should retain a position that would make us at all times masters +of the entrance to the river which leads to New France";[269] and even +in 1713 the French Government realised something of the island's +importance, and reared upon its desolate, fog-bound shore the mighty +fortress of Louisburg, a stronghold that came to be regarded as +impregnable, and second only in importance to that of Quebec. + +"An avalanche of defeat and disaster had fallen upon the old age of +Louis XIV.,"[270] and he was forced into a treaty which contained many +humiliations. He must, however, have realised that England had once more +lost her opportunity, and that it was still possible for France to +assert her supremacy in the West. Canada, the goal of the New Englander, +was still New France, and for the next thirty years chronic warfare, +sometimes only flickering, but never extinct, smouldered along the +frontier line of the English and French settlers. The Canadians had the +distinct advantage of knowing what their great object was. It was far +more magnificent than that which filled the minds of the English; it was +perhaps too widely extended, but it was undoubtedly grand--North America +for the Gaul. To the governors of Massachusetts and New York the dream +of the total defeat of the French and their banishment from Canada may +have occasionally appeared; but their general outlook upon the question +was as circumscribed as that of the French was diffuse; and to them the +safety of their colonies, the friendship of the Five Nations, and sound, +steady trade were sufficiently difficult problems for solution. + +From the moment of the Treaty of Utrecht Acadia was the source of +quarrels and intrigues which were entirely due to the interference of +French Canadian priests. With these difficulties, however, the Thirteen +Colonies had little or nothing to do, but found ample scope for their +energies in resisting priestly plots elsewhere. The Canadian Government, +owing to the preaching of the Jesuit priest Sebastian Rasle, succeeded +in renewing their alliance with the Abenaki Indians on the New England +frontier, although the chiefs of that tribe had made terms with the +people of Massachusetts in 1717. Rasle was a man of zeal, of sturdy +independent spirit, and fired with intense hatred of the English. The +Massachusetts Government realised the danger of allowing this man, from +his mission-station on the Kennebec River, to urge the Indians to acts +of violence and cruelty. Letters are still preserved which prove that he +was the agent of the Canadian Government, and exciting the Indians for +French purposes. It seems a somewhat cowardly action, but it is evident +that New France, concealing itself beneath the banner of ostensible +peace, was fighting the New Englanders by means of savage allies. To +crush this underhand scheme, in August 1724 a body of men under Captains +Harmon, Moulton, and Brown, rowed up the Kennebec, took the Indian +village, killed the Jesuit Rasle, and burnt the Indian wigwams. This +blow, which was both daring and statesmanlike, had an excellent effect, +and was hailed with joy by the border settlers, who saw in it the end of +their troubles; and after a similar raid by Captain Heath on the tribes +of the Penobscot in 1726, the Indians readily made terms of peace which +lasted for many years. + +[Illustration: THE MARQUIS DE MONTCALM. _From a painting by J. B. +Massé._] + +The main object of the French in the West, during the first half of the +eighteenth century, was to shut the English settlers in behind the +Alleghanies by means of a series of forts. In spite of the strong +opposition of the Five Nations,[271] the French erected one of the +earliest of these permanent blockhouses at the mouth of the Niagara +River in 1720. The English Colonists saw the danger, but the Legislature +of New York was so mean in matters of finance that it refused any +pecuniary assistance in creating a similar erection at Oswego in 1727. +Governor William Burnet had therefore to find the requisite funds out of +his own pocket; and although the fort proved of vital importance to New +York, he was never fully repaid. In May 1727, Burnet wrote to the Board +of Trade and Plantations, "I have this spring sent up workmen to build a +stone house of strength at a place called Oswego, at the mouth of the +Onondaga River, where our principal trade with the far Nations is +carried on. I have obtained the consent of the Six Nations to build +it."[272] The establishment of this fort was a great blow to the French, +who encouraged the Indians to drive out the English, but only received +the reply, "Chassez-les toi-même."[273] As a counterpoise they built +Fort Rouillé at Toronto, but Oswego remained as a bastion against French +aggression and as a lucrative trading station with the Indians until +captured by Montcalm.[274] + +Even earlier than the foundation of Oswego the French had tried to +establish themselves, in 1726, opposite Crown Point, where Lake +Champlain contracts to the width of a river; but for the moment they +were deterred by the strong opposition of Massachusetts. New Hampshire +also claimed this territory, and while, with their usual jealousy, the +two colonies "were quarrelling for the bone, the French ran away with +it."[275] French aggression continued, and in 1731 they seized Crown +Point itself, at the instigation of the celebrated Chevalier Saint Luc +de la Corne, and named it Fort St Frederic. The point was claimed by the +colony of New York, but here again the settlers were too much engrossed +in their chronic dispute with New Jersey to take any effective measures +to prevent the loss. It was utterly futile for the New Yorkers and New +Englanders to protest that the fort was a menace to British territory, +for they had neither the will nor the common-sense to place petty +domestic jealousies on one side and unite in driving back the French. +The English found, by the year 1750, that owing to their supineness, +France had succeeded in building forts at Niagara, Detroit, +Michillimackinac, La Baye, Maumee, on the Wabash, St Joseph and Fort +Chartres. These may have been loose and uncertain links, but they had +great possibilities, and they at least connected Canada and Louisiana, +and gave some appearance of the possibility of a French North America. + +It seems strange that the aggressive conduct of one of the newest +kingdoms in Europe should have a dire effect upon the New World; but so +it was. The determination of Frederic of Prussia to aggrandise himself +at the expense of Austria, caused, in 1744, the torch to be rekindled in +North America, and packs of howling savages carried rapine and murder +along the borderland of New France and New England. The war actually +began in America in May 1744 when Duquesnel, the Governor of Louisburg, +overpowered the small outpost of Canso in Acadia. The people of +Massachusetts realised that to them the transference of Acadia to the +French would mean a serious loss, and so planned "an enterprise second +to none in colonial history."[276] + +Louisburg was a menace to all the northern British colonies, and the New +Englanders had been both exasperated and alarmed by the action of its +governor. The fortification itself was built upon the famous system of +Vauban; it had cost 30,000,000 livres, and had taken twenty-five years +to complete. Strong as this fortification was from without, owing to +mutinous spirits it contained all the elements of weakness within. The +honour of proposing an attack upon this scourge and curse of New England +probably rests on William Vaughan, who at that period was interested in +the fishing industry and dwelt at Damariscotta, Maine. Governor Shirley +lent a willing ear to the daring proposal. He had, as a young barrister, +come to Massachusetts in 1731, and within ten years had by his tact and +cleverness been appointed chief magistrate of his colony. He laboured +under the delusion that he was a military genius, and thought to prove +his powers by engaging in this scheme. The Massachusetts Assembly, +however, composed for the most part of grave merchants and stolid +rustics, refused to undertake anything so risky and expensive. Boston +and other coast towns, knowing well what a harbour of refuge Louisburg +had proved to all hunters on the ocean, petitioned ardently that +Vaughan's plan should be executed; and at length, after many +difficulties, it was agreed that the settlers should make this one +supreme effort. History immediately repeated itself, and the colonies +showed their habitual want of union; and although Shirley appealed to +them as far south as Pennsylvania, all with one accord made excuse, +except Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Once again, +therefore, the burden of defeating France fell upon the New England +settlements. William Pepperell, a merchant of Maine, was placed in +command of the colonial land force. He came of Devonshire stock, was a +colonel of militia, and fortunately possessed of good sound +common-sense, for he had practically no military experience. The naval +commander was Admiral Warren, who was well disposed to the American +colonists, as he had married an American lady and owned property on both +Manhattan Island and the banks of the Mohawk River. He was a good +sailor, and in later years won for himself some renown in an engagement +against the French in European waters. + +Colonel Pepperell was willingly followed by colonists of sturdy +character, still replete with Puritan ideas, and still further +encouraged by the motto given to them by the Evangelical preacher, +George Whitefield, "Nil desperandum, Christo duce."[277] On April 30, +1745, the New England force arrived within striking distance of +Louisburg. The town itself was oblong in shape, built upon a tongue of +land upon which the fortifications were erected with a due east aspect. +The troops of France were composed for the most part of brave men, but +they were in a state of disaffection, and their new commander, +Duchambon, was pusillanimous in his decisions. The whole garrison, +consisting of regulars and militia, was well under two thousand men; +while the colonial army comprised four thousand in all. This +superiority of force was immediately discounted by the privations +undergone by the besiegers; and it has been computed that only half the +army was really fit for action. The mutinous state of the French was but +a poor match for the peculiar mixture of youthful impetuosity and +religious fervour which stirred the colonials. A force under Vaughan +occupied the Grand Battery, and still further encouragement was given by +Admiral Warren's capture, on May 18, of the _Vigilant_, a French +man-of-war of 64 guns, bringing supplies. One who took part in the siege +writes, "Providence has signally smiled, and I doubt not the campaign +will be crowned with success. I am willing to undergo anything for the +good of our cause."[278] The chief danger which threatened the settlers +was relief from New France, but this came too late to be of any service +to the garrison. + +After an unsuccessful attempt against the battery on the little island +at the mouth of the harbour, both Pepperell and Warren agreed that their +best move would be a final assault upon the fortification. The French +dreaded the effects of such an action; they were already worn out by +fatigue and anxiety; the town was shattered in every direction by shot +and shell. "Never," Pepperell wrote to Shirley, "was a place more mal'd +with cannon and shell."[279] Rather than sustain the horrors of a wild +attack which might lead to ruthless massacre, Duchambon thought it +better to accept the generous terms offered, and, on June 17th, +capitulated. The town was taken over by Warren and Pepperell, and all +praise must be given to the latter for the splendid way in which he +preserved discipline amongst his colonials, who were forbidden to reward +themselves, for their weary weeks of hardship, by loot and plunder. The +capture of Louisburg was one of the greatest events of the War of the +Austrian Succession; and historians are agreed that the success of the +enterprise was almost entirely due to the courage and perseverance of +the New Englanders, though they are ready to give all praise to Warren +and his seamen. It was a remarkable feat, and it must ever be regarded +as one of the most illustrious actions in American history. The +Bostonians welcomed the news with joy; their brethren, they believed, +had gone forth against the enemies of the Lord, and, like the Israelites +of old, returned victorious. The grim Puritan had shown that though a +man of peace, he was still able, when called upon, to smite the +idolaters hip and thigh. + +Governor Shirley's schemes did not stop short at the capture of the key +of the St Lawrence. After Louisburg had been garrisoned by regular +troops, he intended to attack Canada. This plan failed, and he therefore +turned his attention to the more feasible scheme of capturing Crown +Point; but this also proved abortive. In the meantime the French made a +counter-expedition from La Rochelle under the Duc d'Auville. From the +outset the scheme was doomed: D'Auville died; his second in command, +D'Estournel, committed suicide; while his successor, the Marquis de la +Jonquière, was thoroughly defeated by Admirals Anson and Warren off Cape +Finisterre. + +The struggle in which the colonists had shown such gallantry slowly +dragged to a close. Neither to Great Britain, nor to France had there +been much gain in those six years of warfare: the glory belonged to the +men of New England, who, in particular, realised the danger of the +French Empire in the West. They had learnt by experience the peril that +menaced them, and Shirley and Pepperell had done their best to remove +that danger by direct attack. In England the enormous value of Cape +Breton Island and Louisburg was not fully understood. George II. is +traditionally reported to have said that Cape Breton was not his to +return to France for it belonged to the people of Boston. This in a +sense was true; it had been won by the men of New England and it would +appear on the surface that it was for them to keep or restore that +frowning outpost in the Atlantic. Peace, however, was most necessary at +the moment, though it was only a breathing space in the colossal +struggle of the eighteenth century; and it was realised that this peace +could only be obtained by the cession of this fortification in exchange +for our East Indian territory at Madras. The possibility of the growth +of an Indian Empire never dawned upon the settlers in the West. They +felt that this small speck in an Eastern land was nothing in comparison +with the Dunkirk of North America. The New England colonies had done +their best; they had given their men and their money to accomplish a +great task. Their lack of unity had often stood in their way, but on the +occasion of the capture of Louisburg the Puritan brotherhood had +succeeded without the help of either Quaker or southern confederates; +they had earned for themselves the respect of their contemporaries and +the admiration of their descendants. Unfortunately, however, the +abandonment of Louisburg "under the pressure of diplomatic necessity +was in the eyes of the colonists an unscrupulous betrayal, and a +manifest proof of total indifference to colonial interests. It gave a +sting to the words of colonial demagogues and cut the sinews of colonial +loyalty."[280] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[255] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. i. p. 79. + +[256] _Ibid._ + +[257] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, i. p. 139. + +[258] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, i. p. 144. + +[259] _Ibid._ + +[260] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, i. p. 144. + +[261] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. i. p. 161. + +[262] _Ibid._, p. 157. + +[263] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. i. pp. 166, 167. + +[264] Walker, _Journal_, Introduction. + +[265] Swift, _Journal to Stella_, October 16, 1711. + +[266] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. i. p. 169. + +[267] _Ibid._, p. 182. + +[268] Prowse, _History of Newfoundland_ (1896), p. 258. + +[269] Wrong, translator and editor of _Lettre d'un habitant de +Louisburg_, p. 26. + +[270] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. i. p. 183. + +[271] The Five Nations were sometimes called the Six Nations after being +joined by the Tuscaroras. + +[272] O'Callaghan, _Doc. Hist. of New York_, vol. i. p. 447. + +[273] Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, vol. ii. p. 54. + +[274] See p. 266. + +[275] Mitchell, _Contest in America_, p. 22. + +[276] Lucas, _Hist. Geo. of Brit. Colonies, Canada_, part i. p. 198. + +[277] _Belknap_, vol. ii. p. 160. + +[278] Samuel Curwen, _Journal and Letters_, p. 13. + +[279] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. 532. + +[280] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. 534. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CLIMAX: THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONISTS + + +"If we can remove the turbulent Gallics the seat of Empire might be +transferred to America."[281] Such were the characteristically pompous +words of John Adams, which nevertheless contained something of the +spirit that animated a few of the thinking colonists in their final +struggle with the power of France. The Conquest of Canada liberated the +settlers of the Thirteen Colonies from a state of continuous and +watchful alarm; but it also increased their attitude of resistance to +interference on the part of England, and was an undoubted cause of the +American War of Independence. The actual conquest was, however, due to +British commanders, and more than half the troops employed consisted of +British regulars. It is not intended to belittle the work of the +colonials, for without them many of the stirring scenes which took place +between 1750 and 1763 could never have been enacted; but without the +discipline and experience of English leaders the great task could never +have been accomplished, because of the hopeless internal jealousies of +these quarrelsome communities. In the last chapter it has been shown +that the burden of the war with the French fell upon the New England +group, and in the period now under discussion the men of Massachusetts +also played an active part; but, whereas the rapine and murder had been +confined to the northern border, the stress of warfare now fell upon the +western frontiers of the more southern States, and New York, +Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were called upon to take a serious +share in the great struggle. It had long been seen that these provinces +as they grew in size must necessarily extend their borders, and the men +from Pennsylvania and Virginia must come into hostile contact with the +Canadian backwoodsmen who had pushed into the valley of the Ohio. + +It is during this period that the want of unity between the Thirteen +Colonies is more clearly evidenced than even in previous years. New York +was torn by internal factions, and the history of that colony would have +been infinitely more sad had it not been that its fighting contingent +was led by the redoubtable William Johnson. The state of Pennsylvania +was actually worse than that of New York; it was "a sanctuary for sloth, +cowardice, and sordid self-interest. The humanity of Penn, the peace +principles of the early Quakers, were a cloak behind which the factious +and indolent citizen with no sense of public responsibility could always +screen himself."[282] The Pennsylvanians were as callous, during this +colossal epoch, as if the war had been on the plains of Germany, and +were not only inert themselves but endeavoured to neutralise the action +of the other Colonies, so that they have earned the reputation of +selfishness and disloyalty. Maryland was not like Pennsylvania in its +open refusal to help; its attitude was one of indifference, which was +partly due to niggardliness, and partly to the fact that it was safely +screened by the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The latter colony +has been severely blamed for the ineffective assistance rendered during +the war. It is urged with truth that the inhabitants consisted of the +very men who should have composed a fine fighting force, but that the +Virginian youth exhibited an astounding supineness in following the +gallant Washington. There are, however, two reasons that may be found as +partial excuses for the unpatriotic attitude of the Virginian settlers. +The first was an ever-present dread of a slave insurrection if the +militia left the colony; while the second is to be found in the +irascible temper of the governor, Robert Dinwiddie. + +The year after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the French governor of +Canada, La Galissonière, had sent Celeron de Bienville to register the +claims of France to the Ohio valley, and thus carry on the great scheme +of shutting in the English settlers behind the Alleghany Mountains. The +demonstration was purely peaceful, and for the next three years nothing +serious came of it. Galissonière resigned his government to De la +Jonquière, who, in turn, was succeeded by the Marquis Duquesne. In the +meantime, in 1750, the Virginian traders, for the most part, had formed +the Ohio Company for the exploiting of that rich valley. The work of +this corporation was not of a successful character, owing to the +jealousies between Virginia and Pennsylvania, both colonies trying to +shift the burden of fort building on to the shoulders of the other. The +French, seeing their opportunity, began to teach these bickering +colonials those bitter lessons which were at last to be an indirect +cause of their union. In June of 1752, the Miami Indians, a confederacy +friendly towards the English, were attacked; their town was burnt, and +their chief killed. This was not a mere raid upon an insignificant group +of Redskins' wigwams, but was the outward and visible sign of the +aggressive policy of Duquesne towards the advanced English traders in +the Ohio valley. In the spring of the next year, a veteran French +officer, Marin, established, by means of two forts, communication +between the Great Lakes and the sources of the Ohio. This, indeed, was a +direct act of trespass upon that debatable land lying on the borders of +Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and was a heavy blow at the Ohio +Company and their trading station at Fort Cumberland. The French +intrusion aroused the wrath of William Shirley of Massachusetts, and +also of the cross-grained Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia. Ill-tempered +though the latter was, he possessed clear judgment and tenacity of +purpose, and from this moment worked strenuously for the welfare of the +colonies against the French. + +In November 1753, George Washington, then a young land-surveyor, but +already fairly prominent among the Virginians, was despatched to warn +off the French trespassers. He found that what had formerly been an +English trading station at Venango had been converted into a French +Canadian outpost. Resistance was obviously necessary; and Dinwiddie +embarked upon a zealous military policy, calling upon the Governors of +Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the +Carolinas to assist in preventing the Governor of Canada becoming the +master of the valley of the Ohio. Virginia responded cheerfully to the +Governor's appeal, and subscribed £10,000; North Carolina gave a small +sum and sent a few soldiers; South Carolina and New York also sent a +contingent of militiamen; but Pennsylvania refused both men and money. +Dinwiddie did what he could by despatching, in February 1754, a small +force to build a blockhouse at the junction of the Monongahela and the +Alleghany Rivers. The settlers were overpowered by the Canadians in +April, and the fort which was erected was the work of French hands, and +was called after the Canadian Governor, Fort Duquesne. With a party of +Virginians, Washington was ordered to take this fresh example of +Canadian insolence, then under the command of Contrecoeur. His +lieutenant, Jumonville, was killed in a sortie or scouting expedition, +but even with this advantage Washington's little army was outnumbered. +He was forced to retreat, first to Fort Necessity, and after a nine +hours' fight, across the Alleghany Mountains. + +The campaign of 1754 had been utterly disastrous for the English +settlers, but it only encouraged the indefatigable Robert Dinwiddie to +further efforts. He saw that "if the misfortune attending our forces has +aroused the spirit of our neighbouring colonies, it has done more than +probably a victory could have effected."[283] He now did his best to +still further arouse the united enthusiasm of the Middle and Southern +colonies, and so stirred the Assembly of Virginia that it voted £20,000. +The defeat of Washington also gave a stimulus to a movement towards +unity that had already been made in the autumn of 1753. The delegates +of the seven colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New +Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, had met in friendly +conference at Albany, and had listened to Benjamin Franklin's great +scheme of union, under which a colonial Council of forty-eight members +was to be formed, each colony supplying members according to its +population. This Council was to have very important powers and +privileges, including those of declaring peace or war. Had Franklin's +statesmanlike proposals met with the general acceptance of the colonies, +North America would have become one great self-governing community, +having more independent powers than any of the present-day colonies of +Great Britain. The time, however, was not yet ripe; the colonies were +still too jealous of their own petty rights and privileges; and those +who were acting for the welfare of the English in America did not at the +moment wish to rush into some great revolutionary change in the +constitution, but desired rather a firm attitude of resistance to the +French aggressions in the Ohio valley. Dinwiddie found the task +difficult enough. He wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania that the +colonies "seemed satisfied to leave the French at full liberty to +perpetrate their utmost designs to their ruin."[284] But he did not +despair, and asked help from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the +Carolinas, and received encouraging replies from all the governors, +except Glen of South Carolina. In his excellent work he was ably +supported by William Shirley of Massachusetts, who, at this time, was +working strenuously to stir the home government to realise the danger +that threatened the Thirteen Colonies. + +The combined efforts of these two men were not in vain; and although +there was peace in Europe, two regiments were sent out under +Major-General Braddock in January 1755. Edward Braddock has been the +subject of much controversy; his character has been torn to pieces by +different historians, and certainly the records point to a man of a +curious combination of magnanimity and brutality. When in command at +Gibraltar, he was adored by his men; whereas in America, Horace Walpole +speaks of him as "a very Iroquois."[285] William Shirley, son of the +Governor of Massachusetts, said "We have a general most judiciously +chosen for being disqualified for the service he is employed in, in +almost every respect."[286] This view is upheld by Burke, who wrote of +him as "abounding too much in his own sense for the degree of military +knowledge he possessed."[287] It is, however, extremely doubtful if the +terrible disaster associated with his name can be entirely attributed to +the general's own personal character, and recent writers have shown that +the charge of utter incompetence cannot be satisfactorily +sustained.[288] + +Braddock's forces landed at Hampton, Virginia, in February 1755; and a +colonial conference was at once held at Alexandria. This important +meeting was attended by six of the colonial governors, including the +most patriotic and energetic, Dinwiddie, Shirley, and Sharpe. They +concluded that four practically simultaneous expeditions should be made +against the French. The English general was to march against Fort +Duquesne; two forces were to converge on Crown Point from a base of +operations at Albany; while the fourth effort, under Shirley, was to be +made against the French conspirators in Acadia. + +The English regiments, the 44th and 48th, were reinforced by two hundred +and fifty Virginian rangers, and by small detachments from New York, +Maryland, and the Carolinas. The force supplied by the wealthy colony of +Virginia was utterly inadequate; while Pennsylvania, as usual, sent no +aid in the way of troops, and only voted a sum of money to be collected +with such difficulty that it was practically valueless. George +Washington, at that time recovering from a severe illness, was requested +by Braddock to accompany him as one of his aide-de-camps. After a series +of delays, on July 3rd Braddock unexpectedly fell in with a French force +under Beaujeu on the right bank of the river Monongahela, about eight +miles from Fort Duquesne. The majority of the enemy were Indians trained +to forest fighting, while the English, accustomed to European methods, +fought in a solid mass, their red coats affording an excellent target +for their invisible foes. Braddock fought with heroic perseverance; four +horses were shot under him, and it was only when he saw the approaching +failure of the ammunition, and that his men were exhibiting distinct +signs of panic, that he gave the order to retreat. At that moment he was +mortally wounded. "I cannot describe the horror of that scene," wrote +Lieutenant Leslie of the 44th, three weeks after the battle: "no pen +could do it. The yell of the Indians is fresh on my ear, and the +terrific sound will haunt me to the hour of my dissolution."[289] The +disaster was immediately attributed to the incompetence of Braddock. The +colonials naturally praised the conduct of the Virginian detachment, the +members of which had had the common-sense to conceal themselves behind +trees, and fought the Indians after their own methods. Thus Washington +wrote: "The Virginia companies behaved like men and died like +soldiers";[290] but there can be no doubt that Washington and other +settlers were prejudiced against the English general and were filled +with contempt for his scheme of fighting. They never took into +consideration that Braddock's failure was partly due to the delay caused +by the quarrels between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and partly owing to +the utterly worthless horses supplied to him by the colonial authorities +for his transports. Where Braddock's great mistake lay was in the belief +that "it was better to be defeated in conformity with orthodox methods +than to win by conduct which seemed lacking in courage, and by imitating +the hitherto unknown tactics of colonials and barbarians."[291] + +Dinwiddie, with that same wonderful energy which he had displayed during +the whole of this anxious epoch, did his best to mitigate the harm done +by the terrible disaster. He realised clearly what Washington pointed +out to him, "the consequences that this defeat may have upon our back +settlers."[292] He again sent frantic appeals to the Governors of +Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North +Carolina. The apathy, at this time, of the Middle and Southern colonies +was extraordinary; and "while sleek Quakers and garrulous Assembly men +prated of peace and local liberties, the outlying settlements were given +over to fire and sword."[293] The New England States were, however, more +energetic; and on the northern frontier an attempt was being made by +Shirley and William Johnson to put into execution the other schemes +arranged by the colonial conference. William Johnson was a man who had +lived a semi-savage life and who had gained remarkable influence over +the Iroquois, particularly the Mohawks. Governor Shirley had recognised +this man's gifts, and had appointed him commander of the Massachusetts, +New England, and New York levies, consisting of about 6000 men. In the +early summer of 1755 Johnson rapidly constructed Fort Lyman, and in +August moved slowly forward to the southern extremity of Lake George, +with the intention of taking Crown Point. The French, hearing of these +warlike preparations, despatched Baron Dieskau to Ticonderoga; he +marched still farther south and cut off Johnson's communications with +his recently constructed fort. At first the French cleverly ambuscaded a +party of the English, but in an assault upon Johnson's camp they were +defeated, Dieskau being wounded and taken prisoner. The results of the +fight were of some slight importance, as the capture of the leader and +the repulse of his men were regarded in England and the colonies as some +compensation for the disaster of General Braddock. Johnson was rewarded +with a baronetcy and £5000; the little camp was converted into Fort +William Henry; and the lake, hitherto known as the Lac du Sacrament, was +rechristened, in honour of the King, Lake George. On the other hand, the +object of the expedition, Crown Point, remained in the hands of the +French, and their possibilities of aggrandisement in the West were still +as illimitable as they ever had been. + +The two other campaigns of 1755 were under the superintendence of +Governor Shirley. In June he sent two thousand men of Massachusetts to +Acadia. Their commander was the much-respected John Winslow; and by his +assistance the English at last defeated the machinations of the French +under De Loutre. Governor Laurence, however, was forced to take strong +measures to preserve peace, and deported the intriguing and disloyal +Acadians to Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina, and elsewhere. His +action has been severely criticised and the story has been depicted in +words of horror by the poet Longfellow. The expulsion of these "men +whose lives glided on like rivers" was, as a matter of fact, absolutely +essential for the welfare of the English nation in Nova Scotia. Winslow, +who assisted in the work of deportation, recognised the necessity +although he disliked the action; but he carried out his orders with the +greatest humanity that could be shown under exceptionally difficult +circumstances. Meantime, Shirley's second expedition, though commanded +by himself, was not so successful. His troops were composed for the most +part of colonials paid by the British Government. His object of attack +was Fort Niagara, a place of considerable danger to the trading station +at Oswego, and one of the main connecting links between Canada and the +south-west. The season grew late; the troops were delayed by unexpected +obstructions; and towards the end of October, having reinforced Oswego, +Shirley found it better to retire. + +The campaigns of 1755 had proved most unsatisfactory for the colonists. +The southern confines of Virginia continued to be harried, although +Washington and his little band, for the most part composed of Ulster +Protestants, did what they could to preserve peace along the +border-line. In much the same way the frontiers of New England were open +to attack, and French animosity was by no means decreased by the skilled +scouting expeditions of Robert Rogers and his bold New England rangers. +The only great achievement was in Acadia, a province of more value to +Great Britain than to the settlers of any particular colony. The French +had not only succeeded in remaining in the coveted valley of the Ohio, +but had also repulsed with enormous loss a general of some repute, which +brought with it the much-desired Indian alliance. Along the shores of +the Great Lakes no practical advantages had been gained; and Johnson's +victory at Lake George brought rewards to the individual rather than to +the New Englanders as a community. The Puritan colonists, however, came +out of these campaigns with an enhanced reputation; they were +distinguished from their southern brethren by a readiness to sacrifice +both men and money in a great imperial cause. + +In the early spring of 1756, war in Europe had not yet been declared, +but border skirmishes still continued unabated in the distant West. The +main effect on the colonies of the declaration of the Seven Years' War, +on May 11th, was an increase in the number of regular troops sent to +America. These were largely supplemented by the colonial militia and by +colonial royal regiments in the pay of the Crown. Before the arrival of +the regulars, the French again began their raids, and, under De Lery, +captured Fort Bull, thus threatening the more important neighbouring +station of Oswego. Shirley at once despatched Colonel Brodstreet with +supplies and reinforcements to the traders at that fort, and for the +moment baulked the Canadians. But by this time, a greater than De Lery +had been sent to America, in the person of the Marquis de Montcalm, who +immediately undertook the capture of Oswego. For this purpose, in July, +he started from Ticonderoga, and by August 10th was in close proximity +to the doomed blockhouse. The powerful artillery of the French, together +with the cunning tactics of their native allies, forced Oswego to +surrender after its commander, Colonel Mercer, had been killed. This +success was invaluable to the French, for as Braddock's defeat had given +to New France the Ohio valley, so now Montcalm's victory made her +undisputed mistress of the Great Lakes. + +The man who had done this great work may be regarded as the French hero +of the Seven Years' War. The Marquis de Montcalm was by this time +forty-four years of age, and had gained his military experience on many +European battlefields. He owed his command to his own intrinsic merits +and not, like so many French generals, to the influences of Court +mistresses. He was a gentleman of France; a man of impetuous spirit, but +possessed of many lovable characteristics; he was kind, tolerant, and +gentle, and yet one of the sternest of soldiers. Owing to his ability +and energy, his chivalrous courage and kindliness of manner, he was a +leader who not only had his men under perfect discipline, but was also +endeared to them by those very sterling qualities which they fully +recognised. He hated corruption, cheating, and lying; he detested the +brutality of many of his companions; and although Wolfe said that +"Montcalm has changed the very nature of war, and has forced us ... to a +deterring and dreadful vengeance,"[294] yet in reality he did his best +to lift the war from mere butchery and murder on to the higher plane of +civilised methods. Montcalm, Marquis of the Château de Candiac, gave his +life to an ungrateful country, which repaid him for his sacrifice by +cruel and unjust charges. + +To oppose so good an officer the English Government selected the +unsatisfactory leaders, Colonel Daniel Webb, dilatory in taking action, +General Abercromby, in Wolfe's opinion "a heavy man," and the Earl of +Loudoun, who lacked tact in his treatment of the settlers, and quickness +in his command of troops. To add to the English errors, the home +authorities recalled Shirley, who had given up the best of his life to +sturdily resisting French aggrandisement. Fortunately the colonial +forces were not without their own leaders, in many instances men of +merit, such as William Johnson, friend of the Mohawks, John Winslow, +famous for his Acadian experiences, Colonel Brodstreet, a good and +dashing soldier, and, above all, that daring and clearheaded Prince of +Rangers, Robert Rogers of New Hampshire. + +The individual settlers were brave and true, but the year 1757 opened +with the same petty and local quarrels in the colonial Assemblies, +chiefly in Pennsylvania and New York, in the former concerning the +everlasting squabble about taxing the proprietors' land, in the latter +on the question of billeting. The Earl of Loudoun, though his position +had given him some weight and authority in the factious Assembly of New +York, failed to win the respect or goodwill of the colonial forces. They +doubted his capacity, and blamed him in particular for his mismanagement +of what ought to have been the crisis of the war. Ever since the +restoration of Louisburg by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the settlers +had been anxious to again seize that key of the St Lawrence. Loudoun +recognised the importance of such an action, and, in conjunction with +Admiral Holborne, in August and September endeavoured either to take the +fortification, or at least to tempt the French fleet into a pitched +battle. That Loudoun was unsuccessful in both schemes was partly due to +those delays that have left deep stains upon colonial history, and +partly because the elements warred against the British, and Admiral +Holborne's fleet being shattered by storms, the expedition had +necessarily to be abandoned. + +Meantime Montcalm had again displayed his activity; and while Loudoun +was engaged in his abortive attempts on Louisburg, the colonies received +a severe blow by the loss of Fort William Henry. Towards the end of +1756, the French had made an attack upon this fort, but had been +repulsed. Throughout the following July, Montcalm massed his troops at +Ticonderoga, and with Lévis, his second in command, and La Corne, a +noted Canadian irregular, arrived before Fort William Henry on the 4th +August. General Webb ought to have pushed forward to its relief, but he +felt himself too weak to cope with Montcalm's army of regulars and +Indian allies. For four days the defenders made a gallant struggle; and +on August 9th only capitulated on the terms of safe-conduct to Fort +Edward. The Indians refused to recognise those terms, and fell upon the +English. A massacre ensued, horrible in character and of revolting +details, though possibly these may have been exaggerated by lapse of +years. It is thought that Montcalm and Lévis did what they could to +preserve order, but were unable to prevent the many coldblooded murders +because of the utter indifference of the French Canadian officers, who +had been hardened in the terrible school of border and Indian warfare. + +The French had now reached the high-water mark of their triumph in the +West; but in Europe the dawn of better things for the English people had +already come, for the king had been forced to place William Pitt in +office. An end was now to be put to all the dilatory conduct either of +the home authorities or of the colonial Assemblies. A man had been found +to save England and the Empire. Pitt's plans were not original; they had +been tried before; but they were at last to succeed because proper +effort was made, and able generals instead of incompetents were sent +out, and chiefly because behind all was the man who inspired with his +own glorious spirit every one with whom he came in contact. On December +30, 1757, Pitt addressed a letter to the Governors of the Thirteen +Colonies, who cheerfully responded by raising a substantial force. + +The first expedition--in which the colonials were not employed--was the +capture of Louisburg. The possession of this fortress on Cape Breton +Island by the English would ensure the starvation of the Canadians, who +were at this time, practically without food. The men chosen for the work +were Admiral Boscawen, a hard fighter and typical English seaman; +General Jeffrey Amherst, a good but cautious soldier; and three others, +Whitmore, Laurence, and General James Wolfe, of "whom the youngest was +the most noteworthy,"[295] and whose name is so famously connected with +the story of the British in North America. + +[Illustration: GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. _From the picture by Schaak +in the National Portrait Gallery._] + +James Wolfe was born in Kent in 1727. When most modern boys are still at +school, he was adjutant of his regiment, and took part in the Battle of +Dettingen. He then went through the arduous campaign necessitated by the +Jacobite Rising of 1745. At twenty-five years of age he found himself a +full colonel. There can be little doubt that he was possessed of many +ennobling qualities, but his appearance was much against him, as his +face, with its pointed nose and receding forehead and chin, resembled +very closely the flap of an envelope. His figure was loose and ungainly, +and though over six feet in height, he lacked the smart appearance of +the military man. As a soldier he showed the greatest enthusiasm in +everything connected with his profession; he worked hard at mathematics, +tactics, and strategy, and did his best to perfect himself in the French +language. The records of this man's life go to prove that he won the +affection and regard of every one, and that he was almost worshipped in +the different places in which he was quartered. He never, however, lost +his good sense, never became puffed up with pride, never thought himself +greater than others. His gallantry in the unfortunate enterprise against +Rochefort in January 1758 had come to the notice of the great Pitt, and +it was for this reason that he was chosen to accompany Amherst in the +attempt to capture the "Dunkirk of America." + +Boscawen's fleet with the transports containing the army came in sight +of Louisburg in June. Since the capture of the fort by the Massachusetts +militia in 1745, something had been done to strengthen its walls, and it +was now regarded in Europe as impregnable, though it was probably not so +formidable as it looked, since Drucour afterwards referred to it as +"crumbling down in every flank, face, and courtine, except the right +flank of the king's bastion, which was remounted the first year after my +arrival."[296] A town of about four thousand inhabitants nestled in +false security beneath the apparently[297] massive walls; but it was of +little good for them to imagine that assistance could reach them from +France, for the British navy made it impossible for her to send soldiers +or supplies. The English force was at last landed, and batteries were at +once erected under the distinguished guidance of Wolfe. These fortified +entrenchments were moved day by day nearer the doomed stronghold. The +guns never ceased to bombard the wretched town that had once considered +itself so secure. Within the harbour were eleven French men-of-war, but +soon four of these were deliberately sunk at the mouth of the harbour +by Drucour, while the rest were driven on shore or captured by a +cutting-out expedition. On the 20th of July, Wolfe had erected his last +battery; an enormous shell was sent into the chapel of the town, and a +fearful explosion occurred. On the 27th the French, under their +Governor, Drucour, were forced to capitulate, and Amherst and Wolfe +entered the fortress in triumph. Shortly afterwards the vast +fortifications were razed to the ground, and to this day there remains +nothing save some few ruined casements and huge, grass-grown stones, +lying in dismantled heaps upon the edge of the restless Atlantic, to +mark the spot where once stood one of the great triumphs of Vauban's +engineering art. + +The news that Louisburg had fallen was received with every expression of +joy in all the colonies, and even the Quakers, who could not fight +themselves, gave way to the general outburst and showed suitable signs +of rapture at the victory of British arms. The news came at a moment +when such glad tidings were sadly needed, for only three weeks before +the colonies had been plunged into despair by the horrors of a great +tragedy. General Abercromby, with a large force of regulars and +colonials, had set out from Albany in May, and after tedious delays had +come on July 5th to within striking distance of Ticonderoga. In a +skirmish, two days before the great fight, Lord Howe, the most beloved +of the British officers, was killed. On July 7th Montcalm with Lévis +hurriedly erected a palisade of pines with their branches outward about +half a mile from the actual fort. The English general most foolishly did +not bring up his guns, fearing lest they should impede his progress. On +the morning of July 8 the assault began upon this palisade manned by the +trained marksmen of Canada; regiment after regiment of the English were +ordered to their annihilation. The Black Watch, for example, went into +action about a thousand strong; they straggled out of that awful Gehenna +with only half their numbers. At last, having thrown away the lives of +two thousand men, Abercromby ordered the retreat, and left Montcalm for +the third time the victor. + +Amongst the men who fell in that disastrous expedition, no one was so +honestly mourned as Lord Howe. Pitt spoke of him as "a complete model of +military virtue in all its branches,"[298] but these words in no way +summed up the character of one who was not only beloved by the English +Army, but also by every man in the colonial contingent. Wolfe himself +wrote, "if the report of Howe's death be true, there is an end of the +expedition, for he was the spirit of that army, and the very best +officer in the King's service."[299] It was in winning the goodwill, +respect, and admiration of the settlers that Howe differed so remarkably +from his fellow officers. Burke writes of him, "from the moment he +landed in America he had wisely conformed and made his regiment conform +to the kind of service which the country required."[300] In other words, +he acted in a manner which would have caused Braddock to shudder; but it +was the right thing to do. The long-tailed tunic of the British regular, +his wonderful pig-tail, his buttons and smart points were ruthlessly cut +off because they were in the way. He dressed his men as nearly as +possible like the colonials, for he it was who for the first time +recognised that from them the English might gain experience in this new +and strange warfare. He learnt much from men like Rogers the Ranger; and +he taught much. Had Lord Howe and James Wolfe been spared to give more +of their short lives to the American people, the later history of the +Thirteen Colonies must have been very different. + +As a set-off to the Ticonderoga disaster, two great victories marked the +last six months of 1758. Colonel Bradstreet, in August, with a small +portion of Abercromby's army, took Fort Frontenac, thus temporarily +cutting off the communication between the French in the Ohio forts with +those on the upper lakes. Besides this, Bradstreet was able to destroy +the presents collected for the Western Indians and all the winter +provisions for Fort Duquesne. These facts considerably assisted General +Forbes, who was no less successful in his undertaking. He had to contend +against the squabbles of Virginia and Pennsylvania, but he managed to +get both men and money. With a force of about six thousand, for the most +part settlers from the southern states, but also including a Highland +regiment, he set out for Fort Duquesne. His first attack was repulsed; +but in November on again advancing he found that the French commander De +Ligneries had been obliged, owing to Indian desertions, to evacuate and +destroy the fort. A stockade was at once erected by the English to take +the place of the once formidable French fortress, and was now christened +by the old general, in honour of his master, Pittsburg. + +The year 1759 is called "the year of victories," and one of the chief of +these was the capture of Quebec. With the actual struggle for the +possession of the capital of New France, the colonials had little or +nothing to do; the work was entirely that of the British sailors and +soldiers. The expedition against Quebec, however, was only a part of a +general plan of attack upon Canada, and in this the settlers showed some +activity under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief General Amherst. +In May, acting under Amherst's orders, General Prideaux, with two +regiments and a small body of colonials, joined Sir William Johnson and +his Mohawks at Schenectady. The plan of campaign was that this force +should move forward to Fort Niagara, then commanded by Pouchot, and if +possible drive out the French. Prideaux's force was quite sufficient for +this, but his lack of skill seems to have delayed the surrender of the +fort. On July 20 Prideaux was killed and the command devolved upon the +more fiery Johnson, who first marched out and defeated a large French +reinforcement, and then returned to receive Pouchet's surrender. The +capitulation of Niagara was of considerable importance, as from that +moment the French were debarred from exercising any influence on the +lower lakes. Burke says that it "broke off effectually that +communication so much talked of and so much dreaded between Canada and +Louisiana."[301] + +Meanwhile Amherst advanced north with a large force composed for the +most part of regulars. In July he reached the deserted fort of +Ticonderoga; on August 1 he found Crown Point abandoned. From this +position Amherst ought to have hurried forward to the assistance of +Wolfe at Quebec, but he suddenly directed his energies into wrong +channels, and instead of pushing forward, employed his army in cutting +paths and roads during the whole of August and September. The exertions +of Robert Rogers and his New England Rangers has alone saved the +expedition from contempt. Amherst lost his opportunity, and instead of +being the Conqueror of Canada, by sheer sloth and lack of energy he +allowed another man to do the work and win immortal glory on the Heights +of Abraham. + +James Wolfe had returned to England after the capture of Louisburg, but +Pitt had other work for him to do, and he was dispatched to undertake +the siege of Quebec. His immediate subordinates were Townshend, +Monckton, Murray, and Carleton. The men who were to oppose him in this +great undertaking were Montcalm and the incapable Vaudreuil, with +Bougainville, upon whom his senior maliciously placed all the blame. In +June 1759, Wolfe, supported by a strong naval contingent, sailed up the +St Lawrence to the attack of Quebec. The town, steep and precipitous, +frowned defiance upon the English; all along the Beauport shore was one +vast camp, any path being strongly guarded, and the whole ridge being +one long extended earthwork. Montcalm knew his business. If he could but +keep Wolfe out until the winter months had come, he felt convinced that +the expedition must fail. The English general, on the other hand, longed +to tempt the French regulars and Canadian militia out of their snug +position and beat them in open ground. In vain Wolfe established a +battery upon the Ile d'Orleans, opposite to Quebec, and shattered the +lower part of the town. Night after night the countryside was lighted +by the fires of farmsteads and barns which were answered back by the +flashing fires of Lower Quebec in flames. Nothing would tempt Montcalm +to come out. His position was enormously strong, for his flank was +protected by the rushing falls of Montmorency. It was at the foot of +these that Wolfe made his first serious attempt on July 31, which proved +a failure, not for want of bravery, but because of the rash behaviour of +the grenadiers. To the astonishment of the general and his officers, the +grenadiers had no sooner landed than without orders they tried to rush +the hill. They clambered over the rocks, fought their way through bushes +and thickets, and were then suddenly met with a withering fire from the +French above them. A rain-storm came on at the moment and the army below +stood petrified. The rain ceased almost as quickly as it had begun, and +the cliffside was seen to be strewn with the redcoats; and worse, the +Indians had rushed out and were wreaking their vengeance by their awful +custom of scalping. + +This success of Montcalm did not tempt him to leave his position and +make an attack upon the English. The latter were now for a short time to +lose all hope, for the news passed rapidly through the army that their +beloved general was at the point of death owing to an incurable +complaint from which he had long suffered. His indomitable spirit, +however, overcame his sufferings, and rousing himself he once more spent +his time gazing carefully at the beetling cliffs. On the 2nd of +September he had found what he wanted and determined to start upon what +seemed to him somewhat of a forlorn hope, but which was destined to +form one of the most glorious pages in British history. + +A path had been discovered up the cliffside--the path disclosed seventy +years before to Phipps--at the top there was a small guard and nothing +more. On the night of the great venture the boats slipped quietly down +the river, and as the French were expecting a convoy of provisions two +sentries let them go by after a first challenge. Wolfe, sitting in the +stem of one of the boats, was murmuring in a solemn whisper the +beautiful lines of Grey's Elegy:-- + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike th' inevitable hour; + The paths of glory lead but to the grave."[302] + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I would sooner have written that poem than take +Quebec." + +[Illustration: THE DEATH OF WOLFE. _After the painting by B. +West._] + +The landing was successfully accomplished, the guard at the top was +overpowered, and before Montcalm knew that the English had left their +camp, four thousand five hundred men were standing in that "thin red +line" upon the Heights of Abraham. The gallant Montcalm did what he +could, and with surprising energy collected his troops and led them +against the English. The French fired time and again upon Wolfe's men, +but they stolidly awaited their advance until they could see the whites +of their eyes and then let loose upon them a withering fire. The white +coats of the French regulars and the gay costumes of the French Canadian +trappers were ready targets and they reeled and fell. Wolfe then +ordered the assault, and with a second volley the whole army charged, +Wolfe leading his grenadiers. After receiving a slight wound, a fatal +bullet singled out that gallant man, and he fell, unnoticed for the +moment save by four of his officers, who tenderly carried him to the +rear of the advancing host. "They run! They run!" cried one of the +officers. "Who run?" said Wolfe. "The French," they replied. "God be +praised, I die in peace." + +Montcalm was also mortally wounded, and just before the city actually +capitulated he passed away, happy that he should not witness the +surrender. Montcalm, like Wolfe, was a hero and a patriot, but whereas +Wolfe gained the love and everlasting memory of a grateful country and +Empire, Montcalm's name was dragged down by unworthy men who never +understood his burning zeal, who had none of his ambition for a glorious +French Empire in the West. Wolfe's "star had only just arisen. For a +moment something like a cloud seemed to have obscured its very dawn; +when suddenly bursting like a meteor across the whole horizon of war and +politics, it vanished amid a blaze of glory as splendid in a sense and +as lasting as that of Nelson himself. It seemed, in truth, as if a great +leader had been found and lost in a single moon."[303] + +General Murray was left in command of Quebec to pass one of the most +trying winters ever undergone by a garrison which was without proper +clothing or supplies. At no great distance was a very capable leader, +Lévis, plotting to recover the city, which he very nearly succeeded in +doing, by defeating Murray outside the walls at the battle of St Foy, on +April 28, 1760. The French general, however, lost his opportunity by +not striking at the city itself when the garrison was confused by the +defeat. Murray was saved by the timely appearance of the British fleet +on May 15, and Lévis retreated. All that was now left to be done to +complete the conquest of Canada and the salvation of the Thirteen +Colonies from French attack was a final advance upon Montreal. Murray +was the first to make a move in July; while Haviland advanced down the +Richelieu River with three thousand five hundred men, including Rogers +and his New Englanders. Amherst's army had already collected at +Schenectady, but its progress was retarded by the slow arrival of the +colonial contingent of about five thousand men. The forces at last +combined before Montreal; and on September 8, just a year after Wolfe's +splendid victory, the last stronghold of New France capitulated to the +combined forces of England and the Thirteen Colonies. + +According to Lord Chesterfield the acquisition of Canada cost the +English nation four score millions. No one at the present day can think +that the possession of the great Dominion, then regarded as "a few acres +of snow," was not worth twenty times the sum. By the Treaty of Paris, +1763, Louis XV. ceded "in full right Canada with all its dependencies, +as well as the island of Cape Breton and all other islands and coasts in +the gulf and river of St Lawrence." The French had done their best, ever +since the great voyage of Jacques Cartier in 1534, to build up a new +French Empire in the West. They had failed, partly because of the +fallacious principles of the French colonial system, but particularly +for two reasons. The first was the absolute exclusion of the Huguenots, +whereby the Canadians shut out the very people who would have made the +Empire rich and strong; and the second reason was because their dreams +were too diffuse, too magnificent, beyond the physical capacity of so +small a nation. They proposed to shut within narrow limits a nation +twenty times as large in population, far more energetic and industrious, +and one which would by the laws of nature overflow into those very +valleys and happy hunting-grounds that they had marked out for +themselves. + +What, then, was the effect of the capture of Canada upon the settlers of +the Thirteen Colonies? We stand at the parting of the ways. The Treaty +of Paris not only marked the increase of the British dominions beyond +the seas, but also carried within it the germ of the future schism +within the British Empire. Several of the Thirteen Colonies had for many +years been filled with "a spirit of independence, puritan in religion, +and republican in politics."[304] Ever since the seventeenth century the +people of Massachusetts had kicked against the pricks of the Navigation +Act. The danger from the north and the west had undoubtedly had a +repressive influence upon the colonists, and had kept them subservient +to the English colonial system, which they hated and which was in +reality at the root of their disaffection. The Peace of Paris removed +all danger from Spain in the south, while the French danger was removed +by the victory of Wolfe; and the rising colonies felt themselves as a +new race about to start some great venture. They were (they knew it +themselves, and the French recognised it most clearly) absolutely free +to choose their future. The sagacious Vergennes predicted events that +actually occurred. "England," he said, "will soon repent of having +removed the only check that could keep her colonies in awe. They stand +no longer in need of her protection. She will call on them to contribute +towards supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her, and +they will answer by striking off all dependence."[305] The defeat of New +France meant the possibilities of a new nation in the Western +hemisphere; and Old France revenged herself for the loss of her would-be +Empire by throwing in her lot with those aforetime jealous and jarring +Thirteen States. Old France, therefore, though she knew her own Empire +was gone, largely assisted to create the new nation, the new people, the +United States of America. The Thirteen Colonies had scarcely been taught +the lessons of unity by the horrors of Indian barbarities and the French +border war; but so much as they had learnt they tried to put into +practice at the first Philadelphian Congress, and at the time of the +Declaration of Independence. The Treaty of Paris, one of the most +important of all colonial treaties, was merely the forerunner of that +other great Treaty of Versailles; the former gave to us the vast area +now known as the Dominion of Canada; the latter marked the disappearance +of England's Thirteen Colonies, and the creation of the United States of +America. It would not have been any very great or wonderful prophecy for +a statesman, after the Treaty of Paris, to have foretold the rise of +that new nation which has grown with such marvellous strides; and it +would not have been inappropriate for him to have used the words of the +poet in which to describe this great evolution, and say, "Methinks, I +see in my mind a noble and puissant nation, rousing herself as a strong +man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her +like an _eagle_ viewing her mighty youth and kindling her undazzled eyes +at the full midday beam." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[281] Adams's _Works_ (ed. 1856), vol. i. p. 23. + +[282] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), pp. 544, +545. + +[283] _Dinwiddie Papers_, vol. i. p. 258. + +[284] _Dinwiddie Papers_, vol. i. p. 306. + +[285] _Letters of Horace Walpole_ (Ed. 1861), vol. ii. p. 459. + +[286] Parkman, _Wolfe and Montcalm_ (1901), vol. i. p. 188. + +[287] _Annual Register_, 1758, p. 4. + +[288] Bradley, _The Fight with France for North America_ (1905), pp. +81-99. + +[289] Quoted by J. A. Harrison, _Washington_ (1906), p. 95. + +[290] Letter of Washington to Dinwiddie, July 18, 1755. + +[291] Doyle, _The Colonies under the House of Hanover_ (1907), p. 575. + +[292] Letter of Washington to Dinwiddie, July 18, 1755. + +[293] Lucas, _Hist. Geo. of British Colonies, Canada_, part i. (1901), +p. 240. + +[294] Wright, _Life of Wolfe_ (1864), pp. 440, 441. + +[295] Parkman, _Wolfe and Montcalm_, vol. ii. p. 48. + +[296] Drucour's letter, _Annual Register_, 1758, pp. 179-81. + +[297] Bradley, _The Fight with France for North America_ (1905), p. 217, +says a million sterling had been spent on the fortifications since 1745. + +[298] _Grenville Correspondence_, vol. i. 262. + +[299] Quoted by Bradley, _ut supra_, p. 245. + +[300] _Annual Register_, 1758, pp. 72, 73. + +[301] Burke, _Annual Register_, 1759, p. 34. + +[302] Major W. Wood, in _The Siege of Quebec_ (1904), doubts the truth +of this picturesque story. + +[303] Bradley, _Life of Wolfe_ (1895), p. 208. + +[304] Hunt, _Political History of England_, 1760-1801 (1905), p. 141. + +[305] Bancroft, _History of the United States_ (1891), i. p. 525. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF COLONIAL HISTORY + + + 1492. First voyage of Columbus. + 1496. Charter to John and Sebastian Cabot. + 1497. John and Sebastian Cabot discover Newfoundland. + 1498. The second voyage of the Cabots. + 1500. Gaspar Corte Real sailed to Newfoundland. + 1501. Gaspar Corte Real wrecked in Chesapeake Bay. + 1502. Miguel Corte Real sailed to search for his brother. + 1506. Denys of Harfleur reached the Gulf of St Lawrence. + 1508. Aubert of Dieppe brought American Indians to France + 1523. Verrazano sent out by Francis I. + 1524. Verrazano sailed along the coast of North America. + 1527. John Rut and Albert de Prado sailed to Newfoundland. + 1534. Jacques Cartier of St Malo sailed to the St Lawrence. + 1535. Jacques Cartier's second voyage. He reached Stadacona. + 1536. Master Hore was wrecked on Newfoundland. + 1541-42. Cartier's third voyage, joined by De Roberval. + 1553. Voyages of Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor. + 1562. Jean Ribault's expedition to Florida. + 1564-65. René de Laudonniere sailed to the Carolinas. + 1565. The French settlement destroyed by the Spaniard Menendez. + 1576. Martin Frobisher's first voyage. + 1577. Martin Frobisher's second voyage, and discovery of Meta + Incognita. + 1577-80. Drake's voyage round the world. + 1578. Martin Frobisher's third voyage. + Grant of a patent for colonisation to Sir Humphrey Gilbert. + 1583. Newfoundland claimed as an English colony. + 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh sends out Captains Amidas and Barlow. + 1585. Raleigh's first Virginian colony. + 1586. The colonists brought back by Drake. + 1587. Raleigh's second attempt. + 1589. First edition of _Hakluyt's Voyages_ published. + 1598. Second and complete edition of _Hakluyt's Voyages_. + Marquis de la Roche attempts to found a convict settlement. + 1599. Chauvin and Pontgravé attempt a settlement at Tadoussac. + 1602. De Chastes obtains the services of Samuel Champlain. + Bartholomew Gosnold makes a voyage to the West. + 1603. The voyage of the _Discovery_ and the _Speedwell_ to + America. + De la Roche's settlers rescued from Sable Island. + Samuel Champlain sailed up the St Lawrence. + De Monts obtained a patent to colonise Acadia. + 1604. De Chastes joined to De Monts and established Port Royal. + 1605. Samuel Champlain remained the winter in Acadia. + 1606. Relief arrived. The expedition included Lescarbot, the + historian. + The formation of the London and Plymouth Companies. + 1607. The foundation of Jamestown, Virginia. + Popham and Gilbert's expedition to the Kennebec. + 1608. Champlain founded Quebec. + 1609. Champlain discovered Lake Champlain. + Claude Etienne and Charles de la Tour settled on the + Penobscot. + Sir George Somers and Sir Thomas Gates sail for Virginia. + 1610. Lord Delawarr governor of Virginia. + 1611. Sir Thomas Gates governor of Virginia. + 1613. Marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe. + Champlain and de Vignau follow the course of the Ottawa. + 1614. Samuel Argall sacked Port Royal in Acadia. + Captain John Smith made a voyage to New England. + 1615. Champlain and Le Caron came to Lake Huron. + 1616. The Recollet missionaries settled in Canada. + 1619. Sir George Yeardley governor of Virginia. + 1620. Reorganisation of the New England Company. + The voyage of the _Mayflower_ and establishment of New + Plymouth. + 1621. Sir William Alexander obtained a patent to colonise Acadia. + 1622. Sir Robert Gordon attempted to settle Cape Breton Island. + 1623. James I. demanded the surrender of the charter of the + London Company. + A fishing station at Cape Ann, Massachusetts. + Levitt established a settlement on Casco Bay, Maine. + 1625. Jesuit missionaries first came to Canada. + 1626. Definite settlement of the Dutch on Manhattan Island. + 1627. Death of Sir George Yeardley. Harvey governor of Virginia. + Richelieu establishes the Company of the One Hundred + Associates. + 1628. David Kirke destroyed the French fleet in the St Lawrence. + 1629. David Kirke captured Quebec. + Sir Robert Heath received a grant of land south of + Virginia. + The establishment of Massachusetts. + 1630. Winthrop established Boston. + La Tour made governor of Acadia. + 1631. Arrival of Roger Williams in Massachusetts. + Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke obtain land on the + Connecticut. + Sir Ferdinando Gorges formed a company for colonising + Maine. + 1632. Grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore. + Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, by which Quebec was + restored to the French. + 1634. Champlain built a fort at Three Rivers. + 1635. Champlain died. + Maine granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges. + Captain John Mason established New Hampshire. + Foundation of Providence by Roger Williams. + Winthrop, the younger, governor of Connecticut. + Harry Vane, Mrs Anne Hutchinson, and John Wheelwright come + to Massachusetts. + The Pequod War. + 1636. The foundation of Harvard College. + De Montmagny succeeded Champlain. + 1637. The foundation of Rhode Island. + Theophilus Eaton founded New Haven. + 1638. Minuit's Swedish settlement. + 1640. Union of Rhode Island and Providence. + 1642. Conformity Act in Virginia. + Fort Richelieu (Sorel) founded. + 1643. The New England Confederacy. + 1647. Peter Stuyvesant made governor of the New Netherlands. + 1649. Toleration Act in Maryland. + 1650. Sir William Berkeley commissioned by Charles II. + 1651. Sir George Ayscue sent to subdue the West. + 1651-58. The towns of Maine under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. + 1652. Richard Bennet governor of Virginia. + 1653. Le Moyne, the Jesuit, sent as an envoy to the Iroquois. + 1654. War with the Nyantic Indians. + 1654. Stephenson took Acadia. + 1655. Peter Stuyvesant captured the Swedish settlements. + Edward Digges, Governor of Virginia. + Victory of the Protestants at Providence, Maryland. + 1657. Lord Baltimore restored in Maryland. + 1659. Josias Fendall, Governor of Maryland. + 1661. Royal Commissioners sent to the colonies. + 1662. Charles Calvert made Governor of Maryland. + Charter granted to Connecticut. + 1663. Charter granted to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas. + Canada became a Royal Province. + 1664. Colbert created the Company of the West. + Richard Nicolls captured New Amsterdam. + 1665. Attempt of De Ruyter to retake New Amsterdam. + Marquis de Tracy made Lieutenant-General of Canada. + 1666. Courcelles attacked the Iroquois. + The Treaty of Breda. + La Salle arrived in Canada. + 1667. Locke's Fundamental Constitutions for the Carolinas. + Terrific gale in Maryland and Virginia. + 1668. Francis Lovelace made Governor of New York. + Jacques Marquette, a missioner on Lake Superior. + 1669. La Salle supposed to have discovered the Ohio. + 1670. Incorporation of the Hudson Bay Company. + William Sayle came from the Barbadoes to South Carolina. + 1671. Sir John Yeamans, Governor of South Carolina. + 1672. Count Frontenac made Governor of Canada. + Grants in Virginia to Lords Arlington and Culpeper. + 1673. Cornelius Eversen retook New York. + The establishment of Fort Frontenac. + Joliet and Marquette reach the Mississippi. + 1674. Death of Marquette. + The Treaty of Westminster restored New York to the English. + Carteret and Berkeley given rights in New Jersey. + Joseph West made Governor of South Carolina. + 1674-1676. King Philip's War. + 1675. Death of Cecil, Lord Baltimore. + 1677. The end of Berkeley's rule in Virginia. + Thomas Eastchurch, Governor of Carolina. + 1678. Massachusetts purchased all rights over Maine. + La Salle given leave to discover the western parts of New + France. + La Salle, De Tonty, and Father Hennepin allied as + discoverers. + Fort Niagara built. + 1679. La Salle sailed up Lakes Erie and Michigan. + 1680. La Salle built Fort Crèvecoeur on the lower Illinois. + Father Hennepin travelled on the upper Mississippi. + Edward Byllinge and certain Quakers encouraged to colonise + Delaware. + 1681. William Penn founded Pennsylvania. + Limitation of the franchise in Maryland. + 1681-1682. La Salle descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. + 1682. End of Frontenac's first government of Canada. + Formation of the "Compagni du Nord." + 1682-1683. La Salle established a French colony on the Illinois. + 1682-1684. New Hampshire governed by Edward Cranfield. + 1683. Seth Sothel, Governor of North Carolina. + Thomas Dongan, Governor of New York. + 1684. La Vallière, Governor of Acadia, succeeded by Perrot. + Lord Howard of Effingham, Governor of Virginia. + The Five Nations allied with the English at Albany. + 1684-1685. La Salle's expedition to Texas. + 1684-1687. The Mississippi Scheme. + 1685. The Marquis de Denonville, Governor of Canada. + The English colonies lose their charters. + Francis Nicholson, Deputy-Governor of New York. + Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. + 1686. Sir Edmund Andros in Massachusetts. + 1687. Death of La Salle. + The Marquis de Denonville defeated the Iroquois. + 1688. The Revolution in England. + Sir Edmund Andros plundered Pentegost. + 1689. Denonville destroyed Fort Frontenac. + Count Frontenac appointed Governor of Canada for the second + time. + Count Frontenac sent three raiding parties into New + England. + Du Luth defeated the Iroquois on the Ottawa. + William Penn lost his proprietary rights. + Leisler's rising in New York. + 1690. Congress of the colonies at Albany. + Colonel Sloughter suppressed Leisler's rising. + Port Royal taken by Sir William Phipps. + Sir William Phipps led an expedition against Quebec. + 1691. Successful attack of the English on La Prairie. + New Plymouth incorporated within Massachusetts. + Maryland placed under the direct control of the Crown. + 1692. Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York. + Andrew Hamilton, Governor of New Jersey. + Villebon re-occupied Port Royal. + French attacks on the coast of Maine. + 1693. Canadians and Indians attacked the Mohawk towns. + D'Iberville reconnoitred Fort Pemaquid. + English expedition to recover the forts on James Bay. + Establishment of William and Mary College, Virginia. + 1694. Proprietary rights restored to William Penn. + End of the rule of Sir William Phipps in Massachusetts. + La Mothe Cadillac sent to command Michillimackinac. + 1695. Fort Frontenac was re-occupied. + Sir William Phipps died. + 1696. Frontenac, Callières, and Vaudreuil attacked the Iroquois. + D'Iberville took Fort Pemaquid from Chubb. + 1696-1726. Rhode Island governed by Samuel Cranston. + 1697. Abortive French expedition under the Marquis de Nesmond + against Boston. + D'Iberville took Fort Nelson. + The Treaty of Ryswick. + 1698. Establishment of a college in Connecticut. + Frontenac died at Quebec. + 1698-1701. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, New + Hampshire governed by Lord Bellomont. + 1699. First colonisation of Louisiana by Le Moyne d'Iberville. + 1701. La Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit. + Penn left Pennsylvania. + Execution of the pirate Captain Kidd. + Lord Cornbury succeeded Lord Bellomont. + 1702. The Proprietors resigned their rights over New Jersey. + 1702-1713. Queen Anne's War. + 1703. Separation of Delaware from Pennsylvania. + Colonel Moore's attack upon St Augustine. + 1704. Colonel Moore's attack upon Apalachee. + The French attacked Deerfield. + Major Church threatened Port Royal. + 1706. The French and Spanish attacked Charleston. + 1707. Colonel March threatened Port Royal. + 1708. The French attacked Haverfield on the Merrimac. + Lord Cornbury recalled. + 1709. Samuel Vetch advocated combined attack on New France. + Colonel Francis Nicholson attacked near Lake Champlain the + forces of Ramesay, Governor of Montreal. + 1710. Colonel Francis Nicholson took Port Royal. + 1711. The Walker-Hill expedition against Canada. + North Carolina attacked by the Tuscarora Indians. + 1712. Birth of Montcalm at Nîmes. + 1713. The Treaty of Utrecht. + 1715. Proprietary rights over Maryland restored to the fourth + Lord Baltimore. + 1716. North Carolina attacked by the Yamassee Indians. + 1718. Death of William Penn. + Bienville, brother of D'Iberville, founded New Orleans. + 1720. Settlement of German Palatines in New York. + Louisburg on Cape Breton Island began to be important. + The French built a permanent fort at Niagara. + 1723. The Jesuit Charlevoix recommended a mission among the + Sioux. + 1724. Sebastian Rasle, a Jesuit priest, killed on the Kennebec. + 1726. Peace between the Indians and New Englanders. + 1727. Birth of James Wolfe at Westerham, in Kent. + The English established a trading centre at Oswego. + Fort Beauharnois built in the Sioux country. + 1729. Death of Governor Burnet. + 1731-1740. De la Verendrye built forts from Rainy Lake westward. + 1731. Saint Luc de la Corne built Fort St Frederic (Crown Point). + 1732. General Oglethorpe established Georgia. + 1734. Salzburg Germans came to Georgia. + 1736. John Wesley in Georgia. + 1738. George Whitefield in Georgia. + 1739-1742. War in Georgia with the Spaniards. + 1742. The Spaniards attacked St Simons, Carolina. + 1743. General Oglethorpe left Georgia. + 1743-1753. George Clinton, Governor of New York. + 1744. War between England and France. + Canso taken by the French. + 1745. Shirley, Pepperell, and Warren take Louisburg. + 1747. Warren and Anson defeated the French off Cape Finisterre. + 1748. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. + 1749. Celeron de Bienville registered the claims of France to the + Ohio valley. + Establishment of Fort Rouillé (Toronto). + Establishment of Halifax. + 1750. Le Loutre burnt Beaubassin. + 1752. The Marquis Duquesne became Governor of Canada. + Georgia passed into the hands of the Crown. + 1753. Proposal to unite the Thirteen Colonies. + Duquesne sent Marin to build forts between the Lakes and + the Ohio. Washington sent on a counter expedition. + 1754. The French built Fort Duquesne. + Death of Jumonville. + Washington built Fort Necessity, but obliged to retreat. + 1755. Braddock's disaster on the Monongahela. + William Johnson's expedition against Crown Point. + Shirley's advance on Lake Ontario. + Beausejour taken and renamed Fort Cumberland. + Transportation of the Acadians. + Vaudreuil appointed Governor-General of Canada. + 1756. Outbreak of the Seven Years' War. + Oswego, under Bradstreet, taken by Montcalm. + Recall of William Shirley. + 1757. Loudoun and Holborne made an abortive attempt on Louisburg. + Fort William Henry taken by Montcalm and Levis. + William Pitt joined Newcastle. + 1758. Louisburg under Drucour taken by Boscawen, Amherst, and + Wolfe. + Abercromby defeated at Ticonderoga. Death of Lord Howe. + 1758. Fort Frontenac taken by Bradstreet. + Amherst appointed Commander-in-chief in North America. + Fort Duquesne taken by Forbes and renamed Pittsburg. + 1759. Stanwix sent to Duquesne and Prideaux to Oswego. + Fort Niagara taken by Johnson. + Ticonderoga and Crown Point taken by Amherst. + The capture of Quebec. Deaths of Wolfe and Montcalm. + 1760. The Battle of St Foy. Levis forced the English into Quebec. + Relief of Quebec. + Surrender of Montreal to the forces of Amherst, Haviland, + and Murray. + 1763. The Peace of Paris. + + + + +A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THOSE WORKS WHICH CAN BE OBTAINED EASILY + + +_Large Bibliographies_ + + Larned, J. N. (editor). The Literature of American History, + Boston, 1902. + + Harrisse, H. Notes pour servir à l'histoire, à la bibliographie, + et à la cartographie de la Nouvelle France, etc., Paris, 1872. + + Cambridge Modern History, vol. vii., Cambridge, 1905. + +_General_ + + Calendars of Colonial State Papers in the English Record Office. + + Bancroft, G. History of the United States, 6 vols., New York, + 1883-85. + + Doyle, J. A. The English in America, 3 vols., London, 1882-87; + The Middle Colonies, London, 1907; The Colonies under the + House of Hanover, London, 1907. + + Egerton, H. L. Short History of British Colonial Policy, New + York, 1898; Origin and Growth of English Colonies, Oxford, + 1903. + + Hart, A. B. (editor). American History told by Contemporaries, 4 + vols., New York, 1897-1902. + + Winsor, J. (editor). The Narrative and Critical History of + America, 8 vols., Boston, 1886-89. + + +_Discoveries_ + + Fiske, J. The Discovery of America, 2 vols., Boston, 1892. + + Hakluyt, R. Principal Navigations, voiages, etc. (1598), 12 + vols., Glasgow, 1904-5. + + Payne, L. J. Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen to America, 2 + vols., London, 1893. + + Prowse, D. W. History of Newfoundland, London, 1895. + + +_The Thirteen Colonies_ + + Bradley, A. G. Captain John Smith (English Men of Action), + London, 1905. + + Brown, J. The Pilgrim Fathers of New England, New York, 1895. + + Browne, W. H. Maryland: the History of a Palatinate, Boston, + 1884. + + Bruce, H. Life of Oglethorpe, New York, 1890. + + Bruce, P. A. Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth + Century, 2 vols., New York, 1896. + + Clarkson, T. Memoirs of William Penn, 2 vols., London, 1813. + + Fiske, J. The Beginnings of New England, Boston, 1889; Old + Virginia and her Neighbours, 2 vols., New York, 1897; Dutch + and Quaker Colonies in America, 2 vols., Boston, 1899. + + Johnston, A. Connecticut, Boston, 1887. + + Jones, C. C. History of Georgia, 2 vols., Boston, 1883. + + M'Clintock, J. History of New Hampshire, Boston, 1889. + + M'Crady, E. History of South Carolina, 4 vols., New York, + 1897-1903. + + Neill, E. D. History of the Virginia Company of London, Albany, + 1869. + + Rickman, J. Rhode Island, its Making and Meaning, 2 vols., New + York, 1902. + + Roberts, E. H. History of New York, 2 vols., Boston, 1887. + + Saunders, W. L. (editor). Colonial Records of North Carolina, 16 + vols., Raleigh, 1886. + + Shurtlegg, N. B. Records of Massachusetts Bay, 1628-86, 5 vols., + Boston, 1853-54. + + Weeden, W. B. Economic and Social History of New England, 2 + vols., Boston, 1890. + + Williamson, W. D. History of Maine, 2 vols., Hallowell, 1832. + + Wenson, J. Memorial History of Boston, 1630-1880, 4 vols., + Boston, 1880-82. + + +_Canada_ + + Bourinot, Sir J. G. Historical and Descriptive Account of the + Island of Cape Breton, Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., Montreal; 1892, + Canada under British Rule, Camb., 1900. + + Bradley, A. G. Wolfe (English Men of Action), London, 1889; The + Fight with France for North America, London, 1900. + + Green, W. William Pitt (Heroes of the Nation), New York, 1901. + + Kingsford, W. The History of Canada, London, 1888. + + Lucas, C. P. Historical Geography of the British Colonies, vol. + v., Oxford, 1901. + + Parkman, F. Collected Works, edited by W. Kingsford, London, + 1900-1. + + Wright, R. Life of Major-General J. Wolfe, London, 1864. + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Abenaki Indians, 229, 230, 232, 245 + + Abercromby, General, 267, 272-74 + + Abolition of slave trade (1807), 190 + + Abraham, Heights of, 276, 278 + + Acadia, 35, 227, 233, 237, 243, 244, 248, 261, 264, 265 + + Adams, John, 254 + + Africa, 6 + + Agriculture, 174 + + Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of, 256, 268 + + Alatamaha River, 159 + + Albany, 134, 135, 136, 140, 141, 225, 226, 227, 229, 259, 261, 272 + + Albemarle (district), 65, 67, 68, 70 + + Albemarle, Duke of, 64 + + Albemarle river, 64 + + Alcazar, Battle of, 10 + + Alexander VI., rule of, 6 + + Alexandria (America), 260 + + Alleghany Mountains, 166, 245, 256 + + Alleghany River, 258 + + Allen, Nathaniel, 151 + + Allen, Samuel, 126 + + Alva, Duke of, 2 + + Amelia Island, 161 + + Amherst, Jeffrey, 270-72, 275, 276 + + Amidas, Captain, 17, 20, 23, 63 + + Amsterdam, 79, 132 + + Andros, Sir Edmund, 102, 103, 112, 139, 140, 141, 148, 192 + + Annapolis, 197, 203, 237 + + Anson, Admiral, 251 + + Antigua, 68 + + Apalachee, 72 + + Aquedneck, 114, 175 + + Archangel, 9, 18 + + Archdale, Joseph, 71 + + Argall, Samuel, 34-37 + + Arkansas River, 215-18 + + Arlington, Lord, 46 + + Arnold, _History of the State of Rhode Island, etc._, 117 _n._ + + Ashley River, 65, 69 + + _Association for the Defence of the Protestant Religion_, 60 + + Aubert (French voyager), 200 + + Augusta, 159 + + Austrian Succession, War of, 251 + + Ayscue, Sir George, 44 + + Azores, the, 22 + + + B + + Bacon, Sir Francis, 4, 31 + + Bacon, Nathaniel, 48 + + Bahamas, the, 158 + + Baltic Company, 118 + + Baltimore City, 62, 191 + + Baltimore, first Lord, 54, 55 + + Baltimore, second Lord, 55-59 + + Baltimore, fourth Lord, 61 + + Barbadoes, the, 64, 68, 96, 97, 188 + + Barbary, 10 + + Barlow, Captain, 17, 23, 63 + + Barrett, _History and Antiquities of Bristol_, 5 _n._ + + Bateson, _Cambridge Modern History_, 200 _n._ + + Beaujeu, Admiral, 220, 261 + + Beauport, 228, 276 + + Belcher, Governor, 194 + + Belknap, 249 _n._ + + Bellomont, Earl of, 105, 106, 143 + + Bennet, Richard, 45 + + Berkeley, Lady, 49 + + Berkeley, Lord, 134, 139, 146, 147 + + Berkeley, Sir William, 42-49, 57, 64, 194 + + Bermudas, 31, 34, 64 + + Berry, Sir John, 48, 49 + + Beverley, Robert, 195 + + Beza, John, 151 + + Bienville, C. de, 256 + + Biggar, _Voyages of the Cabots, etc._, 5 _n._ + + Bigot, 170 + + Black Watch, 273 + + Blair, Commissary, 51, 52, 194 + + Blake, Joseph, 71 + + Blenheim, Battle of, 232 + + Block Island, 101 + + Bolingbroke, Viscount, 237 + + Bolzius, Martin, 159 + + Boscawen, Admiral, 270, 271 + + Boston, 89, 96, 97, 100-104, 110, 115 118, 141, 144, 169, 170, 171, + 173, 176, 181, 183, 184, 227, 228, 231, 235, 237-39, 241, 252 + + "Bostonnais," 227, 228, 233 + + Bougainville, 276 + + Bozman, _History of Maryland_, 57 _n._ + + Braddock, General, 260-63, 266, 273 + + Bradford, William, 79, 82, 83 + + Bradley, _Captain John Smith_, 29 _n._ + + Bradley, _Fight with France for North America_, 260 _n._, 271 _n._, + 273 _n._ + + Bradley, _Life of Wolfe_, 279 _n._ + + Bradstreet, Anne, 183 + + Bradstreet, Colonel, 266, 267, 274 + + Bradstreet, Simon, 89, 169, 171, 179 + + Braintree (America), 171 + + Branford, 112 + + Brayne, Henry, 68 + + Brazil, 6, 8, 18 + + Breda, 44 + + Brewton, Colonel, 72 + + Bristol, 3-6 + + British Columbia, 15 + + Brodhead, 135 + + Brooke, Lord, 107, 124 + + Brown, Captain, 245 + + Browne, John, 90 + + Browne, Samuel, 90 + + Bryce, _American Commonwealth_, 108 _n._ + + Bulkeley, Peter, 99, 100 + + Burke, Edmund, 165, 273 + + Burnet, Governor, 144, 177, 246 + + Burrough, Edward, 96, 97 + + Byllinge, Edward, 147, 148 + + Byrd, Colonel, 195 + + + C + + Cabot, John, 3, 5, 6 + + Cabot, Sebastian, 3-6, 8, 9 + + Cadillac, La Mothe, 222 + + California, Gulf of, 215 + + Calvert, Cecil, 193 + + Calvert, Chas., 59, 60 + + Calvert, George, 54 + + Calvert, Leonard, 55-57 + + Cambridge (America), 89, 93, 184 + + Campbell, John, 184 + + Canada, 78, 141, 170, 180, 202-24, 225, 226, 227, 229, 232-34, 242, + 244, 247, 251, 254, 257, 264, 273-82 + + Canary Islands, 6 + + Canso, 248 + + Cape Ann, 87 + + Cape Breton Island, 243, 252, 270, 280 + + Cape Cod, 81 + + Cape Fear, 64, 68 + + Cape Finisterre, 251 + + Cape Henry, 26 + + Carleton, Sir Guy, 276 + + Carlile, Captain, 16 + + Carolina, North, 17, 52, 63-75, 191, 196, 198 + + Carolina, South, 53, 63-75, 158, 162, 187, 190, 191, 194, 196-98, + 264 + + Carolinas, The, 5, 107, 201, 235, 257, 258, 259, 261 + + Carr, Sir Robert, 121, 122, 125, 134 + + Carteret, Philip, 59, 134, 147,148 + + Carteret, Sir George, 134, 139, 146, 147, 148 + + Cartier, Jacques, 201, 202, 280 + + Cartwright, 134 + + Carver, William, 82 + + Cary, Thomas, 73 + + Casco Bay, 119, 232 + + Castle Island, 90 + + Cataraqui River, 216 + + Cathay, 3, 6, 10 + + Cathay, Company of, 11 + + Cavendish, 18, 20 + + Cecil, Robert, 31 + + Champlain, Samuel, 203-208, 212, 213 + + Chancellor, Richard, 9 + + Charles I., 41, 42, 44, 54, 63, 64, 76, 90, 94, 95, 109, 119, 123, + 132 + + Charles II., 44, 46, 48, 59, 72, 85, 93, 96, 97, 116, 119, 121, 122, + 129, 132, 133, 138, 146, 176, 184, 196 + + Charles V., 9, 200 + + Charlestown, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74, 89, 90, 103, 196 + + Chauvin, 203 + + Chesapeake Bay, 26 + + Chesterfield, Lord, 280 + + Chicheley, Sir Henry, 49 + + Chowan River, 63 + + Chubb, 230, 231 + + Church, Major, 233 + + Clap, _The Annals or History of Yale College_, 182 _n._ + + Clarendon, Earl of, 64 + + Clarendon Settlements, 70 + + Clarke, George (Junior), 144 + + Clarke, George (Senior), 145 + + Clayborne, William, 56-58 + + Clinton, George, 145 + + Clothmaking, 171 + + Cocheco River, 124 + + Coddington, William, 114, 175 + + Colbert, 208-11, 219 + + Colonial Congress, First, 141 + + Columbus, Christopher, 3, 4, 6, 25, 80, 200 + + Company of the One Hundred Associates, 207, 208 + + Company of the West, 210 + + Conant, Roger, 87 + + Condé, Prince de, 204 + + Connecticut, 93, 102, 107-14, 118, 119, 126, 129, 133, 168, 171, + 173, 175, 176, 179, 181-84, 226, 249 + + Connecticut River, 107, 109 + + Contrecoeur, 258 + + Convers, 230 + + Coode, John, 60 + + Coram, Thomas, 157 + + Cornbury, Lord, 143, 150 + + Cosby, William, 144 + + Costobelle, 238 + + Cotton, John, 92, 185 + + Courcelles, Governor, 211 + + Cranfield, Edward, 126 + + Cranston, Samuel, 117 + + Crispen, William, 151 + + Cromwell, Oliver, 44, 45, 58 + + Crownpoint, 246, 247, 251, 261, 263, 264 + + Culpeper, Lord, 46, 50, 67 + + Curwen, Samuel, 250 + + Cutts, John, 125 + + Cuyler, 141 + + + D + + Dale, Sir Thomas, 32, 33 _n._, 36, 37 + + Damariscotta, 248 + + Dare, Eleanor, 21 + + Darien, 233 + + Dautray, Sieur, 218, 219 + + Davenport, John, 118 + + Davies, Sylvanus, 226 + + D'Auville, Duc, 251 + + De Chastes, 203 + + D'Estournel, 251 + + De Lery, 266 + + De Ligueries, 274 + + De Loutre, 264 + + De Monts, 203 + + De Roberval, 202 + + De Ruyter, 135 + + Declaration of Indulgence, 162 + + Deerfield, 232, 233 + + Defoe, Daniel, 155 + + Delaware, 112, 153, 155, 187, 191 + + Delaware River, 134, 146, 147, 148, 150, 151-53 + + Delawarr, Lord, 32, 34 + + Denonville, 225 + + Denys, the voyager, 200 + + Detroit, 222-47 + + Diaz, Bartholomew, 3 + + Dieskau, Baron, 263 + + Digges, Edward, 45 + + Dinwiddie, Governor, 53, 256-62 + + Dongan, Thomas, 139, 140, 225 + + Dorchester (America), 86, 90, 108 + + Doughty, Thomas, 15 + + Dover (America), 124, 125 + + Doyle, _Cambridge Modern History_, 67 _n._, 91 _n._, 134 _n._, + 165 _n._, 183 _n._ + + Doyle, _Colonies under the House of Hanover_, 185 _n._, 195 _n._, + 197 _n._, 250 _n._, 252 _n._, 255 _n._, 262 _n._ + + Doyle, _The English in America_, 24 _n._, 38 _n._, 40 _n._, 87 _n._, + 178 _n._, 193 _n._ + + Drake, Sir Francis, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21 + + Drucour, Governor, 271, 272 + + Du Luth, 218, 222 + + Duchambon, 249, 250 + + Dudley, Thomas, 89 + + Dummer, Jeremiah, 237 + + Duquesne, Marquis, 256, 257 + + Duquesnel, 247 + + Dutch West India Company, 130-33 + + Dyre, William, 122 + + + E + + East Greenwich, manor of, 111 + + East India Company, 18, 24, 130 + + Eastchurch, Thomas, 67 + + Eaton, Theophilus, 117 + + Education, 182, 183, 194 + + Edward VI., 9 + + Egerton, _A Short History of British Colonial Policy_, 104 _n._ + + Egerton, _Origin and Growth of the English Colonies_, 15 _n._ + + Eldorado, 2, 18 + + Eliot, John, 180 + + Elizabeth, Queen, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 45, 78 + + Endecott, John, 87-91, 109 + + Eversen, Cornelius, 138 + + Exeter (America), 124 + + + F + + Fabian, Robert, 5 + + Fairfield, 182 + + Falmouth, 226, 227 + + Fendall, Josias, 58, 60 + + Fenwick, John, 147, 148 + + Ferrars, John, 36 + + Fish trade, 170, 172 + + Fitchett, _Fights for the Flag_, 229 _n._ + + Five Nations (see also Iroquois), 139, 140, 204, 212, 213, 246 + + Flax, 175 + + Fletcher, Benjamin, 106, 142, 143, 153 + + Fletcher, _Cornhill Magazine_, 10 _n._ + + Florida, 5, 6, 10, 64, 72, 74, 157, 161, 162 + + Forbes, General, 274 + + Force, _Tracts_, 33 _n._, 157 _n._, 158 _n._, 165 _n._ + + Fort Bull, 266 + + Fort Casimir, 132 + + Fort Chartres, 247 + + Fort Christina, 131 + + Fort Crèvecoeur, 217 + + Fort Cumberland, 257 + + Fort Duquesne, 258, 261, 274 + + Fort Edward, 269 + + Fort Frontenac, 212, 216, 217, 222, 274 + + Fort James, 138 + + Fort Loyal, 226 + + Fort Lyman, 263 + + Fort Necessity, 258 + + Fort Niagara, 217, 246, 247, 264, 275 + + Fort Orange, 134 + + Fort Pemaquid, 230, 231 + + Fort Richelieu, 208 + + Fort Rouillé, 246 + + Fort St Frederic, 247 + + Fort St Louis, 219-21 + + Fort William Henry, 264, 268, 269 + + Fortescue, _Calendar of State Papers, Colonial_, 49 _n._, 50 _n._, + 67 _n._, 100 _n._, 101 _n._ + + Fox River, 213 + + Francis I., 200 + + Franciscans, the, 205, 206 + + Franklin, Benjamin, 195, 259 + + Frederic the Great, 247 + + Frederica, 159, 161, 162 + + French, _Historical Collections of Louisiana_, 218 _n._, 219 _n._ + + Frobisher Bay, 11 + + Frobisher Sir Martin, 11, 12 + + Frontenac, Count, 211-13, 219, 225-28 + + Fuller, Thomas, 19 + + Fundy, Bay of, 203 + + Fur trade, 170, 203, 205 + + + G + + Gainsborough, 79 + + Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth_, 44 _n._ + + Gates, Sir Thomas, 24, 31-33, 36 + + George II., 252 + + George III., 101 + + Georgia, 156-67 + + Germantown, 192, 198 + + Gigglesworth, Michael, 183 + + Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 6, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19 + + Gilbert, Raleigh, 77 + + Glen, Governor, 259 + + Godfrey, Thomas, 195 + + Goelet, Captain Francis, 169 + + Goffe, William, 118 + + Gondomar, 38 + + Goose Creek, 196 + + Gorges, Ferdinando, 121-24 + + Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 24, 86, 119, 120, 121, 123 + + Gorton, Samuel, 115 + + Gosnold, Bartholomew, 22, 26, 27 + + Grand Pré, 233 + + Granville County, 74 + + Green, J., _Short History of the English People_, 81 _n._, 82 _n._ + + Green, W., _William Pitt_, 174 _n._ + + Greenland, 11 + + Greenwich, 6 + + Grenville, Sir R., 20 + + _Grenville Correspondence_, 273 _n._ + + Guildford (America), 118 + + Guinea, 14, 18 + + + H + + Hakluyt, Richd., 8, 14, 16, 22, 23, 24, 40 + + Hakluyt, _Discourse of Western Planting_, 23 + + Hakluyt, _Voyages_, 6 _n._, 20 _n._, 23 _n._, 63 _n._, 201 _n._, + 203 _n._ + + Hall, John, 176 + + Hamilton, Andrew, 149 + + Hammond, John, 54, 56 _n._, 58 _n._ + + Hamor, Ralph, 34, 35 _n._ + + Hampton, 52, 124, 260 + + Hankey, Sophia, 159, 160 + + Hardy, Captn., 74 + + Harley, 241 + + Harmon, Captn., 245 + + Harrison, _Washington_, 262 _n._ + + Hartford, 108, 113, 182 + + Harvard, 93, 102, 182, 183 + + Harvard, Mr, 93 + + Harvey, Governor, 41, 42 + + Haverfield, 233 + + Haviland, General, 280 + + Hawkins, Sir John, 14 + + Hayes, Edward, 13 + + Hazard, _Historical Collection_, 140 _n._ + + Heage, Wm., 151 + + Heath, Captn., 245 + + Heath, Sir Robert, 63 + + Henning, _Statutes at Large_, 46 _n._ + + Hennepin, Father, 217, 218 + + Henrico, 33 + + Henry VII., 3, 6, 8 + + Henry VIII., 7, 8 + + Henry of Navarre, 204 + + Hiacoomes, 180 + + Hill, Abigail, 240 + + Hill, General, 240, 241 + + Holborne, Admiral, 268 + + Holstead, Captn., 66 + + Hooker, Thos., 92 + + Hore, Master, 7 + + Howard of Effingham, Lord, 50 + + Howe, Lord, 272-74 + + Howe, Thos., 151 + + Hudson Bay, 243 + + Hudson River, 129, 130, 134, 139, 146, 147, 150, 226 + + Hunt, _Political History of England, etc._, 281 _n._ + + Huron Indians, 205, 214 + + Hutchinson, _A Collection of Original Papers_, 98 _n._, 103 _n._ + + Hutchinson, Mrs Anne, 92, 114 + + Hyde, Edward, 73 + + + I + + Iberville, 226-31 + + Iceland, 18 + + Ile d'Orléans, 276 + + Illinois Indians, 214 + + Illinois River, 215-19 + + Indian Bible, 180 + + Indigo, 192 + + Ingle, 57 + + Ingoldsby, Major Ralph, 142 + + Ipswich (America), 102 + + Iron, 171, 192 + + Iroquois (see also Five Nations), 209, 211, 212, 222, 223, 225, 226, + 229, 263 + + + J + + Jack the Feather, 38 + + James I., 24, 25, 38, 39, 40, 80, 83, 132 + + James II., 101, 102, 104, 112, 113, 117, 140, 141, 142, 150, 153, + 231 + + James as Duke of York, 132, 134-38, 146-48, 189, 190 + + James III. (the Old Pretender), 231 + + James River, 27, 51 + + Jamestown, 26-33, 45, 47, 48, 189, 197 + + Janney, _Life of W. Penn_, 152 _n._ + + Japazaus, 34 + + Jeffreys, Sir Herbert, 48, 49 + + Jenkinson, Anthony, 9 + + Jesuits, the, 180, 205, 206, 209, 213, 216, 229, 232 + + Johnson, _A History of New England_, 118 _n._ + + Johnson, Edward, 183 + + Johnson, William, 255, 262, 265, 267 + + Johnstone, Sir Nathaniel, 72, 73, 74 + + Joliet, Louis, 213-15 + + Jonquière, Marquis de la, 251, 256 + + Josselyn, _An Account of Two Voyages to New England_, 120 _n._, + 123 _n._ + + Josselyn, John, 122, 123 + + Jumonville, Lieutenant, 258 + + + K + + Keith, Mr, 154 + + Kennebec River, 77, 104, 120, 245 + + Kent, Isle of, 56-58 + + Kidd, Captain, 106 + + Kieft, Governor, 130 + + King, Colonel, 239, 242 + + King Philip's War, 125 + + King William's War, 113 + + King's College (Columbia), 194 + + Kirke, David, 54, 207, 227 + + Knight, Mrs, 179 + + Knight, Sir John, 47 + + + L + + La Baye, 247 + + La Chine, 216, 226 + + La Corne, 269 + + La Galissonière, 256 + + La Prairie, 227 + + La Rochelle, 207, 220, 251 + + La Salle, Sieur de, 216-22 + + Labrador, 7 + + Laconia Company, 123 + + Lake Champlain, 226, 235, 246 + + Lake Erie, 216, 222 + + Lake George, 264, 265 + + Lake Huron, 213, 222 + + Lake Michigan, 213, 216, 217 + + Lake Ontario, 216, 217 + + Lake Superior, 214 + + Lake Winnebago, 213, 215 + + Lane, Ralph, 20 + + Laud, Archbishop, 76, 89, 90 + + Laudonnière, 63 + + Laurence, Governor, 264, 270 + + Laurie, Gawen, 148 + + Laws, Peculiar, 185 + + Le Caron, 205 + + Le Clercq, Father, 209 + + Le Clercq, _First Establishment of the Faith in New France_, + 210 _n._ + + Le Moyne, 209 + + Lead, 171 + + Leete, William, 112 + + Leisler, Jacob, 141, 142, 226 + + Léry, Baron de, 200 + + Lescarbot, 204 + + Leslie, Lieutenant, 261 + + Levant, The, 18 + + Leverett, Governor, 97 + + Lévis, French General, 268, 269, 272, 279 + + Levitt, 119 + + Leyden, 79, 80, 83 + + Literature, 183, 184 + + Locke, John, 66 + + Locke's _Fundamental Constitution_, 66, 71 + + Logan, James, 156 + + Lok, Michael, 11 + + London Company, 24, 25, 31, 34-42 + + Long Island, 118, 129, 130, 133, 135-38 + + Loudoun, Earl of, 267, 268 + + Louis XIV., 138, 140, 208, 211, 217, 219, 221, 223, 228, 231, 243, + 244 + + Louis XV., 280 + + Louisburg, 244, 247-52, 268, 270, 272, 276 + + Louisiana, 167, 219, 247, 275 + + Lovelace, Francis, 137, 138 + + Lucas, _Historical Geography of the British Colonies--Canada_, + 248 _n._, 263 _n._ + + Ludwell, Philip, 71 + + Lynn (America), 171 + + + M + + Macaulay, Essays, 78 _n._ + + Macaulay, Lord, 86 + + Magellan, Straits of, 15 + + Maine, 8, 35, 77, 94, 119-23, 126, 229, 230, 248, 249 + + Maisonneuve, 209 + + Malplaquet, 232 + + Manhattan Island, 130, 249 + + Manning, Captain, 138 + + Manoa, city of, 3 + + March, Colonel, 233 + + Marie de Medici, 35, 204 + + Marin, 257 + + Marlborough, Duke of, 223, 234, 237, 241-43 + + Marquette, Jacques, 214-16, 222 + + Martha's Vineyard, 180 + + Martin, Advocate of the London Company, 35 + + Martinique, 73 + + Mary, Queen, 225 + + Maryland, 54-62, 74, 107, 150, 187, 190-93, 196, 197, 198, 235, 255, + 257, 259, 261, 262 + + Masham, Mrs, 241 + + Mason, Captain John, 109, 110, 123, 126 + + Mason, family of, 124 + + Massachusetts, 76, 86-100, 112, 114-17, 121-26, 137, 140, 143, 168, + 171-82, 227, 228, 230, 232-38, 242, 244-46, 248, 254, 257, 259, + 260, 263, 264, 271, 281 + + Mather, Cotton, 183 + + Mather, Increase, 102, 105 + + Mathews, Samuel, 45 + + Mathews, Virginian settler, 41 + + Maumee, 247 + + Maverick, 136 + + Mayhew, Thomas, 179 + + Mazarin, Cardinal, 208 + + Meade, _Old Churches of Virginia_, 196 _n._ + + Mellborne, Jacob, 142 + + Membré, Father, 218 + + Menendez, 63 + + Mercer, Colonel, 266 + + Merrimac River, 233 + + Merry Mount, 87 + + Meta Incognita, 12 + + Metacam, 97, 98 + + Mexico, 9 + + Mexico, Bay of, 78, 167, 215, 217, 219 + + Miami Indians, 257 + + Michillimackinac, 247 + + Milford (America), 118 + + Miller, Thomas, 67 + + Minnesota River, 218 + + Minuit, 131 + + Missionaries, 179, 180 + + Mississippi River, 72, 213-15, 217 + + Missouri River, 215, 218 + + Mitchell, _Contest in America_, 247 _n._ + + Mohawk River, 249 + + Mohawks, 236, 262, 267, 275 + + Monckton, General, 276 + + Monongahela River, 258, 261 + + Montcalm, Marquis de, 246, 266-69, 272, 273, 277-79 + + Montmagny, 208 + + Montmorenci, Duc de, 206 + + Montmorency, Falls of, 277 + + Montreal, 204, 208-10, 232, 235, 280 + + Moore, Colonel, 72 + + Moore, James, 72 + + Morley, _Walpole_, 173 _n._, 192 _n._ + + Morris, Lewis, 154, 191 + + Morton, 87 + + Moryson, Colonel Francis, 48, 49 + + Motley, Thomas, 59 + + Moulton, Captain, 245 + + Murray, General, 276, 279, 280 + + Muscovy Company, 9 + + + N + + Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, 202 + + Nantucket, 180, 228 + + Narragansett Bay, 91, 94 + + Narragansett Indians, 109 + + Naumkeag, 87 + + Navigation Acts, 52, 99, 128, 129, 170, 174, 281 + + Neale, Daniel, 172 + + Negro slavery, 178, 179 + + Nelson, Lord, 279 + + Nesmond, Marquis de, 231 + + New Albion, 15 + + New Amstel, 132 + + New Amsterdam, 130-33 + + New Brunswick, 135 + + New England Company, 77, 83, 86, 87, 107, 120 + + New England Confederacy, 93, 94, 97, 111, 119, 124, 126 + + New Hampshire, 105, 123-27, 143, 172, 173, 226, 229, 235, 236, 238, + 246, 249, 259, 267 + + New Haven, 93, 111, 113, 117, 118, 119, 132, 133, 138, 168, 175, + 182, 230 + + New Inverness, 159 + + New Jersey, 105, 134, 135, 139, 145-50, 154, 187-95, 234, 247, 257, + 259, 263 + + New London, 113, 182, 184 + + New Netherlands, 128-45 + + New Plymouth, 97, 178, 180-84 + + New Somersetshire, 119 + + New Sweden, 130-32 + + New York, 74, 105, 106, 113, 136-54, 184, 187, 188, 190-98, 225, + 226, 229, 233-36, 244, 246, 247, 254, 257, 258, 261, 263, 268 + + _New York Weekly Journal_, 144 + + Newcastle, Duke of, 145 + + Newcastle (America), 132, 155 + + Newfoundland, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 16, 18, 54, 201, 243 + + Newport, Christopher, 26, 27, 51 + + Newport (America), 114, 115, 169, 198 + + Newspapers, 184 + + Nicollet, Jean, 213 + + Nicholls, Colonel R., 133-37, 146, 197 + + Nicholson, Francis, 51, 60, 74, 140, 141, 234-37, 240 + + North-East Passage, 9, 11 + + North-West Passage, 6, 9, 10, 11 + + Nova Scotia (see also Acadia), 35, 202, 264 + + Nyantic Indians, 95 + + + O + + O'Callaghan, _Documents relative to Colonial History, etc._, + 106 _n._, 177 _n._, 182 _n._, 246 _n._ + + Oglethorpe, James, 156-65 + + Ohio Company, 256, 257. + + Ohio River, 215-18, 255-58, 265, 266 + + Oldham, John, 109 + + Onondaga River, 246 + + Opechancanough, 38-43 + + Oregon, 15 + + Oswego, 246, 264-66 + + Ottawa, 205 + + Oudenarde, Battle of, 232 + + Oxford, Earl of, 237 + + Oyster Point, 69 + + Oyster River, 230 + + + P + + Paper bills, 177 + + Paris, Treaty of, 243, 280-82 + + Parkhurst, Anthony, 8 + + Parkman, _Half a Century of Conflict_, 232 _n._, 235 _n._, 239 _n._, + 242 _n._, 244, _n._ 246 _n._ + + Parkman, _La Salle_, 217 _n._ + + Parkman, _Wolfe and Montcalm_, 260 _n._, 270 _n._ + + Pastorius, _Geographical Description of Pennsylvania_, 153 _n._ + + Patagonia, 10 + + Pawtuxet, 115 + + Peckham, Sir George, 16 + + Penn, John, 156 + + Penn, Thomas, 156 + + Penn, William, 148-56, 255 + + Pennsylvania, 146, 149-56, 187-96, 234, 249, 255-59, 261, 263, 268, + 274 + + Penobscot, Indians of the, 245 + + Penruddock, Colonel, 188 + + Pepperell, William, 249, 250, 252 + + Pert, Sir Thomas, 8 + + Peru, 9, 15, 200 + + Philadelphia, 192, 194, 195, 198 + + Philip II., 2, 202 + + Phipps, Sir William, 104, 105, 227-30, 278 + + Pilgrim Fathers, 54, 80-82, 103 + + Piscataqua River, 123 + + Pitt, William, 173, 269, 271, 273, 276 + + Pittsburg, 274 + + Plymouth, 76-87, 93, 107, 108, 168, 169, 171, 175 + + Plymouth Company, 24, 77, 78 + + Pocahontas, 29, 34, 35 + + Pokanoket Indians, 97 + + Pontgravé, 203, 204 + + Popham, George, 77 + + Popish Plot, the, 100 + + Port Royal, 35, 63, 72, 158, 203, 227, 229, 233, 237 + + Portland, 226 + + Portsmouth (America), 114, 115, 125 + + Portugal, 236 + + Postal service, 184 + + Potomac, the, 34 + + Pouchot (French commander), 275 + + Powhattan, 27, 29, 32, 34, 38 + + Prado, Albert de, 7 + + Prices, 177 + + Prideaux, General, 275 + + Pring, Martin, 22, 23 + + Printing, 184 + + Providence, 114-19, 182 + + Prowse, _History of Newfoundland_, 243 _n._ + + Puritans, the, 181,182 + + Pym, John, 90, 94 + + + Q + + Quaker settlements, 146-56 + + Quakers, the, 96, 97, 98, 116, 272 + + Quebec, 202, 204, 207, 210, 211, 225, 227, 228, 231, 232, 244, + 275-80 + + Quincy, Samuel, 158 + + Quinipiac River, 118 + + + R + + Raleigh, Sir Walter, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 63, 200 + + Raleigh, Professor, 19 _n._ + + Ramesay, French governor, 235 + + Ramillies, Battle of, 232 + + Randolph, Edward, 72, 98, 99, 100 + + Rasle, Sebastian, 245 + + Ratcliffe, Captain John, 26, 27, 32 + + Religion, 195-97 + + Rhode Island, 98, 105, 114-19, 171, 173, 175, 176, 178, 179, 182, + 184, 235, 236, 238, 249, 259 + + Rice, 191, 192 + + Richebourg, 51 + + Richelieu, 207, 209 + + Richelieu River, 208, 226, 280 + + Richmond, 27 + + Rigby, Edward, 120, 121 + + Rio de la Plata, 9 + + Roanoke, 20 + + Robinson, John, 79, 82 + + Roche, Marquis de la, 202 + + Rogers, Robert, 265, 267, 274, 276, 280 + + Rolfe, John, 35 + + Rowley, 171 + + Roxbury, 180 + + Royal African Company, 190 + + Rut, John, 7 + + Ryswick, Treaty of, 231 + + + S + + Sable Island, 202 + + Sacheverell, Dr, 237 + + Saco, 119 + + St Augustine, 72, 161, 162 + + St Foy, Battle of, 279 + + St Ignace, 214 + + St John, 241, 242 + + St Joseph, 247 + + St Luc de la Corne, Chevalier, 247 + + St Lawrence River, 16, 166, 201, 202, 204, 207, 208, 239, 240, 251, + 268, 276, 280 + + St Lawrence, Gulf of, 200 + + St Mary's, 57, 197 + + St Simon's, 74 + + St Sulpice, 209 + + Salem, 87, 91, 148 + + Salmon Falls, 226 + + Salzburgers, 159, 164 + + San Domingo, 220 + + Sandford, Peleg, 117 + + Sandys, colonist, 42 + + Sandys, Sir Edwin, 25, 36, 38, 39, 40 + + Savannah River, 16, 157-59 + + Saye and Sele, Lord, 107, 124 + + Sayle, William, 68, 69 + + Schenectady, 140, 226, 227, 275 + + Schuyler, Peter, 236 + + Scrooby, 79 + + Sculkill River, 152 + + Secker, Archbishop, 181 + + Seeley, _Growth of British Policy_, 128 _n._, 129 _n._ + + Seignelay, 219 + + Seneca Indians, 212 + + Seven Years' War, 265, 266 + + Shaftesbury, Earl of, 47, 64, 66, 69, 191 + + Sharpe, Governor, 260 + + Sheep, 175 + + Shipbuilding, 173 + + Shirley, Governor, 248-52, 257, 259-61, 263-67 + + Silver, 171 + + Sioux Indians, 218 + + Slaughter, Colonel, 142 + + Slavery, 188, 189, 190 + + Slye, Gerald, 61 + + Smith, Adam, 170, 174 + + Smith, Adam, _Wealth of Nations_, 174 _n._ + + Smith, _A Description of New England_, 78 _n._, 81 _n._ + + Smith, Captain John, 26-31, 40, 77, 81 + + Smith, Thomas, 71 + + Smythe, Ambrose, 188 + + Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 180, 184 + + Somers, Sir George, 24, 31 + + Somers Islands, 34 + + Sothel, Seth, 67, 70 + + Southampton, Earl of, 22, 36, 38, 40 + + Spanish Succession, War of, 223, 242 + + Specie, 175-77, 193 + + Spithead, 241 + + Spotswood, Alexander, 52, 53, 190, 196 + + Stamford (America), 118 + + Standish, Miles, 81 + + Stith, Rev. William, 195 + + Stone, Captain, 109 + + Stone, William, 57, 58 + + Stoughton, William, 99, 100, 168 _n._, 230 + + Stukeley, Thomas, 10 + + Stuyvesant, Peter, 131-33, 135, 191 + + Sunderland, Earl of, 234 + + Swift, Dean, 241 + + + T + + Tadoussac, 203, 217 + + Talon, the Intendant, 211, 214 + + Tew, Captain, 143 + + Texas, 220, 221 + + Thomas, Gabriel, 154 + + Thompson, David, 123 + + Thorne, Master, 11 + + Three Rivers, 210 + + Thwaites, _The Colonies_, 1492-1750, 84 _n._, 181 _n._ + + Ticonderoga, 204, 263, 266, 268, 272, 274, 275 + + Timber trade, 172 + + Tison, Thomas, 14 + + Tobacco, 41, 174, 188, 191, 192, 193 + + Tonty, Henri de, 217-21 + + Toronto, 246 + + Townshend, General, 276 + + Townshend, Lord, 174 + + Tracey, Marquis de, 211 + + Trade and Plantations, Committee of, 100, 103, 171, 189, 246 + + Tull, Jethro, 174 + + Tuscarora Indians, 52, 73, 74 + + + U + + Ulster Protestants, 187, 265 + + Underhill, Captain, 109, 110 + + Underhill, _Newes from America_, 110 _n._ + + Usselinx, William, 131 + + Utrecht, Treaty of, 73, 223, 243, 244 + + + V + + Van der Douch, 130 + + Van Twiller, 130 + + Vane, Henry, 92 + + Vasco de Gama, 3, 200 + + Vauban, 248, 272 + + Vaudreuil, Governor, 276 + + Vaughan, 248, 250 + + Venango, 257 + + Venice, 3 + + Ventadour, Duc de, 205, 206 + + Vergennes, 281 + + Verrazano, 200, 201 + + Vervins, Treaty of, 202 + + Vetch, Samuel, 233, 234, 235, 240 + + Vignau, Nicholas, 205 + + Villebon, 229 + + Virginia, 17, 19-59, 61-65, 71, 74, 76, 77, 81, 88, 97, 107, 170, + 187-98, 204, 235, 255-57, 260-62, 264, 265, 274 + + Virginia Company, 28 _n._, 193 + + + W + + Wabash River, 247 + + Wages, 177, 178 + + Walker, Sir H., 239, 240, 241 + + Walker, _Journal_, 241 _n._ + + Walpole, Horace, 260 + + Walpole, Sir Robert, 160, 173, 191 + + Walsingham, Francis, 17 + + _Wampum_, 175 + + Ward, Nathaniel, 183 + + Warren, Admiral, 249-51 + + Warwick, Earl of, 11, 37 + + Washington, George, 256-62, 265 + + Watertown, 89, 102 + + Webb, General, 267 + + Wells, 232 + + Wentworth, Governor, 172 + + Wesley, Charles, 159 + + Wesley, John, 159, 160 + + Wesley, _Journal_, 159 _n._, 160 _n._ + + West Indies, 6, 14, 170, 188 + + West Joseph, 69, 70 + + Westminster, Treaty of, 138, 147 + + Wethersfield, 108, 109 + + Whalley, Edward, 118 + + Wheelwright, John, 92 + + White, Father, 55 + + White, John, 87 + + Whitefield, George, 62, 164, 181, 196, 249 + + Whitmore, 270 + + William III., 49, 60, 103, 141, 223, 225 + + William and Mary College, 51, 194 + + Williams, John, 232 + + Williams, Roger, 91, 109, 114, 115, 116 + + Williamsburg, 52, 197 + + Williamson, Mr, 160 + + Williamson, Sir Joseph, 137 + + Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 9 + + Windsor, 108 + + Wine, 171 + + Wingfield, Edward, 27 + + Winslow, Edward, 82, 83 + + Winslow, John, 102, 114 + + Winslow, John (Junior), 264, 267 + + Winthrop, John, 88-92 + + Winthrop, John (Junior), 108, 111, 112, 119, 171, 172 + + Winthrop, _History of New England, etc._, 89 _n._, 92 _n._, + 118 _n._, 177 _n._ + + Wisconsin River, 213, 215 + + Wolfe, General James, 228, 267, 270, 272, 274, 276-79, 280 + + Wood, _Siege of Quebec_, 278 _n._ + + Wood Creek, 235 + + Woodward, Thomas, 65 + + Wool, 171-75 + + Wright, _Life of Wolfe_, 267 _n._ + + Wyatt, Sir Francis, 41, 42 + + + Y + + Yale College, 182, 183 + + Yamassee Indians, 53, 74 + + Yeamans, Sir John, 68, 69 + + Yeardley, Sir George, 36, 37, 41 + + York (Paine), 230 + + Young, _Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers_, 84 _n._ + + + Z + + Zengler, John P., 144 + + + +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH + + + + +------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 11 bee changed to be | + | Page 38 Opechaucanough changed to Opechancanough | + | Page 39 similiar changed to similar | + | Page 42 Governer changed to Governor | + | Page 59 Calender changed to Calendar | + | Page 67 Culpepper changed to Culpeper | + | Page 89 Brodestreet changed to Brodstreet | + | Page 93 gentlemad changed to gentleman | + | Page 119 there changed to their | + | Page 122 Englishmen changed to Englishman | + | Page 136 accordanee changed to accordance | + | Page 148 Willian changed to William | + | Page 218 mutined changed to mutinied | + | Page 244 circumcried changed to circumscribed | + | Page 246 Onnondaga changed to Onondaga | + | Page 247 Michilmackinad changed to Michillimackinad | + | Page 255 backswoodsmen changed to backwoodsmen | + | Page 257 Dusquesne changed to Duquesne | + | Page 264 Massachuetts changed to Massachusetts | + | Page 301 D'Anville changed to D'Auville | + | Page 305 Michilmackinad changed to Michillimackinad | + | Page 305 Onnondaga changed to Onondaga | + | Page 305 Opechaucanough changed to Opechancanough | + +------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of the Thirteen Colonies +of North America 1497-1763, by Reginald W. Jeffery + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40244 *** |