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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Volume 12, Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson
+
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+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12
+
+Author: Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9929]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 1, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, V12 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lazar Liveanu and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+Note:
+  Italics: _
+  Bold: %
+
+
+
+
+%THE GREAT EVENTS%
+
+
+BY
+
+Famous Historians
+
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY. EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS. AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES IN
+THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+
+%NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL%
+
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST
+DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. INCLUDING BRIEF INTRODUCTIONS
+BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED NARRATIVES, ARRANGED
+CHRONOLOGICALLY. WITH THOROUGH INDICES. BIBLIOGRAPHIES. CHRONOLOGIES. AND
+COURSES OF READING
+
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+_With a staff of specialists VOLUME XII_
+
+
+%The National Alumni% 1905
+
+
+
+
+%CONTENTS%
+
+VOLUME XII
+
+
+_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+_Louis XIV Establishes Absolute Monarchy (A.D. 1661)_
+JAMES COTTER MORISON
+
+_New York Taken by the English (A.D. 1664)_
+JOHN R. BRODHEAD
+
+_Great Plague in London (A.D. 1665)_
+DANIEL DEFOE
+
+_Great Fire in London (A.D. 1666)_
+JOHN EVELYN
+
+_Discovery of Gravitation (A.D. 1666)_
+SIR DAVID BREWSTER
+
+_Morgan, the Buccaneer, Sacks Panama (A.D. 1671)_
+JOHANN W. VON ARCHENHOLZ
+
+_Struggle of the Dutch against France and England (A.D. 1672)_
+C.M. DAVIES.
+
+_Discovery of the Mississippi
+La Salle Names Louisiana (A.D. 1673-1682)_
+FRANCOIS XAVIER GARNEAU
+
+_King Philip's War (A.D. 1675)_
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+_Growth of Prussia under the Great Elector
+His Victory at Fehrbellin (A.D. 1675)_
+THOMAS CARLYLE
+
+_William Penn Receives the Grant of Pennsylvania
+Founding of Philadelphia (A.D. 1681)_
+GEORGE E. ELLIS
+
+_Last Turkish Invasion of Europe Sobieski Saves Vienna (A.D. 1683)_
+SUTHERLAND MENZIES
+
+_Monmouth's Rebellion (A.D. 1685)_
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+_Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (A.D. 1685)_
+BON LOUIS HENRI MARTIN
+
+_The English Revolution
+Flight of James II (A.D. 1688)_
+GILBERT BURNET
+H.D. TRAILL
+
+_Peter the Great Modernizes Russia
+Suppression of the Streltsi (A.D. 1689)_
+ALFRED RAMBAUD
+
+_Tyranny of Andros in New England
+The Bloodless Revolution (A.D. 1689)_
+CHARLES WYLLYS ELLIOTT
+
+_Massacre of Lachine (A.D. 1689)_
+FRANCOIS XAVIER GARNEAU
+
+_Siege of Londonderry and Battle of the Boyne (A.D. 1689-1690)_
+TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT
+
+_Salem Witchcraft Trials (A.D. 1692)_
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+_Establishment of the Bank of England (A.D. 1694)_
+JOHN FRANCIS
+
+_Colonization of Louisiana (A.D. 1699)_
+CHARLES E.T. GAYARRE
+
+_Prussia Proclaimed a Kingdom (A.D. 1701)_
+LEOPOLD VON RANKE
+
+_Founding of St. Petersburg (A.D. 1703)_
+K. WALISZEWSKI
+
+_Battle of Blenheim (A.D. 1704)
+Curbing of Louis XIV_,
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+_Union of England and Scotland (A.D. 1707)_
+JOHN HILL BURTON
+
+_Downfall of Charles XII at Poltava (A.D. 1709)
+Triumph of Russia_
+K. WALISZEWSKI
+
+_Capture of Port Royal (A.D. 1710)
+France Surrenders Nova Scotia to England_
+DUNCAN CAMPBELL
+
+_Universal Chronology (A.D. 1661-1715)_
+JOHN RUDD
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+VOLUME XII
+
+_Surrender of Marshal Tallard at the Battle of Blenheim_, Painting by R.
+Caton Woodville.
+
+_The Duke of Monmouth humiliates himself before King James II_, Painting by
+J. Pettie, A.R.A.
+
+_Charles XII carried on a litter during the Battle of Poltava_, Painting by
+W. Hauschild.
+
+
+
+%AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE%
+
+Tracing Briefly The Causes, Connections, And Consequencies Of
+
+%THE GREAT EVENTS%
+
+(Age Of Louis XIV)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+
+It is related that in 1661, on the day following the death of the great
+Cardinal Mazarin, the various officials of the State approached their young
+King, Louis XIV. "To whom shall we go now for orders, Your Majesty?" "To
+me," answered Louis, and from that date until his death in 1715 they had
+no other master. Whether we accept the tale as literal fact or only as the
+vivid French way of visualizing a truth, we find here the central point
+of over fifty years of European history. The two celebrated cardinals,
+Richelieu and Mazarin, had, by their strength and wisdom, made France by
+far the most powerful state in Europe. Moreover, they had so reduced the
+authority of the French nobility, the clergy, and the courts of law as to
+have become practically absolute and untrammelled in their control of the
+entire government. Now, all this enormous power, both at home and abroad,
+over France and over Europe, was assumed by a young man of twenty-three. "I
+am the state," said Louis at a later period of his career. He might almost
+have said, "I am Europe," looking as he did only to the Europe that
+dominated, and took pleasure in itself, and made life one continued
+glittering revel of splendor. Independent Europe, that claimed the right of
+thinking for itself, the suffering Europe of the peasants, who starved and
+shed their blood in helpless agony--these were against Louis almost from
+the beginning, and ever increasingly against him.
+
+At first the young monarch found life very bright around him. His courtiers
+called him "the rising sun," and his ambition was to justify the title, to
+be what with his enormous wealth and authority was scarcely difficult, the
+Grand Monarch. He rushed into causeless war and snatched provinces from
+his feeble neighbors, exhausted Germany and decaying Spain. He built huge
+fortresses along his frontiers, and military roads from end to end of his
+domains. His court was one continuous round of splendid entertainments. He
+encouraged literature, or at least pensioned authors and had them clustered
+around him in what Frenchmen call the Augustan Age of their development.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Louis XIV Establishes Absolute Monarchy_, page 1.]
+
+The little German princes of the Rhine, each of them practically
+independent ruler of a tiny state, could not of course compete with Louis
+or defy him. Nor for a time did they attempt it. His splendor dazzled them.
+They were content to imitate, and each little prince became a patron of
+literature, or giver of entertainments, or builder of huge fortresses
+absurdly disproportioned to his territory and his revenues. Germany, it has
+been aptly said, became a mere tail to the French kite, its leaders feebly
+draggling after where Louis soared. Never had the common people of Europe
+or even the nobility had less voice in their own affairs. It was an age of
+absolute kingly power, an age of despotism.
+
+England, which under Cromwell had bid fair to take a foremost place in
+Europe, sank under Charles II into unimportance. Its people wearied with
+tumult, desired peace more than aught else; its King, experienced in
+adversity, and long a homeless wanderer in France and Holland, seemed to
+have but one firm principle in life. Whatever happened he did not intend,
+as he himself phrased it, to go on his "travels" again. He dreaded and
+hated the English Parliament as all the Stuarts had; and, like his father,
+he avoided calling it together. To obtain money without its aid, he
+accepted a pension from the French King. Thus England also became a
+servitor of Louis. Its policy, so far as Charles could mould it, was
+France's policy. If we look for events in the English history of the
+time we must find them in internal incidents, the terrible plague that
+devastated London in 1665,[1] the fire of the following year, that checked
+the plague but almost swept the city out of existence.[2] We must note the
+founding of the Royal Society in 1660 for the advancement of science, or
+look to Newton, its most celebrated member, beginning to puzzle out his
+theory of gravitation in his Woolsthorpe garden.[3]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Great Plague in London_, page 29.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Great Fire in London_, page 45.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Discovery of Gravitation_, page 51.]
+
+
+CONTINENTAL WARS
+
+Louis's first real opponent he found in sturdy Holland. Her fleets and
+those of England had learned to fight each other in Cromwell's time, and
+they continued to struggle for the mastery of the seas. There were many
+desperate naval battles. In 1664 an English fleet crossed the ocean to
+seize the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, and it became New York.[4] In 1667
+a Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and burned the shipping, almost reaching
+London itself.
+
+[Footnote 4: See _New York Taken by the English_, page 19.]
+
+Yet full as her hands might seem with strife like this, Holland did not
+hesitate to stand forth against the aggression of Louis's "rising sun."
+When in his first burst of kingship, he seized the Spanish provinces of the
+Netherlands and so extended his authority to the border of Holland, its
+people, frightened at his advance, made peace with England and joined an
+alliance against him. Louis drew back; and the Dutch authorized a medal
+which depicted Holland checking the rising sun. Louis never forgave them,
+and in 1672, having secured German neutrality and an English alliance, he
+suddenly attacked Holland with all his forces.[5]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Struggle of the Dutch against France and England_, page
+86.]
+
+For a moment the little republic seemed helpless. Her navy indeed withstood
+ably the combined assaults of the French and English ships, but the French
+armies overran almost her entire territory. It was then that her people
+talked of entering their ships and sailing away together, transporting
+their nation bodily to some colony beyond Louis's reach. It was then that
+Amsterdam set the example which other districts heroically followed, of
+opening her dykes and letting the ocean flood the land to drive out the
+French. The leaders of the republic were murdered in a factional strife,
+and the young Prince William III of Orange, descended from that William
+the Silent who had led the Dutch against Philip II, was made practically
+dictator of the land. This young Prince William, afterward King William III
+of England, was the antagonist who sprang up against Louis, and in the end
+united all Europe against him and annihilated his power.
+
+Seeing the wonderful resistance that little Holland made against her
+apparently overwhelming antagonists, the rest of Germany took heart; allies
+came to the Dutch. Brandenburg and Austria and Spain forced Louis to fall
+back upon his own frontier, though with much resolute battling by his great
+general, Turenne.
+
+Next to young William, Louis found his most persistent opponent in
+Frederick William, the "Great Elector" of Brandenburg and Prussia,
+undoubtedly the ablest German sovereign of the age, and the founder of
+Prussia's modern importance. He had succeeded to his hereditary domains in
+1640, when they lay utterly waste and exhausted in the Thirty Years' War;
+and he reigned until 1688, nearly half a century, during which he was ever
+and vigorously the champion of Germany against all outside enemies. He
+alone, in the feeble Germany of the day, resisted French influence, French
+manners, and French aggression.
+
+In this first general war of the Germans and their allies against Louis,
+Frederick William proved the only one of their leaders seriously to be
+feared. Louis made an alliance with Sweden and persuaded the Swedes to
+overrun Brandenburg during its ruler's absence with his forces on the
+Rhine. But so firmly had the Great Elector established himself at home, so
+was he loved, that the very peasantry rose to his assistance. "We are only
+peasants," said their banners, "but we can die for our lord." Pitiful cry!
+Pitiful proof of how unused the commons were to even a little kindness, how
+eagerly responsive! Frederick William came riding like a whirlwind from the
+Rhine, his army straggling along behind in a vain effort to keep up. He
+hurled himself with his foremost troops upon the Swedes, and won the
+celebrated battle of Fehrbellin. He swept his astonished foes back into
+their northern peninsula. Brandenburg became the chief power of northern
+Germany.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Growth of Prussia under the Great Elector: His Victory at
+Fehrbellin_, page 138.]
+
+In 1679 the Peace of Ryswick ended the general war, and left Holland
+unconquered, but with the French frontier extended to the Rhine, and Louis
+at the height of his power, the acknowledged head of European affairs.
+Austria was under the rule of Leopold I, Emperor of Germany from 1657 to
+1705, whose pride and incompetence wholly prevented him from being what
+his position as chief of the Hapsburgs would naturally have made him, the
+leader of the opposition, the centre around whom all Europe could rally to
+withstand Louis's territorial greed. Leopold hated Louis, but he hated also
+the rising Protestant "Brandenburger," he hated the "merchant" Dutch,
+hated everybody in short who dared intrude upon the ancient order of his
+superiority, who refused to recognize his impotent authority. So he would
+gladly have seen Louis crush every opponent except himself, would have
+found it a pleasant vengeance indeed to see all these upstart powers
+destroying one another.
+
+Moreover, Austria was again engaged in desperate strife with the Turks.
+These were in the last burst of their effort at European conquest. No
+longer content with Hungary, twice in Leopold's reign did they advance to
+attack Vienna. Twice were they repulsed by Hungarian and Austrian valor.
+The final siege was in 1683. A vast horde estimated as high as two hundred
+thousand men marched against the devoted city. Leopold and most of the
+aristocracy fled, in despair of its defence. Only the common people who
+could not flee, remained, and with the resolution of despair beat off the
+repeated assaults of the Mahometans.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Last Turkish Invasion of Europe: Sobieski Saves Vienna_,
+page 164.]
+
+They were saved by John Sobieski, a king who had raised Poland to one of
+her rare outflashing periods of splendor. With his small but gallant Polish
+army he came to the rescue of Christendom, charged furiously upon the huge
+Turkish horde, and swept it from the field in utter flight. The tide of
+Turkish power receded forever; that was its last great wave which broke
+before the walls of Vienna. All Hungary was regained, mainly through the
+efforts of Austria's greatest general, Prince Eugene of Savoy. The centre
+of the centuries of strife shifted back where it had been in Hunyady's
+time, from Vienna to the mighty frontier fortress of Belgrad, which was
+taken and retaken by opposing forces.
+
+
+LATER EFFORTS OF LOUIS XIV
+
+The earlier career of Louis XIV seems to have been mainly influenced by his
+passion for personal renown; but he had always been a serious Catholic, and
+in his later life his interest in religion became a most important factor
+in his world. The Protestants of France had for wellnigh a century held
+their faith unmolested, safeguarded by that Edict of Nantes, which had been
+granted by Henry IV, a Catholic at least in name, and confirmed by Cardinal
+Richelieu, a Catholic by profession. Persuasive measures had indeed been
+frequently employed to win the deserters back to the ancient Church; but
+now under Louis's direction, a harsher course was attempted. The celebrated
+"dragonades" quartered a wild and licentious soldiery in Protestant
+localities, in the homes of Protestant house-owners, with special orders to
+make themselves offensive to their hosts. Under this grim discouragement
+Protestantism seemed dying out of France, and at last, in 1685, Louis,
+encouraged by success, took the final step and revoked the Edict of Nantes,
+commanding all his subjects to accept Catholicism, while at the same time
+forbidding any to leave the country. Huguenots who attempted flight were
+seized; many were slain. Externally at least, the reformed religion
+disappeared from France.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Revocation of the Edict of Nantes_, page 180.]
+
+Of course, despite the edict restraining them, many Huguenots, the most
+earnest and vigorous of the sect, did escape by flight; and some hundred
+thousands of France's ablest citizens were thus lost to her forever. Large
+numbers found a welcome in neighboring Holland; the Great Elector stood
+forward and gave homes to a wandering host of the exiles. England received
+colonies of them; and even distant America was benefited by the numbers who
+sought her freer shores. No enemy to France in all the world but received a
+welcome accession to its strength against her.
+
+In the same year that Protestant Europe was thus assailed and terrified by
+the reviving spectre of religious persecution, Charles II of England died
+and his brother James II succeeded him. Charles may have been Catholic at
+heart, but in name at least he had retained the English religion. James
+was openly Catholic. A hasty rebellion raised against him by his nephew,
+Monmouth, fell to pieces;[1] and James, having executed Monmouth and
+approved a cruel persecution of his followers, began to take serious steps
+toward forcing the whole land back to the ancient faith.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Monmouth's Rebellion_, page 172.]
+
+So here was kingly absolutism coming to the aid of the old religious
+intolerance. The English people, however, had already killed one king in
+defence of their liberties; and their resolute opposition to James began to
+suggest that they might kill another. Many of the leading nobles appealed
+secretly to William of Orange for help. William was, as we have said, the
+centre of opposition to Louis, and that began to mean to Catholicism as
+well. Also, William had married a daughter of King James and had thus some
+claim to interfere in the family domains. And, most important of all, as
+chief ruler of Holland, William had an army at command. With a portion of
+that army he set sail late in 1688 and landed in England. Englishmen of all
+ranks flocked to join him. King James fled to France, and a Parliament,
+hastily assembled in 1689, declared him no longer king and placed William
+and his wife Mary on the throne as joint rulers.[2] Thus William had two
+countries instead of one to aid him in his life-long effort against Louis.
+
+[Footnote 2: See _The English Revolution: Flight of James II_, page 200.]
+
+Louis, indeed, accepted the accession of his enemy as a threat of war and,
+taking up the cause of the fugitive James, despatched him with French
+troops to Ireland, where his Catholic faith made the mass of the people his
+devoted adherents. There were, however, Protestant Irish as well, and these
+defied James and held his troops at bay in the siege of Londonderry, while
+King William hurried over to Ireland with an army. Father-in-law and
+son-in-law met in the battle of the Boyne, and James was defeated in war
+as he had been in diplomacy. He fled back to France, leaving his Catholic
+adherents to withstand William as best they might. Limerick, the Catholic
+stronghold, was twice besieged and only yielded when full religious freedom
+had been guaranteed. Irishmen to this day call it with bitterness "the city
+of the violated treaty."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Siege of Londonderry and the Battle of the Boyne_, page
+258.]
+
+Meanwhile the strife between Louis and William had spread into another
+general European war. William had difficulties to encounter in his new
+kingdom. Its people cared little for his Continental aims and gave him
+little loyalty of service. In fact, peculation among public officials was
+so widespread that, despite large expenditures of money, England had only
+a most feeble, inefficient army in the field, and William was in black
+disgust against his new subjects. It was partly to aid the Government in
+its financial straits that the Bank of England was formed in 1694.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Establishment of the Bank of England_, page 286.]
+
+Yet Louis's troubles were greater and of deeper root. Catholic Austria and
+even the Pope himself, unable to submit to the arrogance of the "Grand
+Monarch," took part against him in this war. It can therefore no longer be
+regarded as a religious struggle. It marks the turning-point in Louis's
+fortunes. His boundless extravagance had exhausted France at last. Both in
+wealth and population she began to feel the drain. The French generals won
+repeated victories, yet they had to give slowly back before their more
+numerous foes; and in 1697 Louis purchased peace by making concessions of
+territory as well as courtesy.
+
+This peace proved little more than a truce. For almost half a century the
+European sovereigns had been waiting for Charles II of Spain to die. He
+was the last of his race, last of the Spanish Hapsburgs descended from
+the Emperor Charles V, and so infirm and feeble was he that it seemed the
+flickering candle of his life must puff out with each passing wind. Who
+should succeed him? In Mazarin's time, that crafty minister had schemed
+that the prize should go to France, and had wedded young Louis XIV to a
+Spanish princess. The Austrian Hapsburgs of course wanted the place for
+themselves, though to establish a common ancestry with their Spanish kin
+they must turn back over a century and a half to Ferdinand and Isabella.
+
+But strong men grew old and died, while the invalid Charles II still clung
+to his tottering throne. Louis ceased hoping to occupy it himself and
+claimed it for his son, then for his grandson, Philip. Not until 1700,
+after a reign of nearly forty years, did Charles give up the worthless game
+and expire. He declared Philip his heir, and the aged Louis sent the youth
+to Spain with an eager boast, "Go; there are no longer any Pyrenees." That
+is, France and Spain were to be one, a mighty Bourbon empire.
+
+That was just what Europe, experienced in Louis's unscrupulous aggression,
+dared not allow. So another general alliance was formed, with William of
+Holland and England at its head, to drive Philip from his new throne in
+favor of a Hapsburg. William died before the war was well under way, but
+the British people understood his purposes now and upheld them. Once more
+they felt themselves the champions of Protestantism in Europe. Anne, the
+second daughter of the deposed King James, was chosen as queen; and under
+her the two realms of England and Scotland were finally joined in one by
+the Act of Union (1707), with but a single Parliament.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Union of England and Scotland_, page 341.]
+
+Meanwhile Marlborough was sent to the Rhine with a strong British army.
+Prince Eugene paused in fighting the Turks and joined him with Austrian and
+German troops. Together they defeated the French in the celebrated battle
+of Blenheim (1704),[2] and followed it in later years with Oudenarde and
+Malplaquet. Louis was beaten. France was exhausted. The Grand Monarch
+pleaded for peace on almost any terms.
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Battle of Blenheim: Curbing of Louis XIV_, page 327.]
+
+Yet his grandson remained on the Spanish throne. For one reason, the
+Spaniards themselves upheld him and fought for him. For another, the
+allies' Austrian candidate became Emperor of Germany, and to make him ruler
+of Spain as well would only have been to consolidate the Hapsburg power
+instead of that of the Bourbons. Made dubious by this balance between
+evils, Europe abandoned the war. So there were two Bourbon kingdoms after
+all--but both too exhausted to be dangerous.
+
+Louis had indeed outlived his fame. He had roused the opposition of all his
+neighbors, and ruined France in the effort to extend her greatness. The
+praises and flattery of his earlier years reached him now only from the
+lips of a few determined courtiers. His people hated him, and in 1715
+celebrated his death as a release. Frenchmen high and low had begun the
+career which ended in their terrific Revolution. Lying on his dreary
+death-bed, the Grand Monarch apologized that he should "take so long in
+dying." Perhaps he, also, felt that he delayed the coming of the new age.
+What his career had done was to spread over all Europe a new culture and
+refinement, to rouse a new splendor and recklessness among the upper
+classes, and to widen almost irretrievably the gap between rich and poor,
+between kings and commons. In the very years that parliamentary government
+was becoming supreme in England, absolutism established itself upon the
+Continent.
+
+
+CHANGES IN NORTHERN EUROPE
+
+Toward the close of this age the balance of power in Northern Europe
+shifted quite as markedly as it had farther south. Three of the German
+electoral princes became kings. The Elector of Saxony was chosen King of
+Poland, thereby adding greatly to his power. George, Elector of Hanover,
+became King of England on the death of Queen Anne. And the Elector of
+Brandenburg, son of the Great Elector, when the war of 1701 against France
+and Spain broke out, only lent his aid to the European coalition on
+condition that the German Emperor should authorize him also to assume the
+title of king, not of Brandenburg but of his other and smaller domain of
+Prussia, which lay outside the empire. Most of the European sovereigns
+smiled at this empty change of title without a change of dominions; but
+Brandenburg or Prussia was thus made more united, more consolidated, and
+it soon rose to be the leader of Northern Germany. A new family, the
+Hohenzollerns, contested European supremacy with the Hapsburgs and the
+Bourbons.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Prussia Proclaimed a Kingdom_, page 310.]
+
+More important still was the strife between Sweden and Russia. Sweden had
+been raised by Gustavus Adolphus to be the chief power of the North, the
+chosen ally of Richelieu and Mazarin. Her soldiers were esteemed the best
+of the time. The prestige of the Swedes had, to be sure, suffered somewhat
+in the days when the Great Elector defeated them so completely at
+Fehrbellin and elsewhere. But Louis XIV had stood by them as his allies,
+and saved them from any loss of territory, so that in 1700 Sweden still
+held not only the Scandinavian peninsula but all the lands east of the
+Baltic as far as where St. Petersburg now stands, and much of the German
+coast to southward. The Baltic was thus almost a Swedish lake, when in
+1697 a new warrior king, Charles XII, rose to reassert the warlike
+supremacy of his race. He was but fifteen when he reached the throne; and
+Denmark, Poland, and Russia all sought to snatch away his territories. He
+fought the Danes and defeated them. He fought the Saxon Elector who had
+become king of Poland. Soon both Poland and Saxony lay crushed at the feet
+of the "Lion of the North," as they called him then--"Madman of the
+North," after his great designs had failed. Only Russia remained to oppose
+him--Russia, as yet almost unknown to Europe, a semi-barbaric frontier
+land, supposedly helpless against the strength and resources of
+civilization.
+
+Russia was in the pangs of a most sudden revolution. Against her will she
+was being suddenly and sharply modernized by Peter the Great, most famous
+of her czars. He had overthrown the turbulent militia who really ruled the
+land, and had waded through a sea of bloody executions to establish his
+own absolute power.[1] He had travelled abroad in disguise, studied
+shipbuilding in Holland, the art of government in England, and
+fortification and war wheresoever he could find a teacher. Removing from
+the ancient, conservative capital of Moscow, he planted his government,
+in defiance of Sweden, upon her very frontier, causing the city of St.
+Petersburg to arise as if by magic from a desolate, icy swamp in the far
+north.[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Peter the Great Modernizes Russia: Suppression of the
+Streltsi_, page 223.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Founding of St. Petersburg_, page 319.]
+
+Charles of Sweden scorned and defied him. At Narva in 1700, Charles with
+a small force of his famous troops drove Peter with a huge horde of his
+Russians to shameful flight. "They will teach us to beat them," said Peter
+philosophically; and so in truth he gathered knowledge from defeat after
+defeat, until at length at Poltava in 1709 he completely turned the tables
+upon Charles, overthrew him and so crushed his power that Russia
+succeeded Sweden as ruler of the extreme North, a rank she has ever since
+retained.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Downfall of Charles XII at Poltava: Triumph of Russia_,
+page 352.]
+
+
+GROWTH OF AMERICA
+
+The vast political and social changes of Europe in this age found their
+echo in the New World. The decay of Spain left her American colonies to
+feebleness and decay. The islands of the Caribbean Sea became the haunt of
+the buccaneers, pirates, desperadoes of all nations who preyed upon Spanish
+ships, and, as their power grew, extended their depredations northward
+along the American coast. So important did these buccaneers become that
+they formed regular governments among themselves. The most famed of their
+leaders was knighted by England as Sir Henry Morgan; and the most renowned
+of his achievements was the storm and capture of the Spanish treasure city,
+Panama.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Morgan, the Buccaneer, Sacks Panama_, page 66.]
+
+As Spain grew weak in America, France grew strong. From her Canadian
+colonies she sent out daring missionaries and traders, who explored the
+great lakes and the Mississippi valley.[3] They made friends with the
+Indians; they founded Louisiana.[4] All the north and west of the continent
+fell into their hands.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Discovery of the Mississippi_, page 108.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Colonization of Louisiana_, page 297.]
+
+Never, however, did their numbers approach those of the English colonists
+along the Atlantic coast. Both Massachusetts and Virginia were grown into
+important commonwealths, almost independent of England, and well able to
+support the weaker settlements rising around them. After the great Puritan
+exodus to New England to escape the oppression of Charles I, there had come
+a Royalist exodus to Virginia to escape the Puritanic tyranny of Cromwell's
+time. Large numbers of Catholics fled to Maryland. Huguenots established
+themselves in the Carolinas and elsewhere. Then came Penn to build a great
+Quaker state among the scattered Dutch settlements along the Delaware.[1]
+The American seaboard became the refuge of each man who refused to bow his
+neck to despotism of whatever type.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _William Penn Receives the Grant of Pennsylvania: Founding
+of Philadelphia_, page 153.]
+
+Under such settlers English America soon ceased to be a mere offshoot of
+Europe. It became a world of its own; its people developed into a new race.
+They had their own springs of action, their own ways of thought, different
+from those of Europe, more simple and intense as was shown in the Salem
+witchcraft excitement, or more resolute and advanced as was revealed in
+Bacon's Virginia rebellion.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Salem Witchcraft Trials_, page 268.]
+
+The aboriginal inhabitants, the Indians, found themselves pressed ever
+backward from the coast. They resisted, and in 1675 there arose in New
+England, King Philip's war, which for that section at least settled the
+Indian question forever. The red men of New England were practically
+exterminated.[3] Those of New York, the Iroquois, were more fortunate or
+more crafty. They dwelt deeper in the wilderness, and formed a buffer state
+between the French in Canada and the English to the south, drawing aid now
+from one, now from the other.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _King Philip's War_, page 125.]
+
+Each war between England and Louis XIV was echoed by strife between their
+rival colonies. When King William supplanted James in 1688 there followed
+in America also a "bloodless revolution."[4] Governor Andros, whom James
+had sent to imitate his own harsh tyranny in the colonies, was seized and
+shipped back to England. William was proclaimed king. The ensuing strife
+with France was marked by the most bloody of all America's Indian
+massacres. The Iroquois descended suddenly on Canada; the very suburbs
+of its capital, Montreal, were burned, and more than a thousand of the
+unsuspecting settlers were tortured, or more mercifully slain outright.[5]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Tyranny of Andros in New England: The Bloodless
+Revolution_, page 241.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Massacre of Lachine_, page 248.]
+
+In the later war about the Spanish throne, England captured Nova Scotia,
+the southern extremity of the French Canadian seaboard; and part of the
+price Louis XIV paid for peace was to leave this colony in England's
+hands.[1] The scale of American power began to swing markedly in her favor.
+Everywhere over the world, as the eighteenth century progressed, England
+with her parliamentary government was rising into power at the expense of
+France and absolutism.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Capture of Port Royal: France Surrenders Nova Scotia to
+England_, page 373.]
+
+[Footnote: FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME XIII.]
+
+
+
+%LOUIS XIV ESTABLISHES ABSOLUTE MONARCHY%
+
+A.D. 1661
+
+JAMES COTTER MORISON
+
+
+Not only was the reign of Louis XIV one of the longest in the world's
+history, but it also marked among Western nations the highest development
+of the purely monarchical principle. Including the time that Louis ruled
+under the guardianship of his mother and the control of his minister,
+Cardinal Mazarin, the reign covered more than seventy years (1643-1715).
+
+The sovereign who could say, "I am the state" ("_l'Etat c'est moi_"), and
+see his subjects acquiesce with almost Asiatic humility, while Europe
+looked on in admiration and fear, may be said to have embodied for modern
+times the essence of absolutism.
+
+That all things, domestic and foreign, seemed to be in concurrence for
+giving practical effect to the Grand Monarque's assumption of supremacy is
+shown by the fact that his name dominates the whole history of his time.
+His reign was not only "the Augustan Age of France"; it marked the
+ascendency of France in Europe.
+
+Of such a reign no adequate impression is to be derived from reading even
+the most faithful narrative of its thronging events. But the reign as well
+as the personality of Louis is set in clear perspective for us by Morison's
+picturesque and discriminating treatment.
+
+The reign of Louis XIV was the culminating epoch in the history of the
+French monarchy. What the age of Pericles was in the history of the
+Athenian democracy, what the age of the Scipios was in the history of the
+Roman Republic, that was the reign of Louis XIV in the history of the old
+monarchy of France. The type of polity which that monarchy embodied, the
+principles of government on which it reposed or brought into play, in this
+reign attain their supreme expression and development. Before Louis XIV the
+French monarchy has evidently not attained its full stature; it is thwarted
+and limited by other forces in the state. After him, though unresisted from
+without, it manifests symptoms of decay from within. It rapidly declines,
+and totally disappears seventy-seven years after his death.
+
+But it is not only the most conspicuous reign in the history of France--it
+is the most conspicuous reign in the history of monarchy in general. Of
+the very many kings whom history mentions, who have striven to exalt the
+monarchical principle, none of them achieved a success remotely comparable
+to his. His two great predecessors in kingly ambition, Charles V and Philip
+II, remained far behind him in this respect. They may have ruled over wider
+dominions, but they never attained the exceptional position of power and
+prestige which he enjoyed for more than half a century. They never were
+obeyed so submissively at home nor so dreaded and even respected abroad.
+For Louis XIV carried off that last reward of complete success, that he
+for a time silenced even envy, and turned it into admiration. We who can
+examine with cold scrutiny the make and composition of this colossus of
+a French monarchy; who can perceive how much the brass and clay in it
+exceeded the gold; who know how it afterward fell with a resounding ruin,
+the last echoes of which have scarcely died away, have difficulty in
+realizing the fascination it exercised upon contemporaries who witnessed
+its first setting up.
+
+Louis XIV's reign was the very triumph of commonplace greatness, of
+external magnificence and success, such as the vulgar among mankind can
+best and most sincerely appreciate. Had he been a great and profound ruler,
+had he considered with unselfish meditation the real interests of France,
+had he with wise insight discerned and followed the remote lines of
+progress along which the future of Europe was destined to move, it is
+lamentably probable that he would have been misunderstood in his lifetime
+and calumniated after his death.
+
+Louis XIV was exposed to no such misconception. His qualities were on the
+surface, visible and comprehensible to all; and although none of them was
+brilliant, he had several which have a peculiarly impressive effect when
+displayed in an exalted station. He was indefatigably industrious; worked
+on an average eight hours a day for fifty-four years; had great tenacity
+of will; that kind of solid judgment which comes of slowness of brain, and
+withal a most majestic port and great dignity of manners. He had also as
+much kindliness of nature as the very great can be expected to have; his
+temper was under severe control; and, in his earlier years at least, he
+had a moral apprehensiveness greater than the limitations of his intellect
+would have led one to expect.
+
+His conduct toward Moliere was throughout truly noble, and the more so that
+he never intellectually appreciated Moliere's real greatness. But he must
+have had great original fineness of tact, though it was in the end nearly
+extinguished by adulation and incense. His court was an extraordinary
+creation, and the greatest thing he achieved. He made it the microcosm of
+all that was the most brilliant and prominent in France. Every order of
+merit was invited there and received courteous welcome. To no circumstance
+did he so much owe his enduring popularity. By its means he impressed into
+his service that galaxy of great writers, the first and the last classic
+authors of France, whose calm and serene lustre will forever illumine the
+epoch of his existence. It may even be admitted that his share in that
+lustre was not so accidental and undeserved as certain king-haters have
+supposed.
+
+That subtle critic, M. Sainte-Beuve, thinks he can trace a marked rise even
+in Bossuet's style from the moment he became a courtier of Louis XIV.
+The King brought men together, placed them in a position where they
+were induced and urged to bring their talents to a focus. His court was
+alternately a high-bred gala and a stately university. If we contrast his
+life with those of his predecessor and successor, with the dreary existence
+of Louis XIII and the crapulous lifelong debauch of Louis XV, we become
+sensible that Louis XIV was distinguished in no common degree; and when we
+further reflect that much of his home and all of his foreign policy was
+precisely adapted to flatter, in its deepest self-love, the national spirit
+of France, it will not be quite impossible to understand the long-continued
+reverberation of his fame.
+
+But Louis XIV's reign has better titles than the adulations of courtiers
+and the eulogies of wits and poets to the attention of posterity. It marks
+one of the most memorable epochs in the annals of mankind. It stretches
+across history like a great mountain range, separating ancient France
+from the France of modern times. On the further slope are Catholicism and
+feudalism in their various stages of splendor and decay--the France of
+crusade and chivalry, of St. Louis and Bayard. On the hither side are
+freethought, industry, and centralization--the France of Voltaire, Turgot,
+and Condorcet.
+
+When Louis came to the throne the Thirty Years' War still wanted six years
+of its end, and the heat of theological strife was at its intensest glow.
+When he died the religious temperature had cooled nearly to freezing-point,
+and a new vegetation of science and positive inquiry was overspreading the
+world. This amounts to saying that his reign covers the greatest epoch
+of mental transition through which the human mind has hitherto passed,
+excepting the transition we are witnessing in the day which now is. We need
+but recall the names of the writers and thinkers who arose during Louis
+XIV's reign, and shed their seminal ideas broadcast upon the air, to
+realize how full a period it was, both of birth and decay; of the passing
+away of the old and the uprising of the new forms of thought.
+
+To mention only the greatest; the following are among the chiefs who
+helped to transform the mental fabric of Europe in the age of Louis XIV:
+Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, Locke, Boyle. Under these leaders the first
+firm irreversible advance was made out of the dim twilight of theology into
+the clear dawn of positive and demonstrative science.
+
+Inferior to these founders of modern knowledge, but holding a high rank as
+contributors to the mental activity of the age, were Pascal, Malebranche,
+Spinoza, and Bayle. The result of their efforts was such a stride forward
+as has no parallel in the history of the human mind. One of the most
+curious and significant proofs of it was the spontaneous extinction of the
+belief in witchcraft among the cultivated classes of Europe, as the English
+historian of rationalism has so judiciously pointed out. The superstition
+was not much attacked, and it was vigorously defended, yet it died a
+natural and quiet death from the changed moral climate of the world.
+
+But the chief interest which the reign of Louis XIV offers to the student
+of history has yet to be mentioned. It was the great turning-point in the
+history of the French people. The triumph of the monarchical principle was
+so complete under him, independence and self-reliance were so effectually
+crushed, both in localities and individuals, that a permanent bent was
+given to the national mind--a habit of looking to the government for all
+action and initiative permanently established.
+
+Before the reign of Louis XIV it was a question which might fairly be
+considered undecided: whether the country would be able or not, willing or
+not, to cooeperate with its rulers in the work of the government and the
+reform of abuses. On more than one occasion such cooeperation did not seem
+entirely impossible or improbable. The admirable wisdom and moderation
+shown by the Tiers-Etat in the States-General of 1614, the divers efforts
+of the Parliament of Paris to check extravagant expenditure, the vigorous
+struggles of the provincial assemblies to preserve some relic of their
+local liberties, seemed to promise that France would continue to advance
+under the leadership indeed of the monarchy, yet still retaining in large
+measure the bright, free, independent spirit of old Gaul, the Gaul of
+Rabelais, Montaigne, and Joinville.
+
+After the reign of Louis XIV such cooeperation of the ruler and the ruled
+became impossible. The government of France had become a machine depending
+upon the action of a single spring. Spontaneity in the population at large
+was extinct, and whatever there was to do must be done by the central
+authority. As long as the government could correct abuses it was well; if
+it ceased to be equal to this task, they must go uncorrected. When at last
+the reform of secular and gigantic abuses presented itself with imperious
+urgency, the alternative before the monarchy was either to carry the reform
+with a high hand or perish in the failure to do so. We know how signal the
+failure was, and could not help being, under the circumstances; and through
+having placed the monarchy between these alternatives, it is no paradox
+to say that Louis XIV was one of the most direct ancestors of the "Great
+Revolution."
+
+Nothing but special conditions in the politics both of Europe and of France
+can explain this singular importance and prominence of Louis XIV's reign.
+And we find that both France and Europe were indeed in an exceptional
+position when he ascended the throne. The Continent of Europe, from one
+end to the other, was still bleeding and prostrate from the effect of the
+Thirty Years' War when the young Louis, in the sixteenth year of his age,
+was anointed king at Rheims. Although France had suffered terribly in that
+awful struggle, she had probably suffered less than any of the combatants,
+unless it be Sweden.
+
+It happened by a remarkable coincidence that precisely at this moment, when
+the condition of Europe was such that an aggressive policy on the part of
+France could be only with difficulty resisted by her neighbors, the power
+and prerogatives of the French crown attained an expansion and preeminence
+which they had never enjoyed in the previous history of the country. The
+schemes and hopes of Philip the Fair, of Louis XI, of Henry IV, and of
+Richelieu had been realized at last; and their efforts to throw off the
+insolent coercion of the great feudal lords had been crowned with complete
+success. The monarchy could hardly have conjectured how strong it had
+become but for the abortive resistance and hostility it met with in the
+Fronde.
+
+The flames of insurrection which had shot up, forked and menacing, fell
+back underground, where they smouldered for four generations yet to come.
+The kingly power soared, single and supreme, over its prostrate foes. Long
+before Louis XIV had shown any aptitude or disposition for authority, he
+was the object of adulation as cringing as was ever offered to a Roman
+emperor. When he returned from his consecration at Rheims, the rector of
+the University of Paris, at the head of his professorial staff, addressed
+the young King in these words: "We are so dazzled by the new splendor which
+surrounds your majesty that we are not ashamed to appear dumfounded at the
+aspect of a light so brilliant and so extraordinary"; and at the foot of an
+engraving at the same date he is in so many words called a demigod.
+
+It is evident that ample materials had been prepared for what the vulgar
+consider a great reign. Abundant opportunity for an insolent and
+aggressive foreign policy, owing to the condition of Europe. Security from
+remonstrance or check at home, owing to the condition of France. The temple
+is prepared for the deity; the priests stand by, ready to offer victims on
+the smoking altar; the incense is burning in anticipation of his advent. On
+the death of Mazarin, in 1661, he entered into his own.
+
+Louis XIV never forgot the trials and humiliations to which he and his
+mother had been subjected during the troubles of the Fronde. It has often
+been remarked that rulers born in the purple have seldom shown much
+efficiency unless they have been exposed to exceptional and, as it were,
+artificial probations during their youth. During the first eleven years
+of Louis' reign--incomparably the most creditable to him--we can trace
+unmistakably the influence of the wisdom and experience acquired in that
+period of anxiety and defeat. He then learned the value of money and the
+supreme benefits of a full exchequer. He also acquired a thorough dread of
+subjection to ministers and favorites--a dread so deep that it implied a
+consciousness of probable weakness on that side. As he went on in life he
+to a great extent forgot both these valuable lessons, but their influence
+was never entirely effaced. To the astonishment of the courtiers and even
+of his mother he announced his intention of governing independently, and
+of looking after everything himself. They openly doubted his perseverance.
+"You do not know him," said Mazarin. "He will begin rather late, but he
+will go further than most. There is enough stuff in him to make four kings
+and an honest man besides."
+
+His first measures were dictated less by great energy of initiative than by
+absolute necessity. The finances had fallen into such a chaos of jobbery
+and confusion that the very existence of the government depended upon a
+prompt and trenchant reform. It was Louis' rare good-fortune to find
+beside him one of the most able and vigorous administrators who have ever
+lived--Colbert. He had the merit--not a small one in that age--of letting
+this great minister invent and carry out the most daring and beneficial
+measures of reform, of which he assumed all the credit to himself. The
+first step was a vigorous attack on the gang of financial plunderers,
+who, with Fouquet at their head, simply embezzled the bulk of the state
+revenues. The money-lenders not only obtained the most usurious interest
+for their loans, but actually held in mortgage the most productive sources
+of the national taxation: and, not content with that, they bought up, at 10
+per cent. of their nominal value, an enormous amount of discredited bills,
+issued by the government in the time of the Fronde, which they forced the
+treasury to pay off at par; and this was done with the very money they had
+just before advanced to the government.
+
+Such barefaced plunder could not be endured, and Colbert was the last man
+to endure it. He not only repressed peculation, but introduced a number of
+practical improvements in the distribution, and especially in the mode of
+levying the taxes. So imperfect were the arrangements connected with the
+latter that it was estimated that of eighty-four millions paid by the
+people, only thirty-two millions entered into the coffers of the state. The
+almost instantaneous effects of Colbert's measures--the yawning deficit
+was changed into a surplus of forty-five millions in less than two
+years--showed how gross and flagrant had been the malversation preceding.
+
+Far more difficult, and far nobler in the order of constructive
+statesmanship, were his vast schemes to endow France with manufactures,
+with a commercial and belligerent navy, with colonies, besides his manifold
+reforms in the internal administration--tariffs and customs between
+neighboring provinces of France; the great work of the Languedoc canal; in
+fact, in every part and province of government. His success was various,
+but in some cases really stupendous. His creation of a navy almost
+surpasses belief. In 1661, when he first became free to act, France
+possessed only thirty vessels-of-war of all sizes. At the peace of
+Nimwegen, in 1678, she had acquired a fleet of one hundred twenty ships,
+and in 1683 she had got a fleet of one hundred seventy-six vessels; and
+the increase was quite as great in the size and armament of the individual
+ships as in their number.
+
+A perfect giant of administration, Colbert found no labor too great for
+his energies, and worked with unflagging energy sixteen hours a day for
+twenty-two years. It is melancholy to be forced to add that all this toil
+was as good as thrown away, and that the strong man went broken-hearted to
+the grave, through seeing too clearly that he had labored in vain for an
+ungrateful egotist. His great visions of a prosperous France, increasing in
+wealth and contentment, were blighted; and he closed his eyes upon scenes
+of improvidence and waste more injurious to the country than the financial
+robbery which he had combated in his early days. The government was not
+plundered as it had been, but itself was exhausting the very springs of
+wealth by its impoverishment of the people.
+
+Boisguillebert, writing in 1698, only fifteen years after Colbert's death,
+estimated the productive powers of France to have diminished by one-half
+in the previous thirty years. It seems, indeed, probable that the almost
+magical rapidity and effect of Colbert's early reforms turned Louis XIV's
+head, and that he was convinced that it only depended on his good pleasure
+to renew them to obtain the same result. He never found, as he never
+deserved to find, another Colbert; and he stumbled onward in ever deeper
+ruin to his disastrous end.
+
+His first breach of public faith was his attack on the Spanish Netherlands,
+under color of certain pretended rights of the Queen, his wife--the Infanta
+Marie Therese; although he had renounced all claims in her name at his
+marriage. This aggression was followed by his famous campaign in the Low
+Countries, when Franche-Comte was overrun and conquered in fifteen days. He
+was stopped by the celebrated triple alliance in mid career. He had not yet
+been intoxicated by success and vanity; Colbert's influence, always exerted
+on the side of peace, was at its height, the menacing attitude of Holland,
+England, and Sweden awed him, and he drew back. His pride was deeply
+wounded, and he revolved deep and savage schemes of revenge. Not on
+England, whose abject sovereign he knew could be had whenever he chose to
+buy him, but on the heroic little republic which had dared to cross his
+victorious path. His mingled contempt and rage against Holland were indeed
+instinctive, spontaneous, and in the nature of things. Holland was the
+living, triumphant incarnation of the two things he hated most--the
+principle of liberty in politics and the principle of free inquiry in
+religion.
+
+With a passion too deep for hurry or carelessness he made his preparations.
+The army was submitted to a complete reorganization. A change in the
+weapons of the infantry was effected, which was as momentous in its day as
+the introduction of the breech-loading rifle in ours. The old inefficient
+firelock was replaced by the flint musket, and the rapidity and certainty
+of fire vastly increased. The undisciplined independence of the officers
+commanding regiments and companies was suppressed by the rigorous and
+methodical Colonel Martinet, whose name has remained in other armies
+besides that of France as a synonyme of punctilious exactitude.
+
+The means of offence being thus secured, the next step was to remove the
+political difficulties which stood in the way of Louis' schemes; that is,
+to dissolve Sir W. Temple's diplomatic masterpiece, the triple alliance.
+The effeminate Charles II was bought over by a large sum of money and the
+present of a pretty French mistress. Sweden also received a subsidy, and
+her schemes of aggrandizement on continental Germany were encouraged.
+Meanwhile the illustrious man who ruled Holland showed that kind of
+weakness which good men often do in the presence of the unscrupulous and
+wicked. John de Witt could not be convinced of the reality of Louis'
+nefarious designs. France had ever been Holland's best friend, and he could
+not believe that the policy of Henry IV, of Richelieu and Mazarin, would
+be suddenly reversed by the young King of France. He tried negotiations in
+which he was amused by Louis so long as it suited the latter's purpose. At
+last, when the King's preparations were complete, he threw off the mask,
+and insultingly told the Dutch that it was not for hucksters like them, and
+usurpers of authority not theirs, to meddle with such high matters.
+
+Then commenced one of the brightest pages in the history of national
+heroism. At first the Dutch were overwhelmed; town after town capitulated
+without a blow. It seemed as if the United Provinces were going to be
+subdued, as Franche-Comte had been five years before. But Louis XIV had
+been too much intoxicated by that pride which goes before a fall to retain
+any clearness of head, if indeed he ever had any, in military matters. The
+great Conde, with his keen eye for attack, at once suggested one of those
+tiger-springs for which he was unequalled among commanders. Seeing the
+dismay of the Dutch, he advised a rapid dash with six thousand horse on
+Amsterdam. It is nearly certain, if this advice had been followed, that the
+little commonwealth, so precious to Europe, would have been extinguished;
+and that that scheme, born of heroic despair, of transferring to Batavia,
+"under new stars and amid a strange vegetation," the treasure of freedom
+and valor ruined in its old home by the Sardanapalus of Versailles, might
+have been put in execution. But it was not to be.
+
+Vigilant as Louis had been in preparation, he now seemed to be as careless
+or incompetent in execution. Not only he neglected the advice of his best
+general, and wasted time, but he did his best to drive his adversaries
+to despair and the resistance which comes of despair. They were told by
+proclamation that "the towns which should try to resist the forces of his
+majesty by opening the dikes or by any other means would be punished with
+the utmost rigor; and when the frost should have opened roads in all
+directions, his majesty would give no sort of quarter to the inhabitants of
+the said towns, but would give orders that their goods should be plundered
+and their houses burned."
+
+The Dutch envoys, headed by De Groot, son of the illustrious Grotius, came
+to the King's camp to know on what terms he would make peace. They were
+refused audience by the theatrical warrior, and told not to return except
+armed with full powers to make any concessions he might dictate. Then the
+"hucksters" of Amsterdam resolved on a deed of daring which is one of the
+most exalted among "the high traditions of the world." They opened the
+sluices and submerged the whole country under water. Still, their position
+was almost desperate, as the winter frosts were nearly certain to restore a
+firm foothold to the invader.
+
+They came again suing for peace, offering Maestricht, the Rhine fortresses,
+the whole of Brabant, the whole of Dutch Flanders, and an indemnity of ten
+millions. This was proffering more than Henry IV, Richelieu, or Mazarin had
+ever hoped for. These terms were refused, and the refusal carried with
+it practically the rejection of Belgium, which could not fail to be soon
+absorbed when thus surrounded by French possessions. But Louis met these
+offers with the spirit of an Attila. He insisted on the concession of
+Southern Gueldres and the island of Bommel, twenty-four millions of
+indemnity, the endowment of the Catholic religion, and an extraordinary
+annual embassy charged to present his majesty with a gold medal, which
+should set forth how the Dutch owed to him the conservation of their
+liberties. Such vindictive cruelty makes the mind run forward and dwell
+with a glow of satisfied justice on the bitter days of retaliation and
+revenge which in a future, still thirty years off, will humble the proud
+and pitiless oppressor in the dust; when he shall be a suppliant, and
+a suppliant in vain, at the feet of the haughty victors of Blenheim,
+Ramillies, and Oudenarde.
+
+But Louis' mad career of triumph was gradually being brought to a close.
+He had before him not only the waste of waters, but the iron will and
+unconquerable tenacity of the young Prince of Orange, "who needed neither
+hope to made him dare nor success to make him persevere." Gradually, the
+threatened neighbors of France gathered together and against her King.
+Charles II was forced to recede from the French alliance by his Parliament
+in 1674. The military massacre went on, indeed, for some years longer in
+Germany and the Netherlands; but the Dutch Republic was saved, and peace
+ratified by the treaty of Nimwegen.
+
+After the conclusion of the Dutch War the reign of Louis XIV enters on a
+period of manifest decline. The cost of the war had been tremendous. In
+1677 the expenditure had been one hundred ten millions, and Colbert had to
+meet this with a net revenue of eighty-one millions. The trade and commerce
+of the country had also suffered much during the war. With bitter grief the
+great minister saw himself compelled to reverse the beneficent policy of
+his earlier days, to add to the tax on salt, to increase the ever-crushing
+burden of the _taille_, to create new offices--hereditary employments in
+the government--to the extent of three hundred millions, augmenting the
+already monstrous army of superfluous officials, and, finally, simply to
+borrow money at high interest. The new exactions had produced widespread
+misery in the provinces before the war came to an end. In 1675 the Governor
+of Dauphine had written to Colbert, saying that commerce had entirely
+ceased in his district, and that the larger part of the people had lived
+during the winter on bread made from acorns and roots, and that at the time
+of his writing they were seen to be eating the grass of the fields and the
+bark of trees. The long-continued anguish produced at last despair and
+rebellion.
+
+In Bordeaux great excesses were committed by the mob, which were punished
+with severity. Six thousand soldiers were quartered in the town, and were
+guilty of such disorders that the best families emigrated, and trade was
+ruined for a long period. But Brittany witnessed still worse evils. There
+also riots and disturbances had been produced by the excessive pressure of
+the imposts. An army of five thousand men was poured into the province, and
+inflicted such terror on the population that the wretched peasants, at the
+mere sight of the soldiers, threw themselves on their knees in an attitude
+of supplication and exclaimed, "_Mea culpa_." The lively Madame de Sevigne
+gives us some interesting details concerning these events in the intervals
+when court scandal ran low and the brave doings of Madame de Montespan
+suffered a temporary interruption. "Would you like," says the
+tender-hearted lady to her daughter, "would you like to have news of
+Rennes? There are still five thousand soldiers here, as more have come
+from Nantes. A tax of one hundred thousand crowns has been laid upon the
+citizens, and if the money is not forthcoming in twenty-four hours the tax
+will be doubled and levied by the soldiers. All the inhabitants of a large
+street have already been driven out and banished, and no one may receive
+them under pain of death; so that all these poor wretches, old men, women
+recently delivered, and children, were seen wandering in tears as they left
+the town, not knowing whither to go or where to sleep or what to eat. The
+day before yesterday one of the leaders of the riot was broken alive on
+the wheel. Sixty citizens have been seized, and to-morrow the hanging will
+begin." In other letters she writes that the tenth man had been broken on
+the wheel, and she thinks he will be the last, and that by dint of hanging
+it will soon be left off.
+
+Such was the emaciated France which Louis the Great picked systematically
+to the bone for the next thirty-five years. He had long ceased to be guided
+by the patriotic wisdom of the great Colbert. His evil genius now was the
+haughty and reckless Louvois, who carefully abstained from imitating the
+noble and daring remonstrances against excessive expenditure which Colbert
+addressed to his master, and through which he lost his influence at court.
+Still, with a self-abnegation really heroic, Colbert begged, urged,
+supplicated the King to reduce his outlay. He represented the misery of
+the people. "All letters that come from the provinces, whether from the
+intendants, the receivers-general, and even the bishops, speak of it," he
+wrote to the King. He insisted on a reduction of the taille by five or six
+millions; and surely it was time, when its collection gave rise to such
+scenes as have just been described. It was in vain. The King shut his eyes
+to mercy and reason. His gigantic war expenditure, when peace came, was
+only partially reduced. For, indeed, he was still at war, but with nature
+and self-created difficulties of his own making.
+
+He was building Versailles: transplanting to its arid sands whole groves
+of full-grown trees from the depths of distant forests, and erecting the
+costly and fantastic marvel of Marli to afford a supply of water. Louis'
+buildings cost, first and last, a sum which would be represented by about
+twenty million pounds. The amount squandered on pensions was also very
+great. The great Colbert's days were drawing to a close, and he was very
+sad. It is related that a friend on one occasion surprised him looking out
+of a window in his chateau of Sceau, lost in thought and apparently gazing
+on the well-tilled fields of his own manor. When he came out of his reverie
+his friend asked him his thoughts. "As I look," he said, "on these fertile
+fields, I cannot help remembering what I have seen elsewhere. What a rich
+country is France! If the King's enemies would let him enjoy peace it would
+be possible to procure the people that relief and comfort which the great
+Henry promised them. I could wish that my projects had a happy issue, that
+abundance reigned in the kingdom, that everyone were content in it, and
+that without employment or dignities, far from the court and business, I
+saw the grass grow in my home farm."
+
+The faithful, indefatigable worker was breaking down, losing strength,
+losing heart, but still struggling on manfully to the last. It was noticed
+that he sat down to his work with a sorrowful, despondent look, and not,
+as had been his wont, rubbing his hands with the prospect of toil, and
+exulting in his almost superhuman capacity for labor. The ingratitude of
+the King, whom he had served only too well, gave him the final blow. Louis,
+with truculent insolence, reproached him with the "frightful expenses" of
+Versailles. As if they were Colbert's fault. Colbert, who had always urged
+the completion of the Louvre and the suppression of Versailles.
+
+At last the foregone giant lay down to die. A tardy touch of feeling
+induced Louis to write him a letter. He would not read it. "I will hear no
+more about the King," he said; "let him at least allow me to die in
+peace. My business now is with the King of kings. If," he continued,
+unconsciously, we may be sure, plagiarizing Wolsey, "if I had done for God
+what I have done for that man, my salvation would be secure ten times over;
+and now I know not what will become of me."
+
+Surely a tender and touching evidence of sweetness in the strong man
+who had been so readily accused of harshness by grasping courtiers. The
+ignorant ingratitude of the people was even perhaps more melancholy than
+the wilful ingratitude of the King. The great Colbert had to be buried by
+night, lest his remains should be insulted by the mob. He, whose heart had
+bled for the people's sore anguish, was rashly supposed to be the cause of
+that anguish. It was a sad conclusion to a great life. But he would have
+seen still sadder days if he had lived.
+
+The health of the luxurious, self-indulgent Louis sensibly declined after
+he had passed his fortieth year. In spite of his robust appearance he had
+never been really strong. His loose, lymphatic constitution required much
+support and management. But he habitually over-ate himself. He was indeed a
+gross and greedy glutton. "I have often seen the King," says the Duchess
+of Orleans, "eat four platefuls of various soups, a whole pheasant, a
+partridge, a large dish of salad, stewed mutton with garlic, two good
+slices of ham, a plate of pastry, and then fruit and sweetmeats." A most
+unwholesome habit of body was the result.
+
+An abscess formed in his upper jaw, and caused a perforation of the palate,
+which obliged him to be very careful in drinking, as the liquid was apt to
+pass through the aperture and come out by the nostrils. He felt weak and
+depressed, and began to think seriously about "making his salvation."
+His courtly priests and confessors had never inculcated any duties but
+two--that of chastity and that of religious intolerance--and he had been
+very remiss in both. He now resolved to make hasty reparation. The ample
+charms of the haughty Montespan fascinated him no more. He tried a new
+mistress, but she did not turn out well. Madame de Fontanges was young and
+exquisitely pretty, but a giddy, presuming fool. She moreover died shortly.
+He was more than ever disposed to make his salvation--that is, to renounce
+the sins of the flesh, and to persecute his God-fearing subjects, the
+Protestants.
+
+The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, one of the greatest crimes and
+follies which history records, was too colossal a misdeed for the guilt
+of its perpetration to be charged upon one man, however wicked or however
+powerful he may have been. In this case, as in so many others, Louis was
+the exponent of conditions, the visible representative of circumstances
+which he had done nothing to create. Just as he was the strongest king
+France ever had, without having contributed himself to the predominance of
+the monarchy, so, in the blind and cruel policy of intolerance which led to
+the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he was the delegate and instrument
+of forces which existed independently of him. A willing instrument, no
+doubt; a representative of sinister forces; a chooser of the evil part when
+mere inaction would have been equivalent to a choice of the good. Still, it
+is due to historic accuracy to point out that, had he not been seconded by
+the existing condition of France, he would not have been able to effect the
+evil he ultimately brought about.
+
+Louis' reign continued thirty years after the Revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, years crowded with events, particularly for the military historian,
+but over the details of which we shall not linger on this occasion. The
+brilliant reign becomes unbearably wearisome in its final period. The
+monotonous repetition of the same faults and the same crimes--profligate
+extravagance, revolting cruelty, and tottering incapacity--is as fatiguing
+as it is uninstructive. Louis became a mere mummy embalmed in etiquette,
+the puppet of his women and shavelings. The misery in the provinces grew
+apace, but there was no disturbance: France was too prostrate even to
+groan.
+
+In 1712 the expenditure amounted to two hundred forty millions, and the
+revenue to one hundred thirteen millions; but from this no less than
+seventy-six millions had to be deducted for various liabilities the
+government had incurred, leaving only a net income of thirty-seven
+millions--that is to say, the outlay was more than six times the income.
+
+The armies were neither paid nor fed, the officers received "food-tickets"
+(_billets de subsistance_), which they got cashed at a discount of 80 per
+cent. The government had anticipated by ten years its revenues from the
+towns. Still, this pale corpse of France must needs be bled anew to gratify
+the inexorable Jesuits, who had again made themselves complete masters of
+Louis XIV's mind. He had lost his confessor, Pere la Chaise (who died in
+1709), and had replaced him by the hideous Letellier, a blind and fierce
+fanatic, with a horrible squint and a countenance fit for the gallows. He
+would have frightened anyone, says Saint-Simon, who met him at the corner
+of a wood. This repulsive personage revived the persecution of the
+Protestants into a fiercer heat than ever, and obtained from the moribund
+King the edict of March 8,1715, considered by competent judges the clear
+masterpiece of clerical injustice and cruelty. Five months later Louis XIV
+died, forsaken by his intriguing wife, his beloved bastard (the Due de
+Maine), and his dreaded priest.
+
+The French monarchy never recovered from the strain to which it had been
+subjected during the long and exhausting reign of Louis XIV. Whether it
+could have recovered in the hands of a great statesman summoned in time is
+a curious question. Could Frederick the Great have saved it had he been
+_par impossible_ Louis XIV's successor? We can hardly doubt that he would
+have adjourned, if not have averted, the great catastrophe of 1789. But
+it is one of the inseparable accidents of such a despotism as France had
+fallen under, that nothing but consummate genius can save it from ruin;
+and the accession of genius to the throne in such circumstances is a
+physiological impossibility.
+
+The house of Bourbon had become as effete as the house of Valois in the
+sixteenth century; as effete as the Merovingians and Carlovingians had
+become in a previous age; but the strong chain of hereditary right bound up
+the fortunes of a great empire with the feeble brain and bestial instincts
+of a Louis XV. This was the result of concentrating all the active force of
+the state in one predestined irremovable human being. This was the logical
+and necessary outcome of the labors of Philip Augustus, Philip the Fair, of
+Louis XI, of Henry IV, and Richelieu. They had reared the monarchy like
+a solitary obelisk in the midst of a desert; but it had to stand or fall
+alone; no one was there to help it, as no one was there to pull it down.
+This consideration enables us to pass into a higher and more reposing order
+of reflection, to leave the sterile impeachment of individual incapacity,
+and rise to the broader question, and ask why and how that incapacity was
+endowed with such fatal potency for evil. As it has been well remarked, the
+loss of a battle may lead to the loss of a state; but then, what are the
+deeper reasons which explain why the loss of a battle should lead to the
+loss of a state? It is not enough to say that Louis XIV was an improvident
+and passionate ruler, that Louis XV was a dreary and revolting voluptuary.
+The problem is rather this: Why were improvidence, passion, and debauchery
+in two men able to bring down in utter ruin one of the greatest monarchies
+the world has ever seen? In other words, what was the cause of the
+consummate failure, the unexampled collapse, of the French monarchy?
+
+No personal insufficiency of individual rulers will explain it; and,
+besides, the French monarchy repeatedly disposed of the services of
+admirable rulers. History has recorded few more able kings than Louis le
+Gros, Philip Augustus, Philip le Bel, Louis XI, and Henry IV; few abler
+ministers than Sully, Richelieu, Colbert, and Turgot. Yet the efforts of
+all these distinguished men resulted in leading the nation straight into
+the most astounding catastrophe in human annals. Whatever view we take of
+the Revolution, whether we regard it as a blessing or as a curse, we must
+needs admit it was a reaction of the most violent kind--a reaction contrary
+to the preceding action.
+
+The old monarchy can only claim to have produced the Revolution in the
+sense of having provoked it; as intemperance has been known to produce
+sobriety, and extravagance parsimony. If the _ancien regime_ led in the
+result to an abrupt transition to the modern era, it was only because it
+had rendered the old era so utterly execrable to mankind that escape in any
+direction seemed a relief, were it over a precipice.
+
+
+
+%NEW YORK TAKEN BY THE ENGLISH%
+
+A.D. 1664
+
+JOHN R. BRODHEAD
+
+
+For half a century the Dutch colony in New York, then called New
+Netherlands, had developed under various administrations, when British
+conquest brought it under another dominion. This transfer of the government
+affected the whole future of the colony and of the great State into which
+it grew, although the original Dutch influence has never disappeared from
+its character and history.
+
+Under Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor (1647-1664), the colony
+made great progress. He conciliated the Indians, agreed upon a boundary
+line with the English colonists at Hartford, Connecticut, and took
+possession of the colony of New Sweden, in Delaware.
+
+Meanwhile the English colonists in different parts of North America were
+carrying on illicit trade with the Dutch at New Amsterdam (New York city).
+The English government, already jealous of the growing commerce of Holland,
+was irritated by the loss of revenue, and resolved in 1663 upon the
+conquest of New Netherlands. Brodhead, the historian of New York, recounts
+the steps of this conquest in a manner which brings the rival powers and
+their agents distinctly before us.
+
+England now determined boldly to rob Holland of her American province. King
+Charles II accordingly sealed a patent granting to the Duke of York and
+Albany a large territory in America, comprehending Long Island and
+the islands in its neighborhood--his title to which Lord Stirling
+had released--and all the lands and rivers from the west side of the
+Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. This sweeping grant
+included the whole of New Netherlands and a part of the territory of
+Connecticut, which, two years before, Charles had confirmed to Winthrop and
+his associates.
+
+The Duke of York lost no time in giving effect to his patent. As lord high
+admiral he directed the fleet. Four ships, the Guinea, of thirty-six guns;
+the Elias, of thirty; the Martin, of sixteen; and the William and Nicholas,
+of ten, were detached for service against New Netherlands, and about four
+hundred fifty regular soldiers, with their officers, were embarked. The
+command of the expedition was intrusted to Colonel Richard Nicolls, a
+faithful Royalist, who had served under Turenne with James, and had been
+made one of the gentlemen of his bedchamber. Nicolls was also appointed to
+be the Duke's deputy-governor, after the Dutch possessions should have been
+reduced.
+
+With Nicolls were associated Sir Robert Carr, Colonel George Cartwright,
+and Samuel Maverick, as royal commissioners to visit the several colonies
+in New England. These commissioners were furnished with detailed
+instructions; and the New England governments were required by royal
+letters to "join and assist them vigorously" in reducing the Dutch to
+subjection. A month after the departure of the squadron the Duke of York
+conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all the territory between
+the Hudson and Delaware rivers, from Cape May north to 41 deg. 40' latitude,
+and thence to the Hudson, in 41 deg. latitude, "hereafter to be called by the
+name or names of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey."
+
+Intelligence from Boston that an English expedition against New Netherlands
+had sailed from Portsmouth was soon communicated to Stuyvesant by Captain
+Thomas Willett; and the burgomasters and _schepens_ of New Amsterdam were
+summoned to assist the council with their advice. The capital was ordered
+to be put in a state of defence, guards to be maintained, and _schippers_
+to be warned. As there was very little powder at Fort Amsterdam a supply
+was demanded from New Amstel, and a loan of five or six thousand guilders
+was asked from Rensselaerswyck. The ships about to sail for Curacao were
+stopped; agents were sent to purchase provisions at New Haven; and as the
+enemy was expected to approach through Long Island Sound, spies were sent
+to obtain intelligence at West Chester and Milford.
+
+But at the moment when no precaution should have been relaxed, a despatch
+from the West India directors, who appear to have been misled by advices
+from London, announced that no danger need be apprehended from the English
+expedition, as it was sent out by the King only to settle the affairs of
+his colonies and establish episcopacy, which would rather benefit the
+company's interests in New Netherlands. Willett now retracting his previous
+statements, a perilous confidence returned. The Curacao ships were allowed
+to sail; and Stuyvesant, yielded to the solicitation of his council, went
+up the river to look after affairs at Fort Orange.
+
+The English squadron had been ordered to assemble at Gardiner's Island.
+But, parting company in a fog, the Guinea, with Nicolls and Cartwright on
+board, made Cape Cod, and went on to Boston, while the other ships put in
+at Piscataway. The commissioners immediately demanded the assistance of
+Massachusetts, but the people of the Bay, who feared, perhaps, that the
+King's success in reducing the Dutch would enable him the better to put
+down his enemies in New England, were full of excuses. Connecticut,
+however, showed sufficient alacrity; and Winthrop was desired to meet the
+squadron at the west end of Long Island, whither it would sail with the
+first fair wind.
+
+When the truth of Willett's intelligence became confirmed, the council sent
+an express to recall Stuyvesant from Fort Orange. Hurrying back to the
+capital, the anxious director endeavored to redeem the time which had been
+lost. The municipal authorities ordered one-third of inhabitants, without
+exception, to labor every third day at the fortifications; organized a
+permanent guard; forbade the brewers to malt any grain; and called on the
+provincial government for artillery and ammunition. Six pieces, besides
+the fourteen previously allotted, and a thousand pounds of powder were
+accordingly granted to the city. The colonists around Fort Orange, pleading
+their own danger from the savages, could afford no help; but the soldiers
+of Esopus were ordered to come down, after leaving a small garrison at
+Ronduit.
+
+In the mean time the English squadron had anchored just below the Narrows,
+in Nyack Bay, between New Utrecht and Coney Island. The mouth of the river
+was shut up; communication between Long Island and Manhattan, Bergen and
+Achter Cul, interrupted; several yachts on their way to the South River
+captured; and the blockhouse on the opposite shore of Staten Island seized.
+Stuyvesant now despatched Counsellor de Decker, Burgomaster Van der Grist,
+and the two domines Megapolensis with a letter to the English commanders
+inquiring why they had come, and why they continued at Nyack without
+giving notice. The next morning, which was Saturday, Nicolls sent Colonel
+Cartwright, Captain Needham, Captain Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall up to
+Fort Amsterdam with a summons for the surrender of "the town situate on
+the island and commonly known by the name of Manhatoes, with all the forts
+thereunto belonging."
+
+This summons was accompanied by a proclamation declaring that all who would
+submit to his majesty's government should be protected "in his majesty's
+laws and justice," and peaceably enjoy their property. Stuyvesant
+immediately called together the council and the burgomasters, but would not
+allow the terms offered by Nicolls to be communicated to the people, lest
+they might insist on capitulating. In a short time several of the burghers
+and city officers assembled at the Stadt-Huys. It was determined to prevent
+the enemy from surprising the town; but, as opinion was generally against
+protracted resistance, a copy of the English communication was asked from
+the director. On the following Monday the burgomasters explained to a
+meeting of the citizens the terms offered by Nicolls. But this would not
+suffice; a copy of the paper itself must be exhibited. Stuyvesant then went
+in person to the meeting. "Such a course," said he, "would be disapproved
+of in the Fatherland--it would discourage the people." All his efforts,
+however, were in vain; and the director, protesting that he should not be
+held answerable for the "calamitous consequences," was obliged to yield to
+the popular will.
+
+Nicolls now addressed a letter to Winthrop, who with other commissioners
+from New England had joined the squadron, authorizing him to assure
+Stuyvesant that, if Manhattan should be delivered up to the King, "any
+people from the Netherlands may freely come and plant there or thereabouts;
+and such vessels of their own country may freely come thither, and any of
+them may as freely return home in vessels of their own country." Visiting
+the city under a flag of truce Winthrop delivered this to Stuyvesant
+outside the fort and urged him to surrender. The director declined; and,
+returning to the fort, he opened Nicolls' letter before the council and the
+burgomasters, who desired that it should be communicated, as "all which
+regarded the public welfare ought to be made public." Against this
+Stuyvesant earnestly remonstrated, and, finding that the burgomasters
+continued firm, in a fit of passion he "tore the letter in pieces." The
+citizens, suddenly ceasing their work at the palisades, hurried to the
+Stadt-Huys, and sent three of their numbers to the fort to demand the
+letter.
+
+In vain the director hastened to pacify the burghers and urge them to go on
+with the fortifications. "Complaints and curses" were uttered on all sides
+against the company's misgovernment; resistance was declared to be idle;
+"The letter! the letter!" was the general cry. To avoid a mutiny Stuyvesant
+yielded, and a copy, made out from the collected fragments, was handed to
+the burgomasters. In answer, however, to Nicolls' summons he submitted a
+long justification of the Dutch title; yet while protesting against any
+breach of the peace between the King and the States-General, "for the
+hinderance and prevention of all differences and the spilling of innocent
+blood, not only in these parts, but also in Europe," he offered to treat.
+"Long Island is gone and lost;" the capital "cannot hold out long," was the
+last despatch to the "Lord Majors" of New Netherlands, which its director
+sent off that night "in silence through Hell Gate."
+
+Observing Stuyvesant's reluctance to surrender, Nicolls directed Captain
+Hyde, who commanded the squadron, to reduce the fort. Two of the ships
+accordingly landed their troops just below Breuckelen (Brooklyn), where
+volunteers from New England and the Long Island villages had already
+encamped. The other two, coming up with full sail, passed in front of Fort
+Amsterdam and anchored between it and Nutten Island. Standing on one of
+the angles of the fortress--an artilleryman with a lighted match at his
+side--the director watched their approach. At this moment the two domines
+Megapolensis, imploring him not to begin hostilities, led Stuyvesant from
+the rampart, who then, with a hundred of the garrison, went into the city
+to resist the landing of the English. Hoping on against hope, the director
+now sent Counsellor de Decker, Secretary Van Ruyven, Burgomaster Steenwyck,
+and "Schepen" Cousseau with a letter to Nicolls stating that, as he
+felt bound "to stand the storm," he desired if possible to arrange on
+accommodation. But the English commander merely declared, "To-morrow I will
+speak with you at Manhattan."
+
+"Friends," was the answer, "will be welcome if they come in a friendly
+manner."
+
+"I shall come with ships and soldiers," replied Nicolls; "raise the white
+flag of peace at the fort, and then something may be considered."
+
+When this imperious message became known, men, women, and children flocked
+to the director, beseeching him to submit. His only answer was, "I would
+rather be carried out dead." The next day the city authorities, the
+clergymen, and the officers of the burgher guard, assembling at the
+Stadt-Huys, at the suggestion of Domine Megapolensis adopted a remonstrance
+to the director, exhibiting the hopeless situation of New Amsterdam, on all
+sides "encompassed and hemmed in by enemies," and protesting against any
+further opposition to the will of God. Besides the _schout_, burgomasters,
+and schepens, the remonstrance was signed by Wilmerdonck and eighty-five of
+the principal inhabitants, among whom was Stuyvesant's own son, Balthazar.
+
+At last the director was obliged to yield. Although there were now fifteen
+hundred souls in New Amsterdam, there were not more than two hundred fifty
+men able to bear arms, besides the one hundred fifty regular soldiers. The
+people had at length refused to be called out, and the regular troops were
+already heard talking of "where booty is to be found, and where the young
+women live who wear gold chains." The city, entirely open along both
+rivers, was shut on the northern side by a breastwork and palisades, which,
+though sufficient to keep out the savages, afforded no defence against
+a military siege. There were scarcely six hundred pounds of serviceable
+powder in store.
+
+A council of war had reported Fort Amsterdam untenable for though it
+mounted twenty-four guns, its single wall of earth not more than ten feet
+high and four thick, was almost touches by the private dwellings clustered
+around, and was commanded, within a pistol-shot, by hills on the north,
+over which ran the "Heereweg" or Broadway.
+
+Upon the faith of Nicolls' promise to deliver back the city and fort "in
+case the difference of the limits of this province be agreed upon betwixt
+his majesty of England and the high and mighty States-General," Stuyvesant
+now commissioned Counsellor John de Decker, Captain Nicholas Varlett, Dr.
+Samuel Megapolensis, Burgomaster Cornelius Steenwyck, old Burgomaster Oloff
+Stevenson van Cortlandt, and old Schepen Jacques Cousseau to agree upon
+articles with the English commander or his representatives. Nicolls, on
+his part, appointed Sir Robert Carr and Colonel George Cartwright, John
+Winthrop, and Samuel Willys, of Connecticut, and Thomas Clarke and John
+Pynchon, of Massachusetts. "The reason why those of Boston and Connecticut
+were joined," afterward explained the royal commander, "was because those
+two colonies should hold themselves the more engaged with us if the Dutch
+had been overconfident of their strength."
+
+At eight o'clock the next morning, which was Saturday, the Commissioners
+on both sides met at Stuyvesant's "bouwery" and arranged the terms of
+capitulation. The only difference which arose was respecting the Dutch
+soldiers, whom the English refused to convey back to Holland. The articles
+of capitulation promised the Dutch security in their property, customs of
+inheritance, liberty of conscience and church discipline. The municipal
+officers of Manhattan were to continue for the present unchanged, and the
+town was to be allowed to choose deputies, with "free voices in all public
+affairs." Owners of property in Fort Orange might, if they pleased, "slight
+the fortifications there," and enjoy their houses "as people do where there
+is no fort."
+
+For six months there was to be free intercourse with Holland. Public
+records were to be respected. The articles, consented to by Nicolls, were
+to be ratified by Stuyvesant the next Monday morning at eight o'clock, and
+within two hours afterward, the "fort and town called New Amsterdam, upon
+the Isle of Manhatoes," were to be delivered up, and the military officers
+and soldiers were to "march out with their arms, drums beating, and colors
+flying, and lighted matches."
+
+On the following Monday morning at eight o'clock Stuyvesant, at the head of
+the garrison, marched out of Fort Amsterdam with all the honors of war, and
+led his soldiers down the Beaver Lane to the water-side, whence they were
+embarked for Holland. An English corporal's guard at the same time took
+possession of the fort; and Nicolls and Carr, with their two companies,
+about a hundred seventy strong, entered the city, while Cartwright took
+possession of the gates and the Stadt-Huys. The New England and Long Island
+volunteers, however, were prudently kept at the Breuckelen ferry, as the
+citizens dreaded most being plundered by them. The English flag was hoisted
+on Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was immediately changed to "Fort
+James." Nicolls was now proclaimed by the burgomasters deputy-governor for
+the Duke of York, in compliment to whom he directed that the city of New
+Amsterdam should thenceforth be known as "New York."
+
+To Nicolls' European eye the Dutch metropolis, with its earthen fort
+enclosing a windmill and high flag-staff, a prison and a governor's house,
+and a double-roofed church, above which loomed a square tower, its gallows
+and whipping-post at the river's side, and its rows of houses which hugged
+the citadel, presented but a mean appearance. Yet before long he described
+it to the Duke as "the best of all his majesty's towns in America," and
+assured his royal highness that, with proper management, "within five years
+the staple of America will be drawn hither, of which the brethren of Boston
+are very sensible."
+
+The Dutch frontier posts were thought of next. Colonel Cartwright, with
+Captains Thomas Willett, John Manning, Thomas Breedon, and Daniel Brodhead,
+were sent to Fort Orange, as soon as possible, with a letter from Nicolls
+requiring La Montagne and the magistrates and inhabitants to aid in
+prosecuting his majesty's interest against all who should oppose a
+peaceable surrender. At the same time Van Rensselaer was desired to bring
+down his patent and papers to the new governor and likewise to observe
+Cartwright's directions.
+
+Counsellor de Decker, however, travelling up to Fort George ahead of the
+English commissioners, endeavored, without avail, to excite the inhabitants
+to opposition; and his conduct being judged contrary to the spirit of the
+capitulation which he had signed, he was soon afterward ordered out of
+Nicolls' government. The garrison quietly surrendered, and the name of Fort
+Orange was changed to that of "Fort Albany," after the second title of the
+Duke of York. A treaty was immediately signed between Cartwright and
+the sachems of the Iroquois, who were promised the same advantages "as
+heretofore they had from the Dutch"; and the alliance which was thus
+renewed continued unbroken until the beginning of the American Revolution.
+
+It only remained to reduce the South River; whither Sir Robert Carr was
+sent with the Guinea, the William and Nicholas, and "all the soldiers which
+are not in the fort." To the Dutch he was instructed to promise all their
+privileges, "only that they change their masters." To the Swedes he was to
+"remonstrate their happy return under a monarchical government." To Lord
+Baltimore's officers in Maryland he was to say that, their pretended rights
+being a doubtful case, "possession would be kept until his majesty is
+informed and satisfied otherwise."
+
+A tedious voyage brought the expedition before New Amstel. The burghers and
+planters, "after almost three days' parley," agreed to Carr's demands,
+and Ffob Oothout with five others signed articles of capitulation which
+promised large privileges. But the Governor and soldiery refusing the
+English propositions, the fort was stormed and plundered, three of the
+Dutch being killed and ten wounded. In violation of his promises, Carr now
+exhibited the most disgraceful rapacity; appropriated farms to himself, his
+brother, and Captains Hyde and Morely, stripped bare the inhabitants, and
+sent the Dutch soldiers to be sold as slaves in Virginia. To complete the
+work, a boat was despatched to the city's colony at the Horekill, which was
+seized and plundered of all its effects, and the marauding party even took
+"what belonged to the Quacking Society of Plockhoy, to a very naile."
+
+The reduction of New Netherlands was now accomplished. All that could
+be further done was to change its name; and, to glorify one of the most
+bigoted princes in English history, the royal province was ordered to be
+called "New York." Ignorant of James' grant of New Jersey to Berkeley
+and Carteret, Nicolls gave to the region west of the Hudson the name of
+"Albania," and to Long Island that of "Yorkshire," so as to comprehend
+all the titles of the Duke of York. The flag of England was at length
+triumphantly displayed, where, for half a century, that of Holland had
+rightfully waved; and from Virginia to Canada, the King of Great Britain
+was acknowledged as sovereign.
+
+Viewed in all its aspects, the event which gave to the whole of that
+country a unity in allegiance, and to which a misgoverned people
+complacently submitted, was as inevitable as it was momentous. But whatever
+may have been its ultimate consequences, this treacherous and violent
+seizure of the territory and possessions of an unsuspecting ally was no
+less a breach of private justice than of public faith.
+
+It may, indeed, be affirmed that, among all the acts of selfish perfidy
+which royal ingratitude conceived and executed, there have been few more
+characteristic and none more base.
+
+
+
+%GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON%
+
+A.D. 1665
+
+DANIEL DEFOE
+
+
+None of the great visitations of disease that have afflicted Europe within
+historic times has wholly spared England. But from the time of the "Black
+Death" (1349) the country experienced no such suffering from any epidemic
+as that which fell upon London in 1665. That year the "Great Plague" is
+said to have destroyed the lives of nearly one hundred thousand people in
+England's capital. The plague had previously cropped up there every few
+years, from lack of proper sanitation. At the time of this outbreak the
+water-supply of the city was notoriously impure. In 1665 the heat was
+uncommonly severe. Pepys said that June 7th of that year was the hottest
+day that he had ever known.
+
+The plague of 1665 is said, however, to have been brought in merchandise
+directly from Holland, where it had been smouldering for several years.
+Its ravages in London have often been described, and Defoe found in the
+calamity a subject for a special story on history. Probably he was not more
+than six years old when the plague appeared; but he assumes throughout the
+pose of a respectable and religious householder of the period. All his own
+recollections, all the legends of the time, and the parish records are
+grouped in masterly fashion to form a single picture. The account has been
+described as a "masterpiece of verisimilitude."
+
+In the first place a blazing star or comet appeared for several months
+before the plague, as there did the year after, a little before the great
+fire; the old women and the weak-minded portion of the other sex, whom I
+could almost call old women too, remarked--especially afterward, though not
+till both those judgments were over--that those two comets passed directly
+over the city, and that so very near the houses that it was plain they
+imported something peculiar to the city alone; that the comet before the
+pestilence was of a faint, dull, languid color, and its motion very heavy,
+solemn, and slow; but that the comet before the fire was bright and
+sparkling, or, as others said, flaming, and its motion swift and furious;
+and that, accordingly, one foretold a heavy judgment, slow, but severe,
+terrible, and frightful, as the plague was; but the other foretold
+a stroke, sudden, swift, and fiery, like the conflagration. Nay, so
+particular some people were that, as they looked upon that comet preceding
+the fire, they fancied that they not only saw it pass swiftly and fiercely,
+and could perceive the motion with the eye, but they even heard it; that it
+made a rushing, mighty noise, fierce and terrible, though at a distance and
+but just perceivable.
+
+I saw both these stars, and I must confess, had so much of the common
+notion of such things in my head that I was apt to look upon them as the
+forerunners and warnings of God's judgments; and especially, when after the
+plague had followed the first, I yet saw another of the like kind, I could
+not but say, God had not yet sufficiently scourged the city.
+
+But I could not at the same time carry these things to the height that
+others did, knowing, too, that natural causes are assigned by the
+astronomers for such things; and that their motions, and even their
+evolutions, are calculated, or pretended to be calculated; so that they
+cannot be so perfectly called the forerunners or foretellers, much less the
+procurers of such events as pestilence, war, fire, and the like.
+
+But let my thoughts, and the thoughts of the philosophers, be or have been
+what they will, these things had a more than ordinary influence upon the
+minds of the common people, and they had, almost universally, melancholy
+apprehensions of some dreadful calamity and judgment coming upon the city;
+and this principally from the sight of this comet, and the little alarm
+that was given in December by two people dying in St. Giles.
+
+The apprehensions of the people were likewise strangely increased by the
+error of the times; in which, I think the people, from what principles
+I cannot imagine, were more addicted to prophecies, and astrological
+conjurations, dreams, and old wives' tales, than ever they were before or
+since. Whether this unhappy temper was originally raised by the follies of
+some people who got money by it--that is to say, by printing predictions
+and prognostications--I know not; but certain it is books frightened them
+terribly; such as _Lilly's Almanack, Gadbury's Allogical Predictions,
+Poor Robin's Almanack_, and the like; also several pretended religious
+books--one entitled _Come out of her, my people, lest you be partaker
+of her plagues_; another, called _Fair Warning_; another, _Britain's
+Remembrancer_; and many such, all or most part of which foretold directly
+or covertly the ruin of the city: nay, some were so enthusiastically bold
+as to run about the streets with their oral predictions, pretending they
+were sent to preach to the city; and one in particular, who like Jonah
+to Nineveh, cried in the streets, "Yet forty days, and London shall be
+destroyed." I will not be positive whether he said "yet forty days" or "yet
+a few days."
+
+Another ran about naked, except a pair of drawers about his waist, crying
+day and night. As a man that Josephus mentions, who cried, "Woe to
+Jerusalem!" a little before the destruction of that city, so this poor
+naked creature cried, "O the great and the dreadful God!" and said no more,
+but repeated these words continually, with a voice and countenance full of
+horror, a swift pace; and nobody could ever find him to stop or rest or
+take any sustenance, at least that ever I could hear of. I met this poor
+creature several times in the streets, and would have spoken to him, but he
+would not enter into conversation with me, or anyone else, but held on his
+dismal cries continually. These things terrified the people to the last
+degree; and especially when two or three times, as I have mentioned
+already, they found one or two in the bills dead of the plague at St.
+Giles.
+
+The justices of peace for Middlesex, by direction of the secretary
+of state, had begun to shut up houses in the parishes of St.
+Giles-in-the-Fields, St. Martin's, St. Clement Danes, etc., and it was with
+good success; for in several streets where the plague broke out, after
+strictly guarding the houses that were infected, and taking care to bury
+those that died immediately after they were known to be dead, the plague
+ceased in those streets. It was also observed that the plague decreased
+sooner in those parishes, after they had been visited in detail, than it
+did in the parishes of Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Aldgate, Whitechapel,
+Stepney, and others; the early care taken in that manner being a great
+check to it.
+
+This shutting up of houses was a method first taken, as I understand, in
+the plague which happened in 1603, on the accession of King James I to the
+crown; and the power of shutting people up in their own houses was granted
+by an act of Parliament entitled "An act for the charitable relief and
+ordering of persons infected with the plague." On which act of Parliament
+the lord mayor and aldermen of the city of London founded the order they
+made at this time, viz., June, 1665; when the numbers infected within the
+city were but few, the last bill for the ninety-two parishes being but
+four. By these means, when there died about one thousand a week in the
+whole, the number in the city was but twenty-eight; and the city was more
+healthy in proportion than any other place all the time of the infection.
+
+These orders of my lord mayor were published, as I have said, toward the
+end of June. They came into operation from July ist, and were as follows:
+
+  "_Orders conceived and published by the lord mayor and aldermen
+  of the city of London, concerning the infection of the plague_,
+  1665.
+
+"Whereas, in the reign of our late sovereign, King James, of happy memory,
+an act was made for the charitable relief and ordering of persons infected
+with the plague; whereby authority was given to justices of the peace,
+mayors, bailiffs, and other head officers, to appoint within their several
+limits, examiners, searchers, watchmen, surgeons, and nurse-keepers, and
+buriers, for the persons and places infected, and to minister unto them
+oaths for the performance of their offices. And the same statute did also
+authorize the giving of other directions, as unto them for the present
+necessity should seem good in their discretions. It is now upon special
+consideration thought very expedient for preventing and avoiding of
+infection of sickness (if it shall so please Almighty God) that these
+officers be appointed, and these orders hereafter duly observed."
+
+Then follow the orders giving these officers instructions in detail and
+prescribing the extent and limits of their several duties. Next, "_Orders
+concerning infected houses and persons sick of the plague._" These had
+reference to the "notice to be given of the sickness," "sequestration of
+the sick," "airing the stuff," "shutting up of the house," "burial of
+the dead," "forbidding infected stuff to be sold, and of persons leaving
+infected houses," "marking of infected houses," and "regulating hackney
+coaches that have been used to convey infected persons."
+
+Lastly there followed "_Orders for cleansing and keeping the streets and
+houses sweet_" and "_Orders concerning loose persons and idle assemblies_"
+such as "beggars," "plays," "feasts," and "tippling-houses."
+
+  "(Signed) SIR JOHN LAWRENCE, _Lord Mayor_.
+  SIR GEORGE WATERMAN,
+  SIR CHARLES DOE,
+  _Sheriffs_."
+
+I need not say that these orders extended only to such places as were
+within the lord mayor's jurisdiction; so it is requisite to observe that
+the justices of the peace, within those parishes, and those places called
+the hamlets and out-parts, took the same method: as I remember, the orders
+for shutting up of houses did not take place so soon on our side, because,
+as I said before, the plague did not reach the eastern parts of the town,
+at least not begin to be very violent, till the beginning of August.
+
+Now, indeed, it was coming on amain; for the burials that same week were in
+the next adjoining parishes thus:
+
+
+                                  The next week  To the
+                                  prodigiously   1st of
+                                  increased, as  Aug. thus
+
+  St. Leonard's, Shoreditch ... 64      84        110
+  St. Botolph, Bishopsgate .... 65     105        116
+  St. Giles, Cripplegate.......213     421        554
+                               ---     ---        ---
+                               342     610        780
+
+The shutting up of houses was at first considered a very cruel and
+unchristian thing, and the poor people so confined made bitter
+lamentations; complaints were also daily brought to my lord mayor, of
+houses causelessly--and some maliciously--shut up. I cannot say, but, upon
+inquiry, many that complained so loudly were found in a condition to be
+continued; and others again, inspection being made upon the sick person, on
+his being content to be carried to the pesthouse, were released.
+
+Indeed, many people perished in these miserable confinements, which it
+is reasonable to believe would not have been distempered if they had had
+liberty, though the plague was in the house; at which the people were
+at first very clamorous and uneasy, and several acts of violence were
+committed on the men who were set to watch the houses so shut up; also
+several people broke out by force, in many places, as I shall observe by
+and by; still it was a public good that justified the private mischief;
+and there was no obtaining the least mitigation by any application to
+magistrates. This put the people upon all manner of stratagems, in order,
+if possible, to get out; and it would fill a little volume to set down the
+arts used by the people of such houses to shut the eyes of the watchmen who
+were employed, to deceive them, and to escape or break out from them. A few
+incidents on this head may prove not uninteresting.
+
+As I went along Houndsditch one morning, about eight o'clock, there was a
+great noise; it is true, indeed, there was not much crowd, because people
+were not very free to gather or to stay long together; but the outcry was
+loud enough to prompt my curiosity, and I called to one that looked out of
+a window, and asked what was the matter.
+
+A watchman, it seems, had been employed to keep his post at the door of a
+house which was infected, or said to be infected, and was shut up; he had
+been there all night for two nights together, as he told his story, and the
+day watchman had been there one day, and had now come to relieve him; all
+this while no noise had been heard in the house, no light had been seen;
+they called for nothing, sent him no errands, which was the chief business
+of the watchman; neither had they given him any disturbance, as he said,
+from the Monday afternoon, when he heard great crying and screaming in the
+house, which, as he supposed, was occasioned by some of the family dying
+just at that time. It seems the night before, the dead-cart, as it was
+called, had been stopped there, and a servant-maid had been brought down
+to the door dead, and the buriers or bearers, as they were called, put her
+into the cart, wrapped only in a green rug, and carried her away.
+
+The watchman had knocked at the door, it seems, when he heard that noise
+and crying, as above, and nobody answered a great while; but at last one
+looked out, and said, with an angry, quick tone, "What do ye want, that ye
+make such a knocking?" He answered: "I am the watchman! how do you do?
+what is the matter?" The person answered: "What is that to you? Stop the
+dead-cart." This, it seems, was about one o'clock; soon after, as the
+fellow said, he stopped the dead-cart, and then knocked again, but nobody
+answered: he continued knocking, and the bellman called out several times,
+"Bring out your dead!" but nobody answered, till the man that drove the
+cart, being called to other houses, would stay no longer, and drove away.
+
+The watchman knew not what to make of all this, so he let them alone
+till the day watchman came to relieve him, giving him an account of the
+particulars. They knocked at the door a great while, but nobody answered;
+and they observed that the window or casement at which the person had
+looked out continued open, being up two pair of stairs. Upon this the two
+men, to satisfy their curiosity, got a long ladder, and one of them went
+up to the window and looked into the room, where he saw a woman lying dead
+upon the floor in a dismal manner, having no clothes on her but her shift.
+Although he called aloud, and knocked hard on the floor with his long
+staff, yet nobody stirred or answered; neither could he hear any noise in
+the house.
+
+Upon this he came down again and acquainted his fellow, who went up also,
+and, finding the case as above, they resolved either to acquaint the lord
+mayor or some other magistrate with it. The magistrate, it seems, upon
+the information of the two men, ordered the house to be broken open, a
+constable and other persons being appointed to be present, that nothing
+might be plundered; and accordingly it was so done, when nobody was found
+in the house but that young woman, who, having been infected, and past
+recovery, the rest had left her to die by herself. Everyone was gone,
+having found some way to delude the watchman and to get open the door or
+get out at some back door or over the tops of the houses, so that he knew
+nothing of it; and as to those cries and shrieks which the watchman had
+heard, it was supposed they were the passionate cries of the family at
+the bitter parting, which, to be sure, it was to them all, this being the
+sister to the mistress of the house.
+
+Many such escapes were made out of infected houses, as particularly when
+the watchman was sent some errand, that is to say, for necessaries, such as
+food and physic, to fetch physicians if they would come, or surgeons, or
+nurses, or to order the dead-cart, and the like. Now, when he went it was
+his duty to lock up the outer door of the house and take the key away with
+him; but to evade this and cheat the watchman, people got two or three keys
+made to their locks, or they found means to unscrew the locks, open the
+door, and go out as they pleased. This way of escape being found out, the
+officers afterward had orders to padlock up the doors on the outside and
+place bolts on them, as they thought fit.
+
+At another house, as I was informed, in the street near Aldgate, a whole
+family was shut up and locked in because the maidservant was ill: the
+master of the house had complained, by his friends, to the next alderman
+and to the lord mayor, and had consented to have the maid carried to the
+pesthouse, but was refused, so the door was marked with a red cross, a
+padlock on the outside, as above, and a watchman set to keep the door
+according to public order.
+
+After the master of the house found there was no remedy, but that he, his
+wife, and his children were to be locked up with this poor distempered
+servant, he called to the watchman and told him he must go then and fetch a
+nurse for them to attend this poor girl, for that it would be certain death
+to them all to oblige them to nurse her; and that if he would not do this
+the maid must perish, either of the distemper, or be starved for want of
+food, for he was resolved none of his family should go near her, and she
+lay in the garret, four-story high, where she could not cry out or call to
+anybody for help.
+
+The watchman went and fetched a nurse as he was appointed, and brought her
+to them the same evening; during this interval the master of the house took
+the opportunity of breaking a large hole through his shop into a stall
+where formerly a cobbler had sat, before or under his shop window, but the
+tenant, as may be supposed, at such a dismal time as that, was dead or
+removed, and so he had the key in his own keeping. Having made his way
+into this stall, which he could not have done if the man had been at the
+door--the noise he was obliged to make being such as would have alarmed the
+watchman--I say, having made his way into this stall, he sat still till the
+watchman returned with the nurse, and all the next day also. But the night
+following, having contrived to send the watchman another trifling errand,
+he conveyed himself and all his family out of the house, and left the nurse
+and the watchman to bury the poor woman, that is, to throw her into the
+cart and take care of the house.
+
+I could give a great many such stories as these which in the long course of
+that dismal year I met with, that is, heard of, and which are very certain
+to be true or very near the truth; that is to say, true in general, for no
+man could at such a time learn all the particulars. There was, likewise,
+violence used with the watchmen, as was reported, in abundance of places;
+and I believe that, from the beginning of the visitation to the end, not
+less than eighteen or twenty of them were killed or so severely wounded as
+to be taken up for dead; which was supposed to have been done by the people
+in the infected houses which were shut up, and where they attempted to come
+out and were opposed.
+
+For example, not far from Coleman Street they blowed up a watchman with
+gunpowder, and burned the poor fellow dreadfully; and while he made hideous
+cries, and nobody would venture to come near to help him, the whole family
+that were able to stir got out at the windows one story high, two that were
+left sick calling out for help. Care was taken to give the latter nurses
+to look after them, but the fugitives were not found till after the plague
+abated, when they returned; but as nothing could be proved, so nothing
+could be done to them.
+
+It is to be considered, too, that as these were prisons without bars or
+bolts, which our common prisons are furnished with, so the people let
+themselves down out of their windows, even in the face of the watchman,
+bringing swords or pistols in their hands, and threatening to shoot the
+poor wretch if he stirred or called for help.
+
+In other cases some had gardens and walls or palings between them and
+their neighbors; or yards and back houses; and these, by friendship and
+entreaties, would get leave to get over those walls or palings, and so go
+out at their neighbors' doors, or, by giving money to their servants, get
+them to let them through in the night; so that, in short, the shutting up
+of houses was in no wise to be depended upon. Neither did it answer the end
+at all; serving more to make the people desperate and drive them to violent
+extremities in their attempts to break out.
+
+But what was still worse, those that did thus break out spread the
+infection by wandering about with the distemper upon them; and many that
+did so were driven to dreadful exigencies and extremities and perished in
+the streets or fields or dropped down with the raging violence of the fever
+upon them. Others wandered into the country and went forward any way as
+their desperation guided them, not knowing whither they went or would go,
+till faint and tired; the houses and villages on the road refusing to admit
+them to lodge, whether infected or no, they perished by the roadside.
+
+On the other hand, when the plague at first seized a family, that is to
+say, when any one of the family had gone out and unwarily or otherwise
+caught the distemper and brought it home, it was certainly known by the
+family before it was known to the officers who were appointed to examine
+into the circumstances of all sick persons when they heard of their being
+sick.
+
+I remember--and while I am writing this story I think I hear the very
+shrieks--a certain lady had an only daughter, a young maiden about nineteen
+years old and who was possessed of a very considerable fortune. The young
+woman, her mother, and the maid had been out for some purpose, for the
+house was not shut up; but about two hours after they came home the young
+lady complained she was not well; in a quarter of an hour more she vomited
+and had a violent pain in her head. "Pray God," says her mother, in a
+terrible fright, "my child has not the distemper!" The pain in her head
+increasing, her mother ordered the bed to be warmed, and resolved to
+put her to bed, and prepared to give her things to sweat, which was the
+ordinary remedy to be taken when the first apprehensions of the distemper
+began.
+
+While the bed was being aired, the mother undressed the young woman, and,
+on looking over her body with a candle, immediately discovered the fatal
+tokens. Her mother, not being able to contain herself, threw down her
+candle and screeched out in such a frightful manner that it was enough to
+bring horror upon the stoutest heart in the world. Overcome by fright, she
+first fainted, then recovered, then ran all over the house, up the stairs
+and down the stairs, like one distracted. Thus she continued screeching and
+crying out for several hours, void of all sense, or at least government of
+her senses, and, as I was told, never came thoroughly to herself again. As
+to the young maiden, she was dead from that moment; for the gangrene which
+occasions the spots had spread over her whole body, and she died in less
+than two hours: but still the mother continued crying out, not knowing
+anything more of her child, several hours after she was dead.
+
+I went all the first part of the time freely about the streets, though not
+so freely as to run myself into apparent danger, except when they dug the
+great pit in the church-yard of our parish of Aldgate. A terrible pit it
+was, and I could not resist the curiosity to go and see it. So far as I
+could judge, it was about forty feet in length and about fifteen or sixteen
+feet broad, and, at the time I first looked at it, about nine feet deep;
+but it was said they dug it nearly twenty feet deep afterward, when they
+could go no deeper, for the water.
+
+They had dug several pits in another ground when the distemper began to
+spread in our parish, and especially when the dead-carts began to go about,
+which in our parish was not till the beginning of August. Into these pits
+they had put perhaps fifty or sixty bodies each; then they made larger
+holes, wherein they buried all that the cart brought in a week, which, by
+the middle to the end of August, came to from two hundred to four hundred
+a week. They could not dig them larger, because of the order of the
+magistrates confining them to leave no bodies within six feet of the
+surface. Besides, the water coming on at about seventeen or eighteen feet,
+they could not well put more in one pit. But now at the beginning of
+September, the plague being at its height, and the number of burials in our
+parish increasing to more than were ever buried in any parish about London
+of no larger extent, they ordered this dreadful gulf to be dug, for such it
+was, rather than a pit.
+
+They had supposed this pit would have supplied them for a month or more
+when they dug it, and some blamed the churchwardens for suffering such a
+frightful thing, telling them they were making preparations to bury the
+whole parish, and the like; but time made it appear the church-wardens
+knew the condition of the parish better than they did; for the pit being
+finished September 4th, I think they began to bury in it on the 6th, and by
+the 20th, which was just two weeks, they had thrown into it one thousand
+one hundred fourteen bodies, when they were obliged to fill it up, the
+bodies being within six feet of the surface.
+
+It was about September 10th that my curiosity led or rather drove me to
+go and see this pit again, when there had been about four hundred people
+buried in it; and I was not content to see it in the daytime, as I had done
+before, for then there would have been nothing to see but the loose earth;
+for all the bodies that were thrown in were immediately covered with earth
+by those they called the buriers, but I resolved to go in the night and see
+some of the bodies thrown in.
+
+There was a strict order against people coming to those pits, and that
+was only to prevent infection; but after some time that order was more
+necessary, for people that were infected and near their end, and delirious
+also, would run to those pits, wrapped in blankets or rags, and throw
+themselves in and bury themselves.
+
+I got admittance into the church-yard by being acquainted with the sexton,
+who, though he did not refuse me at all, yet earnestly persuaded me not to
+go, telling me very seriously--for he was a good and sensible man--that it
+was indeed their business and duty to run all hazards, and that in so doing
+they might hope to be preserved; but that I had no apparent call except my
+own curiosity, which he said he believed I would not pretend was sufficient
+to justify my exposing myself to infection. I told him "I had been pressed
+in my mind to go, and that perhaps it might be an instructing sight that
+might not be without its uses." "Nay," says the good man, "if you will
+venture on that score, i' name of God go in; for depend upon it, 'twill be
+a sermon to you; it may be the best that you ever heard in your life. It is
+a speaking sight," says he, "and has a voice with it, and a loud one, to
+call us to repentance;" and with that he opened the door and said, "Go, if
+you will."
+
+His words had shocked my resolution a little and I stood wavering for a
+good while; but just at that interval I saw two links come over from the
+end of the Minories, and heard the bellman, and then appeared a dead-cart,
+so I could no longer resist my desire, and went in. There was nobody that I
+could perceive at first in the church-yard or going into it but the buriers
+and the fellow that drove the cart or rather led the horse and cart; but
+when they came up to the pit they saw a man going to and fro muffled up in
+a brown cloak and making motions with his hands under his cloak, as if
+he was in a great agony, and the buriers immediately gathered about him,
+supposing he was one of those poor delirious or desperate creatures that
+used to bury themselves. He said nothing as he walked about, but two or
+three times groaned very deeply and loud, and sighed as he would break his
+heart.
+
+When the buriers came up to him they soon found he was neither a person
+infected and desperate, as I have observed above, nor a person distempered
+in mind, but one oppressed with a dreadful weight of grief, indeed, having
+his wife and several of his children in the cart that had just come in, and
+he followed it in an agony and excess of sorrow. He mourned heartily, as
+it was easy to see, but with a kind of masculine grief that could not give
+itself vent in tears, and, calmly desiring the buriers to let him alone,
+said he would only see the bodies thrown in and go away; so they left
+importuning him. But no sooner was the cart turned round and the bodies
+shot into the pit promiscuously, which was a surprise to him, for he at
+least expected they would have been decently laid in, though indeed he was
+afterward convinced that was impracticable--I say, no sooner did he see the
+sight but he cried out aloud, unable to contain himself.
+
+I could not hear what he said, but he went backward and forward two or
+three times and fell down in a swoon. The buriers ran to him and took him
+up, and in a little while he came to himself, and they led him away to the
+Pye tavern, over against the end of Houndsditch, where it seems the man was
+known and where they took care of him. He looked into the pit again as
+he went away, but the buriers had covered the bodies so immediately with
+throwing in the earth that, though there was light enough, for there were
+lanterns and candles placed all night round the sides of the pit, yet
+nothing could be seen.
+
+This was a mournful scene, indeed, and affected me almost as much as the
+rest, but the other was awful and full of terror. The cart had in it
+sixteen or seventeen bodies; some were wrapped up in linen sheets, some in
+rugs, some all but naked or so loose that what covering they had fell from
+them in being shot out of the cart, for coffins were not to be had for the
+prodigious numbers that fell in such a calamity as his.
+
+It was reported, by way of scandal upon the buriers, that if any corpse was
+delivered to them decently wrapped in a winding-sheet, the buriers were
+so wicked as to strip them in the cart and carry them quite naked to the
+ground; but as I cannot easily credit anything so vile among Christians,
+and at a time so filled with terrors as that was, I can only relate it and
+leave it undetermined.
+
+I was indeed shocked at the whole sight; it almost overwhelmed me, and I
+went away with my heart full of the most afflicting thoughts, such as I
+cannot describe. Just at my going out at the church-yard and turning up
+the street toward my own house I saw another cart with links and a bellman
+going before, coming out of Harrow Alley, in the Butcher Row, on the other
+side of the way, and being, as I perceived, very full of dead bodies, it
+went directly toward the church; I stood awhile, but I had no desire to
+go back again to see the same dismal scene over again, so I went directly
+home, where I could not but consider, with thankfulness, the risk I had
+run.
+
+Here the poor unhappy gentleman's grief came into my head again, and,
+indeed, I could not but shed tears in reflecting upon it, perhaps more than
+he did himself; but his case lay so heavy upon my mind that I could not
+constrain myself from going again to the Pye tavern, resolving to inquire
+what became of him. It was by this time one o'clock in the morning and the
+poor gentleman was still there; the truth was the people of the house,
+knowing him, had kept him there all the night, notwithstanding the danger
+of being infected by him, though it appeared the man was perfectly sound
+himself.
+
+It is with regret that I take notice of this tavern: the people were civil,
+mannerly, and obliging enough, and had till this time kept their house open
+and their trade going on, though not so very publicly as formerly; but a
+dreadful set of fellows frequented their house, who, in the midst of all
+this horror, met there every night, behaved with all the revelling and
+roaring extravagances as are usual for such people to do at other times,
+and, indeed, to such an offensive degree that the very master and mistress
+of the house grew first ashamed and then terrified at them.
+
+They sat generally in a room next the street, and, as they always kept
+late hours, so when the dead-cart came across the street end to go into
+Houndsditch, which was in view of the tavern windows, they would frequently
+open the windows as soon as they heard the bell, and look out at them; and
+as they might often hear sad lamentations of people in the streets or at
+their windows as the carts went along, they would make their impudent mocks
+and jeers at them, especially if they heard the poor people call upon God
+to have mercy upon them, as many would do at those times in passing along
+the streets.
+
+These gentlemen, being something disturbed with the clatter of bringing the
+poor gentleman into the house, as above, were first angry and very high
+with the master of the house for suffering such a fellow, as they called
+him, to be brought out of the grave into their house; but being answered
+that the man was a neighbor, and that he was sound, but overwhelmed with
+the calamity of his family, and the like, they turned their anger into
+ridiculing the man and his sorrow for his wife and children; taunting him
+with want of courage to leap into the great pit and go to heaven, as
+they jeeringly expressed it, along with them; adding some profane and
+blasphemous expressions.
+
+They were at this vile work when I came back to the house, and as far as
+I could see, though the man sat still, mute and disconsolate, and their
+affronts could not divert his sorrow, yet he was both grieved and offended
+at their words: upon this, I gently reproved them, being well enough
+acquainted with their characters, and not unknown in person to two of them.
+They immediately fell upon me with ill language and oaths: asked me what I
+did out of my grave at such a time when so many honester men were carried
+into the church-yard? and why I was not at home saying my prayers till the
+dead-cart came for me?
+
+I was indeed astonished at the impudence of the men, though not at all
+discomposed at their treatment of me. However, I kept my temper. I told
+them that though I defied them or any man in the world to tax me with any
+dishonesty, yet I acknowledged that in this terrible judgment of God many a
+better than I was swept away and carried to his grave. But to answer their
+question directly, it was true that I was mercifully preserved by that
+great God whose name they had blasphemed and taken in vain by cursing and
+swearing in a dreadful manner; and that I believed I was preserved in
+particular, among other ends of his goodness, that I might reprove them for
+their audacious boldness in behaving in such a manner and in such an awful
+time as this was; especially for their jeering and mocking at an honest
+gentleman and a neighbor who they saw was overwhelmed with sorrow for the
+sufferings with which it had pleased God to afflict his family.
+
+They received all reproof with the utmost contempt and made the greatest
+mockery that was possible for them to do at me, giving me all the
+opprobrious, insolent scoffs that they could think of for preaching to
+them, as they called it, which, indeed, grieved me rather than angered me.
+I went away, however, blessing God in my mind that I had not spared them
+though they had insulted me so much.
+
+They continued this wretched course three or four days after this,
+continually mocking and jeering at all that showed themselves religious or
+serious, or that were any way us; and I was informed they flouted in the
+same manner at the good people who, notwithstanding the contagion, met at
+the church, fasted, and prayed God to remove his hand from them.
+
+I say, they continued this dreadful course three or four days--I think it
+was no more--when one of them, particularly he who asked the poor gentleman
+what he did out of his grave, was struck with the plague and died in a most
+deplorable manner; and in a word, they were every one of them carried into
+the great pit which I have mentioned above, before it was quite filled up,
+which was not above a fortnight or thereabout.
+
+
+
+%GREAT FIRE IN LONDON%
+
+A.D. 1666
+
+JOHN EVELYN
+
+
+In the reign of Charles II--the "Merry Monarch," of whom one of his
+ministers observed that "he never said a foolish thing and never did a wise
+one"--the calamities which happened eclipsed the merriment of his people,
+if not that of the sovereign himself.
+
+In 1666 England had not fully recovered from the civil wars of 1642-1651.
+She was now at war with the allied Dutch and French, and was suffering from
+the terrible effects of the "Great Plague" which ravaged London in 1665.
+During September 2-5, 1666, occurred a catastrophe of almost equal horror.
+A fire, which broke out in a baker's house near the bridge, spread on
+all sides so rapidly that the people were unable to extinguish it until
+two-thirds of the city had been destroyed.
+
+Evelyn's account, from his famous _Diary_, is that of an eye-witness who
+took a prominent part in dealing with the conflagration, during which
+the inhabitants of London--like those of some of our cities in recent
+times--"were reduced to be spectators of their own ruin." Besides
+suspecting the French and Dutch of having landed and, as Evelyn records, of
+"firing the town," people assigned various other possible origins for the
+disaster, charging it upon the republicans, the Catholics, etc. It was
+obviously due, as Hume thought it worth while to note, to the narrow
+streets, the houses built entirely of wood, the dry season, and a strong
+east wind.
+
+"But the fire," says a later writer, "though destroying so much, was most
+beneficial in thoroughly eradicating the plague. The fever dens in which it
+continually lurked were burned, and the new houses which were erected were
+far more healthy and better arranged."
+
+In the year of our Lord 1666. 2d Sept. This fatal night, about ten, began
+that deplorable fire near Fish Street, in London.
+
+3. The fire continuing, after dinner I took coach with my wife and son, and
+went to the Bankside in Southwark, where we beheld that dismal spectacle,
+the whole city in dreadful flames near the water-side; all the houses from
+the bridge, all Thames Street, and upward toward Cheapside, down to the
+Three Cranes, were now consumed.
+
+The fire having continued all this night--if I may call that night
+which was as light as day for ten miles round about, after a dreadful
+manner--when conspiring with a fierce eastern wind in a very dry season; I
+went on foot to the same place, and saw the whole south part of the city
+burning from Cheapside to the Thames, and all along Cornhill--for it
+kindled back against the wind as well as forward--Tower Street, Fenchurch
+Street, Gracechurch Street, and so along to Bainard's castle, and was
+now taking hold of St. Paul's Church, to which the scaffolds contributed
+exceedingly. The conflagration was so universal, and the people so
+astonished, that from the beginning, I know not by what despondency or
+fate, they hardly stirred to quench it; so that there was nothing heard
+or seen but crying out and lamentation, running about like distracted
+creatures, without at all attempting to save even their goods; such a
+strange consternation there was upon them, so as it burned both in breadth
+and length, the churches, public halls, exchange, hospitals, monuments,
+and ornaments, leaping after a prodigious manner from house to house, and
+street to street, at great distances one from the other; for the heat, with
+a long set of fair and warm weather, had even ignited the air and prepared
+the materials to conceive the fire, which devoured, after an incredible
+manner, houses, furniture, and everything.
+
+Here we saw the Thames covered with goods floating, all the barges and
+boats laden with what some had time and courage to save, as, on the other,
+the carts, etc., carrying out to the fields, which for many miles were
+strewed with movables of all sorts, and tents erecting to shelter both
+people and what goods they could get away. Oh, the miserable and calamitous
+spectacle! such as haply the world had not seen the like since the
+foundation of it, nor be outdone till the universal conflagration. All the
+sky was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven, the light seen
+above forty miles round about for many nights.
+
+God grant my eyes may never behold the like, now seeing above ten thousand
+houses all in one flame; the noise, and cracking, and thunder of the
+impetuous flames, the shrieking of women and children, the hurry of people,
+the fall of towers, houses, and churches was like a hideous storm, and the
+air all about so hot and inflamed that at last one was not able to approach
+it; so that they were forced to stand still and let the flames burn on,
+which they did for near two miles in length and one in breadth. The clouds
+of smoke were dismal, and reached, upon computation, near fifty miles in
+length. Thus I left it this afternoon burning, a resemblance of Sodom or
+the last day. London was, but is no more!
+
+4. The burning still rages, and it has now gotten as far as the Inner
+Temple, all Fleet Street, the Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, Warwick Lane,
+Newgate, Paul's Chain, Watling Street, now flaming, and most of it reduced
+to ashes; the stones of St. Paul's flew like granados, the melting lead
+running down the streets in a stream, and the very pavements glowing with
+fiery redness, so as no horse nor man was able to tread on them, and the
+demolition had stopped all the passages, so that no help could be applied.
+The eastern wind still more impetuously drove the flames forward. Nothing
+but the almighty power of God was able to stop them, for vain was the help
+of man.
+
+5. It crossed toward Whitehall; oh, the confusion there was then at that
+court! It pleased his majesty to command me among the rest to look after
+the quenching of Fetter Lane, and to preserve, if possible, that part of
+Holborn, while the rest of the gentlemen took their several posts--for now
+they began to bestir themselves, and not till now, who hitherto had stood
+as men intoxicated, with their hands across--and began to consider that
+nothing was likely to put a stop, but the blowing up of so many houses
+might make a wider gap than any had yet been made by the ordinary method
+of pulling them down with engines; this some stout seamen proposed early
+enough to have saved nearly the whole city, but this some tenacious and
+avaricious men, aldermen, etc., would not permit, because their houses must
+have been of the first.
+
+It was therefore now commanded to be practised, and my concern being
+particularly for the hospital of St. Bartholomew, near Smithfield, where I
+had many wounded and sick men, made me the more diligent to promote it, nor
+was my care for the Savoy less. It now pleased God, by abating the wind,
+and by the industry of the people, infusing a new spirit into them, and the
+fury of it began sensibly to abate about noon, so as it came no further
+than the Temple westward, nor than the entrance of Smithfield north; but
+continued all this day and night so impetuous toward Cripplegate and the
+Tower, as made us all despair. It also broke out again in the Temple, but
+the courage of the multitude persisting, and many houses being blown up,
+such gaps and desolations were soon made, as with the former three-days'
+consumption, the back fire did not so vehemently urge upon the rest as
+formerly. There was yet no standing near the burning and glowing ruins by
+near a furlong's space.
+
+The coal and wood wharfs, and magazines of oil, resin, etc., did infinite
+mischief, so as the invective which a little before I had dedicated to his
+majesty and published, giving warning what might probably be the issue of
+suffering those shops to be in the city, was looked on as a prophecy.
+
+The poor inhabitants were dispersed about St. George's Fields and
+Moorfields, as far as Highgate, and several miles in circle, some under
+tents, some under miserable huts and hovels, many without a rag, or any
+necessary utensils, bed, or board; who, from delicateness, riches, and easy
+accommodations in stately and well-furnished houses, were now reduced to
+extremest misery and poverty.
+
+In this calamitous condition I returned with a sad heart to my house,
+blessing and adoring the mercy of God to me and mine, who in the midst of
+all this ruin was like Lot, in my little Zoar, safe and sound.
+
+7. I went this morning on foot from Whitehall as far as London bridge,
+through the late Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill, by St. Paul's, Cheapside,
+Exchange, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, and out to Moorfields, thence through
+Cornhill, etc., with extraordinary difficulty clambering over heaps of yet
+smoking rubbish, and frequently mistaking where I was. The ground under my
+feet was so hot that it even burned the soles of my shoes.
+
+In the mean time his majesty got to the Tower by water, to demolish the
+houses about the graff, which, being built entirely about it, had they
+taken fire, and attacked the White Tower, where the magazine of powder lay,
+would undoubtedly not only have beaten down and destroyed all the bridge,
+but sunk and torn the vessels in the river, and rendered the demolition
+beyond all expression for several miles about the country.
+
+At my return I was infinitely concerned to find that goodly church, St.
+Paul's, now a sad ruin, and that beautiful portico--or structure comparable
+to any in Europe, as not long before repaired by the King--now rent in
+pieces, flakes of vast stones split asunder, and nothing remaining entire
+but the inscription in the architrave, showing by whom it was built, which
+had not one letter of it defaced. It was astonishing to see what immense
+stones the heat had in a manner calcined, so that all the ornaments,
+columns, friezes, and projectures of massy Portland stone flew off, even
+to the very roof, where a sheet of lead covering a great space was totally
+melted; the ruins of the vaulted roof falling broke into St. Faith's, which
+being filled with the magazines of books belonging to the stationers, and
+carried thither for safety, they were all consumed, burning for a week
+following.
+
+It is also observable that the lead over the altar at the east end was
+untouched, and among the divers monuments the body of one bishop remained
+entire. Thus lay in ashes that most venerable church, one of the most
+ancient pieces of early piety in the Christian world, besides near
+one hundred more. The lead, ironwork, bells, plate, etc., melted; the
+exquisitely wrought Mercer's Chapel, the sumptuous Exchange, the august
+fabric of Christ Church, all the rest of the Companies' Halls, sumptuous
+buildings, arches, all in dust; the fountains dried up and ruined, while
+the very waters remained boiling; the _voragoes_ of subterranean cellars,
+wells, and dungeons, formerly warehouses, still burning in stench and dark
+clouds of smoke, so that in five or six miles traversing about I did not
+see one load of timber consume, nor many stones but what were calcined
+white as snow.
+
+The people who now walked about the ruins appeared like men in a dismal
+desert, or rather in some great city laid waste by a cruel enemy: to which
+was added the stench that came from some poor creatures' bodies, beds, etc.
+Sir Thomas Gresham's statue, though fallen from its niche in the Royal
+Exchange, remained entire, when all those of the kings since the Conquest
+were broken to pieces; also the standard in Cornhill, and Queen Elizabeth's
+effigies, with some arms on Ludgate, continued with but little detriment,
+while the vast iron chains of the city streets, hinges, bars, and gates of
+prisons, were many of them melted and reduced to cinders by the vehement
+heat.
+
+I was not able to pass through any of the narrow streets, but kept the
+widest; the ground and air, smoke and fiery vapor, continued so intense
+that my hair was almost singed and my feet insufferably surheated. The
+by-lanes and narrower streets were quite filled up with rubbish, nor could
+one have known where he was but by the ruins of some church or hall that
+had some remarkable tower or pinnacle remaining. I then went toward
+Islington and Highgate, where one might have seen two hundred thousand
+people of all ranks and degrees, dispersed and lying along by their heaps
+of what they could save from the fire, deploring their loss, and, though
+ready to perish for hunger and destitution, yet not asking one penny for
+relief, which to me appeared a stranger sight than any I had yet beheld.
+
+His majesty and council, indeed, took all imaginable care for their
+relief, by proclamation for the country to come in and refresh them with
+provisions. In the midst of all this calamity and confusion there was, I
+know not how, an alarm begun that the French and Dutch, with whom we are
+now in hostility, were not only landed, but even entering the city. There
+was in truth some days before great suspicion of these two nations joining;
+and now, that they had been the occasion of firing the town. This report
+did so terrify that on a sudden there was such an uproar and tumult that
+they ran from their goods, and, taking what weapons they could come at,
+they could not be stopped from falling on some of those nations whom they
+casually met, without sense or reason.
+
+The clamor and peril grew so excessive that it made the whole court amazed,
+and they did with infinite pains and great difficulty reduce and appease
+the people, sending troops of soldiers and guards to cause them to retire
+into the fields again, where they were watched all this night. I left them
+pretty quiet, and came home sufficiently weary and broken. Their spirits
+thus a little calmed, and the affright abated, they now began to repair
+into the suburbs about the city, where such as had friends or opportunity
+got shelter for the present, to which his majesty's proclamation also
+invited them.
+
+
+
+%DISCOVERY OF GRAVITATION%
+
+A.D. 1666
+
+SIR DAVID BREWSTER
+
+
+Many admirers of Sir Isaac Newton have asserted that his was the most
+gigantic intellect ever bestowed on man. He discovered the law of
+gravitation, and by it explained all the broader phenomena of nature, such
+as the movements of the planets, the shape and revolution of the earth, the
+succession of the tides. Copernicus had asserted that the planets moved,
+Newton demonstrated it mathematically.
+
+His discoveries in optics were in his own time almost equally famous,
+while in his later life he shared with Leibnitz the honor of inventing
+the infinitesimal calculus, a method which lies at the root of all the
+intricate marvels of modern mathematical science.
+
+Newton should not, however, be regarded as an isolated phenomenon, a genius
+but for whom the world would have remained in darkness. His first flashing
+idea of gravitation deserves perhaps to be called an inspiration. But in
+all his other labors, experimental as well as mathematical, he was but
+following the spirit of the times. The love of science was abroad, and its
+infinite curiosity. Each of Newton's discoveries was claimed also by other
+men who had been working along similar lines. Of the dispute over the
+gravitation theory Sir David Brewster, the great authority for the career
+of Newton, gives some account. The controversy over the calculus was even
+more bitter and prolonged.
+
+It were well, however, to disabuse one's mind of the idea that Newton's
+work was a finality, that it settled anything. As to why the law of
+gravitation exists, why bodies tend to come together, the philosopher had
+little suggestion to offer, and the present generation knows no more than
+he. Before Copernicus and Newton men looked only with their eyes, and
+accepted the apparent movements of sun and stars as real. Now, going one
+step deeper, we look with our brains and see their real movements which
+underlie appearances. Newton supplied us with the law and rate of the
+movement--but not its cause. It is toward that cause, that great "Why?"
+that science has ever since been dimly groping.
+
+In the year 1666, when the plague had driven Newton from Cambridge, he was
+sitting alone in the garden at Woolsthrope, and reflecting on the nature of
+gravity, that remarkable power which causes all bodies to descend toward
+the centre of the earth. As this power is not found to suffer any sensible
+diminution at the greatest distance from the earth's centre to which we can
+reach--being as powerful at the tops of the highest mountains as at the
+bottom of the deepest mines--he conceived it highly probable that it must
+extend much further than was usually supposed. No sooner had this happy
+conjecture occurred to his mind than he considered what would be the effect
+of its extending as far as the moon. That her motion must be influenced
+by such a power he did not for a moment doubt; and a little reflection
+convinced him that it might be sufficient for retaining that luminary in
+her orbit round the earth.
+
+Though the force of gravity suffers no sensible diminution at those small
+distances from the earth's centre at which we can place ourselves, yet he
+thought it very possible that, at the distance of the moon, it might differ
+much in strength from what it is on the earth. In order to form some
+estimate of the degree of its diminution, he considered that, if the moon
+be retained in her orbit by the force of gravity, the primary planets must
+also be carried round the sun by the same power; and by comparing the
+periods of the different planets with their distances from the sun he found
+that, if they were retained in their orbits by any power like gravity, its
+force must decrease in the duplicate proportion, or as the squares of their
+distances from the sun. In drawing this conclusion, he supposed the planets
+to move in orbits perfectly circular, and having the sun in their centre.
+Having thus obtained the law of the force by which the planets were drawn
+to the sun, his next object was to ascertain if such a force emanating from
+the earth, and directed to the moon, was sufficient, when diminished in the
+duplicate ratio of the distance, to retain her in her orbit.
+
+In performing this calculation it was necessary to compare the space
+through which heavy bodies fall in a second at a given distance from the
+centre of the earth, viz., at its surface, with the space through which the
+moon, as it were, falls to the earth in a second of time while revolving
+in a circular orbit. Being at a distance from books when he made this
+computation, he adopted the common estimate of the earth's diameter then
+in use among geographers and navigators, and supposed that each degree of
+latitude contained sixty English miles.
+
+In this way he found that the force which retains the moon in her orbit,
+as deduced from the force which occasions the fall of heavy bodies to the
+earth's surface, was one-sixth greater than that which is actually
+observed in her circular orbit. This difference threw a doubt upon all his
+speculations; but, unwilling to abandon what seemed to be otherwise so
+plausible, he endeavored to account for the difference of the two forces
+by supposing that some other cause must have been united with the force of
+gravity in producing so great velocity of the moon in her circular orbit.
+As this new cause, however, was beyond the reach of observation, he
+discontinued all further inquiries into the subject, and concealed from his
+friends the speculations in which he had been employed.
+
+After his return to Cambridge in 1666 his attention was occupied with
+optical discoveries; but he had no sooner brought them to a close than his
+mind reverted to the great subject of the planetary motions. Upon the death
+of Oldenburg in August, 1678, Dr. Hooke was appointed secretary to the
+Royal Society; and as this learned body had requested the opinion of Newton
+about a system of physical astronomy, he addressed a letter to Dr. Hooke
+on November 28, 1679. In this letter he proposed a direct experiment for
+verifying the motion of the earth, viz., by observing whether or not bodies
+that fall from a considerable height descend in a vertical direction; for
+if the earth were at rest the body would describe exactly a vertical line;
+whereas if it revolved round its axis, the falling body must deviate from
+the vertical line toward the east.
+
+The Royal Society attached great value to the idea thus casually suggested,
+and Dr. Hooke was appointed to put it to the test of experiment. Being
+thus led to consider the subject more attentively, he wrote to Newton that
+wherever the direction of gravity was oblique to the axis on which the
+earth revolved, that is, in every part of the earth except the equator,
+falling bodies should approach to the equator, and the deviation from the
+vertical, in place of being exactly to the east, as Newton maintained,
+should be to the southeast of the point from which the body began to move.
+
+Newton acknowledged that this conclusion was correct in theory, and Dr.
+Hooke is said to have given an experimental demonstration of it before the
+Royal Society in December, 1679. Newton had erroneously concluded that the
+path of the falling body would be a spiral; but Dr. Hooke, on the same
+occasion on which he made the preceding experiment, read a paper to the
+society in which he proved that the path of the body would be an eccentric
+ellipse _in vacuo_, and an ellipti-spiral if the body moved in a resisting
+medium.
+
+This correction of Newton's error, and the discovery that a projectile
+would move in an elliptical orbit when under the influence of a force
+varying in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance, led Newton, as
+he himself informs us in his letter to Halley, to discover "the theorem
+by which he afterward examined the ellipsis," and to demonstrate the
+celebrated proposition that a planet acted upon by an attractive force
+varying inversely as the squares of the distances, will describe an
+elliptical orbit in one of whose _foci_ the attractive force resides.
+
+But though Newton had thus discovered the true cause of all the celestial
+motions, he did not yet possess any evidence that such a force actually
+resided in the sun and planets. The failure of his former attempt to
+identify the law of falling bodies at the earth's surface with that which
+guided the moon in her orbit, threw a doubt over all his speculations, and
+prevented him from giving any account of them to the public.
+
+An accident, however, of a very interesting nature induced him to resume
+his former inquiries, and enabled him to bring them to a close. In June,
+1682, when he was attending a meeting of the Royal Society of London, the
+measurement of a degree of the meridian, executed by M. Picard in 1679,
+became the subject of conversation. Newton took a memorandum of the result
+obtained by the French astronomer, and having deduced from it the diameter
+of the earth, he immediately resumed his calculation of 1665, and began to
+repeat it with these new data. In the progress of the calculation he saw
+that the result which he had formerly expected was likely to be produced,
+and he was thrown into such a state of nervous irritability that he was
+unable to carry on the calculation. In this state of mind he intrusted it
+to one of his friends, and he had the high satisfaction of finding his
+former views amply realized. The force of gravity which regulated the fall
+of bodies at the earth's surface, when diminished as the square of the
+moon's distance from the earth, was found to be almost exactly equal to the
+centrifugal force of the moon as deduced from her observed distance and
+velocity.
+
+The influence of such a result upon such a mind may be more easily
+conceived than described. The whole material universe was spread out before
+him; the sun with all his attending planets; the planets with all their
+satellites; the comets wheeling in every direction in their eccentric
+orbits; and the systems of the fixed stars stretching to the remotest
+limits of space. All the varied and complicated movements of the heavens,
+in short, must have been at once presented to his mind as the necessary
+result of that law which he had established in reference to the earth and
+the moon.
+
+After extending this law to the other bodies of the system, he composed a
+series of propositions on the motion of the primary planets about the sun,
+which were sent to London about the end of 1683, and were soon afterward
+communicated to the Royal Society.
+
+About this period other philosophers had been occupied with the same
+subject. Sir Christopher Wren had many years before endeavored to explain
+the planetary motions "by the composition of a descent toward the sun, and
+an impressed motion; but he at length gave it over, not finding the means
+of doing it." In January, 1683-1684, Dr. Halley had concluded from Kepler's
+law of the periods and distances, that the centripetal force decreased in
+the reciprocal proportion of the squares of the distances, and having one
+day met Sir Christopher Wren and Dr. Hooke, the latter affirmed that he had
+demonstrated upon that principle all the laws of the celestial motions. Dr.
+Halley confessed that his attempts were unsuccessful, and Sir Christopher,
+in order to encourage the inquiry, offered to present a book of forty
+shillings value to either of the two philosophers who should, in the space
+of two months, bring him a convincing demonstration of it. Hooke persisted
+in the declaration that he possessed the method, but avowed it to be his
+intention to conceal it for time. He promised, however, to show it to Sir
+Christopher; but there is every reason to believe that this promise was
+never fulfilled.
+
+In August, 1684, Dr. Halley went to Cambridge for the express purpose of
+consulting Newton on this interesting subject. Newton assured him that he
+had brought this demonstration to perfection, and promised him a copy of
+it. This copy was received in November by the doctor, who made a second
+visit to Cambridge, in order to induce its author to have it inserted in
+the register book of the society. On December 10th Dr. Halley announced
+to the society that he had seen at Cambridge Newton's treatise _De Motu
+Corporum_, which he had promised to send to the society to be entered upon
+their register, and Dr. Halley was desired to unite with Mr. Paget, master
+of the mathematical school in Christ's Hospital, in reminding Newton of his
+promise, "for securing the invention to himself till such time as he can be
+at leisure to publish it."
+
+On February 25th Mr. Aston, the secretary, communicated a letter from
+Newton in which he expressed his willingness "to enter in the register
+his notions about motion, and his intentions to fit them suddenly for the
+press." The progress of his work was, however, interrupted by a visit of
+five or six weeks which he made in Lincolnshire; but he proceeded with such
+diligence on his return that he was able to transmit the manuscript to
+London before the end of April. This manuscript, entitled _Philosophic
+Naturalis Principia Mathematics_ and dedicated to the society, was
+presented by Dr. Vincent on April 28, 1686, when Sir John Hoskins, the
+vice-president and the particular friend of Dr. Hooke, was in the chair.
+
+Dr. Vincent passed a just encomium on the novelty and dignity of the
+subject; and another member added that "Mr. Newton had carried the thing
+so far that there was no more to be added." To these remarks the
+vice-president replied that the method "was so much the more to be prized
+as it was both invented and perfected at the same time." Dr. Hooke took
+offence at these remarks, and blamed Sir John for not having mentioned
+"what he had discovered to him"; but the vice-president did not seem to
+recollect any such communication, and the consequence of this discussion
+was that "these two, who till then were the most inseparable cronies, have
+since scarcely seen one another, and are utterly fallen out." After the
+breaking up of the meeting, the society adjourned to the coffee house,
+where Dr. Hooke stated that he not only had made the same discovery, but
+had given the first hint of it to Newton.
+
+An account of these proceedings was communicated to Newton through two
+different channels. In a letter dated May 22d Dr. Halley wrote to him
+"that Mr. Hooke has some pretensions upon the invention of the rule of the
+decrease of gravity being reciprocally as the squares of the distances
+from the centre. He says you had the notion from him, though he owns the
+demonstration of the curves generated thereby to be wholly your own. How
+much of this is so you know best, as likewise what you have to do in this
+matter; only Mr. Hooke seems to expect you would make some mention of him
+in the preface, which it is possible you may see reason to prefix."
+
+This communication from Dr. Halley induced the author, on June 20th,
+to address a long letter to him, in which he gives a minute and able
+refutation of Hooke's claims; but before this letter was despatched another
+correspondent, who had received his information from one of the members
+that were present, informed Newton "that Hooke made a great stir,
+pretending that he had all from him, and desiring they would see that
+he had justice done him." This fresh charge seems to have ruffled the
+tranquillity of Newton; and he accordingly added an angry and satirical
+postscript, in which he treats Hooke with little ceremony, and goes so far
+as to conjecture that Hooke might have acquired his knowledge of the law
+from a letter of his own to Huygens, directed to Oldenburg, and dated
+January 14,1672-1673. "My letter to Hugenius was directed to Mr. Oldenburg,
+who used to keep the originals. His papers came into Mr. Hooke's
+possession. Mr. Hooke, knowing my hand, might have the curiosity to look
+into that letter, and there take the notion of comparing the forces of the
+planets arising from their circular motion; and so what he wrote to me
+afterward about the rate of gravity might be nothing but the fruit of my
+own garden."
+
+In replying to this letter Dr. Halley assured him that Hooke's "manner of
+claiming the discovery had been represented to him in worse colors than
+it ought, and that he neither made public application to the society for
+justice nor pretended that you had all from him." The effect of this
+assurance was to make Newton regret that he had written the angry
+postscript to his letter; and in replying to Halley on July 14, 1686, he
+not only expresses his regret, but recounts the different new ideas which
+he had acquired from Hooke's correspondence, and suggests it as the best
+method "of compromising the present dispute" to add a _scholium_ in which
+Wren, Hooke, and Halley are acknowledged to have independently deduced the
+law of gravity from the second law of Kepler.
+
+At the meeting of April 28th, at which the manuscript of the _Principia_
+was presented to the Royal Society, it was agreed that the printing of
+it should be referred to the council: that a letter of thanks should be
+written to its author; and at a meeting of the council on May 19th it was
+resolved that the manuscript should be printed at the society's expense,
+and that Dr. Halley should superintend it while going through the press.
+These resolutions were communicated by Dr. Halley in a letter dated May
+22d; and in Newton's reply on June 20th, already mentioned, he makes the
+following observations:
+
+"The proof you sent me I like very well. I designed the whole to consist
+of three books; the second was finished last summer, being short, and only
+wants transcribing and drawing the cuts fairly. Some new propositions I
+have since thought on which I can as well let alone. The third wants the
+theory of comets. In autumn last I spent two months in calculation to no
+purpose, for want of a good method, which made me afterward return to the
+first book and enlarge it with diverse propositions, some relating to
+comets, others to other things found out last winter. The third I now
+design to suppress. Philosophy is such an impertinently litigious lady that
+a man had as good be engaged in lawsuits as have to do with her. I found it
+so formerly, and now I can no sooner come near her again but she gives me
+warning. The first two books, without the third, will not so well bear the
+title of _Philosophies Naturalis Principia Mathematica_; and therefore I
+had altered it to this: _de Moti Corporum, Libri duo_. But after second
+thoughts I retain the former title. 'Twill help the sale of the book, which
+I ought not to diminish now 'tis yours."
+
+In replying to this letter on June 29th Dr. Halley regrets that our
+author's tranquillity should have been thus disturbed by envious rivals,
+and implores him in the name of the society not to suppress the third book.
+"I must again beg you," says he, "not to let your resentments run so high
+as to deprive us of your third book, wherein your applications of your
+mathematical doctrine to the theory of comets, and several curious
+experiments which, as I guess by what you write ought to compose it,
+will undoubtedly render it acceptable to those who will call themselves
+philosophers without mathematics, which are much the greater number."
+
+To these solicitations Newton seems to have readily yielded. His second
+book was sent to the society, and presented on March 2, 1687. The third
+book was also transmitted, and presented on April 6th, and the whole work
+was completed and published in the month of May, 1687.
+
+Such is the brief account of the publication of a work which is memorable
+not only in the annals of one science or of one country, but which will
+form an epoch in the history of the world, and will ever be regarded as the
+brightest page in the records of human reason. We shall endeavor to convey
+to the reader some idea of its contents, and of the brilliant discoveries
+which it disseminated over Europe.
+
+The _Principia_ consists of three books. The first and second, which occupy
+three-fourths of the work, are entitled _On the Motion of Bodies_, and the
+third bears the title _On the System of the World_. The two first books
+contain the mathematical principles of philosophy, namely, the laws and
+conditions of motions and forces; and they are illustrated with several
+philosophical _scholia_ which treat of some of the most general and
+best-established points in philosophy, such as the density and resistance
+of bodies, spaces void of matter, and the motion of sound and light.
+The object of the third book is to deduce from these principles the
+constitution of the system of the world; and this book has been drawn up in
+as popular a style as possible, in order that it may be generally read.
+
+The great discovery which characterizes the _Principia_ is that of the
+principle of universal gravitation, as deduced from the motion of the moon,
+and from the three great facts or laws discovered by Kepler. This principle
+is: _That every particle of matter is attracted by or gravitates to every
+other particle of matter, with a force inversely proportional to the
+squares of their distances_. From the first law of Kepler, namely, the
+proportionality of the areas to the times of their revolution, Newton
+inferred that the force which kept the planet in its orbit was always
+directed to the sun; and from the second law of Kepler, that every planet
+moves in an ellipse with the sun in one of its foci, he drew the still more
+general inference that the force by which the planet moves round that focus
+varies inversely as the square of its distance from the focus. As this law
+was true in the motion of satellites round their primary planets Newton
+deduced the equality of gravity in all the heavenly bodies toward the sun,
+upon the supposition that they are equally distant from its centre; and
+in the case of terrestrial bodies he succeeded in verifying this truth by
+numerous and accurate experiments.
+
+By taking a more general view of the subject Newton demonstrated that a
+conic section was the only curve in which a body could move when acted
+upon by a force varying inversely as the square of the distance; and he
+established the conditions depending on the velocity and the primitive
+position of the body, which were requisite to make it describe a circular,
+an elliptical, a parabolic, or a hyberbolic orbit.
+
+Notwithstanding the generality and importance of these results, it still
+remained to be determined whether the forces resided in the centres of
+the planets or belonged to each individual particle of which they were
+composed. Newton removed this uncertainty by demonstrating that if a
+spherical body acts upon a distant body with a force varying as the
+distance of this body from the centre of the sphere, the same effect
+will be produced as if each of its particles acted upon the distant body
+according to the same law. And hence it follows that the spheres, whether
+they are of uniform density or consist of concentric layers, with densities
+varying according to any law whatever, will act upon each other in the same
+manner as if their force resided in their centres alone.
+
+But as the bodies of the solar system are very nearly spherical they will
+all act upon one another, and upon bodies placed on their surfaces, as if
+they were so many centres of attraction; and therefore we obtain the law of
+gravity which subsists between spherical bodies, namely, that one sphere
+will act upon another with a force directly proportional to the quantity of
+matter, and inversely as the square of the distance between the centres
+of the spheres. From the equality of action and reaction, to which no
+exception can be found, Newton concluded that the sun gravitated to the
+planets, and the planets to their satellites; and the earth itself to
+the stone which falls upon its surface, and, consequently, that the two
+mutually gravitating bodies approached to one another with velocities
+inversely proportional to their quantities of matter.
+
+Having established this universal law, Newton was enabled not only to
+determine the weight which the same body would have at the surface of the
+sun and the planets, but even to calculate the quantity of matter in the
+sun, and in all the planets that had satellites, and even to determine the
+density or specific gravity of the matter of which they were composed. In
+this way he found that the weight of the same body would be twenty-three
+times greater at the surface of the sun than at the surface of the earth,
+and that the density of the earth was four times greater than that of the
+sun, the planets increasing in density as they receded from the centre of
+the system.
+
+If the peculiar genius of Newton has been displayed in his investigation
+of the law of universal gravitation, it shines with no less lustre in the
+patience and sagacity with which he traced the consequences of this fertile
+principle. The discovery of the spheroidal form of Jupiter by Cassini had
+probably directed the attention of Newton to the determination of its
+cause, and consequently to the investigation of the true figure of the
+earth. The next subject to which Newton applied the principle of gravity
+was the tides of the ocean.
+
+The philosophers of all ages had recognized the connection between the
+phenomena of the tides and the position of the moon. The College of Jesuits
+at Coimbra, and subsequently Antonio de Dominis and Kepler, distinctly
+referred the tides to the attraction of the waters of the earth by the
+moon; but so imperfect was the explanation which was thus given of the
+phenomena that Galileo ridiculed the idea of lunar attraction, and
+substituted for it a fallacious explanation of his own. That the moon is
+the principal cause of the tides is obvious from the well-known fact that
+it is high water at any given place about the time when she is in the
+meridian of that place; and that the sun performs a secondary part in their
+production may be proved from the circumstance that the highest tides take
+place when the sun, the moon, and the earth are in the same straight line;
+that is, when the force of the sun conspires with that of the moon; and
+that the lowest tides take place when the lines drawn from the sun and moon
+to the earth are at right angles to each other; that is, when the force of
+the sun acts in opposition to that of the moon.
+
+By comparing the spring and neap tides Newton found that the force with
+which the moon acted upon the waters of the earth was to that with which
+the sun acted upon them as 4.48 to 1; that the force of the moon produced
+a tide of 8.63 feet; that of the sun, one of 1.93 feet; and both of them
+combined, one of 10-1/2 French feet, a result which in the open sea does
+not deviate much from observation. Having thus ascertained the force of the
+moon on the waters of our globe, he found that the quantity of matter in
+the moon was to that in the earth as 1 to 40, and the density of the moon
+to that of the earth as 11 to 9.
+
+The motions of the moon, so much within the reach of our own observation,
+presented a fine field for the application of the theory of universal
+gravitation. The irregularities exhibited in the lunar motions had been
+known in the time of Hipparchus and Ptolemy. Tycho had discovered the great
+inequality, called the "variation," amounting to 37', and depending on the
+alternate acceleration and retardation of the moon in every quarter of
+a revolution, and he had also ascertained the existence of the annual
+equation. Of these two inequalities Newton gave a most satisfactory
+explanation.
+
+Although there could be little doubt that the comets were retained in their
+orbits by the same laws which regulated the motions of the planets, yet
+it was difficult to put this opinion to the test of observation. The
+visibility of comets only in a small part of their orbits rendered it
+difficult to ascertain their distance and periodic times; and as their
+periods were probably of great length, it was impossible to correct
+approximate results by repeated observations. Newton, however, removed this
+difficulty by showing how to determine the orbit of a comet, namely,
+the form and position of the orbit, and the periodic time, by three
+observations. By applying this method to the comet of 1680 he calculated
+the elements of its orbit, and, from the agreement of the computed places
+with those which were observed, he justly inferred that the motions of
+comets were regulated by the same laws as those of the planetary bodies.
+This result was one of great importance; for as the comets enter our system
+in every possible direction, and at all angles with the ecliptic, and as
+a great part of their orbits extends far beyond the limits of the solar
+system, it demonstrated the existence of gravity in spaces far removed
+beyond the planet, and proved that the law of the inverse ratio of the
+squares of the distance was true in every possible direction, and at very
+remote distances from the centre of our system.
+
+Such is a brief view of the leading discoveries which the _Principia_ first
+announced to the world. The grandeur of the subjects of which it treats,
+the beautiful simplicity of the system which it unfolds, the clear and
+concise reasoning by which that system is explained, and the irresistible
+evidence by which it is supported might have insured it the warmest
+admiration of contemporary mathematicians and the most welcome reception in
+all the schools of philosophy throughout Europe. This, however, is not the
+way in which great truths are generally received. Though the astronomical
+discoveries of Newton were not assailed by the class of ignorant pretenders
+who attacked his optical writings, yet they were everywhere resisted by the
+errors and prejudices which had taken a deep hold even of the strongest
+minds.
+
+The philosophy of Descartes was predominant throughout Europe. Appealing to
+the imagination, and not to the reason, of mankind it was quickly received
+into popular favor, and the same causes which facilitated its introduction,
+extended its influence and completed its dominion over the human mind. In
+explaining all the movements of the heavenly bodies by a system of vortices
+in a fluid medium diffused through the universe Descartes had seized upon
+an analogy of the most alluring and deceitful kind. Those who had seen
+heavy bodies revolving in the eddies of a whirlpool or in the gyrations
+of a vessel of water thrown into a circular motion had no difficulty in
+conceiving how the planets might revolve round the sun by an analogous
+movement. The mind instantly grasped at an explanation of so palpable a
+character and which required for its development neither the exercise
+of patient thought nor the aid of mathematical skill. The talent and
+perspicuity with which the Cartesian system was expounded, and the show by
+which it was sustained, contributed powerfully to its adoption, while
+it derived a still higher sanction from the excellent character and the
+unaffected piety of its author.
+
+Thus intrenched, as the Cartesian system was, in the strongholds of the
+human mind, and fortified by its most obstinate prejudices, it was not to
+be wondered at that the pure and sublime doctrines of the _Principia_, were
+distrustfully received and perseveringly resisted. The uninstructed mind
+could not readily admit the idea that the great masses of the planets were
+suspended in empty space and retained in their orbits by an invisible
+influence residing in the sun; and even those philosophers who had been
+accustomed to the rigor of true scientific research, and who possessed
+sufficient mathematical skill for the examination of the Newtonian
+doctrines, viewed them at first as reviving the occult qualities of the
+ancient physics, and resisted their introduction with a pertinacity which
+it is not easy to explain.
+
+Prejudiced, no doubt, in favor of his own metaphysical views, Leibnitz
+himself misapprehended the principles of the Newtonian philosophy, and
+endeavored to demonstrate the truths in the _Principia_ by the application
+of different principles. Huygens, who above all other men was qualified
+to appreciate the new philosophy, rejected the doctrine of gravitation as
+existing between the individual particles of matter and received it only
+as an attribute of the planetary masses. John Bernouilli, one of the first
+mathematicians of his age, opposed the philosophy of Newton. Mairan, in the
+early part of his life, was a strenuous defender of the system of vortices.
+Cassini and Maraldi were quite ignorant of the _Principia_, and occupied
+themselves with the most absurd methods of calculating the orbits of
+comets long after the Newtonian method had been established on the most
+impregnable foundation; and even Fontenelle, a man of liberal views and
+extensive information, continued, throughout the whole of his life, to
+maintain the doctrines of Descartes.
+
+The chevalier Louville of Paris had adopted the Newtonian philosophy
+before 1720; Gravesande had introduced it into the Dutch universities at a
+somewhat earlier period; and Maupertuis, in consequence of a visit which
+he paid to England in 1728, became a zealous defender of it; but
+notwithstanding these and some other examples that might be quoted, we must
+admit the truth of the remark of Voltaire, that though Newton survived the
+publication of the _Principia_ more than forty years, yet at the time of
+his death he had not above twenty followers out of England.
+
+
+
+%MORGAN, THE BUCCANEER, SACKS PANAMA%
+
+A.D. 1671
+
+JOHANN W. VON ARCHENHOLZ
+
+
+In the seventeenth century appeared "a class of rovers wholly distinct from
+any of their predecessors in the annals of the world, differing as widely
+in their plans, organizations, and exploits as in the principles that
+governed their actions." These adventurers were a piratical gang called
+buccaneers, or sometimes, as in the following narrative, freebooters, who
+became noted for their exploits in the West Indies and on South American
+coasts.
+
+The nucleus of this association of pirates is traced to bands of
+smugglers--English, French, and Dutch--who carried on a secret trade with
+the island of Santo Domingo. Later they settled there and on other islands,
+and after a while began to prey upon Spanish commerce. In 1630 they made
+their chief head-quarters on the island of Tortuga; in 1655 they aided in
+the English conquest of Jamaica, and ten years later settled the Bahamas.
+All these islands became centres of their activities.
+
+Most renowned among the leaders of the buccaneers was Sir Henry Morgan, a
+Welshman, who died in Jamaica in 1688. For years he carried stolen riches
+to England, and Charles II rewarded him with knighthood. Having pillaged
+parts of Cuba, he took and ransomed Puerto Bello, in Colombia (1668), and
+Maracaibo, in Venezuela (1669). In 1670 Morgan gathered a fleet of nearly
+forty vessels, and a force of over two thousand men, for the greatest of
+the exploits of the buccaneers, the capture and plunder of the wealthy city
+of Panama.
+
+By the end of the century the buccaneers had become dispersed among
+contending European armies, and little more was heard of them.
+
+Morgan's plan of capturing Panama was apparently attended with innumerable
+difficulties. The chief obstacle was the position of that city on the
+Pacific coast at such a great distance from the Caribbean Sea; and not an
+individual on board the fleet was acquainted with the road that led to
+the goal. To remedy this inconvenience, Morgan determined, in the first
+instance, to go to the island of St. Catharine, where the Spaniards
+confined their criminals, and thence to supply himself with guides.
+
+The passage was rapid. Morgan landed in that island one thousand men, who,
+by threatening to put to death everyone that hesitated for a moment to
+surrender, so terrified the Spaniards that they speedily capitulated. It
+was stipulated that, to save at least the honor of the garrison, there
+should be a sham fight. In consequence of this, a very sharp fire ensued,
+from the forts on one side, and on the other from the ships; but on both
+sides the cannons discharged only powder. Further, to give a serious
+appearance to this military comedy, the governor suffered himself to be
+taken, while attempting to pass from Fort Jerome to another fort. At the
+beginning the crafty Morgan did not rely too implicitly on this feint; and
+to provide for every event, he secretly ordered his soldiers to load
+their fusees with bullets, but to discharge them in the air, unless they
+perceived some treachery on the part of the Spaniards. But his enemies
+adhered most faithfully to their capitulation; and this mock engagement, in
+which neither party was sparing of powder, was followed for some time with
+all the circumstances which could give it the semblance of reality. Ten
+forts surrendered, one after another, after sustaining a kind of siege or
+assault; and this series of successes did not cost the life of a single
+man, nor even a scratch, on the part either of the victors or of the
+conquered.
+
+All the inhabitants of the island were shut up in the great fort of Santa
+Teresa, which was built on a steep rock; and the conquerors, who had not
+taken any sustenance for twenty-four hours, declared a most serious war
+against the horned cattle and game of the district.
+
+In the isle of St. Constantine Morgan found four hundred fifty-nine
+persons of both sexes; one hundred ninety of whom were soldiers, forty-two
+criminals, eighty-five children, and sixty-six negroes. There were ten
+forts, containing sixty-eight cannons, which were so defended in other
+respects by nature that very small garrisons were deemed amply sufficient
+to protect them. Besides an immense quantity of fusees and grenades--which
+were at that time much used--upward of three hundred quintals of gunpowder
+were found in the arsenal. The whole of this ammunition was carried on
+board the pirate's ships; the cannon, which could be of no service to them,
+were spiked; their carriages were burned, and all the forts demolished
+excepting one, which the freebooters themselves garrisoned. Morgan
+selected three of the criminals to serve him as guides to Panama. These he
+afterward, on his return to Jamaica, set at liberty, even giving them a
+share in the booty.
+
+The plan, conceived by this intrepid chieftain, inspired all his companions
+in arms with genuine enthusiasm; it had a character of grandeur and
+audacity that inflamed their courage; how capable they were of executing it
+the subsequent pages will demonstrate.
+
+Panama, which stood on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, in the ninth degree
+of northern latitude, was at that time one of the greatest, as well as most
+opulent cities in America. It contained two thousand large houses, the
+greater number of which were very fine piles of building, and five thousand
+smaller dwellings, each mostly three stories in height. Of these, a pretty
+considerable number were erected of stone, all the rest of cedar-wood, very
+elegantly constructed and magnificently furnished. That city was defended
+by a rampart and was surrounded with walls. It was the emporium for the
+silver of Mexico and the gold of Peru, whence those valuable metals were
+brought on the backs of mules--two thousand of which animals were kept for
+this purpose only--across the isthmus toward the northern coast of the
+Pacific. A great commerce was also carried on at Panama in negroes; which
+trade was at that time almost exclusively confined to the English,
+Dutch, French, and Danes. With this branch of commerce the Italians were
+intimately acquainted. They gave lessons in it to all the rest of Europe;
+and, as two things were necessary, in which the Genoese were by no means
+deficient--money and address--they were chiefly occupied in the slave
+trade, and supplied the provinces of Peru and Chile with negroes.
+
+At the period now referred to, the President of Panama was the principal
+intendant or overseer of the civil department, and captain-general of all
+the troops in the viceroyalty of Peru. He had in his dependency Puerto
+Bello and Nata, two cities inhabited by the Spaniards, together with the
+towns of Cruces, Panama, Capira, and Veragua. The city of Panama had also a
+bishop, who was a suffragan of the Archbishop of Lima.
+
+The merchants lived in great opulence; and their churches were decorated
+with uncommon magnificence. The cathedral was erected in the Italian
+style, surmounted with a large cupola, and enriched with gold and silver
+ornaments; as also were the eight convents which this city comprised. At
+a small distance from its walls there were some small islands, alike
+embellished by art and by nature, where the richest inhabitants had their
+country houses; from which circumstance they were called the "gardens of
+Panama." In short, everything concurred to render this place important and
+agreeable. Here several of the European nations had palaces for carrying on
+their commerce; and among these were the Genoese, who were held in great
+credit, and who had vast warehouses for receiving the articles of their
+immense trade, as also a most magnificent edifice. The principal houses
+were filled with beautiful paintings and the masterpieces of the arts,
+which had here been accumulated--more from an intense desire of being
+surrounded with all the splendor of luxury--since they possessed the means
+of procuring it--than from a refined taste. Their superabundance of gold
+and silver had been employed in obtaining these splendid superfluities,
+which were of no value but to gratify the vanity of their possessors.
+
+Such was Panama in 1670, when the freebooters selected it as the object
+of their bold attempt, and as the victim of their extravagancies, and
+immortalized their name by reducing it to a heap of ruins.
+
+In the execution of this design, which stupefied the New World, they
+displayed equal prudence and cruelty. Previous to the adoption of any other
+measure, it was necessary that the pirates should get possession of Fort
+St. Laurent, which was situated on the banks of the river Chagres. With
+this view, Morgan detached four ships, with four hundred men, under the
+command of the intrepid Brodely, who had happily succeeded in victualling
+the fleet, and who was intimately acquainted with the country. Morgan
+continued at the island of St. Catharine with the rest of his forces.
+
+His plan was to dissemble his vast projects against Panama as long as it
+was possible, and to cause the pillage of Fort St. Laurent to be regarded
+as a common expedition to which he would confine himself. Brodely
+discharged his commission with equal courage and success. That castle
+was situated on a lofty mountain, at the mouth of the river, and was
+inaccessible on almost every side. The first attempts were fruitless; and
+the freebooters, who advanced openly, without any other arms than their
+fusees and sabres, at first lost many of their comrades; for the Spaniards
+not only made use of all their artillery and musketry against them, but
+were also seconded by the Indians that were with them in the fort and whose
+arrows were far more fatal than the bullets.
+
+The assailants saw their companions-in-arms fall by their side without
+being able to avenge them. The danger of their present situation and
+the nature of their arms seemed to render the enterprise altogether
+impracticable. Their courage began to waver, their ranks were thrown into
+disorder, and they already thought of retiring, when the provocations of
+the Spaniards inspired them with new vigor. "You heretic dogs," cried they
+in a triumphant tone; "you cursed English, possessed by the devil! Ah, you
+will go to Panama, will you? No, no; that you shall not; you shall all bite
+the dust here, and all your comrades shall share the same fate."
+
+From these insulting speeches the pirates learned that the design of their
+expedition was discovered; and from that moment they determined to carry
+the fort or die to a man upon the spot. They immediately commenced the
+assault in defiance of the shower of arrows that were discharged against
+them, and undismayed by the loss of their commander, both of whose legs had
+been carried away by a cannon-ball. One of the pirates, in whose shoulder
+an arrow was deeply fixed, tore it out himself, exclaiming: "Patience,
+comrades, an idea strikes me; all the Spaniards are lost!" He tore some
+cotton out of his pocket, with which he covered his ramrod, set the cotton
+on fire, and shot this burning material, in lieu of bullets, at the houses
+of the fort, which were covered with light wood and the leaves of palm
+trees. His companions collected together the arrows which were strewed
+around them upon the ground, and employed them in a similar manner. The
+effect of this novel mode of attack was most rapid; many of the houses
+caught fire; a powder-wagon blew up. The besieged, being thus diverted from
+their means of defence, thought only of stopping the progress of the fire.
+Night came on; under cover of the darkness the freebooters attempted also
+to set on fire the palisades, which were made of a kind of wood that was
+easily kindled. In this attempt likewise they were crowned with success.
+The soil, which the palisades supported, fell down for want of support,
+and filled up the ditch. The Spaniards nevertheless continued to defend
+themselves with much courage, being animated by the example of their
+commander, who fought till the very moment he received a mortal blow. The
+garrison had, throughout, the use of their cannon, which kept up a most
+violent fire; but the enemy had already made too much progress to be
+disconcerted with it; they persevered in their attack, until they at length
+became masters of the fort.
+
+A great number of Spaniards, finding themselves deprived of all resource,
+precipitated themselves from the top of the walls into the river, that
+they might not fall alive into the hands of the freebooters, who made only
+twenty-four prisoners, and ten of these were wounded men, who had concealed
+themselves among the dead, in the hope of escaping their ferocious
+conquerors. These twenty-four men were all that remained of three hundred
+forty who had composed the garrison, which had shortly before been
+reenforced, for the President of Panama, having been apprised from
+Carthagena of the real object of the pirates' expedition, came to encamp,
+with thirty-six hundred men, in the vicinity of the threatened city. This
+information was confirmed to the freebooters after the capture of the fort.
+At the same time they learned that among this body of troops there were
+four hundred horsemen, six hundred Indians, and two hundred mulat-toes; the
+last of whom, being very expert in hunting bulls, were intended, in case of
+necessity, to send two thousand of those animals among the freebooters.
+
+It is scarcely credible that Brodely continued to command, notwithstanding
+the severity of his wounds; but he would not, by retiring, compromise the
+advantages which he had so dearly purchased; for out of four hundred men
+who had composed his little army, one hundred sixty had been killed, eighty
+wounded; and of these eighty, sixty were altogether out of the battle.
+
+The bodies of the French and English were interred; but those of the
+Spaniards were thrown down from the top of the fort and remained in a heap
+at the foot of its walls. Brodely found much ammunition and abundance of
+provisions, with which he was the more satisfied, as he knew that the grand
+fleet was greatly in want of both those articles. He caused the fort to be
+rebuilt, as far as was practicable, in order that he might defend himself
+there in case the Spaniards should make a speedy attempt to retake it. In
+this situation he waited for Morgan, who in a short time appeared with his
+fleet.
+
+As the pirates approached, they beheld the English flag flying on the fort,
+and abandoned themselves to the most tumultuous joy and excessive drinking,
+without dreaming of the dangers occurring at the mouth of the river
+Chagres, beneath whose waters there was a sunken rock. The coasting pilots
+of those latitudes came to their assistance, but their intoxication and
+their impatience would not permit them to attend to the latter. This
+negligence was attended with most fatal consequences and cost them four
+ships, one of which was the admiral's vessel. The crews, however, together
+with their ladings, were saved. This loss greatly affected Morgan, who
+was wholly intent upon his vast designs, but who, nevertheless, made his
+entrance into St. Laurent, where he left a garrison of five hundred men. He
+also detached from his body of troops one hundred fifty men for the purpose
+of seizing several Spanish vessels that were in the river.
+
+The remainder of his forces Morgan directed to follow himself. They carried
+but a small supply of provisions, not only that his march might not be
+impeded, but also because the means of conveyance were very limited.
+Besides, he was apprehensive lest he should expose to famine the garrison
+he had left in the fort, which did not abound with provisions, and was cut
+off on every side from receiving supplies; and it was likewise necessary
+that he should leave sufficient for the support of all the prisoners and
+slaves, whose number amounted very nearly to one thousand.
+
+After all these steps had been taken, Morgan briefly addressed his
+comrades, whom he exhorted to arm themselves with courage calculated to
+subdue every obstacle, that they might return to Jamaica with an increase
+of glory, and riches sufficient to supply all their wants for the rest of
+their lives. At length, on January 18th, he commenced his march toward
+Panama, with a chosen body of freebooters, who were thirteen hundred
+strong.
+
+The greatest part of their journey was performed by water, following the
+course of the river. Five vessels were laden with the artillery; and the
+troops were placed in a very narrow compass on board thirty-two boats. One
+reason why they had brought only a small quantity of provisions was because
+they hoped to meet with a supply on their route; but on the very day of
+their arrival at Rio de los Bravos the expectations of the pirates were
+frustrated. At the place where they landed they literally found nothing:
+the terror which they everywhere inspired had preceded them; the Spaniards
+had betaken themselves to flight, and had carried with them all their
+cattle and even the very last article of their movables. They had cut the
+grain and pulse without waiting for their maturity, the roots of which were
+even torn out of the ground: the houses and stables were empty.
+
+The first day of their voyage was spent in abstinence, tobacco affording
+them the only gratification that was not refused them. The second day was
+not more prosperous. In addition to the various impediments by which their
+passage was obstructed, want of rain had rendered the waters of the river
+very shallow, and a great number of trees had fallen into it, presenting
+almost insurmountable obstacles. On their arrival at the Cruz de Juan
+Gallego, they had no other alternative left but to abandon their boats and
+pursue their route by land; otherwise, they must have resigned themselves
+to the confusion necessarily consequent on retracing their steps.
+
+Animated, however, by their chieftains, they determined to try the
+adventure. On the third day their way led them to a forest, where there was
+no beaten path, and the soil of which was marshy. But it was indispensably
+necessary that they should leave this wretched passage, in order that they
+might reach--with incredible difficulties, indeed--the town of Cedro Bueno.
+For all these excessive fatigues they found no indemnification whatever;
+there were no provisions, not even a single head of game.
+
+These luckless adventurers at length saw themselves surrounded by all the
+horrors of famine. Many of them were reduced to devour the leaves of trees;
+the majority were altogether destitute of sustenance. In this state of
+severe privations, and with very light clothing, they passed the nights
+lying on the shore, benumbed with cold, incapable of enjoying, even in the
+smallest degree, the solace of sleep, and expecting with anxiety the return
+of day. Their courage was supported only with the hope of meeting
+some bodies of Spaniards, or some groups of fugitive inhabitants, and
+consequently of finding provisions, with an abundance of which the latter
+never failed to supply themselves when they abandoned their dwellings.
+Further, the pirates were obliged to continue their route at a small
+distance only from the river, as they had contrived to drag their canoes
+along with them, and, whenever the water was of sufficient depth, part
+of the men embarked on board them, while the remainder prosecuted their
+journey by land. They were preceded a few hundred paces by an advanced
+guard of thirty men under the direction of a guide who was intimately
+acquainted with the country; and the strictest silence was observed, in
+order that they might discover the ambuscades of the Spaniards, and, if it
+were possible, make some of them prisoners.
+
+On the fourth day the freebooters reached Torna Cavellos, a kind of
+fortified place which also had been evacuated, the Spaniards having carried
+away with them everything that was portable and consumed the rest by fire.
+Their design was to leave the pirates neither movables nor utensils; in
+fact, this was the only resource left them by which they could reduce those
+formidable guests to such a state of privation as to compel them to retire.
+The only things which had not been burned or carried off were some large
+sacks of hides, which were to these freebooters objects of avidity, and
+which had almost occasioned a bloody dispute. Previously to devouring them,
+it was necessary to cut them into pieces with all possible equity. Thus
+divided, the leather was cut into small bits, these were scraped and
+violently beaten between two stones. It was then soaked in water, in order
+to become soft, after which it was roasted; nor, thus prepared, could it
+have been swallowed if they had not taken most copious draughts of water.
+
+After this repast the freebooters resumed their route, and arrived at
+Torna-Munni, where also they found an abandoned fortress. On the fifth day
+they reached Barbacoas; but still no place presented to their view either
+man, animal, or any kind of provisions whatever. Here likewise the
+Spaniards had taken the precaution of carrying away or destroying
+everything that could serve for food. Fortunately, however, they discovered
+in the hollow of a rock two sacks of flour, some fruit, and two large
+vessels filled with wine. This discovery would have transported with joy a
+less numerous troop; but, to so many famished men it presented only very
+feeble resource. Morgan, who did not suffer less from hunger than the rest,
+generously appropriated none of it to his own use, but caused this scanty
+supply to be distributed among those who were just ready to faint. Many,
+indeed, were almost dying. These were conveyed on board the boats, the
+charge of which was committed to them; while those who had hitherto had the
+care of the vessels, were reunited to the body that was travelling by land.
+Their march was very slow, both on account of the extreme weakness of these
+men, even after the very moderate refreshment they had just taken, as well
+as from the roughness and difficulties of the way; and during the fifth day
+the pirates had no other sustenance but the leaves of trees and the grass
+of the meadows.
+
+On the following day the freebooters made still less progress; want of food
+had totally exhausted them, and they were frequently obliged to rest. At
+length they reached a plantation, where they found a vast quantity of maize
+in a granary that had just been abandoned. What a discovery was this to men
+whose appetites were sharpened by such long protractions! A great many of
+them devoured the grains in a raw state; the rest covered their shares
+with the leaves of the banana-tree, and thus cooked or roasted the maize.
+Reinvigorated by this food, they pursued their route; and, on the same day,
+they discovered a troop of Indians on the other side of the river, but
+those savages betook themselves to flight, so that it was impossible to
+reach them. The cruel freebooters fired on them and killed some of them;
+the rest escaped, exclaiming: "Come, you English dogs, come into the
+meadow; we will there wait for you."
+
+To this challenge the pirates were little tempted to answer. Their supply
+of maize was exhausted; and they were further obliged to lie down in the
+open air without eating anything. Hitherto, in the midst of privations the
+most severely painful, as well as of the most difficult labors, they had
+evinced an inexhaustible patience, but at length violent murmurs arose.
+Morgan and his rash enterprise became the object of their execrations: a
+great number of the freebooters were desirous of returning; but the rest,
+although discontented, declared that they would rather perish than not
+terminate an expedition so far advanced and which had cost them so much
+trouble.
+
+On the following day they crossed the river and directed their march toward
+a place which they took for a town or, at all events, for a village, where,
+to their great satisfaction, they thought they perceived at a distance the
+smoke issuing from several chimneys. "There, at last," said they, "we shall
+surely find both men and provisions." Their expectations were completely
+frustrated; not a single individual appeared throughout the place. They
+found no other articles of sustenance but a leather sack full of bread,
+together with a few cats and dogs, which were instantly killed and
+devoured. The place where they had now arrived was the town of Cruces, at
+which were usually landed those commodities which were conveyed up the
+river Chagres, in order to be carried by land to Panama, which was eight
+French leagues distant. Here were some fine warehouses built of stone, and
+likewise some stables belonging to the King of Spain, which, at the moment
+of the pirates' arrival, were the only buildings that remained untouched,
+all the inhabitants having betaken themselves to flight after they had set
+their houses on fire.
+
+Every corner of these royal buildings was ransacked by the freebooters, who
+at length discovered seventeen large vessels full of Peruvian wine, which
+were immediately emptied. Scarcely, however, had they drunk this liquor,
+which was to recruit their exhausted strength, than they all fell ill.
+At first they thought the wine was poisoned; they were overwhelmed with
+consternation, and were fully persuaded that their last hour was come.
+Their terrors were unfounded; as their sudden indisposition was easily
+accounted for by the nature of the unwholesome food they had so recently
+taken, by the extreme diminution of their strength, and the avidity with
+which they had swallowed the wine; in fact, they found themselves much
+better on the following day.
+
+As Morgan had been reduced to the necessity of removing, at this place, to
+a distance from all his ships, he was obliged to land all his men, not even
+excepting those who were most exhausted by weakness. The shallops alone,
+with sixty men, were sent to the spot where his vessels and largest ships
+had been left. A single shallop only was reserved to carry news, if
+occasion offered, to the flotilla. Morgan prohibited every man from
+going alone to any distance; and even required that they should not make
+excursions in troops amounting to less than a hundred men. Famine, however,
+compelled the freebooters to infringe this prohibition. Six of them went
+out to some distance in quest of food; the event justified the foresight of
+their chieftain. They were attacked by a large body of Spaniards, and could
+not without very great difficulty regain the village: they had also the
+mortification to see one of their comrades taken prisoner.
+
+Morgan now determined to prosecute his march. After reviewing his
+companions-in-arms he found that they amounted to eleven hundred men. As he
+foresaw that they were apprehensive lest their lost comrade should betray
+the secret of their enterprise and the state of their forces, Morgan made
+them believe that he had not been taken; that he had only lost his way in
+the woods, but had now returned to the main body.
+
+The freebooters were on the eighth day of their painful journey, and
+nothing but the hope of speedily terminating their labors could support
+them much longer, for they had now ascertained that they were on the way to
+Panama. An advanced guard of two hundred men was therefore formed, which
+was to watch the movements of the enemy. They marched onward for a whole
+day without perceiving any living object whatever, when suddenly a shower
+of three or four thousand arrows was discharged upon them from the top of
+a rock. For some minutes they were struck with astonishment; no enemy
+presented himself to their view. They beheld around them, at their feet,
+above their heads, nothing but steep rocks, trees, and abysses; and,
+without striking a single blow, they reckoned twenty of their comrades
+killed or wounded. This unexpected attack not being continued, they pursued
+their march across a forest, where, in a hollow way, they fell upon a
+large body of Indians who opposed their progress with much valor. In this
+engagement the freebooters were victorious, though they lost eight killed
+and ten wounded.
+
+They made every possible effort to catch some of the fugitives, but these
+fled away with the velocity of stags across the rocks, with all the
+turnings and windings of which they were intimately acquainted. Not a
+single man fell into their hands; the Indian chieftain was wounded;
+and, notwithstanding he lay on the ground, he continued to fight
+most obstinately until he received a mortal blow. He wore a crown of
+party-colored feathers. His death made a great impression on the Indians
+and was the principal cause of their defeat. The ground on which they had
+attacked the pirates was so favorable that one hundred men would have been
+fully sufficient to have destroyed the whole troop of freebooters. The
+latter availed themselves of the inconceivable negligence of the Spaniards
+in not taking more effectual measures for the defence of such an important
+pass. They exerted all possible diligence to make their way out of this
+labyrinth of rocks, where a second attack of a similar kind would have been
+attended with consequences of the most fatal tendency to them, and to get
+into an open and level country.
+
+On the ninth day they found themselves in a plain or spacious meadow,
+entirely divested of trees, so that nothing could shelter them against the
+ardor of the solar rays. It rained, however, most copiously at the
+moment of their arrival; and this circumstance added yet more to their
+difficulties. In a short time they were wetted to their skins. In case of a
+sudden attack their arms and ammunition would have afforded them but little
+assistance; while the Spaniards would be able most effectively to use their
+spears, which could not be damaged by the rain.
+
+No human means could remedy this inconvenience. The pirates had only to
+abandon themselves to their fate. Morgan most ardently desired that
+some prisoner might fall into his hands, from whose confessions, either
+voluntary or involuntary, he might obtain some information by which to
+direct his march. With this intention, fifty men were detached in different
+directions, with a promised reward of three hundred piasters, out of the
+society's stock, to the man who should bring in either a Spaniard or an
+Indian, exclusive of the share of booty to which he should be entitled.
+
+About noon they ascended a steep hill, from whose summit they began to
+discover the Pacific. At this sight, which announced the speedy termination
+of their miseries, they were transported with joy. From the top of this
+eminence they also perceived six ships departing from Panama, and sailing
+toward the islands of Taroga and Tarogiela, which were situated in the
+vicinity of that city. Panama itself for the present escaped their
+observation; but how was their satisfaction increased on beholding, in a
+valley, a vast number of bulls, cows, horses, and particularly of asses,
+which were under the care of some Spaniards, who betook themselves to
+flight the moment they saw the formidable pirates approaching? To the
+latter no _rencontre_ could be more desirable. They were ready to faint
+with famine and fatigue; the sustenance which they immediately devoured
+would contribute to give them that strength which every moment would become
+so necessary to them, and it is altogether inconceivable how the Spaniards
+could abandon such a prey to their famished enemies. This want of foresight
+can only be accounted for by the panic with which the Spaniards were
+seized.
+
+The spot which had just been deserted was occupied for some hours by the
+freebooters; they stood in great need of rest, and were in much greater
+want of provisions. They rushed therefore on the animals that had been left
+behind, of which they killed a great number, and devoured their half-raw
+flesh with such avidity that the blood streamed in torrents from their lips
+over the whole of their bodies. What could not be consumed on the spot they
+carried away with them, for Morgan, apprehensive of an attack by the flower
+of the Spaniards' troops, allowed them only a small space of time for
+repose. They resumed their march, but the uncertainty in which they had so
+long been involved was not yet at an end.
+
+Notwithstanding all that chieftain's experience, his spies could not
+succeed in taking a single prisoner--a circumstance, which seems almost
+incredible in a populous country--and after nine days' march Morgan was
+deprived of every hint that was so essentially necessary to him. Further,
+the freebooters were utterly ignorant how near they were to Panama, when,
+from the summit of a hill, they discovered the towers of that city. They
+could not refrain from shouting for joy. The air reechoed with the sound of
+trumpets and cymbals; they threw up their caps in the air, vociferating,
+"Victory! victory!" In this place they halted and pitched their camp, with
+the firm determination of attacking Panama on the following day.
+
+At this time the Spaniards were in the utmost confusion. The first
+defensive step which they deemed it advisable to take was to despatch
+fifty horsemen for the purpose of reconnoitring the enemy. The detachment
+approached the camp within musket-shot and offered some insults to the
+freebooters, but speedily returned toward the city, exclaiming, "_Perros,
+nos veromos!_" ("You dogs, we will see you again!") Shortly after a second
+detachment of two hundred men appeared, who occupied every pass, in order
+that, after the victory--which they considered as infallible--not one
+single pirate might escape. The freebooters, however, beheld with the
+utmost concern the measures which were adopted in order to block them up,
+and, previously to every other consideration, turned their attention toward
+their abundant supply of provision. As they were prohibited from kindling
+any fire, they devoured the meat they had brought with them _entirely in
+a raw state_. They could not conceive how the Spaniards could carry their
+neglect or their fancied security to such a length as not to disturb that
+repose of which they stood so greatly in need; nor how they could allow
+them the necessary leisure for recruiting their exhausted strength and thus
+become the more fit for battle. They availed themselves of this oversight
+and were perfectly at ease; after they had glutted themselves with animal
+food they lay down upon the grass and slept quietly. Throughout the night
+the Spaniards made their artillery roar without intermission, in order to
+display their vigilance.
+
+On the ensuing day, which was the tenth of their march, January 27, 1671,
+the pirates advanced at a very early hour, with their military music, and
+took the road leading to Panama. By the advice, however, of one of their
+guides, they quitted the main road and went out of the way across a thick
+wood through which there was no footpath. For this the Spaniards were
+unprepared, having confined themselves to the erection of batteries and
+construction of redoubts on the highway. They soon perceived the inutility
+of this measure and were obliged to relinquish their guns in order to
+oppose their enemies on the contrary side; but not being able to take their
+cannons away from their batteries, they were, consequently, incapacitated
+from making use of one part of their defensive means.
+
+After two hours' march the freebooters discovered the hostile army, which
+was a very fine one, well equipped, and was advancing in battle array. The
+soldiers were clad in party-colored silk stuffs, and the horsemen were
+seated upon their mettlesome steeds as if they were going to a bull-fight.
+The President in person took the command of this body of troops, which
+was of considerable importance, both for the country and likewise for the
+forces supported there by Spain. He marched against the pirates with four
+regiments of the line consisting of infantry, besides twenty-four
+hundred foot-soldiers of another description, four hundred horsemen, and
+twenty-four hundred wild bulls under the conduct of several hundred Indians
+and negroes.
+
+This army, which extended over the whole plain, was discovered by the
+pirates from the summit of a small eminence, and presented to them a most
+imposing appearance, insomuch that they were struck with a kind of terror.
+They now began to feel some anxiety as to the event of an engagement with
+forces so greatly superior to them in point of numbers, but they were soon
+convinced that they must actually conquer or die, and encouraged each other
+to fight till the very last drop of their blood was shed; a determination
+this, which, on the part of these intrepid men, was by no means a vain
+resolution.
+
+They divided themselves into three bodies, placed two hundred of their best
+marksmen in the front, and marched boldly against the Spaniards, who
+were drawn up in order of battle on a very spacious plain. The Governor
+immediately ordered the cavalry to charge the enemy, and the wild bulls to
+be at the same time let loose upon them. But the ground was unfavorable for
+this purpose; the horsemen encountered nothing but marshes, behind which
+were posted the two hundred marksmen, who kept up such a continual and
+well-directed fire that horses and men fell in heaps beneath their shots
+before it was possible to effect a retreat. Fifty horsemen only escaped
+this formidable discharge of musketry.
+
+The bulls, on whose services they had calculated so highly, it became
+impracticable to drive among the pirates. Hence such a confusion arose as
+to completely reverse the whole plan of the battle. The freebooters, in
+consequence, attacked the Spanish infantry with so much the greater vigor.
+They successively knelt on the ground, fired, and rose up again. While
+those who were on one knee directed their fire against the hostile army,
+which began to waver; the pirates, who continued standing, rapidly charged
+their fire-arms. Every man, on this occasion, evinced a dexterity and
+presence of mind which decided the fate of the battle. Almost every shot
+was fatal. The Spaniards, nevertheless, continued to defend themselves with
+much valor, which proved of little service against an exasperated enemy
+whose courage, inflamed by despair, derived additional strength from their
+successes. At length the Spaniards had recourse to their last expedient:
+the wild cattle were let loose upon the rear of the freebooters.
+
+The buccaneers were in their element: by their shouts they intimidated the
+bulls, at the same time waving party-colored flags before them; fired on
+the animals and laid them all upon the ground, without exception. The
+engagement lasted two hours; and notwithstanding the Spaniards were so
+greatly superior, both in numbers and in arms, it terminated entirely
+in favor of the freebooters. The Spaniards lost the chief part of their
+cavalry, on which they had built their expectations of victory; the
+remainder returned to the charge repeatedly, but their efforts only tended
+to render their defeat the more complete. A very few horsemen only escaped,
+together with some few of the infantry who threw down their arms to
+facilitate the rapidity of their flight. Six hundred Spaniards lay dead on
+the field of battle; besides these, they sustained a very considerable loss
+in such as were wounded and taken prisoner.
+
+Among the latter were some Franciscans who had exposed themselves to the
+greatest dangers in order that they might animate the combatants and afford
+the last consolations of religion to the dying. They were conducted into
+Morgan's presence, who instantly pronounced sentence of death upon them.
+In vain did these hapless priests implore that pity which they might have
+expected from a less ferocious enemy. They were all killed by pistol-shots.
+Many Spaniards who were apprehensive lest they should be overtaken in their
+flight had concealed themselves in the flags and rushes along the banks
+of the river. They were mostly discovered and hacked to pieces by the
+merciless pirates.
+
+The freebooters' task, however, was by no means completed. They had yet to
+take Panama, a large and populous city, which was defended by forts and
+batteries, and into which the Governor had retired, together with the
+fugitives. The conquest of this place was the more difficult, as the
+pirates had dearly purchased their victory, and their remaining forces were
+in no respect adequate to encounter the difficulties attending such an
+enterprise. It was, however, determined to make an attempt. Morgan had just
+procured from a wounded captive Spanish officer the necessary information;
+but he had not a moment to lose. It would not do to allow the Spaniards
+time to adopt new measures of defence; the city was therefore assaulted on
+the same day, in defiance of a formidable artillery which wrought great
+havoc among the freebooters; and at the end of three hours they were in
+possession of Panama.
+
+The capture of that city was followed by a general pillage. Morgan, who
+dreaded the consequence of excessive intoxication--especially after his men
+had suffered such a long abstinence--prohibited them from drinking any
+wine under the severest penalties. He foresaw that such a prohibition would
+infallibly be infringed, unless it were sanctioned by an argument far
+more powerful than the fear of punishment. He therefore caused it to be
+announced that he had received information that the Spaniards had poisoned
+all their wine. This dexterous falsehood produced the desired effect, and
+for the first time the freebooters were temperate.
+
+The majority of the inhabitants of Panama had betaken themselves to flight.
+They had embarked their women, their riches, all their movables that were
+of any value and small in bulk, and had sent this valuable cargo to
+the island of Taroga. The men were dispersed over the country, but in
+sufficiently great numbers to appear formidable to the pirates, whose
+forces were much diminished, and who could not expect any assistance from
+abroad. They therefore continued constantly together, and for their greater
+security, most of them encamped without the walls.
+
+We have now reached the time when Morgan committed a barbarous and
+incomprehensible action, concerning which his comrades--some of whom were
+his historians--have given only a very ambiguous explanation.
+
+Notwithstanding that all the precious articles had been carried away from
+Panama, there still remained--as in every great European trading city--a
+vast number of shops, warehouses, and magazines filled with every kind of
+merchandise. Besides a very great quantity of wrought and manufactured
+articles, the productions of luxury and industry, that city contained
+immense stores of flour, wine, and spices; vast magazines of that metal
+which is justly deemed the most valuable of all because it is the most
+useful: extensive buildings, in which were accumulated prodigious stores of
+iron tools and implements, anvils and ploughs which had been received from
+Europe and were destined to revive the Spanish colonies. Some judgment may
+be formed respecting the value of the last-mentioned articles only when it
+is considered that a quintal (one hundredweight) of iron was sold at Panama
+for thirty-two piasters (about thirty-three dollars).
+
+All these multifarious articles, so essentially necessary for furnishing
+colonists with the means of subsistence, were, it should seem, of no value
+in the estimation of the ferocious Morgan because he could not carry them
+away; although, by preserving them, he might have made use of them by
+demanding a specific ransom for them. Circumstances might also enable him
+to derive some further advantages from them, but, in fact, whatever was
+distant or uncertain presented no attraction to this barbarian, who was
+eager to enjoy, but more ardent to destroy.
+
+He was struck by one consideration only. All these bulky productions of
+art and industry were for the moment of no use to the freebooters. Of what
+importance to him was the ruin of many thousand innocent families? He
+consulted only the ferocity of his character, and without communicating his
+design to any individual he secretly caused the city to be set on fire
+in several places. In a few hours it was almost entirely consumed. The
+Spaniards that had remained in Panama--as well as the pirates themselves,
+who were at first ignorant whence the conflagration proceeded--ran together
+and united their efforts in order to extinguish the flames. They brought
+water, and pulled down houses, with a view to prevent the further progress
+of that destructive element. All their exertions were fruitless. A violent
+wind was blowing, and, in addition to this circumstance, the principal part
+of the buildings in that city were constructed of wood. Its finest houses,
+together with their valuable furniture, among which was the magnificent
+palace belonging to the Genoese, the churches, convents, courthouse, shops,
+hospitals, pious foundations, warehouses loaded with sacks of flour, nearly
+two hundred other warehouses filled with merchandise--all were reduced to
+ashes! The fire also consumed a great number of animals, horses, mules, and
+many slaves who had concealed themselves and who were burned alive. A very
+few houses only escaped the fire, which continued burning upward of four
+weeks. Amid the havoc produced in every quarter by the conflagration, the
+freebooters did not neglect to pillage as much as they possibly could, by
+which means they collected a considerable booty.
+
+Morgan seemed ashamed of his atrocious act; he carefully concealed that he
+had ever executed it, and gave out that the Spaniards themselves had set
+their city on fire.
+
+
+
+%STRUGGLE OF THE DUTCH AGAINST FRANCE AND ENGLAND%
+
+A.D. 1672
+
+C.M. DAVIES
+
+
+Seldom has any people held out so heroically against overwhelming numbers
+as did the Dutch in 1672. Of the various wars during the reign of Louis
+XIV, that which he carried on against Holland was one of the most
+important. By its settlement, at the Peace of Nimwegen (1678-1679), the
+long hostilities between France and Holland and their allies were brought
+to a close, and Holland was once more saved from threatened destruction.
+
+Louis, having invaded the Spanish Netherlands, had reluctantly consented to
+the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), by which he retained a small part of
+the Low Countries. By insisting on this treaty Holland gave deep offence
+to the French monarch, who in 1672 began a war of revenge against the
+Netherlands, where his schemes of large acquisition had been thwarted. His
+first attempt was to isolate Holland, and having purchased the King of
+Sweden, he bribed Charles II of England, uncle of William of Orange, to
+enter into a secret treaty against the Netherlands.
+
+The principal events of the war are narrated by Davies, who shows how the
+old spirit of the Dutch returned to them in this supreme hour of new peril
+to their liberties.
+
+The Dutch, though, in defence of their religion and liberties, they had
+beaten the first soldiers in the world, were never essentially a military
+nation; and in 1672 a long interval of peace, and devotion to the pursuits
+of commerce, had rendered them quite unfit for warlike enterprises. The
+army was entirely disorganized; the officers, appointed by the magistrates
+of the towns on the score of relationship or party adherence, without
+the slightest regard to their efficiency, were suffered, without fear of
+punishment, to keep the numbers of their regiments incomplete, in order
+that they might appropriate the pay of the vacancies; while the men,
+independent and undisciplined, were allowed to spend their time in the
+pursuit of some gainful trade or peaceful occupation, instead of practising
+military exercises. The disputes concerning the appointment of a
+captain-general had impeded any fresh levies, the recruits refusing to take
+the oath to the States except in conjunction with the Prince of Orange, and
+had induced many of the best and most experienced officers to take service
+in the French army; the fortifications of the towns were in a dilapidated
+condition, and no measures had been adopted for the security of the
+frontier.
+
+Such was the state to which party spirit had reduced a nation filled with
+brave, intelligent, and virtuous inhabitants, and governed by statesmen as
+able and wise as the world ever saw, when the two most powerful sovereigns
+of Europe declared war against her. The manifests were both issued on the
+same day. That of the King of England is strongly marked by the duplicity
+which was the distinguishing characteristic both of himself and of his
+court as then constituted. From the style of the document one might be led
+to suppose that he was forced into the war with extreme reluctance and
+regret, and only in consequence of the impossibility of obtaining redress
+by any other means for the deep injuries he had sustained. He declared
+that, so far back as the year 1664, his Parliament had complained of the
+wrongs and oppressions exercised by the Dutch on his subjects in the East
+Indies, and for which they had refused to make reparation by amicable
+means.
+
+They had openly refused him the honor of the flag, one of the most ancient
+prerogatives of his crown; had sought to invite the King of France to
+hostilities against him; and had insulted his person and dignity by the
+abusive pictures and medals exposed in all their towns. This expression was
+understood to allude to a medal complained of three years before, and to
+a portrait of Cornelius de Witt, in the perspective of which was a
+representation of the burning of Chatham. Cornelius de Witt being an
+ex-burgomaster of Dordrecht, the council of that town had, with a
+natural pride, caused this picture to be painted and hung up in the
+council-chamber. The extreme sensitiveness manifested by Charles on this
+point appeared to the States rather superfluous in a monarch whose own
+kingdom teemed with the most offensive truths relative to himself and his
+government.
+
+As if determined that the mode of commencing hostilities should be as
+lawless and unjust as the war itself, the court of England, several days
+before the declaration was issued, had commanded Sir Robert Holmes to
+attack the Dutch Smyrna fleet on its return. While cruising near the Isle
+of Wight, Holmes met the admiral, Sprague, by whom he was informed of the
+near approach of the vessels; but, anxious to secure to himself the whole
+of the booty, estimated at near a million and a half of guilders, he
+suffered Sprague to sail away in ignorance of his instructions, and leaving
+him with no more than nine frigates and three yachts. His covetousness,
+happily, proved the salvation of the fleet. After a short encounter of two
+days' duration, Holmes was forced to retire, having captured no more than
+three or four of the more inconsiderable ships, while the remainder gained
+their harbors in safety.
+
+The King of France appeared, by the tenor of his declaration of war, to
+imagine that his power and dignity entitled him to set at naught alike the
+natural rights of mankind and the law of nations; it resembled, indeed,
+rather the threat of a predatory incursion on the part of a barbarian chief
+than the justification of the taking up of arms by a civilized government.
+Without adducing a single cause of complaint, he satisfied himself with
+declaring that the conduct of the States had been such as it was not
+consistent with his glory to endure any longer.
+
+If anything, indeed, could justify the arrogant tone assumed by Louis, the
+circumstances in which he found himself would have done so. An army of one
+hundred twenty thousand, able and well-equipped troops, commanded by Conde
+and Turenne, and numbering in its ranks volunteers of the noblest families
+in France eager to distinguish themselves under the eye of their sovereign;
+funds lavishly supplied by the able minister of finance, Colbert; with vast
+magazines of ammunition and every other necessary collected, and winter
+quarters secured in the neighboring and friendly territories of Cologne and
+Muenster, seemed means almost absurdly disproportioned in magnitude to the
+end to be attained. At the same time he was but too well informed of the
+defenceless condition of the enemy. Jan de Witt and the States conceived
+that his first attempt would be upon Maestricht, the possession of which he
+was known to have long coveted, and that the difficulties of its conquest
+would be sufficient to deter from further enterprise a monarch of whose
+military prowess no very high idea was entertained, and who was supposed to
+be far more enamoured of the pomp and circumstance of war than of its toils
+and dangers. They accordingly fortified and provided Maestricht with
+the utmost care, leaving the frontier towns on the Rhine in an utterly
+inefficient state of defence. Aware of this fact, Louis commenced his
+operations on the side of Cleves, and, separating his army into four
+divisions, laid siege simultaneously to as many places. He himself summoned
+the town of Rhynberg, the Duke of Orleans sat down before Orsay, Conde was
+commanded to reduce Wesel, and Turenne, Burick. All surrendered within a
+week. To give an account of the capture of the towns which followed, would
+be but to heap example upon example of cowardice or treachery, or--as they
+are generally found together--both.
+
+Nothing less than entire unanimity and the most undaunted resolution could
+have enabled the Dutch to resist the overwhelming force employed against
+them; whereas, the miserable effect of the internal dissensions of the
+republic had been to destroy for the time all mutual confidence. In some
+places the garrisons, despising their incapable commanders, refused to act;
+or the governors, mistrustful of their undisciplined troops, lost all hope
+of prolonging a defence; in others, the detestation entertained by the
+magistrates toward the Orange party was so great that, preferring to submit
+to France rather than to a native stadtholder, they hastened to deliver up
+their towns to the invader; on the other hand, the friends of the house
+of Orange looked not without some complacency on the misfortunes which
+threatened the state, and which they hoped would reduce it to the necessity
+of raising the Prince to the dignities of his family; while in those places
+where the Catholics were numerous, the populace, under the guidance of the
+priests, forced both garrisons and governments to open their gates to the
+sovereign whom they hailed as the restorer of their religion. With scarcely
+a show of opposition, therefore, Louis advanced to the Rhine.
+
+The drought of the summer was so excessive that this river had become
+fordable in three places, which, being pointed out to the French by some
+peasants of Guelderland, the King determined on attempting the passage
+between Schenkenschans and Arnhem, near the Tollhuys, a village and tower
+about two miles distant from the separation of the branch of the river
+called the Wahal. The Prince of Orange, who was stationed with about
+twenty-two thousand men at Arnhem, and along the banks of the Yssel,
+instead of concentrating his forces to oppose the passage of the enemy,
+contented himself with detaching De Montbas to guard the Betuwe, and to
+throw succors if requisite into Nimwegen. But this general, deeming the
+troops placed under his command insufficient for the purpose required,
+abandoned his post. He was arrested and sent to Utrecht, but afterward
+allowed to escape. Immediately on the retreat of Montbas the Prince
+despatched General Wurtz, but still with a vastly inadequate force, to
+occupy the post at the Tollhuys. The French cuirassiers, led on by the
+Counts de Guiche and Revel, first waded into the ford under the fire of
+the artillery from the tower, which, however, as there were no more than
+seventeen men stationed in it, was not very formidable. They were followed
+by a number of volunteers, and in a short time the whole of the cavalry
+passed over with trifling loss. The Dutch troops, discouraged as well by
+the unexpectedness of the attempt as by their own inferiority in number,
+were driven back after a short skirmish. A bridge was then thrown across
+the river for the infantry, and thus this famous passage was accomplished
+with comparative ease and safety.
+
+As the position of the Prince of Orange on the Yssel, which in consequence
+of the drought was fordable throughout nearly the whole of its course, was
+now no longer tenable, he retired to Utrecht, abandoning Arnhem to the
+enemy, who soon after received the submission of Nimwegen and the whole of
+Guelderland, Thiel, and the Bommel. In order to put Utrecht into a state of
+defence, the Prince considered it necessary to burn down all the suburbs;
+a measure which, when he proposed to the States of the Province, he found
+them reluctant to comply with. He therefore immediately quitted that city,
+and with the whole of his forces made a further retreat into Holland. Thus
+left wholly unprotected, the States of Utrecht conceived that the only
+resource which remained to them was to mollify the conqueror by a speedy
+submission; and accordingly, while Louis was yet at Doesburg, they sent
+deputies to tender to him the keys of the city and the submission of the
+whole province. The King shortly after entered Utrecht in triumph.
+
+While the good-fortune, rather than the arms, of Louis subdued Guelderland
+and Utrecht, his allies, the Bishops of Cologne and Muenster, found no more
+vigorous resistance in Overyssel. Oldenzeel, Entschede, and other small
+towns yielded at once to their summons; Deventer, though well garrisoned
+and amply provided, was surrendered at once by the municipal government,
+who, by their exhortations and example, induced that of Zwol to adopt a
+like disgraceful course of conduct. The easily acquired spoil was divided
+among the captors; the King of France, who had furnished a subsidy of
+troops, placed garrisons in Campen and Elburg; the Archbishop of Cologne
+retained Deventer; Groll and Breevoort being allotted to the Bishop of
+Muenster, while Zwol was held in common. The troops of these warlike
+prelates exercised everywhere unbounded license and cruelties. Numbers
+of unhappy families were driven from their homes, and, taking refuge in
+Holland, added to the consternation which prevailed there.
+
+This province was now in imminent danger. No barrier remained, as it
+appeared, to oppose the progress of the enemy; the army of the Prince had
+dwindled to about thirteen thousand men; two of the frontier towns, Woerden
+and Oudewater, had solicited safeguards from the invaders; and Naarden was
+surprised by the Count of Rochefort. Had he marched on at once to Muyden he
+might have occupied that town also, a post of immense importance from
+its situation, as ships going to Amsterdam must come within reach of its
+cannon; and by means of a sluice there, the surrounding country may at
+any time be inundated. It had been left destitute of a garrison; but, the
+French commander remaining two or three days inactive at Naarden, time was
+afforded to John Maurice of Nassau to enter Muyden with a strong body of
+troops, and the chance thus lost was gone forever.
+
+Amazed at the rapid advances of the invader, and dispirited by the symptoms
+of daily increasing aversion which the great body of the people manifested
+to his government, the courage of Jan de Witt at this crisis so entirely
+forsook him that he took upon himself the disgrace of being the first to
+propose to the States of Holland that they should implore mercy from the
+conqueror. The resolution was immediately adopted, and by them proposed to
+the States-General, where it was passed with the dissentient voice only
+of Zealand, who was of opinion that they should treat simultaneously with
+England, from whence that province had to apprehend the principal danger. A
+deputation was accordingly sent to Louis, at Keppel, near Doesburg, headed
+by De Groot, and commissioned to inquire upon what terms his majesty was
+inclined to grant peace to the republic. They were answered by Louvois,
+that the King was not disposed to restore any of the conquests he had made
+or to enter into any negotiation unless the deputies were furnished with
+full powers and instructions as to what the States intended to offer.
+Returning to The Hague, De Groot made his report to the States of Holland,
+and, representing the desperate condition of their affairs, recommended
+that Louis should be gratified with Maestricht and all the other towns of
+the generality; and that a sum should be offered him to defray the expenses
+of the war, provided the King would leave them in possession of their
+liberty and sovereignty. Leyden, Haarlem, and most of the other towns
+followed the example of the nobles in receiving these pusillanimous
+counsels with approbation.
+
+Amsterdam, however, proved that the spirit of the "Gueux" was not yet
+utterly extinct in Holland. Prevailing with four towns of North Holland to
+follow their example, the Council of Amsterdam refused to send deputies to
+debate upon the question of granting full powers to the ambassadors, and
+made vigorous preparations for the defence of their city. They repaired
+the fortifications, and strengthened them with considerable outworks, the
+magistrates themselves being the first to sacrifice their magnificent
+country houses in the suburbs for this purpose; they assigned to each of
+the regiments of burgher guards, who were ten thousand in number, a portion
+of the city to watch; took into their pay as soldiers all those inhabitants
+whom the cessation of trade would throw out of employment; stationed
+outlyers in the Y, Amstel, Zuyder Zee, and Pampus, and, cutting the dikes,
+laid the country to a great distance round under water. They likewise
+passed a resolution that, though all the rest of Holland should make terms
+with the conqueror, they would sustain the siege single-handed till some
+friendly power should afford them assistance.
+
+The causes which combined to expose the United Provinces to these terrible
+disasters by land had, happily, no influence on their affairs by sea. The
+fleet, commanded by De Ruyter, an officer surpassed by none of any age
+or nation in ability and courage, and of devoted fidelity to the present
+government, had been increased to ninety-one ships and frigates of war,
+fifty-four fire-ships, and twenty-three yachts. That of the allies,
+commanded by the Duke of York, comprised after the junction of the French
+squadron under the Count d'Etrees, one hundred forty-nine ships-of-war,
+besides the smaller vessels. Sailing in quest of the enemy, De Ruyter
+discovered them lying in Solebay, evidently unprepared for his approach. On
+this occasion was felt the disadvantage of intrusting an officer with the
+chief command without at the same time giving him sufficient authority to
+insure its beneficial exercise. In consequence of the presence on board of
+Cornelius de Witt, the deputy of the States, De Ruyter, instead of ordering
+an immediate attack, was obliged to call a council of war, and thus gave
+the English time to arrange themselves in order of battle, which they did
+with astonishing celerity.
+
+The Dutch advanced in three squadrons, nearly in a line with each other;
+the Admiral Bankert on the left to the attack of the French; Van Gend on
+the right, with the purpose of engaging the blue squadron commanded by
+Montague, Earl of Sandwich; while De Ruyter in the middle directed his
+course toward the red flag of the English, and, pointing with his finger to
+the Duke of York's vessel, said to his pilot, "There is our man." The pilot
+instantly steered the ship right down upon that of the Duke, and a terrific
+broadside was returned with equal fury. After two hours' incessant firing,
+the English admiral retreated, his ship being so damaged that he was
+obliged to transfer his flag on board the London. At the same time Braakel,
+a captain who had signalized himself in the burning of Chatham, with a
+vessel of sixty-two guns, attacked the Royal James, of one hundred four
+guns, the ship of the Earl of Sandwich, which he boarded and fired.
+Montague, refusing to surrender, was drowned in the attempt to escape in a
+boat. On the other hand, Van Gend, the admiral of the squadron engaged with
+the Earl's, was killed in the beginning of the action. The contest was
+maintained with the daring and steady valor characteristic of both nations,
+from seven in the morning until nightfall. The French had received
+instructions to keep aloof from the fight, and allow the two fleets to
+destroy each other; and these they took care to carry out to the full.
+Thus, the only assistance they afforded to the English was to prevent
+the Dutch squadron engaged in watching their movements from acting, an
+advantage more than counterbalanced by the discouragement their behavior
+occasioned among their allies.
+
+Though both parties claimed the victory, it undoubtedly inclined in favor
+of the Dutch, who sustained a loss somewhat inferior to that of their
+antagonists, and had the satisfaction, moreover, of preventing a descent
+upon Zealand by the combined fleets, which was to have been the immediate
+consequence of a defeat. This was, however, attempted about a month after,
+when the disasters attending the arms of the States by land, having induced
+them to diminish the number of their ships, De Ruyter received commands to
+remain in the ports and avoid an engagement. The whole of the English fleet
+appeared in the Texel provided with small craft for the purpose of landing.
+But, by a singular coincidence, it happened that, on the very day fixed for
+the attempt, the water continued, from some unknown cause, so low as to
+render it impossible for the vessels to approach the shore, and to impress
+the people with the idea that the ebb of the tide lasted for the space of
+twelve hours. Immediately after, a violent storm arose, which drove the
+enemy entirely away from the coasts.
+
+The internal condition of the United Provinces was at this time such as to
+incite the combined monarchs, no less than their own successes, to treat
+them with insolence and oppression. They beheld the inhabitants, instead of
+uniting with one generous sentiment of patriotism in a firm and strenuous
+defence of their fatherland, torn by dissensions, and turning against each
+other the rage which should have been directed against their enemies. The
+divisions in every province and town were daily becoming wider and more
+embittered. Though both parties had merited an equal share of blame for the
+present miscarriages, the people imputed them exclusively to the government
+of Jan de Witt and his adherents; who, they said, had betrayed and sold the
+country to France; and this accusation to which their late pusillanimous
+counsels gave but too strong a color of plausibility, the heads of the
+Orange party, though well aware of its untruth, diligently sustained and
+propagated. The ministers of the Church, always influential and always on
+the alert, made the pulpits resound with declamations against the treachery
+and incapacity of the present government as the cause of all the evils
+under which they groaned; and emphatically pointed to the elevation of the
+Prince of Orange to the dignities of his ancestors as the sole remedy now
+left them. To this measure De Witt and his brother were now regarded as the
+only obstacles; and, so perverted had the state of public feeling become
+that the most atrocious crimes began to be looked upon as meritorious
+actions, provided only they tended to the desired object of removing these
+obnoxious ministers.
+
+On one occasion, Jan de Witt, having been employed at the Chamber of the
+States to a late hour of the night, was returning home attended by a single
+servant, according to his custom, when he was attacked by four assassins.
+He defended himself for a considerable time, till having received some
+severe wounds he fell, and his assailants decamped, leaving him for dead.
+One only, James van der Graaf, was arrested; the other three took refuge in
+the camp, where, though the States of Holland earnestly enjoined the Prince
+of Orange and the other generals to use diligent means for their discovery,
+they remained unmolested till the danger was passed. Van der Graaf was
+tried and condemned to death. The pensionary was strongly solicited by
+his friends to gratify the people by interceding for the pardon of the
+criminals; but he resolutely refused to adopt any such mode of gaining
+popularity. Impunity, he said, would but increase the number and boldness
+of such miscreants; nor would he attempt to appease the causeless hatred of
+the people against him by an act which he considered would tend to endanger
+the life of every member of the Government. The determination, however
+just, was imprudent. The criminal, an account of whose last moments was
+published by the minister who attended him, was regarded by the populace as
+a victim to the vengeance of Jan de Witt, and a martyr to the good of his
+country. On the same day a similar attempt was made on the life of his
+brother, Cornelius de Witt, at Dordrecht, by a like number of assassins,
+who endeavored to force their way into his house, but were prevented by the
+interference of a detachment of the burgher guard.
+
+Cornelius had already, on his return from the fleet in consequence of
+impaired health, been greeted with the spectacle of his picture, which had
+given such umbrage to the King of England, cut into strips and stuck about
+the town, with the head hanging upon the gallows. These symptoms of tumult
+rapidly increased in violence. A mob assembling, with loud cries of
+"_Oranje boven! de Witten onder_!" ("Long live the Prince of Orange! down
+with the De Witts!") surrounded the houses of the members of the council,
+whom they forced to send for the Prince, and to pass an act, repealing the
+"Perpetual Edict," declaring him stadtholder, and releasing him from the
+oath he had taken not to accept that office while he was captain-general.
+Having been signed by all the other members of the council, this act was
+carried to the house of Cornelius de Witt, who was confined to his bed
+by sickness, the populace at the same time surrounding the house and
+threatening him with death in case of refusal. He long resisted, observing
+that he had too many balls falling around him lately to fear death, which
+he would rather suffer than sign that paper; but the prayers and tears of
+his wife and her threats, that if he delayed compliance she would throw
+herself and her children among the infuriated populace, in the end overcame
+his resolution. He added to his signature the letters V.C. _(vi coactus_),
+but the people, informed by a minister of their purport, obliged him to
+erase them.
+
+Similar commotions broke out at Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leyden, Amsterdam, and
+in other towns, both of Holland and Zealand, where the populace constrained
+the magistrates by menace and violence to the repeal of the edict.
+Reluctant to have such a measure forced upon them by tumult and sedition,
+the States of Holland and Zealand now unanimously passed an act revoking
+the Perpetual Edict, and conferring on the Prince of Orange the dignity of
+stadtholder, captain, and admiral-general of these provinces.
+
+Soon afterward Cornelius de Witt was thrown into prison and put to the
+torture on a false charge of planning the assassination of the Prince of
+Orange. Jan de Witt visited his brother in his agony, and a mob, bursting
+into the jail, seized upon both brothers as traitors and murdered them with
+horrid brutality.
+
+From this time the authority of William became almost uncontrolled in the
+United Provinces. Most of the leaders of the Louvestein party, either
+convinced of the necessity of his elevation to power in the present
+emergency or unwilling to encounter the vexation of a fruitless opposition,
+acquiesced in the present state of things; many were afterward employed by
+him, and distinguished themselves by fidelity and zeal in his service. The
+constant cooeperation and participation in his views also of the pensionary,
+Fagel, gave him an advantage which none of his predecessors had ever
+enjoyed; the influence of the pensionaries of Holland having hitherto been
+always opposed, and forming a counterpoise, to that of the stadtholder.
+
+Unquestionably the Dutch, while thus parting with their liberties, reaped
+in some degree the benefits usually attendant on such a sacrifice, in
+the increased firmness and activity of a government conducted by a sole
+responsible head. At the time of the embassy of Peter de Groot to solicit
+peace from the King of France, the Prince had so far partaken of the
+general dejection as to ask permission of the States to nominate a deputy
+to treat of his particular interests; but no sooner was he created
+stadtholder than he began to adopt bolder and more spirited resolutions
+for the safety of a country to which he felt himself attached by new and
+stronger ties. Being invited by the Assembly of the States to give his
+opinion on the terms offered by the allied monarchs, he declared that their
+acceptance would entail upon them certain ruin, and that the very listening
+to such was pernicious in the highest degree to affairs, as tending to
+disunite and dispirit the people.
+
+He encouraged them to hope for speedy assistance from his allies; pointed
+out the resources which yet existed for the support of the war; and
+persuaded them rather to resolve, if they were driven to extremity, to
+embark on board their vessels and found a new nation in the East Indies,
+than accept the conditions. At the same time he spurned with indignation
+the flattering proposals made him both by the Kings of France and England;
+for--so singularly are men appointed to work out their own destiny--these
+monarchs now vied with each other, and were in fact principally
+instrumental, in exalting the power and dignity of a prince who ere long
+was to hurl the brother of the one from the throne of his ancestors, and
+prepare for the other an old age of vexation and disgrace, if not to lay
+the first foundation of the ruin of his kingdom in the next century.
+
+Louis, upon the appointment of the Prince to the office of stadtholder, was
+liberal in offers of honor and advantages to his person and family, and
+among the rest was one which he considered could scarcely fail of its
+effect; that, namely, of making him sovereign of the provinces under the
+protection of France and England. William, however, was found wholly
+immovable on this point, declaring that he would rather retire to his
+lands in Germany, and spend his life in hunting, than sell his country and
+liberty to France. Nor were the dispiriting representations made by the
+English ambassadors, that Holland was utterly lost unless he consented to
+the terms proposed, at all more influential; "I have thought of a means,"
+he replied, "to avoid beholding the ruin of my country--to die in the last
+ditch."
+
+Neither, indeed, was the state of the country, though sufficiently
+deplorable, such as to leave him no choice but to become the vassal of her
+haughty enemies. The progress of the invader in Holland was effectually
+arrested by the state of defence into which that province had been put.
+Imitating the noble example set them by Amsterdam, the other towns readily
+opened the sluices of the Lek, Meuse, Yssel, and Vecht, inundating by that
+means the whole of the intervening tracts of land.
+
+The Dutch army was stationed at the five principal posts of the provinces;
+Prince Maurice John being placed at Muyden and Weesp; Field Marshal
+Wurtz at Gorcum; the Count of Horn at the Goejanverwellen Sluys;
+another detachment occupied Woerden; and the Prince himself took up his
+head-quarters at Bodergrave and Nieuwerburg.
+
+At length, finding his army increased by the addition of subsidies from
+Spain to twenty-four thousand men, William determined to infuse new vigor
+into the public mind by the commencement of offensive hostilities. He
+first formed the design of surprising Naarden and Woerden, both of which
+attempts, however, proved unsuccessful. He then marched toward Maestricht,
+captured and demolished the fort of Valckenburg, by which that town was
+straitened, and, with the view of diverting the force of the enemy
+by carrying the war into his own territory, advanced to the siege of
+Charleroi. But the middle of winter having already arrived before he
+commenced the enterprise, he was soon after compelled, by the severity
+of the weather, to abandon it and retire to Holland, which, during his
+absence, had, from the same cause, been exposed to imminent danger.
+
+The Duke of Luxemburg, who had been left in command of the forces in
+Utrecht on the departure of the King of France, for Paris, finding that the
+ice with which the land-water was covered, was sufficiently strong to bear
+the passage of cavalry, marched with a strong body of troops to Zwammerdam,
+and thence to Bodergrave, both of which were abandoned. The purpose of the
+French commander was to advance directly upon The Hague, and to force the
+States to acknowledge the sovereignty of the King of France; a measure
+which would, he conceived, involve the immediate submission of the whole
+of the provinces. But, happily, his project was defeated by a sudden thaw,
+which obliged him to return to Utrecht; and had it not been that the fort
+of Nieuwerburg, situated on the dike, which afforded the only passage
+thither, was deserted by the commander, _Pain-et-Vin_, his retreat must
+have been cut off, and his army exposed to almost certain destruction.
+Before his departure, Luxemburg revenged himself on the luckless villages
+he had captured, which he pillaged and burned to the ground.[1] Pain-et-Vin
+was afterward tried for breach of duty and executed.
+
+[Footnote 1: The accounts given by the Dutch historians of the revolting
+outrages and barbarities exercised by the invaders on this expedition are
+strenuously denied by the writers on the French side; their conduct in
+Utrecht, however, which we shall have occasion hereafter to notice, affords
+but too ample evidence that there was some truth in the accusations. On the
+other hand, that the Dutch authors are guilty of exaggeration may be easily
+believed, since one of them gravely puts into the mouth of the Duke of
+Luxemburg the following address to his soldiers: "Go, my children, plunder,
+murder, destroy, and if it be possible to commit yet greater cruelties, be
+not negligent therein, that I may see I am not deceived in my choice of the
+flower of the king's troops."]
+
+Though it might well have been feared that the failure of all the
+enterprises of the Prince of Orange would have renewed the discontents
+lately prevalent in the United Provinces, such an effect was in no degree
+produced. The very boldness of the designs, it seemed, had been the cause
+of their ill-success, and argued a zeal and activity for the public good
+which inspired unbounded confidence in his future measures. The appearance
+of renovated vigor in the United Provinces, moreover, encouraged
+surrounding states to make some demonstrations in their favor. They had
+wished to see them humbled, but not destroyed. The Emperor and princes of
+Germany, in especial, contemplated with dread the prospect of exchanging
+the neighborhood of the inoffensive and industrious people, who rarely
+appeared to them in any other light than as the dispensers of abundance,
+wealth, and luxury, for that of an ambitious and unscrupulous monarch,
+whose glory was in destruction, and from whose encroachments their
+boundaries would be for not one moment safe.
+
+Though deeply imbued with these sentiments, the Elector of Brandenburg had
+hitherto been deterred from lending them any assistance, lest, should they
+be forced to make a peace with the King of France, the whole power and
+vengeance of that monarch might be directed against himself. He now induced
+the Emperor Leopold to enter into an alliance with him, by virtue of which
+he levied a force of twenty-four thousand men, to be joined with an equal
+number furnished by himself, for the purpose of opposing the advances of
+Louis. Though the secret treaty which the Emperor had made with France,
+binding himself not to afford aid to any member of the Triple Alliance,
+and of which the Elector was in ignorance, limited the employment of the
+imperial army strictly to the protection of the empire, and consequently
+prevented it from marching at once to the support of the provinces, its
+movement was of considerable advantage to their affairs, in calling off
+Turenne from Bois-le-Duc, to which he had laid siege, to the defence of the
+places on the Rhine. The Bishops of Muenster and Cologne, also, whom the
+brave defence of the garrison of Groningen had forced to raise the siege,
+were under the necessity of abandoning both that province and Guelderland,
+and hastening to the protection of their own territories.
+
+Among the benefits which the Dutch anticipated with the utmost confidence
+as the consequence of the elevation of the Prince of Orange to his paternal
+dignities was the appeasing the hostility of his uncle, the King of
+England. In this, however, they were wholly deceived. On the meeting of
+Parliament in this year, the chancellor, Shaftesbury, addressed the two
+Houses in a strain of hostile feeling to the Dutch nation, more bitter than
+the court as yet ventured to express. He represented that, "besides the
+personal indignities in the way of pictures, medals, and other public
+affronts which the King received from the States, they came at last to
+such a height of insolence as to deny him the honor of the flag, though an
+undoubted jewel of the crown, and disputed the King's title to it in all
+the courts of Europe, making great offers to the French King if he would
+stand by them in this particular.
+
+"But both kings, knowing their own interest, resolved to join against them,
+who were the common enemies of all monarchies, but especially the English,
+their only competitor in commerce and naval power, and the chief obstacle
+to their attainment of the dominion they aimed at, a dominion as universal
+as that of Rome; and so intoxicated were they with that vast ambition that
+under all their present distress and danger they haughtily rejected every
+overture for a treaty or a cessation of arms; that the war was a just and
+necessary measure, advised by the Parliament itself from the conviction
+that, at any rate, _Delenda est Carthago_--such a government'must be
+destroyed; and that therefore the King may well say it was their war; which
+had never been begun, but that the States refused him satisfaction because
+they believed him to be in so great want of money that they must sit down
+under any affronts."
+
+But the Parliament, always disinclined to the war, had now begun to view it
+with absolute aversion; and though moved, by the King's representations
+of the embarrassed condition he should be reduced to if the supply were
+refused, to yield a subsidy of seventy thousand pounds a month for eighteen
+months, they forced him to pay a high price for their complaisance by
+extorting his consent to the "Test Act." By the operation of this act, the
+Duke of York, the inveterate enemy of the Dutch, and Sir Thomas Clifford,
+the minister who had the most zealously pushed forward the business of the
+war, were forced to resign their offices. With the funds granted him by
+Parliament, Charles was enabled to complete the equipment of a fleet,
+which, when joined to a squadron of French ships under D'Estrees, numbered
+one hundred fifty sail.
+
+The Prince of Orange had wisely continued De Ruyter in the command of
+the fleet as lieutenant-admiral of the provinces, with almost unlimited
+instructions, and suffered himself to be wholly guided by him in naval
+affairs, interfering only so far as to reinstate Tromp in the office
+of admiral under the College of Amsterdam, and to effect a perfect
+reconciliation between him and De Ruyter--a matter which the placable and
+magnanimous temper of the latter rendered of easy accomplishment. Having
+failed in a scheme of blocking up the Thames by means of sinking vessels in
+the bed of that river, De Ruyter stationed himself at Schooneveldt, with
+the purpose of protecting the coast of Zealand against a meditated descent
+of the enemy. While at anchor he descried the hostile fleet approaching;
+but a calm, succeeded by rough weather, prevented them for some days from
+coming to an engagement.
+
+The Dutch were considerably inferior in strength to the allies, the number
+of their vessels being no more than fifty-two men-of-war and twelve
+frigates, of which, moreover, the equipages were, owing to the scarcity of
+seamen, by no means complete. But this deficiency was more than compensated
+by the spirit and conduct of their great commander. "The weaker our fleet
+is," observed De Ruyter, in answer to some remark made to him on the
+subject, "the more confidently I expect a victory, not from our own
+strength, but from the arm of the Almighty." Under a favorable breeze, the
+French and English ships bore down upon their unequal antagonists, in the
+full expectation that they would avoid the encounter, by retiring behind
+the sand-banks of Flushing. The Dutch, however, firmly awaited the shock,
+commenced by the squadron of French ships, which on this occasion had
+been placed in the van to avoid the imputation cast upon them in the last
+battle. They engaged with that of Tromp, whose impetuous firing compelled
+the French admiral to retire for a time; but quickly rallying, he returned
+to the charge with such vigor that Tromp was obliged to remove his flag on
+four different vessels successively.
+
+De Ruyter, meanwhile, had engaged the red squadron, commanded by Prince
+Rupert, which after a sharp contest he threw into some disorder, and
+succeeded in cutting off a considerable number of ships from the remainder.
+Instead, however, of pursuing his advantage, De Ruyter, becoming aware of
+the danger of his rival, who was now entirely surrounded by the enemy,
+hastened to his rescue. On seeing him approach, Tromp exclaimed: "Comrades,
+here is our grandsire [a pet name given to De Ruyter among the sailors]
+coming to help us; so long as I live I will never forsake him!" The
+generous aid was no less effectual than well timed, since the enemy,
+astonished at his unexpected appearance, fell back. "I am pleased to see,"
+he said, "that our enemies still fear the Seven Provinces," the name of the
+vessel which carried his flag. The fight was continued with unremitting
+obstinacy till darkness separated the combatants, when the Dutch found that
+they had gained about three miles upon their antagonists.
+
+That the issue of such a contest should be doubtful was in itself
+equivalent to a victory on the side of the Dutch; a victory of which they
+reaped all the advantages, as well as the glory, since, besides delivering
+their coasts from the intended invasion, their loss was so inconsiderable
+that within a week the fleet was able to put to sea in its original numbers
+and strength. Another engagement, fought with less of energy and resolution
+on the side of the English than usually distinguished them, terminated in
+their retreat toward the Thames, which, De Ruyter conceiving to be a feint
+to draw the Dutch fleet off their coasts, he declined the pursuit. The
+movement, however, had its origin in a far different cause. The English
+sailors fully participated in the feelings entertained by the great body of
+the nation, who viewed the aggrandizement of their ally with jealousy, and
+the undeserved misfortunes of their enemy with pity, and considered every
+advantage gained over the Dutch as a step toward the completion of the
+sinister designs they suspected their own sovereign of harboring against
+their religion and liberties. They accordingly made no concealment of their
+reluctance to fight longer in such a quarrel.
+
+It was now become evident to the Government that the only mode of
+reconciling the people in any degree to the present state of things was the
+execution of some brilliant achievement which should flatter their national
+vanity and kindle their ambition or lead to the acquisition of spoil
+sufficiently considerable to afford some sensible assistance in supporting
+the war. A descent on Holland was therefore resolved on, or, if that were
+found impracticable, it was proposed to intercept the Indian fleet, whose
+arrival was hourly expected. With this view a formidable fleet of one
+hundred fifty sail made its appearance in the Texel, and was met by De
+Ruyter about five miles from the village of the Helder. The Dutch, though
+far inferior in number, having only seventy-five vessels, convinced
+that this struggle was to be the most desperate and the last, prepared
+themselves for it as men who had everything at stake. After a short but
+inspiring harangue, De Ruyter gave the signal for attack. As if with a
+presentiment that long years would elapse before they should again try
+the strength of each other's arm, the English and Dutch seemed mutually
+determined to leave upon the minds of their foes an ineffaceable impression
+of their skill and prowess.
+
+All the resources which ability could suggest or valor execute were now
+employed. Each admiral engaged with the antagonist against whom it had
+before been his fortune to contend. De Ruyter attached himself to the
+squadron of Prince Rupert; Tromp attacked Sprague, who commanded the blue
+flag; while Bankert was opposed to the French; the latter, however, after
+a short skirmish on the part of Rear Admiral Martel, who was unacquainted
+with the secret orders given to the commander, D'Estrees, dropped off to a
+distance; nor could all the signals made by Prince Rupert induce them to
+take any further share in the fight. Bankert, therefore, joined De Ruyter,
+who was engaged in a terrific contest with the squadron of Prince Rupert.
+The firing was kept up for several hours without cessation; the discharges
+from the cannon of the Dutch vessels being, it was said, as rapid as those
+of musketry, and in proportion of three to one to those of the enemy.
+Tromp, whose actions always reflected more honor on his courage than
+conduct, separated himself, as was his custom, from the remainder of the
+fleet, and pressed forward into the midst of the enemy.
+
+He had sustained a continued cannonading from the vessel of Sprague for
+upward of three hours, without a single one of his crew being wounded, when
+De Ruyter, who had forced Prince Rupert to retire, came to his assistance.
+The Prince, on the other side, joined Admiral Sprague, and the fight was
+renewed with increased ardor. The vessel of Tromp was so damaged that he
+was obliged to remove his flag on board of another; Sprague was reduced to
+a similar necessity of quitting his ship, the Royal Prince, for the St.
+George, which, ere long, was so much disabled that he was obliged to
+proceed to a third; but the boat in which he was passing being struck by a
+cannon-ball, sank, and himself and several others were drowned. Toward the
+close of evening one English man-of-war was on fire, and two foundered. Not
+a single ship-of-war was lost on the side of the Dutch, but both fleets
+were so much damaged as to be unable to renew the engagement on the next
+morning. Each side, as usual, returned thanks for the victory, to
+which, however, the English failed to establish their claim, neither by
+accomplishing the projected invasion or intercepting the East India fleet,
+the whole of which, except one vessel, reached the ports in safety.
+
+In the more distant quarters of the world the war was carried on with
+various success. The French captured the ports of Trincomalee, in Ceylon,
+and St. Thomas, on the coast of Coromandel--which were, however, recovered
+in the next year--and made an unsuccessful attempt on Curajao. The English
+possessed themselves of the island of Tobago and seized four merchantmen
+returning from India. But, on the other hand, the States' admiral,
+Evertson, made himself master of New York, and, attacking the Newfoundland
+ships, took or destroyed no less than sixty-five, and returned to Holland
+laden with booty.
+
+The King of France, meanwhile, well satisfied to have secured at so easy
+a rate a powerful diversion of the forces of Holland, and the mutual
+enfeebling of the two most formidable maritime powers of Europe, cared
+little how the affairs of his ally prospered, so that he had been enabled
+to pursue the career of his conquests on land. Marching in person at the
+head of his troops he laid siege to Maestricht, a town famous for its
+gallant defence against the Duke of Parma in 1579, but which now,
+notwithstanding several brisk and murderous sallies, capitulated in less
+than a month. With this achievement the campaign of Louis ended. The
+progress of his arms, and the development of his schemes of ambition had
+now raised him up a phalanx of enemies, such as not even his presumption
+could venture to despise. He had planned and executed his conquests in full
+reliance on the cooperation or neutrality of the neighboring powers, and
+found himself in no condition to retain them in defiance of their actual
+hostility. He had, from the first, been strongly advised by Conde and
+Turenne to destroy the fortifications of the less important towns,
+retaining so many only of the larger as to insure the subjection of the
+provinces. He had, however, deemed it more consonant to his "glory" to
+follow the advice of Louvois in preserving all his conquests entire,
+and had thus been obliged to disperse a large portion of his army into
+garrisons, leaving the remainder, thinned, moreover, by sickness and
+desertion, wholly insufficient to make head against the increasing number
+of his opponents. He therefore came to the mortifying resolution of
+abandoning the United Provinces, the possession of which he had anticipated
+with so much pride.
+
+This auspicious dawn of better fortunes to the provinces was followed by
+the long and ardently desired peace with England. The circumstances of the
+last battle, in which, as the English declared, "themselves, and the Dutch
+had been made the gladiators for the French spectators," had more than
+ever disgusted that nation with the alliance of an ambitious and selfish
+monarch, who, they perceived, was but gratifying his own rapacity at the
+expense of their blood and treasure. Spain had threatened a rupture with
+England unless she would consent to a reasonable peace; and even Sweden
+herself had declared, during the conferences at Cologne, that she should be
+constrained to adopt a similar course if the King of France persisted in
+extending his conquests. Should a war with these nations occur, the English
+saw themselves deprived of the valuable commerce they carried on in their
+ports, to be transferred, most probably, to the United Provinces; in
+addition to which consideration, their navigation had already sustained
+excessive injury from the privateering of the Zealanders, who had captured,
+it is said, no less than twenty-seven hundred English merchant-ships.
+These, and various other causes, had provoked the Parliament to use
+expressions of the highest indignation at the measures of the court, and to
+a peremptory refusal of further supplies for the war unless the Dutch, by
+their obstinacy in rejecting terms of peace, should render its continuance
+unavoidable.
+
+Aware of this disposition, the States had addressed a letter to the King,
+which, with sufficient adroitness, they had contrived should arrive
+precisely at the meeting of Parliament, offering the King restitution
+of all the places they had gained during the war, and satisfaction with
+respect to the flag, or "any other matter they had not already ordered
+according to his wishes." This communication, received with feelings of
+extreme irritation by the court, had all the effect intended on the House
+of Commons. It was in vain that the King complained of the personal insults
+offered him by the Dutch; in vain that the chancellor expatiated on their
+obstinacy, arrogance, and enmity to the English; and that the court party
+remonstrated against the imprudence of exposing England defenceless to
+the power of her haughty enemy. The Parliament persisted in refusing the
+solicited supply; voted the standing army a grievance; bitterly complained
+of the French alliance, and resolved that his majesty should be advised to
+proceed in a treaty with the States-General, in order to a speedy peace.
+
+A few days sufficed to accomplish a treaty; the Dutch obviating the
+principal difficulty by yielding the honor of the flag in the most ample
+manner. They now agreed that all their ships should lower their topsails
+and strike the flag upon meeting one or more English vessels bearing the
+royal standard, within the compass of the four seas, from Cape Finisterre
+to Staaten in Norway, and engaged to pay the King two million guilders for
+the expenses of the war.
+
+Shortly after, the Bishops of Muenster and Cologne, alarmed at the
+probability of being abandoned by the French to the anger of the Emperor,
+who had threatened them with the ban of the empire, consented to a treaty
+with the United Provinces, in virtue of which they restored all the places
+they had conquered.
+
+
+
+%DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI%
+
+LA SALLE NAMES LOUISIANA
+
+A.D. 1673-1682
+
+FRANCOIS XAVIER GARNEAU[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated by Andrew Bell.]
+
+
+During the early colonization of New France, in the era of Count Frontenac,
+a remarkable spirit of adventure and discovery manifested itself in Canada
+among both clerics and laymen. This enterprise, in seeking to open up and
+colonize the country, indeed, showed itself under each successive governor,
+from the first settlement of Quebec, in 1608, down to the fall, in 1759, of
+the renowned capital on the St. Lawrence. In the entailed arduous labor,
+full as it was of hazard and peril, the pathfinders of empire in the New
+World, besides laymen, were largely the Jesuit missionaries.
+
+This spirit of adventure specially began to show itself in the colony at
+the period when M. Talon became intendant, when the government of New
+France, at the time of Louis XIV's minister, Colbert, became vested
+directly in the French crown. Through Talon's instrumentality the colony
+revived, and by his large-minded policy its commerce, which had fallen into
+the hands of a company of monopolists, was in time set free from many of
+its restrictions.
+
+Before Talon quitted the country, he took steps to extend the dominion of
+France in the New World toward Hudson's Bay, and westward, in the direction
+of the Great Lakes. In 1671 he despatched a royal commissioner to Sault
+Ste. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior, to assemble the Indians of the
+region and induce them to place themselves under the protection, and aid
+the commerce, of the French King.
+
+While thus engaged, the commissioner heard of the Mississippi River from
+the Indians; and Talon intrusted the task of tracking its waters to Father
+Marquette and to M. Joliet, a merchant of Quebec. With infinite toil these
+two adventurous spirits reached the great river they were in search of, and
+explored it as far south as the Arkansas. Here unfriendly Indian tribes
+compelled them to return, without being permitted to trace the mighty
+stream to its outlet. This, however, is supposed to have been accomplished,
+in 1682, by Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, a daring young Frenchman,
+who descended the Mississippi, it is currently believed, to the Gulf of
+Mexico, naming the whole region Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV.
+
+Whether La Salle actually explored the great river to its mouth is, among
+historians, still a moot point. It is supposed that early in his adventures
+he retraced his steps and returned to Canada, where, as well as in France,
+he had numerous detractors, among whom was De la Barre, the then Governor
+of New France. It is known that he was soon again in Quebec, to meet his
+enemies, which he did successfully, after which he proceeded to France.
+Here he was royally received by the King, and, as a proof of the monarch's
+confidence in him, La Salle was intrusted with the command of a colonizing
+expedition which was sent to Louisiana by sea.
+
+This expedition never reached its destination, for differences with the
+commander of the vessels (Beaujeu) interfered with the direction of the
+expedition. The mouths of the Mississippi, it seems, were passed, and
+the ships reached the coast of Texas. Disaster now dogged the leader's
+footsteps, for Beaujeu ran one of the ships on the rocks, and then deserted
+with another. La Salle and some of his more trusty followers were left to
+their fate, which was a cruel one, for disease broke out in the ranks, and
+famine and savage foes made havoc among the survivors. His colony being
+reduced to forty persons, La Salle set out overland with sixteen men for
+Canada to procure recruits. On the way his companions mutinied, put
+La Salle to death, and but a handful of the party reached Canada, the
+remainder perishing in the wilderness.
+
+Were we to express in the briefest of terms the motives which induced the
+leading European races of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who came
+to the Americas, we should say that the Spaniards went thither in quest of
+gold, the English for the sake of enjoying civil and religious freedom, the
+French in view of propagating the Gospel among the aborigines. Accordingly,
+we find, from the beginning, in the annals of New France, religious
+interests overlying all others. The members of the Society of Jesus,
+becoming discredited among the nations of Europe for their subserviency to
+power--usually exalting the rights of kings, but at all times
+inculcating submission, both by kings and their subjects, to the Roman
+pontiffs--individual Jesuits, we say, whatever may have been their demerits
+as members of the confraternity in Europe or in South America, did much to
+redeem these by their apostolic labors in the wilderness of the northern
+continent; cheerfully encountering, as they did, every form of suffering,
+braving the cruelest tortures, and even welcoming death as the expected
+seal of their martyrdom for the cause of Christ and for the advancement of
+civilization among barbarous nations.
+
+From Quebec as a centre-point the missionary lines of the Jesuit fathers
+radiated in all directions through every region inhabited by our savages,
+from the Laurentian Valley to the Hudson's Bay territory, along the
+great-lake countries, and down the valley of the Mississippi. Scantily
+equipped, as it seemed to the worldly eye, with a breviary around the neck
+and a crucifix in hand, the missionary set forth, and became a pioneer
+for the most adventurous secular explorers of the desert. To such our
+forefathers owed their best earliest knowledge of vast regions, to whose
+savage inhabitants they imparted the glad tidings of the Gospel, and
+smoothed the way for native alliances with their compatriots of the laity,
+of the greatest after-import to the colony.
+
+Such devotedness, at once heroic and humble, could not but confound worldly
+philosophy, while it has gained for the members of the order the admiration
+of many Protestants. Thus we have the candid testimony of Bancroft, the
+able historian of the English plantations in this continent, that "The
+annals of missionary labors are inseparably connected with the origin of
+all the establishments of French America. Not a cape was doubled nor a
+stream discovered that a Jesuit did not show the way."
+
+On the other hand, there were instances where secular explorers, seeking
+to illustrate their names by great discoveries or to enrich themselves by
+traffic, opened a way for the after-labors of the missionary. The most
+celebrated of such were Champlain, Nicolet, Perrot, Joliet, La Salle, and
+La Verendrye.
+
+In regions south of the St. Lawrence, Pere Druillettes was the first
+European who passed overland from that river to the eastern Atlantic
+seaboard, ascending the Chaudifere and descending the Kennebec in 1646. He
+did good service to the colony by preserving for it the amity of that brave
+nation, the only one which the Iroquois were slow to attack.
+
+In another direction, the traffickers and missionaries, constantly moving
+onward toward the sources of the St. Lawrence, had reached the upper
+extremity of Lake Huron. Peres Brebeuf, Daniel, Lalemant, Jogues, and
+Raimbault founded in the regions around its waters the Christianized
+settlements (_villages_) of St. Joseph, St. Michel, St. Ignace, and Ste.
+Marie. The last-named, seated at the point where Lake Huron communicates
+with Lake Erie, was long the central point of the northwestern missions.
+
+In 1639 Jean Nicholet, following the course of a river flowing out of Lake
+Michigan at Green Bay, was led within three days' navigation of "the
+Great Water," such was the distinctive name the aborigines gave to the
+Mississippi. In 1671 the relics of the Huron tribes, tired of wandering
+from forest to forest, settled down in Michilimackinac, at the end of Lake
+Superior, under the care of Pere Marquette, who thus became the earliest
+founder of a European settlement in Michigan. The natives of the vicinity
+were of the Algonquin race; but the French called them _Sauteurs_, from
+their being near to Sault Ste. Marie.
+
+Between the years 1635 and 1647 communication with the region was little
+attempted, the hostile feeling of the Iroquois making the navigation of
+Lake Ontario perilous to adventurers, and obliging them to pass to and
+from the western mission field by the valley of the Ottawa. The Neuters'
+territory, visited by Champlain, and the southern lakeboard of Erie beyond
+Buffalo, were as yet almost unknown.
+
+The new impulse which had been given to Canada by Colbert and Talon began
+to bear fruit. Commerce revived, immigration increased, and the aborigines,
+dominated by the genius of civilization, feared and respected everywhere
+the power of France. Perrot, a famous explorer, was the first European who
+reached the end of Lake Michigan and the Miamis country, where deputies
+from all the native tribes of the regions irrigated by the head waters
+of the Mississippi, the sources of the Red River and the St. Lawrence,
+responded to his call to meet him at the Sault Ste. Marie, From one
+discovery to another, as so many successive stages in a journey, the French
+attained a certainty that "the Great Water" did exist, and they could, in
+advance, trace its probable course. It appeared certain, from the recent
+search made for it in northerly and eastern directions, that its waters, so
+voluminous as the natives asserted, must at last find their sea-vent either
+in the Bay of Mexico or in the Pacific Ocean. Talon, who took a strong
+interest in the subject, during his intendancy recommended Captain Poulet,
+a skilful mariner of Dieppe, to verify the passage from sea to sea, through
+the Straits of Magellan.
+
+He induced M. de Frontenac to send M. Joliet into the region where the
+great stream, yet unseen, must take its rise; and follow its course, if
+found, till its waters reached the sea. The person thus employed on a
+mission which interested everyone at the time was a man of talent, educated
+in the Jesuits' College of Quebec, probably in view of entering the Church,
+but who had gone into the peltry trade. He had travelled much in the
+countries around Lake Superior and gained great experience of the natives,
+especially those of the Ottawa tribes. M. Joliet and Pere Marquette set out
+together in the year 1673. The latter, who had lived among the Potowatami
+Indians as a missionary, and gained their affections, was forewarned by
+them of the perils, they alleged, which would beset his steps in so daring
+an enterprise, admonishing him and his companion that the people of the
+farther countries would allow no stranger to pass through them; that
+travellers were always pillaged at the least; that the great river swarmed
+with monsters who devoured men,[1] and that the climate was so hot that
+human flesh could not endure it.
+
+[Footnote 1: There was some foundation for this report, as alligators
+abounded, at that time, in the lower waters of the river.]
+
+Having progressed to the farthest horde, over the Fox River, where Pere
+Allouez was known, and the extremest point yet touched by any European,
+the adventurers found the people of the divers tribes living together in
+harmony; viz., the Kikapoos, Mascoutins, and Miamis. They accorded the
+strangers a kind reception and furnished guides to direct the party, which
+was composed of nine persons in all--Joliet, Marquette, with five other
+whites, and two natives. On June 10th they set out, bearing two light
+canoes on their shoulders for crossing the narrow portage which separates
+the Fox River from that of Wisconsin, where the latter, after following a
+southerly, takes a western, course. Here their Indian guides left them,
+fearing to go farther.
+
+Arrived at the Lower Wisconsin they embarked and glided down the stream,
+which led the travellers through a solitude; they remarking that the levels
+around them presented an unbroken expanse of luxuriant herbage or forests
+of lofty trees. Their progress was slow, for it was not till the tenth day
+that they attained the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi. But the
+goal was surely, if tardily, attained. They were now floating on the bosom
+of the "Father of Waters," a fact they at once felt assured of, and fairly
+committed themselves to the course of the doubled current. This event
+constituted an epoch in American annals.
+
+"The two canoes," says Bancroft, "with sails outspread under a new sky,
+sped their way, impelled by favoring breezes, along the surface of the calm
+and majestic ocean tributary. At one time the French adventurers glided
+along sand-banks, the resting-places of innumerable aquatic birds; at
+others they passed around wooded islands in midflood; and otherwhiles,
+again, their course lay through the vast plains of Illinois and Iowa,
+covered with magnificent woods or dotted with clumps of bush scattered
+about limitless prairie lands."
+
+It was not till the voyagers had descended sixty leagues of the great
+stream that they discovered any signs of the presence of man; but at
+length, observing on the right bank of the river a foot-track, they
+followed it for six miles, and arrived at a horde _(bourgade),_ situated on
+a river called by the natives Moingona, an appellation afterward corrupted
+into "Riviere des Moines." Seeing no one, the visitors hollowed lustily,
+and four old men answered the call, bearing in hand the calumet of peace.
+"We are Illinois," said the Indians: "you are our fellow-men; we bid you
+welcome." They had never before seen any whites, but had heard mention
+of the French, and long wished to form an alliance with them against the
+Iroquois, whose hostile excursions extended even to their country. They
+were glad to hear from Joliet that the colonists had lately chastised those
+whom no others could vanquish, and feasted the visitors, to manifest their
+gratitude as well as respect. The chief of the tribe, with some hundreds of
+his warriors, escorted the party to their canoes; and, as a mark of parting
+esteem, he presented a calumet, ornamented with feathers of various colors;
+a safe-conduct this, held inviolable among the aborigines.
+
+The voyagers, again on their way, were forewarned of the confluence of the
+Missouri with the main stream, by the noise of its discharging waters.
+Forty leagues lower, they reached the influx of the Ohio, in the territory
+of the Chouanows. By degrees the region they traversed changed its aspect.
+Instead of vast prairies, the voyagers only saw thick forests around them,
+inhabited by savages whose language was to them unknown. In quitting the
+southern line of the Ohio, they left the Algonquin family of aborigines
+behind, and had come upon a region of nomads, the Chickasaw nation being
+here denizens of the forest. The Dacotas, or Sioux, frequented the riverain
+lands, in the southern region watered by the great flood. Thus interpreters
+were needed by the natives, who wished to parley from either bank of the
+Mississippi, each speaking one of two mother-tongues, both distinct from
+those of the Hurons and Algonquins, much of the latter being familiar to
+Joliet and others of the party.
+
+Continuing their descent, the confluence of the Arkansas with the
+Mississippi was attained. The voyagers were now under the thirty-third
+parallel of north latitude, at a point of the river-course reported to have
+been previously reached, from the opposite direction, by the celebrated
+Spanish mariner De Soto. Here the Illinois chief's present stood the party
+in good stead, for on exhibiting his ornate calumet they were treated with
+profuse kindness. Bread, made of maize, was offered by the chief of the
+horde located at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Hatchet-heads of steel,
+in use by the natives, gave intimation that they traded with Europeans, and
+that the Spanish settlements on the Bay of Mexico were probably not far
+off. The waxing summer heats, too, gave natural corroboration to the same
+inferences. The party had now, in fact, attained to a region without a
+winter, unless as such be reckoned that part of its year known as "the
+rainy season."
+
+It now became expedient to call a halt, for the stored provisions were
+beginning to fail, and chance supplies could not be depended upon in such
+a wilderness as the bold adventurers had already traversed; and they were
+still more uncertain as to what treatment they might receive from savage
+populations if they proceeded farther. One thing was made plain to their
+perceptions: the Mississippi afforded no passage to the East Indian seas.
+They rightly concluded, also, that it found its sea outlet in the Bay
+of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean. They had therefore now done enough to
+entitle them to the grateful thanks of their compatriots, and for the
+names of their two leaders to take a permanent place in the annals of
+geographical discovery.
+
+The task of ascending the great river must have been arduous, and the
+return voyage protracted. Arrived at the point where it is joined by the
+Illinois, they left it for that stream, which, ascending for a part of its
+lower course, Pere Marquette elected to remain with the natives of tribes
+located near to its banks; while M. Joliet, with the rest of the party,
+passed overland to Chicago. Thence he proceeded to Quebec, and reported his
+proceedings to the Governor, M. Talon at that time being in France. This
+duty he had to perform orally, having lost all his papers when shooting the
+rapids of the St. Lawrence, above Montreal. He afterward drew up a written
+report, with a tracing of his route, from memory.
+
+The encouragement the intendant procured for the enterprise fairly entitles
+him to share its glory with those who so ably carried it out; for we cannot
+attach too much honor to the memory of statesmen who turn to account their
+opportunities of patronizing useful adventure. M. Joliet received in
+property the island of Anticosti as a reward for his Western discoveries
+and for an exploratory voyage he made to Hudson's Bay. He was also
+nominated hydrographer-royal, and got enfeoffed in a seigniory near
+Montreal. Expecting to reap great advantage from Anticosti as a fishing and
+fur-trading station, he built a fort thereon; but after living some time on
+the island with his family, he was obliged to abandon it. His patronymic
+was adopted as the name of a mountain situated near the Rivere des Plaines,
+a tributary of the Illinois; and Joliet is also the appellation, given in
+his honor, of a town near Chicago.
+
+Pere Marquette proceeded to Green Bay by Lake Michigan, in 1673; but
+he returned soon afterward and resumed his missionary labors among the
+Illinois Indians. Being then at war with the Miamis, they came to him
+asking for gunpowder. "I have come among you," said the apostolic priest,
+"not to aid you to destroy your enemies' bodies, but to help you to save
+your own souls. Gunpowder I cannot give you, but my prayers you can have
+for your conversion to that religion which gives glory to God in the
+highest and on earth peace to all men." Upon one occasion he preached
+before two thousand warriors of their nation, besides the women and
+children present. His bodily powers, however, were now wellnigh exhausted.
+He decided to return to Mackinac; but while coasting the lower shores of
+Lake Michigan, feeling that his supreme hour was nigh, he caused the people
+in his canoe to set him ashore. Having obtained for him the shelter of
+a hut formed of branches, he there died the death of the righteous. His
+companions interred his remains near the river which yet bears his name,
+and set up a crucifix to mark the spot. Thus ended, amid the solitudes
+of the Western wilderness, the valuable existence of one whose name, too
+little known to his own age, will be remembered when hundreds of those
+which, however loudly sounded in the present, shall have passed into utter
+oblivion.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Guerin observes that, according to some authorities, La
+Salle, some time between the years 1669 and 1671, descended the
+Mississippi, as far as the Arkansas, by the river Ohio. There can be no
+doubt that the story is a mere figment.]
+
+The news of the discovery of the Mississippi made a great sensation
+in Canada, and eclipsed for a time the interest attaching to other
+explorations of the age, which were becoming more and more rife every year.
+Every speculative mind was set to work, as was usual on such occasions,
+to calculate the material advantages which might result, first to the
+colonists, and next to their mother-country, from access being obtained to
+a second gigantic waterway through the territories of New France; serving,
+as it virtually might in times to come, as a complement, or completing
+moiety for the former, enabling the colonists to have the command of two
+seas. Still, as the Gulf of Mexico had not been reached by the adventurers
+upon the present occasion, some persons had their doubts about the real
+course of the lower flood. There was therefore still in store credit for
+those who should succeed in clearing up whatever uncertainty there might be
+about a matter so important.
+
+"New France," says Raynal, "had among its people a Norman named Robert
+Cavalier de la Salle, a man inspired with the double passion of amassing a
+large fortune and gaining an illustrious name. This person had acquired,
+under the training of the Jesuits, among whom his youth was
+passed, activity, enthusiasm, firmness of character, and
+high-heartedness--qualities which that celebrated confraternity knew so
+well to discern and cultivate in promising natures committed to their care.
+Their most audacious and enterprising pupil, La Salle, was especially
+impatient to seize every occasion that chance presented for distinguishing
+himself, and ready to create such opportunities if none occurred." He had
+been resident some years in Canada when Joliet returned from his expedition
+to the Mississippi. The effect of so promising a discovery, upon such a
+mind as La Salle's, was of the most awakening kind. Joliet's report of what
+he experienced, and his shrewd conjectures as to what he did not see but
+which doubtless existed, well meditated upon by his fellow-genius, inspired
+the latter to form a vast design of exploration and traffic conjoined, in
+realizing which he determined to hazard both his fortunes and reputation.
+
+Cavalier Sieur de la Salle was born in Rouen, and the son of respectable
+parents. While yet a young man he came to Canada full of a project he had
+conceived of seeking a road to Japan and China by a northern or western
+passage, but did not bring with him the pecuniary means needful even to
+make the attempt. He set about making friends for himself in the colony,
+and succeeded in finding favor with the Count de Frontenac, who discerned
+in him qualities somewhat akin to his own. With the aid of M. de Courcelles
+and Talon he opened a factory for the fur traffic at Lachine, near
+Montreal, a name which (_China_) he gave to the place in allusion to the
+oriental goal toward which his hopes tended as an explorer.
+
+In the way of trade he visited Lakes Ontario and Erie. While the Canadians
+were yet excited about the discovery of the Mississippi, he imparted
+his aspirations regarding it to the Governor-general. He said that, by
+ascending, instead of descending, that great stream, a means might be
+found for reaching the Pacific Ocean; but that the outlay attending the
+enterprise could only be defrayed by combining with it an extended traffic
+with the nations of the West; that he would gladly make the attempt himself
+if a trading-post were erected for his use at the foot of Lake Ontario, as
+a basis for his operations, with an exclusive license to traffic in the
+Western countries. The Governor gave him the command of Fort Frontenac, to
+begin with. Obtaining, also, his recommendations to the Court, La Salle
+sailed for France in 1675, and gained all he wanted from the Marquis de
+Seignelai, son and successor of the great Colbert as minister of marine.
+The King bestowed on La Salle the seigniory of Cataraqui (Kingston) and
+ennobled him. This seigniory included Fort Frontenac, of which he was made
+the proprietor, as well as of Lake Ontario; conditioned, however, that he
+was to reconstruct the fort in stone. His majesty also invested him with
+all needful credentials for beginning and continuing his discoveries.
+
+La Salle, on his return to Canada, actively set about aggrandizing his
+new possession. Several colonists and some of the natives repaired to
+the locality, and settled under protection of his fort. He built in its
+vicinity three decked vessels--the first ever seen upon Lake Ontario. In
+1677 he visited France again, in quest of aid to carry out his plans.
+Colbert and Seignelai got him a royal commission as recognized explorer of
+Northwest America, with permission to erect fortified posts therein at his
+discretion. He found a potent protector, also, in the Prince de Conti.
+
+La Salle, full of hope, sailed from La Rochelle in summer, 1678, with
+thirty seamen and artisans, his vessel freighted with equipments for
+his lake craft, and merchandise for barter with the aborigines. A brave
+officer, Chevalier de Tonti, went with him, proposing to share his
+fortunes. Arrived at Cataraqui, his energy put all his workpeople in
+activity. On November 18th he set sail from Fort Frontenac in one of his
+barks, loaded with goods and materials for constructing a second fort and a
+brigantine at Niagara. When he reached the head of Lake Ontario, his vessel
+excited the admiration of the savages; while the Falls of Niagara no less
+raised the wonder of the French. Neither had before seen the former so
+great a triumph of human art; nor the latter, so overpowering a spectacle
+of nature.
+
+La Salle set about founding his proposed stronghold at Niagara; but the
+natives, as soon as the defensive works began to take shape, demurred to
+their being continued. Not caring to dispute the matter with them, he gave
+his erections the form of a palisaded storehouse merely. During winter
+following, he laid the keel of a vessel on the stocks, at a place some six
+miles above the Falls. His activity redoubled as his operations progressed.
+He sent on his friend Tonti with the famous Recollet, Pere Hennepin, to
+seek out several men whom he had despatched as forerunners, in autumn
+preceding, to open up a traffic he intended to carry on with the aborigines
+of the West. In person he visited the Iroquois and several other nations,
+with whom he wished to form trading relations. He has the honor of founding
+the town of Niagara. The vessel he there built he called the Griffin,
+because, said he, "the griffin has right of mastery over the ravens": an
+allusion, as was said, to his hope of overcoming all his ill-willers, who
+were numerous.[1] Be this as it may, the Griffin was launched in midsummer,
+1679, under a salute of cannon, with a chanting of _Te Deum_ and shouts
+from the colonists; the natives present setting up yells of wonder, hailing
+the French as so many _Otkou_ (or "men of a contriving mind").
+
+[Footnote 1: Some authors say that he named his vessel the Griffin in honor
+of the Frontenacs, the supporters in whose family coat-of-arms were two
+Griffins. Where all is so uncertain in an important matter, a third
+suggestion may be as near the mark as the first two. As the Norse or Norman
+sea-kings bore the raven for a standard, perhaps La Salle adopted the
+raven's master-symbol, in right of a hoped-for sovereignty over the
+American lakes.]
+
+On August 7th the Griffin, equipped with seven guns and loaded with small
+arms and goods, entered Lake Erie; when La Salle started for Detroit, which
+he reached in safety after a few days' sail. He gave to the expansion of
+the channel between Lakes Erie and Huron the name of Lake Ste. Claire,
+traversing which, on August 23d he entered Lake Huron. Five days later he
+reached Michilimackinac, after having encountered a violent storm, such as
+are not unfrequent in that locality. The aborigines of the country were
+not less moved than those of Niagara had been, at the appearance of the
+Griffin; an apparition rendered terrible as well as puzzling when the sound
+of her cannon boomed along the lake and reverberated from its shores.
+
+On attaining to the chapel of the Ottawa tribe, at the mission station, he
+landed and attended mass. Continuing his voyage, some time in September he
+reached the Baie des Puants, on the western lake board of Michigan, where
+he cast anchor. So far the first ship navigation of the great Canadian
+lakes had been a triumph; but the end was not yet, and it proved to be
+disastrous, for La Salle, hearing that his creditors had in his absence
+confiscated his possessions, despatched the Griffin, loaded with peltry, to
+Niagara, probably in view of redeeming them; but his vessel and goods were
+totally lost on the way.
+
+Meanwhile he started, with a trading-party of thirty men of different
+callings, bearing arms and merchandise. Passing to St. Joseph's, at the
+lower end of Lake Michigan, whither he had ordered that the Griffin should
+proceed on her proposed second voyage from Niagara, he laid the foundations
+of a fort on the crest of a steep height, washed on two sides by the river
+of the Miamis, and defended on another side by a deep ravine. He set
+buoys at the entrance of the stream for the direction of the crew of
+the anxiously expected vessel, upon whose safety depended in part the
+continuation of his enterprises; sending on some skilful hands to
+Michilimackinac to pilot her on the lake. The vessel not appearing, and
+winter being near, he set out for the country of the Illinois Indians,
+leaving a few men in charge of the fort, and taking with him the
+missionaries Gabriel, Hennepin, and Zenobe, also some private men; Tonti,
+who was likewise of the party, having rejoined his principal, but without
+the men he was sent to seek, as he could not find them.
+
+The expedition, thus constituted, arrived toward the close of December at a
+deserted native village situated near the source of the Illinois River,
+in the canton which still bears La Salle's name. Without stopping here
+he descended that stream as far as Lake Peoria--called by Hennepin,
+"Pimiteoui"--on the margin of which he found encamped a numerous body of
+the Illinois. These Indians, though naturally gentle, yet turned unfriendly
+regards at first on the party, but, soon recovering from surprise at the
+appearance of the French, treated them with great hospitality; one of their
+attentions to the supposed wants of the visitors being to rub their wearied
+legs with bear's-grease and buffalo fat. These friendly people were glad to
+learn that La Salle meant to form establishments in their country. Like the
+Huron savages of Champlain's time, the Illinois, harassed as they were by
+the Iroquois, trusted that the French would protect them in future. The
+visitors remarked that the Illinois formed the sides of their huts with
+mats of flat reeds, lined and sewed together. All those the party saw were
+tall, robust in body, and dexterous with the bow. But the nation has been
+stigmatized by some early reporters as cowardly, lazy, debauched, and
+without respect for their chiefs.
+
+La Salle's people, hearing no mention of his ship all this while, began
+first to murmur, and then to leave him: six of them deserted in one night.
+In other respects events occurred ominous of evil for the termination of
+the enterprise. To occupy the attention of his companions, and prevent
+them from brooding on apprehended ills, as well as to guard them against
+a surprise by any hostile natives, he set them on erecting a fort upon an
+eminence, at a place four days' journey distant from Lake Peoria; which,
+when finished, he named Breakheart (_Crevecoeur_), in allusion to the
+mental sufferings he then endured. To put an end to an intolerable state
+of suspense, in his own case he resolved to set out on foot for Frontenac,
+four hundred or five hundred leagues distant--hoping there to obtain good
+news about the Griffin; also in order to obtain equipments for a new bark,
+then in course of construction at Crevecoeur, in which he meant to embark
+upon his return thither, intending to descend the Mississippi to its
+embouchure. He charged Pere Hennepin to trace the downward course of the
+Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, then to ascend the former as
+high as possible and examine the territories through which its upper waters
+flow. After making Tonti captain of the fort in his absence, he set out,
+March 2, 1680, armed with a musket, and accompanied by three or four whites
+and one Indian.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Charlevoix, by following the relation attributed to Tonti, has
+fallen into some obvious errors respecting La Salle's expedition to
+the Illinois River. Hennepin, an ocular witness, is assuredly the best
+authority, corroborated, as his narration is, by the relation and letters
+of Pere Zenobe Mambre.]
+
+Pere Hennepin, who left two days before, descended the Illinois to the
+Mississippi, made several excursions in the region around their confluence;
+then ascended the latter to a point beyond the Sault St. Antony, where he
+was detained for some months by Sioux Indians, who only let him go on his
+promise to return to them next year. One of the chiefs traced on a scrap of
+paper the route he desired to follow; and this rude but correct chart, says
+Hennepin, "served us truly as a compass." By following the Wisconsin, which
+falls into the Mississippi, and Fox River, when running in the opposite
+direction, he reached Lake Michigan mission station, passing through,
+intermediately, vast and interesting countries. Such was the famous
+expedition of Hennepin; who, on his return, was not a little surprised to
+find a company of fur-traders near the Wisconsin River, led by one De Luth,
+who had probably preceded him in visiting that remote region.
+
+While Hennepin was exploring the upper valley of the Mississippi, La
+Salle's interests were getting from bad to worse at Crevecoeur. But, for
+rightly understanding the events which at last obliged him to abandon that
+post, it is necessary to explain the state of his affairs in Canada, and to
+advert to the jealousies which other traffickers cherished regarding his
+monopolizing projects in the western regions of the continent. He came to
+the colony, as we have seen, a fortuneless adventurer--highly recommended,
+indeed; while the special protection he obtained from the Governor,
+with the titular and more solid favors he obtained at court, made him a
+competitor to all other commercialists, whom it was impossible to contend
+with directly. Underhand means of opposition, therefore--and these not
+always the fairest--were put in play to damage his interests and, if
+possible, effect his ruin.
+
+For instance, feuds were stirred up against him among the savage tribes,
+and inducements held out to his own people to desert him. They even induced
+the Iroquois and the Miamis to take up arms against the Illinois, his
+allies. Besides this hostility to him within New France, he had to face the
+opposition of the Anglo-American colonists, who resisted the realization
+of his projects, for nationally selfish reasons. Thus they encouraged the
+Iroquois to attack La Salle's Indian allied connections of the Mississippi
+Valley; a measure which greatly increased the difficulties of a position
+already almost untenable. In a word, the odds against him became too great;
+and he was constrained to retire from the high game he wished to play out,
+which, indeed, was certainly to the disadvantage of individuals, if tending
+to enhance the importance of the colony as a possession of France.
+
+La Salle's ever-trusty lieutenant, the Chevalier de Tonti, meanwhile did
+all he could, at Crevecoeur, to engage the Illinois to stand firm to their
+engagements with his principal. Having learned that the Miamis intended to
+join the Iroquois in opposition to them, he hastened to teach the use of
+fire-arms to those who remained faithful, to put the latter on a footing
+of equality with these two nations, who were now furnished with the like
+implements of war. He also showed them how to fortify their hordes with
+palisades. But while in the act of erecting Fort Louis, near the sources
+of the river Illinois, most of the garrison at Crevecoeur mutinied and
+deserted, after pillaging the stores of provision and ammunition there laid
+up.
+
+At this crisis of La Salle's affairs (1680) armed bands of the Iroquois
+suddenly appeared in the Illinois territory and produced a panic among its
+timid inhabitants. Tonti, acting with spirit and decision as their ally,
+now intervened, and enforced upon the Iroquois a truce for the Illinois;
+but the former, on ascertaining the paucity of his means, recommenced
+hostilities. Attacking the fort, they murdered Pere Gabriel, disinterred
+the dead, and wasted the cultivated land of the French residents. The
+Illinois dispersed in all directions, leaving the latter isolated among
+their enemies. Tonti, who had at last but five men under his orders, also
+fled the country.
+
+While the Chevalier, in his passage from Crevecoeur, was descending the
+north side of Lake Michigan, La Salle was moving along its southern side
+with a reenforcement of men, and rigging for the bark he left in course of
+construction at the above-named post, where, having arrived, he had the
+mortification to find it devastated and deserted. He made no attempt
+to refound it, but passed the rest of the year in excursions over the
+neighboring territories, in which he visited a great number of tribes;
+among them the Outagamis and Miamis, whom he persuaded to renounce an
+alliance they had formed with the Iroquois. Soon afterward he returned to
+Montreal, taking Frontenac on his way. Although his pecuniary losses had
+been great, he was still able to compound with his creditors, to whom he
+conceded his own sole rights of trade in the Western countries, they in
+return advancing moneys to enable him to prosecute his future explorations.
+
+Having got all things ready for the crowning expedition he had long
+meditated, he set out with Tonti, Pere Mambre, also some French and native
+followers, and directed his course toward the Mississippi, which river he
+reached February 6, 1682. The mildness of the climate in that latitude, and
+the beauties of the country, which increased as he proceeded, seemed to
+give new life to his hopes of finally obtaining profit and glory.[1]
+In descending the majestic stream, he recognized the Arkansas and other
+riverain tribes visited by Marquette; he traversed the territories of many
+other native nations, including the Chickasaws, the Taensas, the Chactas,
+and the Natchez--the last of these rendered so celebrated, in times near
+our own, by the genius of Chateaubriand.
+
+[Footnote 1: "A vessel loaded with merchandise belonging to La Salle,
+valued at 22,000 livres, had just been lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence;
+several canoes, also loaded with his goods, were lost in the rapids of the
+same river. On learning these new misfortunes [in addition to others, of
+his enemies' procuring], he said it seemed to him that all Canada had risen
+up against his enterprises, with the single individual exception of the
+Governor-general. He asserted that the subordinates, whom he had brought
+from France, had been tempted to quit his service by rival traders, and
+that they had gone to the New Netherlands with the goods he had intrusted
+to their care; and as for the Canadians in his hire, his enemies had found
+means to detach them, also, from his interests."--Yet, "under the pressure
+of all his misfortunes," says a missionary, "I have never remarked the
+least change in him; no ill news seemed to disturb his usual equanimity:
+they seemed rather to spur him on to fresh efforts to retrieve his
+fortunes, and to make greater discoveries than he had yet effected."]
+
+Halting often in his descent to note the outlets of the many streams
+tributary to the all-absorbing Mississippi, among others the Missouri and
+the Ohio--at the embouchure of the latter erecting a fort--he did not reach
+the ocean mouths of the "Father of Waters" till April 5th, that brightest
+day of his eventful life. With elated heart, he took formal possession of
+the country--eminently in the name of the reigning sovereign of France; as
+he gave to it, at the same time, the distinctive appellation of Louisiana.
+Thus was completed the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, from
+the Sault St. Antony to the sea; a line more than six hundred leagues in
+length.
+
+
+
+%KING PHILIP'S WAR%
+
+A.D. 1675
+
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+
+This was the most extensive and most important of the Indian wars of
+the early European settlers in North America. It led to the practical
+extermination of the red men in New England.
+
+Various policies toward the natives were pursued by different colonists in
+different parts of the country. In New England the first white settlers
+found themselves in contact with several powerful tribes, chief among which
+were the Mohegans, the Narragansetts, and the Pequots.
+
+Some attempt was made to convert and civilize these savages, but it was not
+long before the English colonists were at war with the Pequots, the most
+dreaded of the tribes in southern New England. This contest(1636-1638) was
+mainly carried on for the colonists by the settlers of Connecticut. It
+resulted in the almost complete extermination of the Pequot tribe.
+
+After the union of the New England colonies (1643), formed principally for
+common defence against the natives, there was no considerable conflict
+between whites and Indians until the outbreak of King Philip's War, here
+described by Hildreth.
+
+Except in the destruction of the Pequots, the native tribes of New England
+had as yet undergone no very material diminution. The Pokanokets or
+Wampanoags, though somewhat curtailed in their limits, still occupied the
+eastern shore of Narragansett Bay. The Narragansetts still possessed the
+western shore. There were several scattered tribes in various parts of
+Connecticut; though, with the exception of some small reservations, they
+had already ceded all their lands. Uncas, the Mohegan chief, was now an old
+man. The Pawtucket or Pennacook confederacy continued to occupy the
+falls of the Merrimac and the heads of the Piscataqua. Their old sachem,
+Passaconaway, regarded the colonists with awe and veneration. In the
+interior of Massachusetts and along the Connecticut were several other less
+noted tribes. The Indians of Maine and the region eastward possessed their
+ancient haunts undisturbed; but their intercourse was principally with the
+French, to whom, since the late peace with France, Acadia had been again
+yielded up. The New England Indians were occasionally annoyed by war
+parties of Mohawks; but, by the intervention of Massachusetts, a peace had
+recently been concluded.
+
+Efforts for the conversion and civilization of the Indians were still
+continued by Eliot and his coadjutors, supported by the funds of the
+English society. In Massachusetts there were fourteen feeble villages of
+these praying Indians, and a few more in Plymouth colony. The whole number
+in New England was about thirty-six hundred, but of these near one-half
+inhabited the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
+
+A strict hand was held by Massachusetts over the Narragansetts and other
+subject tribes, contracting their limits by repeated cessions, not always
+entirely voluntary. The Wampanoags, within the jurisdiction of Plymouth,
+experienced similar treatment. By successive sales of parts of their
+territory, they were now shut up, as it were, in the necks or peninsulas
+formed by the northern and eastern branches of Narragansett Bay, the same
+territory now constituting the continental eastern portion of Rhode Island.
+Though always at peace with the colonists, the Wampanoags had not always
+escaped suspicion. The increase of the settlements around them, and the
+progressive curtailment of their limits, aroused their jealousy. They were
+galled, also, by the feudal superiority, similar to that of Massachusetts
+over her dependent tribes, claimed by Plymouth on the strength of certain
+alleged former submissions. None felt this assumption more keenly than
+Pometacom, head chief of the Wampanoags, better known among the colonists
+as King Philip of Mount Hope, nephew and successor of that Massasoit, who
+had welcomed the Pilgrims to Plymouth. Suspected of hostile designs, he
+had been compelled to deliver up his fire-arms and to enter into certain
+stipulations. These stipulations he was accused of not fulfilling; and
+nothing but the interposition of the Massachusetts magistrates, to whom
+Philip appealed, prevented Plymouth from making war upon him. He was
+sentenced instead to pay a heavy fine and to acknowledge the unconditional
+supremacy of that colony.
+
+A praying Indian, who had been educated at Cambridge and employed as a
+teacher, upon some misdemeanor had fled to Philip, who took him into
+service as a sort of secretary. Being persuaded to return again to his
+former employment, this Indian accused Philip anew of being engaged in
+a secret hostile plot. In accordance with Indian ideas, the treacherous
+informer was waylaid and killed. Three of Philip's men, suspected of having
+killed him, were arrested by the Plymouth authorities, and, in accordance
+with English ideas, were tried for murder by a jury half English, half
+Indians, convicted upon very slender evidence, and hanged. Philip
+retaliated by plundering the houses nearest Mount Hope. Presently he
+attacked Swanzey, and killed several of the inhabitants. Plymouth took
+measures for raising a military force. The neighboring colonies were sent
+to for assistance. Thus, by the impulse of suspicion on the one side and
+passion on the other, New England became suddenly engaged in a war very
+disastrous to the colonists and utterly ruinous to the native tribes. The
+lust of gain, in spite of all laws to prevent it, had partially furnished
+the Indians with fire-arms, and they were now far more formidable enemies
+than they had been in the days of the Pequots. Of this the colonists hardly
+seem to have thought. Now, as then, confident of their superiority, and
+comparing themselves to the Lord's chosen people driving the heathen out of
+the land, they rushed eagerly into the contest, without a single effort at
+the preservation of peace. Indeed, their pretensions hardly admitted of it.
+Philip was denounced as a rebel in arms against his lawful superiors, with
+whom it would be folly and weakness to treat on any terms short of absolute
+submission.
+
+A body of volunteers, horse and foot, raised in Massachusetts, marched
+under Major Savage, four days after the attack on Swanzey, to join the
+Plymouth forces. After one or two slight skirmishes, they penetrated to the
+Wampanoag villages at Mount Hope, but found them empty and deserted. Philip
+and his warriors, conscious of their inferiority, had abandoned their
+homes. If the Narragansetts, on the opposite side of the bay, did not
+openly join the Wampanoags, they would, at least, be likely to afford
+shelter to their women and children. The troops were therefore ordered into
+the Narragansett country, accompanied by commissioners to demand assurances
+of peaceful intentions, and a promise to deliver up all fugitive enemies of
+the colonists--pledges which the Narragansetts felt themselves constrained
+to give.
+
+Arrived at Taunton on their return from the Narragansett country, news came
+that Philip and his warriors had been discovered by Church, of Plymouth
+colony, collected in a great swamp at Pocasset, now Tiverton, the southern
+district of the Wampanoag country, whence small parties sallied forth to
+burn and plunder the neighboring settlements. After a march of eighteen
+miles, having reached the designated spot, the soldiers found there a
+hundred wigwams lately built, but empty and deserted, the Indians having
+retired deep into the swamp. The colonists followed; but the ground was
+soft; the thicket was difficult to penetrate; the companies were soon
+thrown into disorder. Each man fired at every bush he saw shake, thinking
+an Indian might lay concealed behind it, and several were thus wounded by
+their own friends. When night came on, the assailants retired with the loss
+of sixteen men.
+
+The swamp continued to be watched and guarded, but Philip broke through,
+not without some loss, and escaped into the country of the Nipmucks, in the
+interior of Massachusetts. That tribe had already commenced hostilities by
+attacking Mendon. They waylaid and killed Captain Hutchinson, a son of the
+famous Mrs. Hutchinson, and sixteen out of a party of twenty sent from
+Boston to Brookfield to parley with them. Attacking Brookfield itself, they
+burned it, except one fortified house. The inhabitants were saved by Major
+Willard, who, on information of their danger, came with a troop of horse
+from Lancaster, thirty miles through the woods, to their rescue. A body of
+troops presently arrived from the eastward, and were stationed for some
+time at Brookfield.
+
+The colonists now found that by driving Philip to extremity they had roused
+a host of unexpected enemies. The River Indians, anticipating an intended
+attack upon them, joined the assailants. Deerfield and Northfield, the
+northernmost towns on the Connecticut River, settled within a few years
+past, were attacked, and several of the inhabitants killed and wounded.
+Captain Beers, sent from Hadley to their relief with a convoy of
+provisions, was surprised near Northfield and slain, with twenty of his
+men. Northfield was abandoned, and burned by the Indians.
+
+"The English at first," says Gookin, "thought easily to chastise the
+insolent doings and murderous practice of the heathen; but it was found
+another manner of thing than was expected; for our men could see no enemy
+to shoot at, but yet felt their bullets out of the thick bushes where they
+lay in ambush. The English wanted not courage or resolution, but could not
+discover nor find an enemy to fight with, yet were galled by the enemy." In
+the arts of ambush and surprise, with which the Indians were so familiar,
+the colonists were without practice. It is to the want of this experience,
+purchased at a very dear rate in the course of the war, that we must
+ascribe the numerous surprises and defeats from which the colonists
+suffered at its commencement.
+
+Driven to the necessity of defensive warfare, those in command on the river
+determined to establish a magazine and garrison at Hadley. Captain Lathrop,
+who had been despatched from the eastward to the assistance of the river
+towns, was sent with eighty men, the flower of the youth of Essex county,
+to guard the wagons intended to convey to Hadley three thousand bushels of
+unthreshed wheat, the produce of the fertile Deerfield meadows. Just before
+arriving at Deerfield, near a small stream still known as Bloody Brook,
+under the shadow of the abrupt conical Sugar Loaf, the southern termination
+of the Deerfield Mountain, Lathrop fell into an ambush, and, after a brave
+resistance, perished there with all his company. Captain Moseley, stationed
+at Deerfield, marched to his assistance, but arrived too late to help him.
+Deerfield was abandoned, and burned by the Indians. Springfield, about the
+same time, was set on fire, but was partially saved by the arrival, with
+troops from Connecticut, of Major Treat, successor to the lately deceased
+Mason in the chief command of the Connecticut forces. An attack on Hatfield
+was vigorously repelled by the garrison.
+
+Meanwhile, hostilities were spreading; the Indians on the Merrimac began to
+attack the towns in their vicinity; and the whole of Massachusetts was soon
+in the utmost alarm. Except in the immediate neighborhood of Boston, the
+country still remained an immense forest, dotted by a few openings. The
+frontier settlements could not be defended against a foe familiar with
+localities, scattered in small parties, skilful in concealment, and
+watching with patience for some unguarded or favorable moment. Those
+settlements were mostly broken up, and the inhabitants, retiring toward
+Boston, spread everywhere dread and intense hatred of "the bloody heathen."
+
+Even the praying Indians and the small dependent and tributary tribes
+became objects of suspicion and terror. They had been employed at first as
+scouts and auxiliaries, and to good advantage; but some few, less confirmed
+in the faith, having deserted to the enemy, the whole body of them were
+denounced as traitors. Eliot the apostle, and Gookin, superintendent of
+the subject Indians, exposed themselves to insults, and even to danger,
+by their efforts to stem this headlong fury, to which several of the
+magistrates opposed but a feeble resistance. Troops were sent to break up
+the praying villages at Mendon, Grafton, and others in that quarter.
+The Natick Indians, "those poor despised sheep of Christ," as Gookin
+affectionately calls them, were hurried off to Deer Island, in Boston
+harbor, where they suffered excessively from a severe winter. A part of the
+praying Indians of Plymouth colony were confined, in like manner, on the
+islands in Plymouth harbor.
+
+Not content with realities sufficiently frightful, superstition, as usual,
+added bugbears of her own. Indian bows were seen in the sky, and scalps in
+the moon. The northern lights became an object of terror. Phantom horsemen
+careered among the clouds or were heard to gallop invisible through the
+air. The howling of wolves was turned into a terrible omen. The war was
+regarded as a special judgment in punishment of prevailing sins. Among
+these sins the General Court of Massachusetts, after consultation with
+the elders, enumerated: Neglect in the training of the children of church
+members; pride, in men's wearing long and curled hair; excess in apparel;
+naked breasts and arms, and superfluous ribbons; the toleration of Quakers;
+hurry to leave meeting before blessing asked; profane cursing and swearing;
+tippling-houses; want of respect for parents; idleness; extortion in
+shopkeepers and mechanics; and the riding from town to town of unmarried
+men and women, under pretence of attending lectures--"a sinful custom,
+tending to lewdness."
+
+Penalties were denounced against all these offences; and the persecution of
+the Quakers was again renewed. A Quaker woman had recently frightened the
+Old South congregation in Boston by entering that meeting-house clothed in
+sackcloth, with ashes on her head, her feet bare, and her face blackened,
+intending to personify the small-pox, with which she threatened the colony,
+in punishment for its sins.
+
+About the time of the first collision with Philip, the Tarenteens, or
+Eastern Indians, had attacked the settlements in Maine and New Hampshire,
+plundering and burning the houses, and massacring such of the inhabitants
+as fell into their hands. This sudden diffusion of hostilities and vigor of
+attack from opposite quarters made the colonists believe that Philip had
+long been plotting and had gradually matured an extensive conspiracy, into
+which most of the tribes had deliberately entered for the extermination of
+the whites. This belief infuriated the colonists and suggested some very
+questionable proceedings.
+
+It seems, however, to have originated, like the war itself, from mere
+suspicions. The same griefs pressed upon all the tribes; and the struggle
+once commenced, the awe which the colonists inspired thrown off, the
+greater part were ready to join in the contest. But there is no evidence
+of any deliberate concert; nor, in fact, were the Indians united. Had they
+been so, the war would have been far more serious. The Connecticut tribes
+proved faithful, and that colony remained untouched. Uncas and Ninigret
+continued friendly; even the Narragansetts, in spite of so many former
+provocations, had not yet taken up arms. But they were strongly suspected
+of intention to do so, and were accused by Uncas of giving, notwithstanding
+their recent assurances, aid and shelter to the hostile tribes.
+
+An attempt had lately been made to revive the union of the New England
+colonies. At a meeting of commissioners, those from Plymouth presented a
+narrative of the origin and progress of the present hostilities. Upon the
+strength of this narrative the war was pronounced "just and necessary," and
+a resolution was passed to carry it on at the joint expense, and to raise
+for that purpose a thousand men, one-half to be mounted dragoons. If the
+Narragansetts were not crushed during the winter, it was feared they might
+break out openly hostile in the spring; and at a subsequent meeting a
+thousand men were ordered to be levied to cooeperate in an expedition
+specially against them.
+
+The winter was unfavorable to the Indians; the leafless woods no longer
+concealed their lurking attacks. The frozen surface of the swamps made the
+Indian fastnesses accessible to the colonists. The forces destined against
+the Narragansetts--six companies from Massachusetts, under Major Appleton;
+two from Plymouth, under Major Bradford; and five from Connecticut, under
+Major Treat--were placed under the command of Josiah Winslow, Governor of
+Plymouth since Prince's death--son of that Edward Winslow so conspicuous in
+the earlier history of the colony. The Massachusetts and Plymouth forces
+marched to Petasquamscot, on the west shore of Narragansett Bay, where they
+made some forty prisoners.
+
+Being joined by the troops from Connecticut, and guided by an Indian
+deserter, after a march of fifteen miles through a deep snow they
+approached a swamp in what is now the town of South Kingston, one of the
+ancient strongholds of the Narragansetts. Driving the Indian scouts before
+them, and penetrating the swamp, the colonial soldiers soon came in sight
+of the Indian fort, built on a rising ground in the morass, a sort of
+island of two or three acres, fortified by a palisade and surrounded by a
+close hedge a rod thick. There was but one entrance, quite narrow, defended
+by a tree thrown across it, with a block-house of logs in front and other
+on the flank.
+
+It was the "Lord's day," but that did not hinder the attack. As the
+captains advanced at the heads of their companies the Indians opened a
+galling fire, under which many fell. But the assailants pressed on and
+forced the entrance. A desperate struggle ensued. The colonists were once
+driven back, but they rallied and returned to the charge, and, after a
+two-hours' fight, became masters of the fort. Fire was put to the wigwams,
+near six hundred in number, and all the horrors of the Pequot massacre were
+renewed. The corn and other winter stores of the Indians were consumed, and
+not a few of the old men, women, and children perished in the flames. In
+this bloody contest, long remembered as the "Swamp Fight," the colonial
+loss was terribly severe. Six captains, with two hundred thirty men, were
+killed or wounded; and at night, in the midst of a snow-storm, with a
+fifteen-miles' march before them, the colonial soldiers abandoned the fort,
+of which the Indians resumed possession. But their wigwams were burned;
+their provisions destroyed; they had no supplies for the winter; their loss
+was irreparable. Of those who survived the fight many perished of hunger.
+
+Even as a question of policy this attack on the Narragansetts was more
+than doubtful. The starving and infuriated warriors, scattered through
+the woods, revenged themselves by attacks on the frontier settlements.
+Lancaster was burned, and forty of the inhabitants killed or taken; among
+the rest, Mrs. Rolandson, wife of the minister, the narrative of whose
+captivity is still preserved. Groton, Chelmsford, and other towns in that
+vicinity were repeatedly attacked. Medfield, twenty miles from Boston, was
+furiously assaulted, and, though defended by three hundred men, half the
+houses were burned. Weymouth, within eighteen miles of Boston, was attacked
+a few days after. These were the nearest approaches which the Indians made
+to that capital.
+
+For a time the neighborhood of the Narragansett country was abandoned. The
+Rhode Island towns, though they had no part in undertaking the war, yet
+suffered the consequences of it. Warwick was burned and Providence was
+partially destroyed. Most of the inhabitants sought refuge in the islands;
+but the aged Roger Williams accepted a commission as captain for the
+defence of the town he had founded. Walter Clarke was presently chosen
+governor in Coddington's place, the times not suiting a Quaker chief
+magistrate.
+
+The whole colony of Plymouth was overrun. Houses were burned in almost
+every town, but the inhabitants, for the most part, saved themselves in
+their garrisons, a shelter with which all the towns now found it necessary
+to be provided. Captain Pierce, with fifty men and some friendly Indians,
+while endeavoring to cover the Plymouth towns, fell into an ambush and
+was cut off. That same day, Marlborough was set on fire; two days after,
+Rehoboth was burned. The Indians seemed to be everywhere. Captain
+Wadsworth, marching to the relief of Sudbury, fell into an ambush and
+perished with fifty men. The alarm and terror of the colonists reached
+again a great height. But affairs were about to take a turn. The resources
+of the Indians were exhausted; they were now making their last efforts.
+
+A body of Connecticut volunteers, under Captain Denison, and of Mohegan and
+other friendly Indians, Pequots and Niantics, swept the entire country of
+the Narragansetts, who suffered, as spring advanced, the last extremities
+of famine. Canochet, the chief sachem, said to have been a son of
+Miantonomoh, but probably his nephew, had ventured to his old haunts
+to procure seed corn with which to plant the rich intervals on the
+Connecticut, abandoned by the colonists. Taken prisoner, he conducted
+himself with all that haughty firmness esteemed by the Indians as the
+height of magnanimity. Being offered his life on condition of bringing
+about a peace he scorned the proposal. His tribe would perish to the last
+man rather than become servants to the English. When ordered to prepare for
+death he replied: "I like it well; I shall die before my heart is soft or I
+shall have spoken anything unworthy of myself." Two Indians were appointed
+to shoot him, and his head was cut off and sent to Hartford.
+
+The colonists had suffered severely. Men, women, and children had perished
+by the bullets of the Indians or fled naked through the wintry woods by the
+light of their blazing houses, leaving their goods and cattle a spoil to
+the assailants. Several settlements had been destroyed and many more had
+been abandoned; but the oldest and wealthiest remained untouched. The
+Indians, on the other hand, had neither provisions nor ammunition.
+While attempting to plant corn and catch fish at Montague Falls, on the
+Connecticut River, they were attacked with great slaughter by the garrison
+of the lower towns, led by Captain Turner, a Boston Baptist, and at first
+refused a commission on that account, but, as danger increased, pressed to
+accept it.
+
+Yet this enterprise was not without its drawbacks. As the troops returned,
+Captain Turner fell into an ambush and was slain with thirty-eight men.
+Hadley was attacked on a lecture-day, while the people were at meeting;
+but the Indians were repulsed by the bravery of Goffe, one of the fugitive
+regicides, long concealed in that town. Seeing this venerable unknown man
+come to their rescue, and then suddenly disappear, the inhabitants took him
+for an angel.
+
+Major Church, at the head of a body of two hundred volunteers, English and
+Indians, energetically hunted down the hostile bands in Plymouth colony.
+The interior tribes about Mount Wachusett were invaded and subdued by a
+force of six hundred men, raised for that purpose. Many fled to the north
+to find refuge in Canada--guides and leaders, in after-years, of those
+French and Indian war parties by which the frontiers of New England were so
+terribly harassed. Just a year after the fast at the commencement of the
+war, a thanksgiving was observed for success in it.
+
+No longer sheltered by the River Indians, who now began to make their
+peace, and even attacked by bands of the Mohawks, Philip returned to his
+own country, about Mount Hope, where he was still faithfully supported by
+his female confederate and relative, Witamo, squaw-sachem of Pocasset.
+Punham, also, the Shawomet vassal of Massachusetts, still zealously carried
+on the war, but was presently killed. Philip was watched and followed by
+Church, who surprised his camp, killed upward of a hundred of his people,
+and took prisoners his wife and boy.
+
+The disposal of this child was a subject of much deliberation. Several of
+the elders were urgent for putting him to death. It was finally resolved to
+send him to Bermuda, to be sold into slavery--a fate to which many other of
+the Indian captives were subjected. Witamo shared the disasters of Philip.
+Most of her people were killed or taken. She herself was drowned while
+crossing a river in her flight, but her body was recovered, and the head,
+cut off, was stuck upon a pole at Taunton, amid the jeers and scoffs of the
+colonial soldiers, and the tears and lamentations of the Indian prisoners.
+
+Philip still lurked in the swamps, but was now reduced to extremity. Again
+attacked by Church, he was killed by one of his own people, a deserter to
+the colonists. His dead body was beheaded and quartered, the sentence of
+the English law upon traitors. One of his hands was given to the Indian who
+had shot him, and on the day appointed for a public thanksgiving his head
+was carried in triumph to Plymouth.
+
+The popular rage against the Indians was excessive. Death or slavery was
+the penalty for all known or suspected to have been concerned in shedding
+English blood. Merely having been present at the Swamp Fight was adjudged
+by the authorities of Rhode Island sufficient foundation for sentence of
+death, and that, too, notwithstanding they had intimated an opinion that
+the origin of the war would not bear examination. The other captives
+who fell into the hands of the colonists were distributed among them as
+ten-year servants. Roger Williams received a boy for his share. Many chiefs
+were executed at Boston and Plymouth on the charge of rebellion; among
+others, Captain Tom, chief of the Christian Indians at Natick, and
+Tispiquin, a noted warrior, reputed to be invulnerable, who had surrendered
+to Church on an implied promise of safety.
+
+A large body of Indians, assembled at Dover to treat of peace, were
+treacherously made prisoners by Major Waldron, who commanded there. Some
+two hundred of these Indians, claimed as fugitives from Massachusetts, were
+sent by water to Boston, where some were hanged and the rest shipped off to
+be sold as slaves. Some fishermen of Marblehead having been killed by
+the Indians at the eastward, the women of that town, as they came out of
+meeting on a Sunday, fell upon two Indian prisoners who had just been
+brought in, and murdered them on the spot.
+
+The same ferocious spirit of revenge which governed the contemporaneous
+conduct of Berkeley in Virginia toward those concerned in Bacon's rebellion
+swayed the authorities of New England in their treatment of the conquered
+Indians. By the end of the year the contest was over in the South, upward
+of two thousand Indians having been killed or taken. But some time elapsed
+before a peace could be arranged with the Eastern tribes, whose haunts it
+was not so easy to reach.
+
+In this short war of hardly a year's duration the Wampanoags and
+Narragansetts had suffered the fate of the Pequots. The Niantics alone,
+under the guidance of their aged sachem Ninigret, had escaped destruction.
+Philip's country was annexed to Plymouth, though sixty years afterward,
+under a royal order in council, it was transferred to Rhode Island. The
+Narragansett territory remained as before, under the name of King's
+Province, a bone of contention between Connecticut, Rhode Island, the
+Marquis of Hamilton, and the Atherton claimants. The Niantics still
+retained their ancient seats along the southern shores of Narragansett Bay.
+Most of the surviving Narragansetts, the Nipmucks, and the River Indians,
+abandoned their country and migrated to the north and west. Such as
+remained, along with the Mohegans and other subject tribes, became more
+than ever abject and subservient.
+
+The work of conversion was now again renewed, and, after such overwhelming
+proofs of Christian superiority, with somewhat greater success. A second
+edition of the Indian Old Testament, which seems to have been more in
+demand than the New, was presently published, revised by Eliot, with the
+assistance of John Cotton, son of the "Great Cotton," and minister of
+Plymouth. But not an individual exists in our day by whom it can be
+understood. The fragments of the subject tribes, broken in spirit, lost
+the savage freedom and rude virtues of their fathers without acquiring
+the laborious industry of the whites. Lands were assigned them in various
+places, which they were prohibited by law from alienating. But this very
+provision, though humanely intended, operated to perpetuate their indolence
+and incapacity. Some sought a more congenial occupation in the whale
+fishery, which presently began to be carried on from the islands of
+Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Many perished by enlisting in the military
+expeditions undertaken in future years against Acadia and the West Indies.
+The Indians intermarried with the blacks, and thus confirmed their
+degradation by associating themselves with another oppressed and
+unfortunate race. Gradually they dwindled away. A few hundred sailors and
+petty farmers, of mixed blood, as much African as Indian, are now the sole
+surviving representatives of the aboriginal possessors of Southern New
+England.
+
+On the side of the colonists the contest had also been very disastrous.
+Twelve or thirteen towns had been entirely ruined and many others partially
+destroyed. Six hundred houses had been burned, near a tenth part of all in
+New England. Twelve captains, and more than six hundred men in the prime of
+life, had fallen in battle. There was hardly a family not in mourning. The
+pecuniary losses and expenses of the war were estimated at near a million
+of dollars.
+
+
+
+%GROWTH OF PRUSSIA UNDER THE GREATELECTOR%
+
+HIS VICTORY AT FEHRBELLIN
+
+A.D. 1675
+
+THOMAS CARLYLE
+
+
+It was the good-fortune of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, who
+is known in history as the "Great Elector," to lay a firm foundation for
+Prussian monarchy. Under his father, George William, the Tenth Elector,
+Brandenburg had lost much of its former importance. When Frederick William
+came into his inheritance in 1640 he found a weak and disunited state,
+little more than a group of provinces, with foreign territories lying
+between them, and governed by differing laws.
+
+The great problem before the Elector was how to become actual ruler of his
+ill-joined possessions, and his first aim was to weld them together, that
+he might make himself absolute monarch. By forming an army of mercenaries
+he established his authority. His whole life was occupied with warlike
+affairs. He remained neutral during the last stages of the Thirty Years'
+War, but was always prepared for action. He freed Prussia from Polish
+control and drove the Swedes from Brandenburg.
+
+This last was his most famous success. It was won by his victory over the
+Swedes under Wrangel, at Fehrbellin. Carlyle's characteristic narrative and
+commentary on this and other triumphs of the Great Elector place him before
+the reader as one of the chief personages of the Hohenzollern race and a
+leading actor in European history.
+
+Brandenburg had sunk very low under the Tenth Elector, in the unutterable
+troubles of the times, but it was gloriously raised up again by his Son
+Friedrich Wilhelm, who succeeded in 1640. This is he whom they call the
+"Great Elector" ("_Grosse Kurfuerst_"), of whom there is much writing and
+celebrating in Prussian Books. As for the epithet, it is not uncommon among
+petty German populations, and many times does not mean too much: thus Max
+of Bavaria, with his Jesuit Lambkins and Hyacinths, is by Bavarians called
+"Maximilian the Great." Friedrich Wilhelm, both by his intrinsic qualities
+and the success he met with, deserves it better than most. His success, if
+we look where he started and where he ended, was beyond that of any other
+man in his day. He found Brandenburg annihilated, and he left Brandenburg
+sound and flourishing--a great country, or already on the way toward
+greatness: undoubtedly a most rapid, clear-eyed, active man. There was a
+stroke in him swift as lightning, well aimed mostly, and of a respectable
+weight withal, which shattered asunder a whole world of impediments for him
+by assiduous repetition of it for fifty years.
+
+There hardly ever came to sovereign power a young man of twenty under
+more distressing, hopeless-looking circumstances. Political significance
+Brandenburg had none--a mere Protestant appendage dragged about by a Papist
+Kaiser. His Father's Prime Minister was in the interest of his enemies;
+not Brandenburg's servant, but Austria's. The very Commandants of his
+Fortresses, Commandant of Spandau more especially, refused to obey
+Friedrich Wilhelm on his accession--"were bound to obey the Kaiser in the
+first place." He had to proceed softly as well as swiftly, with the most
+delicate hand, to get him of Spandau by the collar, and put him under lock
+and key, as a warning to others.
+
+For twenty years past Brandenburg had been scoured by hostile armies,
+which, especially the Kaiser's part of which, committed outrages new in
+human history. In a year or two hence Brandenburg became again the theatre
+of business. Austrian Gallas, advancing thither again (1644) with intent
+"to shut up Tortenson and his Swedes in Jutland," where they had been
+chastising old Christian IV, now meddlesome again for the last time, and
+never a good neighbor to Sweden, Gallas could by no means do what he
+intended; on the contrary, he had to run from Tortenson what feet could
+do, was hunted, he and his _Merode_-Bruder (beautiful inventors of the
+"Marauding" Art), "till they pretty much all died (_crepirten_)," says
+Kohler. No great loss to society, the death of these Artists, but we can
+fancy what their life, and especially what the process of their dying, may
+have cost poor Brandenburg again.
+
+Friedrich Wilhelm's aim, in this as in other emergencies, was sun-clear
+to himself, but for most part dim to everybody else. He had to walk very
+warily, Sweden on one hand of him, suspicious Kaiser on the other; he had
+to wear semblances, to be ready with evasive words and advance noiselessly
+by many circuits. More delicate operation could not be imagined; but
+advance he did, advance and arrive. With extraordinary talent, diligence,
+and felicity, the young man wound himself out of this first fatal position;
+got those foreign Armies pushed out of his country, and kept them out. His
+first concern had been to find some vestige of revenue, to put that upon
+a clear footing, and by loans or otherwise to scrape a little ready money
+together, on the strength of which a small body of soldiers could be
+collected about him, and drilled into real ability to fight and obey.
+This as a basis; on this followed all manner of things, freedom from
+Swedish-Austrian invasions as the first thing.
+
+He was himself, as appeared by and by, a fighter of the first quality
+when it came to that, but never was willing to fight if he could help it;
+preferred rather to shift, manoeuvre, and negotiate, which he did in a most
+vigilant, adroit, and masterly manner. But by degrees he had grown to have,
+and could maintain it, an Army of twenty-four thousand men, among the best
+troops then in being. With or without his will, he was in all the great
+Wars of his time--the time of Louis XIV--who kindled Europe four times
+over, thrice in our Kurfuerst's day. The Kurfuerst's Dominions, a long,
+straggling country, reaching from Memel to Wesel, could hardly keep out
+of the way of any war that might rise. He made himself available, never
+against the good cause of Protestantism and German Freedom, yet always in
+the place and way where his own best advantage was to be had. Louis XIV
+had often much need of him; still oftener, and more pressingly, had Kaiser
+Leopold, the little Gentleman "in scarlet stockings, with a red feather
+in his hat," whom Mr. Savage used to see majestically walking about, with
+Austrian lip that said nothing at all. His twenty-four thousand excellent
+fighting-men, thrown in at the right time, were often a thing that could
+turn the balance in great questions. They required to be allowed for at
+a high rate, which he well knew how to adjust himself for exacting and
+securing always.
+
+When the Peace of Westphalia (1648) concluded that Thirty-Years'
+Conflagration, and swept the ashes of it into order again, Friedrich
+Wilhelm's right to Pommern was admitted by everybody, and well insisted on
+by himself; but right had to yield to reason of state, and he could not get
+it. The Swedes insisted on their expenses; the Swedes held Pommern, had all
+along held it--in pawn, they said, for their expenses. Nothing for it but
+to give the Swedes the better half of Pommern--_Fore_-Pommern so they call
+it, ("Swedish Pomernia" thenceforth), which lies next the Sea; this, with
+some Towns and cuttings over and above, was Sweden's share. Friedrich
+Wilhelm had to put up with _Hinder_-Pommern, docked furthermore of the Town
+of Stettin, and of other valuable cuttings, in favor of Sweden, much to
+Friedrich Wilhelm's grief and just anger, could he have helped it.
+
+They gave him Three secularized Bishoprics, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Minden
+with other small remnants, for compensation, and he had to be content with
+these for the present. But he never gave up the idea of Pommern. Much of
+the effort of his life was spent upon recovering Fore-Pommern; thrice eager
+upon that, whenever lawful opportunity offered. To no purpose, then; he
+never could recover Swedish Pommern; only his late descendants, and that by
+slowish degrees, could recover it all. Readers remember that Burgermeister
+of Stettin, with the helmet and sword flung into the grave and picked out
+again, and can judge whether Brandenburg got its good luck quite by lying
+in bed.
+
+Once, and once only, he had a voluntary purpose toward War, and it remained
+a purpose only. Soon after the Peace of Westphalia, old Pfalz-Neuburg, the
+same who got the slap on the face, went into tyrannous proceedings against
+the Protestant part of his subjects in Juelic-Cleve, who called to
+Friedrich Wilhelm for help. Friedrich Wilhelm, a zealous Protestant, made
+remonstrances, retaliations; ere long the thought struck him, "Suppose,
+backed by the Dutch, we threw out this fantastic old gentleman, his
+Papistries, and pretended claims and self, clear out of it?" This was
+Friedrich Wilhelm's thought, and he suddenly marched troops into the
+Territory with that view. But Europe was in alarm; the Dutch grew faint.
+Friedrich Wilhelm saw it would not do. He had a conference with old
+Pfalz-Neuburg: "Young gentleman, we remember how your Grandfather made
+free with us and our august countenance! Nevertheless, we--" In fine, the
+"statistics of Treaties" was increased by One, and there the matter rested
+till calmer times.
+
+In 1666 an effective Partition of these litigated Territories was
+accomplished; Prussia to have the Duchy of Cleve-Proper, the Counties of
+Mark and Ravensberg, with other Patches and Pertinents; Neuburg, what was
+the better share, to have Juelich Duchy and Berg Duchy. Furthermore, if
+either of the Lines failed, in no sort was a collateral to be admitted; but
+Brandenburg was to inherit Neuburg, or Neuburg Brandenburg, as the case
+might be. A clear Bargain this at last, and in the times that had come it
+proved executable so far; but if the reader fancies the Lawsuit was at last
+out in this way, he will be a simple reader. In the days of our little
+Fritz,[1] the Line of Pfalz-Neuburg was evidently ending; but that
+Brandenburg, and not a collateral, should succeed it, there lay the quarrel
+open still, as if it had never been shut, and we shall hear enough about
+it.
+
+[Footnote 1: Frederick the Great]
+
+Friedrich Wilhelm's first actual appearance in War, Polish-Swedish War
+(1655-1660), was involuntary in the highest degree; forced upon him for the
+sake of his Preussen, which bade fair to be lost or ruined without blame of
+his or its. Nevertheless, here too he made his benefit of the affair. The
+big King of Sweden had a standing quarrel, with his big cousin of Poland,
+which broke out into hot War; little Preussen lay between them, and
+was like to be crushed in the collision. Swedish King was Karl Gustav,
+Christina's Cousin, Charles XII's Grandfather: a great and mighty man, lion
+of the North in his time; Polish King was one John Casimir; chivalrous
+enough, and with clouds of forward Polish chivalry about him, glittering
+with barbaric gold. Friedrich III, Danish King for the first time being, he
+also was much involved in the thing. Fain would Friedrich Wilhelm have kept
+out of it, but he could not. Karl Gustav as good as forced him to join; he
+joined; fought along with Karl Gustav an illustrious Battle, "Battle of
+Warsaw," three days long (July 28-30, 1656), on the skirts of Warsaw;
+crowds "looking from the upper windows" there; Polish chivalry, broken at
+last, going like chaff upon the winds, and John Casimir nearly ruined.
+
+Shortly after which, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had shone much in the Battle,
+changed sides. An inconsistent, treacherous man? Perhaps not, O reader;
+perhaps a man advancing "in circuits," the only way he has; spirally, face
+now to east, now to west, with his own reasonable private aim sun-clear to
+himself all the while.
+
+John Casimir agreed to give up the "Homage of Preussen" for this service; a
+grand prize for Friedrich Wilhelm. What the Teutsch Ritters strove for in
+vain, and lost their existence in striving for, the shifty Kurfuerst has
+now got: Ducal Prussia, which is also called East Prussia, is now a free
+sovereignty, and will become as "Royal" as the other Polish part, or
+perhaps even more so, in the course of time--Karl Gustav, in a high frame
+of mind, informs the Kurfuerst that he has him on his books, and will pay
+the debt one day.
+
+A dangerous debtor in such matters, this Karl Gustav. In these same months,
+busy with the Danish part of the Controversy, he was doing a feat of war
+which set all Europe in astonishment. In January, 1658, Karl Gustav marches
+his Army, horse, foot, and artillery, to the extent of Twenty thousand,
+across the Baltic ice, and takes an island without shipping--Island of
+Fuenen, across the Little Belt--three miles of ice, and a part of the sea
+_open_, which has to be crossed on planks; nay, forward from Fuenen, when
+once there, he achieves ten whole miles more of ice, and takes Zealand
+itself, to the wonder of all mankind: an imperious, stern-browed,
+swift-striking man, who had dreamed of a new Goth Empire: the mean
+Hypocrites and Fribbles of the South to be coerced again by noble Norse
+valor, and taught a new lesson; has been known to lay his hand on his
+sword while apprising an Embassador (Dutch High Mightiness) what his royal
+intentions were: "not the sale or purchase of groceries, observe you, Sir!
+My aims go higher." Charles XII's Grandfather, and somewhat the same type
+of man.
+
+But Karl died short while after; left his big, wide-raging Northern
+Controversy to collapse in what way it could. Sweden and the fighting
+parties made their "Peace of Oliva" (Abbey of Oliva, near Dantzig, May 1,
+1660), and this of Preussen was ratified, in all form, among other points.
+No Homage more; nothing now above Ducal Prussia but the Heavens, and great
+times coming for it. This was one of the successfulest strokes of business
+ever done by Friedrich Wilhelm, who had been forced, by sheer compulsion,
+to embark in that big game. "Royal Prussia," the Western _Polish_
+Prussia--this too, as all Newspapers know, has in our times gone the same
+road as the other, which probably after all, it may have had in Nature,
+some tendency to do? Cut away, for reasons, by the Polish sword, in that
+Battle of Tannenberg, long since, and then, also for reasons, cut back
+again: that is the fact, not unexampled in human History.
+
+Old Johann Casimir, not long after that Peace of Oliva, getting tired of
+his unruly Polish chivalry and their ways, abdicated, retired to Paris,
+and "lived much with Ninon de l'Enclos and her circle" for the rest of his
+life. He used to complain of his Polish chivalry that there was no solidity
+in them, nothing but outside glitter, with tumult and anarchic noise; fatal
+want of one essential talent, the talent of Obeying; and has been heard to
+prophesy that a glorious Republic, persisting in such courses, would arrive
+at results which would surprise it.
+
+Onward from this time Friedrich Wilhelm figures in the world, public men
+watching his procedure, Kings anxious to secure him, Dutch Printsellers
+sticking up his Portraits for a hero-worshipping Public. Fighting hero,
+had the Public known it, was not his essential character, though he had
+to fight a great deal. He was essentially an Industrial man; great in
+organizing, regulating, in constraining chaotic heaps to become cosmic for
+him. He drains bogs, settles colonies in the waste places of his Dominions,
+cuts canals; unweariedly encourages trade and work. The Friedrich-Wilhelm's
+Canal, which still carries tonnage from the Oder to the Spree, is a
+monument of his zeal in this way; creditable, with the means he had. To
+the poor French Protestants in the Edict-of-Nantes Affair, he was like an
+empress Benefit of Heaven: one Helper appointed, to whom the help itself
+was profitable. He munificently welcomed them to Brandenburg; showed really
+a noble piety and human self-pity, as well as judgment; nor did Brandenburg
+and he want their reward. Some twenty thousand nimble French souls,
+evidently of the best French quality, found a home there; made "waste sands
+about Berlin into pot-herb gardens"; and in the spiritual Brandenburg, too,
+did something of horticulture, which is still noticeable.
+
+Certainly this Elector was one of the shiftiest of men; not an unjust man
+either; a pious, God-fearing man rather, stanch to his Protestantism and
+his Bible; not unjust by any means, nor, on the other hand, by any means
+thin-skinned in his interpretings of justice: Fairplay to myself always, or
+occasionally even the Height of Fairplay. On the whole, by constant energy,
+vigilance, adroit activity, by an ever-ready insight and audacity to seize
+the passing fact by its right handle, he fought his way well in the world;
+left Brandenburg a flourishing and greatly increased Country, and his own
+name famous enough.
+
+A thickset, stalwart figure, with brisk eyes, and high, strong,
+irregularly-Roman nose. Good bronze Statue of him, by Schlueter, once a
+famed man, still rides on the _Lange-Bruecke_ (Long Bridge) at Berlin; and
+his Portrait, in huge frizzled Louis-Quatorze wig, is frequently met with
+in German Galleries. Collectors of Dutch Prints, too, know him; here a
+gallant, eagle-featured little gentleman, brisk in the smiles of youth,
+with plumes, with truncheon, caprioling on his war-charger, view of tents
+in the distance; there a sedate, ponderous wrinkly old man, eyes slightly
+puckered (eyes _busier_ than mouth), a face well plowed by Time, and not
+found unfruitful; one of the largest, most laborious potent faces (in an
+ocean of circumambient periwig) to be met with in that Century. There are
+many Histories about him, too, but they are not comfortable to read. He
+also has wanted a sacred Poet, and found only a bewildering Dryasdust.
+
+His two grand Feats that dwell in the Prussian memory are perhaps none
+of his greatest, but were of a kind to strike the imagination. They both
+relate to what was the central problem of his life--the recovery of Pommern
+from the Swedes. Exploit First is the famed Battle of Fehrbellin (Ferry of
+Belleen), fought on June 18, 1675. Fehrbellin is an inconsiderable Town
+still standing in those peaty regions, some five-and-thirty miles northwest
+of Berlin, and had for ages plied its poor Ferry over the oily-looking,
+brown sluggish stream called Rhin, or Rhein in those parts, without the
+least notice from mankind till this fell out. It is a place of pilgrimage
+to patriotic Prussians ever since Friedrich Wilhelm's exploit there. The
+matter went thus:
+
+Friedrich Wilhelm was fighting, far south in Alsace, on Kaiser Leopold's
+side, in the Louis XIV War--that second one, which ended in the Treaty of
+Nimwegen. Doing his best there, when the Swedes, egged on by Louis XIV,
+made war upon him; crossed the Pomeranian marshes, troop after troop, and
+invaded his Brandenburg Territory with a force which at length amounted to
+sixteen thousand men. No help for the moment; Friedrich Wilhelm could not
+be spared from his post. The Swedes, who had at first professed well,
+gradually went into plunder, roving, harrying at their own will; and a
+melancholy time they made of it for Friedrich Wilhelm and his People. Lucky
+if temporary harm were all the ill they were likely to do; lucky if----
+He stood steady, however; in his solid manner finishing the thing in hand
+first, since that was feasible. He then even retired into winter-quarters
+to rest his men, and seemed to have left the Swedish sixteen thousand
+autocrats of the situation, who accordingly went storming about at a great
+rate.
+
+Not so, however; very far, indeed, from so. Having rested his men for
+certain months, Friedrich Wilhelm silently, in the first days of June,
+1675, gets them under march again; marches his Cavalry and he as first
+instalment, with best speed from Schweinfurt, which is on the River Mayn,
+to Magdeburg, a distance of two hundred miles. At Magdeburg, where he rests
+three days, waiting for the first handful of Foot and a field-piece or two,
+he learns that the Swedes are in three parties wide asunder, the middle
+party of them within forty miles of him. Probably stronger, even this
+middle one, than his small body (of "Six thousand Horse, Twelve hundred
+Foot, and three guns")--stronger, but capable, perhaps, of being surprised,
+of being cut in pieces before the others can come up? Rathenau is the
+nearest skirt of this middle party: thither goes the Kurfuerst, softly,
+swiftly, in the June night (June 16-17, 1675); gets into Rathenau by brisk
+stratagem; tumbles out the Swedish Horse regiment there, drives it back
+toward Fehrbellin.
+
+He himself follows hard; swift riding enough in the summer night through
+those damp Havel lands, in the old Hohenzollern fashion; and, indeed, old
+Freisack Castle, as it chances--Freisack, scene of Dietrich von Quitzow and
+_Lazy Peg_ long since--is close by. Follows hard, we say; strikes in upon
+this midmost party (nearly twice his number, but Infantry for most part);
+and after fierce fight, done with good talent on both sides, cuts it into
+utter ruin, as proposed; thereby he has left the Swedish Army as a mere
+head and tail without body; has entirely demolished the Swedish Army. Same
+feat intrinsically as that done by Cromwell on Hamilton and the Scots in
+1648. It was, so to speak, the last visit Sweden paid to Brandenburg, or
+the last of any consequence, and ended the domination of the Swedes in
+those quarters--a thing justly to be forever remembered by Brandenburg; on
+a smallish modern scale, the Bannockburn, Sempach, Marathon of Brandenburg.
+
+Exploit Second was four years later--in some sort a corollary to this, and
+a winding up of the Swedish business. The Swedes, in further prosecution of
+their Louis XIV speculation, had invaded Preussen this time, and were doing
+sad havoc there. It was in the dead of winter--Christmas, 1678--more than
+four hundred miles off; and the Swedes, to say nothing of their own havoc,
+were in a case to take Koenigsberg, and ruin Prussia altogether, if not
+prevented. Friedrich Wilhelm starts from Berlin, with the opening Year, on
+his long march; the Horse-troops first, Foot to follow at their swiftest;
+he himself (his Wife, his ever-true "Louisa," accompanying, as her wont
+was) travels toward the end, at the rate of "sixty miles a day." He gets in
+still in time; finds Koenigsberg unscathed; nay, it is even said the Swedes
+are extensively falling sick, having after a long famine found infinite
+"pigs near Insterburg," in those remote regions, and indulged in the fresh
+pork overmuch.
+
+I will not describe the subsequent manoeuvres, which would interest nobody;
+enough if I say that on January 16, 1679, it had become of the highest
+moment for Friedrich Wilhelm to get from Carwe (Village near Elbing), on
+the shore of the _Frische Haf_, where he was, through Koenigsberg, to
+Gilge on the _Curische Haf_, where the Swedes are, in a minimum of time.
+Distance, as the crow flies, is about a hundred miles; road, which skirts
+the two _Hafs_ (wide shallow _Washes_, as we should name them), is of rough
+quality and naturally circuitous. It is ringing frost to-day, and for days
+back. Friedrich Wilhelm hastily gathers all the sledges, all the horses of
+the district; mounts Four thousand men in sledges; starts with speed of
+light, in that fashion; scours along all day, and after the intervening bit
+of land, again along, awakening the ice-bound silences. Gloomy _Frische
+Haf_, wrapped in its Winter cloud-coverlids, with its wastes of tumbled
+sand, its poor frost-bound fishing-hamlets, pine hillocks--desolate-
+looking, stern as Greenland, or more so, says Busching, who travelled
+there in winter-time--hears unexpected human voices, and huge grinding and
+trampling; the Four thousand, in long fleet of sledges, scouring across it
+in that manner. All day they rush along--out of the rimy hazes of morning
+into the olive-colored clouds of evening again--with huge, loud-grinding
+rumble, and do arrive in time at Gilge. A notable streak of things,
+shooting across those frozen solitudes in the New Year, 1679; little short
+of Karl Gustav's feat, which we heard of in the other or Danish end of the
+Baltic, twenty years ago, when he took islands without ships.
+
+This Second Exploit--suggested or not by that prior one of Karl Gustav on
+the ice--is still a thing to be remembered by Hohenzollerns and Prussians.
+The Swedes were beaten here on Friedrich Wilhelm's rapid arrival; were
+driven into disastrous, rapid retreat Northward, which they executed in
+hunger and cold, fighting continually, like Northern bears, under the grim
+sky, Friedrich Wilhelm sticking to their skirts, holding by their tail,
+like an angry bear-ward with steel whip in his hand; a thing which, on the
+small scale, reminds one of Napoleon's experiences. Not till Napoleon's
+huge fighting-flight, a Hundred and thirty-four years after, did I read of
+such a transaction in those parts. The Swedish invasion of Preussen has
+gone utterly to ruin.
+
+And this, then, is the end of Sweden, and its bad neighborhood on these
+shores, where it has tyrannously sat on our skirts so long? Swedish
+Pommern; the Elector already had: last year, coming toward it ever since
+the Exploit of Fehrbellin, he had invaded Swedish Pommern; had besieged
+and taken Stettin, nay Stralsund too, where Wallenstein had failed;
+cleared Pommern altogether of its Swedish guests, who had tried next in
+Preussen, with what luck we see. Of Swedish Pommern the Elector might now
+say, "Surely it is mine; again mine, as it long was; well won a second
+time, since the first would not do." But no; Louis XIV proved a gentleman
+to his Swedes. Louis, now that the Peace of Nimwegen had come, and only
+the Elector of Brandenburg was still in harness, said steadily, though
+anxious enough to keep well with the Elector, "They are my allies, these
+Swedes; it was on my bidding they invaded you: can I leave them in such a
+pass? It must not be." So Pommern had to be given back: a miss which was
+infinitely grievous to Friedrich Wilhelm. The most victorious Elector
+cannot hit always, were his right never so good.
+
+Another miss which he had to put up with, in spite of his rights and his
+good services, was that of the Silesian Duchies. The Heritage-Fraternity
+with Liegnitz had at length, in 1675, come to fruit. The last Duke
+of Liegnitz was dead: Duchies of Liegnitz, of Brieg, Wohlau, are
+Brandenburg's, if there were right done; but Kaiser Leopold in the scarlet
+stockings will not hear of Heritage-Fraternity. "Nonsense!" answers Kaiser
+Leopold: "a thing suppressed at once, ages ago by Imperial power; flat
+_zero_ of a thing at this time; and you, I again bid you, return me your
+Papers upon it." This latter act of duty Friedrich Wilhelm would not do,
+but continued insisting: "Jagerndorf, at least, O Kaiser of the world,"
+said he, "Jagerndorf, there is no color for your keeping that!" To which
+the Kaiser again answers, "Nonsense!" and even falls upon astonishing
+schemes about it, as we shall see, but gives nothing. Ducal Preussen
+is sovereign, Cleve is at peace, Hinter-Pommern ours; this Elector has
+conquered much, but Silesia, and Vor-Pommern, and some other things he will
+have to do without. Louis XIV, it is thought, once offered to get him made
+King, but that he declined for the present.
+
+His married and domestic life is very fine and human, especially with that
+Oranien-Nassau Princess, who was his first Wife (1646-1667) Princess Louisa
+of Nassau-Orange, Aunt to our own Dutch William, King William III, in time
+coming: an excellent, wise Princess, from whom came the Orange Heritages,
+which afterward proved difficult to settle. Orange was at last exchanged
+for the small Principality of Neufchatel in Switzerland, which is Prussia's
+ever since. "Oranienburg (_Orange-Burg)_" a Royal Country-house, still
+standing, some Twenty miles northward from Berlin, was this Louisa's place:
+she had trimmed it up into a little jewel of the Dutch type--pot-herb
+gardens, training-schools for girls, and the like--a favorite abode of hers
+when she was at liberty for recreation. But her life was busy and earnest;
+she was helpmate, not in name only, to an ever-busy man. They were married
+young, a marriage of love withal. Young Friedrich Wilhelm's courtship,
+wedding in Holland; the honest trustful walk and conversation of the two
+Sovereign Spouses, their journeyings together, their mutual hopes, fears,
+and manifold vicissitudes, till Death, with stern beauty, shut it in: all
+is human, true, and wholesome in it; interesting to look upon, and rare
+among sovereign persons.
+
+Not but that he had his troubles with his womankind. Even with this his
+first Wife, whom he loved truly, and who truly loved him, there were
+scenes--the Lady having a judgment of her own about everything that passed,
+and the man being choleric withal. Sometimes, I have heard, "he would dash
+his hat at her feet," saying symbolically, "Govern you, then, Madam! Not
+the Kurfuerst Hat; a Coif is my wear, it seems!" Yet her judgment was good,
+and he liked to have it on the weightiest things, though her powers of
+silence might halt now and then. He has been known, on occasions, to
+run from his Privy Council to her apartment, while a complex matter was
+debating, to ask her opinion, hers, too, before it was decided. Excellent
+Louisa, Princess full of beautiful piety, good sense, and affection--a
+touch of the Nassau-Heroic in her. At the moment of her death, it is said,
+when speech had fled, he felt from her hand which lay in his, three slight,
+slight pressures: "Farewell!" thrice mutely spoken in that manner, not easy
+to forget in this world.
+
+His second Wife, Dorothea, who planted the Lindens in Berlin, and did other
+husbandries, fell far short of Louisa in many things, but not in tendency
+to advise, to remonstrate, and plaintively reflect on the finished and
+unalterable. Dreadfully thrifty lady, moreover; did much in dairy produce,
+farming of town-rates, provision-taxes, not to speak again of that Tavern
+she was thought to have in Berlin, and to draw custom to it in an oblique
+manner! "Ah! I have not my Louisa now; to whom now shall I run for advice
+or help?" would the poor Kurfuerst at times exclaim.
+
+He had some trouble, considerable trouble, now and then, with mutinous
+spirits in Preussen; men standing on antique Prussian franchises and
+parchments, refusing to see that the same were now antiquated incompatible,
+nor to say impossible, as the new Sovereign alleged, and carrying
+themselves very stiffly at times. But the Hohenzollerns had been used
+to such things; a Hohenzollern like this one would evidently take his
+measures, soft but strong, and even stronger to the needful pitch, with
+mutinous spirits. One Buergermeister of Koenigsberg, after much stroking
+on the back, was at length seized in open Hall by Electoral writ, soldiers
+having first gently barricaded the principal streets, and brought cannon to
+bear upon them. This Buergermeister, seized in such brief way, lay prisoner
+for life, refusing to ask his liberty, though it was thought he might have
+had it on asking.
+
+Another gentleman, a Baron von Kalkstein, of old Teutsch-Ritter kin, of
+very high ways, in the Provincial Estates _(Staende)_ and elsewhere, got
+into lofty, almost solitary, opposition, and at length, into mutiny proper,
+against the new "Non-Polish" Sovereign, and flatly refused to do homage at
+his accession--refused, Kalkstein did, for his share; fled to Warsaw; and
+very fiercely, in a loud manner, carried out his mutinies in the Diets and
+Court Conclaves there, his plea being, or plea for the time, "Poland is our
+liege lord" (which it was not always), "and we cannot be transferred to
+you except by our consent asked and given," which, too, had been a little
+neglected on the former occasion of transfer; so that the Great Elector
+knew not what to do with Kalkstein, and at length (as the case was
+pressing) had him kidnapped by his Embassador at Warsaw; had him "rolled in
+a carpet" there, and carried swiftly in the Embassador's coach, in the
+form of luggage, over the frontier, into his native Province, there to be
+judged, and, in the end (since nothing else would serve him), to have the
+sentence executed, and his head cut off; for the case was pressing. These
+things, especially this of Kalkstein, with a boisterous Polish Diet and
+parliamentary eloquence in the rear of him, gave rise to criticisms, and
+required management on the part of the Great Elector.
+
+Of all his ancestors, our little Fritz, when he grew big, admired this
+one--a man made like himself in many points. He seems really to have loved
+and honored this one. In the year 1750 there had been a new Cathedral got
+finished at Berlin; the ancestral bones had to be shifted over from the
+vaults of the old one--the burying-place ever since Joachim II, that
+Joachim who drew his sword on Alba. King Friedrich, with some attendants,
+witnessed the operation, January, 1750. When the Great Kurfuerst's coffin
+came, he bade them open it; gazed in silence on the features for some time,
+which were perfectly recognizable; laid his hand on the hand long dead, and
+said, "_Messieurs, celui ci a fait de grandes choses_!" ("This one did a
+grand work").
+
+
+
+%WILLIAM PENN RECEIVES THE GRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA%
+
+FOUNDING OF PHILADELPHIA
+
+A.D. 1681
+
+GEORGE E. ELLIS
+
+
+Although European settlers had occupied portions of the present State of
+Pennsylvania for fifty years before William Penn arrived in that territory,
+the real foundation of the great commonwealth named after him is justly
+dated from his time.
+
+Penn was an English "Friend," or Quaker, and was descended from a long line
+of sailors. He was born in London in 1644, his father being Admiral
+Sir William Penn of the English navy. The son was educated at Oxford
+University, and became a preacher of the Society of Friends. This calling
+brought him into collision with the authorities. He was several times
+arrested, and for a while was imprisoned in the Tower for "urging the cause
+of freedom with importunity."
+
+Through the influence of his family and the growing weight of his own
+character, he escaped the heavier penalties inflicted upon some of his
+coreligionists, and, by the shrewdness and tact which he united with
+spiritual fervor, he rapidly advanced in public position.
+
+In 1675 Penn became part proprietor of West New Jersey, where a colony of
+English Friends was settled. Five years later, through his influence at
+court and the aid of wealthy persons, he was enabled to purchase a large
+tract in East New Jersey, where he designed to establish a similar colony
+on a larger plan. But this project was soon superseded by a much greater
+one, of which the execution is here related.
+
+The interest of William Penn having been engaged for some time in the
+colonization of an American province, and the idea having become familiar
+to his mind of establishing there a Christian home as a refuge for Friends,
+and the scene for a fair trial of their principles, he availed himself of
+many favorable circumstances to become a proprietary himself. In various
+negotiations concerning New Jersey he had had a conspicuous share, and the
+information which his inquiring mind gathered from the adventures in the
+New World gave him all the knowledge which was requisite for his further
+proceedings. Though he had personal enemies in high places, and the project
+which he designed crossed the interests of the Duke of York[1] and of Lord
+Baltimore, yet his court influence was extensive, and he knew how to use
+it.
+
+[Footnote 1: Afterward James II. He was proprietor of New York, and Lord
+Baltimore of Maryland.]
+
+The favor of Charles II and of his brother the Duke of York had been sought
+by Penn's dying father for his son, and freely promised. But William Penn
+had a claim more substantial than a royal promise of those days. The
+crown was indebted to the estate of Admiral Penn for services, loans, and
+interest, to the amount of sixteen thousand pounds. The exchequer, under
+the convenient management of Shaftesbury, would not meet the claim. Penn,
+who was engaged in settling the estate of his father, petitioned the King,
+in June, 1680, for a grant of land in America as a payment for all these
+debts.
+
+The request was laid before the privy council, and then before the
+committee of trade and plantations. Penn's success must have been owing
+to great interest made on his behalf; for both the Duke of York, by his
+attorney, and Lord Baltimore opposed him. As proprietors of territory
+bounding on the tract which he asked for, and as having been already
+annoyed by the conflict of charters granted in the New World, they were
+naturally unfairly biassed. The application made to the King succeeded
+after much debate. The provisions in the charter of Lord Baltimore were
+adopted by Penn with slight alterations. Sir William Jones objected to one
+of the provisions, which allowed a freedom from taxation, and the Bishop of
+London, as the ecclesiastical supervisor of plantations, proposed another
+provision, to prevent too great liberty in religious matters. Chief Justice
+North having reduced the patent to a satisfactory form, to guard the King's
+prerogative and the powers of Parliament, it was signed by writ of privy
+seal at Westminster, March 4, 1681. It made Penn the owner of about forty
+thousand square miles of territory.
+
+This charter is given at length by Proud and other writers. The preamble
+states that the design of William Penn was to enlarge the British empire
+and to civilize and convert the savages. The first section avers that his
+petition was granted on account of the good purposes of the son and the
+merits and services of the father. The bounds of the territory are thus
+defined: "All that tract or part of land, in America, with the islands
+therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware River,
+from twelve miles distance northward of New Castle town, unto the
+three-and-fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth
+extend so far northward; but if the said river shall not extend so far
+northward, then, by the said river, so far as it doth extend; and from
+the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a
+meridian line to be drawn from the head of the said river, unto the said
+forty-third degree. The said land to extend westward five degrees in
+longitude to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said lands
+to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three-and-fortieth
+degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve
+miles' distance from New Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning
+of the fortieth degree of northern latitude; and then by a straight line
+westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned."
+
+Though these boundaries appear to be given with definiteness and precision,
+a controversy, notwithstanding, arose at once between Penn and Lord
+Baltimore, which outlasted the lives of both of them, and, being continued
+by their representatives, was not in fact closed until the Revolutionary
+War.
+
+The charter vested the perpetual proprietaryship of this territory in
+William Penn and his heirs, on the fealty of the annual payment of two
+beaver-skins; it authorized him to make and execute laws not repugnant
+to those of England, to appoint judges, to receive those who wished to
+transport themselves, _to establish a military force_, to constitute
+municipalities, and to carry on a free commerce. It required that an agent
+of the proprietor should reside in or near London, and provided for the
+rights of the Church of England. The charter also disclaimed all taxation,
+except through the proprietor, the governor, the assembly, or Parliament,
+and covenanted that if any question of arms or conditions should arise
+it should be decided in favor of the proprietor. By a declaration to
+the inhabitants and planters of Pennsylvania, dated April 2d, the King
+confirmed the charter, to ratify it for all who might intend to emigrate
+under it, and to require compliance from all whom it concerned.
+
+By a letter from Penn to his friend Robert Turner, written upon the day on
+which the charter was signed, we learn that the proprietor designed to call
+his territory "New Wales"; but the under-secretary, a Welshman, opposed it.
+Penn then suggested "Sylvania," as applicable to the forest region; but the
+secretary, acting under instructions, prefixed "Penn" to this title. The
+modest and humble Quaker offered the official twenty guineas as a bribe
+to leave off his name. Failing again, he went to the King and stated his
+objection; but the King said he would take the naming upon himself, and
+insisted upon it as doing honor to the old admiral.
+
+Penn now resigned the charge of West New Jersey, and devoted himself to the
+preliminary tasks which should make his province available to himself and
+others. He sent over, in May, his cousin and secretary, Colonel William
+Markham, then only twenty-one years old, to make such arrangements for
+his own coming as might be necessary. This gentleman, who acted as Penn's
+deputy, carried over from him a letter, dated London, April 8, 1681,
+addressed "For the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania; to be read by my Deputy."
+This was a courteous announcement of his proprietaryship and intentions
+to the Dutch, Swedes, and English, who, to the number, probably, of about
+three thousand, were then living within his patent.
+
+Penn's object being to obtain adventurers and settlers at once, he
+published _Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania, in America, lately
+granted, under the Great Seal of England, to William Penn_. This was
+accompanied by a copy of the charter and a statement of the terms on which
+the land was to be sold, with judicious advice addressed to those who were
+disposed to transport themselves, warning them against mere fancy dreams,
+or the desertion of friends, and encouraging them by all reasonable
+expectations of success.
+
+The terms of sale were, for a hundred acres of land, forty shillings
+purchase money, and one shilling as an annual quit-rent. This latter
+stipulation, made in perfect fairness, not unreasonable in itself, and
+ratified by all who of their own accord acceded to it, was, as we shall
+see, an immediate cause of disaffection, and has ever since been the
+basis of a calumny against the honored and most estimable founder of
+Pennsylvania.
+
+Under date of July 11, 1681, Penn published _Certain Conditions or
+Concessions to be agreed upon by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor
+of the Province of Pennsylvania, and those who may become Adventurers and
+Purchasers in the same Province_. These conditions relate to dividing,
+planting, and building upon the land, saving mulberry-and oak-trees, and
+dealing with the Indians. These documents were circulated, and imparted
+sufficient knowledge of the country and its produce, so that purchasers at
+once appeared, and Penn went to Bristol to organize there a company called
+"The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," who purchased twenty
+thousand acres of land, and prepared to establish various trades in the
+province.
+
+Yet further to mature his plans, and to begin with a fair understanding
+among all who might be concerned in the enterprise, Penn drew up and
+submitted a sketch of the frame of government, providing for alterations,
+with a preamble for liberty of conscience. On the basis of contracts and
+agreements thus made and mutually ratified, three passenger ships, two from
+London and one from Bristol, sailed for Pennsylvania in September, 1681.
+One of them made an expeditious passage; another was frozen up in the
+Delaware; and the third, driven to the West Indies, was long delayed. They
+took over some of the ornamental work of a house for the proprietor.
+
+The Governor also sent over three commissioners, whose instructions we
+learn from the original document addressed to them by Penn, dated September
+30, 1681. These commissioners were William Crispin, John Bezar, and
+Nathaniel Allen. Their duty was that of "settling the colony." Penn refers
+them to his cousin Markham, "now on the spot." He instructs them to take
+good care of the people; to guard them from extortionate prices for
+commodities from the earlier inhabitants; to select a site by the river,
+and there to lay out a town; to have his letter to the Indians read to them
+in their own tongue; to make them presents from him--adding, "Be grave;
+they love not to be smiled upon"--and to enter into a league of amity with
+them. Penn also instructs the commissioners to select a site for his own
+occupancy, and closes with some good advice in behalf of order and virtue.
+
+These commissioners probably did not sail until the latter part of October,
+as they took with them the letter to the Indians, to which Penn refers.
+This letter, bearing the date October 18, 1681, is a beautiful expression
+of feeling on the part of the proprietor. He does not address the Indians
+as heathen, but as his brethren, the children of the one Father. He
+announces to them his accession, as far as a royal title could legitimate
+it, to a government in their country; he distinguishes between himself and
+those who had ill treated the Indians, and pledges his love and service.
+
+About this time William Penn was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in
+London, probably by nomination of his friend, Dr. John Wallis, one of its
+founders, and with the hope that his connection with the New World would
+enable him to advance its objects.
+
+With a caution, which the experience of former purchases rendered
+essential, Penn obtained of the Duke of York a release of all his claims
+within the patent. His royal highness executed a quitclaim to William
+Penn and his heirs on August 21, 1682. The Duke had executed, in March,
+a ratification of his two former grants of East Jersey. But a certain
+fatality seemed to attend upon these transfers of ducal possessions. After
+various conflicts and controversies long continued, we may add, though by
+anticipation, that the proprietaryship of both the Jerseys was abandoned,
+and they were surrendered to the crown under Queen Anne, in April, 1702.
+
+Penn also obtained of the Duke of York another tract of land adjoining his
+patent. This region, afterward called the "Territories," and the three
+"Lower Counties," now Delaware, had been successively held by the Swedes
+and Dutch, and by the English at New York. The Duke confirmed it to William
+Penn, by two deeds, dated August 24, 1682.
+
+The last care on the mind of William Penn, before his embarkation, was to
+prepare proper counsel and instruction for his wife and children. This he
+did in the form of a letter written at Worminghurst, August 4, 1682. He
+knew not that he should ever see them again, and his heart poured forth to
+them the most touching utterances of affection. But it was not the heart
+alone which indited the epistle. It expressed the wisest counsels of
+prudence and discretion. All the important letters written by Penn contain
+a singular union of spiritual and worldly wisdom. Indeed, he thought these
+two ingredients to be but one element. He urged economy, filial love,
+purity, and industry, as well as piety, upon his children. He favored,
+though he did not insist upon, their receiving his religious views. We may
+express a passing regret that he who could give such advice to his children
+should not have had the joy to leave behind him anyone who could meet the
+not inordinate wish of his heart.
+
+In the mean while his deputy, Markham, acting by his instructions, was
+providing him a new home by purchasing for him, of the Indians, a piece
+of land, the deed of which is dated July 15th, and endorsed with a
+confirmation, August 1st, and by commencing upon it the erection which was
+afterward known as Pennsbury Manor.
+
+All his arrangements being completed, William Penn, at the age of
+thirty-eight, well, strong, and hopeful of the best results, embarked
+for his colony, on board the ship Welcome, of three hundred tons, Robert
+Greenaway master, on the last of August, 1682. While in the Downs he wrote
+a _Farewell Letter to Friends, the Unfaithful and Inquiring_, in his native
+land, dated August 30th, and probably many private letters. He had about
+one hundred fellow-passengers, mostly Friends from his own neighborhood in
+Sussex. The vessel sailed about September 1st, and almost immediately the
+small-pox, that desolating scourge of the passenger-ships of those days,
+appeared among the passengers, and thirty fell victims to it. The trials
+of that voyage, told to illustrate the Christian spirit which submissively
+encountered them, were long repeated from father to son and from mother to
+daughter.
+
+In about six weeks the ship entered the Delaware River. The old inhabitants
+along the shores, which had been settled by the whites for about half a
+century, received Penn with equal respect and joy. He arrived at New Castle
+on October 27th. The day was not commemorated by annual observances until
+the year 1824, when a meeting for that purpose was held at an inn, in
+Laetitia court, where Penn had resided. While the ship and its company went
+up the river, the proprietor, on the next day, called the inhabitants,
+who were principally Dutch and Swedes, to the court-house, where, after
+addressing them, he assumed and received the formal possession of the
+country. He renewed the commissions of the old magistrates, who urged him
+to unite the Territories to his government.
+
+After a visit of ceremony to the authorities at New York and Long Island,
+with a passing token to his friends in New Jersey, Penn went to Upland to
+hold the first Assembly, which opened on December 4th. Nicholas Moore, an
+English lawyer, and president of the Free Society of Traders, was made
+speaker. After three days' peaceful debate, the Assembly ratified, with
+modifications, the laws made in England, with about a score of new ones of
+a local, moral, or religious character, in which not only the drinking of
+healths, but the talking of scandal, was forbidden. By suggestion of his
+friend and fellow-voyager, Pearson, who came from Chester, in England, Penn
+substituted that name for Upland. By an act of union, passed on December
+7th, the three Lower Counties, or the Territories, were joined in the
+government, and the foreigners were naturalized at their own request.
+
+On his arrival Penn had sent two messengers to Charles Calvert, Lord
+Baltimore, to propose a meeting and conference with him about their
+boundaries. On December 19th they met at West River with courtesy and
+kindness; but after three days they concluded to wait for the more
+propitious weather of the coming year. Penn, on his way back, attended a
+religious meeting at a private house, and afterward an official meeting at
+Choptank, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, and reached Chester again
+by December 29th, where much business engaged him. About twenty-three ships
+had arrived by the close of the year; none of them met with disaster,
+and all had fair passages. The new-comers found a comparatively easy
+sustenance. Provisions were obtained at a cheap rate of the Indians and of
+the older settlers. But great hardships were endured by some, and special
+providences are commemorated. Many found their first shelter in caves
+scooped out in the steep bank of the river. When these caves were deserted
+by their first occupants, the poor or the vicious made them a refuge; and
+one of the earliest signs both of prosperity and of corruption, in the
+colony, is disclosed in the mention that these rude coverts of the first
+devoted emigrants soon became tippling-houses and nuisances in the misuse
+of the depraved.
+
+There has been much discussion of late years concerning the far-famed
+Treaty of Penn with the Indians. A circumstance, which has all the interest
+both of fact and of poetry, was confirmed by such unbroken testimony of
+tradition that history seemed to have innumerable records of it in the
+hearts and memories of each generation. But as there appears no document
+or parchment of such _criteria_ as to satisfy all inquiries, historical
+scepticism has ventured upon the absurd length of calling in question
+the fact of the treaty. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, with
+commendable zeal, has bestowed much labor upon the questions connected with
+the treaty, and the results which have been attained can scarcely fail to
+satisfy a candid inquirer. All claim to a peculiar distinction for William
+Penn, on account of the singularity of his just proceedings in this matter
+is candidly waived, because the Swedes, the Dutch, and the English had
+previously dealt thus justly with the natives. It is in comparison with
+Pizarro and Cortes that the colonists of all other nations in America
+appear to an advantage; but the fame of William Penn stands, and ever will
+stand, preeminent for unexceptionable justice and peace in his relations
+with the natives.
+
+Penn had several meetings for conference and treaties with the Indians,
+besides those which he held for the purchase of lands. But unbroken and
+reverently cherished tradition, beyond all possibility of contradiction,
+has designated one great treaty held under a large elm-tree, at Shackamaxon
+(now Kensington), a treaty which Voltaire justly characterizes as "never
+sworn to, and never broken." In Penn's _Letter to the Free Society of
+Traders,_ dated August 16, 1683, he refers to his conferences with the
+Indians. Two deeds, conveying land to him, are on record, both of which
+bear an earlier date than this letter; namely, June 23d and July 14th of
+the same year. He had designed to make a purchase in May; but having been
+called off to a conference with Lord Baltimore, he postponed the business
+till June. The "Great Treaty" was doubtless unconnected with the purchase
+of land, and was simply a treaty of amity and friendship, in confirmation
+of one previously held, by Penn's direction, by Markham, on the same spot;
+that being a place which the Indians were wont to use for this purpose. It
+is probable that the treaty was held on the last of November, 1682; that
+the Delawares, the Mingos, and other Susquehanna tribes formed a large
+assembly on the occasion; that written minutes of the conference were made,
+and were in possession of Governor Gordon, who states nine conditions as
+belonging to them in 1728, but are now lost; and that the substance of the
+treaty is given in Penn's _Letter to the Free Traders_. These results
+are satisfactory, and are sufficiently corroborated by known facts and
+documents. The Great Treaty, being distinct from a land purchase, is
+significantly distinguished in history and tradition.
+
+The inventions of romance and imagination could scarcely gather round this
+engaging incident attractions surpassing in its own simple and impressive
+interest. Doubtless Clarkson has given a fair representation of it, if we
+merely disconnect from his account the statement that the Indians were
+armed, and all that confounds the treaty of friendship with the purchase
+of lands. Penn wore a sky-blue sash of silk around his waist, as the most
+simple badge. The pledges there given were to hold their sanctity "while
+the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure."
+
+While the whites preserved in written records the memory of such covenants,
+the Indians had their methods for perpetuating in safe channels their
+own relations. They cherished in grateful regard, they repeated to their
+children and to the whites, the terms of the Great Treaty. The Delawares
+called William Penn _Miquon_, in their own language, though they seem to
+have adopted the name given him by the Iroquois, _Onas_; both which terms
+signify a quill or pen. Benjamin West's picture of the treaty is too
+imaginative for a historical piece. He makes Penn of a figure and aspect
+which would become twice the years that had passed over his head. The
+elm-tree was spared in the war of the American Revolution, when there
+was distress for firewood, the British officer, Simcoe, having placed a
+sentinel beneath it for protection. It was prostrated by the wind on the
+night of Saturday, March 3, 1810. It was of gigantic size, and the circles
+around its heart indicated an age of nearly three centuries. A piece of
+it was sent to the Penn mansion at Stoke Poges, in England, where it is
+properly commemorated. A marble monument, with suitable inscriptions, was
+"placed by the Penn Society, A.D. 1827, to mark the site of the Great Elm
+Tree." Long may it stand!
+
+Penn then made a visit to his manor of Pennsbury, up the Delaware. Under
+Markham's care, the grounds had been arranged, and a stately edifice of
+brick was in process of completion. The place had many natural beauties,
+and is said to have been arranged and decorated in consistency both with
+the office and the simple manners of the proprietor. There was a hall
+of audience for Indian embassies within, and luxurious gardens without.
+Hospitality had here a wide range, and Penn evidently designed it for a
+permanent abode.
+
+With the help of his surveyor, Thomas Holme, he laid out the plan of his
+now beautiful city, and gave it its name of Christian signification, that
+brotherly love might pervade its dwellings. He purchased the land, where
+the city stands, of the Swedes who already occupied it, and who purchased
+it of the Indians, though it would seem that a subsequent purchase was made
+of the natives of the same site with adjacent territory some time afterward
+by Thomas Holme, acting as president of the council, while Penn was in
+England. The Schuylkill and the Delaware rivers gave to the site eminent
+attractions. The plan was very simple, the streets running north and south
+being designated by numbers, those running east and west by the names of
+trees. Provision was made for large squares to be left open, and for common
+water privileges. The building was commenced at once, and was carried on
+with great zeal and continued success.
+
+
+
+%LAST TURKISH INVASION OF EUROPE%
+
+SOBIESKI SAVES VIENNA
+
+A.D. 1683
+
+SUTHERLAND MENZIES
+
+
+After the defeat of the Turks at Lepanto, in 1571, the Ottoman power in
+Europe slowly declined. But under the Sultan Mahomet IV the old Moslem
+ambition for European conquest reawoke, as if for a final effort. And such
+it proved to be. By the disaster before Vienna, in which John Sobieski,
+King of Poland, once more saved Europe from their incursions, the Turks
+were driven back within their own confines, where they have since, for the
+most part, remained, making many wars, but no successful inroads, upon
+European powers.
+
+In 1682 the Hungarian magnates, who were resisting the oppression and
+persecution of their people by the Austrian Government, called upon the
+Turks for assistance. Listening to the proposals of Tekeli, the Hungarian
+leader, who had secured the aid of Louis XIV of France, Mahomet IV decided
+to break the truce he had made with Austria in 1665. In vain the Emperor
+Leopold I sent an embassy to Constantinople to dissuade the Sultan from his
+purpose.
+
+Early in the spring of 1683 Sultan Mahomet marched forth from his capital
+with a large army, which at Belgrad he transferred to the command of the
+Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha. Tekeli formed a junction with the Turks at
+Essek. In vain did Ibrahim, the experienced Pacha of Buda, endeavor to
+persuade Kara Mustapha first of all to subdue the surrounding country, and
+to postpone until the following year the attack upon Vienna; his advice was
+scornfully rejected, and, indeed, the audacity of the Grand Vizier seemed
+justified by the scant resistance he had met with. He talked of renewing
+the conquests of Solyman: he assembled, it is said, seven hundred thousand
+men, one hundred thousand horses, and one thousand two hundred guns--an
+army more powerful than any the Turks had set on foot since the capture of
+Constantinople. All of which may be reduced to one hundred fifty thousand
+barbarian troops without discipline, the last conquering army which the
+degenerate race of the Osmanlis produced wherewith to invade Hungary.
+
+Hostilities commenced in March, 1683; for the Turks, who had not been
+accustomed to enter upon a campaign before the summer season, had begun
+their march that year before the end of winter. Some prompt and easy
+successes exalted the ambition of Kara Mustapha; and in spite of the
+contrary advice of Tekeli, Ibrahim Pacha, and several other personages,
+he determined to besiege Vienna. He accordingly advanced direct upon that
+capital and encamped under its walls on July 14th. It was just at the
+moment that Louis XIV had captured Strasburg, and at which his army
+appeared ready to cross the Rhine: all Europe was in alarm, believing that
+an agreement existed between France and the Porte for the conquest and
+dismemberment of Germany. But it was not so. The Turks, without giving
+France any previous warning, had of themselves made their invasion of
+Hungary; Louis XIV was delighted at their success, but nevertheless
+disposed, if it went too far, to check them, in order to play the part of
+saviour of Christendom.
+
+It was fortunate for the Emperor Leopold that he had upon the frontiers of
+Poland an ally of indomitable courage in King John Sobieski, and that he
+found the German princes loyal and prompt on this occasion, contrary to
+their custom, in sending him succor. Moreover, in Duke Charles of Lorraine
+he met with a skilful general to lead his army. Consternation and confusion
+prevailed, however, in Vienna, while the Emperor with his court fled to
+Linz. Many of the inhabitants followed him; but the rest, when the
+first moments of terror had passed, prepared for the defence, and the
+dilatoriness of the Turks, who amused themselves with pillaging the
+environs and neighboring _chateaux_, allowed the Duke of Lorraine to throw
+twelve thousand men as a garrison into the city; then, as he was unable
+with his slender force to bar the approach of the Turkish army, he kept
+aloof and waited for the King of Poland.
+
+Leopold solicited succor on all sides, and the Pope made an appeal to the
+piety of the King of France. Louis XIV, on the contrary, was intriguing
+throughout Europe in order that the Christian princes should not quit their
+attitude of repose, and he only offered to the Diet of Ratisbon the aid
+of his arms on condition that it should recognize the recent usurpations
+decreed by the famous Chambers of Reunion,[1] and that it should elect his
+son king of the Romans. He reckoned, if it should accept his offers, to
+determine the Turks to retreat and to effect a peace which, by bringing
+the imperial crown into his house, would have been the death-stroke for
+Austria. All these combinations miscarried through the devotedness of the
+Poles.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Chambers of Reunion were special courts established in
+France by Louis XIV (1680). These courts declared for the annexation to
+France of various territories along the eastern frontier.--ED.]
+
+When Leopold supplicated Sobieski to come to his aid, Louis XIV tried to
+divert him from it; he reassured him upon the projects of the Turks by
+a letter of the Sultan, he made him see his real enemies in Austria,
+Brandenburg, and that power of the North, which the Dutch gazettes had
+begun to call "His Russian Majesty"; he reminded him, in fine, that the
+house of Austria, saved by the French on the day of St. Gothard, had
+testified its gratitude to them by allowing the victors to die of hunger
+and by envenoming their difference with the Porte. But it was all useless;
+hatred of the infidels prevailed, and the Polish squadrons hurried to the
+deliverance of Vienna.
+
+Count Rudiger de Starhemberg was made commandant of the city, and showed
+himself alike bold and energetic in everything that could contribute to its
+defence. The Turkish camp encircled Vienna and its suburbs, spreading over
+the country all round to the distance of six leagues. Two days afterward,
+Kara Mustapha opened the trenches, and his artillery battered the walls
+in order to make a breach. Great efforts, moreover, were made in digging
+mines, with the design of blowing up bastions or portions of the wall, so
+that the city might be carried by assault, wherein the Turks hoped to find
+an immense booty. But the besieged made an obstinate defence, and repaired
+during the night the damage done on the previous day. During sixty days
+forty mines and ten counter-mines were exploded; the Turks delivered
+eighteen assaults, the besieged made twenty-four sorties. Each inch of
+ground was only obtained by dint of a hard and long struggle, in which an
+equal stubbornness both in attack and defence was exhibited.
+
+The hottest fighting took place at the "Label" bastion, around which there
+was not a foot of ground that had not been steeped in the blood of friend
+or foe. However, by degrees the Turks gained a few paces; at the end of
+August they were lodged in the ditches of the city; and on September 4th
+they sprung a mine under the "Bourg" bastion; one-half of the city was
+shaken thereby, and a breach was rent in the bastion wide enough for an
+assault to be delivered, but the enemy was repulsed. Next day the Turks
+attacked it with renewed courage, but the valor of the besieged baffled
+the assailants. On September 10th another mine was sprung under the same
+bastion, and the breach was so wide that a battalion might have entered
+it abreast. The danger was extreme, for the garrison was exhausted
+by fighting, sickness, and incessant labor. The Count de Starhemberg
+despatched courier after courier to the Duke of Lorraine for succor: "There
+is not a moment to be lost, Monseigneur," he wrote, "not a moment;" and
+Vienna, exhausted, saw not yet her liberators arrive. At length, on the
+14th, when the whole city was in a stupor in the immediate expectation of
+an attack, a movement was observed in the enemy's camp which announced that
+succor was at hand. At five o'clock in the afternoon the Christian army was
+descried surmounting the Hill of Kahlen, and it made its presence known by
+a salvo of artillery. John Sobieski had arrived at the head of a valiant
+army. The Electors of Saxony and of Bavaria with many princes, dukes,
+and margraves of Germany had brought with them fresh troops. Charles of
+Lorraine might then dare to march against the Moslems, although he had yet
+only forty-six thousand men.
+
+The army of Sobieski reached Klosterenburg, Koenigstetten, St. Andre,
+the Valley of Hagen and Kirling, where it effected its junction with the
+Austrians and the Saxons who had arrived there in passing by Hoeflin. On
+Sunday, September 15th, in the earliest rays of a fine autumnal day, the
+holy priest Marco d'Aviano celebrated mass in the chapel of Kahlenberg, and
+the King of Poland served him during the sacrifice. Afterward, Sobieski
+made his son kneel down and dubbed him a knight in remembrance of the great
+occasion on which he was going to be present; then, turning toward his
+officers, he reminded them of the victory of Choczim, adding that the
+triumph they were about to achieve under the walls of Vienna would not only
+save a city, but Christendom. Next morning the Christian army descended the
+Hill of Kahlen in order of battle. A salvo of five cannon-shot gave the
+signal for the fight. Sobieski commanded the right wing, the Duke of
+Lorraine the left, under whose orders served Prince Eugene of Savoy, then
+aged nineteen. The Elector of Bavaria was in the centre. The village of
+Naussdorf, situated upon the Danube, was attacked by the Saxon and
+imperial troops which formed the left wing, and carried after an obstinate
+resistance. Toward noon the King of Poland, having descended into the
+plain with the right wing, at the head of his Polish cavalry, attacked the
+innumerable squadrons of Turkish horse. Flinging himself upon the enemy's
+centre with all the fury of a hurricane, he spread confusion in their
+ranks; but his courage carried him too far; he was surrounded and was on
+the point of being overwhelmed by numbers. Then, shouting for aid, the
+German cavalry, which had followed him, charged the enemy at full gallop,
+delivered the King, and soon put the Turks to flight on all sides. The
+right wing had decided the victory; by seven o'clock in the evening the
+deliverance of Vienna was achieved. The bodies of more than ten thousand
+infidels strewed the field of battle.
+
+But all those combats were mere preludes to the great battle which must
+decide the fortune of the war. For the Turkish camp, with its thousands of
+tents, could still be seen spreading around as far as the eye could
+reach, and its artillery continued to play upon the city. The victorious
+commander-in-chief was holding a council of war to decide whether to give
+battle again on that same day, or wait till the morrow to give his troops
+an interval of rest, when a messenger came with the announcement that the
+enemy appeared to be in full flight; and it proved to be the fact. A panic
+had seized the Turks, who fled in disorder, abandoning their camp and
+baggage; and soon even those who were attacking the city were seen in full
+flight with the rest of the army.
+
+The booty found in the Turkish camp was immense: three hundred pieces of
+heavy artillery, five thousand tents, that of the Grand Vizier with all the
+military chests and the chancery. The treasures amounted to fifteen million
+crowns; the tent of the Vizier alone yielded four hundred thousand crowns.
+Two millions also were found in the military chest; arms studded with
+precious stones, the equipments of Kara Mustapha, fell into the hands of
+the victors. In their flight the Mussulmans threw away arms, baggage, and
+banners, with the exception of the holy standard of the Prophet, which,
+nevertheless, the imperials pretended to have seized. The King of Poland
+received for his share four million florins; and in a letter to his
+wife--the sole delight of his soul, his dear and well-beloved Mariette--he
+speaks of that booty and of the happiness of having delivered Vienna. "All
+the enemy's camp," he wrote, "with the whole of his artillery and all his
+enormous riches, have fallen into our hands. We are driving before us a
+host of camels, mules, and Turkish prisoners."
+
+Count Starhemberg received the King of Poland in the magnificent tent
+of the Grand Vizier and greeted him as a deliverer. Next day Sobieski,
+accompanied by the Elector of Bavaria and the different commanders,
+traversed the city on horseback, preceded by a great banner of cloth of
+gold and two tall gilded staves bearing the horse-tails which had been
+planted in front of the Grand Vizier's tent, as a symbol of supreme
+command. In the Loretto chapel of the Augustins the hero threw himself upon
+his face before the altar and chanted the _Te Deum_. Vienna was delivered;
+the flood of Ottomans, that had beaten against its walls one hundred
+fifty-four years previously, had returned more furiously, more menacing
+still, against that dignified protectress of European civilization, but
+this time it had been repelled never to return.
+
+Thus vanished the insane hopes of the Grand Vizier. If Demetrius Cantemir
+may be believed, Kara Mustapha had desired to capture Vienna to appropriate
+it to himself and found in the West an empire of which he would have been
+the sovereign. "That subject," says the historian, "who only held his power
+from the Sultan, despised in his heart the Sultan himself; and as he found
+himself at the head of all the disciplined troops of the empire, he looked
+upon his master as a shadow denuded of strength and substance, who, being
+very inferior in courage to him, could never oppose to him an army like
+that which was under his command. For all that concerned the Emperor of
+Germany, he appeared still less to be feared: being a prince bare and
+despoiled so soon as he should have lost Vienna. It was thus that Kara
+Mustapha reasoned within himself.
+
+"Already he casts his eyes over the treasures which he has in his
+possession; with the money of the Sultan he has also brought his own; all
+that of the German princes is going to be his; for he believes that it is
+amassed in the city he is besieging. If he needs support, he reckons upon
+the different governors of Hungary as devoted to his interests; these are
+his creatures, whom he has put into their posts during the seven years of
+his vizierate; not one of those functionaries dare offer an obstacle to the
+elevation of his benefactor. Ibrahim Pacha, Beylerbey of Buda, keeps him in
+suspense by reason of the influence that his fame gives him over the army
+and over Hungary; he must be won over before all else, as well as the chief
+officers of the janizaries and the spahis. Ibrahim shall be made King of
+Hungary. The different provinces comprised in that kingdom shall be divided
+into _timars_ for appanage of the spahis, and all the rest of the soldiery
+shall have establishments in the towns, as so many new colonies; to them
+shall be assigned the lands of the old inhabitants, who will be driven out
+or reduced to slavery. He reserves for himself the title of Sultan,
+his share shall be all Germany as far as the frontiers of France, with
+Transylvania and Poland, which he intends to render subject or at least
+make tributary the year following." Such are the projects that Cantemir
+attributes to Kara Mustapha; the intervention of Sobieski caused these
+chimerical plans quickly to vanish.
+
+The Emperor Leopold, who returned to Vienna on September 16th, instead of
+expressing his thanks and gratitude to the commanders who had rescued his
+capital, received them with the haughty and repulsive coldness prescribed
+by the etiquette of the imperial court. Sobieski nevertheless continued
+his services by pursuing the retreating Turks. Awakened from his dream of
+self-exaltation, the Grand Vizier retook the road toward Turkey, directing
+his steps to the Raab, where he rallied the remnants of his army. Thence he
+marched toward Buda, and attacked by the way the Styrian town of Lilenfeld;
+he was repulsed by the prelate Matthias Kalweis, and avenged himself for
+that fresh check by devastating Lower Styria. He crossed the Danube by a
+bridge of boats at Parkany; but the Poles vigorously disputed the passage
+with him, and he again lost more than eight thousand men taken or slain by
+the Christians. Shortly after, the fortress of Gran opened its gates to
+Kara Mustapha. The Grand Vizier barbarously put to death the officers who
+had signed the capitulation; he threw upon his generals the responsibility
+of his reverses, and thought to stifle in blood the murmurs of his
+accusers. The army marched in disorder as though struck with a panic
+terror. Kara Mustapha wished that a Jew whom he despatched to Belgrad
+should be escorted by a troop of horsemen. "I have no need of an escort,"
+replied the Jew: "I have only to wear my cap in the German fashion, and not
+a Turk will touch me."
+
+The enemies of the Grand Vizier, however, conspired to effect his ruin at
+Constantinople; and the results of the campaign justified the predictions
+of the party of peace. Mahomet IV, enraged at these disasters, sent his
+grand chamberlain to Belgrad with orders to bring back the head of the
+Vizier (1683): it was, in fact, brought to the Sultan in a silver dish.
+
+
+
+%MONMOUTH'S REBELLION%
+
+A.D. 1685
+
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+
+James II was scarcely seated on the English throne in 1685 when serious
+disturbances began in his realm. The King had inherited the peculiar traits
+of the Stuarts. His first purpose was to overcome the Parliamentary power
+and make himself absolute ruler. He was likewise a Roman Catholic, and one
+of his objects was the suppression of English Protestantism.
+
+During the first days of his reign the Protestant peasants in the west of
+England rose in revolt. They supported the claims of James Fitzroy, Duke
+of Monmouth, to the throne. Monmouth was the (reputed) illegitimate son of
+Charles II and Lucy Walters. With other exiled malcontents, English and
+Scotch, he had taken refuge in Holland. One of those exiled was the Earl of
+Argyle, whose father had figured prominently on the side of the Scottish
+Presbyterians against Charles I.
+
+Owing to national jealousy, the English and Scotch in Holland could not act
+in unison, but all were determined to strike against James. Two expeditions
+were planned--one under Argyle, who expected to find forces awaiting him in
+Scotland; the other under Monmouth, whose adherents were to join him in the
+west of England.
+
+Argyle's attempt miscarried through disagreement among the leaders, and the
+Earl was taken and beheaded, June 30, 1685. What befell the enterprise of
+Monmouth is told by Bishop Burnet, a contemporary historian. Monmouth was
+executed July 15, 1685, and in the trials known as the "Bloody Assizes,"
+presided over by the brutal George Jeffreys, some three hundred of the
+Duke's followers were condemned to death, and more than a thousand
+otherwise punished.
+
+As soon as Lord Argyle sailed for Scotland, Monmouth set about his design
+with as much haste as possible. Arms were brought and a ship was freighted
+for Bilbao in Spain. He pawned all his jewels, but these could not raise
+much, and no money was sent to him out of England. So he was hurried into
+an ill-designed invasion. The whole company consisted but of eighty-two
+persons. They were all faithful to one another. But some spies whom
+Shelton, the new envoy, set on work, sent him the notice of a suspected
+ship sailing out of Amsterdam with arms.
+
+Shelton neither understood the laws of Holland nor advised with those who
+did; otherwise he would have carried with him an order from the admiralty
+of Holland, that sat at The Hague, to be made use of as the occasion should
+require. When he came to Amsterdam, and applied himself to the magistrates
+there, desiring them to stop and search the ship that he named, they found
+the ship was already sailed out of their port and their jurisdiction went
+no further. So he was forced to send to the admiralty at The Hague. But
+those on board, hearing what he was come for, made all possible haste. And,
+the wind favoring them, they got out of the Texel before the order desired
+could be brought from The Hague. After a prosperous course, the Duke landed
+at Lyme in Dorsetshire (June 11, 1685); and he with his small company came
+ashore with some order, but with too much daylight, which discovered how
+few they were.
+
+The alarm was brought hot to London, where, upon the general report and
+belief of the thing, an act of attainder passed both Houses in one day;
+some small opposition being made by the Earl of Anglesey, because the
+evidence did not seem clear enough for so severe a sentence, which was
+grounded on the notoriety of the thing. The sum of five thousand pounds was
+set on his head. And with that the session of Parliament ended; which was
+no small happiness to the nation, such a body of men being dismissed
+with doing so little hurt. The Duke of Monmouth's manifesto was long and
+ill-penned--full of much black and dull malice.
+
+It charged the King with the burning of London, the popish plot, Godfrey's
+murder, and the Earl of Essex's death; and to crown all, it was pretended
+that the late King was poisoned by his orders: it was set forth that the
+King's religion made him incapable of the crown; that three subsequent
+houses of commons had voted his exclusion: the taking away of the old
+charters, and all the hard things done in the last reign, were laid to his
+charge: the elections of the present parliament were also set forth very
+odiously, with great indecency of style; the nation was also appealed to,
+when met in a free parliament, to judge of the Duke's own pretensions;[1]
+and all sort of liberty, both in temporals and spirituals, was promised to
+persons of all persuasions.
+
+[Footnote 1: He asserted that his mother had been the lawful wife of his
+father.--ED.]
+
+Upon the Duke of Monmouth's landing, many of the country people came in to
+join him, but very few of the gentry. He had quickly men enough about
+him to use all his arms. The Duke of Albemarle, as lord lieutenant of
+Devonshire, was sent down to raise the militia, and with them to make head
+against him. But their ill-affection appeared very evident; many deserted,
+and all were cold in the service. The Duke of Monmouth had the whole
+country open to him for almost a fortnight, during which time he was very
+diligent in training and animating his men. His own behavior was so
+gentle and obliging that he was master of all their hearts as much as
+was possible. But he quickly found what it was to be at the head of
+undisciplined men, that knew nothing of war, and that were not to be used
+with rigor. Soon after their landing, Lord Grey was sent out with a small
+party. He saw a few of the militia, and he ran for it; but his men stood,
+and the militia ran from them. Lord Grey brought a false alarm, that was
+soon found to be so, for the men whom their leader had abandoned came back
+in good order. The Duke of Monmouth was struck with this when he found that
+the person on whom he depended most, and for whom he designed the command
+of the horse, had already made himself infamous by his cowardice. He
+intended to join Fletcher with him in that command. But an unhappy accident
+made it not convenient to keep him longer about him. He sent him out on
+another party, and he, not being yet furnished with a horse, took the horse
+of one who had brought in a great body of men from Taunton. He was not in
+the way, so Fletcher not seeing him to ask his leave, thought that all
+things were to be in common among them that could advance the service.
+
+After Fletcher had ridden about as he was ordered, as he returned, the
+owner of the horse he rode on--who was a rough and ill-bred man--reproached
+him in very injurious terms for taking out his horse without his leave.
+Fletcher bore this longer than could have been expected from one of his
+impetuous temper. But the other persisted in giving him foul language, and
+offered a switch or a cudgel, upon which he discharged his pistol at him
+and shot him dead. He went and gave the Duke of Monmouth an account of
+this, who saw it was impossible to keep him longer about him without
+disgusting and losing the country people who were coming in a body to
+demand justice. So he advised him to go aboard the ship and to sail on to
+Spain whither she was bound. By this means he was preserved for that time.
+
+Ferguson ran among the people with all the fury of an enraged man that
+affected to pass for an enthusiast, though all his performances that way
+were forced and dry. The Duke of Monmouth's great error was that he did not
+in the first heat venture on some hardy action and then march either to
+Exeter or Bristol; where as he would have found much wealth, so he would
+have gained some reputation by it. But he lingered in exercising his men
+and stayed too long in the neighborhood of Lyme.
+
+By this means the King had time both to bring troops out of Scotland,
+after Argyle was taken, and to send to Holland for the English and Scotch
+regiments that were in the service of the states; which the Prince sent
+over very readily and offered his own person, and a greater force, if
+it were necessary. The King received this with great expressions of
+acknowledgment and kindness. It was very visible that he was much
+distracted in his thoughts, and that, what appearance of courage soever he
+might put on, he was inwardly full of apprehensions and fears. He dare not
+accept of the offer of assistance that the French made him; for by that he
+would have lost the hearts of the English nation, and he had no mind to be
+so much obliged to the Prince of Orange or to let him into his counsels or
+affairs. Prince George committed a great error in not asking the command of
+the army; for the command, how much soever he might have been bound to the
+counsels of others, would have given him some lustre; whereas his staying
+at home in such times of danger brought him under much neglect.
+
+The King could not choose worse than he did when he gave the command to
+the Earl of Feversham, who was a Frenchman by birth--and nephew to M. de
+Turenne. Both his brothers changing religion--though he continued still
+a Protestant--made that his religion was not much trusted to. He was an
+honest, brave, and good-natured man, but weak to a degree not easy to be
+conceived. And he conducted matters so ill that every step he made was like
+to prove fatal to the King's service. He had no parties abroad. He got no
+intelligence, and was almost surprised and like to be defeated, when he
+seemed to be under no apprehension, but was abed without any care or order.
+So that if the Duke of Monmouth had got but a very small number of good
+soldiers about him, the King's affairs would have fallen into great
+disorder.
+
+The Duke of Monmouth had almost surprised Lord Feversham and all about him
+while they were abed. He got in between two bodies, into which the army lay
+divided. He now saw his error in lingering so long. He began to want bread,
+and to be so straitened that there was a necessity of pushing for a speedy
+decision. He was so misled in his march that he lost an hour's time, and
+when he came near the army there was an inconsiderable ditch, in the
+passing which he lost so much more time that the officers had leisure to
+rise and be dressed, now they had the alarm. And they put themselves in
+order. Yet the Duke of Monmouth's foot stood longer and fought better than
+could have been expected; especially, when the small body of horse they
+had, ran upon the first charge, the blame of which was cast on Lord Grey.
+
+The foot being thus forsaken and galled by the cannon, did run at last.
+About a thousand of them were killed on the spot, and fifteen hundred were
+taken prisoners. Their numbers, when fullest, were between five and six
+thousand.
+
+The Duke of Monmouth left the field[1] too soon for a man of courage who
+had such high pretensions; for a few days before he had suffered himself to
+be called king, which did him no service, even among those that followed
+him. He rode toward Dorsetshire; and when his horse could carry him no
+further he changed clothes with a shepherd and went as far as his legs
+could carry him, being accompanied only by a German whom he had brought
+over with him. At last, when he could go no farther, they lay down in a
+field where there was hay and straw, with which they covered themselves,
+so that they hoped to lie there unseen till night. Parties went out on all
+hands to take prisoners. The shepherd was found by Lord Lumley in the Duke
+of Monmouth's clothes. So this put them on his track, and having some dogs
+with them, they followed the scent, and came to the place where the German
+was first discovered. And he immediately pointed to the place where the
+Duke of Monmouth lay. So he was taken in a very indecent dress and posture.
+
+[Footnote 1: This engagement took place at Ledgemoor, Somerset, July 6,
+1685.--ED.]
+
+His body was quite sunk with fatigue, and his mind was now so low that he
+begged his life in a manner that agreed ill with the courage of the former
+parts of it. He called for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote to the Earl of
+Feversham, and both to the Queen and the Queen dowager, to intercede with
+the King for his life. The King's temper, as well as his interest, made it
+so impossible to hope for that, that it showed a great meanness in him
+to ask it in such terms as he used in his letters. He was carried up to
+Whitehall, where the King examined him in person, which was thought very
+indecent, since he was resolved not to pardon him.[1] He made new and
+unbecoming submissions, and insinuated a readiness to change his religion;
+for, he said, the King knew what his first education was in religion. There
+were no discoveries to be got from him; for the attempt was too rash to be
+well concerted, or to be so deep laid that many were involved in the guilt
+of it. He was examined on Monday, and orders were given for his execution
+on Wednesday.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Duke of Monmouth pressed extremely that the King would see
+him, whence the King concluded he had something to say to him that he
+would tell to nobody else; but when he found it ended in nothing but lower
+submission than he either expected or desired, he told him plainly he had
+put it out of his power to pardon him by having proclaimed himself king.
+Thus may the most innocent actions of a man's life be sometimes turned to
+his disadvantage.--ED.]
+
+Turner and Ken, the Bishops of Ely and of Bath and Wells, were ordered
+to wait on him. But he called for Dr. Tennison. The bishops studied to
+convince him of the sin of rebellion. He answered, he was sorry for the
+blood that was shed in it, but he did not seem to repent of the design. Yet
+he confessed that his father had often told him that there was no truth in
+the reports of his having married his mother. This he set under his hand,
+probably for his children's sake, who were then prisoners in the Tower,
+that so they might not be ill-used on his account. He showed a great
+neglect of his duchess. And her resentments for his course of life with
+Lady Wentworth wrought so much on her that she seemed not to have any of
+that tenderness left that became her sex and his present circumstances, for
+when he desired to speak privately with her she would have witnesses to
+hear all that passed, to justify herself, and to preserve her family.
+They parted very coldly. He only recommended to her the rearing of their
+children in the Protestant religion.
+
+The bishops continued still to press on him a deep sense of the sin of
+rebellion; at which he grew so uneasy that he desired them to speak to him
+of other matters. They next charged him with the sin of living with Lady
+Wentworth, as he had done. In that he justified himself; he had married his
+duchess too young to give a true consent; he said that lady was a pious
+worthy woman, and that he had never lived so well, in all respects, as
+since his engagements with her. All the pains they took to convince him of
+the unlawfulness of that course of life had no effect. They did certainly
+very well in discharging their consciences and speaking so plainly to him.
+But they did very ill to talk so much of this matter and to make it so
+public, as they did, for divines ought not to repeat what they say to dying
+penitents no more than what the penitents say to them. By this means the
+Duke of Monmouth had little satisfaction in them and they had as little in
+him.
+
+He was much better pleased with Dr. Tennison, who did very plainly speak to
+him with relation to his public actings and to his course of life; but he
+did it in a softer and less peremptory manner. And having said all that he
+thought proper, he left those points, in which he saw he could not convince
+him, to his own conscience, and turned to other things fit to be laid
+before a dying man. The Duke begged one day more of life with such repeated
+earnestness that as the King was much blamed for denying so small a favor,
+so it gave occasion to others to believe that he had some hope from
+astrologers that if he outlived that day he might have a better fate. As
+long as he fancied there was any hope, he was too much unsettled in his
+mind to be capable of anything.
+
+But when he saw all was to no purpose and that he must die he complained a
+little that his death was hurried on so fast. But all on a sudden he came
+into a composure of mind that surprised those that saw it. There was no
+affectation in it. His whole behavior was easy and calm, not without a
+decent cheerfulness. He prayed God to forgive all his sins, unknown as well
+as known. He seemed confident of the mercies of God, and that he was going
+to be happy with him. And he went to the place of execution on Tower Hill
+with an air of undisturbed courage that was grave and composed. He said
+little there, only that he was sorry for the blood that was shed, but he
+had ever meant well to the nation. When he saw the axe he touched it and
+said it was not sharp enough. He gave the hangman but half the reward he
+intended, and said if he cut off his head cleverly, and not so butcherly as
+he did the Lord Russel's, his man would give him the rest.
+
+The executioner was in great disorder, trembling all over; so he gave him
+two or three strokes without being able to finish the matter and then flung
+the axe out of his hand. But the sheriff forced him to take it up; and at
+three or four more strokes he severed his head from his body and both were
+presently buried in the chapel of the Tower. Thus lived and died this
+unfortunate young man. He had several good qualities in him, and some that
+were as bad. He was soft and gentle even to excess and too easy to those
+who had credit with him. He was both sincere and good-natured, and
+understood war well. But he was too much given to pleasure and to
+favorites.
+
+
+
+%REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES%
+
+A.D. 1685
+
+BON LOUIS HENRI MARTIN
+
+
+It was one of the glories of Henry of Navarre to end the religious wars of
+France by publishing the Edict of Nantes (1598), which placed Catholics and
+Protestants on a practically equal footing as subjects. By the revocation
+of that edict, in 1685, Louis XIV opened the way for fresh persecution of
+the Huguenots. Of the hundreds of thousands whom the King and his agents
+then caused to flee the country and seek civil and religious liberty in
+other lands, many crossed the sea and settled in the colonies of North
+America, especially in South Carolina.
+
+By revoking the Edict of Nantes Louis XIV arrayed against himself all the
+Protestant countries of Europe. By seizures of territory he also offended
+Catholic states. In 1686 the League of Augsburg combined the greater part
+of Europe for resisting his encroachments.
+
+This period of the "Huguenots of the Dispersion" was marked by complicated
+strifes in politics, religion, and philosophy. It was one of the most
+reactionary epochs in French history. No writer has better depicted the
+time, with the severities, atrocities, and effects of the revocation of the
+great edict, than Martin, the celebrated historian of his country.
+
+For many years the government of Louis XIV had been acting toward the
+Reformation as toward a victim entangled in a noose which is drawn tighter
+and tighter till it strangles its prey. In 1683 the oppressed had finally
+lost patience, and their partial attempts at resistance, disavowed by the
+most distinguished of their brethren, had been stifled in blood. After
+the truce of Ratisbon, declarations and decrees hostile to Protestantism
+succeeded each other with frightful rapidity; nothing else was seen in the
+official gazette. Protestant ministers were prohibited from officiating
+longer than three years in the same church (August, 1684); Protestant
+individuals were forbidden to give asylum to their sick coreligionists; the
+sick who were not treated at home were required to go to the hospitals,
+where they were put in the hands of churchmen. A beautiful and touching
+request, written by Pastor Claude, was in vain presented to the King
+in January, 1685. Each day beheld some Protestant church closed for
+contraventions either imaginary or fraudulently fabricated by persecutors.
+It was enough that the child of a "convert" or a bastard (all bastards were
+reputed Catholic) should enter a Protestant church for the exercise of
+worship, to be interdicted there.
+
+If this state of things had continued long, not a single Protestant church
+would have been left. The Protestant academy or university of Saumur,
+which had formed so many eminent theologians and orators, was closed; the
+ministers were subjected to the villein tax for their real estate (January,
+1685). The quinquennial assembly of the clergy, held in May, presented to
+the King a multitude of new demands against the heretics; among others, for
+the establishment of penalties against the "converts" who did not fulfil
+their duties as Catholics. The penalty of death, which had been decreed
+against emigrants, was commuted into perpetual confinement in the galleys,
+by the request of the clergy. The first penalty had been little more than
+a threat; the second, which confounded with the vilest miscreants,
+unfortunates guilty of having desired to flee from persecution, was to be
+applied in the sternest reality! It was extended to Protestants living in
+France who should authorize their children to marry foreigners. It was
+interdicted to Reformers to follow the occupation of printer or bookseller.
+It was forbidden to confer on them degrees in arts, law, or medicine.
+Protestant orphans could have only Catholic guardians. Half of the goods
+of emigrants was promised to informers. It was forbidden to Reformers to
+preach or write against Catholicism (July, August, 1685).
+
+A multitude of Protestant churches had been demolished, and the inhabitants
+of places where worship had been suppressed were prohibited from going
+to churches in places where it was still permitted. Grave difficulties
+resulted with respect to the principal acts of civil life, which, among
+Protestants as among Catholics, owed their authenticity only to the
+intervention of ministers of religion. A decree in council of September 15,
+1685, enacted that, in places deprived of the exercise of worship, a pastor
+chosen by the intendant of the generality should celebrate, in the presence
+of relatives only, the marriages of Reformers; that their bans should be
+published to the congregations, and the registries of their marriages
+entered on the rolls of the local court. Similar decrees had been issued
+concerning baptisms and burials. Hitherto Protestantism had been struck
+right and left with all kinds of weapons, without any very definite method:
+these decrees seemed to indicate a definite plan; that is, the suppression
+of external worship, with a certain tolerance, at least provisionally, for
+conscience, and a kind of civil state separately constituted for obstinate
+Protestants.
+
+This plan had, in fact, been debated in council. "The King," wrote Madame
+de Maintenon, August 13, 1684, "has it in mind to work for the _entire_
+conversion of heretics; he has frequent conferences for this purpose with
+M. le Tellier and M. de Chateauneuf (the secretary of state charged with
+the affairs of the so-called Reformed religion), in which they wish to
+persuade me to take part. M. de Chateauneuf has proposed means that are
+unsuitable. Things must not be hastened. _It is necessary to convert, not
+to persecute_. M. de Louvois prefers mild measures which do not accord with
+his nature and his eagerness to see things ended."
+
+The means proposed by Chateauneuf was apparently the immediate revocation
+of the Edict of Nantes, which was judged premature. As to the "mildness" of
+Louvois, it was soon seen in operation. Louvois pretended to be moderate,
+lest the King, through scruples of humanity, should hesitate to confer on
+him the management of the affair. He had his plan ready: it was to recur to
+the "salutary constraint" already tried in 1681 by the instrumentality
+of soldiers to the Dragonade. Colbert was no longer at hand to interpose
+obstacles to this.
+
+Louvois had persuaded the King that in the moral situation of Protestant
+communities it would be enough "to show them the troops," to compel them to
+abjure. The troops had been "shown," therefore, to the Reformers of Bearn;
+the intendant of that province, Foucault, had come to Paris to concert with
+the minister the management of the enterprise; Louvois could not have found
+a fitter instrument than this pitiless and indefatigable man, who had the
+soul of an inquisitor under the garb of a pliant courtier. On his return
+from Paris, Foucault, seconded by the Parliament of Pau and the clergy,
+began by the demolition, on account of "contraventions," of fifteen out of
+twenty Protestant churches that remained in Bearn, and the "conversion" of
+eleven hundred persons in two months (February-April, 1685). He then called
+for the assistance of the army to complete the work, promising "to keep a
+tight rein over the soldiers, so that they should do no violence." This
+was for the purpose of allaying the scruples of the King. The troops were
+therefore concentrated in the cities and villages filled with Reformers;
+the five remaining Protestant churches shared the fate of the rest, and
+the pastors were banished, some to a distance of six leagues from their
+demolished churches, others beyond the jurisdiction of the Parliament of
+Pau.
+
+Terror flew before the soldiers; as soon as the scarlet uniforms and the
+high caps of the dragoons were descried, corporations, whole cities, sent
+their submission to the intendant. An almost universal panic chilled all
+hearts. The mass of Reformers signed or verbally accepted a confession of
+the Catholic faith, suffered themselves to be led to the church, bowed
+their heads to the benediction of the bishop or the missionary, and cannon
+and bonfires celebrated the "happy reconciliation." Protestants who had
+hoped to find a refuge in liberty of conscience without external worship
+saw this hope vanish. Foucault paid no attention to the decrees in council
+that regulated the baptisms, marriages, and burials of Protestants,
+because, he said in a despatch to the minister, "in the present disposition
+to general and speedy conversion, this would expose those who waver, and
+harden the obstinate." The council issued a new order confirmatory of the
+preceding ones, and specially for Bearn. Foucault, according to his
+own words, "did not judge proper to execute it." This insolence went
+unpunished. Success justified everything. Before the end of August the
+twenty-two thousand Protestants of Bearn were "converted," save a few
+hundred. Foucault, in his _Memoirs_, in which he exhibits his triumphs with
+cynicism, does not, however, avow all the means. Although he confesses that
+"the distribution of money drew many souls to the Church," he does not
+say how he kept his promise of preventing the "soldiers from doing any
+violence." He does not recount the brutalities, the devastations, the
+tortures resorted to against the refractory, the outrages to women, nor
+how these soldiers took turns from hour to hour to hinder their hosts from
+sleeping during entire weeks till these unfortunates, stupefied, delirious,
+signed an abjuration.
+
+The King saw only the result. The resolution was taken to send everywhere
+these "booted missionaries" who had succeeded so well in Bearn. Louvois
+sent, on the part of the King, July 31st, a command to the Marquis de
+Boufflers, their general, to lead them into Guienne, and "to quarter them
+all on the Reformers"; "observing to endeavor to diminish the number of
+Reformers in such a manner that in each community the Catholics shall be
+twice or three times more numerous than they; so that when, in due time,
+his majesty shall wish no longer to permit the exercise of this religion in
+his kingdom, he may no longer have to apprehend that the small number that
+shall remain can undertake anything." The troops were to be withdrawn as
+fast as this object should be obtained in each place, without undertaking
+to convert all at once. The ministers should be driven out of the country,
+and by no means should they be retained by force; the pastors absent, the
+flocks could more easily be brought to reason. The soldiers were to commit
+"no other disorders than to levy (daily) twenty sous for each horseman or
+dragoon, and ten sous for each foot-soldier." Excesses were to be severely
+punished. Louvois, in another letter, warned the general not to yield to
+all the suggestions of the ecclesiastics, nor even of the intendants. They
+did not calculate on being able to proceed so rapidly as in Bearn.
+
+These instructions show precisely, not what was done, but what the King
+wished should be done. The subalterns, sure of immunity in case of success,
+acted more in accordance with the spirit of Louvois than according to the
+words dictated by Louis. The King, when by chance he heard that his orders
+had been transcended, rarely chastised the transgressor, lest it might be
+"said to the Reformers that his majesty disapproves of whatsoever has been
+done to convert them." Louis XIV, therefore, cannot repudiate, before
+history, his share of this terrible responsibility.
+
+The result exceeded the hopes of the King and of Louvois. Guienne yielded
+as easily as Bearn. The Church of Montauban, the head-quarters of the
+Reformation in this region, was "reunited" in great majority, after several
+days of military vexations; Bergerac held out a little longer; then all
+collective resistance ceased. The cities and villages, for ten or twelve
+leagues around, sent to the military leaders their promises of abjuration.
+In three weeks there were sixty thousand conversions in the district of
+Bordeaux or Lower Guienne, twenty thousand in that of Montauban or Upper
+Guienne. According to the reports of Boufflers, Louvois, September 7th,
+reckoned that before the end of the month there would not remain in Lower
+Guienne ten thousand Reformers out of the one hundred fifty thousand found
+there August 15th. "There is not a courier," wrote Madame de Maintenon,
+September 26th, "that does not bring the King great causes of joy; to wit,
+news of conversions by thousands." The only resistance that they deigned to
+notice here and there was that of certain provincial gentlemen, of simple
+and rigid habits, less disposed than the court nobility to sacrifice their
+faith to interest and vanity.
+
+Guienne subjected, the army of Bearn was marched, a part into Limousin,
+Saintonge, and Poitou, a part into Languedoc. Poitou, already "dragooned"
+in 1681 by the intendant Marillac, had just been so well labored with by
+Marillac's successor, Lamoignon de Basville, aided by some troops, that
+Foucault, sent from Bearn into Poitou, found nothing more to glean. The
+King even caused Louvois to recommend that they should not undertake to
+convert all the Reformers at once, lest the rich and powerful families, who
+had in their hands the commerce of those regions, should avail themselves
+of the proximity of the sea to take flight (September 8th). Basville, a
+great administrator, but harshly inflexible, was sent from Poitou into
+Lower Languedoc, in the first part of September, in order to cooeperate
+there with the Duke de Noailles, governor of the province. The intendant of
+Lower Languedoc, D'Aguesseau, although he had zealously cooeperated in all
+the restrictive measures of the Reformed worship, had asked for his recall
+as soon as he had seen that the King was determined on the employment of
+military force; convinced that this determination would not be less fatal
+to religion than to the country, he retired, broken-hearted, his spirit
+troubled for the future.
+
+The conversion of Languedoc seemed a great undertaking. The mass of
+Protestants, nearly all concentrated in Lower Languedoc, and in the
+mountainous regions adjoining, was estimated at more than two hundred forty
+thousand souls; these people, more ardent, more constant than the mobile
+and sceptical Gascons, did not seem capable of so easily abandoning
+their belief. The result, however, was the same as elsewhere. Nimes and
+Montpellier followed the example of Montauban. The quartering of a hundred
+soldiers in their houses quickly reduced the notables of Nimes; in this
+diocese alone, the principal centre of Protestantism, sixty thousand souls
+abjured in three days. Several of the leading ministers did the same. From
+Nimes the Duc de Noailles led the troops into the mountains. Cevennes and
+Gevaudan submitted to invasion like the rest, as the armed mission advanced
+from valley to valley. These cantons were still under the terror of the
+sanguinary repressions of 1683, and had been disarmed, as far as it was
+possible, as well as all Lower Languedoc. Noailles, in the earlier part of
+October, wrote to Louvois that he would answer "upon his head" that, before
+the end of November, the province would contain no more Huguenots. If we
+are to believe his letters, prepared for the eyes of the King, everything
+must have taken place "with all possible wisdom and discipline"; but the
+Chancellor d'Aguesseau, in the "life" of his father, the intendant, teaches
+us what we are to think of it. "The manner in which this miracle was
+wrought," he says, "the singular facts that were recounted to us day by
+day, would have sufficed to pierce a heart less religious than that of my
+father!" Noailles himself, in a confidential letter, announced to Louvois
+that he would ere long send "some capable men to answer about any matters
+which he desired to know, and about which he could not write." There was
+a half tacit understanding established between the minister, the military
+chiefs, and the intendants. The King, in their opinion, desired the end
+without sufficiently desiring the means.
+
+Dauphiny, Limousin, La Rochelle, that holy Zion of the Huguenots, all
+yielded at the same time. Louis was intoxicated. It had sufficed for him
+to say a word, to lay his hand upon the hilt of his sword, to make those
+fierce Huguenots, who had formerly worn out so many armies, and had forced
+so many kings to capitulate before their rebellions, fall at his feet and
+the feet of the Church. Who would henceforth dare to doubt his divine
+mission and his infallible genius!
+
+Not that Louis, nor especially those that surrounded him, precisely
+believed that terror produced the effects of _grace_, or that these
+innumerable conversions were sincere; but they saw in this the extinction
+of all strong conviction among the heretics, the moral exhaustion of an
+expiring sect. "The children at least will be Catholics, if the fathers
+are hypocrites," wrote Madame de Maintenon. At present it was necessary to
+complete the work and to prevent dangerous relapses in these subjugated
+multitudes. It was necessary to put to flight as quickly as possible the
+"false pastors" who might again lead their old flocks astray, and to make
+the law conform to the fact, by solemnly revoking the concessions formerly
+wrung by powerful and armed heresy from the feebleness of the ruling power.
+Louis had long preserved some scruples about the violation of engagements
+entered into by his grandfather Henry IV; but his last doubts had been
+set at rest, several months since, by a "special council of conscience,"
+composed of two theologians and two jurisconsults, who had decided that he
+might and should revoke the Edict of Nantes. The names of the men who took
+upon themselves the consequences of such a decision have remained unknown:
+doubtless the confessor La Chaise was one of the theologians; who was the
+other? The Archbishop of Paris, Harlai, was not, perhaps, in sufficient
+esteem, on account of his habits. The great name of the Bishop of Meaux
+naturally presents itself to the mind; but neither the correspondence of
+Bossuet nor the documents relating to his life throw any light on this
+subject, and we know not whether a direct and material responsibility must
+be added to the moral responsibility with which the maxims of Bossuet and
+the spirit of his works burden his memory.
+
+After the "council of conscience," the council of the King was convened
+for a definitive deliberation in the earlier part of October. Some of the
+ministers, apparently the two Colberts, Seignelai, and Croissi, insinuated
+that it would be better not to be precipitate. The Dauphin, a young prince
+of twenty-four, who resembled, in his undefined character, his grandfather
+more than his father, and who was destined to remain always as it were lost
+in the splendid halo of Louis the Great, attempted an intervention that
+deserves to rescue his name from oblivion. "He represented, from an
+anonymous memorial that had been addressed to him the evening before, that
+it was, perhaps, to be apprehended that the Huguenots might take up arms;"
+"that in case they did not dare to do this, a great number would leave the
+kingdom, which would injure commerce and agriculture, and thereby even
+weaken the state." The King replied that he had foreseen all and provided
+for all, that nothing in the world would be more painful to him than to
+shed a drop of the blood of his subjects, but that he had armies and good
+generals whom he would employ, in case of necessity, against rebels who
+desired their own destruction. As to the argument of interest, he judged
+it little worthy of consideration, compared with the advantages of an
+undertaking that would restore to religion its splendor, to the state its
+tranquillity, and to authority all its rights. The suppression of the Edict
+of Nantes was resolved upon without further opposition.
+
+Father la Chaise and Louvois, according to their ecclesiastical and
+military correspondence, had promised that it should not even cost the drop
+of blood of which the King spoke. The aged Chancellor le Tellier, already
+a prey to the malady that was to bring him to his grave, drew up with
+trembling hand the fatal declaration, which the King signed October 17th.
+
+Louis professed in this preamble to do nothing but continue the pious
+designs of his grandfather and his father for the reunion of their subjects
+to the Church. He spoke of the "perpetual and irrevocable" edict of Henry
+IV as a temporary regulation. "Our cares," he said, "since the truce that
+we facilitated for this purpose, have had the effect that we proposed to
+ourselves, since the better and the greater part of our subjects of the
+so-called Reformed religion have embraced the Catholic; and inasmuch as by
+reason of this the execution of the Edict of Nantes" "remains useless, we
+have judged that we could not do better, in order wholly to efface the
+memory of evils that this false religion had caused in our kingdom, than
+entirely to revoke the said Edict of Nantes and all that has been done
+since in favor of the said religion."
+
+The order followed to demolish unceasingly all the churches of the said
+religion situated in the kingdom. It was forbidden to assemble for the
+exercise of the said religion, in any place, private house or tenement,
+under penalty of confiscation of body and goods. All ministers of the said
+religion who would not be converted were enjoined to leave the kingdom in a
+fortnight, and divers favors were granted to those who should be converted.
+Private schools for instruction of children in the said religion were
+interdicted. Children who should be born to those of the said religion
+should for the future be baptized by the parish curates, under penalty of a
+fine of five hundred livres, and still more, if there were occasion, to
+be paid by the parents, and the children should then be brought up in the
+Catholic religion. A delay of four months was granted to fugitive Reformers
+to leave the kingdom and recover possession of their property; this delay
+passed, the property should remain confiscated. It was forbidden anew to
+Reformers to leave the kingdom, under penalty of the galleys for men,
+and confiscation of body and goods for women. The declarations against
+backsliders were confirmed.
+
+A last article, probably obtained by the representations of the Colberts,
+declared that the Reformers, "till it should please God to enlighten them
+like others, should be permitted to dwell in the kingdom, in strict loyalty
+to the King, to continue there their commerce and enjoy their goods,
+without being molested or hindered under pretext of the said religion."
+
+The Edict of Revocation was sent in haste to the governors and intendants,
+without waiting for it to be registered, which took place in the Parliament
+of Paris, October 22d. The intendants were instructed not to allow the
+ministers who should abandon the country to dispose of their real estate,
+or to take with them their children above seven years of age: a monstrous
+dismemberment of the family wrought by an arbitrary will that recognized
+neither natural nor civil rights! The King recommended a milder course
+toward noblemen, merchants, and manufacturers; he did not desire that
+obstinacy should be shown "in compelling them to be converted immediately
+without exception" "by any considerable violence."
+
+The tone of the ministerial instructions changed quickly on the reception
+of despatches announcing the effect of the edict in the provinces. This
+effect teaches us more in regard to the situation of the dragooned people
+than could the most sinister narratives. The edict which proscribed the
+Reformed worship, which interdicted the perpetuation of the Protestant
+religion by tearing from it infants at their birth, was received as a boon
+by Protestants who remained faithful to their belief. They saw, in the
+last article of the edict, the end of persecution, and, proud of having
+weathered the storm, they claimed the tolerance that the King promised
+them, and the removal of their executioners. The new converts, who,
+persuaded that the King desired to force all his subjects to profess
+his religion, had yielded through surprise, fear, want of constancy in
+suffering, or through a worthier motive, the desire of saving their
+families from the license of the soldiers, manifested their regret and
+their remorse, and were no longer willing to go to mass.
+
+All the leaders of the dragonades, the Noailles, the Foucaults, the
+Basvilles, the Marillacs, complained bitterly of a measure that was useless
+to them as to the demolition of Protestant churches and the prohibition of
+worship, and very injurious as to the progress of conversions. They had
+counted on rooting out the worship by converting all the believers. The
+revocation of the Edict of Nantes sinned, therefore, in their eyes by
+excess of moderation! Louvois hastened to reassure them in this respect,
+and authorized them to act as if the last article of the edict did not
+exist. "His majesty," he said, "desires that the extremest rigors of the
+law should be felt by those who will not make themselves of his religion,
+and those who shall have the foolish glory of wishing to remain the
+last must be pushed to the last extremity." "Let the soldiers," he said
+elsewhere, "be allowed to live very licentiously!" (November, 1685).
+
+The King, however, did not mean it thus, and claimed that persecution
+should be conducted with method and gravity. But men do not stop at
+pleasure in evil: one abyss draws on another. The way had been opened to
+brutal and cynical passions, to the spirit of denunciation, to low and
+mean fanaticism; the infamies with which the subaltern agents polluted
+themselves recoiled upon the chiefs who did not repress them, and on this
+proud government that did not blush to add to the odium of persecution the
+shame of faithlessness! The chiefs of the dragonades judged it necessary to
+restrain the bad converts by making example of the obstinate; hence arose
+an inundation of horrors in which we see, as Saint Simon says, "the
+orthodox imitating against heretics the acts of pagan tyrants against
+confessors and martyrs." Everything, in fact, was allowed the soldiers
+but rape and murder; and even this restriction was not always respected;
+besides, many of the unfortunate died or were maimed for life in
+consequence of the treatment to which they had been subjected; and the
+obscene tortures inflicted on women differed little from the last outrage,
+but in a perversity more refined.
+
+All the diabolic inventions of the highwaymen of the Middle Ages to extort
+gold from their captives were renewed here and there to secure conversions:
+the feet of the victims were scorched, they were strappadoed, suspended by
+the feet; young mothers were tied to the bedposts, while their infants at
+the breast were writhing with hunger before their eyes. "From torture to
+abjuration, and from this to communion, there was often not twenty-four
+hours' distance, and their executioners were their guides and witnesses.
+Nearly all the bishops lent themselves to this sudden and impious
+practice." Among the Reformed whom nothing could shake, those who
+encouraged others to resistance by the influence of their character or
+social position were sent to the Bastille or other state prisons; some were
+entombed in subterranean dungeons--in those dark pits, stifling or deadly
+cold, invented by feudal barbarism. The remains of animals in a state of
+putrefaction were sometimes thrown in after them, to redouble the horror!
+The hospital of Valence and the tower of Constance at Aigues-Mortes have
+preserved, in Protestant martyrology, a frightful renown. The women usually
+showing themselves more steadfast than the men, the most obstinate were
+shut up in convents; infamous acts took place there; yet they were rare. It
+must be said to the honor of the sex, often too facile to the suggestions
+of fanaticism, that the nuns showed much more humanity and true religion
+than the priests and monks. Astonished to see Huguenot women so different
+from the idea they had formed of them, they almost became the protectors of
+victims that had been given them to torment.
+
+The abduction of children put the final seal to the persecution. The Edict
+of Revocation had only declared that children subsequently born should be
+brought up in the Catholic religion. An edict of January, 1686, prescribed
+that children from five to sixteen years of age should be taken from their
+heretical relatives and put in the hands of Catholic relatives, or, if they
+had none, of Catholics designated by the judges! The crimes that we have
+just indicated might, in strictness, be attributed to the passions of
+subaltern agents; but this mighty outrage against the family and nature
+must be charged to the Government alone.
+
+With the revocation, the dragonade was extended, two places partially
+excepted, over all France. When the great harvest had been sufficiently
+gathered in the South and West, the reapers were sent elsewhere. The
+battalions of converters marched from province to province till they
+reached the northern frontier, carrying everywhere the same terror. Metz,
+where the Protestants were numerous, was particularly the theatre of
+abominable excesses. Paris and Alsace were alone, to a certain extent,
+preserved. Louvois did not dare to show such spectacles to the society of
+Versailles and Paris; the King would not have endured it. The people of
+Paris demolished the Protestant church of Charenton, an object of their
+ancient animosity; the ruling power weighed heavily upon the eight or nine
+thousand Huguenots who remained in the capital, and constrained two-thirds
+of them, by intimidation, to a feigned conversion; but there were no
+striking acts of violence, except perhaps the banishment of thirty elders
+of the consistory to different parts of the kingdom, and the soldiers did
+not make their appearance. The lieutenant of police, La Reinie, took care
+to reassure the leading merchants, and the last article of the Edict of
+Revocation was very nearly observed in Paris and its environs. As to
+Lutheran Alsace, it had nothing in common with the system of the Edict
+of Nantes and the French Calvinists: the Treaty of Westphalia, the
+capitulation of Strasburg, all the acts that bound it to France, guaranteed
+to it a separate religious state. An attempt was indeed made to encroach
+upon Lutheranism by every means of influence and by a system of petty
+annoyances; but direct attacks were limited to a suppression of public
+worship in places where the population was two-thirds Catholic. The
+political events that soon disturbed Europe compelled the French Government
+to be circumspect toward the people of this recently conquered frontier.
+
+The converters indemnified themselves at the expense of another frontier
+population, that was not dependent on France. The Vaudois, the first
+offspring of the Reformation, had always kept possession of the high
+Alpine valleys, on the confines of Piedmont and Dauphiny, in spite of the
+persecutions that they had repeatedly endured from the governments of
+France and Piedmont. The Piedmontese Vaudois had their Edict of Nantes;
+that is, liberty of worship in the three valleys of St. Martin, La Luzerne,
+and La Perouse. When the dragonade invaded Dauphiny, the Vaudois about
+Briancon and Pignerol took refuge in crowds with their brethren in the
+valleys subject to Piedmont. The French Government was unwilling to suffer
+them to remain in this asylum. The Duke Victor Amadeus II enjoined the
+refugees to quit his territory (November 4th). The order was imperfectly
+executed, and Louis XIV demanded more. The Duke, by an edict of February 1,
+1686, prohibited the exercise of heretical worship, and ordered the
+schools to be closed under penalty of death. The _barbes_ (ministers),
+schoolmasters, and French refugees were to leave the states of the Duke in
+a fortnight, under the same penalty. The Vaudois responded by taking up
+arms, without reflecting on the immense force of their oppressors. The
+three valleys were assailed at the same time by French and Piedmontese
+troops. The French were commanded by the governor of Casale, Catinat, a man
+of noble heart, an elevated and philosophic mind, who deplored his fatal
+mission, and attempted to negotiate with the insurgents, but Catinat could
+neither persuade to submission these men resolved to perish rather than
+renounce their faith, nor restrain the fury of his soldiers exasperated by
+the vigor of the resistance. The valleys of St. Martin and La Perouse were
+captured, and the victors committed frightful barbarities. Meanwhile
+the Piedmontese, after having induced the mountaineers, who guarded the
+entrance of the valley of La Luzerne, to lay down their arms, by false
+promises, slaughtered three thousand women, children, and old men at
+the Pre de la Tour! The remotest recesses of the Alps were searched; a
+multitude of unfortunates were exterminated singly: more than ten thousand
+were dragged as prisoners to the fortresses of Piedmont, where most of them
+died of want. A handful of the bravest succeeding in maintaining themselves
+among the rocks, where they could not be captured, and, protected by the
+intervention of Protestant powers, and especially of the Swiss, finally
+obtained liberty to emigrate, both for themselves and their coreligionists.
+
+There has often been seen in history much greater bloodshed than that
+caused by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, scenes of destruction
+planned more directly and on a vaster scale by governments, and sometimes
+the same contrast between an advanced state of civilization and acts of
+barbarity; but no spectacle wounds moral sense and humanity to the same
+degree as this persecution carried on coldly and according to abstract
+ideas, without the excuse of struggle and danger, without the ardent fever
+of battle and revolution. The very virtues of the persecutors are here
+but an additional monstrosity: doubtless, there is also seen, at a later
+period, among the authors of another reign of terror, this same contrast
+that astounds and troubles the conscience of posterity; but they, at least,
+staked each day their own lives against the lives of their adversaries,
+and, with their lives, the very existence of the country involved in their
+cause!
+
+A million and a half of Frenchmen were in terror and despair; yet songs of
+victory resounded around Louis the Great. The aged Le Tellier lifted to
+heaven the hand that had just signed the Revocation, and parodied, on the
+occasion of an edict that recalls the times of Decius and Diocletian,
+the canticle by which Simeon hailed the birth of the Redeemer. He died
+a fanatic, after having lived a cold and astute politician (October 31,
+1685); he died, and the most eloquent voices of the Gallican Church broke
+forth in triumphal hymns, as over the tomb of a victorious hero! "Let us
+publish this miracle of our days," exclaimed Bossuet, in that funeral
+oration of Le Tellier, wherein he nevertheless exhibited apprehensions of
+new combats and of a sombre future for the Church; "let us pour forth our
+hearts in praise of the piety of Louis; let us lift our acclamations to
+heaven, and let us say to this new Constantine, to this new Theodosius, to
+this new Marcianus, to this new Charlemagne: 'You have strengthened the
+faith, you have exterminated the heretics; this is the meritorious work of
+your reign, its peculiar characteristic. Through you heresy is no more: God
+alone could have wrought this wonder.'" The gentle Flechier himself echoed
+Bossuet, with the whole corps of the clergy with the great mass of the
+people. Paris and Versailles, that did not witness the horror of the
+details, that saw only the general prestige and the victory of unity, were
+deaf to the doleful reports that came from the provinces, and applauded the
+"new Constantine."
+
+"This is the grandest and finest thing that ever was conceived and
+accomplished," wrote Madame de Sevigne. All the corporations, courts of
+justice, academies, universities, municipal bodies, vied with each other in
+every species of laudatory allusion; medals represented the King crowned
+by Religion "for having brought back to the Church two millions of
+Calvinists"; the number of victims was swollen in order to swell the glory
+of the persecutor. Statues were erected to the "destroyer of heresy." This
+concert of felicitations was prolonged for years; the influence of example,
+the habit of admiring, wrung eulogies even from minds that, it would seem,
+ought to have remained strangers to this fascination; every writer thought
+he must pay his tribute; even La Bruyere, that sagacious observer and
+excellent writer, whose acute and profound studies of manners appeared in
+1687; and La Fontaine himself, the poet of free-thought and of universal
+freedom of action.
+
+The Government redoubled its rigor. The penalty of death was decreed
+against ministers reentering the kingdom without permission, and the
+galleys against whomsoever should give them asylum; penalty of death
+against whomsoever should take part in a meeting (July 1, 1686). And this
+penalty was not simply a dead letter! Whenever the soldiers succeeded in
+surprising Protestants assembled for prayer in any solitary place, they
+first announced their presence by a volley; those who escaped the bullet
+and the sword were sent to the gallows or the galleys. Measures almost as
+severe were employed to arrest emigration. Seamen were forbidden to aid the
+Reformers to escape under penalty of a fine for the first offence, and of
+corporal punishment for a second offence (November 5, 1685). They went
+further: ere long, whoever aided the flight of emigrants became liable to
+the galleys for life, like emigrants themselves (May 7, 1686). Armed barks
+cruised along all the coasts; all the passes of the frontier were guarded;
+the peasants everywhere had orders to rush upon the fugitives. Some of the
+emigrants perished in attempting to force an exit; a host of others
+was brought back manacled; they dared not place them all under the
+galley-master's lash; they feared the effects of their despair and of their
+numbers, if they should mass them in the royal galleys; they crowded the
+prisons with those who were unwilling to purchase pardon by abjuration. The
+misfortunes of the first emigrants served to render their coreligionists,
+not more timid, but more adroit; a multitude of pilgrims, of mendicants
+dragging their children after them, of nomadic artisans of both sexes
+and of all trades, incessantly took their way toward all the frontiers;
+innumerable disguises thus protected the "flight of Israel out of Egypt."
+Reformers selected the darkest winter nights to embark, in frail open
+boats, on the Atlantic or stormy Channel; the waves were seen to cast upon
+the shores of England families long tossed by tempests and dying with cold
+and hunger.
+
+By degrees, the guards stationed along the shores and the frontiers were
+touched or seduced, and became saviors and guides to fugitives whom they
+were set to arrest. Then perpetual confinement in the galleys was no longer
+sufficient against the accomplices of the _desertes_; for the galleys an
+edict substituted death; death, which fell not upon those guilty of the
+pretended crime of desertion, was promised to their abettors (October
+12, 1687). Some were given up to capital punishment; many, nevertheless,
+continued their perilous assistance to emigrants, and few betrayed them.
+Those Reformers whom the authority wished most to retain in the kingdom,
+the noblemen, the rich citizens, manufacturers, and merchants, were those
+who escaped easiest, being best able to pay for the interested compassion
+of the guards. It is said that the fugitives carried out of France sixty
+millions in five years. However this may be, the loss of men was much more
+to be regretted than the loss of money. The vital energy of France did
+not cease for many years to ooze away through this ever-open ulcer of
+emigration.
+
+It is difficult to estimate, even approximately, the number of Protestants
+who abandoned their country, become to them a barbarous mother. Vauban
+estimated it at a hundred thousand, from 1684 to 1691. Benoit, the
+Calvinist historian of the Edict of Nantes, who published his book in 1695,
+estimates it at two hundred thousand; the illustrious refugee Basnage
+speaks vaguely of three or four hundred thousand. Others give figures much
+more exaggerated, while the Duke of Burgundy, in the memoir that we have
+cited above, reduces the emigration to less than sixty-eight thousand
+souls in the course of twenty years; but the truly inconceivable illusions
+preserved by this young prince, concerning the moral and political results
+of the Revocation, do not allow us to put confidence in his testimony;
+he was deceived, took pleasure in being deceived, and closed his ear to
+whomsoever desired to undeceive him. The amount from two hundred thousand
+to two hundred fifty thousand, from the Revocation to the commencement
+of the following century, that is, to the revolt of Cevennes, seems most
+probable. But it is not so much by the quantity as by the quality of
+the emigrants that the real loss of France must be measured. France was
+incomparably more weakened than if two hundred thousand citizens had been
+taken at hazard from the Catholic mass of the nation. The Protestants were
+very superior, on the average, if not to the Catholic middle class of Paris
+and the principal centres of French civilization, at least to the mass of
+the people, and the emigrants were the best of the Protestants. A multitude
+of useful men, among them many superior men, left a frightful void in
+France, and went to swell the forces of Protestant nations. France declined
+both by what she lost and what her rivals gained. Before 1689 nine thousand
+sailors, the best in the kingdom, as Vauban says, twelve thousand soldiers,
+six hundred officers, had gone to foreign countries.
+
+The most skilful chiefs and agents of contemporaneous industry went in
+multitudes to settle in foreign lands. Industrial capacities, less striking
+than literary capacities, inflicted losses on France still more felt and
+less reparable. France was rich enough in literary glory to lose much
+without being impoverished; such was not the case with respect to industry;
+France was to descend in a few years, almost in a few months, from that
+economical supremacy which had been conquered for her by long efforts of a
+protective administration; populous cities beheld the branches of commerce
+that constituted their prosperity rapidly sinking, by the disappearance of
+the principal industrial families, and these branches taking root on the
+other side of the frontiers. Thus fell, never to rise again, the Norman
+hat trade--already suffering on account of regulations that fettered the
+Canadian fur trade. Other branches, in great number, did not disappear
+entirely, but witnessed the rise of a formidable competition in foreign
+lands, where they had hitherto remained unknown; these were so many outlets
+closed, so many markets lost for our exportation, lately so flourishing.
+A suburb of London (Spitalfields) was peopled with our workmen in silk,
+emigrated from Lyons and Touraine, which lost three-fourths of their looms;
+the manufacture of French silk was also established in Holland, with
+paper-making, cloth manufacture, etc. Many branches of industry were
+transplanted to Brandenburg, and twenty thousand Frenchmen carried the most
+refined arts of civilization to the coarse population thinly scattered
+among the sands and firs of that sombre region. French refugees paid for
+the hospitality of the Elector Frederick by laying the foundation of the
+high destinies of Berlin, which on their arrival was still but a small city
+of twelve or fifteen thousand souls, and which, thenceforth, took a start
+which nothing was to arrest. Like the Hebrews after the fall of Jerusalem,
+the Huguenot exiles scattered themselves over the entire world: some went
+to Ireland, carrying the cultivation of flax and hemp; others, led by a
+nephew of Duquesne, founded a small colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+France was impoverished, not only in Frenchmen who exiled themselves,
+but in those, much more numerous, who remained in spite of themselves,
+discouraged, ruined, whether they openly resisted persecution or suffered
+some external observances of Catholicism to be wrung from them, all having
+neither energy in work nor security in life; it was really the activity
+of more than a million of men that France lost, and of the million that
+produced most.
+
+The great enterprise, the miracle of the reign, therefore miscarried; the
+new temple that Louis had pretended to erect to unity fell to ruin as
+it rose from the ground, and left only an open chasm in place of its
+foundation. Everything that had been undertaken by the governing power of
+France for a century in the direction of national, civil, and territorial
+unity had gloriously succeeded; as soon as the governing power left this
+legitimate field of unity to invade the domain of conscience and of human
+individuality, it raised before itself insurmountable obstacles; it
+concerned itself in contests wherein it was equally fatal to conquer or
+be conquered, and gave the first blow to the greatness of France. What a
+contrast between the pretensions of Louis that he could neither be mistaken
+nor deceived, that he saw everything, that he accomplished everything, and
+the illusions with which he was surrounded in regard to the facility of
+success and the means employed! The nothingness of absolute power, and of
+government by one alone, was thus revealed under the reign of the "Great
+King!"
+
+
+
+%THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION%
+
+FLIGHT OF JAMES II
+
+A.D. 1688
+
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+H.D. TRAILL
+
+
+With the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England not only
+did the Stuart line come to an end, but the Protestant religion was finally
+established in the kingdom. By the Declaration of Right, upon which their
+title rested, it was decreed that after the death of William and Mary no
+person holding the Roman Catholic faith should ever be king or queen of
+England. Assumption of the throne by a Roman Catholic should release the
+people from their allegiance.
+
+William III (William of Orange) was a nephew of James II. He had greatly
+distinguished himself as leader of the Dutch against the invasions of Louis
+XIV, when the English people, tired of the tyranny of James II, and also
+fearing that he might be succeeded by a Catholic, decided to choose a
+Protestant for their sovereign. William was married (1677) to Mary, eldest
+child of James II. Could they have been sure that she would succeed her
+father, the English people would gladly have had Mary for their sole ruler,
+though European interests demanded the elevation to larger power of
+the Prince of Orange as the great antagonist of Louis XIV. William was
+accordingly invited to take possession of the English throne conjointly
+with Mary. The Prince of Orange landed at Torbay, November 5, 1688.
+
+This revolution, one of the least violent in all history, is best described
+by Bishop Burnet, who accompanied William of Orange from Holland to
+England, and in 1689 was made Bishop of Salisbury. He is not less eminent
+as the historian of his time than as a theologian and prelate of the
+English Church.
+
+Having made his preparations for sailing, William was annoyed by many
+delays occasioned by the hesitation of his subordinates. Traill's account
+of the convention which William summoned for settlement of the crown, gives
+in a wholly modern way the particulars of the formal accession of William
+and Mary.
+
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+
+All this while the men-of-war were still riding at sea, it being a
+continued storm for some weeks. The Prince[1] sent out several advice-boats
+with orders to them to come in. But they could not come up to them. On
+October 27th there was for six hours together a most dreadful storm; so
+that there were few among us that did not conclude that the best part of
+the fleet, and by consequence that the whole design, were lost. Many that
+have passed for heroes yet showed then the agonies of fear in their looks
+and whole deportment. The Prince still retained his usual calmness, and
+the same tranquillity of spirit that I had observed in him in his happiest
+days. On the 28th it calmed a little, and our fleet came all in, to our
+great joy. The rudder of one third-rate was broken; and that was all the
+hurt that the storm had done. At last the much-longed-for east wind came.
+And so hard a thing it was to set so vast a body in motion that two days of
+this wind were lost before all could be quite ready.
+
+[Footnote 1: William of Orange.]
+
+On November 1 (O.S.), we sailed out with the evening tide, but made little
+way that night, that so our fleet might come out and move in order. We
+tried next day till noon if it were possible to sail northward, but the
+wind was so strong and full in the east that we could not move that way.
+About noon the signal was given to steer westward. This wind not only
+diverted us from that unhappy course, but it kept the English fleet in the
+river; so that it was not possible for them to come out, though they were
+come down as far as to the Gunfleet. By this means we had the sea open to
+us, with a fair wind and a safe navigation. On the 3d we passed between
+Dover and Calais, and before night came in sight of the Isle of Wight. The
+next day, being the day in which the Prince was both born and married, he
+fancied if he could land that day it would look auspicious to the army and
+animate the soldiers. But we all, who considered that the day following,
+being gunpowder-treason day, our landing that day might have a good effect
+on the minds of the English nation, were better pleased to see that we
+could land no sooner.
+
+Torbay was thought the best place for our great fleet to lie in, and it was
+resolved to land the army where it could be best done near it; reckoning
+that being at such a distance from London we could provide ourselves with
+horses, and put everything in order before the King could march his army
+toward us, and that we should lie some time at Exeter for the refreshing of
+our men. I was in the ship, with the Prince's other domestics, that went
+in the van of the whole fleet. At noon on the 4th, Russel came on board us
+with the best of all the English pilots that they had brought over. He gave
+him the steering of the ship, and ordered him to be sure to sail so that
+next morning we should be short of Dartmouth; for it was intended that some
+of the ships should land there, and that the rest should sail into Torbay.
+The pilot thought he could not be mistaken in measuring our course, and
+believed that he certainly kept within orders, till the morning showed us
+we were past Torbay and Dartmouth. The wind, though it had abated much
+of its first violence, was yet still full in the east; so now it seemed
+necessary for us to sail on to Plymouth, which must have engaged us in a
+long and tedious campaign in winter through a very ill country.
+
+Nor were we sure to be received at Plymouth. The Earl of Bath, who was
+governor, had sent by Russel a promise to the Prince to come and join him;
+yet it was not likely that he would be so forward as to receive us at our
+first coming. The delays he made afterward, pretending that he was managing
+the garrison, whereas he was indeed staying till he saw how the matter was
+likely to be decided, showed us how fatal it had proved, if we had been
+forced to sail on to Plymouth. But while Russel was in no small disorder,
+after he saw the pilot's error (upon which he bade me go to my prayers, for
+all was lost), and as he was ordering the boat to be cleared to go aboard
+the Prince, on a sudden, to all our wonder, it calmed a little. And then
+the wind turned into the south, and a soft and happy gale of wind carried
+in the whole fleet in four hours' time into Torbay. Immediately as many
+landed as conveniently could. As soon as the Prince and Marshal Schomberg
+got to shore, they were furnished with such horses as the village of
+Broxholme could afford, and rode up to view the grounds, which they found
+as convenient as could be imagined for the foot in that season. It was not
+a cold night; otherwise the soldiers, who had been kept warm aboard, might
+have suffered much by it.
+
+As soon as I landed, I made what haste I could to the place where the
+Prince was; who took me heartily by the hand, and asked me if I would
+not now believe in predestination. I told him I would never forget that
+providence of God which had appeared so signally on this occasion.[1] He
+was cheerfuller than ordinary. Yet he returned soon to his usual gravity.
+The Prince sent for all the fishermen of the place and asked them which was
+the properest place for landing his horse, which all apprehended would be a
+tedious business and might hold some days. But next morning he was showed
+a place, a quarter of a mile below the village, where the ships could be
+brought very near the land, against a good shore, and the horses would
+not be put to swim above twenty yards. This proved to be so happy for our
+landing, though we came to it by mere accident, that if we had ordered the
+whole island round to be sounded we could not have found a properer place
+for it. There was a dead calm all that morning; and in three hours' time
+all our horse were landed, with as much baggage as was necessary till
+we got to Exeter. The artillery and heavy baggage were left aboard, and
+ordered to Topsham, the seaport to Exeter. All that belonged to us was so
+soon and so happily landed that by the next day at noon we were in full
+march, and marched four miles that night. We had from thence twenty miles
+to Exeter, and we resolved to make haste thither.
+
+[Footnote 1: Light is thrown on this passage by the following curious
+account given in M'Cormick's _Life of Carstares_: "Mr. Carstares set out
+along with his highness in quality of his domestic chaplain, and went
+aboard of his own ship. It is well known that, upon their first setting out
+from the coast of Holland, the fleet was in imminent danger by a violent
+tempest, which obliged them to put back for a few days. Upon that occasion,
+the vessel which carried the Prince and his retinue narrowly escaped
+shipwreck, a circumstance which some who were around his person were
+disposed to interpret into a bad omen of their success. Among these, Dr.
+Burnet happening to observe that it seemed predestined that they should not
+set foot on English ground, the Prince said nothing; but, upon stepping
+ashore at Torbay, in the hearing of Mr. Carstares, he turned about to Dr.
+Burnet, and asked him what he thought of the doctrine of predestination
+now?" Cunningham, according to the translation of the Latin MS. of his
+_History of England_, says that "Dr. Burnet, who understood but little
+of military affairs, asked the Prince of Orange which way he intended to
+march, and when? and desired to be employed by him in whatever service
+he should think fit. The Prince only asked what he now thought of
+predestination? and advised, if he had a mind to be busy, to consult the
+canons." The Bishop omits mentioning the proximate cause of the Prince's
+question, and says nothing about his declining the offer of his services,
+which indeed it is not likely that he did, at least so uncivilly.]
+
+But as we were now happily landed, and marching, we saw new and
+unthought-of characters of a favorable providence of God watching over us.
+We had no sooner got thus disengaged from our fleet than a new and great
+storm blew from the west; from which our fleet, being covered by the land,
+could receive no prejudice; but the King's fleet had got out as the wind
+calmed, and in pursuit of us was come as far as the Isle of Wight, when
+this contrary wind turned upon them. They tried what they could to pursue
+us; but they were so shattered by some days of this storm that they were
+forced to go into Portsmouth, and were no more fit for service that year.
+This was a greater happiness than we were then aware of: for Lord Dartmouth
+assured me some time after, that, whatever stories we had heard and
+believed, either of officers or seamen, he was confident they would all
+have fought very heartily. But now, by the immediate hand of Heaven, we
+were masters of the sea without a blow. I never found a disposition to
+superstition in my temper: I was rather inclined to be philosophical upon
+all occasions; yet I must confess that this strange ordering of the winds
+and seasons just to change as our affairs required it, could not but make
+a deep impression on me as well as on all that observed it. Those famous
+verses of Claudian seemed to be more applicable to the Prince than to him
+they were made on:
+
+  "Heaven's favorite, for whom the skies do fight,
+   And all the winds conspire to guide thee right!"
+
+The Prince made haste to Exeter, where he stayed ten days, both for
+refreshing his troops and for giving the country time to show its
+affection. Both the clergy and magistrates of Exeter were very fearful and
+very backward. The Bishop and the dean ran away. And the clergy stood off,
+though they were sent for and very gently spoken to by the Prince. The
+truth was, the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance had been
+carried so far and preached so much that clergymen either could not all
+on the sudden get out of that entanglement into which they had by long
+thinking and speaking all one way involved themselves, or they were ashamed
+to make so quick a turn. Yet care was taken to protect them and their
+houses everywhere, so that no sort of violence or rudeness was offered to
+any of them. The Prince gave me full authority to do this, and I took so
+particular a care of it that we heard of no complaints. The army was kept
+under such an exact discipline that everything was paid for where it
+was demanded, though the soldiers were contented with such moderate
+entertainment that the people generally asked but little for what they did
+eat. We stayed a week at Exeter before any of the gentlemen of the country
+about came in to the Prince. Every day some persons of condition came from
+other parts. The first were Lord Colchester, Mr. Wharton, the eldest sons
+of the Earl of Rivers, and Lord Wharton, Mr. Russel, Lord Russel's brother,
+and the Earl of Abingdon.
+
+The King came down to Salisbury, and sent his troops twenty miles farther.
+Of these, three regiments of horse and dragoons were drawn on by their
+officers, Lord Cornbury and Colonel Langston, on design to come over to the
+Prince. Advice was sent to the Prince of this. But because these officers
+were not sure of their subalterns, the Prince ordered a body of his men to
+advance and assist them in case any resistance was made. They were within
+twenty miles of Exeter, and within two miles of the body that the Prince
+had sent to join them, when a whisper ran about among them that they were
+betrayed. Lord Cornbury had not the presence of mind that so critical a
+thing required. So they fell in confusion, and many rode back. Yet one
+regiment came over in a body, and with them about a hundred of the other
+two.
+
+This gave us great courage, and showed us that we had not been deceived in
+what was told us of the inclinations of the King's army. Yet, on the other
+hand, those who studied to support the King's spirit by flatteries, told
+him that in this he saw that he might trust his army, since those who
+intended to carry over those regiments were forced to manage it with so
+much artifice, and dared not discover their design either to officers or
+soldiers, and that as soon as they perceived it the greater part of them
+had turned back. The King wanted support; for his spirits sunk extremely.
+His blood was in such fermentation that he was bleeding much at the nose,
+which returned oft upon him every day. He sent many spies over to us. They
+all took his money, and came and joined themselves to the Prince, none of
+them returning to him. So that he had no intelligence brought him of what
+the Prince was doing but what common reports brought him, which magnified
+our numbers and made him think we were coming near him while we were still
+at Exeter. He heard that the city of London was very unquiet.
+
+News was brought him that the Earls of Devonshire and Danby, and Lord
+Lumley, were drawing great bodies together, and that both York and
+Newcastle had declared for the Prince. Lord Delamere had raised a regiment
+in Cheshire. And the body of the nation did everywhere discover their
+inclinations for the Prince so evidently that the King saw he had nothing
+to trust to but his army. And the ill-disposition among them was so
+apparent that he reckoned he could not depend on them. So that he lost
+both heart and head at once. But that which gave him the last and most
+confounding stroke was that Lord Churchill and the Duke of Grafton left him
+and came and joined the Prince at Axminster, twenty miles on that side of
+Exeter.
+
+After this he could not know on whom he could depend. The Duke of Grafton
+was one of King Charles' sons by the Duchess of Cleveland. He had been
+some time at sea, and was a gallant but rough man. He had more spirit than
+anyone of that spurious race. He made answer to the King, about this time,
+that was much talked of. The King took notice of somewhat in his behavior
+that looked factious, and he said he was sure he could not pretend to act
+upon principles of conscience; for he had been so ill-bred that, as he knew
+little of religion, so he regarded it less. But he answered the King that,
+though he had little conscience, yet he was of a party that had conscience.
+Soon after that, Prince George, the Duke of Ormond, and Lord Drumlanerick,
+the Duke of Queensbury's eldest son, left him and came over to the Prince,
+and joined him when he was come as far as the Earl of Bristol's house at
+Sherburn.
+
+When the news came to London the Princess was so struck with the
+apprehensions of the King's displeasure, and of the ill-effects that it
+might have, that she said to Lady Churchill that she could not bear the
+thoughts of it, and would leap out of window rather than venture on it. The
+Bishop of London was then lodged very secretly in Suffolk Street. So Lady
+Churchill, who knew where he was, went to him and concerted with him the
+method of the Princess' withdrawing from the court. The Princess went
+sooner to bed than ordinary. And about midnight she went down a back stairs
+from her closet, attended only by Lady Churchill,[1] in such haste that
+they carried nothing with them. They were waited for by the Bishop of
+London, who carried them to the Earl of Dorset's, whose lady furnished them
+with everything, And so they went northward as far as Northampton, where
+that Earl attended on them with all respect, and quickly brought a body of
+horse to serve for a guard to the Princess. And in a little while a small
+army was formed about her, who chose to be commanded by the Bishop of
+London, of which he too easily accepted, and was by that exposed to much
+censure.
+
+[Footnote 1: And Mrs. Berkeley, afterward Lady Fitzharding. The back stairs
+were made a little before for that purpose. The Princess pretended she was
+out of order, upon some expostulations that had passed between her and the
+Queen, in a visit she received from her that night, therefore said she
+would not be disturbed till she rang her bell. Next morning, when her
+servants had waited two hours longer than her usual time of rising, they
+were afraid something was the matter with her, and finding the bed open,
+and her highness gone, they ran screaming to my father's lodgings, which
+were the next to hers, and told my mother the Princess was murdered by the
+priests; thence they went to the Queen, and old Mistress Buss asked her in
+a very rude manner what she had done with her mistress. The Queen answered
+her very gravely, she supposed their mistress was where she liked to be,
+but did assure them she knew nothing of her, but did not doubt they would
+hear of her again very soon. Which gave them little satisfaction, upon
+which there was a rumor all over Whitehall that the Queen had made away
+with the Princess.--_Dartmouth._]
+
+These things put the King in an inexpressible confusion. He saw himself now
+forsaken not only by those whom he had trusted and favored most, but even
+by his own children. And the army was in such distraction that there was
+not any one body that seemed entirely united and firm to him. A foolish
+ballad was made at that time treating the papists, and chiefly the Irish,
+in a very ridiculous manner, which had a burden, said to be Irish words,
+_lero, lero, lilibulero_, that made an impression on the army that cannot
+be well imagined by those who saw it not. The whole army, and at last all
+people both in city and country, were singing it perpetually. And perhaps
+never had so slight a thing so great an effect.
+
+But now strange counsels were suggested to the King and Queen. The priests
+and all the violent papists saw a treaty was now opened. They knew that
+they must be the sacrifice. The whole design of popery must be given up,
+without any hope of being able in an age to think of bringing it on again.
+Severe laws would be made against them. And all those who intended to
+stick to the King, and to preserve him, would go into those laws with a
+particular zeal; so that they and their hopes must be now given up and
+sacrificed forever. They infused all this into the Queen. They said she
+would certainly be impeached, and witnesses would be set up against her and
+her son; the King's mother had been impeached in the Long Parliament; and
+she was to look for nothing but violence. So the Queen took up a sudden
+resolution of going to France with the child. The midwife, together with
+all who were assisting at the birth, were also carried over, or so disposed
+of that it could never be learned what became of them afterward.
+
+The Queen prevailed with the King not only to consent to this, but to
+promise to go quickly after her. He was only to stay a day or two after
+her, in hope that the shadow of authority that was still left in him might
+keep things so quiet that she might have an undisturbed passage. So she
+went to Portsmouth. And thence, in a man-of-war, she went over to France,
+the King resolving to follow her in disguise. Care was also taken to send
+all the priests away. The King stayed long enough to get the Prince's
+answer. And when he had read it he said he did not expect so good terms. He
+ordered the lord chancellor to come to him next morning. But he had called
+secretly for the great seal. And the next morning, being December 10th,
+about three in the morning he went away in disguise with Sir Edward Hales,
+whose servant he seemed to be. They passed the river, and flung the great
+seal into it; which was some months after found by a fisherman near
+Foxhall. The King went down to a miserable fisher-boat that Hales had
+provided for carrying them over to France.
+
+Thus a great king, who had yet a good army and a strong fleet, did choose
+rather to abandon all than either to expose himself to any danger with that
+part of the army that was still firm to him or to stay and see the issue of
+a parliament. Some put this mean and unaccountable resolution on a want of
+courage. Others thought it was the effect of an ill-conscience, and of some
+black thing under which he could not now support himself. And they who
+censured it the most moderately said that it showed that his priests had
+more regard for themselves than for him; and that he considered their
+interests more than his own; and that he chose rather to wander abroad with
+them and to try what he could do by a French force to subdue his people
+than to stay at home and be shut up within the bounds of law, and be
+brought under an incapacity of doing more mischief; which they saw was
+necessary to quiet those fears and jealousies for which his bad government
+had given so much occasion. It seemed very unaccountable, since he was
+resolved to go, that he did not choose rather to go in one of his yachts or
+frigates than to expose himself in so dangerous and ignominious a manner.
+It was not possible to put a good construction on any part of the
+dishonorable scene which he then acted.
+
+With this his reign ended: for this was a plain deserting of his people and
+exposing the nation to the pillage of an army which he had ordered the Earl
+of Feversham to disband. And the doing this without paying them was letting
+so many armed men loose upon the nation; who might have done much mischief
+if the execution of those orders that he left behind him had not been
+stopped. I shall continue the recital of all that passed in this
+_interregnum_, till the throne, which he now left empty, was filled.
+
+He was not got far, when some fishermen of Feversham, who were watching
+for such priests and other delinquents as they fancied were making their
+escape, came up to him. And they, knowing Sir Edward Hales, took both the
+King and him, and brought them to Feversham. The King told them who he
+was.[1] And that flying about brought a vast crowd together to look on this
+astonishing instance of the uncertainty of all worldly greatness, when he
+who had ruled three kingdoms and might have been the arbiter of all Europe
+was now in such mean hands, and so low an equipage. The people of the town
+were extremely disordered with this unlooked-for accident; and, though for
+a while they kept him as a prisoner, yet they quickly changed that into
+as much respect as they could possibly pay him. Here was an accident that
+seemed of no great consequence. Yet all the strugglings which that party
+have made ever since that time to this day, which from him were called
+afterward the Jacobites, did rise out of this; for if he had got clear
+away, by all that could be judged, he would not have had a party left; all
+would have agreed that here was a desertion, and that therefore the nation
+was free and at liberty to secure itself. But that following upon this gave
+them a color to say that he was forced away and driven out. Till now he
+scarce had a party but among the papists. But from this incident a party
+grew up that has been long very active for his interests.
+
+[Footnote 1: And desired they would send to Eastwell for the Earl of
+Winchelsea; which Sir Basil Dixwell put a stop to by telling him surely
+they were good enough to take care of him. Which occasioned the King's
+saying he found there was more civility among the common people than some
+gentlemen, when he was returned to Whitehall.--_Dartmouth_.]
+
+As soon as it was known at London that the King was gone, the 'prentices
+and the rabble, who had been a little quieted when they saw a treaty
+on foot between the King and the Prince, now broke out again upon all
+suspected houses, where they believed there were either priests or
+papists. They made great havoc of many places, not sparing the houses of
+ambassadors. But none was killed, no houses burned, nor were any robberies
+committed. Never was so much fury seen under so much management. Jeffreys
+finding the King was gone, saw what reason he had to look to himself, and,
+apprehending that he was now exposed to the rage of the people whom he had
+provoked with so particular a brutality, he had disguised himself to
+make his escape. But he fell into the hands of some who knew him. He was
+insulted by them with as much scorn and rudeness as they could invent. And,
+after many hours tossing him about, he was carried to the lord mayor, whom
+they charged to commit him to the Tower, which Lord Lucas had then seized,
+and in it had declared for the Prince. The lord mayor was so struck with
+the terror of this rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had
+made all people tremble before him, that he fell into fits upon it, of
+which he died soon after.
+
+Upon the news of the King's desertion, it was proposed that the Prince
+should go on with all possible haste to London. But that was not advisable.
+For the King's army lay so scattered through the road all the way to London
+that it was not fit for him to advance faster than his troops marched
+before him; otherwise, any resolute officer might have seized or killed
+him. Though, if it had not been for that danger a great deal of mischief
+that followed would have been prevented by his speedy advance; for now
+began that turn to which all the difficulties that did afterward disorder
+our affairs may be justly imputed. Two gentlemen of Kent came to Windsor
+the morning after the Prince came thither. They were addressed to me; and
+they told me of the accident at Feversham, and desired to know the Prince's
+pleasure upon it. I was affected with this dismal reverse of the fortune
+of a great prince more than I think fit to express. I went immediately to
+Benthink and wakened him, and got him to go to the Prince and let him
+know what had happened, that some order might be presently given for the
+security of the King's person, and for taking him out of the hands of a
+rude multitude who said they would obey no orders but such as came from the
+Prince.
+
+The Prince ordered Zuylestein to go immediately to Feversham, and to see
+the King safe and at full liberty to go whithersoever he pleased. But as
+soon as the news of the King's being at Feversham came to London, all the
+indignation that people had formerly conceived against him was turned to
+pity and compassion. The privy council met upon it. Some moved that he
+should be sent for. Others said he was king, and might send for his guards
+and coaches as he pleased, but it became not them to send for him. It was
+left to his general, the Earl of Feversham, to do what he thought best. So
+he went for him with his coaches and guards. And, as he came back through
+the city, he was welcomed with expressions of joy by great numbers; so
+slight and unstable a thing is a multitude, and so soon altered. At his
+coming to Whitehall, he had a great court about him. Even the papists crept
+out of their lurking-holes, and appeared at court with much assurance.
+The King himself began to take heart. And both at Feversham, and now at
+Whitehall, he talked in his ordinary high strain, justifying all that he
+had done; only he spoke a little doubtfully of the business of Magdalen
+College. But when he came to reflect on the state of his affairs, he saw it
+was so soon broken that nothing was now left to deliberate upon. So he
+sent the Earl of Feversham to Windsor without demanding any passport, and
+ordered him to desire the Prince to come to St. James' to consult with him
+of the best way for settling the nation.
+
+When the news of what had passed at London came to Windsor, the Prince
+thought the privy council had not used him well, who after they had sent to
+him to take the government upon him, had made this step without consulting
+him. Now the scene was altered and new counsels were to be taken. The
+Prince heard the opinions, not only of those who had come along with him,
+but of such of the nobility as were now come to him, among whom the Marquis
+of Halifax was one. All agreed that it was not convenient that the King
+should stay at Whitehall. Neither the King, nor the Prince, nor the city,
+could have been safe if they had been both near one another. Tumults would
+probably have arisen out of it. The guards and the officious flatterers of
+the two courts would have been unquiet neighbors. It was thought necessary
+to stick to the point of the King's deserting his people, and not to
+give up that by entering upon any treaty with him. And since the Earl of
+Feversham, who had commanded the army against the Prince, was come without
+a passport he was for some days put in arrest.
+
+It was a tender point now to dispose of the King's person. Some proposed
+rougher methods: the keeping him a prisoner, at least till the nation was
+settled, and till Ireland was secured. It was thought his being kept in
+custody would be such a tie on all his party as would oblige them to submit
+and be quiet. Ireland was in great danger. And his restraint might oblige
+the Earl of Tyrconnel to deliver up the government, and to disarm the
+papists, which would preserve that kingdom and the Protestants in it. But,
+because it might raise too much compassion and perhaps some disorder if the
+King should be kept in restraint within the kingdom, therefore the sending
+him to Breda was proposed. The Earl of Clarendon pressed this vehemently on
+account of the Irish Protestants, as the King himself told me, for those
+that gave their opinions in this matter did it secretly and in confidence
+to the Prince. The Prince said he could not deny but that this might be
+good and wise advice, but it was that to which he could not hearken; he
+was so far satisfied with the grounds of this expedition that he could act
+against the King in a fair and open war; but for his person, now that he
+had him in his power, he could not put such a hardship on him as to make
+him a prisoner; and he knew the Princess' temper so well that he was sure
+she would never bear it: nor did he know what disputes it might raise, or
+what effect it might have upon the Parliament that was to be called; he was
+firmly resolved never to suffer anything to be done against his person; he
+saw it was necessary to send him out of London, and he would order a guard
+to attend upon him who should only defend and protect his person, but not
+restrain him in any sort.
+
+A resolution was taken of sending the Lords Halifax, Shrewsbury, and
+Delamere to London, who were first to order the English guards that were
+about the court to be drawn off and sent to quarters out of town, and when
+that was done the Count of Solms with the Dutch guards was to come and take
+all the posts about the court. This was obeyed without any resistance or
+disorder, but not without much murmuring. It was midnight before all was
+settled. And then these lords sent to the Earl of Middleton to desire him
+to let the King know that they had a message to deliver to him from the
+Prince. He went in to the King, and sent them word from him that they might
+come with it immediately. They came and found him abed. They told him the
+necessity of affairs required that the Prince should come presently to
+London; and he thought it would conduce to the safety of the King's person
+and the quiet of the town that he should retire to some house out of town,
+and they proposed Ham.
+
+The King seemed much dejected, and asked if it must be done immediately.
+They told him he might take his rest first, and they added that he should
+be attended by a guard who should only guard his person, but should give
+him no sort of disturbance. Having said this, they withdrew. The Earl of
+Middleton came quickly after them and asked them if it would not do as well
+if the King should go to Rochester; for since the Prince was not pleased
+with his coming up from Kent it might be perhaps acceptable to him if he
+should go thither again. It was very visible that this was proposed in
+order to a second escape.
+
+They promised to send word immediately to the Prince of Orange, who lay
+that night at Sion, within eight miles of London. He very readily consented
+to it. And the King went next day to Rochester, having ordered all that
+which is called the moving wardrobe to be sent before him, the Count of
+Solms ordering everything to be done as the King desired. A guard went with
+him that left him at full liberty, and paid him rather more respect than
+his own guards had done of late. Most of that body, as it happened, were
+papists. So when he went to mass they went in and assisted very reverently.
+And when they were asked how they could serve in an expedition that was
+intended to destroy their own religion, one of them answered, his soul
+was God's, but his sword was the Prince of Orange's. The King was so much
+delighted with this answer that he repeated it to all that came about him.
+On the same day the Prince came to St. James'. It happened to be a very
+rainy day. And yet great numbers came to see him. But, after they had stood
+long in the wet, he disappointed them; for he, who loved neither shows
+nor shoutings, went through the park. And even this trifle helped to set
+people's spirits on edge.
+
+The revolution was thus brought about with the universal applause of the
+whole nation; only these last steps began to raise a fermentation. It was
+said, here was an unnatural thing to waken the King out of his sleep, in
+his own palace, and to order him to go out of it when he was ready to
+submit to everything. Some said he was now a prisoner, and remembered the
+saying of King Charles I, that the prisons and the graves of princes lay
+not far distant from one another; the person of the King was now struck at,
+as well as his government, and this specious undertaking would now appear
+to be only a disguised and designed usurpation. These things began to work
+on great numbers. And the posting of the Dutch guards where the English
+guards had been, gave a general disgust to the whole English army. They
+indeed hated the Dutch besides, on account of the good order and strict
+discipline they were kept under; which made them to be as much beloved by
+the nation as they were hated by the soldiery. The nation had never known
+such an inoffensive march of an army. And the peace and order of the
+suburbs, and the freedom of markets in and about London, were so carefully
+maintained that in no time fewer disorders had been committed than were
+heard of this winter.
+
+None of the papists or Jacobites was insulted in any sort. The Prince had
+ordered me, as we came along, to take care of the papists and to secure
+them from all violence. When he came to London he renewed these orders,
+which I executed with so much zeal and care that I saw all the complaints
+that were brought me fully redressed. When we came to London I procured
+passports for all that desired to go beyond the sea. Two of the popish
+bishops were put in Newgate. I went thither in the Prince's name. I told
+them the Prince would not take upon him yet to give any orders about
+prisoners; as soon as he did that, they should feel the effects of it. But
+in the mean while I ordered them to be well used, and to be taken care of,
+and that their friends might be admitted to come to them; so truly did I
+pursue the principle of moderation even toward those from whom nothing of
+that sort was to be expected.
+
+Now that the Prince was come, all the bodies about the town came to welcome
+him. The bishops came the next day. Only the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+though he had once agreed to it, yet would not come. The clergy of London
+came next. The city, and a great many other bodies, came likewise, and
+expressed a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought for them by the
+Prince's means. Old Sergeant Maynard came with the men of the law. He was
+then near ninety, and yet he said the liveliest thing that was heard of on
+that occasion. The Prince took notice of his great age, and said that he
+had outlived all the men of the law of his time; he answered he had liked
+to have outlived the law itself if his highness had not come over.
+
+The first thing to be done after the compliments were over was to consider
+how the nation was to be settled. The lawyers were generally of opinion
+that the Prince ought to declare himself king, as Henry VII had done. This,
+they said, would put an end to all disputes, which might otherwise grow
+very perplexing and tedious; and they said he might call a Parliament which
+would be a legal assembly if summoned by the king in fact, though his title
+was not yet recognized. This was plainly contrary to his declaration, by
+which the settlement of the nation was referred to a parliament; such a
+step would make all that the Prince had hitherto done pass for an aspiring
+ambition only to raise himself; and it would disgust those who had been
+hitherto the best affected to his designs, and make them less concerned in
+the quarrel if, instead of staying till the nation should offer him the
+crown, he would assume it as a conquest.
+
+These reasons determined the Prince against that proposition. He called all
+the peers and the members of the three last parliaments that were in town,
+together with some of the citizens of London. When these met it was told
+them that, in the present distraction, the Prince desired their advice
+about the best methods of settling the nation. It was agreed in both these
+Houses, such as they were, to make an address to the Prince, desiring
+him to take the administration of the Government into his hands in the
+_interim_. The next proposition passed not so unanimously; for, it being
+moved that the Prince should be likewise desired to write missive letters
+to the same effect, and for the same persons to whom writs were issued out
+for calling a parliament, that so there might be an assembly of men in the
+form of a parliament, though without writs under the great seal, such as
+that was that had called home King Charles II.
+
+To this the Earl of Nottingham objected that such a convention of the
+states could be no legal assembly unless summoned by the King's writ.
+Therefore he moved that an address might be made to the King to order the
+writs to be issued. Few were of his mind. The matter was carried the other
+way, and orders were given for those letters to be sent round the nation.
+
+The King continued a week at Rochester. And both he himself and everybody
+else saw that he was at full liberty, and that the guard about him put him
+under no sort of restraint. Many that were zealous for his interests went
+to him and pressed him to stay and to see the issue of things: a party
+would appear for him; good terms would be got for him; and things would be
+brought to a reasonable agreement. He was much distracted between his own
+inclinations and the importunities of his friends. The Queen, hearing what
+had happened, writ a most vehement letter to him, pressing his coming over,
+remembering him of his promise, which she charged on him in a very earnest
+if not in an imperious strain. This letter was intercepted. I had an
+account of it from one that read it. The Prince ordered it to be conveyed
+to the King, and that determined him. So he gave secret orders to prepare a
+vessel for him, and drew a paper, which he left on his table, reproaching
+the nation for their forsaking him. He declared that though he was going to
+seek for foreign aid to restore him to his throne, yet he would not make
+use of it to overthrow either the religion established or the laws of
+the land. And so he left Rochester very secretly on the last day of this
+memorable year and got safe over to France.
+
+
+H.D. TRAILL
+
+The convention for filling the vacant throne met on January 22d, when
+Halifax was chosen president in the Lords; Powle speaker of the Commons. A
+letter from William, read in both Houses, informed their members that he
+had endeavored to the best of his power to discharge the trust reposed in
+him, and that it now rested with the convention to lay the foundation of a
+firm security for their religion, laws, and liberties. The Prince then went
+on to refer to the dangerous condition of the Protestants in Ireland, and
+the present state of things abroad, which obliged him to tell them that
+next to the danger of unreasonable divisions among themselves, nothing
+could be so fatal as too great a delay in their consultations. And he
+further intimated that as England was already bound by treaty to help the
+Dutch in such exigencies as, deprived of the troops which he had brought
+over, and threatened with war by Louis XIV, they might easily be reduced
+to, so he felt confident that the cheerful concurrence of the Dutch in
+preserving this kingdom would meet with all the returns of friendship from
+Protestants and Englishmen whenever their own condition should require
+assistance.
+
+To this the two Houses replied with an address thanking the Prince for his
+great care in the administration of the affairs of the kingdom to this
+time, and formally continuing to him the same commission, recommending to
+his particular care the present state of Ireland. William's answer to this
+address was characteristic both of his temperament and his preoccupation.
+"My lords and gentlemen," he said, "I am glad that what I have done hath
+pleased you; and since you desire me to continue the administration
+of affairs, I am willing to accept it. I must recommend to you the
+consideration of affairs abroad which makes it fit for you to expedite your
+business, not only for making a settlement at home on a good foundation,
+but for the safety of Europe."
+
+On the 28th the Commons resolved themselves into a committee of the whole
+House, and Richard Hampden, son of the great John, was voted into the
+chair. The honor of having been the first to speak the word which was on
+everybody's lips belongs to Gilbert Dolben, son of a late archbishop of
+York, who "made a long speech tending to prove that the King's deserting
+his kingdom without appointing any person to administer the government
+amounted in reason and judgment of law to a demise." Sir Robert Howard, one
+of the members for Castle Rising, went a step further, and asserted that
+the throne was vacant. The extreme Tories made a vain effort to procure
+an adjournment, but the combination against them of Whigs and their own
+moderates was too strong for them, and after a long and stormy debate
+the House resolved "That King James II, having endeavored to subvert the
+constitution by breaking the original contract between the King and people,
+and by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the
+fundamental laws and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated
+the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant."
+
+This resolution was at once sent up to the Lords. Before, however, they
+could proceed to consider it, another message arrived from the Commons to
+the effect that they had just voted it inconsistent with the safety and
+welfare of this Protestant nation to be governed by a popish king.
+
+To this resolution the Peers assented with a readiness which showed in
+advance that James had no party in the Upper House, and that the utmost
+length to which the Tories in that body were prepared to go was to support
+the proposal of a regency. The first resolution of the Commons was then put
+aside in order that this proposal might be discussed. It was Archbishop
+Sancroft's plan, who, however, did not make his appearance to advocate it,
+and in his absence it was supported by Rochester and Nottingham, while
+Halifax and Danby led the opposition to it. After a day's debate it was
+lost by the narrow majority of two, forty-nine peers declaring in its favor
+and fifty-one against it.
+
+The Lords then went into committee on the Commons' resolution, and at once
+proceeded, as was natural enough, to dispute the clause in its preamble
+which referred to the original contract between the King and the people. No
+Tory, of course, could really have subscribed to the doctrine implied in
+these words; but it was doubtless as hard in those days as in these to
+interest an assembly of English politicians in affirmations of abstract
+political principle, and some Tories probably thought it not worth while
+to multiply causes of dissent with the Lower House by attacking a purely
+academic recital of their resolution. Anyhow, the numbers of the minority
+slightly fell off, only forty-six Peers objecting to the phrase, while
+fifty-three voted that it should stand. The word "deserted" was then
+substituted without a division for the word "abdicated," and, the hour
+being late, the Lords adjourned.
+
+The real battle, of course, was now at hand, and to anyone who assents
+to the foregoing criticisms it will be evident that it was far less of a
+conflict on a point of constitutional principle, and far more of a struggle
+between the parties of two distinct--one cannot call them rival--claimants
+to the throne than high-flying Whig writers are accustomed to represent
+it. It would, of course, be too much to say that the Whigs insisted on
+declaring the vacancy of the throne, _only_ because they wished to place
+William on it, and that the Tories contended for a demise of the crown,
+_only_ because they wished an English princess to succeed to the throne
+rather than a Dutch prince. Still, it is pretty certain that, but for this
+conflict of preferences, the two political parties, who had made so little
+difficulty of agreeing in the declaration that James had ceased to reign,
+would never have found it so hard to concur in its almost necessary
+sequence that the throne was vacant.
+
+The debate on the last clause of the resolution began, and it soon became
+apparent that the Whigs were outnumbered. The forty-nine peers who had
+supported the proposal of a regency--which implied that the royal title was
+still in James--were bound, of course, to oppose the proposition that the
+throne was vacant; and they were reenforced by several peers who held that
+that title had already devolved upon Mary. An attempt to compromise the
+dispute by omitting the words pronouncing the throne vacant, and inserting
+words which merely proclaimed the Prince and Princess of Orange king and
+queen, was rejected by fifty-two votes to forty-seven; and the original
+clause was then put, and negatived by fifty-five votes to forty-one.
+
+Thus amended by the substitution of "deserted" for "abdicated," and
+the omission of the words "and that the throne is thereby vacant," the
+resolution was sent back to the Commons, who instantly and without a
+division disagreed with the amendments. The situation was now becoming
+critical. The prospect of a deadlock between the two branches of the
+convention threw London into a ferment; crowds assembled in Palace Yard;
+petitions were presented in that tumultuous fashion which converts
+supplication into menace. To their common credit, however, both parties
+united in resistance to these attempts at popular coercion; and William
+himself interposed to enjoin a stricter police of the capital. On Monday,
+February 4th, the Lords resolved to insist on their amendments; on the
+following day the Commons reaffirmed their disagreement with them by two
+hundred eighty-two votes to one hundred fifty-one. A free conference
+between the two Houses was then arranged, and met on the following day.
+
+But the dispute, like many another in our political history, had meanwhile
+been settled out of court. Between the date of the peers' vote and the
+conference Mary had communicated to Danby her high displeasure at the
+conduct of those who were setting up her claims in opposition to those
+of her husband; and William, who had previously maintained an unbroken
+silence, now made, unsolicited, a declaration of a most important and,
+indeed, of a conclusive kind. If the convention, he said, chose to adopt
+the plan of a regency, he had nothing to say against it, only they must
+look out for some other person to fill the office, for he himself would not
+consent to do so. As to the alternative proposal of putting Mary on the
+throne and allowing him to reign by her courtesy, "No man," he said, "can
+esteem a woman more than I do the Princess; but I am so made that I cannot
+think of holding anything by apron strings; nor can I think it reasonable
+to have any share in the government unless it be put in my own person, and
+that for the term of my life. If you think fit to settle it otherwise I
+will not oppose you, but will go back to Holland, and meddle no more in
+your affairs."
+
+These few sentences of plain-speaking swept away the clouds of intrigue and
+pedantry as by a wholesome gust of wind. Both political parties at once
+perceived that there was but one possible issue from the situation. The
+conference was duly held, and the constitutional question was, with great
+display of now unnecessary learning, solemnly debated; but the managers
+for the two Houses met only to register a foregone conclusion. The word
+"abdicated" was restored; the vacancy of the throne was voted by sixty-two
+votes to forty-seven; and it was immediately proposed and carried without a
+division that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be declared king and
+queen of England.
+
+It now only remained to give formal effect to this resolution, and in so
+doing to settle the conditions whereon the crown, which the convention
+had now distinctly recognized itself as conferring upon the Prince and
+Princess, should be conferred. A committee appointed by the Commons to
+consider what safeguards should be taken against the aggressions of future
+sovereigns had made a report in which they recommended not only a solemn
+enunciation of ancient constitutional principles, but the enactment of
+new laws. The Commons, however, having regard to the importance of prompt
+action, judiciously resolved on carrying out only the first part of the
+programme. They determined to preface the tender of the crown to William
+and Mary by a recital of the royal encroachments of the past reigns, and
+a formal assertion of the constitutional principles against which such
+encroachments had offended. This document, drafted by a committee of which
+the celebrated Somers, then a scarcely known young advocate, was the
+chairman, was the famous "Declaration of Right." The grievances which it
+recapitulated in its earlier portion were as follows:
+
+(1) The royal pretension to dispense with and suspend laws without consent
+of Parliament; (2) the punishment of subjects, as in the "Seven Bishops'"
+case, for petitioning the crown; (3) the establishment of the illegal
+court of high commission for ecclesiastical affairs; (4) the levy of taxes
+without the consent of Parliament; (5) the maintenance of a standing
+army in time of peace without the same consent; (6) the disarmament of
+Protestants while papists were both armed and employed contrary to law; (7)
+the violation of the freedom of election; (8) the prosecution in the king's
+bench of suits only cognizable in Parliament; (9) the return of partial and
+corrupt juries; (10) the requisition of excessive bail; (11) the imposition
+of excessive fines; (12) the infliction of illegal and cruel punishments;
+(13) the grants of the estates of accused persons before conviction.
+
+Then after solemnly reaffirming the popular rights from which these abuses
+of the prerogative derogated, the declaration goes on to recite that,
+having an "entire confidence" William would "preserve them from the
+violation of the rights which they have here asserted, the Three Estates
+do resolve that William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, be and be
+declared king and queen: to hold the crown and royal dignity, to them the
+said Prince and Princess during their lives and the life of the survivor
+of them; and the sole and full exercise of the royal power be only in and
+exercised by the said Prince of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and
+Princess during their lives, and, after their deceases, the said crown and
+royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to the heirs of the body
+of the said Princess; and, for default of such issue, to the Princess Anne
+of Denmark and the heirs of her body; and, for the default of such issue,
+to the issue of the said Prince of Orange." Then followed an alteration
+required by the scrupulous conscience of Nottingham in the terms of the
+oath of allegiance.
+
+On February 12th Mary arrived from Holland. On the following day, in the
+Banqueting House at Whitehall, the Prince and Princess of Orange were
+waited on by both Houses of convention in a body. The declaration was read
+by the clerk of the crown; the sovereignty solemnly tendered to them
+by Halifax, in the name of the Estates; and on the same day they were
+proclaimed king and queen in the usual places in the cities of London and
+Westminster.
+
+
+
+%PETER THE GREAT MODERNIZES RUSSIA%
+
+SUPPRESSION OF THE STRELTSI
+
+A.D. 1689
+
+ALFRED RAMBAUD
+
+
+It is the glory of Peter the Great to have changed the character of his
+country and elevated its position among European nations. By opening Russia
+to the influence of Western civilization he prepared the way for the advent
+of that vast empire as one of the world's great powers.
+
+Peter I Alexeievitch was born in Moscow June 9 (N.S.), 1672. After a joint
+reign with his half-brother Ivan (1682-1696), he ruled alone until his
+death, February 8 (N.S.), 1725. He is distinguished among princes as a
+ruler who temporarily laid aside the character of royalty "in order to
+learn the art of governing better." By his travels under a common name and
+in a menial disguise, he acquired fruits of observation which proved of
+greater practical advantage in his career than comes to sovereigns from
+training in the knowledge of the schools. His restless and inquiring spirit
+was never subdued by the burdens of state, and his matured powers proved
+equal to the demands laid upon him by the great formative work which he was
+called to accomplish for his people.
+
+The character and early career of this extraordinary man are here set forth
+by Rambaud in a masterly sketch, showing the first achievements which laid
+the foundation of Peter's constructive policies.
+
+Alexis Mikhailovitch, Czar of Russia, had by his first wife, Maria
+Miloslavski, two sons, Feodor and Ivan, and six daughters; by his second
+wife, Natalia Narychkine, one son (who became Peter I) and two daughters.
+As he was twice married, and the kinsmen of each wife had, according to
+custom, surrounded the throne, there existed two factions in the palace,
+which were brought face to face by his death and that of his eldest son,
+Feodor. The Miloslavskis had on their side the claim of seniority, the
+number of royal children left by Maria, and, above all, the fact that Ivan
+was the elder of the two surviving sons; but unluckily for them, Ivan was
+notoriously imbecile both in body and mind.
+
+On the side of the Narychkines was the interest excited by the precocious
+intelligence of Peter, and the position of legal head of all the royal
+family, which, according to Russian law, gave to Natalia Narychkine her
+title of czarina dowager. Both factions had for some time taken their
+measures and recruited their partisans. Who should succeed Feodor? Was
+it to be the son of the Miloslavski, or the son of the Narychkine? The
+Miloslavskis were first defeated on legal grounds. Taking the incapacity of
+Ivan into consideration, the boyars and the Patriarch Joachim proclaimed
+the young Peter, then nine years old, Czar. The Narychkines triumphed:
+Natalia became czarina regent, recalled from exile her foster-father,
+Matveef, and surrounded herself by her brothers and uncles.
+
+The Miloslavskis' only means of revenge lay in revolt, but they were
+without a head; for it was impossible for Ivan to take the lead. The eldest
+of his six sisters was thirty-two years of age, the youngest nineteen;
+the most energetic of them was Sophia, who was twenty-five. These six
+princesses saw themselves condemned to the dreary destiny of the Russian
+_czarevni_, and were forced to renounce all hopes of marriage, with no
+prospects but to grow old in the seclusion of the _terem_, subjected by law
+to the authority of a step-mother. All their youth had to look forward
+to was the cloister. They, however, only breathed in action; and though
+imperial etiquette and Byzantine manners, prejudices, and traditions
+forbade them to appear in public, even Byzantine traditions offered them
+models to follow. Had not Pulcheria, daughter of an emperor, reigned at
+Constantinople in the name of her brother, the incapable Theodosius? Had
+she not contracted a nominal marriage with the brave Marcian, who was her
+sword against the barbarians?
+
+Here was the ideal that Sophia could propose to herself; to be a
+_czardievitsa_, a "woman-emperor." To emancipate herself from the rigorous
+laws of the terem, to force the "twenty-seven locks" of the song, to raise
+the _fata_ that covered her face, to appear in public and meet the looks of
+men, needed energy, cunning, and patience that could wait and be content
+to proceed by successive efforts. Sophia's first step was to appear at
+Feodor's funeral, though it was not the custom for any but the widow and
+the heir to be present. There her litter encountered that of Natalia
+Narychkine, and her presence forced the Czarina-mother to retreat. She
+surrounded herself with a court of educated men, who publicly praised
+her, encouraged and excited her to action. Simeon Polotski and Silvester
+Medviedef wrote verses in her honor, recalled to her the example of
+Pulcheria and Olga, compared her to the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth of England,
+and even to Semiramis; we might think we were listening to Voltaire
+addressing Catharine II. They played on her name Sophia (wisdom), and
+declared she had been endowed with the quality as well as the title.
+Polotski dedicated to her the _Crown of Faith_, and Medviedef his _Gifts of
+the Holy Spirit_.
+
+The terem offered the strangest contrasts. There acted they the _Malade
+Imaginaire_, and the audience was composed of the heterogeneous assembly
+of popes, monks, nuns, and old pensioners that formed the courts of the
+ancient czarinas. In this shifting crowd there were some useful
+instruments of intrigue. The old pensioners, while telling their rosaries,
+served as emissaries between the palace and the town, carried messages and
+presents to the turbulent _streltsi_[1] and arranged matters between the
+czarian ladies and the soldiers. Sinister rumors were skilfully
+disseminated through Moscow: Feodor, the eldest son of Alexis, had died,
+the victim of conspirators; the same lot was doubtless reserved for Ivan.
+What was to become of the poor czarevni, of the blood of kings? At last it
+was publicly announced that a brother of Natalia Narychkine had seized the
+crown and seated himself on the throne, and that Ivan had been strangled.
+Love and pity for the son of Alexis, and the indignation excited by the
+news of the usurpation, immediately caused the people of Moscow to revolt,
+and the ringleaders cleverly directed the movement. The tocsin sounded
+from four hundred churches of the "holy city"; the regiments of the
+streltsi took up arms and marched, followed by an immense crowd, to the
+Kremlin, with drums beating, matches lighted, and dragging cannon behind
+them. Natalia Narychkine had only to show herself on the "Red Staircase,"
+accompanied by her son Peter, and Ivan who was reported dead. Their mere
+appearance sufficed to contradict all the calumnies. The streltsi
+hesitated, seeing they had been deceived. A clever harangue of Matveef,
+who had formerly commanded them, and the exhortations of the patriarch,
+shook them further. The revolt was almost appeased; the Miloslavskis had
+missed their aim, for they had not yet succeeded in putting to death the
+people of whom they were jealous.
+
+[Footnote 1: The streltsi were an ancient Muscovite guard composed of
+citizens rendering hereditary military service in the different cities and
+fortified posts. At this time many of them were ripe for revolt.]
+
+Suddenly Prince Michael Dolgorouki, chief of the _prikaz_ of the streltsi,
+began to insult the rioters in the most violent language. This ill-timed
+harangue awoke their fury; they seized Dolgorouki, and flung him from the
+top of the Red Staircase onto their pikes. They stabbed Matveef, under the
+eyes of the Czarina; then they sacked the palace, murdering all who fell
+into their hands. Athanasius Narychkine, a brother of Natalia, was thrown
+from a window onto the points of their lances. The following day the
+_emeute_ recommenced; they tore from the arms of the Czarina her father
+Cyril and her brother Ivan; the latter was tortured and sent into a
+monastery. Historians show us Sophia interceded for the victims on her
+knees, but an understanding between the rebels and the Czarevna did exist;
+the streltsi obeyed orders.
+
+The following days were consecrated to the purifying of the palace and the
+administration, and the seventh day of the revolt they sent their
+commandant, the prince-boyar, Khovanski, to declare that they would have
+two czars--Ivan at the head, and Peter as coadjutor; and if this were
+refused, they would again rebel. The boyars of the _douma_ deliberated on
+this proposal, and the greater number of the boyars were opposed to it. In
+Russia the absolute power had never been shared, but the orators of the
+terem cited many examples both from sacred and profane history: Pharaoh
+and Joseph, Arcadius and Honorius, Basil II and Constantine VIII; and the
+best of all the arguments were the pikes of the streltsi (1682).
+
+Sophia had triumphed: she reigned in the name of her two brothers, Ivan
+and Peter. She made a point of showing herself in public, at processions,
+solemn services, and dedications of churches. At the Ouspienski Sobor,
+while her brothers occupied the place of the czar, she filled that of the
+czarina; only _she_ raised the curtains and boldly allowed herself to be
+incensed by the patriarch. When the _raskolniks_ challenged the heads of
+the orthodox church to discussion, she wished to preside and hold the
+meeting in the open air, at the Lobnoe Miesto on the Red Place. There was,
+however, so much opposition that she was forced to call the assembly in
+the Palace of Facets, and sat behind the throne of her two brothers,
+present though invisible. The double-seated throne used on those occasions
+is still preserved at Moscow; there is an opening in the back, hidden by a
+veil of silk, and behind this sat Sophia. This singular piece of furniture
+is the symbol of a government previously unknown to Russia, composed of
+two visible czars and one invisible sovereign.
+
+The streltsi, however, felt their prejudices against female sovereignty
+awaken. They shrank from the contempt heaped by the Czarevna upon the
+ancient manners. Sophia had already become in their eyes a "scandalous
+person" (_pozornoe litzo_). Another cause of misunderstanding was the
+support she gave to the state church, as reformed by Nicon, while the
+streltsi and the greater part of the people held to the "old faith." She
+had arrested certain "old believers," who at the discussion in the Palace
+of Facets had challenged the patriarchs and orthodox prelates, and she had
+caused the ringleader to be executed. Khovanski, chief of the streltsi,
+whether from sympathy with the _raskol_ or whether he wished to please his
+subordinates, affected to share their discontent. The court no longer felt
+itself safe at Moscow. Sophia took refuge with the Czarina and the two
+young princes in the fortified monastery of Troitsa, and summoned around
+her the gentlemen-at-arms. Khovanski was invited to attend, was arrested
+on the way, and put to death with his son. The streltsi attempted a new
+rising, but, with the usual fickleness of a popular militia, suddenly
+passed from the extreme of insolence to the extreme of humility. They
+marched to Troitsa, this time in the guise of suppliants, with cords round
+their necks, carrying axes and blocks for the death they expected. The
+patriarch consented to intercede for them, and Sophia contented herself
+with the sacrifice of the ringleaders.
+
+Sophia, having got rid of her accomplices, governed by aid of her two
+favorites--Chaklovity, the new commandant of the streltsi, whom she had
+drawn from obscurity, and who was completely devoted to her, and Prince
+Vasili Galitsyne. Galitsyne has become the hero of a historic school which
+opposes his genius to that of Peter the Great, in the same way as in France
+Henry, Duke of Guise, has been exalted at the expense of Henry IV. He was
+the special favorite, the intimate friend, of Sophia, the director of
+her foreign policy, and her right hand in military affairs. Sophia and
+Galitsyne labored to organize a holy league between Russia, Poland, Venice,
+and Austria against the Turks and Tartars. They also tried to gain
+the countenance of the Catholic powers of the West; and in 1687 Jacob
+Dolgorouki and Jacob Mychetski disembarked at Dunkirk as envoys to the
+court of Louis XIV. They were not received very favorably: the King of
+France was not at all inclined to make war against the Turks; he was, on
+the other hand, the ally of Mahomet IV, who was about to besiege Vienna
+while Louis blockaded Luxemburg. The whole plan of the campaign was,
+however, thrown out by the intervention of Russia and John Sobieski in
+favor of Austria. The Russian ambassadors received orders to reembark at
+Havre, without going farther south.
+
+The government of the Czarevna still persisted in its warlike projects. In
+return for an active cooperation against the Ottomans, Poland had consented
+to ratify the conditions of the Treaty of Androussovo, and to sign a
+perpetual peace (1686). A hundred thousand Muscovites, under the command
+of Prince Galitsyne, and fifty thousand Little Russian Cossacks, under the
+orders of the hetman Samoilovitch, marched against the Crimea (1687). The
+army suffered greatly in the southern steppes, as the Tartars had fired the
+grassy plains. Galitsyne was forced to return without having encountered
+the enemy. Samoilovitch was accused of treason, deprived of his command,
+and sent to Siberia; and Mazeppa, who owed to Samoilovitch his appointment
+as secretary-at-war, and whose denunciations had chiefly contributed to his
+downfall, was appointed his successor.
+
+In the spring of 1689 the Muscovite and Ukranian armies, commanded by
+Galitsyne and Mazeppa, again set out for the Crimea. The second expedition
+was hardly more fortunate than the first: they got as far as Perekop, and
+were then obliged to retreat without even having taken the fortress. This
+double defeat did not hinder Sophia from preparing for her favorite a
+triumphal entry into Moscow. In vain Peter forbade her to leave the palace;
+she braved his displeasure and headed the procession, accompanied by the
+clergy and the images and followed by the army of the Crimea, admitted
+the generals to kiss her hand and distributed glasses of brandy among
+the officers. Peter left Moscow in anger, and retired to the village of
+Preobrajenskoe. The foreign policy of the Czarevna was marked by another
+display of weakness. By the Treaty of Nertchinsk she restored to the
+Chinese empire the fertile regions of the Amur, which had been conquered
+by a handful of Cossacks, and razed the fortress of Albazine, where those
+adventurers had braved all the forces of the East. On all sides Russia
+seemed to retreat before the barbarians.
+
+Meanwhile Peter was growing. His precocious faculties, his quick
+intelligence, and his strong will awakened alike the hopes of his partisans
+and the fears of his enemies. As a child he only loved drums, swords,
+and muskets. He learned history by means of colored prints brought from
+Germany. Zotof, his master, whom he afterward made "the archpope of fools,"
+taught him to read. Among the heroes held up to him as examples we are not
+surprised to find Ivan the Terrible, whose character and position offer so
+much analogy to his own. "When the Czarevitch was tired of reading," says
+M. Zabieline, "Zotof took the book from his hand and, to amuse him, would
+himself read the great deeds of his father, Alexis Mikhailovitch, and those
+of the Czar, Ivan Vasilievitch, their campaigns, their distant expeditions,
+their battles and sieges: how they endured fatigues and privations better
+than any common soldier; what benefits they had conferred on the empire,
+and how they extended the frontiers of Russia."
+
+Peter also learned Latin, German, and Dutch. He read much and widely, and
+learned a great deal, though without method. Like Ivan the Terrible, he was
+a self-taught man. He afterward complained of not having been instructed
+according to rule. This was perhaps a good thing. His education, like
+that of Ivan IV, was neglected, but at least he was not subjected to the
+enervating influence of the terem--he was not cast in that dull mould which
+turned out so many idiots in the royal family. He "roamed at large, and
+wandered in the streets with his comrades." The streets of Moscow at that
+period were, according to M. Zabieline, the worst school of profligacy and
+debauchery that can be imagined; but they were, on the whole, less bad for
+Peter than the palace. He met there something besides mere jesters: he
+encountered new elements which had as yet no place in the terem, but
+contained the germ of the regeneration of Russia. He came across Russians
+who, if unscrupulous, were also unprejudiced, and who could aid him in his
+bold reform of the ancient society. He there became acquainted with Swiss,
+English, and German adventurers--with Lefort, with Gordon, and with
+Timmermann, who initiated him into European civilization.
+
+His court was composed of Leo Narychkine, of Boris Galitsyne, who had
+undertaken never to flatter him; of Andrew Matveef, who had marked taste
+for everything European; and of Dolgorouki, at whose house he first saw an
+astrolabe. He played at soldiers with his young friends and his grooms, and
+formed them into the "battalion of playmates," who manoeuvred after the
+European fashion, and became the kernel of the future regular army. He
+learned the elements of geometry and fortification, and constructed small
+citadels, which he took or defended with his young warriors in those fierce
+battles which sometimes counted their wounded or dead, and in which the
+Czar of Russia was not always spared. An English boat stranded on the shore
+of Yaousa caused him to send for Franz Timmermann, who taught him to manage
+a sailing-boat, even with a contrary wind. He who formerly, like a true
+boyar of Moscow, had such a horror of the water that he could not make up
+his mind to cross a bridge, became a determined sailor: he guided his boat
+first on the Yaousa, then on the lake of Pereiaslavl. Brandt, the Dutchman,
+built him a whole flotilla; and already, in spite of the terrors of his
+mother, Natalia, Peter dreamed of the sea.
+
+"The child is amusing himself," the courtiers of Sophia affected to
+observe; but these amusements disquieted her. Each day added to the years
+of Peter seemed to bring her nearer to the cloister. In vain she proudly
+called herself "autocrat"; she saw her stepmother, her rival, lifting up
+her head. Galitsyne confined himself to regretting that they had not known
+better how to profit by the revolution of 1682, but Chaklovity, who knew
+he must fall with his mistress, said aloud, "It would be wiser to put the
+Czarina to death than to be put to death by her." Sophia could only save
+herself by seizing the throne--but who would help her to take it?
+The streltsi? But the result of their last rising had chilled them
+considerably. Sophia herself, while trying to bind this formidable force,
+had broken it, and the streltsi had not forgotten their chiefs beheaded at
+Troitsa. Now what did the emissaries of Sophia propose to them? Again to
+attack the palace; to put Leo Narychkine and other partisans of Peter to
+death; to arrest his mother, and to expel the patriarch. They trusted
+that Peter and Natalia would perish in the tumult. The streltsi remained
+indifferent when Sophia, affecting to think her life threatened, fled to
+the Dievitchi monastery, and sent them letters of entreaty. "If thy days
+are in peril," tranquilly replied the streltsi, "there must be an inquiry."
+Chaklovity could hardly collect four hundred of them at the Kremlin.
+
+The struggle began between Moscow and Preobrajenskoe, the village with the
+prophetical name (the "Transfiguration" or "Regeneration"). Two streltsi
+warned Peter of the plots of his sister, and for the second time he sought
+an asylum at Troitsa. It was then seen who was the true czar; all men
+hastened to range themselves around him: his mother, his armed squires, the
+"battalion of playmates," the foreign officers, and even the streltsi of
+the regiment of Soukharef. The patriarch also took the side of the Czar,
+and brought him moral support, as the foreign soldiers had brought him
+material force. The partisans of Sophia were cold and irresolute; the
+streltsi themselves demanded that her favorite Chaklovity should be
+surrendered to the Czar. She had to implore the mediation of the patriarch.
+Chaklovity was first put to the torture and made to confess his plot
+against the Czar, and then decapitated. Medviedef was at first only
+condemned to the knout and banishment for heresy, but he acknowledged he
+had intended to take the place of the patriarch and to marry Sophia; he was
+dishonored by being imprisoned with two sorcerers, condemned to be burned
+alive in a cage, and was afterward beheaded. Galitsyne was deprived of
+his property, and exiled to Poustozersk. Sophia remained in the Dievitchi
+Monastyr, subjected to a hard captivity. Though Ivan continued to reign
+conjointly with his brother, yet Peter, who was then only seventeen,
+governed alone, surrounded by his mother, the Narychkines, and the
+Dolgoroukis (1689). Sophia had freed herself from the seclusion of the
+terem, as Peter had emancipated himself from the seclusion of the palace
+to roam the streets and navigate rivers. Both had behaved scandalously,
+according to the ideas of the time--the one haranguing soldiers, presiding
+over councils, walking with her veil raised; the other using the axe like
+a carpenter, rowing like a Cossack, brawling with foreign adventurers, and
+fighting with his grooms in mimic battles. But to the one her emancipation
+was only a means of obtaining power; to the other the emancipation of
+Russia, like the emancipation of himself, was the end. He wished the nation
+to shake off the old trammels from which he had freed himself. Sophia
+remained a Byzantine, Peter aspired to be a European. In the conflict
+between the Czarevna and the Czar, progress was not on the side of the
+Dievitchi Monastyr.
+
+The first use the Czar made of his liberty was to hasten to Archangel.
+There, deaf to the advice and prayers of his mother, who was astounded at
+this unexpected taste for salt water, he gazed on that sea which no czar
+had ever looked on. He ate with the merchants and the officers of foreign
+navies; he breathed the air which had come from the West. He established
+a dockyard, built boats, dared the angry waves of this unknown ocean,
+and almost perished in a storm, which did not prevent the "skipper Peter
+Alexeievitch" from again putting to sea, and bringing the Dutch vessels
+back to the Holy Cape. Unhappily, the White Sea, by which, since the time
+of Ivan IV, the English had entered Russia, is frost-bound in winter.
+In order to open permanent communications with the West, with civilized
+countries, it was necessary for Peter to establish himself on the Baltic or
+the Black Sea. Now the first belonged to the Swedes, and the second to the
+Turks, as the Caspian did to the Persians. Who was first to be attacked?
+The treaties concluded with Poland and Austria, as well as policy and
+religion, urged the Czar against the Turks, and Constantinople has always
+been the point of attraction for orthodox Russia.
+
+Peter shared the sentiments of his people, and had the enthusiasm of a
+crusader against the infidel. Notwithstanding his ardent wish to travel in
+the West, he took the resolution not to appear in foreign lands till he
+could appear as a victor. Twice had Galitsyne failed against the Crimea;
+Peter determined to attack the barbarians by the Don, and besiege Azov. The
+army was commanded by three generals, Golovine, Gordon, and Lefort, who
+were to act with the "bombardier of the Preobrajenski regiment, Peter
+Alexeievitch." This regiment, as well as three others which had sprung from
+the "amusements" of Preobrajenskoe--the Semenovski, the Botousitski, and
+the regiment of Lefort--were the heart of the expedition. It failed because
+the Czar had no fleet with which to invest Azov by sea, because the new
+army and its chiefs wanted experience, and because Jansen, the German
+engineer, ill-treated by Peter, passed over to the enemy. After two
+assaults the siege was raised. This check appeared the more grave because
+the Czar himself was with the army, because the first attempt to turn from
+the "amusements" of Preobrajenskoe to serious warfare had failed, and
+because this failure would furnish arms against innovations, against
+the Germans and the heretics, against the new tactics. It might even
+compromise, in the eyes of the people, the work of regeneration (1695).
+
+Although Peter had followed the example of Galitsyne, and entered Moscow in
+triumph, he felt he needed revenge. He sent for good officers from foreign
+countries. Artillerymen arrived from Holland and Austria, engineers from
+Prussia, and Admiral Lima from Venice. Peter hurried on the creation of a
+fleet with feverish impatience. He built of green wood twenty-two galleys,
+a hundred rafts, and seventeen hundred boats or barks. All the small ports
+of the Don were metamorphosed into dock-yards; twenty-six thousand workmen
+were assembled there from all parts of the empire. It was like the camp
+of Boulogne. No misfortune--neither the desertion of the laborers, the
+burnings of the dock-yards, nor even his own illness--could lessen his
+activity. Peter was able to write that, "following the advice God gave to
+Adam, he earned his bread by the sweat of his brow." At last the "marine
+caravan," the Russian armada, descended the Don. From the slopes of Azov he
+wrote to his sister Natalia[1]: "In obedience to thy counsels, I do not go
+to meet the shells and balls; it is they who approach me, but tolerably
+courteously."
+
+[Footnote 1: His mother died in 1694, his brother Ivan in 1696.]
+
+Azov was blockaded by sea and land, and a breach was opened by the
+engineers. Preparations were being made for a general assault, when the
+place capitulated. The joy in Russia was great, and the streltsi's jealousy
+of the success of foreign tactics gave place to their enthusiasm as
+Christians for this victory over Islamism, which recalled those of Kazan
+and Astrakhan. The effect produced on Europe was considerable. At Warsaw
+the people shouted, "Long live the Czar!" The army entered Moscow under
+triumphal arches, on which were represented Hercules trampling a pacha and
+two Turks under foot, and Mars throwing to the earth a _mirza_ and two
+Tartars. Admiral Lefort and Schein the generalissimo took part in the
+_cortege_, seated on magnificent sledges; while Peter, promoted to the rank
+of captain, followed on foot. Jansen, destined to the gibbet, marched among
+the prisoners (1696).
+
+Peter wished to profit by this great success to found the naval power
+of Russia. By the decision of the _douma_ three thousand families were
+established at Azov, besides four hundred Kalmucks, and a garrison of
+Moscow streltsi. The patriarch, the prelates, and the monasteries taxed
+themselves for the construction of one vessel to every eight thousand
+serfs. The nobles, the officials, and the merchants were seized with the
+fever of this holy war, and brought their contributions toward the infant
+navy. It was proposed to unite the Don and the Volga by means of a canal.
+A new appeal was made to the artisans and sailors of Europe. Fifty young
+nobles of the court were sent to Venice, England, and the Low Countries
+to learn seamanship and shipbuilding. But it was necessary that the Czar
+himself should be able to judge of the science of his subjects; he must
+counteract Russian indolence and prejudice by the force of a great example;
+and Peter, after having begun his career in the navy at the rank of
+"skipper," and in the army at that of bombardier, was to become a carpenter
+of Saardam. He allowed himself, as a reward for his success at Azov, the
+much-longed-for journey to the West.
+
+In 1697 Admiral Lefort and Generals Golovine and Vosnitsyne prepared
+to depart for the countries of the West, under the title of "the great
+ambassadors of the Czar." Their suite was composed of two hundred seventy
+persons--young nobles, soldiers, interpreters, merchants, jesters, and
+buffoons. In the cortege was a young man who went by the name of Peter
+Mikhailof. This _incognito_ would render the position of the Czar easier,
+whether in his own personal studies or in delicate negotiations. On the
+journey to Riga Peter allowed himself to be insulted by the governor, but
+laid up the recollection for future use. At Koenigsburg the Prussian,
+Colonel Sternfeld, delivered to "M. Peter Mikhailof" "a formal brevet of
+master of artillery." The great ambassadors and their travelling
+companion were cordially received by the courts of Courland, Hanover, and
+Brandenburg.
+
+Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, afterward Queen of Prussia, has left us some
+curious notes about the Czar, then twenty-seven years of age. He astonished
+her by the vivacity of his mind and the promptitude and point of his
+answers, not less than by the grossness of his manners, his bad habits
+at table, his wild timidity, like that of a badly brought-up child, his
+grimaces, and a frightful twitching which at times convulsed his whole
+face. Peter had then a beautiful brown skin, with great piercing eyes, but
+his features already bore traces of toil and debauchery. "He must have
+very good and very bad points," said the young Electress; and in this he
+represented contemporary Russia. "If he had received a better education,"
+adds the Princess, "he would have been an accomplished man." The suite of
+the Czar were not less surprising than their master; the Muscovites danced
+with the court ladies, and took the stiffening of their corsets for their
+bones. "The bones of these Germans are devilish hard!" said the Czar.
+
+Leaving the great embassy on the road Peter travelled quickly and reached
+Saardam. The very day of his arrival he took a lodging at a blacksmith's,
+procured himself a complete costume like those worn by Dutch workmen, and
+began to wield the axe. He bargained for a boat, bought it, and drank the
+traditional pint of beer with its owner. He visited cutleries, ropewalks,
+and other manufactories, and everywhere tried his hand at the work: in a
+paper manufactory he made some paper. However, in spite of the tradition,
+he only remained eight days at Saardam. At Amsterdam his eccentricities
+were no less astonishing. He neither took any rest himself nor allowed
+others to do so; he exhausted all his _ciceroni_, always repeating, "I must
+see it." He inspected the most celebrated anatomical collections; engaged
+artists, workmen, officers, and engineers; and bought models of ships and
+collections of naval laws and treaties. He entered familiarly the houses of
+private individuals, gained the good-will of the Dutch by his _bonhomie_,
+penetrated into the recesses of the shops and stalls, and remained lost in
+admiration over a dentist.
+
+But, amid all these distractions, he never lost sight of his aim. "We
+labor," he wrote to the patriarch Adrian, "in order thoroughly to master
+the art of the sea; so that, having once learned it, we may return to
+Russia and conquer the enemies of Christ, and free by his grace the
+Christians who are oppressed. This is what I shall long for to my last
+breath." He was vexed at making so little progress in shipbuilding, but in
+Holland everyone had to learn by personal experience. A naval captain told
+him that in England instruction was based on principles, and these he could
+learn in four months; so Peter crossed the sea, and spent three months in
+London and the neighboring towns. There he took into his service goldsmiths
+and gold-beaters, architects and bombardiers. He then returned to Holland,
+and, his ship being attacked by a violent tempest, he reassured those who
+trembled for his safety by the remark, "Did you ever hear of a czar of
+Russia who was drowned in the North Sea?"
+
+Though much occupied with his technical studies, he had not neglected
+policy; he had conversed with William III, but did not visit France in this
+tour, for "Louis XIV," says St. Simon, "had procured the postponement of
+his visit"; the fact being that his alliance with the Emperor and his wars
+with the Turks were looked on with disfavor at Versailles. He went to
+Vienna to study the military art, and dissuaded Leopold from making peace
+with the Sultan. Peter wished to conquer Kertch in order to secure the
+Straits of Ienikale. He was preparing to go to Venice, when vexatious
+intelligence reached him from Moscow.
+
+The first reforms of Peter, his first attempts against the national
+prejudices and customs, had raised him up a crowd of enemies. Old Russia
+did not allow herself quietly to be set aside by the bold innovator. There
+was in the interior a sullen and resolute resistance, which sometimes gave
+birth to bloody scenes. The revolt of the streltsi, the insurrection of
+Astrakhan, the rebellion of the Cossacks, and later the trial of his son
+and first wife are only episodes of the great struggle. Already the priests
+were teaching that Antichrist was born. Now it had been prophesied that
+Antichrist should be born of an adulteress, and Peter was the son of the
+_second_ wife of Alexis, therefore his mother Natalia was the "false
+virgin," the adulterous woman of the prophecies. The increasingly heavy
+taxes that weighed on the people were another sign that the time had come.
+Others, disgusted by the taste shown by the Czar for German clothes and
+foreign languages and adventures, affirmed that he was not the son of
+Alexis, but of Lefort the Genevan, or that his father was a German surgeon.
+They were scandalized to see the Czar, like another Gregory Otrepief,
+expose himself to blows in his military "amusements." The lower orders were
+indignant at the abolition of the long beards and national costume, and
+the _raskolniks_[1] at the authorization of "the sacrilegious smell of
+tobacco."
+
+[Footnote 1: Dissenters from the orthodox church of Russia (Greek
+Church).--ED.]
+
+The journey to the west completed the general dissatisfaction. Had anyone
+ever before seen a czar of Moscow quit Holy Russia to wander in the
+kingdoms of foreigners? Who knew what adventures might befall him among the
+_niemtsi_ and the _bousourmanes_? for the Russian people hardly knew how to
+distinguish between the Turks and the Germans, and were wholly ignorant of
+France and England. Under an unknown sky, at the extremity of the world, on
+the shores of the "ocean sea," what dangers might he not encounter? Then
+a singular legend was invented about the travels of the Czar. It was said
+that he went to Stockholm disguised as a merchant, and that the Queen had
+recognized him and had tried in vain to capture him. According to another
+version, she had plunged him in a dungeon, and delivered him over to his
+enemies, who wished to put him in a cask lined with nails and throw him
+into the sea. He had only been saved by a streletz who had taken his place.
+Some asserted that Peter was still kept there; and in 1705 the streltsi and
+raskolniks of Astrakhan still gave out that it was a false czar who had
+come back to Moscow--the true czar was a prisoner at Stockholm, attached to
+a stake.
+
+In the midst of this universal disturbance, caused by the absence of Peter,
+there were certain symptoms peculiarly disquieting. The Muscovite army
+grew more and more hostile to the new order of things. In 1694 Peter had
+discovered a fresh conspiracy, having for its object the deliverance of
+Sophia; and at the very moment of his departure from Russia he had to put
+down a plot of streltsi and Cossacks headed by Colonel Tsykler. Those of
+the streltsi who had been sent to form the garrison of Azov pined for their
+wives, their children, and the trades they had left in Moscow. When in the
+absence of the Czar they were sent from Azov to the frontiers of Poland,
+they again began to murmur. "What a fate is ours! It is the boyars who do
+all the mischief; for three years they have kept us from our homes."
+
+Two hundred deserted and returned to Moscow; but the douma, fearing their
+presence in the already troubled capital, expelled them by force. They
+brought back to their regiments a letter of Sophia. "You suffer," she
+wrote; "later it will become worse. March on Moscow. What is it you wait
+for? There is no news of the Czar." It was repeated through the army that
+the Czar had died in foreign lands, and that the boyars wished to put his
+son Alexis to death. It was necessary to march on Moscow and exterminate
+the nobles.
+
+The military sedition was complicated by the religious fanaticism of the
+raskolniks and the demagogic passions of the popular army. Four regiments
+revolted and deserted. Generals Schein and Gordon, with their regular
+troops, hastened after them, came up with them on the banks of the Iskra,
+and tried to persuade them to return to their duty. The streltsi replied
+by a petition setting forth all their grievances: "Many of them had died
+during the expedition to Azov, suggested by Lefort, a German, a heretic;
+they had endured fatiguing marches over burning plains, their only food
+being bad meat; their strength had been exhausted by severe tasks, and they
+had been banished to distant garrisons. Moscow was now a prey to all sorts
+of horrors. Foreigners had introduced the custom of shaving the beard and
+smoking tobacco. It was said that these niemtsi meant to seize the town. On
+this rumor, the streltsi had arrived, and also because Romodanovski wished
+to disperse and put them to the sword without anyone knowing why." A few
+cannon-shots were sufficient to scatter the rebels. A large number were
+arrested; torture, the gibbet, and the dungeon awaited the captives.
+
+When Peter hastened home from Vienna he decided that his generals and his
+douma had been too lenient. He had old grievances against the streltsi;
+they had been the army of Sophia, in opposition to the army of the Czar;
+he remembered the invasion of the Kremlin, the massacre of his mother's
+family, her terrors in Troitsa, and the conspiracies which all but delayed
+his journey to the west. At the very time that he was travelling in Europe
+for the benefit of his people, these incorrigible mutineers had forced him
+to renounce his dearest projects and had stopped him on the road to Venice.
+He resolved to take advantage of the opportunity by crushing his enemies
+_en masse_, and by making the Old Russia feel the weight of a terror that
+would recall the days of Ivan IV. The long beards had been the standard of
+revolt--they should fall. On August 26th he ordered all the gentlemen of
+his court to shave themselves, and himself applied the razor to his great
+lords. The same day the Red Place was covered with gibbets. The patriarch
+Adrian tried in vain to appease the anger of the Czar by presenting to him
+the wonder-working image of the Mother of God. "Why hast thou brought out
+the holy icon?" exclaimed the Czar. "Retire and restore it to its place.
+Know that I venerate God and his Mother as much as thyself, but know also
+that it is my duty to protect the people and punish the rebels."
+
+On October 30th there arrived at the Red Place the first instalment of two
+hundred thirty prisoners: they came in carts, with lighted torches in their
+hands, nearly all already broken by torture, and followed by their wives
+and children, who ran behind chanting a funeral wail. Their sentence was
+read, and they were slain, the Czar ordering several officers to help the
+executioner. John George Korb, the Austrian agent, who as an eye-witness
+has left us an authentic account of the executions, heard that five rebel
+heads had been sent into the dust by blows from an axe wielded by the
+noblest hand in Russia. The terrible carpenter of Saardam worked and
+obliged his boyars to work at this horrible employment. Seven other days
+were employed in this way; a thousand victims were put to death. Some were
+broken on the wheel, and others died by various modes of torture. The
+removal of the corpses was forbidden: for five months Moscow had before its
+eyes the spectacle of the dead bodies hanging from the battlements of the
+Kremlin and the other ramparts; and for five months the streltsi suspended
+to the bars of Sophia's prison presented her the petition by which they
+had entreated her to reign. Two of her confidants were buried alive; she
+herself, with Eudoxia Lapoukhine, Peter's wife, who had been repudiated for
+her obstinate attachment to the ancient customs, had their heads shaved
+and were confined in monasteries. After the revolt of the inhabitants of
+Astrakhan, who put their waywode to death, the old militia was completely
+abolished, and the way left clear for the formation of new troops.
+
+
+
+%TYRANNY OF ANDROS IN NEW ENGLAND%
+
+THE "BLOODLESS REVOLUTION"
+
+A.D. 1689
+
+CHARLES W. ELLIOT
+
+
+When the spirit of the English Revolution of 1688 crossed the Atlantic
+and stirred the New England colonists to throw off the Stuart tyranny
+represented by Andros, a long step was taken in the development of early
+American self-government. The Charter Oak tradition, whether or not
+resting on actual occurrences, correctly typifies the temper of that
+self-government as it has ever manifested itself in the crises of patriotic
+development in this country. And the ending of theocratic government,
+as here recorded of Massachusetts, foreshadowed the further growth of
+democracy in America.
+
+Sir William Andros, an Englishman, was colonial governor of New York from
+1674 to 1681, and of New England, including New York, from 1686 to 1689.
+His rule "was on the model dear to the heart of his royal master--a harsh
+despotism, but neither strong nor wise; it was wretched misgovernment and
+stupid, blundering oppression." What poor success Andros had in his attempt
+to force such a rule upon people of the English race who had already
+accustomed themselves to a large measure of independence and
+self-government Elliott's account briefly but fully shows.
+
+While colonies are poor they are neglected by the parent state; when they
+are able to pay taxes then she is quite ready to "govern them"; she is
+willing to appoint various dependents to important offices, and to allow
+the colonies to pay liberal salaries; she likes also to tax them to the
+amount of the surplus production which is transferred to the managers
+in the mother-country. Surprising as this is, it is what many call
+"government," and is common everywhere. England has been no exception to
+this, and her practice in New England was of this character till, in the
+year 1776, the back of the people was so galled that it threw its rider
+with violence.
+
+At various times attempts had been made to destroy the Massachusetts
+charter. At the restoration of Charles II, in 1660, the enemies of the
+Puritans roused themselves. All who scented the breath of liberty in those
+Western gales--all who had been disappointed of fond hopes in those
+infant states--all who had felt in New England, too, the iron hand of
+ecclesiastical tyranny, who chafed in the religious manacles which there,
+as everywhere else, were imposed upon the minority--all united against
+them; and in 1664 commissioners were sent over with extraordinary powers.
+The colony withstood them to the best of its ability; but at last, in 1676,
+a _quo warranto_ was issued, and judgment was obtained in England against
+the Massachusetts charter.
+
+In 1683 the quo warranto was brought over by Edward Randolph, who had been
+appointed collector of the port of Boston in 1681, but had not been allowed
+to act. He was the "messenger of death" to the hopes of the colony. The
+deputies refused to appear in England and plead, and judgment was entered
+up against them at last, in 1685, and the charter was abrogated. Charles
+died, and the bitter and bigoted James II came to the throne in 1684. The
+colonists then had rumors that Colonel Kirke, the fiercest hater of the
+Nonconformists in England, was coming over as governor, which filled them
+with dread. The colony now seemed to be at the mercy of the churchmen, or,
+worse than that, of the papists, for such was James. Mr. Rawson, secretary
+of the colony, about this time wrote, "Our condition is awful."
+
+Mr. Joseph Dudley was appointed governor and acted for a short time, but
+was succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros, who arrived December 19, 1686, with a
+commission from James II, to take upon himself the absolute government
+of all New England. Andros was supposed to be a bigoted papist, and he
+certainly carried matters with a high hand; the poisoned chalice of
+religious despotism, which these Pilgrims had commended to the lips of
+Roger Williams, the Browns, Mrs. Hutchinson, Gorton, Clarke, and the
+Quakers, was now offered to their own lips, and the draught was bitter.
+
+First, the press was muzzled; then marriage was no longer free. The
+minister Moody (1684) was imprisoned six months in New Hampshire for
+refusing to administer the communion to Cranfield and others, according
+to the manner and form set forth in the _Book of Common Prayer_. The
+Congregational ministers were as mere laymen, and danger menaced public
+worship and the meeting-houses. But this last extremity was saved them by
+the necessity which James was under of securing the triumph of _his_ church
+in Protestant England, the first step toward which was the proclamation
+of religious toleration. This, of course, secured the colonists, and the
+pilgrims were saved that fearful misery of being driven out from their
+own cherished altars. Andros carried things with as high a hand in
+Massachusetts as his master did in England; absolute subjection they both
+insisted on. Besides the denial of political and religious rights, the
+practice of arbitrary taxation was asserted by Andros, and all titles to
+lands were questioned; in the brutal phrase of the time, it was declared
+that "the calf died in the cow's belly"; that is, having no rights as a
+state, they had none as individuals; so fees, fines, and expenditures
+impoverished the people and enriched the officials. All seemed lost in
+Massachusetts.
+
+Andros went down to Hartford, in Connecticut, with his suite, and with
+sixty troops took possession of the government there and demanded the
+charter. Through the day (October 31, 1687) the authorities remonstrated
+and postponed. When they met Andros again in the evening the people
+collected, much excited. There seemed no relief. Their palladium, their
+charter, was demanded, and before them stood Andros, with soldiers and
+drawn swords, to compel his demand. There was then no hope, and the roll
+of parchment--the charter, with the great royal seal upon it--was brought
+forth and laid upon the table, in the midst of the excited people.
+Suddenly, without warning, all lights were extinguished! There were
+darkness and silence, followed by wonder, movement, and confusion. What
+meant this very unparliamentary conduct, or was it a gust of wind which had
+startled all? Lights were soon obtained, and then--
+
+"Where is the charter?" was the question that went round the assembly.
+
+"What means this?" cried Andros, in anger.
+
+But no man knew where the charter had disappeared to; neither threats nor
+persuasion brought it to light. What could Andros do? Clearly nothing, for
+the authorities had done all that could be asked; they had produced the
+charter in the presence of Andros, and now it had disappeared from his
+presence. He had come upon a fool's errand, and some sharp Yankee (Captain
+Wadsworth) had outwitted him. Where was the charter? Safely hidden in the
+heart of the great oak, at Hartford, on the grounds of Samuel Wyllys. There
+it remained beyond the reach of tyranny.
+
+The tree known as the "Charter Oak" stood for over a century and a half
+from that day. The Indians had always prayed that the tree might be spared;
+they have our thanks.
+
+Andros wrote on the last page of their records, _Finis_, and
+disappeared--but that was not the end of Connecticut.
+
+It was a dark time for liberty in New England, and a dark day for liberty
+in Old England; for there James II and his unscrupulous ministers were
+corruptly, grossly, and illegally trampling down the rights of manhood.
+Andros was doing it in New England, and he found in Dudley, Stoughton,
+Clark, and others, sons of New England, ready feet. In 1688 Randolph
+writes, "We are as arbitrary as the great Turk"; which seems to have been
+true. The hearts of the best men in both countries sank within them, and
+they cried in their discouragement, "O Lord! how long!"
+
+Thus matters stood when, during the spring of 1688-1689, faint rumors of
+the landing of William, Prince of Orange, in England, came from Virginia.
+Could this be true? It brought Andros up to Boston (April), where he gave
+orders to have the soldiers ready against surprise.
+
+Liberty is the most ardent wish of a brave and noble people, and is too
+often betrayed by confidence in cultivated and designing and timid men.
+Liberty was the wish of the people of New England; and for the want of
+brave men then and since then they suffered.
+
+When, on April 4th, John Winslow brought from Virginia the rumor of the
+English Revolution and the landing of the Prince of Orange, it went through
+their blood like the electric current, and thrilled from the city along the
+byways into every home. Men got on their horses and rode onward to the next
+house to carry the tidings that the popish King was down and William was
+up, and that there was hope; through town and country the questions were
+eagerly asked: "Shall we get our old charter? Shall we regain our rights?"
+"What is there for us to do?" cried the people.
+
+Andros put out a proclamation that all persons should be in readiness to
+resist the forces of the Prince of Orange should they come. But the old
+magistrates and leaders silently prayed for his success; the people, less
+cautious and more determined, said to one another: "Let us do something.
+Why not act?" and this went from mouth to mouth till their hatred of
+Andros, and the remembrance to his dastardly oppressions, blazed into a
+consuming fire.
+
+"On April 18, 1689," wrote an onlooker, "I knew not anything of what was
+intended until it was begun, yet being at the north end of the town, where
+I saw boys running along the streets with clubs in their hands encouraging
+one another to fight, I began to mistrust what was intended, and hasting
+toward the Town Dock I soon saw men running for their arms; but before I
+got to the Red Lion I was told that Captain George and the master of the
+frigate were seized and secured in Mr. Colman's house at the North End; and
+when I came to the Town Dock I understood that Bullivant and some others
+were laid hold of, and then immediately the drums began to beat, and the
+people hastened and ran, some with and some for arms," etc.
+
+So it was begun, no one knew by whom; but men remembered yet their old
+liberties and were ready to risk something to regain them; they remembered,
+too, their present tyrants and longed to punish them. But in all this, men
+of property took no part--they are always timid. It was the "mob" that
+acted.
+
+Governor Andros was at the fort with some soldiers, and sent for the
+clergymen to come to him, who declined. The people and train-bands rallied
+together at the Town House, where old Governor Bradstreet and some other
+principal men met to consult as to what should be done. The King's frigate
+in the harbor ran up her flags, and the lieutenant swore he would die
+before she should be taken, and he opened her ports and ran out her guns;
+but Captain George (prisoner in Boston) sent him word not to fire a shot,
+for the people would tear him in pieces if he did. In the afternoon the
+soldiers and people marched to the fort, took possession of a battery,
+turned its guns upon the fort and demanded its surrender. They did not wait
+for its surrender, but stormed in through the portholes, and Captain John
+Nelson, a Boston merchant, cried out to Andros, "I demand your surrender."
+Andros was surprised at the anger of an outraged people, and knew not what
+to do, but at last gave up the fort, and was lodged prisoner in Mr. Usher's
+house.
+
+The next day he was forced to give up the castle in the harbor, and the
+guns of the battery from the shore were brought to bear upon the frigate.
+But the captain prayed that she might not be forced to surrender, because
+all the officers and crew would lose their wages; so she was dismantled
+for present security. All through the day people came pouring in from the
+country, well armed and hot with rage against Andros and his confederates;
+and the cooler men trembled lest some unnecessary violence might be done;
+so Captain Fisher, of Dedham, led Andros by the collar of the coat back to
+the fort for safety.
+
+On the 20th Bradstreet and other leading men met, and formed a kind of
+provisional council. They carefully abstained from resuming their old
+charter, partly from fear and partly from doubt, and called upon the
+towns to send up deputies. When these met, on May 22, 1689, forty out of
+fifty-four were for "resuming," but a majority of the council opposed
+it, and time was spent in disputes; but at last the old Governor and
+magistrates accepted the control of affairs, though they would not consent
+to resume the charter. Thus the moment for action passed, and the colony
+lost that chance for reestablishing its old rights.
+
+Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed their charters, which had never
+been legally vacated. Mr. Threat was obliged to take again the office of
+governor of Connecticut, when the amazing reports of the revolution and
+seizure of the Governor in Massachusetts reached them. They issued loyal
+addresses to William and Mary, in which they said: "Great was that day when
+the Lord who sitteth upon the floods did divide his and your adversaries
+like the waters of Jordan, and did begin to magnify you like Joshua, by the
+deliverance of the English dominions from popery and slavery."
+
+Andros escaped, but was apprehended at Rhode Island, and sent back to
+Boston, and in February, 1689, with Dudley and some others, he was sent
+away to England.
+
+Increase Mather, the agent of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the aid of
+friends in England, endeavored to gain the restoration of the old charter
+from King William, but was unsuccessful; a new one was granted (1691),
+which contained many of the old privileges; but the King would not grant
+them the power of appointing their own governor; that power was reserved;
+and appeals from the colony courts to England were allowed. The Governor
+and the King both had a veto upon all colonial legislation. By it all
+religions except the Roman Catholic were declared free, and Plymouth was
+annexed to Massachusetts.
+
+Thus two important elements of a free government were lost to
+Massachusetts; and powers which had been exercised over fifty years were,
+for nigh a hundred years, taken away. In Connecticut and Rhode Island they
+continued to elect their own rulers and to exercise all the powers of
+government. The new charter was brought over by Sir William Phipps, the new
+governor appointed by the King, who arrived on May 14, 1692.
+
+Thus ended the rule of the theocracy in Massachusetts, and from this time
+forward the ministers and church-members possessed no more power than the
+rest of the people.
+
+
+
+%MASSACRE OF LACHINE%
+
+A.D. 1689
+
+FRANCOIS XAVIER GARNEAU
+
+
+Just after Count Frontenac's first administration of Canada (1672-1682),
+when the colony of New France was under the rule of De la Barre and his
+successor, the Marquis de Denonville, Montreal and its immediate vicinity
+suffered from the most terrible and bloody of all the Indian massacres
+of the colonial days. The hatred of the Five Nations for the French,
+stimulated by the British colonists of New York, under its governor,
+Colonel Dongan, was due to French forays on the Seneca tribes, and to
+the capture and forwarding to the royal galleys in France of many of the
+betrayed Iroquois chiefs. At this period the English on the seaboard began
+to extend their trade into the interior of the continent and to divert
+commerce from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson. This gave rise to keen
+rivalries between the two European races, and led the English to take sides
+with the Iroquois in their enmity to the French. The latter, at Governor
+Denonville's instigation, sought to settle accounts summarily with the
+Iroquois, believing that the tribes of the Five Nations could never be
+conciliated, and that it was well to extirpate them at once. Soon the
+Governor put his fell purpose into effect. With a force of two thousand
+men, in a fleet of canoes, he entered the Seneca country by the Genesee
+River, and for ten days ravaged the Iroquois homes and put many of them
+cruelly to death. Returning by the Niagara River he erected and garrisoned
+a fort at its mouth and then withdrew to Quebec. A terrible revenge was
+taken on the French colonists for these infamous acts, as the following
+article by M. Garneau shows.
+
+The situation of the colonists of New France during the critical era of
+M. Denonville's administration was certainly anything but enviable. They
+literally "dwelt in the midst of alarms," yet their steady courage in
+facing perils, and their endurance of privations when unavoidable, were
+worthy of admiration. A lively idea of what they had to resist or to
+suffer may be found by reading the more particular parts of the Governor's
+despatches to Paris. For instance, in one of these he wrote in reference to
+the raids of the Iroquois: "The savages are just so many animals of prey,
+scattered through a vast forest, whence they are ever ready to issue, to
+raven and kill in the adjoining countries. After their ravages, to go
+in pursuit of them is a constant but almost bootless task. They have no
+settled place whither they can be traced with any certainty; they must be
+watched everywhere, and long waited for, with fire-arms ready primed. Many
+of their lurking-places could be reached only by blood-hounds or by other
+savages as our trackers, but those in our service are few, and the native
+allies we have are seldom trustworthy; they fear the enemy more than
+they love us, and they dread, on their own selfish account, to drive the
+Iroquois to extremity. It has been resolved, in the present strait, to
+erect a fort in every seigniory, as a place of shelter for helpless people
+and live-stock, at times when the open country is overrun with ravagers.
+As matters now stand, the arable grounds lie wide apart, and are so begirt
+with bush that every thicket around serves as a point for attack by a
+savage foe; insomuch that an army, broken up into scattered posts, would be
+needful to protect the cultivators of our cleared lands."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Letter to M. Seignelai, August 10, 1688.]
+
+Nevertheless, at one time hopes were entertained that more peaceful
+times were coming. In effect, negotiations with the Five Nations were
+recommenced; and the winter of 1687-1688 was passed in goings to and fro
+between the colonial authorities and the leaders of the Iroquois, with whom
+several conferences were holden. A correspondence, too, was maintained by
+the Governor with Colonel Dongan at New York; the latter intimating in one
+of his letters that he had formed a league of all the Iroquois tribes,
+and put arms in their hands, to enable them to defend British colonial
+territory against all comers.
+
+The Iroquois confederation itself sent a deputation to Canada, which
+was escorted as far as Lake St. Francois by twelve hundred warriors--a
+significant demonstration enough. The envoys, after having put forward
+their pretensions with much stateliness and yet more address, said that,
+nevertheless, their people did not mean to press for all the advantages
+they had the right and the power to demand. They intimated that they
+were perfectly aware of the comparative weakness of the colony; that the
+Iroquois could at any time burn the houses of the inhabitants, pillage
+their stores, waste their crops, and afterward easily raze the forts. The
+Governor-general, in reply to these--not quite unfounded--boastings and
+arrogant assumptions, said that Colonel Dongan claimed the Iroquois as
+English subjects, and admonished the deputies that, if such were the case,
+then they must act according to his orders, which would necessarily be
+pacific, France and England not now being at war; whereupon the deputies
+responded, as others had done before, that the confederation formed an
+independent power; that it had always resisted French as well as English
+supremacy over its subjects; and that the coalesced Iroquois would be
+neutral, or friends or else enemies to one or both, at discretion; "for we
+have never been conquered by either of you," they said; adding that, as
+they held their country immediately from God, they acknowledge no other
+master.
+
+It did not appear, however, that there was a perfect accordance among the
+envoys on all points, for the deputies from Onnontaguez, the Onneyouths,
+and Goyogouins agreed to a truce on conditions proposed by M. Denonville;
+namely, that all the native allies of the French should be comprehended
+in the treaty. They undertook that deputies [others than some of those
+present?] should be sent from the Agniers and Tsonnouthouan cantons, who
+were then to take part in concluding a treaty; that all hostilities should
+cease on every side, and that the French should be allowed to revictual,
+undisturbed, the fort of Cataracoui. The truce having been agreed to on
+those bases, five of the Iroquois remained (one for each canton), as
+hostages for its terms being observed faithfully. Notwithstanding this
+precaution, several roving bands of Iroquois, not advertised, possibly, of
+what was pending, continued to kill our people, burn their dwellings, and
+slaughter live-stock in different parts of the colony; for example, at
+St. Francois, at Sorel, at Contrecoeur, and at St. Ours. These outrages,
+however, it must be owned, did not long continue, and roving corps of
+savages, either singly or by concert, drew off from the invaded country and
+allowed its harassed people a short breathing-time at least.
+
+The native allies of the French, on the other hand, respected the truce
+little more than the Iroquois. The Abenaquis invaded the Agniers canton,
+and even penetrated to the English settlements, scalping several persons.
+The Iroquois of the Sault and of La Montagne did the like; but the Hurons
+of Michilimackinac, supposed to be those most averse to the war, did all
+they could, and most successfully, too, to prevent a peace being signed.
+
+While the negotiations were in progress, the "Machiavel of the wilderness,"
+as Raynal designates a Huron chief, bearing the native name of Kondiarak,
+but better known as Le Rat in the colonial annals, arrived at Frontenac
+(Kingston), with a chosen band of his tribe, and became a means of
+complicating yet more the difficulties of the crisis. He was the most
+enterprising, brave, and best-informed chief in all North America; and, as
+such, was one courted by the Governor in hopes of his becoming a valuable
+auxiliary to the French, although at first one of their most formidable
+enemies. He now came prepared to battle in their favor, and eager to
+signalize himself in the service of his new masters. The time, however, as
+we may well suppose, was not opportune, and he was informed that a treaty
+with the Iroquois being far advanced, and their deputies on the way to
+Montreal to conclude it, he would give umbrage to the Governor-general of
+Canada should he persevere in the hostilities he had been already carrying
+on.
+
+The Rat was taken aback on hearing this to him unwelcome news, but took
+care to hide his surprise and uttered no complaint. Yet was he mortally
+offended that the French should have gone so far in the matter without the
+concert of their native allies, and he at once resolved to punish them,
+in his own case, for such a marked slight. He set out secretly with his
+braves, laid an ambuscade near Famine Cove for the approaching deputation
+of Iroquois, murdered several and made the others his prisoners. Having
+done so, he secretly gloried in the act, afterward saying that he had
+"killed the peace." Yet in dealing with the captives he put another and a
+deceptive face on the matter; for, on courteously questioning them as to
+the object of their journey, being told that they were peaceful envoys, he
+affected great wonder, seeing that it was Denonville himself who had sent
+him on purpose to waylay them!
+
+To give seeming corroboration to his astounding assertions, he set the
+survivors at liberty, retaining one only to replace one of his men who
+was killed by the Iroquois in resisting the Hurons' attack. Leaving the
+deputies to follow what course they thought fit, he hastened with his men
+to Michilimackinac, where he presented his prisoner to M. Durantaye, who,
+not as yet officially informed, perhaps, that a truce existed with the
+Iroquois, consigned him to death, though he gave Durantaye assurance of who
+he really was; but when the victim appealed to the Rat for confirmation of
+his being an accredited envoy, that unscrupulous personage told him he must
+be out of his mind to imagine such a thing! This human sacrifice offered
+up, the Rat called upon an aged Iroquois, then and long previously a Huron
+captive, to return to his compatriots and inform them from him that while
+the French were making a show of peace-seeking, they were, underhand,
+killing and making prisoners of their native antagonists.
+
+This artifice, a manifestation of the diabolic nature of its author, had
+too much of the success intended by it, for, although the Governor managed
+to disculpate himself in the eyes of the more candid-minded Iroquois
+leaders, yet there were great numbers of the people who could not be
+disabused, as is usual in such cases, even among civilized races.
+Nevertheless the enlightened few, who really were tired of the war, agreed
+to send a second deputation to Canada; but when it was about to set out, a
+special messenger arrived, sent by Andros, successor of Dongan, enjoining
+the chiefs of the Iroquois confederation not to treat with the French
+without the participation of his master, and announcing at the same time
+that the King of Great Britain had taken the Iroquois nations under his
+protection. Concurrently with this step, Andros wrote to Denonville that
+the Iroquois territory was a dependency holden of the British, and that he
+would not permit its people to treat upon those conditions already proposed
+by Dongan.
+
+This transaction took place in 1688; but before that year concluded,
+Andros' "royal master" was himself superseded, and living an exile in
+France.[1] Whether instructions sent from England previously warranted
+the polity pursued by Andros or not, his injunctions had the effect of
+instantly stopping the negotiations with the Iroquois, and prompting them
+to recommence their vengeful hostilities. War between France and Britain
+being proclaimed next year, the American colonists of the latter adopted
+the Iroquois as their especial allies, in the ensuing contests with the
+people of New France.
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1688 Andros was appointed Governor of New York and New
+England. The appointment of this tyrant, and the annexation of the
+colony to the neighboring ones, were measures particularly odious to the
+people.--ED.]
+
+Andros, meanwhile, who adopted the policy of his predecessor so far as
+regarded the aborigines if in no other respect, not only fomented the
+deadly enmity of the Iroquois for the Canadians, but tried to detach the
+Abenaquis from their alliance with the French, but without effect in their
+case; for this people honored the countrymen of the missionaries who had
+made the Gospel known to them, and their nation became a living barrier
+to New France on that side, which no force sent from New England could
+surmount; insomuch that the Abenaquis, some time afterward, having crossed
+the borders of the English possessions, and harassed the remoter colonists,
+the latter were fain to apply to the Iroquois to enable them to hold their
+own.
+
+The declaration of Andros, and the armings of the Iroquois, now let loose
+on many parts of Canada, gave rise to a project as politic, perhaps, as it
+was daring, and such as communities when in extremity have adopted with
+good effect; namely, to divert invasion by directly attacking the enemies'
+neighboring territories. The Chevalier de Callieres, with whom the idea
+originated, after having suggested to Denonville a plan for making a
+conquest of the province of New York, set out for France, to bring it under
+the consideration of the home government, believing that it was the only
+means left to save Canada to the mother-country.
+
+It was high time, indeed, that the destinies of Canada were confided to
+other directors than the late and present ones, left as the colony had
+been, since the departure of M. de Frontenac, in the hands of superannuated
+or incapable chiefs. Any longer persistency in the policy of its two most
+recent governors might have irreparably compromised the future existence
+of the colony. But worse evils were in store for the latter days of the
+Denonville administration; a period which, take it altogether, was one of
+the most calamitous which our forefathers passed through.
+
+At the time we have now reached in this history an unexpected as well as
+unwonted calm pervaded the country, yet the Governor had been positively
+informed that a desolating inroad by the collective Iroquois had been
+arranged, and that its advent was imminent; but as no precursive signs of
+it appeared anywhere to the general eyes, it was hoped that the storm, said
+to be ready to burst, might yet be evaded. None being able to account for
+the seeming inaction of the Iroquois, the Governor applied to the Jesuits
+for their opinion on the subject. The latter expressed their belief that
+those who had brought intelligence of the evil intention of the
+confederacy had been misinformed as to facts, or else exaggerated sinister
+probabilities. The prevailing calm was therefore dangerous as well as
+deceitful, for it tended to slacken preparations which ought to have been
+made to lessen the apprehensions of coming events which threw no shadow
+before.
+
+The winter and the spring of the year 1688-1689 had been passed in an
+unusually tranquil manner, and the summer was pretty well advanced when the
+storm, long pent up, suddenly fell on the beautiful island of Montreal, the
+garden of Canada. During the night of August 5th, amid a storm of hail and
+rain, fourteen hundred Iroquois traversed Lake St. Louis, and disembarked
+silently on the upper strand of that island. Before daybreak next morning
+the invaders had taken their station at Lachine in platoons around every
+considerable house within a radius of several leagues. The inmates were
+buried in sleep--soon to be the dreamless sleep that knows no waking, for
+too many of them.
+
+The Iroquois wait only for the signal from their leaders to fall on. It is
+given. In short space the doors and the windows of the dwellings are
+driven in; the sleepers dragged from their beds; men, women, children all
+struggling in the hands of their butchers. Such houses as the savages
+cannot force their way into, they fire; and as the flames reach the persons
+of those within, intolerable pain drives them forth to meet death beyond
+the threshold, from beings who know no pity. The more fiendish murderers
+even forced parents to throw their children into the flames. Two hundred
+persons were burned alive; others died under prolonged tortures. Many were
+reserved to perish similarly, at a future time. The fair island upon which
+the sun shone brightly erewhile, was lighted up by fires of woe; houses,
+plantations, and crops were reduced to ashes, while the ground reeked with
+blood up to a line a short league apart from Montreal city. The ravagers
+crossed to the opposite shore, the desolation behind them being complete,
+and forthwith the parish of Le Chenaie was wasted by fire and many of its
+people massacred.
+
+The colonists for many leagues around the devoted region seem to have been
+actually paralyzed by the brain-blow thus dealt their compatriots by the
+relentless savages, as no one seems to have moved a step to arrest their
+course; for they were left in undisturbed possession of the country
+during several weeks. On hearing of the invasion, Denonville lost his
+self-possession altogether. When numbers of the colonists, recovering from
+their stupor, came up armed desiring to be led against the murderers of
+their countrymen, he sent them back or forbade them to stir! Several
+opportunities presented themselves for disposing of parties of the
+barbarians, when reckless from drink after their orgies, or when roving
+about in scattered parties feeble in number; but the Governor-general's
+positive orders to refrain from attacking them withheld the uplifted hand
+from striking.
+
+In face of a prohibition so authoritative, the soldiers and the inhabitants
+alike could only look on and wait till the savages should find it
+convenient to retire. Some small skirmishing, indeed, there was at a few
+distant points between the people and their invaders. Thus a party of men,
+partly French and partly natives, led by Larobeyre, an ex-lieutenant, on
+the way to reenforce Fort Roland, where Chevalier de Vaudreuil commanded,
+were set upon and all killed or dispersed. More than half of the prisoners
+taken were burned by their conquerors. Larobeyre, being wounded and not
+able to fire, was led captive by the Iroquois to their country, and roasted
+at a slow fire in presence of the assembled tribe of his captors. Meantime
+the resistance to the barbarians being little or none in the regions they
+overran, they slew most of the inhabitants they met in their passage; while
+their course was marked, wherever they went, by lines of flame.
+
+Their bands moved rapidly from one devoted tract to another; yet wherever
+they had to face concerted resistance--which in some cases, at least, put a
+fitting obstacle in the way of their intended ravagings--they turned aside
+and sought an easier prey elsewhere. In brief, during ten entire weeks or
+more, did they wreak their wrath, almost unchecked, upon the fairest region
+of Canada, and did not retire thence till about mid-October.
+
+The Governor-General having sent a party of observation to assure himself
+of the enemy having decamped, this detachment observed a canoe on the Lake
+of the Two Mountains, bearing twenty-two of the retiring Iroquois. The
+Canadians, who were of about the same number, embarked in two boats and,
+nearing the savages, coolly received their fire; but in returning the
+discharge, each singled out his man, when eighteen of the Iroquois were at
+once laid low.
+
+However difficult it may have been to put the people of a partially cleared
+country, surrounded with forests, on their guard against such an irruption
+as the foregoing, it is difficult to account for their total unpreparedness
+without imputing serious blame to Denonville and his subalterns in office.
+That he exercised no proper influence, in the first place, was evident, and
+the small use he made of the means he had at his disposal when the crisis
+arrived was really something to marvel at. He was plainly unequal to the
+occasion, and his incapacity in every particular made it quite impossible
+for his presence, as chief of the colony, to be endured any longer. There
+is little doubt that had he not been soon recalled by royal order, the
+colonists themselves would have set him aside. The latter season of his
+inglorious administration took the lugubrious name "the Year of the
+Massacre."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The Five Nations, being at war with the French, made a sudden
+descent on Montreal, burned and sacked the town, killed one hundred of the
+inhabitants, carrying away a number of prisoners whom they burned alive,
+and then returned to their own country with the loss of only a few of their
+number. Had the English followed up the success of their allies, all Canada
+might have been easily conquered.--ED.]
+
+The man appointed through a happy inspiration to supersede M. de Denonville
+had now reached the Lower Canadian waters. He was no other than the Count
+de Frontenac. It appears that the King, willing to cover, with a handsome
+pretext, the recall of Denonville, in a letter dated May 31st, advertised
+him that, war having been rekindled in Europe, his military talents would
+be of the greatest use in home service. By this time De Frontenac was
+called to give counsel regarding the projects of the Chevalier de
+Callieres, and assist in preparing the way for their realization if
+considered feasible. Meanwhile he undertook to resume his duties as
+governor-general of New France; but a series of events delayed his arrival
+in Canada till the autumn of 1689.
+
+He landed at Quebec on October 18th, at 8 P.M., accompanied by De
+Callieres, amid the heartiest demonstrations of popular welcome. The public
+functionaries and armed citizens in waiting, with torch-bearers, escorted
+him through the city, which was spontaneously illuminated, to his quarters.
+His return was hailed by all, but by none more than the Jesuits, who had,
+in fact for years before, labored to obtain his recall. The nobles, the
+merchants, the business class, gave him so hearty a reception as to
+convince him that real talent such as his must in the end rise superior
+to all the conjoined efforts of faction, public prejudices, and the evil
+passions of inferior minds.
+
+War was declared against Britain in the month of June. M. de Frontenac,
+on resuming the reins of government, had to contend both against the
+Anglo-American colonies and the Five Nations. His energy and skill,
+however, overcame all obstacles; the war was most glorious for the
+Canadians, so few in number compared with their adversaries; and far from
+succumbing to their enemies, they carried the war into the adversaries'
+camp and struck at the heart of their most remote possessions.
+
+
+
+%SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY AND BATTLE OF THE BOYNE%
+
+A.D. 1689-1690
+
+TOBIAS G. SMOLLETT
+
+
+Londonderry, capital of the county of the same name in Ireland, is a city
+of historic celebrity by reason of the successful defence there made
+(April-August, 1689) by the Irish Protestants against the besieging forces
+of James II. The battle of the Boyne (July 1, 1690) is of less importance
+in a military sense than for the reason that it virtually ended the war
+which James II carried into Ireland in his unsuccessful attempt to regain
+his throne from William and Mary. On account of this result, and still more
+by reason of the hereditary antagonisms which have so long survived it,
+this battle still retains a peculiar fame in history.
+
+In Ireland, where the Roman Catholics were numerous, there was strong
+opposition to the government of William and Mary. The fugitive James II had
+supporters who controlled the Irish army. Some resistance was made by the
+English and Scotch colonists in Ireland, but little head was made against
+the Catholic party, which supported James, until William entered the
+country with his forces.
+
+In the following narrative Smollett speaks of an "intended massacre" of the
+Protestants at Londonderry. The people of that city were of Anglo-Saxon
+blood. Although belonging to various Protestant churches, they were united
+in their hostility to the Irish and to the Catholic faith. They were
+alarmed at the close of 1688 by rumors of a plan for their own extirpation
+by the papists. News of the approach of the Earl of Antrim with a regiment,
+under orders from the Lord Deputy, filled the city with consternation. What
+followed there is graphically told in the words of the historian. A better
+account of a military action than that which Smollett gives of the Battle
+of the Boyne it would be hard to find.
+
+On the first alarm of an intended massacre, the Protestants of Londonderry
+had shut their gates against the regiment commanded by the Earl of Antrim,
+and resolved to defend themselves against the Lord Deputy; they transmitted
+this resolution to the Government of England, together with an account of
+the danger they incurred by such a vigorous measure, and implored immediate
+assistance; they were accordingly supplied with some arms and ammunition,
+but did not receive any considerable reenforcement till the middle of
+April, when two regiments arrived at Loughfoyl under the command of
+Cunningham and Richards.
+
+By this time King James had taken Coleraine, invested Kilmore, and was
+almost in sight of Londonderry. George Walker, rector of Donaghmore, who
+had raised a regiment for the defence of the Protestants, conveyed this
+intelligence to Lundy, the governor; this officer directed him to join
+Colonel Crafton, and take post at the Longcausey, which he maintained
+a whole night against the advanced guard of the enemy, until, being
+overpowered by numbers, he retreated to Londonderry and exhorted the
+governor to take the field, as the army of King James was not yet
+completely formed. Lundy assembling a council of war, at which Cunningham
+and Richards assisted, they agreed that as the place was not tenable,
+it would be imprudent to land the two regiments; and that the principal
+officers should withdraw themselves from Londonderry, the inhabitants of
+which would obtain the more favorable capitulation in consequence of their
+retreat; an officer was immediately despatched to King James with proposals
+of a negotiation; and Lieutenant-general Hamilton agreed that the army
+should halt at the distance of four miles from the town.
+
+Notwithstanding this preliminary, James advanced at the head of his troops,
+but met with such a warm reception from the besieged that he was fain to
+retire to St. John's Town in some disorder. The inhabitants and soldiers in
+garrison at Londonderry were so incensed at the members of the council of
+war who had resolved to abandon the place that they threatened immediate
+vengeance. Cunningham and Richards retired to their ships, and Lundy locked
+himself in his chamber. In vain did Walker and Major Baker exhort him
+to maintain his government; such was his cowardice or treachery that he
+absolutely refused to be concerned in the defence of the place, and he was
+suffered to escape in disguise, with a load of matches on his back; but he
+was afterward apprehended in Scotland, from whence he was sent to London to
+answer for his perfidy or misconduct.
+
+After his retreat the townsmen chose Mr. Walker and Major Baker for their
+governors with joint authority; but this office they would not undertake
+until it had been offered to Colonel Cunningham, as the officer next in
+command to Lundy; he rejected the proposal, and with Richards returned to
+England, where they were immediately cashiered. The two new governors, thus
+abandoned to their fate, began to prepare for a vigorous defence: indeed
+their courage seems to have transcended the bounds of discretion, for the
+place was very ill-fortified; their cannon, which did not exceed twenty
+pieces, were wretchedly mounted; they had not one engineer to direct their
+operations; they had a very small number of horse; the garrison consisted
+of people unacquainted with military discipline; they were destitute of
+provisions; they were besieged by a king, in person, at the head of a
+formidable army, directed by good officers, and supplied with all the
+necessary implements for a siege or battle.
+
+The town was invested on April 20th; the batteries were soon opened, and
+several attacks were made with great impetuosity, but the besiegers
+were always repulsed with considerable loss; the townsmen gained divers
+advantages in repeated sallies, and would have held their enemies in the
+utmost contempt had they not been afflicted with a contagious distemper,
+as well as reduced to extremity by want of provisions; they were even
+tantalized in their distress, for they had the mortification to see some
+ships, which had arrived with supplies from England, prevented from sailing
+up the river by the batteries the enemy had raised on both sides, and a
+boom with which they had blocked up the channel.
+
+At length a reenforcement arrived in the Lough, under the command of
+General Kirke, who had deserted his master, and been employed in the
+service of King William. He found means to convey intelligence to Walker
+that he had troops and provisions on board for their relief, but found it
+impracticable to sail up the river. He promised, however, that he would
+land a body of forces at the Inch, and endeavor to make a diversion in
+their favor, when joined by the troops at Inniskillen, which amounted to
+five thousand men, including two thousand cavalry. He said he expected six
+thousand men from England, where they were embarked before he set sail; he
+exhorted them to persevere in their courage and loyalty, and assured them
+that he would come to their relief at all hazards. The assurances enabled
+them to bear their miseries a little longer, though their numbers daily
+diminished. Major Baker dying, his place was filled by Colonel Michelburn,
+who now acted as colleague to Mr. Walker.
+
+King James having returned to Dublin to be present at the Parliament, the
+command of his army devolved to the French general, Rosene,[1] who was
+exasperated by such an obstinate opposition by a handful of half-starved
+militia. He threatened to raze the town to its foundations and destroy the
+inhabitants without distinction of age or sex unless they would immediately
+submit themselves to their lawful sovereign. The governors treated his
+menaces with contempt, and published an order that no person, on pain of
+death, should talk of surrendering. They had now consumed the last remains
+of their provisions, and supported life by eating the flesh of horses,
+dogs, cats, rats, mice, and tallow, starch, and salted hides; and even
+this loathsome food began to fail. Rosene, finding them deaf to all his
+proposals, threatened to wreak his vengeance on all the Protestants of that
+county and drive them under the walls of Londonderry, where they should be
+suffered to perish by famine. The Bishop of Meath being informed of this
+design, complained to King James of the barbarous intention, entreating his
+majesty to prevent its being put into execution; that Prince assured
+him that he had already ordered Rosene to desist from such proceedings;
+nevertheless, the Frenchman executed his threats with the utmost rigor.
+
+[Footnote 1: James was assisted in his attempt by a small body of French
+troops, England having entered the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV.--ED.]
+
+Parties of dragoons were detached on this cruel service. After having
+stripped all the Protestants for thirty miles round, they drove these
+unhappy people before them like cattle, without even sparing the enfeebled
+old men, nurses with infants at their breasts, and tender children. About
+four thousand of these miserable objects were driven under the walls of
+Londonderry. This expedient, far from answering the purpose of Rosene,
+produced a quite contrary effect. The besieged were so exasperated at this
+act of inhumanity that they resolved to perish rather than submit to such a
+barbarian. They erected a gibbet in sight of the enemy, and sent a message
+to the French general importing that they would hang all the prisoners they
+had taken during the siege unless the Protestants whom they had driven
+under the walls should be immediately dismissed. This threat produced a
+negotiation, in consequence of which the Protestants were released after
+they had been detained three days without tasting food. Some hundreds
+died of famine or fatigue; and those who lived to return to their own
+habitations found them plundered and sacked by the papists, so that the
+greater number perished for want, or were murdered by straggling parties of
+the enemy. Yet these very people had for the most part obtained protection
+from King James, to which no respect was paid by his general.
+
+The garrison of Londonderry was now reduced from seven thousand to five
+thousand seven hundred men, and these were driven to such extremity of
+distress that they began to talk of killing the popish inhabitants and
+feeding on their bodies. Kirke, who had hitherto lain inactive, ordered
+two ships laden with provisions to sail up the river, under convoy of the
+Dartmouth (frigate); one of these, called the Mountjoy, broke the enemy's
+boom, and all the three--after having sustained a very hot fire from both
+sides of the river--arrived in safety at the town, to the inexpressible joy
+of the inhabitants.
+
+The army of James was so dispirited by the success of this enterprise that
+they abandoned the siege in the night, and retired with precipitation,
+after having lost about nine thousand men before the place. Kirke no sooner
+took possession of the town than Walker was prevailed upon to embark for
+England, with an address of thanks from the inhabitants to their majesties
+for the seasonable relief they had received.
+
+King James trusted so much to the disputes in the English Parliament that
+he did not believe his son-in-law would be able to quit that kingdom, and
+William had been six days in Ireland before he received intimation of his
+arrival. This was no sooner known than he left Dublin under the guard
+of the militia, commanded by Luttrel, and, with a reenforcement of six
+thousand infantry which he had lately received from France, joined the
+rest of his forces, which now almost equalled William's army in number,
+exclusive of about fifteen thousand men who remained in different
+garrisons. He occupied a very advantageous post on the bank of the Boyne,
+and, contrary to the advice of his general officers, resolved to stand
+battle. They proposed to strengthen their garrisons, and retire to the
+Shannon, to wait the effect of the operations at sea.
+
+Louis had promised to equip a powerful armament against the English fleet,
+and send over a great number of small frigates to destroy William's
+transports, as soon as their convoy should be returned to England; the
+execution of this scheme was not at all difficult, and must have proved
+fatal to the English army, for their stores and ammunition were still on
+board; the ships sailed along the coast as the troops advanced in their
+march; and there was not one secure harbor into which they could retire on
+any emergency. James, however, was bent on hazarding an engagement, and
+expressed uncommon confidence and alacrity. Besides the river, which was
+deep, his front was secured by a morass and a rising ground; so that the
+English army could not attack him without manifest disadvantage.
+
+King William marched up to the opposite bank of the river, and as he
+reconnoitred their situation was exposed to the fire of some field-pieces,
+which the enemy purposely planted against his person. They killed a man and
+two horses close by him, and the second bullet rebounding from the earth,
+grazed on his right shoulder, so as to carry off part of his clothes and
+skin and produce a considerable contusion. This accident, which he bore
+without the least emotion, created some confusion among his attendants,
+which, the enemy perceiving, concluded he was killed, and shouted aloud in
+token of their joy; the whole camp resounded with acclamation, and several
+squadrons of their horse were drawn down toward the river as if they
+intended to pass it immediately and attack the English army. The report was
+instantly communicated from place to place until it reached Dublin; from
+thence it was conveyed to Paris, where, contrary to the custom of the
+French court, the people were encouraged to celebrate the event with
+bonfires and illuminations.
+
+William rode along the line to show himself to the army after this narrow
+escape. At night he called a council of war, and declared his resolution to
+attack the enemy in the morning. Schomberg[1] at first opposed his design,
+but, finding the King determined, he advised that a strong detachment of
+horse and foot should that night pass the Boyne at Slane bridge and take
+post between the enemy and the pass at Duleck, that the action might be the
+more decisive; this counsel being rejected, the King determined that early
+in the morning Lieutenant-general Douglas with the right wing of the
+infantry, and young Schomberg with the horse, should pass at Slane bridge,
+while the main body of the foot should force their passage at Old bridge,
+and the left at certain fords between the enemy's camp and Drogheda. The
+Duke, perceiving that his advice was not relished by the Dutch generals,
+retired to his tent, where, the order of battle being brought to him, he
+received it with an air of discontent, saying it was the first that had
+ever been sent to him in that manner. The proper dispositions being made,
+William rode quite through the army by torchlight, and then retired to his
+tent after having given orders to his soldiers to distinguish themselves
+from the enemy by wearing green boughs in their hats during the action.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Duke of Schomberg, who commanded for William, had
+accompanied him to England in 1688. The Duke is further spoken of below.
+"Young Schomberg" was his son.--ED.]
+
+At six o'clock in the morning, General Douglas, with young Schomberg, the
+Earl of Portland, and Auverquerque, marched to Slane bridge, and passed the
+river with very little opposition. When they reached the farther bank they
+perceived the enemy drawn up in two lines, to a considerable number of
+horse and foot, with a morass in their front, so that Douglas was obliged
+to wait for reinforcements. This being arrived, the infantry was led on to
+the charge through the morass, while Count Schomberg rode round it with his
+cavalry, to attack the enemy in flank. The Irish, instead of waiting the
+assault, faced about, and retreated toward Duleck with some precipitation;
+yet not so fast but that Schomberg fell in among their rear, and did
+considerable execution. King James, however, soon reenforced his left
+wing from the centre; and the Count was in his turn obliged to send for
+assistance.
+
+At this juncture King William's main body, consisting of the Dutch guards,
+the French regiments,[1] and some battalions of English, passed the river,
+which was waist-high, under a general discharge of artillery. King James
+had imprudently removed his cannon from the other side; but he had posted a
+strong body of musketeers along the bank, behind hedges, houses, and some
+works raised for the occasion; these poured in a close fire on the English
+troops before they reached the shore; but it produced very little effect.
+Then the Irish gave way, and some battalions landed without further
+opposition; yet before they could form, they were charged with great
+impetuosity by a squadron of the enemy's horse, and a considerable body of
+their cavalry and foot, commanded by General Hamilton, advanced from behind
+some little hillocks to attack those that were landed as well as to prevent
+the rest from reaching the shore; his infantry turned their backs and fled
+immediately; but the horse charged with incredible fury, both on the bank
+and in the river, so as to put the unformed regiments in confusion.
+
+[Footnote 1: French Protestants or Huguenots.--ED.]
+
+Then the Duke of Schomberg passed the river in person, put himself at the
+head of the French Protestants, and pointing to the enemy, "Gentlemen,"
+said he, "those are your persecutors." With these words he advanced to the
+attack, where he himself sustained a violent onset from a party of the
+Irish horse, which had broken through one of the regiments and were now on
+their return. They were mistaken for English, and allowed to gallop up
+to the Duke, who received two severe wounds in the head; but the French
+troops, now sensible of their mistake, rashly threw in their fire on the
+Irish while they were engaged with the Duke, and, instead of saving, shot
+him dead on the spot.
+
+The death of this general had wellnigh proved fatal to the English army,
+which was immediately involved in tumult and disorder; while the infantry
+of King James rallied and returned to their posts with a face of
+resolution. They were just ready to fall on the centre when King William,
+having passed with the left wing, composed of the Danish, Dutch, and
+Inniskillen horse, advanced to attack them on the right: they were struck
+with such a panic at his appearance that they made a sudden halt, and then
+facing about retreated to the village of Dunmore. There they made such a
+vigorous stand that the Dutch and Danish horse, though headed by the King
+in person, recoiled; even the Inniskillens gave way, and the whole wing
+would have been routed had not a detachment of dragoons, belonging to the
+regiment of Cunningham and Levison, dismounted and lined the hedges on each
+side of the ditch through which the fugitives were driven; there they did
+such execution on the pursuers as soon checked their ardor. The horse,
+which were broken, had now time to rally, and, returning to the charge,
+drove the enemy before them in their turn.
+
+In this action General Hamilton, who had been the life and soul of the
+Irish during the whole engagement, was wounded and taken, an incident which
+discouraged them to such a degree that they made no further efforts to
+retrieve the advantage they had lost. He was immediately brought to
+the King, who asked him if he thought the Irish would make any further
+resistance, and he replied, "On my honor I believe they will, for they
+have still a good body of horse entire." William, eying him with a look of
+disdain, repeated, "Your honor, your honor!" but took no other notice of
+his having acted contrary to his engagement, when he was permitted to go to
+Ireland on promise of persuading Tyrconnel to submit to the new government.
+The Irish now abandoned the field with precipitation; but the French and
+Swiss troops, that acted as their auxiliaries under De Lauzun, retreated
+in good order, after having maintained the battle for some time with
+intrepidity and perseverance.
+
+As King William did not think proper to pursue the enemy, the carnage was
+not great; the Irish lost a thousand five hundred men and the English
+about one-third of that number; though the victory was dearly purchased,
+considering the death of the gallant Duke of Schomberg, who fell, in the
+eighty-second year of his age, after having rivalled the best generals of
+that time in military reputation. He was the descendant of a noble family,
+in the Palatinate, and his mother was an Englishwoman, daughter of Lord
+Dudley. Being obliged to leave his country on account of the troubles
+by which it was agitated, he commenced a soldier of fortune, and served
+successively in the armies of Holland, England, France, Portugal, and
+Brandenburg; he attained to the dignity of mareschal in France, grandee in
+Portugal, generalissimo in Prussia, and duke in England. He professed the
+Protestant religion; was courteous and humble in his deportment; cool,
+penetrating, resolute, and sagacious, nor was his probity inferior to his
+courage.
+
+This battle also proved fatal to the barve Caillemote, who had followed
+the Duke's fortunes, and commanded one of the Protestant regiments. After
+having received a mortal wound, he was carried back through the river by
+four soldiers, and, though almost in the agonies of death, he, with a
+cheerful countenance, encouraged those who were crossing to do their duty,
+exclaiming, "_A la gloire, mes enfants, a la gloire!_" ("To glory, my lads,
+to glory!")
+
+The third remarkable person who lost his life on this occasion was Walker,
+the clergyman, who had so valiantly defended Londonderry against the whole
+army of King James; he had been very graciously received by King William,
+who gratified him with a reward of five thousand pounds and a promise of
+further favor; but, his military genius still predominating, he attended
+his royal patron in this battle, and, being shot, died in a few minutes.
+
+The persons of distinction who fell on the other side were the Lords Dongan
+and Carlingford; Sir Neile O'Neile and the Marquis of Hocquincourt. James,
+himself, stood aloof during the action on the hill of Dunmore, surrounded
+with some squadrons of horse, and seeing victory declare against him
+retired to Dublin without having made the least effort to reassemble his
+broken forces. Had he possessed either spirit or conduct his army might
+have been rallied and reenforced from his garrisons, so as to be in a
+condition to keep the field and even to act on the offensive; for his loss
+was inconsiderable, and the victor did not attempt to molest his troops
+in their retreat, an omission which has been charged to him as a flagrant
+instance of misconduct. Indeed, through the whole of this engagement
+William's personal courage was much more conspicuous than his military
+skill.
+
+
+
+%SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS%
+
+
+A.D. 1692
+
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+
+Among the people of Massachusetts during the century which saw the Pilgrims
+seek religious liberty there, a delusion broke out which not only spread
+horror through the community and caused suffering and disgrace even in
+the most respectable families, but has baffled all later attempts at
+explanation. The witchcraft madness, as manifested there and elsewhere
+in the world, has remained alike the puzzle of history and the riddle of
+psychology.
+
+Historically, witchcraft is classed with other occult phenomena or
+practices connected with supposed supernatural influences. The famous
+trials and executions for witchcraft which took place in and near Salem,
+Massachusetts, toward the end of the seventeenth century, owed their
+special prominence to their peculiar localization and environment.
+Otherwise they might have been regarded as nothing more than incidents of a
+once general course in criminal procedure. Thousands in Europe had already
+suffered similar condemnation, and the last recorded execution for
+witchcraft in Great Britain did not occur till 1722. Even so late as 1805 a
+woman was imprisoned for this "crime" in Scotland.
+
+Hildreth's account skilfully condenses the essential matters relating to
+this strange episode in Massachusetts history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The practice of magic, sorcery, and spells, in the reality of which all
+ignorant communities have believed, had long been a criminal offence in
+England. A statute of the thirty-third year of Henry VIII made them capital
+felonies. Another statute of the first year of James I, more specific in
+its terms, subjected to the same penalty all persons "invoking any evil
+spirit, or consulting, covenanting with, entertaining, employing, feeding,
+or rewarding any evil spirit, or taking up dead bodies from their graves to
+be used in any witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment, or killing or
+otherwise hurting any person by such infernal arts."
+
+That second Solomon, before whom the illustrious Bacon bowed with so much
+reverence, was himself a firm believer in witchcraft. He professed, indeed,
+to be an adept in the art of detecting witches, an art which became the
+subject of several learned treatises, one of them from James' own royal
+pen. During the Commonwealth England had abounded with professional
+witch-detectors, who travelled from county to county, and occasioned the
+death of many unfortunate persons. The "Fundamentals" of Massachusetts
+contained a capital law against witchcraft, fortified by that express
+declaration of Scripture, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
+
+Yet, among other evidences of departure from ancient landmarks, and of
+the propagation even to New England of a spirit of doubt, were growing
+suspicions as to the reality of that everyday supernaturalism which formed
+so prominent a feature of the Puritan theology. The zeal of Increase Mather
+against this rising incredulity had engaged him, while the old charter was
+still in existence, to publish a book of _Remarkable Providences_, in which
+were enumerated, among other things, all the supposed cases of witchcraft
+which had hitherto occurred in New England, with arguments to prove their
+reality.
+
+What at that time had given the matter additional interest was the case of
+a bewitched or haunted house at Newbury. An intelligent neighbor, who had
+suggested that a mischievous grandson of the occupant might perhaps be at
+the bottom of the mystery, was himself accused of witchcraft and narrowly
+escaped. A witch, however, the credulous townspeople were resolved to find,
+and they presently fixed upon the wife of the occupant as the culprit.
+Seventeen persons testified to mishaps experienced in the course of
+their lives, which they charitably chose to ascribe to the ill-will and
+diabolical practices of this unfortunate old woman. On this evidence she
+was found guilty by the jury; but the magistrates, more enlightened,
+declined to order her execution. The deputies thereupon raised a loud
+complaint at this delay of justice. But the firmness of Governor
+Bradstreet, supported as he was by the moderate party, and the abrogation
+of the charter which speedily followed, saved the woman's life.
+
+This same struggle of opinion existed also in the mother-country, where
+the rising sect of "freethinkers" began to deny and deride all diabolical
+agencies. Nor was this view confined to professed freethinkers. The
+latitudinarian party in the Church, a rapidly growing body, leaned
+perceptibly the same way. The "serious ministers," on the other hand, led
+by Richard Baxter, their acknowledged head, defended with zeal the reality
+of witchcraft and the personality and agency of the devil, to deny which
+they denounced as little short of atheism. They supported their opinions
+by the authority of Sir Matthew Hale, lord chief justice of England,
+as distinguished for piety as for knowledge of the law, under whose
+instructions two alleged witches, at whose trials he had presided shortly
+after the Restoration, had been found guilty and executed. The accounts
+of those trials, published in England on occasion of this controversy and
+republished at Boston, had tended to confirm the popular belief. The doubts
+by which Mather had been alarmed were yet confined to a few thinking men.
+Read with a forward and zealous faith, these stories did not fail to make a
+deep impression on the popular imagination.
+
+While Andros was still governor, shortly after Increase Mather's departure
+for England, four young children, members of a pious family in Boston, the
+eldest a girl of thirteen, the youngest a boy not five, had begun to behave
+in a singular manner, barking like dogs, purring like cats, seeming to
+become deaf, blind, or dumb, having their limbs strangely distorted,
+complaining that they were pinched, pricked, pulled, or cut--acting out, in
+fact, the effects of witchcraft, according to the current notions of it
+and the descriptions in the books above referred to. The terrified
+father called in Dr. Oakes, a zealous leader of the ultra-theocratic
+party--presently sent to England as joint agent with Mather--who gave
+his opinion that the children were bewitched. The oldest girl had lately
+received a bitter scolding from an old Irish indented servant, whose
+daughter she had accused of theft.
+
+This same old woman, from indications no doubt given by the children,
+was soon fixed upon as being the witch. The four ministers of Boston and
+another from Charlestown having kept a day of fasting and prayer at the
+troubled house, the youngest child was relieved. But the others, more
+persevering and more artful, continuing as before, the old woman was
+presently arrested and charged with bewitching them. She had for a long
+time been reputed a witch, and she even seems to have flattered herself
+that she was one. Indeed, her answers were so "senseless" that the
+magistrates referred it to the doctors to say if she were not "crazed in
+her intellects." On their report of her sanity, the old woman was tried,
+found guilty, and executed.
+
+Though Increase Mather was absent on this interesting occasion, he had a
+zealous representative in his son, Cotton Mather, by the mother's side
+grandson of the "Great Cotton," a young minister of twenty-five, a prodigy
+of learning, eloquence, and piety, recently settled as colleague with his
+father over Boston North Church. Cotton Mather had an extraordinary memory,
+stuffed with all sorts of learning. His application was equal to that of a
+German professor. His lively imagination, trained in the school of Puritan
+theology, and nourished on the traditionary legends of New England, of
+which he was a voracious and indiscriminate collector, was still further
+stimulated by fasts, vigils, prayers, and meditations almost equal to
+those of any Catholic saint. Of a temperament ambitious and active, he was
+inflamed with a great desire of "doing good." Fully conscious of all his
+gifts, and not a little vain of them, like the Jesuit missionaries in
+Canada, his contemporaries, he believed himself to be often, during his
+devotional exercises, in direct and personal communication with the Deity.
+
+In every piece of good-fortune he saw a special answer to his prayers; in
+every mortification or calamity, the special personal malice of the devil
+and his agents. Yet both himself and his father were occasionally troubled
+with "temptations to atheism," doubts which they did not hesitate to
+ascribe to diabolical influence. The secret consciousness of these doubts
+of their own was perhaps one source of their great impatience at the doubts
+of others.
+
+Cotton Mather had taken a very active part in the late case of witchcraft;
+and, that he might study the operations of diabolical agency at his
+leisure, and thus be furnished with evidence and arguments to establish
+its reality, he took the eldest of the bewitched children home to his own
+house. His eagerness to believe invited imposture. His excessive vanity and
+strong prejudices made him easy game. Adroit and artful beyond her years,
+the girl fooled him to the top of his bent. His ready pen was soon
+furnished with materials for "a story all made up of wonders," which, with
+some other matters of the same sort, and a sermon preached on the occasion,
+he presently published, under the title of _Memorable Providences relating
+to Witchcrafts and Possessions_, with a preface in which he warned all
+"Sadducees" that he should regard their doubts for the future as a personal
+insult.
+
+Cotton Mather was not the only dupe. "The old heresy of the sensual
+Sadducees, denying the being of angels either good or evil," says the
+recommendatory preface to this book, signed by the other four ministers of
+Boston, "died not with them, nor will it, whilst men, abandoning both faith
+and reason, count it their wisdom to credit nothing but what they see or
+feel. How much this fond opinion hath gotten ground in this debauched age
+is awfully observable; and what a dangerous stroke it gives to settle men
+in atheism is not hard to discern. God is therefore pleased, besides the
+witness borne to this truth in Sacred Writ, to suffer devils sometimes to
+do such things in the world as shall stop the mouths of gainsayers, and
+extort a confession from them."
+
+They add their testimony to the truth of Mather's statements, which they
+commend as furnishing "clear information" that there is "both a God and a
+devil, and witchcraft." The book was presently republished in London, with
+a preface by Baxter, who pronounced the girl's case so "convincing" that
+"he must be a very obdurate Sadducee who would not believe it."
+
+Mather's sermon, prefixed to this narrative, is a curious specimen of
+fanatical declamation. "Witchcraft," he exclaims, "is a renouncing of God,
+and the advancement of a filthy devil into the throne of the Most High.
+Witchcraft is a renouncing of Christ, and preferring the communion of a
+loathsome, lying devil before all the salvation of the Lord Redeemer.
+Witchcraft is a siding with hell against heaven and earth, and therefore a
+witch is not to be endured in either of them. 'Tis a capital crime, and is
+to be prosecuted as a species of devilism that would not only deprive God
+and Christ of all his honor, but also plunder man of all his comfort.
+Nothing too vile can be said of, nothing too hard can be done to, such a
+horrible iniquity as witchcraft is!"
+
+Such declamations from such a source, giving voice and authority to the
+popular superstition, prepared the way for the tragedy that followed.
+The suggestion, however, that Cotton Mather, for purposes of his own,
+deliberately got up this witchcraft delusion, and forced it upon a doubtful
+and hesitating people, is utterly absurd. And so is another suggestion, a
+striking exhibition of partisan extravagance, that because the case of the
+four Boston children happened during the government of Andros, therefore
+the responsibility of that affair rests on him, and not on the people of
+Massachusetts. The Irish woman was tried under a Massachusetts law, and
+convicted by a Massachusetts jury; and, had Andros interfered to save her
+life, to the other charges against him would doubtless have been added that
+of friendship for witches.
+
+Cotton Mather seems to have acted, in a degree, the part of a demagogue.
+Yet he is not to be classed with those tricky and dishonest men, so common
+in our times, who play upon popular prejudices which they do not share, in
+the expectation of being elevated to honors and office. Mather's position,
+convictions, and temperament alike called him to serve on this occasion as
+the organ, exponent, and stimulator of the popular faith.
+
+The bewitched girl, as she ceased to be an object of popular attention,
+seems to have returned to her former behavior. But the seed had been sown
+on fruitful ground. After an interval of nearly four years, three young
+girls in the family of Parris, minister of Salem village, now Danvers,
+began to exhibit similar pranks. As in the Boston case, a physician
+pronounced them bewitched, and Tituba, an old Indian woman, the servant of
+Parris, who undertook, by some vulgar rites, to discover the witch, was
+rewarded by the girls with the accusation of being herself the cause of
+their sufferings. The neighboring ministers assembled at the house of
+Parris for fasting and prayer. The village fasted; and presently a general
+fast was ordered throughout the colony. The "bewitched children," thus
+rendered objects of universal sympathy and attention, did not long want
+imitators. Several other girls and two or three women of the neighborhood
+began to be afflicted in the same way, as did also John, the Indian husband
+of Tituba, warned, it would seem, by the fate of his wife.
+
+Parris took a very active part in discovering the witches; so did Noyes,
+minister of Salem, described as "a learned, a charitable, and a good man."
+A town committee was soon formed for the detection of the witches. Two
+of the magistrates, resident at Salem, entered with great zeal into
+the matter. The accusations, confined at first to Tituba and two other
+friendless women, one crazed, the other bedrid, presently included two
+female members of Parris' church, in which, as in so many other churches,
+there had been some sharp dissensions. The next Sunday after this
+accusation Parris preached from the verse, "Have I not chosen you twelve,
+and one is a devil?" At the announcement of this text the sister of one of
+the accused women rose and left the meeting-house. She, too, was accused
+immediately after, and the same fate soon overtook all who showed the least
+disposition to resist the prevailing delusion.
+
+The matter had now assumed so much importance that the Deputy-governor--for
+the provisional government was still in operation--proceeded to
+Salem village, with five other magistrates, and held a court in the
+meeting-house. A great crowd was present. Parris acted at once as clerk
+and accuser, producing the witnesses, and taking down the testimony. The
+accused were held with their arms extended and hands open, lest by the
+least motion of their fingers they might inflict torments on their victims,
+who sometimes affected to be struck dumb, and at others to be knocked down
+by the mere glance of an eye. They were haunted, they said, by the spectres
+of the accused, who tendered them a book, and solicited them to subscribe a
+league with the devil; and when they refused, would bite, pinch, scratch,
+choke, burn, twist, prick, pull, and otherwise torment them. At the mere
+sight of the accused brought into court, "the afflicted" would seem to be
+seized with a fit of these torments, from which, however, they experienced
+instant relief when the accused were compelled to touch them--infallible
+proof to the minds of the gaping assembly that these apparent sufferings
+were real and the accusations true. The theory was that the touch conveyed
+back into the witch the malignant humors shot forth from her eyes; and
+learned references were even made to Descartes, of whose new philosophy
+some rumors had reached New England, in support of this theory.
+
+In the examinations at Salem village meeting-house some very extraordinary
+scenes occurred. "Look there!" cried one of the afflicted; "there is Goody
+Procter on the beam!" This Goody Procter's husband, notwithstanding the
+accusation against her, still took her side, and had attended her to the
+court; in consequence of which act of fidelity some of "the afflicted"
+began now to cry out that he too was a wizard. At the exclamation above
+cited, "many, if not all, the bewitched had grievous fits."
+
+Question by the Court: "Ann Putnam, who hurts you?"
+
+Answer: "Goodman Procter, and his wife, too."
+
+Then some of the afflicted cry out, "There is Procter going to take up Mrs.
+Pope's feet!" and "immediately her feet are taken up."
+
+Question by the Court: "What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things?"
+
+Answer: "I know not: I am innocent."
+
+Abigail Williams, another of the afflicted, cries out, "There is Goodman
+Procter going to Mrs. Pope!" and "immediately said Pope falls into a fit."
+
+A magistrate to Procter: "You see the devil will deceive you; the
+children," so all the afflicted were called, "could see what you were going
+to do before the woman was hurt. I would advise you to repentance, for you
+see the devil is bringing you out."
+
+Abigail Williams cries out again, "There is Goodman Procter going to hurt
+Goody Bibber!" and "immediately Goody Bibber falls into a fit." Abigail
+Williams and Ann Putnam both "made offer to strike at Elizabeth Procter;
+but when Abigail's hand came near, it opened, whereas it was made up into
+a fist before, and came down exceedingly lightly as it drew near to said
+Procter, and at length, with open and extended fingers, touched Procter's
+hood very lightly; and immediately Abigail cries out, 'My fingers, my
+fingers, my fingers burn!' and Ann Putnam takes on most grievously of her
+head, and sinks down."
+
+Such was the evidence upon which people were believed to be witches, and
+committed to prison to be tried for their lives! Yet, let us not hurry too
+much to triumph over the past. In these days of animal magnetism, have we
+not ourselves seen imposture as gross, and even in respectable quarters
+a headlong credulity just as precipitate? We must consider also that the
+judgments of our ancestors were disturbed, not only by wonder, but by fear.
+
+Encouraged by the ready belief of the magistrates and the public, "the
+afflicted" went on enlarging the circle of their accusations, which
+presently seemed to derive fresh corroboration from the confessions of some
+of the accused. Tituba had been flogged into a confession; others yielded
+to a pressure more stringent than blows. Weak women, astonished at the
+charges and contortions of their accusers, assured that they were witches
+beyond all doubt, and urged to confess as the only possible chance for
+their lives, were easily prevailed upon to repeat any tales put into their
+mouths: their journeys through the air on broomsticks to attend witch
+sacraments--a sort of travesty on the Christian ordinance--at which the
+devil appeared in the shape of a "small black man"; their signing the
+devil's book, renouncing their former baptism, and being baptized anew
+by the devil, who "dipped" them in "Wenham Pond," after the Anabaptist
+fashion.
+
+Called upon to tell who were present at these sacraments, the confessing
+witches wound up with new accusations; and by the time Phipps arrived in
+the colony, near a hundred persons were already in prison. The mischief was
+not limited to Salem. An idea had been taken up that the bewitched could
+explain the causes of sickness; and one of them, carried to Andover for
+that purpose, had accused many persons of witchcraft, and thrown the whole
+village into the greatest commotion. Some persons also had been accused in
+Boston and other towns.
+
+It was one of Governor Phipps' first official acts to order all the
+prisoners into irons. This restraint upon their motions might impede them,
+it was hoped, in tormenting the afflicted. Without waiting for the meeting
+of the General Court, to whom that authority properly belonged, Phipps
+hastened, by advice of his counsel, to organize a special court for the
+trial of the witches. Stoughton, the Lieutenant-governor, was appointed
+president; but his cold and hard temper, his theological education,
+and unyielding bigotry were ill qualifications for such an office. His
+associates, six in number, were chiefly Boston men, possessing a high
+reputation for wisdom and piety, among them Richards, the late agent,
+Wait Winthrop, brother of Fitz-John Winthrop, and grandson of the former
+Governor, and Samuel Sewell, the two latter subsequently, in turn,
+chief-justices of the province.
+
+The new court, thus organized, proceeded to Salem, and commenced operations
+by the trial of an old woman who had long enjoyed the reputation of being a
+witch. Besides "spectral evidence," that is, the tales of the afflicted, a
+jury of women, appointed to make an examination, found upon her a wart or
+excrescence, adjudged to be "a devil's teat." A number of old stories were
+also raked up of dead hens and foundered cattle and carts upset, ascribed
+by the neighbors to her incantations. On this evidence she was brought in
+guilty, and hanged a few days after, when the court took an adjournment to
+the end of the month.
+
+The first General Court under the new charter met meanwhile, and Increase
+Mather, who had returned in company with Phipps, gave an account of his
+agency. From a House not well pleased with the loss of the old charter he
+obtained a reluctant vote of thanks, but he received no compensation for
+four years' expenses, which had pressed very heavily upon his narrow
+income. After passing a temporary act for continuing in force all the old
+laws, among others the capital law against witchcraft, an adjournment was
+had, without any objection or even reference, so far as appears, to the
+special court for the trial of the witches, which surely would have raised
+a great outcry had it been established for any unpopular purpose.
+
+According to a favorite practice of the old Government, now put in use
+for the last time, Phipps requested the advice of the elders as to the
+proceedings against the witches. The reply, drawn up by the hand of Cotton
+Mather, acknowledges with thankfulness "the success which the merciful God
+has given to the sedulous and assiduous endeavors of our honorable rulers
+to defeat the abominable witchcrafts which have been committed in the
+country, humbly praying that the discovery of those mysterious and
+mischievous wickednesses may be perfected." It advises, however, "critical
+and exquisite caution" in relying too much on "the devil's authority," that
+is, on spectral evidence, or "apparent changes wrought in the afflicted
+by the presence of the accused"; neither of which, in the opinion of the
+ministers, could be trusted as infallible proof. Yet it was almost entirely
+on this sort of evidence that all the subsequent convictions were had.
+Stoughton, unfortunately, had espoused the opinion--certainly a plausible
+one--that it was impossible for the devil to assume the appearance of an
+innocent man, or for persons not witches to be spectrally seen at witches'
+meetings; and some of the confessing witches were prompt to flatter the
+chief justice's vanity by confirming a doctrine so apt for their purposes.
+
+At the second session of the special court five women were tried and
+convicted. The others were easily disposed of; but in the case of Rebecca
+Nurse, one of Parris' church-members, a woman hitherto of unimpeachable
+character, the jury at first gave a verdict of acquittal. At the
+announcement of this verdict "the afflicted" raised a great clamor. The
+"honored Court" called the jury's attention to an exclamation of the
+prisoner during the trial, expressive of surprise at seeing among the
+witnesses two of her late fellow-prisoners: "Why do these testify against
+me? They used to come among us!" These two witnesses had turned confessors,
+and these words were construed by the court as confirming their testimony
+of having met the prisoner at witches' meetings. The unhappy woman,
+partially deaf, listened to this colloquy in silence. Thus pressed by the
+Court, and hearing no reply from the prisoner, the jury changed their
+verdict and pronounced her guilty. The explanations subsequently offered in
+her behalf were disregarded. The Governor, indeed, granted a reprieve, but
+the Salem committee procured its recall, and the unhappy woman, taken in
+chains to the meeting-house, was solemnly excommunicated, and presently
+hanged with the others.
+
+At the third session of the court six prisoners were tried and convicted,
+all of whom were presently hanged except Elizabeth Procter, whose pregnancy
+was pleaded in delay. Her true and faithful husband, in spite of a letter
+to the Boston ministers, denouncing the falsehood of the witnesses,
+complaining that confessions had been extorted by torture, and begging for
+a trial at Boston or before other judges, was found guilty, and suffered
+with the rest. Another of this unfortunate company was John Willard,
+employed as an officer to arrest the accused, but whose imprudent
+expression of some doubts on the subject had caused him to be accused also.
+He had fled, but was pursued and taken, and was now tried and executed. His
+behavior, and that of Procter, at the place of execution, made, however, a
+deep impression on many minds.
+
+A still more remarkable case was that of George Burroughs, a minister whom
+the incursions of the Eastern Indians had lately driven from Saco back to
+Salem village, where he had formerly preached, and where he now found among
+his former parishioners enemies more implacable even than the Indians. It
+was the misfortune of Burroughs to have many enemies, in part, perhaps,
+by his own fault. Encouragement was thus found to accuse him. Some of
+the witnesses had seen him at witches' meetings; others had seen the
+apparitions of his dead wives, which accused him of cruelty. These
+witnesses, with great symptoms of horror and alarm, even pretended to see
+these dead wives again appearing to them in open court. Though small of
+size, Burroughs was remarkably strong, instances of which were given
+in proof that the devil helped him. Stoughton treated him with cruel
+insolence, and did his best to confuse and confound him.
+
+What insured his condemnation was a paper he handed to the jury, an extract
+from some author, denying the possibility of witchcraft. Burroughs' speech
+from the gallows affected many, especially the fluent fervency of his
+prayers, concluding with the Lord's Prayer, which no witch, it was thought,
+could repeat correctly. Several, indeed, had been already detected by some
+slight error or mispronunciation in attempting it. The impression, however,
+which Burroughs might have produced was neutralized by Cotton Mather, who
+appeared on horseback among the crowd, and took occasion to remind the
+people that Burroughs, though a preacher, was no "ordained" minister, and
+that the devil would sometimes assume even the garb of an angel of light.
+
+At a fourth session of the court six women were tried and found guilty. At
+another session shortly after, eight women and one man were convicted, all
+of whom received sentence of death. An old man of eighty, who refused to
+plead, was pressed to death--a barbarous infliction prescribed by the
+common law for such cases.
+
+Ever since the trials began, it had been evident that confession was the
+only avenue to safety. Several of those now found guilty confessed and were
+reprieved; but Samuel Woodwell, having retracted his confession, along with
+seven others who persisted in their innocence, was sent to execution. "The
+afflicted" numbered by this time about fifty; fifty-five had confessed
+themselves witches and turned accusers; twenty persons had already suffered
+death; eight more were under sentence; the jails were full of prisoners,
+and new accusations were added every day. Such was the state of things when
+the court adjourned to the first Monday in November.
+
+Cotton Mather employed this interval in preparing his _Wonders of the
+Invisible World_, containing an exulting account of the late trials, giving
+full credit to the statements of the afflicted and the confessors,
+and vaunting the good effects of the late executions in "the strange
+deliverance of some that had lain for many years in a most sad condition,
+under they knew not what evil hand."
+
+While the witch trials were going on, the Governor had hastened to
+Pemaquid, and in accordance with instructions brought with him from
+England, though at an expense to the province which caused loud complaints,
+had built there a strong stone fort. Colonel Church had been employed,
+in the mean time, with four hundred men, in scouring the shores of the
+Penobscot and the banks of the Kennebec.
+
+Notwithstanding some slight cautions about trusting too much to spectral
+evidence, Mather's book, which professed to be published at the special
+request of the Governor, was evidently intended to stimulate to further
+proceedings. But, before its publication, the reign of terror had already
+reached such a height as to commence working its own cure. The accusers,
+grown bold with success, had begun to implicate persons whose character and
+condition had seemed to place them beyond the possibility of assault. Even
+"the generation of the children of God" were in danger. One of the Andover
+ministers had been implicated; but two of the confessing witches came to
+his rescue by declaring that they had surreptitiously carried his shape to
+a witches' meeting, in order to create a belief that he was there. Hale,
+minister of Beverly, had been very active against the witches; but when his
+own wife was charged, he began to hesitate. A son of Governor Bradstreet,
+a magistrate of Andover, having refused to issue any more warrants, was
+himself accused, and his brother soon after, on the charge of bewitching a
+dog. Both were obliged to fly for their lives. Several prisoners, by the
+favor of friends, escaped to Rhode Island, but, finding themselves
+in danger there, fled to New York, where Governor Fletcher gave them
+protection. Their property was seized as forfeited by their flight. Lady
+Phipps, applied to in her husband's absence on behalf of an unfortunate
+prisoner, issued a warrant to the jailer in her own name, and had thus,
+rather irregularly, procured his discharge. Some of the accusers, it is
+said, began to throw out insinuations even against her.
+
+The extraordinary proceedings on the commitments and trials; the
+determination of the magistrates to overlook the most obvious falsehoods
+and contradictions on the part of the afflicted and the confessors, under
+pretence that the devil took away their memories and imposed upon their
+brain, while yet reliance was placed on their testimony to convict the
+accused; the partiality exhibited in omitting to take any notice of certain
+accusations; the violent means employed to obtain confessions, amounting
+sometimes to positive torture; the total disregard of retractions made
+voluntarily, and even at the hazard of life--all these circumstances had
+impressed the attention of the more rational part of the community; and, in
+this crisis of danger and alarm, the meeting of the General Court was most
+anxiously awaited.
+
+When that body assembled, a remonstrance came in from Andover against the
+condemnation of persons of good fame on the testimony of children and
+others "under diabolical influences." What action was taken on this
+remonstrance does not appear. The court was chiefly occupied in the passage
+of a number of acts, embodying some of the chief points of the old civil
+and criminal laws of the colony. The capital punishment of witchcraft was
+specially provided for in the very terms of the English act of Parliament.
+Heresy and blasphemy were also continued as capital offences. By the
+organization of the Superior Court under the charter, the special
+commission for the trial of witches was superseded. But of this Superior
+Court Stoughton was appointed chief justice, and three of his four
+colleagues had sat with him in the special court.
+
+There is no evidence that these judges had undergone any change of opinion;
+but when the new court proceeded to hold a special term at Salem for the
+continuation of the witch trials a decided alteration in public feeling
+became apparent. Six women of Andover renounced their confessions, and sent
+in a memorial to that effect. Of fifty-six indictments laid before the
+grand jury, only twenty-six were returned true bills. Of the persons tried,
+three only were found guilty. Several others were acquitted, the first
+instances of the sort since the trials began.
+
+The court then proceeded to Charlestown, where many were in prison on the
+same charge. The case of a woman who for twenty or thirty years had been
+reputed a witch, was selected for trial. Many witnesses testified against
+her; but the spectral evidence had fallen into total discredit, and was not
+used. Though as strong a case was made out as any at Salem, the woman was
+acquitted, with her daughter, granddaughter, and several others. News
+presently came of a reprieve for those under sentence of death at Salem, at
+which Stoughton was so enraged that he left the bench, exclaiming, "Who it
+is that obstructs the course of justice I know not; the Lord be merciful to
+the country!" nor did he again take his seat during that term.
+
+At the first session of the Superior Court at Boston the grand jury, though
+sent out to reconsider the matter, refused to find a bill even against a
+confessing witch.
+
+The idea was already prevalent that some great mistakes had been committed
+at Salem. The reality of witchcraft was still insisted upon as zealously as
+ever, but the impression was strong that the devil had used "the afflicted"
+as his instruments to occasion the shedding of innocent blood. On behalf
+of the ministers, Increase Mather came out with his _Cases of Conscience
+concerning Witchcraft_, in which, while he argued with great learning that
+spectral evidence was not infallible, and that the devil might assume the
+shape of an innocent man, he yet strenuously maintained as sufficient proof
+confession, or "the speaking such words or the doing such things as none
+but such as have familiarity with the devil ever did or can do." As to such
+as falsely confessed themselves witches, and were hanged in consequence,
+Mather thought that was no more than they deserved.
+
+King William's veto on the witchcraft act prevented any further trials;
+and presently, by Phipps' order, all the prisoners were discharged. To a
+similar veto Massachusetts owes it that heresy and blasphemy ceased to
+appear as capital crimes on her statute-book.
+
+The Mathers gave still further proof of faith unshaken by discovering an
+afflicted damsel in Boston, whom they visited and prayed with, and of whose
+case Cotton Mather wrote an account circulated in manuscript. This damsel,
+however, had the discretion to accuse nobody, the spectres that beset her
+being all veiled. Reason and common-sense at last found an advocate in
+Robert Calef, a citizen of Boston, sneered at by Cotton Mather as "a weaver
+who pretended to be a merchant." And afterward, when he grew more angry, as
+"a coal sent from hell" to blacken his character--a man, however, of sound
+intelligence and courageous spirit. Calef wrote an account, also handed
+about in manuscript, of what had been said and done during a visitation
+of the Mathers to this afflicted damsel, an exposure of her imposture
+and their credulity, which so nettled Cotton Mather that he commenced a
+prosecution for slander against Calef, which, however, he soon saw reason
+to drop.
+
+Calef then addressed a series of letters to Mather and the other Boston
+ministers, in which he denied and ridiculed the reality of any such
+compacts with the devil as were commonly believed in under the name of
+witchcraft. The witchcraft spoken of in the Bible meant no more, he
+maintained, than "hatred or opposition to the word and worship of God, and
+seeking to seduce therefrom by some sign"--a definition which he had found
+in some English writer on the subject, and which he fortified by divers
+texts.
+
+It was, perhaps, to furnish materials for a reply to Calef that a circular
+from Harvard College, signed by Increase Mather as president, and by all
+the neighboring ministers as fellows, invited reports of "apparitions,
+possessions, enchantments, and all extraordinary things, wherein the
+existence and agency of the invisible world is more sensibly demonstrated,"
+to be used "as some fit assembly of ministers might direct." But the
+"invisible world" was fast ceasing to be visible, and Cotton Mather laments
+that in ten years scarce five returns were received to this circular.
+
+Yet the idea of some supernatural visitation at Salem was but very slowly
+relinquished, being still persisted in even by those penitent actors in the
+scene who confessed and lamented their own delusion and blood-guiltiness.
+Such were Sewell, one of the judges; Noyes, one of the most active
+prosecutors; and several of the jurymen who had sat on the trials. The
+witnesses upon whose testimony so many innocent persons had suffered were
+never called to any account. When Calef's letters were presently published
+in London, together with his account of the supposed witchcraft, the book
+was burned in the college yard at Cambridge by order of Increase Mather.
+The members of the Boston North Church came out also with a pamphlet in
+defence of their pastors. Hale, minister of Beverly, in his _Modest Inquiry
+into the Nature of Witchcraft_, and Cotton Mather, in his _Magnalia_,
+though they admit there had been "a going too far" in the affair at Salem,
+are yet still as strenuous as ever for the reality of witchcraft.
+
+Nor were they without support from abroad. Dr. Watts, then one of the chief
+leaders of the English Dissenters, wrote to Cotton Mather, "I am persuaded
+there was much agency of the devil in those affairs, and perhaps there
+were some real witches, too." Twenty years elapsed before the heirs of the
+victims, and those who had been obliged to fly for their lives, obtained
+some partial indemnity for their pecuniary losses. Stoughton and Cotton
+Mather, though they never expressed the least regret or contrition for
+their part in the affair, still maintained their places in the public
+estimation. Just as the trials were concluded, Stoughton, though he held
+the King's commission as lieutenant-governor, was chosen a counsellor--a
+mark of confidence which the theocratic majority did not choose to extend
+to several of the moderate party named in the original appointment--and
+to this post he was annually reelected as long as he lived; while Moody,
+because he had favored the escape of some of the accused, found it
+necessary to resign his pastorship of the First Church of Boston, and to
+return again to Portsmouth.
+
+Yet we need less wonder at the pertinacity with which this delusion was
+adhered to, when we find Addison arguing for the reality of witchcraft at
+the same time that he refuses to believe in any modern instance of it; and
+even Blackstone, half a century after, gravely declaring that "to deny the
+possibility, nay, actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once
+flatly to contradict the revealed word of God in various passages both of
+the Old and New Testament."
+
+
+
+%ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND%
+
+A.D. 1694
+
+JOHN FRANCIS
+
+
+Not only did the establishment of the Bank of England meet the demands of
+public exigency at the time; it also created an institution which was
+to become vitally important in the expanding life of the nation. This
+custodian of the public money and manager of the public debt of Great
+Britain is now the largest bank in the world. The only other financial
+institution that could show an equal record of long stability was the Bank
+of Amsterdam, which existed from 1609 to 1814.
+
+The national debt of England began in 1693, when William III, in order to
+carry on the war against France, resorted to a system of loans. This debt,
+however, was not intended to be permanent; but when the Bank of England was
+established, the contracting of a permanent debt began. Its advantages
+and disadvantages to England have been discussed by many theorists and
+financial authorities. But of the extraordinary service rendered to Great
+Britain by the far-seeing Scotchman, William Paterson, originator of the
+plan of the Bank of England, there is no question, although, as Francis
+shows, the project at first met with opposition from many quarters.
+
+The important position assumed by England, toward the middle of the
+seventeenth century, renders the absence of a national bank somewhat
+surprising. Under the sagacious government of Cromwell the nation had
+increased in commercial and political greatness; and although several
+projects were issued for banks, one of which was to have branches in every
+important town throughout the country, yet, a necessity for their formation
+not being absolutely felt, the proposals were dismissed. During the
+Protectorate, however, Parliament, taking into consideration the rate of
+interest, which was higher in England than abroad, and that the trade was
+thereby rendered comparatively disadvantageous to the English merchant,
+reduced the legal rate from 8 to 6 per cent., and this measure, although it
+had been carried by the Parliament of Cromwell, almost every act of which
+proved odious in the eyes of the Stuarts, was nevertheless confirmed by
+the legislature of Charles II. In 1546 the payment of interest had been
+rendered legal, and fixed at 10 per cent. In 1624 the rate had been reduced
+to 8 per cent.; and with the advance of commercial prosperity it had been
+found advisable to lower it still further.
+
+There were many reasons for the establishment of a national bank. It was
+necessary for the sake of a secure paper currency. It was required for the
+support of the national credit. It was desirable as a method of reducing
+the rate of interest paid by the state; a rate so high that, according to
+Anderson, men were induced to take their money out of trade, for the sake
+of securing it; an operation "big with mischief." The truth is that the
+times required it. The theorist may prove to demonstration the perfection
+of his theory; the speculator may show the certainty of its success: but
+unless it be a necessity called for by the onward progress of society, it
+must eventually fall to the ground.
+
+That the want of such an establishment was felt is certain. But while such
+firms as Childs--the books of whom go back to the year 1620, and refer to
+prior documents; Hoares, dating from 1680; and Snows, from 1685--were able
+to assist the public demand, although at the exorbitant interest of the
+period, it does not occasion so much surprise that the attempt made to meet
+the increasing requirements of trade proved insufficient. In 1678, sixteen
+years previous to the foundation of the Bank of England, "proposals for a
+large model of a bank" were published; and, in 1683 a "national bank of
+credit" was brought forward. In a rare pamphlet entitled _Bank Credit; or
+the usefullness and security of The Bank of Credit, examined in a dialogue
+between a Country Gentleman and a London Merchant_, this idea is warmly
+defended. It was, however, simply to have one of credit, nor was it
+proposed to form a bank of deposit; although, by the following remark of
+the "Country Gentleman," it is evident that such an establishment on a
+secure scale was desirable. He says:
+
+"Could they not without damage to themselves have secured the running
+cash of the nobility, gentry, merchants, and the traders of the city and
+kingdom, from all hazard, which would have been a great benefit to all
+concerned, who know not where to deposit their cash securely?"
+
+After much trouble this bank of credit was established at Devonshire House,
+in Bishopsgate Street; its object, as we have related, being principally
+to advance money to tradesmen and manufacturers on the security of goods.
+Three-fourths of the value was lent on these, and bills for their amount
+given to the depositor. In order to render them current, an appointed
+number of persons in each trade was formed into a society to regulate
+commercial concerns. Any individual possessed of such bills might therefore
+obtain from this company goods or merchandise with as much ease as if he
+offered current coin.
+
+The bank of credit does not appear to have flourished. The machinery was
+too complicated, and the risk of depreciation and the value of manufactures
+too great. It was next to impossible for such a company to exist after the
+Bank of England came with its low discount and free accommodations.
+
+The wild spirit of speculation--that spirit which at various periods has
+created fearful crises in the commercial world--commenced in 1694. The
+fever which from time to time has flushed the mind of the moneyed man, and
+given a fierce excitement to the almost penniless adventurer, was then and
+in the following year in full operation. The great South Sea scheme in 1720
+is ordinarily considered the earliest display of this reckless spirit.
+But a quarter of a century before, equal ingenuity and equal villany were
+exercised. Obscure men, whose sole capital was their enormous impudence,
+invented similar schemes, promised similar advantages, and used similar
+arts to entice the capitalists, which were employed with so much success at
+a later period.
+
+The want of a great banking association was sure to be made a pretext. Two
+"land banks," and a "London bank" to be managed by the magistrates, with
+several other proposals, were therefore put promisingly forward. One of
+these was for another "bank of credit"; and a pamphlet published in 1694,
+under the title of _England's Glory_, will give some idea of its nature:
+
+"If a person desires money to be returned at Coventry or York he pays it
+at the office in London, and receives a bill of credit after their form
+written upon marble paper, indenturewise, or on other as may be contrived
+to prevent counterfeiting." It was also proposed that the Government should
+share the profits; but neither of the projects was carried out.
+
+The people neglected their calling. The legitimate desire of money grew
+into a fierce and fatal spirit of avarice. The arts so common at a later
+day were had recourse to. Project begat project, copper was to be turned
+into brass. Fortunes were to be realized by lotteries. The sea was to yield
+the treasures it had engulfed. Pearl-fisheries were to pay impossible
+percentages. "Lottery on lottery," says a writer of the day, "engine on
+engine, multiplied wonderfully. If any person got considerably by a happy
+and useful invention, others followed in spite of the patent, and published
+printed proposals, filling the daily newspapers therewith, thus going on to
+jostle one another, and abuse the credulity of the people."
+
+Amid the many delusive and impracticable schemes were two important
+projects which have conferred great benefits on the English people. The
+first of these was the New River Company, the conception of Sir Hugh
+Middleton; the second was the corporation of the Bank of England. Nature
+and the great nations of antiquity suggested the former; the force and
+pressure of the times demanded the latter. It is from such demands that our
+chief institutions arise. By precept we may be taught their propriety; by
+example we may see their advantages. But until the necessity is personally
+felt they are sure to be neglected; and men wonder at their want of
+prescience and upbraid their shortsightedness when, with a sudden and
+sometimes startling success, the proposal they have slighted arises through
+the energy of another.
+
+William Paterson, one of those men whose capacity is measured by failure or
+success, was the originator of the new bank; and it is perhaps unfortunate
+for his fame that no biography exists of this remarkable person. As
+the projector of the present Bank of Scotland, as the very soul of the
+celebrated Darien Company, and as the founder of the Bank of England, he
+deserves notice. A speculator as well as an adventurous man, he proved his
+belief in the practicability of the Darien scheme by accompanying that
+unfortunate expedition; and the formation of the Bank of England was the
+object of his desires and the subject of his thoughts for a long time
+previous to its establishment.
+
+From that political change which had been so justly termed the "great
+revolution," to the establishment of the Bank of England, the new
+Government had been in constant difficulties; and the ministerial mode of
+procuring money was degrading to a great people. The duties in support of
+the war waged for liberty and Protestantism were required before they
+were levied. The city corporation was usually applied to for an advance;
+interest which varied probably according to the necessity of the borrower
+rather than to the real value of cash, was paid for the accommodation. The
+officers of the city went round in their turn to the separate wards, and
+borrowed in smaller amounts the money they had advanced to the state.
+Interest and premiums were thus often paid to the extent of 25 and even 30
+per cent., in proportion to the exigency of the case, and the trader found
+his pocket filled at the expense of the public. Mr. Paterson gives a
+graphic description:
+
+"The erection of this famous bank not only relieved the ministerial
+managers from their frequent processions into the city, for borrowing of
+money on the best and nearest public securities, at 10 or 12 per cent. per
+annum, but likewise gave life and currency to double or treble the value
+of its capital in other branches of the public credit, and so, under God,
+became the principal means of the success of the campaign in 1695; as,
+particularly, in reducing the important fortress of Namur, the first
+material step toward the peace concluded in 1679."
+
+To remedy this evil the Bank of England was projected; and after much
+labor, William Paterson, aided by Mr. Michael Godfrey, procured from
+Government a consideration of the proposal. The King was abroad when the
+scheme was laid before the council, but the Queen occupied his place. Here
+considerable opposition occurred. Paterson found it more difficult to
+procure consent than he anticipated, and all those who feared an invasion
+of their interests united to stop its progress. The goldsmith foresaw the
+destruction of his monopoly, and he opposed it from self-interest. The Tory
+foresaw an easier mode of gaining money for the government he abhorred,
+with a firmer hold on the people for the monarch he despised, and his
+antagonism bore all the energy of political partisanship.
+
+The usurer foresaw the destruction of his oppressive extortion, and he
+resisted it with the vigor of his craft. The rich man foresaw his profits
+diminished on government contracts, and he vehemently and virtuously
+opposed it on all public principles. Loud therefore were the outcries and
+great the exertions of all parties when the bill was first introduced
+to the House of Commons. But outcries are vain and exertions futile in
+opposition to a dominant and powerful party. A majority had been secured
+for the measure; and they who opposed its progress covered their defeat
+with vehement denunciations and vague prophecies. The prophets are in
+their graves, and their predictions only survive in the history of that
+establishment the downfall of which they proclaimed.
+
+"The scheme of a national bank," says Smollett, "had been recommended to
+the ministry for the credit and security of the Government and the increase
+of trade and circulation. William Paterson was author of that which was
+carried into execution. When it was properly digested in the cabinet, and
+a majority in Parliament secured, it was introduced into the House of
+Commons. The supporters said it would rescue the nation out of the hands
+of extortioners; lower interest; raise the value of land; revive public
+credit; extend circulation; improve commerce; facilitate the annual
+supplies; and connect the people more closely with Government. The project
+was violently opposed by a strong party, who affirmed that it would become
+a monopoly, and engross the whole of the kingdom; that it might be employed
+to the worst purposes of arbitrary power; that it would weaken commerce
+by tempting people to withdraw their money from trade; that brokers and
+jobbers would prey on their fellow-creatures; encourage fraud and gambling;
+and corrupt the morals of the nation."
+
+Previous governments had raised money with comparative ease because they
+were legitimate. That of William was felt to be precarious. It was feared
+by the money-lender that a similar convulsion to the one which had borne
+him so easily to the throne of a great nation might waft him back to the
+shores of that Holland he so dearly loved. Thus the very circumstances
+which made supplies necessary also made them scarce.
+
+In addition to these things his person was unpopular. His phlegmatic Dutch
+habits contrasted unfavorably with those of the graceful Stuarts,
+whose evil qualities were forgotten in the remembrance of their showy
+characteristics. Neither his Dutch followers nor his Dutch manners were
+regarded with favor; and had it not been for his eminently kingly capacity,
+these things would have proved as dangerous to the throne as they tended to
+make the sovereign unpopular. In a pamphlet published a few years after the
+establishment of the new corporation is the following vivid picture of this
+monarch's government:
+
+"In spite of the most glorious Prince and most vigilant General the world
+has ever seen, yet the enemy gained upon us every year; the funds were
+run down, the credit jobbed away in Change Alley, the King and his troops
+devoured by mechanics, and sold to usury, tallies lay bundled up like Bath
+fagots in the hands of brokers and stock-jobbers; the Parliament gave
+taxes, levied funds, but the loans were at the mercy of those men (the
+jobbers); and they showed their mercy, indeed, by devouring the King and
+the army, the Parliament, and indeed the whole nation; bringing their great
+Prince sometimes to that exigence through inexpressible extortions that
+were put upon him, that he has even gone into the fields without his
+equipage, nay even without his army; the regiments have been unclothed when
+the King had been in the field, and the willing, brave English spirits,
+eager to honor their country, and follow such a King, have marched even
+to battle without either stockings or shoes, while his servants have
+been every day working in Exchange Alley to get his men money of the
+stock-jobbers, even after all the horrible demands of discount have
+been allowed; and at last, scarce 50 per cent. of the money granted by
+Parliament has come into the hands of the Exchequer, and that late, too
+late for service, and by driblets, till the King has been tired with the
+delay."
+
+This is a strange picture; beating even Mr. Paterson's account of the
+"processions in the city," and adds another convincing proof of the
+necessity which then existed for some establishment, capable of advancing
+money at a reasonable rate, on the security of Parliamentary grants.
+
+The scheme proposed by William Paterson was too important not to meet with
+many enemies, and it appears from a pamphlet by Mr. Godfrey, the first
+deputy-governor, that "some pretended to dislike the bank only for fear it
+should disappoint their majesties of the supplies proposed to be raised."
+That "all the several companies of oppressors are strangely alarmed, and
+exclaim at the bank, and seemed to have joined in a confederacy against
+it." That "extortion, usury, and oppression were never so attacked as they
+are likely to be by the bank." That "others pretend the bank will join with
+the prince to make him absolute. That the concern have too good a bargain
+and that it would be prejudicial to trade." In Bishop Burners _History of
+His Own Times_ we read an additional evidence of its necessity:
+
+"It was visible that all the enemies of the Government set themselves
+against it with such a vehemence of zeal that this alone convinced all
+people that they saw the strength that our affairs would receive from it.
+I heard the Dutch often reckon the great advantage they had had from their
+banks, and they concluded that as long as England remained jealous of her
+Government, a bank could never be settled among us, nor gain credit among
+us to support itself, and upon that they judged that the superiority in
+trade must still be on their side."
+
+All these varied interests were vainly exerted to prevent the bill from
+receiving the royal sanction; and the Bank of England, founded on the same
+principles which guarded the banks of Venice and Genoa, was incorporated
+by royal charter, dated July 27, 1694. From Mr. Gilbart's _History and
+Principles of Banking_ we present the following brief analysis of this
+important act:
+
+"The Act of Parliament by which the Bank was established is entitled 'An
+Act for granting to their majesties several duties upon tonnage of ships
+and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other liquors, for securing certain
+recompenses and advantages in the said Act mentioned to such persons as
+shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds toward
+carrying on the war with France.' After a variety of enactments relative to
+the duties upon tonnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other
+liquors, the Act authorizes the raising of 1,200,000 pounds by voluntary
+subscription, the subscribers to be formed into a corporation and be styled
+'The Governor and Company of the Bank of England.'
+
+"The sum of 300,000 pounds was also to be raised by subscription, and the
+contributors to receive instead annuities for one, two, or three lives.
+Toward the 1,200,000 pounds no one person was to subscribe more than 10,000
+pounds before the first day of July, next ensuing, nor at any time more
+than 20,000 pounds. The Corporation were to lend their whole capital to the
+Government, for which they were to receive interest at the rate of 8 per
+cent. per annum, and 4000 pounds per annum for management; being 100,000
+pounds per annum on the whole. The Corporation were not allowed to borrow
+or owe more than the amount of their capital, and if they did so the
+individual members became liable to the creditors in proportion to the
+amount of their stock. The Corporation were not to trade in any 'goods,
+wares, or merchandise whatever, but they were allowed to deal in bills
+of Exchange, gold or silver bullion, and to sell any goods, wares, or
+merchandise upon which they had advanced money, and which had not been
+redeemed within three months after the time agreed upon.' The whole of the
+subscription was filled in a few days; 25 per cent. paid down; and, as we
+have seen, a charter was issued on July 27, 1694, of which the following
+are the most important points:
+
+"That the management and government of the corporation be admitted to the
+governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors, who shall be elected
+between March 25th and April 25th of each year, from among the members of
+the company, duly qualified.
+
+"That no dividend shall at any time be made by the said governor and
+company save only out of the interest, profit, or produce arising out of
+the said capital, stock, or fund, or by such dealing as is allowed by act
+of Parliament.
+
+"They must be natural-born subjects of England, or naturalized subjects;
+they shall have in their own name and for their own use, severally, viz.,
+the governor at least 4000 pounds, the deputy-governor 3000 pounds, and
+each director 2000 pounds of the capital stock of the said corporation.
+
+"That thirteen or more of the said governors or directors (of which the
+governor or deputy-governor shall be always one) shall constitute a court
+of directors for the management of the affairs of the company, and for the
+appointment of all agents and servants which may be necessary, paying them
+such salaries as they may consider reasonable.
+
+"Every elector must have, in his own name and for his own use, 500 pounds
+or more capital stock, and can only give one vote; he must, if required by
+any member present, take the oath of stock, or the declaration of stock if
+it be one of those people called Quakers.
+
+"Four general courts to be held in every year in the months of September,
+December, April, and July. A general court may be summoned at any time,
+upon the requisition of nine proprietors duly qualified as electors.
+
+"The majority of electors in general courts have the power to make and
+constitute by-laws and ordinances for the government of the corporation,
+provided that such by-laws and ordinances be not repugnant to the laws of
+the kingdom, and be confirmed and approved according to the statutes in
+such case made and provided."
+
+When the payment was completed it was handed into the exchequer, and the
+bank procured from other quarters the funds which it required. It employed
+the same means which the bankers had done at the Exchange, with this
+difference, that the latter traded with personal property, while the bank
+traded with the deposits of their customers. It was from the circulation
+of a capital so formed that the bank derived its profits. It is evident,
+however, from the pamphlet of the first deputy-governor, that at this
+period they allowed interest to their depositors; and another writer,
+D'Avenant, makes it a subject of complaint: "It would be for the general
+good of trade if the bank were restrained from allowing interest for
+running cash; for the ease of having 3 and 4 per cent. without trouble must
+be a continual bar to industry."
+
+First in Mercers' Hall, where they remained but a few months, and afterward
+in Grocers' Hall, since razed for the erection of a more stately structure,
+the Bank of England conducted its operations. Here, in one room, with
+almost primitive simplicity were gathered all who performed the duties of
+the establishment. "I looked into the great hall where the bank is kept,"
+says the graceful essayist of the day, "and was not a little pleased to see
+the directors, secretaries, and clerks, with all the other members of that
+wealthy Corporation, ranged in their several stations according to the
+parts they hold in that just and regular economy." The secretaries and
+clerks altogether numbered but fifty-four, while their united salaries did
+not exceed four thousand three hundred fifty pounds. But the picture is
+a pleasant one, and though so much unlike present usages it is doubtful
+whether our forefathers did not derive more benefit from intimate
+association with and kindly feelings toward their inferiors than their
+descendants receive from the broad line of demarcation adopted at the
+present day.
+
+The effect of the new corporation was almost immediately experienced. On
+August 8th, in the year of its establishment, the rate of discount on
+foreign bills was 6 per cent.; although this was the highest legal
+interest, yet much higher rates had been previously demanded. The name of
+William Paterson was not long upon the list of directors. The bank was
+established in 1694, and for that year only was its founder among those
+who managed its proceedings. The facts which led to his departure from the
+honorable post of director are difficult to collect; but it is not at all
+improbable that the character of Paterson was too speculative for those
+with whom he was joined in companionship. Sir John Dalrymple remarks,
+"The persons to whom he applied made use of his ideas, took the honor to
+themselves, were civil to him awhile, and neglected him afterward." Another
+writer says, "The friendless Scot was intrigued out of his post and out of
+the honors he had earned." These assertions must be received with caution;
+accusations against a great body are easily made; and it is rarely
+consistent with the dignity of the latter to reply; they are received as
+truths either because people are too idle to examine or because there is no
+opportunity of investigating them.
+
+
+
+%COLONIZATION OF LOUISIANA%
+
+A.D. 1699
+
+CHARLES E.T. GAYARRE
+
+
+It was not only as the beginning of what was to become an important State
+of the American Union, but also as a nucleus of occupation which led to
+an immense acquisition of territory by the United States, that the first
+settlement in Louisiana proved an event of great significance. Nothing in
+American history is of greater moment than the adding of the Louisiana
+Purchase (1803) to the United States domain. And the acquisition of that
+vast region, extending from New Orleans to British America, and westward
+from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, had historic connection with
+the French settlement of 1699.
+
+As early as 1630 the territory afterward known as Louisiana was mostly
+embraced in the Carolina grant by Charles I to Sir Robert Heath. It was
+taken into possession for the French King by La Salle in 1682, and named
+Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV. In 1698 Louis undertook to colonize the
+region of the lower Mississippi, and sent out an expedition under Pierre le
+Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, a naval commander, who had served in the French
+wars of Canada, and aided in establishing French colonies in North America.
+
+With two hundred colonists Iberville sailed (September 24, 1698) for the
+mouth of the Mississippi. Among his companions were his brothers, Sauvolle
+and Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. The latter was long
+governor of Louisiana, and founded New Orleans. Of their arrival and
+subsequent operations in the lower Mississippi region, Gayarre, the
+Louisiana historian, gives a glowing and picturesque account.
+
+On February 27, 1699, Iberville and Bienville reached the Mississippi. When
+they approached its mouth they were struck with the gloomy magnificence of
+the sight. As far as the eye could reach, nothing was to be seen but reeds
+which rose five or six feet above the waters in which they bathed their
+roots. They waved mournfully under the blast of the sharp wind of the
+north, shivering in its icy grasp, as it tumbled, rolled, and gambolled on
+the pliant surface. Multitudes of birds of strange appearance, with their
+elongated shapes so lean that they looked like metamorphosed ghosts,
+clothed in plumage, screamed in the air, as if they were scared of one
+another. There was something agonizing in their shrieks that was in harmony
+with the desolation of the place. On every side of the vessel, monsters of
+the deep and huge alligators heaved themselves up heavily from their native
+or favorite element, and, floating lazily on the turbid waters, seemed to
+gaze at the intruders.
+
+Down the river, and rumbling over its bed, there came a sort of low,
+distant thunder. Was it the voice of the hoary Sire of Rivers, raised in
+anger at the prospect of his gigantic volume of waters being suddenly
+absorbed by one mightier than he? In their progress it was with great
+difficulty that the travellers could keep their bark free from those
+enormous rafts of trees which the Mississippi seemed to toss about in mad
+frolic. A poet would have thought that the great river, when departing from
+the altitude of its birthplace, and as it rushed down to the sea through
+three thousand miles, had, in anticipation of a contest which threatened
+the continuation of its existence, flung its broad arms right and left
+across the continent, and, uprooting all its forests, had hoarded them
+in its bed as missiles to hurl at the head of its mighty rival when they
+should meet and struggle for supremacy.
+
+When night began to cast a darker hue on a landscape on which the
+imagination of Dante would have gloated there issued from that chaos of
+reeds such uncouth and unnatural sounds as would have saddened the gayest
+and appalled the most intrepid. Could this be the far-famed Mississippi,
+or was it not rather old Avernus? It was hideous indeed--but hideousness
+refined into sublimity, filling the soul with a sentiment of grandeur.
+Nothing daunted, the adventurers kept steadily on their course. They
+knew that through those dismal portals they were to arrive at the most
+magnificent country in the world; they knew that awful screen concealed
+loveliness itself. It was a coquettish freak of nature, when dealing with
+European curiosity, as it came eagerly bounding to the Atlantic wave, to
+herald it through an avenue so sombre as to cause the wonders of the
+great valley of the Mississippi to burst with tenfold more force upon
+the bewildered gaze of those who, by the endurance of so many perils and
+fatigues, were to merit admittance into its Eden.
+
+It was a relief for the adventurers when, after having toiled up the river
+for ten days, they at last arrived at the village of the Bayagoulas. There
+they found a letter of Tonty[1] to La Salle, dated in 1685. The letter, or
+rather that "speaking bark" as the Indians called it, had been preserved
+with great reverence. Tonty, having been informed that La Salle was
+coming with a fleet from France to settle a colony on the banks of the
+Mississippi, had not hesitated to set off from the northern lakes, with
+twenty Canadians and thirty Indians, and to come down to the Balize to meet
+his friend, who had failed to make out the mouth of the Mississippi, and
+had been landed by Beaujeu on the shores of Texas. After having waited
+for some time, and ignorant of what had happened, Tonty, with the same
+indifference to fatigues and dangers of an appalling nature, retraced his
+way back, leaving a letter to La Salle to inform him of his disappointment.
+Is there not something extremely romantic in the characters of the men of
+that epoch? Here is Tonty undertaking, with the most heroic unconcern, a
+journey of nearly three thousand miles, through such difficulties as it is
+easy for us to imagine, and leaving a letter to La Salle, as a proof of
+his visit, in the same way that one would, in these degenerate days of
+effeminacy, leave a card at a neighbor's house.
+
+[Footnote 1: Henry de Tonty was an Italian explorer who accompanied La
+Salle in his descent of the Mississippi (1681-1682).--ED.]
+
+The French extended their explorations up to the mouth of the Red River. As
+they proceeded through that virgin country, with what interest they must
+have examined every object that met their eyes, and listened to the
+traditions concerning De Soto,[2] and the more recent stories of the
+Indians on La Salle and the iron-handed Tonty! A coat of mail which was
+presented as having belonged to the Spaniards, and vestiges of their
+encampment on the Red River, confirmed the French in the belief that there
+was much of truth in the recitals of the Indians.
+
+[Footnote 2: De Soto explored this region in 1541.--ED.]
+
+On their return from the mouth of the Red River the two brothers separated
+when they arrived at Bayou Manchac. Bienville was ordered to go down the
+river to the French fleet, to give information of what they had seen and
+heard. Iberville went through Bayou Manchac to those lakes which are known
+under the names of Pontchartrain and Maurepas. Louisiana had been named
+from a king: was it not in keeping that those lakes should be called after
+ministers?
+
+From the Bay of St. Louis, Iberville returned to his fleet, where, after
+consultation, he determined to make a settlement at the Bay of Biloxi.
+On the east side, at the mouth of the bay, as it were, there is a slight
+swelling of the shore, about four acres square, sloping gently to the woods
+in the background, and on the bay. Thus this position was fortified by
+nature, and the French skilfully availed themselves of these advantages.
+The weakest point, which was on the side of the forest, they strengthened
+with more care than the rest, by connecting with a strong intrenchment the
+two ravines, which ran to the bay in a parallel line to each other. The
+fort was constructed with four bastions, and was armed with twelve pieces
+of artillery. When standing on one of the bastions which faced the bay, the
+spectator enjoyed a beautiful prospect. On the right, the bay could be
+seen running into the land for miles, and on the left stood Deer Island,
+concealing almost entirely the broad expanses of water which lay beyond. It
+was visible only at the two extreme points of the island, which both, at
+that distance, appeared to be within a close proximity of the mainland.
+No better description can be given than to say that the bay looked like a
+funnel to which the island was the lid, not fitting closely, however, but
+leaving apertures for egress and ingress. The snugness of the locality had
+tempted the French, and had induced them to choose it as the most favorable
+spot, at the time, for colonization. Sauvolle was put in command of the
+fort, and Bienville, the youngest of the three brothers, was appointed his
+lieutenant.
+
+A few huts having been erected round the fort, the settlers began to clear
+the land, in order to bring it into cultivation. Iberville having furnished
+them with all the necessary provisions, utensils, and other supplies,
+prepared to sail for France. How deeply affecting must have been the
+parting scene! How many casualties might prevent those who remained in this
+unknown region from ever seeing again those who, through the perils of such
+a long voyage, had to return to their home! What crowding emotions must
+have filled up the breast of Sauvolle, Bienville, and their handful of
+companions, when they beheld the sails of Iberville's fleet fading in the
+distance, like transient clouds! Well may it be supposed that it seemed to
+them as if their very souls had been carried away, and that they felt a
+momentary sinking of the heart when they found themselves abandoned, and
+necessarily left to their own resources, scanty as they were, on a patch
+of land between the ocean on one side and on the other a wilderness, which
+fancy peopled with every sort of terrors. The sense of their loneliness
+fell upon them like the gloom of night, darkening their hopes and filling
+their hearts with dismal apprehensions.
+
+But as the country had been ordered to be explored, Sauvolle availed
+himself of that circumstance to refresh the minds of his men by the
+excitement of an expedition into the interior of the continent. He
+therefore hastened to despatch most of them with Bienville, who, with a
+chief of the Bayagoulas for his guide, went to visit the Colapissas. They
+inhabited the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and their domains
+embraced the sites now occupied by Lewisburg, Mandeville, and
+Fontainebleau. That tribe numbered three hundred warriors, who, in their
+distant hunting-excursions, had been engaged in frequent skirmishes with
+some of the British colonists in South Carolina. When the French landed,
+they were informed that, two days previous, the village of the Colapissas
+had been attacked by a party of two hundred Chickasaws, headed by two
+Englishmen. These were the first tidings which the French had of their old
+rivals, and which proved to be the harbinger of the incessant struggle
+which was to continue for more than a century between the two races, and to
+terminate by the permanent occupation of Louisiana by the Anglo-Saxon.
+
+Bienville returned to the fort to convey this important information to
+Sauvolle. After having rested there for several days, he went to the Bay of
+Pascagoulas, and ascended the river which bears that name, and the banks
+of which were tenanted by a branch of the Biloxis, and by the Moelobites.
+Encouraged by the friendly reception which he met everywhere, he ventured
+farther, and paid a visit to the Mobilians, who entertained him with great
+hospitality. Bienville found them much reduced from what they had been, and
+listened with eagerness to the many tales of their former power, which had
+been rapidly declining since the crushing blow they had received from De
+Soto.
+
+When Iberville ascended the Mississippi the first time, he had remarked
+Bayou Plaquemines and Bayou Chetimachas. The one he called after the fruit
+of certain trees which appeared to have exclusive possession of its banks,
+and the other after the name of the Indians who dwelt in the vicinity. He
+had ordered them to be explored, and the indefatigable Bienville, on his
+return from Mobile, obeyed the instructions left to his brother, and made
+an accurate survey of these two bayous. When he was coming down the river,
+at the distance of about eighteen miles below the site where New Orleans
+now stands, he met an English vessel of sixteen guns, under the command of
+Captain Bar. The English captain informed the French that he was examining
+the banks of the river, with the intention of selecting a spot for the
+foundation of a colony. Bienville told him that Louisiana was a dependency
+of Canada; that the French had already made several establishments on the
+Mississippi; and he appealed, in confirmation of his assertions, to their
+own presence in the river, in such small boats, which evidently proved
+the existence of some settlement close at hand. The Englishman believed
+Bienville, and sailed back. Where this occurrence took place the river
+makes a considerable bend, and it was from the circumstance which I have
+related that the spot received the appellation of the "English Turn"--a
+name which it has retained to the present day. It was not far from that
+place, the atmosphere of which appears to be fraught with some malignant
+spell hostile to the sons of Albion, that the English, who were outwitted
+by Bienville in 1699, met with a signal defeat in battle from the Americans
+in 1815. The diplomacy of Bienville and the military genius of Jackson
+proved to them equally fatal when they aimed at the possession of
+Louisiana.
+
+Since the exploring expedition of La Salle down the Mississippi, Canadian
+hunters, whose habits and intrepidity Fenimore Cooper has so graphically
+described in the character of Leather-Stocking, used to extend their roving
+excursions to the banks of that river; and those holy missionaries of the
+Church, who, as the pioneers of religion, have filled the New World with
+their sufferings, and whose incredible deeds in the service of God afford
+so many materials for the most interesting of books, had come in advance
+of the pickaxe of the settler, and had domiciliated themselves among the
+tribes who lived near the waters of the Mississippi. One of them, Father
+Montigny, was residing with the Tensas, within the territory of the present
+parish of Tensas, in the State of Louisiana, and another, Father Davion,
+was the pastor of the Yazoos, in the present State of Mississippi.
+
+Such were the two visitors who in 1699 appeared before Sauvolle, at the
+fort of Biloxi, to relieve the monotony of his cheerless existence, and to
+encourage him in his colonizing enterprise. Their visit, however, was not
+of long duration, and they soon returned to discharge the duties of their
+sacred mission.
+
+Iberville had been gone for several months, and the year was drawing to
+a close without any tidings of him. A deeper gloom had settled over the
+little colony at Biloxi, when, on December 7th, some signal-guns were heard
+at sea, and the grateful sound came booming over the waters, spreading joy
+in every breast. There was not one who was not almost oppressed with the
+intensity of his feelings. At last, friends were coming, bringing relief to
+the body and to the soul! Every colonist hastily abandoned his occupation
+of the moment and ran to the shore. The soldier himself, in the eagerness
+of expectation, left his post of duty, and rushed to the parapet which
+overlooked the bay. Presently several vessels hove in sight, bearing the
+white flag of France, and, approaching as near as the shallowness of the
+beach permitted, folded their pinions, like water-fowl seeking repose on
+the crest of the billows.
+
+It was Iberville returning with the news that, on his representations,
+Sauvolle had been appointed by the King governor of Louisiana; Bienville,
+lieutenant-governor; and Boisbriant, commander of the fort at Biloxi, with
+the grade of major. Iberville, having been informed by Bienville of
+the attempt of the English to make a settlement on the banks of the
+Mississippi, and of the manner in which it had been foiled, resolved to
+take precautionary measures against the repetition of any similar attempt.
+Without loss of time he departed with Bienville, on January 16, 1700, and
+running up the river, he constructed a small fort, on the first solid
+ground which he met, and which is said to have been at a distance of
+fifty-four miles from its mouth.
+
+When so engaged, the two brothers one day saw a canoe rapidly sweeping down
+the river and approaching the spot where they stood. It was occupied by
+eight men, six of whom were rowers, the seventh was the steersman, and the
+eighth, from his appearance, was evidently of a superior order to that of
+his companions, and the commander of the party. Well may it be imagined
+what greeting the stranger received, when leaping on shore he made himself
+known as the Chevalier de Tonty, who had again heard of the establishment
+of a colony in Louisiana, and who, for the second time, had come to see
+if there was any truth in the report. With what emotion did Iberville and
+Bienville fold in their arms the faithful companion and friend of La Salle,
+of whom they had heard so many wonderful tales from the Indians, to whom he
+was so well known under the name of "Iron Hand"! With what admiration they
+looked at his person, and with what increasing interest they listened to
+his long recitals of what he had done and had seen on that broad continent,
+the threshold of which they had hardly passed!
+
+After having rested three days at the fort, the indefatigable Tonty
+reascended the Mississippi, with Iberville and Bienville, and finally
+parted with them at Natchez. Iberville was so much pleased with that part
+of the bank of the river where now exists the city of Natchez that he
+marked it down as a most eligible spot for a town, of which he drew the
+plan, and which he called Rosalie, after the maiden name of the Countess
+Pontchartrain, the wife of the chancellor. He then returned to the new
+fort he was erecting on the Mississippi, and Bienville went to explore the
+country of the Yatasses, of the Natchitoches, and of the Ouachitas.
+What romance can be more agreeable to the imagination than to accompany
+Iberville and Bienville in their wild explorations, and to compare the
+state of the country in their time with what it is in our days?
+
+When the French were at Natchez they were struck with horror at an
+occurrence, too clearly demonstrating the fierceness of disposition of that
+tribe which was destined in after years to become celebrated in the history
+of Louisiana. One of their temples having been set on fire by lightning, a
+hideous spectacle presented itself to the Europeans. The tumultuous rush of
+the Indians; the infernal howlings and lamentations of the men, women,
+and children; the unearthly vociferations of the priests, their fantastic
+dances and ceremonies around the burning edifice; the demoniac fury with
+which mothers rushed to the fatal spot, and, with the piercing cries and
+gesticulations of maniacs, flung their new-born babes into the flames
+to pacify their irritated deity--the increasing anger of the
+heavens--blackening with the impending storm, the lurid flashes of
+lightning darting as it were in mutual enmity from the clashing clouds--the
+low, distant growling of the coming tempest--the long column of smoke and
+fire shooting upward from the funeral pyre, and looking like one of the
+gigantic torches of Pandemonium--the war of the elements combined with
+the worst effects of frenzied superstition of man--the suddenness and
+strangeness of the awful scene--all the circumstances produced such an
+impression upon the French as to deprive them for a moment of the powers
+of volition and action. Rooted to the ground, they stood aghast with
+astonishment and indignation at the appalling scene. Was it a dream--a wild
+delirium of the mind? But no--the monstrous reality of the vision was but
+too apparent; and they threw themselves among the Indians, supplicating
+them to cease their horrible sacrifice to their gods, and joining threats
+to their supplications. Owing to this intervention, and perhaps because a
+sufficient number of victims had been offered, the priests gave the signal
+of retreat, and the Indians slowly withdrew from the accursed spot. Such
+was the aspect under which the Natchez showed themselves, for the first
+time, to their visitors: it was ominous presage for the future.
+
+After these explorations Iberville departed again for France, to solicit
+additional assistance from the government, and left Bienville in command
+of the new fort on the Mississippi. It was very hard for the two brothers,
+Sauvolle and Bienville, to be thus separated, when they stood so much in
+need of each other's countenance, to breast the difficulties that sprung
+up around them with a luxuriance which they seemed to borrow from the
+vegetation of the country. The distance between the Mississippi and Biloxi
+was not so easily overcome in those days as in ours, and the means which
+the two brothers had of communing together were very scanty and uncertain.
+
+Sauvolle died August 22,1701, and Louisiana remained under the sole
+charge of Bienville, who, though very young, was fully equal to meet that
+emergency, by the maturity of his mind and by his other qualifications. He
+had hardly consigned his brother to the tomb when Iberville returned with
+two ships of the line and a brig laden with troops and provisions.
+
+According to Iberville's orders, and in conformity with the King's
+instructions, Bienville left Boisbriant, his cousin, with twenty men, at
+the old fort of Biloxi, and transported the principal seat of the colony
+to the western side of the river Mobile, not far from the spot where now
+stands the city of Mobile. Near the mouth of that river there is an island,
+which the French had called Massacre Island from the great quantity of
+human bones which they found bleaching on its shores. It was evident that
+there some awful tragedy had been acted; but Tradition, when interrogated,
+laid her choppy finger upon her skinny lips, and answered not.
+
+This uncertainty, giving a free scope to the imagination, shrouded the
+place with a higher degree of horror and with a deeper hue of fantastical
+gloom. It looked like the favorite ballroom of the witches of hell. The
+wind sighed so mournfully through the shrivelled-up pines, those vampire
+heads seemed incessantly to bow to some invisible and grisly visitors: the
+footsteps of the stranger emitted such an awful and supernatural sound,
+when trampling on the skulls which strewed his path, that it was impossible
+for the coldest imagination not to labor under some crude and ill-defined
+apprehension. Verily, the weird sisters could not have chosen a fitter
+abode. Nevertheless, the French, supported by their mercurial temperament,
+were not deterred from forming an establishment on that sepulchral island,
+which, they thought, afforded some facilities for their transatlantic
+communications.
+
+In 1703 war had broken out between Great Britain, France, and Spain; and
+Iberville, a distinguished officer of the French navy, was engaged in
+expeditions that kept him away from the colony. It did not cease, however,
+to occupy his thoughts, and had become clothed, in his eye, with a sort
+of family interest. Louisiana was thus left, for some time, to her scanty
+resources; but, weak as she was, she gave early proofs of that generous
+spirit which has ever since animated her; and on the towns of Pensacola and
+St. Augustine, then in possession of the Spaniards, being threatened with
+an invasion by the English of South Carolina, she sent to her neighbors
+what help she could in men, ammunition, and supplies of all sorts. It was
+the more meritorious as it was the _obolus_ of the poor!
+
+The year 1703 slowly rolled by and gave way to 1704. Still, nothing was
+heard from the parent country. There seemed to be an impassable barrier
+between the old and the new continent. The milk which flowed from the
+motherly breast of France could no longer reach the parched lips of her
+new-born infant; and famine began to pinch the colonists, who scattered
+themselves all along the coast, to live by fishing. They were reduced to
+the veriest extremity of misery, and despair had settled in every bosom,
+in spite of the encouragements of Bienville, who displayed the most manly
+fortitude amid all the trials to which he was subjected, when suddenly a
+vessel made its appearance. The colonists rushed to the shore with wild
+anxiety, but their exultation was greatly diminished when, on the nearer
+approach of the moving speck, they recognized the Spanish instead of the
+French flag. It was relief, however, coming to them, and proffered by a
+friendly hand. It was a return made by the governor of Pensacola for the
+kindness he had experienced the year previous. Thus the debt of gratitude
+was paid: it was a practical lesson. Where the seeds of charity are cast,
+there springs the harvest in time of need.
+
+Good things, like evils, do not come singly, and this succor was but the
+herald of another one, still more effectual, in the shape of a ship from
+France. Iberville had not been able to redeem his pledge to the poor
+colonists, but he had sent his brother Chateaugue in his place, at the
+imminent risk of being captured by the English, who occupied, at that time,
+most of the avenues of the Gulf of Mexico. He was not the man to spare
+either himself or his family in cases of emergency, and his heroic soul
+was inured to such sacrifices. Grateful the colonists were for this act of
+devotedness, and they resumed the occupation of their tenements which they
+had abandoned in search of food. The aspect of things was suddenly changed;
+abundance and hope reappeared in the land, whose population was increased
+by the arrival of seventeen persons, who came, under the guidance of
+Chateaugue, with the intention of making a permanent settlement, and who,
+in evidence of their determination, had provided themselves with all the
+implements of husbandry. We, who daily see hundreds flocking to our shores,
+and who look at the occurrence with as much unconcern as at the passing
+cloud, can hardly conceive the excitement produced by the arrival of these
+seventeen emigrants among men who, for nearly two years, had been cut off
+from communication with the rest of the civilized world. A denizen of the
+moon, dropping on this planet, would not be stared at and interrogated with
+more eager curiosity.
+
+This excitement had hardly subsided when it was revived by the appearance
+of another ship, and it became intense when the inhabitants saw a
+procession of twenty females, with veiled faces, proceeding arm in arm, and
+two by two, to the house of the Governor, who received them in state and
+provided them with suitable lodgings. What did it mean? Innumerable were
+the gossipings of the day, and part of the coming night itself was spent
+in endless commentaries and conjectures. But the next morning, which was
+Sunday, the mystery was cleared by the officiating priest reading from
+the pulpit, after mass, and for the general information, the following
+communication from the minister to Bienville: "His majesty sends twenty
+girls to be married to the Canadians and to the other inhabitants of
+Mobile, in order to consolidate the colony. All these girls are industrious
+and have received a pious and virtuous education. Beneficial results to the
+colony are expected from their teaching their useful attainments to the
+Indian females. In order that none should be sent except those of known
+virtue and of unspotted reputation, his majesty did intrust the Bishop of
+Quebec with the mission of taking these girls from such establishments as,
+from their very nature and character, would put them at once above all
+suspicions of corruption. You will take care to settle them in life as well
+as may be in your power, and to marry them to such men as are capable of
+providing them with a commodious home."
+
+This was a very considerate recommendation, and very kind it was, indeed,
+from the great Louis XIV, one of the proudest monarchs that ever lived, to
+descend from his Olympian seat of majesty to the level of such details and
+to such minute instructions for ministering to the personal comforts of his
+remote Louisianan subjects. Many were the gibes and high was the glee on
+that occasion; pointed were the jokes aimed at young Bienville on his
+being thus transformed into a matrimonial agent and _pater familiae_. The
+intentions of the King, however, were faithfully executed, and more than
+one rough but honest Canadian boatman of the St. Lawrence and of the
+Mississippi closed his adventurous and erratic career and became a domestic
+and useful member of that little commonwealth, under the watchful influence
+of the dark-eyed maid of the Loire or of the Seine. Infinite are the chords
+of the lyre which delights the romantic muse; and these incidents, small
+and humble as they are, appear to me to be imbued with an indescribable
+charm, which appeals to her imagination.
+
+
+
+%PRUSSIA PROCLAIMED A KINGDOM%
+
+A.D. 1701
+
+LEOPOLD VON RANKE
+
+
+Few historical developments are more distinctly traceable or of greater
+importance than that of the margravate of Brandenburg into the kingdom of
+Prussia, the principal state of the present German empire. As far back as
+the tenth century the name Preussen (Prussia) was applied to a region lying
+east of Brandenburg, which in that century became a German margravate. At
+that time the inhabitants of Prussia were still heathens. In the thirteenth
+century they were converted to Christianity, having first been conquered by
+the Teutonic Knights in "a series of remorseless wars" continued for almost
+fifty years. German colonization followed the conquest.
+
+In 1466 nearly the whole of Prussia was wrested from the Teutonic
+Knights and annexed to the Polish crown. Soon after the beginning of the
+Reformation the Teutonic Knights embraced Protestantism and the order
+became secularized. In 1525 the Knights formally surrendered to King
+Sigismund of Poland, their late grand master was created duke of Prussia,
+and this, with other former possessions of the order, was held by him as a
+vassal of the Polish crown. This relation continued until 1618, when the
+duchy of Prussia was united with Brandenburg, which had become a German
+electorate.
+
+During the Thirty Years' War the enlarged electorate took little part in
+affairs, but suffered much from the ravages of the conflict. Under the
+electorate of George William, who died in 1640, Brandenburg became almost a
+desert, and in this impoverished condition was left to his son, Frederick
+William, the "Great Elector," who restored it to prosperity and
+strengthened its somewhat insecure sovereignty over the duchy of Prussia.
+The Great Elector died in 1688, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick
+III of Brandenburg. This Elector, through the series of events narrated by
+Ranke, became the founder of the Prussian monarchy, and is known in history
+as Frederick I. He founded the Academy of Sciences in Berlin and the
+University of Halle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Frederick I, the next heir and successor to the "Great Elector," though far
+inferior to his father in native energy of character, cannot be accused of
+having flinched from the task imposed on him. Above all, the warlike fame
+of the Brandenburg troops suffered no diminution under his reign. His army
+took a very prominent and active part in the most important events of that
+period.
+
+Prince William of Orange might, perhaps, have hesitated whether to try the
+adventure which made him king of England, had not the Dutch troops, which
+he was forced to withdraw from the Netherlands for his expedition, been
+replaced by some from Brandenburg. The fact has indeed been disputed, but
+on closer investigation its truth has been established, beyond doubt, that
+many other Brandenburg soldiers in his service and that of his republic
+followed him to England, where they contributed essentially to his success.
+
+In the war which now broke out upon the Rhine the young Elector, Frederick,
+took the field himself, inflamed by religious enthusiasm, patriotism, and
+personal ambition. On one occasion, at the siege of Bonn, when he was
+anxious about the result, he stepped aside to the window and prayed to
+God that he might suffer no disgrace in this his first enterprise. He was
+successful in his attack upon Bonn, and cleared the whole lower Rhine
+of the hostile troops; he at the same time gained a high reputation for
+personal courage.
+
+Long after, at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession, the
+presence of the Elector contributed in a great measure to the speedy
+termination of the first important siege--that of Kaiserswerth, a point
+from which the French threatened at once both Holland and Westphalia.
+
+But it was not only when led by the Elector that his troops distinguished
+themselves by their courage; they fought most bravely at the battle of
+Hochstadt. Prince Eugene, under whose command they stood, could scarce find
+words strong enough to praise the "undaunted steadfastness" with which they
+first withstood the shock of the enemy's attack, and then helped to break
+through his tremendous fire. Two years later, at Turin, they helped to
+settle the affairs of Italy in the same manner as they had already done in
+those of Germany; headed by Prince Leopold of Anhalt, they climbed over the
+enemy's intrenchments, under the full fire of his artillery, shouting the
+old Brandenburg war-cry of "_Gah to_" ("Go on"). The warlike enterprise of
+Brandenburg never spread over a wider field than under Frederick I. Then
+it was that they first met the Turks in terrible battles; they showed
+themselves in the South of France at the siege of Toulon; in their camp the
+Protestant service was performed for the first time in the territories of
+the pope, and the inhabitants of the surrounding country came to look on
+and displayed a certain satisfaction at the sight. But the Netherlands
+were always the scene of their greatest achievements and at that time an
+excellent school for their further progress in the art of war; there they
+might at once study sieges under the Dutch commanders, Vauban and Cochorn,
+and campaigns under Marlborough, one of the greatest generals of all times.
+
+Throughout all the years of his reign Frederick steadily adhered to the
+Great Alliance which his father had helped to form so long as that alliance
+continued to subsist; and, indeed, the interest which he took in the
+affairs of Europe at large was in the end of great advantage to himself and
+to his house. That very alliance was the original cause of his gaining a
+crown--the foundation of the Prussian monarchy. It will not be denied, even
+by those who think most meanly of the externals of rank and title, that the
+attainment of a higher step in the European hierarchy, as it then stood,
+was an object worth striving for.
+
+The Western principalities and republics still formed a great corporation,
+at the head of which was the German Emperor. Even the crown of France had
+to submit to manifold and wearisome negotiations in order to obtain the
+predicate of "majesty," which until then had belonged exclusively to the
+Emperor. The other sovereigns then laid claim to the same dignity as that
+enjoyed by the King of France, and the Venetian republic to an equal rank
+with those, on the score of the kingdoms which she once possessed; and,
+accordingly, the electoral ambassadors to Vienna had to stand bareheaded
+while the Venetian covered his head. The electors and reigning dukes were
+but ill-pleased with such precedence, and in their turn laid claim to the
+designation of "serenissimus," and the title of "brother," for themselves,
+and the style of "excellency" for their ambassadors. But even the most
+powerful among the electors found it difficult to advance a single step
+in this matter, because whatever privileges were conceded to them were
+immediately claimed by all the rest, many of whom were mere barons of the
+empire. It is evident that Brandenburg was interested in being freed at
+once from these negotiations, which only served to impede and embarrass all
+really important business. There exists the distinct assertion of a highly
+placed official man that the royal title had been promised to the
+Elector, Frederick William: his son now centred his whole ambition in its
+attainment.
+
+Frederick, while elector, was one of the most popular princes that ever
+reigned in Brandenburg. His contemporaries praise him for his avoidance of
+all dissipation, and his life entirely devoted to duty; while his subjects
+were still asleep, say they, the Prince was already busied with their
+affairs, for he rose very early. A poet of the time makes Phosphorus
+complain that he is ever anticipated by the King of Prussia. His manners
+were gracious, familiar, sincere, and deliberate. His conversation
+indicated "righteous and princely thoughts." Those essays, written by
+him, which we have read, exhibit a sagacious and careful treatment of the
+subjects under consideration. He shared in a very great degree the taste
+of his times for outward show and splendor; but in him it took a direction
+which led to something far higher than mere ostentation. The works of
+sculpture and architecture produced under his reign are monuments of a pure
+and severe taste; the capital of Prussia has seen none more beautiful. He
+complacently indulged in the contemplation of the greatness founded by his
+father, the possession of a territory four times as large as that of any
+other elector, and the power of bringing into the field an army which
+placed him on a level with kings. Now, however, he desired that this
+equality should be publicly recognized, especially as he had no lack of
+treasure and revenue wherewith to maintain the splendor and dignity of a
+royal crown. In the mind of the father, this ambition was combined with
+schemes of conquest; in the son it was merely a desire for personal and
+dynastic aggrandizement. It is certain that the origin of such a state
+as the kingdom of Prussia can be attributed to no other cause than to so
+remarkable a succession of so many glorious princes. Frederick was resolved
+to appear among them distinguished by some important service rendered to
+his house. "Frederick I," said he, "gained the electoral dignity for our
+house, and I, as Frederick III, would fain give it royal rank, according to
+the old saying that 'the third time makes perfect."
+
+It was in the year 1693 that he first began seriously to act upon the
+project of obtaining a royal crown. He had just led some troops to Crossen
+which were to serve the Emperor against the Turks; but the imperial
+ministers neither arrived in due time to receive them, nor, when at length
+they made their appearance, did they bring with them the grants of certain
+privileges and expectancies which Frederick had looked for. In disgust at
+being treated with neglect at the very moment in which he was rendering the
+Emperor a very essential service, he went to Carlsbad, where he was joined
+by his ambassador to Vienna, who had been commissioned by the imperial
+ministers to apologize for the omissions of which they had been guilty.
+In concert with his ambassador, and his prime minister, Dankelmann, the
+brother of the former, Frederick resolved to make public the wish which
+he had hitherto entertained in secret, or only now and then let drop into
+conversation; the ambassador accordingly received instruction to present a
+formal memorial.
+
+At that time, however, nothing could be done. The Count of Ottingen, who
+was hostile to the Protestant princes, was once more in favor at the court
+of Vienna; the peril from without had ceased to be pressing, and coalition
+had begun gradually to dissolve; the only result of the negotiation was a
+vague and general promise.
+
+The Elector did not, however, give up his idea. The elevation of the Saxon
+house to the throne of Poland, the prospect enjoyed by his near kindred of
+Hanover of succeeding to that of England, and perhaps the very difficulties
+and opposition which he encountered, tended to sharpen his appetite for a
+royal crown. The misunderstandings which arose among the great European
+powers out of the approaching vacancy of the throne of Spain soon afforded
+him an excellent opportunity of renewing his demands. The court of Vienna
+was not to be moved by past, but by future, services.
+
+It would be unnecessary to enter into the details of the negotiation on
+this subject; it suffices to say that the Prince devoted his whole energy
+to it, and never lost sight of any advantage afforded by his position.
+Suggestions of the most exaggerated kind were made to him; for instance,
+that he should lay his claims before the Pope, who possessed the power of
+granting the royal dignity in a far higher degree than the Emperor; while,
+on the other hand, some of the more zealous Protestants among his ministers
+were anxious to avoid even that degree of approach toward the Catholic
+element implied in a closer alliance with the Emperor, and desired that
+the Elector's elevation in rank should be made to depend upon some new and
+important acquisition of territory, such, for example, as that of Polish
+Prussia, which then seemed neither difficult nor improbable. Frederick,
+however, persisted in the opinion that he was entitled to the royal dignity
+merely on acccount of his sovereign dukedom of Prussia, and that the
+recognition of the Emperor was the most important step in the affair. He
+was convinced that, when the Emperor had once got possession of the Spanish
+inheritance, or concluded a treaty upon the subject, nothing more was to be
+hoped from him; but that now, while the Elector of Brandenburg was able to
+render him as effectual assistance as any power in Europe, some advantage
+might be wrung from him in return.
+
+Influenced by these considerations, he resolved to lay proposals before the
+Emperor, which acquired uncommon significance from the circumstances under
+which they were made. At that very time, in March, 1700, England, Holland,
+and France had just concluded a treaty for the division of the Spanish
+monarchy, in which the right of inheritance of Austria was utterly
+disregarded, in order to preserve the European balance of power. Spain
+and the Indies were, indeed, to fall to the share of the young Archduke
+Charles, but he was to be deprived of Naples, Sicily, and Milan; and should
+the Archduke ever become Emperor of Germany, Spain and the Indies were to
+be given up to another prince, whose claims were far inferior to his. This
+treaty was received with disgust and indignation at Vienna, where the
+assistance of Heaven was solemnly implored, and its interference in the
+affair fully expected.
+
+At this juncture Brandenburg offered to make common cause with the Emperor,
+not alone against France, but even against England and Holland, with
+whom it was otherwise closely allied. The only recompense was to be the
+concession of royal rank to the Elector.
+
+The principal opposition to this offer arose out of the difference of
+confessions. It is also quite true that the Emperor's confessor, Pater
+Wolf, to whom the Elector wrote with his own hand, helped to overrule it,
+and took part in the negotiations. But the determining cause was, without
+doubt, the political state of affairs. A concession which involved no loss
+could not surely be thought too high a price to pay for the help of the
+most warlike of the German powers on so important an occasion. In the month
+of July, 1700, at the great conference, the imperial ministers came to the
+resolution that the wishes of the Elector should be complied with; and as
+soon as the conditions could be determined, involving the closest alliance
+both for the war and for the affairs of the empire, the treaty was signed
+on November 16, 1700. On the side of Brandenburg the utmost care was taken
+not to admit a word which might imply anything further than the assent and
+concurrence of the Emperor. The Elector affected to derive from his own
+power alone the right of assuming the royal crown. He would, nevertheless,
+have encountered much ulnpleasant oppositions in other quarters but for the
+concurrences which, very opportunely for him, now took place in France and
+Spain.
+
+The last Spanish sovereign of the line of Hapsburg had died in the mean
+time; and on opening his will it was found to be entirely in favor of the
+King of France, whose grandson was appointed heir to the whole Spanish
+monarchy. Hereupon Louis XIV broke the treaty of partition which had
+recently been made under his own influence, and determined to seize the
+greater advantage, and to accept the inheritance. This naturally roused all
+the antipathies entertained by other nations against France, and England
+and Holland went over to the side of Austria. The opposition which these
+two powers had offered to the erection of a new throne was now silenced,
+and they beheld a common interest in the elevation of the house of
+Brandenburg.
+
+Frederick had, moreover, already come to an understanding with the King of
+Poland, though not with the Republic; so that, thus supported, and with
+the consent of all his old allies, he could now celebrate the splendid
+coronation for which his heart had so long panted.
+
+We will not describe here the ceremonial of January 18,1701; to our taste
+it seems overcharged when we read the account of it. But there is a certain
+grandeur in the idea of the sovereign's grasping the crown with his own
+hand; and the performance of the ceremony of anointing after, instead
+of before, the crowning, by two priests promoted to bishoprics for the
+occasion, was a protest against the dependence of the temporal on the
+spiritual power, such as perhaps never was made at any other coronation
+either before or since. The spiritual element showed itself in the only
+attitude of authority left to it in Protestant states: that of teaching
+and exhortation. The provost of Berlin demonstrated, from the examples of
+Christ and of David, that the government of kings must be carried on to
+the glory of God and the good of their people. He lays down as the first
+principle that all rulers should bear in mind, they have come into the
+world for the sake of their subjects, and not their subjects for the sake
+of them. Finally, he exhorts all his hearers to pray to God that he will
+deeply impress this conviction upon the hearts of all sovereign princes.
+
+The institution of the order of the Black Eagle, which immediately preceded
+the coronation, was likewise symbolical of the duties of royalty. The words
+"_Suum cuique_," on the insignia of the order, according to Lamberty, who
+suggested them, contain the definition of a good government, under which
+all men alike, good as well as bad, are rewarded according to their several
+deserts. The laurel and the lightning denote reward and punishment. The
+conception at least is truly royal. Leibnitz, who was at that time closely
+connected with the court, and who busied himself very much with this
+affair, justly observes that nothing is complete without a name, and that,
+although the Elector did already possess every royal attribute, he became
+truly a king only by being called so.
+
+Although the new dignity rested only on the possession of Prussia, all the
+other provinces were included in the rank and title; those belonging to the
+German empire were thus in a manner chosen out from among the other German
+states, and united into a new whole, though, at the same time, care was
+taken in other respects to keep up the ancient connection with the empire.
+Thus we see that the elevation of the Elector to a royal title was an
+important, nay, even a necessary, impulse to the progress of Prussia, which
+we cannot even in thought separate from the whole combination of events.
+
+The name of Prussia now became inseparable from an idea of military power
+and glory, which was increased by splendid feats of arms, such as those
+which we have already enumerated.
+
+
+
+%FOUNDING OF ST. PETERSBURG%
+
+A.D. 1703
+
+K. WALISZEWSKI[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Russian by Lady Mary Loyd.]
+
+
+So radical and so vigorous were the changes made by Peter the Great in
+Russia that they roused the opposition of almost the entire nation. Moscow,
+the ancient capital, was the chief seat of this protesting conservatism;
+and Peter, resolved to teach his opponents how determined he was in his
+course and how helpless they were against his absolute power, formed the
+tremendous project of building a wholly new capital, one where no voice
+could be raised against him, where no traditions should environ him. He
+chose an icy desert plain looking out toward the waters which led to that
+Western Europe which he meant to imitate, if not to conquer.
+
+No other man--one is almost tempted to say, no sane man--would have
+ventured to erect a capital city in such an impossible place and on the
+very frontier of his dominions. That Peter not only dared, but succeeded,
+though at an almost immeasurable cost, makes the creation of the great
+metropolis, St. Petersburg, one of the most remarkable events of history.
+
+It was the chances of the great northern war that led Peter to St.
+Petersburg. When he first threw down the gauntlet to Sweden he turned his
+eyes on Livonia--on Narva and Riga. But Livonia was so well defended that
+he was driven northward, toward Ingria. He moved thither grudgingly,
+sending, in the first instance, Apraxin, who turned the easily conquered
+province into a desert. It was not for some time, and gropingly, as it
+were, that the young sovereign began to see his way, and finally turned
+his attention and his longings to the mouth of the Neva. In former years
+Gustavus Adolphus had realized the strategical importance of a position
+which his successor, Charles XII, did not deem worthy of consideration,
+and had himself studied all its approaches. Peter not only took it to be
+valuable from the military and commercial point of view: he also found it
+most attractive, and would fain have never left it. He was more at home
+there than anywhere else, and the historical legends, according to which
+it was true Russian ground, filled him with emotion. No one knows what
+inspired this fondness on his part. It may have been the vague resemblance
+of the marshy flats to the lowlands of Holland; it may have been the
+stirring of some ancestral instinct. According to a legend, accepted by
+Nestor, it was by the mouth of the Neva that the earliest Norman conquerors
+of the country passed on their journeys across the Varegian Sea--_their own
+sea_--and so to Rome.
+
+Peter would seem to have desired to take up the thread of that tradition,
+nine centuries old; and the story of his own foundation of the town has
+become legendary and epic. One popular description represents him as
+snatching a halberd from one of his soldiers, cutting two strips of turf,
+and laying them crosswise with the words "Here there shall be a town!"
+Foundation-stones were evidently lacking, and sods had to take their
+place. Then, dropping the halberd, he seized a spade, and began the first
+embankment. At that moment an eagle appeared, hovering over the Czar's
+head. It was struck by a shot from a musket. Peter took the wounded bird,
+set it on his wrist, and departed in a boat to inspect the neighborhood.
+This occurred on May 16, 1703.
+
+History adds that the Swedish prisoners employed on the work died in
+thousands. The most indispensable tools were lacking. There were no
+wheelbarrows, and the earth was carried in the corners of men's clothing.
+A wooden fort was first built on the island bearing the Finnish name of
+Ianni-Saari (Hare Island). This was the future citadel of St. Peter and St.
+Paul. Then came a wooden church, and the modest cottage which was to be
+Peter's first palace. Near these, the following year, there rose a Lutheran
+church, ultimately removed to the left bank of the river, into the
+Liteinaia quarter, and also a tavern, the famous inn of the Four Frigates,
+which did duty as a town hall for a long time before it became a place of
+diplomatic meeting. Then the cluster of modest buildings was augmented by
+the erection of a bazaar. The Czar's collaborators gathered round him, in
+cottages much like his own, and the existence of St. Petersburg became an
+accomplished fact.
+
+But, up to the time of the battle of Poltava, Peter never thought of making
+St. Petersburg his capital. It was enough for him to feel he had a
+fortress and a port. He was not sufficiently sure of his mastery over the
+neighboring countries, not certain enough of being able to retain his
+conquest, to desire to make it the centre of his government and his own
+permanent residence. This idea was not definitely accepted till after his
+great victory. His final decision has been bitterly criticised, especially
+by foreign historians; it has been severely judged and remorselessly
+condemned. Before expressing any opinion of my own on the subject, I should
+like to sum up the considerations which have been put forward to support
+this unfavorable verdict.
+
+The great victory, we are told, diminished the strategic importance of St.
+Petersburg, and almost entirely extinguished its value as a port; while
+its erection into the capital city of the empire was never anything but
+madness. Peter, being now the indisputable master of the Baltic shores, had
+nothing to fear from any Swedish attack in the Gulf of Finland. Before any
+attempt in that direction, the Swedes were certain to try to recover Narva
+or Riga. If in later years they turned their eyes to St. Petersburg, it
+was only because that town had acquired undue and unmerited political
+importance. It was easy of attack and difficult to defend. There was no
+possibility of concentrating any large number of troops there, for the
+whole country, forty leagues round, was a barren desert. In 1788 Catharine
+II complained that her capital was too near the Swedish frontier, and too
+much exposed to sudden movements, such as that which Gustavus III very
+nearly succeeded in carrying out. Here we have the military side of the
+question.
+
+From the commercial point of view St. Petersburg, we are assured, did
+command a valuable system of river communication; but that commanded by
+Riga was far superior. The Livonian, Esthonian, and Courland ports of Riga,
+Libau, and Revel, all at an equal distance from St. Petersburg and Moscow,
+and far less removed from the great German commercial centres, enjoyed
+a superior climate, and were, subsequent to the conquest of the
+above-mentioned provinces, the natural points of contact between Russia and
+the West. An eloquent proof of this fact may be observed nowadays in the
+constant increase of their commerce, and the corresponding decrease of that
+of St. Petersburg, which has been artificially developed and fostered.
+
+Besides this, the port of St. Petersburg, during the lifetime of its
+founder, never was anything but a mere project. Peter's ships were moved
+from Kronslot to Kronstadt. Between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt the Neva
+was not, in those days, more than eight feet deep, and Manstein tells us
+that all ships built at Petersburg had to be dragged, by means of machines
+fitted with cables, to Kronstadt, where they received their guns. Once
+these had been taken on board, the vessels could not get upstream again.
+The port of Kronstadt was closed by ice for six months out of the twelve,
+and lay in such a position that no sailing-ship could leave it unless the
+wind blew from the east. There was so little salt in its waters that the
+ship timbers rotted in a very short time, and, besides, there were no oaks
+in the surrounding forests, and all such timber had to be brought from
+Kasan. Peter was so well aware of all these drawbacks that he sought and
+found a more convenient spot for his shipbuilding yards at Rogerwick,
+in Esthonia, four leagues from Revel. But here he found difficulty in
+protecting the anchorage from the effects of hurricanes and from the
+insults of his enemies. He hoped to insure this by means of two piers,
+built on wooden caissons filled with stones. He thinned the forests of
+Livonia and Esthonia to construct it, and finally, the winds and the waves
+having carried everything away twice over, the work was utterly abandoned.
+
+On the other hand, and from the very outset, the commercial activity of St.
+Petersburg was hampered by the fact that it was the Czar's capital. The
+presence of the court made living dear, and the consequent expense of labor
+was a heavy drawback to the export trade, which, by its nature, called
+for a good deal of manual exertion. According to a Dutch resident of that
+period, a wooden cottage, very inferior to that inhabited by a peasant in
+the Low Countries, cost from eight hundred to one thousand florins a year
+at St. Petersburg. A shopkeeper at Archangel could live comfortably on a
+quarter of that sum. The cost of transport, which amounted to between nine
+and ten copecks a pood (36.07 pounds), between Moscow and Archangel, five
+to six between Yaroslaff and Archangel, and three or four between Vologda
+and Archangel, came to eighteen, twenty, and thirty copecks a pood in the
+case of merchandise sent from any of these places to St. Petersburg. This
+accounts for the opposition of the foreign merchants at Archangel to the
+request that they should remove to St. Petersburg. Peter settled the matter
+in characteristic fashion, by forbidding any trade in hemp, flax, leather,
+or corn to pass through Archangel. This rule, though somewhat slackened, in
+1714, at the request of the States-General of Holland, remained in force
+during the great Czar's reign. In 1718 hemp and some other articles of
+commerce were allowed free entrance into the port of Archangel, but only on
+condition that two-thirds of all exports should be sent to St. Petersburg.
+This puts the case from the maritime and commercial point of view.
+
+As a capital city, St. Petersburg, we are told again, was ill-placed on the
+banks of the Neva, not only for the reasons already given, but for others,
+geographical, ethnical, and climatic, which exist even in the present day,
+and which make its selection an outrage on common-sense. Was it not, we
+are asked, a most extraordinary whim which induced a Russian to found the
+capital of his Slavonic empire among the Finns, against the Swedes--to
+centralize the administration of a huge extent of country in its remotest
+corner--to retire from Poland and Germany on the plea of drawing nearer to
+Europe, and to force everyone about him, officials, court, and diplomatic
+corps, to inhabit one of the most inhospitable spots, under one of the
+least clement skies, he could possibly have discovered? The whole place was
+a marsh--the Finnish word neva means "mud"; the sole inhabitants of the
+neighboring forests were packs of wolves. In 1714, during a winter night,
+two sentries, posted before the cannon-foundry, were devoured. Even
+nowadays, the traveller, once outside the town, plunges into a desert. Far
+away in every direction the great plain stretches; not a steeple, not a
+tree, not a head of cattle, not a sign of life, whether human or animal.
+There is no pasturage, no possibility of cultivation--fruit, vegetables,
+and even corn, are all brought from a distance. The ground is in a sort of
+intermediate condition between the sea and _terra firma_.
+
+Up to Catharine's reign inundations were chronic in their occurrence.
+On September 11, 1706, Peter drew from his pocket the measure he always
+carried about him, and convinced himself that there were twenty-one inches
+of water above the floors of his cottage. In all directions he saw men,
+women, and children clinging to the wreckage of buildings, which was
+being carried down the river. He described his impressions in a letter to
+Menshikoff, dated from "Paradise," and declared it was "extremely amusing."
+It may be doubted whether he found many persons to share his delight.
+Communications with the town, now rendered easy by railways, were in those
+days not only difficult, but dangerous. Campredon, when he went from Moscow
+to St. Petersburg, in April, 1723, spent twelve hundred rubles. He lost
+part of his luggage, eight of his horses were drowned, and after having
+travelled for four weeks he reached his destination, very ill. Peter
+himself, who arrived before the French diplomat, had been obliged to ride
+part of the way, and to swim his horse across the rivers!
+
+But in spite of all these considerations, the importance of which I am far
+from denying, I am inclined to think Peter's choice a wise one. Nobody can
+wonder that the idea of retaining Moscow as his capital was most repugnant
+to him. The existence of his work in those hostile surroundings--in a place
+which to this day has remained obstinately reactionary--could never have
+been anything but precarious and uncertain. It must, after his death at
+least, if not during his life, have been at the mercy of those popular
+insurrections before which the sovereign power, as established in the
+Kremlin, had already so frequently bowed. When Peter carried Muscovy out of
+her former existence, and beyond her ancient frontiers, he was logically
+forced to treat the seat of his government in the same manner. His new
+undertaking resembled, both in aspect and character, a marching and
+fighting formation, directed toward the west. The leader's place, and that
+of his chief residence, was naturally indicated at the head of his column.
+This once granted, and the principle of the translation of the capital to
+the western extremity of the Czar's newly acquired possessions admitted,
+the advantages offered by Ingria would appear to me to outweigh all the
+drawbacks previously referred to.
+
+The province was, at that period, virgin soil sparsely inhabited by a
+Finnish population possessing neither cohesion nor historical consistency,
+and, consequently, docile and easily assimilated. Everywhere else--all
+along the Baltic coast, in Esthonia, in Carelia, and in Courland--though
+the Swedes might be driven out, the Germans still remained firmly settled;
+the neighborhood of their native country and of the springs of Teutonic
+culture enduing them with an invincible power of resistance. Riga in
+the present day, after nearly two centuries of Russian government, is a
+thoroughly German town. In St. Petersburg, Russia, as a country, became
+European and cosmopolitan, but the city itself is essentially Russian, and
+the Finnish element in its neighborhood counts for nothing.
+
+In this matter, though Peter may not have clearly felt and thought it out,
+he was actuated by the mighty and unerring instinct of his genius. I am
+willing to admit that here, as in everything else, there was a certain
+amount of whim, and perhaps some childish desire to ape Amsterdam. I will
+even go further, and acknowledge that the manner in which he carried out
+his plan was anything but reasonable. Two hundred thousand laborers, we are
+told, died during the construction of the new city, and the Russian nobles
+ruined themselves to build palaces which soon fell out of occupation. But
+an abyss was opened between the past the reformer had doomed and the future
+on which he had set his heart, and the national life, thus violently forced
+into a new channel, was stamped, superficially at first, but more and more
+deeply by degrees, with the Western and European character he desired to
+impart.
+
+Moscow, down to the present day, has preserved a religious, almost a
+monastic air; at every street corner chapels attract the passers-by, and
+the local population, even at its busiest, crosses itself and bends as it
+passes before the sacred pictures which rouse its devotion at every turn.
+St. Petersburg, from the very earliest days, presented a different and
+quite a secular appearance. At Moscow no public performance of profane
+music was permitted. At St. Petersburg the Czar's German musicians played
+every day on the balcony of his tavern. Toward the middle of the eighteenth
+century the new city boasted a French theatre and an Italian opera, and
+Schloezer noted that divine service was performed in fourteen languages!
+Modern Russia, governed, educated to a certain extent, intellectually
+speaking emancipated, and relatively liberal, could not have come into
+existence nor grown in stature elsewhere.
+
+And to conclude: Peter was able to effect this singular change without
+doing too great violence to the historical traditions of his country. From
+the earliest days of Russian history, the capital had been removed from
+place to place--from Novgorod to Kiev, from Kiev to Vladimir, from Vladimir
+to Moscow. This phenomenon was the consequence of the immense area of the
+national territory, and the want of consistency in the elements of the
+national life. From the beginning to the end of an evolution which lasted
+centuries the centre of gravity of the disjointed, scattered, and floating
+forces of ancient Russia perpetually changed its place. Thus the creation
+of St. Petersburg was nothing but the working out of a problem in dynamics.
+The struggle with Sweden, the conquest of the Baltic provinces, and the
+yet more important conquest of a position in the European world naturally
+turned the whole current of the national energies and life in that
+direction. Peter desired to perpetuate this course. I am inclined to think
+he acted wisely.
+
+
+
+%BATTLE OF BLENHEIM%
+
+CURBING OF LOUIS XIV
+
+A.D. 1704
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+Among the decisive battles of the world, that of Blenheim is regarded by
+historians as one of the most far-reaching in results. "The decisive blow
+struck at Blenheim," says Alison, "resounded through every part of Europe.
+It at once destroyed the vast fabric of power which it had taken Louis XIV
+so long to construct." And Creasy himself elsewhere declares: "Had it not
+been for Blenheim, all Europe might at this day suffer under the effect of
+French conquests resembling those of Alexander in extent and those of the
+Romans in durability."
+
+It was the first great battle in the War of the Spanish Succession
+(1701-1714), which was carried on mainly in Italy, the Netherlands, and
+Germany. This war followed closely upon the War of the Palatinate, which
+ended with the Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697. To this peace Louis XIV of
+France--the most powerful monarch in Europe, who, in spite of his brutal
+conduct of the war, had really been a loser by it--gave his consent. Among
+the concessions made by him was his recognition--much against his own
+interest--of William III as the rightful King of England.
+
+Louis gave his consent to the Treaty of Ryswick partly because of his
+interest in the question of the Spanish succession. Charles II of
+Spain--last of the Hapsburg line in that country--was childless, and there
+were three claimants for the throne; namely, Philip of Anjou, grandson of
+Louis XIV; the Electoral Prince of Bavaria; and Charles, son of Leopold
+I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The real stake was the
+"balance of power" in Europe. At last, after much wrangling and intrigue
+among the courts, Charles II bequeathed his throne to the Bavarian Prince,
+whose death, in 1699, left Europe still divided over the succession.
+
+Finally, Louis XIV completely won Charles II to his side, and Philip of
+Anjou was named in Charles' will as his heir. Louis accepted for Philip,
+who was crowned at Madrid, in 1701, as Philip V, and Europe was stirred to
+wrath by the greed of the already too powerful French King. Turning now
+upon England, Louis, in violation of the Treaty of Ryswick, declared the
+son of the exiled James II rightful king of that country. The result of
+Louis' acts was the Grand Alliance of The Hague against France, formed
+between England, Holland, Prussia, the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, and
+Savoy.
+
+On the side of the allies in the war that followed, the great generals
+were the English Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene of Savoy, and Hensius,
+Pensioner of Holland. France had lost her best generals by death, and Louis
+was compelled to rely upon inferior men as leaders of his army. War was
+formally declared against France by the allies May 4, 1702. The early
+operations were carried on in Flanders, in Germany--on the Upper Rhine--and
+in Northern Italy.
+
+
+Marlborough headed the allied troops in Flanders during the first two
+years of the war, and took some towns from the enemy, but nothing decisive
+occurred. Nor did any actions of importance take place during this period
+between the rival armies in Italy. But in the centre of that line from
+north to south, from the mouth of the Schelde to the mouth of the Po, along
+which the war was carried on, the generals of Louis XIV acquired advantages
+in 1703 which threatened one chief member of the Grand Alliance with utter
+destruction.
+
+France had obtained the important assistance of Bavaria as her confederate
+in the war. The Elector of this powerful German state made himself master
+of the strong fortress of Ulm, and opened a communication with the French
+armies on the Upper Rhine. By this junction the troops of Louis were
+enabled to assail the Emperor in the very heart of Germany. In the autumn
+of 1703 the combined armies of the Elector and French King completely
+defeated the Imperialists in Bavaria; and in the following winter they
+made themselves masters of the important cities of Augsburg and Passau.
+Meanwhile the French army of the Upper Rhine and Moselle had beaten the
+allied armies opposed to them, and taken Treves and Landau. At the same
+time the discontents in Hungary with Austria again broke out into open
+insurrection, so as to distract the attention and complete the terror of
+the Emperor and his council at Vienna.
+
+Louis XIV ordered the next campaign to be commenced by his troops on a
+scale of grandeur and with a boldness of enterprise such as even Napoleon's
+military schemes have seldom equalled. On the extreme left of the line of
+the war, in the Netherlands, the French armies were to act only on the
+defensive. The fortresses in the hands of the French there were so many and
+30 strong that no serious impression seemed likely to be made by the allies
+on the French frontier in that quarter during one campaign, and that one
+campaign was to give France such triumphs elsewhere as would, it was hoped,
+determine the war. Large detachments were therefore to be made from the
+French force in Flanders, and they were to be led by Marshal Villeroy to
+the Moselle and Upper Rhine.
+
+The French army already in the neighborhood of those rivers was to march
+under Marshal Tallard through the Black Forest, and join the Elector of
+Bavaria, and the French troops that were already with the Elector under
+Marshal Marsin. Meanwhile the French army of Italy was to advance through
+the Tyrol into Austria, and the whole forces were to combine between the
+Danube and the Inn. A strong body of troops was to be despatched into
+Hungary, to assist and organize the insurgents in that kingdom; and the
+French grand army of the Danube was then in collected and irresistible
+might to march upon Vienna and dictate terms of peace to the Emperor. High
+military genius was shown in the formation of this plan, but it was met and
+baffled by a genius higher still.
+
+Marlborough had watched with the deepest anxiety the progress of the French
+arms on the Rhine and in Bavaria, and he saw the futility of carrying on a
+war of posts and sieges in Flanders, while death-blows to the empire were
+being dealt on the Danube. He resolved, therefore, to let the war in
+Flanders languish for a year, while he moved with all the disposable forces
+that he could collect to the central scenes of decisive operations. Such a
+march was in itself difficult; but Marlborough had, in the first instance,
+to overcome the still greater difficulty of obtaining the consent and
+cheerful cooperation of the allies, especially of the Dutch, whose frontier
+it was proposed thus to deprive of the larger part of the force which had
+hitherto been its protection.
+
+Fortunately, among the many slothful, the many foolish, the many timid,
+and the not few treacherous rulers, statesmen, and generals of different
+nations with whom he had to deal, there were two men, eminent both in
+ability and integrity, who entered fully into Marlborough's projects and
+who, from the stations which they occupied, were enabled materially to
+forward them. One of these was the Dutch statesman Heinsius, who had been
+the cordial supporter of King William, and who now, with equal zeal and
+good faith, supported Marlborough in the councils of the allies; the other
+was the celebrated general, Prince Eugene, whom the Austrian cabinet had
+recalled from the Italian frontier to take the command of one of the
+Emperor's armies in Germany. To these two great men, and a few more,
+Marlborough communicated his plan freely and unreservedly; but to the
+general councils of his allies he only disclosed part of his daring scheme.
+
+He proposed to the Dutch that he should march from Flanders to the
+Upper Rhine and Moselle with the British troops and part of the foreign
+auxiliaries, and commence vigorous operations against the French armies in
+that quarter, while General Auverquerque, with the Dutch and the remainder
+of the auxiliaries, maintained a defensive war in the Netherlands. Having
+with difficulty obtained the consent of the Dutch to this portion of his
+project, he exercised the same diplomatic zeal, with the same success, in
+urging the King of Prussia and other princes of the empire to increase
+the number of the troops which they supplied, and to post them in places
+convenient for his own intended movements.
+
+Marlborough commenced his celebrated march on May 10th. The army which
+he was to lead had been assembled by his brother, General Churchill,
+at Bedburg, not far from Maestricht, on the Meuse; it included sixteen
+thousand English troops, and consisted of fifty-one battalions of foot, and
+ninety-two squadrons of horse. Marlborough was to collect and join with him
+on his march the troops of Prussia, Luneburg, and Hesse, quartered on the
+Rhine, and eleven Dutch battalions that were stationed at Rothweil. He had
+only marched a single day when the series of interruptions, complaints, and
+requisitions from the other leaders of the allies began, to which he seemed
+subjected throughout his enterprise, and which would have caused its
+failure in the hands of anyone not gifted with the firmness and the
+exquisite temper of Marlborough.
+
+One specimen of these annoyances and of Marlborough's mode of dealing with
+them may suffice. On his encamping at Kupen on the 20th, he received an
+express from Auverquerque pressing him to halt, because Villeroy, who
+commanded the French army in Flanders, had quitted the lines which he had
+been occupying, and crossed the Meuse at Namur with thirty-six battalions
+and forty-five squadrons, and was threatening the town of Huy. At the same
+time Marlborough received letters from the Margrave of Baden and Count
+Wratislaw, who commanded the Imperialist forces at Stollhoffen, near the
+left bank of the Rhine, stating that Tallard had made a movement, as if
+intending to cross the Rhine, and urging him to hasten his march toward the
+lines of Stollhoffen. Marlborough was not diverted by these applications
+from the prosecution of his grand design.
+
+Conscious that the army of Villeroy would be too much reduced to undertake
+offensive operations, by the detachments which had already been made toward
+the Rhine, and those which must follow his own march, he halted only a
+day to quiet the alarms of Auverquerque. To satisfy also the Margrave, he
+ordered the troops of Hompesch and Buelow to draw toward Philippsburg,
+though with private injunctions not to proceed beyond a certain distance.
+He even exacted a promise to the same effect from Count Wratislaw, who at
+this juncture arrived at the camp to attend him during the whole campaign.
+
+Marlborough reached the Rhine at Coblenz, where he crossed that river, and
+then marched along its left bank to Broubach and Mainz. His march,
+though rapid, was admirably conducted, so as to save the troops from all
+unnecessary fatigue; ample supplies of provisions were ready, and the most
+perfect discipline was maintained. By degrees Marlborough obtained more
+reinforcements from the Dutch and the other confederates, and he also was
+left more at liberty by them to follow his own course. Indeed, before
+even a blow was struck, his enterprise had paralyzed the enemy and had
+materially relieved Austria from the pressure of the war. Villeroy, with
+his detachments from the French Flemish army, was completely bewildered
+by Marlborough's movements, and, unable to divine where it was that the
+English general meant to strike his blow, wasted away the early part of the
+summer between Flanders and the Moselle without effecting anything.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: "Marshal Villeroy," says Voltaire, "who had wished to follow
+Marlborough on his first marches, suddenly lost sight of him altogether,
+and only learned where he really was on hearing of his victory at
+Donawert."]
+
+Marshal Tallard, who commanded forty-five thousand French at Strasburg, and
+who had been destined by Louis to march early in the year into Bavaria,
+thought that Marlborough's march along the Rhine was preliminary to an
+attack upon Alsace; and the marshal therefore kept his forty-five thousand
+men back in order to protect France in that quarter. Marlborough skilfully
+encouraged his apprehensions by causing a bridge to be constructed across
+the Rhine at Philippsburg, and by making the Landgrave of Hesse advance his
+artillery at Mannheim, as if for a siege of Landau.
+
+Meanwhile the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Marsin, suspecting that
+Marlborough's design might be what it really proved to be, forbore to press
+upon the Austrians opposed to them or to send troops into Hungary; and they
+kept back so as to secure their communications with France. Thus, when
+Marlborough, at the beginning of June, left the Rhine and marched for the
+Danube, the numerous hostile armies were uncombined and unable to check
+him.
+
+"With such skill and science," says Coxe, "had this enterprise been
+concerted that at the very moment when it assumed a specific direction the
+enemy was no longer enabled to render it abortive. As the march was now to
+be bent toward the Danube, notice was given for the Prussians, Palatines,
+and Hessians, who were stationed on the Rhine, to order their march so as
+to join the main body in its progress. At the same time directions were
+sent to accelerate the advance of the Danish auxiliaries, who were marching
+from the Netherlands."
+
+Crossing the river Neckar, Marlborough marched in a southeastern direction
+to Mundelshene, where he had his first personal interview with Prince
+Eugene, who was destined to be his colleague on so many glorious fields.
+Thence, through a difficult and dangerous country, Marlborough continued
+his march against the Bavarians, whom he encountered on July 2d on the
+heights of the Schullenberg, near Donauwoerth. Marlborough stormed their
+intrenched camp, crossed the Danube, took several strong places in Bavaria,
+and made himself completely master of the Elector's dominions except the
+fortified cities of Munich and Augsburg. But the Elector's army, though
+defeated at Donauwoerth, was still numerous and strong; and at last Marshal
+Tallard, when thoroughly apprised of the real nature of Marlborough's
+movements, crossed the Rhine; and being suffered, through the supineness of
+the German general at Stollhoffen, to march without loss through the Black
+Forest, he united his powerful army at Biberach, near Augsburg, with
+that of the Elector and the French troops under Marshal Marsin, who had
+previously been cooperating with the Bavarians.
+
+On the other hand, Marlborough recrossed the Danube, and on August 11th
+united his army with the Imperialist forces under Prince Eugene. The
+combined armies occupied a position near Hoechstaedt,[1] a little higher up
+the left bank of the Danube than Donauwoerth, the scene of Marlborough's
+recent victory, and almost exactly on the ground where Marshal Villars and
+the Elector had defeated an Austrian army in the preceding year. The French
+marshals and the Elector were now in position a little further to the east,
+between Blenheim and Luetzingen, and with the little stream of the Nebel
+between them and the troops of Marlborough and Eugene. The Gallo-Bavarian
+army consisted of about sixty thousand men, and they had sixty-one pieces
+of artillery. The army of the allies was about fifty-six thousand strong,
+with fifty-two guns.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Battle of Blenheim is called by the Germans and the French
+the battle of Hoechstaedt.--ED.]
+
+Although the French army of Italy had been unable to penetrate into
+Austria, and although the masterly strategy of Marlborough had hitherto
+warded off the destruction with which the cause of the allies seemed
+menaced at the beginning of the campaign, the peril was still most serious.
+It was absolutely necessary for Marlborough to attack the enemy before
+Villeroy should be roused into action. There was nothing to stop that
+general and his army from marching into Franconia, whence the allies drew
+their principal supplies; and besides thus distressing them, he might, by
+marching on and joining his army to those of Tallard and the Elector, form
+a mass which would overwhelm the force under Marlborough and Eugene. On
+the other hand, the chances of a battle seemed perilous, and the fatal
+consequences of a defeat were certain. The disadvantage of the allies in
+point of number was not very great, but still it was not to be disregarded;
+and the advantage which the enemy seemed to have in the composition of
+their troops was striking.
+
+Tallard and Marsin had forty-five thousand Frenchmen under them, all
+veterans and all trained to act together; the Elector's own troops also
+were good soldiers. Marlborough, like Wellington at Waterloo, headed an
+army of which the larger proportion consisted, not of English, but of men
+of many different nations and many different languages. He was also obliged
+to be the assailant in the action, and thus to expose his troops to
+comparatively heavy loss at the commencement of the battle, while the enemy
+would fight under the protection of the villages and lines which they were
+actively engaged in strengthening. The consequences of a defeat of the
+confederated army must have broken up the Grand Alliance, and realized
+the proudest hopes of the French King. Alison, in his admirable military
+history of the Duke of Marlborough, has truly stated the effects which
+would have taken place if France had been successful in the war; and when
+the position of the confederates at the time when Blenheim was fought is
+remembered--when we recollect the exhaustion of Austria, the menacing
+insurrection of Hungary, the feuds and jealousies of the German princes,
+the strength and activity of the Jacobite party in England, and the
+imbecility of nearly all the Dutch statesmen of the time, and the weakness
+of Holland if deprived of her allies--we may adopt his words in speculating
+on what would have ensued if France had been victorious in the battle,
+and "if a power, animated by the ambition, guided by the fanaticism, and
+directed by the ability of that of Louis XIV, had gained the ascendency in
+Europe.
+
+"Beyond all question, a universal despotic dominion would have been
+established over the bodies, a cruel spiritual thraldom over the minds, of
+men. France and Spain, united under Bourbon princes and in a close family
+alliance--the empire of Charlemagne with that of Charles V--the power
+which revoked the Edict of Nantes and perpetrated the massacre of St.
+Bartholomew, with that which banished the Moriscoes and established
+the Inquisition, would have proved irresistible, and, beyond example,
+destructive to the best interests of mankind.
+
+"The Protestants might have been driven, like the pagan heathens of old by
+the son of Pepin, beyond the Elbe; the Stuart race, and with them Romish
+ascendency, might have been reestablished in England; the fire lighted by
+Latimer and Ridley might have been extinguished in blood; and the energy
+breathed by religious freedom into the Anglo-Saxon race might have expired.
+The destinies of the world would have been changed. Europe, instead of a
+variety of independent states, whose mutual hostility kept alive courage,
+while their national rivalry stimulated talent, would have sunk into the
+slumber attendant on universal dominion. The colonial empire of England
+would have withered away and perished, as that of Spain has done in the
+grasp of the Inquisition. The Anglo-Saxon race would have been arrested
+in its mission to overspread the earth and subdue it. The centralized
+despotism of the Roman Empire would have been renewed on Continental
+Europe; the chains of Romish tyranny, and with them the general infidelity
+of France before the Revolution, would have extinguished or perverted
+thought in the British Islands."
+
+Marlborough's words at the council of war, when a battle was resolved on,
+are remarkable, and they deserve recording. We know them on the authority
+of his chaplain, Mr. (afterward Bishop) Hare, who accompanied him
+throughout the campaign, and in whose journal the biographers of
+Marlborough have found many of their best materials. Marlborough's words to
+the officers who remonstrated with him on the seeming temerity of attacking
+the enemy in their position were: "I know the danger, yet a battle is
+absolutely necessary, and I rely on the bravery and discipline of the
+troops, which will make amends for our disadvantages." In the evening
+orders were issued for a general engagement, and were received by the army
+with an alacrity which justified his confidence.
+
+The French and Bavarians were posted behind the little stream called the
+Nebel, which runs almost from north to south into the Danube immediately in
+front of the village of Blenheim. The Nebel flows along a little valley,
+and the French occupied the rising ground to the west of it. The village
+of Blenheim was the extreme right of their position, and the village of
+Luetzingen, about three miles north of Blenheim, formed their left. Beyond
+Luetzingen are the rugged high grounds of the Godd Berg and Eich Berg,
+on the skirts of which some detachments were posted, so as to secure the
+Gallo-Bavarian position from being turned on the left flank. The Danube
+secured their right flank; and it was only in front that they could be
+attacked. The villages of Blenheim and Luetzingen had been strongly
+palisaded and intrenched; Marshal Tallard, who held the chief command, took
+his station at Blenheim; the Elector and Marshal Marsin commanded on the
+left.
+
+Tallard garrisoned Blenheim with twenty-six battalions of French infantry
+and twelve squadrons of French cavalry. Marsin and the Elector had
+twenty-two battalions of infantry and thirty-six squadrons of cavalry in
+front of the village of Luetzingen. The centre was occupied by fourteen
+battalions of infantry, including the celebrated Irish brigade. These were
+posted in the little hamlet of Oberglau, which lies somewhat nearer
+to Luetzingen than to Blenheim. Eighty squadrons of cavalry and seven
+battalions of foot were ranged between Oberglau and Blenheim. Thus the
+French position was very strong at each extremity, but was comparatively
+weak in the centre. Tallard seems to have relied on the swampy state of
+the part of the valley that reaches from below Oberglau to Blenheim for
+preventing any serious attack on this part of his line.
+
+The army of the allies was formed into two great divisions, the largest
+being commanded by the Duke in person, and being destined to act against
+Tallard, while Prince Eugene led the other division, which consisted
+chiefly of cavalry, and was intended to oppose the enemy under Marsin and
+the Elector. As they approached the enemy, Marlborough's troops formed the
+left and the centre, while Eugene's formed the right of the entire army.
+Early in the morning of August 13th the allies left their own camp and
+marched toward the enemy. A thick haze covered the ground, and it was not
+until the allied right and centre had advanced nearly within cannon-shot
+of the enemy that Tallard was aware of their approach. He made his
+preparations with what haste he could, and about eight o'clock a heavy fire
+of artillery was opened from the French right on the advancing left wing of
+the British. Marlborough ordered up some of his batteries to reply to
+it, and while the columns that were to form the allied left and centre
+deployed, and took up their proper stations in the line, a warm cannonade
+was kept up by the guns on both sides.
+
+The ground which Eugene's columns Jiad to traverse was peculiarly
+difficult, especially for the passage of the artillery, and it was nearly
+mid-day before he could get his troops into line opposite to Luetzingen.
+During this interval Marlborough ordered divine service to be performed by
+the chaplains at the head of each regiment, and then rode along the
+lines, and found both officers and men in the highest spirits and waiting
+impatiently for the signal for the attack. At length an aide-de-camp
+galloped up from the right with the welcome news that Eugene was ready.
+Marlborough instantly sent Lord Cutts, with a strong brigade of infantry to
+assault the village of Blenheim, while he himself led the main body down
+the eastward slope of the valley of the Nebel, and prepared to effect the
+passage of the stream.
+
+The assault on Blenheim, though bravely made, was repulsed with severe
+loss, and Marlborough, finding how strongly that village was garrisoned,
+desisted from any further attempts to carry it, and bent all his energies
+to breaking the enemy's line between Blenheim and Oberglau. Some temporary
+bridges had been prepared, and planks and fascines had been collected; and
+by the aid of these, and a little stone bridge which crossed the Nebel
+near a hamlet called Unterglau, that lay in the centre of the valley,
+Marlborough succeeded in getting several squadrons across the Nebel, though
+it was divided into several branches, and the ground between them was soft,
+and, in places, little better than a mere marsh.
+
+But the French artillery was not idle. The cannon-balls plunged incessantly
+among the advancing squadrons of the allies, and bodies of French cavalry
+rode frequently down from the western ridge, to charge them before they had
+time to form on the firm ground. It was only by supporting his men by fresh
+troops, and by bringing up infantry, who checked the advance of the enemy's
+horse by their steady fire, that Marlborough was able to save his army in
+this quarter from a repulse, which, succeeding the failure of the attack
+upon Blenheim, would probably have been fatal to the allies. By degrees,
+his cavalry struggled over the bloodstained streams; the infantry were
+also now brought across, so as to keep in check the French troops who held
+Blenheim, and who, when no longer assailed in front, had begun to attack
+the allies on their left with considerable effect.
+
+Marlborough had thus at length succeeded in drawing up the whole left wing
+of his army beyond the Nebel, and was about to press forward with it, when
+he was called away to another part of the field by a disaster that
+had befallen his centre. The Prince of Holstein Beck had, with eleven
+Hanoverian battalions, passed the Nebel opposite to Oberglau, when he was
+charged and utterly routed by the Irish brigade which held that village.
+The Irish drove the Hanoverians back with heavy slaughter, broke completely
+through the line of the allies, and nearly achieved a success as brilliant
+as that which the same brigade afterward gained at Fontenoy.
+
+But at Blenheim their ardor in pursuit led them too far. Marlborough came
+up in person, and dashed in upon the exposed flank of the brigade with some
+squadrons of British cavalry. The Irish reeled back, and as they strove to
+regain the height of Oberglau their column was raked through and through by
+the fire of three battalions of the allies, which Marlborough had summoned
+up from the reserve. Marlborough having reestablished the order and
+communications of the allies in this quarter, now, as he returned to his
+own left wing, sent to learn how his colleague fared against Marsin and the
+Elector, and to inform Eugene of his own success.
+
+Eugene had hitherto not been equally fortunate. He had made three attacks
+on the enemy opposed to him, and had been thrice driven back. It was only
+by his own desperate personal exertions, and the remarkable steadiness of
+the regiments of Prussian infantry, which were under him, that he was able
+to save his wing from being totally defeated. But it was on the southern
+part of the battle-field, on the ground which Marlborough had won beyond
+the Nebel with such difficulty, that the crisis of the battle was to be
+decided.
+
+Like Hannibal, Marlborough relied principally on his cavalry for achieving
+his decisive successes, and it was by his cavalry that Blenheim, the
+greatest of his victories, was won. The battle had lasted till five in the
+afternoon. Marlborough had now eight thousand horsemen drawn up in two
+lines, and in the most perfect order for a general attack on the enemy's
+line along the space between Blenheim and Oberglau. The infantry was drawn
+up in battalions in their rear, so as to support them if repulsed, and
+to keep in check the large masses of the French that still occupied the
+village of Blenheim. Tallard now interlaced his squadrons of cavalry with
+battalions of infantry, and Marlborough, by a corresponding movement,
+brought several regiments of infantry and some pieces of artillery to his
+front line at intervals between the bodies of horse.
+
+A little after five Marlborough commenced the decisive movement, and the
+allied cavalry, strengthened and supported by foot and guns, advanced
+slowly from the lower ground near the Nebel up the slope to where the
+French cavalry, ten thousand strong, awaited them. On riding over the
+summit of the acclivity, the allies were received with so hot a fire from
+the French artillery and small arms that at first the cavalry recoiled, but
+without abandoning the high ground. The guns and the infantry which they
+had brought with them maintained the contest with spirit and effect. The
+French fire seemed to slacken. Marlborough instantly ordered a charge along
+the line. The allied cavalry galloped forward at the enemy's squadrons, and
+the hearts of the French horsemen failed them. Discharging their carbines
+at an idle distance, they wheeled round and spurred from the field, leaving
+the nine infantry battalions of their comrades to be ridden down by the
+torrent of the allied cavalry.
+
+The battle was now won. Tallard and Marsin, severed from each other,
+thought only of retreat. Tallard drew up the squadrons of horse that he had
+left, in a line extended toward Blenheim, and sent orders to the infantry
+in that village to leave it and join him without delay. But long ere his
+orders could be obeyed the conquering squadrons of Marlborough had wheeled
+to the left and thundered down on the feeble array of the French marshal.
+Part of the force which Tallard had drawn up for this last effort was
+driven into the Danube; part fled with their general to the village of
+Sonderheim, where they were soon surrounded by the victorious allies and
+compelled to surrender. Meanwhile Eugene had renewed his attack upon the
+Gallo-Bavarian left, and Marsin, finding his colleague utterly routed, and
+his own right flank uncovered, prepared to retreat. He and the Elector
+succeeded in withdrawing a considerable part of their troops in tolerable
+order to Dillingen; but the krge body of French who garrisoned Blenheim
+were left exposed to certain destruction.
+
+Marlborough speedily occupied all the outlets from the village with
+his victorious troops, and then, collecting his artillery round it, he
+commenced a cannonade that speedily would have destroyed Blenheim itself
+and all who were in it. After several gallant but unsuccessful attempts to
+cut their way through the allies, the French in Blenheim were at length
+compelled to surrender at discretion; and twenty-four battalions and twelve
+squadrons, with all their officers, laid down their arms and became the
+captives of Marlborough.
+
+"Such," says Voltaire, "was the celebrated battle which the French called
+the battle of Hoechstaedt, the Germans Blindheim, and the English Blenheim.
+The conquerors had about five thousand killed and eight thousand wounded,
+the greater part being on the side of Prince Eugene. The French army was
+almost entirely destroyed: of sixty thousand men, so long victorious,
+there never reassembled more than twenty thousand effective. About twelve
+thousand killed, fourteen thousand prisoners, all the cannon, a prodigious
+number of colors and standards, all the tents and equipages, the general of
+the army, and one thousand two hundred officers of mark in the power of the
+conqueror, signalized that day!"
+
+Ulm, Landau, Treves, and Traerbach surrendered to the allies before the
+close of the year. Bavaria submitted to the Emperor, and the Hungarians
+laid down their arms. Germany was completely delivered from France, and the
+military ascendency of the arms of the allies was completely established.
+Throughout the rest of the war Louis fought only in defence. Blenheim had
+dissipated forever his once proud visions of almost universal conquest.
+
+
+
+%UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND%
+
+A.D. 1707
+
+JOHN HILL BURTON
+
+
+Although not one of the longest, the reign of Queen Anne was one of the
+most glorious, in English history. Not only was it signalized by the
+victorious deeds of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession, but
+also by the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, one of the
+principal events in British annals.
+
+Before the union England and Scotland had no political partnership save
+that derived through the person of the sovereign by inheritance of both
+crowns. From the completion of the union in 1707 both countries have been
+not only under one royal head, but also represented in a single Parliament.
+At the beginning of Anne's reign the attitude of Scotland toward England
+was hostile, old antagonisms surviving in memory to intensify fresh
+irritations. Although William III, predecessor of Anne, had urged a union
+of the kingdoms, all negotiations to that end had failed. In 1703, and
+again in 1704, the Scottish Parliament had passed an act of security
+declaring in favor of the abrogation of the union of the crowns which had
+existed for a century. The English Parliament resorted to retaliatory
+measures.
+
+By this time, however, the wiser statesmen in both countries saw that open
+hostilities could be averted only by a complete political union of the two
+kingdoms, and they used all their influence to bring it about. How this
+great historic reconciliation was accomplished, Burton, the eminent
+Scottish historian and jurist, shows with equal learning and impartiality.
+
+The English statute, responding by precautions and threats to the Scots Act
+of Security, contained clauses for furthering an incorporating union as the
+only conclusive settlement of accumulating difficulties. It provided that
+commissioners for England appointed by the Queen under the great seal shall
+have power "to treat and consult" with commissioners for the same purpose
+"authorized by authority of the Parliament of Scotland." The statute of the
+Parliament of Scotland completing the adjustment, with the short title "Act
+for a treaty with England," authorizes such persons "as shall be nominated
+and appointed by her majesty under the great seal of this kingdom" to treat
+and consult with "the commissioners for England."
+
+The next great step was the appointment of the two commissions, thirty-one
+on either side. On the English were the two archbishops; for Scotland there
+was no clerical element. It was noticed that for England all the members
+not official were from the peerage, while in Scotland there seemed to be a
+desire to represent the peerage, the landed commoners, and the burgesses
+or city interest, in just proportions. At an early stage in the daily
+business, the English brought up a proposition about the reception of which
+they had considerable apprehension: that there should be "the same customs,
+excise, and all other taxes" throughout the United Kingdom--virtually a
+resolution that Scotland should be taxed on the English scale. This was
+easily passed by means of a solvent--due, no doubt, to the financial
+genius of Godolphin--that, on an accounting and proof of local or personal
+hardships arising from the adoption of uniformity, compensation in money
+should be made from the English treasury. But a more critical point was
+reached when, on April 24th, the chancellor of Scotland brought forward,
+among certain preliminary articles, one "that there be free communication,
+and intercourse of trade and navigation, between the two kingdoms and
+plantations thereunto belonging, under such regulations as in the progress
+of this treaty shall be found most for the advantage of both kingdoms."
+This was frankly accepted on the part of England, and faithfully adjusted
+in detail. It was felt to be a mighty sacrifice made to exercise indefinite
+but formidable calamities in another shape.
+
+At this point in the progress of the union all interest resting on the
+excitements of political victory and defeat, or the chances of a bitter
+war, came to an end. There were a few small incidents in Scotland; but
+England was placidly indifferent. She had cheerfully paid a heavy stake as
+loser in the great game, and it would trouble her no more. The statesmen
+of the two countries knew that the union must pass unless the Jacobites of
+Scotland were joined by an invading French army; and that was not a likely
+casualty while Marlborough was hovering on the frontiers of France. There
+was a touch of the native haughtiness in this placid indifference of
+England. No doubt it helped in clearing the way to the great conclusion;
+but for many years after the fusing of the two nations into one, disturbing
+events showed that it had been better had the English known something about
+the national institutions and the temper of the people who had now a right
+to call themselves their fellow-countrymen.
+
+It was expected that Scotland would be quietly absorbed into
+England--absorptions much more difficult in the first aspect were in
+continuous progress in Asia and America. The Englishman had great
+difficulty in reconciling himself to political and social conditions not
+his own, and his pride prompted him to demand that, if he left England, any
+part of the world honored by his presence should make an England for his
+reception. When expecting this on the other side of the border, he forgot
+that the Scot had too much of his own independence and obstinacy. True, the
+Scot, among the sweet uses of adversity, had imbibed more of the vagrant,
+and could adapt himself more easily to the usages and temper of other
+nations. But on the question of yielding up his own national usages and
+prejudices in his own country he was as obstinate as his mighty partner.
+
+There was stills world of business to be transacted in details of the
+unattractive kind that belong to accountants' reports. These may be objects
+of vital and intense interest--as in the realizing of the assets in
+bankruptcies, where persons immediately interested in frantic excitement
+hunt out the array of small figures--two, three, four, or five--that tells
+them whether they are safe or ruined. But the interest is not of a kind to
+hold its intensity through after generations. On some items of the present
+accounting, however, there was, in the principle adopted, a fund of
+personal and political interest. The heavy debts of England had to be
+considered--and here, as in all pecuniary arrangements, England was
+freehanded. The Scots made an effort to retain their African Company, but
+they fortunately offered the alternative of purchasing the stock from the
+holders. On the alternative of retention the English commissioners were
+resolute in refusal and resistance, but they were ready to entertain the
+other; and they accepted it in a literal shape. To have bought the stock at
+its market value would have been a farce, after the ruin that had overcome
+the company. But if it could not be even said that England had ruined
+the company, the sacrifice had been made in the prevalence of English
+interests, and while there was yet a hold on England it should be kept.
+There was no difficulty in coming to a settlement satisfactory to the
+Scots, and willingly offered by the English. It was substantially payment
+of the loss on each share, as calculated from an examination of the
+company's books.
+
+The adjustment of the several pecuniary claims thus created in favor of
+Scotland was simply the collective summation of the losses incurred by all
+the stockholders; and when the summation was completed the total was passed
+into a capital sum, called the "Equivalent." This sum total of the various
+items, with all their fractions, making up a fractional sum less than four
+hundred thousand pounds, might be otherwise described as a capital stock
+held by the shareholders of the old company trading to Africa and the
+Indies, each to the extent of his loss. Odious suspicions were, down to
+the present generation, propagated about an item or group of items in the
+Equivalent. A sum amounting to twenty thousand five hundred forty pounds
+seventeen shillings sevenpence had been made over by the English treasury,
+to be paid to influential Scotsmen as the price of their votes or influence
+in favor of England.
+
+Fortunately this affair was closely investigated by the celebrated
+committee of inquiry that brought on Marlborough's dismissal and Walpole's
+imprisonment. It was found that the Scots treasury had been drained; and
+the crisis of the union was not a suitable time either for levying money
+or for leaving debts--the salaries of public offices especially--unpaid.
+England, therefore, lent money to clear away this difficulty. The
+transaction was irregular, and had not passed through the proper treasury
+forms. It was ascertained, however, that the money so lent had been repaid.
+In discussions of the affair, before those concerned were fully cleared
+of the odium of bribery, taunting remarks had been made on the oddity and
+sordid specialties of the items of payment. Thus the allowance to the Lord
+Banff was, in sterling money, eleven pounds two shillings. It would have
+had a richer sound, and perhaps resolved itself into round numbers, in
+Scots money; but as it is, there is no more to be said against it than
+that, as a debt in some way due to the Lord Banff, the exact English
+book-keeper had entered it down to its fraction.
+
+There remained a few matters of adjustment of uniformities between the two
+countries for the advantage of both--such as a fixed standard for rating
+money in account. The Scots grumbled, rather than complained, about the
+English standard being always made the rule, and no reciprocity being
+offered. But the Scots were left considerable facilities for the use of
+their own customs for home purposes in pecuniary matters, and in weights
+and measures. If, for the general convenience of commerce and taxation,
+any uniformity was necessary, and the practice of the greater nation was a
+suitable standard for the other, it was the smaller sacrifice, and to both
+parties the easier arrangement, that those who were only an eighth part of
+the inhabitants of the island should yield to the overwhelming majority.
+
+It was in keeping with the wisdom and tolerance prevailing throughout on
+the English side of the treaty that it should be first discussed in the
+Parliament of Scotland. If this was felt as a courtesy to Scotland it was
+an expediency for England. All opposition would be in Scotland, and it was
+well to know it at once, that disputes might be cleared off and a simple
+affirmative or negative presented to the Parliament of Scotland.
+
+The Parliament of England has ever restrained vague oratory by a rule that
+there must always be a question of yes or no, fitted for a division as the
+text of a debate. In Scotland on this occasion, as on many others, there
+was at first a discussion of the general question; and when this, along
+with other sources of information, had given the servants of the Crown
+some assurance of the fate of the measure, there was a separate debate
+and division on the first article, understood on all hands to be a final
+decision. The debate was decorated by a work of oratorical art long admired
+in Scotland, and indeed worthy of admiration anywhere for its brilliancy
+and power. It was a great philippic--taking that term in its usual
+acceptation--as expressing a vehement torrent of bitter epigram and
+denunciatory climax.
+
+The speech of John Hamilton, Lord Belhaven, "On the subject-matter of a
+union betwixt the two kingdoms of England and Scotland," was so amply
+dispersed in its day that if a collector of pamphlets on the union buys
+them in volumes he will generally find this speech in each volume. It is,
+no doubt, an effort of genius; but what will confer more interest on the
+following specimens selected from it is that it was an attempt to rouse the
+nation to action at this perilous and momentous crisis, and succeeded only
+in drawing attention and admiration as a fine specimen of rhetorical art:
+
+"I think I see the present peers of Scotland, whose noble ancestors
+conquered provinces, overran countries, reduced and subjected towns and
+fortified places, exacted tribute through the greater part of England, now
+walking in the court of requests like so many English attorneys, laying
+aside their walking-swords when in company with the English peers, lest
+their self-defence should be found murder.
+
+"I think I see the royal state of boroughs walking their desolate streets,
+hanging down their heads under disappointments, wormed out of all the
+branches of their old trade, uncertain what hand to turn to, necessitate
+to become 'prentices to their unkind neighbors, and yet after all finding
+their trade so fortified by companies and secured by prescriptions that
+they despair of any success therein. But above all, my lord, I think I see
+our ancient mother, Caledonia, like Caesar, sitting in the midst of our
+senate, ruefully looking round her, covering herself with her royal
+garment, attending the fatal blow, and breathing out her last with a _'et
+tu quoque mi fili,'_"
+
+The great remedy for all is an end of rancorous feuds and hatreds dividing
+Scotland; and this calls from him a glowing picture of the land that by
+union and industry has made itself too powerful to be a safe partner for
+humiliated Scotland:
+
+"They are not under the afflicting hand of Providence as we are; their
+circumstances are great and glorious; their treaties are prudently managed
+both at home and abroad; their generals brave and valorous; their armies
+successful and victorious; their trophies and laurels memorable and
+surprising; their enemies subdued and routed. Their royal navy is the
+terror of Europe; their trade and commerce extended through the universe,
+encircling the whole world, and rendering their own capital city the
+emporium for the whole inhabitants of the earth."
+
+The speech was for the country, not for the House. The great points about
+trade and virtual independence had been conceded by England, and a union
+was looked to rather as a refuge and a gain than as oppression and plunder.
+It has even been said that there was some inclination to receive the speech
+with irony; and Defoe, who seems to have been present on the occasion,
+gives this account of what followed:
+
+"Mr. Seton, who made the first speech, stood up to answer the Lord
+Belhaven; but as he had already spoken, the order of the House--viz., 'that
+the same member could not speak twice in the same cause'--was urged against
+his speaking, and the Earl of Marchmont standing up at the same time, the
+lord chancellor gave place to him, who indeed made a short return to so
+long a speech, and which answer occasioned some laughter in the House. The
+Earl of Marchmont's speech was to this purpose, viz.: He had heard a long
+speech, and a very terrible one; but he was of opinion it required a short
+answer, which he gave in these terms: 'Behold he dreamed, but, lo! when
+he awoke, he found it was a dream.' This answer, some said, was as
+satisfactory to the members, who understood the design of that speech as if
+it had been answered vision by vision."
+
+In the debates on the union, some Scots statesmen found a tactic,
+infinitely valuable to them in the united Parliament, of voting in a group.
+They were called the "New party," and nicknamed the "_Squadrone volante_."
+In the correspondence already referred to, it was good news at St.
+Stephen's when it was announced that the New party had adopted the union.
+On the critical division the numbers stood one hundred eighteen for the
+article and eighty-three against it. The remainder of the clauses passed
+without division, a ready acceptance being given to amendments, that were
+virtually improvements, in giving effect to the spirit of details in the
+treaty; as where it was adjusted that, for trading purposes, vessels bought
+abroad for trade from the Scots harbors should be counted equivalent to
+vessels of Scottish build.
+
+There was a considerable noisy excitement through the country, the
+Jacobites ever striving to rouse the people in the great towns to riot
+and sedition, and, when they found that impossible, spreading exaggerated
+accounts of the effects of their efforts. A mob was raised in Edinburgh,
+but it was appeased without the loss of life and with no other casualty
+save the frightening of the provost's wife. There were some eccentric
+movements among the Cameronians, rendered all the more grotesque by the
+Jacobites taking the leadership in them; and some of the more vehement
+clergy betook themselves to their own special weapons in the holding of a
+day of humiliation and prayer.
+
+Ere the whole came to a conclusion, a point was yielded to the Presbyterian
+Church of Scotland. It was passed as a separate act before the Act of Union
+was passed--the separate act stipulating its repetition in any act adopting
+the Treaty of Union. It provided for the preservation of the discipline,
+worship, and ecclesiastical government of the establishment. It was further
+provided that every sovereign of the United Kingdom, on accession to the
+throne, should make oath in terms of this act. Hence it happens that this
+oath is taken immediately on the accession, the other oaths, including
+that for the protection of the Church of England, being postponed till the
+ceremony of the coronation. On October 16, 1706, there came a vote on the
+passing of the "Act ratifying and approving the Treaty of Union." This was
+carried in the Scots Parliament by one hundred ten to sixty-nine.
+
+It was the determination of the Queen's ministers for England to carry the
+treaty as it came from Scotland, word for word; and they employed all their
+strength to do so. It was the policy of the English government and their
+supporters in the matter of the union, to avoid a Parliamentary debate upon
+it clause by clause at St. Stephen's.
+
+To this end there was an endeavor to give it, as much as in the peculiar
+conditions could be given, the character of a treaty between two
+independent powers, each acting through its executive, that executive
+acknowledging the full power of Parliament to examine, criticise, and
+virtually judge the act done as a whole, but not admitting Parliamentary
+interference with the progress of the details. If there were an
+illogicality in the essence of a treaty where the executive--the Queen--was
+the common sovereign of both realms, the difficulty could be discarded as
+a pedantry, in a constitutional community where the sovereign acts through
+responsible advisers. Some slight touches of apprehension were felt in
+England when it was seen that the Scots Estates were not only voting the
+separate articles, but in some measure remodelling them.
+
+The Estates were taking the privilege naturally claimed by the weaker party
+to a bargain in protecting themselves while it was yet time. When all was
+adjusted, England, as the vast majority, could correct whatever had been
+done amiss in the preliminary adjustment of her interests, but poor
+Scotland would be entirely helpless. There was another reason for
+tolerating the alterations, in their being directed to the safety and
+completeness of the legal institutions left in the hands of Scotland
+untouched, as matters of entire indifference to England; still it weakened
+the hands of those who desired to evade a Parliamentary discussion on the
+several articles in England that this had been permitted in Scotland, and
+had become effective in the shape of amendments. John Johnston, who had
+been for some time secretary of state for Scotland--a son of the celebrated
+covenanting hero Archibald Johnston of Warriston--was then in London
+carefully looking at the signs of the times. He wrote to Scotland, saying:
+"You may, I think, depend on it that the alterations you have hitherto
+made will not break the union; but if you go on altering, it's like your
+alterations will be altered here, which will make a new session with you
+necessary, and in that case no man knows what may happen." All is well as
+yet (January 4th), and if there be no more serious alterations the English
+ministers will be able to give effect to their resolution "to pass the
+union here without making any alterations at all."
+
+By what had been usually called a message from the throne, the attention of
+Parliament was directed to the treaty as it had come from Scotland, but the
+matter being of supreme importance the Queen was her own messenger. From
+the Commons she had to ask for a supply to meet the equivalent. To both
+Houses she said: "You have now an opportunity before you of putting the
+last hand to a happy union of the two kingdoms, which I hope will be a
+lasting blessing to the whole island, a great addition to its wealth and
+power, and a firm security to the Protestant religion. The advantages that
+will accrue to us all from a union are so apparent that I will add no more,
+but that I shall look upon it as a particular happiness if this great
+work, which has been so often attempted without success, can be brought to
+perfection in my reign."
+
+The opportunity was taken to imitate the Scots in a separate preliminary
+act "for securing the Church of England as by law established." There was a
+desultory discussion in both Houses, with a result showing the overwhelming
+strength of the supporters of the union. In the House of Lords there were
+some divisions, and among these the largest number of votes mustered by
+the opposition was twenty-three, bringing out a majority of forty-seven by
+seventy votes for the ministry. The conclusion of the discussion was a vote
+of approval by each House.
+
+The opposition, however, did not adopt their defeat. They were preparing to
+fight the battle over again, clause by clause, when a bill was brought in
+to convert the Articles of Union into an act of Parliament. The English
+House of Commons has always been supremely tolerant to troublesome and
+even mischievous members, so long as they adhere to the forms of the
+House--forms to be zealously guarded, since they were framed for averting
+hasty legislation and the possible domination of an intolerant majority. It
+was determined, however, that the impracticals and impedimenters should not
+have their swing on this occasion, when the descent of a French army to
+gather to its centre the Jacobitism still lingering in the country darkened
+the political horizon. Both Houses had a full opportunity for discussing
+the merits of every word in the treaty, and the risk of national ruin was
+not to be encountered because they had not expended all their loquacity,
+having expected another opportunity.
+
+The tactic for evading the danger was credited to the ingenuity of Sir
+Simon Harcourt, the attorney-general. The two acts of ecclesiastical
+security and the articles of the treaty were all recited in the preamble of
+the bill under the command of the mighty "Whereas," the enacting part
+of the act was dropped into a single sentence, shorter than statutory
+sentences usually are. The opposition might throw out the measure, and
+the ministry with it, if they had strength to do so; but there had been
+sufficient discussion on the clauses, and there should be no more. In the
+descriptive words of Burnet: "This put those in great difficulties who had
+resolved to object to several articles, and to insist on demanding several
+alterations in them, for they could not come at any debate about them; they
+could not object to the recital, it being mere matter of fact; and they had
+not strength enough to oppose the general enacting clause; nor was it easy
+to come at particulars and offer provisos relating to them. The matter
+was carried on with such zeal that it passed through the House of Commons
+before those who intended to oppose it had recovered out of the surprise
+under which the form it was drawn in had put them."
+
+There was thus but one question, that the bill do pass, and the opposition
+had not reaped encouragement to resist so great an issue. The Lords had, in
+their usual manner of dignified repose, managed to discuss the clauses, but
+it was rather a conversation, to see that all was in right order, and that
+no accident had happened to a measure of so vital moment, than a debate.
+
+On March 6, 1707, the Queen came to the House of Lords, and in a graceful
+speech gave the royal assent to the act.
+
+
+
+%DOWNFALL OF CHARLES XII AT POLTAVA%
+
+TRIUMPH OF RUSSIA
+
+A.D. 1709
+
+K. WALISZEWSKI[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Russian by Lady Mary Loyd.]
+
+
+The battle of Poltava was selected by Sir Edward Creasy as one of the
+fifteen great decisive contests which have altered the fate of nations. His
+able narrative of the battle has been superseded in scholars' eyes by the
+more modern work of the great Russian authority, Waliszewski; but the
+importance of the event remains. It reversed the positions of Sweden and
+Russia in European politics, and placed Russia among the great countries of
+the modern world; Sweden among the little ones.
+
+Before 1709 Sweden still held the rank to which Gustavus Adolphus had
+raised her in the Thirty Years' War. Her prestige had been a little dimmed
+by the victories of the "Great Elector" of Prussia; but her ally Louis XIV
+had saved her from any considerable diminution of the extensive territories
+which she held on the mainland to the south and east of the Baltic Sea.
+About 1700 the young and gallant warrior, Charles XII, the "Madman of the
+North," reasserted her prowess, made her once more the dictator of Northern
+Europe, one of the five great powers of the world.
+
+Meanwhile Peter the Great was progressing but slowly with his
+transformation of Russia. His people had little confidence in him; his
+armies were half-barbaric hordes. When he ventured into war against Sweden
+Europe conceived but one possible result: these undisciplined barbarians
+would be annihilated. At first the expected occurred. Again and again large
+Russian armies were defeated by small bodies of Swedes; but with splendid
+tenacity Peter persisted in the face of revolt at home and defeat abroad.
+"The Swedes shall teach us to beat them" was his famous saying, and at
+Poltava he achieved his aim. From that time forward Russia's antagonism to
+her leader disappeared. His people followed him eagerly along the path to
+power.
+
+It would appear that it was not till Peter's visit to Vienna, in 1698, that
+he conceived the idea of attacking Sweden. Up till that time his warlike
+impulse had rather been directed southward, and the Turk had been the sole
+object of his enmity. But at Vienna he perceived that the Emperor, whose
+help he had counted on, had failed him, and forthwith the mobile mind of
+the young Czar turned to the right-about. A war he must have of some kind,
+it little mattered where, to give work to his young army. The warlike
+instincts and the greed of his predecessors, tempted sometimes by the Black
+Sea, sometimes by the Baltic and the border provinces of Poland, had,
+indeed, always swung and turned back and forward between the south and the
+north. These alternate impulses, natural enough in a nation so full of
+youth and strength, have, since those days, been most unnecessarily
+idealized, erected into a doctrine, and dignified as a work of unification.
+It must be acknowledged that every nation has at one time or the other
+thus claimed the right to resume the national patrimony at the expense
+of neighboring peoples, and Peter, by some lucky fate, remained in this
+respect within certain bounds of justice, of logic, and of truth. Absorbed
+and almost exhausted, as he soon became, by the desperate effort demanded
+by his war in the North, he forgot or imperilled much that the conquering
+ambition of his predecessors had left him in the South and West. He clung
+to the territory already acquired on the Polish side, retired from the
+Turkish border, and claimed what he had most right, relatively speaking, to
+claim in the matter of resumption, on his northwestern frontier.
+
+On that frontier the coast country between the mouth of the Narva, or
+Narova, and that of the Siestra, watered by the Voksa, the Neva, the
+Igora, and the Louga, was really an integral part of the original Russian
+patrimony. It was one of the five districts (_piatiny_) of the Novgorod
+territory, and was still full of towns bearing Slavonic names, such as
+Korela, Ojeshek, Ladoga, Koporie, Iamy, and Ivangrod. It was not till 1616
+that the Czar Michael Feodorovitch, during his struggle with Gustavus
+Adolphus, finally abandoned the seacoast for the sake of keeping his hold
+on Novgorod. But so strong was the hope of recovering the lost territory,
+in the hearts of his descendants, that, after the failure of an attempt on
+Livonia, in Alexis' reign, a boyar named Ordin-Nashtchokin set to work to
+build a number of warships at Kokenhausen, on the Dvina, which vessels were
+intended for the conquest of Riga. Peter had an impression, confused it may
+be, but yet powerful, of these historic traditions. This is proved by the
+direction in which he caused his armies to march after he had thrown down
+the gauntlet to Sweden. He strayed off the path, swayed, as he often was,
+by sudden impulses, but he always came back to the traditional aim of his
+forefathers--access to the sea, a Baltic port, "a window open upon Europe."
+
+His interview with Augustus II at Rawa definitely settled his wavering
+mind. The _pacta conventa_, signed by the King of Poland when he ascended
+his throne, bound him to claim from the King of Sweden the territories
+which had formerly belonged to the republic of Poland. For this end the
+help of Denmark could be reckoned on. The Treaty of Roeskilde (1658), which
+had been forced on Frederick III, weighed heavily on his successors, and
+the eager glances fixed by the neighboring states on Holstein, after the
+death of Christian Albert, in 1694, threatened to end in quarrel. There
+were fair hopes, too, of the help of Brandenburg. When Sweden made alliance
+with Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, that country abandoned its historic
+position in Germany to Prussia. But Sweden still kept some footing, and was
+looked on as a rival.
+
+Further, Augustus had a personal charm for Peter sufficient in itself to
+prove how much simplicity, inexperience, and boyish thoughtlessness still
+existed in that half-polished mind. The Polish Sovereign, tall, strong,
+and handsome, an adept in all physical exercises, a great hunter, a hard
+drinker, and an indefatigable admirer of the fair sex, in whose person
+debauch of every kind took royal proportions, delighted the Czar and
+somewhat overawed him. He was more than inclined to think him a genius, and
+was quite ready to bind up his fortunes with his friend's. At the end of
+four days of uninterrupted feasting, they had agreed on the division of the
+spoils of Sweden, and had made a preliminary exchange of arms and clothing.
+The Czar appeared at Moscow a few weeks later wearing the King of Poland's
+waistcoat and belted with his sword.
+
+In the beginning of 1700 Augustus and Frederick of Denmark attacked Sweden;
+but Peter, though bound by treaty to follow their example, neither moved
+nor stirred. Frederick was beaten, his very capital was threatened. So much
+the worse for him! Augustus seized on Dunamunde, but utterly failed before
+Riga. All the better for the Russians; Riga was left for them! Another
+envoy came hurrying to Moscow. The Czar listened coolly to his reproaches,
+and replied that he would act as soon as news from Constantinople permitted
+it. Negotiations there were proceeding satisfactorily, and he hoped shortly
+to fulfil his promise, and to attack the Swedes in the neighborhood of
+Pskof. This was a point on which the allies had laid great stress, and
+Peter had studiously avoided contradicting them. It was quite understood
+between them that the Czar was not to lay a finger on Livonia. At last on
+August 8, 1700, a courier arrived with the longed-for dispatch. Peace with
+Turkey was signed at last, and that very day the Russian troops received
+their marching orders. But they were not sent toward Pskof. They marched on
+Narva, in the very heart of the Livonian country.
+
+The army destined to lay siege to Narva consisted of three divisions of
+novel formation, under the orders of three generals--Golovin, Weyde, and
+Repnin--with 10,500 Cossacks, and some irregular troops--63,520 men in all.
+Repnin's division, numbering 10,834 men, and the Little Russian Cossacks,
+stopped on the way, so that the actual force at disposal was reduced to
+about 40,000 men. But Charles XII, the new King of Sweden, could not bring
+more than 5300 infantry and 3130 cavalry to the relief of the town. And,
+being obliged, when he neared Wesemburg, to throw himself in flying
+column across a country which was already completely devastated, and,
+consequently, to carry all his supplies with him, his troops arrived in
+presence of an enemy five times as numerous as themselves, worn out, and
+completely exhausted by a succession of forced marches.
+
+Peter never dreamed that he would find the King of Sweden in Livonia. He
+believed his hands were more than full enough elsewhere with the King of
+Denmark; he was quite unaware that the Peace of Travendal, which had been
+signed on the very day of the departure of the Russian troops, had been
+already forced upon his ally. He started off gayly at the head of his
+bombardier company, full of expectation of an easy victory. When he
+arrived before the town, on September 23d, he was astounded to find any
+preparations for serious defence. A regular siege had to be undertaken, and
+when, after a month of preparations, the Russian batteries at last opened
+fire, they made no impression whatever. The artillery was bad, and yet more
+badly served. A second month passed, during which Peter waited and hoped
+for some piece of luck, either for an offer to capitulate or for the
+arrival of Repnin's force. What did happen was that on the night of
+November 17th news came that within twenty-four hours the King of Sweden
+would be at Narva. That very night Peter fled from his camp, leaving the
+command to the Prince de Croy.
+
+None of the arguments brought forward by the sovereign and his apologists
+in justification of this step appears to me to hold water. The necessity
+pleaded for an interview with the Duke of Poland, the Czar's desire to
+hasten on Repnin's march, are mere pitiful excuses. Langen and Hallart, the
+generals sent by Augustus to observe the military operations in Livonia,
+gravely reported that the Czar had been obliged to go to Moscow to receive
+a Turkish envoy--who was not expected for four months! The Emperor's envoy,
+Pleyer, is nearer the mark when he says the sovereign obeyed the entreaties
+of his advisers, who considered the danger too great for him to be
+permitted to remain. And Hallart himself, speaking of these same
+counsellors, whether ministers or generals, does not hesitate to declare,
+in his rough soldierly language, that "they have about as much courage as
+a frog has hair on his belly." The Russian army, disconcerted by the
+unexpected resistance of the Swedes, ill-prepared for resistance,
+ill-commanded, ill-lodged, and ill-fed, was already demoralized to the last
+extent. The arrival of Charles caused a panic, and from that panic Peter,
+the most impressionable of men, was the first to suffer.
+
+The startling rapidity with which Charles had rid himself of the weakest of
+his three adversaries, under the very walls of Copenhagen, would have been
+less astonishing to Peter if the young sovereign had better realized the
+conditions under which he and his allies had begun a struggle in which, at
+first sight, their superiority appeared so disproportionate. King Frederick
+had reckoned without the powers which had guaranteed the recent Treaty of
+Altona, by which the safety of Holstein was insured; without the Hanoverian
+troops, and those of Luneburg, which at once brought succor to Toeningen;
+without the Anglo-Dutch fleet, which forced his to seek shelter under the
+walls of Copenhagen, and thus permitted the King of Sweden to cross
+the Sound unmolested, and land quietly in Zealand; and finally, he
+reckoned--and for this he may well be excused--without that which was
+soon to fill all Europe with terror and amazement: the lucky star and the
+military genius of Charles XII.
+
+This monarch, born in 1682, who had slain bears when he was sixteen, and at
+eighteen was a finished soldier, greedy for glory and battle and blood, was
+the last representative of that race of men who, between the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries, held all Central Europe in their iron grip; fierce
+warriors who steeped Germany and Italy in fire and blood, fought their way
+from town to town, and hamlet to hamlet; giving no truce and showing no
+mercy; who lived for war and by war; grew old and died in harness in a very
+atmosphere of carnage, with bodies riddled with wounds, with hands stained
+with abominable crimes, but with spirits calm and unflinching to the last.
+Standing on the threshold of the new period he was the superb and colossal
+incarnation of that former one, which, happily for mankind, was to
+disappear in his person.
+
+Count Guiscard, who as envoy from the King of France accompanied him on his
+first campaign, describes him thus: "The King of Sweden is of tall stature;
+taller than myself by almost a head; he is very handsome, he has fine eyes
+and a good complexion, his face is long, his speech a little thick. He
+wears a small wig tied behind in a bag, a plain stock, without cravat, a
+very tight jerkin of plain cloth, with sleeves as narrow as our waistcoat
+sleeves, a narrow belt above his jerkin, with a sword of extraordinary
+length and thickness, and almost perfectly flat-soled shoes--a very strange
+style of dress for a prince of his age."
+
+In order to reach Narva with his eight thousand men, Charles, after
+having crossed a tract of desert country, was obliged, at a place called
+Pyhaioggi, to cross a narrow valley divided by a stream, which, if it had
+been fortified, must have stopped him short. The idea occurred to Gordon,
+but Peter would not listen to him, and it was not till the very last moment
+that he sent Sheremetief, who found the Swedes just debouching into the
+valley, received several volleys of grape-shot and retired in disorder.
+The mad venture had succeeded. But Charles' farther advance involved the
+playing of a risky game. His men were worn out, his horses had not been fed
+for two whole days. Still he went on; he reached Narva, formed his Swedes
+into several attacking columns, led one himself, and favored by a sudden
+hurricane which drove showers of blinding snow into his adversaries' faces,
+threw himself into their camp and mastered the place in half an hour. The
+only resistance he met was offered by the two regiments of the guard. All
+the rest fled or surrendered. A few Russians were drowned in the Narva. "If
+the river had been frozen," said Charles discontentedly, "I do not know
+that we should have contrived to kill a single man."
+
+It was a total breakdown; the army had disappeared, and the artillery. The
+very sovereign was gone, and with him the country's honor. That had sunk
+out of sight amid the scornful laughter with which Europe hailed this
+undignified defeat. The Czar was in full flight. All Peter's plans of
+conquest, his dreams of European expansion and of navigating the northern
+seas, his hopes of glory, his faith in his civilizing mission, had utterly
+faded. And he himself had collapsed upon their heaped-up ruins. Onward
+he fled, feeling the Swedish soldiers on his heels. He wept, he sued for
+peace, vowing he would treat at once and submit to any sacrifice; he sent
+imploring appeals to the States-General of Holland, to England and to the
+Emperor, praying for mediation.
+
+But swiftly he recovered possession of his faculties. Then, raising his
+head--through the golden haze with which his insufficient education, the
+infatuation inherent to his semi-oriental origin, and his inexperience, had
+filled his eyes, through the rent of that mighty catastrophe and that cruel
+lesson--he saw and touched the truth at last! He realized what he must set
+himself to do if he was to become that which he fain would be. There must
+be no more playing at soldiers and sailors; no more of that farce of power
+and glory, in which, till now, he had been the chief actor; no more aimless
+adventure, undertaken in utter scorn of time and place. He must toil now
+in downright earnest; he must go forward, step by step; measure each day's
+effort, calculate each morrow's task, let each fruit ripen ere he essayed
+to pluck it; learn patience and dogged perseverance. He did it all. He
+found means within him and about him to carry out his task. The strong,
+long-enduring, long-suffering race of which he came endowed him with the
+necessary qualities, and gave him its own inexhaustible and never-changing
+devotion and self-sacrifice.
+
+Ten armies may be destroyed, he will bring up ten others to replace them,
+no matter what the price. His people will follow him and die beside him to
+the last man, to the last morsel of bread snatched from its starving
+jaws. A month hence, the fugitive from Narva will belong to a vanished,
+forgotten, almost improbable past; the future victor of Poltava will have
+taken his place.
+
+Of the Russian army, as it had originally taken the field, about
+twenty-three thousand men remained--a certain number of troops--the cavalry
+under Sheremetief's command, and Repnin's division. The Czar ordered fresh
+levies. He melted the church-bells into cannon. In vain the clergy raised
+the cry of sacrilege; he never faltered for a moment. He went hither and
+thither giving orders and active help; rating some, encouraging others,
+inspiring everyone with some of his own energy--that energy which his
+misfortune had spurred and strengthened. Yet, Byzantine as he was by
+nature, he could not resist the temptation to endeavor to mislead public
+opinion. Matvieief was given orders to draw up his own special description
+of the battle of Narva and its consequences, for the benefit of the
+readers of the _Gazette de Hollande_ and of the memoranda which he himself
+addressed to the States-General.
+
+The Swedes, according to this account, had been surrounded by a superior
+force within the Russian camp, and had there been forced to capitulate;
+after which event, certain Russian officers, who had desired to pay their
+respects to the King of Sweden, had been treacherously seized by
+his orders. Europe only laughed, but in later years this pretended
+capitulation, and the supposed Swedish violation of it, were to serve
+Peter as a pretext for violating others, to which he himself had willingly
+consented. At Vienna, too, Count Kaunitz listened with a smile while Prince
+Galitzin explained that the Czar "needed no victories to prove his military
+glory." Yet, when the vice-chancellor inquired what conditions the Czar
+hoped to obtain from his victorious adversary, the Russian diplomat calmly
+claimed the greater part of Livonia, with Narva, Ivangrod, Kolyvan,
+Koporie, and Derpt--and future events were to prove that he had not asked
+too much.
+
+Before long this boldness began to reap its own reward. To begin with,
+Charles XII made no immediate attempt to pursue his advantage on Russian
+soil; Peter had the joy of seeing him plunge into the depths of the Polish
+plains. The King of Sweden's decision, which, we are told, did not tally
+with his generals' opinion, has been severely criticised. Guiscard thought
+it perfectly justifiable, so long as the King had not rid himself of
+Augustus, by means of the peace which this Prince appeared more than
+willing to negotiate, through the mediation of Guiscard himself.
+But Charles turned a deaf ear to the French diplomat's prayers and
+remonstrances. He feared, declared Guiscard, "he might run short of
+enemies," and as he could not advance on Russia and leave the Saxons and
+Poles in his rear, he desired--and here doubtless he was right--first of
+all to insure his line of communication, and of possible retreat. Thus, by
+his own deed, he strengthened and cemented an alliance which had already
+been shaken by common defeat.
+
+Augustus, repulsed by the Swedish King, threw himself into Peter's arms,
+and in February, 1701, the common destinies of the Czar and the King of
+Poland were once more bound together. A fresh treaty was signed at the
+Castle of Birze, close to Dunaburg.
+
+The year 1701 was a hard one for Peter. The junction between the army,
+which he had contrived after some fashion to put on a war footing, and
+the Saxon troops of Augustus, only resulted in the complete defeat of the
+allied forces under the walls of Riga, on July 3d. In the month of June
+the Moscow Kremlin caught fire; the state offices (_prikaz_) with their
+archives, the provision-stores, and palaces, were all devoured by the
+flames. The bells fell from the tower of Ivan the Great, and the heaviest,
+which weighed over a hundred tons, was broken in the fall. But in midwinter
+Sheremetief contrived to surprise Schlippenbach with a superior force, and
+defeated him at Erestfer, December 29th.
+
+Peter's delight, and his wild manifestations of triumph, may easily be
+imagined. He did not content himself with exhibiting the few Swedish
+prisoners who had fallen into his hands at Moscow, in a sort of imitation
+Roman triumph; his practical mind incited him to make use of them in
+another way, and Cornelius von Bruyn, who had lived long enough in the
+country to be thoroughly acquainted with its customs, calmly reports that
+the price of war captives, which had originally been three or four florins
+a head, rose as high as twenty and thirty florins. Even foreigners now
+ventured to purchase them, and entered into competition in the open market.
+
+On July 18, 1702, Sheremetief won a fresh victory over
+Schlippenbach--30,000 Russians defeated 8000 Swedes. According to Peter's
+official account of the battle, 5000 of his enemies were left dead on the
+field, while Sheremetief lost only 400 men. This report made Europe smile,
+but the Livonians found it no laughing matter. Volmar and Marienburg fell
+into the hands of the victor, who ravaged the country in the most frightful
+fashion. The Russians had not as yet learned any other form of warfare,
+and, as we may suppose, the idea that he might ever possess these
+territories had not yet occurred to Peter. His mind, indeed, was absorbed
+elsewhere. His old fancies and whims were strong upon him, and he left
+Apraxin to rage on the banks of the Neva, in Ingria, on the very spot where
+his future capital was to stand, while he himself gave all his time and
+strength to the building of a few wretched ships at Archangel. It was not
+till September, when the ice had driven him out of the northern port, that
+he returned to the west and took up his former course. He reached the Lake
+of Ladoga, sent for Sheremetief, and the end he was to pursue for many a
+long year seems at last to have taken firm root in his hitherto unstable
+mind. He laid siege to Noteburg, where he found a garrison of only four
+hundred fifty men, and on December 11, 1702, he rechristened the little
+fortress he had captured, by a new and symbolic name, "Schluesselburg" (Key
+of the Sea).
+
+Next came the capture of Nienschantz, at the very mouth of the Neva, in
+April, 1703, a personal success for the captain of Bombardiers, Peter
+Mikhailoff, who there brought his batteries into play. A month later the
+artilleryman had become a sailor, and had won Russia's first naval victory.
+Two regiments of the guard manned thirty boats, surrounded two small
+Swedish vessels, which, in their ignorance of the capture of Nienschantz,
+had ventured close to the town, took possession of them, and murdered their
+crews. The victor's letters to his friends are full of the wildest and most
+childish delight, and there was, we must admit, some reason for this joy.
+He had reconquered the historic estuary, through which, in the ninth
+century, the first Varegs had passed southward, toward Grecian skies. On
+the 16th of the following May wooden houses began to rise on one of the
+neighboring islets. These houses were to multiply, to grow into palaces,
+and finally to be known as St. Petersburg.
+
+Peter's conquests and newly founded cities disturbed Charles XII but
+little. "Let him build towns; there will be all the more for us to take!"
+Peter and his army had so far, where Charles was concerned, had to do only
+with small detachments of troops, scattered apart and thus foredoomed to
+destruction. The Russians took advantage of this fact to pursue their
+successes, strengthening and intrenching themselves both in Ingria and
+Livonia. In July, 1704, Peter was present at the taking of Derpt. In August
+he had his revenge for his disaster at Narva, and carried the town after
+a murderous assault. Already in November, 1703, a longed-for guest had
+appeared in the mouth of the Neva, a foreign trading-vessel laden with
+brandy and salt. Menshikoff, the Governor of _Piterburg_, entertained the
+captain at a banquet, and presented him with five hundred florins for
+himself, and thirty crowns for each of his sailors.
+
+Meanwhile Charles XII tarried in Poland, where Augustus' affairs were going
+from bad to worse. A diet convened at Warsaw in February, 1704, proclaimed
+his downfall. After the disappearance of James Sobieski, whose candidature
+was put a stop to by an ambuscade, into which the dethroned King lured the
+son of the deliverer of Vienna, Charles, who was all-powerful, put forward
+that of Stanislaus Lesczynski. Though he gave little thought just then to
+Russia and to the Russian sovereign, the Czar was beginning to be alarmed
+as to the consequences which the Swedish King's position in Poland and in
+Saxony might entail on himself. Charles was sure to end by retracing
+his steps, and an encounter between Sheremetief and Loewenhaupt, at
+Hemauerthorf in Courland (July 15, 1705), clearly proved that the Russian
+army, unless in the case of disproportionate numerical superiority over the
+enemy, was not yet capable of resisting well-commanded Swedish troops. On
+this occasion Sheremetief lost all his infantry and was himself severely
+wounded.
+
+What then was Peter to do? He must work on, increase his resources, and add
+to his experience. If Sheremetief and his likes proved unequal to their
+task, he must find foreign generals and instructors, technical and other;
+he must keep patience, he must avoid all perilous encounters, he must
+negotiate, and try to obtain peace, even at the price of parting with some
+of the territory he had conquered. The years between 1705 and 1707 were
+busy ones for him.
+
+A treaty of peace among his enemies took him by surprise and found him
+quite unprepared. He soon made good his mistakes, took a swift decision,
+and adopted the course which was infallibly to bring him final victory. He
+evacuated Poland, retired backward, and, pushing forward the preparations
+which Charles' long stay in Saxony had permitted him to carry on with great
+activity, he resolved that the battle should be fought on his ground, and
+at his chosen time. He took fresh patience, he resolved to wait, to wear
+out his adversary, to draw back steadily and leave nothing but a void
+behind him. Thus he would force the enemy to advance across the desert
+plains he had deliberately devastated, and run the terrible risk, which had
+always driven back the ancient foes of his country, whether Turks, Tartars,
+or Poles--a winter sojourn in the heart of Russia. This was to be the final
+round of the great fight. The Czar, as he expressed it, was to set ten
+Russians against every Swede, and time and space and cold and hunger were
+to be his backers.
+
+Charles, the most taciturn general who ever lived, never revealed the
+secret inspiration which drove him to play his adversary's game, by
+marching afresh on Grodno. During 1707 he seemed to give the law to Europe,
+from his camp in Saxony. France, which had been vanquished at Blenheim
+and Ramillies, turned a pleading glance toward him, and the leader of the
+victorious allies, Marlborough himself, solicited his help.
+
+Charles may have had an idea of making Grodno his base for a spring attack
+on the Czar's new conquests in the North. This supposition would seem to
+have been the one accepted by Peter, if we may judge by the orders
+given, just at this time, to insure the safety of Livonia and Ingria, by
+completing their devastation; and these very orders may have induced the
+King of Sweden to abandon his original design, in favor of another, the
+wisdom of which is still contested by experts, but which, it cannot be
+denied, was of noble proportions. Charles, too, had found an ally to set
+against those natural ones with which Russia had furnished the Czar, and he
+had found him within the borders of the Czar's country. The name of this
+ally was Mazeppa.
+
+The stormy career of the famous hetman, so dramatic, both from the historic
+and domestic point of view--from that adventure with the _pan_ Falbowski,
+so naively related by Pasek, down to the romance with Matrena Kotchoubey,
+which colored the last and tragic incidents of his existence--is so well
+known that I will not narrate it here, even in the concisest form. Little
+Russia was then passing through a painful crisis--the consequence of
+Shmielnicki's efforts at emancipation, which had been warped and perverted
+by Russian intervention. The Polish lords, who formerly oppressed the
+country, had been replaced by the Cossacks, who not only ground down the
+native population, but railed at and quarrelled with their own chief. The
+hetmans and the irregular troops were at open war, the first striving
+to increase their authority and make their power hereditary, the others
+defending their ancient democratic constitution.
+
+The Swedish war increased Mazeppa's difficulties. He found himself taken
+at a disadvantage between the claims of the Czar, who would fain have his
+Cossacks on every battle-field in Poland, Russia, and Livonia, and the
+resistance of the Cossacks themselves, who desired to remain in their own
+country. Being himself of noble Polish birth, brought up by the Jesuits,
+having served King John Casimir of Poland, and sworn allegiance to the
+Sultan, he saw no reason for sacrificing his interests, much less his life,
+for Peter's benefit. The approach of Charles XII made him fear he might,
+like his predecessor Nalevaiko, be deserted by his own followers, and given
+up to the Poles.
+
+The appearance of Charles on the Russian frontier forced him to a definite
+resolution, and, in the spring of 1708, his emissaries appeared at
+Radoshkovitse, southeast of Grodno, where Charles had established his
+head-quarters. The King of Sweden's idea, at that decisive moment, would
+seem to have been to take advantage of the hetman's friendly inclination,
+to find his way into the heart of Russia, using the rich Southern Provinces
+as his base, to stir up, with Mazeppa's help, the Don Cossacks, the
+Astrakhan Tartars, and, it may have been, the Turks themselves, and thus
+attack the Muscovite power in the rear. Then Peter would have been forced
+back upon his last intrenchments, at Moscow or elsewhere, while General
+Luebecker, who was in Finland with fourteen thousand men, fell on Ingria
+and on St. Petersburg, and Leszcynski's Polish partisans, with General
+Krassow's Swedes, held Poland.
+
+It was a mighty plan, indeed, but at the very outset it was sharply
+checked. Mazeppa insisted on certain conditions, and these conditions
+Charles thought too heavy. The hetman agreed that Poland should take the
+Ukraine and White Russia, and that the Swedes should have the fortresses of
+Mglin, Starodoub, and Novgorod-Sievierski, but he himself insisted on being
+apportioned Polotsk, Vitebsk, and the whole of Courland, to be held in
+fief. Thus the negotiations were delayed. Meanwhile Charles, perceiving
+that he was not strong enough to make a forward movement, made up his mind
+to send for Loewenhaupt, who was in Livonia, and who was to bring him
+sixteen thousand men and various stores. But the Swedish hero had not
+reckoned fairly with distance and with time. Many precious days, the best
+of the season, fled by before his orders could be obeyed. And, for the
+first time, he showed signs of uncertainty and irresolution which were
+all too quickly communicated to those under his command. Loewenhaupt grew
+slower than usual. Luebecker slackened his activity, and Mazeppa began to
+play his double game again: prudently preparing his Cossacks to revolt,
+in the name of the ancient customs, national privileges, and church laws,
+which Peter's reforms had infringed; fortifying his own residence at
+Batourin, and accumulating immense stores there, but still continuing to
+pay court to the Czar, wearing the German dress, flattering the sovereign's
+despotic taste by suggesting plans which would have annihilated the last
+vestiges of local independence, and accepting gifts sent him by Menshikoff.
+
+And so the summer passed away. A winter campaign became inevitable, and the
+abyss which Peter's unerring eye had scanned began to gape.
+
+It was not till June that Charles XII left Radoshkovitse, and marched
+eastward to Borisov, where he crossed the Berezina. Menshikoff and
+Sheremetief made an attempt to stop him, on July 3d, as he was crossing a
+small river called the Bibitch, near Holovtchin. A night manoeuvre, and
+a wild bayonet charge, led by the King himself, carried him once more to
+victory. The town of Mohilef opened its gates to the Swedes, but there
+Charles was forced to stay, and lose more time yet waiting for Loewenhaupt.
+He marched again, early in August, in a southerly direction, and his
+soldiers soon found themselves in the grip of one of Peter's allies. They
+were driven to support themselves by gathering ears of corn, which they
+ground between two stones. Sickness began to thin their ranks. Their three
+doctors, so the fierce troopers said, were "brandy, garlic, and death"!
+Loewenhaupt had reached Shklof, and was separated from the invading army by
+two streams, the Soja and the Dnieper, between which Peter had taken up
+his position. The Swedish general, after having successfully passed the
+Dnieper, was met at Liesna, on October 9th, by a force three times as large
+as his own, and Peter was able, on the following day, to report a complete
+victory to his friends: "8500 men dead on the field, without mentioning
+those the Kalmucks have hunted into the forest, and 700 prisoners!"
+According to this reckoning, Loewenhaupt, who could not have brought more
+than 11,000 troops into action, should have been left without a man; as a
+matter of fact, he reached Charles with 6700, after a flank march which all
+military experts consider a marvel. But, not being able to find a bridge
+across the Soja, he was forced to abandon his artillery and all his
+baggage, and he led his starving troops into a famine-stricken camp.
+
+There was bad news, too, from Ingria, where Luebecker had also been
+defeated, losing all his baggage and three thousand first-class troops.
+Charles grew so disconcerted that he is reported to have confessed to
+Gyllenkrook, his quartermaster-general, that he was all at sea, and no
+longer had any definite plan. On October 22d he reached Mokoshin on the
+Desna, on the borders of the Ukraine, where he had expected to meet
+Mazeppa. But the old leader broke his appointment. He still desired to
+temporize and was loath to take any decisive resolution. He was driven to
+take one at last, by the Cossacks about him, who were alarmed at the idea
+of the Russians following the Swedes into the Ukraine. It would be far
+better, so they thought, to join the latter against the former. One of
+these Cossacks, Voinarovski, who had been sent by the hetman to Menshikoff,
+had returned with most terrifying news. He had overheard the German
+officers on the favorite's staff, speaking of Mazeppa and his followers,
+say: "God pity those poor wretches; to-morrow they will all be in chains!"
+Mazeppa, when he heard this report, "raged like a whirlwind," hurried to
+Batourin to give the alarm, and then crossed the Desna and joined the
+Swedish army.
+
+It was too late. The popular sentiment, on which both he and Charles
+had reckoned to promote an insurrectionary movement, confused by the
+tergiversations and the ambiguous actions of the hetman, had quite gone
+astray and lost all consistency. All Mazeppa could reckon upon was a body
+of two thousand faithful troops; not enough even to defend Batourin, which
+Menshikoff snatched from him a few days later--thus depriving the Swedish
+army of its last chance of revictualling. When the fortresses of Starodoub
+and Novgorod-Sievierski closed their gates against him, the whole of the
+Ukraine slipped from the grasp of the turncoat chief and his new allies.
+His effigy was first hung and then dragged through the streets of Glouhof
+in Peter's presence; another hetman, Skoropadski, was appointed in his
+place, and then came winter--a cruel winter, during which the very birds
+died of cold.
+
+By the beginning of 1709 Charles' effective strength had dwindled to nearly
+twenty thousand men. The Russians did not dare to attack him as yet, but
+they gathered round him in an ever-narrowing circle. They carried his
+advanced posts, they cut his lines of communication. The King of Sweden, to
+get himself mere elbow-room, was driven to begin his campaign in the month
+of January. He lost one thousand men and forty-eight officers in taking the
+paltry town of Wespjik (January 6th). By this time the game, in Mazeppa's
+view, was already lost, and he made an attempt to turn his coat again;
+offering to betray Charles into Peter's hands if Peter would restore him
+his office. The bargain was struck, but a letter from the old traitor,
+addressed to Leszcynski, chanced to fall into the Czar's hands, and made
+him draw back, in the conviction that Mazeppa was utterly unreliable.
+
+In March, the near approach of the Swedish army, then advancing on Poltava,
+induced the Zaporoje Cossacks to join it. But the movement was a very
+partial one, and Peter soon put it down, by means of a series of military
+executions, mercilessly carried out by Menshikoff, and of various
+manifestoes against the foreign heretics, "who deny the doctrines of the
+true religion, and spit on the picture of the Blessed Virgin." The capture
+of Poltava thus became the last hope of Charles and his army. If they could
+not seize the town, they must all die of hunger.
+
+The fortifications of the place were weak, but the besieging army was
+sorely changed from that which had fought under the walls of Narva. It had
+spent too long a time in fat quarters, in Saxony and Poland, to be fit
+to endure this terrible campaign. Like the Russian army at Narva, it
+was sapped by demoralization before it was called on to do any serious
+fighting. Even among the Swedish staff, and in the King's intimate circle,
+all confidence in his genius and his lucky star had disappeared.
+
+His best generals, Rehnskold and Gyllenkrook, his chancellor Piper, and
+Mazeppa himself were against any prolongation of the siege, which promised
+to be a long one. "If God were to send down one of his angels," he said,
+"to induce me to follow your advice, I would not listen to him!" An
+ineradicable illusion, the fruit of the too easy victories of his early
+career, prompted him to undervalue the forces opposed to him. He knew,
+and would acknowledge, nothing of that new Russia, the mighty upstanding
+colossus, which Peter had at last succeeded in raising up in his path.
+According to some authorities, Mazeppa, in his desire to replace Batourin
+by Poltava, as his own personal appanage, encouraged him in this fatal
+resolution. But it may well have been that retreat had already become
+impossible.
+
+It was long before Peter made up his mind to intervene; he was still
+distrustful of himself, desperately eager to increase his own resources,
+and with them his chances of victory. On his enemy's side, everything
+contributed to this result. By the end of June all the Swedish ammunition
+was exhausted, the invaders could use none of their artillery and hardly
+any of their fire-arms, and were reduced to fighting with cold steel. On
+the very eve of the decisive struggle, they were left without a leader.
+During a reconnaissance on the banks of the Vorskla, which ran between
+the hostile armies, Charles, always rash and apt to expose himself
+unnecessarily, was struck by a bullet. "It is only in the foot," he said,
+smiling, and continued his examination of the ground. But, when he returned
+to camp he fainted, and Peter, reckoning on the moral effect of the
+accident, at once resolved to cross the river. A report, as a matter
+of fact, ran through the Swedish camp that the King, convinced of the
+hopelessness of the situation, had deliberately sought death.
+
+Yet ten more days passed by, in the expectation of an attack which the
+Russians did not dare to make. It was Charles who took action at last,
+informing his generals, on June 26th (July 7th) that he would give battle
+on the following morning. He himself was still in a very suffering
+condition, and made over the command to Rehnskold, a valiant soldier but
+a doubtful leader, for he did not possess the army's confidence, and,
+according to Lundblad, "hid his lack of knowledge and strategical powers
+under gloomy looks and a fierce expression." After the event, as was so
+commonly the case with vanquished generals, he was accused of treachery.
+
+The truth would seem to be that Charles' obstinate reserve, and habit of
+never confiding his plans and military arrangements to any third person,
+had ended by gradually depriving his lieutenants of all power of
+independent action. In his presence they were bereft of speech and almost
+of ideas. All Rehnskold did was to rage and swear at everyone. Peter,
+meanwhile, neglected nothing likely to insure success. He even went so far
+as to dress the Novgorod regiment--one of his best--in the coarse cloth
+_(siermiaga)_ generally reserved for newly joined recruits, in the hope of
+thus deceiving the enemy. This stratagem, however, completely failed. In
+the very beginning of the battle, Rehnskold fell on the regiment, and cut
+it to pieces.
+
+The Russian centre was confided to Sheremetief, the right wing to General
+Ronne, the left to Menshikoff. Bruce commanded the artillery, and the Czar,
+as usual, retired modestly to the head of a single regiment. But this was a
+mere disguise; in real fact, he was everywhere, going hither and thither,
+in the forefront of the battle, and lavishing effort in every direction. A
+bullet passed through his hat, another is said to have struck him full
+on the breast. It was miraculously stopped by a golden cross, set with
+precious stones, given by the monks on Mount Athos to the Czar Feodor, and
+which his successor habitually wore. This cross, which certainly bears the
+mark of some projectile, is still preserved in the Ouspienski monastery, at
+Moscow.
+
+The heroism and sovereign contempt of death betrayed by Charles were worthy
+of himself. Unable to sit a horse, he caused himself to be carried on a
+litter, which, when it was shattered by bullets, was replaced by another
+made of crossed lances. But he was nothing but a living standard, useless,
+though sublime. The once mighty military leader had utterly disappeared.
+The battle was but a wild conflict, in which the glorious remnants of one
+of the most splendid armies that had ever been brought together; unable to
+use its arms, leaderless, hopeless of victory, and soon overwhelmed and
+crushed by superior numbers, struggled for a space, with the sole object
+of remaining faithful to its king. At the end of two hours Charles himself
+left the field of battle. He had been lifted onto the back of an old horse
+which his father had formerly ridden, and which was called _Brandklepper_
+("Run to the Fire"), because he was always saddled when a fire broke out in
+the city.
+
+This charger followed the vanquished hero into Turkey, was taken by the
+Turks at Bender, sent back to the King, taken again at Stralsund in 1715,
+returned to its owner once more, and died in 1718--the same year as his
+master--at the age of forty-two. Poniatowski, the father of the future
+King of Poland, who was following the campaign as a volunteer--Charles had
+refused to take any Polish troops with him on account of their want of
+discipline--rallied one of Colonel Horn's squadrons to escort the King, and
+received seventeen bullets through his leather kaftan while covering the
+royal retreat. Field Marshal Rehnskold, Piper the chancellor, with all his
+subordinates, over one hundred fifty officers, and two thousand soldiers
+fell into the victor's hands.
+
+The Russians' joy was so extreme that they forgot to pursue the retreating
+enemy. Their first impulse was to sit down and banquet. Peter invited the
+more important prisoners to his own table, and toasted the health of his
+"masters in the art of war." The Swedes, who still numbered thirteen
+thousand men, had time to pause for a moment in their own camp, where
+Charles summoned Loewenhaupt, and, for the first time in his life, was
+heard to ask for advice--"What was to be done?" The general counselled him
+to burn all wagons, mount his infantry soldiers on the draught-horses and
+beat a retreat toward the Dnieper. On June 30th the Russians came up with
+the Swedish army at Perevolotchna, on the banks of the river, and, the
+soldiers refusing to fight again, Loewenhaupt capitulated; but the King
+had time to cross to the other side. Two boats lashed together carried his
+carriage, a few officers, and the war-chests which he had filled in Saxony.
+Mazeppa contrived to find a boat for himself, and loaded it with two
+barrels of gold.
+
+At Kiev, whither Peter proceeded from Poltava, a solemn thanksgiving was
+offered up in the church of St. Sophia, and a Little Russia monk, Feofan
+Prokopovitch, celebrated the recent victory in a fine flight of eloquence:
+"When our neighbors hear of what has happened, they will say it was
+not into a foreign country that the Swedish army and the Swedish power
+ventured, but rather into some mighty sea! They have fallen in and
+disappeared, even as lead is swallowed up in water!"
+
+The Sweden of Gustavus Adolphus had indeed disappeared. Charles XII was ere
+long to be a mere knight-errant at Bender. The Cossack independence, too,
+was a thing of the past. Its last and all too untrustworthy representative
+was to die in Turkey before many months were out--of despair, according to
+Russian testimony--of poison voluntarily swallowed, according to Swedish
+historians. The poison story has a touch of likelihood about it, for Peter
+certainly proposed to exchange Mazeppa's person for that of the chancellor
+Piper. The cause of the Leszcynski, too, was dead. It was to be put
+forward again by France, but for the benefit of France alone; and with the
+Leszcynski cause, Poland itself had passed away and lay a lifeless corpse
+on which the vultures were soon to settle.
+
+Out of all these ruins rose the Russian power, its northern hegemony, and
+its new European position, which henceforth were daily to increase and
+reach immense, immoderate proportions. Europe played a special part in the
+festivities which graced the return of the victors to Moscow, a few months
+later. European ideas, traditions, and forms appeared in the triumphal
+procession, and served as trappings for the trophies of victory. Peter,
+playing the part of Hercules, and conquering a Swedish Juno, in a _cortege_
+in which Mars figured, attended by furies and by fauns, was a fit symbol of
+the alliance of Russia with the Graeco-Latin civilization of the West. Old
+Muscovy--Eastern and Asiatic--was numbered with the dead.
+
+
+
+%CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL[1]%
+
+FRANCE SURRENDERS NOVA SCOTIA TO ENGLAND
+
+A.D. 1710
+
+DUNCAN CAMPBELL
+
+[Footnote 1: From Duncan Campbell's _History of Canada_.]
+
+
+Each time that England and France quarrelled in Europe their colonies
+became engaged in strife. In 1690, when William III fought Louis XIV the
+able Governor of Canada, Frontenac, despatched his Indian allies to ravage
+New England, while with rare military skill he defended himself and his
+province. He could not, however, prevent the capture of Port Royal (now
+Annapolis) in Nova Scotia. This great fortress, the pride of Louis XIV, was
+attacked by the New England colonists under Sir William Phips, the Governor
+of Massachusetts, and was captured by a most dashing attack. When England
+and France made peace, Port Royal was restored to the French, much to the
+dissatisfaction of the English colonists, who saw clearly that as soon as
+another war arose they would have to make the assault again.
+
+During the era of Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) French and Indian forays and
+incursions were frequent on the borders of Acadia and New England. Britain,
+meanwhile, was desirous of limiting the growth of France in the New World,
+and, with the provocation that had been given the New England colonies by
+the murderous raids of the French and Abenaquis Indians on her towns and
+border settlements, the English colonists retaliated by attempting, in 1704
+and 1707, to recapture Acadia. They finally succeeded in 1710 under
+General Nicholson. The story of this expedition will be found appended
+in Campbell's narrative, as well as the account given of the disastrous
+failure of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker's formidable expedition in 1711 up
+the St. Lawrence with the design of assaulting Quebec. On the capture by
+the New England colonies of Port Royal, and the expulsion of its French
+garrison, the place became an English fortress and was renamed Annapolis
+Royal, in honor of Queen Anne.
+
+In perusing the history of Nova Scotia, the reader is struck with the
+frequency with which the country, or, in other words, the forts, passed
+from the French to the English, and _vice versa_. As a rule, permanent
+retention was not contemplated. Hence we find that when Port Royal was
+taken by Phips, he departed without leaving a solitary man to defend it.
+A few days after the expedition had left, the Chevalier de Villebon, the
+newly appointed French Governor, arrived, and if accompanied by the means,
+had a favorable opportunity of putting it once more in a state of defence
+and retaining it as a French stronghold. But Phips was not far off, and he
+therefore deemed it prudent, considering the small force at his disposal,
+to retire to the river St. John, where he remained for some years,
+destroying New England vessels and organizing schemes for the consolidation
+of French authority in the province.
+
+In the mean time Villebon showed his temper toward the New Englanders by
+building a chapel on the disputed territory, and driving their fishermen
+from the coast of Nova Scotia. Villebon was succeeded by Brouillan, in
+1700, and not only was an enemy to the fishermen, but actually afforded
+protection to pirates who preyed on the trade of Massachusetts, which
+inspired a degree of hostility in New England that, on the accession of
+Queen Anne, in 1702, the declaration of war which followed was hailed in
+that colony with demonstrations of joy.
+
+The New Englanders had a long catalogue of grievances unredressed, hostile
+attacks unrevenged, and were more determined than ever to put forth their
+strength for the expulsion of the French from the province. In 1704 a
+preliminary expedition was despatched by them to the coast of Nova Scotia,
+consisting of a ship of forty-two and another of thirty-two guns, a number
+of transports and whale-boats, on board of which were upward of five
+hundred men, under the command of Colonel Church, whose instructions were
+to destroy settlements, and where dams existed to deluge the cultivated
+ground and make as many prisoners as possible. One detachment visited
+Minas, and spread desolation and ruin in that fertile region, through which
+Brouillan passed on his way to Annapolis, representing the people as living
+like true republicans, not acknowledging royal or judicial authority, and
+able to spare eight hundred hogsheads of wheat yearly for exportation, and
+as being supplied with abundance of cattle.
+
+Another detachment went to Port Royal, which they deemed it prudent not to
+attack. Brouillan having died in 1706, M. Subercase was appointed governor.
+In the spring of 1707 another expedition was sent from New England to
+attack Port Royal. It consisted of twenty-three transports and the province
+galley, convoyed by a man-of-war of fifty guns, on which were embarked two
+regiments of militia, under Colonels Wainwright and Hilton. The expedition
+arrived at the entrance to Port Royal on June 6th. A landing was soon
+effected; but Subercase's dispositions for resistance were so able that the
+English found it impossible to make any impression on the defences, and,
+after losing eighty men, the troops were reembarked and proceeded to Casco
+Bay, from which place the commanders communicated with the Governor of
+New England and waited orders. The failure of the expedition caused great
+indignation in New England, and the Governor immediately resolved to
+strengthen the army with a hundred recruits and to order a second attack.
+Accordingly the expedition again sailed for Port Royal, when Subercase was
+in a far more formidable position than formerly. After a siege of fifteen
+days, in which the English officers displayed unaccountable cowardice, the
+ships retired, having lost sixteen men, while the French had only three men
+killed and wounded.
+
+Subercase immediately proceeded to strengthen his position in anticipation
+of a third attack. A bomb-proof powder magazine was accordingly
+constructed, capable of containing sixty thousand pounds of powder, and the
+fort was otherwise improved. This Governor, who had formed a high estimate
+of the climate, soil, and general resources of the province, was one of the
+ablest appointed under French rule. He made urgent appeals to the French
+government to colonize the country on a large scale, pointing out the
+advantages that would follow; but all his suggestions were disregarded, and
+he had the mortification, notwithstanding his zeal and personal sacrifices
+in the service of his country, to receive less encouragement and support
+from the home government than any of his predecessors.
+
+In the year 1710 great preparations were made for the conquest of Canada
+and Nova Scotia. The New York House of Assembly sent a petition to Queen
+Anne, praying for such assistance as would expel the French entirely from
+the country. Colonel Vetch is said to have inspired this application, and
+to have submitted to the British government a plan of attack. Promises of
+liberal support are said to have been made, which, however, the government
+was tardy in affording.
+
+The command of the New England forces was intrusted to Francis Nicholson,
+who was appointed Governor of New England, under Sir Edmund Andros, in
+1688, being Governor of New York in 1689, and in the following year
+Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia. In 1692 he was transferred to
+the government of Maryland, and in 1698 sent back to Virginia as
+Governor-in-Chief, at which time he held the rank of colonel in the army.
+Nicholson was an earnest advocate of a confederation of the British North
+American provinces for purposes of defence, to which the people of Virginia
+were popularly opposed.
+
+Nicholson sailed from Boston on September 18, 1710, with a fleet of about
+thirty-six vessels, including five transports from England, conveying
+a considerable force, composed of troops supplied by Massachusetts,
+Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, which arrived at Port Royal
+on September 24th. Subercase was not in a condition to resist so formidable
+a force; hence we find him writing to the French minister that the garrison
+is dispirited, and praying for assistance in men and money. The strait to
+which he was reduced is indicated by the following passage: "I have had
+means," he says, "by my industry to borrow wherewith to subsist the
+garrison for these two years. I have paid what I could by selling all my
+movables. I will give even to my last shirt, but I fear that all my pains
+will prove useless if we are not succored during the month of March or
+early in April, supposing the enemy should let us rest this winter."
+
+But it was far from the intention of the enemy to let them rest; for three
+days after the despatch of the communication in which the passage quoted
+occurred, Nicholson sent a summons to the Governor requiring the immediate
+delivery of the fort, and in the event of non-compliance, expressing his
+resolution to reduce it by force of her majesty's arms. No reply having
+been sent to the summons, Nicholson prepared to land his troops, to which
+Subercase offered no resistance, as he could not trust the garrison beyond
+the walls of the fort on account of the discontent induced by the universal
+conviction of their inability to oppose the English, who mustered to the
+number of upward of three thousand, exclusive of seamen, to which force the
+Governor could not oppose more than three hundred fighting men. In the mean
+time the garrison became disorganized and many desertions took place, when
+the Governor, yielding to necessity, opened a communication with Nicholson
+with the view to capitulation.
+
+The articles were, in the circumstances, highly favorable to the garrison.
+They provided that the soldiers should march out with their arms and
+baggage, drums beating and colors flying; that they should be conveyed to
+Rochelle, and that the inhabitants within three miles of Port Royal should
+be permitted to remain on their lands, with their corn, cattle, and
+furniture, for two years, if so disposed, on their taking the oath of
+allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain. The destitute condition of
+the garrison was manifested by their tattered garments and absence of
+provisions necessary to sustain them even for a few days. In conformity
+with the terms of the capitulation four hundred eighty men in all were
+transported to Rochelle, in France. A garrison, consisting of two hundred
+marines and two hundred fifty New England volunteers, was left in Port
+Royal, under Colonel Vetch, as governor--General Nicholson returning to
+Boston with the fleet.
+
+The English, sensible of the disastrous consequences resulting from the
+policy hitherto adopted of abandoning Port Royal after having taken
+repeated possession of it, had now resolved to retain it permanently. The
+Acadians were alarmed at the indications of permanent occupancy which they
+witnessed, and evinced a degree of hostility which caused the Governor to
+adopt such measures as were calculated to convince them that they must act
+in virtue of their temporary allegiance to the British crown, as became
+faithful subjects. The restraints imposed were galling to the French,
+and they despatched a messenger with a letter to the Governor of Canada,
+referring to their general misery under British rule, and praying to be
+furnished with the means of leaving a country where they could not enjoy
+absolute freedom, but the letter contained no specific charges.
+
+In the hope of regaining the fort, and impressed with the importance in the
+mean time of intensifying Indian hostility to English rule, the Canadian
+Governor sent messengers to the French missionaries to exert their
+influence in that direction. The consequence was that parties sent out to
+cut wood were attacked, and that travelling beyond the fort was rendered
+dangerous. Eighty men sent from the garrison on that service were attacked
+by the Indians, who killed about thirty of the party, taking the rest
+prisoners. Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, had made preparations to
+assist in the recapture of the fort, but intelligence of a strong force
+being in preparation to attack Canada prevented the accomplishment of his
+purpose.
+
+General Nicholson, on leaving Port Royal, went to England, for the purpose
+of inducing the Government to adopt measures for the thorough conquest of
+Canada, preparations for that end being in progress in New England. His
+appeal was cordially responded to, and a fleet of twelve line-of-battle
+ships, with storeships and transports, and having eight regiments and a
+train of artillery on board, the whole commanded by Admiral Walker, left
+England on April 28, 1711, arriving in Boston, June 25th. If his formidable
+force, which consisted of sixty-eight vessels in all, having about six
+thousand fighting-men on board, left Boston on July 30th, arriving at
+Gaspe, August 18th, where wood and water were taken in. They sailed thence
+on the 20th.
+
+The pilots seem to have been incompetent, for on August 23d the ships got
+into difficulties in a fog, losing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near Egg
+Island, eight transports and eight hundred eighty-four men. At a council of
+war it was determined to abandon the enterprise, and intelligence of the
+resolution was sent to General Nicholson, who had left Albany with an
+army for the purpose of attacking Montreal, and who consequently had the
+mortification of being obliged to return immediately. On September 4th the
+fleet arrived at Spanish Bay and anchored in front of Lloyd's Cove. It is
+questionable if the noble harbor of Sydney has ever since presented so
+lively a spectacle as on this occasion.
+
+Admiral Walker was instructed if he succeeded in taking Quebec, to attack
+Placentia, in Newfoundland, but at a council of war it was declared
+impracticable to make any attempt against that place, while from the
+condition of the stronghold it could have been easily taken. On his return
+Walker was the laughing-stock of the nation. Literary squibs and pamphlets
+were showered upon him, and his attempts at a vindication of his conduct
+only rendered him the more ridiculous. He stood in the estimation of the
+nation in precisely the same position as Sir John Cope, the commander of
+the force sent to attack Prince Charles Edward Stuart on his march from the
+north of Scotland, in 1745, to Edinburgh, who, after having held a council
+of war, resolved to march in the opposite direction from that in which the
+enemy was to be found, and whose consummate folly or cowardice in doing so
+is a standing national joke.
+
+The severe contests in which France and Britain were almost continually
+engaged required occasional breathing-time. Hence, notwithstanding the
+series of brilliant victories gained by Marlborough, the war had become
+unpopular, and the governmental policy had to be assimilated to the
+national will. France was equally desirous of peace, and no great
+difficulty was experienced in coming to terms. In the preparation of
+previous treaties, France had succeeded in making the cession to her of
+any portion of North American territory wrested from her a fundamental
+condition of agreement. Great Britain had hitherto shown a degree of
+pliability, in yielding to the desire of her great opponent, in this
+matter, which seems unaccountable, and certainly incompatible with British
+interests; but the representations of the New Englanders as to the impolicy
+of such procedure were so urgent and unanswerable that the Government had
+resolved that the period of vacillation was past, and that the exercise of
+firmness in the permanent retention of Nova Scotia was necessary. Hence, in
+the celebrated Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was provided that all Nova
+Scotia or Acadia should be yielded and made over to the Queen of Great
+Britain and to her crown forever, together with Newfoundland, France
+retaining possession of Cape Breton.
+
+General Nicholson, having been appointed governor of Nova Scotia in 1714,
+as well as commander-in-chief, Queen Anne addressed a graceful letter to
+him, dated June 23, 1713, in which, after alluding to her "good brother,"
+the French King, having released from imprisonment on board his galleys
+such of his subjects as were detained there professing the Protestant
+religion, she desired to show her appreciation of his majesty's compliance
+with her wishes by ordering that all Frenchmen in Nova Scotia and
+Newfoundland who should desire to remain should be permitted to retain
+their property and enjoy all the privileges of British subjects; and if
+they chose to remove elsewhere, they were at liberty to dispose of their
+property by sale ere they departed.
+
+Meanwhile the Acadians, as well as the inhabitants of Newfoundland, were
+pressed by the French Governor of Louisburg, M. de Costabelle, to remove to
+Cape Breton, which the great body of the latter did. The Acadians, however,
+could not appreciate the advantages to be gained in removing from the
+fertile meadows of the Annapolis Valley to a soil which, however excellent,
+required much labor to render it fit for cultivation. It appears that they
+sent a deputation to examine the island and report as to its adaptability
+for agricultural purposes, for one of their missionaries, addressing M.
+de Costabelle, the Governor, says that from the visits made they were
+satisfied there were no lands in Cape Breton suitable for the immediate
+maintenance of their families, since there were not meadows sufficient to
+nourish their cattle, from which they derived their principal support.
+He at the same time represents the Indians--who had been also desired to
+remove--as being of opinion that living as they did by the chase, the
+island was quite insufficient for that purpose, as well as from its narrow
+limits, equally unfitted for the exercise of their natural freedom.
+
+But while declining to leave Nova Scotia, the Acadians expressed a firm
+determination to continue loyal to the King of France, affirming that they
+would never take the oath of allegiance to the crown of England, to the
+prejudice of what they owed to their King, their country, and their
+religion, and intimating their resolution, in the event of any attempt to
+make them swerve from their fidelity to France, or to interfere with the
+exercise of their religion, to leave the country and betake themselves to
+Cape Breton, then called the Ile Royale. And they there remained until
+1755, at which time the English and New England colonists finally drove
+forth and dispersed them with hateful cruelty.
+
+
+
+%CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS
+VOLUME%
+
+A.D. 1661-1715
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies or the various nations, and of the careers of famous
+persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page references
+showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+A.D.
+
+%1661%. Execution of the Marquis of Argyle. Burning of the _League and
+Covenant_ by the hangman, in all parts of England.
+
+Episcopacy restored in Scotland.
+
+In France Louis XIV assumes personal rule; Colbert begins his ministry. See
+"Louis XIV ESTABLISHES ABSOLUTE MONARCHY," xii, i.
+
+%1662%. Sale of Dunkirk to the French by Charles II. Passage of a new Act
+of Uniformity; ejectment of nonconformist ministers from their livings, in
+England.
+
+A charter given the Connecticut and New Haven colonies.
+
+%1663%. Hungary overrun by the Turks under Koprili.
+
+Foundation of the French Academy of Inscriptions.
+
+The Carolinas granted by charter to Clarendon and others.
+
+%1664%. Passage of the Conventicle Act in England, directed against
+nonconformists or dissenters.
+
+Victory of the united forces of Germany, France, and Italy, under
+Montecucoli, general of Leopold I, at St. Gotthard, Hungary.
+
+Charles II grants the territory between the Connecticut and James rivers to
+his brother, James, Duke of York; New Amsterdam occupied and New Netherland
+taken by the English; New York is the name given to both province and city.
+James sells a portion of his domain, to which the title of "New Caesarea"
+was first given, afterward changed to New Jersey. See "NEW YORK TAKEN BY
+THE ENGLISH," xii, 19.
+
+East and West India companies formed in France; colonies planted in
+Cayenne, Martinique, Guadelupe, Ste. Lucia, and Canada.
+
+1665. Continued persecution of dissenters in England by the passage of the
+Five-mile Act.
+
+War between England and Holland.
+
+Newton invents his methods of fluxions.
+
+Completion of the union of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies.
+
+Death of Philip IV; his son, Charles II, ascends the throne of Spain.
+
+"GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON." See xii, 29.
+
+1666. Great naval victory of the English over the Dutch, in the Downs.
+
+Resort to arms by the Scotch Covenanters; they are defeated.
+
+"DISCOVERY OF GRAVITATION." See xii, 51.
+
+War against England declared by France.
+
+Foundation of the Academie des Sciences, Paris.
+
+Burning of London. See "GREAT FIRE IN LONDON," xii, 45.
+
+William Penn joins the Society of Friends.
+
+1667. Opening of the first fire-insurance office in London. Ravages up the
+Medway and Thames, England, by the Dutch, during negotiations for peace.
+
+Treaty of Breda; peace between England, Holland, France, Denmark.
+Publication of Milton's _Paradise Lost_.
+
+1668. Triple alliance against France formed by England, Holland, and
+Sweden.
+
+Recognition by Spain of the independence of Portugal. Foundation of the
+mission of Sault Ste. Marie, by Father Marquette. Introduction of the art
+of dyeing into England by Brewer, who fled from Flanders before the French
+invaders.
+
+1669. John Locke draws up a constitution for the government of the
+Carolinas.
+
+Candia surrenders to the Turks.
+
+Expedition of La Salle from the St. Lawrence to the West.
+
+Discovery of phosphorus by Brandt.
+
+1670. A secret treaty (Dover) between Charles II of England and Louis XIV
+of France; Charles basely sells his allies, the Dutch, and engages himself
+to become a Catholic.
+
+Incorporation of the Hudson Bay Company.
+
+1671. Leopold attempts the subjugation of the liberties of Hungary; his
+drastic methods include the execution of Frangepan, Nadasdy, and Zrinyi.
+
+Attempt of Colonel Blood to steal the English crown and regalia from the
+Tower; the King pardons and pensions him.
+
+"MORGAN, THE BUCCANEER, SACKS PANAMA." See xii, 66.
+
+Building of Greenwich Observatory.
+
+1672. William III, Prince of Orange, has supreme power conferred on him
+by the Dutch. The De Witts massacred. See "STRUGGLE OF THE DUTCH AGAINST
+FRANCE AND ENGLAND," xii, 86.
+
+1673. Passage in England of the Test Act, excluding dissenters and papists
+from all offices of government.
+
+Battle of Khotin; defeat of the Turks by John Sobieski.
+
+"DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI." See xii, 108.
+
+Occupation of New York and New Jersey by the Dutch.
+
+Joliet and Marquette make discoveries on the upper Mississippi.
+
+1674. Peace between England and Holland; the former regains New Netherland.
+
+Occupation of Pondicherry by the French.
+
+John Sobieski elected to the Polish throne.
+
+1675. "KING PHILIP'S WAR." See xii, 125.
+
+Battle of Fehrbellin; the Swedes, having invaded Brandenburg, are defeated
+by Frederick William. See "GROWTH OF PRUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT ELECTOR," xii,
+138.
+
+Beginning of the building of St. Paul's, London, by Sir Christopher Wren.
+
+Leeuwenhoek discovers animalculae in various waters.
+
+1676. Rebellion of Bacon in Virginia.
+
+Defeat of the Dutch admiral, De Ruyter, by the French, under Duquesne, off
+the Sicilian coast.
+
+Building of Versailles.
+
+1677. William of Orange defeated by the French at Casel. Freiburg captured
+by the French.
+
+Mary, daughter of the Duke of York (James II), marries William of Orange.
+
+1678. Invention of the Popish Plot by Titus Oates.
+
+Peace of Nimeguen between France, Spain, and Holland.
+
+First war between Russia and Turkey.
+
+Struggle of the Hungarians, under Tokolyi, against Austria.
+
+1679. Persecution of the Covenanters in Scotland; they take up arms but are
+defeated by Monmouth, at Bothwell Bridge. Murder of the primate, Sharp.
+
+Passage in England of the Habeas Corpus Act.
+
+La Salle builds the Griffon on Niagara River.
+
+Peace of Nimeguen between France and the German Emperor.
+
+1680. Beginning of the captivity of the Man with the Iron Mask. (Date
+uncertain.)
+
+Execution of Viscount Strafford for alleged participation in the Popish
+Plot.
+
+Alsace incorporated with French territory.
+
+The Whig and Tory parties first so named in England.
+
+1681. Strasburg seized by Louis XIV.
+
+A patent by the crown granted to William Penn. See "WILLIAM PENN RECEIVES
+THE GRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA," xii, 153.
+
+Renewed persecution of Protestants in France.
+
+First museum of natural history in London.
+
+1682. Attempt of Louis XIV to seize the Duchy of Luxemburg.
+
+Bossuet, in behalf of the French clergy, draws up a declaration which sets
+forth the liberties of the Gallican Church.
+
+Colonizing of Pennsylvania by William Penn; he founds Philadelphia; also,
+with other Friends, purchases East Jersey.
+
+Expedition of La Salle to the mouth of the Mississippi. See "DISCOVERY OF
+THE MISSISSIPPI," xii, 108.
+
+Death of Czar Feodor III; his sister, Sophia, regent in the name of her
+brothers Ivan V, of weak intellect, and Peter I (Peter the Great).
+
+%1683%. A penny-post first established in London, by a private individual.
+Execution in England of Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney, for participation
+in the Rye House Plot.
+
+Siege of Vienna by the Turks. See "LAST TURKISH INVASION OF EUROPE," xii,
+164.
+
+Attack on the Spanish Netherlands by Louis XIV.
+
+%1684%. Forfeiture of the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company.
+
+Formation of the Holy League by Venice, Poland, Emperor Leopold I, and Pope
+Innocent XI against the Turks.
+
+Genoa bombarded by the French. Louis XIV forcibly occupies Luxemburg.
+
+An embassy sent from the King of Siam to France.
+
+Publication by Leibnitz of his invention of the differential calculus. (See
+Newton, 1665.)
+
+%1685%. Death of Charles II; his brother, James II, ascends the English
+throne. Insurrection of Argyle and Monmouth; they are both executed.
+Jeffries' Bloody Assizes. See "MONMOUTH'S REBELLION," xii, 172.
+
+Pillage of the coast of Peru by the buccaneers.
+
+"REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES." See xii, 180.
+
+A demand made for the surrender of Connecticut's charter; it is hidden in
+Charter Oak.
+
+Bradford's printing-press arrives in Pennsylvania. See "ORIGIN AND PROGRESS
+OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+%1686%. Attempt of James II to restore Romanism in the British domains; a
+camp established by him at Hounslow Heath. Revival of the Court of High
+Commission.
+
+League of Augsburg formed by William of Orange, by which the principal
+continental states unite to resist French encroachments.
+
+A bloody crusade waged by Louis XIV, and Victor Amadeus II of Savoy,
+against the Waldenses of Piedmont.
+
+Recovery of Buda by the Austrians from the Turks.
+
+Appointment of Sir Edmund Andros as Governor over the consolidated New
+England colonies.
+
+%1687%. Refusal of the University of Cambridge to admit Francis, a
+Benedictine monk, recommended by James II.
+
+Leopold I compels the Hungarian Diet to make the kingdom hereditary in the
+Hapsburg family.
+
+Battle of Mohacs; defeat of the Turks by the Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Capture of Athens by the Venetians.
+
+Appointment of Tyrconnel, a Roman Catholic, as Lord Deputy of Ireland.
+
+Publication of Newton's _Principia_.
+
+Assumption of power by Peter the Great, in Russia.
+
+1688. Louis XIV declares war against Holland: he makes war on Germany.
+
+Capture of Philippsburg by the French.
+
+Battle of Enniskillen in Ireland.
+
+Landing in England of William of Orange, on invitation of the malcontents
+in that country. See "THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION," xii, 200.
+
+New York and New Jersey united with New England under Governor-General Sir
+Edmund Andros.
+
+1689. William and Mary, she being daughter of the ex-king, are proclaimed
+King and Queen of England. Passage of the Bill of Rights.
+
+James II lands in Ireland; he unsuccessfully besieges Londonderry: battle
+of Newtown Butler, defeat of the Irish Catholics.
+
+Great Britain joins the League of Augsburg.
+
+Overthrow of Andros in New England. See "TYRANNY OF ANDROS IN NEW ENGLAND,"
+xii, 241.
+
+At the instance of Louvois, his war minister, Louis XIV lays waste the
+Palatinate.
+
+Battle of Killiecrankie, Scotland; defeat of the government forces by the
+Highlanders; Claverhouse, their leader, slain.
+
+"MASSACRE OF LACHINE, CANADA." See xii, 248.
+
+"PETER THE GREAT MODERNIZES RUSSIA." See xii, 223.
+
+1690. Battle of the Boyne. See "SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY," xii, 258.
+
+Presbyterianism reestablished in Scotland.
+
+Defence of Canada by Frontenac.
+
+James II leaves Ireland and returns to France.
+
+Destruction of Schenectady by the French and Indians.
+
+Conquest of Acadia and unsuccessful attempt on Quebec by the English.
+
+John Locke publishes his _Essay Concerning the Human Understanding_.
+
+1691. Overthrow of the Jacobites in Scotland.
+
+Battle of Salankeman; victory of Louis of Baden over the Turks.
+
+Execution in New York of Jacob Leisler.
+
+1692. Union of the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts.
+
+Beginning of the witchcraft mania in New England. See "SALEM WITCHCRAFT
+TRIALS," xii, 268.
+
+The duchies of Hanover and Brunswick become an electorate; Ernest Augustus
+elector.
+
+Battle of La Hogue; the attempted French invasion of England defeated by
+the victory of the English and Dutch fleets.
+
+Massacre, at Glencoe, of the MacDonalds.
+
+1693. Defeat of the English fleet, off Cape St. Vincent, by Tourville,
+admiral of the French fleet.
+
+Distress in France from famine and the expense of the war with England.
+
+Founding of the College of William and Mary, Virginia.
+
+Bradford's printing-press removed from Pennsylvania to New York. See
+"ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+1694. Attacks on the coast of France by the English.
+
+Death of Queen Mary, consort of William. Cessation of the censorship of the
+press in England.
+
+"ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND." See xii, 286.
+
+Peter the Great of Russia employs Brant, a Dutch shipwright, to build a
+vessel at Archangel.
+
+1695. Peace arranged between France and Savoy.
+
+Azov captured from the Turks by Peter the Great.
+
+1696. On the death of John Sobieski the Polish crown is purchased by
+Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony.
+
+1697. Barcelona captured by the French.
+
+Peace of Ryswick between France, Holland, England, and Spain.
+
+Election of Francis I as King of Poland.
+
+Battle of Zenta; crushing defeat of the Turks by Leopold I.
+
+1698. Foundation of Calcutta by the English.
+
+A Scotch colony established on the Isthmus of Darien: abandoned in 1700.
+
+Peter the Great recalled from England by a revolt of the Strelitz guards;
+he subdues and disbands them.
+
+Society for Propagating Christianity formed in London.
+
+Partition of Spain arranged between England, France, and the Netherlands.
+
+1699. Iberville settles a French colony in Louisiana. See "COLONIZATION OF
+LOUISIANA," xii, 297.
+
+Reduction of the Turkish territories in Europe, by nearly one-half,
+arranged by the Peace of Carlowitz, between Turkey, Austria, Venice, and
+Poland.
+
+Peter the Great introduces the computation of time in Russia by the
+Christian era, but adheres to the old style, which still obtains in that
+country.
+
+1700. Russia, Poland, and Denmark make joint war against Sweden. The army
+of Peter the Great overwhelmed at Narva, by Charles XII of Sweden.
+
+Foundation of the future Yale College, Connecticut.
+
+1701. Frederick III of Brandenburg crowns himself King of Prussia. See
+"PRUSSIA PROCLAIMED A KINGDOM," xii, 310.
+
+Passage of the Act of Settlement in England; the Hanoverian succession
+founded.
+
+Beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession.
+
+Charles XII defeats the Poles and Saxons.
+
+1702. Death of William III; Queen Anne succeeds to the throne of England.
+
+Command of the army of the States-General given to Marlborough, the English
+general.
+
+Battle of Vigo; naval victory of the English and Dutch over the Spaniards
+and French.
+
+Beginning of Queen Anne's War in America.
+
+Foundation of a French settlement on the Mobile River, Alabama.
+
+Charles XII occupies Warsaw; he defeats Augustus II at Klissow; Cracow
+entered by him.
+
+1703. Methuen Treaty between England and Portugal, for facilitating
+commerce between those countries.
+
+Peter the Great lays the foundation of St. Petersburg. See "FOUNDING OF ST.
+PETERSBURG," xii, 319.
+
+Defeat of Augustus II by Charles XII at Pultusk.
+
+1704. English conquest of Gibraltar from Spain. "BATTLE OF BLENHEIM." See
+xii, 327.
+
+At Boston is published the first newspaper in the American colonies of
+England. See "ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+Sack, burning, and massacre of the inhabitants of Deerfield, Massachusetts,
+by French and Indians.
+
+Charles XII completes the subjugation of Poland.
+
+1705. Failure of the French and Spaniards in an attempt to recapture
+Gibraltar.
+
+Invasion of Spain by the English under the Earl of Peterborough; capture of
+Barcelona.
+
+1706. Battle of Ramillies; Marlborough defeats the French under Villeroi.
+
+Unsuccessful attempt of the French and Spaniards on Barcelona. Birth of
+Benjamin Franklin.
+
+1707. Sanction of the Union of England and Scotland by the Scotch
+Parliament. See "UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND," xii, 341.
+
+Charles XII subjugates Saxony; he dictates the Peace of Altranstaedt.
+
+1708. Russia invaded by Charles XII.
+
+Battle of Oudenarde; victory of Marlborough and Prince Eugene over the
+Dukes of Burgundy and Venddme.
+
+1709. Annihilation of the army of Charles XII at Poltava See "DOWNFALL OF
+CHARLES XII," xii, 352.
+
+Invasion of Sweden by the Danes. Recovery of Poland by Augustus II.
+
+1710. Expulsion of the Danes from Sweden by Stenbock. Request of the Irish
+Parliament for union with that of Great Britain. "CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL,
+CANADA." See xii, 373.
+
+1711. After further successes in Flanders, Marlborough is removed from
+command; the Whig ministry falls in England.
+
+Under Walker, the English and New England forces make an unsuccessful
+attempt on Canada.
+
+Having taken up arms for Charles XII, the Turks nearly achieve the ruin
+of Peter the Great, whose army is hemmed in near the Pruth River; peace
+arranged, the Turks recovering Azov and other towns.
+
+%1712%. Peace conference at Utrecht.
+
+Newspapers come under the operation of the Stamp Act, in England; so many
+discontinue publication that it is called the "Fall of the Leaf."
+
+Second Toggenburg War between the Reformed and Catholic cantons of
+Switzerland.
+
+%1713%. Peace of Utrecht ending the War of the Spanish Succession. Great
+Britain acquires Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Gibraltar, Minorca, Hudson Bay,
+and the Isle of St. Kitts; with the title of king the Duke of Savoy is
+ceded Sicily by Spain, and by France, Savoy and Nice with certain fortified
+places; the King of Prussia exchanges the principality of Orange and
+Chalons for Spanish Gelderland, Neuchatel, and Valengin; Spain cedes to
+Austria, Naples, Milan, Spanish Tuscany, and sovereignty over the Spanish
+Netherlands; the harbor and fortifications of Dunkirk to be destroyed.
+
+Charles I issues the Pragmatic Sanction securing succession to the female
+line in default of male issue.
+
+%1714%. Establishment of the Clarendon Press at Oxford, from the profits of
+Clarendon's _History of the Rebellion_.
+
+Death of Anne and accession in England of George (I), Elector of Hanover.
+
+Capture of Barcelona by the French and Spanish forces; the citizens
+deprived of their liberties.
+
+Fahrenheit invents his thermometer.
+
+%1715%. Jacobite rebellion in Britain in behalf of the Pretender.
+
+Death of Louis XIV; he is succeeded by his great-grandson, Louis XV; the
+Duke of Orleans regent.
+
+A Barrier Treaty made between Austria, England, and Holland; it gave the
+Dutch a right to garrison certain places in the Austrian Netherlands.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Volume 12, by Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, V12 ***
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Volume 12, Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
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+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
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+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12
+
+Author: Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9929]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 1, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, V12 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lazar Liveanu and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+Note:
+  Italics: _
+  Bold: %
+
+
+
+
+%THE GREAT EVENTS%
+
+
+BY
+
+Famous Historians
+
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY. EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS. AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES IN
+THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+
+%NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL%
+
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST
+DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. INCLUDING BRIEF INTRODUCTIONS
+BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED NARRATIVES, ARRANGED
+CHRONOLOGICALLY. WITH THOROUGH INDICES. BIBLIOGRAPHIES. CHRONOLOGIES. AND
+COURSES OF READING
+
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+_With a staff of specialists VOLUME XII_
+
+
+%The National Alumni% 1905
+
+
+
+
+%CONTENTS%
+
+VOLUME XII
+
+
+_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+_Louis XIV Establishes Absolute Monarchy (A.D. 1661)_
+JAMES COTTER MORISON
+
+_New York Taken by the English (A.D. 1664)_
+JOHN R. BRODHEAD
+
+_Great Plague in London (A.D. 1665)_
+DANIEL DEFOE
+
+_Great Fire in London (A.D. 1666)_
+JOHN EVELYN
+
+_Discovery of Gravitation (A.D. 1666)_
+SIR DAVID BREWSTER
+
+_Morgan, the Buccaneer, Sacks Panama (A.D. 1671)_
+JOHANN W. VON ARCHENHOLZ
+
+_Struggle of the Dutch against France and England (A.D. 1672)_
+C.M. DAVIES.
+
+_Discovery of the Mississippi
+La Salle Names Louisiana (A.D. 1673-1682)_
+FRANÇOIS XAVIER GARNEAU
+
+_King Philip's War (A.D. 1675)_
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+_Growth of Prussia under the Great Elector
+His Victory at Fehrbellin (A.D. 1675)_
+THOMAS CARLYLE
+
+_William Penn Receives the Grant of Pennsylvania
+Founding of Philadelphia (A.D. 1681)_
+GEORGE E. ELLIS
+
+_Last Turkish Invasion of Europe Sobieski Saves Vienna (A.D. 1683)_
+SUTHERLAND MENZIES
+
+_Monmouth's Rebellion (A.D. 1685)_
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+_Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (A.D. 1685)_
+BON LOUIS HENRI MARTIN
+
+_The English Revolution
+Flight of James II (A.D. 1688)_
+GILBERT BURNET
+H.D. TRAILL
+
+_Peter the Great Modernizes Russia
+Suppression of the Streltsi (A.D. 1689)_
+ALFRED RAMBAUD
+
+_Tyranny of Andros in New England
+The Bloodless Revolution (A.D. 1689)_
+CHARLES WYLLYS ELLIOTT
+
+_Massacre of Lachine (A.D. 1689)_
+FRANÇOIS XAVIER GARNEAU
+
+_Siege of Londonderry and Battle of the Boyne (A.D. 1689-1690)_
+TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT
+
+_Salem Witchcraft Trials (A.D. 1692)_
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+_Establishment of the Bank of England (A.D. 1694)_
+JOHN FRANCIS
+
+_Colonization of Louisiana (A.D. 1699)_
+CHARLES E.T. GAYARRÉ
+
+_Prussia Proclaimed a Kingdom (A.D. 1701)_
+LEOPOLD VON RANKE
+
+_Founding of St. Petersburg (A.D. 1703)_
+K. WALISZEWSKI
+
+_Battle of Blenheim (A.D. 1704)
+Curbing of Louis XIV_,
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+_Union of England and Scotland (A.D. 1707)_
+JOHN HILL BURTON
+
+_Downfall of Charles XII at Poltava (A.D. 1709)
+Triumph of Russia_
+K. WALISZEWSKI
+
+_Capture of Port Royal (A.D. 1710)
+France Surrenders Nova Scotia to England_
+DUNCAN CAMPBELL
+
+_Universal Chronology (A.D. 1661-1715)_
+JOHN RUDD
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+VOLUME XII
+
+_Surrender of Marshal Tallard at the Battle of Blenheim_, Painting by R.
+Caton Woodville.
+
+_The Duke of Monmouth humiliates himself before King James II_, Painting by
+J. Pettie, A.R.A.
+
+_Charles XII carried on a litter during the Battle of Poltava_, Painting by
+W. Hauschild.
+
+
+
+%AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE%
+
+Tracing Briefly The Causes, Connections, And Consequencies Of
+
+%THE GREAT EVENTS%
+
+(Age Of Louis XIV)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+
+It is related that in 1661, on the day following the death of the great
+Cardinal Mazarin, the various officials of the State approached their young
+King, Louis XIV. "To whom shall we go now for orders, Your Majesty?" "To
+me," answered Louis, and from that date until his death in 1715 they had
+no other master. Whether we accept the tale as literal fact or only as the
+vivid French way of visualizing a truth, we find here the central point
+of over fifty years of European history. The two celebrated cardinals,
+Richelieu and Mazarin, had, by their strength and wisdom, made France by
+far the most powerful state in Europe. Moreover, they had so reduced the
+authority of the French nobility, the clergy, and the courts of law as to
+have become practically absolute and untrammelled in their control of the
+entire government. Now, all this enormous power, both at home and abroad,
+over France and over Europe, was assumed by a young man of twenty-three. "I
+am the state," said Louis at a later period of his career. He might almost
+have said, "I am Europe," looking as he did only to the Europe that
+dominated, and took pleasure in itself, and made life one continued
+glittering revel of splendor. Independent Europe, that claimed the right of
+thinking for itself, the suffering Europe of the peasants, who starved and
+shed their blood in helpless agony--these were against Louis almost from
+the beginning, and ever increasingly against him.
+
+At first the young monarch found life very bright around him. His courtiers
+called him "the rising sun," and his ambition was to justify the title, to
+be what with his enormous wealth and authority was scarcely difficult, the
+Grand Monarch. He rushed into causeless war and snatched provinces from
+his feeble neighbors, exhausted Germany and decaying Spain. He built huge
+fortresses along his frontiers, and military roads from end to end of his
+domains. His court was one continuous round of splendid entertainments. He
+encouraged literature, or at least pensioned authors and had them clustered
+around him in what Frenchmen call the Augustan Age of their development.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Louis XIV Establishes Absolute Monarchy_, page 1.]
+
+The little German princes of the Rhine, each of them practically
+independent ruler of a tiny state, could not of course compete with Louis
+or defy him. Nor for a time did they attempt it. His splendor dazzled them.
+They were content to imitate, and each little prince became a patron of
+literature, or giver of entertainments, or builder of huge fortresses
+absurdly disproportioned to his territory and his revenues. Germany, it has
+been aptly said, became a mere tail to the French kite, its leaders feebly
+draggling after where Louis soared. Never had the common people of Europe
+or even the nobility had less voice in their own affairs. It was an age of
+absolute kingly power, an age of despotism.
+
+England, which under Cromwell had bid fair to take a foremost place in
+Europe, sank under Charles II into unimportance. Its people wearied with
+tumult, desired peace more than aught else; its King, experienced in
+adversity, and long a homeless wanderer in France and Holland, seemed to
+have but one firm principle in life. Whatever happened he did not intend,
+as he himself phrased it, to go on his "travels" again. He dreaded and
+hated the English Parliament as all the Stuarts had; and, like his father,
+he avoided calling it together. To obtain money without its aid, he
+accepted a pension from the French King. Thus England also became a
+servitor of Louis. Its policy, so far as Charles could mould it, was
+France's policy. If we look for events in the English history of the
+time we must find them in internal incidents, the terrible plague that
+devastated London in 1665,[1] the fire of the following year, that checked
+the plague but almost swept the city out of existence.[2] We must note the
+founding of the Royal Society in 1660 for the advancement of science, or
+look to Newton, its most celebrated member, beginning to puzzle out his
+theory of gravitation in his Woolsthorpe garden.[3]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Great Plague in London_, page 29.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Great Fire in London_, page 45.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Discovery of Gravitation_, page 51.]
+
+
+CONTINENTAL WARS
+
+Louis's first real opponent he found in sturdy Holland. Her fleets and
+those of England had learned to fight each other in Cromwell's time, and
+they continued to struggle for the mastery of the seas. There were many
+desperate naval battles. In 1664 an English fleet crossed the ocean to
+seize the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, and it became New York.[4] In 1667
+a Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and burned the shipping, almost reaching
+London itself.
+
+[Footnote 4: See _New York Taken by the English_, page 19.]
+
+Yet full as her hands might seem with strife like this, Holland did not
+hesitate to stand forth against the aggression of Louis's "rising sun."
+When in his first burst of kingship, he seized the Spanish provinces of the
+Netherlands and so extended his authority to the border of Holland, its
+people, frightened at his advance, made peace with England and joined an
+alliance against him. Louis drew back; and the Dutch authorized a medal
+which depicted Holland checking the rising sun. Louis never forgave them,
+and in 1672, having secured German neutrality and an English alliance, he
+suddenly attacked Holland with all his forces.[5]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Struggle of the Dutch against France and England_, page
+86.]
+
+For a moment the little republic seemed helpless. Her navy indeed withstood
+ably the combined assaults of the French and English ships, but the French
+armies overran almost her entire territory. It was then that her people
+talked of entering their ships and sailing away together, transporting
+their nation bodily to some colony beyond Louis's reach. It was then that
+Amsterdam set the example which other districts heroically followed, of
+opening her dykes and letting the ocean flood the land to drive out the
+French. The leaders of the republic were murdered in a factional strife,
+and the young Prince William III of Orange, descended from that William
+the Silent who had led the Dutch against Philip II, was made practically
+dictator of the land. This young Prince William, afterward King William III
+of England, was the antagonist who sprang up against Louis, and in the end
+united all Europe against him and annihilated his power.
+
+Seeing the wonderful resistance that little Holland made against her
+apparently overwhelming antagonists, the rest of Germany took heart; allies
+came to the Dutch. Brandenburg and Austria and Spain forced Louis to fall
+back upon his own frontier, though with much resolute battling by his great
+general, Turenne.
+
+Next to young William, Louis found his most persistent opponent in
+Frederick William, the "Great Elector" of Brandenburg and Prussia,
+undoubtedly the ablest German sovereign of the age, and the founder of
+Prussia's modern importance. He had succeeded to his hereditary domains in
+1640, when they lay utterly waste and exhausted in the Thirty Years' War;
+and he reigned until 1688, nearly half a century, during which he was ever
+and vigorously the champion of Germany against all outside enemies. He
+alone, in the feeble Germany of the day, resisted French influence, French
+manners, and French aggression.
+
+In this first general war of the Germans and their allies against Louis,
+Frederick William proved the only one of their leaders seriously to be
+feared. Louis made an alliance with Sweden and persuaded the Swedes to
+overrun Brandenburg during its ruler's absence with his forces on the
+Rhine. But so firmly had the Great Elector established himself at home, so
+was he loved, that the very peasantry rose to his assistance. "We are only
+peasants," said their banners, "but we can die for our lord." Pitiful cry!
+Pitiful proof of how unused the commons were to even a little kindness, how
+eagerly responsive! Frederick William came riding like a whirlwind from the
+Rhine, his army straggling along behind in a vain effort to keep up. He
+hurled himself with his foremost troops upon the Swedes, and won the
+celebrated battle of Fehrbellin. He swept his astonished foes back into
+their northern peninsula. Brandenburg became the chief power of northern
+Germany.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Growth of Prussia under the Great Elector: His Victory at
+Fehrbellin_, page 138.]
+
+In 1679 the Peace of Ryswick ended the general war, and left Holland
+unconquered, but with the French frontier extended to the Rhine, and Louis
+at the height of his power, the acknowledged head of European affairs.
+Austria was under the rule of Leopold I, Emperor of Germany from 1657 to
+1705, whose pride and incompetence wholly prevented him from being what
+his position as chief of the Hapsburgs would naturally have made him, the
+leader of the opposition, the centre around whom all Europe could rally to
+withstand Louis's territorial greed. Leopold hated Louis, but he hated also
+the rising Protestant "Brandenburger," he hated the "merchant" Dutch,
+hated everybody in short who dared intrude upon the ancient order of his
+superiority, who refused to recognize his impotent authority. So he would
+gladly have seen Louis crush every opponent except himself, would have
+found it a pleasant vengeance indeed to see all these upstart powers
+destroying one another.
+
+Moreover, Austria was again engaged in desperate strife with the Turks.
+These were in the last burst of their effort at European conquest. No
+longer content with Hungary, twice in Leopold's reign did they advance to
+attack Vienna. Twice were they repulsed by Hungarian and Austrian valor.
+The final siege was in 1683. A vast horde estimated as high as two hundred
+thousand men marched against the devoted city. Leopold and most of the
+aristocracy fled, in despair of its defence. Only the common people who
+could not flee, remained, and with the resolution of despair beat off the
+repeated assaults of the Mahometans.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Last Turkish Invasion of Europe: Sobieski Saves Vienna_,
+page 164.]
+
+They were saved by John Sobieski, a king who had raised Poland to one of
+her rare outflashing periods of splendor. With his small but gallant Polish
+army he came to the rescue of Christendom, charged furiously upon the huge
+Turkish horde, and swept it from the field in utter flight. The tide of
+Turkish power receded forever; that was its last great wave which broke
+before the walls of Vienna. All Hungary was regained, mainly through the
+efforts of Austria's greatest general, Prince Eugene of Savoy. The centre
+of the centuries of strife shifted back where it had been in Hunyady's
+time, from Vienna to the mighty frontier fortress of Belgrad, which was
+taken and retaken by opposing forces.
+
+
+LATER EFFORTS OF LOUIS XIV
+
+The earlier career of Louis XIV seems to have been mainly influenced by his
+passion for personal renown; but he had always been a serious Catholic, and
+in his later life his interest in religion became a most important factor
+in his world. The Protestants of France had for wellnigh a century held
+their faith unmolested, safeguarded by that Edict of Nantes, which had been
+granted by Henry IV, a Catholic at least in name, and confirmed by Cardinal
+Richelieu, a Catholic by profession. Persuasive measures had indeed been
+frequently employed to win the deserters back to the ancient Church; but
+now under Louis's direction, a harsher course was attempted. The celebrated
+"dragonades" quartered a wild and licentious soldiery in Protestant
+localities, in the homes of Protestant house-owners, with special orders to
+make themselves offensive to their hosts. Under this grim discouragement
+Protestantism seemed dying out of France, and at last, in 1685, Louis,
+encouraged by success, took the final step and revoked the Edict of Nantes,
+commanding all his subjects to accept Catholicism, while at the same time
+forbidding any to leave the country. Huguenots who attempted flight were
+seized; many were slain. Externally at least, the reformed religion
+disappeared from France.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Revocation of the Edict of Nantes_, page 180.]
+
+Of course, despite the edict restraining them, many Huguenots, the most
+earnest and vigorous of the sect, did escape by flight; and some hundred
+thousands of France's ablest citizens were thus lost to her forever. Large
+numbers found a welcome in neighboring Holland; the Great Elector stood
+forward and gave homes to a wandering host of the exiles. England received
+colonies of them; and even distant America was benefited by the numbers who
+sought her freer shores. No enemy to France in all the world but received a
+welcome accession to its strength against her.
+
+In the same year that Protestant Europe was thus assailed and terrified by
+the reviving spectre of religious persecution, Charles II of England died
+and his brother James II succeeded him. Charles may have been Catholic at
+heart, but in name at least he had retained the English religion. James
+was openly Catholic. A hasty rebellion raised against him by his nephew,
+Monmouth, fell to pieces;[1] and James, having executed Monmouth and
+approved a cruel persecution of his followers, began to take serious steps
+toward forcing the whole land back to the ancient faith.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Monmouth's Rebellion_, page 172.]
+
+So here was kingly absolutism coming to the aid of the old religious
+intolerance. The English people, however, had already killed one king in
+defence of their liberties; and their resolute opposition to James began to
+suggest that they might kill another. Many of the leading nobles appealed
+secretly to William of Orange for help. William was, as we have said, the
+centre of opposition to Louis, and that began to mean to Catholicism as
+well. Also, William had married a daughter of King James and had thus some
+claim to interfere in the family domains. And, most important of all, as
+chief ruler of Holland, William had an army at command. With a portion of
+that army he set sail late in 1688 and landed in England. Englishmen of all
+ranks flocked to join him. King James fled to France, and a Parliament,
+hastily assembled in 1689, declared him no longer king and placed William
+and his wife Mary on the throne as joint rulers.[2] Thus William had two
+countries instead of one to aid him in his life-long effort against Louis.
+
+[Footnote 2: See _The English Revolution: Flight of James II_, page 200.]
+
+Louis, indeed, accepted the accession of his enemy as a threat of war and,
+taking up the cause of the fugitive James, despatched him with French
+troops to Ireland, where his Catholic faith made the mass of the people his
+devoted adherents. There were, however, Protestant Irish as well, and these
+defied James and held his troops at bay in the siege of Londonderry, while
+King William hurried over to Ireland with an army. Father-in-law and
+son-in-law met in the battle of the Boyne, and James was defeated in war
+as he had been in diplomacy. He fled back to France, leaving his Catholic
+adherents to withstand William as best they might. Limerick, the Catholic
+stronghold, was twice besieged and only yielded when full religious freedom
+had been guaranteed. Irishmen to this day call it with bitterness "the city
+of the violated treaty."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Siege of Londonderry and the Battle of the Boyne_, page
+258.]
+
+Meanwhile the strife between Louis and William had spread into another
+general European war. William had difficulties to encounter in his new
+kingdom. Its people cared little for his Continental aims and gave him
+little loyalty of service. In fact, peculation among public officials was
+so widespread that, despite large expenditures of money, England had only
+a most feeble, inefficient army in the field, and William was in black
+disgust against his new subjects. It was partly to aid the Government in
+its financial straits that the Bank of England was formed in 1694.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Establishment of the Bank of England_, page 286.]
+
+Yet Louis's troubles were greater and of deeper root. Catholic Austria and
+even the Pope himself, unable to submit to the arrogance of the "Grand
+Monarch," took part against him in this war. It can therefore no longer be
+regarded as a religious struggle. It marks the turning-point in Louis's
+fortunes. His boundless extravagance had exhausted France at last. Both in
+wealth and population she began to feel the drain. The French generals won
+repeated victories, yet they had to give slowly back before their more
+numerous foes; and in 1697 Louis purchased peace by making concessions of
+territory as well as courtesy.
+
+This peace proved little more than a truce. For almost half a century the
+European sovereigns had been waiting for Charles II of Spain to die. He
+was the last of his race, last of the Spanish Hapsburgs descended from
+the Emperor Charles V, and so infirm and feeble was he that it seemed the
+flickering candle of his life must puff out with each passing wind. Who
+should succeed him? In Mazarin's time, that crafty minister had schemed
+that the prize should go to France, and had wedded young Louis XIV to a
+Spanish princess. The Austrian Hapsburgs of course wanted the place for
+themselves, though to establish a common ancestry with their Spanish kin
+they must turn back over a century and a half to Ferdinand and Isabella.
+
+But strong men grew old and died, while the invalid Charles II still clung
+to his tottering throne. Louis ceased hoping to occupy it himself and
+claimed it for his son, then for his grandson, Philip. Not until 1700,
+after a reign of nearly forty years, did Charles give up the worthless game
+and expire. He declared Philip his heir, and the aged Louis sent the youth
+to Spain with an eager boast, "Go; there are no longer any Pyrenees." That
+is, France and Spain were to be one, a mighty Bourbon empire.
+
+That was just what Europe, experienced in Louis's unscrupulous aggression,
+dared not allow. So another general alliance was formed, with William of
+Holland and England at its head, to drive Philip from his new throne in
+favor of a Hapsburg. William died before the war was well under way, but
+the British people understood his purposes now and upheld them. Once more
+they felt themselves the champions of Protestantism in Europe. Anne, the
+second daughter of the deposed King James, was chosen as queen; and under
+her the two realms of England and Scotland were finally joined in one by
+the Act of Union (1707), with but a single Parliament.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Union of England and Scotland_, page 341.]
+
+Meanwhile Marlborough was sent to the Rhine with a strong British army.
+Prince Eugene paused in fighting the Turks and joined him with Austrian and
+German troops. Together they defeated the French in the celebrated battle
+of Blenheim (1704),[2] and followed it in later years with Oudenarde and
+Malplaquet. Louis was beaten. France was exhausted. The Grand Monarch
+pleaded for peace on almost any terms.
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Battle of Blenheim: Curbing of Louis XIV_, page 327.]
+
+Yet his grandson remained on the Spanish throne. For one reason, the
+Spaniards themselves upheld him and fought for him. For another, the
+allies' Austrian candidate became Emperor of Germany, and to make him ruler
+of Spain as well would only have been to consolidate the Hapsburg power
+instead of that of the Bourbons. Made dubious by this balance between
+evils, Europe abandoned the war. So there were two Bourbon kingdoms after
+all--but both too exhausted to be dangerous.
+
+Louis had indeed outlived his fame. He had roused the opposition of all his
+neighbors, and ruined France in the effort to extend her greatness. The
+praises and flattery of his earlier years reached him now only from the
+lips of a few determined courtiers. His people hated him, and in 1715
+celebrated his death as a release. Frenchmen high and low had begun the
+career which ended in their terrific Revolution. Lying on his dreary
+death-bed, the Grand Monarch apologized that he should "take so long in
+dying." Perhaps he, also, felt that he delayed the coming of the new age.
+What his career had done was to spread over all Europe a new culture and
+refinement, to rouse a new splendor and recklessness among the upper
+classes, and to widen almost irretrievably the gap between rich and poor,
+between kings and commons. In the very years that parliamentary government
+was becoming supreme in England, absolutism established itself upon the
+Continent.
+
+
+CHANGES IN NORTHERN EUROPE
+
+Toward the close of this age the balance of power in Northern Europe
+shifted quite as markedly as it had farther south. Three of the German
+electoral princes became kings. The Elector of Saxony was chosen King of
+Poland, thereby adding greatly to his power. George, Elector of Hanover,
+became King of England on the death of Queen Anne. And the Elector of
+Brandenburg, son of the Great Elector, when the war of 1701 against France
+and Spain broke out, only lent his aid to the European coalition on
+condition that the German Emperor should authorize him also to assume the
+title of king, not of Brandenburg but of his other and smaller domain of
+Prussia, which lay outside the empire. Most of the European sovereigns
+smiled at this empty change of title without a change of dominions; but
+Brandenburg or Prussia was thus made more united, more consolidated, and
+it soon rose to be the leader of Northern Germany. A new family, the
+Hohenzollerns, contested European supremacy with the Hapsburgs and the
+Bourbons.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Prussia Proclaimed a Kingdom_, page 310.]
+
+More important still was the strife between Sweden and Russia. Sweden had
+been raised by Gustavus Adolphus to be the chief power of the North, the
+chosen ally of Richelieu and Mazarin. Her soldiers were esteemed the best
+of the time. The prestige of the Swedes had, to be sure, suffered somewhat
+in the days when the Great Elector defeated them so completely at
+Fehrbellin and elsewhere. But Louis XIV had stood by them as his allies,
+and saved them from any loss of territory, so that in 1700 Sweden still
+held not only the Scandinavian peninsula but all the lands east of the
+Baltic as far as where St. Petersburg now stands, and much of the German
+coast to southward. The Baltic was thus almost a Swedish lake, when in
+1697 a new warrior king, Charles XII, rose to reassert the warlike
+supremacy of his race. He was but fifteen when he reached the throne; and
+Denmark, Poland, and Russia all sought to snatch away his territories. He
+fought the Danes and defeated them. He fought the Saxon Elector who had
+become king of Poland. Soon both Poland and Saxony lay crushed at the feet
+of the "Lion of the North," as they called him then--"Madman of the
+North," after his great designs had failed. Only Russia remained to oppose
+him--Russia, as yet almost unknown to Europe, a semi-barbaric frontier
+land, supposedly helpless against the strength and resources of
+civilization.
+
+Russia was in the pangs of a most sudden revolution. Against her will she
+was being suddenly and sharply modernized by Peter the Great, most famous
+of her czars. He had overthrown the turbulent militia who really ruled the
+land, and had waded through a sea of bloody executions to establish his
+own absolute power.[1] He had travelled abroad in disguise, studied
+shipbuilding in Holland, the art of government in England, and
+fortification and war wheresoever he could find a teacher. Removing from
+the ancient, conservative capital of Moscow, he planted his government,
+in defiance of Sweden, upon her very frontier, causing the city of St.
+Petersburg to arise as if by magic from a desolate, icy swamp in the far
+north.[2]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Peter the Great Modernizes Russia: Suppression of the
+Streltsi_, page 223.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Founding of St. Petersburg_, page 319.]
+
+Charles of Sweden scorned and defied him. At Narva in 1700, Charles with
+a small force of his famous troops drove Peter with a huge horde of his
+Russians to shameful flight. "They will teach us to beat them," said Peter
+philosophically; and so in truth he gathered knowledge from defeat after
+defeat, until at length at Poltava in 1709 he completely turned the tables
+upon Charles, overthrew him and so crushed his power that Russia
+succeeded Sweden as ruler of the extreme North, a rank she has ever since
+retained.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Downfall of Charles XII at Poltava: Triumph of Russia_,
+page 352.]
+
+
+GROWTH OF AMERICA
+
+The vast political and social changes of Europe in this age found their
+echo in the New World. The decay of Spain left her American colonies to
+feebleness and decay. The islands of the Caribbean Sea became the haunt of
+the buccaneers, pirates, desperadoes of all nations who preyed upon Spanish
+ships, and, as their power grew, extended their depredations northward
+along the American coast. So important did these buccaneers become that
+they formed regular governments among themselves. The most famed of their
+leaders was knighted by England as Sir Henry Morgan; and the most renowned
+of his achievements was the storm and capture of the Spanish treasure city,
+Panama.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Morgan, the Buccaneer, Sacks Panama_, page 66.]
+
+As Spain grew weak in America, France grew strong. From her Canadian
+colonies she sent out daring missionaries and traders, who explored the
+great lakes and the Mississippi valley.[3] They made friends with the
+Indians; they founded Louisiana.[4] All the north and west of the continent
+fell into their hands.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Discovery of the Mississippi_, page 108.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Colonization of Louisiana_, page 297.]
+
+Never, however, did their numbers approach those of the English colonists
+along the Atlantic coast. Both Massachusetts and Virginia were grown into
+important commonwealths, almost independent of England, and well able to
+support the weaker settlements rising around them. After the great Puritan
+exodus to New England to escape the oppression of Charles I, there had come
+a Royalist exodus to Virginia to escape the Puritanic tyranny of Cromwell's
+time. Large numbers of Catholics fled to Maryland. Huguenots established
+themselves in the Carolinas and elsewhere. Then came Penn to build a great
+Quaker state among the scattered Dutch settlements along the Delaware.[1]
+The American seaboard became the refuge of each man who refused to bow his
+neck to despotism of whatever type.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _William Penn Receives the Grant of Pennsylvania: Founding
+of Philadelphia_, page 153.]
+
+Under such settlers English America soon ceased to be a mere offshoot of
+Europe. It became a world of its own; its people developed into a new race.
+They had their own springs of action, their own ways of thought, different
+from those of Europe, more simple and intense as was shown in the Salem
+witchcraft excitement, or more resolute and advanced as was revealed in
+Bacon's Virginia rebellion.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Salem Witchcraft Trials_, page 268.]
+
+The aboriginal inhabitants, the Indians, found themselves pressed ever
+backward from the coast. They resisted, and in 1675 there arose in New
+England, King Philip's war, which for that section at least settled the
+Indian question forever. The red men of New England were practically
+exterminated.[3] Those of New York, the Iroquois, were more fortunate or
+more crafty. They dwelt deeper in the wilderness, and formed a buffer state
+between the French in Canada and the English to the south, drawing aid now
+from one, now from the other.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _King Philip's War_, page 125.]
+
+Each war between England and Louis XIV was echoed by strife between their
+rival colonies. When King William supplanted James in 1688 there followed
+in America also a "bloodless revolution."[4] Governor Andros, whom James
+had sent to imitate his own harsh tyranny in the colonies, was seized and
+shipped back to England. William was proclaimed king. The ensuing strife
+with France was marked by the most bloody of all America's Indian
+massacres. The Iroquois descended suddenly on Canada; the very suburbs
+of its capital, Montreal, were burned, and more than a thousand of the
+unsuspecting settlers were tortured, or more mercifully slain outright.[5]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Tyranny of Andros in New England: The Bloodless
+Revolution_, page 241.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Massacre of Lachine_, page 248.]
+
+In the later war about the Spanish throne, England captured Nova Scotia,
+the southern extremity of the French Canadian seaboard; and part of the
+price Louis XIV paid for peace was to leave this colony in England's
+hands.[1] The scale of American power began to swing markedly in her favor.
+Everywhere over the world, as the eighteenth century progressed, England
+with her parliamentary government was rising into power at the expense of
+France and absolutism.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Capture of Port Royal: France Surrenders Nova Scotia to
+England_, page 373.]
+
+[Footnote: FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME XIII.]
+
+
+
+%LOUIS XIV ESTABLISHES ABSOLUTE MONARCHY%
+
+A.D. 1661
+
+JAMES COTTER MORISON
+
+
+Not only was the reign of Louis XIV one of the longest in the world's
+history, but it also marked among Western nations the highest development
+of the purely monarchical principle. Including the time that Louis ruled
+under the guardianship of his mother and the control of his minister,
+Cardinal Mazarin, the reign covered more than seventy years (1643-1715).
+
+The sovereign who could say, "I am the state" ("_l'État c'est moi_"), and
+see his subjects acquiesce with almost Asiatic humility, while Europe
+looked on in admiration and fear, may be said to have embodied for modern
+times the essence of absolutism.
+
+That all things, domestic and foreign, seemed to be in concurrence for
+giving practical effect to the Grand Monarque's assumption of supremacy is
+shown by the fact that his name dominates the whole history of his time.
+His reign was not only "the Augustan Age of France"; it marked the
+ascendency of France in Europe.
+
+Of such a reign no adequate impression is to be derived from reading even
+the most faithful narrative of its thronging events. But the reign as well
+as the personality of Louis is set in clear perspective for us by Morison's
+picturesque and discriminating treatment.
+
+The reign of Louis XIV was the culminating epoch in the history of the
+French monarchy. What the age of Pericles was in the history of the
+Athenian democracy, what the age of the Scipios was in the history of the
+Roman Republic, that was the reign of Louis XIV in the history of the old
+monarchy of France. The type of polity which that monarchy embodied, the
+principles of government on which it reposed or brought into play, in this
+reign attain their supreme expression and development. Before Louis XIV the
+French monarchy has evidently not attained its full stature; it is thwarted
+and limited by other forces in the state. After him, though unresisted from
+without, it manifests symptoms of decay from within. It rapidly declines,
+and totally disappears seventy-seven years after his death.
+
+But it is not only the most conspicuous reign in the history of France--it
+is the most conspicuous reign in the history of monarchy in general. Of
+the very many kings whom history mentions, who have striven to exalt the
+monarchical principle, none of them achieved a success remotely comparable
+to his. His two great predecessors in kingly ambition, Charles V and Philip
+II, remained far behind him in this respect. They may have ruled over wider
+dominions, but they never attained the exceptional position of power and
+prestige which he enjoyed for more than half a century. They never were
+obeyed so submissively at home nor so dreaded and even respected abroad.
+For Louis XIV carried off that last reward of complete success, that he
+for a time silenced even envy, and turned it into admiration. We who can
+examine with cold scrutiny the make and composition of this colossus of
+a French monarchy; who can perceive how much the brass and clay in it
+exceeded the gold; who know how it afterward fell with a resounding ruin,
+the last echoes of which have scarcely died away, have difficulty in
+realizing the fascination it exercised upon contemporaries who witnessed
+its first setting up.
+
+Louis XIV's reign was the very triumph of commonplace greatness, of
+external magnificence and success, such as the vulgar among mankind can
+best and most sincerely appreciate. Had he been a great and profound ruler,
+had he considered with unselfish meditation the real interests of France,
+had he with wise insight discerned and followed the remote lines of
+progress along which the future of Europe was destined to move, it is
+lamentably probable that he would have been misunderstood in his lifetime
+and calumniated after his death.
+
+Louis XIV was exposed to no such misconception. His qualities were on the
+surface, visible and comprehensible to all; and although none of them was
+brilliant, he had several which have a peculiarly impressive effect when
+displayed in an exalted station. He was indefatigably industrious; worked
+on an average eight hours a day for fifty-four years; had great tenacity
+of will; that kind of solid judgment which comes of slowness of brain, and
+withal a most majestic port and great dignity of manners. He had also as
+much kindliness of nature as the very great can be expected to have; his
+temper was under severe control; and, in his earlier years at least, he
+had a moral apprehensiveness greater than the limitations of his intellect
+would have led one to expect.
+
+His conduct toward Molière was throughout truly noble, and the more so that
+he never intellectually appreciated Molière's real greatness. But he must
+have had great original fineness of tact, though it was in the end nearly
+extinguished by adulation and incense. His court was an extraordinary
+creation, and the greatest thing he achieved. He made it the microcosm of
+all that was the most brilliant and prominent in France. Every order of
+merit was invited there and received courteous welcome. To no circumstance
+did he so much owe his enduring popularity. By its means he impressed into
+his service that galaxy of great writers, the first and the last classic
+authors of France, whose calm and serene lustre will forever illumine the
+epoch of his existence. It may even be admitted that his share in that
+lustre was not so accidental and undeserved as certain king-haters have
+supposed.
+
+That subtle critic, M. Sainte-Beuve, thinks he can trace a marked rise even
+in Bossuet's style from the moment he became a courtier of Louis XIV.
+The King brought men together, placed them in a position where they
+were induced and urged to bring their talents to a focus. His court was
+alternately a high-bred gala and a stately university. If we contrast his
+life with those of his predecessor and successor, with the dreary existence
+of Louis XIII and the crapulous lifelong debauch of Louis XV, we become
+sensible that Louis XIV was distinguished in no common degree; and when we
+further reflect that much of his home and all of his foreign policy was
+precisely adapted to flatter, in its deepest self-love, the national spirit
+of France, it will not be quite impossible to understand the long-continued
+reverberation of his fame.
+
+But Louis XIV's reign has better titles than the adulations of courtiers
+and the eulogies of wits and poets to the attention of posterity. It marks
+one of the most memorable epochs in the annals of mankind. It stretches
+across history like a great mountain range, separating ancient France
+from the France of modern times. On the further slope are Catholicism and
+feudalism in their various stages of splendor and decay--the France of
+crusade and chivalry, of St. Louis and Bayard. On the hither side are
+freethought, industry, and centralization--the France of Voltaire, Turgot,
+and Condorcet.
+
+When Louis came to the throne the Thirty Years' War still wanted six years
+of its end, and the heat of theological strife was at its intensest glow.
+When he died the religious temperature had cooled nearly to freezing-point,
+and a new vegetation of science and positive inquiry was overspreading the
+world. This amounts to saying that his reign covers the greatest epoch
+of mental transition through which the human mind has hitherto passed,
+excepting the transition we are witnessing in the day which now is. We need
+but recall the names of the writers and thinkers who arose during Louis
+XIV's reign, and shed their seminal ideas broadcast upon the air, to
+realize how full a period it was, both of birth and decay; of the passing
+away of the old and the uprising of the new forms of thought.
+
+To mention only the greatest; the following are among the chiefs who
+helped to transform the mental fabric of Europe in the age of Louis XIV:
+Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, Locke, Boyle. Under these leaders the first
+firm irreversible advance was made out of the dim twilight of theology into
+the clear dawn of positive and demonstrative science.
+
+Inferior to these founders of modern knowledge, but holding a high rank as
+contributors to the mental activity of the age, were Pascal, Malebranche,
+Spinoza, and Bayle. The result of their efforts was such a stride forward
+as has no parallel in the history of the human mind. One of the most
+curious and significant proofs of it was the spontaneous extinction of the
+belief in witchcraft among the cultivated classes of Europe, as the English
+historian of rationalism has so judiciously pointed out. The superstition
+was not much attacked, and it was vigorously defended, yet it died a
+natural and quiet death from the changed moral climate of the world.
+
+But the chief interest which the reign of Louis XIV offers to the student
+of history has yet to be mentioned. It was the great turning-point in the
+history of the French people. The triumph of the monarchical principle was
+so complete under him, independence and self-reliance were so effectually
+crushed, both in localities and individuals, that a permanent bent was
+given to the national mind--a habit of looking to the government for all
+action and initiative permanently established.
+
+Before the reign of Louis XIV it was a question which might fairly be
+considered undecided: whether the country would be able or not, willing or
+not, to coöperate with its rulers in the work of the government and the
+reform of abuses. On more than one occasion such coöperation did not seem
+entirely impossible or improbable. The admirable wisdom and moderation
+shown by the Tiers-État in the States-General of 1614, the divers efforts
+of the Parliament of Paris to check extravagant expenditure, the vigorous
+struggles of the provincial assemblies to preserve some relic of their
+local liberties, seemed to promise that France would continue to advance
+under the leadership indeed of the monarchy, yet still retaining in large
+measure the bright, free, independent spirit of old Gaul, the Gaul of
+Rabelais, Montaigne, and Joinville.
+
+After the reign of Louis XIV such coöperation of the ruler and the ruled
+became impossible. The government of France had become a machine depending
+upon the action of a single spring. Spontaneity in the population at large
+was extinct, and whatever there was to do must be done by the central
+authority. As long as the government could correct abuses it was well; if
+it ceased to be equal to this task, they must go uncorrected. When at last
+the reform of secular and gigantic abuses presented itself with imperious
+urgency, the alternative before the monarchy was either to carry the reform
+with a high hand or perish in the failure to do so. We know how signal the
+failure was, and could not help being, under the circumstances; and through
+having placed the monarchy between these alternatives, it is no paradox
+to say that Louis XIV was one of the most direct ancestors of the "Great
+Revolution."
+
+Nothing but special conditions in the politics both of Europe and of France
+can explain this singular importance and prominence of Louis XIV's reign.
+And we find that both France and Europe were indeed in an exceptional
+position when he ascended the throne. The Continent of Europe, from one
+end to the other, was still bleeding and prostrate from the effect of the
+Thirty Years' War when the young Louis, in the sixteenth year of his age,
+was anointed king at Rheims. Although France had suffered terribly in that
+awful struggle, she had probably suffered less than any of the combatants,
+unless it be Sweden.
+
+It happened by a remarkable coincidence that precisely at this moment, when
+the condition of Europe was such that an aggressive policy on the part of
+France could be only with difficulty resisted by her neighbors, the power
+and prerogatives of the French crown attained an expansion and preeminence
+which they had never enjoyed in the previous history of the country. The
+schemes and hopes of Philip the Fair, of Louis XI, of Henry IV, and of
+Richelieu had been realized at last; and their efforts to throw off the
+insolent coercion of the great feudal lords had been crowned with complete
+success. The monarchy could hardly have conjectured how strong it had
+become but for the abortive resistance and hostility it met with in the
+Fronde.
+
+The flames of insurrection which had shot up, forked and menacing, fell
+back underground, where they smouldered for four generations yet to come.
+The kingly power soared, single and supreme, over its prostrate foes. Long
+before Louis XIV had shown any aptitude or disposition for authority, he
+was the object of adulation as cringing as was ever offered to a Roman
+emperor. When he returned from his consecration at Rheims, the rector of
+the University of Paris, at the head of his professorial staff, addressed
+the young King in these words: "We are so dazzled by the new splendor which
+surrounds your majesty that we are not ashamed to appear dumfounded at the
+aspect of a light so brilliant and so extraordinary"; and at the foot of an
+engraving at the same date he is in so many words called a demigod.
+
+It is evident that ample materials had been prepared for what the vulgar
+consider a great reign. Abundant opportunity for an insolent and
+aggressive foreign policy, owing to the condition of Europe. Security from
+remonstrance or check at home, owing to the condition of France. The temple
+is prepared for the deity; the priests stand by, ready to offer victims on
+the smoking altar; the incense is burning in anticipation of his advent. On
+the death of Mazarin, in 1661, he entered into his own.
+
+Louis XIV never forgot the trials and humiliations to which he and his
+mother had been subjected during the troubles of the Fronde. It has often
+been remarked that rulers born in the purple have seldom shown much
+efficiency unless they have been exposed to exceptional and, as it were,
+artificial probations during their youth. During the first eleven years
+of Louis' reign--incomparably the most creditable to him--we can trace
+unmistakably the influence of the wisdom and experience acquired in that
+period of anxiety and defeat. He then learned the value of money and the
+supreme benefits of a full exchequer. He also acquired a thorough dread of
+subjection to ministers and favorites--a dread so deep that it implied a
+consciousness of probable weakness on that side. As he went on in life he
+to a great extent forgot both these valuable lessons, but their influence
+was never entirely effaced. To the astonishment of the courtiers and even
+of his mother he announced his intention of governing independently, and
+of looking after everything himself. They openly doubted his perseverance.
+"You do not know him," said Mazarin. "He will begin rather late, but he
+will go further than most. There is enough stuff in him to make four kings
+and an honest man besides."
+
+His first measures were dictated less by great energy of initiative than by
+absolute necessity. The finances had fallen into such a chaos of jobbery
+and confusion that the very existence of the government depended upon a
+prompt and trenchant reform. It was Louis' rare good-fortune to find
+beside him one of the most able and vigorous administrators who have ever
+lived--Colbert. He had the merit--not a small one in that age--of letting
+this great minister invent and carry out the most daring and beneficial
+measures of reform, of which he assumed all the credit to himself. The
+first step was a vigorous attack on the gang of financial plunderers,
+who, with Fouquet at their head, simply embezzled the bulk of the state
+revenues. The money-lenders not only obtained the most usurious interest
+for their loans, but actually held in mortgage the most productive sources
+of the national taxation: and, not content with that, they bought up, at 10
+per cent. of their nominal value, an enormous amount of discredited bills,
+issued by the government in the time of the Fronde, which they forced the
+treasury to pay off at par; and this was done with the very money they had
+just before advanced to the government.
+
+Such barefaced plunder could not be endured, and Colbert was the last man
+to endure it. He not only repressed peculation, but introduced a number of
+practical improvements in the distribution, and especially in the mode of
+levying the taxes. So imperfect were the arrangements connected with the
+latter that it was estimated that of eighty-four millions paid by the
+people, only thirty-two millions entered into the coffers of the state. The
+almost instantaneous effects of Colbert's measures--the yawning deficit
+was changed into a surplus of forty-five millions in less than two
+years--showed how gross and flagrant had been the malversation preceding.
+
+Far more difficult, and far nobler in the order of constructive
+statesmanship, were his vast schemes to endow France with manufactures,
+with a commercial and belligerent navy, with colonies, besides his manifold
+reforms in the internal administration--tariffs and customs between
+neighboring provinces of France; the great work of the Languedoc canal; in
+fact, in every part and province of government. His success was various,
+but in some cases really stupendous. His creation of a navy almost
+surpasses belief. In 1661, when he first became free to act, France
+possessed only thirty vessels-of-war of all sizes. At the peace of
+Nimwegen, in 1678, she had acquired a fleet of one hundred twenty ships,
+and in 1683 she had got a fleet of one hundred seventy-six vessels; and
+the increase was quite as great in the size and armament of the individual
+ships as in their number.
+
+A perfect giant of administration, Colbert found no labor too great for
+his energies, and worked with unflagging energy sixteen hours a day for
+twenty-two years. It is melancholy to be forced to add that all this toil
+was as good as thrown away, and that the strong man went broken-hearted to
+the grave, through seeing too clearly that he had labored in vain for an
+ungrateful egotist. His great visions of a prosperous France, increasing in
+wealth and contentment, were blighted; and he closed his eyes upon scenes
+of improvidence and waste more injurious to the country than the financial
+robbery which he had combated in his early days. The government was not
+plundered as it had been, but itself was exhausting the very springs of
+wealth by its impoverishment of the people.
+
+Boisguillebert, writing in 1698, only fifteen years after Colbert's death,
+estimated the productive powers of France to have diminished by one-half
+in the previous thirty years. It seems, indeed, probable that the almost
+magical rapidity and effect of Colbert's early reforms turned Louis XIV's
+head, and that he was convinced that it only depended on his good pleasure
+to renew them to obtain the same result. He never found, as he never
+deserved to find, another Colbert; and he stumbled onward in ever deeper
+ruin to his disastrous end.
+
+His first breach of public faith was his attack on the Spanish Netherlands,
+under color of certain pretended rights of the Queen, his wife--the Infanta
+Marie Thérèse; although he had renounced all claims in her name at his
+marriage. This aggression was followed by his famous campaign in the Low
+Countries, when Franche-Comté was overrun and conquered in fifteen days. He
+was stopped by the celebrated triple alliance in mid career. He had not yet
+been intoxicated by success and vanity; Colbert's influence, always exerted
+on the side of peace, was at its height, the menacing attitude of Holland,
+England, and Sweden awed him, and he drew back. His pride was deeply
+wounded, and he revolved deep and savage schemes of revenge. Not on
+England, whose abject sovereign he knew could be had whenever he chose to
+buy him, but on the heroic little republic which had dared to cross his
+victorious path. His mingled contempt and rage against Holland were indeed
+instinctive, spontaneous, and in the nature of things. Holland was the
+living, triumphant incarnation of the two things he hated most--the
+principle of liberty in politics and the principle of free inquiry in
+religion.
+
+With a passion too deep for hurry or carelessness he made his preparations.
+The army was submitted to a complete reorganization. A change in the
+weapons of the infantry was effected, which was as momentous in its day as
+the introduction of the breech-loading rifle in ours. The old inefficient
+firelock was replaced by the flint musket, and the rapidity and certainty
+of fire vastly increased. The undisciplined independence of the officers
+commanding regiments and companies was suppressed by the rigorous and
+methodical Colonel Martinet, whose name has remained in other armies
+besides that of France as a synonyme of punctilious exactitude.
+
+The means of offence being thus secured, the next step was to remove the
+political difficulties which stood in the way of Louis' schemes; that is,
+to dissolve Sir W. Temple's diplomatic masterpiece, the triple alliance.
+The effeminate Charles II was bought over by a large sum of money and the
+present of a pretty French mistress. Sweden also received a subsidy, and
+her schemes of aggrandizement on continental Germany were encouraged.
+Meanwhile the illustrious man who ruled Holland showed that kind of
+weakness which good men often do in the presence of the unscrupulous and
+wicked. John de Witt could not be convinced of the reality of Louis'
+nefarious designs. France had ever been Holland's best friend, and he could
+not believe that the policy of Henry IV, of Richelieu and Mazarin, would
+be suddenly reversed by the young King of France. He tried negotiations in
+which he was amused by Louis so long as it suited the latter's purpose. At
+last, when the King's preparations were complete, he threw off the mask,
+and insultingly told the Dutch that it was not for hucksters like them, and
+usurpers of authority not theirs, to meddle with such high matters.
+
+Then commenced one of the brightest pages in the history of national
+heroism. At first the Dutch were overwhelmed; town after town capitulated
+without a blow. It seemed as if the United Provinces were going to be
+subdued, as Franche-Comté had been five years before. But Louis XIV had
+been too much intoxicated by that pride which goes before a fall to retain
+any clearness of head, if indeed he ever had any, in military matters. The
+great Condé, with his keen eye for attack, at once suggested one of those
+tiger-springs for which he was unequalled among commanders. Seeing the
+dismay of the Dutch, he advised a rapid dash with six thousand horse on
+Amsterdam. It is nearly certain, if this advice had been followed, that the
+little commonwealth, so precious to Europe, would have been extinguished;
+and that that scheme, born of heroic despair, of transferring to Batavia,
+"under new stars and amid a strange vegetation," the treasure of freedom
+and valor ruined in its old home by the Sardanapalus of Versailles, might
+have been put in execution. But it was not to be.
+
+Vigilant as Louis had been in preparation, he now seemed to be as careless
+or incompetent in execution. Not only he neglected the advice of his best
+general, and wasted time, but he did his best to drive his adversaries
+to despair and the resistance which comes of despair. They were told by
+proclamation that "the towns which should try to resist the forces of his
+majesty by opening the dikes or by any other means would be punished with
+the utmost rigor; and when the frost should have opened roads in all
+directions, his majesty would give no sort of quarter to the inhabitants of
+the said towns, but would give orders that their goods should be plundered
+and their houses burned."
+
+The Dutch envoys, headed by De Groot, son of the illustrious Grotius, came
+to the King's camp to know on what terms he would make peace. They were
+refused audience by the theatrical warrior, and told not to return except
+armed with full powers to make any concessions he might dictate. Then the
+"hucksters" of Amsterdam resolved on a deed of daring which is one of the
+most exalted among "the high traditions of the world." They opened the
+sluices and submerged the whole country under water. Still, their position
+was almost desperate, as the winter frosts were nearly certain to restore a
+firm foothold to the invader.
+
+They came again suing for peace, offering Maestricht, the Rhine fortresses,
+the whole of Brabant, the whole of Dutch Flanders, and an indemnity of ten
+millions. This was proffering more than Henry IV, Richelieu, or Mazarin had
+ever hoped for. These terms were refused, and the refusal carried with
+it practically the rejection of Belgium, which could not fail to be soon
+absorbed when thus surrounded by French possessions. But Louis met these
+offers with the spirit of an Attila. He insisted on the concession of
+Southern Gueldres and the island of Bommel, twenty-four millions of
+indemnity, the endowment of the Catholic religion, and an extraordinary
+annual embassy charged to present his majesty with a gold medal, which
+should set forth how the Dutch owed to him the conservation of their
+liberties. Such vindictive cruelty makes the mind run forward and dwell
+with a glow of satisfied justice on the bitter days of retaliation and
+revenge which in a future, still thirty years off, will humble the proud
+and pitiless oppressor in the dust; when he shall be a suppliant, and
+a suppliant in vain, at the feet of the haughty victors of Blenheim,
+Ramillies, and Oudenarde.
+
+But Louis' mad career of triumph was gradually being brought to a close.
+He had before him not only the waste of waters, but the iron will and
+unconquerable tenacity of the young Prince of Orange, "who needed neither
+hope to made him dare nor success to make him persevere." Gradually, the
+threatened neighbors of France gathered together and against her King.
+Charles II was forced to recede from the French alliance by his Parliament
+in 1674. The military massacre went on, indeed, for some years longer in
+Germany and the Netherlands; but the Dutch Republic was saved, and peace
+ratified by the treaty of Nimwegen.
+
+After the conclusion of the Dutch War the reign of Louis XIV enters on a
+period of manifest decline. The cost of the war had been tremendous. In
+1677 the expenditure had been one hundred ten millions, and Colbert had to
+meet this with a net revenue of eighty-one millions. The trade and commerce
+of the country had also suffered much during the war. With bitter grief the
+great minister saw himself compelled to reverse the beneficent policy of
+his earlier days, to add to the tax on salt, to increase the ever-crushing
+burden of the _taille_, to create new offices--hereditary employments in
+the government--to the extent of three hundred millions, augmenting the
+already monstrous army of superfluous officials, and, finally, simply to
+borrow money at high interest. The new exactions had produced widespread
+misery in the provinces before the war came to an end. In 1675 the Governor
+of Dauphiné had written to Colbert, saying that commerce had entirely
+ceased in his district, and that the larger part of the people had lived
+during the winter on bread made from acorns and roots, and that at the time
+of his writing they were seen to be eating the grass of the fields and the
+bark of trees. The long-continued anguish produced at last despair and
+rebellion.
+
+In Bordeaux great excesses were committed by the mob, which were punished
+with severity. Six thousand soldiers were quartered in the town, and were
+guilty of such disorders that the best families emigrated, and trade was
+ruined for a long period. But Brittany witnessed still worse evils. There
+also riots and disturbances had been produced by the excessive pressure of
+the imposts. An army of five thousand men was poured into the province, and
+inflicted such terror on the population that the wretched peasants, at the
+mere sight of the soldiers, threw themselves on their knees in an attitude
+of supplication and exclaimed, "_Mea culpa_." The lively Madame de Sévigné
+gives us some interesting details concerning these events in the intervals
+when court scandal ran low and the brave doings of Madame de Montespan
+suffered a temporary interruption. "Would you like," says the
+tender-hearted lady to her daughter, "would you like to have news of
+Rennes? There are still five thousand soldiers here, as more have come
+from Nantes. A tax of one hundred thousand crowns has been laid upon the
+citizens, and if the money is not forthcoming in twenty-four hours the tax
+will be doubled and levied by the soldiers. All the inhabitants of a large
+street have already been driven out and banished, and no one may receive
+them under pain of death; so that all these poor wretches, old men, women
+recently delivered, and children, were seen wandering in tears as they left
+the town, not knowing whither to go or where to sleep or what to eat. The
+day before yesterday one of the leaders of the riot was broken alive on
+the wheel. Sixty citizens have been seized, and to-morrow the hanging will
+begin." In other letters she writes that the tenth man had been broken on
+the wheel, and she thinks he will be the last, and that by dint of hanging
+it will soon be left off.
+
+Such was the emaciated France which Louis the Great picked systematically
+to the bone for the next thirty-five years. He had long ceased to be guided
+by the patriotic wisdom of the great Colbert. His evil genius now was the
+haughty and reckless Louvois, who carefully abstained from imitating the
+noble and daring remonstrances against excessive expenditure which Colbert
+addressed to his master, and through which he lost his influence at court.
+Still, with a self-abnegation really heroic, Colbert begged, urged,
+supplicated the King to reduce his outlay. He represented the misery of
+the people. "All letters that come from the provinces, whether from the
+intendants, the receivers-general, and even the bishops, speak of it," he
+wrote to the King. He insisted on a reduction of the taille by five or six
+millions; and surely it was time, when its collection gave rise to such
+scenes as have just been described. It was in vain. The King shut his eyes
+to mercy and reason. His gigantic war expenditure, when peace came, was
+only partially reduced. For, indeed, he was still at war, but with nature
+and self-created difficulties of his own making.
+
+He was building Versailles: transplanting to its arid sands whole groves
+of full-grown trees from the depths of distant forests, and erecting the
+costly and fantastic marvel of Marli to afford a supply of water. Louis'
+buildings cost, first and last, a sum which would be represented by about
+twenty million pounds. The amount squandered on pensions was also very
+great. The great Colbert's days were drawing to a close, and he was very
+sad. It is related that a friend on one occasion surprised him looking out
+of a window in his château of Sceau, lost in thought and apparently gazing
+on the well-tilled fields of his own manor. When he came out of his reverie
+his friend asked him his thoughts. "As I look," he said, "on these fertile
+fields, I cannot help remembering what I have seen elsewhere. What a rich
+country is France! If the King's enemies would let him enjoy peace it would
+be possible to procure the people that relief and comfort which the great
+Henry promised them. I could wish that my projects had a happy issue, that
+abundance reigned in the kingdom, that everyone were content in it, and
+that without employment or dignities, far from the court and business, I
+saw the grass grow in my home farm."
+
+The faithful, indefatigable worker was breaking down, losing strength,
+losing heart, but still struggling on manfully to the last. It was noticed
+that he sat down to his work with a sorrowful, despondent look, and not,
+as had been his wont, rubbing his hands with the prospect of toil, and
+exulting in his almost superhuman capacity for labor. The ingratitude of
+the King, whom he had served only too well, gave him the final blow. Louis,
+with truculent insolence, reproached him with the "frightful expenses" of
+Versailles. As if they were Colbert's fault. Colbert, who had always urged
+the completion of the Louvre and the suppression of Versailles.
+
+At last the foregone giant lay down to die. A tardy touch of feeling
+induced Louis to write him a letter. He would not read it. "I will hear no
+more about the King," he said; "let him at least allow me to die in
+peace. My business now is with the King of kings. If," he continued,
+unconsciously, we may be sure, plagiarizing Wolsey, "if I had done for God
+what I have done for that man, my salvation would be secure ten times over;
+and now I know not what will become of me."
+
+Surely a tender and touching evidence of sweetness in the strong man
+who had been so readily accused of harshness by grasping courtiers. The
+ignorant ingratitude of the people was even perhaps more melancholy than
+the wilful ingratitude of the King. The great Colbert had to be buried by
+night, lest his remains should be insulted by the mob. He, whose heart had
+bled for the people's sore anguish, was rashly supposed to be the cause of
+that anguish. It was a sad conclusion to a great life. But he would have
+seen still sadder days if he had lived.
+
+The health of the luxurious, self-indulgent Louis sensibly declined after
+he had passed his fortieth year. In spite of his robust appearance he had
+never been really strong. His loose, lymphatic constitution required much
+support and management. But he habitually over-ate himself. He was indeed a
+gross and greedy glutton. "I have often seen the King," says the Duchess
+of Orleans, "eat four platefuls of various soups, a whole pheasant, a
+partridge, a large dish of salad, stewed mutton with garlic, two good
+slices of ham, a plate of pastry, and then fruit and sweetmeats." A most
+unwholesome habit of body was the result.
+
+An abscess formed in his upper jaw, and caused a perforation of the palate,
+which obliged him to be very careful in drinking, as the liquid was apt to
+pass through the aperture and come out by the nostrils. He felt weak and
+depressed, and began to think seriously about "making his salvation."
+His courtly priests and confessors had never inculcated any duties but
+two--that of chastity and that of religious intolerance--and he had been
+very remiss in both. He now resolved to make hasty reparation. The ample
+charms of the haughty Montespan fascinated him no more. He tried a new
+mistress, but she did not turn out well. Madame de Fontanges was young and
+exquisitely pretty, but a giddy, presuming fool. She moreover died shortly.
+He was more than ever disposed to make his salvation--that is, to renounce
+the sins of the flesh, and to persecute his God-fearing subjects, the
+Protestants.
+
+The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, one of the greatest crimes and
+follies which history records, was too colossal a misdeed for the guilt
+of its perpetration to be charged upon one man, however wicked or however
+powerful he may have been. In this case, as in so many others, Louis was
+the exponent of conditions, the visible representative of circumstances
+which he had done nothing to create. Just as he was the strongest king
+France ever had, without having contributed himself to the predominance of
+the monarchy, so, in the blind and cruel policy of intolerance which led to
+the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he was the delegate and instrument
+of forces which existed independently of him. A willing instrument, no
+doubt; a representative of sinister forces; a chooser of the evil part when
+mere inaction would have been equivalent to a choice of the good. Still, it
+is due to historic accuracy to point out that, had he not been seconded by
+the existing condition of France, he would not have been able to effect the
+evil he ultimately brought about.
+
+Louis' reign continued thirty years after the Revocation of the Edict of
+Nantes, years crowded with events, particularly for the military historian,
+but over the details of which we shall not linger on this occasion. The
+brilliant reign becomes unbearably wearisome in its final period. The
+monotonous repetition of the same faults and the same crimes--profligate
+extravagance, revolting cruelty, and tottering incapacity--is as fatiguing
+as it is uninstructive. Louis became a mere mummy embalmed in etiquette,
+the puppet of his women and shavelings. The misery in the provinces grew
+apace, but there was no disturbance: France was too prostrate even to
+groan.
+
+In 1712 the expenditure amounted to two hundred forty millions, and the
+revenue to one hundred thirteen millions; but from this no less than
+seventy-six millions had to be deducted for various liabilities the
+government had incurred, leaving only a net income of thirty-seven
+millions--that is to say, the outlay was more than six times the income.
+
+The armies were neither paid nor fed, the officers received "food-tickets"
+(_billets de subsistance_), which they got cashed at a discount of 80 per
+cent. The government had anticipated by ten years its revenues from the
+towns. Still, this pale corpse of France must needs be bled anew to gratify
+the inexorable Jesuits, who had again made themselves complete masters of
+Louis XIV's mind. He had lost his confessor, Père la Chaise (who died in
+1709), and had replaced him by the hideous Letellier, a blind and fierce
+fanatic, with a horrible squint and a countenance fit for the gallows. He
+would have frightened anyone, says Saint-Simon, who met him at the corner
+of a wood. This repulsive personage revived the persecution of the
+Protestants into a fiercer heat than ever, and obtained from the moribund
+King the edict of March 8,1715, considered by competent judges the clear
+masterpiece of clerical injustice and cruelty. Five months later Louis XIV
+died, forsaken by his intriguing wife, his beloved bastard (the Due de
+Maine), and his dreaded priest.
+
+The French monarchy never recovered from the strain to which it had been
+subjected during the long and exhausting reign of Louis XIV. Whether it
+could have recovered in the hands of a great statesman summoned in time is
+a curious question. Could Frederick the Great have saved it had he been
+_par impossible_ Louis XIV's successor? We can hardly doubt that he would
+have adjourned, if not have averted, the great catastrophe of 1789. But
+it is one of the inseparable accidents of such a despotism as France had
+fallen under, that nothing but consummate genius can save it from ruin;
+and the accession of genius to the throne in such circumstances is a
+physiological impossibility.
+
+The house of Bourbon had become as effete as the house of Valois in the
+sixteenth century; as effete as the Merovingians and Carlovingians had
+become in a previous age; but the strong chain of hereditary right bound up
+the fortunes of a great empire with the feeble brain and bestial instincts
+of a Louis XV. This was the result of concentrating all the active force of
+the state in one predestined irremovable human being. This was the logical
+and necessary outcome of the labors of Philip Augustus, Philip the Fair, of
+Louis XI, of Henry IV, and Richelieu. They had reared the monarchy like
+a solitary obelisk in the midst of a desert; but it had to stand or fall
+alone; no one was there to help it, as no one was there to pull it down.
+This consideration enables us to pass into a higher and more reposing order
+of reflection, to leave the sterile impeachment of individual incapacity,
+and rise to the broader question, and ask why and how that incapacity was
+endowed with such fatal potency for evil. As it has been well remarked, the
+loss of a battle may lead to the loss of a state; but then, what are the
+deeper reasons which explain why the loss of a battle should lead to the
+loss of a state? It is not enough to say that Louis XIV was an improvident
+and passionate ruler, that Louis XV was a dreary and revolting voluptuary.
+The problem is rather this: Why were improvidence, passion, and debauchery
+in two men able to bring down in utter ruin one of the greatest monarchies
+the world has ever seen? In other words, what was the cause of the
+consummate failure, the unexampled collapse, of the French monarchy?
+
+No personal insufficiency of individual rulers will explain it; and,
+besides, the French monarchy repeatedly disposed of the services of
+admirable rulers. History has recorded few more able kings than Louis le
+Gros, Philip Augustus, Philip le Bel, Louis XI, and Henry IV; few abler
+ministers than Sully, Richelieu, Colbert, and Turgot. Yet the efforts of
+all these distinguished men resulted in leading the nation straight into
+the most astounding catastrophe in human annals. Whatever view we take of
+the Revolution, whether we regard it as a blessing or as a curse, we must
+needs admit it was a reaction of the most violent kind--a reaction contrary
+to the preceding action.
+
+The old monarchy can only claim to have produced the Revolution in the
+sense of having provoked it; as intemperance has been known to produce
+sobriety, and extravagance parsimony. If the _ancien régime_ led in the
+result to an abrupt transition to the modern era, it was only because it
+had rendered the old era so utterly execrable to mankind that escape in any
+direction seemed a relief, were it over a precipice.
+
+
+
+%NEW YORK TAKEN BY THE ENGLISH%
+
+A.D. 1664
+
+JOHN R. BRODHEAD
+
+
+For half a century the Dutch colony in New York, then called New
+Netherlands, had developed under various administrations, when British
+conquest brought it under another dominion. This transfer of the government
+affected the whole future of the colony and of the great State into which
+it grew, although the original Dutch influence has never disappeared from
+its character and history.
+
+Under Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor (1647-1664), the colony
+made great progress. He conciliated the Indians, agreed upon a boundary
+line with the English colonists at Hartford, Connecticut, and took
+possession of the colony of New Sweden, in Delaware.
+
+Meanwhile the English colonists in different parts of North America were
+carrying on illicit trade with the Dutch at New Amsterdam (New York city).
+The English government, already jealous of the growing commerce of Holland,
+was irritated by the loss of revenue, and resolved in 1663 upon the
+conquest of New Netherlands. Brodhead, the historian of New York, recounts
+the steps of this conquest in a manner which brings the rival powers and
+their agents distinctly before us.
+
+England now determined boldly to rob Holland of her American province. King
+Charles II accordingly sealed a patent granting to the Duke of York and
+Albany a large territory in America, comprehending Long Island and
+the islands in its neighborhood--his title to which Lord Stirling
+had released--and all the lands and rivers from the west side of the
+Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. This sweeping grant
+included the whole of New Netherlands and a part of the territory of
+Connecticut, which, two years before, Charles had confirmed to Winthrop and
+his associates.
+
+The Duke of York lost no time in giving effect to his patent. As lord high
+admiral he directed the fleet. Four ships, the Guinea, of thirty-six guns;
+the Elias, of thirty; the Martin, of sixteen; and the William and Nicholas,
+of ten, were detached for service against New Netherlands, and about four
+hundred fifty regular soldiers, with their officers, were embarked. The
+command of the expedition was intrusted to Colonel Richard Nicolls, a
+faithful Royalist, who had served under Turenne with James, and had been
+made one of the gentlemen of his bedchamber. Nicolls was also appointed to
+be the Duke's deputy-governor, after the Dutch possessions should have been
+reduced.
+
+With Nicolls were associated Sir Robert Carr, Colonel George Cartwright,
+and Samuel Maverick, as royal commissioners to visit the several colonies
+in New England. These commissioners were furnished with detailed
+instructions; and the New England governments were required by royal
+letters to "join and assist them vigorously" in reducing the Dutch to
+subjection. A month after the departure of the squadron the Duke of York
+conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all the territory between
+the Hudson and Delaware rivers, from Cape May north to 41° 40' latitude,
+and thence to the Hudson, in 41° latitude, "hereafter to be called by the
+name or names of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey."
+
+Intelligence from Boston that an English expedition against New Netherlands
+had sailed from Portsmouth was soon communicated to Stuyvesant by Captain
+Thomas Willett; and the burgomasters and _schepens_ of New Amsterdam were
+summoned to assist the council with their advice. The capital was ordered
+to be put in a state of defence, guards to be maintained, and _schippers_
+to be warned. As there was very little powder at Fort Amsterdam a supply
+was demanded from New Amstel, and a loan of five or six thousand guilders
+was asked from Rensselaerswyck. The ships about to sail for Curaçao were
+stopped; agents were sent to purchase provisions at New Haven; and as the
+enemy was expected to approach through Long Island Sound, spies were sent
+to obtain intelligence at West Chester and Milford.
+
+But at the moment when no precaution should have been relaxed, a despatch
+from the West India directors, who appear to have been misled by advices
+from London, announced that no danger need be apprehended from the English
+expedition, as it was sent out by the King only to settle the affairs of
+his colonies and establish episcopacy, which would rather benefit the
+company's interests in New Netherlands. Willett now retracting his previous
+statements, a perilous confidence returned. The Curaçao ships were allowed
+to sail; and Stuyvesant, yielded to the solicitation of his council, went
+up the river to look after affairs at Fort Orange.
+
+The English squadron had been ordered to assemble at Gardiner's Island.
+But, parting company in a fog, the Guinea, with Nicolls and Cartwright on
+board, made Cape Cod, and went on to Boston, while the other ships put in
+at Piscataway. The commissioners immediately demanded the assistance of
+Massachusetts, but the people of the Bay, who feared, perhaps, that the
+King's success in reducing the Dutch would enable him the better to put
+down his enemies in New England, were full of excuses. Connecticut,
+however, showed sufficient alacrity; and Winthrop was desired to meet the
+squadron at the west end of Long Island, whither it would sail with the
+first fair wind.
+
+When the truth of Willett's intelligence became confirmed, the council sent
+an express to recall Stuyvesant from Fort Orange. Hurrying back to the
+capital, the anxious director endeavored to redeem the time which had been
+lost. The municipal authorities ordered one-third of inhabitants, without
+exception, to labor every third day at the fortifications; organized a
+permanent guard; forbade the brewers to malt any grain; and called on the
+provincial government for artillery and ammunition. Six pieces, besides
+the fourteen previously allotted, and a thousand pounds of powder were
+accordingly granted to the city. The colonists around Fort Orange, pleading
+their own danger from the savages, could afford no help; but the soldiers
+of Esopus were ordered to come down, after leaving a small garrison at
+Ronduit.
+
+In the mean time the English squadron had anchored just below the Narrows,
+in Nyack Bay, between New Utrecht and Coney Island. The mouth of the river
+was shut up; communication between Long Island and Manhattan, Bergen and
+Achter Cul, interrupted; several yachts on their way to the South River
+captured; and the blockhouse on the opposite shore of Staten Island seized.
+Stuyvesant now despatched Counsellor de Decker, Burgomaster Van der Grist,
+and the two domines Megapolensis with a letter to the English commanders
+inquiring why they had come, and why they continued at Nyack without
+giving notice. The next morning, which was Saturday, Nicolls sent Colonel
+Cartwright, Captain Needham, Captain Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall up to
+Fort Amsterdam with a summons for the surrender of "the town situate on
+the island and commonly known by the name of Manhatoes, with all the forts
+thereunto belonging."
+
+This summons was accompanied by a proclamation declaring that all who would
+submit to his majesty's government should be protected "in his majesty's
+laws and justice," and peaceably enjoy their property. Stuyvesant
+immediately called together the council and the burgomasters, but would not
+allow the terms offered by Nicolls to be communicated to the people, lest
+they might insist on capitulating. In a short time several of the burghers
+and city officers assembled at the Stadt-Huys. It was determined to prevent
+the enemy from surprising the town; but, as opinion was generally against
+protracted resistance, a copy of the English communication was asked from
+the director. On the following Monday the burgomasters explained to a
+meeting of the citizens the terms offered by Nicolls. But this would not
+suffice; a copy of the paper itself must be exhibited. Stuyvesant then went
+in person to the meeting. "Such a course," said he, "would be disapproved
+of in the Fatherland--it would discourage the people." All his efforts,
+however, were in vain; and the director, protesting that he should not be
+held answerable for the "calamitous consequences," was obliged to yield to
+the popular will.
+
+Nicolls now addressed a letter to Winthrop, who with other commissioners
+from New England had joined the squadron, authorizing him to assure
+Stuyvesant that, if Manhattan should be delivered up to the King, "any
+people from the Netherlands may freely come and plant there or thereabouts;
+and such vessels of their own country may freely come thither, and any of
+them may as freely return home in vessels of their own country." Visiting
+the city under a flag of truce Winthrop delivered this to Stuyvesant
+outside the fort and urged him to surrender. The director declined; and,
+returning to the fort, he opened Nicolls' letter before the council and the
+burgomasters, who desired that it should be communicated, as "all which
+regarded the public welfare ought to be made public." Against this
+Stuyvesant earnestly remonstrated, and, finding that the burgomasters
+continued firm, in a fit of passion he "tore the letter in pieces." The
+citizens, suddenly ceasing their work at the palisades, hurried to the
+Stadt-Huys, and sent three of their numbers to the fort to demand the
+letter.
+
+In vain the director hastened to pacify the burghers and urge them to go on
+with the fortifications. "Complaints and curses" were uttered on all sides
+against the company's misgovernment; resistance was declared to be idle;
+"The letter! the letter!" was the general cry. To avoid a mutiny Stuyvesant
+yielded, and a copy, made out from the collected fragments, was handed to
+the burgomasters. In answer, however, to Nicolls' summons he submitted a
+long justification of the Dutch title; yet while protesting against any
+breach of the peace between the King and the States-General, "for the
+hinderance and prevention of all differences and the spilling of innocent
+blood, not only in these parts, but also in Europe," he offered to treat.
+"Long Island is gone and lost;" the capital "cannot hold out long," was the
+last despatch to the "Lord Majors" of New Netherlands, which its director
+sent off that night "in silence through Hell Gate."
+
+Observing Stuyvesant's reluctance to surrender, Nicolls directed Captain
+Hyde, who commanded the squadron, to reduce the fort. Two of the ships
+accordingly landed their troops just below Breuckelen (Brooklyn), where
+volunteers from New England and the Long Island villages had already
+encamped. The other two, coming up with full sail, passed in front of Fort
+Amsterdam and anchored between it and Nutten Island. Standing on one of
+the angles of the fortress--an artilleryman with a lighted match at his
+side--the director watched their approach. At this moment the two domines
+Megapolensis, imploring him not to begin hostilities, led Stuyvesant from
+the rampart, who then, with a hundred of the garrison, went into the city
+to resist the landing of the English. Hoping on against hope, the director
+now sent Counsellor de Decker, Secretary Van Ruyven, Burgomaster Steenwyck,
+and "Schepen" Cousseau with a letter to Nicolls stating that, as he
+felt bound "to stand the storm," he desired if possible to arrange on
+accommodation. But the English commander merely declared, "To-morrow I will
+speak with you at Manhattan."
+
+"Friends," was the answer, "will be welcome if they come in a friendly
+manner."
+
+"I shall come with ships and soldiers," replied Nicolls; "raise the white
+flag of peace at the fort, and then something may be considered."
+
+When this imperious message became known, men, women, and children flocked
+to the director, beseeching him to submit. His only answer was, "I would
+rather be carried out dead." The next day the city authorities, the
+clergymen, and the officers of the burgher guard, assembling at the
+Stadt-Huys, at the suggestion of Domine Megapolensis adopted a remonstrance
+to the director, exhibiting the hopeless situation of New Amsterdam, on all
+sides "encompassed and hemmed in by enemies," and protesting against any
+further opposition to the will of God. Besides the _schout_, burgomasters,
+and schepens, the remonstrance was signed by Wilmerdonck and eighty-five of
+the principal inhabitants, among whom was Stuyvesant's own son, Balthazar.
+
+At last the director was obliged to yield. Although there were now fifteen
+hundred souls in New Amsterdam, there were not more than two hundred fifty
+men able to bear arms, besides the one hundred fifty regular soldiers. The
+people had at length refused to be called out, and the regular troops were
+already heard talking of "where booty is to be found, and where the young
+women live who wear gold chains." The city, entirely open along both
+rivers, was shut on the northern side by a breastwork and palisades, which,
+though sufficient to keep out the savages, afforded no defence against
+a military siege. There were scarcely six hundred pounds of serviceable
+powder in store.
+
+A council of war had reported Fort Amsterdam untenable for though it
+mounted twenty-four guns, its single wall of earth not more than ten feet
+high and four thick, was almost touches by the private dwellings clustered
+around, and was commanded, within a pistol-shot, by hills on the north,
+over which ran the "Heereweg" or Broadway.
+
+Upon the faith of Nicolls' promise to deliver back the city and fort "in
+case the difference of the limits of this province be agreed upon betwixt
+his majesty of England and the high and mighty States-General," Stuyvesant
+now commissioned Counsellor John de Decker, Captain Nicholas Varlett, Dr.
+Samuel Megapolensis, Burgomaster Cornelius Steenwyck, old Burgomaster Oloff
+Stevenson van Cortlandt, and old Schepen Jacques Cousseau to agree upon
+articles with the English commander or his representatives. Nicolls, on
+his part, appointed Sir Robert Carr and Colonel George Cartwright, John
+Winthrop, and Samuel Willys, of Connecticut, and Thomas Clarke and John
+Pynchon, of Massachusetts. "The reason why those of Boston and Connecticut
+were joined," afterward explained the royal commander, "was because those
+two colonies should hold themselves the more engaged with us if the Dutch
+had been overconfident of their strength."
+
+At eight o'clock the next morning, which was Saturday, the Commissioners
+on both sides met at Stuyvesant's "bouwery" and arranged the terms of
+capitulation. The only difference which arose was respecting the Dutch
+soldiers, whom the English refused to convey back to Holland. The articles
+of capitulation promised the Dutch security in their property, customs of
+inheritance, liberty of conscience and church discipline. The municipal
+officers of Manhattan were to continue for the present unchanged, and the
+town was to be allowed to choose deputies, with "free voices in all public
+affairs." Owners of property in Fort Orange might, if they pleased, "slight
+the fortifications there," and enjoy their houses "as people do where there
+is no fort."
+
+For six months there was to be free intercourse with Holland. Public
+records were to be respected. The articles, consented to by Nicolls, were
+to be ratified by Stuyvesant the next Monday morning at eight o'clock, and
+within two hours afterward, the "fort and town called New Amsterdam, upon
+the Isle of Manhatoes," were to be delivered up, and the military officers
+and soldiers were to "march out with their arms, drums beating, and colors
+flying, and lighted matches."
+
+On the following Monday morning at eight o'clock Stuyvesant, at the head of
+the garrison, marched out of Fort Amsterdam with all the honors of war, and
+led his soldiers down the Beaver Lane to the water-side, whence they were
+embarked for Holland. An English corporal's guard at the same time took
+possession of the fort; and Nicolls and Carr, with their two companies,
+about a hundred seventy strong, entered the city, while Cartwright took
+possession of the gates and the Stadt-Huys. The New England and Long Island
+volunteers, however, were prudently kept at the Breuckelen ferry, as the
+citizens dreaded most being plundered by them. The English flag was hoisted
+on Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was immediately changed to "Fort
+James." Nicolls was now proclaimed by the burgomasters deputy-governor for
+the Duke of York, in compliment to whom he directed that the city of New
+Amsterdam should thenceforth be known as "New York."
+
+To Nicolls' European eye the Dutch metropolis, with its earthen fort
+enclosing a windmill and high flag-staff, a prison and a governor's house,
+and a double-roofed church, above which loomed a square tower, its gallows
+and whipping-post at the river's side, and its rows of houses which hugged
+the citadel, presented but a mean appearance. Yet before long he described
+it to the Duke as "the best of all his majesty's towns in America," and
+assured his royal highness that, with proper management, "within five years
+the staple of America will be drawn hither, of which the brethren of Boston
+are very sensible."
+
+The Dutch frontier posts were thought of next. Colonel Cartwright, with
+Captains Thomas Willett, John Manning, Thomas Breedon, and Daniel Brodhead,
+were sent to Fort Orange, as soon as possible, with a letter from Nicolls
+requiring La Montagne and the magistrates and inhabitants to aid in
+prosecuting his majesty's interest against all who should oppose a
+peaceable surrender. At the same time Van Rensselaer was desired to bring
+down his patent and papers to the new governor and likewise to observe
+Cartwright's directions.
+
+Counsellor de Decker, however, travelling up to Fort George ahead of the
+English commissioners, endeavored, without avail, to excite the inhabitants
+to opposition; and his conduct being judged contrary to the spirit of the
+capitulation which he had signed, he was soon afterward ordered out of
+Nicolls' government. The garrison quietly surrendered, and the name of Fort
+Orange was changed to that of "Fort Albany," after the second title of the
+Duke of York. A treaty was immediately signed between Cartwright and
+the sachems of the Iroquois, who were promised the same advantages "as
+heretofore they had from the Dutch"; and the alliance which was thus
+renewed continued unbroken until the beginning of the American Revolution.
+
+It only remained to reduce the South River; whither Sir Robert Carr was
+sent with the Guinea, the William and Nicholas, and "all the soldiers which
+are not in the fort." To the Dutch he was instructed to promise all their
+privileges, "only that they change their masters." To the Swedes he was to
+"remonstrate their happy return under a monarchical government." To Lord
+Baltimore's officers in Maryland he was to say that, their pretended rights
+being a doubtful case, "possession would be kept until his majesty is
+informed and satisfied otherwise."
+
+A tedious voyage brought the expedition before New Amstel. The burghers and
+planters, "after almost three days' parley," agreed to Carr's demands,
+and Ffob Oothout with five others signed articles of capitulation which
+promised large privileges. But the Governor and soldiery refusing the
+English propositions, the fort was stormed and plundered, three of the
+Dutch being killed and ten wounded. In violation of his promises, Carr now
+exhibited the most disgraceful rapacity; appropriated farms to himself, his
+brother, and Captains Hyde and Morely, stripped bare the inhabitants, and
+sent the Dutch soldiers to be sold as slaves in Virginia. To complete the
+work, a boat was despatched to the city's colony at the Horekill, which was
+seized and plundered of all its effects, and the marauding party even took
+"what belonged to the Quacking Society of Plockhoy, to a very naile."
+
+The reduction of New Netherlands was now accomplished. All that could
+be further done was to change its name; and, to glorify one of the most
+bigoted princes in English history, the royal province was ordered to be
+called "New York." Ignorant of James' grant of New Jersey to Berkeley
+and Carteret, Nicolls gave to the region west of the Hudson the name of
+"Albania," and to Long Island that of "Yorkshire," so as to comprehend
+all the titles of the Duke of York. The flag of England was at length
+triumphantly displayed, where, for half a century, that of Holland had
+rightfully waved; and from Virginia to Canada, the King of Great Britain
+was acknowledged as sovereign.
+
+Viewed in all its aspects, the event which gave to the whole of that
+country a unity in allegiance, and to which a misgoverned people
+complacently submitted, was as inevitable as it was momentous. But whatever
+may have been its ultimate consequences, this treacherous and violent
+seizure of the territory and possessions of an unsuspecting ally was no
+less a breach of private justice than of public faith.
+
+It may, indeed, be affirmed that, among all the acts of selfish perfidy
+which royal ingratitude conceived and executed, there have been few more
+characteristic and none more base.
+
+
+
+%GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON%
+
+A.D. 1665
+
+DANIEL DEFOE
+
+
+None of the great visitations of disease that have afflicted Europe within
+historic times has wholly spared England. But from the time of the "Black
+Death" (1349) the country experienced no such suffering from any epidemic
+as that which fell upon London in 1665. That year the "Great Plague" is
+said to have destroyed the lives of nearly one hundred thousand people in
+England's capital. The plague had previously cropped up there every few
+years, from lack of proper sanitation. At the time of this outbreak the
+water-supply of the city was notoriously impure. In 1665 the heat was
+uncommonly severe. Pepys said that June 7th of that year was the hottest
+day that he had ever known.
+
+The plague of 1665 is said, however, to have been brought in merchandise
+directly from Holland, where it had been smouldering for several years.
+Its ravages in London have often been described, and Defoe found in the
+calamity a subject for a special story on history. Probably he was not more
+than six years old when the plague appeared; but he assumes throughout the
+pose of a respectable and religious householder of the period. All his own
+recollections, all the legends of the time, and the parish records are
+grouped in masterly fashion to form a single picture. The account has been
+described as a "masterpiece of verisimilitude."
+
+In the first place a blazing star or comet appeared for several months
+before the plague, as there did the year after, a little before the great
+fire; the old women and the weak-minded portion of the other sex, whom I
+could almost call old women too, remarked--especially afterward, though not
+till both those judgments were over--that those two comets passed directly
+over the city, and that so very near the houses that it was plain they
+imported something peculiar to the city alone; that the comet before the
+pestilence was of a faint, dull, languid color, and its motion very heavy,
+solemn, and slow; but that the comet before the fire was bright and
+sparkling, or, as others said, flaming, and its motion swift and furious;
+and that, accordingly, one foretold a heavy judgment, slow, but severe,
+terrible, and frightful, as the plague was; but the other foretold
+a stroke, sudden, swift, and fiery, like the conflagration. Nay, so
+particular some people were that, as they looked upon that comet preceding
+the fire, they fancied that they not only saw it pass swiftly and fiercely,
+and could perceive the motion with the eye, but they even heard it; that it
+made a rushing, mighty noise, fierce and terrible, though at a distance and
+but just perceivable.
+
+I saw both these stars, and I must confess, had so much of the common
+notion of such things in my head that I was apt to look upon them as the
+forerunners and warnings of God's judgments; and especially, when after the
+plague had followed the first, I yet saw another of the like kind, I could
+not but say, God had not yet sufficiently scourged the city.
+
+But I could not at the same time carry these things to the height that
+others did, knowing, too, that natural causes are assigned by the
+astronomers for such things; and that their motions, and even their
+evolutions, are calculated, or pretended to be calculated; so that they
+cannot be so perfectly called the forerunners or foretellers, much less the
+procurers of such events as pestilence, war, fire, and the like.
+
+But let my thoughts, and the thoughts of the philosophers, be or have been
+what they will, these things had a more than ordinary influence upon the
+minds of the common people, and they had, almost universally, melancholy
+apprehensions of some dreadful calamity and judgment coming upon the city;
+and this principally from the sight of this comet, and the little alarm
+that was given in December by two people dying in St. Giles.
+
+The apprehensions of the people were likewise strangely increased by the
+error of the times; in which, I think the people, from what principles
+I cannot imagine, were more addicted to prophecies, and astrological
+conjurations, dreams, and old wives' tales, than ever they were before or
+since. Whether this unhappy temper was originally raised by the follies of
+some people who got money by it--that is to say, by printing predictions
+and prognostications--I know not; but certain it is books frightened them
+terribly; such as _Lilly's Almanack, Gadbury's Allogical Predictions,
+Poor Robin's Almanack_, and the like; also several pretended religious
+books--one entitled _Come out of her, my people, lest you be partaker
+of her plagues_; another, called _Fair Warning_; another, _Britain's
+Remembrancer_; and many such, all or most part of which foretold directly
+or covertly the ruin of the city: nay, some were so enthusiastically bold
+as to run about the streets with their oral predictions, pretending they
+were sent to preach to the city; and one in particular, who like Jonah
+to Nineveh, cried in the streets, "Yet forty days, and London shall be
+destroyed." I will not be positive whether he said "yet forty days" or "yet
+a few days."
+
+Another ran about naked, except a pair of drawers about his waist, crying
+day and night. As a man that Josephus mentions, who cried, "Woe to
+Jerusalem!" a little before the destruction of that city, so this poor
+naked creature cried, "O the great and the dreadful God!" and said no more,
+but repeated these words continually, with a voice and countenance full of
+horror, a swift pace; and nobody could ever find him to stop or rest or
+take any sustenance, at least that ever I could hear of. I met this poor
+creature several times in the streets, and would have spoken to him, but he
+would not enter into conversation with me, or anyone else, but held on his
+dismal cries continually. These things terrified the people to the last
+degree; and especially when two or three times, as I have mentioned
+already, they found one or two in the bills dead of the plague at St.
+Giles.
+
+The justices of peace for Middlesex, by direction of the secretary
+of state, had begun to shut up houses in the parishes of St.
+Giles-in-the-Fields, St. Martin's, St. Clement Danes, etc., and it was with
+good success; for in several streets where the plague broke out, after
+strictly guarding the houses that were infected, and taking care to bury
+those that died immediately after they were known to be dead, the plague
+ceased in those streets. It was also observed that the plague decreased
+sooner in those parishes, after they had been visited in detail, than it
+did in the parishes of Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Aldgate, Whitechapel,
+Stepney, and others; the early care taken in that manner being a great
+check to it.
+
+This shutting up of houses was a method first taken, as I understand, in
+the plague which happened in 1603, on the accession of King James I to the
+crown; and the power of shutting people up in their own houses was granted
+by an act of Parliament entitled "An act for the charitable relief and
+ordering of persons infected with the plague." On which act of Parliament
+the lord mayor and aldermen of the city of London founded the order they
+made at this time, viz., June, 1665; when the numbers infected within the
+city were but few, the last bill for the ninety-two parishes being but
+four. By these means, when there died about one thousand a week in the
+whole, the number in the city was but twenty-eight; and the city was more
+healthy in proportion than any other place all the time of the infection.
+
+These orders of my lord mayor were published, as I have said, toward the
+end of June. They came into operation from July ist, and were as follows:
+
+  "_Orders conceived and published by the lord mayor and aldermen
+  of the city of London, concerning the infection of the plague_,
+  1665.
+
+"Whereas, in the reign of our late sovereign, King James, of happy memory,
+an act was made for the charitable relief and ordering of persons infected
+with the plague; whereby authority was given to justices of the peace,
+mayors, bailiffs, and other head officers, to appoint within their several
+limits, examiners, searchers, watchmen, surgeons, and nurse-keepers, and
+buriers, for the persons and places infected, and to minister unto them
+oaths for the performance of their offices. And the same statute did also
+authorize the giving of other directions, as unto them for the present
+necessity should seem good in their discretions. It is now upon special
+consideration thought very expedient for preventing and avoiding of
+infection of sickness (if it shall so please Almighty God) that these
+officers be appointed, and these orders hereafter duly observed."
+
+Then follow the orders giving these officers instructions in detail and
+prescribing the extent and limits of their several duties. Next, "_Orders
+concerning infected houses and persons sick of the plague._" These had
+reference to the "notice to be given of the sickness," "sequestration of
+the sick," "airing the stuff," "shutting up of the house," "burial of
+the dead," "forbidding infected stuff to be sold, and of persons leaving
+infected houses," "marking of infected houses," and "regulating hackney
+coaches that have been used to convey infected persons."
+
+Lastly there followed "_Orders for cleansing and keeping the streets and
+houses sweet_" and "_Orders concerning loose persons and idle assemblies_"
+such as "beggars," "plays," "feasts," and "tippling-houses."
+
+  "(Signed) SIR JOHN LAWRENCE, _Lord Mayor_.
+  SIR GEORGE WATERMAN,
+  SIR CHARLES DOE,
+  _Sheriffs_."
+
+I need not say that these orders extended only to such places as were
+within the lord mayor's jurisdiction; so it is requisite to observe that
+the justices of the peace, within those parishes, and those places called
+the hamlets and out-parts, took the same method: as I remember, the orders
+for shutting up of houses did not take place so soon on our side, because,
+as I said before, the plague did not reach the eastern parts of the town,
+at least not begin to be very violent, till the beginning of August.
+
+Now, indeed, it was coming on amain; for the burials that same week were in
+the next adjoining parishes thus:
+
+
+                                  The next week  To the
+                                  prodigiously   1st of
+                                  increased, as  Aug. thus
+
+  St. Leonard's, Shoreditch ... 64      84        110
+  St. Botolph, Bishopsgate .... 65     105        116
+  St. Giles, Cripplegate.......213     421        554
+                               ---     ---        ---
+                               342     610        780
+
+The shutting up of houses was at first considered a very cruel and
+unchristian thing, and the poor people so confined made bitter
+lamentations; complaints were also daily brought to my lord mayor, of
+houses causelessly--and some maliciously--shut up. I cannot say, but, upon
+inquiry, many that complained so loudly were found in a condition to be
+continued; and others again, inspection being made upon the sick person, on
+his being content to be carried to the pesthouse, were released.
+
+Indeed, many people perished in these miserable confinements, which it
+is reasonable to believe would not have been distempered if they had had
+liberty, though the plague was in the house; at which the people were
+at first very clamorous and uneasy, and several acts of violence were
+committed on the men who were set to watch the houses so shut up; also
+several people broke out by force, in many places, as I shall observe by
+and by; still it was a public good that justified the private mischief;
+and there was no obtaining the least mitigation by any application to
+magistrates. This put the people upon all manner of stratagems, in order,
+if possible, to get out; and it would fill a little volume to set down the
+arts used by the people of such houses to shut the eyes of the watchmen who
+were employed, to deceive them, and to escape or break out from them. A few
+incidents on this head may prove not uninteresting.
+
+As I went along Houndsditch one morning, about eight o'clock, there was a
+great noise; it is true, indeed, there was not much crowd, because people
+were not very free to gather or to stay long together; but the outcry was
+loud enough to prompt my curiosity, and I called to one that looked out of
+a window, and asked what was the matter.
+
+A watchman, it seems, had been employed to keep his post at the door of a
+house which was infected, or said to be infected, and was shut up; he had
+been there all night for two nights together, as he told his story, and the
+day watchman had been there one day, and had now come to relieve him; all
+this while no noise had been heard in the house, no light had been seen;
+they called for nothing, sent him no errands, which was the chief business
+of the watchman; neither had they given him any disturbance, as he said,
+from the Monday afternoon, when he heard great crying and screaming in the
+house, which, as he supposed, was occasioned by some of the family dying
+just at that time. It seems the night before, the dead-cart, as it was
+called, had been stopped there, and a servant-maid had been brought down
+to the door dead, and the buriers or bearers, as they were called, put her
+into the cart, wrapped only in a green rug, and carried her away.
+
+The watchman had knocked at the door, it seems, when he heard that noise
+and crying, as above, and nobody answered a great while; but at last one
+looked out, and said, with an angry, quick tone, "What do ye want, that ye
+make such a knocking?" He answered: "I am the watchman! how do you do?
+what is the matter?" The person answered: "What is that to you? Stop the
+dead-cart." This, it seems, was about one o'clock; soon after, as the
+fellow said, he stopped the dead-cart, and then knocked again, but nobody
+answered: he continued knocking, and the bellman called out several times,
+"Bring out your dead!" but nobody answered, till the man that drove the
+cart, being called to other houses, would stay no longer, and drove away.
+
+The watchman knew not what to make of all this, so he let them alone
+till the day watchman came to relieve him, giving him an account of the
+particulars. They knocked at the door a great while, but nobody answered;
+and they observed that the window or casement at which the person had
+looked out continued open, being up two pair of stairs. Upon this the two
+men, to satisfy their curiosity, got a long ladder, and one of them went
+up to the window and looked into the room, where he saw a woman lying dead
+upon the floor in a dismal manner, having no clothes on her but her shift.
+Although he called aloud, and knocked hard on the floor with his long
+staff, yet nobody stirred or answered; neither could he hear any noise in
+the house.
+
+Upon this he came down again and acquainted his fellow, who went up also,
+and, finding the case as above, they resolved either to acquaint the lord
+mayor or some other magistrate with it. The magistrate, it seems, upon
+the information of the two men, ordered the house to be broken open, a
+constable and other persons being appointed to be present, that nothing
+might be plundered; and accordingly it was so done, when nobody was found
+in the house but that young woman, who, having been infected, and past
+recovery, the rest had left her to die by herself. Everyone was gone,
+having found some way to delude the watchman and to get open the door or
+get out at some back door or over the tops of the houses, so that he knew
+nothing of it; and as to those cries and shrieks which the watchman had
+heard, it was supposed they were the passionate cries of the family at
+the bitter parting, which, to be sure, it was to them all, this being the
+sister to the mistress of the house.
+
+Many such escapes were made out of infected houses, as particularly when
+the watchman was sent some errand, that is to say, for necessaries, such as
+food and physic, to fetch physicians if they would come, or surgeons, or
+nurses, or to order the dead-cart, and the like. Now, when he went it was
+his duty to lock up the outer door of the house and take the key away with
+him; but to evade this and cheat the watchman, people got two or three keys
+made to their locks, or they found means to unscrew the locks, open the
+door, and go out as they pleased. This way of escape being found out, the
+officers afterward had orders to padlock up the doors on the outside and
+place bolts on them, as they thought fit.
+
+At another house, as I was informed, in the street near Aldgate, a whole
+family was shut up and locked in because the maidservant was ill: the
+master of the house had complained, by his friends, to the next alderman
+and to the lord mayor, and had consented to have the maid carried to the
+pesthouse, but was refused, so the door was marked with a red cross, a
+padlock on the outside, as above, and a watchman set to keep the door
+according to public order.
+
+After the master of the house found there was no remedy, but that he, his
+wife, and his children were to be locked up with this poor distempered
+servant, he called to the watchman and told him he must go then and fetch a
+nurse for them to attend this poor girl, for that it would be certain death
+to them all to oblige them to nurse her; and that if he would not do this
+the maid must perish, either of the distemper, or be starved for want of
+food, for he was resolved none of his family should go near her, and she
+lay in the garret, four-story high, where she could not cry out or call to
+anybody for help.
+
+The watchman went and fetched a nurse as he was appointed, and brought her
+to them the same evening; during this interval the master of the house took
+the opportunity of breaking a large hole through his shop into a stall
+where formerly a cobbler had sat, before or under his shop window, but the
+tenant, as may be supposed, at such a dismal time as that, was dead or
+removed, and so he had the key in his own keeping. Having made his way
+into this stall, which he could not have done if the man had been at the
+door--the noise he was obliged to make being such as would have alarmed the
+watchman--I say, having made his way into this stall, he sat still till the
+watchman returned with the nurse, and all the next day also. But the night
+following, having contrived to send the watchman another trifling errand,
+he conveyed himself and all his family out of the house, and left the nurse
+and the watchman to bury the poor woman, that is, to throw her into the
+cart and take care of the house.
+
+I could give a great many such stories as these which in the long course of
+that dismal year I met with, that is, heard of, and which are very certain
+to be true or very near the truth; that is to say, true in general, for no
+man could at such a time learn all the particulars. There was, likewise,
+violence used with the watchmen, as was reported, in abundance of places;
+and I believe that, from the beginning of the visitation to the end, not
+less than eighteen or twenty of them were killed or so severely wounded as
+to be taken up for dead; which was supposed to have been done by the people
+in the infected houses which were shut up, and where they attempted to come
+out and were opposed.
+
+For example, not far from Coleman Street they blowed up a watchman with
+gunpowder, and burned the poor fellow dreadfully; and while he made hideous
+cries, and nobody would venture to come near to help him, the whole family
+that were able to stir got out at the windows one story high, two that were
+left sick calling out for help. Care was taken to give the latter nurses
+to look after them, but the fugitives were not found till after the plague
+abated, when they returned; but as nothing could be proved, so nothing
+could be done to them.
+
+It is to be considered, too, that as these were prisons without bars or
+bolts, which our common prisons are furnished with, so the people let
+themselves down out of their windows, even in the face of the watchman,
+bringing swords or pistols in their hands, and threatening to shoot the
+poor wretch if he stirred or called for help.
+
+In other cases some had gardens and walls or palings between them and
+their neighbors; or yards and back houses; and these, by friendship and
+entreaties, would get leave to get over those walls or palings, and so go
+out at their neighbors' doors, or, by giving money to their servants, get
+them to let them through in the night; so that, in short, the shutting up
+of houses was in no wise to be depended upon. Neither did it answer the end
+at all; serving more to make the people desperate and drive them to violent
+extremities in their attempts to break out.
+
+But what was still worse, those that did thus break out spread the
+infection by wandering about with the distemper upon them; and many that
+did so were driven to dreadful exigencies and extremities and perished in
+the streets or fields or dropped down with the raging violence of the fever
+upon them. Others wandered into the country and went forward any way as
+their desperation guided them, not knowing whither they went or would go,
+till faint and tired; the houses and villages on the road refusing to admit
+them to lodge, whether infected or no, they perished by the roadside.
+
+On the other hand, when the plague at first seized a family, that is to
+say, when any one of the family had gone out and unwarily or otherwise
+caught the distemper and brought it home, it was certainly known by the
+family before it was known to the officers who were appointed to examine
+into the circumstances of all sick persons when they heard of their being
+sick.
+
+I remember--and while I am writing this story I think I hear the very
+shrieks--a certain lady had an only daughter, a young maiden about nineteen
+years old and who was possessed of a very considerable fortune. The young
+woman, her mother, and the maid had been out for some purpose, for the
+house was not shut up; but about two hours after they came home the young
+lady complained she was not well; in a quarter of an hour more she vomited
+and had a violent pain in her head. "Pray God," says her mother, in a
+terrible fright, "my child has not the distemper!" The pain in her head
+increasing, her mother ordered the bed to be warmed, and resolved to
+put her to bed, and prepared to give her things to sweat, which was the
+ordinary remedy to be taken when the first apprehensions of the distemper
+began.
+
+While the bed was being aired, the mother undressed the young woman, and,
+on looking over her body with a candle, immediately discovered the fatal
+tokens. Her mother, not being able to contain herself, threw down her
+candle and screeched out in such a frightful manner that it was enough to
+bring horror upon the stoutest heart in the world. Overcome by fright, she
+first fainted, then recovered, then ran all over the house, up the stairs
+and down the stairs, like one distracted. Thus she continued screeching and
+crying out for several hours, void of all sense, or at least government of
+her senses, and, as I was told, never came thoroughly to herself again. As
+to the young maiden, she was dead from that moment; for the gangrene which
+occasions the spots had spread over her whole body, and she died in less
+than two hours: but still the mother continued crying out, not knowing
+anything more of her child, several hours after she was dead.
+
+I went all the first part of the time freely about the streets, though not
+so freely as to run myself into apparent danger, except when they dug the
+great pit in the church-yard of our parish of Aldgate. A terrible pit it
+was, and I could not resist the curiosity to go and see it. So far as I
+could judge, it was about forty feet in length and about fifteen or sixteen
+feet broad, and, at the time I first looked at it, about nine feet deep;
+but it was said they dug it nearly twenty feet deep afterward, when they
+could go no deeper, for the water.
+
+They had dug several pits in another ground when the distemper began to
+spread in our parish, and especially when the dead-carts began to go about,
+which in our parish was not till the beginning of August. Into these pits
+they had put perhaps fifty or sixty bodies each; then they made larger
+holes, wherein they buried all that the cart brought in a week, which, by
+the middle to the end of August, came to from two hundred to four hundred
+a week. They could not dig them larger, because of the order of the
+magistrates confining them to leave no bodies within six feet of the
+surface. Besides, the water coming on at about seventeen or eighteen feet,
+they could not well put more in one pit. But now at the beginning of
+September, the plague being at its height, and the number of burials in our
+parish increasing to more than were ever buried in any parish about London
+of no larger extent, they ordered this dreadful gulf to be dug, for such it
+was, rather than a pit.
+
+They had supposed this pit would have supplied them for a month or more
+when they dug it, and some blamed the churchwardens for suffering such a
+frightful thing, telling them they were making preparations to bury the
+whole parish, and the like; but time made it appear the church-wardens
+knew the condition of the parish better than they did; for the pit being
+finished September 4th, I think they began to bury in it on the 6th, and by
+the 20th, which was just two weeks, they had thrown into it one thousand
+one hundred fourteen bodies, when they were obliged to fill it up, the
+bodies being within six feet of the surface.
+
+It was about September 10th that my curiosity led or rather drove me to
+go and see this pit again, when there had been about four hundred people
+buried in it; and I was not content to see it in the daytime, as I had done
+before, for then there would have been nothing to see but the loose earth;
+for all the bodies that were thrown in were immediately covered with earth
+by those they called the buriers, but I resolved to go in the night and see
+some of the bodies thrown in.
+
+There was a strict order against people coming to those pits, and that
+was only to prevent infection; but after some time that order was more
+necessary, for people that were infected and near their end, and delirious
+also, would run to those pits, wrapped in blankets or rags, and throw
+themselves in and bury themselves.
+
+I got admittance into the church-yard by being acquainted with the sexton,
+who, though he did not refuse me at all, yet earnestly persuaded me not to
+go, telling me very seriously--for he was a good and sensible man--that it
+was indeed their business and duty to run all hazards, and that in so doing
+they might hope to be preserved; but that I had no apparent call except my
+own curiosity, which he said he believed I would not pretend was sufficient
+to justify my exposing myself to infection. I told him "I had been pressed
+in my mind to go, and that perhaps it might be an instructing sight that
+might not be without its uses." "Nay," says the good man, "if you will
+venture on that score, i' name of God go in; for depend upon it, 'twill be
+a sermon to you; it may be the best that you ever heard in your life. It is
+a speaking sight," says he, "and has a voice with it, and a loud one, to
+call us to repentance;" and with that he opened the door and said, "Go, if
+you will."
+
+His words had shocked my resolution a little and I stood wavering for a
+good while; but just at that interval I saw two links come over from the
+end of the Minories, and heard the bellman, and then appeared a dead-cart,
+so I could no longer resist my desire, and went in. There was nobody that I
+could perceive at first in the church-yard or going into it but the buriers
+and the fellow that drove the cart or rather led the horse and cart; but
+when they came up to the pit they saw a man going to and fro muffled up in
+a brown cloak and making motions with his hands under his cloak, as if
+he was in a great agony, and the buriers immediately gathered about him,
+supposing he was one of those poor delirious or desperate creatures that
+used to bury themselves. He said nothing as he walked about, but two or
+three times groaned very deeply and loud, and sighed as he would break his
+heart.
+
+When the buriers came up to him they soon found he was neither a person
+infected and desperate, as I have observed above, nor a person distempered
+in mind, but one oppressed with a dreadful weight of grief, indeed, having
+his wife and several of his children in the cart that had just come in, and
+he followed it in an agony and excess of sorrow. He mourned heartily, as
+it was easy to see, but with a kind of masculine grief that could not give
+itself vent in tears, and, calmly desiring the buriers to let him alone,
+said he would only see the bodies thrown in and go away; so they left
+importuning him. But no sooner was the cart turned round and the bodies
+shot into the pit promiscuously, which was a surprise to him, for he at
+least expected they would have been decently laid in, though indeed he was
+afterward convinced that was impracticable--I say, no sooner did he see the
+sight but he cried out aloud, unable to contain himself.
+
+I could not hear what he said, but he went backward and forward two or
+three times and fell down in a swoon. The buriers ran to him and took him
+up, and in a little while he came to himself, and they led him away to the
+Pye tavern, over against the end of Houndsditch, where it seems the man was
+known and where they took care of him. He looked into the pit again as
+he went away, but the buriers had covered the bodies so immediately with
+throwing in the earth that, though there was light enough, for there were
+lanterns and candles placed all night round the sides of the pit, yet
+nothing could be seen.
+
+This was a mournful scene, indeed, and affected me almost as much as the
+rest, but the other was awful and full of terror. The cart had in it
+sixteen or seventeen bodies; some were wrapped up in linen sheets, some in
+rugs, some all but naked or so loose that what covering they had fell from
+them in being shot out of the cart, for coffins were not to be had for the
+prodigious numbers that fell in such a calamity as his.
+
+It was reported, by way of scandal upon the buriers, that if any corpse was
+delivered to them decently wrapped in a winding-sheet, the buriers were
+so wicked as to strip them in the cart and carry them quite naked to the
+ground; but as I cannot easily credit anything so vile among Christians,
+and at a time so filled with terrors as that was, I can only relate it and
+leave it undetermined.
+
+I was indeed shocked at the whole sight; it almost overwhelmed me, and I
+went away with my heart full of the most afflicting thoughts, such as I
+cannot describe. Just at my going out at the church-yard and turning up
+the street toward my own house I saw another cart with links and a bellman
+going before, coming out of Harrow Alley, in the Butcher Row, on the other
+side of the way, and being, as I perceived, very full of dead bodies, it
+went directly toward the church; I stood awhile, but I had no desire to
+go back again to see the same dismal scene over again, so I went directly
+home, where I could not but consider, with thankfulness, the risk I had
+run.
+
+Here the poor unhappy gentleman's grief came into my head again, and,
+indeed, I could not but shed tears in reflecting upon it, perhaps more than
+he did himself; but his case lay so heavy upon my mind that I could not
+constrain myself from going again to the Pye tavern, resolving to inquire
+what became of him. It was by this time one o'clock in the morning and the
+poor gentleman was still there; the truth was the people of the house,
+knowing him, had kept him there all the night, notwithstanding the danger
+of being infected by him, though it appeared the man was perfectly sound
+himself.
+
+It is with regret that I take notice of this tavern: the people were civil,
+mannerly, and obliging enough, and had till this time kept their house open
+and their trade going on, though not so very publicly as formerly; but a
+dreadful set of fellows frequented their house, who, in the midst of all
+this horror, met there every night, behaved with all the revelling and
+roaring extravagances as are usual for such people to do at other times,
+and, indeed, to such an offensive degree that the very master and mistress
+of the house grew first ashamed and then terrified at them.
+
+They sat generally in a room next the street, and, as they always kept
+late hours, so when the dead-cart came across the street end to go into
+Houndsditch, which was in view of the tavern windows, they would frequently
+open the windows as soon as they heard the bell, and look out at them; and
+as they might often hear sad lamentations of people in the streets or at
+their windows as the carts went along, they would make their impudent mocks
+and jeers at them, especially if they heard the poor people call upon God
+to have mercy upon them, as many would do at those times in passing along
+the streets.
+
+These gentlemen, being something disturbed with the clatter of bringing the
+poor gentleman into the house, as above, were first angry and very high
+with the master of the house for suffering such a fellow, as they called
+him, to be brought out of the grave into their house; but being answered
+that the man was a neighbor, and that he was sound, but overwhelmed with
+the calamity of his family, and the like, they turned their anger into
+ridiculing the man and his sorrow for his wife and children; taunting him
+with want of courage to leap into the great pit and go to heaven, as
+they jeeringly expressed it, along with them; adding some profane and
+blasphemous expressions.
+
+They were at this vile work when I came back to the house, and as far as
+I could see, though the man sat still, mute and disconsolate, and their
+affronts could not divert his sorrow, yet he was both grieved and offended
+at their words: upon this, I gently reproved them, being well enough
+acquainted with their characters, and not unknown in person to two of them.
+They immediately fell upon me with ill language and oaths: asked me what I
+did out of my grave at such a time when so many honester men were carried
+into the church-yard? and why I was not at home saying my prayers till the
+dead-cart came for me?
+
+I was indeed astonished at the impudence of the men, though not at all
+discomposed at their treatment of me. However, I kept my temper. I told
+them that though I defied them or any man in the world to tax me with any
+dishonesty, yet I acknowledged that in this terrible judgment of God many a
+better than I was swept away and carried to his grave. But to answer their
+question directly, it was true that I was mercifully preserved by that
+great God whose name they had blasphemed and taken in vain by cursing and
+swearing in a dreadful manner; and that I believed I was preserved in
+particular, among other ends of his goodness, that I might reprove them for
+their audacious boldness in behaving in such a manner and in such an awful
+time as this was; especially for their jeering and mocking at an honest
+gentleman and a neighbor who they saw was overwhelmed with sorrow for the
+sufferings with which it had pleased God to afflict his family.
+
+They received all reproof with the utmost contempt and made the greatest
+mockery that was possible for them to do at me, giving me all the
+opprobrious, insolent scoffs that they could think of for preaching to
+them, as they called it, which, indeed, grieved me rather than angered me.
+I went away, however, blessing God in my mind that I had not spared them
+though they had insulted me so much.
+
+They continued this wretched course three or four days after this,
+continually mocking and jeering at all that showed themselves religious or
+serious, or that were any way us; and I was informed they flouted in the
+same manner at the good people who, notwithstanding the contagion, met at
+the church, fasted, and prayed God to remove his hand from them.
+
+I say, they continued this dreadful course three or four days--I think it
+was no more--when one of them, particularly he who asked the poor gentleman
+what he did out of his grave, was struck with the plague and died in a most
+deplorable manner; and in a word, they were every one of them carried into
+the great pit which I have mentioned above, before it was quite filled up,
+which was not above a fortnight or thereabout.
+
+
+
+%GREAT FIRE IN LONDON%
+
+A.D. 1666
+
+JOHN EVELYN
+
+
+In the reign of Charles II--the "Merry Monarch," of whom one of his
+ministers observed that "he never said a foolish thing and never did a wise
+one"--the calamities which happened eclipsed the merriment of his people,
+if not that of the sovereign himself.
+
+In 1666 England had not fully recovered from the civil wars of 1642-1651.
+She was now at war with the allied Dutch and French, and was suffering from
+the terrible effects of the "Great Plague" which ravaged London in 1665.
+During September 2-5, 1666, occurred a catastrophe of almost equal horror.
+A fire, which broke out in a baker's house near the bridge, spread on
+all sides so rapidly that the people were unable to extinguish it until
+two-thirds of the city had been destroyed.
+
+Evelyn's account, from his famous _Diary_, is that of an eye-witness who
+took a prominent part in dealing with the conflagration, during which
+the inhabitants of London--like those of some of our cities in recent
+times--"were reduced to be spectators of their own ruin." Besides
+suspecting the French and Dutch of having landed and, as Evelyn records, of
+"firing the town," people assigned various other possible origins for the
+disaster, charging it upon the republicans, the Catholics, etc. It was
+obviously due, as Hume thought it worth while to note, to the narrow
+streets, the houses built entirely of wood, the dry season, and a strong
+east wind.
+
+"But the fire," says a later writer, "though destroying so much, was most
+beneficial in thoroughly eradicating the plague. The fever dens in which it
+continually lurked were burned, and the new houses which were erected were
+far more healthy and better arranged."
+
+In the year of our Lord 1666. 2d Sept. This fatal night, about ten, began
+that deplorable fire near Fish Street, in London.
+
+3. The fire continuing, after dinner I took coach with my wife and son, and
+went to the Bankside in Southwark, where we beheld that dismal spectacle,
+the whole city in dreadful flames near the water-side; all the houses from
+the bridge, all Thames Street, and upward toward Cheapside, down to the
+Three Cranes, were now consumed.
+
+The fire having continued all this night--if I may call that night
+which was as light as day for ten miles round about, after a dreadful
+manner--when conspiring with a fierce eastern wind in a very dry season; I
+went on foot to the same place, and saw the whole south part of the city
+burning from Cheapside to the Thames, and all along Cornhill--for it
+kindled back against the wind as well as forward--Tower Street, Fenchurch
+Street, Gracechurch Street, and so along to Bainard's castle, and was
+now taking hold of St. Paul's Church, to which the scaffolds contributed
+exceedingly. The conflagration was so universal, and the people so
+astonished, that from the beginning, I know not by what despondency or
+fate, they hardly stirred to quench it; so that there was nothing heard
+or seen but crying out and lamentation, running about like distracted
+creatures, without at all attempting to save even their goods; such a
+strange consternation there was upon them, so as it burned both in breadth
+and length, the churches, public halls, exchange, hospitals, monuments,
+and ornaments, leaping after a prodigious manner from house to house, and
+street to street, at great distances one from the other; for the heat, with
+a long set of fair and warm weather, had even ignited the air and prepared
+the materials to conceive the fire, which devoured, after an incredible
+manner, houses, furniture, and everything.
+
+Here we saw the Thames covered with goods floating, all the barges and
+boats laden with what some had time and courage to save, as, on the other,
+the carts, etc., carrying out to the fields, which for many miles were
+strewed with movables of all sorts, and tents erecting to shelter both
+people and what goods they could get away. Oh, the miserable and calamitous
+spectacle! such as haply the world had not seen the like since the
+foundation of it, nor be outdone till the universal conflagration. All the
+sky was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven, the light seen
+above forty miles round about for many nights.
+
+God grant my eyes may never behold the like, now seeing above ten thousand
+houses all in one flame; the noise, and cracking, and thunder of the
+impetuous flames, the shrieking of women and children, the hurry of people,
+the fall of towers, houses, and churches was like a hideous storm, and the
+air all about so hot and inflamed that at last one was not able to approach
+it; so that they were forced to stand still and let the flames burn on,
+which they did for near two miles in length and one in breadth. The clouds
+of smoke were dismal, and reached, upon computation, near fifty miles in
+length. Thus I left it this afternoon burning, a resemblance of Sodom or
+the last day. London was, but is no more!
+
+4. The burning still rages, and it has now gotten as far as the Inner
+Temple, all Fleet Street, the Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, Warwick Lane,
+Newgate, Paul's Chain, Watling Street, now flaming, and most of it reduced
+to ashes; the stones of St. Paul's flew like granados, the melting lead
+running down the streets in a stream, and the very pavements glowing with
+fiery redness, so as no horse nor man was able to tread on them, and the
+demolition had stopped all the passages, so that no help could be applied.
+The eastern wind still more impetuously drove the flames forward. Nothing
+but the almighty power of God was able to stop them, for vain was the help
+of man.
+
+5. It crossed toward Whitehall; oh, the confusion there was then at that
+court! It pleased his majesty to command me among the rest to look after
+the quenching of Fetter Lane, and to preserve, if possible, that part of
+Holborn, while the rest of the gentlemen took their several posts--for now
+they began to bestir themselves, and not till now, who hitherto had stood
+as men intoxicated, with their hands across--and began to consider that
+nothing was likely to put a stop, but the blowing up of so many houses
+might make a wider gap than any had yet been made by the ordinary method
+of pulling them down with engines; this some stout seamen proposed early
+enough to have saved nearly the whole city, but this some tenacious and
+avaricious men, aldermen, etc., would not permit, because their houses must
+have been of the first.
+
+It was therefore now commanded to be practised, and my concern being
+particularly for the hospital of St. Bartholomew, near Smithfield, where I
+had many wounded and sick men, made me the more diligent to promote it, nor
+was my care for the Savoy less. It now pleased God, by abating the wind,
+and by the industry of the people, infusing a new spirit into them, and the
+fury of it began sensibly to abate about noon, so as it came no further
+than the Temple westward, nor than the entrance of Smithfield north; but
+continued all this day and night so impetuous toward Cripplegate and the
+Tower, as made us all despair. It also broke out again in the Temple, but
+the courage of the multitude persisting, and many houses being blown up,
+such gaps and desolations were soon made, as with the former three-days'
+consumption, the back fire did not so vehemently urge upon the rest as
+formerly. There was yet no standing near the burning and glowing ruins by
+near a furlong's space.
+
+The coal and wood wharfs, and magazines of oil, resin, etc., did infinite
+mischief, so as the invective which a little before I had dedicated to his
+majesty and published, giving warning what might probably be the issue of
+suffering those shops to be in the city, was looked on as a prophecy.
+
+The poor inhabitants were dispersed about St. George's Fields and
+Moorfields, as far as Highgate, and several miles in circle, some under
+tents, some under miserable huts and hovels, many without a rag, or any
+necessary utensils, bed, or board; who, from delicateness, riches, and easy
+accommodations in stately and well-furnished houses, were now reduced to
+extremest misery and poverty.
+
+In this calamitous condition I returned with a sad heart to my house,
+blessing and adoring the mercy of God to me and mine, who in the midst of
+all this ruin was like Lot, in my little Zoar, safe and sound.
+
+7. I went this morning on foot from Whitehall as far as London bridge,
+through the late Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill, by St. Paul's, Cheapside,
+Exchange, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, and out to Moorfields, thence through
+Cornhill, etc., with extraordinary difficulty clambering over heaps of yet
+smoking rubbish, and frequently mistaking where I was. The ground under my
+feet was so hot that it even burned the soles of my shoes.
+
+In the mean time his majesty got to the Tower by water, to demolish the
+houses about the graff, which, being built entirely about it, had they
+taken fire, and attacked the White Tower, where the magazine of powder lay,
+would undoubtedly not only have beaten down and destroyed all the bridge,
+but sunk and torn the vessels in the river, and rendered the demolition
+beyond all expression for several miles about the country.
+
+At my return I was infinitely concerned to find that goodly church, St.
+Paul's, now a sad ruin, and that beautiful portico--or structure comparable
+to any in Europe, as not long before repaired by the King--now rent in
+pieces, flakes of vast stones split asunder, and nothing remaining entire
+but the inscription in the architrave, showing by whom it was built, which
+had not one letter of it defaced. It was astonishing to see what immense
+stones the heat had in a manner calcined, so that all the ornaments,
+columns, friezes, and projectures of massy Portland stone flew off, even
+to the very roof, where a sheet of lead covering a great space was totally
+melted; the ruins of the vaulted roof falling broke into St. Faith's, which
+being filled with the magazines of books belonging to the stationers, and
+carried thither for safety, they were all consumed, burning for a week
+following.
+
+It is also observable that the lead over the altar at the east end was
+untouched, and among the divers monuments the body of one bishop remained
+entire. Thus lay in ashes that most venerable church, one of the most
+ancient pieces of early piety in the Christian world, besides near
+one hundred more. The lead, ironwork, bells, plate, etc., melted; the
+exquisitely wrought Mercer's Chapel, the sumptuous Exchange, the august
+fabric of Christ Church, all the rest of the Companies' Halls, sumptuous
+buildings, arches, all in dust; the fountains dried up and ruined, while
+the very waters remained boiling; the _voragoes_ of subterranean cellars,
+wells, and dungeons, formerly warehouses, still burning in stench and dark
+clouds of smoke, so that in five or six miles traversing about I did not
+see one load of timber consume, nor many stones but what were calcined
+white as snow.
+
+The people who now walked about the ruins appeared like men in a dismal
+desert, or rather in some great city laid waste by a cruel enemy: to which
+was added the stench that came from some poor creatures' bodies, beds, etc.
+Sir Thomas Gresham's statue, though fallen from its niche in the Royal
+Exchange, remained entire, when all those of the kings since the Conquest
+were broken to pieces; also the standard in Cornhill, and Queen Elizabeth's
+effigies, with some arms on Ludgate, continued with but little detriment,
+while the vast iron chains of the city streets, hinges, bars, and gates of
+prisons, were many of them melted and reduced to cinders by the vehement
+heat.
+
+I was not able to pass through any of the narrow streets, but kept the
+widest; the ground and air, smoke and fiery vapor, continued so intense
+that my hair was almost singed and my feet insufferably surheated. The
+by-lanes and narrower streets were quite filled up with rubbish, nor could
+one have known where he was but by the ruins of some church or hall that
+had some remarkable tower or pinnacle remaining. I then went toward
+Islington and Highgate, where one might have seen two hundred thousand
+people of all ranks and degrees, dispersed and lying along by their heaps
+of what they could save from the fire, deploring their loss, and, though
+ready to perish for hunger and destitution, yet not asking one penny for
+relief, which to me appeared a stranger sight than any I had yet beheld.
+
+His majesty and council, indeed, took all imaginable care for their
+relief, by proclamation for the country to come in and refresh them with
+provisions. In the midst of all this calamity and confusion there was, I
+know not how, an alarm begun that the French and Dutch, with whom we are
+now in hostility, were not only landed, but even entering the city. There
+was in truth some days before great suspicion of these two nations joining;
+and now, that they had been the occasion of firing the town. This report
+did so terrify that on a sudden there was such an uproar and tumult that
+they ran from their goods, and, taking what weapons they could come at,
+they could not be stopped from falling on some of those nations whom they
+casually met, without sense or reason.
+
+The clamor and peril grew so excessive that it made the whole court amazed,
+and they did with infinite pains and great difficulty reduce and appease
+the people, sending troops of soldiers and guards to cause them to retire
+into the fields again, where they were watched all this night. I left them
+pretty quiet, and came home sufficiently weary and broken. Their spirits
+thus a little calmed, and the affright abated, they now began to repair
+into the suburbs about the city, where such as had friends or opportunity
+got shelter for the present, to which his majesty's proclamation also
+invited them.
+
+
+
+%DISCOVERY OF GRAVITATION%
+
+A.D. 1666
+
+SIR DAVID BREWSTER
+
+
+Many admirers of Sir Isaac Newton have asserted that his was the most
+gigantic intellect ever bestowed on man. He discovered the law of
+gravitation, and by it explained all the broader phenomena of nature, such
+as the movements of the planets, the shape and revolution of the earth, the
+succession of the tides. Copernicus had asserted that the planets moved,
+Newton demonstrated it mathematically.
+
+His discoveries in optics were in his own time almost equally famous,
+while in his later life he shared with Leibnitz the honor of inventing
+the infinitesimal calculus, a method which lies at the root of all the
+intricate marvels of modern mathematical science.
+
+Newton should not, however, be regarded as an isolated phenomenon, a genius
+but for whom the world would have remained in darkness. His first flashing
+idea of gravitation deserves perhaps to be called an inspiration. But in
+all his other labors, experimental as well as mathematical, he was but
+following the spirit of the times. The love of science was abroad, and its
+infinite curiosity. Each of Newton's discoveries was claimed also by other
+men who had been working along similar lines. Of the dispute over the
+gravitation theory Sir David Brewster, the great authority for the career
+of Newton, gives some account. The controversy over the calculus was even
+more bitter and prolonged.
+
+It were well, however, to disabuse one's mind of the idea that Newton's
+work was a finality, that it settled anything. As to why the law of
+gravitation exists, why bodies tend to come together, the philosopher had
+little suggestion to offer, and the present generation knows no more than
+he. Before Copernicus and Newton men looked only with their eyes, and
+accepted the apparent movements of sun and stars as real. Now, going one
+step deeper, we look with our brains and see their real movements which
+underlie appearances. Newton supplied us with the law and rate of the
+movement--but not its cause. It is toward that cause, that great "Why?"
+that science has ever since been dimly groping.
+
+In the year 1666, when the plague had driven Newton from Cambridge, he was
+sitting alone in the garden at Woolsthrope, and reflecting on the nature of
+gravity, that remarkable power which causes all bodies to descend toward
+the centre of the earth. As this power is not found to suffer any sensible
+diminution at the greatest distance from the earth's centre to which we can
+reach--being as powerful at the tops of the highest mountains as at the
+bottom of the deepest mines--he conceived it highly probable that it must
+extend much further than was usually supposed. No sooner had this happy
+conjecture occurred to his mind than he considered what would be the effect
+of its extending as far as the moon. That her motion must be influenced
+by such a power he did not for a moment doubt; and a little reflection
+convinced him that it might be sufficient for retaining that luminary in
+her orbit round the earth.
+
+Though the force of gravity suffers no sensible diminution at those small
+distances from the earth's centre at which we can place ourselves, yet he
+thought it very possible that, at the distance of the moon, it might differ
+much in strength from what it is on the earth. In order to form some
+estimate of the degree of its diminution, he considered that, if the moon
+be retained in her orbit by the force of gravity, the primary planets must
+also be carried round the sun by the same power; and by comparing the
+periods of the different planets with their distances from the sun he found
+that, if they were retained in their orbits by any power like gravity, its
+force must decrease in the duplicate proportion, or as the squares of their
+distances from the sun. In drawing this conclusion, he supposed the planets
+to move in orbits perfectly circular, and having the sun in their centre.
+Having thus obtained the law of the force by which the planets were drawn
+to the sun, his next object was to ascertain if such a force emanating from
+the earth, and directed to the moon, was sufficient, when diminished in the
+duplicate ratio of the distance, to retain her in her orbit.
+
+In performing this calculation it was necessary to compare the space
+through which heavy bodies fall in a second at a given distance from the
+centre of the earth, viz., at its surface, with the space through which the
+moon, as it were, falls to the earth in a second of time while revolving
+in a circular orbit. Being at a distance from books when he made this
+computation, he adopted the common estimate of the earth's diameter then
+in use among geographers and navigators, and supposed that each degree of
+latitude contained sixty English miles.
+
+In this way he found that the force which retains the moon in her orbit,
+as deduced from the force which occasions the fall of heavy bodies to the
+earth's surface, was one-sixth greater than that which is actually
+observed in her circular orbit. This difference threw a doubt upon all his
+speculations; but, unwilling to abandon what seemed to be otherwise so
+plausible, he endeavored to account for the difference of the two forces
+by supposing that some other cause must have been united with the force of
+gravity in producing so great velocity of the moon in her circular orbit.
+As this new cause, however, was beyond the reach of observation, he
+discontinued all further inquiries into the subject, and concealed from his
+friends the speculations in which he had been employed.
+
+After his return to Cambridge in 1666 his attention was occupied with
+optical discoveries; but he had no sooner brought them to a close than his
+mind reverted to the great subject of the planetary motions. Upon the death
+of Oldenburg in August, 1678, Dr. Hooke was appointed secretary to the
+Royal Society; and as this learned body had requested the opinion of Newton
+about a system of physical astronomy, he addressed a letter to Dr. Hooke
+on November 28, 1679. In this letter he proposed a direct experiment for
+verifying the motion of the earth, viz., by observing whether or not bodies
+that fall from a considerable height descend in a vertical direction; for
+if the earth were at rest the body would describe exactly a vertical line;
+whereas if it revolved round its axis, the falling body must deviate from
+the vertical line toward the east.
+
+The Royal Society attached great value to the idea thus casually suggested,
+and Dr. Hooke was appointed to put it to the test of experiment. Being
+thus led to consider the subject more attentively, he wrote to Newton that
+wherever the direction of gravity was oblique to the axis on which the
+earth revolved, that is, in every part of the earth except the equator,
+falling bodies should approach to the equator, and the deviation from the
+vertical, in place of being exactly to the east, as Newton maintained,
+should be to the southeast of the point from which the body began to move.
+
+Newton acknowledged that this conclusion was correct in theory, and Dr.
+Hooke is said to have given an experimental demonstration of it before the
+Royal Society in December, 1679. Newton had erroneously concluded that the
+path of the falling body would be a spiral; but Dr. Hooke, on the same
+occasion on which he made the preceding experiment, read a paper to the
+society in which he proved that the path of the body would be an eccentric
+ellipse _in vacuo_, and an ellipti-spiral if the body moved in a resisting
+medium.
+
+This correction of Newton's error, and the discovery that a projectile
+would move in an elliptical orbit when under the influence of a force
+varying in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance, led Newton, as
+he himself informs us in his letter to Halley, to discover "the theorem
+by which he afterward examined the ellipsis," and to demonstrate the
+celebrated proposition that a planet acted upon by an attractive force
+varying inversely as the squares of the distances, will describe an
+elliptical orbit in one of whose _foci_ the attractive force resides.
+
+But though Newton had thus discovered the true cause of all the celestial
+motions, he did not yet possess any evidence that such a force actually
+resided in the sun and planets. The failure of his former attempt to
+identify the law of falling bodies at the earth's surface with that which
+guided the moon in her orbit, threw a doubt over all his speculations, and
+prevented him from giving any account of them to the public.
+
+An accident, however, of a very interesting nature induced him to resume
+his former inquiries, and enabled him to bring them to a close. In June,
+1682, when he was attending a meeting of the Royal Society of London, the
+measurement of a degree of the meridian, executed by M. Picard in 1679,
+became the subject of conversation. Newton took a memorandum of the result
+obtained by the French astronomer, and having deduced from it the diameter
+of the earth, he immediately resumed his calculation of 1665, and began to
+repeat it with these new data. In the progress of the calculation he saw
+that the result which he had formerly expected was likely to be produced,
+and he was thrown into such a state of nervous irritability that he was
+unable to carry on the calculation. In this state of mind he intrusted it
+to one of his friends, and he had the high satisfaction of finding his
+former views amply realized. The force of gravity which regulated the fall
+of bodies at the earth's surface, when diminished as the square of the
+moon's distance from the earth, was found to be almost exactly equal to the
+centrifugal force of the moon as deduced from her observed distance and
+velocity.
+
+The influence of such a result upon such a mind may be more easily
+conceived than described. The whole material universe was spread out before
+him; the sun with all his attending planets; the planets with all their
+satellites; the comets wheeling in every direction in their eccentric
+orbits; and the systems of the fixed stars stretching to the remotest
+limits of space. All the varied and complicated movements of the heavens,
+in short, must have been at once presented to his mind as the necessary
+result of that law which he had established in reference to the earth and
+the moon.
+
+After extending this law to the other bodies of the system, he composed a
+series of propositions on the motion of the primary planets about the sun,
+which were sent to London about the end of 1683, and were soon afterward
+communicated to the Royal Society.
+
+About this period other philosophers had been occupied with the same
+subject. Sir Christopher Wren had many years before endeavored to explain
+the planetary motions "by the composition of a descent toward the sun, and
+an impressed motion; but he at length gave it over, not finding the means
+of doing it." In January, 1683-1684, Dr. Halley had concluded from Kepler's
+law of the periods and distances, that the centripetal force decreased in
+the reciprocal proportion of the squares of the distances, and having one
+day met Sir Christopher Wren and Dr. Hooke, the latter affirmed that he had
+demonstrated upon that principle all the laws of the celestial motions. Dr.
+Halley confessed that his attempts were unsuccessful, and Sir Christopher,
+in order to encourage the inquiry, offered to present a book of forty
+shillings value to either of the two philosophers who should, in the space
+of two months, bring him a convincing demonstration of it. Hooke persisted
+in the declaration that he possessed the method, but avowed it to be his
+intention to conceal it for time. He promised, however, to show it to Sir
+Christopher; but there is every reason to believe that this promise was
+never fulfilled.
+
+In August, 1684, Dr. Halley went to Cambridge for the express purpose of
+consulting Newton on this interesting subject. Newton assured him that he
+had brought this demonstration to perfection, and promised him a copy of
+it. This copy was received in November by the doctor, who made a second
+visit to Cambridge, in order to induce its author to have it inserted in
+the register book of the society. On December 10th Dr. Halley announced
+to the society that he had seen at Cambridge Newton's treatise _De Motu
+Corporum_, which he had promised to send to the society to be entered upon
+their register, and Dr. Halley was desired to unite with Mr. Paget, master
+of the mathematical school in Christ's Hospital, in reminding Newton of his
+promise, "for securing the invention to himself till such time as he can be
+at leisure to publish it."
+
+On February 25th Mr. Aston, the secretary, communicated a letter from
+Newton in which he expressed his willingness "to enter in the register
+his notions about motion, and his intentions to fit them suddenly for the
+press." The progress of his work was, however, interrupted by a visit of
+five or six weeks which he made in Lincolnshire; but he proceeded with such
+diligence on his return that he was able to transmit the manuscript to
+London before the end of April. This manuscript, entitled _Philosophic
+Naturalis Principia Mathematics_ and dedicated to the society, was
+presented by Dr. Vincent on April 28, 1686, when Sir John Hoskins, the
+vice-president and the particular friend of Dr. Hooke, was in the chair.
+
+Dr. Vincent passed a just encomium on the novelty and dignity of the
+subject; and another member added that "Mr. Newton had carried the thing
+so far that there was no more to be added." To these remarks the
+vice-president replied that the method "was so much the more to be prized
+as it was both invented and perfected at the same time." Dr. Hooke took
+offence at these remarks, and blamed Sir John for not having mentioned
+"what he had discovered to him"; but the vice-president did not seem to
+recollect any such communication, and the consequence of this discussion
+was that "these two, who till then were the most inseparable cronies, have
+since scarcely seen one another, and are utterly fallen out." After the
+breaking up of the meeting, the society adjourned to the coffee house,
+where Dr. Hooke stated that he not only had made the same discovery, but
+had given the first hint of it to Newton.
+
+An account of these proceedings was communicated to Newton through two
+different channels. In a letter dated May 22d Dr. Halley wrote to him
+"that Mr. Hooke has some pretensions upon the invention of the rule of the
+decrease of gravity being reciprocally as the squares of the distances
+from the centre. He says you had the notion from him, though he owns the
+demonstration of the curves generated thereby to be wholly your own. How
+much of this is so you know best, as likewise what you have to do in this
+matter; only Mr. Hooke seems to expect you would make some mention of him
+in the preface, which it is possible you may see reason to prefix."
+
+This communication from Dr. Halley induced the author, on June 20th,
+to address a long letter to him, in which he gives a minute and able
+refutation of Hooke's claims; but before this letter was despatched another
+correspondent, who had received his information from one of the members
+that were present, informed Newton "that Hooke made a great stir,
+pretending that he had all from him, and desiring they would see that
+he had justice done him." This fresh charge seems to have ruffled the
+tranquillity of Newton; and he accordingly added an angry and satirical
+postscript, in which he treats Hooke with little ceremony, and goes so far
+as to conjecture that Hooke might have acquired his knowledge of the law
+from a letter of his own to Huygens, directed to Oldenburg, and dated
+January 14,1672-1673. "My letter to Hugenius was directed to Mr. Oldenburg,
+who used to keep the originals. His papers came into Mr. Hooke's
+possession. Mr. Hooke, knowing my hand, might have the curiosity to look
+into that letter, and there take the notion of comparing the forces of the
+planets arising from their circular motion; and so what he wrote to me
+afterward about the rate of gravity might be nothing but the fruit of my
+own garden."
+
+In replying to this letter Dr. Halley assured him that Hooke's "manner of
+claiming the discovery had been represented to him in worse colors than
+it ought, and that he neither made public application to the society for
+justice nor pretended that you had all from him." The effect of this
+assurance was to make Newton regret that he had written the angry
+postscript to his letter; and in replying to Halley on July 14, 1686, he
+not only expresses his regret, but recounts the different new ideas which
+he had acquired from Hooke's correspondence, and suggests it as the best
+method "of compromising the present dispute" to add a _scholium_ in which
+Wren, Hooke, and Halley are acknowledged to have independently deduced the
+law of gravity from the second law of Kepler.
+
+At the meeting of April 28th, at which the manuscript of the _Principia_
+was presented to the Royal Society, it was agreed that the printing of
+it should be referred to the council: that a letter of thanks should be
+written to its author; and at a meeting of the council on May 19th it was
+resolved that the manuscript should be printed at the society's expense,
+and that Dr. Halley should superintend it while going through the press.
+These resolutions were communicated by Dr. Halley in a letter dated May
+22d; and in Newton's reply on June 20th, already mentioned, he makes the
+following observations:
+
+"The proof you sent me I like very well. I designed the whole to consist
+of three books; the second was finished last summer, being short, and only
+wants transcribing and drawing the cuts fairly. Some new propositions I
+have since thought on which I can as well let alone. The third wants the
+theory of comets. In autumn last I spent two months in calculation to no
+purpose, for want of a good method, which made me afterward return to the
+first book and enlarge it with diverse propositions, some relating to
+comets, others to other things found out last winter. The third I now
+design to suppress. Philosophy is such an impertinently litigious lady that
+a man had as good be engaged in lawsuits as have to do with her. I found it
+so formerly, and now I can no sooner come near her again but she gives me
+warning. The first two books, without the third, will not so well bear the
+title of _Philosophies Naturalis Principia Mathematica_; and therefore I
+had altered it to this: _de Moti Corporum, Libri duo_. But after second
+thoughts I retain the former title. 'Twill help the sale of the book, which
+I ought not to diminish now 'tis yours."
+
+In replying to this letter on June 29th Dr. Halley regrets that our
+author's tranquillity should have been thus disturbed by envious rivals,
+and implores him in the name of the society not to suppress the third book.
+"I must again beg you," says he, "not to let your resentments run so high
+as to deprive us of your third book, wherein your applications of your
+mathematical doctrine to the theory of comets, and several curious
+experiments which, as I guess by what you write ought to compose it,
+will undoubtedly render it acceptable to those who will call themselves
+philosophers without mathematics, which are much the greater number."
+
+To these solicitations Newton seems to have readily yielded. His second
+book was sent to the society, and presented on March 2, 1687. The third
+book was also transmitted, and presented on April 6th, and the whole work
+was completed and published in the month of May, 1687.
+
+Such is the brief account of the publication of a work which is memorable
+not only in the annals of one science or of one country, but which will
+form an epoch in the history of the world, and will ever be regarded as the
+brightest page in the records of human reason. We shall endeavor to convey
+to the reader some idea of its contents, and of the brilliant discoveries
+which it disseminated over Europe.
+
+The _Principia_ consists of three books. The first and second, which occupy
+three-fourths of the work, are entitled _On the Motion of Bodies_, and the
+third bears the title _On the System of the World_. The two first books
+contain the mathematical principles of philosophy, namely, the laws and
+conditions of motions and forces; and they are illustrated with several
+philosophical _scholia_ which treat of some of the most general and
+best-established points in philosophy, such as the density and resistance
+of bodies, spaces void of matter, and the motion of sound and light.
+The object of the third book is to deduce from these principles the
+constitution of the system of the world; and this book has been drawn up in
+as popular a style as possible, in order that it may be generally read.
+
+The great discovery which characterizes the _Principia_ is that of the
+principle of universal gravitation, as deduced from the motion of the moon,
+and from the three great facts or laws discovered by Kepler. This principle
+is: _That every particle of matter is attracted by or gravitates to every
+other particle of matter, with a force inversely proportional to the
+squares of their distances_. From the first law of Kepler, namely, the
+proportionality of the areas to the times of their revolution, Newton
+inferred that the force which kept the planet in its orbit was always
+directed to the sun; and from the second law of Kepler, that every planet
+moves in an ellipse with the sun in one of its foci, he drew the still more
+general inference that the force by which the planet moves round that focus
+varies inversely as the square of its distance from the focus. As this law
+was true in the motion of satellites round their primary planets Newton
+deduced the equality of gravity in all the heavenly bodies toward the sun,
+upon the supposition that they are equally distant from its centre; and
+in the case of terrestrial bodies he succeeded in verifying this truth by
+numerous and accurate experiments.
+
+By taking a more general view of the subject Newton demonstrated that a
+conic section was the only curve in which a body could move when acted
+upon by a force varying inversely as the square of the distance; and he
+established the conditions depending on the velocity and the primitive
+position of the body, which were requisite to make it describe a circular,
+an elliptical, a parabolic, or a hyberbolic orbit.
+
+Notwithstanding the generality and importance of these results, it still
+remained to be determined whether the forces resided in the centres of
+the planets or belonged to each individual particle of which they were
+composed. Newton removed this uncertainty by demonstrating that if a
+spherical body acts upon a distant body with a force varying as the
+distance of this body from the centre of the sphere, the same effect
+will be produced as if each of its particles acted upon the distant body
+according to the same law. And hence it follows that the spheres, whether
+they are of uniform density or consist of concentric layers, with densities
+varying according to any law whatever, will act upon each other in the same
+manner as if their force resided in their centres alone.
+
+But as the bodies of the solar system are very nearly spherical they will
+all act upon one another, and upon bodies placed on their surfaces, as if
+they were so many centres of attraction; and therefore we obtain the law of
+gravity which subsists between spherical bodies, namely, that one sphere
+will act upon another with a force directly proportional to the quantity of
+matter, and inversely as the square of the distance between the centres
+of the spheres. From the equality of action and reaction, to which no
+exception can be found, Newton concluded that the sun gravitated to the
+planets, and the planets to their satellites; and the earth itself to
+the stone which falls upon its surface, and, consequently, that the two
+mutually gravitating bodies approached to one another with velocities
+inversely proportional to their quantities of matter.
+
+Having established this universal law, Newton was enabled not only to
+determine the weight which the same body would have at the surface of the
+sun and the planets, but even to calculate the quantity of matter in the
+sun, and in all the planets that had satellites, and even to determine the
+density or specific gravity of the matter of which they were composed. In
+this way he found that the weight of the same body would be twenty-three
+times greater at the surface of the sun than at the surface of the earth,
+and that the density of the earth was four times greater than that of the
+sun, the planets increasing in density as they receded from the centre of
+the system.
+
+If the peculiar genius of Newton has been displayed in his investigation
+of the law of universal gravitation, it shines with no less lustre in the
+patience and sagacity with which he traced the consequences of this fertile
+principle. The discovery of the spheroidal form of Jupiter by Cassini had
+probably directed the attention of Newton to the determination of its
+cause, and consequently to the investigation of the true figure of the
+earth. The next subject to which Newton applied the principle of gravity
+was the tides of the ocean.
+
+The philosophers of all ages had recognized the connection between the
+phenomena of the tides and the position of the moon. The College of Jesuits
+at Coimbra, and subsequently Antonio de Dominis and Kepler, distinctly
+referred the tides to the attraction of the waters of the earth by the
+moon; but so imperfect was the explanation which was thus given of the
+phenomena that Galileo ridiculed the idea of lunar attraction, and
+substituted for it a fallacious explanation of his own. That the moon is
+the principal cause of the tides is obvious from the well-known fact that
+it is high water at any given place about the time when she is in the
+meridian of that place; and that the sun performs a secondary part in their
+production may be proved from the circumstance that the highest tides take
+place when the sun, the moon, and the earth are in the same straight line;
+that is, when the force of the sun conspires with that of the moon; and
+that the lowest tides take place when the lines drawn from the sun and moon
+to the earth are at right angles to each other; that is, when the force of
+the sun acts in opposition to that of the moon.
+
+By comparing the spring and neap tides Newton found that the force with
+which the moon acted upon the waters of the earth was to that with which
+the sun acted upon them as 4.48 to 1; that the force of the moon produced
+a tide of 8.63 feet; that of the sun, one of 1.93 feet; and both of them
+combined, one of 10-1/2 French feet, a result which in the open sea does
+not deviate much from observation. Having thus ascertained the force of the
+moon on the waters of our globe, he found that the quantity of matter in
+the moon was to that in the earth as 1 to 40, and the density of the moon
+to that of the earth as 11 to 9.
+
+The motions of the moon, so much within the reach of our own observation,
+presented a fine field for the application of the theory of universal
+gravitation. The irregularities exhibited in the lunar motions had been
+known in the time of Hipparchus and Ptolemy. Tycho had discovered the great
+inequality, called the "variation," amounting to 37', and depending on the
+alternate acceleration and retardation of the moon in every quarter of
+a revolution, and he had also ascertained the existence of the annual
+equation. Of these two inequalities Newton gave a most satisfactory
+explanation.
+
+Although there could be little doubt that the comets were retained in their
+orbits by the same laws which regulated the motions of the planets, yet
+it was difficult to put this opinion to the test of observation. The
+visibility of comets only in a small part of their orbits rendered it
+difficult to ascertain their distance and periodic times; and as their
+periods were probably of great length, it was impossible to correct
+approximate results by repeated observations. Newton, however, removed this
+difficulty by showing how to determine the orbit of a comet, namely,
+the form and position of the orbit, and the periodic time, by three
+observations. By applying this method to the comet of 1680 he calculated
+the elements of its orbit, and, from the agreement of the computed places
+with those which were observed, he justly inferred that the motions of
+comets were regulated by the same laws as those of the planetary bodies.
+This result was one of great importance; for as the comets enter our system
+in every possible direction, and at all angles with the ecliptic, and as
+a great part of their orbits extends far beyond the limits of the solar
+system, it demonstrated the existence of gravity in spaces far removed
+beyond the planet, and proved that the law of the inverse ratio of the
+squares of the distance was true in every possible direction, and at very
+remote distances from the centre of our system.
+
+Such is a brief view of the leading discoveries which the _Principia_ first
+announced to the world. The grandeur of the subjects of which it treats,
+the beautiful simplicity of the system which it unfolds, the clear and
+concise reasoning by which that system is explained, and the irresistible
+evidence by which it is supported might have insured it the warmest
+admiration of contemporary mathematicians and the most welcome reception in
+all the schools of philosophy throughout Europe. This, however, is not the
+way in which great truths are generally received. Though the astronomical
+discoveries of Newton were not assailed by the class of ignorant pretenders
+who attacked his optical writings, yet they were everywhere resisted by the
+errors and prejudices which had taken a deep hold even of the strongest
+minds.
+
+The philosophy of Descartes was predominant throughout Europe. Appealing to
+the imagination, and not to the reason, of mankind it was quickly received
+into popular favor, and the same causes which facilitated its introduction,
+extended its influence and completed its dominion over the human mind. In
+explaining all the movements of the heavenly bodies by a system of vortices
+in a fluid medium diffused through the universe Descartes had seized upon
+an analogy of the most alluring and deceitful kind. Those who had seen
+heavy bodies revolving in the eddies of a whirlpool or in the gyrations
+of a vessel of water thrown into a circular motion had no difficulty in
+conceiving how the planets might revolve round the sun by an analogous
+movement. The mind instantly grasped at an explanation of so palpable a
+character and which required for its development neither the exercise
+of patient thought nor the aid of mathematical skill. The talent and
+perspicuity with which the Cartesian system was expounded, and the show by
+which it was sustained, contributed powerfully to its adoption, while
+it derived a still higher sanction from the excellent character and the
+unaffected piety of its author.
+
+Thus intrenched, as the Cartesian system was, in the strongholds of the
+human mind, and fortified by its most obstinate prejudices, it was not to
+be wondered at that the pure and sublime doctrines of the _Principia_, were
+distrustfully received and perseveringly resisted. The uninstructed mind
+could not readily admit the idea that the great masses of the planets were
+suspended in empty space and retained in their orbits by an invisible
+influence residing in the sun; and even those philosophers who had been
+accustomed to the rigor of true scientific research, and who possessed
+sufficient mathematical skill for the examination of the Newtonian
+doctrines, viewed them at first as reviving the occult qualities of the
+ancient physics, and resisted their introduction with a pertinacity which
+it is not easy to explain.
+
+Prejudiced, no doubt, in favor of his own metaphysical views, Leibnitz
+himself misapprehended the principles of the Newtonian philosophy, and
+endeavored to demonstrate the truths in the _Principia_ by the application
+of different principles. Huygens, who above all other men was qualified
+to appreciate the new philosophy, rejected the doctrine of gravitation as
+existing between the individual particles of matter and received it only
+as an attribute of the planetary masses. John Bernouilli, one of the first
+mathematicians of his age, opposed the philosophy of Newton. Mairan, in the
+early part of his life, was a strenuous defender of the system of vortices.
+Cassini and Maraldi were quite ignorant of the _Principia_, and occupied
+themselves with the most absurd methods of calculating the orbits of
+comets long after the Newtonian method had been established on the most
+impregnable foundation; and even Fontenelle, a man of liberal views and
+extensive information, continued, throughout the whole of his life, to
+maintain the doctrines of Descartes.
+
+The chevalier Louville of Paris had adopted the Newtonian philosophy
+before 1720; Gravesande had introduced it into the Dutch universities at a
+somewhat earlier period; and Maupertuis, in consequence of a visit which
+he paid to England in 1728, became a zealous defender of it; but
+notwithstanding these and some other examples that might be quoted, we must
+admit the truth of the remark of Voltaire, that though Newton survived the
+publication of the _Principia_ more than forty years, yet at the time of
+his death he had not above twenty followers out of England.
+
+
+
+%MORGAN, THE BUCCANEER, SACKS PANAMA%
+
+A.D. 1671
+
+JOHANN W. VON ARCHENHOLZ
+
+
+In the seventeenth century appeared "a class of rovers wholly distinct from
+any of their predecessors in the annals of the world, differing as widely
+in their plans, organizations, and exploits as in the principles that
+governed their actions." These adventurers were a piratical gang called
+buccaneers, or sometimes, as in the following narrative, freebooters, who
+became noted for their exploits in the West Indies and on South American
+coasts.
+
+The nucleus of this association of pirates is traced to bands of
+smugglers--English, French, and Dutch--who carried on a secret trade with
+the island of Santo Domingo. Later they settled there and on other islands,
+and after a while began to prey upon Spanish commerce. In 1630 they made
+their chief head-quarters on the island of Tortuga; in 1655 they aided in
+the English conquest of Jamaica, and ten years later settled the Bahamas.
+All these islands became centres of their activities.
+
+Most renowned among the leaders of the buccaneers was Sir Henry Morgan, a
+Welshman, who died in Jamaica in 1688. For years he carried stolen riches
+to England, and Charles II rewarded him with knighthood. Having pillaged
+parts of Cuba, he took and ransomed Puerto Bello, in Colombia (1668), and
+Maracaibo, in Venezuela (1669). In 1670 Morgan gathered a fleet of nearly
+forty vessels, and a force of over two thousand men, for the greatest of
+the exploits of the buccaneers, the capture and plunder of the wealthy city
+of Panama.
+
+By the end of the century the buccaneers had become dispersed among
+contending European armies, and little more was heard of them.
+
+Morgan's plan of capturing Panama was apparently attended with innumerable
+difficulties. The chief obstacle was the position of that city on the
+Pacific coast at such a great distance from the Caribbean Sea; and not an
+individual on board the fleet was acquainted with the road that led to
+the goal. To remedy this inconvenience, Morgan determined, in the first
+instance, to go to the island of St. Catharine, where the Spaniards
+confined their criminals, and thence to supply himself with guides.
+
+The passage was rapid. Morgan landed in that island one thousand men, who,
+by threatening to put to death everyone that hesitated for a moment to
+surrender, so terrified the Spaniards that they speedily capitulated. It
+was stipulated that, to save at least the honor of the garrison, there
+should be a sham fight. In consequence of this, a very sharp fire ensued,
+from the forts on one side, and on the other from the ships; but on both
+sides the cannons discharged only powder. Further, to give a serious
+appearance to this military comedy, the governor suffered himself to be
+taken, while attempting to pass from Fort Jerome to another fort. At the
+beginning the crafty Morgan did not rely too implicitly on this feint; and
+to provide for every event, he secretly ordered his soldiers to load
+their fusees with bullets, but to discharge them in the air, unless they
+perceived some treachery on the part of the Spaniards. But his enemies
+adhered most faithfully to their capitulation; and this mock engagement, in
+which neither party was sparing of powder, was followed for some time with
+all the circumstances which could give it the semblance of reality. Ten
+forts surrendered, one after another, after sustaining a kind of siege or
+assault; and this series of successes did not cost the life of a single
+man, nor even a scratch, on the part either of the victors or of the
+conquered.
+
+All the inhabitants of the island were shut up in the great fort of Santa
+Teresa, which was built on a steep rock; and the conquerors, who had not
+taken any sustenance for twenty-four hours, declared a most serious war
+against the horned cattle and game of the district.
+
+In the isle of St. Constantine Morgan found four hundred fifty-nine
+persons of both sexes; one hundred ninety of whom were soldiers, forty-two
+criminals, eighty-five children, and sixty-six negroes. There were ten
+forts, containing sixty-eight cannons, which were so defended in other
+respects by nature that very small garrisons were deemed amply sufficient
+to protect them. Besides an immense quantity of fusees and grenades--which
+were at that time much used--upward of three hundred quintals of gunpowder
+were found in the arsenal. The whole of this ammunition was carried on
+board the pirate's ships; the cannon, which could be of no service to them,
+were spiked; their carriages were burned, and all the forts demolished
+excepting one, which the freebooters themselves garrisoned. Morgan
+selected three of the criminals to serve him as guides to Panama. These he
+afterward, on his return to Jamaica, set at liberty, even giving them a
+share in the booty.
+
+The plan, conceived by this intrepid chieftain, inspired all his companions
+in arms with genuine enthusiasm; it had a character of grandeur and
+audacity that inflamed their courage; how capable they were of executing it
+the subsequent pages will demonstrate.
+
+Panama, which stood on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, in the ninth degree
+of northern latitude, was at that time one of the greatest, as well as most
+opulent cities in America. It contained two thousand large houses, the
+greater number of which were very fine piles of building, and five thousand
+smaller dwellings, each mostly three stories in height. Of these, a pretty
+considerable number were erected of stone, all the rest of cedar-wood, very
+elegantly constructed and magnificently furnished. That city was defended
+by a rampart and was surrounded with walls. It was the emporium for the
+silver of Mexico and the gold of Peru, whence those valuable metals were
+brought on the backs of mules--two thousand of which animals were kept for
+this purpose only--across the isthmus toward the northern coast of the
+Pacific. A great commerce was also carried on at Panama in negroes; which
+trade was at that time almost exclusively confined to the English,
+Dutch, French, and Danes. With this branch of commerce the Italians were
+intimately acquainted. They gave lessons in it to all the rest of Europe;
+and, as two things were necessary, in which the Genoese were by no means
+deficient--money and address--they were chiefly occupied in the slave
+trade, and supplied the provinces of Peru and Chile with negroes.
+
+At the period now referred to, the President of Panama was the principal
+intendant or overseer of the civil department, and captain-general of all
+the troops in the viceroyalty of Peru. He had in his dependency Puerto
+Bello and Nata, two cities inhabited by the Spaniards, together with the
+towns of Cruces, Panama, Capira, and Veragua. The city of Panama had also a
+bishop, who was a suffragan of the Archbishop of Lima.
+
+The merchants lived in great opulence; and their churches were decorated
+with uncommon magnificence. The cathedral was erected in the Italian
+style, surmounted with a large cupola, and enriched with gold and silver
+ornaments; as also were the eight convents which this city comprised. At
+a small distance from its walls there were some small islands, alike
+embellished by art and by nature, where the richest inhabitants had their
+country houses; from which circumstance they were called the "gardens of
+Panama." In short, everything concurred to render this place important and
+agreeable. Here several of the European nations had palaces for carrying on
+their commerce; and among these were the Genoese, who were held in great
+credit, and who had vast warehouses for receiving the articles of their
+immense trade, as also a most magnificent edifice. The principal houses
+were filled with beautiful paintings and the masterpieces of the arts,
+which had here been accumulated--more from an intense desire of being
+surrounded with all the splendor of luxury--since they possessed the means
+of procuring it--than from a refined taste. Their superabundance of gold
+and silver had been employed in obtaining these splendid superfluities,
+which were of no value but to gratify the vanity of their possessors.
+
+Such was Panama in 1670, when the freebooters selected it as the object
+of their bold attempt, and as the victim of their extravagancies, and
+immortalized their name by reducing it to a heap of ruins.
+
+In the execution of this design, which stupefied the New World, they
+displayed equal prudence and cruelty. Previous to the adoption of any other
+measure, it was necessary that the pirates should get possession of Fort
+St. Laurent, which was situated on the banks of the river Chagres. With
+this view, Morgan detached four ships, with four hundred men, under the
+command of the intrepid Brodely, who had happily succeeded in victualling
+the fleet, and who was intimately acquainted with the country. Morgan
+continued at the island of St. Catharine with the rest of his forces.
+
+His plan was to dissemble his vast projects against Panama as long as it
+was possible, and to cause the pillage of Fort St. Laurent to be regarded
+as a common expedition to which he would confine himself. Brodely
+discharged his commission with equal courage and success. That castle
+was situated on a lofty mountain, at the mouth of the river, and was
+inaccessible on almost every side. The first attempts were fruitless; and
+the freebooters, who advanced openly, without any other arms than their
+fusees and sabres, at first lost many of their comrades; for the Spaniards
+not only made use of all their artillery and musketry against them, but
+were also seconded by the Indians that were with them in the fort and whose
+arrows were far more fatal than the bullets.
+
+The assailants saw their companions-in-arms fall by their side without
+being able to avenge them. The danger of their present situation and
+the nature of their arms seemed to render the enterprise altogether
+impracticable. Their courage began to waver, their ranks were thrown into
+disorder, and they already thought of retiring, when the provocations of
+the Spaniards inspired them with new vigor. "You heretic dogs," cried they
+in a triumphant tone; "you cursed English, possessed by the devil! Ah, you
+will go to Panama, will you? No, no; that you shall not; you shall all bite
+the dust here, and all your comrades shall share the same fate."
+
+From these insulting speeches the pirates learned that the design of their
+expedition was discovered; and from that moment they determined to carry
+the fort or die to a man upon the spot. They immediately commenced the
+assault in defiance of the shower of arrows that were discharged against
+them, and undismayed by the loss of their commander, both of whose legs had
+been carried away by a cannon-ball. One of the pirates, in whose shoulder
+an arrow was deeply fixed, tore it out himself, exclaiming: "Patience,
+comrades, an idea strikes me; all the Spaniards are lost!" He tore some
+cotton out of his pocket, with which he covered his ramrod, set the cotton
+on fire, and shot this burning material, in lieu of bullets, at the houses
+of the fort, which were covered with light wood and the leaves of palm
+trees. His companions collected together the arrows which were strewed
+around them upon the ground, and employed them in a similar manner. The
+effect of this novel mode of attack was most rapid; many of the houses
+caught fire; a powder-wagon blew up. The besieged, being thus diverted from
+their means of defence, thought only of stopping the progress of the fire.
+Night came on; under cover of the darkness the freebooters attempted also
+to set on fire the palisades, which were made of a kind of wood that was
+easily kindled. In this attempt likewise they were crowned with success.
+The soil, which the palisades supported, fell down for want of support,
+and filled up the ditch. The Spaniards nevertheless continued to defend
+themselves with much courage, being animated by the example of their
+commander, who fought till the very moment he received a mortal blow. The
+garrison had, throughout, the use of their cannon, which kept up a most
+violent fire; but the enemy had already made too much progress to be
+disconcerted with it; they persevered in their attack, until they at length
+became masters of the fort.
+
+A great number of Spaniards, finding themselves deprived of all resource,
+precipitated themselves from the top of the walls into the river, that
+they might not fall alive into the hands of the freebooters, who made only
+twenty-four prisoners, and ten of these were wounded men, who had concealed
+themselves among the dead, in the hope of escaping their ferocious
+conquerors. These twenty-four men were all that remained of three hundred
+forty who had composed the garrison, which had shortly before been
+reënforced, for the President of Panama, having been apprised from
+Carthagena of the real object of the pirates' expedition, came to encamp,
+with thirty-six hundred men, in the vicinity of the threatened city. This
+information was confirmed to the freebooters after the capture of the fort.
+At the same time they learned that among this body of troops there were
+four hundred horsemen, six hundred Indians, and two hundred mulat-toes; the
+last of whom, being very expert in hunting bulls, were intended, in case of
+necessity, to send two thousand of those animals among the freebooters.
+
+It is scarcely credible that Brodely continued to command, notwithstanding
+the severity of his wounds; but he would not, by retiring, compromise the
+advantages which he had so dearly purchased; for out of four hundred men
+who had composed his little army, one hundred sixty had been killed, eighty
+wounded; and of these eighty, sixty were altogether out of the battle.
+
+The bodies of the French and English were interred; but those of the
+Spaniards were thrown down from the top of the fort and remained in a heap
+at the foot of its walls. Brodely found much ammunition and abundance of
+provisions, with which he was the more satisfied, as he knew that the grand
+fleet was greatly in want of both those articles. He caused the fort to be
+rebuilt, as far as was practicable, in order that he might defend himself
+there in case the Spaniards should make a speedy attempt to retake it. In
+this situation he waited for Morgan, who in a short time appeared with his
+fleet.
+
+As the pirates approached, they beheld the English flag flying on the fort,
+and abandoned themselves to the most tumultuous joy and excessive drinking,
+without dreaming of the dangers occurring at the mouth of the river
+Chagres, beneath whose waters there was a sunken rock. The coasting pilots
+of those latitudes came to their assistance, but their intoxication and
+their impatience would not permit them to attend to the latter. This
+negligence was attended with most fatal consequences and cost them four
+ships, one of which was the admiral's vessel. The crews, however, together
+with their ladings, were saved. This loss greatly affected Morgan, who
+was wholly intent upon his vast designs, but who, nevertheless, made his
+entrance into St. Laurent, where he left a garrison of five hundred men. He
+also detached from his body of troops one hundred fifty men for the purpose
+of seizing several Spanish vessels that were in the river.
+
+The remainder of his forces Morgan directed to follow himself. They carried
+but a small supply of provisions, not only that his march might not be
+impeded, but also because the means of conveyance were very limited.
+Besides, he was apprehensive lest he should expose to famine the garrison
+he had left in the fort, which did not abound with provisions, and was cut
+off on every side from receiving supplies; and it was likewise necessary
+that he should leave sufficient for the support of all the prisoners and
+slaves, whose number amounted very nearly to one thousand.
+
+After all these steps had been taken, Morgan briefly addressed his
+comrades, whom he exhorted to arm themselves with courage calculated to
+subdue every obstacle, that they might return to Jamaica with an increase
+of glory, and riches sufficient to supply all their wants for the rest of
+their lives. At length, on January 18th, he commenced his march toward
+Panama, with a chosen body of freebooters, who were thirteen hundred
+strong.
+
+The greatest part of their journey was performed by water, following the
+course of the river. Five vessels were laden with the artillery; and the
+troops were placed in a very narrow compass on board thirty-two boats. One
+reason why they had brought only a small quantity of provisions was because
+they hoped to meet with a supply on their route; but on the very day of
+their arrival at Rio de los Bravos the expectations of the pirates were
+frustrated. At the place where they landed they literally found nothing:
+the terror which they everywhere inspired had preceded them; the Spaniards
+had betaken themselves to flight, and had carried with them all their
+cattle and even the very last article of their movables. They had cut the
+grain and pulse without waiting for their maturity, the roots of which were
+even torn out of the ground: the houses and stables were empty.
+
+The first day of their voyage was spent in abstinence, tobacco affording
+them the only gratification that was not refused them. The second day was
+not more prosperous. In addition to the various impediments by which their
+passage was obstructed, want of rain had rendered the waters of the river
+very shallow, and a great number of trees had fallen into it, presenting
+almost insurmountable obstacles. On their arrival at the Cruz de Juan
+Gallego, they had no other alternative left but to abandon their boats and
+pursue their route by land; otherwise, they must have resigned themselves
+to the confusion necessarily consequent on retracing their steps.
+
+Animated, however, by their chieftains, they determined to try the
+adventure. On the third day their way led them to a forest, where there was
+no beaten path, and the soil of which was marshy. But it was indispensably
+necessary that they should leave this wretched passage, in order that they
+might reach--with incredible difficulties, indeed--the town of Cedro Bueno.
+For all these excessive fatigues they found no indemnification whatever;
+there were no provisions, not even a single head of game.
+
+These luckless adventurers at length saw themselves surrounded by all the
+horrors of famine. Many of them were reduced to devour the leaves of trees;
+the majority were altogether destitute of sustenance. In this state of
+severe privations, and with very light clothing, they passed the nights
+lying on the shore, benumbed with cold, incapable of enjoying, even in the
+smallest degree, the solace of sleep, and expecting with anxiety the return
+of day. Their courage was supported only with the hope of meeting
+some bodies of Spaniards, or some groups of fugitive inhabitants, and
+consequently of finding provisions, with an abundance of which the latter
+never failed to supply themselves when they abandoned their dwellings.
+Further, the pirates were obliged to continue their route at a small
+distance only from the river, as they had contrived to drag their canoes
+along with them, and, whenever the water was of sufficient depth, part
+of the men embarked on board them, while the remainder prosecuted their
+journey by land. They were preceded a few hundred paces by an advanced
+guard of thirty men under the direction of a guide who was intimately
+acquainted with the country; and the strictest silence was observed, in
+order that they might discover the ambuscades of the Spaniards, and, if it
+were possible, make some of them prisoners.
+
+On the fourth day the freebooters reached Torna Cavellos, a kind of
+fortified place which also had been evacuated, the Spaniards having carried
+away with them everything that was portable and consumed the rest by fire.
+Their design was to leave the pirates neither movables nor utensils; in
+fact, this was the only resource left them by which they could reduce those
+formidable guests to such a state of privation as to compel them to retire.
+The only things which had not been burned or carried off were some large
+sacks of hides, which were to these freebooters objects of avidity, and
+which had almost occasioned a bloody dispute. Previously to devouring them,
+it was necessary to cut them into pieces with all possible equity. Thus
+divided, the leather was cut into small bits, these were scraped and
+violently beaten between two stones. It was then soaked in water, in order
+to become soft, after which it was roasted; nor, thus prepared, could it
+have been swallowed if they had not taken most copious draughts of water.
+
+After this repast the freebooters resumed their route, and arrived at
+Torna-Munni, where also they found an abandoned fortress. On the fifth day
+they reached Barbacoas; but still no place presented to their view either
+man, animal, or any kind of provisions whatever. Here likewise the
+Spaniards had taken the precaution of carrying away or destroying
+everything that could serve for food. Fortunately, however, they discovered
+in the hollow of a rock two sacks of flour, some fruit, and two large
+vessels filled with wine. This discovery would have transported with joy a
+less numerous troop; but, to so many famished men it presented only very
+feeble resource. Morgan, who did not suffer less from hunger than the rest,
+generously appropriated none of it to his own use, but caused this scanty
+supply to be distributed among those who were just ready to faint. Many,
+indeed, were almost dying. These were conveyed on board the boats, the
+charge of which was committed to them; while those who had hitherto had the
+care of the vessels, were reunited to the body that was travelling by land.
+Their march was very slow, both on account of the extreme weakness of these
+men, even after the very moderate refreshment they had just taken, as well
+as from the roughness and difficulties of the way; and during the fifth day
+the pirates had no other sustenance but the leaves of trees and the grass
+of the meadows.
+
+On the following day the freebooters made still less progress; want of food
+had totally exhausted them, and they were frequently obliged to rest. At
+length they reached a plantation, where they found a vast quantity of maize
+in a granary that had just been abandoned. What a discovery was this to men
+whose appetites were sharpened by such long protractions! A great many of
+them devoured the grains in a raw state; the rest covered their shares
+with the leaves of the banana-tree, and thus cooked or roasted the maize.
+Reinvigorated by this food, they pursued their route; and, on the same day,
+they discovered a troop of Indians on the other side of the river, but
+those savages betook themselves to flight, so that it was impossible to
+reach them. The cruel freebooters fired on them and killed some of them;
+the rest escaped, exclaiming: "Come, you English dogs, come into the
+meadow; we will there wait for you."
+
+To this challenge the pirates were little tempted to answer. Their supply
+of maize was exhausted; and they were further obliged to lie down in the
+open air without eating anything. Hitherto, in the midst of privations the
+most severely painful, as well as of the most difficult labors, they had
+evinced an inexhaustible patience, but at length violent murmurs arose.
+Morgan and his rash enterprise became the object of their execrations: a
+great number of the freebooters were desirous of returning; but the rest,
+although discontented, declared that they would rather perish than not
+terminate an expedition so far advanced and which had cost them so much
+trouble.
+
+On the following day they crossed the river and directed their march toward
+a place which they took for a town or, at all events, for a village, where,
+to their great satisfaction, they thought they perceived at a distance the
+smoke issuing from several chimneys. "There, at last," said they, "we shall
+surely find both men and provisions." Their expectations were completely
+frustrated; not a single individual appeared throughout the place. They
+found no other articles of sustenance but a leather sack full of bread,
+together with a few cats and dogs, which were instantly killed and
+devoured. The place where they had now arrived was the town of Cruces, at
+which were usually landed those commodities which were conveyed up the
+river Chagres, in order to be carried by land to Panama, which was eight
+French leagues distant. Here were some fine warehouses built of stone, and
+likewise some stables belonging to the King of Spain, which, at the moment
+of the pirates' arrival, were the only buildings that remained untouched,
+all the inhabitants having betaken themselves to flight after they had set
+their houses on fire.
+
+Every corner of these royal buildings was ransacked by the freebooters, who
+at length discovered seventeen large vessels full of Peruvian wine, which
+were immediately emptied. Scarcely, however, had they drunk this liquor,
+which was to recruit their exhausted strength, than they all fell ill.
+At first they thought the wine was poisoned; they were overwhelmed with
+consternation, and were fully persuaded that their last hour was come.
+Their terrors were unfounded; as their sudden indisposition was easily
+accounted for by the nature of the unwholesome food they had so recently
+taken, by the extreme diminution of their strength, and the avidity with
+which they had swallowed the wine; in fact, they found themselves much
+better on the following day.
+
+As Morgan had been reduced to the necessity of removing, at this place, to
+a distance from all his ships, he was obliged to land all his men, not even
+excepting those who were most exhausted by weakness. The shallops alone,
+with sixty men, were sent to the spot where his vessels and largest ships
+had been left. A single shallop only was reserved to carry news, if
+occasion offered, to the flotilla. Morgan prohibited every man from
+going alone to any distance; and even required that they should not make
+excursions in troops amounting to less than a hundred men. Famine, however,
+compelled the freebooters to infringe this prohibition. Six of them went
+out to some distance in quest of food; the event justified the foresight of
+their chieftain. They were attacked by a large body of Spaniards, and could
+not without very great difficulty regain the village: they had also the
+mortification to see one of their comrades taken prisoner.
+
+Morgan now determined to prosecute his march. After reviewing his
+companions-in-arms he found that they amounted to eleven hundred men. As he
+foresaw that they were apprehensive lest their lost comrade should betray
+the secret of their enterprise and the state of their forces, Morgan made
+them believe that he had not been taken; that he had only lost his way in
+the woods, but had now returned to the main body.
+
+The freebooters were on the eighth day of their painful journey, and
+nothing but the hope of speedily terminating their labors could support
+them much longer, for they had now ascertained that they were on the way to
+Panama. An advanced guard of two hundred men was therefore formed, which
+was to watch the movements of the enemy. They marched onward for a whole
+day without perceiving any living object whatever, when suddenly a shower
+of three or four thousand arrows was discharged upon them from the top of
+a rock. For some minutes they were struck with astonishment; no enemy
+presented himself to their view. They beheld around them, at their feet,
+above their heads, nothing but steep rocks, trees, and abysses; and,
+without striking a single blow, they reckoned twenty of their comrades
+killed or wounded. This unexpected attack not being continued, they pursued
+their march across a forest, where, in a hollow way, they fell upon a
+large body of Indians who opposed their progress with much valor. In this
+engagement the freebooters were victorious, though they lost eight killed
+and ten wounded.
+
+They made every possible effort to catch some of the fugitives, but these
+fled away with the velocity of stags across the rocks, with all the
+turnings and windings of which they were intimately acquainted. Not a
+single man fell into their hands; the Indian chieftain was wounded;
+and, notwithstanding he lay on the ground, he continued to fight
+most obstinately until he received a mortal blow. He wore a crown of
+party-colored feathers. His death made a great impression on the Indians
+and was the principal cause of their defeat. The ground on which they had
+attacked the pirates was so favorable that one hundred men would have been
+fully sufficient to have destroyed the whole troop of freebooters. The
+latter availed themselves of the inconceivable negligence of the Spaniards
+in not taking more effectual measures for the defence of such an important
+pass. They exerted all possible diligence to make their way out of this
+labyrinth of rocks, where a second attack of a similar kind would have been
+attended with consequences of the most fatal tendency to them, and to get
+into an open and level country.
+
+On the ninth day they found themselves in a plain or spacious meadow,
+entirely divested of trees, so that nothing could shelter them against the
+ardor of the solar rays. It rained, however, most copiously at the
+moment of their arrival; and this circumstance added yet more to their
+difficulties. In a short time they were wetted to their skins. In case of a
+sudden attack their arms and ammunition would have afforded them but little
+assistance; while the Spaniards would be able most effectively to use their
+spears, which could not be damaged by the rain.
+
+No human means could remedy this inconvenience. The pirates had only to
+abandon themselves to their fate. Morgan most ardently desired that
+some prisoner might fall into his hands, from whose confessions, either
+voluntary or involuntary, he might obtain some information by which to
+direct his march. With this intention, fifty men were detached in different
+directions, with a promised reward of three hundred piasters, out of the
+society's stock, to the man who should bring in either a Spaniard or an
+Indian, exclusive of the share of booty to which he should be entitled.
+
+About noon they ascended a steep hill, from whose summit they began to
+discover the Pacific. At this sight, which announced the speedy termination
+of their miseries, they were transported with joy. From the top of this
+eminence they also perceived six ships departing from Panama, and sailing
+toward the islands of Taroga and Tarogiela, which were situated in the
+vicinity of that city. Panama itself for the present escaped their
+observation; but how was their satisfaction increased on beholding, in a
+valley, a vast number of bulls, cows, horses, and particularly of asses,
+which were under the care of some Spaniards, who betook themselves to
+flight the moment they saw the formidable pirates approaching? To the
+latter no _rencontre_ could be more desirable. They were ready to faint
+with famine and fatigue; the sustenance which they immediately devoured
+would contribute to give them that strength which every moment would become
+so necessary to them, and it is altogether inconceivable how the Spaniards
+could abandon such a prey to their famished enemies. This want of foresight
+can only be accounted for by the panic with which the Spaniards were
+seized.
+
+The spot which had just been deserted was occupied for some hours by the
+freebooters; they stood in great need of rest, and were in much greater
+want of provisions. They rushed therefore on the animals that had been left
+behind, of which they killed a great number, and devoured their half-raw
+flesh with such avidity that the blood streamed in torrents from their lips
+over the whole of their bodies. What could not be consumed on the spot they
+carried away with them, for Morgan, apprehensive of an attack by the flower
+of the Spaniards' troops, allowed them only a small space of time for
+repose. They resumed their march, but the uncertainty in which they had so
+long been involved was not yet at an end.
+
+Notwithstanding all that chieftain's experience, his spies could not
+succeed in taking a single prisoner--a circumstance, which seems almost
+incredible in a populous country--and after nine days' march Morgan was
+deprived of every hint that was so essentially necessary to him. Further,
+the freebooters were utterly ignorant how near they were to Panama, when,
+from the summit of a hill, they discovered the towers of that city. They
+could not refrain from shouting for joy. The air reëchoed with the sound of
+trumpets and cymbals; they threw up their caps in the air, vociferating,
+"Victory! victory!" In this place they halted and pitched their camp, with
+the firm determination of attacking Panama on the following day.
+
+At this time the Spaniards were in the utmost confusion. The first
+defensive step which they deemed it advisable to take was to despatch
+fifty horsemen for the purpose of reconnoitring the enemy. The detachment
+approached the camp within musket-shot and offered some insults to the
+freebooters, but speedily returned toward the city, exclaiming, "_Perros,
+nos veromos!_" ("You dogs, we will see you again!") Shortly after a second
+detachment of two hundred men appeared, who occupied every pass, in order
+that, after the victory--which they considered as infallible--not one
+single pirate might escape. The freebooters, however, beheld with the
+utmost concern the measures which were adopted in order to block them up,
+and, previously to every other consideration, turned their attention toward
+their abundant supply of provision. As they were prohibited from kindling
+any fire, they devoured the meat they had brought with them _entirely in
+a raw state_. They could not conceive how the Spaniards could carry their
+neglect or their fancied security to such a length as not to disturb that
+repose of which they stood so greatly in need; nor how they could allow
+them the necessary leisure for recruiting their exhausted strength and thus
+become the more fit for battle. They availed themselves of this oversight
+and were perfectly at ease; after they had glutted themselves with animal
+food they lay down upon the grass and slept quietly. Throughout the night
+the Spaniards made their artillery roar without intermission, in order to
+display their vigilance.
+
+On the ensuing day, which was the tenth of their march, January 27, 1671,
+the pirates advanced at a very early hour, with their military music, and
+took the road leading to Panama. By the advice, however, of one of their
+guides, they quitted the main road and went out of the way across a thick
+wood through which there was no footpath. For this the Spaniards were
+unprepared, having confined themselves to the erection of batteries and
+construction of redoubts on the highway. They soon perceived the inutility
+of this measure and were obliged to relinquish their guns in order to
+oppose their enemies on the contrary side; but not being able to take their
+cannons away from their batteries, they were, consequently, incapacitated
+from making use of one part of their defensive means.
+
+After two hours' march the freebooters discovered the hostile army, which
+was a very fine one, well equipped, and was advancing in battle array. The
+soldiers were clad in party-colored silk stuffs, and the horsemen were
+seated upon their mettlesome steeds as if they were going to a bull-fight.
+The President in person took the command of this body of troops, which
+was of considerable importance, both for the country and likewise for the
+forces supported there by Spain. He marched against the pirates with four
+regiments of the line consisting of infantry, besides twenty-four
+hundred foot-soldiers of another description, four hundred horsemen, and
+twenty-four hundred wild bulls under the conduct of several hundred Indians
+and negroes.
+
+This army, which extended over the whole plain, was discovered by the
+pirates from the summit of a small eminence, and presented to them a most
+imposing appearance, insomuch that they were struck with a kind of terror.
+They now began to feel some anxiety as to the event of an engagement with
+forces so greatly superior to them in point of numbers, but they were soon
+convinced that they must actually conquer or die, and encouraged each other
+to fight till the very last drop of their blood was shed; a determination
+this, which, on the part of these intrepid men, was by no means a vain
+resolution.
+
+They divided themselves into three bodies, placed two hundred of their best
+marksmen in the front, and marched boldly against the Spaniards, who
+were drawn up in order of battle on a very spacious plain. The Governor
+immediately ordered the cavalry to charge the enemy, and the wild bulls to
+be at the same time let loose upon them. But the ground was unfavorable for
+this purpose; the horsemen encountered nothing but marshes, behind which
+were posted the two hundred marksmen, who kept up such a continual and
+well-directed fire that horses and men fell in heaps beneath their shots
+before it was possible to effect a retreat. Fifty horsemen only escaped
+this formidable discharge of musketry.
+
+The bulls, on whose services they had calculated so highly, it became
+impracticable to drive among the pirates. Hence such a confusion arose as
+to completely reverse the whole plan of the battle. The freebooters, in
+consequence, attacked the Spanish infantry with so much the greater vigor.
+They successively knelt on the ground, fired, and rose up again. While
+those who were on one knee directed their fire against the hostile army,
+which began to waver; the pirates, who continued standing, rapidly charged
+their fire-arms. Every man, on this occasion, evinced a dexterity and
+presence of mind which decided the fate of the battle. Almost every shot
+was fatal. The Spaniards, nevertheless, continued to defend themselves with
+much valor, which proved of little service against an exasperated enemy
+whose courage, inflamed by despair, derived additional strength from their
+successes. At length the Spaniards had recourse to their last expedient:
+the wild cattle were let loose upon the rear of the freebooters.
+
+The buccaneers were in their element: by their shouts they intimidated the
+bulls, at the same time waving party-colored flags before them; fired on
+the animals and laid them all upon the ground, without exception. The
+engagement lasted two hours; and notwithstanding the Spaniards were so
+greatly superior, both in numbers and in arms, it terminated entirely
+in favor of the freebooters. The Spaniards lost the chief part of their
+cavalry, on which they had built their expectations of victory; the
+remainder returned to the charge repeatedly, but their efforts only tended
+to render their defeat the more complete. A very few horsemen only escaped,
+together with some few of the infantry who threw down their arms to
+facilitate the rapidity of their flight. Six hundred Spaniards lay dead on
+the field of battle; besides these, they sustained a very considerable loss
+in such as were wounded and taken prisoner.
+
+Among the latter were some Franciscans who had exposed themselves to the
+greatest dangers in order that they might animate the combatants and afford
+the last consolations of religion to the dying. They were conducted into
+Morgan's presence, who instantly pronounced sentence of death upon them.
+In vain did these hapless priests implore that pity which they might have
+expected from a less ferocious enemy. They were all killed by pistol-shots.
+Many Spaniards who were apprehensive lest they should be overtaken in their
+flight had concealed themselves in the flags and rushes along the banks
+of the river. They were mostly discovered and hacked to pieces by the
+merciless pirates.
+
+The freebooters' task, however, was by no means completed. They had yet to
+take Panama, a large and populous city, which was defended by forts and
+batteries, and into which the Governor had retired, together with the
+fugitives. The conquest of this place was the more difficult, as the
+pirates had dearly purchased their victory, and their remaining forces were
+in no respect adequate to encounter the difficulties attending such an
+enterprise. It was, however, determined to make an attempt. Morgan had just
+procured from a wounded captive Spanish officer the necessary information;
+but he had not a moment to lose. It would not do to allow the Spaniards
+time to adopt new measures of defence; the city was therefore assaulted on
+the same day, in defiance of a formidable artillery which wrought great
+havoc among the freebooters; and at the end of three hours they were in
+possession of Panama.
+
+The capture of that city was followed by a general pillage. Morgan, who
+dreaded the consequence of excessive intoxication--especially after his men
+had suffered such a long abstinence--prohibited them from drinking any
+wine under the severest penalties. He foresaw that such a prohibition would
+infallibly be infringed, unless it were sanctioned by an argument far
+more powerful than the fear of punishment. He therefore caused it to be
+announced that he had received information that the Spaniards had poisoned
+all their wine. This dexterous falsehood produced the desired effect, and
+for the first time the freebooters were temperate.
+
+The majority of the inhabitants of Panama had betaken themselves to flight.
+They had embarked their women, their riches, all their movables that were
+of any value and small in bulk, and had sent this valuable cargo to
+the island of Taroga. The men were dispersed over the country, but in
+sufficiently great numbers to appear formidable to the pirates, whose
+forces were much diminished, and who could not expect any assistance from
+abroad. They therefore continued constantly together, and for their greater
+security, most of them encamped without the walls.
+
+We have now reached the time when Morgan committed a barbarous and
+incomprehensible action, concerning which his comrades--some of whom were
+his historians--have given only a very ambiguous explanation.
+
+Notwithstanding that all the precious articles had been carried away from
+Panama, there still remained--as in every great European trading city--a
+vast number of shops, warehouses, and magazines filled with every kind of
+merchandise. Besides a very great quantity of wrought and manufactured
+articles, the productions of luxury and industry, that city contained
+immense stores of flour, wine, and spices; vast magazines of that metal
+which is justly deemed the most valuable of all because it is the most
+useful: extensive buildings, in which were accumulated prodigious stores of
+iron tools and implements, anvils and ploughs which had been received from
+Europe and were destined to revive the Spanish colonies. Some judgment may
+be formed respecting the value of the last-mentioned articles only when it
+is considered that a quintal (one hundredweight) of iron was sold at Panama
+for thirty-two piasters (about thirty-three dollars).
+
+All these multifarious articles, so essentially necessary for furnishing
+colonists with the means of subsistence, were, it should seem, of no value
+in the estimation of the ferocious Morgan because he could not carry them
+away; although, by preserving them, he might have made use of them by
+demanding a specific ransom for them. Circumstances might also enable him
+to derive some further advantages from them, but, in fact, whatever was
+distant or uncertain presented no attraction to this barbarian, who was
+eager to enjoy, but more ardent to destroy.
+
+He was struck by one consideration only. All these bulky productions of
+art and industry were for the moment of no use to the freebooters. Of what
+importance to him was the ruin of many thousand innocent families? He
+consulted only the ferocity of his character, and without communicating his
+design to any individual he secretly caused the city to be set on fire
+in several places. In a few hours it was almost entirely consumed. The
+Spaniards that had remained in Panama--as well as the pirates themselves,
+who were at first ignorant whence the conflagration proceeded--ran together
+and united their efforts in order to extinguish the flames. They brought
+water, and pulled down houses, with a view to prevent the further progress
+of that destructive element. All their exertions were fruitless. A violent
+wind was blowing, and, in addition to this circumstance, the principal part
+of the buildings in that city were constructed of wood. Its finest houses,
+together with their valuable furniture, among which was the magnificent
+palace belonging to the Genoese, the churches, convents, courthouse, shops,
+hospitals, pious foundations, warehouses loaded with sacks of flour, nearly
+two hundred other warehouses filled with merchandise--all were reduced to
+ashes! The fire also consumed a great number of animals, horses, mules, and
+many slaves who had concealed themselves and who were burned alive. A very
+few houses only escaped the fire, which continued burning upward of four
+weeks. Amid the havoc produced in every quarter by the conflagration, the
+freebooters did not neglect to pillage as much as they possibly could, by
+which means they collected a considerable booty.
+
+Morgan seemed ashamed of his atrocious act; he carefully concealed that he
+had ever executed it, and gave out that the Spaniards themselves had set
+their city on fire.
+
+
+
+%STRUGGLE OF THE DUTCH AGAINST FRANCE AND ENGLAND%
+
+A.D. 1672
+
+C.M. DAVIES
+
+
+Seldom has any people held out so heroically against overwhelming numbers
+as did the Dutch in 1672. Of the various wars during the reign of Louis
+XIV, that which he carried on against Holland was one of the most
+important. By its settlement, at the Peace of Nimwegen (1678-1679), the
+long hostilities between France and Holland and their allies were brought
+to a close, and Holland was once more saved from threatened destruction.
+
+Louis, having invaded the Spanish Netherlands, had reluctantly consented to
+the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), by which he retained a small part of
+the Low Countries. By insisting on this treaty Holland gave deep offence
+to the French monarch, who in 1672 began a war of revenge against the
+Netherlands, where his schemes of large acquisition had been thwarted. His
+first attempt was to isolate Holland, and having purchased the King of
+Sweden, he bribed Charles II of England, uncle of William of Orange, to
+enter into a secret treaty against the Netherlands.
+
+The principal events of the war are narrated by Davies, who shows how the
+old spirit of the Dutch returned to them in this supreme hour of new peril
+to their liberties.
+
+The Dutch, though, in defence of their religion and liberties, they had
+beaten the first soldiers in the world, were never essentially a military
+nation; and in 1672 a long interval of peace, and devotion to the pursuits
+of commerce, had rendered them quite unfit for warlike enterprises. The
+army was entirely disorganized; the officers, appointed by the magistrates
+of the towns on the score of relationship or party adherence, without
+the slightest regard to their efficiency, were suffered, without fear of
+punishment, to keep the numbers of their regiments incomplete, in order
+that they might appropriate the pay of the vacancies; while the men,
+independent and undisciplined, were allowed to spend their time in the
+pursuit of some gainful trade or peaceful occupation, instead of practising
+military exercises. The disputes concerning the appointment of a
+captain-general had impeded any fresh levies, the recruits refusing to take
+the oath to the States except in conjunction with the Prince of Orange, and
+had induced many of the best and most experienced officers to take service
+in the French army; the fortifications of the towns were in a dilapidated
+condition, and no measures had been adopted for the security of the
+frontier.
+
+Such was the state to which party spirit had reduced a nation filled with
+brave, intelligent, and virtuous inhabitants, and governed by statesmen as
+able and wise as the world ever saw, when the two most powerful sovereigns
+of Europe declared war against her. The manifests were both issued on the
+same day. That of the King of England is strongly marked by the duplicity
+which was the distinguishing characteristic both of himself and of his
+court as then constituted. From the style of the document one might be led
+to suppose that he was forced into the war with extreme reluctance and
+regret, and only in consequence of the impossibility of obtaining redress
+by any other means for the deep injuries he had sustained. He declared
+that, so far back as the year 1664, his Parliament had complained of the
+wrongs and oppressions exercised by the Dutch on his subjects in the East
+Indies, and for which they had refused to make reparation by amicable
+means.
+
+They had openly refused him the honor of the flag, one of the most ancient
+prerogatives of his crown; had sought to invite the King of France to
+hostilities against him; and had insulted his person and dignity by the
+abusive pictures and medals exposed in all their towns. This expression was
+understood to allude to a medal complained of three years before, and to
+a portrait of Cornelius de Witt, in the perspective of which was a
+representation of the burning of Chatham. Cornelius de Witt being an
+ex-burgomaster of Dordrecht, the council of that town had, with a
+natural pride, caused this picture to be painted and hung up in the
+council-chamber. The extreme sensitiveness manifested by Charles on this
+point appeared to the States rather superfluous in a monarch whose own
+kingdom teemed with the most offensive truths relative to himself and his
+government.
+
+As if determined that the mode of commencing hostilities should be as
+lawless and unjust as the war itself, the court of England, several days
+before the declaration was issued, had commanded Sir Robert Holmes to
+attack the Dutch Smyrna fleet on its return. While cruising near the Isle
+of Wight, Holmes met the admiral, Sprague, by whom he was informed of the
+near approach of the vessels; but, anxious to secure to himself the whole
+of the booty, estimated at near a million and a half of guilders, he
+suffered Sprague to sail away in ignorance of his instructions, and leaving
+him with no more than nine frigates and three yachts. His covetousness,
+happily, proved the salvation of the fleet. After a short encounter of two
+days' duration, Holmes was forced to retire, having captured no more than
+three or four of the more inconsiderable ships, while the remainder gained
+their harbors in safety.
+
+The King of France appeared, by the tenor of his declaration of war, to
+imagine that his power and dignity entitled him to set at naught alike the
+natural rights of mankind and the law of nations; it resembled, indeed,
+rather the threat of a predatory incursion on the part of a barbarian chief
+than the justification of the taking up of arms by a civilized government.
+Without adducing a single cause of complaint, he satisfied himself with
+declaring that the conduct of the States had been such as it was not
+consistent with his glory to endure any longer.
+
+If anything, indeed, could justify the arrogant tone assumed by Louis, the
+circumstances in which he found himself would have done so. An army of one
+hundred twenty thousand, able and well-equipped troops, commanded by Condé
+and Turenne, and numbering in its ranks volunteers of the noblest families
+in France eager to distinguish themselves under the eye of their sovereign;
+funds lavishly supplied by the able minister of finance, Colbert; with vast
+magazines of ammunition and every other necessary collected, and winter
+quarters secured in the neighboring and friendly territories of Cologne and
+Muenster, seemed means almost absurdly disproportioned in magnitude to the
+end to be attained. At the same time he was but too well informed of the
+defenceless condition of the enemy. Jan de Witt and the States conceived
+that his first attempt would be upon Maestricht, the possession of which he
+was known to have long coveted, and that the difficulties of its conquest
+would be sufficient to deter from further enterprise a monarch of whose
+military prowess no very high idea was entertained, and who was supposed to
+be far more enamoured of the pomp and circumstance of war than of its toils
+and dangers. They accordingly fortified and provided Maestricht with
+the utmost care, leaving the frontier towns on the Rhine in an utterly
+inefficient state of defence. Aware of this fact, Louis commenced his
+operations on the side of Cleves, and, separating his army into four
+divisions, laid siege simultaneously to as many places. He himself summoned
+the town of Rhynberg, the Duke of Orleans sat down before Orsay, Condé was
+commanded to reduce Wesel, and Turenne, Burick. All surrendered within a
+week. To give an account of the capture of the towns which followed, would
+be but to heap example upon example of cowardice or treachery, or--as they
+are generally found together--both.
+
+Nothing less than entire unanimity and the most undaunted resolution could
+have enabled the Dutch to resist the overwhelming force employed against
+them; whereas, the miserable effect of the internal dissensions of the
+republic had been to destroy for the time all mutual confidence. In some
+places the garrisons, despising their incapable commanders, refused to act;
+or the governors, mistrustful of their undisciplined troops, lost all hope
+of prolonging a defence; in others, the detestation entertained by the
+magistrates toward the Orange party was so great that, preferring to submit
+to France rather than to a native stadtholder, they hastened to deliver up
+their towns to the invader; on the other hand, the friends of the house
+of Orange looked not without some complacency on the misfortunes which
+threatened the state, and which they hoped would reduce it to the necessity
+of raising the Prince to the dignities of his family; while in those places
+where the Catholics were numerous, the populace, under the guidance of the
+priests, forced both garrisons and governments to open their gates to the
+sovereign whom they hailed as the restorer of their religion. With scarcely
+a show of opposition, therefore, Louis advanced to the Rhine.
+
+The drought of the summer was so excessive that this river had become
+fordable in three places, which, being pointed out to the French by some
+peasants of Guelderland, the King determined on attempting the passage
+between Schenkenschans and Arnhem, near the Tollhuys, a village and tower
+about two miles distant from the separation of the branch of the river
+called the Wahal. The Prince of Orange, who was stationed with about
+twenty-two thousand men at Arnhem, and along the banks of the Yssel,
+instead of concentrating his forces to oppose the passage of the enemy,
+contented himself with detaching De Montbas to guard the Betuwe, and to
+throw succors if requisite into Nimwegen. But this general, deeming the
+troops placed under his command insufficient for the purpose required,
+abandoned his post. He was arrested and sent to Utrecht, but afterward
+allowed to escape. Immediately on the retreat of Montbas the Prince
+despatched General Wurtz, but still with a vastly inadequate force, to
+occupy the post at the Tollhuys. The French cuirassiers, led on by the
+Counts de Guiche and Revel, first waded into the ford under the fire of
+the artillery from the tower, which, however, as there were no more than
+seventeen men stationed in it, was not very formidable. They were followed
+by a number of volunteers, and in a short time the whole of the cavalry
+passed over with trifling loss. The Dutch troops, discouraged as well by
+the unexpectedness of the attempt as by their own inferiority in number,
+were driven back after a short skirmish. A bridge was then thrown across
+the river for the infantry, and thus this famous passage was accomplished
+with comparative ease and safety.
+
+As the position of the Prince of Orange on the Yssel, which in consequence
+of the drought was fordable throughout nearly the whole of its course, was
+now no longer tenable, he retired to Utrecht, abandoning Arnhem to the
+enemy, who soon after received the submission of Nimwegen and the whole of
+Guelderland, Thiel, and the Bommel. In order to put Utrecht into a state of
+defence, the Prince considered it necessary to burn down all the suburbs;
+a measure which, when he proposed to the States of the Province, he found
+them reluctant to comply with. He therefore immediately quitted that city,
+and with the whole of his forces made a further retreat into Holland. Thus
+left wholly unprotected, the States of Utrecht conceived that the only
+resource which remained to them was to mollify the conqueror by a speedy
+submission; and accordingly, while Louis was yet at Doesburg, they sent
+deputies to tender to him the keys of the city and the submission of the
+whole province. The King shortly after entered Utrecht in triumph.
+
+While the good-fortune, rather than the arms, of Louis subdued Guelderland
+and Utrecht, his allies, the Bishops of Cologne and Muenster, found no more
+vigorous resistance in Overyssel. Oldenzeel, Entschede, and other small
+towns yielded at once to their summons; Deventer, though well garrisoned
+and amply provided, was surrendered at once by the municipal government,
+who, by their exhortations and example, induced that of Zwol to adopt a
+like disgraceful course of conduct. The easily acquired spoil was divided
+among the captors; the King of France, who had furnished a subsidy of
+troops, placed garrisons in Campen and Elburg; the Archbishop of Cologne
+retained Deventer; Groll and Breevoort being allotted to the Bishop of
+Muenster, while Zwol was held in common. The troops of these warlike
+prelates exercised everywhere unbounded license and cruelties. Numbers
+of unhappy families were driven from their homes, and, taking refuge in
+Holland, added to the consternation which prevailed there.
+
+This province was now in imminent danger. No barrier remained, as it
+appeared, to oppose the progress of the enemy; the army of the Prince had
+dwindled to about thirteen thousand men; two of the frontier towns, Woerden
+and Oudewater, had solicited safeguards from the invaders; and Naarden was
+surprised by the Count of Rochefort. Had he marched on at once to Muyden he
+might have occupied that town also, a post of immense importance from
+its situation, as ships going to Amsterdam must come within reach of its
+cannon; and by means of a sluice there, the surrounding country may at
+any time be inundated. It had been left destitute of a garrison; but, the
+French commander remaining two or three days inactive at Naarden, time was
+afforded to John Maurice of Nassau to enter Muyden with a strong body of
+troops, and the chance thus lost was gone forever.
+
+Amazed at the rapid advances of the invader, and dispirited by the symptoms
+of daily increasing aversion which the great body of the people manifested
+to his government, the courage of Jan de Witt at this crisis so entirely
+forsook him that he took upon himself the disgrace of being the first to
+propose to the States of Holland that they should implore mercy from the
+conqueror. The resolution was immediately adopted, and by them proposed to
+the States-General, where it was passed with the dissentient voice only
+of Zealand, who was of opinion that they should treat simultaneously with
+England, from whence that province had to apprehend the principal danger. A
+deputation was accordingly sent to Louis, at Keppel, near Doesburg, headed
+by De Groot, and commissioned to inquire upon what terms his majesty was
+inclined to grant peace to the republic. They were answered by Louvois,
+that the King was not disposed to restore any of the conquests he had made
+or to enter into any negotiation unless the deputies were furnished with
+full powers and instructions as to what the States intended to offer.
+Returning to The Hague, De Groot made his report to the States of Holland,
+and, representing the desperate condition of their affairs, recommended
+that Louis should be gratified with Maestricht and all the other towns of
+the generality; and that a sum should be offered him to defray the expenses
+of the war, provided the King would leave them in possession of their
+liberty and sovereignty. Leyden, Haarlem, and most of the other towns
+followed the example of the nobles in receiving these pusillanimous
+counsels with approbation.
+
+Amsterdam, however, proved that the spirit of the "Gueux" was not yet
+utterly extinct in Holland. Prevailing with four towns of North Holland to
+follow their example, the Council of Amsterdam refused to send deputies to
+debate upon the question of granting full powers to the ambassadors, and
+made vigorous preparations for the defence of their city. They repaired
+the fortifications, and strengthened them with considerable outworks, the
+magistrates themselves being the first to sacrifice their magnificent
+country houses in the suburbs for this purpose; they assigned to each of
+the regiments of burgher guards, who were ten thousand in number, a portion
+of the city to watch; took into their pay as soldiers all those inhabitants
+whom the cessation of trade would throw out of employment; stationed
+outlyers in the Y, Amstel, Zuyder Zee, and Pampus, and, cutting the dikes,
+laid the country to a great distance round under water. They likewise
+passed a resolution that, though all the rest of Holland should make terms
+with the conqueror, they would sustain the siege single-handed till some
+friendly power should afford them assistance.
+
+The causes which combined to expose the United Provinces to these terrible
+disasters by land had, happily, no influence on their affairs by sea. The
+fleet, commanded by De Ruyter, an officer surpassed by none of any age
+or nation in ability and courage, and of devoted fidelity to the present
+government, had been increased to ninety-one ships and frigates of war,
+fifty-four fire-ships, and twenty-three yachts. That of the allies,
+commanded by the Duke of York, comprised after the junction of the French
+squadron under the Count d'Etrées, one hundred forty-nine ships-of-war,
+besides the smaller vessels. Sailing in quest of the enemy, De Ruyter
+discovered them lying in Solebay, evidently unprepared for his approach. On
+this occasion was felt the disadvantage of intrusting an officer with the
+chief command without at the same time giving him sufficient authority to
+insure its beneficial exercise. In consequence of the presence on board of
+Cornelius de Witt, the deputy of the States, De Ruyter, instead of ordering
+an immediate attack, was obliged to call a council of war, and thus gave
+the English time to arrange themselves in order of battle, which they did
+with astonishing celerity.
+
+The Dutch advanced in three squadrons, nearly in a line with each other;
+the Admiral Bankert on the left to the attack of the French; Van Gend on
+the right, with the purpose of engaging the blue squadron commanded by
+Montague, Earl of Sandwich; while De Ruyter in the middle directed his
+course toward the red flag of the English, and, pointing with his finger to
+the Duke of York's vessel, said to his pilot, "There is our man." The pilot
+instantly steered the ship right down upon that of the Duke, and a terrific
+broadside was returned with equal fury. After two hours' incessant firing,
+the English admiral retreated, his ship being so damaged that he was
+obliged to transfer his flag on board the London. At the same time Braakel,
+a captain who had signalized himself in the burning of Chatham, with a
+vessel of sixty-two guns, attacked the Royal James, of one hundred four
+guns, the ship of the Earl of Sandwich, which he boarded and fired.
+Montague, refusing to surrender, was drowned in the attempt to escape in a
+boat. On the other hand, Van Gend, the admiral of the squadron engaged with
+the Earl's, was killed in the beginning of the action. The contest was
+maintained with the daring and steady valor characteristic of both nations,
+from seven in the morning until nightfall. The French had received
+instructions to keep aloof from the fight, and allow the two fleets to
+destroy each other; and these they took care to carry out to the full.
+Thus, the only assistance they afforded to the English was to prevent
+the Dutch squadron engaged in watching their movements from acting, an
+advantage more than counterbalanced by the discouragement their behavior
+occasioned among their allies.
+
+Though both parties claimed the victory, it undoubtedly inclined in favor
+of the Dutch, who sustained a loss somewhat inferior to that of their
+antagonists, and had the satisfaction, moreover, of preventing a descent
+upon Zealand by the combined fleets, which was to have been the immediate
+consequence of a defeat. This was, however, attempted about a month after,
+when the disasters attending the arms of the States by land, having induced
+them to diminish the number of their ships, De Ruyter received commands to
+remain in the ports and avoid an engagement. The whole of the English fleet
+appeared in the Texel provided with small craft for the purpose of landing.
+But, by a singular coincidence, it happened that, on the very day fixed for
+the attempt, the water continued, from some unknown cause, so low as to
+render it impossible for the vessels to approach the shore, and to impress
+the people with the idea that the ebb of the tide lasted for the space of
+twelve hours. Immediately after, a violent storm arose, which drove the
+enemy entirely away from the coasts.
+
+The internal condition of the United Provinces was at this time such as to
+incite the combined monarchs, no less than their own successes, to treat
+them with insolence and oppression. They beheld the inhabitants, instead of
+uniting with one generous sentiment of patriotism in a firm and strenuous
+defence of their fatherland, torn by dissensions, and turning against each
+other the rage which should have been directed against their enemies. The
+divisions in every province and town were daily becoming wider and more
+embittered. Though both parties had merited an equal share of blame for the
+present miscarriages, the people imputed them exclusively to the government
+of Jan de Witt and his adherents; who, they said, had betrayed and sold the
+country to France; and this accusation to which their late pusillanimous
+counsels gave but too strong a color of plausibility, the heads of the
+Orange party, though well aware of its untruth, diligently sustained and
+propagated. The ministers of the Church, always influential and always on
+the alert, made the pulpits resound with declamations against the treachery
+and incapacity of the present government as the cause of all the evils
+under which they groaned; and emphatically pointed to the elevation of the
+Prince of Orange to the dignities of his ancestors as the sole remedy now
+left them. To this measure De Witt and his brother were now regarded as the
+only obstacles; and, so perverted had the state of public feeling become
+that the most atrocious crimes began to be looked upon as meritorious
+actions, provided only they tended to the desired object of removing these
+obnoxious ministers.
+
+On one occasion, Jan de Witt, having been employed at the Chamber of the
+States to a late hour of the night, was returning home attended by a single
+servant, according to his custom, when he was attacked by four assassins.
+He defended himself for a considerable time, till having received some
+severe wounds he fell, and his assailants decamped, leaving him for dead.
+One only, James van der Graaf, was arrested; the other three took refuge in
+the camp, where, though the States of Holland earnestly enjoined the Prince
+of Orange and the other generals to use diligent means for their discovery,
+they remained unmolested till the danger was passed. Van der Graaf was
+tried and condemned to death. The pensionary was strongly solicited by
+his friends to gratify the people by interceding for the pardon of the
+criminals; but he resolutely refused to adopt any such mode of gaining
+popularity. Impunity, he said, would but increase the number and boldness
+of such miscreants; nor would he attempt to appease the causeless hatred of
+the people against him by an act which he considered would tend to endanger
+the life of every member of the Government. The determination, however
+just, was imprudent. The criminal, an account of whose last moments was
+published by the minister who attended him, was regarded by the populace as
+a victim to the vengeance of Jan de Witt, and a martyr to the good of his
+country. On the same day a similar attempt was made on the life of his
+brother, Cornelius de Witt, at Dordrecht, by a like number of assassins,
+who endeavored to force their way into his house, but were prevented by the
+interference of a detachment of the burgher guard.
+
+Cornelius had already, on his return from the fleet in consequence of
+impaired health, been greeted with the spectacle of his picture, which had
+given such umbrage to the King of England, cut into strips and stuck about
+the town, with the head hanging upon the gallows. These symptoms of tumult
+rapidly increased in violence. A mob assembling, with loud cries of
+"_Oranje boven! de Witten onder_!" ("Long live the Prince of Orange! down
+with the De Witts!") surrounded the houses of the members of the council,
+whom they forced to send for the Prince, and to pass an act, repealing the
+"Perpetual Edict," declaring him stadtholder, and releasing him from the
+oath he had taken not to accept that office while he was captain-general.
+Having been signed by all the other members of the council, this act was
+carried to the house of Cornelius de Witt, who was confined to his bed
+by sickness, the populace at the same time surrounding the house and
+threatening him with death in case of refusal. He long resisted, observing
+that he had too many balls falling around him lately to fear death, which
+he would rather suffer than sign that paper; but the prayers and tears of
+his wife and her threats, that if he delayed compliance she would throw
+herself and her children among the infuriated populace, in the end overcame
+his resolution. He added to his signature the letters V.C. _(vi coactus_),
+but the people, informed by a minister of their purport, obliged him to
+erase them.
+
+Similar commotions broke out at Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leyden, Amsterdam, and
+in other towns, both of Holland and Zealand, where the populace constrained
+the magistrates by menace and violence to the repeal of the edict.
+Reluctant to have such a measure forced upon them by tumult and sedition,
+the States of Holland and Zealand now unanimously passed an act revoking
+the Perpetual Edict, and conferring on the Prince of Orange the dignity of
+stadtholder, captain, and admiral-general of these provinces.
+
+Soon afterward Cornelius de Witt was thrown into prison and put to the
+torture on a false charge of planning the assassination of the Prince of
+Orange. Jan de Witt visited his brother in his agony, and a mob, bursting
+into the jail, seized upon both brothers as traitors and murdered them with
+horrid brutality.
+
+From this time the authority of William became almost uncontrolled in the
+United Provinces. Most of the leaders of the Louvestein party, either
+convinced of the necessity of his elevation to power in the present
+emergency or unwilling to encounter the vexation of a fruitless opposition,
+acquiesced in the present state of things; many were afterward employed by
+him, and distinguished themselves by fidelity and zeal in his service. The
+constant coöperation and participation in his views also of the pensionary,
+Fagel, gave him an advantage which none of his predecessors had ever
+enjoyed; the influence of the pensionaries of Holland having hitherto been
+always opposed, and forming a counterpoise, to that of the stadtholder.
+
+Unquestionably the Dutch, while thus parting with their liberties, reaped
+in some degree the benefits usually attendant on such a sacrifice, in
+the increased firmness and activity of a government conducted by a sole
+responsible head. At the time of the embassy of Peter de Groot to solicit
+peace from the King of France, the Prince had so far partaken of the
+general dejection as to ask permission of the States to nominate a deputy
+to treat of his particular interests; but no sooner was he created
+stadtholder than he began to adopt bolder and more spirited resolutions
+for the safety of a country to which he felt himself attached by new and
+stronger ties. Being invited by the Assembly of the States to give his
+opinion on the terms offered by the allied monarchs, he declared that their
+acceptance would entail upon them certain ruin, and that the very listening
+to such was pernicious in the highest degree to affairs, as tending to
+disunite and dispirit the people.
+
+He encouraged them to hope for speedy assistance from his allies; pointed
+out the resources which yet existed for the support of the war; and
+persuaded them rather to resolve, if they were driven to extremity, to
+embark on board their vessels and found a new nation in the East Indies,
+than accept the conditions. At the same time he spurned with indignation
+the flattering proposals made him both by the Kings of France and England;
+for--so singularly are men appointed to work out their own destiny--these
+monarchs now vied with each other, and were in fact principally
+instrumental, in exalting the power and dignity of a prince who ere long
+was to hurl the brother of the one from the throne of his ancestors, and
+prepare for the other an old age of vexation and disgrace, if not to lay
+the first foundation of the ruin of his kingdom in the next century.
+
+Louis, upon the appointment of the Prince to the office of stadtholder, was
+liberal in offers of honor and advantages to his person and family, and
+among the rest was one which he considered could scarcely fail of its
+effect; that, namely, of making him sovereign of the provinces under the
+protection of France and England. William, however, was found wholly
+immovable on this point, declaring that he would rather retire to his
+lands in Germany, and spend his life in hunting, than sell his country and
+liberty to France. Nor were the dispiriting representations made by the
+English ambassadors, that Holland was utterly lost unless he consented to
+the terms proposed, at all more influential; "I have thought of a means,"
+he replied, "to avoid beholding the ruin of my country--to die in the last
+ditch."
+
+Neither, indeed, was the state of the country, though sufficiently
+deplorable, such as to leave him no choice but to become the vassal of her
+haughty enemies. The progress of the invader in Holland was effectually
+arrested by the state of defence into which that province had been put.
+Imitating the noble example set them by Amsterdam, the other towns readily
+opened the sluices of the Lek, Meuse, Yssel, and Vecht, inundating by that
+means the whole of the intervening tracts of land.
+
+The Dutch army was stationed at the five principal posts of the provinces;
+Prince Maurice John being placed at Muyden and Weesp; Field Marshal
+Wurtz at Gorcum; the Count of Horn at the Goejanverwellen Sluys;
+another detachment occupied Woerden; and the Prince himself took up his
+head-quarters at Bodergrave and Nieuwerburg.
+
+At length, finding his army increased by the addition of subsidies from
+Spain to twenty-four thousand men, William determined to infuse new vigor
+into the public mind by the commencement of offensive hostilities. He
+first formed the design of surprising Naarden and Woerden, both of which
+attempts, however, proved unsuccessful. He then marched toward Maestricht,
+captured and demolished the fort of Valckenburg, by which that town was
+straitened, and, with the view of diverting the force of the enemy
+by carrying the war into his own territory, advanced to the siege of
+Charleroi. But the middle of winter having already arrived before he
+commenced the enterprise, he was soon after compelled, by the severity
+of the weather, to abandon it and retire to Holland, which, during his
+absence, had, from the same cause, been exposed to imminent danger.
+
+The Duke of Luxemburg, who had been left in command of the forces in
+Utrecht on the departure of the King of France, for Paris, finding that the
+ice with which the land-water was covered, was sufficiently strong to bear
+the passage of cavalry, marched with a strong body of troops to Zwammerdam,
+and thence to Bodergrave, both of which were abandoned. The purpose of the
+French commander was to advance directly upon The Hague, and to force the
+States to acknowledge the sovereignty of the King of France; a measure
+which would, he conceived, involve the immediate submission of the whole
+of the provinces. But, happily, his project was defeated by a sudden thaw,
+which obliged him to return to Utrecht; and had it not been that the fort
+of Nieuwerburg, situated on the dike, which afforded the only passage
+thither, was deserted by the commander, _Pain-et-Vin_, his retreat must
+have been cut off, and his army exposed to almost certain destruction.
+Before his departure, Luxemburg revenged himself on the luckless villages
+he had captured, which he pillaged and burned to the ground.[1] Pain-et-Vin
+was afterward tried for breach of duty and executed.
+
+[Footnote 1: The accounts given by the Dutch historians of the revolting
+outrages and barbarities exercised by the invaders on this expedition are
+strenuously denied by the writers on the French side; their conduct in
+Utrecht, however, which we shall have occasion hereafter to notice, affords
+but too ample evidence that there was some truth in the accusations. On the
+other hand, that the Dutch authors are guilty of exaggeration may be easily
+believed, since one of them gravely puts into the mouth of the Duke of
+Luxemburg the following address to his soldiers: "Go, my children, plunder,
+murder, destroy, and if it be possible to commit yet greater cruelties, be
+not negligent therein, that I may see I am not deceived in my choice of the
+flower of the king's troops."]
+
+Though it might well have been feared that the failure of all the
+enterprises of the Prince of Orange would have renewed the discontents
+lately prevalent in the United Provinces, such an effect was in no degree
+produced. The very boldness of the designs, it seemed, had been the cause
+of their ill-success, and argued a zeal and activity for the public good
+which inspired unbounded confidence in his future measures. The appearance
+of renovated vigor in the United Provinces, moreover, encouraged
+surrounding states to make some demonstrations in their favor. They had
+wished to see them humbled, but not destroyed. The Emperor and princes of
+Germany, in especial, contemplated with dread the prospect of exchanging
+the neighborhood of the inoffensive and industrious people, who rarely
+appeared to them in any other light than as the dispensers of abundance,
+wealth, and luxury, for that of an ambitious and unscrupulous monarch,
+whose glory was in destruction, and from whose encroachments their
+boundaries would be for not one moment safe.
+
+Though deeply imbued with these sentiments, the Elector of Brandenburg had
+hitherto been deterred from lending them any assistance, lest, should they
+be forced to make a peace with the King of France, the whole power and
+vengeance of that monarch might be directed against himself. He now induced
+the Emperor Leopold to enter into an alliance with him, by virtue of which
+he levied a force of twenty-four thousand men, to be joined with an equal
+number furnished by himself, for the purpose of opposing the advances of
+Louis. Though the secret treaty which the Emperor had made with France,
+binding himself not to afford aid to any member of the Triple Alliance,
+and of which the Elector was in ignorance, limited the employment of the
+imperial army strictly to the protection of the empire, and consequently
+prevented it from marching at once to the support of the provinces, its
+movement was of considerable advantage to their affairs, in calling off
+Turenne from Bois-le-Duc, to which he had laid siege, to the defence of the
+places on the Rhine. The Bishops of Muenster and Cologne, also, whom the
+brave defence of the garrison of Groningen had forced to raise the siege,
+were under the necessity of abandoning both that province and Guelderland,
+and hastening to the protection of their own territories.
+
+Among the benefits which the Dutch anticipated with the utmost confidence
+as the consequence of the elevation of the Prince of Orange to his paternal
+dignities was the appeasing the hostility of his uncle, the King of
+England. In this, however, they were wholly deceived. On the meeting of
+Parliament in this year, the chancellor, Shaftesbury, addressed the two
+Houses in a strain of hostile feeling to the Dutch nation, more bitter than
+the court as yet ventured to express. He represented that, "besides the
+personal indignities in the way of pictures, medals, and other public
+affronts which the King received from the States, they came at last to
+such a height of insolence as to deny him the honor of the flag, though an
+undoubted jewel of the crown, and disputed the King's title to it in all
+the courts of Europe, making great offers to the French King if he would
+stand by them in this particular.
+
+"But both kings, knowing their own interest, resolved to join against them,
+who were the common enemies of all monarchies, but especially the English,
+their only competitor in commerce and naval power, and the chief obstacle
+to their attainment of the dominion they aimed at, a dominion as universal
+as that of Rome; and so intoxicated were they with that vast ambition that
+under all their present distress and danger they haughtily rejected every
+overture for a treaty or a cessation of arms; that the war was a just and
+necessary measure, advised by the Parliament itself from the conviction
+that, at any rate, _Delenda est Carthago_--such a government'must be
+destroyed; and that therefore the King may well say it was their war; which
+had never been begun, but that the States refused him satisfaction because
+they believed him to be in so great want of money that they must sit down
+under any affronts."
+
+But the Parliament, always disinclined to the war, had now begun to view it
+with absolute aversion; and though moved, by the King's representations
+of the embarrassed condition he should be reduced to if the supply were
+refused, to yield a subsidy of seventy thousand pounds a month for eighteen
+months, they forced him to pay a high price for their complaisance by
+extorting his consent to the "Test Act." By the operation of this act, the
+Duke of York, the inveterate enemy of the Dutch, and Sir Thomas Clifford,
+the minister who had the most zealously pushed forward the business of the
+war, were forced to resign their offices. With the funds granted him by
+Parliament, Charles was enabled to complete the equipment of a fleet,
+which, when joined to a squadron of French ships under D'Estrées, numbered
+one hundred fifty sail.
+
+The Prince of Orange had wisely continued De Ruyter in the command of
+the fleet as lieutenant-admiral of the provinces, with almost unlimited
+instructions, and suffered himself to be wholly guided by him in naval
+affairs, interfering only so far as to reinstate Tromp in the office
+of admiral under the College of Amsterdam, and to effect a perfect
+reconciliation between him and De Ruyter--a matter which the placable and
+magnanimous temper of the latter rendered of easy accomplishment. Having
+failed in a scheme of blocking up the Thames by means of sinking vessels in
+the bed of that river, De Ruyter stationed himself at Schooneveldt, with
+the purpose of protecting the coast of Zealand against a meditated descent
+of the enemy. While at anchor he descried the hostile fleet approaching;
+but a calm, succeeded by rough weather, prevented them for some days from
+coming to an engagement.
+
+The Dutch were considerably inferior in strength to the allies, the number
+of their vessels being no more than fifty-two men-of-war and twelve
+frigates, of which, moreover, the equipages were, owing to the scarcity of
+seamen, by no means complete. But this deficiency was more than compensated
+by the spirit and conduct of their great commander. "The weaker our fleet
+is," observed De Ruyter, in answer to some remark made to him on the
+subject, "the more confidently I expect a victory, not from our own
+strength, but from the arm of the Almighty." Under a favorable breeze, the
+French and English ships bore down upon their unequal antagonists, in the
+full expectation that they would avoid the encounter, by retiring behind
+the sand-banks of Flushing. The Dutch, however, firmly awaited the shock,
+commenced by the squadron of French ships, which on this occasion had
+been placed in the van to avoid the imputation cast upon them in the last
+battle. They engaged with that of Tromp, whose impetuous firing compelled
+the French admiral to retire for a time; but quickly rallying, he returned
+to the charge with such vigor that Tromp was obliged to remove his flag on
+four different vessels successively.
+
+De Ruyter, meanwhile, had engaged the red squadron, commanded by Prince
+Rupert, which after a sharp contest he threw into some disorder, and
+succeeded in cutting off a considerable number of ships from the remainder.
+Instead, however, of pursuing his advantage, De Ruyter, becoming aware of
+the danger of his rival, who was now entirely surrounded by the enemy,
+hastened to his rescue. On seeing him approach, Tromp exclaimed: "Comrades,
+here is our grandsire [a pet name given to De Ruyter among the sailors]
+coming to help us; so long as I live I will never forsake him!" The
+generous aid was no less effectual than well timed, since the enemy,
+astonished at his unexpected appearance, fell back. "I am pleased to see,"
+he said, "that our enemies still fear the Seven Provinces," the name of the
+vessel which carried his flag. The fight was continued with unremitting
+obstinacy till darkness separated the combatants, when the Dutch found that
+they had gained about three miles upon their antagonists.
+
+That the issue of such a contest should be doubtful was in itself
+equivalent to a victory on the side of the Dutch; a victory of which they
+reaped all the advantages, as well as the glory, since, besides delivering
+their coasts from the intended invasion, their loss was so inconsiderable
+that within a week the fleet was able to put to sea in its original numbers
+and strength. Another engagement, fought with less of energy and resolution
+on the side of the English than usually distinguished them, terminated in
+their retreat toward the Thames, which, De Ruyter conceiving to be a feint
+to draw the Dutch fleet off their coasts, he declined the pursuit. The
+movement, however, had its origin in a far different cause. The English
+sailors fully participated in the feelings entertained by the great body of
+the nation, who viewed the aggrandizement of their ally with jealousy, and
+the undeserved misfortunes of their enemy with pity, and considered every
+advantage gained over the Dutch as a step toward the completion of the
+sinister designs they suspected their own sovereign of harboring against
+their religion and liberties. They accordingly made no concealment of their
+reluctance to fight longer in such a quarrel.
+
+It was now become evident to the Government that the only mode of
+reconciling the people in any degree to the present state of things was the
+execution of some brilliant achievement which should flatter their national
+vanity and kindle their ambition or lead to the acquisition of spoil
+sufficiently considerable to afford some sensible assistance in supporting
+the war. A descent on Holland was therefore resolved on, or, if that were
+found impracticable, it was proposed to intercept the Indian fleet, whose
+arrival was hourly expected. With this view a formidable fleet of one
+hundred fifty sail made its appearance in the Texel, and was met by De
+Ruyter about five miles from the village of the Helder. The Dutch, though
+far inferior in number, having only seventy-five vessels, convinced
+that this struggle was to be the most desperate and the last, prepared
+themselves for it as men who had everything at stake. After a short but
+inspiring harangue, De Ruyter gave the signal for attack. As if with a
+presentiment that long years would elapse before they should again try
+the strength of each other's arm, the English and Dutch seemed mutually
+determined to leave upon the minds of their foes an ineffaceable impression
+of their skill and prowess.
+
+All the resources which ability could suggest or valor execute were now
+employed. Each admiral engaged with the antagonist against whom it had
+before been his fortune to contend. De Ruyter attached himself to the
+squadron of Prince Rupert; Tromp attacked Sprague, who commanded the blue
+flag; while Bankert was opposed to the French; the latter, however, after
+a short skirmish on the part of Rear Admiral Martel, who was unacquainted
+with the secret orders given to the commander, D'Estrées, dropped off to a
+distance; nor could all the signals made by Prince Rupert induce them to
+take any further share in the fight. Bankert, therefore, joined De Ruyter,
+who was engaged in a terrific contest with the squadron of Prince Rupert.
+The firing was kept up for several hours without cessation; the discharges
+from the cannon of the Dutch vessels being, it was said, as rapid as those
+of musketry, and in proportion of three to one to those of the enemy.
+Tromp, whose actions always reflected more honor on his courage than
+conduct, separated himself, as was his custom, from the remainder of the
+fleet, and pressed forward into the midst of the enemy.
+
+He had sustained a continued cannonading from the vessel of Sprague for
+upward of three hours, without a single one of his crew being wounded, when
+De Ruyter, who had forced Prince Rupert to retire, came to his assistance.
+The Prince, on the other side, joined Admiral Sprague, and the fight was
+renewed with increased ardor. The vessel of Tromp was so damaged that he
+was obliged to remove his flag on board of another; Sprague was reduced to
+a similar necessity of quitting his ship, the Royal Prince, for the St.
+George, which, ere long, was so much disabled that he was obliged to
+proceed to a third; but the boat in which he was passing being struck by a
+cannon-ball, sank, and himself and several others were drowned. Toward the
+close of evening one English man-of-war was on fire, and two foundered. Not
+a single ship-of-war was lost on the side of the Dutch, but both fleets
+were so much damaged as to be unable to renew the engagement on the next
+morning. Each side, as usual, returned thanks for the victory, to
+which, however, the English failed to establish their claim, neither by
+accomplishing the projected invasion or intercepting the East India fleet,
+the whole of which, except one vessel, reached the ports in safety.
+
+In the more distant quarters of the world the war was carried on with
+various success. The French captured the ports of Trincomalee, in Ceylon,
+and St. Thomas, on the coast of Coromandel--which were, however, recovered
+in the next year--and made an unsuccessful attempt on Curajao. The English
+possessed themselves of the island of Tobago and seized four merchantmen
+returning from India. But, on the other hand, the States' admiral,
+Evertson, made himself master of New York, and, attacking the Newfoundland
+ships, took or destroyed no less than sixty-five, and returned to Holland
+laden with booty.
+
+The King of France, meanwhile, well satisfied to have secured at so easy
+a rate a powerful diversion of the forces of Holland, and the mutual
+enfeebling of the two most formidable maritime powers of Europe, cared
+little how the affairs of his ally prospered, so that he had been enabled
+to pursue the career of his conquests on land. Marching in person at the
+head of his troops he laid siege to Maestricht, a town famous for its
+gallant defence against the Duke of Parma in 1579, but which now,
+notwithstanding several brisk and murderous sallies, capitulated in less
+than a month. With this achievement the campaign of Louis ended. The
+progress of his arms, and the development of his schemes of ambition had
+now raised him up a phalanx of enemies, such as not even his presumption
+could venture to despise. He had planned and executed his conquests in full
+reliance on the cooperation or neutrality of the neighboring powers, and
+found himself in no condition to retain them in defiance of their actual
+hostility. He had, from the first, been strongly advised by Condé and
+Turenne to destroy the fortifications of the less important towns,
+retaining so many only of the larger as to insure the subjection of the
+provinces. He had, however, deemed it more consonant to his "glory" to
+follow the advice of Louvois in preserving all his conquests entire,
+and had thus been obliged to disperse a large portion of his army into
+garrisons, leaving the remainder, thinned, moreover, by sickness and
+desertion, wholly insufficient to make head against the increasing number
+of his opponents. He therefore came to the mortifying resolution of
+abandoning the United Provinces, the possession of which he had anticipated
+with so much pride.
+
+This auspicious dawn of better fortunes to the provinces was followed by
+the long and ardently desired peace with England. The circumstances of the
+last battle, in which, as the English declared, "themselves, and the Dutch
+had been made the gladiators for the French spectators," had more than
+ever disgusted that nation with the alliance of an ambitious and selfish
+monarch, who, they perceived, was but gratifying his own rapacity at the
+expense of their blood and treasure. Spain had threatened a rupture with
+England unless she would consent to a reasonable peace; and even Sweden
+herself had declared, during the conferences at Cologne, that she should be
+constrained to adopt a similar course if the King of France persisted in
+extending his conquests. Should a war with these nations occur, the English
+saw themselves deprived of the valuable commerce they carried on in their
+ports, to be transferred, most probably, to the United Provinces; in
+addition to which consideration, their navigation had already sustained
+excessive injury from the privateering of the Zealanders, who had captured,
+it is said, no less than twenty-seven hundred English merchant-ships.
+These, and various other causes, had provoked the Parliament to use
+expressions of the highest indignation at the measures of the court, and to
+a peremptory refusal of further supplies for the war unless the Dutch, by
+their obstinacy in rejecting terms of peace, should render its continuance
+unavoidable.
+
+Aware of this disposition, the States had addressed a letter to the King,
+which, with sufficient adroitness, they had contrived should arrive
+precisely at the meeting of Parliament, offering the King restitution
+of all the places they had gained during the war, and satisfaction with
+respect to the flag, or "any other matter they had not already ordered
+according to his wishes." This communication, received with feelings of
+extreme irritation by the court, had all the effect intended on the House
+of Commons. It was in vain that the King complained of the personal insults
+offered him by the Dutch; in vain that the chancellor expatiated on their
+obstinacy, arrogance, and enmity to the English; and that the court party
+remonstrated against the imprudence of exposing England defenceless to
+the power of her haughty enemy. The Parliament persisted in refusing the
+solicited supply; voted the standing army a grievance; bitterly complained
+of the French alliance, and resolved that his majesty should be advised to
+proceed in a treaty with the States-General, in order to a speedy peace.
+
+A few days sufficed to accomplish a treaty; the Dutch obviating the
+principal difficulty by yielding the honor of the flag in the most ample
+manner. They now agreed that all their ships should lower their topsails
+and strike the flag upon meeting one or more English vessels bearing the
+royal standard, within the compass of the four seas, from Cape Finisterre
+to Staaten in Norway, and engaged to pay the King two million guilders for
+the expenses of the war.
+
+Shortly after, the Bishops of Muenster and Cologne, alarmed at the
+probability of being abandoned by the French to the anger of the Emperor,
+who had threatened them with the ban of the empire, consented to a treaty
+with the United Provinces, in virtue of which they restored all the places
+they had conquered.
+
+
+
+%DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI%
+
+LA SALLE NAMES LOUISIANA
+
+A.D. 1673-1682
+
+FRANÇOIS XAVIER GARNEAU[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated by Andrew Bell.]
+
+
+During the early colonization of New France, in the era of Count Frontenac,
+a remarkable spirit of adventure and discovery manifested itself in Canada
+among both clerics and laymen. This enterprise, in seeking to open up and
+colonize the country, indeed, showed itself under each successive governor,
+from the first settlement of Québec, in 1608, down to the fall, in 1759, of
+the renowned capital on the St. Lawrence. In the entailed arduous labor,
+full as it was of hazard and peril, the pathfinders of empire in the New
+World, besides laymen, were largely the Jesuit missionaries.
+
+This spirit of adventure specially began to show itself in the colony at
+the period when M. Talon became intendant, when the government of New
+France, at the time of Louis XIV's minister, Colbert, became vested
+directly in the French crown. Through Talon's instrumentality the colony
+revived, and by his large-minded policy its commerce, which had fallen into
+the hands of a company of monopolists, was in time set free from many of
+its restrictions.
+
+Before Talon quitted the country, he took steps to extend the dominion of
+France in the New World toward Hudson's Bay, and westward, in the direction
+of the Great Lakes. In 1671 he despatched a royal commissioner to Sault
+Ste. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior, to assemble the Indians of the
+region and induce them to place themselves under the protection, and aid
+the commerce, of the French King.
+
+While thus engaged, the commissioner heard of the Mississippi River from
+the Indians; and Talon intrusted the task of tracking its waters to Father
+Marquette and to M. Joliet, a merchant of Québec. With infinite toil these
+two adventurous spirits reached the great river they were in search of, and
+explored it as far south as the Arkansas. Here unfriendly Indian tribes
+compelled them to return, without being permitted to trace the mighty
+stream to its outlet. This, however, is supposed to have been accomplished,
+in 1682, by Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, a daring young Frenchman,
+who descended the Mississippi, it is currently believed, to the Gulf of
+Mexico, naming the whole region Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV.
+
+Whether La Salle actually explored the great river to its mouth is, among
+historians, still a moot point. It is supposed that early in his adventures
+he retraced his steps and returned to Canada, where, as well as in France,
+he had numerous detractors, among whom was De la Barre, the then Governor
+of New France. It is known that he was soon again in Québec, to meet his
+enemies, which he did successfully, after which he proceeded to France.
+Here he was royally received by the King, and, as a proof of the monarch's
+confidence in him, La Salle was intrusted with the command of a colonizing
+expedition which was sent to Louisiana by sea.
+
+This expedition never reached its destination, for differences with the
+commander of the vessels (Beaujeu) interfered with the direction of the
+expedition. The mouths of the Mississippi, it seems, were passed, and
+the ships reached the coast of Texas. Disaster now dogged the leader's
+footsteps, for Beaujeu ran one of the ships on the rocks, and then deserted
+with another. La Salle and some of his more trusty followers were left to
+their fate, which was a cruel one, for disease broke out in the ranks, and
+famine and savage foes made havoc among the survivors. His colony being
+reduced to forty persons, La Salle set out overland with sixteen men for
+Canada to procure recruits. On the way his companions mutinied, put
+La Salle to death, and but a handful of the party reached Canada, the
+remainder perishing in the wilderness.
+
+Were we to express in the briefest of terms the motives which induced the
+leading European races of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who came
+to the Americas, we should say that the Spaniards went thither in quest of
+gold, the English for the sake of enjoying civil and religious freedom, the
+French in view of propagating the Gospel among the aborigines. Accordingly,
+we find, from the beginning, in the annals of New France, religious
+interests overlying all others. The members of the Society of Jesus,
+becoming discredited among the nations of Europe for their subserviency to
+power--usually exalting the rights of kings, but at all times
+inculcating submission, both by kings and their subjects, to the Roman
+pontiffs--individual Jesuits, we say, whatever may have been their demerits
+as members of the confraternity in Europe or in South America, did much to
+redeem these by their apostolic labors in the wilderness of the northern
+continent; cheerfully encountering, as they did, every form of suffering,
+braving the cruelest tortures, and even welcoming death as the expected
+seal of their martyrdom for the cause of Christ and for the advancement of
+civilization among barbarous nations.
+
+From Québec as a centre-point the missionary lines of the Jesuit fathers
+radiated in all directions through every region inhabited by our savages,
+from the Laurentian Valley to the Hudson's Bay territory, along the
+great-lake countries, and down the valley of the Mississippi. Scantily
+equipped, as it seemed to the worldly eye, with a breviary around the neck
+and a crucifix in hand, the missionary set forth, and became a pioneer
+for the most adventurous secular explorers of the desert. To such our
+forefathers owed their best earliest knowledge of vast regions, to whose
+savage inhabitants they imparted the glad tidings of the Gospel, and
+smoothed the way for native alliances with their compatriots of the laity,
+of the greatest after-import to the colony.
+
+Such devotedness, at once heroic and humble, could not but confound worldly
+philosophy, while it has gained for the members of the order the admiration
+of many Protestants. Thus we have the candid testimony of Bancroft, the
+able historian of the English plantations in this continent, that "The
+annals of missionary labors are inseparably connected with the origin of
+all the establishments of French America. Not a cape was doubled nor a
+stream discovered that a Jesuit did not show the way."
+
+On the other hand, there were instances where secular explorers, seeking
+to illustrate their names by great discoveries or to enrich themselves by
+traffic, opened a way for the after-labors of the missionary. The most
+celebrated of such were Champlain, Nicolet, Perrot, Joliet, La Salle, and
+La Verendrye.
+
+In regions south of the St. Lawrence, Père Druillettes was the first
+European who passed overland from that river to the eastern Atlantic
+seaboard, ascending the Chaudifere and descending the Kennebec in 1646. He
+did good service to the colony by preserving for it the amity of that brave
+nation, the only one which the Iroquois were slow to attack.
+
+In another direction, the traffickers and missionaries, constantly moving
+onward toward the sources of the St. Lawrence, had reached the upper
+extremity of Lake Huron. Pères Brébeuf, Daniel, Lalemant, Jogues, and
+Raimbault founded in the regions around its waters the Christianized
+settlements (_villages_) of St. Joseph, St. Michel, St. Ignace, and Ste.
+Marie. The last-named, seated at the point where Lake Huron communicates
+with Lake Erie, was long the central point of the northwestern missions.
+
+In 1639 Jean Nicholet, following the course of a river flowing out of Lake
+Michigan at Green Bay, was led within three days' navigation of "the
+Great Water," such was the distinctive name the aborigines gave to the
+Mississippi. In 1671 the relics of the Huron tribes, tired of wandering
+from forest to forest, settled down in Michilimackinac, at the end of Lake
+Superior, under the care of Père Marquette, who thus became the earliest
+founder of a European settlement in Michigan. The natives of the vicinity
+were of the Algonquin race; but the French called them _Sauteurs_, from
+their being near to Sault Ste. Marie.
+
+Between the years 1635 and 1647 communication with the region was little
+attempted, the hostile feeling of the Iroquois making the navigation of
+Lake Ontario perilous to adventurers, and obliging them to pass to and
+from the western mission field by the valley of the Ottawa. The Neuters'
+territory, visited by Champlain, and the southern lakeboard of Erie beyond
+Buffalo, were as yet almost unknown.
+
+The new impulse which had been given to Canada by Colbert and Talon began
+to bear fruit. Commerce revived, immigration increased, and the aborigines,
+dominated by the genius of civilization, feared and respected everywhere
+the power of France. Perrot, a famous explorer, was the first European who
+reached the end of Lake Michigan and the Miâmis country, where deputies
+from all the native tribes of the regions irrigated by the head waters
+of the Mississippi, the sources of the Red River and the St. Lawrence,
+responded to his call to meet him at the Sault Ste. Marie, From one
+discovery to another, as so many successive stages in a journey, the French
+attained a certainty that "the Great Water" did exist, and they could, in
+advance, trace its probable course. It appeared certain, from the recent
+search made for it in northerly and eastern directions, that its waters, so
+voluminous as the natives asserted, must at last find their sea-vent either
+in the Bay of Mexico or in the Pacific Ocean. Talon, who took a strong
+interest in the subject, during his intendancy recommended Captain Poulet,
+a skilful mariner of Dieppe, to verify the passage from sea to sea, through
+the Straits of Magellan.
+
+He induced M. de Frontenac to send M. Joliet into the region where the
+great stream, yet unseen, must take its rise; and follow its course, if
+found, till its waters reached the sea. The person thus employed on a
+mission which interested everyone at the time was a man of talent, educated
+in the Jesuits' College of Québec, probably in view of entering the Church,
+but who had gone into the peltry trade. He had travelled much in the
+countries around Lake Superior and gained great experience of the natives,
+especially those of the Ottawa tribes. M. Joliet and Père Marquette set out
+together in the year 1673. The latter, who had lived among the Potowatami
+Indians as a missionary, and gained their affections, was forewarned by
+them of the perils, they alleged, which would beset his steps in so daring
+an enterprise, admonishing him and his companion that the people of the
+farther countries would allow no stranger to pass through them; that
+travellers were always pillaged at the least; that the great river swarmed
+with monsters who devoured men,[1] and that the climate was so hot that
+human flesh could not endure it.
+
+[Footnote 1: There was some foundation for this report, as alligators
+abounded, at that time, in the lower waters of the river.]
+
+Having progressed to the farthest horde, over the Fox River, where Père
+Allouez was known, and the extremest point yet touched by any European,
+the adventurers found the people of the divers tribes living together in
+harmony; viz., the Kikapoos, Mascoutins, and Miâmis. They accorded the
+strangers a kind reception and furnished guides to direct the party, which
+was composed of nine persons in all--Joliet, Marquette, with five other
+whites, and two natives. On June 10th they set out, bearing two light
+canoes on their shoulders for crossing the narrow portage which separates
+the Fox River from that of Wisconsin, where the latter, after following a
+southerly, takes a western, course. Here their Indian guides left them,
+fearing to go farther.
+
+Arrived at the Lower Wisconsin they embarked and glided down the stream,
+which led the travellers through a solitude; they remarking that the levels
+around them presented an unbroken expanse of luxuriant herbage or forests
+of lofty trees. Their progress was slow, for it was not till the tenth day
+that they attained the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi. But the
+goal was surely, if tardily, attained. They were now floating on the bosom
+of the "Father of Waters," a fact they at once felt assured of, and fairly
+committed themselves to the course of the doubled current. This event
+constituted an epoch in American annals.
+
+"The two canoes," says Bancroft, "with sails outspread under a new sky,
+sped their way, impelled by favoring breezes, along the surface of the calm
+and majestic ocean tributary. At one time the French adventurers glided
+along sand-banks, the resting-places of innumerable aquatic birds; at
+others they passed around wooded islands in midflood; and otherwhiles,
+again, their course lay through the vast plains of Illinois and Iowa,
+covered with magnificent woods or dotted with clumps of bush scattered
+about limitless prairie lands."
+
+It was not till the voyagers had descended sixty leagues of the great
+stream that they discovered any signs of the presence of man; but at
+length, observing on the right bank of the river a foot-track, they
+followed it for six miles, and arrived at a horde _(bourgade),_ situated on
+a river called by the natives Moingona, an appellation afterward corrupted
+into "Rivière des Moines." Seeing no one, the visitors hollowed lustily,
+and four old men answered the call, bearing in hand the calumet of peace.
+"We are Illinois," said the Indians: "you are our fellow-men; we bid you
+welcome." They had never before seen any whites, but had heard mention
+of the French, and long wished to form an alliance with them against the
+Iroquois, whose hostile excursions extended even to their country. They
+were glad to hear from Joliet that the colonists had lately chastised those
+whom no others could vanquish, and feasted the visitors, to manifest their
+gratitude as well as respect. The chief of the tribe, with some hundreds of
+his warriors, escorted the party to their canoes; and, as a mark of parting
+esteem, he presented a calumet, ornamented with feathers of various colors;
+a safe-conduct this, held inviolable among the aborigines.
+
+The voyagers, again on their way, were forewarned of the confluence of the
+Missouri with the main stream, by the noise of its discharging waters.
+Forty leagues lower, they reached the influx of the Ohio, in the territory
+of the Chouanows. By degrees the region they traversed changed its aspect.
+Instead of vast prairies, the voyagers only saw thick forests around them,
+inhabited by savages whose language was to them unknown. In quitting the
+southern line of the Ohio, they left the Algonquin family of aborigines
+behind, and had come upon a region of nomads, the Chickasaw nation being
+here denizens of the forest. The Dacotas, or Sioux, frequented the riverain
+lands, in the southern region watered by the great flood. Thus interpreters
+were needed by the natives, who wished to parley from either bank of the
+Mississippi, each speaking one of two mother-tongues, both distinct from
+those of the Hurons and Algonquins, much of the latter being familiar to
+Joliet and others of the party.
+
+Continuing their descent, the confluence of the Arkansas with the
+Mississippi was attained. The voyagers were now under the thirty-third
+parallel of north latitude, at a point of the river-course reported to have
+been previously reached, from the opposite direction, by the celebrated
+Spanish mariner De Soto. Here the Illinois chief's present stood the party
+in good stead, for on exhibiting his ornate calumet they were treated with
+profuse kindness. Bread, made of maize, was offered by the chief of the
+horde located at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Hatchet-heads of steel,
+in use by the natives, gave intimation that they traded with Europeans, and
+that the Spanish settlements on the Bay of Mexico were probably not far
+off. The waxing summer heats, too, gave natural corroboration to the same
+inferences. The party had now, in fact, attained to a region without a
+winter, unless as such be reckoned that part of its year known as "the
+rainy season."
+
+It now became expedient to call a halt, for the stored provisions were
+beginning to fail, and chance supplies could not be depended upon in such
+a wilderness as the bold adventurers had already traversed; and they were
+still more uncertain as to what treatment they might receive from savage
+populations if they proceeded farther. One thing was made plain to their
+perceptions: the Mississippi afforded no passage to the East Indian seas.
+They rightly concluded, also, that it found its sea outlet in the Bay
+of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean. They had therefore now done enough to
+entitle them to the grateful thanks of their compatriots, and for the
+names of their two leaders to take a permanent place in the annals of
+geographical discovery.
+
+The task of ascending the great river must have been arduous, and the
+return voyage protracted. Arrived at the point where it is joined by the
+Illinois, they left it for that stream, which, ascending for a part of its
+lower course, Père Marquette elected to remain with the natives of tribes
+located near to its banks; while M. Joliet, with the rest of the party,
+passed overland to Chicago. Thence he proceeded to Québec, and reported his
+proceedings to the Governor, M. Talon at that time being in France. This
+duty he had to perform orally, having lost all his papers when shooting the
+rapids of the St. Lawrence, above Montreal. He afterward drew up a written
+report, with a tracing of his route, from memory.
+
+The encouragement the intendant procured for the enterprise fairly entitles
+him to share its glory with those who so ably carried it out; for we cannot
+attach too much honor to the memory of statesmen who turn to account their
+opportunities of patronizing useful adventure. M. Joliet received in
+property the island of Anticosti as a reward for his Western discoveries
+and for an exploratory voyage he made to Hudson's Bay. He was also
+nominated hydrographer-royal, and got enfeoffed in a seigniory near
+Montreal. Expecting to reap great advantage from Anticosti as a fishing and
+fur-trading station, he built a fort thereon; but after living some time on
+the island with his family, he was obliged to abandon it. His patronymic
+was adopted as the name of a mountain situated near the Rivère des Plaines,
+a tributary of the Illinois; and Joliet is also the appellation, given in
+his honor, of a town near Chicago.
+
+Père Marquette proceeded to Green Bay by Lake Michigan, in 1673; but
+he returned soon afterward and resumed his missionary labors among the
+Illinois Indians. Being then at war with the Miâmis, they came to him
+asking for gunpowder. "I have come among you," said the apostolic priest,
+"not to aid you to destroy your enemies' bodies, but to help you to save
+your own souls. Gunpowder I cannot give you, but my prayers you can have
+for your conversion to that religion which gives glory to God in the
+highest and on earth peace to all men." Upon one occasion he preached
+before two thousand warriors of their nation, besides the women and
+children present. His bodily powers, however, were now wellnigh exhausted.
+He decided to return to Mackinac; but while coasting the lower shores of
+Lake Michigan, feeling that his supreme hour was nigh, he caused the people
+in his canoe to set him ashore. Having obtained for him the shelter of
+a hut formed of branches, he there died the death of the righteous. His
+companions interred his remains near the river which yet bears his name,
+and set up a crucifix to mark the spot. Thus ended, amid the solitudes
+of the Western wilderness, the valuable existence of one whose name, too
+little known to his own age, will be remembered when hundreds of those
+which, however loudly sounded in the present, shall have passed into utter
+oblivion.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Guérin observes that, according to some authorities, La
+Salle, some time between the years 1669 and 1671, descended the
+Mississippi, as far as the Arkansas, by the river Ohio. There can be no
+doubt that the story is a mere figment.]
+
+The news of the discovery of the Mississippi made a great sensation
+in Canada, and eclipsed for a time the interest attaching to other
+explorations of the age, which were becoming more and more rife every year.
+Every speculative mind was set to work, as was usual on such occasions,
+to calculate the material advantages which might result, first to the
+colonists, and next to their mother-country, from access being obtained to
+a second gigantic waterway through the territories of New France; serving,
+as it virtually might in times to come, as a complement, or completing
+moiety for the former, enabling the colonists to have the command of two
+seas. Still, as the Gulf of Mexico had not been reached by the adventurers
+upon the present occasion, some persons had their doubts about the real
+course of the lower flood. There was therefore still in store credit for
+those who should succeed in clearing up whatever uncertainty there might be
+about a matter so important.
+
+"New France," says Raynal, "had among its people a Norman named Robert
+Cavalier de la Salle, a man inspired with the double passion of amassing a
+large fortune and gaining an illustrious name. This person had acquired,
+under the training of the Jesuits, among whom his youth was
+passed, activity, enthusiasm, firmness of character, and
+high-heartedness--qualities which that celebrated confraternity knew so
+well to discern and cultivate in promising natures committed to their care.
+Their most audacious and enterprising pupil, La Salle, was especially
+impatient to seize every occasion that chance presented for distinguishing
+himself, and ready to create such opportunities if none occurred." He had
+been resident some years in Canada when Joliet returned from his expedition
+to the Mississippi. The effect of so promising a discovery, upon such a
+mind as La Salle's, was of the most awakening kind. Joliet's report of what
+he experienced, and his shrewd conjectures as to what he did not see but
+which doubtless existed, well meditated upon by his fellow-genius, inspired
+the latter to form a vast design of exploration and traffic conjoined, in
+realizing which he determined to hazard both his fortunes and reputation.
+
+Cavalier Sieur de la Salle was born in Rouen, and the son of respectable
+parents. While yet a young man he came to Canada full of a project he had
+conceived of seeking a road to Japan and China by a northern or western
+passage, but did not bring with him the pecuniary means needful even to
+make the attempt. He set about making friends for himself in the colony,
+and succeeded in finding favor with the Count de Frontenac, who discerned
+in him qualities somewhat akin to his own. With the aid of M. de Courcelles
+and Talon he opened a factory for the fur traffic at Lachine, near
+Montreal, a name which (_China_) he gave to the place in allusion to the
+oriental goal toward which his hopes tended as an explorer.
+
+In the way of trade he visited Lakes Ontario and Erie. While the Canadians
+were yet excited about the discovery of the Mississippi, he imparted
+his aspirations regarding it to the Governor-general. He said that, by
+ascending, instead of descending, that great stream, a means might be
+found for reaching the Pacific Ocean; but that the outlay attending the
+enterprise could only be defrayed by combining with it an extended traffic
+with the nations of the West; that he would gladly make the attempt himself
+if a trading-post were erected for his use at the foot of Lake Ontario, as
+a basis for his operations, with an exclusive license to traffic in the
+Western countries. The Governor gave him the command of Fort Frontenac, to
+begin with. Obtaining, also, his recommendations to the Court, La Salle
+sailed for France in 1675, and gained all he wanted from the Marquis de
+Seignelai, son and successor of the great Colbert as minister of marine.
+The King bestowed on La Salle the seigniory of Cataraqui (Kingston) and
+ennobled him. This seigniory included Fort Frontenac, of which he was made
+the proprietor, as well as of Lake Ontario; conditioned, however, that he
+was to reconstruct the fort in stone. His majesty also invested him with
+all needful credentials for beginning and continuing his discoveries.
+
+La Salle, on his return to Canada, actively set about aggrandizing his
+new possession. Several colonists and some of the natives repaired to
+the locality, and settled under protection of his fort. He built in its
+vicinity three decked vessels--the first ever seen upon Lake Ontario. In
+1677 he visited France again, in quest of aid to carry out his plans.
+Colbert and Seignelai got him a royal commission as recognized explorer of
+Northwest America, with permission to erect fortified posts therein at his
+discretion. He found a potent protector, also, in the Prince de Conti.
+
+La Salle, full of hope, sailed from La Rochelle in summer, 1678, with
+thirty seamen and artisans, his vessel freighted with equipments for
+his lake craft, and merchandise for barter with the aborigines. A brave
+officer, Chevalier de Tonti, went with him, proposing to share his
+fortunes. Arrived at Cataraqui, his energy put all his workpeople in
+activity. On November 18th he set sail from Fort Frontenac in one of his
+barks, loaded with goods and materials for constructing a second fort and a
+brigantine at Niagara. When he reached the head of Lake Ontario, his vessel
+excited the admiration of the savages; while the Falls of Niagara no less
+raised the wonder of the French. Neither had before seen the former so
+great a triumph of human art; nor the latter, so overpowering a spectacle
+of nature.
+
+La Salle set about founding his proposed stronghold at Niagara; but the
+natives, as soon as the defensive works began to take shape, demurred to
+their being continued. Not caring to dispute the matter with them, he gave
+his erections the form of a palisaded storehouse merely. During winter
+following, he laid the keel of a vessel on the stocks, at a place some six
+miles above the Falls. His activity redoubled as his operations progressed.
+He sent on his friend Tonti with the famous Récollet, Père Hennepin, to
+seek out several men whom he had despatched as forerunners, in autumn
+preceding, to open up a traffic he intended to carry on with the aborigines
+of the West. In person he visited the Iroquois and several other nations,
+with whom he wished to form trading relations. He has the honor of founding
+the town of Niagara. The vessel he there built he called the Griffin,
+because, said he, "the griffin has right of mastery over the ravens": an
+allusion, as was said, to his hope of overcoming all his ill-willers, who
+were numerous.[1] Be this as it may, the Griffin was launched in midsummer,
+1679, under a salute of cannon, with a chanting of _Te Deum_ and shouts
+from the colonists; the natives present setting up yells of wonder, hailing
+the French as so many _Otkou_ (or "men of a contriving mind").
+
+[Footnote 1: Some authors say that he named his vessel the Griffin in honor
+of the Frontenacs, the supporters in whose family coat-of-arms were two
+Griffins. Where all is so uncertain in an important matter, a third
+suggestion may be as near the mark as the first two. As the Norse or Norman
+sea-kings bore the raven for a standard, perhaps La Salle adopted the
+raven's master-symbol, in right of a hoped-for sovereignty over the
+American lakes.]
+
+On August 7th the Griffin, equipped with seven guns and loaded with small
+arms and goods, entered Lake Erie; when La Salle started for Detroit, which
+he reached in safety after a few days' sail. He gave to the expansion of
+the channel between Lakes Erie and Huron the name of Lake Ste. Claire,
+traversing which, on August 23d he entered Lake Huron. Five days later he
+reached Michilimackinac, after having encountered a violent storm, such as
+are not unfrequent in that locality. The aborigines of the country were
+not less moved than those of Niagara had been, at the appearance of the
+Griffin; an apparition rendered terrible as well as puzzling when the sound
+of her cannon boomed along the lake and reverberated from its shores.
+
+On attaining to the chapel of the Ottawa tribe, at the mission station, he
+landed and attended mass. Continuing his voyage, some time in September he
+reached the Baie des Puants, on the western lake board of Michigan, where
+he cast anchor. So far the first ship navigation of the great Canadian
+lakes had been a triumph; but the end was not yet, and it proved to be
+disastrous, for La Salle, hearing that his creditors had in his absence
+confiscated his possessions, despatched the Griffin, loaded with peltry, to
+Niagara, probably in view of redeeming them; but his vessel and goods were
+totally lost on the way.
+
+Meanwhile he started, with a trading-party of thirty men of different
+callings, bearing arms and merchandise. Passing to St. Joseph's, at the
+lower end of Lake Michigan, whither he had ordered that the Griffin should
+proceed on her proposed second voyage from Niagara, he laid the foundations
+of a fort on the crest of a steep height, washed on two sides by the river
+of the Miâmis, and defended on another side by a deep ravine. He set
+buoys at the entrance of the stream for the direction of the crew of
+the anxiously expected vessel, upon whose safety depended in part the
+continuation of his enterprises; sending on some skilful hands to
+Michilimackinac to pilot her on the lake. The vessel not appearing, and
+winter being near, he set out for the country of the Illinois Indians,
+leaving a few men in charge of the fort, and taking with him the
+missionaries Gabriel, Hennepin, and Zenobe, also some private men; Tonti,
+who was likewise of the party, having rejoined his principal, but without
+the men he was sent to seek, as he could not find them.
+
+The expedition, thus constituted, arrived toward the close of December at a
+deserted native village situated near the source of the Illinois River,
+in the canton which still bears La Salle's name. Without stopping here
+he descended that stream as far as Lake Peoria--called by Hennepin,
+"Pimiteoui"--on the margin of which he found encamped a numerous body of
+the Illinois. These Indians, though naturally gentle, yet turned unfriendly
+regards at first on the party, but, soon recovering from surprise at the
+appearance of the French, treated them with great hospitality; one of their
+attentions to the supposed wants of the visitors being to rub their wearied
+legs with bear's-grease and buffalo fat. These friendly people were glad to
+learn that La Salle meant to form establishments in their country. Like the
+Huron savages of Champlain's time, the Illinois, harassed as they were by
+the Iroquois, trusted that the French would protect them in future. The
+visitors remarked that the Illinois formed the sides of their huts with
+mats of flat reeds, lined and sewed together. All those the party saw were
+tall, robust in body, and dexterous with the bow. But the nation has been
+stigmatized by some early reporters as cowardly, lazy, debauched, and
+without respect for their chiefs.
+
+La Salle's people, hearing no mention of his ship all this while, began
+first to murmur, and then to leave him: six of them deserted in one night.
+In other respects events occurred ominous of evil for the termination of
+the enterprise. To occupy the attention of his companions, and prevent
+them from brooding on apprehended ills, as well as to guard them against
+a surprise by any hostile natives, he set them on erecting a fort upon an
+eminence, at a place four days' journey distant from Lake Peoria; which,
+when finished, he named Breakheart (_Crèvecoeur_), in allusion to the
+mental sufferings he then endured. To put an end to an intolerable state
+of suspense, in his own case he resolved to set out on foot for Frontenac,
+four hundred or five hundred leagues distant--hoping there to obtain good
+news about the Griffin; also in order to obtain equipments for a new bark,
+then in course of construction at Crèvecoeur, in which he meant to embark
+upon his return thither, intending to descend the Mississippi to its
+embouchure. He charged Père Hennepin to trace the downward course of the
+Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, then to ascend the former as
+high as possible and examine the territories through which its upper waters
+flow. After making Tonti captain of the fort in his absence, he set out,
+March 2, 1680, armed with a musket, and accompanied by three or four whites
+and one Indian.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Charlevoix, by following the relation attributed to Tonti, has
+fallen into some obvious errors respecting La Salle's expedition to
+the Illinois River. Hennepin, an ocular witness, is assuredly the best
+authority, corroborated, as his narration is, by the relation and letters
+of Père Zenobe Mambrè.]
+
+Père Hennepin, who left two days before, descended the Illinois to the
+Mississippi, made several excursions in the region around their confluence;
+then ascended the latter to a point beyond the Sault St. Antony, where he
+was detained for some months by Sioux Indians, who only let him go on his
+promise to return to them next year. One of the chiefs traced on a scrap of
+paper the route he desired to follow; and this rude but correct chart, says
+Hennepin, "served us truly as a compass." By following the Wisconsin, which
+falls into the Mississippi, and Fox River, when running in the opposite
+direction, he reached Lake Michigan mission station, passing through,
+intermediately, vast and interesting countries. Such was the famous
+expedition of Hennepin; who, on his return, was not a little surprised to
+find a company of fur-traders near the Wisconsin River, led by one De Luth,
+who had probably preceded him in visiting that remote region.
+
+While Hennepin was exploring the upper valley of the Mississippi, La
+Salle's interests were getting from bad to worse at Crèvecoeur. But, for
+rightly understanding the events which at last obliged him to abandon that
+post, it is necessary to explain the state of his affairs in Canada, and to
+advert to the jealousies which other traffickers cherished regarding his
+monopolizing projects in the western regions of the continent. He came to
+the colony, as we have seen, a fortuneless adventurer--highly recommended,
+indeed; while the special protection he obtained from the Governor,
+with the titular and more solid favors he obtained at court, made him a
+competitor to all other commercialists, whom it was impossible to contend
+with directly. Underhand means of opposition, therefore--and these not
+always the fairest--were put in play to damage his interests and, if
+possible, effect his ruin.
+
+For instance, feuds were stirred up against him among the savage tribes,
+and inducements held out to his own people to desert him. They even induced
+the Iroquois and the Miâmis to take up arms against the Illinois, his
+allies. Besides this hostility to him within New France, he had to face the
+opposition of the Anglo-American colonists, who resisted the realization
+of his projects, for nationally selfish reasons. Thus they encouraged the
+Iroquois to attack La Salle's Indian allied connections of the Mississippi
+Valley; a measure which greatly increased the difficulties of a position
+already almost untenable. In a word, the odds against him became too great;
+and he was constrained to retire from the high game he wished to play out,
+which, indeed, was certainly to the disadvantage of individuals, if tending
+to enhance the importance of the colony as a possession of France.
+
+La Salle's ever-trusty lieutenant, the Chevalier de Tonti, meanwhile did
+all he could, at Crèvecoeur, to engage the Illinois to stand firm to their
+engagements with his principal. Having learned that the Miâmis intended to
+join the Iroquois in opposition to them, he hastened to teach the use of
+fire-arms to those who remained faithful, to put the latter on a footing
+of equality with these two nations, who were now furnished with the like
+implements of war. He also showed them how to fortify their hordes with
+palisades. But while in the act of erecting Fort Louis, near the sources
+of the river Illinois, most of the garrison at Crèvecoeur mutinied and
+deserted, after pillaging the stores of provision and ammunition there laid
+up.
+
+At this crisis of La Salle's affairs (1680) armed bands of the Iroquois
+suddenly appeared in the Illinois territory and produced a panic among its
+timid inhabitants. Tonti, acting with spirit and decision as their ally,
+now intervened, and enforced upon the Iroquois a truce for the Illinois;
+but the former, on ascertaining the paucity of his means, recommenced
+hostilities. Attacking the fort, they murdered Père Gabriel, disinterred
+the dead, and wasted the cultivated land of the French residents. The
+Illinois dispersed in all directions, leaving the latter isolated among
+their enemies. Tonti, who had at last but five men under his orders, also
+fled the country.
+
+While the Chevalier, in his passage from Crèvecoeur, was descending the
+north side of Lake Michigan, La Salle was moving along its southern side
+with a reënforcement of men, and rigging for the bark he left in course of
+construction at the above-named post, where, having arrived, he had the
+mortification to find it devastated and deserted. He made no attempt
+to refound it, but passed the rest of the year in excursions over the
+neighboring territories, in which he visited a great number of tribes;
+among them the Outagamis and Miâmis, whom he persuaded to renounce an
+alliance they had formed with the Iroquois. Soon afterward he returned to
+Montreal, taking Frontenac on his way. Although his pecuniary losses had
+been great, he was still able to compound with his creditors, to whom he
+conceded his own sole rights of trade in the Western countries, they in
+return advancing moneys to enable him to prosecute his future explorations.
+
+Having got all things ready for the crowning expedition he had long
+meditated, he set out with Tonti, Père Mambré, also some French and native
+followers, and directed his course toward the Mississippi, which river he
+reached February 6, 1682. The mildness of the climate in that latitude, and
+the beauties of the country, which increased as he proceeded, seemed to
+give new life to his hopes of finally obtaining profit and glory.[1]
+In descending the majestic stream, he recognized the Arkansas and other
+riverain tribes visited by Marquette; he traversed the territories of many
+other native nations, including the Chickasaws, the Taensas, the Chactas,
+and the Natchez--the last of these rendered so celebrated, in times near
+our own, by the genius of Chateaubriand.
+
+[Footnote 1: "A vessel loaded with merchandise belonging to La Salle,
+valued at 22,000 livres, had just been lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence;
+several canoes, also loaded with his goods, were lost in the rapids of the
+same river. On learning these new misfortunes [in addition to others, of
+his enemies' procuring], he said it seemed to him that all Canada had risen
+up against his enterprises, with the single individual exception of the
+Governor-general. He asserted that the subordinates, whom he had brought
+from France, had been tempted to quit his service by rival traders, and
+that they had gone to the New Netherlands with the goods he had intrusted
+to their care; and as for the Canadians in his hire, his enemies had found
+means to detach them, also, from his interests."--Yet, "under the pressure
+of all his misfortunes," says a missionary, "I have never remarked the
+least change in him; no ill news seemed to disturb his usual equanimity:
+they seemed rather to spur him on to fresh efforts to retrieve his
+fortunes, and to make greater discoveries than he had yet effected."]
+
+Halting often in his descent to note the outlets of the many streams
+tributary to the all-absorbing Mississippi, among others the Missouri and
+the Ohio--at the embouchure of the latter erecting a fort--he did not reach
+the ocean mouths of the "Father of Waters" till April 5th, that brightest
+day of his eventful life. With elated heart, he took formal possession of
+the country--eminently in the name of the reigning sovereign of France; as
+he gave to it, at the same time, the distinctive appellation of Louisiana.
+Thus was completed the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, from
+the Sault St. Antony to the sea; a line more than six hundred leagues in
+length.
+
+
+
+%KING PHILIP'S WAR%
+
+A.D. 1675
+
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+
+This was the most extensive and most important of the Indian wars of
+the early European settlers in North America. It led to the practical
+extermination of the red men in New England.
+
+Various policies toward the natives were pursued by different colonists in
+different parts of the country. In New England the first white settlers
+found themselves in contact with several powerful tribes, chief among which
+were the Mohegans, the Narragansetts, and the Pequots.
+
+Some attempt was made to convert and civilize these savages, but it was not
+long before the English colonists were at war with the Pequots, the most
+dreaded of the tribes in southern New England. This contest(1636-1638) was
+mainly carried on for the colonists by the settlers of Connecticut. It
+resulted in the almost complete extermination of the Pequot tribe.
+
+After the union of the New England colonies (1643), formed principally for
+common defence against the natives, there was no considerable conflict
+between whites and Indians until the outbreak of King Philip's War, here
+described by Hildreth.
+
+Except in the destruction of the Pequots, the native tribes of New England
+had as yet undergone no very material diminution. The Pokanokets or
+Wampanoags, though somewhat curtailed in their limits, still occupied the
+eastern shore of Narragansett Bay. The Narragansetts still possessed the
+western shore. There were several scattered tribes in various parts of
+Connecticut; though, with the exception of some small reservations, they
+had already ceded all their lands. Uncas, the Mohegan chief, was now an old
+man. The Pawtucket or Pennacook confederacy continued to occupy the
+falls of the Merrimac and the heads of the Piscataqua. Their old sachem,
+Passaconaway, regarded the colonists with awe and veneration. In the
+interior of Massachusetts and along the Connecticut were several other less
+noted tribes. The Indians of Maine and the region eastward possessed their
+ancient haunts undisturbed; but their intercourse was principally with the
+French, to whom, since the late peace with France, Acadia had been again
+yielded up. The New England Indians were occasionally annoyed by war
+parties of Mohawks; but, by the intervention of Massachusetts, a peace had
+recently been concluded.
+
+Efforts for the conversion and civilization of the Indians were still
+continued by Eliot and his coadjutors, supported by the funds of the
+English society. In Massachusetts there were fourteen feeble villages of
+these praying Indians, and a few more in Plymouth colony. The whole number
+in New England was about thirty-six hundred, but of these near one-half
+inhabited the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
+
+A strict hand was held by Massachusetts over the Narragansetts and other
+subject tribes, contracting their limits by repeated cessions, not always
+entirely voluntary. The Wampanoags, within the jurisdiction of Plymouth,
+experienced similar treatment. By successive sales of parts of their
+territory, they were now shut up, as it were, in the necks or peninsulas
+formed by the northern and eastern branches of Narragansett Bay, the same
+territory now constituting the continental eastern portion of Rhode Island.
+Though always at peace with the colonists, the Wampanoags had not always
+escaped suspicion. The increase of the settlements around them, and the
+progressive curtailment of their limits, aroused their jealousy. They were
+galled, also, by the feudal superiority, similar to that of Massachusetts
+over her dependent tribes, claimed by Plymouth on the strength of certain
+alleged former submissions. None felt this assumption more keenly than
+Pometacom, head chief of the Wampanoags, better known among the colonists
+as King Philip of Mount Hope, nephew and successor of that Massasoit, who
+had welcomed the Pilgrims to Plymouth. Suspected of hostile designs, he
+had been compelled to deliver up his fire-arms and to enter into certain
+stipulations. These stipulations he was accused of not fulfilling; and
+nothing but the interposition of the Massachusetts magistrates, to whom
+Philip appealed, prevented Plymouth from making war upon him. He was
+sentenced instead to pay a heavy fine and to acknowledge the unconditional
+supremacy of that colony.
+
+A praying Indian, who had been educated at Cambridge and employed as a
+teacher, upon some misdemeanor had fled to Philip, who took him into
+service as a sort of secretary. Being persuaded to return again to his
+former employment, this Indian accused Philip anew of being engaged in
+a secret hostile plot. In accordance with Indian ideas, the treacherous
+informer was waylaid and killed. Three of Philip's men, suspected of having
+killed him, were arrested by the Plymouth authorities, and, in accordance
+with English ideas, were tried for murder by a jury half English, half
+Indians, convicted upon very slender evidence, and hanged. Philip
+retaliated by plundering the houses nearest Mount Hope. Presently he
+attacked Swanzey, and killed several of the inhabitants. Plymouth took
+measures for raising a military force. The neighboring colonies were sent
+to for assistance. Thus, by the impulse of suspicion on the one side and
+passion on the other, New England became suddenly engaged in a war very
+disastrous to the colonists and utterly ruinous to the native tribes. The
+lust of gain, in spite of all laws to prevent it, had partially furnished
+the Indians with fire-arms, and they were now far more formidable enemies
+than they had been in the days of the Pequots. Of this the colonists hardly
+seem to have thought. Now, as then, confident of their superiority, and
+comparing themselves to the Lord's chosen people driving the heathen out of
+the land, they rushed eagerly into the contest, without a single effort at
+the preservation of peace. Indeed, their pretensions hardly admitted of it.
+Philip was denounced as a rebel in arms against his lawful superiors, with
+whom it would be folly and weakness to treat on any terms short of absolute
+submission.
+
+A body of volunteers, horse and foot, raised in Massachusetts, marched
+under Major Savage, four days after the attack on Swanzey, to join the
+Plymouth forces. After one or two slight skirmishes, they penetrated to the
+Wampanoag villages at Mount Hope, but found them empty and deserted. Philip
+and his warriors, conscious of their inferiority, had abandoned their
+homes. If the Narragansetts, on the opposite side of the bay, did not
+openly join the Wampanoags, they would, at least, be likely to afford
+shelter to their women and children. The troops were therefore ordered into
+the Narragansett country, accompanied by commissioners to demand assurances
+of peaceful intentions, and a promise to deliver up all fugitive enemies of
+the colonists--pledges which the Narragansetts felt themselves constrained
+to give.
+
+Arrived at Taunton on their return from the Narragansett country, news came
+that Philip and his warriors had been discovered by Church, of Plymouth
+colony, collected in a great swamp at Pocasset, now Tiverton, the southern
+district of the Wampanoag country, whence small parties sallied forth to
+burn and plunder the neighboring settlements. After a march of eighteen
+miles, having reached the designated spot, the soldiers found there a
+hundred wigwams lately built, but empty and deserted, the Indians having
+retired deep into the swamp. The colonists followed; but the ground was
+soft; the thicket was difficult to penetrate; the companies were soon
+thrown into disorder. Each man fired at every bush he saw shake, thinking
+an Indian might lay concealed behind it, and several were thus wounded by
+their own friends. When night came on, the assailants retired with the loss
+of sixteen men.
+
+The swamp continued to be watched and guarded, but Philip broke through,
+not without some loss, and escaped into the country of the Nipmucks, in the
+interior of Massachusetts. That tribe had already commenced hostilities by
+attacking Mendon. They waylaid and killed Captain Hutchinson, a son of the
+famous Mrs. Hutchinson, and sixteen out of a party of twenty sent from
+Boston to Brookfield to parley with them. Attacking Brookfield itself, they
+burned it, except one fortified house. The inhabitants were saved by Major
+Willard, who, on information of their danger, came with a troop of horse
+from Lancaster, thirty miles through the woods, to their rescue. A body of
+troops presently arrived from the eastward, and were stationed for some
+time at Brookfield.
+
+The colonists now found that by driving Philip to extremity they had roused
+a host of unexpected enemies. The River Indians, anticipating an intended
+attack upon them, joined the assailants. Deerfield and Northfield, the
+northernmost towns on the Connecticut River, settled within a few years
+past, were attacked, and several of the inhabitants killed and wounded.
+Captain Beers, sent from Hadley to their relief with a convoy of
+provisions, was surprised near Northfield and slain, with twenty of his
+men. Northfield was abandoned, and burned by the Indians.
+
+"The English at first," says Gookin, "thought easily to chastise the
+insolent doings and murderous practice of the heathen; but it was found
+another manner of thing than was expected; for our men could see no enemy
+to shoot at, but yet felt their bullets out of the thick bushes where they
+lay in ambush. The English wanted not courage or resolution, but could not
+discover nor find an enemy to fight with, yet were galled by the enemy." In
+the arts of ambush and surprise, with which the Indians were so familiar,
+the colonists were without practice. It is to the want of this experience,
+purchased at a very dear rate in the course of the war, that we must
+ascribe the numerous surprises and defeats from which the colonists
+suffered at its commencement.
+
+Driven to the necessity of defensive warfare, those in command on the river
+determined to establish a magazine and garrison at Hadley. Captain Lathrop,
+who had been despatched from the eastward to the assistance of the river
+towns, was sent with eighty men, the flower of the youth of Essex county,
+to guard the wagons intended to convey to Hadley three thousand bushels of
+unthreshed wheat, the produce of the fertile Deerfield meadows. Just before
+arriving at Deerfield, near a small stream still known as Bloody Brook,
+under the shadow of the abrupt conical Sugar Loaf, the southern termination
+of the Deerfield Mountain, Lathrop fell into an ambush, and, after a brave
+resistance, perished there with all his company. Captain Moseley, stationed
+at Deerfield, marched to his assistance, but arrived too late to help him.
+Deerfield was abandoned, and burned by the Indians. Springfield, about the
+same time, was set on fire, but was partially saved by the arrival, with
+troops from Connecticut, of Major Treat, successor to the lately deceased
+Mason in the chief command of the Connecticut forces. An attack on Hatfield
+was vigorously repelled by the garrison.
+
+Meanwhile, hostilities were spreading; the Indians on the Merrimac began to
+attack the towns in their vicinity; and the whole of Massachusetts was soon
+in the utmost alarm. Except in the immediate neighborhood of Boston, the
+country still remained an immense forest, dotted by a few openings. The
+frontier settlements could not be defended against a foe familiar with
+localities, scattered in small parties, skilful in concealment, and
+watching with patience for some unguarded or favorable moment. Those
+settlements were mostly broken up, and the inhabitants, retiring toward
+Boston, spread everywhere dread and intense hatred of "the bloody heathen."
+
+Even the praying Indians and the small dependent and tributary tribes
+became objects of suspicion and terror. They had been employed at first as
+scouts and auxiliaries, and to good advantage; but some few, less confirmed
+in the faith, having deserted to the enemy, the whole body of them were
+denounced as traitors. Eliot the apostle, and Gookin, superintendent of
+the subject Indians, exposed themselves to insults, and even to danger,
+by their efforts to stem this headlong fury, to which several of the
+magistrates opposed but a feeble resistance. Troops were sent to break up
+the praying villages at Mendon, Grafton, and others in that quarter.
+The Natick Indians, "those poor despised sheep of Christ," as Gookin
+affectionately calls them, were hurried off to Deer Island, in Boston
+harbor, where they suffered excessively from a severe winter. A part of the
+praying Indians of Plymouth colony were confined, in like manner, on the
+islands in Plymouth harbor.
+
+Not content with realities sufficiently frightful, superstition, as usual,
+added bugbears of her own. Indian bows were seen in the sky, and scalps in
+the moon. The northern lights became an object of terror. Phantom horsemen
+careered among the clouds or were heard to gallop invisible through the
+air. The howling of wolves was turned into a terrible omen. The war was
+regarded as a special judgment in punishment of prevailing sins. Among
+these sins the General Court of Massachusetts, after consultation with
+the elders, enumerated: Neglect in the training of the children of church
+members; pride, in men's wearing long and curled hair; excess in apparel;
+naked breasts and arms, and superfluous ribbons; the toleration of Quakers;
+hurry to leave meeting before blessing asked; profane cursing and swearing;
+tippling-houses; want of respect for parents; idleness; extortion in
+shopkeepers and mechanics; and the riding from town to town of unmarried
+men and women, under pretence of attending lectures--"a sinful custom,
+tending to lewdness."
+
+Penalties were denounced against all these offences; and the persecution of
+the Quakers was again renewed. A Quaker woman had recently frightened the
+Old South congregation in Boston by entering that meeting-house clothed in
+sackcloth, with ashes on her head, her feet bare, and her face blackened,
+intending to personify the small-pox, with which she threatened the colony,
+in punishment for its sins.
+
+About the time of the first collision with Philip, the Tarenteens, or
+Eastern Indians, had attacked the settlements in Maine and New Hampshire,
+plundering and burning the houses, and massacring such of the inhabitants
+as fell into their hands. This sudden diffusion of hostilities and vigor of
+attack from opposite quarters made the colonists believe that Philip had
+long been plotting and had gradually matured an extensive conspiracy, into
+which most of the tribes had deliberately entered for the extermination of
+the whites. This belief infuriated the colonists and suggested some very
+questionable proceedings.
+
+It seems, however, to have originated, like the war itself, from mere
+suspicions. The same griefs pressed upon all the tribes; and the struggle
+once commenced, the awe which the colonists inspired thrown off, the
+greater part were ready to join in the contest. But there is no evidence
+of any deliberate concert; nor, in fact, were the Indians united. Had they
+been so, the war would have been far more serious. The Connecticut tribes
+proved faithful, and that colony remained untouched. Uncas and Ninigret
+continued friendly; even the Narragansetts, in spite of so many former
+provocations, had not yet taken up arms. But they were strongly suspected
+of intention to do so, and were accused by Uncas of giving, notwithstanding
+their recent assurances, aid and shelter to the hostile tribes.
+
+An attempt had lately been made to revive the union of the New England
+colonies. At a meeting of commissioners, those from Plymouth presented a
+narrative of the origin and progress of the present hostilities. Upon the
+strength of this narrative the war was pronounced "just and necessary," and
+a resolution was passed to carry it on at the joint expense, and to raise
+for that purpose a thousand men, one-half to be mounted dragoons. If the
+Narragansetts were not crushed during the winter, it was feared they might
+break out openly hostile in the spring; and at a subsequent meeting a
+thousand men were ordered to be levied to coöperate in an expedition
+specially against them.
+
+The winter was unfavorable to the Indians; the leafless woods no longer
+concealed their lurking attacks. The frozen surface of the swamps made the
+Indian fastnesses accessible to the colonists. The forces destined against
+the Narragansetts--six companies from Massachusetts, under Major Appleton;
+two from Plymouth, under Major Bradford; and five from Connecticut, under
+Major Treat--were placed under the command of Josiah Winslow, Governor of
+Plymouth since Prince's death--son of that Edward Winslow so conspicuous in
+the earlier history of the colony. The Massachusetts and Plymouth forces
+marched to Petasquamscot, on the west shore of Narragansett Bay, where they
+made some forty prisoners.
+
+Being joined by the troops from Connecticut, and guided by an Indian
+deserter, after a march of fifteen miles through a deep snow they
+approached a swamp in what is now the town of South Kingston, one of the
+ancient strongholds of the Narragansetts. Driving the Indian scouts before
+them, and penetrating the swamp, the colonial soldiers soon came in sight
+of the Indian fort, built on a rising ground in the morass, a sort of
+island of two or three acres, fortified by a palisade and surrounded by a
+close hedge a rod thick. There was but one entrance, quite narrow, defended
+by a tree thrown across it, with a block-house of logs in front and other
+on the flank.
+
+It was the "Lord's day," but that did not hinder the attack. As the
+captains advanced at the heads of their companies the Indians opened a
+galling fire, under which many fell. But the assailants pressed on and
+forced the entrance. A desperate struggle ensued. The colonists were once
+driven back, but they rallied and returned to the charge, and, after a
+two-hours' fight, became masters of the fort. Fire was put to the wigwams,
+near six hundred in number, and all the horrors of the Pequot massacre were
+renewed. The corn and other winter stores of the Indians were consumed, and
+not a few of the old men, women, and children perished in the flames. In
+this bloody contest, long remembered as the "Swamp Fight," the colonial
+loss was terribly severe. Six captains, with two hundred thirty men, were
+killed or wounded; and at night, in the midst of a snow-storm, with a
+fifteen-miles' march before them, the colonial soldiers abandoned the fort,
+of which the Indians resumed possession. But their wigwams were burned;
+their provisions destroyed; they had no supplies for the winter; their loss
+was irreparable. Of those who survived the fight many perished of hunger.
+
+Even as a question of policy this attack on the Narragansetts was more
+than doubtful. The starving and infuriated warriors, scattered through
+the woods, revenged themselves by attacks on the frontier settlements.
+Lancaster was burned, and forty of the inhabitants killed or taken; among
+the rest, Mrs. Rolandson, wife of the minister, the narrative of whose
+captivity is still preserved. Groton, Chelmsford, and other towns in that
+vicinity were repeatedly attacked. Medfield, twenty miles from Boston, was
+furiously assaulted, and, though defended by three hundred men, half the
+houses were burned. Weymouth, within eighteen miles of Boston, was attacked
+a few days after. These were the nearest approaches which the Indians made
+to that capital.
+
+For a time the neighborhood of the Narragansett country was abandoned. The
+Rhode Island towns, though they had no part in undertaking the war, yet
+suffered the consequences of it. Warwick was burned and Providence was
+partially destroyed. Most of the inhabitants sought refuge in the islands;
+but the aged Roger Williams accepted a commission as captain for the
+defence of the town he had founded. Walter Clarke was presently chosen
+governor in Coddington's place, the times not suiting a Quaker chief
+magistrate.
+
+The whole colony of Plymouth was overrun. Houses were burned in almost
+every town, but the inhabitants, for the most part, saved themselves in
+their garrisons, a shelter with which all the towns now found it necessary
+to be provided. Captain Pierce, with fifty men and some friendly Indians,
+while endeavoring to cover the Plymouth towns, fell into an ambush and
+was cut off. That same day, Marlborough was set on fire; two days after,
+Rehoboth was burned. The Indians seemed to be everywhere. Captain
+Wadsworth, marching to the relief of Sudbury, fell into an ambush and
+perished with fifty men. The alarm and terror of the colonists reached
+again a great height. But affairs were about to take a turn. The resources
+of the Indians were exhausted; they were now making their last efforts.
+
+A body of Connecticut volunteers, under Captain Denison, and of Mohegan and
+other friendly Indians, Pequots and Niantics, swept the entire country of
+the Narragansetts, who suffered, as spring advanced, the last extremities
+of famine. Canochet, the chief sachem, said to have been a son of
+Miantonomoh, but probably his nephew, had ventured to his old haunts
+to procure seed corn with which to plant the rich intervals on the
+Connecticut, abandoned by the colonists. Taken prisoner, he conducted
+himself with all that haughty firmness esteemed by the Indians as the
+height of magnanimity. Being offered his life on condition of bringing
+about a peace he scorned the proposal. His tribe would perish to the last
+man rather than become servants to the English. When ordered to prepare for
+death he replied: "I like it well; I shall die before my heart is soft or I
+shall have spoken anything unworthy of myself." Two Indians were appointed
+to shoot him, and his head was cut off and sent to Hartford.
+
+The colonists had suffered severely. Men, women, and children had perished
+by the bullets of the Indians or fled naked through the wintry woods by the
+light of their blazing houses, leaving their goods and cattle a spoil to
+the assailants. Several settlements had been destroyed and many more had
+been abandoned; but the oldest and wealthiest remained untouched. The
+Indians, on the other hand, had neither provisions nor ammunition.
+While attempting to plant corn and catch fish at Montague Falls, on the
+Connecticut River, they were attacked with great slaughter by the garrison
+of the lower towns, led by Captain Turner, a Boston Baptist, and at first
+refused a commission on that account, but, as danger increased, pressed to
+accept it.
+
+Yet this enterprise was not without its drawbacks. As the troops returned,
+Captain Turner fell into an ambush and was slain with thirty-eight men.
+Hadley was attacked on a lecture-day, while the people were at meeting;
+but the Indians were repulsed by the bravery of Goffe, one of the fugitive
+regicides, long concealed in that town. Seeing this venerable unknown man
+come to their rescue, and then suddenly disappear, the inhabitants took him
+for an angel.
+
+Major Church, at the head of a body of two hundred volunteers, English and
+Indians, energetically hunted down the hostile bands in Plymouth colony.
+The interior tribes about Mount Wachusett were invaded and subdued by a
+force of six hundred men, raised for that purpose. Many fled to the north
+to find refuge in Canada--guides and leaders, in after-years, of those
+French and Indian war parties by which the frontiers of New England were so
+terribly harassed. Just a year after the fast at the commencement of the
+war, a thanksgiving was observed for success in it.
+
+No longer sheltered by the River Indians, who now began to make their
+peace, and even attacked by bands of the Mohawks, Philip returned to his
+own country, about Mount Hope, where he was still faithfully supported by
+his female confederate and relative, Witamo, squaw-sachem of Pocasset.
+Punham, also, the Shawomet vassal of Massachusetts, still zealously carried
+on the war, but was presently killed. Philip was watched and followed by
+Church, who surprised his camp, killed upward of a hundred of his people,
+and took prisoners his wife and boy.
+
+The disposal of this child was a subject of much deliberation. Several of
+the elders were urgent for putting him to death. It was finally resolved to
+send him to Bermuda, to be sold into slavery--a fate to which many other of
+the Indian captives were subjected. Witamo shared the disasters of Philip.
+Most of her people were killed or taken. She herself was drowned while
+crossing a river in her flight, but her body was recovered, and the head,
+cut off, was stuck upon a pole at Taunton, amid the jeers and scoffs of the
+colonial soldiers, and the tears and lamentations of the Indian prisoners.
+
+Philip still lurked in the swamps, but was now reduced to extremity. Again
+attacked by Church, he was killed by one of his own people, a deserter to
+the colonists. His dead body was beheaded and quartered, the sentence of
+the English law upon traitors. One of his hands was given to the Indian who
+had shot him, and on the day appointed for a public thanksgiving his head
+was carried in triumph to Plymouth.
+
+The popular rage against the Indians was excessive. Death or slavery was
+the penalty for all known or suspected to have been concerned in shedding
+English blood. Merely having been present at the Swamp Fight was adjudged
+by the authorities of Rhode Island sufficient foundation for sentence of
+death, and that, too, notwithstanding they had intimated an opinion that
+the origin of the war would not bear examination. The other captives
+who fell into the hands of the colonists were distributed among them as
+ten-year servants. Roger Williams received a boy for his share. Many chiefs
+were executed at Boston and Plymouth on the charge of rebellion; among
+others, Captain Tom, chief of the Christian Indians at Natick, and
+Tispiquin, a noted warrior, reputed to be invulnerable, who had surrendered
+to Church on an implied promise of safety.
+
+A large body of Indians, assembled at Dover to treat of peace, were
+treacherously made prisoners by Major Waldron, who commanded there. Some
+two hundred of these Indians, claimed as fugitives from Massachusetts, were
+sent by water to Boston, where some were hanged and the rest shipped off to
+be sold as slaves. Some fishermen of Marblehead having been killed by
+the Indians at the eastward, the women of that town, as they came out of
+meeting on a Sunday, fell upon two Indian prisoners who had just been
+brought in, and murdered them on the spot.
+
+The same ferocious spirit of revenge which governed the contemporaneous
+conduct of Berkeley in Virginia toward those concerned in Bacon's rebellion
+swayed the authorities of New England in their treatment of the conquered
+Indians. By the end of the year the contest was over in the South, upward
+of two thousand Indians having been killed or taken. But some time elapsed
+before a peace could be arranged with the Eastern tribes, whose haunts it
+was not so easy to reach.
+
+In this short war of hardly a year's duration the Wampanoags and
+Narragansetts had suffered the fate of the Pequots. The Niantics alone,
+under the guidance of their aged sachem Ninigret, had escaped destruction.
+Philip's country was annexed to Plymouth, though sixty years afterward,
+under a royal order in council, it was transferred to Rhode Island. The
+Narragansett territory remained as before, under the name of King's
+Province, a bone of contention between Connecticut, Rhode Island, the
+Marquis of Hamilton, and the Atherton claimants. The Niantics still
+retained their ancient seats along the southern shores of Narragansett Bay.
+Most of the surviving Narragansetts, the Nipmucks, and the River Indians,
+abandoned their country and migrated to the north and west. Such as
+remained, along with the Mohegans and other subject tribes, became more
+than ever abject and subservient.
+
+The work of conversion was now again renewed, and, after such overwhelming
+proofs of Christian superiority, with somewhat greater success. A second
+edition of the Indian Old Testament, which seems to have been more in
+demand than the New, was presently published, revised by Eliot, with the
+assistance of John Cotton, son of the "Great Cotton," and minister of
+Plymouth. But not an individual exists in our day by whom it can be
+understood. The fragments of the subject tribes, broken in spirit, lost
+the savage freedom and rude virtues of their fathers without acquiring
+the laborious industry of the whites. Lands were assigned them in various
+places, which they were prohibited by law from alienating. But this very
+provision, though humanely intended, operated to perpetuate their indolence
+and incapacity. Some sought a more congenial occupation in the whale
+fishery, which presently began to be carried on from the islands of
+Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Many perished by enlisting in the military
+expeditions undertaken in future years against Acadia and the West Indies.
+The Indians intermarried with the blacks, and thus confirmed their
+degradation by associating themselves with another oppressed and
+unfortunate race. Gradually they dwindled away. A few hundred sailors and
+petty farmers, of mixed blood, as much African as Indian, are now the sole
+surviving representatives of the aboriginal possessors of Southern New
+England.
+
+On the side of the colonists the contest had also been very disastrous.
+Twelve or thirteen towns had been entirely ruined and many others partially
+destroyed. Six hundred houses had been burned, near a tenth part of all in
+New England. Twelve captains, and more than six hundred men in the prime of
+life, had fallen in battle. There was hardly a family not in mourning. The
+pecuniary losses and expenses of the war were estimated at near a million
+of dollars.
+
+
+
+%GROWTH OF PRUSSIA UNDER THE GREATELECTOR%
+
+HIS VICTORY AT FEHRBELLIN
+
+A.D. 1675
+
+THOMAS CARLYLE
+
+
+It was the good-fortune of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, who
+is known in history as the "Great Elector," to lay a firm foundation for
+Prussian monarchy. Under his father, George William, the Tenth Elector,
+Brandenburg had lost much of its former importance. When Frederick William
+came into his inheritance in 1640 he found a weak and disunited state,
+little more than a group of provinces, with foreign territories lying
+between them, and governed by differing laws.
+
+The great problem before the Elector was how to become actual ruler of his
+ill-joined possessions, and his first aim was to weld them together, that
+he might make himself absolute monarch. By forming an army of mercenaries
+he established his authority. His whole life was occupied with warlike
+affairs. He remained neutral during the last stages of the Thirty Years'
+War, but was always prepared for action. He freed Prussia from Polish
+control and drove the Swedes from Brandenburg.
+
+This last was his most famous success. It was won by his victory over the
+Swedes under Wrangel, at Fehrbellin. Carlyle's characteristic narrative and
+commentary on this and other triumphs of the Great Elector place him before
+the reader as one of the chief personages of the Hohenzollern race and a
+leading actor in European history.
+
+Brandenburg had sunk very low under the Tenth Elector, in the unutterable
+troubles of the times, but it was gloriously raised up again by his Son
+Friedrich Wilhelm, who succeeded in 1640. This is he whom they call the
+"Great Elector" ("_Grosse Kurfuerst_"), of whom there is much writing and
+celebrating in Prussian Books. As for the epithet, it is not uncommon among
+petty German populations, and many times does not mean too much: thus Max
+of Bavaria, with his Jesuit Lambkins and Hyacinths, is by Bavarians called
+"Maximilian the Great." Friedrich Wilhelm, both by his intrinsic qualities
+and the success he met with, deserves it better than most. His success, if
+we look where he started and where he ended, was beyond that of any other
+man in his day. He found Brandenburg annihilated, and he left Brandenburg
+sound and flourishing--a great country, or already on the way toward
+greatness: undoubtedly a most rapid, clear-eyed, active man. There was a
+stroke in him swift as lightning, well aimed mostly, and of a respectable
+weight withal, which shattered asunder a whole world of impediments for him
+by assiduous repetition of it for fifty years.
+
+There hardly ever came to sovereign power a young man of twenty under
+more distressing, hopeless-looking circumstances. Political significance
+Brandenburg had none--a mere Protestant appendage dragged about by a Papist
+Kaiser. His Father's Prime Minister was in the interest of his enemies;
+not Brandenburg's servant, but Austria's. The very Commandants of his
+Fortresses, Commandant of Spandau more especially, refused to obey
+Friedrich Wilhelm on his accession--"were bound to obey the Kaiser in the
+first place." He had to proceed softly as well as swiftly, with the most
+delicate hand, to get him of Spandau by the collar, and put him under lock
+and key, as a warning to others.
+
+For twenty years past Brandenburg had been scoured by hostile armies,
+which, especially the Kaiser's part of which, committed outrages new in
+human history. In a year or two hence Brandenburg became again the theatre
+of business. Austrian Gallas, advancing thither again (1644) with intent
+"to shut up Tortenson and his Swedes in Jutland," where they had been
+chastising old Christian IV, now meddlesome again for the last time, and
+never a good neighbor to Sweden, Gallas could by no means do what he
+intended; on the contrary, he had to run from Tortenson what feet could
+do, was hunted, he and his _Merode_-Bruder (beautiful inventors of the
+"Marauding" Art), "till they pretty much all died (_crepirten_)," says
+Kohler. No great loss to society, the death of these Artists, but we can
+fancy what their life, and especially what the process of their dying, may
+have cost poor Brandenburg again.
+
+Friedrich Wilhelm's aim, in this as in other emergencies, was sun-clear
+to himself, but for most part dim to everybody else. He had to walk very
+warily, Sweden on one hand of him, suspicious Kaiser on the other; he had
+to wear semblances, to be ready with evasive words and advance noiselessly
+by many circuits. More delicate operation could not be imagined; but
+advance he did, advance and arrive. With extraordinary talent, diligence,
+and felicity, the young man wound himself out of this first fatal position;
+got those foreign Armies pushed out of his country, and kept them out. His
+first concern had been to find some vestige of revenue, to put that upon
+a clear footing, and by loans or otherwise to scrape a little ready money
+together, on the strength of which a small body of soldiers could be
+collected about him, and drilled into real ability to fight and obey.
+This as a basis; on this followed all manner of things, freedom from
+Swedish-Austrian invasions as the first thing.
+
+He was himself, as appeared by and by, a fighter of the first quality
+when it came to that, but never was willing to fight if he could help it;
+preferred rather to shift, manoeuvre, and negotiate, which he did in a most
+vigilant, adroit, and masterly manner. But by degrees he had grown to have,
+and could maintain it, an Army of twenty-four thousand men, among the best
+troops then in being. With or without his will, he was in all the great
+Wars of his time--the time of Louis XIV--who kindled Europe four times
+over, thrice in our Kurfuerst's day. The Kurfuerst's Dominions, a long,
+straggling country, reaching from Memel to Wesel, could hardly keep out
+of the way of any war that might rise. He made himself available, never
+against the good cause of Protestantism and German Freedom, yet always in
+the place and way where his own best advantage was to be had. Louis XIV
+had often much need of him; still oftener, and more pressingly, had Kaiser
+Leopold, the little Gentleman "in scarlet stockings, with a red feather
+in his hat," whom Mr. Savage used to see majestically walking about, with
+Austrian lip that said nothing at all. His twenty-four thousand excellent
+fighting-men, thrown in at the right time, were often a thing that could
+turn the balance in great questions. They required to be allowed for at
+a high rate, which he well knew how to adjust himself for exacting and
+securing always.
+
+When the Peace of Westphalia (1648) concluded that Thirty-Years'
+Conflagration, and swept the ashes of it into order again, Friedrich
+Wilhelm's right to Pommern was admitted by everybody, and well insisted on
+by himself; but right had to yield to reason of state, and he could not get
+it. The Swedes insisted on their expenses; the Swedes held Pommern, had all
+along held it--in pawn, they said, for their expenses. Nothing for it but
+to give the Swedes the better half of Pommern--_Fore_-Pommern so they call
+it, ("Swedish Pomernia" thenceforth), which lies next the Sea; this, with
+some Towns and cuttings over and above, was Sweden's share. Friedrich
+Wilhelm had to put up with _Hinder_-Pommern, docked furthermore of the Town
+of Stettin, and of other valuable cuttings, in favor of Sweden, much to
+Friedrich Wilhelm's grief and just anger, could he have helped it.
+
+They gave him Three secularized Bishoprics, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Minden
+with other small remnants, for compensation, and he had to be content with
+these for the present. But he never gave up the idea of Pommern. Much of
+the effort of his life was spent upon recovering Fore-Pommern; thrice eager
+upon that, whenever lawful opportunity offered. To no purpose, then; he
+never could recover Swedish Pommern; only his late descendants, and that by
+slowish degrees, could recover it all. Readers remember that Burgermeister
+of Stettin, with the helmet and sword flung into the grave and picked out
+again, and can judge whether Brandenburg got its good luck quite by lying
+in bed.
+
+Once, and once only, he had a voluntary purpose toward War, and it remained
+a purpose only. Soon after the Peace of Westphalia, old Pfalz-Neuburg, the
+same who got the slap on the face, went into tyrannous proceedings against
+the Protestant part of his subjects in Juelic-Cleve, who called to
+Friedrich Wilhelm for help. Friedrich Wilhelm, a zealous Protestant, made
+remonstrances, retaliations; ere long the thought struck him, "Suppose,
+backed by the Dutch, we threw out this fantastic old gentleman, his
+Papistries, and pretended claims and self, clear out of it?" This was
+Friedrich Wilhelm's thought, and he suddenly marched troops into the
+Territory with that view. But Europe was in alarm; the Dutch grew faint.
+Friedrich Wilhelm saw it would not do. He had a conference with old
+Pfalz-Neuburg: "Young gentleman, we remember how your Grandfather made
+free with us and our august countenance! Nevertheless, we--" In fine, the
+"statistics of Treaties" was increased by One, and there the matter rested
+till calmer times.
+
+In 1666 an effective Partition of these litigated Territories was
+accomplished; Prussia to have the Duchy of Cleve-Proper, the Counties of
+Mark and Ravensberg, with other Patches and Pertinents; Neuburg, what was
+the better share, to have Juelich Duchy and Berg Duchy. Furthermore, if
+either of the Lines failed, in no sort was a collateral to be admitted; but
+Brandenburg was to inherit Neuburg, or Neuburg Brandenburg, as the case
+might be. A clear Bargain this at last, and in the times that had come it
+proved executable so far; but if the reader fancies the Lawsuit was at last
+out in this way, he will be a simple reader. In the days of our little
+Fritz,[1] the Line of Pfalz-Neuburg was evidently ending; but that
+Brandenburg, and not a collateral, should succeed it, there lay the quarrel
+open still, as if it had never been shut, and we shall hear enough about
+it.
+
+[Footnote 1: Frederick the Great]
+
+Friedrich Wilhelm's first actual appearance in War, Polish-Swedish War
+(1655-1660), was involuntary in the highest degree; forced upon him for the
+sake of his Preussen, which bade fair to be lost or ruined without blame of
+his or its. Nevertheless, here too he made his benefit of the affair. The
+big King of Sweden had a standing quarrel, with his big cousin of Poland,
+which broke out into hot War; little Preussen lay between them, and
+was like to be crushed in the collision. Swedish King was Karl Gustav,
+Christina's Cousin, Charles XII's Grandfather: a great and mighty man, lion
+of the North in his time; Polish King was one John Casimir; chivalrous
+enough, and with clouds of forward Polish chivalry about him, glittering
+with barbaric gold. Friedrich III, Danish King for the first time being, he
+also was much involved in the thing. Fain would Friedrich Wilhelm have kept
+out of it, but he could not. Karl Gustav as good as forced him to join; he
+joined; fought along with Karl Gustav an illustrious Battle, "Battle of
+Warsaw," three days long (July 28-30, 1656), on the skirts of Warsaw;
+crowds "looking from the upper windows" there; Polish chivalry, broken at
+last, going like chaff upon the winds, and John Casimir nearly ruined.
+
+Shortly after which, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had shone much in the Battle,
+changed sides. An inconsistent, treacherous man? Perhaps not, O reader;
+perhaps a man advancing "in circuits," the only way he has; spirally, face
+now to east, now to west, with his own reasonable private aim sun-clear to
+himself all the while.
+
+John Casimir agreed to give up the "Homage of Preussen" for this service; a
+grand prize for Friedrich Wilhelm. What the Teutsch Ritters strove for in
+vain, and lost their existence in striving for, the shifty Kurfuerst has
+now got: Ducal Prussia, which is also called East Prussia, is now a free
+sovereignty, and will become as "Royal" as the other Polish part, or
+perhaps even more so, in the course of time--Karl Gustav, in a high frame
+of mind, informs the Kurfuerst that he has him on his books, and will pay
+the debt one day.
+
+A dangerous debtor in such matters, this Karl Gustav. In these same months,
+busy with the Danish part of the Controversy, he was doing a feat of war
+which set all Europe in astonishment. In January, 1658, Karl Gustav marches
+his Army, horse, foot, and artillery, to the extent of Twenty thousand,
+across the Baltic ice, and takes an island without shipping--Island of
+Fuenen, across the Little Belt--three miles of ice, and a part of the sea
+_open_, which has to be crossed on planks; nay, forward from Fuenen, when
+once there, he achieves ten whole miles more of ice, and takes Zealand
+itself, to the wonder of all mankind: an imperious, stern-browed,
+swift-striking man, who had dreamed of a new Goth Empire: the mean
+Hypocrites and Fribbles of the South to be coerced again by noble Norse
+valor, and taught a new lesson; has been known to lay his hand on his
+sword while apprising an Embassador (Dutch High Mightiness) what his royal
+intentions were: "not the sale or purchase of groceries, observe you, Sir!
+My aims go higher." Charles XII's Grandfather, and somewhat the same type
+of man.
+
+But Karl died short while after; left his big, wide-raging Northern
+Controversy to collapse in what way it could. Sweden and the fighting
+parties made their "Peace of Oliva" (Abbey of Oliva, near Dantzig, May 1,
+1660), and this of Preussen was ratified, in all form, among other points.
+No Homage more; nothing now above Ducal Prussia but the Heavens, and great
+times coming for it. This was one of the successfulest strokes of business
+ever done by Friedrich Wilhelm, who had been forced, by sheer compulsion,
+to embark in that big game. "Royal Prussia," the Western _Polish_
+Prussia--this too, as all Newspapers know, has in our times gone the same
+road as the other, which probably after all, it may have had in Nature,
+some tendency to do? Cut away, for reasons, by the Polish sword, in that
+Battle of Tannenberg, long since, and then, also for reasons, cut back
+again: that is the fact, not unexampled in human History.
+
+Old Johann Casimir, not long after that Peace of Oliva, getting tired of
+his unruly Polish chivalry and their ways, abdicated, retired to Paris,
+and "lived much with Ninon de l'Enclos and her circle" for the rest of his
+life. He used to complain of his Polish chivalry that there was no solidity
+in them, nothing but outside glitter, with tumult and anarchic noise; fatal
+want of one essential talent, the talent of Obeying; and has been heard to
+prophesy that a glorious Republic, persisting in such courses, would arrive
+at results which would surprise it.
+
+Onward from this time Friedrich Wilhelm figures in the world, public men
+watching his procedure, Kings anxious to secure him, Dutch Printsellers
+sticking up his Portraits for a hero-worshipping Public. Fighting hero,
+had the Public known it, was not his essential character, though he had
+to fight a great deal. He was essentially an Industrial man; great in
+organizing, regulating, in constraining chaotic heaps to become cosmic for
+him. He drains bogs, settles colonies in the waste places of his Dominions,
+cuts canals; unweariedly encourages trade and work. The Friedrich-Wilhelm's
+Canal, which still carries tonnage from the Oder to the Spree, is a
+monument of his zeal in this way; creditable, with the means he had. To
+the poor French Protestants in the Edict-of-Nantes Affair, he was like an
+empress Benefit of Heaven: one Helper appointed, to whom the help itself
+was profitable. He munificently welcomed them to Brandenburg; showed really
+a noble piety and human self-pity, as well as judgment; nor did Brandenburg
+and he want their reward. Some twenty thousand nimble French souls,
+evidently of the best French quality, found a home there; made "waste sands
+about Berlin into pot-herb gardens"; and in the spiritual Brandenburg, too,
+did something of horticulture, which is still noticeable.
+
+Certainly this Elector was one of the shiftiest of men; not an unjust man
+either; a pious, God-fearing man rather, stanch to his Protestantism and
+his Bible; not unjust by any means, nor, on the other hand, by any means
+thin-skinned in his interpretings of justice: Fairplay to myself always, or
+occasionally even the Height of Fairplay. On the whole, by constant energy,
+vigilance, adroit activity, by an ever-ready insight and audacity to seize
+the passing fact by its right handle, he fought his way well in the world;
+left Brandenburg a flourishing and greatly increased Country, and his own
+name famous enough.
+
+A thickset, stalwart figure, with brisk eyes, and high, strong,
+irregularly-Roman nose. Good bronze Statue of him, by Schlueter, once a
+famed man, still rides on the _Lange-Bruecke_ (Long Bridge) at Berlin; and
+his Portrait, in huge frizzled Louis-Quatorze wig, is frequently met with
+in German Galleries. Collectors of Dutch Prints, too, know him; here a
+gallant, eagle-featured little gentleman, brisk in the smiles of youth,
+with plumes, with truncheon, caprioling on his war-charger, view of tents
+in the distance; there a sedate, ponderous wrinkly old man, eyes slightly
+puckered (eyes _busier_ than mouth), a face well plowed by Time, and not
+found unfruitful; one of the largest, most laborious potent faces (in an
+ocean of circumambient periwig) to be met with in that Century. There are
+many Histories about him, too, but they are not comfortable to read. He
+also has wanted a sacred Poet, and found only a bewildering Dryasdust.
+
+His two grand Feats that dwell in the Prussian memory are perhaps none
+of his greatest, but were of a kind to strike the imagination. They both
+relate to what was the central problem of his life--the recovery of Pommern
+from the Swedes. Exploit First is the famed Battle of Fehrbellin (Ferry of
+Belleen), fought on June 18, 1675. Fehrbellin is an inconsiderable Town
+still standing in those peaty regions, some five-and-thirty miles northwest
+of Berlin, and had for ages plied its poor Ferry over the oily-looking,
+brown sluggish stream called Rhin, or Rhein in those parts, without the
+least notice from mankind till this fell out. It is a place of pilgrimage
+to patriotic Prussians ever since Friedrich Wilhelm's exploit there. The
+matter went thus:
+
+Friedrich Wilhelm was fighting, far south in Alsace, on Kaiser Leopold's
+side, in the Louis XIV War--that second one, which ended in the Treaty of
+Nimwegen. Doing his best there, when the Swedes, egged on by Louis XIV,
+made war upon him; crossed the Pomeranian marshes, troop after troop, and
+invaded his Brandenburg Territory with a force which at length amounted to
+sixteen thousand men. No help for the moment; Friedrich Wilhelm could not
+be spared from his post. The Swedes, who had at first professed well,
+gradually went into plunder, roving, harrying at their own will; and a
+melancholy time they made of it for Friedrich Wilhelm and his People. Lucky
+if temporary harm were all the ill they were likely to do; lucky if----
+He stood steady, however; in his solid manner finishing the thing in hand
+first, since that was feasible. He then even retired into winter-quarters
+to rest his men, and seemed to have left the Swedish sixteen thousand
+autocrats of the situation, who accordingly went storming about at a great
+rate.
+
+Not so, however; very far, indeed, from so. Having rested his men for
+certain months, Friedrich Wilhelm silently, in the first days of June,
+1675, gets them under march again; marches his Cavalry and he as first
+instalment, with best speed from Schweinfurt, which is on the River Mayn,
+to Magdeburg, a distance of two hundred miles. At Magdeburg, where he rests
+three days, waiting for the first handful of Foot and a field-piece or two,
+he learns that the Swedes are in three parties wide asunder, the middle
+party of them within forty miles of him. Probably stronger, even this
+middle one, than his small body (of "Six thousand Horse, Twelve hundred
+Foot, and three guns")--stronger, but capable, perhaps, of being surprised,
+of being cut in pieces before the others can come up? Rathenau is the
+nearest skirt of this middle party: thither goes the Kurfuerst, softly,
+swiftly, in the June night (June 16-17, 1675); gets into Rathenau by brisk
+stratagem; tumbles out the Swedish Horse regiment there, drives it back
+toward Fehrbellin.
+
+He himself follows hard; swift riding enough in the summer night through
+those damp Havel lands, in the old Hohenzollern fashion; and, indeed, old
+Freisack Castle, as it chances--Freisack, scene of Dietrich von Quitzow and
+_Lazy Peg_ long since--is close by. Follows hard, we say; strikes in upon
+this midmost party (nearly twice his number, but Infantry for most part);
+and after fierce fight, done with good talent on both sides, cuts it into
+utter ruin, as proposed; thereby he has left the Swedish Army as a mere
+head and tail without body; has entirely demolished the Swedish Army. Same
+feat intrinsically as that done by Cromwell on Hamilton and the Scots in
+1648. It was, so to speak, the last visit Sweden paid to Brandenburg, or
+the last of any consequence, and ended the domination of the Swedes in
+those quarters--a thing justly to be forever remembered by Brandenburg; on
+a smallish modern scale, the Bannockburn, Sempach, Marathon of Brandenburg.
+
+Exploit Second was four years later--in some sort a corollary to this, and
+a winding up of the Swedish business. The Swedes, in further prosecution of
+their Louis XIV speculation, had invaded Preussen this time, and were doing
+sad havoc there. It was in the dead of winter--Christmas, 1678--more than
+four hundred miles off; and the Swedes, to say nothing of their own havoc,
+were in a case to take Koenigsberg, and ruin Prussia altogether, if not
+prevented. Friedrich Wilhelm starts from Berlin, with the opening Year, on
+his long march; the Horse-troops first, Foot to follow at their swiftest;
+he himself (his Wife, his ever-true "Louisa," accompanying, as her wont
+was) travels toward the end, at the rate of "sixty miles a day." He gets in
+still in time; finds Koenigsberg unscathed; nay, it is even said the Swedes
+are extensively falling sick, having after a long famine found infinite
+"pigs near Insterburg," in those remote regions, and indulged in the fresh
+pork overmuch.
+
+I will not describe the subsequent manoeuvres, which would interest nobody;
+enough if I say that on January 16, 1679, it had become of the highest
+moment for Friedrich Wilhelm to get from Carwe (Village near Elbing), on
+the shore of the _Frische Haf_, where he was, through Koenigsberg, to
+Gilge on the _Curische Haf_, where the Swedes are, in a minimum of time.
+Distance, as the crow flies, is about a hundred miles; road, which skirts
+the two _Hafs_ (wide shallow _Washes_, as we should name them), is of rough
+quality and naturally circuitous. It is ringing frost to-day, and for days
+back. Friedrich Wilhelm hastily gathers all the sledges, all the horses of
+the district; mounts Four thousand men in sledges; starts with speed of
+light, in that fashion; scours along all day, and after the intervening bit
+of land, again along, awakening the ice-bound silences. Gloomy _Frische
+Haf_, wrapped in its Winter cloud-coverlids, with its wastes of tumbled
+sand, its poor frost-bound fishing-hamlets, pine hillocks--desolate-
+looking, stern as Greenland, or more so, says Busching, who travelled
+there in winter-time--hears unexpected human voices, and huge grinding and
+trampling; the Four thousand, in long fleet of sledges, scouring across it
+in that manner. All day they rush along--out of the rimy hazes of morning
+into the olive-colored clouds of evening again--with huge, loud-grinding
+rumble, and do arrive in time at Gilge. A notable streak of things,
+shooting across those frozen solitudes in the New Year, 1679; little short
+of Karl Gustav's feat, which we heard of in the other or Danish end of the
+Baltic, twenty years ago, when he took islands without ships.
+
+This Second Exploit--suggested or not by that prior one of Karl Gustav on
+the ice--is still a thing to be remembered by Hohenzollerns and Prussians.
+The Swedes were beaten here on Friedrich Wilhelm's rapid arrival; were
+driven into disastrous, rapid retreat Northward, which they executed in
+hunger and cold, fighting continually, like Northern bears, under the grim
+sky, Friedrich Wilhelm sticking to their skirts, holding by their tail,
+like an angry bear-ward with steel whip in his hand; a thing which, on the
+small scale, reminds one of Napoleon's experiences. Not till Napoleon's
+huge fighting-flight, a Hundred and thirty-four years after, did I read of
+such a transaction in those parts. The Swedish invasion of Preussen has
+gone utterly to ruin.
+
+And this, then, is the end of Sweden, and its bad neighborhood on these
+shores, where it has tyrannously sat on our skirts so long? Swedish
+Pommern; the Elector already had: last year, coming toward it ever since
+the Exploit of Fehrbellin, he had invaded Swedish Pommern; had besieged
+and taken Stettin, nay Stralsund too, where Wallenstein had failed;
+cleared Pommern altogether of its Swedish guests, who had tried next in
+Preussen, with what luck we see. Of Swedish Pommern the Elector might now
+say, "Surely it is mine; again mine, as it long was; well won a second
+time, since the first would not do." But no; Louis XIV proved a gentleman
+to his Swedes. Louis, now that the Peace of Nimwegen had come, and only
+the Elector of Brandenburg was still in harness, said steadily, though
+anxious enough to keep well with the Elector, "They are my allies, these
+Swedes; it was on my bidding they invaded you: can I leave them in such a
+pass? It must not be." So Pommern had to be given back: a miss which was
+infinitely grievous to Friedrich Wilhelm. The most victorious Elector
+cannot hit always, were his right never so good.
+
+Another miss which he had to put up with, in spite of his rights and his
+good services, was that of the Silesian Duchies. The Heritage-Fraternity
+with Liegnitz had at length, in 1675, come to fruit. The last Duke
+of Liegnitz was dead: Duchies of Liegnitz, of Brieg, Wohlau, are
+Brandenburg's, if there were right done; but Kaiser Leopold in the scarlet
+stockings will not hear of Heritage-Fraternity. "Nonsense!" answers Kaiser
+Leopold: "a thing suppressed at once, ages ago by Imperial power; flat
+_zero_ of a thing at this time; and you, I again bid you, return me your
+Papers upon it." This latter act of duty Friedrich Wilhelm would not do,
+but continued insisting: "Jagerndorf, at least, O Kaiser of the world,"
+said he, "Jagerndorf, there is no color for your keeping that!" To which
+the Kaiser again answers, "Nonsense!" and even falls upon astonishing
+schemes about it, as we shall see, but gives nothing. Ducal Preussen
+is sovereign, Cleve is at peace, Hinter-Pommern ours; this Elector has
+conquered much, but Silesia, and Vor-Pommern, and some other things he will
+have to do without. Louis XIV, it is thought, once offered to get him made
+King, but that he declined for the present.
+
+His married and domestic life is very fine and human, especially with that
+Oranien-Nassau Princess, who was his first Wife (1646-1667) Princess Louisa
+of Nassau-Orange, Aunt to our own Dutch William, King William III, in time
+coming: an excellent, wise Princess, from whom came the Orange Heritages,
+which afterward proved difficult to settle. Orange was at last exchanged
+for the small Principality of Neufchatel in Switzerland, which is Prussia's
+ever since. "Oranienburg (_Orange-Burg)_" a Royal Country-house, still
+standing, some Twenty miles northward from Berlin, was this Louisa's place:
+she had trimmed it up into a little jewel of the Dutch type--pot-herb
+gardens, training-schools for girls, and the like--a favorite abode of hers
+when she was at liberty for recreation. But her life was busy and earnest;
+she was helpmate, not in name only, to an ever-busy man. They were married
+young, a marriage of love withal. Young Friedrich Wilhelm's courtship,
+wedding in Holland; the honest trustful walk and conversation of the two
+Sovereign Spouses, their journeyings together, their mutual hopes, fears,
+and manifold vicissitudes, till Death, with stern beauty, shut it in: all
+is human, true, and wholesome in it; interesting to look upon, and rare
+among sovereign persons.
+
+Not but that he had his troubles with his womankind. Even with this his
+first Wife, whom he loved truly, and who truly loved him, there were
+scenes--the Lady having a judgment of her own about everything that passed,
+and the man being choleric withal. Sometimes, I have heard, "he would dash
+his hat at her feet," saying symbolically, "Govern you, then, Madam! Not
+the Kurfuerst Hat; a Coif is my wear, it seems!" Yet her judgment was good,
+and he liked to have it on the weightiest things, though her powers of
+silence might halt now and then. He has been known, on occasions, to
+run from his Privy Council to her apartment, while a complex matter was
+debating, to ask her opinion, hers, too, before it was decided. Excellent
+Louisa, Princess full of beautiful piety, good sense, and affection--a
+touch of the Nassau-Heroic in her. At the moment of her death, it is said,
+when speech had fled, he felt from her hand which lay in his, three slight,
+slight pressures: "Farewell!" thrice mutely spoken in that manner, not easy
+to forget in this world.
+
+His second Wife, Dorothea, who planted the Lindens in Berlin, and did other
+husbandries, fell far short of Louisa in many things, but not in tendency
+to advise, to remonstrate, and plaintively reflect on the finished and
+unalterable. Dreadfully thrifty lady, moreover; did much in dairy produce,
+farming of town-rates, provision-taxes, not to speak again of that Tavern
+she was thought to have in Berlin, and to draw custom to it in an oblique
+manner! "Ah! I have not my Louisa now; to whom now shall I run for advice
+or help?" would the poor Kurfuerst at times exclaim.
+
+He had some trouble, considerable trouble, now and then, with mutinous
+spirits in Preussen; men standing on antique Prussian franchises and
+parchments, refusing to see that the same were now antiquated incompatible,
+nor to say impossible, as the new Sovereign alleged, and carrying
+themselves very stiffly at times. But the Hohenzollerns had been used
+to such things; a Hohenzollern like this one would evidently take his
+measures, soft but strong, and even stronger to the needful pitch, with
+mutinous spirits. One Buergermeister of Koenigsberg, after much stroking
+on the back, was at length seized in open Hall by Electoral writ, soldiers
+having first gently barricaded the principal streets, and brought cannon to
+bear upon them. This Buergermeister, seized in such brief way, lay prisoner
+for life, refusing to ask his liberty, though it was thought he might have
+had it on asking.
+
+Another gentleman, a Baron von Kalkstein, of old Teutsch-Ritter kin, of
+very high ways, in the Provincial Estates _(Staende)_ and elsewhere, got
+into lofty, almost solitary, opposition, and at length, into mutiny proper,
+against the new "Non-Polish" Sovereign, and flatly refused to do homage at
+his accession--refused, Kalkstein did, for his share; fled to Warsaw; and
+very fiercely, in a loud manner, carried out his mutinies in the Diets and
+Court Conclaves there, his plea being, or plea for the time, "Poland is our
+liege lord" (which it was not always), "and we cannot be transferred to
+you except by our consent asked and given," which, too, had been a little
+neglected on the former occasion of transfer; so that the Great Elector
+knew not what to do with Kalkstein, and at length (as the case was
+pressing) had him kidnapped by his Embassador at Warsaw; had him "rolled in
+a carpet" there, and carried swiftly in the Embassador's coach, in the
+form of luggage, over the frontier, into his native Province, there to be
+judged, and, in the end (since nothing else would serve him), to have the
+sentence executed, and his head cut off; for the case was pressing. These
+things, especially this of Kalkstein, with a boisterous Polish Diet and
+parliamentary eloquence in the rear of him, gave rise to criticisms, and
+required management on the part of the Great Elector.
+
+Of all his ancestors, our little Fritz, when he grew big, admired this
+one--a man made like himself in many points. He seems really to have loved
+and honored this one. In the year 1750 there had been a new Cathedral got
+finished at Berlin; the ancestral bones had to be shifted over from the
+vaults of the old one--the burying-place ever since Joachim II, that
+Joachim who drew his sword on Alba. King Friedrich, with some attendants,
+witnessed the operation, January, 1750. When the Great Kurfuerst's coffin
+came, he bade them open it; gazed in silence on the features for some time,
+which were perfectly recognizable; laid his hand on the hand long dead, and
+said, "_Messieurs, celui ci a fait de grandes choses_!" ("This one did a
+grand work").
+
+
+
+%WILLIAM PENN RECEIVES THE GRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA%
+
+FOUNDING OF PHILADELPHIA
+
+A.D. 1681
+
+GEORGE E. ELLIS
+
+
+Although European settlers had occupied portions of the present State of
+Pennsylvania for fifty years before William Penn arrived in that territory,
+the real foundation of the great commonwealth named after him is justly
+dated from his time.
+
+Penn was an English "Friend," or Quaker, and was descended from a long line
+of sailors. He was born in London in 1644, his father being Admiral
+Sir William Penn of the English navy. The son was educated at Oxford
+University, and became a preacher of the Society of Friends. This calling
+brought him into collision with the authorities. He was several times
+arrested, and for a while was imprisoned in the Tower for "urging the cause
+of freedom with importunity."
+
+Through the influence of his family and the growing weight of his own
+character, he escaped the heavier penalties inflicted upon some of his
+coreligionists, and, by the shrewdness and tact which he united with
+spiritual fervor, he rapidly advanced in public position.
+
+In 1675 Penn became part proprietor of West New Jersey, where a colony of
+English Friends was settled. Five years later, through his influence at
+court and the aid of wealthy persons, he was enabled to purchase a large
+tract in East New Jersey, where he designed to establish a similar colony
+on a larger plan. But this project was soon superseded by a much greater
+one, of which the execution is here related.
+
+The interest of William Penn having been engaged for some time in the
+colonization of an American province, and the idea having become familiar
+to his mind of establishing there a Christian home as a refuge for Friends,
+and the scene for a fair trial of their principles, he availed himself of
+many favorable circumstances to become a proprietary himself. In various
+negotiations concerning New Jersey he had had a conspicuous share, and the
+information which his inquiring mind gathered from the adventures in the
+New World gave him all the knowledge which was requisite for his further
+proceedings. Though he had personal enemies in high places, and the project
+which he designed crossed the interests of the Duke of York[1] and of Lord
+Baltimore, yet his court influence was extensive, and he knew how to use
+it.
+
+[Footnote 1: Afterward James II. He was proprietor of New York, and Lord
+Baltimore of Maryland.]
+
+The favor of Charles II and of his brother the Duke of York had been sought
+by Penn's dying father for his son, and freely promised. But William Penn
+had a claim more substantial than a royal promise of those days. The
+crown was indebted to the estate of Admiral Penn for services, loans, and
+interest, to the amount of sixteen thousand pounds. The exchequer, under
+the convenient management of Shaftesbury, would not meet the claim. Penn,
+who was engaged in settling the estate of his father, petitioned the King,
+in June, 1680, for a grant of land in America as a payment for all these
+debts.
+
+The request was laid before the privy council, and then before the
+committee of trade and plantations. Penn's success must have been owing
+to great interest made on his behalf; for both the Duke of York, by his
+attorney, and Lord Baltimore opposed him. As proprietors of territory
+bounding on the tract which he asked for, and as having been already
+annoyed by the conflict of charters granted in the New World, they were
+naturally unfairly biassed. The application made to the King succeeded
+after much debate. The provisions in the charter of Lord Baltimore were
+adopted by Penn with slight alterations. Sir William Jones objected to one
+of the provisions, which allowed a freedom from taxation, and the Bishop of
+London, as the ecclesiastical supervisor of plantations, proposed another
+provision, to prevent too great liberty in religious matters. Chief Justice
+North having reduced the patent to a satisfactory form, to guard the King's
+prerogative and the powers of Parliament, it was signed by writ of privy
+seal at Westminster, March 4, 1681. It made Penn the owner of about forty
+thousand square miles of territory.
+
+This charter is given at length by Proud and other writers. The preamble
+states that the design of William Penn was to enlarge the British empire
+and to civilize and convert the savages. The first section avers that his
+petition was granted on account of the good purposes of the son and the
+merits and services of the father. The bounds of the territory are thus
+defined: "All that tract or part of land, in America, with the islands
+therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware River,
+from twelve miles distance northward of New Castle town, unto the
+three-and-fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth
+extend so far northward; but if the said river shall not extend so far
+northward, then, by the said river, so far as it doth extend; and from
+the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a
+meridian line to be drawn from the head of the said river, unto the said
+forty-third degree. The said land to extend westward five degrees in
+longitude to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said lands
+to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three-and-fortieth
+degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve
+miles' distance from New Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning
+of the fortieth degree of northern latitude; and then by a straight line
+westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned."
+
+Though these boundaries appear to be given with definiteness and precision,
+a controversy, notwithstanding, arose at once between Penn and Lord
+Baltimore, which outlasted the lives of both of them, and, being continued
+by their representatives, was not in fact closed until the Revolutionary
+War.
+
+The charter vested the perpetual proprietaryship of this territory in
+William Penn and his heirs, on the fealty of the annual payment of two
+beaver-skins; it authorized him to make and execute laws not repugnant
+to those of England, to appoint judges, to receive those who wished to
+transport themselves, _to establish a military force_, to constitute
+municipalities, and to carry on a free commerce. It required that an agent
+of the proprietor should reside in or near London, and provided for the
+rights of the Church of England. The charter also disclaimed all taxation,
+except through the proprietor, the governor, the assembly, or Parliament,
+and covenanted that if any question of arms or conditions should arise
+it should be decided in favor of the proprietor. By a declaration to
+the inhabitants and planters of Pennsylvania, dated April 2d, the King
+confirmed the charter, to ratify it for all who might intend to emigrate
+under it, and to require compliance from all whom it concerned.
+
+By a letter from Penn to his friend Robert Turner, written upon the day on
+which the charter was signed, we learn that the proprietor designed to call
+his territory "New Wales"; but the under-secretary, a Welshman, opposed it.
+Penn then suggested "Sylvania," as applicable to the forest region; but the
+secretary, acting under instructions, prefixed "Penn" to this title. The
+modest and humble Quaker offered the official twenty guineas as a bribe
+to leave off his name. Failing again, he went to the King and stated his
+objection; but the King said he would take the naming upon himself, and
+insisted upon it as doing honor to the old admiral.
+
+Penn now resigned the charge of West New Jersey, and devoted himself to the
+preliminary tasks which should make his province available to himself and
+others. He sent over, in May, his cousin and secretary, Colonel William
+Markham, then only twenty-one years old, to make such arrangements for
+his own coming as might be necessary. This gentleman, who acted as Penn's
+deputy, carried over from him a letter, dated London, April 8, 1681,
+addressed "For the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania; to be read by my Deputy."
+This was a courteous announcement of his proprietaryship and intentions
+to the Dutch, Swedes, and English, who, to the number, probably, of about
+three thousand, were then living within his patent.
+
+Penn's object being to obtain adventurers and settlers at once, he
+published _Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania, in America, lately
+granted, under the Great Seal of England, to William Penn_. This was
+accompanied by a copy of the charter and a statement of the terms on which
+the land was to be sold, with judicious advice addressed to those who were
+disposed to transport themselves, warning them against mere fancy dreams,
+or the desertion of friends, and encouraging them by all reasonable
+expectations of success.
+
+The terms of sale were, for a hundred acres of land, forty shillings
+purchase money, and one shilling as an annual quit-rent. This latter
+stipulation, made in perfect fairness, not unreasonable in itself, and
+ratified by all who of their own accord acceded to it, was, as we shall
+see, an immediate cause of disaffection, and has ever since been the
+basis of a calumny against the honored and most estimable founder of
+Pennsylvania.
+
+Under date of July 11, 1681, Penn published _Certain Conditions or
+Concessions to be agreed upon by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor
+of the Province of Pennsylvania, and those who may become Adventurers and
+Purchasers in the same Province_. These conditions relate to dividing,
+planting, and building upon the land, saving mulberry-and oak-trees, and
+dealing with the Indians. These documents were circulated, and imparted
+sufficient knowledge of the country and its produce, so that purchasers at
+once appeared, and Penn went to Bristol to organize there a company called
+"The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," who purchased twenty
+thousand acres of land, and prepared to establish various trades in the
+province.
+
+Yet further to mature his plans, and to begin with a fair understanding
+among all who might be concerned in the enterprise, Penn drew up and
+submitted a sketch of the frame of government, providing for alterations,
+with a preamble for liberty of conscience. On the basis of contracts and
+agreements thus made and mutually ratified, three passenger ships, two from
+London and one from Bristol, sailed for Pennsylvania in September, 1681.
+One of them made an expeditious passage; another was frozen up in the
+Delaware; and the third, driven to the West Indies, was long delayed. They
+took over some of the ornamental work of a house for the proprietor.
+
+The Governor also sent over three commissioners, whose instructions we
+learn from the original document addressed to them by Penn, dated September
+30, 1681. These commissioners were William Crispin, John Bezar, and
+Nathaniel Allen. Their duty was that of "settling the colony." Penn refers
+them to his cousin Markham, "now on the spot." He instructs them to take
+good care of the people; to guard them from extortionate prices for
+commodities from the earlier inhabitants; to select a site by the river,
+and there to lay out a town; to have his letter to the Indians read to them
+in their own tongue; to make them presents from him--adding, "Be grave;
+they love not to be smiled upon"--and to enter into a league of amity with
+them. Penn also instructs the commissioners to select a site for his own
+occupancy, and closes with some good advice in behalf of order and virtue.
+
+These commissioners probably did not sail until the latter part of October,
+as they took with them the letter to the Indians, to which Penn refers.
+This letter, bearing the date October 18, 1681, is a beautiful expression
+of feeling on the part of the proprietor. He does not address the Indians
+as heathen, but as his brethren, the children of the one Father. He
+announces to them his accession, as far as a royal title could legitimate
+it, to a government in their country; he distinguishes between himself and
+those who had ill treated the Indians, and pledges his love and service.
+
+About this time William Penn was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in
+London, probably by nomination of his friend, Dr. John Wallis, one of its
+founders, and with the hope that his connection with the New World would
+enable him to advance its objects.
+
+With a caution, which the experience of former purchases rendered
+essential, Penn obtained of the Duke of York a release of all his claims
+within the patent. His royal highness executed a quitclaim to William
+Penn and his heirs on August 21, 1682. The Duke had executed, in March,
+a ratification of his two former grants of East Jersey. But a certain
+fatality seemed to attend upon these transfers of ducal possessions. After
+various conflicts and controversies long continued, we may add, though by
+anticipation, that the proprietaryship of both the Jerseys was abandoned,
+and they were surrendered to the crown under Queen Anne, in April, 1702.
+
+Penn also obtained of the Duke of York another tract of land adjoining his
+patent. This region, afterward called the "Territories," and the three
+"Lower Counties," now Delaware, had been successively held by the Swedes
+and Dutch, and by the English at New York. The Duke confirmed it to William
+Penn, by two deeds, dated August 24, 1682.
+
+The last care on the mind of William Penn, before his embarkation, was to
+prepare proper counsel and instruction for his wife and children. This he
+did in the form of a letter written at Worminghurst, August 4, 1682. He
+knew not that he should ever see them again, and his heart poured forth to
+them the most touching utterances of affection. But it was not the heart
+alone which indited the epistle. It expressed the wisest counsels of
+prudence and discretion. All the important letters written by Penn contain
+a singular union of spiritual and worldly wisdom. Indeed, he thought these
+two ingredients to be but one element. He urged economy, filial love,
+purity, and industry, as well as piety, upon his children. He favored,
+though he did not insist upon, their receiving his religious views. We may
+express a passing regret that he who could give such advice to his children
+should not have had the joy to leave behind him anyone who could meet the
+not inordinate wish of his heart.
+
+In the mean while his deputy, Markham, acting by his instructions, was
+providing him a new home by purchasing for him, of the Indians, a piece
+of land, the deed of which is dated July 15th, and endorsed with a
+confirmation, August 1st, and by commencing upon it the erection which was
+afterward known as Pennsbury Manor.
+
+All his arrangements being completed, William Penn, at the age of
+thirty-eight, well, strong, and hopeful of the best results, embarked
+for his colony, on board the ship Welcome, of three hundred tons, Robert
+Greenaway master, on the last of August, 1682. While in the Downs he wrote
+a _Farewell Letter to Friends, the Unfaithful and Inquiring_, in his native
+land, dated August 30th, and probably many private letters. He had about
+one hundred fellow-passengers, mostly Friends from his own neighborhood in
+Sussex. The vessel sailed about September 1st, and almost immediately the
+small-pox, that desolating scourge of the passenger-ships of those days,
+appeared among the passengers, and thirty fell victims to it. The trials
+of that voyage, told to illustrate the Christian spirit which submissively
+encountered them, were long repeated from father to son and from mother to
+daughter.
+
+In about six weeks the ship entered the Delaware River. The old inhabitants
+along the shores, which had been settled by the whites for about half a
+century, received Penn with equal respect and joy. He arrived at New Castle
+on October 27th. The day was not commemorated by annual observances until
+the year 1824, when a meeting for that purpose was held at an inn, in
+Laetitia court, where Penn had resided. While the ship and its company went
+up the river, the proprietor, on the next day, called the inhabitants,
+who were principally Dutch and Swedes, to the court-house, where, after
+addressing them, he assumed and received the formal possession of the
+country. He renewed the commissions of the old magistrates, who urged him
+to unite the Territories to his government.
+
+After a visit of ceremony to the authorities at New York and Long Island,
+with a passing token to his friends in New Jersey, Penn went to Upland to
+hold the first Assembly, which opened on December 4th. Nicholas Moore, an
+English lawyer, and president of the Free Society of Traders, was made
+speaker. After three days' peaceful debate, the Assembly ratified, with
+modifications, the laws made in England, with about a score of new ones of
+a local, moral, or religious character, in which not only the drinking of
+healths, but the talking of scandal, was forbidden. By suggestion of his
+friend and fellow-voyager, Pearson, who came from Chester, in England, Penn
+substituted that name for Upland. By an act of union, passed on December
+7th, the three Lower Counties, or the Territories, were joined in the
+government, and the foreigners were naturalized at their own request.
+
+On his arrival Penn had sent two messengers to Charles Calvert, Lord
+Baltimore, to propose a meeting and conference with him about their
+boundaries. On December 19th they met at West River with courtesy and
+kindness; but after three days they concluded to wait for the more
+propitious weather of the coming year. Penn, on his way back, attended a
+religious meeting at a private house, and afterward an official meeting at
+Choptank, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, and reached Chester again
+by December 29th, where much business engaged him. About twenty-three ships
+had arrived by the close of the year; none of them met with disaster,
+and all had fair passages. The new-comers found a comparatively easy
+sustenance. Provisions were obtained at a cheap rate of the Indians and of
+the older settlers. But great hardships were endured by some, and special
+providences are commemorated. Many found their first shelter in caves
+scooped out in the steep bank of the river. When these caves were deserted
+by their first occupants, the poor or the vicious made them a refuge; and
+one of the earliest signs both of prosperity and of corruption, in the
+colony, is disclosed in the mention that these rude coverts of the first
+devoted emigrants soon became tippling-houses and nuisances in the misuse
+of the depraved.
+
+There has been much discussion of late years concerning the far-famed
+Treaty of Penn with the Indians. A circumstance, which has all the interest
+both of fact and of poetry, was confirmed by such unbroken testimony of
+tradition that history seemed to have innumerable records of it in the
+hearts and memories of each generation. But as there appears no document
+or parchment of such _criteria_ as to satisfy all inquiries, historical
+scepticism has ventured upon the absurd length of calling in question
+the fact of the treaty. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, with
+commendable zeal, has bestowed much labor upon the questions connected with
+the treaty, and the results which have been attained can scarcely fail to
+satisfy a candid inquirer. All claim to a peculiar distinction for William
+Penn, on account of the singularity of his just proceedings in this matter
+is candidly waived, because the Swedes, the Dutch, and the English had
+previously dealt thus justly with the natives. It is in comparison with
+Pizarro and Cortes that the colonists of all other nations in America
+appear to an advantage; but the fame of William Penn stands, and ever will
+stand, preeminent for unexceptionable justice and peace in his relations
+with the natives.
+
+Penn had several meetings for conference and treaties with the Indians,
+besides those which he held for the purchase of lands. But unbroken and
+reverently cherished tradition, beyond all possibility of contradiction,
+has designated one great treaty held under a large elm-tree, at Shackamaxon
+(now Kensington), a treaty which Voltaire justly characterizes as "never
+sworn to, and never broken." In Penn's _Letter to the Free Society of
+Traders,_ dated August 16, 1683, he refers to his conferences with the
+Indians. Two deeds, conveying land to him, are on record, both of which
+bear an earlier date than this letter; namely, June 23d and July 14th of
+the same year. He had designed to make a purchase in May; but having been
+called off to a conference with Lord Baltimore, he postponed the business
+till June. The "Great Treaty" was doubtless unconnected with the purchase
+of land, and was simply a treaty of amity and friendship, in confirmation
+of one previously held, by Penn's direction, by Markham, on the same spot;
+that being a place which the Indians were wont to use for this purpose. It
+is probable that the treaty was held on the last of November, 1682; that
+the Delawares, the Mingos, and other Susquehanna tribes formed a large
+assembly on the occasion; that written minutes of the conference were made,
+and were in possession of Governor Gordon, who states nine conditions as
+belonging to them in 1728, but are now lost; and that the substance of the
+treaty is given in Penn's _Letter to the Free Traders_. These results
+are satisfactory, and are sufficiently corroborated by known facts and
+documents. The Great Treaty, being distinct from a land purchase, is
+significantly distinguished in history and tradition.
+
+The inventions of romance and imagination could scarcely gather round this
+engaging incident attractions surpassing in its own simple and impressive
+interest. Doubtless Clarkson has given a fair representation of it, if we
+merely disconnect from his account the statement that the Indians were
+armed, and all that confounds the treaty of friendship with the purchase
+of lands. Penn wore a sky-blue sash of silk around his waist, as the most
+simple badge. The pledges there given were to hold their sanctity "while
+the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure."
+
+While the whites preserved in written records the memory of such covenants,
+the Indians had their methods for perpetuating in safe channels their
+own relations. They cherished in grateful regard, they repeated to their
+children and to the whites, the terms of the Great Treaty. The Delawares
+called William Penn _Miquon_, in their own language, though they seem to
+have adopted the name given him by the Iroquois, _Onas_; both which terms
+signify a quill or pen. Benjamin West's picture of the treaty is too
+imaginative for a historical piece. He makes Penn of a figure and aspect
+which would become twice the years that had passed over his head. The
+elm-tree was spared in the war of the American Revolution, when there
+was distress for firewood, the British officer, Simcoe, having placed a
+sentinel beneath it for protection. It was prostrated by the wind on the
+night of Saturday, March 3, 1810. It was of gigantic size, and the circles
+around its heart indicated an age of nearly three centuries. A piece of
+it was sent to the Penn mansion at Stoke Poges, in England, where it is
+properly commemorated. A marble monument, with suitable inscriptions, was
+"placed by the Penn Society, A.D. 1827, to mark the site of the Great Elm
+Tree." Long may it stand!
+
+Penn then made a visit to his manor of Pennsbury, up the Delaware. Under
+Markham's care, the grounds had been arranged, and a stately edifice of
+brick was in process of completion. The place had many natural beauties,
+and is said to have been arranged and decorated in consistency both with
+the office and the simple manners of the proprietor. There was a hall
+of audience for Indian embassies within, and luxurious gardens without.
+Hospitality had here a wide range, and Penn evidently designed it for a
+permanent abode.
+
+With the help of his surveyor, Thomas Holme, he laid out the plan of his
+now beautiful city, and gave it its name of Christian signification, that
+brotherly love might pervade its dwellings. He purchased the land, where
+the city stands, of the Swedes who already occupied it, and who purchased
+it of the Indians, though it would seem that a subsequent purchase was made
+of the natives of the same site with adjacent territory some time afterward
+by Thomas Holme, acting as president of the council, while Penn was in
+England. The Schuylkill and the Delaware rivers gave to the site eminent
+attractions. The plan was very simple, the streets running north and south
+being designated by numbers, those running east and west by the names of
+trees. Provision was made for large squares to be left open, and for common
+water privileges. The building was commenced at once, and was carried on
+with great zeal and continued success.
+
+
+
+%LAST TURKISH INVASION OF EUROPE%
+
+SOBIESKI SAVES VIENNA
+
+A.D. 1683
+
+SUTHERLAND MENZIES
+
+
+After the defeat of the Turks at Lepanto, in 1571, the Ottoman power in
+Europe slowly declined. But under the Sultan Mahomet IV the old Moslem
+ambition for European conquest reawoke, as if for a final effort. And such
+it proved to be. By the disaster before Vienna, in which John Sobieski,
+King of Poland, once more saved Europe from their incursions, the Turks
+were driven back within their own confines, where they have since, for the
+most part, remained, making many wars, but no successful inroads, upon
+European powers.
+
+In 1682 the Hungarian magnates, who were resisting the oppression and
+persecution of their people by the Austrian Government, called upon the
+Turks for assistance. Listening to the proposals of Tekeli, the Hungarian
+leader, who had secured the aid of Louis XIV of France, Mahomet IV decided
+to break the truce he had made with Austria in 1665. In vain the Emperor
+Leopold I sent an embassy to Constantinople to dissuade the Sultan from his
+purpose.
+
+Early in the spring of 1683 Sultan Mahomet marched forth from his capital
+with a large army, which at Belgrad he transferred to the command of the
+Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha. Tekeli formed a junction with the Turks at
+Essek. In vain did Ibrahim, the experienced Pacha of Buda, endeavor to
+persuade Kara Mustapha first of all to subdue the surrounding country, and
+to postpone until the following year the attack upon Vienna; his advice was
+scornfully rejected, and, indeed, the audacity of the Grand Vizier seemed
+justified by the scant resistance he had met with. He talked of renewing
+the conquests of Solyman: he assembled, it is said, seven hundred thousand
+men, one hundred thousand horses, and one thousand two hundred guns--an
+army more powerful than any the Turks had set on foot since the capture of
+Constantinople. All of which may be reduced to one hundred fifty thousand
+barbarian troops without discipline, the last conquering army which the
+degenerate race of the Osmanlis produced wherewith to invade Hungary.
+
+Hostilities commenced in March, 1683; for the Turks, who had not been
+accustomed to enter upon a campaign before the summer season, had begun
+their march that year before the end of winter. Some prompt and easy
+successes exalted the ambition of Kara Mustapha; and in spite of the
+contrary advice of Tekeli, Ibrahim Pacha, and several other personages,
+he determined to besiege Vienna. He accordingly advanced direct upon that
+capital and encamped under its walls on July 14th. It was just at the
+moment that Louis XIV had captured Strasburg, and at which his army
+appeared ready to cross the Rhine: all Europe was in alarm, believing that
+an agreement existed between France and the Porte for the conquest and
+dismemberment of Germany. But it was not so. The Turks, without giving
+France any previous warning, had of themselves made their invasion of
+Hungary; Louis XIV was delighted at their success, but nevertheless
+disposed, if it went too far, to check them, in order to play the part of
+saviour of Christendom.
+
+It was fortunate for the Emperor Leopold that he had upon the frontiers of
+Poland an ally of indomitable courage in King John Sobieski, and that he
+found the German princes loyal and prompt on this occasion, contrary to
+their custom, in sending him succor. Moreover, in Duke Charles of Lorraine
+he met with a skilful general to lead his army. Consternation and confusion
+prevailed, however, in Vienna, while the Emperor with his court fled to
+Linz. Many of the inhabitants followed him; but the rest, when the
+first moments of terror had passed, prepared for the defence, and the
+dilatoriness of the Turks, who amused themselves with pillaging the
+environs and neighboring _châteaux_, allowed the Duke of Lorraine to throw
+twelve thousand men as a garrison into the city; then, as he was unable
+with his slender force to bar the approach of the Turkish army, he kept
+aloof and waited for the King of Poland.
+
+Leopold solicited succor on all sides, and the Pope made an appeal to the
+piety of the King of France. Louis XIV, on the contrary, was intriguing
+throughout Europe in order that the Christian princes should not quit their
+attitude of repose, and he only offered to the Diet of Ratisbon the aid
+of his arms on condition that it should recognize the recent usurpations
+decreed by the famous Chambers of Reunion,[1] and that it should elect his
+son king of the Romans. He reckoned, if it should accept his offers, to
+determine the Turks to retreat and to effect a peace which, by bringing
+the imperial crown into his house, would have been the death-stroke for
+Austria. All these combinations miscarried through the devotedness of the
+Poles.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Chambers of Reunion were special courts established in
+France by Louis XIV (1680). These courts declared for the annexation to
+France of various territories along the eastern frontier.--ED.]
+
+When Leopold supplicated Sobieski to come to his aid, Louis XIV tried to
+divert him from it; he reassured him upon the projects of the Turks by
+a letter of the Sultan, he made him see his real enemies in Austria,
+Brandenburg, and that power of the North, which the Dutch gazettes had
+begun to call "His Russian Majesty"; he reminded him, in fine, that the
+house of Austria, saved by the French on the day of St. Gothard, had
+testified its gratitude to them by allowing the victors to die of hunger
+and by envenoming their difference with the Porte. But it was all useless;
+hatred of the infidels prevailed, and the Polish squadrons hurried to the
+deliverance of Vienna.
+
+Count Rudiger de Starhemberg was made commandant of the city, and showed
+himself alike bold and energetic in everything that could contribute to its
+defence. The Turkish camp encircled Vienna and its suburbs, spreading over
+the country all round to the distance of six leagues. Two days afterward,
+Kara Mustapha opened the trenches, and his artillery battered the walls
+in order to make a breach. Great efforts, moreover, were made in digging
+mines, with the design of blowing up bastions or portions of the wall, so
+that the city might be carried by assault, wherein the Turks hoped to find
+an immense booty. But the besieged made an obstinate defence, and repaired
+during the night the damage done on the previous day. During sixty days
+forty mines and ten counter-mines were exploded; the Turks delivered
+eighteen assaults, the besieged made twenty-four sorties. Each inch of
+ground was only obtained by dint of a hard and long struggle, in which an
+equal stubbornness both in attack and defence was exhibited.
+
+The hottest fighting took place at the "Label" bastion, around which there
+was not a foot of ground that had not been steeped in the blood of friend
+or foe. However, by degrees the Turks gained a few paces; at the end of
+August they were lodged in the ditches of the city; and on September 4th
+they sprung a mine under the "Bourg" bastion; one-half of the city was
+shaken thereby, and a breach was rent in the bastion wide enough for an
+assault to be delivered, but the enemy was repulsed. Next day the Turks
+attacked it with renewed courage, but the valor of the besieged baffled
+the assailants. On September 10th another mine was sprung under the same
+bastion, and the breach was so wide that a battalion might have entered
+it abreast. The danger was extreme, for the garrison was exhausted
+by fighting, sickness, and incessant labor. The Count de Starhemberg
+despatched courier after courier to the Duke of Lorraine for succor: "There
+is not a moment to be lost, Monseigneur," he wrote, "not a moment;" and
+Vienna, exhausted, saw not yet her liberators arrive. At length, on the
+14th, when the whole city was in a stupor in the immediate expectation of
+an attack, a movement was observed in the enemy's camp which announced that
+succor was at hand. At five o'clock in the afternoon the Christian army was
+descried surmounting the Hill of Kahlen, and it made its presence known by
+a salvo of artillery. John Sobieski had arrived at the head of a valiant
+army. The Electors of Saxony and of Bavaria with many princes, dukes,
+and margraves of Germany had brought with them fresh troops. Charles of
+Lorraine might then dare to march against the Moslems, although he had yet
+only forty-six thousand men.
+
+The army of Sobieski reached Klosterenburg, Koenigstetten, St. André,
+the Valley of Hagen and Kirling, where it effected its junction with the
+Austrians and the Saxons who had arrived there in passing by Hoeflin. On
+Sunday, September 15th, in the earliest rays of a fine autumnal day, the
+holy priest Marco d'Aviano celebrated mass in the chapel of Kahlenberg, and
+the King of Poland served him during the sacrifice. Afterward, Sobieski
+made his son kneel down and dubbed him a knight in remembrance of the great
+occasion on which he was going to be present; then, turning toward his
+officers, he reminded them of the victory of Choczim, adding that the
+triumph they were about to achieve under the walls of Vienna would not only
+save a city, but Christendom. Next morning the Christian army descended the
+Hill of Kahlen in order of battle. A salvo of five cannon-shot gave the
+signal for the fight. Sobieski commanded the right wing, the Duke of
+Lorraine the left, under whose orders served Prince Eugene of Savoy, then
+aged nineteen. The Elector of Bavaria was in the centre. The village of
+Naussdorf, situated upon the Danube, was attacked by the Saxon and
+imperial troops which formed the left wing, and carried after an obstinate
+resistance. Toward noon the King of Poland, having descended into the
+plain with the right wing, at the head of his Polish cavalry, attacked the
+innumerable squadrons of Turkish horse. Flinging himself upon the enemy's
+centre with all the fury of a hurricane, he spread confusion in their
+ranks; but his courage carried him too far; he was surrounded and was on
+the point of being overwhelmed by numbers. Then, shouting for aid, the
+German cavalry, which had followed him, charged the enemy at full gallop,
+delivered the King, and soon put the Turks to flight on all sides. The
+right wing had decided the victory; by seven o'clock in the evening the
+deliverance of Vienna was achieved. The bodies of more than ten thousand
+infidels strewed the field of battle.
+
+But all those combats were mere preludes to the great battle which must
+decide the fortune of the war. For the Turkish camp, with its thousands of
+tents, could still be seen spreading around as far as the eye could
+reach, and its artillery continued to play upon the city. The victorious
+commander-in-chief was holding a council of war to decide whether to give
+battle again on that same day, or wait till the morrow to give his troops
+an interval of rest, when a messenger came with the announcement that the
+enemy appeared to be in full flight; and it proved to be the fact. A panic
+had seized the Turks, who fled in disorder, abandoning their camp and
+baggage; and soon even those who were attacking the city were seen in full
+flight with the rest of the army.
+
+The booty found in the Turkish camp was immense: three hundred pieces of
+heavy artillery, five thousand tents, that of the Grand Vizier with all the
+military chests and the chancery. The treasures amounted to fifteen million
+crowns; the tent of the Vizier alone yielded four hundred thousand crowns.
+Two millions also were found in the military chest; arms studded with
+precious stones, the equipments of Kara Mustapha, fell into the hands of
+the victors. In their flight the Mussulmans threw away arms, baggage, and
+banners, with the exception of the holy standard of the Prophet, which,
+nevertheless, the imperials pretended to have seized. The King of Poland
+received for his share four million florins; and in a letter to his
+wife--the sole delight of his soul, his dear and well-beloved Mariette--he
+speaks of that booty and of the happiness of having delivered Vienna. "All
+the enemy's camp," he wrote, "with the whole of his artillery and all his
+enormous riches, have fallen into our hands. We are driving before us a
+host of camels, mules, and Turkish prisoners."
+
+Count Starhemberg received the King of Poland in the magnificent tent
+of the Grand Vizier and greeted him as a deliverer. Next day Sobieski,
+accompanied by the Elector of Bavaria and the different commanders,
+traversed the city on horseback, preceded by a great banner of cloth of
+gold and two tall gilded staves bearing the horse-tails which had been
+planted in front of the Grand Vizier's tent, as a symbol of supreme
+command. In the Loretto chapel of the Augustins the hero threw himself upon
+his face before the altar and chanted the _Te Deum_. Vienna was delivered;
+the flood of Ottomans, that had beaten against its walls one hundred
+fifty-four years previously, had returned more furiously, more menacing
+still, against that dignified protectress of European civilization, but
+this time it had been repelled never to return.
+
+Thus vanished the insane hopes of the Grand Vizier. If Demetrius Cantemir
+may be believed, Kara Mustapha had desired to capture Vienna to appropriate
+it to himself and found in the West an empire of which he would have been
+the sovereign. "That subject," says the historian, "who only held his power
+from the Sultan, despised in his heart the Sultan himself; and as he found
+himself at the head of all the disciplined troops of the empire, he looked
+upon his master as a shadow denuded of strength and substance, who, being
+very inferior in courage to him, could never oppose to him an army like
+that which was under his command. For all that concerned the Emperor of
+Germany, he appeared still less to be feared: being a prince bare and
+despoiled so soon as he should have lost Vienna. It was thus that Kara
+Mustapha reasoned within himself.
+
+"Already he casts his eyes over the treasures which he has in his
+possession; with the money of the Sultan he has also brought his own; all
+that of the German princes is going to be his; for he believes that it is
+amassed in the city he is besieging. If he needs support, he reckons upon
+the different governors of Hungary as devoted to his interests; these are
+his creatures, whom he has put into their posts during the seven years of
+his vizierate; not one of those functionaries dare offer an obstacle to the
+elevation of his benefactor. Ibrahim Pacha, Beylerbey of Buda, keeps him in
+suspense by reason of the influence that his fame gives him over the army
+and over Hungary; he must be won over before all else, as well as the chief
+officers of the janizaries and the spahis. Ibrahim shall be made King of
+Hungary. The different provinces comprised in that kingdom shall be divided
+into _timars_ for appanage of the spahis, and all the rest of the soldiery
+shall have establishments in the towns, as so many new colonies; to them
+shall be assigned the lands of the old inhabitants, who will be driven out
+or reduced to slavery. He reserves for himself the title of Sultan,
+his share shall be all Germany as far as the frontiers of France, with
+Transylvania and Poland, which he intends to render subject or at least
+make tributary the year following." Such are the projects that Cantemir
+attributes to Kara Mustapha; the intervention of Sobieski caused these
+chimerical plans quickly to vanish.
+
+The Emperor Leopold, who returned to Vienna on September 16th, instead of
+expressing his thanks and gratitude to the commanders who had rescued his
+capital, received them with the haughty and repulsive coldness prescribed
+by the etiquette of the imperial court. Sobieski nevertheless continued
+his services by pursuing the retreating Turks. Awakened from his dream of
+self-exaltation, the Grand Vizier retook the road toward Turkey, directing
+his steps to the Raab, where he rallied the remnants of his army. Thence he
+marched toward Buda, and attacked by the way the Styrian town of Lilenfeld;
+he was repulsed by the prelate Matthias Kalweis, and avenged himself for
+that fresh check by devastating Lower Styria. He crossed the Danube by a
+bridge of boats at Parkany; but the Poles vigorously disputed the passage
+with him, and he again lost more than eight thousand men taken or slain by
+the Christians. Shortly after, the fortress of Gran opened its gates to
+Kara Mustapha. The Grand Vizier barbarously put to death the officers who
+had signed the capitulation; he threw upon his generals the responsibility
+of his reverses, and thought to stifle in blood the murmurs of his
+accusers. The army marched in disorder as though struck with a panic
+terror. Kara Mustapha wished that a Jew whom he despatched to Belgrad
+should be escorted by a troop of horsemen. "I have no need of an escort,"
+replied the Jew: "I have only to wear my cap in the German fashion, and not
+a Turk will touch me."
+
+The enemies of the Grand Vizier, however, conspired to effect his ruin at
+Constantinople; and the results of the campaign justified the predictions
+of the party of peace. Mahomet IV, enraged at these disasters, sent his
+grand chamberlain to Belgrad with orders to bring back the head of the
+Vizier (1683): it was, in fact, brought to the Sultan in a silver dish.
+
+
+
+%MONMOUTH'S REBELLION%
+
+A.D. 1685
+
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+
+James II was scarcely seated on the English throne in 1685 when serious
+disturbances began in his realm. The King had inherited the peculiar traits
+of the Stuarts. His first purpose was to overcome the Parliamentary power
+and make himself absolute ruler. He was likewise a Roman Catholic, and one
+of his objects was the suppression of English Protestantism.
+
+During the first days of his reign the Protestant peasants in the west of
+England rose in revolt. They supported the claims of James Fitzroy, Duke
+of Monmouth, to the throne. Monmouth was the (reputed) illegitimate son of
+Charles II and Lucy Walters. With other exiled malcontents, English and
+Scotch, he had taken refuge in Holland. One of those exiled was the Earl of
+Argyle, whose father had figured prominently on the side of the Scottish
+Presbyterians against Charles I.
+
+Owing to national jealousy, the English and Scotch in Holland could not act
+in unison, but all were determined to strike against James. Two expeditions
+were planned--one under Argyle, who expected to find forces awaiting him in
+Scotland; the other under Monmouth, whose adherents were to join him in the
+west of England.
+
+Argyle's attempt miscarried through disagreement among the leaders, and the
+Earl was taken and beheaded, June 30, 1685. What befell the enterprise of
+Monmouth is told by Bishop Burnet, a contemporary historian. Monmouth was
+executed July 15, 1685, and in the trials known as the "Bloody Assizes,"
+presided over by the brutal George Jeffreys, some three hundred of the
+Duke's followers were condemned to death, and more than a thousand
+otherwise punished.
+
+As soon as Lord Argyle sailed for Scotland, Monmouth set about his design
+with as much haste as possible. Arms were brought and a ship was freighted
+for Bilbao in Spain. He pawned all his jewels, but these could not raise
+much, and no money was sent to him out of England. So he was hurried into
+an ill-designed invasion. The whole company consisted but of eighty-two
+persons. They were all faithful to one another. But some spies whom
+Shelton, the new envoy, set on work, sent him the notice of a suspected
+ship sailing out of Amsterdam with arms.
+
+Shelton neither understood the laws of Holland nor advised with those who
+did; otherwise he would have carried with him an order from the admiralty
+of Holland, that sat at The Hague, to be made use of as the occasion should
+require. When he came to Amsterdam, and applied himself to the magistrates
+there, desiring them to stop and search the ship that he named, they found
+the ship was already sailed out of their port and their jurisdiction went
+no further. So he was forced to send to the admiralty at The Hague. But
+those on board, hearing what he was come for, made all possible haste. And,
+the wind favoring them, they got out of the Texel before the order desired
+could be brought from The Hague. After a prosperous course, the Duke landed
+at Lyme in Dorsetshire (June 11, 1685); and he with his small company came
+ashore with some order, but with too much daylight, which discovered how
+few they were.
+
+The alarm was brought hot to London, where, upon the general report and
+belief of the thing, an act of attainder passed both Houses in one day;
+some small opposition being made by the Earl of Anglesey, because the
+evidence did not seem clear enough for so severe a sentence, which was
+grounded on the notoriety of the thing. The sum of five thousand pounds was
+set on his head. And with that the session of Parliament ended; which was
+no small happiness to the nation, such a body of men being dismissed
+with doing so little hurt. The Duke of Monmouth's manifesto was long and
+ill-penned--full of much black and dull malice.
+
+It charged the King with the burning of London, the popish plot, Godfrey's
+murder, and the Earl of Essex's death; and to crown all, it was pretended
+that the late King was poisoned by his orders: it was set forth that the
+King's religion made him incapable of the crown; that three subsequent
+houses of commons had voted his exclusion: the taking away of the old
+charters, and all the hard things done in the last reign, were laid to his
+charge: the elections of the present parliament were also set forth very
+odiously, with great indecency of style; the nation was also appealed to,
+when met in a free parliament, to judge of the Duke's own pretensions;[1]
+and all sort of liberty, both in temporals and spirituals, was promised to
+persons of all persuasions.
+
+[Footnote 1: He asserted that his mother had been the lawful wife of his
+father.--ED.]
+
+Upon the Duke of Monmouth's landing, many of the country people came in to
+join him, but very few of the gentry. He had quickly men enough about
+him to use all his arms. The Duke of Albemarle, as lord lieutenant of
+Devonshire, was sent down to raise the militia, and with them to make head
+against him. But their ill-affection appeared very evident; many deserted,
+and all were cold in the service. The Duke of Monmouth had the whole
+country open to him for almost a fortnight, during which time he was very
+diligent in training and animating his men. His own behavior was so
+gentle and obliging that he was master of all their hearts as much as
+was possible. But he quickly found what it was to be at the head of
+undisciplined men, that knew nothing of war, and that were not to be used
+with rigor. Soon after their landing, Lord Grey was sent out with a small
+party. He saw a few of the militia, and he ran for it; but his men stood,
+and the militia ran from them. Lord Grey brought a false alarm, that was
+soon found to be so, for the men whom their leader had abandoned came back
+in good order. The Duke of Monmouth was struck with this when he found that
+the person on whom he depended most, and for whom he designed the command
+of the horse, had already made himself infamous by his cowardice. He
+intended to join Fletcher with him in that command. But an unhappy accident
+made it not convenient to keep him longer about him. He sent him out on
+another party, and he, not being yet furnished with a horse, took the horse
+of one who had brought in a great body of men from Taunton. He was not in
+the way, so Fletcher not seeing him to ask his leave, thought that all
+things were to be in common among them that could advance the service.
+
+After Fletcher had ridden about as he was ordered, as he returned, the
+owner of the horse he rode on--who was a rough and ill-bred man--reproached
+him in very injurious terms for taking out his horse without his leave.
+Fletcher bore this longer than could have been expected from one of his
+impetuous temper. But the other persisted in giving him foul language, and
+offered a switch or a cudgel, upon which he discharged his pistol at him
+and shot him dead. He went and gave the Duke of Monmouth an account of
+this, who saw it was impossible to keep him longer about him without
+disgusting and losing the country people who were coming in a body to
+demand justice. So he advised him to go aboard the ship and to sail on to
+Spain whither she was bound. By this means he was preserved for that time.
+
+Ferguson ran among the people with all the fury of an enraged man that
+affected to pass for an enthusiast, though all his performances that way
+were forced and dry. The Duke of Monmouth's great error was that he did not
+in the first heat venture on some hardy action and then march either to
+Exeter or Bristol; where as he would have found much wealth, so he would
+have gained some reputation by it. But he lingered in exercising his men
+and stayed too long in the neighborhood of Lyme.
+
+By this means the King had time both to bring troops out of Scotland,
+after Argyle was taken, and to send to Holland for the English and Scotch
+regiments that were in the service of the states; which the Prince sent
+over very readily and offered his own person, and a greater force, if
+it were necessary. The King received this with great expressions of
+acknowledgment and kindness. It was very visible that he was much
+distracted in his thoughts, and that, what appearance of courage soever he
+might put on, he was inwardly full of apprehensions and fears. He dare not
+accept of the offer of assistance that the French made him; for by that he
+would have lost the hearts of the English nation, and he had no mind to be
+so much obliged to the Prince of Orange or to let him into his counsels or
+affairs. Prince George committed a great error in not asking the command of
+the army; for the command, how much soever he might have been bound to the
+counsels of others, would have given him some lustre; whereas his staying
+at home in such times of danger brought him under much neglect.
+
+The King could not choose worse than he did when he gave the command to
+the Earl of Feversham, who was a Frenchman by birth--and nephew to M. de
+Turenne. Both his brothers changing religion--though he continued still
+a Protestant--made that his religion was not much trusted to. He was an
+honest, brave, and good-natured man, but weak to a degree not easy to be
+conceived. And he conducted matters so ill that every step he made was like
+to prove fatal to the King's service. He had no parties abroad. He got no
+intelligence, and was almost surprised and like to be defeated, when he
+seemed to be under no apprehension, but was abed without any care or order.
+So that if the Duke of Monmouth had got but a very small number of good
+soldiers about him, the King's affairs would have fallen into great
+disorder.
+
+The Duke of Monmouth had almost surprised Lord Feversham and all about him
+while they were abed. He got in between two bodies, into which the army lay
+divided. He now saw his error in lingering so long. He began to want bread,
+and to be so straitened that there was a necessity of pushing for a speedy
+decision. He was so misled in his march that he lost an hour's time, and
+when he came near the army there was an inconsiderable ditch, in the
+passing which he lost so much more time that the officers had leisure to
+rise and be dressed, now they had the alarm. And they put themselves in
+order. Yet the Duke of Monmouth's foot stood longer and fought better than
+could have been expected; especially, when the small body of horse they
+had, ran upon the first charge, the blame of which was cast on Lord Grey.
+
+The foot being thus forsaken and galled by the cannon, did run at last.
+About a thousand of them were killed on the spot, and fifteen hundred were
+taken prisoners. Their numbers, when fullest, were between five and six
+thousand.
+
+The Duke of Monmouth left the field[1] too soon for a man of courage who
+had such high pretensions; for a few days before he had suffered himself to
+be called king, which did him no service, even among those that followed
+him. He rode toward Dorsetshire; and when his horse could carry him no
+further he changed clothes with a shepherd and went as far as his legs
+could carry him, being accompanied only by a German whom he had brought
+over with him. At last, when he could go no farther, they lay down in a
+field where there was hay and straw, with which they covered themselves,
+so that they hoped to lie there unseen till night. Parties went out on all
+hands to take prisoners. The shepherd was found by Lord Lumley in the Duke
+of Monmouth's clothes. So this put them on his track, and having some dogs
+with them, they followed the scent, and came to the place where the German
+was first discovered. And he immediately pointed to the place where the
+Duke of Monmouth lay. So he was taken in a very indecent dress and posture.
+
+[Footnote 1: This engagement took place at Ledgemoor, Somerset, July 6,
+1685.--ED.]
+
+His body was quite sunk with fatigue, and his mind was now so low that he
+begged his life in a manner that agreed ill with the courage of the former
+parts of it. He called for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote to the Earl of
+Feversham, and both to the Queen and the Queen dowager, to intercede with
+the King for his life. The King's temper, as well as his interest, made it
+so impossible to hope for that, that it showed a great meanness in him
+to ask it in such terms as he used in his letters. He was carried up to
+Whitehall, where the King examined him in person, which was thought very
+indecent, since he was resolved not to pardon him.[1] He made new and
+unbecoming submissions, and insinuated a readiness to change his religion;
+for, he said, the King knew what his first education was in religion. There
+were no discoveries to be got from him; for the attempt was too rash to be
+well concerted, or to be so deep laid that many were involved in the guilt
+of it. He was examined on Monday, and orders were given for his execution
+on Wednesday.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Duke of Monmouth pressed extremely that the King would see
+him, whence the King concluded he had something to say to him that he
+would tell to nobody else; but when he found it ended in nothing but lower
+submission than he either expected or desired, he told him plainly he had
+put it out of his power to pardon him by having proclaimed himself king.
+Thus may the most innocent actions of a man's life be sometimes turned to
+his disadvantage.--ED.]
+
+Turner and Ken, the Bishops of Ely and of Bath and Wells, were ordered
+to wait on him. But he called for Dr. Tennison. The bishops studied to
+convince him of the sin of rebellion. He answered, he was sorry for the
+blood that was shed in it, but he did not seem to repent of the design. Yet
+he confessed that his father had often told him that there was no truth in
+the reports of his having married his mother. This he set under his hand,
+probably for his children's sake, who were then prisoners in the Tower,
+that so they might not be ill-used on his account. He showed a great
+neglect of his duchess. And her resentments for his course of life with
+Lady Wentworth wrought so much on her that she seemed not to have any of
+that tenderness left that became her sex and his present circumstances, for
+when he desired to speak privately with her she would have witnesses to
+hear all that passed, to justify herself, and to preserve her family.
+They parted very coldly. He only recommended to her the rearing of their
+children in the Protestant religion.
+
+The bishops continued still to press on him a deep sense of the sin of
+rebellion; at which he grew so uneasy that he desired them to speak to him
+of other matters. They next charged him with the sin of living with Lady
+Wentworth, as he had done. In that he justified himself; he had married his
+duchess too young to give a true consent; he said that lady was a pious
+worthy woman, and that he had never lived so well, in all respects, as
+since his engagements with her. All the pains they took to convince him of
+the unlawfulness of that course of life had no effect. They did certainly
+very well in discharging their consciences and speaking so plainly to him.
+But they did very ill to talk so much of this matter and to make it so
+public, as they did, for divines ought not to repeat what they say to dying
+penitents no more than what the penitents say to them. By this means the
+Duke of Monmouth had little satisfaction in them and they had as little in
+him.
+
+He was much better pleased with Dr. Tennison, who did very plainly speak to
+him with relation to his public actings and to his course of life; but he
+did it in a softer and less peremptory manner. And having said all that he
+thought proper, he left those points, in which he saw he could not convince
+him, to his own conscience, and turned to other things fit to be laid
+before a dying man. The Duke begged one day more of life with such repeated
+earnestness that as the King was much blamed for denying so small a favor,
+so it gave occasion to others to believe that he had some hope from
+astrologers that if he outlived that day he might have a better fate. As
+long as he fancied there was any hope, he was too much unsettled in his
+mind to be capable of anything.
+
+But when he saw all was to no purpose and that he must die he complained a
+little that his death was hurried on so fast. But all on a sudden he came
+into a composure of mind that surprised those that saw it. There was no
+affectation in it. His whole behavior was easy and calm, not without a
+decent cheerfulness. He prayed God to forgive all his sins, unknown as well
+as known. He seemed confident of the mercies of God, and that he was going
+to be happy with him. And he went to the place of execution on Tower Hill
+with an air of undisturbed courage that was grave and composed. He said
+little there, only that he was sorry for the blood that was shed, but he
+had ever meant well to the nation. When he saw the axe he touched it and
+said it was not sharp enough. He gave the hangman but half the reward he
+intended, and said if he cut off his head cleverly, and not so butcherly as
+he did the Lord Russel's, his man would give him the rest.
+
+The executioner was in great disorder, trembling all over; so he gave him
+two or three strokes without being able to finish the matter and then flung
+the axe out of his hand. But the sheriff forced him to take it up; and at
+three or four more strokes he severed his head from his body and both were
+presently buried in the chapel of the Tower. Thus lived and died this
+unfortunate young man. He had several good qualities in him, and some that
+were as bad. He was soft and gentle even to excess and too easy to those
+who had credit with him. He was both sincere and good-natured, and
+understood war well. But he was too much given to pleasure and to
+favorites.
+
+
+
+%REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES%
+
+A.D. 1685
+
+BON LOUIS HENRI MARTIN
+
+
+It was one of the glories of Henry of Navarre to end the religious wars of
+France by publishing the Edict of Nantes (1598), which placed Catholics and
+Protestants on a practically equal footing as subjects. By the revocation
+of that edict, in 1685, Louis XIV opened the way for fresh persecution of
+the Huguenots. Of the hundreds of thousands whom the King and his agents
+then caused to flee the country and seek civil and religious liberty in
+other lands, many crossed the sea and settled in the colonies of North
+America, especially in South Carolina.
+
+By revoking the Edict of Nantes Louis XIV arrayed against himself all the
+Protestant countries of Europe. By seizures of territory he also offended
+Catholic states. In 1686 the League of Augsburg combined the greater part
+of Europe for resisting his encroachments.
+
+This period of the "Huguenots of the Dispersion" was marked by complicated
+strifes in politics, religion, and philosophy. It was one of the most
+reactionary epochs in French history. No writer has better depicted the
+time, with the severities, atrocities, and effects of the revocation of the
+great edict, than Martin, the celebrated historian of his country.
+
+For many years the government of Louis XIV had been acting toward the
+Reformation as toward a victim entangled in a noose which is drawn tighter
+and tighter till it strangles its prey. In 1683 the oppressed had finally
+lost patience, and their partial attempts at resistance, disavowed by the
+most distinguished of their brethren, had been stifled in blood. After
+the truce of Ratisbon, declarations and decrees hostile to Protestantism
+succeeded each other with frightful rapidity; nothing else was seen in the
+official gazette. Protestant ministers were prohibited from officiating
+longer than three years in the same church (August, 1684); Protestant
+individuals were forbidden to give asylum to their sick coreligionists; the
+sick who were not treated at home were required to go to the hospitals,
+where they were put in the hands of churchmen. A beautiful and touching
+request, written by Pastor Claude, was in vain presented to the King
+in January, 1685. Each day beheld some Protestant church closed for
+contraventions either imaginary or fraudulently fabricated by persecutors.
+It was enough that the child of a "convert" or a bastard (all bastards were
+reputed Catholic) should enter a Protestant church for the exercise of
+worship, to be interdicted there.
+
+If this state of things had continued long, not a single Protestant church
+would have been left. The Protestant academy or university of Saumur,
+which had formed so many eminent theologians and orators, was closed; the
+ministers were subjected to the villein tax for their real estate (January,
+1685). The quinquennial assembly of the clergy, held in May, presented to
+the King a multitude of new demands against the heretics; among others, for
+the establishment of penalties against the "converts" who did not fulfil
+their duties as Catholics. The penalty of death, which had been decreed
+against emigrants, was commuted into perpetual confinement in the galleys,
+by the request of the clergy. The first penalty had been little more than
+a threat; the second, which confounded with the vilest miscreants,
+unfortunates guilty of having desired to flee from persecution, was to be
+applied in the sternest reality! It was extended to Protestants living in
+France who should authorize their children to marry foreigners. It was
+interdicted to Reformers to follow the occupation of printer or bookseller.
+It was forbidden to confer on them degrees in arts, law, or medicine.
+Protestant orphans could have only Catholic guardians. Half of the goods
+of emigrants was promised to informers. It was forbidden to Reformers to
+preach or write against Catholicism (July, August, 1685).
+
+A multitude of Protestant churches had been demolished, and the inhabitants
+of places where worship had been suppressed were prohibited from going
+to churches in places where it was still permitted. Grave difficulties
+resulted with respect to the principal acts of civil life, which, among
+Protestants as among Catholics, owed their authenticity only to the
+intervention of ministers of religion. A decree in council of September 15,
+1685, enacted that, in places deprived of the exercise of worship, a pastor
+chosen by the intendant of the generality should celebrate, in the presence
+of relatives only, the marriages of Reformers; that their bans should be
+published to the congregations, and the registries of their marriages
+entered on the rolls of the local court. Similar decrees had been issued
+concerning baptisms and burials. Hitherto Protestantism had been struck
+right and left with all kinds of weapons, without any very definite method:
+these decrees seemed to indicate a definite plan; that is, the suppression
+of external worship, with a certain tolerance, at least provisionally, for
+conscience, and a kind of civil state separately constituted for obstinate
+Protestants.
+
+This plan had, in fact, been debated in council. "The King," wrote Madame
+de Maintenon, August 13, 1684, "has it in mind to work for the _entire_
+conversion of heretics; he has frequent conferences for this purpose with
+M. le Tellier and M. de Chateauneuf (the secretary of state charged with
+the affairs of the so-called Reformed religion), in which they wish to
+persuade me to take part. M. de Chateauneuf has proposed means that are
+unsuitable. Things must not be hastened. _It is necessary to convert, not
+to persecute_. M. de Louvois prefers mild measures which do not accord with
+his nature and his eagerness to see things ended."
+
+The means proposed by Chateauneuf was apparently the immediate revocation
+of the Edict of Nantes, which was judged premature. As to the "mildness" of
+Louvois, it was soon seen in operation. Louvois pretended to be moderate,
+lest the King, through scruples of humanity, should hesitate to confer on
+him the management of the affair. He had his plan ready: it was to recur to
+the "salutary constraint" already tried in 1681 by the instrumentality
+of soldiers to the Dragonade. Colbert was no longer at hand to interpose
+obstacles to this.
+
+Louvois had persuaded the King that in the moral situation of Protestant
+communities it would be enough "to show them the troops," to compel them to
+abjure. The troops had been "shown," therefore, to the Reformers of Béarn;
+the intendant of that province, Foucault, had come to Paris to concert with
+the minister the management of the enterprise; Louvois could not have found
+a fitter instrument than this pitiless and indefatigable man, who had the
+soul of an inquisitor under the garb of a pliant courtier. On his return
+from Paris, Foucault, seconded by the Parliament of Pau and the clergy,
+began by the demolition, on account of "contraventions," of fifteen out of
+twenty Protestant churches that remained in Béarn, and the "conversion" of
+eleven hundred persons in two months (February-April, 1685). He then called
+for the assistance of the army to complete the work, promising "to keep a
+tight rein over the soldiers, so that they should do no violence." This
+was for the purpose of allaying the scruples of the King. The troops were
+therefore concentrated in the cities and villages filled with Reformers;
+the five remaining Protestant churches shared the fate of the rest, and
+the pastors were banished, some to a distance of six leagues from their
+demolished churches, others beyond the jurisdiction of the Parliament of
+Pau.
+
+Terror flew before the soldiers; as soon as the scarlet uniforms and the
+high caps of the dragoons were descried, corporations, whole cities, sent
+their submission to the intendant. An almost universal panic chilled all
+hearts. The mass of Reformers signed or verbally accepted a confession of
+the Catholic faith, suffered themselves to be led to the church, bowed
+their heads to the benediction of the bishop or the missionary, and cannon
+and bonfires celebrated the "happy reconciliation." Protestants who had
+hoped to find a refuge in liberty of conscience without external worship
+saw this hope vanish. Foucault paid no attention to the decrees in council
+that regulated the baptisms, marriages, and burials of Protestants,
+because, he said in a despatch to the minister, "in the present disposition
+to general and speedy conversion, this would expose those who waver, and
+harden the obstinate." The council issued a new order confirmatory of the
+preceding ones, and specially for Béarn. Foucault, according to his
+own words, "did not judge proper to execute it." This insolence went
+unpunished. Success justified everything. Before the end of August the
+twenty-two thousand Protestants of Béarn were "converted," save a few
+hundred. Foucault, in his _Memoirs_, in which he exhibits his triumphs with
+cynicism, does not, however, avow all the means. Although he confesses that
+"the distribution of money drew many souls to the Church," he does not
+say how he kept his promise of preventing the "soldiers from doing any
+violence." He does not recount the brutalities, the devastations, the
+tortures resorted to against the refractory, the outrages to women, nor
+how these soldiers took turns from hour to hour to hinder their hosts from
+sleeping during entire weeks till these unfortunates, stupefied, delirious,
+signed an abjuration.
+
+The King saw only the result. The resolution was taken to send everywhere
+these "booted missionaries" who had succeeded so well in Béarn. Louvois
+sent, on the part of the King, July 31st, a command to the Marquis de
+Boufflers, their general, to lead them into Guienne, and "to quarter them
+all on the Reformers"; "observing to endeavor to diminish the number of
+Reformers in such a manner that in each community the Catholics shall be
+twice or three times more numerous than they; so that when, in due time,
+his majesty shall wish no longer to permit the exercise of this religion in
+his kingdom, he may no longer have to apprehend that the small number that
+shall remain can undertake anything." The troops were to be withdrawn as
+fast as this object should be obtained in each place, without undertaking
+to convert all at once. The ministers should be driven out of the country,
+and by no means should they be retained by force; the pastors absent, the
+flocks could more easily be brought to reason. The soldiers were to commit
+"no other disorders than to levy (daily) twenty sous for each horseman or
+dragoon, and ten sous for each foot-soldier." Excesses were to be severely
+punished. Louvois, in another letter, warned the general not to yield to
+all the suggestions of the ecclesiastics, nor even of the intendants. They
+did not calculate on being able to proceed so rapidly as in Béarn.
+
+These instructions show precisely, not what was done, but what the King
+wished should be done. The subalterns, sure of immunity in case of success,
+acted more in accordance with the spirit of Louvois than according to the
+words dictated by Louis. The King, when by chance he heard that his orders
+had been transcended, rarely chastised the transgressor, lest it might be
+"said to the Reformers that his majesty disapproves of whatsoever has been
+done to convert them." Louis XIV, therefore, cannot repudiate, before
+history, his share of this terrible responsibility.
+
+The result exceeded the hopes of the King and of Louvois. Guienne yielded
+as easily as Béarn. The Church of Montauban, the head-quarters of the
+Reformation in this region, was "reunited" in great majority, after several
+days of military vexations; Bergerac held out a little longer; then all
+collective resistance ceased. The cities and villages, for ten or twelve
+leagues around, sent to the military leaders their promises of abjuration.
+In three weeks there were sixty thousand conversions in the district of
+Bordeaux or Lower Guienne, twenty thousand in that of Montauban or Upper
+Guienne. According to the reports of Boufflers, Louvois, September 7th,
+reckoned that before the end of the month there would not remain in Lower
+Guienne ten thousand Reformers out of the one hundred fifty thousand found
+there August 15th. "There is not a courier," wrote Madame de Maintenon,
+September 26th, "that does not bring the King great causes of joy; to wit,
+news of conversions by thousands." The only resistance that they deigned to
+notice here and there was that of certain provincial gentlemen, of simple
+and rigid habits, less disposed than the court nobility to sacrifice their
+faith to interest and vanity.
+
+Guienne subjected, the army of Béarn was marched, a part into Limousin,
+Saintonge, and Poitou, a part into Languedoc. Poitou, already "dragooned"
+in 1681 by the intendant Marillac, had just been so well labored with by
+Marillac's successor, Lamoignon de Basville, aided by some troops, that
+Foucault, sent from Béarn into Poitou, found nothing more to glean. The
+King even caused Louvois to recommend that they should not undertake to
+convert all the Reformers at once, lest the rich and powerful families, who
+had in their hands the commerce of those regions, should avail themselves
+of the proximity of the sea to take flight (September 8th). Basville, a
+great administrator, but harshly inflexible, was sent from Poitou into
+Lower Languedoc, in the first part of September, in order to coöperate
+there with the Duke de Noailles, governor of the province. The intendant of
+Lower Languedoc, D'Aguesseau, although he had zealously coöperated in all
+the restrictive measures of the Reformed worship, had asked for his recall
+as soon as he had seen that the King was determined on the employment of
+military force; convinced that this determination would not be less fatal
+to religion than to the country, he retired, broken-hearted, his spirit
+troubled for the future.
+
+The conversion of Languedoc seemed a great undertaking. The mass of
+Protestants, nearly all concentrated in Lower Languedoc, and in the
+mountainous regions adjoining, was estimated at more than two hundred forty
+thousand souls; these people, more ardent, more constant than the mobile
+and sceptical Gascons, did not seem capable of so easily abandoning
+their belief. The result, however, was the same as elsewhere. Nîmes and
+Montpellier followed the example of Montauban. The quartering of a hundred
+soldiers in their houses quickly reduced the notables of Nîmes; in this
+diocese alone, the principal centre of Protestantism, sixty thousand souls
+abjured in three days. Several of the leading ministers did the same. From
+Nîmes the Duc de Noailles led the troops into the mountains. Cévennes and
+Gevaudan submitted to invasion like the rest, as the armed mission advanced
+from valley to valley. These cantons were still under the terror of the
+sanguinary repressions of 1683, and had been disarmed, as far as it was
+possible, as well as all Lower Languedoc. Noailles, in the earlier part of
+October, wrote to Louvois that he would answer "upon his head" that, before
+the end of November, the province would contain no more Huguenots. If we
+are to believe his letters, prepared for the eyes of the King, everything
+must have taken place "with all possible wisdom and discipline"; but the
+Chancellor d'Aguesseau, in the "life" of his father, the intendant, teaches
+us what we are to think of it. "The manner in which this miracle was
+wrought," he says, "the singular facts that were recounted to us day by
+day, would have sufficed to pierce a heart less religious than that of my
+father!" Noailles himself, in a confidential letter, announced to Louvois
+that he would ere long send "some capable men to answer about any matters
+which he desired to know, and about which he could not write." There was
+a half tacit understanding established between the minister, the military
+chiefs, and the intendants. The King, in their opinion, desired the end
+without sufficiently desiring the means.
+
+Dauphiny, Limousin, La Rochelle, that holy Zion of the Huguenots, all
+yielded at the same time. Louis was intoxicated. It had sufficed for him
+to say a word, to lay his hand upon the hilt of his sword, to make those
+fierce Huguenots, who had formerly worn out so many armies, and had forced
+so many kings to capitulate before their rebellions, fall at his feet and
+the feet of the Church. Who would henceforth dare to doubt his divine
+mission and his infallible genius!
+
+Not that Louis, nor especially those that surrounded him, precisely
+believed that terror produced the effects of _grace_, or that these
+innumerable conversions were sincere; but they saw in this the extinction
+of all strong conviction among the heretics, the moral exhaustion of an
+expiring sect. "The children at least will be Catholics, if the fathers
+are hypocrites," wrote Madame de Maintenon. At present it was necessary to
+complete the work and to prevent dangerous relapses in these subjugated
+multitudes. It was necessary to put to flight as quickly as possible the
+"false pastors" who might again lead their old flocks astray, and to make
+the law conform to the fact, by solemnly revoking the concessions formerly
+wrung by powerful and armed heresy from the feebleness of the ruling power.
+Louis had long preserved some scruples about the violation of engagements
+entered into by his grandfather Henry IV; but his last doubts had been
+set at rest, several months since, by a "special council of conscience,"
+composed of two theologians and two jurisconsults, who had decided that he
+might and should revoke the Edict of Nantes. The names of the men who took
+upon themselves the consequences of such a decision have remained unknown:
+doubtless the confessor La Chaise was one of the theologians; who was the
+other? The Archbishop of Paris, Harlai, was not, perhaps, in sufficient
+esteem, on account of his habits. The great name of the Bishop of Meaux
+naturally presents itself to the mind; but neither the correspondence of
+Bossuet nor the documents relating to his life throw any light on this
+subject, and we know not whether a direct and material responsibility must
+be added to the moral responsibility with which the maxims of Bossuet and
+the spirit of his works burden his memory.
+
+After the "council of conscience," the council of the King was convened
+for a definitive deliberation in the earlier part of October. Some of the
+ministers, apparently the two Colberts, Seignelai, and Croissi, insinuated
+that it would be better not to be precipitate. The Dauphin, a young prince
+of twenty-four, who resembled, in his undefined character, his grandfather
+more than his father, and who was destined to remain always as it were lost
+in the splendid halo of Louis the Great, attempted an intervention that
+deserves to rescue his name from oblivion. "He represented, from an
+anonymous memorial that had been addressed to him the evening before, that
+it was, perhaps, to be apprehended that the Huguenots might take up arms;"
+"that in case they did not dare to do this, a great number would leave the
+kingdom, which would injure commerce and agriculture, and thereby even
+weaken the state." The King replied that he had foreseen all and provided
+for all, that nothing in the world would be more painful to him than to
+shed a drop of the blood of his subjects, but that he had armies and good
+generals whom he would employ, in case of necessity, against rebels who
+desired their own destruction. As to the argument of interest, he judged
+it little worthy of consideration, compared with the advantages of an
+undertaking that would restore to religion its splendor, to the state its
+tranquillity, and to authority all its rights. The suppression of the Edict
+of Nantes was resolved upon without further opposition.
+
+Father la Chaise and Louvois, according to their ecclesiastical and
+military correspondence, had promised that it should not even cost the drop
+of blood of which the King spoke. The aged Chancellor le Tellier, already
+a prey to the malady that was to bring him to his grave, drew up with
+trembling hand the fatal declaration, which the King signed October 17th.
+
+Louis professed in this preamble to do nothing but continue the pious
+designs of his grandfather and his father for the reunion of their subjects
+to the Church. He spoke of the "perpetual and irrevocable" edict of Henry
+IV as a temporary regulation. "Our cares," he said, "since the truce that
+we facilitated for this purpose, have had the effect that we proposed to
+ourselves, since the better and the greater part of our subjects of the
+so-called Reformed religion have embraced the Catholic; and inasmuch as by
+reason of this the execution of the Edict of Nantes" "remains useless, we
+have judged that we could not do better, in order wholly to efface the
+memory of evils that this false religion had caused in our kingdom, than
+entirely to revoke the said Edict of Nantes and all that has been done
+since in favor of the said religion."
+
+The order followed to demolish unceasingly all the churches of the said
+religion situated in the kingdom. It was forbidden to assemble for the
+exercise of the said religion, in any place, private house or tenement,
+under penalty of confiscation of body and goods. All ministers of the said
+religion who would not be converted were enjoined to leave the kingdom in a
+fortnight, and divers favors were granted to those who should be converted.
+Private schools for instruction of children in the said religion were
+interdicted. Children who should be born to those of the said religion
+should for the future be baptized by the parish curates, under penalty of a
+fine of five hundred livres, and still more, if there were occasion, to
+be paid by the parents, and the children should then be brought up in the
+Catholic religion. A delay of four months was granted to fugitive Reformers
+to leave the kingdom and recover possession of their property; this delay
+passed, the property should remain confiscated. It was forbidden anew to
+Reformers to leave the kingdom, under penalty of the galleys for men,
+and confiscation of body and goods for women. The declarations against
+backsliders were confirmed.
+
+A last article, probably obtained by the representations of the Colberts,
+declared that the Reformers, "till it should please God to enlighten them
+like others, should be permitted to dwell in the kingdom, in strict loyalty
+to the King, to continue there their commerce and enjoy their goods,
+without being molested or hindered under pretext of the said religion."
+
+The Edict of Revocation was sent in haste to the governors and intendants,
+without waiting for it to be registered, which took place in the Parliament
+of Paris, October 22d. The intendants were instructed not to allow the
+ministers who should abandon the country to dispose of their real estate,
+or to take with them their children above seven years of age: a monstrous
+dismemberment of the family wrought by an arbitrary will that recognized
+neither natural nor civil rights! The King recommended a milder course
+toward noblemen, merchants, and manufacturers; he did not desire that
+obstinacy should be shown "in compelling them to be converted immediately
+without exception" "by any considerable violence."
+
+The tone of the ministerial instructions changed quickly on the reception
+of despatches announcing the effect of the edict in the provinces. This
+effect teaches us more in regard to the situation of the dragooned people
+than could the most sinister narratives. The edict which proscribed the
+Reformed worship, which interdicted the perpetuation of the Protestant
+religion by tearing from it infants at their birth, was received as a boon
+by Protestants who remained faithful to their belief. They saw, in the
+last article of the edict, the end of persecution, and, proud of having
+weathered the storm, they claimed the tolerance that the King promised
+them, and the removal of their executioners. The new converts, who,
+persuaded that the King desired to force all his subjects to profess
+his religion, had yielded through surprise, fear, want of constancy in
+suffering, or through a worthier motive, the desire of saving their
+families from the license of the soldiers, manifested their regret and
+their remorse, and were no longer willing to go to mass.
+
+All the leaders of the dragonades, the Noailles, the Foucaults, the
+Basvilles, the Marillacs, complained bitterly of a measure that was useless
+to them as to the demolition of Protestant churches and the prohibition of
+worship, and very injurious as to the progress of conversions. They had
+counted on rooting out the worship by converting all the believers. The
+revocation of the Edict of Nantes sinned, therefore, in their eyes by
+excess of moderation! Louvois hastened to reassure them in this respect,
+and authorized them to act as if the last article of the edict did not
+exist. "His majesty," he said, "desires that the extremest rigors of the
+law should be felt by those who will not make themselves of his religion,
+and those who shall have the foolish glory of wishing to remain the
+last must be pushed to the last extremity." "Let the soldiers," he said
+elsewhere, "be allowed to live very licentiously!" (November, 1685).
+
+The King, however, did not mean it thus, and claimed that persecution
+should be conducted with method and gravity. But men do not stop at
+pleasure in evil: one abyss draws on another. The way had been opened to
+brutal and cynical passions, to the spirit of denunciation, to low and
+mean fanaticism; the infamies with which the subaltern agents polluted
+themselves recoiled upon the chiefs who did not repress them, and on this
+proud government that did not blush to add to the odium of persecution the
+shame of faithlessness! The chiefs of the dragonades judged it necessary to
+restrain the bad converts by making example of the obstinate; hence arose
+an inundation of horrors in which we see, as Saint Simon says, "the
+orthodox imitating against heretics the acts of pagan tyrants against
+confessors and martyrs." Everything, in fact, was allowed the soldiers
+but rape and murder; and even this restriction was not always respected;
+besides, many of the unfortunate died or were maimed for life in
+consequence of the treatment to which they had been subjected; and the
+obscene tortures inflicted on women differed little from the last outrage,
+but in a perversity more refined.
+
+All the diabolic inventions of the highwaymen of the Middle Ages to extort
+gold from their captives were renewed here and there to secure conversions:
+the feet of the victims were scorched, they were strappadoed, suspended by
+the feet; young mothers were tied to the bedposts, while their infants at
+the breast were writhing with hunger before their eyes. "From torture to
+abjuration, and from this to communion, there was often not twenty-four
+hours' distance, and their executioners were their guides and witnesses.
+Nearly all the bishops lent themselves to this sudden and impious
+practice." Among the Reformed whom nothing could shake, those who
+encouraged others to resistance by the influence of their character or
+social position were sent to the Bastille or other state prisons; some were
+entombed in subterranean dungeons--in those dark pits, stifling or deadly
+cold, invented by feudal barbarism. The remains of animals in a state of
+putrefaction were sometimes thrown in after them, to redouble the horror!
+The hospital of Valence and the tower of Constance at Aigues-Mortes have
+preserved, in Protestant martyrology, a frightful renown. The women usually
+showing themselves more steadfast than the men, the most obstinate were
+shut up in convents; infamous acts took place there; yet they were rare. It
+must be said to the honor of the sex, often too facile to the suggestions
+of fanaticism, that the nuns showed much more humanity and true religion
+than the priests and monks. Astonished to see Huguenot women so different
+from the idea they had formed of them, they almost became the protectors of
+victims that had been given them to torment.
+
+The abduction of children put the final seal to the persecution. The Edict
+of Revocation had only declared that children subsequently born should be
+brought up in the Catholic religion. An edict of January, 1686, prescribed
+that children from five to sixteen years of age should be taken from their
+heretical relatives and put in the hands of Catholic relatives, or, if they
+had none, of Catholics designated by the judges! The crimes that we have
+just indicated might, in strictness, be attributed to the passions of
+subaltern agents; but this mighty outrage against the family and nature
+must be charged to the Government alone.
+
+With the revocation, the dragonade was extended, two places partially
+excepted, over all France. When the great harvest had been sufficiently
+gathered in the South and West, the reapers were sent elsewhere. The
+battalions of converters marched from province to province till they
+reached the northern frontier, carrying everywhere the same terror. Metz,
+where the Protestants were numerous, was particularly the theatre of
+abominable excesses. Paris and Alsace were alone, to a certain extent,
+preserved. Louvois did not dare to show such spectacles to the society of
+Versailles and Paris; the King would not have endured it. The people of
+Paris demolished the Protestant church of Charenton, an object of their
+ancient animosity; the ruling power weighed heavily upon the eight or nine
+thousand Huguenots who remained in the capital, and constrained two-thirds
+of them, by intimidation, to a feigned conversion; but there were no
+striking acts of violence, except perhaps the banishment of thirty elders
+of the consistory to different parts of the kingdom, and the soldiers did
+not make their appearance. The lieutenant of police, La Reinie, took care
+to reassure the leading merchants, and the last article of the Edict of
+Revocation was very nearly observed in Paris and its environs. As to
+Lutheran Alsace, it had nothing in common with the system of the Edict
+of Nantes and the French Calvinists: the Treaty of Westphalia, the
+capitulation of Strasburg, all the acts that bound it to France, guaranteed
+to it a separate religious state. An attempt was indeed made to encroach
+upon Lutheranism by every means of influence and by a system of petty
+annoyances; but direct attacks were limited to a suppression of public
+worship in places where the population was two-thirds Catholic. The
+political events that soon disturbed Europe compelled the French Government
+to be circumspect toward the people of this recently conquered frontier.
+
+The converters indemnified themselves at the expense of another frontier
+population, that was not dependent on France. The Vaudois, the first
+offspring of the Reformation, had always kept possession of the high
+Alpine valleys, on the confines of Piedmont and Dauphiny, in spite of the
+persecutions that they had repeatedly endured from the governments of
+France and Piedmont. The Piedmontese Vaudois had their Edict of Nantes;
+that is, liberty of worship in the three valleys of St. Martin, La Luzerne,
+and La Perouse. When the dragonade invaded Dauphiny, the Vaudois about
+Briançon and Pignerol took refuge in crowds with their brethren in the
+valleys subject to Piedmont. The French Government was unwilling to suffer
+them to remain in this asylum. The Duke Victor Amadeus II enjoined the
+refugees to quit his territory (November 4th). The order was imperfectly
+executed, and Louis XIV demanded more. The Duke, by an edict of February 1,
+1686, prohibited the exercise of heretical worship, and ordered the
+schools to be closed under penalty of death. The _barbes_ (ministers),
+schoolmasters, and French refugees were to leave the states of the Duke in
+a fortnight, under the same penalty. The Vaudois responded by taking up
+arms, without reflecting on the immense force of their oppressors. The
+three valleys were assailed at the same time by French and Piedmontese
+troops. The French were commanded by the governor of Casale, Catinat, a man
+of noble heart, an elevated and philosophic mind, who deplored his fatal
+mission, and attempted to negotiate with the insurgents, but Catinat could
+neither persuade to submission these men resolved to perish rather than
+renounce their faith, nor restrain the fury of his soldiers exasperated by
+the vigor of the resistance. The valleys of St. Martin and La Perouse were
+captured, and the victors committed frightful barbarities. Meanwhile
+the Piedmontese, after having induced the mountaineers, who guarded the
+entrance of the valley of La Luzerne, to lay down their arms, by false
+promises, slaughtered three thousand women, children, and old men at
+the Pré de la Tour! The remotest recesses of the Alps were searched; a
+multitude of unfortunates were exterminated singly: more than ten thousand
+were dragged as prisoners to the fortresses of Piedmont, where most of them
+died of want. A handful of the bravest succeeding in maintaining themselves
+among the rocks, where they could not be captured, and, protected by the
+intervention of Protestant powers, and especially of the Swiss, finally
+obtained liberty to emigrate, both for themselves and their coreligionists.
+
+There has often been seen in history much greater bloodshed than that
+caused by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, scenes of destruction
+planned more directly and on a vaster scale by governments, and sometimes
+the same contrast between an advanced state of civilization and acts of
+barbarity; but no spectacle wounds moral sense and humanity to the same
+degree as this persecution carried on coldly and according to abstract
+ideas, without the excuse of struggle and danger, without the ardent fever
+of battle and revolution. The very virtues of the persecutors are here
+but an additional monstrosity: doubtless, there is also seen, at a later
+period, among the authors of another reign of terror, this same contrast
+that astounds and troubles the conscience of posterity; but they, at least,
+staked each day their own lives against the lives of their adversaries,
+and, with their lives, the very existence of the country involved in their
+cause!
+
+A million and a half of Frenchmen were in terror and despair; yet songs of
+victory resounded around Louis the Great. The aged Le Tellier lifted to
+heaven the hand that had just signed the Revocation, and parodied, on the
+occasion of an edict that recalls the times of Decius and Diocletian,
+the canticle by which Simeon hailed the birth of the Redeemer. He died
+a fanatic, after having lived a cold and astute politician (October 31,
+1685); he died, and the most eloquent voices of the Gallican Church broke
+forth in triumphal hymns, as over the tomb of a victorious hero! "Let us
+publish this miracle of our days," exclaimed Bossuet, in that funeral
+oration of Le Tellier, wherein he nevertheless exhibited apprehensions of
+new combats and of a sombre future for the Church; "let us pour forth our
+hearts in praise of the piety of Louis; let us lift our acclamations to
+heaven, and let us say to this new Constantine, to this new Theodosius, to
+this new Marcianus, to this new Charlemagne: 'You have strengthened the
+faith, you have exterminated the heretics; this is the meritorious work of
+your reign, its peculiar characteristic. Through you heresy is no more: God
+alone could have wrought this wonder.'" The gentle Fléchier himself echoed
+Bossuet, with the whole corps of the clergy with the great mass of the
+people. Paris and Versailles, that did not witness the horror of the
+details, that saw only the general prestige and the victory of unity, were
+deaf to the doleful reports that came from the provinces, and applauded the
+"new Constantine."
+
+"This is the grandest and finest thing that ever was conceived and
+accomplished," wrote Madame de Sévigné. All the corporations, courts of
+justice, academies, universities, municipal bodies, vied with each other in
+every species of laudatory allusion; medals represented the King crowned
+by Religion "for having brought back to the Church two millions of
+Calvinists"; the number of victims was swollen in order to swell the glory
+of the persecutor. Statues were erected to the "destroyer of heresy." This
+concert of felicitations was prolonged for years; the influence of example,
+the habit of admiring, wrung eulogies even from minds that, it would seem,
+ought to have remained strangers to this fascination; every writer thought
+he must pay his tribute; even La Bruyere, that sagacious observer and
+excellent writer, whose acute and profound studies of manners appeared in
+1687; and La Fontaine himself, the poet of free-thought and of universal
+freedom of action.
+
+The Government redoubled its rigor. The penalty of death was decreed
+against ministers reëntering the kingdom without permission, and the
+galleys against whomsoever should give them asylum; penalty of death
+against whomsoever should take part in a meeting (July 1, 1686). And this
+penalty was not simply a dead letter! Whenever the soldiers succeeded in
+surprising Protestants assembled for prayer in any solitary place, they
+first announced their presence by a volley; those who escaped the bullet
+and the sword were sent to the gallows or the galleys. Measures almost as
+severe were employed to arrest emigration. Seamen were forbidden to aid the
+Reformers to escape under penalty of a fine for the first offence, and of
+corporal punishment for a second offence (November 5, 1685). They went
+further: ere long, whoever aided the flight of emigrants became liable to
+the galleys for life, like emigrants themselves (May 7, 1686). Armed barks
+cruised along all the coasts; all the passes of the frontier were guarded;
+the peasants everywhere had orders to rush upon the fugitives. Some of the
+emigrants perished in attempting to force an exit; a host of others
+was brought back manacled; they dared not place them all under the
+galley-master's lash; they feared the effects of their despair and of their
+numbers, if they should mass them in the royal galleys; they crowded the
+prisons with those who were unwilling to purchase pardon by abjuration. The
+misfortunes of the first emigrants served to render their coreligionists,
+not more timid, but more adroit; a multitude of pilgrims, of mendicants
+dragging their children after them, of nomadic artisans of both sexes
+and of all trades, incessantly took their way toward all the frontiers;
+innumerable disguises thus protected the "flight of Israel out of Egypt."
+Reformers selected the darkest winter nights to embark, in frail open
+boats, on the Atlantic or stormy Channel; the waves were seen to cast upon
+the shores of England families long tossed by tempests and dying with cold
+and hunger.
+
+By degrees, the guards stationed along the shores and the frontiers were
+touched or seduced, and became saviors and guides to fugitives whom they
+were set to arrest. Then perpetual confinement in the galleys was no longer
+sufficient against the accomplices of the _desertes_; for the galleys an
+edict substituted death; death, which fell not upon those guilty of the
+pretended crime of desertion, was promised to their abettors (October
+12, 1687). Some were given up to capital punishment; many, nevertheless,
+continued their perilous assistance to emigrants, and few betrayed them.
+Those Reformers whom the authority wished most to retain in the kingdom,
+the noblemen, the rich citizens, manufacturers, and merchants, were those
+who escaped easiest, being best able to pay for the interested compassion
+of the guards. It is said that the fugitives carried out of France sixty
+millions in five years. However this may be, the loss of men was much more
+to be regretted than the loss of money. The vital energy of France did
+not cease for many years to ooze away through this ever-open ulcer of
+emigration.
+
+It is difficult to estimate, even approximately, the number of Protestants
+who abandoned their country, become to them a barbarous mother. Vauban
+estimated it at a hundred thousand, from 1684 to 1691. Benoit, the
+Calvinist historian of the Edict of Nantes, who published his book in 1695,
+estimates it at two hundred thousand; the illustrious refugee Basnage
+speaks vaguely of three or four hundred thousand. Others give figures much
+more exaggerated, while the Duke of Burgundy, in the memoir that we have
+cited above, reduces the emigration to less than sixty-eight thousand
+souls in the course of twenty years; but the truly inconceivable illusions
+preserved by this young prince, concerning the moral and political results
+of the Revocation, do not allow us to put confidence in his testimony;
+he was deceived, took pleasure in being deceived, and closed his ear to
+whomsoever desired to undeceive him. The amount from two hundred thousand
+to two hundred fifty thousand, from the Revocation to the commencement
+of the following century, that is, to the revolt of Cévennes, seems most
+probable. But it is not so much by the quantity as by the quality of
+the emigrants that the real loss of France must be measured. France was
+incomparably more weakened than if two hundred thousand citizens had been
+taken at hazard from the Catholic mass of the nation. The Protestants were
+very superior, on the average, if not to the Catholic middle class of Paris
+and the principal centres of French civilization, at least to the mass of
+the people, and the emigrants were the best of the Protestants. A multitude
+of useful men, among them many superior men, left a frightful void in
+France, and went to swell the forces of Protestant nations. France declined
+both by what she lost and what her rivals gained. Before 1689 nine thousand
+sailors, the best in the kingdom, as Vauban says, twelve thousand soldiers,
+six hundred officers, had gone to foreign countries.
+
+The most skilful chiefs and agents of contemporaneous industry went in
+multitudes to settle in foreign lands. Industrial capacities, less striking
+than literary capacities, inflicted losses on France still more felt and
+less reparable. France was rich enough in literary glory to lose much
+without being impoverished; such was not the case with respect to industry;
+France was to descend in a few years, almost in a few months, from that
+economical supremacy which had been conquered for her by long efforts of a
+protective administration; populous cities beheld the branches of commerce
+that constituted their prosperity rapidly sinking, by the disappearance of
+the principal industrial families, and these branches taking root on the
+other side of the frontiers. Thus fell, never to rise again, the Norman
+hat trade--already suffering on account of regulations that fettered the
+Canadian fur trade. Other branches, in great number, did not disappear
+entirely, but witnessed the rise of a formidable competition in foreign
+lands, where they had hitherto remained unknown; these were so many outlets
+closed, so many markets lost for our exportation, lately so flourishing.
+A suburb of London (Spitalfields) was peopled with our workmen in silk,
+emigrated from Lyons and Touraine, which lost three-fourths of their looms;
+the manufacture of French silk was also established in Holland, with
+paper-making, cloth manufacture, etc. Many branches of industry were
+transplanted to Brandenburg, and twenty thousand Frenchmen carried the most
+refined arts of civilization to the coarse population thinly scattered
+among the sands and firs of that sombre region. French refugees paid for
+the hospitality of the Elector Frederick by laying the foundation of the
+high destinies of Berlin, which on their arrival was still but a small city
+of twelve or fifteen thousand souls, and which, thenceforth, took a start
+which nothing was to arrest. Like the Hebrews after the fall of Jerusalem,
+the Huguenot exiles scattered themselves over the entire world: some went
+to Ireland, carrying the cultivation of flax and hemp; others, led by a
+nephew of Duquesne, founded a small colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+France was impoverished, not only in Frenchmen who exiled themselves,
+but in those, much more numerous, who remained in spite of themselves,
+discouraged, ruined, whether they openly resisted persecution or suffered
+some external observances of Catholicism to be wrung from them, all having
+neither energy in work nor security in life; it was really the activity
+of more than a million of men that France lost, and of the million that
+produced most.
+
+The great enterprise, the miracle of the reign, therefore miscarried; the
+new temple that Louis had pretended to erect to unity fell to ruin as
+it rose from the ground, and left only an open chasm in place of its
+foundation. Everything that had been undertaken by the governing power of
+France for a century in the direction of national, civil, and territorial
+unity had gloriously succeeded; as soon as the governing power left this
+legitimate field of unity to invade the domain of conscience and of human
+individuality, it raised before itself insurmountable obstacles; it
+concerned itself in contests wherein it was equally fatal to conquer or
+be conquered, and gave the first blow to the greatness of France. What a
+contrast between the pretensions of Louis that he could neither be mistaken
+nor deceived, that he saw everything, that he accomplished everything, and
+the illusions with which he was surrounded in regard to the facility of
+success and the means employed! The nothingness of absolute power, and of
+government by one alone, was thus revealed under the reign of the "Great
+King!"
+
+
+
+%THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION%
+
+FLIGHT OF JAMES II
+
+A.D. 1688
+
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+H.D. TRAILL
+
+
+With the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England not only
+did the Stuart line come to an end, but the Protestant religion was finally
+established in the kingdom. By the Declaration of Right, upon which their
+title rested, it was decreed that after the death of William and Mary no
+person holding the Roman Catholic faith should ever be king or queen of
+England. Assumption of the throne by a Roman Catholic should release the
+people from their allegiance.
+
+William III (William of Orange) was a nephew of James II. He had greatly
+distinguished himself as leader of the Dutch against the invasions of Louis
+XIV, when the English people, tired of the tyranny of James II, and also
+fearing that he might be succeeded by a Catholic, decided to choose a
+Protestant for their sovereign. William was married (1677) to Mary, eldest
+child of James II. Could they have been sure that she would succeed her
+father, the English people would gladly have had Mary for their sole ruler,
+though European interests demanded the elevation to larger power of
+the Prince of Orange as the great antagonist of Louis XIV. William was
+accordingly invited to take possession of the English throne conjointly
+with Mary. The Prince of Orange landed at Torbay, November 5, 1688.
+
+This revolution, one of the least violent in all history, is best described
+by Bishop Burnet, who accompanied William of Orange from Holland to
+England, and in 1689 was made Bishop of Salisbury. He is not less eminent
+as the historian of his time than as a theologian and prelate of the
+English Church.
+
+Having made his preparations for sailing, William was annoyed by many
+delays occasioned by the hesitation of his subordinates. Traill's account
+of the convention which William summoned for settlement of the crown, gives
+in a wholly modern way the particulars of the formal accession of William
+and Mary.
+
+GILBERT BURNET
+
+
+All this while the men-of-war were still riding at sea, it being a
+continued storm for some weeks. The Prince[1] sent out several advice-boats
+with orders to them to come in. But they could not come up to them. On
+October 27th there was for six hours together a most dreadful storm; so
+that there were few among us that did not conclude that the best part of
+the fleet, and by consequence that the whole design, were lost. Many that
+have passed for heroes yet showed then the agonies of fear in their looks
+and whole deportment. The Prince still retained his usual calmness, and
+the same tranquillity of spirit that I had observed in him in his happiest
+days. On the 28th it calmed a little, and our fleet came all in, to our
+great joy. The rudder of one third-rate was broken; and that was all the
+hurt that the storm had done. At last the much-longed-for east wind came.
+And so hard a thing it was to set so vast a body in motion that two days of
+this wind were lost before all could be quite ready.
+
+[Footnote 1: William of Orange.]
+
+On November 1 (O.S.), we sailed out with the evening tide, but made little
+way that night, that so our fleet might come out and move in order. We
+tried next day till noon if it were possible to sail northward, but the
+wind was so strong and full in the east that we could not move that way.
+About noon the signal was given to steer westward. This wind not only
+diverted us from that unhappy course, but it kept the English fleet in the
+river; so that it was not possible for them to come out, though they were
+come down as far as to the Gunfleet. By this means we had the sea open to
+us, with a fair wind and a safe navigation. On the 3d we passed between
+Dover and Calais, and before night came in sight of the Isle of Wight. The
+next day, being the day in which the Prince was both born and married, he
+fancied if he could land that day it would look auspicious to the army and
+animate the soldiers. But we all, who considered that the day following,
+being gunpowder-treason day, our landing that day might have a good effect
+on the minds of the English nation, were better pleased to see that we
+could land no sooner.
+
+Torbay was thought the best place for our great fleet to lie in, and it was
+resolved to land the army where it could be best done near it; reckoning
+that being at such a distance from London we could provide ourselves with
+horses, and put everything in order before the King could march his army
+toward us, and that we should lie some time at Exeter for the refreshing of
+our men. I was in the ship, with the Prince's other domestics, that went
+in the van of the whole fleet. At noon on the 4th, Russel came on board us
+with the best of all the English pilots that they had brought over. He gave
+him the steering of the ship, and ordered him to be sure to sail so that
+next morning we should be short of Dartmouth; for it was intended that some
+of the ships should land there, and that the rest should sail into Torbay.
+The pilot thought he could not be mistaken in measuring our course, and
+believed that he certainly kept within orders, till the morning showed us
+we were past Torbay and Dartmouth. The wind, though it had abated much
+of its first violence, was yet still full in the east; so now it seemed
+necessary for us to sail on to Plymouth, which must have engaged us in a
+long and tedious campaign in winter through a very ill country.
+
+Nor were we sure to be received at Plymouth. The Earl of Bath, who was
+governor, had sent by Russel a promise to the Prince to come and join him;
+yet it was not likely that he would be so forward as to receive us at our
+first coming. The delays he made afterward, pretending that he was managing
+the garrison, whereas he was indeed staying till he saw how the matter was
+likely to be decided, showed us how fatal it had proved, if we had been
+forced to sail on to Plymouth. But while Russel was in no small disorder,
+after he saw the pilot's error (upon which he bade me go to my prayers, for
+all was lost), and as he was ordering the boat to be cleared to go aboard
+the Prince, on a sudden, to all our wonder, it calmed a little. And then
+the wind turned into the south, and a soft and happy gale of wind carried
+in the whole fleet in four hours' time into Torbay. Immediately as many
+landed as conveniently could. As soon as the Prince and Marshal Schomberg
+got to shore, they were furnished with such horses as the village of
+Broxholme could afford, and rode up to view the grounds, which they found
+as convenient as could be imagined for the foot in that season. It was not
+a cold night; otherwise the soldiers, who had been kept warm aboard, might
+have suffered much by it.
+
+As soon as I landed, I made what haste I could to the place where the
+Prince was; who took me heartily by the hand, and asked me if I would
+not now believe in predestination. I told him I would never forget that
+providence of God which had appeared so signally on this occasion.[1] He
+was cheerfuller than ordinary. Yet he returned soon to his usual gravity.
+The Prince sent for all the fishermen of the place and asked them which was
+the properest place for landing his horse, which all apprehended would be a
+tedious business and might hold some days. But next morning he was showed
+a place, a quarter of a mile below the village, where the ships could be
+brought very near the land, against a good shore, and the horses would
+not be put to swim above twenty yards. This proved to be so happy for our
+landing, though we came to it by mere accident, that if we had ordered the
+whole island round to be sounded we could not have found a properer place
+for it. There was a dead calm all that morning; and in three hours' time
+all our horse were landed, with as much baggage as was necessary till
+we got to Exeter. The artillery and heavy baggage were left aboard, and
+ordered to Topsham, the seaport to Exeter. All that belonged to us was so
+soon and so happily landed that by the next day at noon we were in full
+march, and marched four miles that night. We had from thence twenty miles
+to Exeter, and we resolved to make haste thither.
+
+[Footnote 1: Light is thrown on this passage by the following curious
+account given in M'Cormick's _Life of Carstares_: "Mr. Carstares set out
+along with his highness in quality of his domestic chaplain, and went
+aboard of his own ship. It is well known that, upon their first setting out
+from the coast of Holland, the fleet was in imminent danger by a violent
+tempest, which obliged them to put back for a few days. Upon that occasion,
+the vessel which carried the Prince and his retinue narrowly escaped
+shipwreck, a circumstance which some who were around his person were
+disposed to interpret into a bad omen of their success. Among these, Dr.
+Burnet happening to observe that it seemed predestined that they should not
+set foot on English ground, the Prince said nothing; but, upon stepping
+ashore at Torbay, in the hearing of Mr. Carstares, he turned about to Dr.
+Burnet, and asked him what he thought of the doctrine of predestination
+now?" Cunningham, according to the translation of the Latin MS. of his
+_History of England_, says that "Dr. Burnet, who understood but little
+of military affairs, asked the Prince of Orange which way he intended to
+march, and when? and desired to be employed by him in whatever service
+he should think fit. The Prince only asked what he now thought of
+predestination? and advised, if he had a mind to be busy, to consult the
+canons." The Bishop omits mentioning the proximate cause of the Prince's
+question, and says nothing about his declining the offer of his services,
+which indeed it is not likely that he did, at least so uncivilly.]
+
+But as we were now happily landed, and marching, we saw new and
+unthought-of characters of a favorable providence of God watching over us.
+We had no sooner got thus disengaged from our fleet than a new and great
+storm blew from the west; from which our fleet, being covered by the land,
+could receive no prejudice; but the King's fleet had got out as the wind
+calmed, and in pursuit of us was come as far as the Isle of Wight, when
+this contrary wind turned upon them. They tried what they could to pursue
+us; but they were so shattered by some days of this storm that they were
+forced to go into Portsmouth, and were no more fit for service that year.
+This was a greater happiness than we were then aware of: for Lord Dartmouth
+assured me some time after, that, whatever stories we had heard and
+believed, either of officers or seamen, he was confident they would all
+have fought very heartily. But now, by the immediate hand of Heaven, we
+were masters of the sea without a blow. I never found a disposition to
+superstition in my temper: I was rather inclined to be philosophical upon
+all occasions; yet I must confess that this strange ordering of the winds
+and seasons just to change as our affairs required it, could not but make
+a deep impression on me as well as on all that observed it. Those famous
+verses of Claudian seemed to be more applicable to the Prince than to him
+they were made on:
+
+  "Heaven's favorite, for whom the skies do fight,
+   And all the winds conspire to guide thee right!"
+
+The Prince made haste to Exeter, where he stayed ten days, both for
+refreshing his troops and for giving the country time to show its
+affection. Both the clergy and magistrates of Exeter were very fearful and
+very backward. The Bishop and the dean ran away. And the clergy stood off,
+though they were sent for and very gently spoken to by the Prince. The
+truth was, the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance had been
+carried so far and preached so much that clergymen either could not all
+on the sudden get out of that entanglement into which they had by long
+thinking and speaking all one way involved themselves, or they were ashamed
+to make so quick a turn. Yet care was taken to protect them and their
+houses everywhere, so that no sort of violence or rudeness was offered to
+any of them. The Prince gave me full authority to do this, and I took so
+particular a care of it that we heard of no complaints. The army was kept
+under such an exact discipline that everything was paid for where it
+was demanded, though the soldiers were contented with such moderate
+entertainment that the people generally asked but little for what they did
+eat. We stayed a week at Exeter before any of the gentlemen of the country
+about came in to the Prince. Every day some persons of condition came from
+other parts. The first were Lord Colchester, Mr. Wharton, the eldest sons
+of the Earl of Rivers, and Lord Wharton, Mr. Russel, Lord Russel's brother,
+and the Earl of Abingdon.
+
+The King came down to Salisbury, and sent his troops twenty miles farther.
+Of these, three regiments of horse and dragoons were drawn on by their
+officers, Lord Cornbury and Colonel Langston, on design to come over to the
+Prince. Advice was sent to the Prince of this. But because these officers
+were not sure of their subalterns, the Prince ordered a body of his men to
+advance and assist them in case any resistance was made. They were within
+twenty miles of Exeter, and within two miles of the body that the Prince
+had sent to join them, when a whisper ran about among them that they were
+betrayed. Lord Cornbury had not the presence of mind that so critical a
+thing required. So they fell in confusion, and many rode back. Yet one
+regiment came over in a body, and with them about a hundred of the other
+two.
+
+This gave us great courage, and showed us that we had not been deceived in
+what was told us of the inclinations of the King's army. Yet, on the other
+hand, those who studied to support the King's spirit by flatteries, told
+him that in this he saw that he might trust his army, since those who
+intended to carry over those regiments were forced to manage it with so
+much artifice, and dared not discover their design either to officers or
+soldiers, and that as soon as they perceived it the greater part of them
+had turned back. The King wanted support; for his spirits sunk extremely.
+His blood was in such fermentation that he was bleeding much at the nose,
+which returned oft upon him every day. He sent many spies over to us. They
+all took his money, and came and joined themselves to the Prince, none of
+them returning to him. So that he had no intelligence brought him of what
+the Prince was doing but what common reports brought him, which magnified
+our numbers and made him think we were coming near him while we were still
+at Exeter. He heard that the city of London was very unquiet.
+
+News was brought him that the Earls of Devonshire and Danby, and Lord
+Lumley, were drawing great bodies together, and that both York and
+Newcastle had declared for the Prince. Lord Delamere had raised a regiment
+in Cheshire. And the body of the nation did everywhere discover their
+inclinations for the Prince so evidently that the King saw he had nothing
+to trust to but his army. And the ill-disposition among them was so
+apparent that he reckoned he could not depend on them. So that he lost
+both heart and head at once. But that which gave him the last and most
+confounding stroke was that Lord Churchill and the Duke of Grafton left him
+and came and joined the Prince at Axminster, twenty miles on that side of
+Exeter.
+
+After this he could not know on whom he could depend. The Duke of Grafton
+was one of King Charles' sons by the Duchess of Cleveland. He had been
+some time at sea, and was a gallant but rough man. He had more spirit than
+anyone of that spurious race. He made answer to the King, about this time,
+that was much talked of. The King took notice of somewhat in his behavior
+that looked factious, and he said he was sure he could not pretend to act
+upon principles of conscience; for he had been so ill-bred that, as he knew
+little of religion, so he regarded it less. But he answered the King that,
+though he had little conscience, yet he was of a party that had conscience.
+Soon after that, Prince George, the Duke of Ormond, and Lord Drumlanerick,
+the Duke of Queensbury's eldest son, left him and came over to the Prince,
+and joined him when he was come as far as the Earl of Bristol's house at
+Sherburn.
+
+When the news came to London the Princess was so struck with the
+apprehensions of the King's displeasure, and of the ill-effects that it
+might have, that she said to Lady Churchill that she could not bear the
+thoughts of it, and would leap out of window rather than venture on it. The
+Bishop of London was then lodged very secretly in Suffolk Street. So Lady
+Churchill, who knew where he was, went to him and concerted with him the
+method of the Princess' withdrawing from the court. The Princess went
+sooner to bed than ordinary. And about midnight she went down a back stairs
+from her closet, attended only by Lady Churchill,[1] in such haste that
+they carried nothing with them. They were waited for by the Bishop of
+London, who carried them to the Earl of Dorset's, whose lady furnished them
+with everything, And so they went northward as far as Northampton, where
+that Earl attended on them with all respect, and quickly brought a body of
+horse to serve for a guard to the Princess. And in a little while a small
+army was formed about her, who chose to be commanded by the Bishop of
+London, of which he too easily accepted, and was by that exposed to much
+censure.
+
+[Footnote 1: And Mrs. Berkeley, afterward Lady Fitzharding. The back stairs
+were made a little before for that purpose. The Princess pretended she was
+out of order, upon some expostulations that had passed between her and the
+Queen, in a visit she received from her that night, therefore said she
+would not be disturbed till she rang her bell. Next morning, when her
+servants had waited two hours longer than her usual time of rising, they
+were afraid something was the matter with her, and finding the bed open,
+and her highness gone, they ran screaming to my father's lodgings, which
+were the next to hers, and told my mother the Princess was murdered by the
+priests; thence they went to the Queen, and old Mistress Buss asked her in
+a very rude manner what she had done with her mistress. The Queen answered
+her very gravely, she supposed their mistress was where she liked to be,
+but did assure them she knew nothing of her, but did not doubt they would
+hear of her again very soon. Which gave them little satisfaction, upon
+which there was a rumor all over Whitehall that the Queen had made away
+with the Princess.--_Dartmouth._]
+
+These things put the King in an inexpressible confusion. He saw himself now
+forsaken not only by those whom he had trusted and favored most, but even
+by his own children. And the army was in such distraction that there was
+not any one body that seemed entirely united and firm to him. A foolish
+ballad was made at that time treating the papists, and chiefly the Irish,
+in a very ridiculous manner, which had a burden, said to be Irish words,
+_lero, lero, lilibulero_, that made an impression on the army that cannot
+be well imagined by those who saw it not. The whole army, and at last all
+people both in city and country, were singing it perpetually. And perhaps
+never had so slight a thing so great an effect.
+
+But now strange counsels were suggested to the King and Queen. The priests
+and all the violent papists saw a treaty was now opened. They knew that
+they must be the sacrifice. The whole design of popery must be given up,
+without any hope of being able in an age to think of bringing it on again.
+Severe laws would be made against them. And all those who intended to
+stick to the King, and to preserve him, would go into those laws with a
+particular zeal; so that they and their hopes must be now given up and
+sacrificed forever. They infused all this into the Queen. They said she
+would certainly be impeached, and witnesses would be set up against her and
+her son; the King's mother had been impeached in the Long Parliament; and
+she was to look for nothing but violence. So the Queen took up a sudden
+resolution of going to France with the child. The midwife, together with
+all who were assisting at the birth, were also carried over, or so disposed
+of that it could never be learned what became of them afterward.
+
+The Queen prevailed with the King not only to consent to this, but to
+promise to go quickly after her. He was only to stay a day or two after
+her, in hope that the shadow of authority that was still left in him might
+keep things so quiet that she might have an undisturbed passage. So she
+went to Portsmouth. And thence, in a man-of-war, she went over to France,
+the King resolving to follow her in disguise. Care was also taken to send
+all the priests away. The King stayed long enough to get the Prince's
+answer. And when he had read it he said he did not expect so good terms. He
+ordered the lord chancellor to come to him next morning. But he had called
+secretly for the great seal. And the next morning, being December 10th,
+about three in the morning he went away in disguise with Sir Edward Hales,
+whose servant he seemed to be. They passed the river, and flung the great
+seal into it; which was some months after found by a fisherman near
+Foxhall. The King went down to a miserable fisher-boat that Hales had
+provided for carrying them over to France.
+
+Thus a great king, who had yet a good army and a strong fleet, did choose
+rather to abandon all than either to expose himself to any danger with that
+part of the army that was still firm to him or to stay and see the issue of
+a parliament. Some put this mean and unaccountable resolution on a want of
+courage. Others thought it was the effect of an ill-conscience, and of some
+black thing under which he could not now support himself. And they who
+censured it the most moderately said that it showed that his priests had
+more regard for themselves than for him; and that he considered their
+interests more than his own; and that he chose rather to wander abroad with
+them and to try what he could do by a French force to subdue his people
+than to stay at home and be shut up within the bounds of law, and be
+brought under an incapacity of doing more mischief; which they saw was
+necessary to quiet those fears and jealousies for which his bad government
+had given so much occasion. It seemed very unaccountable, since he was
+resolved to go, that he did not choose rather to go in one of his yachts or
+frigates than to expose himself in so dangerous and ignominious a manner.
+It was not possible to put a good construction on any part of the
+dishonorable scene which he then acted.
+
+With this his reign ended: for this was a plain deserting of his people and
+exposing the nation to the pillage of an army which he had ordered the Earl
+of Feversham to disband. And the doing this without paying them was letting
+so many armed men loose upon the nation; who might have done much mischief
+if the execution of those orders that he left behind him had not been
+stopped. I shall continue the recital of all that passed in this
+_interregnum_, till the throne, which he now left empty, was filled.
+
+He was not got far, when some fishermen of Feversham, who were watching
+for such priests and other delinquents as they fancied were making their
+escape, came up to him. And they, knowing Sir Edward Hales, took both the
+King and him, and brought them to Feversham. The King told them who he
+was.[1] And that flying about brought a vast crowd together to look on this
+astonishing instance of the uncertainty of all worldly greatness, when he
+who had ruled three kingdoms and might have been the arbiter of all Europe
+was now in such mean hands, and so low an equipage. The people of the town
+were extremely disordered with this unlooked-for accident; and, though for
+a while they kept him as a prisoner, yet they quickly changed that into
+as much respect as they could possibly pay him. Here was an accident that
+seemed of no great consequence. Yet all the strugglings which that party
+have made ever since that time to this day, which from him were called
+afterward the Jacobites, did rise out of this; for if he had got clear
+away, by all that could be judged, he would not have had a party left; all
+would have agreed that here was a desertion, and that therefore the nation
+was free and at liberty to secure itself. But that following upon this gave
+them a color to say that he was forced away and driven out. Till now he
+scarce had a party but among the papists. But from this incident a party
+grew up that has been long very active for his interests.
+
+[Footnote 1: And desired they would send to Eastwell for the Earl of
+Winchelsea; which Sir Basil Dixwell put a stop to by telling him surely
+they were good enough to take care of him. Which occasioned the King's
+saying he found there was more civility among the common people than some
+gentlemen, when he was returned to Whitehall.--_Dartmouth_.]
+
+As soon as it was known at London that the King was gone, the 'prentices
+and the rabble, who had been a little quieted when they saw a treaty
+on foot between the King and the Prince, now broke out again upon all
+suspected houses, where they believed there were either priests or
+papists. They made great havoc of many places, not sparing the houses of
+ambassadors. But none was killed, no houses burned, nor were any robberies
+committed. Never was so much fury seen under so much management. Jeffreys
+finding the King was gone, saw what reason he had to look to himself, and,
+apprehending that he was now exposed to the rage of the people whom he had
+provoked with so particular a brutality, he had disguised himself to
+make his escape. But he fell into the hands of some who knew him. He was
+insulted by them with as much scorn and rudeness as they could invent. And,
+after many hours tossing him about, he was carried to the lord mayor, whom
+they charged to commit him to the Tower, which Lord Lucas had then seized,
+and in it had declared for the Prince. The lord mayor was so struck with
+the terror of this rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had
+made all people tremble before him, that he fell into fits upon it, of
+which he died soon after.
+
+Upon the news of the King's desertion, it was proposed that the Prince
+should go on with all possible haste to London. But that was not advisable.
+For the King's army lay so scattered through the road all the way to London
+that it was not fit for him to advance faster than his troops marched
+before him; otherwise, any resolute officer might have seized or killed
+him. Though, if it had not been for that danger a great deal of mischief
+that followed would have been prevented by his speedy advance; for now
+began that turn to which all the difficulties that did afterward disorder
+our affairs may be justly imputed. Two gentlemen of Kent came to Windsor
+the morning after the Prince came thither. They were addressed to me; and
+they told me of the accident at Feversham, and desired to know the Prince's
+pleasure upon it. I was affected with this dismal reverse of the fortune
+of a great prince more than I think fit to express. I went immediately to
+Benthink and wakened him, and got him to go to the Prince and let him
+know what had happened, that some order might be presently given for the
+security of the King's person, and for taking him out of the hands of a
+rude multitude who said they would obey no orders but such as came from the
+Prince.
+
+The Prince ordered Zuylestein to go immediately to Feversham, and to see
+the King safe and at full liberty to go whithersoever he pleased. But as
+soon as the news of the King's being at Feversham came to London, all the
+indignation that people had formerly conceived against him was turned to
+pity and compassion. The privy council met upon it. Some moved that he
+should be sent for. Others said he was king, and might send for his guards
+and coaches as he pleased, but it became not them to send for him. It was
+left to his general, the Earl of Feversham, to do what he thought best. So
+he went for him with his coaches and guards. And, as he came back through
+the city, he was welcomed with expressions of joy by great numbers; so
+slight and unstable a thing is a multitude, and so soon altered. At his
+coming to Whitehall, he had a great court about him. Even the papists crept
+out of their lurking-holes, and appeared at court with much assurance.
+The King himself began to take heart. And both at Feversham, and now at
+Whitehall, he talked in his ordinary high strain, justifying all that he
+had done; only he spoke a little doubtfully of the business of Magdalen
+College. But when he came to reflect on the state of his affairs, he saw it
+was so soon broken that nothing was now left to deliberate upon. So he
+sent the Earl of Feversham to Windsor without demanding any passport, and
+ordered him to desire the Prince to come to St. James' to consult with him
+of the best way for settling the nation.
+
+When the news of what had passed at London came to Windsor, the Prince
+thought the privy council had not used him well, who after they had sent to
+him to take the government upon him, had made this step without consulting
+him. Now the scene was altered and new counsels were to be taken. The
+Prince heard the opinions, not only of those who had come along with him,
+but of such of the nobility as were now come to him, among whom the Marquis
+of Halifax was one. All agreed that it was not convenient that the King
+should stay at Whitehall. Neither the King, nor the Prince, nor the city,
+could have been safe if they had been both near one another. Tumults would
+probably have arisen out of it. The guards and the officious flatterers of
+the two courts would have been unquiet neighbors. It was thought necessary
+to stick to the point of the King's deserting his people, and not to
+give up that by entering upon any treaty with him. And since the Earl of
+Feversham, who had commanded the army against the Prince, was come without
+a passport he was for some days put in arrest.
+
+It was a tender point now to dispose of the King's person. Some proposed
+rougher methods: the keeping him a prisoner, at least till the nation was
+settled, and till Ireland was secured. It was thought his being kept in
+custody would be such a tie on all his party as would oblige them to submit
+and be quiet. Ireland was in great danger. And his restraint might oblige
+the Earl of Tyrconnel to deliver up the government, and to disarm the
+papists, which would preserve that kingdom and the Protestants in it. But,
+because it might raise too much compassion and perhaps some disorder if the
+King should be kept in restraint within the kingdom, therefore the sending
+him to Breda was proposed. The Earl of Clarendon pressed this vehemently on
+account of the Irish Protestants, as the King himself told me, for those
+that gave their opinions in this matter did it secretly and in confidence
+to the Prince. The Prince said he could not deny but that this might be
+good and wise advice, but it was that to which he could not hearken; he
+was so far satisfied with the grounds of this expedition that he could act
+against the King in a fair and open war; but for his person, now that he
+had him in his power, he could not put such a hardship on him as to make
+him a prisoner; and he knew the Princess' temper so well that he was sure
+she would never bear it: nor did he know what disputes it might raise, or
+what effect it might have upon the Parliament that was to be called; he was
+firmly resolved never to suffer anything to be done against his person; he
+saw it was necessary to send him out of London, and he would order a guard
+to attend upon him who should only defend and protect his person, but not
+restrain him in any sort.
+
+A resolution was taken of sending the Lords Halifax, Shrewsbury, and
+Delamere to London, who were first to order the English guards that were
+about the court to be drawn off and sent to quarters out of town, and when
+that was done the Count of Solms with the Dutch guards was to come and take
+all the posts about the court. This was obeyed without any resistance or
+disorder, but not without much murmuring. It was midnight before all was
+settled. And then these lords sent to the Earl of Middleton to desire him
+to let the King know that they had a message to deliver to him from the
+Prince. He went in to the King, and sent them word from him that they might
+come with it immediately. They came and found him abed. They told him the
+necessity of affairs required that the Prince should come presently to
+London; and he thought it would conduce to the safety of the King's person
+and the quiet of the town that he should retire to some house out of town,
+and they proposed Ham.
+
+The King seemed much dejected, and asked if it must be done immediately.
+They told him he might take his rest first, and they added that he should
+be attended by a guard who should only guard his person, but should give
+him no sort of disturbance. Having said this, they withdrew. The Earl of
+Middleton came quickly after them and asked them if it would not do as well
+if the King should go to Rochester; for since the Prince was not pleased
+with his coming up from Kent it might be perhaps acceptable to him if he
+should go thither again. It was very visible that this was proposed in
+order to a second escape.
+
+They promised to send word immediately to the Prince of Orange, who lay
+that night at Sion, within eight miles of London. He very readily consented
+to it. And the King went next day to Rochester, having ordered all that
+which is called the moving wardrobe to be sent before him, the Count of
+Solms ordering everything to be done as the King desired. A guard went with
+him that left him at full liberty, and paid him rather more respect than
+his own guards had done of late. Most of that body, as it happened, were
+papists. So when he went to mass they went in and assisted very reverently.
+And when they were asked how they could serve in an expedition that was
+intended to destroy their own religion, one of them answered, his soul
+was God's, but his sword was the Prince of Orange's. The King was so much
+delighted with this answer that he repeated it to all that came about him.
+On the same day the Prince came to St. James'. It happened to be a very
+rainy day. And yet great numbers came to see him. But, after they had stood
+long in the wet, he disappointed them; for he, who loved neither shows
+nor shoutings, went through the park. And even this trifle helped to set
+people's spirits on edge.
+
+The revolution was thus brought about with the universal applause of the
+whole nation; only these last steps began to raise a fermentation. It was
+said, here was an unnatural thing to waken the King out of his sleep, in
+his own palace, and to order him to go out of it when he was ready to
+submit to everything. Some said he was now a prisoner, and remembered the
+saying of King Charles I, that the prisons and the graves of princes lay
+not far distant from one another; the person of the King was now struck at,
+as well as his government, and this specious undertaking would now appear
+to be only a disguised and designed usurpation. These things began to work
+on great numbers. And the posting of the Dutch guards where the English
+guards had been, gave a general disgust to the whole English army. They
+indeed hated the Dutch besides, on account of the good order and strict
+discipline they were kept under; which made them to be as much beloved by
+the nation as they were hated by the soldiery. The nation had never known
+such an inoffensive march of an army. And the peace and order of the
+suburbs, and the freedom of markets in and about London, were so carefully
+maintained that in no time fewer disorders had been committed than were
+heard of this winter.
+
+None of the papists or Jacobites was insulted in any sort. The Prince had
+ordered me, as we came along, to take care of the papists and to secure
+them from all violence. When he came to London he renewed these orders,
+which I executed with so much zeal and care that I saw all the complaints
+that were brought me fully redressed. When we came to London I procured
+passports for all that desired to go beyond the sea. Two of the popish
+bishops were put in Newgate. I went thither in the Prince's name. I told
+them the Prince would not take upon him yet to give any orders about
+prisoners; as soon as he did that, they should feel the effects of it. But
+in the mean while I ordered them to be well used, and to be taken care of,
+and that their friends might be admitted to come to them; so truly did I
+pursue the principle of moderation even toward those from whom nothing of
+that sort was to be expected.
+
+Now that the Prince was come, all the bodies about the town came to welcome
+him. The bishops came the next day. Only the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+though he had once agreed to it, yet would not come. The clergy of London
+came next. The city, and a great many other bodies, came likewise, and
+expressed a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought for them by the
+Prince's means. Old Sergeant Maynard came with the men of the law. He was
+then near ninety, and yet he said the liveliest thing that was heard of on
+that occasion. The Prince took notice of his great age, and said that he
+had outlived all the men of the law of his time; he answered he had liked
+to have outlived the law itself if his highness had not come over.
+
+The first thing to be done after the compliments were over was to consider
+how the nation was to be settled. The lawyers were generally of opinion
+that the Prince ought to declare himself king, as Henry VII had done. This,
+they said, would put an end to all disputes, which might otherwise grow
+very perplexing and tedious; and they said he might call a Parliament which
+would be a legal assembly if summoned by the king in fact, though his title
+was not yet recognized. This was plainly contrary to his declaration, by
+which the settlement of the nation was referred to a parliament; such a
+step would make all that the Prince had hitherto done pass for an aspiring
+ambition only to raise himself; and it would disgust those who had been
+hitherto the best affected to his designs, and make them less concerned in
+the quarrel if, instead of staying till the nation should offer him the
+crown, he would assume it as a conquest.
+
+These reasons determined the Prince against that proposition. He called all
+the peers and the members of the three last parliaments that were in town,
+together with some of the citizens of London. When these met it was told
+them that, in the present distraction, the Prince desired their advice
+about the best methods of settling the nation. It was agreed in both these
+Houses, such as they were, to make an address to the Prince, desiring
+him to take the administration of the Government into his hands in the
+_interim_. The next proposition passed not so unanimously; for, it being
+moved that the Prince should be likewise desired to write missive letters
+to the same effect, and for the same persons to whom writs were issued out
+for calling a parliament, that so there might be an assembly of men in the
+form of a parliament, though without writs under the great seal, such as
+that was that had called home King Charles II.
+
+To this the Earl of Nottingham objected that such a convention of the
+states could be no legal assembly unless summoned by the King's writ.
+Therefore he moved that an address might be made to the King to order the
+writs to be issued. Few were of his mind. The matter was carried the other
+way, and orders were given for those letters to be sent round the nation.
+
+The King continued a week at Rochester. And both he himself and everybody
+else saw that he was at full liberty, and that the guard about him put him
+under no sort of restraint. Many that were zealous for his interests went
+to him and pressed him to stay and to see the issue of things: a party
+would appear for him; good terms would be got for him; and things would be
+brought to a reasonable agreement. He was much distracted between his own
+inclinations and the importunities of his friends. The Queen, hearing what
+had happened, writ a most vehement letter to him, pressing his coming over,
+remembering him of his promise, which she charged on him in a very earnest
+if not in an imperious strain. This letter was intercepted. I had an
+account of it from one that read it. The Prince ordered it to be conveyed
+to the King, and that determined him. So he gave secret orders to prepare a
+vessel for him, and drew a paper, which he left on his table, reproaching
+the nation for their forsaking him. He declared that though he was going to
+seek for foreign aid to restore him to his throne, yet he would not make
+use of it to overthrow either the religion established or the laws of
+the land. And so he left Rochester very secretly on the last day of this
+memorable year and got safe over to France.
+
+
+H.D. TRAILL
+
+The convention for filling the vacant throne met on January 22d, when
+Halifax was chosen president in the Lords; Powle speaker of the Commons. A
+letter from William, read in both Houses, informed their members that he
+had endeavored to the best of his power to discharge the trust reposed in
+him, and that it now rested with the convention to lay the foundation of a
+firm security for their religion, laws, and liberties. The Prince then went
+on to refer to the dangerous condition of the Protestants in Ireland, and
+the present state of things abroad, which obliged him to tell them that
+next to the danger of unreasonable divisions among themselves, nothing
+could be so fatal as too great a delay in their consultations. And he
+further intimated that as England was already bound by treaty to help the
+Dutch in such exigencies as, deprived of the troops which he had brought
+over, and threatened with war by Louis XIV, they might easily be reduced
+to, so he felt confident that the cheerful concurrence of the Dutch in
+preserving this kingdom would meet with all the returns of friendship from
+Protestants and Englishmen whenever their own condition should require
+assistance.
+
+To this the two Houses replied with an address thanking the Prince for his
+great care in the administration of the affairs of the kingdom to this
+time, and formally continuing to him the same commission, recommending to
+his particular care the present state of Ireland. William's answer to this
+address was characteristic both of his temperament and his preoccupation.
+"My lords and gentlemen," he said, "I am glad that what I have done hath
+pleased you; and since you desire me to continue the administration
+of affairs, I am willing to accept it. I must recommend to you the
+consideration of affairs abroad which makes it fit for you to expedite your
+business, not only for making a settlement at home on a good foundation,
+but for the safety of Europe."
+
+On the 28th the Commons resolved themselves into a committee of the whole
+House, and Richard Hampden, son of the great John, was voted into the
+chair. The honor of having been the first to speak the word which was on
+everybody's lips belongs to Gilbert Dolben, son of a late archbishop of
+York, who "made a long speech tending to prove that the King's deserting
+his kingdom without appointing any person to administer the government
+amounted in reason and judgment of law to a demise." Sir Robert Howard, one
+of the members for Castle Rising, went a step further, and asserted that
+the throne was vacant. The extreme Tories made a vain effort to procure
+an adjournment, but the combination against them of Whigs and their own
+moderates was too strong for them, and after a long and stormy debate
+the House resolved "That King James II, having endeavored to subvert the
+constitution by breaking the original contract between the King and people,
+and by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the
+fundamental laws and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated
+the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant."
+
+This resolution was at once sent up to the Lords. Before, however, they
+could proceed to consider it, another message arrived from the Commons to
+the effect that they had just voted it inconsistent with the safety and
+welfare of this Protestant nation to be governed by a popish king.
+
+To this resolution the Peers assented with a readiness which showed in
+advance that James had no party in the Upper House, and that the utmost
+length to which the Tories in that body were prepared to go was to support
+the proposal of a regency. The first resolution of the Commons was then put
+aside in order that this proposal might be discussed. It was Archbishop
+Sancroft's plan, who, however, did not make his appearance to advocate it,
+and in his absence it was supported by Rochester and Nottingham, while
+Halifax and Danby led the opposition to it. After a day's debate it was
+lost by the narrow majority of two, forty-nine peers declaring in its favor
+and fifty-one against it.
+
+The Lords then went into committee on the Commons' resolution, and at once
+proceeded, as was natural enough, to dispute the clause in its preamble
+which referred to the original contract between the King and the people. No
+Tory, of course, could really have subscribed to the doctrine implied in
+these words; but it was doubtless as hard in those days as in these to
+interest an assembly of English politicians in affirmations of abstract
+political principle, and some Tories probably thought it not worth while
+to multiply causes of dissent with the Lower House by attacking a purely
+academic recital of their resolution. Anyhow, the numbers of the minority
+slightly fell off, only forty-six Peers objecting to the phrase, while
+fifty-three voted that it should stand. The word "deserted" was then
+substituted without a division for the word "abdicated," and, the hour
+being late, the Lords adjourned.
+
+The real battle, of course, was now at hand, and to anyone who assents
+to the foregoing criticisms it will be evident that it was far less of a
+conflict on a point of constitutional principle, and far more of a struggle
+between the parties of two distinct--one cannot call them rival--claimants
+to the throne than high-flying Whig writers are accustomed to represent
+it. It would, of course, be too much to say that the Whigs insisted on
+declaring the vacancy of the throne, _only_ because they wished to place
+William on it, and that the Tories contended for a demise of the crown,
+_only_ because they wished an English princess to succeed to the throne
+rather than a Dutch prince. Still, it is pretty certain that, but for this
+conflict of preferences, the two political parties, who had made so little
+difficulty of agreeing in the declaration that James had ceased to reign,
+would never have found it so hard to concur in its almost necessary
+sequence that the throne was vacant.
+
+The debate on the last clause of the resolution began, and it soon became
+apparent that the Whigs were outnumbered. The forty-nine peers who had
+supported the proposal of a regency--which implied that the royal title was
+still in James--were bound, of course, to oppose the proposition that the
+throne was vacant; and they were reënforced by several peers who held that
+that title had already devolved upon Mary. An attempt to compromise the
+dispute by omitting the words pronouncing the throne vacant, and inserting
+words which merely proclaimed the Prince and Princess of Orange king and
+queen, was rejected by fifty-two votes to forty-seven; and the original
+clause was then put, and negatived by fifty-five votes to forty-one.
+
+Thus amended by the substitution of "deserted" for "abdicated," and
+the omission of the words "and that the throne is thereby vacant," the
+resolution was sent back to the Commons, who instantly and without a
+division disagreed with the amendments. The situation was now becoming
+critical. The prospect of a deadlock between the two branches of the
+convention threw London into a ferment; crowds assembled in Palace Yard;
+petitions were presented in that tumultuous fashion which converts
+supplication into menace. To their common credit, however, both parties
+united in resistance to these attempts at popular coercion; and William
+himself interposed to enjoin a stricter police of the capital. On Monday,
+February 4th, the Lords resolved to insist on their amendments; on the
+following day the Commons reaffirmed their disagreement with them by two
+hundred eighty-two votes to one hundred fifty-one. A free conference
+between the two Houses was then arranged, and met on the following day.
+
+But the dispute, like many another in our political history, had meanwhile
+been settled out of court. Between the date of the peers' vote and the
+conference Mary had communicated to Danby her high displeasure at the
+conduct of those who were setting up her claims in opposition to those
+of her husband; and William, who had previously maintained an unbroken
+silence, now made, unsolicited, a declaration of a most important and,
+indeed, of a conclusive kind. If the convention, he said, chose to adopt
+the plan of a regency, he had nothing to say against it, only they must
+look out for some other person to fill the office, for he himself would not
+consent to do so. As to the alternative proposal of putting Mary on the
+throne and allowing him to reign by her courtesy, "No man," he said, "can
+esteem a woman more than I do the Princess; but I am so made that I cannot
+think of holding anything by apron strings; nor can I think it reasonable
+to have any share in the government unless it be put in my own person, and
+that for the term of my life. If you think fit to settle it otherwise I
+will not oppose you, but will go back to Holland, and meddle no more in
+your affairs."
+
+These few sentences of plain-speaking swept away the clouds of intrigue and
+pedantry as by a wholesome gust of wind. Both political parties at once
+perceived that there was but one possible issue from the situation. The
+conference was duly held, and the constitutional question was, with great
+display of now unnecessary learning, solemnly debated; but the managers
+for the two Houses met only to register a foregone conclusion. The word
+"abdicated" was restored; the vacancy of the throne was voted by sixty-two
+votes to forty-seven; and it was immediately proposed and carried without a
+division that the Prince and Princess of Orange should be declared king and
+queen of England.
+
+It now only remained to give formal effect to this resolution, and in so
+doing to settle the conditions whereon the crown, which the convention
+had now distinctly recognized itself as conferring upon the Prince and
+Princess, should be conferred. A committee appointed by the Commons to
+consider what safeguards should be taken against the aggressions of future
+sovereigns had made a report in which they recommended not only a solemn
+enunciation of ancient constitutional principles, but the enactment of
+new laws. The Commons, however, having regard to the importance of prompt
+action, judiciously resolved on carrying out only the first part of the
+programme. They determined to preface the tender of the crown to William
+and Mary by a recital of the royal encroachments of the past reigns, and
+a formal assertion of the constitutional principles against which such
+encroachments had offended. This document, drafted by a committee of which
+the celebrated Somers, then a scarcely known young advocate, was the
+chairman, was the famous "Declaration of Right." The grievances which it
+recapitulated in its earlier portion were as follows:
+
+(1) The royal pretension to dispense with and suspend laws without consent
+of Parliament; (2) the punishment of subjects, as in the "Seven Bishops'"
+case, for petitioning the crown; (3) the establishment of the illegal
+court of high commission for ecclesiastical affairs; (4) the levy of taxes
+without the consent of Parliament; (5) the maintenance of a standing
+army in time of peace without the same consent; (6) the disarmament of
+Protestants while papists were both armed and employed contrary to law; (7)
+the violation of the freedom of election; (8) the prosecution in the king's
+bench of suits only cognizable in Parliament; (9) the return of partial and
+corrupt juries; (10) the requisition of excessive bail; (11) the imposition
+of excessive fines; (12) the infliction of illegal and cruel punishments;
+(13) the grants of the estates of accused persons before conviction.
+
+Then after solemnly reaffirming the popular rights from which these abuses
+of the prerogative derogated, the declaration goes on to recite that,
+having an "entire confidence" William would "preserve them from the
+violation of the rights which they have here asserted, the Three Estates
+do resolve that William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, be and be
+declared king and queen: to hold the crown and royal dignity, to them the
+said Prince and Princess during their lives and the life of the survivor
+of them; and the sole and full exercise of the royal power be only in and
+exercised by the said Prince of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and
+Princess during their lives, and, after their deceases, the said crown and
+royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to the heirs of the body
+of the said Princess; and, for default of such issue, to the Princess Anne
+of Denmark and the heirs of her body; and, for the default of such issue,
+to the issue of the said Prince of Orange." Then followed an alteration
+required by the scrupulous conscience of Nottingham in the terms of the
+oath of allegiance.
+
+On February 12th Mary arrived from Holland. On the following day, in the
+Banqueting House at Whitehall, the Prince and Princess of Orange were
+waited on by both Houses of convention in a body. The declaration was read
+by the clerk of the crown; the sovereignty solemnly tendered to them
+by Halifax, in the name of the Estates; and on the same day they were
+proclaimed king and queen in the usual places in the cities of London and
+Westminster.
+
+
+
+%PETER THE GREAT MODERNIZES RUSSIA%
+
+SUPPRESSION OF THE STRELTSI
+
+A.D. 1689
+
+ALFRED RAMBAUD
+
+
+It is the glory of Peter the Great to have changed the character of his
+country and elevated its position among European nations. By opening Russia
+to the influence of Western civilization he prepared the way for the advent
+of that vast empire as one of the world's great powers.
+
+Peter I Alexeievitch was born in Moscow June 9 (N.S.), 1672. After a joint
+reign with his half-brother Ivan (1682-1696), he ruled alone until his
+death, February 8 (N.S.), 1725. He is distinguished among princes as a
+ruler who temporarily laid aside the character of royalty "in order to
+learn the art of governing better." By his travels under a common name and
+in a menial disguise, he acquired fruits of observation which proved of
+greater practical advantage in his career than comes to sovereigns from
+training in the knowledge of the schools. His restless and inquiring spirit
+was never subdued by the burdens of state, and his matured powers proved
+equal to the demands laid upon him by the great formative work which he was
+called to accomplish for his people.
+
+The character and early career of this extraordinary man are here set forth
+by Rambaud in a masterly sketch, showing the first achievements which laid
+the foundation of Peter's constructive policies.
+
+Alexis Mikhailovitch, Czar of Russia, had by his first wife, Maria
+Miloslavski, two sons, Feodor and Ivan, and six daughters; by his second
+wife, Natalia Narychkine, one son (who became Peter I) and two daughters.
+As he was twice married, and the kinsmen of each wife had, according to
+custom, surrounded the throne, there existed two factions in the palace,
+which were brought face to face by his death and that of his eldest son,
+Feodor. The Miloslavskis had on their side the claim of seniority, the
+number of royal children left by Maria, and, above all, the fact that Ivan
+was the elder of the two surviving sons; but unluckily for them, Ivan was
+notoriously imbecile both in body and mind.
+
+On the side of the Narychkines was the interest excited by the precocious
+intelligence of Peter, and the position of legal head of all the royal
+family, which, according to Russian law, gave to Natalia Narychkine her
+title of czarina dowager. Both factions had for some time taken their
+measures and recruited their partisans. Who should succeed Feodor? Was
+it to be the son of the Miloslavski, or the son of the Narychkine? The
+Miloslavskis were first defeated on legal grounds. Taking the incapacity of
+Ivan into consideration, the boyars and the Patriarch Joachim proclaimed
+the young Peter, then nine years old, Czar. The Narychkines triumphed:
+Natalia became czarina regent, recalled from exile her foster-father,
+Matveef, and surrounded herself by her brothers and uncles.
+
+The Miloslavskis' only means of revenge lay in revolt, but they were
+without a head; for it was impossible for Ivan to take the lead. The eldest
+of his six sisters was thirty-two years of age, the youngest nineteen;
+the most energetic of them was Sophia, who was twenty-five. These six
+princesses saw themselves condemned to the dreary destiny of the Russian
+_czarevni_, and were forced to renounce all hopes of marriage, with no
+prospects but to grow old in the seclusion of the _terem_, subjected by law
+to the authority of a step-mother. All their youth had to look forward
+to was the cloister. They, however, only breathed in action; and though
+imperial etiquette and Byzantine manners, prejudices, and traditions
+forbade them to appear in public, even Byzantine traditions offered them
+models to follow. Had not Pulcheria, daughter of an emperor, reigned at
+Constantinople in the name of her brother, the incapable Theodosius? Had
+she not contracted a nominal marriage with the brave Marcian, who was her
+sword against the barbarians?
+
+Here was the ideal that Sophia could propose to herself; to be a
+_czardievitsa_, a "woman-emperor." To emancipate herself from the rigorous
+laws of the terem, to force the "twenty-seven locks" of the song, to raise
+the _fata_ that covered her face, to appear in public and meet the looks of
+men, needed energy, cunning, and patience that could wait and be content
+to proceed by successive efforts. Sophia's first step was to appear at
+Feodor's funeral, though it was not the custom for any but the widow and
+the heir to be present. There her litter encountered that of Natalia
+Narychkine, and her presence forced the Czarina-mother to retreat. She
+surrounded herself with a court of educated men, who publicly praised
+her, encouraged and excited her to action. Simeon Polotski and Silvester
+Medviedef wrote verses in her honor, recalled to her the example of
+Pulcheria and Olga, compared her to the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth of England,
+and even to Semiramis; we might think we were listening to Voltaire
+addressing Catharine II. They played on her name Sophia (wisdom), and
+declared she had been endowed with the quality as well as the title.
+Polotski dedicated to her the _Crown of Faith_, and Medviedef his _Gifts of
+the Holy Spirit_.
+
+The terem offered the strangest contrasts. There acted they the _Malade
+Imaginaire_, and the audience was composed of the heterogeneous assembly
+of popes, monks, nuns, and old pensioners that formed the courts of the
+ancient czarinas. In this shifting crowd there were some useful
+instruments of intrigue. The old pensioners, while telling their rosaries,
+served as emissaries between the palace and the town, carried messages and
+presents to the turbulent _streltsi_[1] and arranged matters between the
+czarian ladies and the soldiers. Sinister rumors were skilfully
+disseminated through Moscow: Feodor, the eldest son of Alexis, had died,
+the victim of conspirators; the same lot was doubtless reserved for Ivan.
+What was to become of the poor czarevni, of the blood of kings? At last it
+was publicly announced that a brother of Natalia Narychkine had seized the
+crown and seated himself on the throne, and that Ivan had been strangled.
+Love and pity for the son of Alexis, and the indignation excited by the
+news of the usurpation, immediately caused the people of Moscow to revolt,
+and the ringleaders cleverly directed the movement. The tocsin sounded
+from four hundred churches of the "holy city"; the regiments of the
+streltsi took up arms and marched, followed by an immense crowd, to the
+Kremlin, with drums beating, matches lighted, and dragging cannon behind
+them. Natalia Narychkine had only to show herself on the "Red Staircase,"
+accompanied by her son Peter, and Ivan who was reported dead. Their mere
+appearance sufficed to contradict all the calumnies. The streltsi
+hesitated, seeing they had been deceived. A clever harangue of Matveef,
+who had formerly commanded them, and the exhortations of the patriarch,
+shook them further. The revolt was almost appeased; the Miloslavskis had
+missed their aim, for they had not yet succeeded in putting to death the
+people of whom they were jealous.
+
+[Footnote 1: The streltsi were an ancient Muscovite guard composed of
+citizens rendering hereditary military service in the different cities and
+fortified posts. At this time many of them were ripe for revolt.]
+
+Suddenly Prince Michael Dolgorouki, chief of the _prikaz_ of the streltsi,
+began to insult the rioters in the most violent language. This ill-timed
+harangue awoke their fury; they seized Dolgorouki, and flung him from the
+top of the Red Staircase onto their pikes. They stabbed Matveef, under the
+eyes of the Czarina; then they sacked the palace, murdering all who fell
+into their hands. Athanasius Narychkine, a brother of Natalia, was thrown
+from a window onto the points of their lances. The following day the
+_emeute_ recommenced; they tore from the arms of the Czarina her father
+Cyril and her brother Ivan; the latter was tortured and sent into a
+monastery. Historians show us Sophia interceded for the victims on her
+knees, but an understanding between the rebels and the Czarevna did exist;
+the streltsi obeyed orders.
+
+The following days were consecrated to the purifying of the palace and the
+administration, and the seventh day of the revolt they sent their
+commandant, the prince-boyar, Khovanski, to declare that they would have
+two czars--Ivan at the head, and Peter as coadjutor; and if this were
+refused, they would again rebel. The boyars of the _douma_ deliberated on
+this proposal, and the greater number of the boyars were opposed to it. In
+Russia the absolute power had never been shared, but the orators of the
+terem cited many examples both from sacred and profane history: Pharaoh
+and Joseph, Arcadius and Honorius, Basil II and Constantine VIII; and the
+best of all the arguments were the pikes of the streltsi (1682).
+
+Sophia had triumphed: she reigned in the name of her two brothers, Ivan
+and Peter. She made a point of showing herself in public, at processions,
+solemn services, and dedications of churches. At the Ouspienski Sobor,
+while her brothers occupied the place of the czar, she filled that of the
+czarina; only _she_ raised the curtains and boldly allowed herself to be
+incensed by the patriarch. When the _raskolniks_ challenged the heads of
+the orthodox church to discussion, she wished to preside and hold the
+meeting in the open air, at the Lobnoe Miesto on the Red Place. There was,
+however, so much opposition that she was forced to call the assembly in
+the Palace of Facets, and sat behind the throne of her two brothers,
+present though invisible. The double-seated throne used on those occasions
+is still preserved at Moscow; there is an opening in the back, hidden by a
+veil of silk, and behind this sat Sophia. This singular piece of furniture
+is the symbol of a government previously unknown to Russia, composed of
+two visible czars and one invisible sovereign.
+
+The streltsi, however, felt their prejudices against female sovereignty
+awaken. They shrank from the contempt heaped by the Czarevna upon the
+ancient manners. Sophia had already become in their eyes a "scandalous
+person" (_pozornoe litzo_). Another cause of misunderstanding was the
+support she gave to the state church, as reformed by Nicon, while the
+streltsi and the greater part of the people held to the "old faith." She
+had arrested certain "old believers," who at the discussion in the Palace
+of Facets had challenged the patriarchs and orthodox prelates, and she had
+caused the ringleader to be executed. Khovanski, chief of the streltsi,
+whether from sympathy with the _raskol_ or whether he wished to please his
+subordinates, affected to share their discontent. The court no longer felt
+itself safe at Moscow. Sophia took refuge with the Czarina and the two
+young princes in the fortified monastery of Troitsa, and summoned around
+her the gentlemen-at-arms. Khovanski was invited to attend, was arrested
+on the way, and put to death with his son. The streltsi attempted a new
+rising, but, with the usual fickleness of a popular militia, suddenly
+passed from the extreme of insolence to the extreme of humility. They
+marched to Troitsa, this time in the guise of suppliants, with cords round
+their necks, carrying axes and blocks for the death they expected. The
+patriarch consented to intercede for them, and Sophia contented herself
+with the sacrifice of the ringleaders.
+
+Sophia, having got rid of her accomplices, governed by aid of her two
+favorites--Chaklovity, the new commandant of the streltsi, whom she had
+drawn from obscurity, and who was completely devoted to her, and Prince
+Vasili Galitsyne. Galitsyne has become the hero of a historic school which
+opposes his genius to that of Peter the Great, in the same way as in France
+Henry, Duke of Guise, has been exalted at the expense of Henry IV. He was
+the special favorite, the intimate friend, of Sophia, the director of
+her foreign policy, and her right hand in military affairs. Sophia and
+Galitsyne labored to organize a holy league between Russia, Poland, Venice,
+and Austria against the Turks and Tartars. They also tried to gain
+the countenance of the Catholic powers of the West; and in 1687 Jacob
+Dolgorouki and Jacob Mychetski disembarked at Dunkirk as envoys to the
+court of Louis XIV. They were not received very favorably: the King of
+France was not at all inclined to make war against the Turks; he was, on
+the other hand, the ally of Mahomet IV, who was about to besiege Vienna
+while Louis blockaded Luxemburg. The whole plan of the campaign was,
+however, thrown out by the intervention of Russia and John Sobieski in
+favor of Austria. The Russian ambassadors received orders to reëmbark at
+Havre, without going farther south.
+
+The government of the Czarevna still persisted in its warlike projects. In
+return for an active cooperation against the Ottomans, Poland had consented
+to ratify the conditions of the Treaty of Androussovo, and to sign a
+perpetual peace (1686). A hundred thousand Muscovites, under the command
+of Prince Galitsyne, and fifty thousand Little Russian Cossacks, under the
+orders of the hetman Samoilovitch, marched against the Crimea (1687). The
+army suffered greatly in the southern steppes, as the Tartars had fired the
+grassy plains. Galitsyne was forced to return without having encountered
+the enemy. Samoilovitch was accused of treason, deprived of his command,
+and sent to Siberia; and Mazeppa, who owed to Samoilovitch his appointment
+as secretary-at-war, and whose denunciations had chiefly contributed to his
+downfall, was appointed his successor.
+
+In the spring of 1689 the Muscovite and Ukranian armies, commanded by
+Galitsyne and Mazeppa, again set out for the Crimea. The second expedition
+was hardly more fortunate than the first: they got as far as Perekop, and
+were then obliged to retreat without even having taken the fortress. This
+double defeat did not hinder Sophia from preparing for her favorite a
+triumphal entry into Moscow. In vain Peter forbade her to leave the palace;
+she braved his displeasure and headed the procession, accompanied by the
+clergy and the images and followed by the army of the Crimea, admitted
+the generals to kiss her hand and distributed glasses of brandy among
+the officers. Peter left Moscow in anger, and retired to the village of
+Preobrajenskoe. The foreign policy of the Czarevna was marked by another
+display of weakness. By the Treaty of Nertchinsk she restored to the
+Chinese empire the fertile regions of the Amur, which had been conquered
+by a handful of Cossacks, and razed the fortress of Albazine, where those
+adventurers had braved all the forces of the East. On all sides Russia
+seemed to retreat before the barbarians.
+
+Meanwhile Peter was growing. His precocious faculties, his quick
+intelligence, and his strong will awakened alike the hopes of his partisans
+and the fears of his enemies. As a child he only loved drums, swords,
+and muskets. He learned history by means of colored prints brought from
+Germany. Zotof, his master, whom he afterward made "the archpope of fools,"
+taught him to read. Among the heroes held up to him as examples we are not
+surprised to find Ivan the Terrible, whose character and position offer so
+much analogy to his own. "When the Czarevitch was tired of reading," says
+M. Zabieline, "Zotof took the book from his hand and, to amuse him, would
+himself read the great deeds of his father, Alexis Mikhailovitch, and those
+of the Czar, Ivan Vasilievitch, their campaigns, their distant expeditions,
+their battles and sieges: how they endured fatigues and privations better
+than any common soldier; what benefits they had conferred on the empire,
+and how they extended the frontiers of Russia."
+
+Peter also learned Latin, German, and Dutch. He read much and widely, and
+learned a great deal, though without method. Like Ivan the Terrible, he was
+a self-taught man. He afterward complained of not having been instructed
+according to rule. This was perhaps a good thing. His education, like
+that of Ivan IV, was neglected, but at least he was not subjected to the
+enervating influence of the terem--he was not cast in that dull mould which
+turned out so many idiots in the royal family. He "roamed at large, and
+wandered in the streets with his comrades." The streets of Moscow at that
+period were, according to M. Zabieline, the worst school of profligacy and
+debauchery that can be imagined; but they were, on the whole, less bad for
+Peter than the palace. He met there something besides mere jesters: he
+encountered new elements which had as yet no place in the terem, but
+contained the germ of the regeneration of Russia. He came across Russians
+who, if unscrupulous, were also unprejudiced, and who could aid him in his
+bold reform of the ancient society. He there became acquainted with Swiss,
+English, and German adventurers--with Lefort, with Gordon, and with
+Timmermann, who initiated him into European civilization.
+
+His court was composed of Leo Narychkine, of Boris Galitsyne, who had
+undertaken never to flatter him; of Andrew Matveef, who had marked taste
+for everything European; and of Dolgorouki, at whose house he first saw an
+astrolabe. He played at soldiers with his young friends and his grooms, and
+formed them into the "battalion of playmates," who manoeuvred after the
+European fashion, and became the kernel of the future regular army. He
+learned the elements of geometry and fortification, and constructed small
+citadels, which he took or defended with his young warriors in those fierce
+battles which sometimes counted their wounded or dead, and in which the
+Czar of Russia was not always spared. An English boat stranded on the shore
+of Yaousa caused him to send for Franz Timmermann, who taught him to manage
+a sailing-boat, even with a contrary wind. He who formerly, like a true
+boyar of Moscow, had such a horror of the water that he could not make up
+his mind to cross a bridge, became a determined sailor: he guided his boat
+first on the Yaousa, then on the lake of Pereiaslavl. Brandt, the Dutchman,
+built him a whole flotilla; and already, in spite of the terrors of his
+mother, Natalia, Peter dreamed of the sea.
+
+"The child is amusing himself," the courtiers of Sophia affected to
+observe; but these amusements disquieted her. Each day added to the years
+of Peter seemed to bring her nearer to the cloister. In vain she proudly
+called herself "autocrat"; she saw her stepmother, her rival, lifting up
+her head. Galitsyne confined himself to regretting that they had not known
+better how to profit by the revolution of 1682, but Chaklovity, who knew
+he must fall with his mistress, said aloud, "It would be wiser to put the
+Czarina to death than to be put to death by her." Sophia could only save
+herself by seizing the throne--but who would help her to take it?
+The streltsi? But the result of their last rising had chilled them
+considerably. Sophia herself, while trying to bind this formidable force,
+had broken it, and the streltsi had not forgotten their chiefs beheaded at
+Troitsa. Now what did the emissaries of Sophia propose to them? Again to
+attack the palace; to put Leo Narychkine and other partisans of Peter to
+death; to arrest his mother, and to expel the patriarch. They trusted
+that Peter and Natalia would perish in the tumult. The streltsi remained
+indifferent when Sophia, affecting to think her life threatened, fled to
+the Dievitchi monastery, and sent them letters of entreaty. "If thy days
+are in peril," tranquilly replied the streltsi, "there must be an inquiry."
+Chaklovity could hardly collect four hundred of them at the Kremlin.
+
+The struggle began between Moscow and Preobrajenskoe, the village with the
+prophetical name (the "Transfiguration" or "Regeneration"). Two streltsi
+warned Peter of the plots of his sister, and for the second time he sought
+an asylum at Troitsa. It was then seen who was the true czar; all men
+hastened to range themselves around him: his mother, his armed squires, the
+"battalion of playmates," the foreign officers, and even the streltsi of
+the regiment of Soukharef. The patriarch also took the side of the Czar,
+and brought him moral support, as the foreign soldiers had brought him
+material force. The partisans of Sophia were cold and irresolute; the
+streltsi themselves demanded that her favorite Chaklovity should be
+surrendered to the Czar. She had to implore the mediation of the patriarch.
+Chaklovity was first put to the torture and made to confess his plot
+against the Czar, and then decapitated. Medviedef was at first only
+condemned to the knout and banishment for heresy, but he acknowledged he
+had intended to take the place of the patriarch and to marry Sophia; he was
+dishonored by being imprisoned with two sorcerers, condemned to be burned
+alive in a cage, and was afterward beheaded. Galitsyne was deprived of
+his property, and exiled to Poustozersk. Sophia remained in the Dievitchi
+Monastyr, subjected to a hard captivity. Though Ivan continued to reign
+conjointly with his brother, yet Peter, who was then only seventeen,
+governed alone, surrounded by his mother, the Narychkines, and the
+Dolgoroukis (1689). Sophia had freed herself from the seclusion of the
+terem, as Peter had emancipated himself from the seclusion of the palace
+to roam the streets and navigate rivers. Both had behaved scandalously,
+according to the ideas of the time--the one haranguing soldiers, presiding
+over councils, walking with her veil raised; the other using the axe like
+a carpenter, rowing like a Cossack, brawling with foreign adventurers, and
+fighting with his grooms in mimic battles. But to the one her emancipation
+was only a means of obtaining power; to the other the emancipation of
+Russia, like the emancipation of himself, was the end. He wished the nation
+to shake off the old trammels from which he had freed himself. Sophia
+remained a Byzantine, Peter aspired to be a European. In the conflict
+between the Czarevna and the Czar, progress was not on the side of the
+Dievitchi Monastyr.
+
+The first use the Czar made of his liberty was to hasten to Archangel.
+There, deaf to the advice and prayers of his mother, who was astounded at
+this unexpected taste for salt water, he gazed on that sea which no czar
+had ever looked on. He ate with the merchants and the officers of foreign
+navies; he breathed the air which had come from the West. He established
+a dockyard, built boats, dared the angry waves of this unknown ocean,
+and almost perished in a storm, which did not prevent the "skipper Peter
+Alexeievitch" from again putting to sea, and bringing the Dutch vessels
+back to the Holy Cape. Unhappily, the White Sea, by which, since the time
+of Ivan IV, the English had entered Russia, is frost-bound in winter.
+In order to open permanent communications with the West, with civilized
+countries, it was necessary for Peter to establish himself on the Baltic or
+the Black Sea. Now the first belonged to the Swedes, and the second to the
+Turks, as the Caspian did to the Persians. Who was first to be attacked?
+The treaties concluded with Poland and Austria, as well as policy and
+religion, urged the Czar against the Turks, and Constantinople has always
+been the point of attraction for orthodox Russia.
+
+Peter shared the sentiments of his people, and had the enthusiasm of a
+crusader against the infidel. Notwithstanding his ardent wish to travel in
+the West, he took the resolution not to appear in foreign lands till he
+could appear as a victor. Twice had Galitsyne failed against the Crimea;
+Peter determined to attack the barbarians by the Don, and besiege Azov. The
+army was commanded by three generals, Golovine, Gordon, and Lefort, who
+were to act with the "bombardier of the Preobrajenski regiment, Peter
+Alexeievitch." This regiment, as well as three others which had sprung from
+the "amusements" of Preobrajenskoe--the Semenovski, the Botousitski, and
+the regiment of Lefort--were the heart of the expedition. It failed because
+the Czar had no fleet with which to invest Azov by sea, because the new
+army and its chiefs wanted experience, and because Jansen, the German
+engineer, ill-treated by Peter, passed over to the enemy. After two
+assaults the siege was raised. This check appeared the more grave because
+the Czar himself was with the army, because the first attempt to turn from
+the "amusements" of Preobrajenskoe to serious warfare had failed, and
+because this failure would furnish arms against innovations, against
+the Germans and the heretics, against the new tactics. It might even
+compromise, in the eyes of the people, the work of regeneration (1695).
+
+Although Peter had followed the example of Galitsyne, and entered Moscow in
+triumph, he felt he needed revenge. He sent for good officers from foreign
+countries. Artillerymen arrived from Holland and Austria, engineers from
+Prussia, and Admiral Lima from Venice. Peter hurried on the creation of a
+fleet with feverish impatience. He built of green wood twenty-two galleys,
+a hundred rafts, and seventeen hundred boats or barks. All the small ports
+of the Don were metamorphosed into dock-yards; twenty-six thousand workmen
+were assembled there from all parts of the empire. It was like the camp
+of Boulogne. No misfortune--neither the desertion of the laborers, the
+burnings of the dock-yards, nor even his own illness--could lessen his
+activity. Peter was able to write that, "following the advice God gave to
+Adam, he earned his bread by the sweat of his brow." At last the "marine
+caravan," the Russian armada, descended the Don. From the slopes of Azov he
+wrote to his sister Natalia[1]: "In obedience to thy counsels, I do not go
+to meet the shells and balls; it is they who approach me, but tolerably
+courteously."
+
+[Footnote 1: His mother died in 1694, his brother Ivan in 1696.]
+
+Azov was blockaded by sea and land, and a breach was opened by the
+engineers. Preparations were being made for a general assault, when the
+place capitulated. The joy in Russia was great, and the streltsi's jealousy
+of the success of foreign tactics gave place to their enthusiasm as
+Christians for this victory over Islamism, which recalled those of Kazan
+and Astrakhan. The effect produced on Europe was considerable. At Warsaw
+the people shouted, "Long live the Czar!" The army entered Moscow under
+triumphal arches, on which were represented Hercules trampling a pacha and
+two Turks under foot, and Mars throwing to the earth a _mirza_ and two
+Tartars. Admiral Lefort and Schein the generalissimo took part in the
+_cortège_, seated on magnificent sledges; while Peter, promoted to the rank
+of captain, followed on foot. Jansen, destined to the gibbet, marched among
+the prisoners (1696).
+
+Peter wished to profit by this great success to found the naval power
+of Russia. By the decision of the _douma_ three thousand families were
+established at Azov, besides four hundred Kalmucks, and a garrison of
+Moscow streltsi. The patriarch, the prelates, and the monasteries taxed
+themselves for the construction of one vessel to every eight thousand
+serfs. The nobles, the officials, and the merchants were seized with the
+fever of this holy war, and brought their contributions toward the infant
+navy. It was proposed to unite the Don and the Volga by means of a canal.
+A new appeal was made to the artisans and sailors of Europe. Fifty young
+nobles of the court were sent to Venice, England, and the Low Countries
+to learn seamanship and shipbuilding. But it was necessary that the Czar
+himself should be able to judge of the science of his subjects; he must
+counteract Russian indolence and prejudice by the force of a great example;
+and Peter, after having begun his career in the navy at the rank of
+"skipper," and in the army at that of bombardier, was to become a carpenter
+of Saardam. He allowed himself, as a reward for his success at Azov, the
+much-longed-for journey to the West.
+
+In 1697 Admiral Lefort and Generals Golovine and Vosnitsyne prepared
+to depart for the countries of the West, under the title of "the great
+ambassadors of the Czar." Their suite was composed of two hundred seventy
+persons--young nobles, soldiers, interpreters, merchants, jesters, and
+buffoons. In the cortège was a young man who went by the name of Peter
+Mikhailof. This _incognito_ would render the position of the Czar easier,
+whether in his own personal studies or in delicate negotiations. On the
+journey to Riga Peter allowed himself to be insulted by the governor, but
+laid up the recollection for future use. At Koenigsburg the Prussian,
+Colonel Sternfeld, delivered to "M. Peter Mikhailof" "a formal brevet of
+master of artillery." The great ambassadors and their travelling
+companion were cordially received by the courts of Courland, Hanover, and
+Brandenburg.
+
+Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, afterward Queen of Prussia, has left us some
+curious notes about the Czar, then twenty-seven years of age. He astonished
+her by the vivacity of his mind and the promptitude and point of his
+answers, not less than by the grossness of his manners, his bad habits
+at table, his wild timidity, like that of a badly brought-up child, his
+grimaces, and a frightful twitching which at times convulsed his whole
+face. Peter had then a beautiful brown skin, with great piercing eyes, but
+his features already bore traces of toil and debauchery. "He must have
+very good and very bad points," said the young Electress; and in this he
+represented contemporary Russia. "If he had received a better education,"
+adds the Princess, "he would have been an accomplished man." The suite of
+the Czar were not less surprising than their master; the Muscovites danced
+with the court ladies, and took the stiffening of their corsets for their
+bones. "The bones of these Germans are devilish hard!" said the Czar.
+
+Leaving the great embassy on the road Peter travelled quickly and reached
+Saardam. The very day of his arrival he took a lodging at a blacksmith's,
+procured himself a complete costume like those worn by Dutch workmen, and
+began to wield the axe. He bargained for a boat, bought it, and drank the
+traditional pint of beer with its owner. He visited cutleries, ropewalks,
+and other manufactories, and everywhere tried his hand at the work: in a
+paper manufactory he made some paper. However, in spite of the tradition,
+he only remained eight days at Saardam. At Amsterdam his eccentricities
+were no less astonishing. He neither took any rest himself nor allowed
+others to do so; he exhausted all his _ciceroni_, always repeating, "I must
+see it." He inspected the most celebrated anatomical collections; engaged
+artists, workmen, officers, and engineers; and bought models of ships and
+collections of naval laws and treaties. He entered familiarly the houses of
+private individuals, gained the good-will of the Dutch by his _bonhomie_,
+penetrated into the recesses of the shops and stalls, and remained lost in
+admiration over a dentist.
+
+But, amid all these distractions, he never lost sight of his aim. "We
+labor," he wrote to the patriarch Adrian, "in order thoroughly to master
+the art of the sea; so that, having once learned it, we may return to
+Russia and conquer the enemies of Christ, and free by his grace the
+Christians who are oppressed. This is what I shall long for to my last
+breath." He was vexed at making so little progress in shipbuilding, but in
+Holland everyone had to learn by personal experience. A naval captain told
+him that in England instruction was based on principles, and these he could
+learn in four months; so Peter crossed the sea, and spent three months in
+London and the neighboring towns. There he took into his service goldsmiths
+and gold-beaters, architects and bombardiers. He then returned to Holland,
+and, his ship being attacked by a violent tempest, he reassured those who
+trembled for his safety by the remark, "Did you ever hear of a czar of
+Russia who was drowned in the North Sea?"
+
+Though much occupied with his technical studies, he had not neglected
+policy; he had conversed with William III, but did not visit France in this
+tour, for "Louis XIV," says St. Simon, "had procured the postponement of
+his visit"; the fact being that his alliance with the Emperor and his wars
+with the Turks were looked on with disfavor at Versailles. He went to
+Vienna to study the military art, and dissuaded Leopold from making peace
+with the Sultan. Peter wished to conquer Kertch in order to secure the
+Straits of Ienikale. He was preparing to go to Venice, when vexatious
+intelligence reached him from Moscow.
+
+The first reforms of Peter, his first attempts against the national
+prejudices and customs, had raised him up a crowd of enemies. Old Russia
+did not allow herself quietly to be set aside by the bold innovator. There
+was in the interior a sullen and resolute resistance, which sometimes gave
+birth to bloody scenes. The revolt of the streltsi, the insurrection of
+Astrakhan, the rebellion of the Cossacks, and later the trial of his son
+and first wife are only episodes of the great struggle. Already the priests
+were teaching that Antichrist was born. Now it had been prophesied that
+Antichrist should be born of an adulteress, and Peter was the son of the
+_second_ wife of Alexis, therefore his mother Natalia was the "false
+virgin," the adulterous woman of the prophecies. The increasingly heavy
+taxes that weighed on the people were another sign that the time had come.
+Others, disgusted by the taste shown by the Czar for German clothes and
+foreign languages and adventures, affirmed that he was not the son of
+Alexis, but of Lefort the Genevan, or that his father was a German surgeon.
+They were scandalized to see the Czar, like another Gregory Otrepief,
+expose himself to blows in his military "amusements." The lower orders were
+indignant at the abolition of the long beards and national costume, and
+the _raskolniks_[1] at the authorization of "the sacrilegious smell of
+tobacco."
+
+[Footnote 1: Dissenters from the orthodox church of Russia (Greek
+Church).--ED.]
+
+The journey to the west completed the general dissatisfaction. Had anyone
+ever before seen a czar of Moscow quit Holy Russia to wander in the
+kingdoms of foreigners? Who knew what adventures might befall him among the
+_niemtsi_ and the _bousourmanes_? for the Russian people hardly knew how to
+distinguish between the Turks and the Germans, and were wholly ignorant of
+France and England. Under an unknown sky, at the extremity of the world, on
+the shores of the "ocean sea," what dangers might he not encounter? Then
+a singular legend was invented about the travels of the Czar. It was said
+that he went to Stockholm disguised as a merchant, and that the Queen had
+recognized him and had tried in vain to capture him. According to another
+version, she had plunged him in a dungeon, and delivered him over to his
+enemies, who wished to put him in a cask lined with nails and throw him
+into the sea. He had only been saved by a streletz who had taken his place.
+Some asserted that Peter was still kept there; and in 1705 the streltsi and
+raskolniks of Astrakhan still gave out that it was a false czar who had
+come back to Moscow--the true czar was a prisoner at Stockholm, attached to
+a stake.
+
+In the midst of this universal disturbance, caused by the absence of Peter,
+there were certain symptoms peculiarly disquieting. The Muscovite army
+grew more and more hostile to the new order of things. In 1694 Peter had
+discovered a fresh conspiracy, having for its object the deliverance of
+Sophia; and at the very moment of his departure from Russia he had to put
+down a plot of streltsi and Cossacks headed by Colonel Tsykler. Those of
+the streltsi who had been sent to form the garrison of Azov pined for their
+wives, their children, and the trades they had left in Moscow. When in the
+absence of the Czar they were sent from Azov to the frontiers of Poland,
+they again began to murmur. "What a fate is ours! It is the boyars who do
+all the mischief; for three years they have kept us from our homes."
+
+Two hundred deserted and returned to Moscow; but the douma, fearing their
+presence in the already troubled capital, expelled them by force. They
+brought back to their regiments a letter of Sophia. "You suffer," she
+wrote; "later it will become worse. March on Moscow. What is it you wait
+for? There is no news of the Czar." It was repeated through the army that
+the Czar had died in foreign lands, and that the boyars wished to put his
+son Alexis to death. It was necessary to march on Moscow and exterminate
+the nobles.
+
+The military sedition was complicated by the religious fanaticism of the
+raskolniks and the demagogic passions of the popular army. Four regiments
+revolted and deserted. Generals Schein and Gordon, with their regular
+troops, hastened after them, came up with them on the banks of the Iskra,
+and tried to persuade them to return to their duty. The streltsi replied
+by a petition setting forth all their grievances: "Many of them had died
+during the expedition to Azov, suggested by Lefort, a German, a heretic;
+they had endured fatiguing marches over burning plains, their only food
+being bad meat; their strength had been exhausted by severe tasks, and they
+had been banished to distant garrisons. Moscow was now a prey to all sorts
+of horrors. Foreigners had introduced the custom of shaving the beard and
+smoking tobacco. It was said that these niemtsi meant to seize the town. On
+this rumor, the streltsi had arrived, and also because Romodanovski wished
+to disperse and put them to the sword without anyone knowing why." A few
+cannon-shots were sufficient to scatter the rebels. A large number were
+arrested; torture, the gibbet, and the dungeon awaited the captives.
+
+When Peter hastened home from Vienna he decided that his generals and his
+douma had been too lenient. He had old grievances against the streltsi;
+they had been the army of Sophia, in opposition to the army of the Czar;
+he remembered the invasion of the Kremlin, the massacre of his mother's
+family, her terrors in Troitsa, and the conspiracies which all but delayed
+his journey to the west. At the very time that he was travelling in Europe
+for the benefit of his people, these incorrigible mutineers had forced him
+to renounce his dearest projects and had stopped him on the road to Venice.
+He resolved to take advantage of the opportunity by crushing his enemies
+_en masse_, and by making the Old Russia feel the weight of a terror that
+would recall the days of Ivan IV. The long beards had been the standard of
+revolt--they should fall. On August 26th he ordered all the gentlemen of
+his court to shave themselves, and himself applied the razor to his great
+lords. The same day the Red Place was covered with gibbets. The patriarch
+Adrian tried in vain to appease the anger of the Czar by presenting to him
+the wonder-working image of the Mother of God. "Why hast thou brought out
+the holy icon?" exclaimed the Czar. "Retire and restore it to its place.
+Know that I venerate God and his Mother as much as thyself, but know also
+that it is my duty to protect the people and punish the rebels."
+
+On October 30th there arrived at the Red Place the first instalment of two
+hundred thirty prisoners: they came in carts, with lighted torches in their
+hands, nearly all already broken by torture, and followed by their wives
+and children, who ran behind chanting a funeral wail. Their sentence was
+read, and they were slain, the Czar ordering several officers to help the
+executioner. John George Korb, the Austrian agent, who as an eye-witness
+has left us an authentic account of the executions, heard that five rebel
+heads had been sent into the dust by blows from an axe wielded by the
+noblest hand in Russia. The terrible carpenter of Saardam worked and
+obliged his boyars to work at this horrible employment. Seven other days
+were employed in this way; a thousand victims were put to death. Some were
+broken on the wheel, and others died by various modes of torture. The
+removal of the corpses was forbidden: for five months Moscow had before its
+eyes the spectacle of the dead bodies hanging from the battlements of the
+Kremlin and the other ramparts; and for five months the streltsi suspended
+to the bars of Sophia's prison presented her the petition by which they
+had entreated her to reign. Two of her confidants were buried alive; she
+herself, with Eudoxia Lapoukhine, Peter's wife, who had been repudiated for
+her obstinate attachment to the ancient customs, had their heads shaved
+and were confined in monasteries. After the revolt of the inhabitants of
+Astrakhan, who put their waywode to death, the old militia was completely
+abolished, and the way left clear for the formation of new troops.
+
+
+
+%TYRANNY OF ANDROS IN NEW ENGLAND%
+
+THE "BLOODLESS REVOLUTION"
+
+A.D. 1689
+
+CHARLES W. ELLIOT
+
+
+When the spirit of the English Revolution of 1688 crossed the Atlantic
+and stirred the New England colonists to throw off the Stuart tyranny
+represented by Andros, a long step was taken in the development of early
+American self-government. The Charter Oak tradition, whether or not
+resting on actual occurrences, correctly typifies the temper of that
+self-government as it has ever manifested itself in the crises of patriotic
+development in this country. And the ending of theocratic government,
+as here recorded of Massachusetts, foreshadowed the further growth of
+democracy in America.
+
+Sir William Andros, an Englishman, was colonial governor of New York from
+1674 to 1681, and of New England, including New York, from 1686 to 1689.
+His rule "was on the model dear to the heart of his royal master--a harsh
+despotism, but neither strong nor wise; it was wretched misgovernment and
+stupid, blundering oppression." What poor success Andros had in his attempt
+to force such a rule upon people of the English race who had already
+accustomed themselves to a large measure of independence and
+self-government Elliott's account briefly but fully shows.
+
+While colonies are poor they are neglected by the parent state; when they
+are able to pay taxes then she is quite ready to "govern them"; she is
+willing to appoint various dependents to important offices, and to allow
+the colonies to pay liberal salaries; she likes also to tax them to the
+amount of the surplus production which is transferred to the managers
+in the mother-country. Surprising as this is, it is what many call
+"government," and is common everywhere. England has been no exception to
+this, and her practice in New England was of this character till, in the
+year 1776, the back of the people was so galled that it threw its rider
+with violence.
+
+At various times attempts had been made to destroy the Massachusetts
+charter. At the restoration of Charles II, in 1660, the enemies of the
+Puritans roused themselves. All who scented the breath of liberty in those
+Western gales--all who had been disappointed of fond hopes in those
+infant states--all who had felt in New England, too, the iron hand of
+ecclesiastical tyranny, who chafed in the religious manacles which there,
+as everywhere else, were imposed upon the minority--all united against
+them; and in 1664 commissioners were sent over with extraordinary powers.
+The colony withstood them to the best of its ability; but at last, in 1676,
+a _quo warranto_ was issued, and judgment was obtained in England against
+the Massachusetts charter.
+
+In 1683 the quo warranto was brought over by Edward Randolph, who had been
+appointed collector of the port of Boston in 1681, but had not been allowed
+to act. He was the "messenger of death" to the hopes of the colony. The
+deputies refused to appear in England and plead, and judgment was entered
+up against them at last, in 1685, and the charter was abrogated. Charles
+died, and the bitter and bigoted James II came to the throne in 1684. The
+colonists then had rumors that Colonel Kirke, the fiercest hater of the
+Nonconformists in England, was coming over as governor, which filled them
+with dread. The colony now seemed to be at the mercy of the churchmen, or,
+worse than that, of the papists, for such was James. Mr. Rawson, secretary
+of the colony, about this time wrote, "Our condition is awful."
+
+Mr. Joseph Dudley was appointed governor and acted for a short time, but
+was succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros, who arrived December 19, 1686, with a
+commission from James II, to take upon himself the absolute government
+of all New England. Andros was supposed to be a bigoted papist, and he
+certainly carried matters with a high hand; the poisoned chalice of
+religious despotism, which these Pilgrims had commended to the lips of
+Roger Williams, the Browns, Mrs. Hutchinson, Gorton, Clarke, and the
+Quakers, was now offered to their own lips, and the draught was bitter.
+
+First, the press was muzzled; then marriage was no longer free. The
+minister Moody (1684) was imprisoned six months in New Hampshire for
+refusing to administer the communion to Cranfield and others, according
+to the manner and form set forth in the _Book of Common Prayer_. The
+Congregational ministers were as mere laymen, and danger menaced public
+worship and the meeting-houses. But this last extremity was saved them by
+the necessity which James was under of securing the triumph of _his_ church
+in Protestant England, the first step toward which was the proclamation
+of religious toleration. This, of course, secured the colonists, and the
+pilgrims were saved that fearful misery of being driven out from their
+own cherished altars. Andros carried things with as high a hand in
+Massachusetts as his master did in England; absolute subjection they both
+insisted on. Besides the denial of political and religious rights, the
+practice of arbitrary taxation was asserted by Andros, and all titles to
+lands were questioned; in the brutal phrase of the time, it was declared
+that "the calf died in the cow's belly"; that is, having no rights as a
+state, they had none as individuals; so fees, fines, and expenditures
+impoverished the people and enriched the officials. All seemed lost in
+Massachusetts.
+
+Andros went down to Hartford, in Connecticut, with his suite, and with
+sixty troops took possession of the government there and demanded the
+charter. Through the day (October 31, 1687) the authorities remonstrated
+and postponed. When they met Andros again in the evening the people
+collected, much excited. There seemed no relief. Their palladium, their
+charter, was demanded, and before them stood Andros, with soldiers and
+drawn swords, to compel his demand. There was then no hope, and the roll
+of parchment--the charter, with the great royal seal upon it--was brought
+forth and laid upon the table, in the midst of the excited people.
+Suddenly, without warning, all lights were extinguished! There were
+darkness and silence, followed by wonder, movement, and confusion. What
+meant this very unparliamentary conduct, or was it a gust of wind which had
+startled all? Lights were soon obtained, and then--
+
+"Where is the charter?" was the question that went round the assembly.
+
+"What means this?" cried Andros, in anger.
+
+But no man knew where the charter had disappeared to; neither threats nor
+persuasion brought it to light. What could Andros do? Clearly nothing, for
+the authorities had done all that could be asked; they had produced the
+charter in the presence of Andros, and now it had disappeared from his
+presence. He had come upon a fool's errand, and some sharp Yankee (Captain
+Wadsworth) had outwitted him. Where was the charter? Safely hidden in the
+heart of the great oak, at Hartford, on the grounds of Samuel Wyllys. There
+it remained beyond the reach of tyranny.
+
+The tree known as the "Charter Oak" stood for over a century and a half
+from that day. The Indians had always prayed that the tree might be spared;
+they have our thanks.
+
+Andros wrote on the last page of their records, _Finis_, and
+disappeared--but that was not the end of Connecticut.
+
+It was a dark time for liberty in New England, and a dark day for liberty
+in Old England; for there James II and his unscrupulous ministers were
+corruptly, grossly, and illegally trampling down the rights of manhood.
+Andros was doing it in New England, and he found in Dudley, Stoughton,
+Clark, and others, sons of New England, ready feet. In 1688 Randolph
+writes, "We are as arbitrary as the great Turk"; which seems to have been
+true. The hearts of the best men in both countries sank within them, and
+they cried in their discouragement, "O Lord! how long!"
+
+Thus matters stood when, during the spring of 1688-1689, faint rumors of
+the landing of William, Prince of Orange, in England, came from Virginia.
+Could this be true? It brought Andros up to Boston (April), where he gave
+orders to have the soldiers ready against surprise.
+
+Liberty is the most ardent wish of a brave and noble people, and is too
+often betrayed by confidence in cultivated and designing and timid men.
+Liberty was the wish of the people of New England; and for the want of
+brave men then and since then they suffered.
+
+When, on April 4th, John Winslow brought from Virginia the rumor of the
+English Revolution and the landing of the Prince of Orange, it went through
+their blood like the electric current, and thrilled from the city along the
+byways into every home. Men got on their horses and rode onward to the next
+house to carry the tidings that the popish King was down and William was
+up, and that there was hope; through town and country the questions were
+eagerly asked: "Shall we get our old charter? Shall we regain our rights?"
+"What is there for us to do?" cried the people.
+
+Andros put out a proclamation that all persons should be in readiness to
+resist the forces of the Prince of Orange should they come. But the old
+magistrates and leaders silently prayed for his success; the people, less
+cautious and more determined, said to one another: "Let us do something.
+Why not act?" and this went from mouth to mouth till their hatred of
+Andros, and the remembrance to his dastardly oppressions, blazed into a
+consuming fire.
+
+"On April 18, 1689," wrote an onlooker, "I knew not anything of what was
+intended until it was begun, yet being at the north end of the town, where
+I saw boys running along the streets with clubs in their hands encouraging
+one another to fight, I began to mistrust what was intended, and hasting
+toward the Town Dock I soon saw men running for their arms; but before I
+got to the Red Lion I was told that Captain George and the master of the
+frigate were seized and secured in Mr. Colman's house at the North End; and
+when I came to the Town Dock I understood that Bullivant and some others
+were laid hold of, and then immediately the drums began to beat, and the
+people hastened and ran, some with and some for arms," etc.
+
+So it was begun, no one knew by whom; but men remembered yet their old
+liberties and were ready to risk something to regain them; they remembered,
+too, their present tyrants and longed to punish them. But in all this, men
+of property took no part--they are always timid. It was the "mob" that
+acted.
+
+Governor Andros was at the fort with some soldiers, and sent for the
+clergymen to come to him, who declined. The people and train-bands rallied
+together at the Town House, where old Governor Bradstreet and some other
+principal men met to consult as to what should be done. The King's frigate
+in the harbor ran up her flags, and the lieutenant swore he would die
+before she should be taken, and he opened her ports and ran out her guns;
+but Captain George (prisoner in Boston) sent him word not to fire a shot,
+for the people would tear him in pieces if he did. In the afternoon the
+soldiers and people marched to the fort, took possession of a battery,
+turned its guns upon the fort and demanded its surrender. They did not wait
+for its surrender, but stormed in through the portholes, and Captain John
+Nelson, a Boston merchant, cried out to Andros, "I demand your surrender."
+Andros was surprised at the anger of an outraged people, and knew not what
+to do, but at last gave up the fort, and was lodged prisoner in Mr. Usher's
+house.
+
+The next day he was forced to give up the castle in the harbor, and the
+guns of the battery from the shore were brought to bear upon the frigate.
+But the captain prayed that she might not be forced to surrender, because
+all the officers and crew would lose their wages; so she was dismantled
+for present security. All through the day people came pouring in from the
+country, well armed and hot with rage against Andros and his confederates;
+and the cooler men trembled lest some unnecessary violence might be done;
+so Captain Fisher, of Dedham, led Andros by the collar of the coat back to
+the fort for safety.
+
+On the 20th Bradstreet and other leading men met, and formed a kind of
+provisional council. They carefully abstained from resuming their old
+charter, partly from fear and partly from doubt, and called upon the
+towns to send up deputies. When these met, on May 22, 1689, forty out of
+fifty-four were for "resuming," but a majority of the council opposed
+it, and time was spent in disputes; but at last the old Governor and
+magistrates accepted the control of affairs, though they would not consent
+to resume the charter. Thus the moment for action passed, and the colony
+lost that chance for reestablishing its old rights.
+
+Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed their charters, which had never
+been legally vacated. Mr. Threat was obliged to take again the office of
+governor of Connecticut, when the amazing reports of the revolution and
+seizure of the Governor in Massachusetts reached them. They issued loyal
+addresses to William and Mary, in which they said: "Great was that day when
+the Lord who sitteth upon the floods did divide his and your adversaries
+like the waters of Jordan, and did begin to magnify you like Joshua, by the
+deliverance of the English dominions from popery and slavery."
+
+Andros escaped, but was apprehended at Rhode Island, and sent back to
+Boston, and in February, 1689, with Dudley and some others, he was sent
+away to England.
+
+Increase Mather, the agent of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the aid of
+friends in England, endeavored to gain the restoration of the old charter
+from King William, but was unsuccessful; a new one was granted (1691),
+which contained many of the old privileges; but the King would not grant
+them the power of appointing their own governor; that power was reserved;
+and appeals from the colony courts to England were allowed. The Governor
+and the King both had a veto upon all colonial legislation. By it all
+religions except the Roman Catholic were declared free, and Plymouth was
+annexed to Massachusetts.
+
+Thus two important elements of a free government were lost to
+Massachusetts; and powers which had been exercised over fifty years were,
+for nigh a hundred years, taken away. In Connecticut and Rhode Island they
+continued to elect their own rulers and to exercise all the powers of
+government. The new charter was brought over by Sir William Phipps, the new
+governor appointed by the King, who arrived on May 14, 1692.
+
+Thus ended the rule of the theocracy in Massachusetts, and from this time
+forward the ministers and church-members possessed no more power than the
+rest of the people.
+
+
+
+%MASSACRE OF LACHINE%
+
+A.D. 1689
+
+FRANÇOIS XAVIER GARNEAU
+
+
+Just after Count Frontenac's first administration of Canada (1672-1682),
+when the colony of New France was under the rule of De la Barre and his
+successor, the Marquis de Denonville, Montreal and its immediate vicinity
+suffered from the most terrible and bloody of all the Indian massacres
+of the colonial days. The hatred of the Five Nations for the French,
+stimulated by the British colonists of New York, under its governor,
+Colonel Dongan, was due to French forays on the Seneca tribes, and to
+the capture and forwarding to the royal galleys in France of many of the
+betrayed Iroquois chiefs. At this period the English on the seaboard began
+to extend their trade into the interior of the continent and to divert
+commerce from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson. This gave rise to keen
+rivalries between the two European races, and led the English to take sides
+with the Iroquois in their enmity to the French. The latter, at Governor
+Denonville's instigation, sought to settle accounts summarily with the
+Iroquois, believing that the tribes of the Five Nations could never be
+conciliated, and that it was well to extirpate them at once. Soon the
+Governor put his fell purpose into effect. With a force of two thousand
+men, in a fleet of canoes, he entered the Seneca country by the Genesee
+River, and for ten days ravaged the Iroquois homes and put many of them
+cruelly to death. Returning by the Niagara River he erected and garrisoned
+a fort at its mouth and then withdrew to Québec. A terrible revenge was
+taken on the French colonists for these infamous acts, as the following
+article by M. Garneau shows.
+
+The situation of the colonists of New France during the critical era of
+M. Denonville's administration was certainly anything but enviable. They
+literally "dwelt in the midst of alarms," yet their steady courage in
+facing perils, and their endurance of privations when unavoidable, were
+worthy of admiration. A lively idea of what they had to resist or to
+suffer may be found by reading the more particular parts of the Governor's
+despatches to Paris. For instance, in one of these he wrote in reference to
+the raids of the Iroquois: "The savages are just so many animals of prey,
+scattered through a vast forest, whence they are ever ready to issue, to
+raven and kill in the adjoining countries. After their ravages, to go
+in pursuit of them is a constant but almost bootless task. They have no
+settled place whither they can be traced with any certainty; they must be
+watched everywhere, and long waited for, with fire-arms ready primed. Many
+of their lurking-places could be reached only by blood-hounds or by other
+savages as our trackers, but those in our service are few, and the native
+allies we have are seldom trustworthy; they fear the enemy more than
+they love us, and they dread, on their own selfish account, to drive the
+Iroquois to extremity. It has been resolved, in the present strait, to
+erect a fort in every seigniory, as a place of shelter for helpless people
+and live-stock, at times when the open country is overrun with ravagers.
+As matters now stand, the arable grounds lie wide apart, and are so begirt
+with bush that every thicket around serves as a point for attack by a
+savage foe; insomuch that an army, broken up into scattered posts, would be
+needful to protect the cultivators of our cleared lands."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Letter to M. Seignelai, August 10, 1688.]
+
+Nevertheless, at one time hopes were entertained that more peaceful
+times were coming. In effect, negotiations with the Five Nations were
+recommenced; and the winter of 1687-1688 was passed in goings to and fro
+between the colonial authorities and the leaders of the Iroquois, with whom
+several conferences were holden. A correspondence, too, was maintained by
+the Governor with Colonel Dongan at New York; the latter intimating in one
+of his letters that he had formed a league of all the Iroquois tribes,
+and put arms in their hands, to enable them to defend British colonial
+territory against all comers.
+
+The Iroquois confederation itself sent a deputation to Canada, which
+was escorted as far as Lake St. François by twelve hundred warriors--a
+significant demonstration enough. The envoys, after having put forward
+their pretensions with much stateliness and yet more address, said that,
+nevertheless, their people did not mean to press for all the advantages
+they had the right and the power to demand. They intimated that they
+were perfectly aware of the comparative weakness of the colony; that the
+Iroquois could at any time burn the houses of the inhabitants, pillage
+their stores, waste their crops, and afterward easily raze the forts. The
+Governor-general, in reply to these--not quite unfounded--boastings and
+arrogant assumptions, said that Colonel Dongan claimed the Iroquois as
+English subjects, and admonished the deputies that, if such were the case,
+then they must act according to his orders, which would necessarily be
+pacific, France and England not now being at war; whereupon the deputies
+responded, as others had done before, that the confederation formed an
+independent power; that it had always resisted French as well as English
+supremacy over its subjects; and that the coalesced Iroquois would be
+neutral, or friends or else enemies to one or both, at discretion; "for we
+have never been conquered by either of you," they said; adding that, as
+they held their country immediately from God, they acknowledge no other
+master.
+
+It did not appear, however, that there was a perfect accordance among the
+envoys on all points, for the deputies from Onnontaguez, the Onneyouths,
+and Goyogouins agreed to a truce on conditions proposed by M. Denonville;
+namely, that all the native allies of the French should be comprehended
+in the treaty. They undertook that deputies [others than some of those
+present?] should be sent from the Agniers and Tsonnouthouan cantons, who
+were then to take part in concluding a treaty; that all hostilities should
+cease on every side, and that the French should be allowed to revictual,
+undisturbed, the fort of Cataracoui. The truce having been agreed to on
+those bases, five of the Iroquois remained (one for each canton), as
+hostages for its terms being observed faithfully. Notwithstanding this
+precaution, several roving bands of Iroquois, not advertised, possibly, of
+what was pending, continued to kill our people, burn their dwellings, and
+slaughter live-stock in different parts of the colony; for example, at
+St. François, at Sorel, at Contrecoeur, and at St. Ours. These outrages,
+however, it must be owned, did not long continue, and roving corps of
+savages, either singly or by concert, drew off from the invaded country and
+allowed its harassed people a short breathing-time at least.
+
+The native allies of the French, on the other hand, respected the truce
+little more than the Iroquois. The Abenaquis invaded the Agniers canton,
+and even penetrated to the English settlements, scalping several persons.
+The Iroquois of the Sault and of La Montagne did the like; but the Hurons
+of Michilimackinac, supposed to be those most averse to the war, did all
+they could, and most successfully, too, to prevent a peace being signed.
+
+While the negotiations were in progress, the "Machiavel of the wilderness,"
+as Raynal designates a Huron chief, bearing the native name of Kondiarak,
+but better known as Le Rat in the colonial annals, arrived at Frontenac
+(Kingston), with a chosen band of his tribe, and became a means of
+complicating yet more the difficulties of the crisis. He was the most
+enterprising, brave, and best-informed chief in all North America; and, as
+such, was one courted by the Governor in hopes of his becoming a valuable
+auxiliary to the French, although at first one of their most formidable
+enemies. He now came prepared to battle in their favor, and eager to
+signalize himself in the service of his new masters. The time, however, as
+we may well suppose, was not opportune, and he was informed that a treaty
+with the Iroquois being far advanced, and their deputies on the way to
+Montreal to conclude it, he would give umbrage to the Governor-general of
+Canada should he persevere in the hostilities he had been already carrying
+on.
+
+The Rat was taken aback on hearing this to him unwelcome news, but took
+care to hide his surprise and uttered no complaint. Yet was he mortally
+offended that the French should have gone so far in the matter without the
+concert of their native allies, and he at once resolved to punish them,
+in his own case, for such a marked slight. He set out secretly with his
+braves, laid an ambuscade near Famine Cove for the approaching deputation
+of Iroquois, murdered several and made the others his prisoners. Having
+done so, he secretly gloried in the act, afterward saying that he had
+"killed the peace." Yet in dealing with the captives he put another and a
+deceptive face on the matter; for, on courteously questioning them as to
+the object of their journey, being told that they were peaceful envoys, he
+affected great wonder, seeing that it was Denonville himself who had sent
+him on purpose to waylay them!
+
+To give seeming corroboration to his astounding assertions, he set the
+survivors at liberty, retaining one only to replace one of his men who
+was killed by the Iroquois in resisting the Hurons' attack. Leaving the
+deputies to follow what course they thought fit, he hastened with his men
+to Michilimackinac, where he presented his prisoner to M. Durantaye, who,
+not as yet officially informed, perhaps, that a truce existed with the
+Iroquois, consigned him to death, though he gave Durantaye assurance of who
+he really was; but when the victim appealed to the Rat for confirmation of
+his being an accredited envoy, that unscrupulous personage told him he must
+be out of his mind to imagine such a thing! This human sacrifice offered
+up, the Rat called upon an aged Iroquois, then and long previously a Huron
+captive, to return to his compatriots and inform them from him that while
+the French were making a show of peace-seeking, they were, underhand,
+killing and making prisoners of their native antagonists.
+
+This artifice, a manifestation of the diabolic nature of its author, had
+too much of the success intended by it, for, although the Governor managed
+to disculpate himself in the eyes of the more candid-minded Iroquois
+leaders, yet there were great numbers of the people who could not be
+disabused, as is usual in such cases, even among civilized races.
+Nevertheless the enlightened few, who really were tired of the war, agreed
+to send a second deputation to Canada; but when it was about to set out, a
+special messenger arrived, sent by Andros, successor of Dongan, enjoining
+the chiefs of the Iroquois confederation not to treat with the French
+without the participation of his master, and announcing at the same time
+that the King of Great Britain had taken the Iroquois nations under his
+protection. Concurrently with this step, Andros wrote to Denonville that
+the Iroquois territory was a dependency holden of the British, and that he
+would not permit its people to treat upon those conditions already proposed
+by Dongan.
+
+This transaction took place in 1688; but before that year concluded,
+Andros' "royal master" was himself superseded, and living an exile in
+France.[1] Whether instructions sent from England previously warranted
+the polity pursued by Andros or not, his injunctions had the effect of
+instantly stopping the negotiations with the Iroquois, and prompting them
+to recommence their vengeful hostilities. War between France and Britain
+being proclaimed next year, the American colonists of the latter adopted
+the Iroquois as their especial allies, in the ensuing contests with the
+people of New France.
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1688 Andros was appointed Governor of New York and New
+England. The appointment of this tyrant, and the annexation of the
+colony to the neighboring ones, were measures particularly odious to the
+people.--ED.]
+
+Andros, meanwhile, who adopted the policy of his predecessor so far as
+regarded the aborigines if in no other respect, not only fomented the
+deadly enmity of the Iroquois for the Canadians, but tried to detach the
+Abenaquis from their alliance with the French, but without effect in their
+case; for this people honored the countrymen of the missionaries who had
+made the Gospel known to them, and their nation became a living barrier
+to New France on that side, which no force sent from New England could
+surmount; insomuch that the Abenaquis, some time afterward, having crossed
+the borders of the English possessions, and harassed the remoter colonists,
+the latter were fain to apply to the Iroquois to enable them to hold their
+own.
+
+The declaration of Andros, and the armings of the Iroquois, now let loose
+on many parts of Canada, gave rise to a project as politic, perhaps, as it
+was daring, and such as communities when in extremity have adopted with
+good effect; namely, to divert invasion by directly attacking the enemies'
+neighboring territories. The Chevalier de Callières, with whom the idea
+originated, after having suggested to Denonville a plan for making a
+conquest of the province of New York, set out for France, to bring it under
+the consideration of the home government, believing that it was the only
+means left to save Canada to the mother-country.
+
+It was high time, indeed, that the destinies of Canada were confided to
+other directors than the late and present ones, left as the colony had
+been, since the departure of M. de Frontenac, in the hands of superannuated
+or incapable chiefs. Any longer persistency in the policy of its two most
+recent governors might have irreparably compromised the future existence
+of the colony. But worse evils were in store for the latter days of the
+Denonville administration; a period which, take it altogether, was one of
+the most calamitous which our forefathers passed through.
+
+At the time we have now reached in this history an unexpected as well as
+unwonted calm pervaded the country, yet the Governor had been positively
+informed that a desolating inroad by the collective Iroquois had been
+arranged, and that its advent was imminent; but as no precursive signs of
+it appeared anywhere to the general eyes, it was hoped that the storm, said
+to be ready to burst, might yet be evaded. None being able to account for
+the seeming inaction of the Iroquois, the Governor applied to the Jesuits
+for their opinion on the subject. The latter expressed their belief that
+those who had brought intelligence of the evil intention of the
+confederacy had been misinformed as to facts, or else exaggerated sinister
+probabilities. The prevailing calm was therefore dangerous as well as
+deceitful, for it tended to slacken preparations which ought to have been
+made to lessen the apprehensions of coming events which threw no shadow
+before.
+
+The winter and the spring of the year 1688-1689 had been passed in an
+unusually tranquil manner, and the summer was pretty well advanced when the
+storm, long pent up, suddenly fell on the beautiful island of Montreal, the
+garden of Canada. During the night of August 5th, amid a storm of hail and
+rain, fourteen hundred Iroquois traversed Lake St. Louis, and disembarked
+silently on the upper strand of that island. Before daybreak next morning
+the invaders had taken their station at Lachine in platoons around every
+considerable house within a radius of several leagues. The inmates were
+buried in sleep--soon to be the dreamless sleep that knows no waking, for
+too many of them.
+
+The Iroquois wait only for the signal from their leaders to fall on. It is
+given. In short space the doors and the windows of the dwellings are
+driven in; the sleepers dragged from their beds; men, women, children all
+struggling in the hands of their butchers. Such houses as the savages
+cannot force their way into, they fire; and as the flames reach the persons
+of those within, intolerable pain drives them forth to meet death beyond
+the threshold, from beings who know no pity. The more fiendish murderers
+even forced parents to throw their children into the flames. Two hundred
+persons were burned alive; others died under prolonged tortures. Many were
+reserved to perish similarly, at a future time. The fair island upon which
+the sun shone brightly erewhile, was lighted up by fires of woe; houses,
+plantations, and crops were reduced to ashes, while the ground reeked with
+blood up to a line a short league apart from Montreal city. The ravagers
+crossed to the opposite shore, the desolation behind them being complete,
+and forthwith the parish of Le Chenaie was wasted by fire and many of its
+people massacred.
+
+The colonists for many leagues around the devoted region seem to have been
+actually paralyzed by the brain-blow thus dealt their compatriots by the
+relentless savages, as no one seems to have moved a step to arrest their
+course; for they were left in undisturbed possession of the country
+during several weeks. On hearing of the invasion, Denonville lost his
+self-possession altogether. When numbers of the colonists, recovering from
+their stupor, came up armed desiring to be led against the murderers of
+their countrymen, he sent them back or forbade them to stir! Several
+opportunities presented themselves for disposing of parties of the
+barbarians, when reckless from drink after their orgies, or when roving
+about in scattered parties feeble in number; but the Governor-general's
+positive orders to refrain from attacking them withheld the uplifted hand
+from striking.
+
+In face of a prohibition so authoritative, the soldiers and the inhabitants
+alike could only look on and wait till the savages should find it
+convenient to retire. Some small skirmishing, indeed, there was at a few
+distant points between the people and their invaders. Thus a party of men,
+partly French and partly natives, led by Larobeyre, an ex-lieutenant, on
+the way to reënforce Fort Roland, where Chevalier de Vaudreuil commanded,
+were set upon and all killed or dispersed. More than half of the prisoners
+taken were burned by their conquerors. Larobeyre, being wounded and not
+able to fire, was led captive by the Iroquois to their country, and roasted
+at a slow fire in presence of the assembled tribe of his captors. Meantime
+the resistance to the barbarians being little or none in the regions they
+overran, they slew most of the inhabitants they met in their passage; while
+their course was marked, wherever they went, by lines of flame.
+
+Their bands moved rapidly from one devoted tract to another; yet wherever
+they had to face concerted resistance--which in some cases, at least, put a
+fitting obstacle in the way of their intended ravagings--they turned aside
+and sought an easier prey elsewhere. In brief, during ten entire weeks or
+more, did they wreak their wrath, almost unchecked, upon the fairest region
+of Canada, and did not retire thence till about mid-October.
+
+The Governor-General having sent a party of observation to assure himself
+of the enemy having decamped, this detachment observed a canoe on the Lake
+of the Two Mountains, bearing twenty-two of the retiring Iroquois. The
+Canadians, who were of about the same number, embarked in two boats and,
+nearing the savages, coolly received their fire; but in returning the
+discharge, each singled out his man, when eighteen of the Iroquois were at
+once laid low.
+
+However difficult it may have been to put the people of a partially cleared
+country, surrounded with forests, on their guard against such an irruption
+as the foregoing, it is difficult to account for their total unpreparedness
+without imputing serious blame to Denonville and his subalterns in office.
+That he exercised no proper influence, in the first place, was evident, and
+the small use he made of the means he had at his disposal when the crisis
+arrived was really something to marvel at. He was plainly unequal to the
+occasion, and his incapacity in every particular made it quite impossible
+for his presence, as chief of the colony, to be endured any longer. There
+is little doubt that had he not been soon recalled by royal order, the
+colonists themselves would have set him aside. The latter season of his
+inglorious administration took the lugubrious name "the Year of the
+Massacre."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The Five Nations, being at war with the French, made a sudden
+descent on Montreal, burned and sacked the town, killed one hundred of the
+inhabitants, carrying away a number of prisoners whom they burned alive,
+and then returned to their own country with the loss of only a few of their
+number. Had the English followed up the success of their allies, all Canada
+might have been easily conquered.--ED.]
+
+The man appointed through a happy inspiration to supersede M. de Denonville
+had now reached the Lower Canadian waters. He was no other than the Count
+de Frontenac. It appears that the King, willing to cover, with a handsome
+pretext, the recall of Denonville, in a letter dated May 31st, advertised
+him that, war having been rekindled in Europe, his military talents would
+be of the greatest use in home service. By this time De Frontenac was
+called to give counsel regarding the projects of the Chevalier de
+Callières, and assist in preparing the way for their realization if
+considered feasible. Meanwhile he undertook to resume his duties as
+governor-general of New France; but a series of events delayed his arrival
+in Canada till the autumn of 1689.
+
+He landed at Québec on October 18th, at 8 P.M., accompanied by De
+Callières, amid the heartiest demonstrations of popular welcome. The public
+functionaries and armed citizens in waiting, with torch-bearers, escorted
+him through the city, which was spontaneously illuminated, to his quarters.
+His return was hailed by all, but by none more than the Jesuits, who had,
+in fact for years before, labored to obtain his recall. The nobles, the
+merchants, the business class, gave him so hearty a reception as to
+convince him that real talent such as his must in the end rise superior
+to all the conjoined efforts of faction, public prejudices, and the evil
+passions of inferior minds.
+
+War was declared against Britain in the month of June. M. de Frontenac,
+on resuming the reins of government, had to contend both against the
+Anglo-American colonies and the Five Nations. His energy and skill,
+however, overcame all obstacles; the war was most glorious for the
+Canadians, so few in number compared with their adversaries; and far from
+succumbing to their enemies, they carried the war into the adversaries'
+camp and struck at the heart of their most remote possessions.
+
+
+
+%SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY AND BATTLE OF THE BOYNE%
+
+A.D. 1689-1690
+
+TOBIAS G. SMOLLETT
+
+
+Londonderry, capital of the county of the same name in Ireland, is a city
+of historic celebrity by reason of the successful defence there made
+(April-August, 1689) by the Irish Protestants against the besieging forces
+of James II. The battle of the Boyne (July 1, 1690) is of less importance
+in a military sense than for the reason that it virtually ended the war
+which James II carried into Ireland in his unsuccessful attempt to regain
+his throne from William and Mary. On account of this result, and still more
+by reason of the hereditary antagonisms which have so long survived it,
+this battle still retains a peculiar fame in history.
+
+In Ireland, where the Roman Catholics were numerous, there was strong
+opposition to the government of William and Mary. The fugitive James II had
+supporters who controlled the Irish army. Some resistance was made by the
+English and Scotch colonists in Ireland, but little head was made against
+the Catholic party, which supported James, until William entered the
+country with his forces.
+
+In the following narrative Smollett speaks of an "intended massacre" of the
+Protestants at Londonderry. The people of that city were of Anglo-Saxon
+blood. Although belonging to various Protestant churches, they were united
+in their hostility to the Irish and to the Catholic faith. They were
+alarmed at the close of 1688 by rumors of a plan for their own extirpation
+by the papists. News of the approach of the Earl of Antrim with a regiment,
+under orders from the Lord Deputy, filled the city with consternation. What
+followed there is graphically told in the words of the historian. A better
+account of a military action than that which Smollett gives of the Battle
+of the Boyne it would be hard to find.
+
+On the first alarm of an intended massacre, the Protestants of Londonderry
+had shut their gates against the regiment commanded by the Earl of Antrim,
+and resolved to defend themselves against the Lord Deputy; they transmitted
+this resolution to the Government of England, together with an account of
+the danger they incurred by such a vigorous measure, and implored immediate
+assistance; they were accordingly supplied with some arms and ammunition,
+but did not receive any considerable reënforcement till the middle of
+April, when two regiments arrived at Loughfoyl under the command of
+Cunningham and Richards.
+
+By this time King James had taken Coleraine, invested Kilmore, and was
+almost in sight of Londonderry. George Walker, rector of Donaghmore, who
+had raised a regiment for the defence of the Protestants, conveyed this
+intelligence to Lundy, the governor; this officer directed him to join
+Colonel Crafton, and take post at the Longcausey, which he maintained
+a whole night against the advanced guard of the enemy, until, being
+overpowered by numbers, he retreated to Londonderry and exhorted the
+governor to take the field, as the army of King James was not yet
+completely formed. Lundy assembling a council of war, at which Cunningham
+and Richards assisted, they agreed that as the place was not tenable,
+it would be imprudent to land the two regiments; and that the principal
+officers should withdraw themselves from Londonderry, the inhabitants of
+which would obtain the more favorable capitulation in consequence of their
+retreat; an officer was immediately despatched to King James with proposals
+of a negotiation; and Lieutenant-general Hamilton agreed that the army
+should halt at the distance of four miles from the town.
+
+Notwithstanding this preliminary, James advanced at the head of his troops,
+but met with such a warm reception from the besieged that he was fain to
+retire to St. John's Town in some disorder. The inhabitants and soldiers in
+garrison at Londonderry were so incensed at the members of the council of
+war who had resolved to abandon the place that they threatened immediate
+vengeance. Cunningham and Richards retired to their ships, and Lundy locked
+himself in his chamber. In vain did Walker and Major Baker exhort him
+to maintain his government; such was his cowardice or treachery that he
+absolutely refused to be concerned in the defence of the place, and he was
+suffered to escape in disguise, with a load of matches on his back; but he
+was afterward apprehended in Scotland, from whence he was sent to London to
+answer for his perfidy or misconduct.
+
+After his retreat the townsmen chose Mr. Walker and Major Baker for their
+governors with joint authority; but this office they would not undertake
+until it had been offered to Colonel Cunningham, as the officer next in
+command to Lundy; he rejected the proposal, and with Richards returned to
+England, where they were immediately cashiered. The two new governors, thus
+abandoned to their fate, began to prepare for a vigorous defence: indeed
+their courage seems to have transcended the bounds of discretion, for the
+place was very ill-fortified; their cannon, which did not exceed twenty
+pieces, were wretchedly mounted; they had not one engineer to direct their
+operations; they had a very small number of horse; the garrison consisted
+of people unacquainted with military discipline; they were destitute of
+provisions; they were besieged by a king, in person, at the head of a
+formidable army, directed by good officers, and supplied with all the
+necessary implements for a siege or battle.
+
+The town was invested on April 20th; the batteries were soon opened, and
+several attacks were made with great impetuosity, but the besiegers
+were always repulsed with considerable loss; the townsmen gained divers
+advantages in repeated sallies, and would have held their enemies in the
+utmost contempt had they not been afflicted with a contagious distemper,
+as well as reduced to extremity by want of provisions; they were even
+tantalized in their distress, for they had the mortification to see some
+ships, which had arrived with supplies from England, prevented from sailing
+up the river by the batteries the enemy had raised on both sides, and a
+boom with which they had blocked up the channel.
+
+At length a reënforcement arrived in the Lough, under the command of
+General Kirke, who had deserted his master, and been employed in the
+service of King William. He found means to convey intelligence to Walker
+that he had troops and provisions on board for their relief, but found it
+impracticable to sail up the river. He promised, however, that he would
+land a body of forces at the Inch, and endeavor to make a diversion in
+their favor, when joined by the troops at Inniskillen, which amounted to
+five thousand men, including two thousand cavalry. He said he expected six
+thousand men from England, where they were embarked before he set sail; he
+exhorted them to persevere in their courage and loyalty, and assured them
+that he would come to their relief at all hazards. The assurances enabled
+them to bear their miseries a little longer, though their numbers daily
+diminished. Major Baker dying, his place was filled by Colonel Michelburn,
+who now acted as colleague to Mr. Walker.
+
+King James having returned to Dublin to be present at the Parliament, the
+command of his army devolved to the French general, Rosene,[1] who was
+exasperated by such an obstinate opposition by a handful of half-starved
+militia. He threatened to raze the town to its foundations and destroy the
+inhabitants without distinction of age or sex unless they would immediately
+submit themselves to their lawful sovereign. The governors treated his
+menaces with contempt, and published an order that no person, on pain of
+death, should talk of surrendering. They had now consumed the last remains
+of their provisions, and supported life by eating the flesh of horses,
+dogs, cats, rats, mice, and tallow, starch, and salted hides; and even
+this loathsome food began to fail. Rosene, finding them deaf to all his
+proposals, threatened to wreak his vengeance on all the Protestants of that
+county and drive them under the walls of Londonderry, where they should be
+suffered to perish by famine. The Bishop of Meath being informed of this
+design, complained to King James of the barbarous intention, entreating his
+majesty to prevent its being put into execution; that Prince assured
+him that he had already ordered Rosene to desist from such proceedings;
+nevertheless, the Frenchman executed his threats with the utmost rigor.
+
+[Footnote 1: James was assisted in his attempt by a small body of French
+troops, England having entered the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV.--ED.]
+
+Parties of dragoons were detached on this cruel service. After having
+stripped all the Protestants for thirty miles round, they drove these
+unhappy people before them like cattle, without even sparing the enfeebled
+old men, nurses with infants at their breasts, and tender children. About
+four thousand of these miserable objects were driven under the walls of
+Londonderry. This expedient, far from answering the purpose of Rosene,
+produced a quite contrary effect. The besieged were so exasperated at this
+act of inhumanity that they resolved to perish rather than submit to such a
+barbarian. They erected a gibbet in sight of the enemy, and sent a message
+to the French general importing that they would hang all the prisoners they
+had taken during the siege unless the Protestants whom they had driven
+under the walls should be immediately dismissed. This threat produced a
+negotiation, in consequence of which the Protestants were released after
+they had been detained three days without tasting food. Some hundreds
+died of famine or fatigue; and those who lived to return to their own
+habitations found them plundered and sacked by the papists, so that the
+greater number perished for want, or were murdered by straggling parties of
+the enemy. Yet these very people had for the most part obtained protection
+from King James, to which no respect was paid by his general.
+
+The garrison of Londonderry was now reduced from seven thousand to five
+thousand seven hundred men, and these were driven to such extremity of
+distress that they began to talk of killing the popish inhabitants and
+feeding on their bodies. Kirke, who had hitherto lain inactive, ordered
+two ships laden with provisions to sail up the river, under convoy of the
+Dartmouth (frigate); one of these, called the Mountjoy, broke the enemy's
+boom, and all the three--after having sustained a very hot fire from both
+sides of the river--arrived in safety at the town, to the inexpressible joy
+of the inhabitants.
+
+The army of James was so dispirited by the success of this enterprise that
+they abandoned the siege in the night, and retired with precipitation,
+after having lost about nine thousand men before the place. Kirke no sooner
+took possession of the town than Walker was prevailed upon to embark for
+England, with an address of thanks from the inhabitants to their majesties
+for the seasonable relief they had received.
+
+King James trusted so much to the disputes in the English Parliament that
+he did not believe his son-in-law would be able to quit that kingdom, and
+William had been six days in Ireland before he received intimation of his
+arrival. This was no sooner known than he left Dublin under the guard
+of the militia, commanded by Luttrel, and, with a reënforcement of six
+thousand infantry which he had lately received from France, joined the
+rest of his forces, which now almost equalled William's army in number,
+exclusive of about fifteen thousand men who remained in different
+garrisons. He occupied a very advantageous post on the bank of the Boyne,
+and, contrary to the advice of his general officers, resolved to stand
+battle. They proposed to strengthen their garrisons, and retire to the
+Shannon, to wait the effect of the operations at sea.
+
+Louis had promised to equip a powerful armament against the English fleet,
+and send over a great number of small frigates to destroy William's
+transports, as soon as their convoy should be returned to England; the
+execution of this scheme was not at all difficult, and must have proved
+fatal to the English army, for their stores and ammunition were still on
+board; the ships sailed along the coast as the troops advanced in their
+march; and there was not one secure harbor into which they could retire on
+any emergency. James, however, was bent on hazarding an engagement, and
+expressed uncommon confidence and alacrity. Besides the river, which was
+deep, his front was secured by a morass and a rising ground; so that the
+English army could not attack him without manifest disadvantage.
+
+King William marched up to the opposite bank of the river, and as he
+reconnoitred their situation was exposed to the fire of some field-pieces,
+which the enemy purposely planted against his person. They killed a man and
+two horses close by him, and the second bullet rebounding from the earth,
+grazed on his right shoulder, so as to carry off part of his clothes and
+skin and produce a considerable contusion. This accident, which he bore
+without the least emotion, created some confusion among his attendants,
+which, the enemy perceiving, concluded he was killed, and shouted aloud in
+token of their joy; the whole camp resounded with acclamation, and several
+squadrons of their horse were drawn down toward the river as if they
+intended to pass it immediately and attack the English army. The report was
+instantly communicated from place to place until it reached Dublin; from
+thence it was conveyed to Paris, where, contrary to the custom of the
+French court, the people were encouraged to celebrate the event with
+bonfires and illuminations.
+
+William rode along the line to show himself to the army after this narrow
+escape. At night he called a council of war, and declared his resolution to
+attack the enemy in the morning. Schomberg[1] at first opposed his design,
+but, finding the King determined, he advised that a strong detachment of
+horse and foot should that night pass the Boyne at Slane bridge and take
+post between the enemy and the pass at Duleck, that the action might be the
+more decisive; this counsel being rejected, the King determined that early
+in the morning Lieutenant-general Douglas with the right wing of the
+infantry, and young Schomberg with the horse, should pass at Slane bridge,
+while the main body of the foot should force their passage at Old bridge,
+and the left at certain fords between the enemy's camp and Drogheda. The
+Duke, perceiving that his advice was not relished by the Dutch generals,
+retired to his tent, where, the order of battle being brought to him, he
+received it with an air of discontent, saying it was the first that had
+ever been sent to him in that manner. The proper dispositions being made,
+William rode quite through the army by torchlight, and then retired to his
+tent after having given orders to his soldiers to distinguish themselves
+from the enemy by wearing green boughs in their hats during the action.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Duke of Schomberg, who commanded for William, had
+accompanied him to England in 1688. The Duke is further spoken of below.
+"Young Schomberg" was his son.--ED.]
+
+At six o'clock in the morning, General Douglas, with young Schomberg, the
+Earl of Portland, and Auverquerque, marched to Slane bridge, and passed the
+river with very little opposition. When they reached the farther bank they
+perceived the enemy drawn up in two lines, to a considerable number of
+horse and foot, with a morass in their front, so that Douglas was obliged
+to wait for reinforcements. This being arrived, the infantry was led on to
+the charge through the morass, while Count Schomberg rode round it with his
+cavalry, to attack the enemy in flank. The Irish, instead of waiting the
+assault, faced about, and retreated toward Duleck with some precipitation;
+yet not so fast but that Schomberg fell in among their rear, and did
+considerable execution. King James, however, soon reënforced his left
+wing from the centre; and the Count was in his turn obliged to send for
+assistance.
+
+At this juncture King William's main body, consisting of the Dutch guards,
+the French regiments,[1] and some battalions of English, passed the river,
+which was waist-high, under a general discharge of artillery. King James
+had imprudently removed his cannon from the other side; but he had posted a
+strong body of musketeers along the bank, behind hedges, houses, and some
+works raised for the occasion; these poured in a close fire on the English
+troops before they reached the shore; but it produced very little effect.
+Then the Irish gave way, and some battalions landed without further
+opposition; yet before they could form, they were charged with great
+impetuosity by a squadron of the enemy's horse, and a considerable body of
+their cavalry and foot, commanded by General Hamilton, advanced from behind
+some little hillocks to attack those that were landed as well as to prevent
+the rest from reaching the shore; his infantry turned their backs and fled
+immediately; but the horse charged with incredible fury, both on the bank
+and in the river, so as to put the unformed regiments in confusion.
+
+[Footnote 1: French Protestants or Huguenots.--ED.]
+
+Then the Duke of Schomberg passed the river in person, put himself at the
+head of the French Protestants, and pointing to the enemy, "Gentlemen,"
+said he, "those are your persecutors." With these words he advanced to the
+attack, where he himself sustained a violent onset from a party of the
+Irish horse, which had broken through one of the regiments and were now on
+their return. They were mistaken for English, and allowed to gallop up
+to the Duke, who received two severe wounds in the head; but the French
+troops, now sensible of their mistake, rashly threw in their fire on the
+Irish while they were engaged with the Duke, and, instead of saving, shot
+him dead on the spot.
+
+The death of this general had wellnigh proved fatal to the English army,
+which was immediately involved in tumult and disorder; while the infantry
+of King James rallied and returned to their posts with a face of
+resolution. They were just ready to fall on the centre when King William,
+having passed with the left wing, composed of the Danish, Dutch, and
+Inniskillen horse, advanced to attack them on the right: they were struck
+with such a panic at his appearance that they made a sudden halt, and then
+facing about retreated to the village of Dunmore. There they made such a
+vigorous stand that the Dutch and Danish horse, though headed by the King
+in person, recoiled; even the Inniskillens gave way, and the whole wing
+would have been routed had not a detachment of dragoons, belonging to the
+regiment of Cunningham and Levison, dismounted and lined the hedges on each
+side of the ditch through which the fugitives were driven; there they did
+such execution on the pursuers as soon checked their ardor. The horse,
+which were broken, had now time to rally, and, returning to the charge,
+drove the enemy before them in their turn.
+
+In this action General Hamilton, who had been the life and soul of the
+Irish during the whole engagement, was wounded and taken, an incident which
+discouraged them to such a degree that they made no further efforts to
+retrieve the advantage they had lost. He was immediately brought to
+the King, who asked him if he thought the Irish would make any further
+resistance, and he replied, "On my honor I believe they will, for they
+have still a good body of horse entire." William, eying him with a look of
+disdain, repeated, "Your honor, your honor!" but took no other notice of
+his having acted contrary to his engagement, when he was permitted to go to
+Ireland on promise of persuading Tyrconnel to submit to the new government.
+The Irish now abandoned the field with precipitation; but the French and
+Swiss troops, that acted as their auxiliaries under De Lauzun, retreated
+in good order, after having maintained the battle for some time with
+intrepidity and perseverance.
+
+As King William did not think proper to pursue the enemy, the carnage was
+not great; the Irish lost a thousand five hundred men and the English
+about one-third of that number; though the victory was dearly purchased,
+considering the death of the gallant Duke of Schomberg, who fell, in the
+eighty-second year of his age, after having rivalled the best generals of
+that time in military reputation. He was the descendant of a noble family,
+in the Palatinate, and his mother was an Englishwoman, daughter of Lord
+Dudley. Being obliged to leave his country on account of the troubles
+by which it was agitated, he commenced a soldier of fortune, and served
+successively in the armies of Holland, England, France, Portugal, and
+Brandenburg; he attained to the dignity of mareschal in France, grandee in
+Portugal, generalissimo in Prussia, and duke in England. He professed the
+Protestant religion; was courteous and humble in his deportment; cool,
+penetrating, resolute, and sagacious, nor was his probity inferior to his
+courage.
+
+This battle also proved fatal to the barve Caillemote, who had followed
+the Duke's fortunes, and commanded one of the Protestant regiments. After
+having received a mortal wound, he was carried back through the river by
+four soldiers, and, though almost in the agonies of death, he, with a
+cheerful countenance, encouraged those who were crossing to do their duty,
+exclaiming, "_A la gloire, mes enfants, à la gloire!_" ("To glory, my lads,
+to glory!")
+
+The third remarkable person who lost his life on this occasion was Walker,
+the clergyman, who had so valiantly defended Londonderry against the whole
+army of King James; he had been very graciously received by King William,
+who gratified him with a reward of five thousand pounds and a promise of
+further favor; but, his military genius still predominating, he attended
+his royal patron in this battle, and, being shot, died in a few minutes.
+
+The persons of distinction who fell on the other side were the Lords Dongan
+and Carlingford; Sir Neile O'Neile and the Marquis of Hocquincourt. James,
+himself, stood aloof during the action on the hill of Dunmore, surrounded
+with some squadrons of horse, and seeing victory declare against him
+retired to Dublin without having made the least effort to reassemble his
+broken forces. Had he possessed either spirit or conduct his army might
+have been rallied and reënforced from his garrisons, so as to be in a
+condition to keep the field and even to act on the offensive; for his loss
+was inconsiderable, and the victor did not attempt to molest his troops
+in their retreat, an omission which has been charged to him as a flagrant
+instance of misconduct. Indeed, through the whole of this engagement
+William's personal courage was much more conspicuous than his military
+skill.
+
+
+
+%SALEM WITCHCRAFT TRIALS%
+
+
+A.D. 1692
+
+RICHARD HILDRETH
+
+
+Among the people of Massachusetts during the century which saw the Pilgrims
+seek religious liberty there, a delusion broke out which not only spread
+horror through the community and caused suffering and disgrace even in
+the most respectable families, but has baffled all later attempts at
+explanation. The witchcraft madness, as manifested there and elsewhere
+in the world, has remained alike the puzzle of history and the riddle of
+psychology.
+
+Historically, witchcraft is classed with other occult phenomena or
+practices connected with supposed supernatural influences. The famous
+trials and executions for witchcraft which took place in and near Salem,
+Massachusetts, toward the end of the seventeenth century, owed their
+special prominence to their peculiar localization and environment.
+Otherwise they might have been regarded as nothing more than incidents of a
+once general course in criminal procedure. Thousands in Europe had already
+suffered similar condemnation, and the last recorded execution for
+witchcraft in Great Britain did not occur till 1722. Even so late as 1805 a
+woman was imprisoned for this "crime" in Scotland.
+
+Hildreth's account skilfully condenses the essential matters relating to
+this strange episode in Massachusetts history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The practice of magic, sorcery, and spells, in the reality of which all
+ignorant communities have believed, had long been a criminal offence in
+England. A statute of the thirty-third year of Henry VIII made them capital
+felonies. Another statute of the first year of James I, more specific in
+its terms, subjected to the same penalty all persons "invoking any evil
+spirit, or consulting, covenanting with, entertaining, employing, feeding,
+or rewarding any evil spirit, or taking up dead bodies from their graves to
+be used in any witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment, or killing or
+otherwise hurting any person by such infernal arts."
+
+That second Solomon, before whom the illustrious Bacon bowed with so much
+reverence, was himself a firm believer in witchcraft. He professed, indeed,
+to be an adept in the art of detecting witches, an art which became the
+subject of several learned treatises, one of them from James' own royal
+pen. During the Commonwealth England had abounded with professional
+witch-detectors, who travelled from county to county, and occasioned the
+death of many unfortunate persons. The "Fundamentals" of Massachusetts
+contained a capital law against witchcraft, fortified by that express
+declaration of Scripture, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
+
+Yet, among other evidences of departure from ancient landmarks, and of
+the propagation even to New England of a spirit of doubt, were growing
+suspicions as to the reality of that everyday supernaturalism which formed
+so prominent a feature of the Puritan theology. The zeal of Increase Mather
+against this rising incredulity had engaged him, while the old charter was
+still in existence, to publish a book of _Remarkable Providences_, in which
+were enumerated, among other things, all the supposed cases of witchcraft
+which had hitherto occurred in New England, with arguments to prove their
+reality.
+
+What at that time had given the matter additional interest was the case of
+a bewitched or haunted house at Newbury. An intelligent neighbor, who had
+suggested that a mischievous grandson of the occupant might perhaps be at
+the bottom of the mystery, was himself accused of witchcraft and narrowly
+escaped. A witch, however, the credulous townspeople were resolved to find,
+and they presently fixed upon the wife of the occupant as the culprit.
+Seventeen persons testified to mishaps experienced in the course of
+their lives, which they charitably chose to ascribe to the ill-will and
+diabolical practices of this unfortunate old woman. On this evidence she
+was found guilty by the jury; but the magistrates, more enlightened,
+declined to order her execution. The deputies thereupon raised a loud
+complaint at this delay of justice. But the firmness of Governor
+Bradstreet, supported as he was by the moderate party, and the abrogation
+of the charter which speedily followed, saved the woman's life.
+
+This same struggle of opinion existed also in the mother-country, where
+the rising sect of "freethinkers" began to deny and deride all diabolical
+agencies. Nor was this view confined to professed freethinkers. The
+latitudinarian party in the Church, a rapidly growing body, leaned
+perceptibly the same way. The "serious ministers," on the other hand, led
+by Richard Baxter, their acknowledged head, defended with zeal the reality
+of witchcraft and the personality and agency of the devil, to deny which
+they denounced as little short of atheism. They supported their opinions
+by the authority of Sir Matthew Hale, lord chief justice of England,
+as distinguished for piety as for knowledge of the law, under whose
+instructions two alleged witches, at whose trials he had presided shortly
+after the Restoration, had been found guilty and executed. The accounts
+of those trials, published in England on occasion of this controversy and
+republished at Boston, had tended to confirm the popular belief. The doubts
+by which Mather had been alarmed were yet confined to a few thinking men.
+Read with a forward and zealous faith, these stories did not fail to make a
+deep impression on the popular imagination.
+
+While Andros was still governor, shortly after Increase Mather's departure
+for England, four young children, members of a pious family in Boston, the
+eldest a girl of thirteen, the youngest a boy not five, had begun to behave
+in a singular manner, barking like dogs, purring like cats, seeming to
+become deaf, blind, or dumb, having their limbs strangely distorted,
+complaining that they were pinched, pricked, pulled, or cut--acting out, in
+fact, the effects of witchcraft, according to the current notions of it
+and the descriptions in the books above referred to. The terrified
+father called in Dr. Oakes, a zealous leader of the ultra-theocratic
+party--presently sent to England as joint agent with Mather--who gave
+his opinion that the children were bewitched. The oldest girl had lately
+received a bitter scolding from an old Irish indented servant, whose
+daughter she had accused of theft.
+
+This same old woman, from indications no doubt given by the children,
+was soon fixed upon as being the witch. The four ministers of Boston and
+another from Charlestown having kept a day of fasting and prayer at the
+troubled house, the youngest child was relieved. But the others, more
+persevering and more artful, continuing as before, the old woman was
+presently arrested and charged with bewitching them. She had for a long
+time been reputed a witch, and she even seems to have flattered herself
+that she was one. Indeed, her answers were so "senseless" that the
+magistrates referred it to the doctors to say if she were not "crazed in
+her intellects." On their report of her sanity, the old woman was tried,
+found guilty, and executed.
+
+Though Increase Mather was absent on this interesting occasion, he had a
+zealous representative in his son, Cotton Mather, by the mother's side
+grandson of the "Great Cotton," a young minister of twenty-five, a prodigy
+of learning, eloquence, and piety, recently settled as colleague with his
+father over Boston North Church. Cotton Mather had an extraordinary memory,
+stuffed with all sorts of learning. His application was equal to that of a
+German professor. His lively imagination, trained in the school of Puritan
+theology, and nourished on the traditionary legends of New England, of
+which he was a voracious and indiscriminate collector, was still further
+stimulated by fasts, vigils, prayers, and meditations almost equal to
+those of any Catholic saint. Of a temperament ambitious and active, he was
+inflamed with a great desire of "doing good." Fully conscious of all his
+gifts, and not a little vain of them, like the Jesuit missionaries in
+Canada, his contemporaries, he believed himself to be often, during his
+devotional exercises, in direct and personal communication with the Deity.
+
+In every piece of good-fortune he saw a special answer to his prayers; in
+every mortification or calamity, the special personal malice of the devil
+and his agents. Yet both himself and his father were occasionally troubled
+with "temptations to atheism," doubts which they did not hesitate to
+ascribe to diabolical influence. The secret consciousness of these doubts
+of their own was perhaps one source of their great impatience at the doubts
+of others.
+
+Cotton Mather had taken a very active part in the late case of witchcraft;
+and, that he might study the operations of diabolical agency at his
+leisure, and thus be furnished with evidence and arguments to establish
+its reality, he took the eldest of the bewitched children home to his own
+house. His eagerness to believe invited imposture. His excessive vanity and
+strong prejudices made him easy game. Adroit and artful beyond her years,
+the girl fooled him to the top of his bent. His ready pen was soon
+furnished with materials for "a story all made up of wonders," which, with
+some other matters of the same sort, and a sermon preached on the occasion,
+he presently published, under the title of _Memorable Providences relating
+to Witchcrafts and Possessions_, with a preface in which he warned all
+"Sadducees" that he should regard their doubts for the future as a personal
+insult.
+
+Cotton Mather was not the only dupe. "The old heresy of the sensual
+Sadducees, denying the being of angels either good or evil," says the
+recommendatory preface to this book, signed by the other four ministers of
+Boston, "died not with them, nor will it, whilst men, abandoning both faith
+and reason, count it their wisdom to credit nothing but what they see or
+feel. How much this fond opinion hath gotten ground in this debauched age
+is awfully observable; and what a dangerous stroke it gives to settle men
+in atheism is not hard to discern. God is therefore pleased, besides the
+witness borne to this truth in Sacred Writ, to suffer devils sometimes to
+do such things in the world as shall stop the mouths of gainsayers, and
+extort a confession from them."
+
+They add their testimony to the truth of Mather's statements, which they
+commend as furnishing "clear information" that there is "both a God and a
+devil, and witchcraft." The book was presently republished in London, with
+a preface by Baxter, who pronounced the girl's case so "convincing" that
+"he must be a very obdurate Sadducee who would not believe it."
+
+Mather's sermon, prefixed to this narrative, is a curious specimen of
+fanatical declamation. "Witchcraft," he exclaims, "is a renouncing of God,
+and the advancement of a filthy devil into the throne of the Most High.
+Witchcraft is a renouncing of Christ, and preferring the communion of a
+loathsome, lying devil before all the salvation of the Lord Redeemer.
+Witchcraft is a siding with hell against heaven and earth, and therefore a
+witch is not to be endured in either of them. 'Tis a capital crime, and is
+to be prosecuted as a species of devilism that would not only deprive God
+and Christ of all his honor, but also plunder man of all his comfort.
+Nothing too vile can be said of, nothing too hard can be done to, such a
+horrible iniquity as witchcraft is!"
+
+Such declamations from such a source, giving voice and authority to the
+popular superstition, prepared the way for the tragedy that followed.
+The suggestion, however, that Cotton Mather, for purposes of his own,
+deliberately got up this witchcraft delusion, and forced it upon a doubtful
+and hesitating people, is utterly absurd. And so is another suggestion, a
+striking exhibition of partisan extravagance, that because the case of the
+four Boston children happened during the government of Andros, therefore
+the responsibility of that affair rests on him, and not on the people of
+Massachusetts. The Irish woman was tried under a Massachusetts law, and
+convicted by a Massachusetts jury; and, had Andros interfered to save her
+life, to the other charges against him would doubtless have been added that
+of friendship for witches.
+
+Cotton Mather seems to have acted, in a degree, the part of a demagogue.
+Yet he is not to be classed with those tricky and dishonest men, so common
+in our times, who play upon popular prejudices which they do not share, in
+the expectation of being elevated to honors and office. Mather's position,
+convictions, and temperament alike called him to serve on this occasion as
+the organ, exponent, and stimulator of the popular faith.
+
+The bewitched girl, as she ceased to be an object of popular attention,
+seems to have returned to her former behavior. But the seed had been sown
+on fruitful ground. After an interval of nearly four years, three young
+girls in the family of Parris, minister of Salem village, now Danvers,
+began to exhibit similar pranks. As in the Boston case, a physician
+pronounced them bewitched, and Tituba, an old Indian woman, the servant of
+Parris, who undertook, by some vulgar rites, to discover the witch, was
+rewarded by the girls with the accusation of being herself the cause of
+their sufferings. The neighboring ministers assembled at the house of
+Parris for fasting and prayer. The village fasted; and presently a general
+fast was ordered throughout the colony. The "bewitched children," thus
+rendered objects of universal sympathy and attention, did not long want
+imitators. Several other girls and two or three women of the neighborhood
+began to be afflicted in the same way, as did also John, the Indian husband
+of Tituba, warned, it would seem, by the fate of his wife.
+
+Parris took a very active part in discovering the witches; so did Noyes,
+minister of Salem, described as "a learned, a charitable, and a good man."
+A town committee was soon formed for the detection of the witches. Two
+of the magistrates, resident at Salem, entered with great zeal into
+the matter. The accusations, confined at first to Tituba and two other
+friendless women, one crazed, the other bedrid, presently included two
+female members of Parris' church, in which, as in so many other churches,
+there had been some sharp dissensions. The next Sunday after this
+accusation Parris preached from the verse, "Have I not chosen you twelve,
+and one is a devil?" At the announcement of this text the sister of one of
+the accused women rose and left the meeting-house. She, too, was accused
+immediately after, and the same fate soon overtook all who showed the least
+disposition to resist the prevailing delusion.
+
+The matter had now assumed so much importance that the Deputy-governor--for
+the provisional government was still in operation--proceeded to
+Salem village, with five other magistrates, and held a court in the
+meeting-house. A great crowd was present. Parris acted at once as clerk
+and accuser, producing the witnesses, and taking down the testimony. The
+accused were held with their arms extended and hands open, lest by the
+least motion of their fingers they might inflict torments on their victims,
+who sometimes affected to be struck dumb, and at others to be knocked down
+by the mere glance of an eye. They were haunted, they said, by the spectres
+of the accused, who tendered them a book, and solicited them to subscribe a
+league with the devil; and when they refused, would bite, pinch, scratch,
+choke, burn, twist, prick, pull, and otherwise torment them. At the mere
+sight of the accused brought into court, "the afflicted" would seem to be
+seized with a fit of these torments, from which, however, they experienced
+instant relief when the accused were compelled to touch them--infallible
+proof to the minds of the gaping assembly that these apparent sufferings
+were real and the accusations true. The theory was that the touch conveyed
+back into the witch the malignant humors shot forth from her eyes; and
+learned references were even made to Descartes, of whose new philosophy
+some rumors had reached New England, in support of this theory.
+
+In the examinations at Salem village meeting-house some very extraordinary
+scenes occurred. "Look there!" cried one of the afflicted; "there is Goody
+Procter on the beam!" This Goody Procter's husband, notwithstanding the
+accusation against her, still took her side, and had attended her to the
+court; in consequence of which act of fidelity some of "the afflicted"
+began now to cry out that he too was a wizard. At the exclamation above
+cited, "many, if not all, the bewitched had grievous fits."
+
+Question by the Court: "Ann Putnam, who hurts you?"
+
+Answer: "Goodman Procter, and his wife, too."
+
+Then some of the afflicted cry out, "There is Procter going to take up Mrs.
+Pope's feet!" and "immediately her feet are taken up."
+
+Question by the Court: "What do you say, Goodman Procter, to these things?"
+
+Answer: "I know not: I am innocent."
+
+Abigail Williams, another of the afflicted, cries out, "There is Goodman
+Procter going to Mrs. Pope!" and "immediately said Pope falls into a fit."
+
+A magistrate to Procter: "You see the devil will deceive you; the
+children," so all the afflicted were called, "could see what you were going
+to do before the woman was hurt. I would advise you to repentance, for you
+see the devil is bringing you out."
+
+Abigail Williams cries out again, "There is Goodman Procter going to hurt
+Goody Bibber!" and "immediately Goody Bibber falls into a fit." Abigail
+Williams and Ann Putnam both "made offer to strike at Elizabeth Procter;
+but when Abigail's hand came near, it opened, whereas it was made up into
+a fist before, and came down exceedingly lightly as it drew near to said
+Procter, and at length, with open and extended fingers, touched Procter's
+hood very lightly; and immediately Abigail cries out, 'My fingers, my
+fingers, my fingers burn!' and Ann Putnam takes on most grievously of her
+head, and sinks down."
+
+Such was the evidence upon which people were believed to be witches, and
+committed to prison to be tried for their lives! Yet, let us not hurry too
+much to triumph over the past. In these days of animal magnetism, have we
+not ourselves seen imposture as gross, and even in respectable quarters
+a headlong credulity just as precipitate? We must consider also that the
+judgments of our ancestors were disturbed, not only by wonder, but by fear.
+
+Encouraged by the ready belief of the magistrates and the public, "the
+afflicted" went on enlarging the circle of their accusations, which
+presently seemed to derive fresh corroboration from the confessions of some
+of the accused. Tituba had been flogged into a confession; others yielded
+to a pressure more stringent than blows. Weak women, astonished at the
+charges and contortions of their accusers, assured that they were witches
+beyond all doubt, and urged to confess as the only possible chance for
+their lives, were easily prevailed upon to repeat any tales put into their
+mouths: their journeys through the air on broomsticks to attend witch
+sacraments--a sort of travesty on the Christian ordinance--at which the
+devil appeared in the shape of a "small black man"; their signing the
+devil's book, renouncing their former baptism, and being baptized anew
+by the devil, who "dipped" them in "Wenham Pond," after the Anabaptist
+fashion.
+
+Called upon to tell who were present at these sacraments, the confessing
+witches wound up with new accusations; and by the time Phipps arrived in
+the colony, near a hundred persons were already in prison. The mischief was
+not limited to Salem. An idea had been taken up that the bewitched could
+explain the causes of sickness; and one of them, carried to Andover for
+that purpose, had accused many persons of witchcraft, and thrown the whole
+village into the greatest commotion. Some persons also had been accused in
+Boston and other towns.
+
+It was one of Governor Phipps' first official acts to order all the
+prisoners into irons. This restraint upon their motions might impede them,
+it was hoped, in tormenting the afflicted. Without waiting for the meeting
+of the General Court, to whom that authority properly belonged, Phipps
+hastened, by advice of his counsel, to organize a special court for the
+trial of the witches. Stoughton, the Lieutenant-governor, was appointed
+president; but his cold and hard temper, his theological education,
+and unyielding bigotry were ill qualifications for such an office. His
+associates, six in number, were chiefly Boston men, possessing a high
+reputation for wisdom and piety, among them Richards, the late agent,
+Wait Winthrop, brother of Fitz-John Winthrop, and grandson of the former
+Governor, and Samuel Sewell, the two latter subsequently, in turn,
+chief-justices of the province.
+
+The new court, thus organized, proceeded to Salem, and commenced operations
+by the trial of an old woman who had long enjoyed the reputation of being a
+witch. Besides "spectral evidence," that is, the tales of the afflicted, a
+jury of women, appointed to make an examination, found upon her a wart or
+excrescence, adjudged to be "a devil's teat." A number of old stories were
+also raked up of dead hens and foundered cattle and carts upset, ascribed
+by the neighbors to her incantations. On this evidence she was brought in
+guilty, and hanged a few days after, when the court took an adjournment to
+the end of the month.
+
+The first General Court under the new charter met meanwhile, and Increase
+Mather, who had returned in company with Phipps, gave an account of his
+agency. From a House not well pleased with the loss of the old charter he
+obtained a reluctant vote of thanks, but he received no compensation for
+four years' expenses, which had pressed very heavily upon his narrow
+income. After passing a temporary act for continuing in force all the old
+laws, among others the capital law against witchcraft, an adjournment was
+had, without any objection or even reference, so far as appears, to the
+special court for the trial of the witches, which surely would have raised
+a great outcry had it been established for any unpopular purpose.
+
+According to a favorite practice of the old Government, now put in use
+for the last time, Phipps requested the advice of the elders as to the
+proceedings against the witches. The reply, drawn up by the hand of Cotton
+Mather, acknowledges with thankfulness "the success which the merciful God
+has given to the sedulous and assiduous endeavors of our honorable rulers
+to defeat the abominable witchcrafts which have been committed in the
+country, humbly praying that the discovery of those mysterious and
+mischievous wickednesses may be perfected." It advises, however, "critical
+and exquisite caution" in relying too much on "the devil's authority," that
+is, on spectral evidence, or "apparent changes wrought in the afflicted
+by the presence of the accused"; neither of which, in the opinion of the
+ministers, could be trusted as infallible proof. Yet it was almost entirely
+on this sort of evidence that all the subsequent convictions were had.
+Stoughton, unfortunately, had espoused the opinion--certainly a plausible
+one--that it was impossible for the devil to assume the appearance of an
+innocent man, or for persons not witches to be spectrally seen at witches'
+meetings; and some of the confessing witches were prompt to flatter the
+chief justice's vanity by confirming a doctrine so apt for their purposes.
+
+At the second session of the special court five women were tried and
+convicted. The others were easily disposed of; but in the case of Rebecca
+Nurse, one of Parris' church-members, a woman hitherto of unimpeachable
+character, the jury at first gave a verdict of acquittal. At the
+announcement of this verdict "the afflicted" raised a great clamor. The
+"honored Court" called the jury's attention to an exclamation of the
+prisoner during the trial, expressive of surprise at seeing among the
+witnesses two of her late fellow-prisoners: "Why do these testify against
+me? They used to come among us!" These two witnesses had turned confessors,
+and these words were construed by the court as confirming their testimony
+of having met the prisoner at witches' meetings. The unhappy woman,
+partially deaf, listened to this colloquy in silence. Thus pressed by the
+Court, and hearing no reply from the prisoner, the jury changed their
+verdict and pronounced her guilty. The explanations subsequently offered in
+her behalf were disregarded. The Governor, indeed, granted a reprieve, but
+the Salem committee procured its recall, and the unhappy woman, taken in
+chains to the meeting-house, was solemnly excommunicated, and presently
+hanged with the others.
+
+At the third session of the court six prisoners were tried and convicted,
+all of whom were presently hanged except Elizabeth Procter, whose pregnancy
+was pleaded in delay. Her true and faithful husband, in spite of a letter
+to the Boston ministers, denouncing the falsehood of the witnesses,
+complaining that confessions had been extorted by torture, and begging for
+a trial at Boston or before other judges, was found guilty, and suffered
+with the rest. Another of this unfortunate company was John Willard,
+employed as an officer to arrest the accused, but whose imprudent
+expression of some doubts on the subject had caused him to be accused also.
+He had fled, but was pursued and taken, and was now tried and executed. His
+behavior, and that of Procter, at the place of execution, made, however, a
+deep impression on many minds.
+
+A still more remarkable case was that of George Burroughs, a minister whom
+the incursions of the Eastern Indians had lately driven from Saco back to
+Salem village, where he had formerly preached, and where he now found among
+his former parishioners enemies more implacable even than the Indians. It
+was the misfortune of Burroughs to have many enemies, in part, perhaps,
+by his own fault. Encouragement was thus found to accuse him. Some of
+the witnesses had seen him at witches' meetings; others had seen the
+apparitions of his dead wives, which accused him of cruelty. These
+witnesses, with great symptoms of horror and alarm, even pretended to see
+these dead wives again appearing to them in open court. Though small of
+size, Burroughs was remarkably strong, instances of which were given
+in proof that the devil helped him. Stoughton treated him with cruel
+insolence, and did his best to confuse and confound him.
+
+What insured his condemnation was a paper he handed to the jury, an extract
+from some author, denying the possibility of witchcraft. Burroughs' speech
+from the gallows affected many, especially the fluent fervency of his
+prayers, concluding with the Lord's Prayer, which no witch, it was thought,
+could repeat correctly. Several, indeed, had been already detected by some
+slight error or mispronunciation in attempting it. The impression, however,
+which Burroughs might have produced was neutralized by Cotton Mather, who
+appeared on horseback among the crowd, and took occasion to remind the
+people that Burroughs, though a preacher, was no "ordained" minister, and
+that the devil would sometimes assume even the garb of an angel of light.
+
+At a fourth session of the court six women were tried and found guilty. At
+another session shortly after, eight women and one man were convicted, all
+of whom received sentence of death. An old man of eighty, who refused to
+plead, was pressed to death--a barbarous infliction prescribed by the
+common law for such cases.
+
+Ever since the trials began, it had been evident that confession was the
+only avenue to safety. Several of those now found guilty confessed and were
+reprieved; but Samuel Woodwell, having retracted his confession, along with
+seven others who persisted in their innocence, was sent to execution. "The
+afflicted" numbered by this time about fifty; fifty-five had confessed
+themselves witches and turned accusers; twenty persons had already suffered
+death; eight more were under sentence; the jails were full of prisoners,
+and new accusations were added every day. Such was the state of things when
+the court adjourned to the first Monday in November.
+
+Cotton Mather employed this interval in preparing his _Wonders of the
+Invisible World_, containing an exulting account of the late trials, giving
+full credit to the statements of the afflicted and the confessors,
+and vaunting the good effects of the late executions in "the strange
+deliverance of some that had lain for many years in a most sad condition,
+under they knew not what evil hand."
+
+While the witch trials were going on, the Governor had hastened to
+Pemaquid, and in accordance with instructions brought with him from
+England, though at an expense to the province which caused loud complaints,
+had built there a strong stone fort. Colonel Church had been employed,
+in the mean time, with four hundred men, in scouring the shores of the
+Penobscot and the banks of the Kennebec.
+
+Notwithstanding some slight cautions about trusting too much to spectral
+evidence, Mather's book, which professed to be published at the special
+request of the Governor, was evidently intended to stimulate to further
+proceedings. But, before its publication, the reign of terror had already
+reached such a height as to commence working its own cure. The accusers,
+grown bold with success, had begun to implicate persons whose character and
+condition had seemed to place them beyond the possibility of assault. Even
+"the generation of the children of God" were in danger. One of the Andover
+ministers had been implicated; but two of the confessing witches came to
+his rescue by declaring that they had surreptitiously carried his shape to
+a witches' meeting, in order to create a belief that he was there. Hale,
+minister of Beverly, had been very active against the witches; but when his
+own wife was charged, he began to hesitate. A son of Governor Bradstreet,
+a magistrate of Andover, having refused to issue any more warrants, was
+himself accused, and his brother soon after, on the charge of bewitching a
+dog. Both were obliged to fly for their lives. Several prisoners, by the
+favor of friends, escaped to Rhode Island, but, finding themselves
+in danger there, fled to New York, where Governor Fletcher gave them
+protection. Their property was seized as forfeited by their flight. Lady
+Phipps, applied to in her husband's absence on behalf of an unfortunate
+prisoner, issued a warrant to the jailer in her own name, and had thus,
+rather irregularly, procured his discharge. Some of the accusers, it is
+said, began to throw out insinuations even against her.
+
+The extraordinary proceedings on the commitments and trials; the
+determination of the magistrates to overlook the most obvious falsehoods
+and contradictions on the part of the afflicted and the confessors, under
+pretence that the devil took away their memories and imposed upon their
+brain, while yet reliance was placed on their testimony to convict the
+accused; the partiality exhibited in omitting to take any notice of certain
+accusations; the violent means employed to obtain confessions, amounting
+sometimes to positive torture; the total disregard of retractions made
+voluntarily, and even at the hazard of life--all these circumstances had
+impressed the attention of the more rational part of the community; and, in
+this crisis of danger and alarm, the meeting of the General Court was most
+anxiously awaited.
+
+When that body assembled, a remonstrance came in from Andover against the
+condemnation of persons of good fame on the testimony of children and
+others "under diabolical influences." What action was taken on this
+remonstrance does not appear. The court was chiefly occupied in the passage
+of a number of acts, embodying some of the chief points of the old civil
+and criminal laws of the colony. The capital punishment of witchcraft was
+specially provided for in the very terms of the English act of Parliament.
+Heresy and blasphemy were also continued as capital offences. By the
+organization of the Superior Court under the charter, the special
+commission for the trial of witches was superseded. But of this Superior
+Court Stoughton was appointed chief justice, and three of his four
+colleagues had sat with him in the special court.
+
+There is no evidence that these judges had undergone any change of opinion;
+but when the new court proceeded to hold a special term at Salem for the
+continuation of the witch trials a decided alteration in public feeling
+became apparent. Six women of Andover renounced their confessions, and sent
+in a memorial to that effect. Of fifty-six indictments laid before the
+grand jury, only twenty-six were returned true bills. Of the persons tried,
+three only were found guilty. Several others were acquitted, the first
+instances of the sort since the trials began.
+
+The court then proceeded to Charlestown, where many were in prison on the
+same charge. The case of a woman who for twenty or thirty years had been
+reputed a witch, was selected for trial. Many witnesses testified against
+her; but the spectral evidence had fallen into total discredit, and was not
+used. Though as strong a case was made out as any at Salem, the woman was
+acquitted, with her daughter, granddaughter, and several others. News
+presently came of a reprieve for those under sentence of death at Salem, at
+which Stoughton was so enraged that he left the bench, exclaiming, "Who it
+is that obstructs the course of justice I know not; the Lord be merciful to
+the country!" nor did he again take his seat during that term.
+
+At the first session of the Superior Court at Boston the grand jury, though
+sent out to reconsider the matter, refused to find a bill even against a
+confessing witch.
+
+The idea was already prevalent that some great mistakes had been committed
+at Salem. The reality of witchcraft was still insisted upon as zealously as
+ever, but the impression was strong that the devil had used "the afflicted"
+as his instruments to occasion the shedding of innocent blood. On behalf
+of the ministers, Increase Mather came out with his _Cases of Conscience
+concerning Witchcraft_, in which, while he argued with great learning that
+spectral evidence was not infallible, and that the devil might assume the
+shape of an innocent man, he yet strenuously maintained as sufficient proof
+confession, or "the speaking such words or the doing such things as none
+but such as have familiarity with the devil ever did or can do." As to such
+as falsely confessed themselves witches, and were hanged in consequence,
+Mather thought that was no more than they deserved.
+
+King William's veto on the witchcraft act prevented any further trials;
+and presently, by Phipps' order, all the prisoners were discharged. To a
+similar veto Massachusetts owes it that heresy and blasphemy ceased to
+appear as capital crimes on her statute-book.
+
+The Mathers gave still further proof of faith unshaken by discovering an
+afflicted damsel in Boston, whom they visited and prayed with, and of whose
+case Cotton Mather wrote an account circulated in manuscript. This damsel,
+however, had the discretion to accuse nobody, the spectres that beset her
+being all veiled. Reason and common-sense at last found an advocate in
+Robert Calef, a citizen of Boston, sneered at by Cotton Mather as "a weaver
+who pretended to be a merchant." And afterward, when he grew more angry, as
+"a coal sent from hell" to blacken his character--a man, however, of sound
+intelligence and courageous spirit. Calef wrote an account, also handed
+about in manuscript, of what had been said and done during a visitation
+of the Mathers to this afflicted damsel, an exposure of her imposture
+and their credulity, which so nettled Cotton Mather that he commenced a
+prosecution for slander against Calef, which, however, he soon saw reason
+to drop.
+
+Calef then addressed a series of letters to Mather and the other Boston
+ministers, in which he denied and ridiculed the reality of any such
+compacts with the devil as were commonly believed in under the name of
+witchcraft. The witchcraft spoken of in the Bible meant no more, he
+maintained, than "hatred or opposition to the word and worship of God, and
+seeking to seduce therefrom by some sign"--a definition which he had found
+in some English writer on the subject, and which he fortified by divers
+texts.
+
+It was, perhaps, to furnish materials for a reply to Calef that a circular
+from Harvard College, signed by Increase Mather as president, and by all
+the neighboring ministers as fellows, invited reports of "apparitions,
+possessions, enchantments, and all extraordinary things, wherein the
+existence and agency of the invisible world is more sensibly demonstrated,"
+to be used "as some fit assembly of ministers might direct." But the
+"invisible world" was fast ceasing to be visible, and Cotton Mather laments
+that in ten years scarce five returns were received to this circular.
+
+Yet the idea of some supernatural visitation at Salem was but very slowly
+relinquished, being still persisted in even by those penitent actors in the
+scene who confessed and lamented their own delusion and blood-guiltiness.
+Such were Sewell, one of the judges; Noyes, one of the most active
+prosecutors; and several of the jurymen who had sat on the trials. The
+witnesses upon whose testimony so many innocent persons had suffered were
+never called to any account. When Calef's letters were presently published
+in London, together with his account of the supposed witchcraft, the book
+was burned in the college yard at Cambridge by order of Increase Mather.
+The members of the Boston North Church came out also with a pamphlet in
+defence of their pastors. Hale, minister of Beverly, in his _Modest Inquiry
+into the Nature of Witchcraft_, and Cotton Mather, in his _Magnalia_,
+though they admit there had been "a going too far" in the affair at Salem,
+are yet still as strenuous as ever for the reality of witchcraft.
+
+Nor were they without support from abroad. Dr. Watts, then one of the chief
+leaders of the English Dissenters, wrote to Cotton Mather, "I am persuaded
+there was much agency of the devil in those affairs, and perhaps there
+were some real witches, too." Twenty years elapsed before the heirs of the
+victims, and those who had been obliged to fly for their lives, obtained
+some partial indemnity for their pecuniary losses. Stoughton and Cotton
+Mather, though they never expressed the least regret or contrition for
+their part in the affair, still maintained their places in the public
+estimation. Just as the trials were concluded, Stoughton, though he held
+the King's commission as lieutenant-governor, was chosen a counsellor--a
+mark of confidence which the theocratic majority did not choose to extend
+to several of the moderate party named in the original appointment--and
+to this post he was annually reëlected as long as he lived; while Moody,
+because he had favored the escape of some of the accused, found it
+necessary to resign his pastorship of the First Church of Boston, and to
+return again to Portsmouth.
+
+Yet we need less wonder at the pertinacity with which this delusion was
+adhered to, when we find Addison arguing for the reality of witchcraft at
+the same time that he refuses to believe in any modern instance of it; and
+even Blackstone, half a century after, gravely declaring that "to deny the
+possibility, nay, actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once
+flatly to contradict the revealed word of God in various passages both of
+the Old and New Testament."
+
+
+
+%ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND%
+
+A.D. 1694
+
+JOHN FRANCIS
+
+
+Not only did the establishment of the Bank of England meet the demands of
+public exigency at the time; it also created an institution which was
+to become vitally important in the expanding life of the nation. This
+custodian of the public money and manager of the public debt of Great
+Britain is now the largest bank in the world. The only other financial
+institution that could show an equal record of long stability was the Bank
+of Amsterdam, which existed from 1609 to 1814.
+
+The national debt of England began in 1693, when William III, in order to
+carry on the war against France, resorted to a system of loans. This debt,
+however, was not intended to be permanent; but when the Bank of England was
+established, the contracting of a permanent debt began. Its advantages
+and disadvantages to England have been discussed by many theorists and
+financial authorities. But of the extraordinary service rendered to Great
+Britain by the far-seeing Scotchman, William Paterson, originator of the
+plan of the Bank of England, there is no question, although, as Francis
+shows, the project at first met with opposition from many quarters.
+
+The important position assumed by England, toward the middle of the
+seventeenth century, renders the absence of a national bank somewhat
+surprising. Under the sagacious government of Cromwell the nation had
+increased in commercial and political greatness; and although several
+projects were issued for banks, one of which was to have branches in every
+important town throughout the country, yet, a necessity for their formation
+not being absolutely felt, the proposals were dismissed. During the
+Protectorate, however, Parliament, taking into consideration the rate of
+interest, which was higher in England than abroad, and that the trade was
+thereby rendered comparatively disadvantageous to the English merchant,
+reduced the legal rate from 8 to 6 per cent., and this measure, although it
+had been carried by the Parliament of Cromwell, almost every act of which
+proved odious in the eyes of the Stuarts, was nevertheless confirmed by
+the legislature of Charles II. In 1546 the payment of interest had been
+rendered legal, and fixed at 10 per cent. In 1624 the rate had been reduced
+to 8 per cent.; and with the advance of commercial prosperity it had been
+found advisable to lower it still further.
+
+There were many reasons for the establishment of a national bank. It was
+necessary for the sake of a secure paper currency. It was required for the
+support of the national credit. It was desirable as a method of reducing
+the rate of interest paid by the state; a rate so high that, according to
+Anderson, men were induced to take their money out of trade, for the sake
+of securing it; an operation "big with mischief." The truth is that the
+times required it. The theorist may prove to demonstration the perfection
+of his theory; the speculator may show the certainty of its success: but
+unless it be a necessity called for by the onward progress of society, it
+must eventually fall to the ground.
+
+That the want of such an establishment was felt is certain. But while such
+firms as Childs--the books of whom go back to the year 1620, and refer to
+prior documents; Hoares, dating from 1680; and Snows, from 1685--were able
+to assist the public demand, although at the exorbitant interest of the
+period, it does not occasion so much surprise that the attempt made to meet
+the increasing requirements of trade proved insufficient. In 1678, sixteen
+years previous to the foundation of the Bank of England, "proposals for a
+large model of a bank" were published; and, in 1683 a "national bank of
+credit" was brought forward. In a rare pamphlet entitled _Bank Credit; or
+the usefullness and security of The Bank of Credit, examined in a dialogue
+between a Country Gentleman and a London Merchant_, this idea is warmly
+defended. It was, however, simply to have one of credit, nor was it
+proposed to form a bank of deposit; although, by the following remark of
+the "Country Gentleman," it is evident that such an establishment on a
+secure scale was desirable. He says:
+
+"Could they not without damage to themselves have secured the running
+cash of the nobility, gentry, merchants, and the traders of the city and
+kingdom, from all hazard, which would have been a great benefit to all
+concerned, who know not where to deposit their cash securely?"
+
+After much trouble this bank of credit was established at Devonshire House,
+in Bishopsgate Street; its object, as we have related, being principally
+to advance money to tradesmen and manufacturers on the security of goods.
+Three-fourths of the value was lent on these, and bills for their amount
+given to the depositor. In order to render them current, an appointed
+number of persons in each trade was formed into a society to regulate
+commercial concerns. Any individual possessed of such bills might therefore
+obtain from this company goods or merchandise with as much ease as if he
+offered current coin.
+
+The bank of credit does not appear to have flourished. The machinery was
+too complicated, and the risk of depreciation and the value of manufactures
+too great. It was next to impossible for such a company to exist after the
+Bank of England came with its low discount and free accommodations.
+
+The wild spirit of speculation--that spirit which at various periods has
+created fearful crises in the commercial world--commenced in 1694. The
+fever which from time to time has flushed the mind of the moneyed man, and
+given a fierce excitement to the almost penniless adventurer, was then and
+in the following year in full operation. The great South Sea scheme in 1720
+is ordinarily considered the earliest display of this reckless spirit.
+But a quarter of a century before, equal ingenuity and equal villany were
+exercised. Obscure men, whose sole capital was their enormous impudence,
+invented similar schemes, promised similar advantages, and used similar
+arts to entice the capitalists, which were employed with so much success at
+a later period.
+
+The want of a great banking association was sure to be made a pretext. Two
+"land banks," and a "London bank" to be managed by the magistrates, with
+several other proposals, were therefore put promisingly forward. One of
+these was for another "bank of credit"; and a pamphlet published in 1694,
+under the title of _England's Glory_, will give some idea of its nature:
+
+"If a person desires money to be returned at Coventry or York he pays it
+at the office in London, and receives a bill of credit after their form
+written upon marble paper, indenturewise, or on other as may be contrived
+to prevent counterfeiting." It was also proposed that the Government should
+share the profits; but neither of the projects was carried out.
+
+The people neglected their calling. The legitimate desire of money grew
+into a fierce and fatal spirit of avarice. The arts so common at a later
+day were had recourse to. Project begat project, copper was to be turned
+into brass. Fortunes were to be realized by lotteries. The sea was to yield
+the treasures it had engulfed. Pearl-fisheries were to pay impossible
+percentages. "Lottery on lottery," says a writer of the day, "engine on
+engine, multiplied wonderfully. If any person got considerably by a happy
+and useful invention, others followed in spite of the patent, and published
+printed proposals, filling the daily newspapers therewith, thus going on to
+jostle one another, and abuse the credulity of the people."
+
+Amid the many delusive and impracticable schemes were two important
+projects which have conferred great benefits on the English people. The
+first of these was the New River Company, the conception of Sir Hugh
+Middleton; the second was the corporation of the Bank of England. Nature
+and the great nations of antiquity suggested the former; the force and
+pressure of the times demanded the latter. It is from such demands that our
+chief institutions arise. By precept we may be taught their propriety; by
+example we may see their advantages. But until the necessity is personally
+felt they are sure to be neglected; and men wonder at their want of
+prescience and upbraid their shortsightedness when, with a sudden and
+sometimes startling success, the proposal they have slighted arises through
+the energy of another.
+
+William Paterson, one of those men whose capacity is measured by failure or
+success, was the originator of the new bank; and it is perhaps unfortunate
+for his fame that no biography exists of this remarkable person. As
+the projector of the present Bank of Scotland, as the very soul of the
+celebrated Darien Company, and as the founder of the Bank of England, he
+deserves notice. A speculator as well as an adventurous man, he proved his
+belief in the practicability of the Darien scheme by accompanying that
+unfortunate expedition; and the formation of the Bank of England was the
+object of his desires and the subject of his thoughts for a long time
+previous to its establishment.
+
+From that political change which had been so justly termed the "great
+revolution," to the establishment of the Bank of England, the new
+Government had been in constant difficulties; and the ministerial mode of
+procuring money was degrading to a great people. The duties in support of
+the war waged for liberty and Protestantism were required before they
+were levied. The city corporation was usually applied to for an advance;
+interest which varied probably according to the necessity of the borrower
+rather than to the real value of cash, was paid for the accommodation. The
+officers of the city went round in their turn to the separate wards, and
+borrowed in smaller amounts the money they had advanced to the state.
+Interest and premiums were thus often paid to the extent of 25 and even 30
+per cent., in proportion to the exigency of the case, and the trader found
+his pocket filled at the expense of the public. Mr. Paterson gives a
+graphic description:
+
+"The erection of this famous bank not only relieved the ministerial
+managers from their frequent processions into the city, for borrowing of
+money on the best and nearest public securities, at 10 or 12 per cent. per
+annum, but likewise gave life and currency to double or treble the value
+of its capital in other branches of the public credit, and so, under God,
+became the principal means of the success of the campaign in 1695; as,
+particularly, in reducing the important fortress of Namur, the first
+material step toward the peace concluded in 1679."
+
+To remedy this evil the Bank of England was projected; and after much
+labor, William Paterson, aided by Mr. Michael Godfrey, procured from
+Government a consideration of the proposal. The King was abroad when the
+scheme was laid before the council, but the Queen occupied his place. Here
+considerable opposition occurred. Paterson found it more difficult to
+procure consent than he anticipated, and all those who feared an invasion
+of their interests united to stop its progress. The goldsmith foresaw the
+destruction of his monopoly, and he opposed it from self-interest. The Tory
+foresaw an easier mode of gaining money for the government he abhorred,
+with a firmer hold on the people for the monarch he despised, and his
+antagonism bore all the energy of political partisanship.
+
+The usurer foresaw the destruction of his oppressive extortion, and he
+resisted it with the vigor of his craft. The rich man foresaw his profits
+diminished on government contracts, and he vehemently and virtuously
+opposed it on all public principles. Loud therefore were the outcries and
+great the exertions of all parties when the bill was first introduced
+to the House of Commons. But outcries are vain and exertions futile in
+opposition to a dominant and powerful party. A majority had been secured
+for the measure; and they who opposed its progress covered their defeat
+with vehement denunciations and vague prophecies. The prophets are in
+their graves, and their predictions only survive in the history of that
+establishment the downfall of which they proclaimed.
+
+"The scheme of a national bank," says Smollett, "had been recommended to
+the ministry for the credit and security of the Government and the increase
+of trade and circulation. William Paterson was author of that which was
+carried into execution. When it was properly digested in the cabinet, and
+a majority in Parliament secured, it was introduced into the House of
+Commons. The supporters said it would rescue the nation out of the hands
+of extortioners; lower interest; raise the value of land; revive public
+credit; extend circulation; improve commerce; facilitate the annual
+supplies; and connect the people more closely with Government. The project
+was violently opposed by a strong party, who affirmed that it would become
+a monopoly, and engross the whole of the kingdom; that it might be employed
+to the worst purposes of arbitrary power; that it would weaken commerce
+by tempting people to withdraw their money from trade; that brokers and
+jobbers would prey on their fellow-creatures; encourage fraud and gambling;
+and corrupt the morals of the nation."
+
+Previous governments had raised money with comparative ease because they
+were legitimate. That of William was felt to be precarious. It was feared
+by the money-lender that a similar convulsion to the one which had borne
+him so easily to the throne of a great nation might waft him back to the
+shores of that Holland he so dearly loved. Thus the very circumstances
+which made supplies necessary also made them scarce.
+
+In addition to these things his person was unpopular. His phlegmatic Dutch
+habits contrasted unfavorably with those of the graceful Stuarts,
+whose evil qualities were forgotten in the remembrance of their showy
+characteristics. Neither his Dutch followers nor his Dutch manners were
+regarded with favor; and had it not been for his eminently kingly capacity,
+these things would have proved as dangerous to the throne as they tended to
+make the sovereign unpopular. In a pamphlet published a few years after the
+establishment of the new corporation is the following vivid picture of this
+monarch's government:
+
+"In spite of the most glorious Prince and most vigilant General the world
+has ever seen, yet the enemy gained upon us every year; the funds were
+run down, the credit jobbed away in Change Alley, the King and his troops
+devoured by mechanics, and sold to usury, tallies lay bundled up like Bath
+fagots in the hands of brokers and stock-jobbers; the Parliament gave
+taxes, levied funds, but the loans were at the mercy of those men (the
+jobbers); and they showed their mercy, indeed, by devouring the King and
+the army, the Parliament, and indeed the whole nation; bringing their great
+Prince sometimes to that exigence through inexpressible extortions that
+were put upon him, that he has even gone into the fields without his
+equipage, nay even without his army; the regiments have been unclothed when
+the King had been in the field, and the willing, brave English spirits,
+eager to honor their country, and follow such a King, have marched even
+to battle without either stockings or shoes, while his servants have
+been every day working in Exchange Alley to get his men money of the
+stock-jobbers, even after all the horrible demands of discount have
+been allowed; and at last, scarce 50 per cent. of the money granted by
+Parliament has come into the hands of the Exchequer, and that late, too
+late for service, and by driblets, till the King has been tired with the
+delay."
+
+This is a strange picture; beating even Mr. Paterson's account of the
+"processions in the city," and adds another convincing proof of the
+necessity which then existed for some establishment, capable of advancing
+money at a reasonable rate, on the security of Parliamentary grants.
+
+The scheme proposed by William Paterson was too important not to meet with
+many enemies, and it appears from a pamphlet by Mr. Godfrey, the first
+deputy-governor, that "some pretended to dislike the bank only for fear it
+should disappoint their majesties of the supplies proposed to be raised."
+That "all the several companies of oppressors are strangely alarmed, and
+exclaim at the bank, and seemed to have joined in a confederacy against
+it." That "extortion, usury, and oppression were never so attacked as they
+are likely to be by the bank." That "others pretend the bank will join with
+the prince to make him absolute. That the concern have too good a bargain
+and that it would be prejudicial to trade." In Bishop Burners _History of
+His Own Times_ we read an additional evidence of its necessity:
+
+"It was visible that all the enemies of the Government set themselves
+against it with such a vehemence of zeal that this alone convinced all
+people that they saw the strength that our affairs would receive from it.
+I heard the Dutch often reckon the great advantage they had had from their
+banks, and they concluded that as long as England remained jealous of her
+Government, a bank could never be settled among us, nor gain credit among
+us to support itself, and upon that they judged that the superiority in
+trade must still be on their side."
+
+All these varied interests were vainly exerted to prevent the bill from
+receiving the royal sanction; and the Bank of England, founded on the same
+principles which guarded the banks of Venice and Genoa, was incorporated
+by royal charter, dated July 27, 1694. From Mr. Gilbart's _History and
+Principles of Banking_ we present the following brief analysis of this
+important act:
+
+"The Act of Parliament by which the Bank was established is entitled 'An
+Act for granting to their majesties several duties upon tonnage of ships
+and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other liquors, for securing certain
+recompenses and advantages in the said Act mentioned to such persons as
+shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds toward
+carrying on the war with France.' After a variety of enactments relative to
+the duties upon tonnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other
+liquors, the Act authorizes the raising of 1,200,000 pounds by voluntary
+subscription, the subscribers to be formed into a corporation and be styled
+'The Governor and Company of the Bank of England.'
+
+"The sum of 300,000 pounds was also to be raised by subscription, and the
+contributors to receive instead annuities for one, two, or three lives.
+Toward the 1,200,000 pounds no one person was to subscribe more than 10,000
+pounds before the first day of July, next ensuing, nor at any time more
+than 20,000 pounds. The Corporation were to lend their whole capital to the
+Government, for which they were to receive interest at the rate of 8 per
+cent. per annum, and 4000 pounds per annum for management; being 100,000
+pounds per annum on the whole. The Corporation were not allowed to borrow
+or owe more than the amount of their capital, and if they did so the
+individual members became liable to the creditors in proportion to the
+amount of their stock. The Corporation were not to trade in any 'goods,
+wares, or merchandise whatever, but they were allowed to deal in bills
+of Exchange, gold or silver bullion, and to sell any goods, wares, or
+merchandise upon which they had advanced money, and which had not been
+redeemed within three months after the time agreed upon.' The whole of the
+subscription was filled in a few days; 25 per cent. paid down; and, as we
+have seen, a charter was issued on July 27, 1694, of which the following
+are the most important points:
+
+"That the management and government of the corporation be admitted to the
+governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors, who shall be elected
+between March 25th and April 25th of each year, from among the members of
+the company, duly qualified.
+
+"That no dividend shall at any time be made by the said governor and
+company save only out of the interest, profit, or produce arising out of
+the said capital, stock, or fund, or by such dealing as is allowed by act
+of Parliament.
+
+"They must be natural-born subjects of England, or naturalized subjects;
+they shall have in their own name and for their own use, severally, viz.,
+the governor at least 4000 pounds, the deputy-governor 3000 pounds, and
+each director 2000 pounds of the capital stock of the said corporation.
+
+"That thirteen or more of the said governors or directors (of which the
+governor or deputy-governor shall be always one) shall constitute a court
+of directors for the management of the affairs of the company, and for the
+appointment of all agents and servants which may be necessary, paying them
+such salaries as they may consider reasonable.
+
+"Every elector must have, in his own name and for his own use, 500 pounds
+or more capital stock, and can only give one vote; he must, if required by
+any member present, take the oath of stock, or the declaration of stock if
+it be one of those people called Quakers.
+
+"Four general courts to be held in every year in the months of September,
+December, April, and July. A general court may be summoned at any time,
+upon the requisition of nine proprietors duly qualified as electors.
+
+"The majority of electors in general courts have the power to make and
+constitute by-laws and ordinances for the government of the corporation,
+provided that such by-laws and ordinances be not repugnant to the laws of
+the kingdom, and be confirmed and approved according to the statutes in
+such case made and provided."
+
+When the payment was completed it was handed into the exchequer, and the
+bank procured from other quarters the funds which it required. It employed
+the same means which the bankers had done at the Exchange, with this
+difference, that the latter traded with personal property, while the bank
+traded with the deposits of their customers. It was from the circulation
+of a capital so formed that the bank derived its profits. It is evident,
+however, from the pamphlet of the first deputy-governor, that at this
+period they allowed interest to their depositors; and another writer,
+D'Avenant, makes it a subject of complaint: "It would be for the general
+good of trade if the bank were restrained from allowing interest for
+running cash; for the ease of having 3 and 4 per cent. without trouble must
+be a continual bar to industry."
+
+First in Mercers' Hall, where they remained but a few months, and afterward
+in Grocers' Hall, since razed for the erection of a more stately structure,
+the Bank of England conducted its operations. Here, in one room, with
+almost primitive simplicity were gathered all who performed the duties of
+the establishment. "I looked into the great hall where the bank is kept,"
+says the graceful essayist of the day, "and was not a little pleased to see
+the directors, secretaries, and clerks, with all the other members of that
+wealthy Corporation, ranged in their several stations according to the
+parts they hold in that just and regular economy." The secretaries and
+clerks altogether numbered but fifty-four, while their united salaries did
+not exceed four thousand three hundred fifty pounds. But the picture is
+a pleasant one, and though so much unlike present usages it is doubtful
+whether our forefathers did not derive more benefit from intimate
+association with and kindly feelings toward their inferiors than their
+descendants receive from the broad line of demarcation adopted at the
+present day.
+
+The effect of the new corporation was almost immediately experienced. On
+August 8th, in the year of its establishment, the rate of discount on
+foreign bills was 6 per cent.; although this was the highest legal
+interest, yet much higher rates had been previously demanded. The name of
+William Paterson was not long upon the list of directors. The bank was
+established in 1694, and for that year only was its founder among those
+who managed its proceedings. The facts which led to his departure from the
+honorable post of director are difficult to collect; but it is not at all
+improbable that the character of Paterson was too speculative for those
+with whom he was joined in companionship. Sir John Dalrymple remarks,
+"The persons to whom he applied made use of his ideas, took the honor to
+themselves, were civil to him awhile, and neglected him afterward." Another
+writer says, "The friendless Scot was intrigued out of his post and out of
+the honors he had earned." These assertions must be received with caution;
+accusations against a great body are easily made; and it is rarely
+consistent with the dignity of the latter to reply; they are received as
+truths either because people are too idle to examine or because there is no
+opportunity of investigating them.
+
+
+
+%COLONIZATION OF LOUISIANA%
+
+A.D. 1699
+
+CHARLES E.T. GAYARRÉ
+
+
+It was not only as the beginning of what was to become an important State
+of the American Union, but also as a nucleus of occupation which led to
+an immense acquisition of territory by the United States, that the first
+settlement in Louisiana proved an event of great significance. Nothing in
+American history is of greater moment than the adding of the Louisiana
+Purchase (1803) to the United States domain. And the acquisition of that
+vast region, extending from New Orléans to British America, and westward
+from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, had historic connection with
+the French settlement of 1699.
+
+As early as 1630 the territory afterward known as Louisiana was mostly
+embraced in the Carolina grant by Charles I to Sir Robert Heath. It was
+taken into possession for the French King by La Salle in 1682, and named
+Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV. In 1698 Louis undertook to colonize the
+region of the lower Mississippi, and sent out an expedition under Pierre le
+Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, a naval commander, who had served in the French
+wars of Canada, and aided in establishing French colonies in North America.
+
+With two hundred colonists Iberville sailed (September 24, 1698) for the
+mouth of the Mississippi. Among his companions were his brothers, Sauvolle
+and Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. The latter was long
+governor of Louisiana, and founded New Orleans. Of their arrival and
+subsequent operations in the lower Mississippi region, Gayarré, the
+Louisiana historian, gives a glowing and picturesque account.
+
+On February 27, 1699, Iberville and Bienville reached the Mississippi. When
+they approached its mouth they were struck with the gloomy magnificence of
+the sight. As far as the eye could reach, nothing was to be seen but reeds
+which rose five or six feet above the waters in which they bathed their
+roots. They waved mournfully under the blast of the sharp wind of the
+north, shivering in its icy grasp, as it tumbled, rolled, and gambolled on
+the pliant surface. Multitudes of birds of strange appearance, with their
+elongated shapes so lean that they looked like metamorphosed ghosts,
+clothed in plumage, screamed in the air, as if they were scared of one
+another. There was something agonizing in their shrieks that was in harmony
+with the desolation of the place. On every side of the vessel, monsters of
+the deep and huge alligators heaved themselves up heavily from their native
+or favorite element, and, floating lazily on the turbid waters, seemed to
+gaze at the intruders.
+
+Down the river, and rumbling over its bed, there came a sort of low,
+distant thunder. Was it the voice of the hoary Sire of Rivers, raised in
+anger at the prospect of his gigantic volume of waters being suddenly
+absorbed by one mightier than he? In their progress it was with great
+difficulty that the travellers could keep their bark free from those
+enormous rafts of trees which the Mississippi seemed to toss about in mad
+frolic. A poet would have thought that the great river, when departing from
+the altitude of its birthplace, and as it rushed down to the sea through
+three thousand miles, had, in anticipation of a contest which threatened
+the continuation of its existence, flung its broad arms right and left
+across the continent, and, uprooting all its forests, had hoarded them
+in its bed as missiles to hurl at the head of its mighty rival when they
+should meet and struggle for supremacy.
+
+When night began to cast a darker hue on a landscape on which the
+imagination of Dante would have gloated there issued from that chaos of
+reeds such uncouth and unnatural sounds as would have saddened the gayest
+and appalled the most intrepid. Could this be the far-famed Mississippi,
+or was it not rather old Avernus? It was hideous indeed--but hideousness
+refined into sublimity, filling the soul with a sentiment of grandeur.
+Nothing daunted, the adventurers kept steadily on their course. They
+knew that through those dismal portals they were to arrive at the most
+magnificent country in the world; they knew that awful screen concealed
+loveliness itself. It was a coquettish freak of nature, when dealing with
+European curiosity, as it came eagerly bounding to the Atlantic wave, to
+herald it through an avenue so sombre as to cause the wonders of the
+great valley of the Mississippi to burst with tenfold more force upon
+the bewildered gaze of those who, by the endurance of so many perils and
+fatigues, were to merit admittance into its Eden.
+
+It was a relief for the adventurers when, after having toiled up the river
+for ten days, they at last arrived at the village of the Bayagoulas. There
+they found a letter of Tonty[1] to La Salle, dated in 1685. The letter, or
+rather that "speaking bark" as the Indians called it, had been preserved
+with great reverence. Tonty, having been informed that La Salle was
+coming with a fleet from France to settle a colony on the banks of the
+Mississippi, had not hesitated to set off from the northern lakes, with
+twenty Canadians and thirty Indians, and to come down to the Balize to meet
+his friend, who had failed to make out the mouth of the Mississippi, and
+had been landed by Beaujeu on the shores of Texas. After having waited
+for some time, and ignorant of what had happened, Tonty, with the same
+indifference to fatigues and dangers of an appalling nature, retraced his
+way back, leaving a letter to La Salle to inform him of his disappointment.
+Is there not something extremely romantic in the characters of the men of
+that epoch? Here is Tonty undertaking, with the most heroic unconcern, a
+journey of nearly three thousand miles, through such difficulties as it is
+easy for us to imagine, and leaving a letter to La Salle, as a proof of
+his visit, in the same way that one would, in these degenerate days of
+effeminacy, leave a card at a neighbor's house.
+
+[Footnote 1: Henry de Tonty was an Italian explorer who accompanied La
+Salle in his descent of the Mississippi (1681-1682).--ED.]
+
+The French extended their explorations up to the mouth of the Red River. As
+they proceeded through that virgin country, with what interest they must
+have examined every object that met their eyes, and listened to the
+traditions concerning De Soto,[2] and the more recent stories of the
+Indians on La Salle and the iron-handed Tonty! A coat of mail which was
+presented as having belonged to the Spaniards, and vestiges of their
+encampment on the Red River, confirmed the French in the belief that there
+was much of truth in the recitals of the Indians.
+
+[Footnote 2: De Soto explored this region in 1541.--ED.]
+
+On their return from the mouth of the Red River the two brothers separated
+when they arrived at Bayou Manchac. Bienville was ordered to go down the
+river to the French fleet, to give information of what they had seen and
+heard. Iberville went through Bayou Manchac to those lakes which are known
+under the names of Pontchartrain and Maurepas. Louisiana had been named
+from a king: was it not in keeping that those lakes should be called after
+ministers?
+
+From the Bay of St. Louis, Iberville returned to his fleet, where, after
+consultation, he determined to make a settlement at the Bay of Biloxi.
+On the east side, at the mouth of the bay, as it were, there is a slight
+swelling of the shore, about four acres square, sloping gently to the woods
+in the background, and on the bay. Thus this position was fortified by
+nature, and the French skilfully availed themselves of these advantages.
+The weakest point, which was on the side of the forest, they strengthened
+with more care than the rest, by connecting with a strong intrenchment the
+two ravines, which ran to the bay in a parallel line to each other. The
+fort was constructed with four bastions, and was armed with twelve pieces
+of artillery. When standing on one of the bastions which faced the bay, the
+spectator enjoyed a beautiful prospect. On the right, the bay could be
+seen running into the land for miles, and on the left stood Deer Island,
+concealing almost entirely the broad expanses of water which lay beyond. It
+was visible only at the two extreme points of the island, which both, at
+that distance, appeared to be within a close proximity of the mainland.
+No better description can be given than to say that the bay looked like a
+funnel to which the island was the lid, not fitting closely, however, but
+leaving apertures for egress and ingress. The snugness of the locality had
+tempted the French, and had induced them to choose it as the most favorable
+spot, at the time, for colonization. Sauvolle was put in command of the
+fort, and Bienville, the youngest of the three brothers, was appointed his
+lieutenant.
+
+A few huts having been erected round the fort, the settlers began to clear
+the land, in order to bring it into cultivation. Iberville having furnished
+them with all the necessary provisions, utensils, and other supplies,
+prepared to sail for France. How deeply affecting must have been the
+parting scene! How many casualties might prevent those who remained in this
+unknown region from ever seeing again those who, through the perils of such
+a long voyage, had to return to their home! What crowding emotions must
+have filled up the breast of Sauvolle, Bienville, and their handful of
+companions, when they beheld the sails of Iberville's fleet fading in the
+distance, like transient clouds! Well may it be supposed that it seemed to
+them as if their very souls had been carried away, and that they felt a
+momentary sinking of the heart when they found themselves abandoned, and
+necessarily left to their own resources, scanty as they were, on a patch
+of land between the ocean on one side and on the other a wilderness, which
+fancy peopled with every sort of terrors. The sense of their loneliness
+fell upon them like the gloom of night, darkening their hopes and filling
+their hearts with dismal apprehensions.
+
+But as the country had been ordered to be explored, Sauvolle availed
+himself of that circumstance to refresh the minds of his men by the
+excitement of an expedition into the interior of the continent. He
+therefore hastened to despatch most of them with Bienville, who, with a
+chief of the Bayagoulas for his guide, went to visit the Colapissas. They
+inhabited the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and their domains
+embraced the sites now occupied by Lewisburg, Mandeville, and
+Fontainebleau. That tribe numbered three hundred warriors, who, in their
+distant hunting-excursions, had been engaged in frequent skirmishes with
+some of the British colonists in South Carolina. When the French landed,
+they were informed that, two days previous, the village of the Colapissas
+had been attacked by a party of two hundred Chickasaws, headed by two
+Englishmen. These were the first tidings which the French had of their old
+rivals, and which proved to be the harbinger of the incessant struggle
+which was to continue for more than a century between the two races, and to
+terminate by the permanent occupation of Louisiana by the Anglo-Saxon.
+
+Bienville returned to the fort to convey this important information to
+Sauvolle. After having rested there for several days, he went to the Bay of
+Pascagoulas, and ascended the river which bears that name, and the banks
+of which were tenanted by a branch of the Biloxis, and by the Moelobites.
+Encouraged by the friendly reception which he met everywhere, he ventured
+farther, and paid a visit to the Mobilians, who entertained him with great
+hospitality. Bienville found them much reduced from what they had been, and
+listened with eagerness to the many tales of their former power, which had
+been rapidly declining since the crushing blow they had received from De
+Soto.
+
+When Iberville ascended the Mississippi the first time, he had remarked
+Bayou Plaquemines and Bayou Chetimachas. The one he called after the fruit
+of certain trees which appeared to have exclusive possession of its banks,
+and the other after the name of the Indians who dwelt in the vicinity. He
+had ordered them to be explored, and the indefatigable Bienville, on his
+return from Mobile, obeyed the instructions left to his brother, and made
+an accurate survey of these two bayous. When he was coming down the river,
+at the distance of about eighteen miles below the site where New Orleans
+now stands, he met an English vessel of sixteen guns, under the command of
+Captain Bar. The English captain informed the French that he was examining
+the banks of the river, with the intention of selecting a spot for the
+foundation of a colony. Bienville told him that Louisiana was a dependency
+of Canada; that the French had already made several establishments on the
+Mississippi; and he appealed, in confirmation of his assertions, to their
+own presence in the river, in such small boats, which evidently proved
+the existence of some settlement close at hand. The Englishman believed
+Bienville, and sailed back. Where this occurrence took place the river
+makes a considerable bend, and it was from the circumstance which I have
+related that the spot received the appellation of the "English Turn"--a
+name which it has retained to the present day. It was not far from that
+place, the atmosphere of which appears to be fraught with some malignant
+spell hostile to the sons of Albion, that the English, who were outwitted
+by Bienville in 1699, met with a signal defeat in battle from the Americans
+in 1815. The diplomacy of Bienville and the military genius of Jackson
+proved to them equally fatal when they aimed at the possession of
+Louisiana.
+
+Since the exploring expedition of La Salle down the Mississippi, Canadian
+hunters, whose habits and intrepidity Fenimore Cooper has so graphically
+described in the character of Leather-Stocking, used to extend their roving
+excursions to the banks of that river; and those holy missionaries of the
+Church, who, as the pioneers of religion, have filled the New World with
+their sufferings, and whose incredible deeds in the service of God afford
+so many materials for the most interesting of books, had come in advance
+of the pickaxe of the settler, and had domiciliated themselves among the
+tribes who lived near the waters of the Mississippi. One of them, Father
+Montigny, was residing with the Tensas, within the territory of the present
+parish of Tensas, in the State of Louisiana, and another, Father Davion,
+was the pastor of the Yazoos, in the present State of Mississippi.
+
+Such were the two visitors who in 1699 appeared before Sauvolle, at the
+fort of Biloxi, to relieve the monotony of his cheerless existence, and to
+encourage him in his colonizing enterprise. Their visit, however, was not
+of long duration, and they soon returned to discharge the duties of their
+sacred mission.
+
+Iberville had been gone for several months, and the year was drawing to
+a close without any tidings of him. A deeper gloom had settled over the
+little colony at Biloxi, when, on December 7th, some signal-guns were heard
+at sea, and the grateful sound came booming over the waters, spreading joy
+in every breast. There was not one who was not almost oppressed with the
+intensity of his feelings. At last, friends were coming, bringing relief to
+the body and to the soul! Every colonist hastily abandoned his occupation
+of the moment and ran to the shore. The soldier himself, in the eagerness
+of expectation, left his post of duty, and rushed to the parapet which
+overlooked the bay. Presently several vessels hove in sight, bearing the
+white flag of France, and, approaching as near as the shallowness of the
+beach permitted, folded their pinions, like water-fowl seeking repose on
+the crest of the billows.
+
+It was Iberville returning with the news that, on his representations,
+Sauvolle had been appointed by the King governor of Louisiana; Bienville,
+lieutenant-governor; and Boisbriant, commander of the fort at Biloxi, with
+the grade of major. Iberville, having been informed by Bienville of
+the attempt of the English to make a settlement on the banks of the
+Mississippi, and of the manner in which it had been foiled, resolved to
+take precautionary measures against the repetition of any similar attempt.
+Without loss of time he departed with Bienville, on January 16, 1700, and
+running up the river, he constructed a small fort, on the first solid
+ground which he met, and which is said to have been at a distance of
+fifty-four miles from its mouth.
+
+When so engaged, the two brothers one day saw a canoe rapidly sweeping down
+the river and approaching the spot where they stood. It was occupied by
+eight men, six of whom were rowers, the seventh was the steersman, and the
+eighth, from his appearance, was evidently of a superior order to that of
+his companions, and the commander of the party. Well may it be imagined
+what greeting the stranger received, when leaping on shore he made himself
+known as the Chevalier de Tonty, who had again heard of the establishment
+of a colony in Louisiana, and who, for the second time, had come to see
+if there was any truth in the report. With what emotion did Iberville and
+Bienville fold in their arms the faithful companion and friend of La Salle,
+of whom they had heard so many wonderful tales from the Indians, to whom he
+was so well known under the name of "Iron Hand"! With what admiration they
+looked at his person, and with what increasing interest they listened to
+his long recitals of what he had done and had seen on that broad continent,
+the threshold of which they had hardly passed!
+
+After having rested three days at the fort, the indefatigable Tonty
+reascended the Mississippi, with Iberville and Bienville, and finally
+parted with them at Natchez. Iberville was so much pleased with that part
+of the bank of the river where now exists the city of Natchez that he
+marked it down as a most eligible spot for a town, of which he drew the
+plan, and which he called Rosalie, after the maiden name of the Countess
+Pontchartrain, the wife of the chancellor. He then returned to the new
+fort he was erecting on the Mississippi, and Bienville went to explore the
+country of the Yatasses, of the Natchitoches, and of the Ouachitas.
+What romance can be more agreeable to the imagination than to accompany
+Iberville and Bienville in their wild explorations, and to compare the
+state of the country in their time with what it is in our days?
+
+When the French were at Natchez they were struck with horror at an
+occurrence, too clearly demonstrating the fierceness of disposition of that
+tribe which was destined in after years to become celebrated in the history
+of Louisiana. One of their temples having been set on fire by lightning, a
+hideous spectacle presented itself to the Europeans. The tumultuous rush of
+the Indians; the infernal howlings and lamentations of the men, women,
+and children; the unearthly vociferations of the priests, their fantastic
+dances and ceremonies around the burning edifice; the demoniac fury with
+which mothers rushed to the fatal spot, and, with the piercing cries and
+gesticulations of maniacs, flung their new-born babes into the flames
+to pacify their irritated deity--the increasing anger of the
+heavens--blackening with the impending storm, the lurid flashes of
+lightning darting as it were in mutual enmity from the clashing clouds--the
+low, distant growling of the coming tempest--the long column of smoke and
+fire shooting upward from the funeral pyre, and looking like one of the
+gigantic torches of Pandemonium--the war of the elements combined with
+the worst effects of frenzied superstition of man--the suddenness and
+strangeness of the awful scene--all the circumstances produced such an
+impression upon the French as to deprive them for a moment of the powers
+of volition and action. Rooted to the ground, they stood aghast with
+astonishment and indignation at the appalling scene. Was it a dream--a wild
+delirium of the mind? But no--the monstrous reality of the vision was but
+too apparent; and they threw themselves among the Indians, supplicating
+them to cease their horrible sacrifice to their gods, and joining threats
+to their supplications. Owing to this intervention, and perhaps because a
+sufficient number of victims had been offered, the priests gave the signal
+of retreat, and the Indians slowly withdrew from the accursed spot. Such
+was the aspect under which the Natchez showed themselves, for the first
+time, to their visitors: it was ominous presage for the future.
+
+After these explorations Iberville departed again for France, to solicit
+additional assistance from the government, and left Bienville in command
+of the new fort on the Mississippi. It was very hard for the two brothers,
+Sauvolle and Bienville, to be thus separated, when they stood so much in
+need of each other's countenance, to breast the difficulties that sprung
+up around them with a luxuriance which they seemed to borrow from the
+vegetation of the country. The distance between the Mississippi and Biloxi
+was not so easily overcome in those days as in ours, and the means which
+the two brothers had of communing together were very scanty and uncertain.
+
+Sauvolle died August 22,1701, and Louisiana remained under the sole
+charge of Bienville, who, though very young, was fully equal to meet that
+emergency, by the maturity of his mind and by his other qualifications. He
+had hardly consigned his brother to the tomb when Iberville returned with
+two ships of the line and a brig laden with troops and provisions.
+
+According to Iberville's orders, and in conformity with the King's
+instructions, Bienville left Boisbriant, his cousin, with twenty men, at
+the old fort of Biloxi, and transported the principal seat of the colony
+to the western side of the river Mobile, not far from the spot where now
+stands the city of Mobile. Near the mouth of that river there is an island,
+which the French had called Massacre Island from the great quantity of
+human bones which they found bleaching on its shores. It was evident that
+there some awful tragedy had been acted; but Tradition, when interrogated,
+laid her choppy finger upon her skinny lips, and answered not.
+
+This uncertainty, giving a free scope to the imagination, shrouded the
+place with a higher degree of horror and with a deeper hue of fantastical
+gloom. It looked like the favorite ballroom of the witches of hell. The
+wind sighed so mournfully through the shrivelled-up pines, those vampire
+heads seemed incessantly to bow to some invisible and grisly visitors: the
+footsteps of the stranger emitted such an awful and supernatural sound,
+when trampling on the skulls which strewed his path, that it was impossible
+for the coldest imagination not to labor under some crude and ill-defined
+apprehension. Verily, the weird sisters could not have chosen a fitter
+abode. Nevertheless, the French, supported by their mercurial temperament,
+were not deterred from forming an establishment on that sepulchral island,
+which, they thought, afforded some facilities for their transatlantic
+communications.
+
+In 1703 war had broken out between Great Britain, France, and Spain; and
+Iberville, a distinguished officer of the French navy, was engaged in
+expeditions that kept him away from the colony. It did not cease, however,
+to occupy his thoughts, and had become clothed, in his eye, with a sort
+of family interest. Louisiana was thus left, for some time, to her scanty
+resources; but, weak as she was, she gave early proofs of that generous
+spirit which has ever since animated her; and on the towns of Pensacola and
+St. Augustine, then in possession of the Spaniards, being threatened with
+an invasion by the English of South Carolina, she sent to her neighbors
+what help she could in men, ammunition, and supplies of all sorts. It was
+the more meritorious as it was the _obolus_ of the poor!
+
+The year 1703 slowly rolled by and gave way to 1704. Still, nothing was
+heard from the parent country. There seemed to be an impassable barrier
+between the old and the new continent. The milk which flowed from the
+motherly breast of France could no longer reach the parched lips of her
+new-born infant; and famine began to pinch the colonists, who scattered
+themselves all along the coast, to live by fishing. They were reduced to
+the veriest extremity of misery, and despair had settled in every bosom,
+in spite of the encouragements of Bienville, who displayed the most manly
+fortitude amid all the trials to which he was subjected, when suddenly a
+vessel made its appearance. The colonists rushed to the shore with wild
+anxiety, but their exultation was greatly diminished when, on the nearer
+approach of the moving speck, they recognized the Spanish instead of the
+French flag. It was relief, however, coming to them, and proffered by a
+friendly hand. It was a return made by the governor of Pensacola for the
+kindness he had experienced the year previous. Thus the debt of gratitude
+was paid: it was a practical lesson. Where the seeds of charity are cast,
+there springs the harvest in time of need.
+
+Good things, like evils, do not come singly, and this succor was but the
+herald of another one, still more effectual, in the shape of a ship from
+France. Iberville had not been able to redeem his pledge to the poor
+colonists, but he had sent his brother Chateaugué in his place, at the
+imminent risk of being captured by the English, who occupied, at that time,
+most of the avenues of the Gulf of Mexico. He was not the man to spare
+either himself or his family in cases of emergency, and his heroic soul
+was inured to such sacrifices. Grateful the colonists were for this act of
+devotedness, and they resumed the occupation of their tenements which they
+had abandoned in search of food. The aspect of things was suddenly changed;
+abundance and hope reappeared in the land, whose population was increased
+by the arrival of seventeen persons, who came, under the guidance of
+Chateaugué, with the intention of making a permanent settlement, and who,
+in evidence of their determination, had provided themselves with all the
+implements of husbandry. We, who daily see hundreds flocking to our shores,
+and who look at the occurrence with as much unconcern as at the passing
+cloud, can hardly conceive the excitement produced by the arrival of these
+seventeen emigrants among men who, for nearly two years, had been cut off
+from communication with the rest of the civilized world. A denizen of the
+moon, dropping on this planet, would not be stared at and interrogated with
+more eager curiosity.
+
+This excitement had hardly subsided when it was revived by the appearance
+of another ship, and it became intense when the inhabitants saw a
+procession of twenty females, with veiled faces, proceeding arm in arm, and
+two by two, to the house of the Governor, who received them in state and
+provided them with suitable lodgings. What did it mean? Innumerable were
+the gossipings of the day, and part of the coming night itself was spent
+in endless commentaries and conjectures. But the next morning, which was
+Sunday, the mystery was cleared by the officiating priest reading from
+the pulpit, after mass, and for the general information, the following
+communication from the minister to Bienville: "His majesty sends twenty
+girls to be married to the Canadians and to the other inhabitants of
+Mobile, in order to consolidate the colony. All these girls are industrious
+and have received a pious and virtuous education. Beneficial results to the
+colony are expected from their teaching their useful attainments to the
+Indian females. In order that none should be sent except those of known
+virtue and of unspotted reputation, his majesty did intrust the Bishop of
+Québec with the mission of taking these girls from such establishments as,
+from their very nature and character, would put them at once above all
+suspicions of corruption. You will take care to settle them in life as well
+as may be in your power, and to marry them to such men as are capable of
+providing them with a commodious home."
+
+This was a very considerate recommendation, and very kind it was, indeed,
+from the great Louis XIV, one of the proudest monarchs that ever lived, to
+descend from his Olympian seat of majesty to the level of such details and
+to such minute instructions for ministering to the personal comforts of his
+remote Louisianan subjects. Many were the gibes and high was the glee on
+that occasion; pointed were the jokes aimed at young Bienville on his
+being thus transformed into a matrimonial agent and _pater familiae_. The
+intentions of the King, however, were faithfully executed, and more than
+one rough but honest Canadian boatman of the St. Lawrence and of the
+Mississippi closed his adventurous and erratic career and became a domestic
+and useful member of that little commonwealth, under the watchful influence
+of the dark-eyed maid of the Loire or of the Seine. Infinite are the chords
+of the lyre which delights the romantic muse; and these incidents, small
+and humble as they are, appear to me to be imbued with an indescribable
+charm, which appeals to her imagination.
+
+
+
+%PRUSSIA PROCLAIMED A KINGDOM%
+
+A.D. 1701
+
+LEOPOLD VON RANKE
+
+
+Few historical developments are more distinctly traceable or of greater
+importance than that of the margravate of Brandenburg into the kingdom of
+Prussia, the principal state of the present German empire. As far back as
+the tenth century the name Preussen (Prussia) was applied to a region lying
+east of Brandenburg, which in that century became a German margravate. At
+that time the inhabitants of Prussia were still heathens. In the thirteenth
+century they were converted to Christianity, having first been conquered by
+the Teutonic Knights in "a series of remorseless wars" continued for almost
+fifty years. German colonization followed the conquest.
+
+In 1466 nearly the whole of Prussia was wrested from the Teutonic
+Knights and annexed to the Polish crown. Soon after the beginning of the
+Reformation the Teutonic Knights embraced Protestantism and the order
+became secularized. In 1525 the Knights formally surrendered to King
+Sigismund of Poland, their late grand master was created duke of Prussia,
+and this, with other former possessions of the order, was held by him as a
+vassal of the Polish crown. This relation continued until 1618, when the
+duchy of Prussia was united with Brandenburg, which had become a German
+electorate.
+
+During the Thirty Years' War the enlarged electorate took little part in
+affairs, but suffered much from the ravages of the conflict. Under the
+electorate of George William, who died in 1640, Brandenburg became almost a
+desert, and in this impoverished condition was left to his son, Frederick
+William, the "Great Elector," who restored it to prosperity and
+strengthened its somewhat insecure sovereignty over the duchy of Prussia.
+The Great Elector died in 1688, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick
+III of Brandenburg. This Elector, through the series of events narrated by
+Ranke, became the founder of the Prussian monarchy, and is known in history
+as Frederick I. He founded the Academy of Sciences in Berlin and the
+University of Halle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Frederick I, the next heir and successor to the "Great Elector," though far
+inferior to his father in native energy of character, cannot be accused of
+having flinched from the task imposed on him. Above all, the warlike fame
+of the Brandenburg troops suffered no diminution under his reign. His army
+took a very prominent and active part in the most important events of that
+period.
+
+Prince William of Orange might, perhaps, have hesitated whether to try the
+adventure which made him king of England, had not the Dutch troops, which
+he was forced to withdraw from the Netherlands for his expedition, been
+replaced by some from Brandenburg. The fact has indeed been disputed, but
+on closer investigation its truth has been established, beyond doubt, that
+many other Brandenburg soldiers in his service and that of his republic
+followed him to England, where they contributed essentially to his success.
+
+In the war which now broke out upon the Rhine the young Elector, Frederick,
+took the field himself, inflamed by religious enthusiasm, patriotism, and
+personal ambition. On one occasion, at the siege of Bonn, when he was
+anxious about the result, he stepped aside to the window and prayed to
+God that he might suffer no disgrace in this his first enterprise. He was
+successful in his attack upon Bonn, and cleared the whole lower Rhine
+of the hostile troops; he at the same time gained a high reputation for
+personal courage.
+
+Long after, at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession, the
+presence of the Elector contributed in a great measure to the speedy
+termination of the first important siege--that of Kaiserswerth, a point
+from which the French threatened at once both Holland and Westphalia.
+
+But it was not only when led by the Elector that his troops distinguished
+themselves by their courage; they fought most bravely at the battle of
+Hochstadt. Prince Eugene, under whose command they stood, could scarce find
+words strong enough to praise the "undaunted steadfastness" with which they
+first withstood the shock of the enemy's attack, and then helped to break
+through his tremendous fire. Two years later, at Turin, they helped to
+settle the affairs of Italy in the same manner as they had already done in
+those of Germany; headed by Prince Leopold of Anhalt, they climbed over the
+enemy's intrenchments, under the full fire of his artillery, shouting the
+old Brandenburg war-cry of "_Gah to_" ("Go on"). The warlike enterprise of
+Brandenburg never spread over a wider field than under Frederick I. Then
+it was that they first met the Turks in terrible battles; they showed
+themselves in the South of France at the siege of Toulon; in their camp the
+Protestant service was performed for the first time in the territories of
+the pope, and the inhabitants of the surrounding country came to look on
+and displayed a certain satisfaction at the sight. But the Netherlands
+were always the scene of their greatest achievements and at that time an
+excellent school for their further progress in the art of war; there they
+might at once study sieges under the Dutch commanders, Vauban and Cochorn,
+and campaigns under Marlborough, one of the greatest generals of all times.
+
+Throughout all the years of his reign Frederick steadily adhered to the
+Great Alliance which his father had helped to form so long as that alliance
+continued to subsist; and, indeed, the interest which he took in the
+affairs of Europe at large was in the end of great advantage to himself and
+to his house. That very alliance was the original cause of his gaining a
+crown--the foundation of the Prussian monarchy. It will not be denied, even
+by those who think most meanly of the externals of rank and title, that the
+attainment of a higher step in the European hierarchy, as it then stood,
+was an object worth striving for.
+
+The Western principalities and republics still formed a great corporation,
+at the head of which was the German Emperor. Even the crown of France had
+to submit to manifold and wearisome negotiations in order to obtain the
+predicate of "majesty," which until then had belonged exclusively to the
+Emperor. The other sovereigns then laid claim to the same dignity as that
+enjoyed by the King of France, and the Venetian republic to an equal rank
+with those, on the score of the kingdoms which she once possessed; and,
+accordingly, the electoral ambassadors to Vienna had to stand bareheaded
+while the Venetian covered his head. The electors and reigning dukes were
+but ill-pleased with such precedence, and in their turn laid claim to the
+designation of "serenissimus," and the title of "brother," for themselves,
+and the style of "excellency" for their ambassadors. But even the most
+powerful among the electors found it difficult to advance a single step
+in this matter, because whatever privileges were conceded to them were
+immediately claimed by all the rest, many of whom were mere barons of the
+empire. It is evident that Brandenburg was interested in being freed at
+once from these negotiations, which only served to impede and embarrass all
+really important business. There exists the distinct assertion of a highly
+placed official man that the royal title had been promised to the
+Elector, Frederick William: his son now centred his whole ambition in its
+attainment.
+
+Frederick, while elector, was one of the most popular princes that ever
+reigned in Brandenburg. His contemporaries praise him for his avoidance of
+all dissipation, and his life entirely devoted to duty; while his subjects
+were still asleep, say they, the Prince was already busied with their
+affairs, for he rose very early. A poet of the time makes Phosphorus
+complain that he is ever anticipated by the King of Prussia. His manners
+were gracious, familiar, sincere, and deliberate. His conversation
+indicated "righteous and princely thoughts." Those essays, written by
+him, which we have read, exhibit a sagacious and careful treatment of the
+subjects under consideration. He shared in a very great degree the taste
+of his times for outward show and splendor; but in him it took a direction
+which led to something far higher than mere ostentation. The works of
+sculpture and architecture produced under his reign are monuments of a pure
+and severe taste; the capital of Prussia has seen none more beautiful. He
+complacently indulged in the contemplation of the greatness founded by his
+father, the possession of a territory four times as large as that of any
+other elector, and the power of bringing into the field an army which
+placed him on a level with kings. Now, however, he desired that this
+equality should be publicly recognized, especially as he had no lack of
+treasure and revenue wherewith to maintain the splendor and dignity of a
+royal crown. In the mind of the father, this ambition was combined with
+schemes of conquest; in the son it was merely a desire for personal and
+dynastic aggrandizement. It is certain that the origin of such a state
+as the kingdom of Prussia can be attributed to no other cause than to so
+remarkable a succession of so many glorious princes. Frederick was resolved
+to appear among them distinguished by some important service rendered to
+his house. "Frederick I," said he, "gained the electoral dignity for our
+house, and I, as Frederick III, would fain give it royal rank, according to
+the old saying that 'the third time makes perfect."
+
+It was in the year 1693 that he first began seriously to act upon the
+project of obtaining a royal crown. He had just led some troops to Crossen
+which were to serve the Emperor against the Turks; but the imperial
+ministers neither arrived in due time to receive them, nor, when at length
+they made their appearance, did they bring with them the grants of certain
+privileges and expectancies which Frederick had looked for. In disgust at
+being treated with neglect at the very moment in which he was rendering the
+Emperor a very essential service, he went to Carlsbad, where he was joined
+by his ambassador to Vienna, who had been commissioned by the imperial
+ministers to apologize for the omissions of which they had been guilty.
+In concert with his ambassador, and his prime minister, Dankelmann, the
+brother of the former, Frederick resolved to make public the wish which
+he had hitherto entertained in secret, or only now and then let drop into
+conversation; the ambassador accordingly received instruction to present a
+formal memorial.
+
+At that time, however, nothing could be done. The Count of Ottingen, who
+was hostile to the Protestant princes, was once more in favor at the court
+of Vienna; the peril from without had ceased to be pressing, and coalition
+had begun gradually to dissolve; the only result of the negotiation was a
+vague and general promise.
+
+The Elector did not, however, give up his idea. The elevation of the Saxon
+house to the throne of Poland, the prospect enjoyed by his near kindred of
+Hanover of succeeding to that of England, and perhaps the very difficulties
+and opposition which he encountered, tended to sharpen his appetite for a
+royal crown. The misunderstandings which arose among the great European
+powers out of the approaching vacancy of the throne of Spain soon afforded
+him an excellent opportunity of renewing his demands. The court of Vienna
+was not to be moved by past, but by future, services.
+
+It would be unnecessary to enter into the details of the negotiation on
+this subject; it suffices to say that the Prince devoted his whole energy
+to it, and never lost sight of any advantage afforded by his position.
+Suggestions of the most exaggerated kind were made to him; for instance,
+that he should lay his claims before the Pope, who possessed the power of
+granting the royal dignity in a far higher degree than the Emperor; while,
+on the other hand, some of the more zealous Protestants among his ministers
+were anxious to avoid even that degree of approach toward the Catholic
+element implied in a closer alliance with the Emperor, and desired that
+the Elector's elevation in rank should be made to depend upon some new and
+important acquisition of territory, such, for example, as that of Polish
+Prussia, which then seemed neither difficult nor improbable. Frederick,
+however, persisted in the opinion that he was entitled to the royal dignity
+merely on acccount of his sovereign dukedom of Prussia, and that the
+recognition of the Emperor was the most important step in the affair. He
+was convinced that, when the Emperor had once got possession of the Spanish
+inheritance, or concluded a treaty upon the subject, nothing more was to be
+hoped from him; but that now, while the Elector of Brandenburg was able to
+render him as effectual assistance as any power in Europe, some advantage
+might be wrung from him in return.
+
+Influenced by these considerations, he resolved to lay proposals before the
+Emperor, which acquired uncommon significance from the circumstances under
+which they were made. At that very time, in March, 1700, England, Holland,
+and France had just concluded a treaty for the division of the Spanish
+monarchy, in which the right of inheritance of Austria was utterly
+disregarded, in order to preserve the European balance of power. Spain
+and the Indies were, indeed, to fall to the share of the young Archduke
+Charles, but he was to be deprived of Naples, Sicily, and Milan; and should
+the Archduke ever become Emperor of Germany, Spain and the Indies were to
+be given up to another prince, whose claims were far inferior to his. This
+treaty was received with disgust and indignation at Vienna, where the
+assistance of Heaven was solemnly implored, and its interference in the
+affair fully expected.
+
+At this juncture Brandenburg offered to make common cause with the Emperor,
+not alone against France, but even against England and Holland, with
+whom it was otherwise closely allied. The only recompense was to be the
+concession of royal rank to the Elector.
+
+The principal opposition to this offer arose out of the difference of
+confessions. It is also quite true that the Emperor's confessor, Pater
+Wolf, to whom the Elector wrote with his own hand, helped to overrule it,
+and took part in the negotiations. But the determining cause was, without
+doubt, the political state of affairs. A concession which involved no loss
+could not surely be thought too high a price to pay for the help of the
+most warlike of the German powers on so important an occasion. In the month
+of July, 1700, at the great conference, the imperial ministers came to the
+resolution that the wishes of the Elector should be complied with; and as
+soon as the conditions could be determined, involving the closest alliance
+both for the war and for the affairs of the empire, the treaty was signed
+on November 16, 1700. On the side of Brandenburg the utmost care was taken
+not to admit a word which might imply anything further than the assent and
+concurrence of the Emperor. The Elector affected to derive from his own
+power alone the right of assuming the royal crown. He would, nevertheless,
+have encountered much ulnpleasant oppositions in other quarters but for the
+concurrences which, very opportunely for him, now took place in France and
+Spain.
+
+The last Spanish sovereign of the line of Hapsburg had died in the mean
+time; and on opening his will it was found to be entirely in favor of the
+King of France, whose grandson was appointed heir to the whole Spanish
+monarchy. Hereupon Louis XIV broke the treaty of partition which had
+recently been made under his own influence, and determined to seize the
+greater advantage, and to accept the inheritance. This naturally roused all
+the antipathies entertained by other nations against France, and England
+and Holland went over to the side of Austria. The opposition which these
+two powers had offered to the erection of a new throne was now silenced,
+and they beheld a common interest in the elevation of the house of
+Brandenburg.
+
+Frederick had, moreover, already come to an understanding with the King of
+Poland, though not with the Republic; so that, thus supported, and with
+the consent of all his old allies, he could now celebrate the splendid
+coronation for which his heart had so long panted.
+
+We will not describe here the ceremonial of January 18,1701; to our taste
+it seems overcharged when we read the account of it. But there is a certain
+grandeur in the idea of the sovereign's grasping the crown with his own
+hand; and the performance of the ceremony of anointing after, instead
+of before, the crowning, by two priests promoted to bishoprics for the
+occasion, was a protest against the dependence of the temporal on the
+spiritual power, such as perhaps never was made at any other coronation
+either before or since. The spiritual element showed itself in the only
+attitude of authority left to it in Protestant states: that of teaching
+and exhortation. The provost of Berlin demonstrated, from the examples of
+Christ and of David, that the government of kings must be carried on to
+the glory of God and the good of their people. He lays down as the first
+principle that all rulers should bear in mind, they have come into the
+world for the sake of their subjects, and not their subjects for the sake
+of them. Finally, he exhorts all his hearers to pray to God that he will
+deeply impress this conviction upon the hearts of all sovereign princes.
+
+The institution of the order of the Black Eagle, which immediately preceded
+the coronation, was likewise symbolical of the duties of royalty. The words
+"_Suum cuique_," on the insignia of the order, according to Lamberty, who
+suggested them, contain the definition of a good government, under which
+all men alike, good as well as bad, are rewarded according to their several
+deserts. The laurel and the lightning denote reward and punishment. The
+conception at least is truly royal. Leibnitz, who was at that time closely
+connected with the court, and who busied himself very much with this
+affair, justly observes that nothing is complete without a name, and that,
+although the Elector did already possess every royal attribute, he became
+truly a king only by being called so.
+
+Although the new dignity rested only on the possession of Prussia, all the
+other provinces were included in the rank and title; those belonging to the
+German empire were thus in a manner chosen out from among the other German
+states, and united into a new whole, though, at the same time, care was
+taken in other respects to keep up the ancient connection with the empire.
+Thus we see that the elevation of the Elector to a royal title was an
+important, nay, even a necessary, impulse to the progress of Prussia, which
+we cannot even in thought separate from the whole combination of events.
+
+The name of Prussia now became inseparable from an idea of military power
+and glory, which was increased by splendid feats of arms, such as those
+which we have already enumerated.
+
+
+
+%FOUNDING OF ST. PETERSBURG%
+
+A.D. 1703
+
+K. WALISZEWSKI[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Russian by Lady Mary Loyd.]
+
+
+So radical and so vigorous were the changes made by Peter the Great in
+Russia that they roused the opposition of almost the entire nation. Moscow,
+the ancient capital, was the chief seat of this protesting conservatism;
+and Peter, resolved to teach his opponents how determined he was in his
+course and how helpless they were against his absolute power, formed the
+tremendous project of building a wholly new capital, one where no voice
+could be raised against him, where no traditions should environ him. He
+chose an icy desert plain looking out toward the waters which led to that
+Western Europe which he meant to imitate, if not to conquer.
+
+No other man--one is almost tempted to say, no sane man--would have
+ventured to erect a capital city in such an impossible place and on the
+very frontier of his dominions. That Peter not only dared, but succeeded,
+though at an almost immeasurable cost, makes the creation of the great
+metropolis, St. Petersburg, one of the most remarkable events of history.
+
+It was the chances of the great northern war that led Peter to St.
+Petersburg. When he first threw down the gauntlet to Sweden he turned his
+eyes on Livonia--on Narva and Riga. But Livonia was so well defended that
+he was driven northward, toward Ingria. He moved thither grudgingly,
+sending, in the first instance, Apraxin, who turned the easily conquered
+province into a desert. It was not for some time, and gropingly, as it
+were, that the young sovereign began to see his way, and finally turned
+his attention and his longings to the mouth of the Neva. In former years
+Gustavus Adolphus had realized the strategical importance of a position
+which his successor, Charles XII, did not deem worthy of consideration,
+and had himself studied all its approaches. Peter not only took it to be
+valuable from the military and commercial point of view: he also found it
+most attractive, and would fain have never left it. He was more at home
+there than anywhere else, and the historical legends, according to which
+it was true Russian ground, filled him with emotion. No one knows what
+inspired this fondness on his part. It may have been the vague resemblance
+of the marshy flats to the lowlands of Holland; it may have been the
+stirring of some ancestral instinct. According to a legend, accepted by
+Nestor, it was by the mouth of the Neva that the earliest Norman conquerors
+of the country passed on their journeys across the Varegian Sea--_their own
+sea_--and so to Rome.
+
+Peter would seem to have desired to take up the thread of that tradition,
+nine centuries old; and the story of his own foundation of the town has
+become legendary and epic. One popular description represents him as
+snatching a halberd from one of his soldiers, cutting two strips of turf,
+and laying them crosswise with the words "Here there shall be a town!"
+Foundation-stones were evidently lacking, and sods had to take their
+place. Then, dropping the halberd, he seized a spade, and began the first
+embankment. At that moment an eagle appeared, hovering over the Czar's
+head. It was struck by a shot from a musket. Peter took the wounded bird,
+set it on his wrist, and departed in a boat to inspect the neighborhood.
+This occurred on May 16, 1703.
+
+History adds that the Swedish prisoners employed on the work died in
+thousands. The most indispensable tools were lacking. There were no
+wheelbarrows, and the earth was carried in the corners of men's clothing.
+A wooden fort was first built on the island bearing the Finnish name of
+Ianni-Saari (Hare Island). This was the future citadel of St. Peter and St.
+Paul. Then came a wooden church, and the modest cottage which was to be
+Peter's first palace. Near these, the following year, there rose a Lutheran
+church, ultimately removed to the left bank of the river, into the
+Liteinaia quarter, and also a tavern, the famous inn of the Four Frigates,
+which did duty as a town hall for a long time before it became a place of
+diplomatic meeting. Then the cluster of modest buildings was augmented by
+the erection of a bazaar. The Czar's collaborators gathered round him, in
+cottages much like his own, and the existence of St. Petersburg became an
+accomplished fact.
+
+But, up to the time of the battle of Poltava, Peter never thought of making
+St. Petersburg his capital. It was enough for him to feel he had a
+fortress and a port. He was not sufficiently sure of his mastery over the
+neighboring countries, not certain enough of being able to retain his
+conquest, to desire to make it the centre of his government and his own
+permanent residence. This idea was not definitely accepted till after his
+great victory. His final decision has been bitterly criticised, especially
+by foreign historians; it has been severely judged and remorselessly
+condemned. Before expressing any opinion of my own on the subject, I should
+like to sum up the considerations which have been put forward to support
+this unfavorable verdict.
+
+The great victory, we are told, diminished the strategic importance of St.
+Petersburg, and almost entirely extinguished its value as a port; while
+its erection into the capital city of the empire was never anything but
+madness. Peter, being now the indisputable master of the Baltic shores, had
+nothing to fear from any Swedish attack in the Gulf of Finland. Before any
+attempt in that direction, the Swedes were certain to try to recover Narva
+or Riga. If in later years they turned their eyes to St. Petersburg, it
+was only because that town had acquired undue and unmerited political
+importance. It was easy of attack and difficult to defend. There was no
+possibility of concentrating any large number of troops there, for the
+whole country, forty leagues round, was a barren desert. In 1788 Catharine
+II complained that her capital was too near the Swedish frontier, and too
+much exposed to sudden movements, such as that which Gustavus III very
+nearly succeeded in carrying out. Here we have the military side of the
+question.
+
+From the commercial point of view St. Petersburg, we are assured, did
+command a valuable system of river communication; but that commanded by
+Riga was far superior. The Livonian, Esthonian, and Courland ports of Riga,
+Libau, and Revel, all at an equal distance from St. Petersburg and Moscow,
+and far less removed from the great German commercial centres, enjoyed
+a superior climate, and were, subsequent to the conquest of the
+above-mentioned provinces, the natural points of contact between Russia and
+the West. An eloquent proof of this fact may be observed nowadays in the
+constant increase of their commerce, and the corresponding decrease of that
+of St. Petersburg, which has been artificially developed and fostered.
+
+Besides this, the port of St. Petersburg, during the lifetime of its
+founder, never was anything but a mere project. Peter's ships were moved
+from Kronslot to Kronstadt. Between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt the Neva
+was not, in those days, more than eight feet deep, and Manstein tells us
+that all ships built at Petersburg had to be dragged, by means of machines
+fitted with cables, to Kronstadt, where they received their guns. Once
+these had been taken on board, the vessels could not get upstream again.
+The port of Kronstadt was closed by ice for six months out of the twelve,
+and lay in such a position that no sailing-ship could leave it unless the
+wind blew from the east. There was so little salt in its waters that the
+ship timbers rotted in a very short time, and, besides, there were no oaks
+in the surrounding forests, and all such timber had to be brought from
+Kasan. Peter was so well aware of all these drawbacks that he sought and
+found a more convenient spot for his shipbuilding yards at Rogerwick,
+in Esthonia, four leagues from Revel. But here he found difficulty in
+protecting the anchorage from the effects of hurricanes and from the
+insults of his enemies. He hoped to insure this by means of two piers,
+built on wooden caissons filled with stones. He thinned the forests of
+Livonia and Esthonia to construct it, and finally, the winds and the waves
+having carried everything away twice over, the work was utterly abandoned.
+
+On the other hand, and from the very outset, the commercial activity of St.
+Petersburg was hampered by the fact that it was the Czar's capital. The
+presence of the court made living dear, and the consequent expense of labor
+was a heavy drawback to the export trade, which, by its nature, called
+for a good deal of manual exertion. According to a Dutch resident of that
+period, a wooden cottage, very inferior to that inhabited by a peasant in
+the Low Countries, cost from eight hundred to one thousand florins a year
+at St. Petersburg. A shopkeeper at Archangel could live comfortably on a
+quarter of that sum. The cost of transport, which amounted to between nine
+and ten copecks a pood (36.07 pounds), between Moscow and Archangel, five
+to six between Yaroslaff and Archangel, and three or four between Vologda
+and Archangel, came to eighteen, twenty, and thirty copecks a pood in the
+case of merchandise sent from any of these places to St. Petersburg. This
+accounts for the opposition of the foreign merchants at Archangel to the
+request that they should remove to St. Petersburg. Peter settled the matter
+in characteristic fashion, by forbidding any trade in hemp, flax, leather,
+or corn to pass through Archangel. This rule, though somewhat slackened, in
+1714, at the request of the States-General of Holland, remained in force
+during the great Czar's reign. In 1718 hemp and some other articles of
+commerce were allowed free entrance into the port of Archangel, but only on
+condition that two-thirds of all exports should be sent to St. Petersburg.
+This puts the case from the maritime and commercial point of view.
+
+As a capital city, St. Petersburg, we are told again, was ill-placed on the
+banks of the Neva, not only for the reasons already given, but for others,
+geographical, ethnical, and climatic, which exist even in the present day,
+and which make its selection an outrage on common-sense. Was it not, we
+are asked, a most extraordinary whim which induced a Russian to found the
+capital of his Slavonic empire among the Finns, against the Swedes--to
+centralize the administration of a huge extent of country in its remotest
+corner--to retire from Poland and Germany on the plea of drawing nearer to
+Europe, and to force everyone about him, officials, court, and diplomatic
+corps, to inhabit one of the most inhospitable spots, under one of the
+least clement skies, he could possibly have discovered? The whole place was
+a marsh--the Finnish word neva means "mud"; the sole inhabitants of the
+neighboring forests were packs of wolves. In 1714, during a winter night,
+two sentries, posted before the cannon-foundry, were devoured. Even
+nowadays, the traveller, once outside the town, plunges into a desert. Far
+away in every direction the great plain stretches; not a steeple, not a
+tree, not a head of cattle, not a sign of life, whether human or animal.
+There is no pasturage, no possibility of cultivation--fruit, vegetables,
+and even corn, are all brought from a distance. The ground is in a sort of
+intermediate condition between the sea and _terra firma_.
+
+Up to Catharine's reign inundations were chronic in their occurrence.
+On September 11, 1706, Peter drew from his pocket the measure he always
+carried about him, and convinced himself that there were twenty-one inches
+of water above the floors of his cottage. In all directions he saw men,
+women, and children clinging to the wreckage of buildings, which was
+being carried down the river. He described his impressions in a letter to
+Menshikoff, dated from "Paradise," and declared it was "extremely amusing."
+It may be doubted whether he found many persons to share his delight.
+Communications with the town, now rendered easy by railways, were in those
+days not only difficult, but dangerous. Campredon, when he went from Moscow
+to St. Petersburg, in April, 1723, spent twelve hundred rubles. He lost
+part of his luggage, eight of his horses were drowned, and after having
+travelled for four weeks he reached his destination, very ill. Peter
+himself, who arrived before the French diplomat, had been obliged to ride
+part of the way, and to swim his horse across the rivers!
+
+But in spite of all these considerations, the importance of which I am far
+from denying, I am inclined to think Peter's choice a wise one. Nobody can
+wonder that the idea of retaining Moscow as his capital was most repugnant
+to him. The existence of his work in those hostile surroundings--in a place
+which to this day has remained obstinately reactionary--could never have
+been anything but precarious and uncertain. It must, after his death at
+least, if not during his life, have been at the mercy of those popular
+insurrections before which the sovereign power, as established in the
+Kremlin, had already so frequently bowed. When Peter carried Muscovy out of
+her former existence, and beyond her ancient frontiers, he was logically
+forced to treat the seat of his government in the same manner. His new
+undertaking resembled, both in aspect and character, a marching and
+fighting formation, directed toward the west. The leader's place, and that
+of his chief residence, was naturally indicated at the head of his column.
+This once granted, and the principle of the translation of the capital to
+the western extremity of the Czar's newly acquired possessions admitted,
+the advantages offered by Ingria would appear to me to outweigh all the
+drawbacks previously referred to.
+
+The province was, at that period, virgin soil sparsely inhabited by a
+Finnish population possessing neither cohesion nor historical consistency,
+and, consequently, docile and easily assimilated. Everywhere else--all
+along the Baltic coast, in Esthonia, in Carelia, and in Courland--though
+the Swedes might be driven out, the Germans still remained firmly settled;
+the neighborhood of their native country and of the springs of Teutonic
+culture enduing them with an invincible power of resistance. Riga in
+the present day, after nearly two centuries of Russian government, is a
+thoroughly German town. In St. Petersburg, Russia, as a country, became
+European and cosmopolitan, but the city itself is essentially Russian, and
+the Finnish element in its neighborhood counts for nothing.
+
+In this matter, though Peter may not have clearly felt and thought it out,
+he was actuated by the mighty and unerring instinct of his genius. I am
+willing to admit that here, as in everything else, there was a certain
+amount of whim, and perhaps some childish desire to ape Amsterdam. I will
+even go further, and acknowledge that the manner in which he carried out
+his plan was anything but reasonable. Two hundred thousand laborers, we are
+told, died during the construction of the new city, and the Russian nobles
+ruined themselves to build palaces which soon fell out of occupation. But
+an abyss was opened between the past the reformer had doomed and the future
+on which he had set his heart, and the national life, thus violently forced
+into a new channel, was stamped, superficially at first, but more and more
+deeply by degrees, with the Western and European character he desired to
+impart.
+
+Moscow, down to the present day, has preserved a religious, almost a
+monastic air; at every street corner chapels attract the passers-by, and
+the local population, even at its busiest, crosses itself and bends as it
+passes before the sacred pictures which rouse its devotion at every turn.
+St. Petersburg, from the very earliest days, presented a different and
+quite a secular appearance. At Moscow no public performance of profane
+music was permitted. At St. Petersburg the Czar's German musicians played
+every day on the balcony of his tavern. Toward the middle of the eighteenth
+century the new city boasted a French theatre and an Italian opera, and
+Schloezer noted that divine service was performed in fourteen languages!
+Modern Russia, governed, educated to a certain extent, intellectually
+speaking emancipated, and relatively liberal, could not have come into
+existence nor grown in stature elsewhere.
+
+And to conclude: Peter was able to effect this singular change without
+doing too great violence to the historical traditions of his country. From
+the earliest days of Russian history, the capital had been removed from
+place to place--from Novgorod to Kiev, from Kiev to Vladimir, from Vladimir
+to Moscow. This phenomenon was the consequence of the immense area of the
+national territory, and the want of consistency in the elements of the
+national life. From the beginning to the end of an evolution which lasted
+centuries the centre of gravity of the disjointed, scattered, and floating
+forces of ancient Russia perpetually changed its place. Thus the creation
+of St. Petersburg was nothing but the working out of a problem in dynamics.
+The struggle with Sweden, the conquest of the Baltic provinces, and the
+yet more important conquest of a position in the European world naturally
+turned the whole current of the national energies and life in that
+direction. Peter desired to perpetuate this course. I am inclined to think
+he acted wisely.
+
+
+
+%BATTLE OF BLENHEIM%
+
+CURBING OF LOUIS XIV
+
+A.D. 1704
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+Among the decisive battles of the world, that of Blenheim is regarded by
+historians as one of the most far-reaching in results. "The decisive blow
+struck at Blenheim," says Alison, "resounded through every part of Europe.
+It at once destroyed the vast fabric of power which it had taken Louis XIV
+so long to construct." And Creasy himself elsewhere declares: "Had it not
+been for Blenheim, all Europe might at this day suffer under the effect of
+French conquests resembling those of Alexander in extent and those of the
+Romans in durability."
+
+It was the first great battle in the War of the Spanish Succession
+(1701-1714), which was carried on mainly in Italy, the Netherlands, and
+Germany. This war followed closely upon the War of the Palatinate, which
+ended with the Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697. To this peace Louis XIV of
+France--the most powerful monarch in Europe, who, in spite of his brutal
+conduct of the war, had really been a loser by it--gave his consent. Among
+the concessions made by him was his recognition--much against his own
+interest--of William III as the rightful King of England.
+
+Louis gave his consent to the Treaty of Ryswick partly because of his
+interest in the question of the Spanish succession. Charles II of
+Spain--last of the Hapsburg line in that country--was childless, and there
+were three claimants for the throne; namely, Philip of Anjou, grandson of
+Louis XIV; the Electoral Prince of Bavaria; and Charles, son of Leopold
+I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The real stake was the
+"balance of power" in Europe. At last, after much wrangling and intrigue
+among the courts, Charles II bequeathed his throne to the Bavarian Prince,
+whose death, in 1699, left Europe still divided over the succession.
+
+Finally, Louis XIV completely won Charles II to his side, and Philip of
+Anjou was named in Charles' will as his heir. Louis accepted for Philip,
+who was crowned at Madrid, in 1701, as Philip V, and Europe was stirred to
+wrath by the greed of the already too powerful French King. Turning now
+upon England, Louis, in violation of the Treaty of Ryswick, declared the
+son of the exiled James II rightful king of that country. The result of
+Louis' acts was the Grand Alliance of The Hague against France, formed
+between England, Holland, Prussia, the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, and
+Savoy.
+
+On the side of the allies in the war that followed, the great generals
+were the English Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene of Savoy, and Hensius,
+Pensioner of Holland. France had lost her best generals by death, and Louis
+was compelled to rely upon inferior men as leaders of his army. War was
+formally declared against France by the allies May 4, 1702. The early
+operations were carried on in Flanders, in Germany--on the Upper Rhine--and
+in Northern Italy.
+
+
+Marlborough headed the allied troops in Flanders during the first two
+years of the war, and took some towns from the enemy, but nothing decisive
+occurred. Nor did any actions of importance take place during this period
+between the rival armies in Italy. But in the centre of that line from
+north to south, from the mouth of the Schelde to the mouth of the Po, along
+which the war was carried on, the generals of Louis XIV acquired advantages
+in 1703 which threatened one chief member of the Grand Alliance with utter
+destruction.
+
+France had obtained the important assistance of Bavaria as her confederate
+in the war. The Elector of this powerful German state made himself master
+of the strong fortress of Ulm, and opened a communication with the French
+armies on the Upper Rhine. By this junction the troops of Louis were
+enabled to assail the Emperor in the very heart of Germany. In the autumn
+of 1703 the combined armies of the Elector and French King completely
+defeated the Imperialists in Bavaria; and in the following winter they
+made themselves masters of the important cities of Augsburg and Passau.
+Meanwhile the French army of the Upper Rhine and Moselle had beaten the
+allied armies opposed to them, and taken Treves and Landau. At the same
+time the discontents in Hungary with Austria again broke out into open
+insurrection, so as to distract the attention and complete the terror of
+the Emperor and his council at Vienna.
+
+Louis XIV ordered the next campaign to be commenced by his troops on a
+scale of grandeur and with a boldness of enterprise such as even Napoleon's
+military schemes have seldom equalled. On the extreme left of the line of
+the war, in the Netherlands, the French armies were to act only on the
+defensive. The fortresses in the hands of the French there were so many and
+30 strong that no serious impression seemed likely to be made by the allies
+on the French frontier in that quarter during one campaign, and that one
+campaign was to give France such triumphs elsewhere as would, it was hoped,
+determine the war. Large detachments were therefore to be made from the
+French force in Flanders, and they were to be led by Marshal Villeroy to
+the Moselle and Upper Rhine.
+
+The French army already in the neighborhood of those rivers was to march
+under Marshal Tallard through the Black Forest, and join the Elector of
+Bavaria, and the French troops that were already with the Elector under
+Marshal Marsin. Meanwhile the French army of Italy was to advance through
+the Tyrol into Austria, and the whole forces were to combine between the
+Danube and the Inn. A strong body of troops was to be despatched into
+Hungary, to assist and organize the insurgents in that kingdom; and the
+French grand army of the Danube was then in collected and irresistible
+might to march upon Vienna and dictate terms of peace to the Emperor. High
+military genius was shown in the formation of this plan, but it was met and
+baffled by a genius higher still.
+
+Marlborough had watched with the deepest anxiety the progress of the French
+arms on the Rhine and in Bavaria, and he saw the futility of carrying on a
+war of posts and sieges in Flanders, while death-blows to the empire were
+being dealt on the Danube. He resolved, therefore, to let the war in
+Flanders languish for a year, while he moved with all the disposable forces
+that he could collect to the central scenes of decisive operations. Such a
+march was in itself difficult; but Marlborough had, in the first instance,
+to overcome the still greater difficulty of obtaining the consent and
+cheerful cooperation of the allies, especially of the Dutch, whose frontier
+it was proposed thus to deprive of the larger part of the force which had
+hitherto been its protection.
+
+Fortunately, among the many slothful, the many foolish, the many timid,
+and the not few treacherous rulers, statesmen, and generals of different
+nations with whom he had to deal, there were two men, eminent both in
+ability and integrity, who entered fully into Marlborough's projects and
+who, from the stations which they occupied, were enabled materially to
+forward them. One of these was the Dutch statesman Heinsius, who had been
+the cordial supporter of King William, and who now, with equal zeal and
+good faith, supported Marlborough in the councils of the allies; the other
+was the celebrated general, Prince Eugene, whom the Austrian cabinet had
+recalled from the Italian frontier to take the command of one of the
+Emperor's armies in Germany. To these two great men, and a few more,
+Marlborough communicated his plan freely and unreservedly; but to the
+general councils of his allies he only disclosed part of his daring scheme.
+
+He proposed to the Dutch that he should march from Flanders to the
+Upper Rhine and Moselle with the British troops and part of the foreign
+auxiliaries, and commence vigorous operations against the French armies in
+that quarter, while General Auverquerque, with the Dutch and the remainder
+of the auxiliaries, maintained a defensive war in the Netherlands. Having
+with difficulty obtained the consent of the Dutch to this portion of his
+project, he exercised the same diplomatic zeal, with the same success, in
+urging the King of Prussia and other princes of the empire to increase
+the number of the troops which they supplied, and to post them in places
+convenient for his own intended movements.
+
+Marlborough commenced his celebrated march on May 10th. The army which
+he was to lead had been assembled by his brother, General Churchill,
+at Bedburg, not far from Maestricht, on the Meuse; it included sixteen
+thousand English troops, and consisted of fifty-one battalions of foot, and
+ninety-two squadrons of horse. Marlborough was to collect and join with him
+on his march the troops of Prussia, Luneburg, and Hesse, quartered on the
+Rhine, and eleven Dutch battalions that were stationed at Rothweil. He had
+only marched a single day when the series of interruptions, complaints, and
+requisitions from the other leaders of the allies began, to which he seemed
+subjected throughout his enterprise, and which would have caused its
+failure in the hands of anyone not gifted with the firmness and the
+exquisite temper of Marlborough.
+
+One specimen of these annoyances and of Marlborough's mode of dealing with
+them may suffice. On his encamping at Kupen on the 20th, he received an
+express from Auverquerque pressing him to halt, because Villeroy, who
+commanded the French army in Flanders, had quitted the lines which he had
+been occupying, and crossed the Meuse at Namur with thirty-six battalions
+and forty-five squadrons, and was threatening the town of Huy. At the same
+time Marlborough received letters from the Margrave of Baden and Count
+Wratislaw, who commanded the Imperialist forces at Stollhoffen, near the
+left bank of the Rhine, stating that Tallard had made a movement, as if
+intending to cross the Rhine, and urging him to hasten his march toward the
+lines of Stollhoffen. Marlborough was not diverted by these applications
+from the prosecution of his grand design.
+
+Conscious that the army of Villeroy would be too much reduced to undertake
+offensive operations, by the detachments which had already been made toward
+the Rhine, and those which must follow his own march, he halted only a
+day to quiet the alarms of Auverquerque. To satisfy also the Margrave, he
+ordered the troops of Hompesch and Buelow to draw toward Philippsburg,
+though with private injunctions not to proceed beyond a certain distance.
+He even exacted a promise to the same effect from Count Wratislaw, who at
+this juncture arrived at the camp to attend him during the whole campaign.
+
+Marlborough reached the Rhine at Coblenz, where he crossed that river, and
+then marched along its left bank to Broubach and Mainz. His march,
+though rapid, was admirably conducted, so as to save the troops from all
+unnecessary fatigue; ample supplies of provisions were ready, and the most
+perfect discipline was maintained. By degrees Marlborough obtained more
+reinforcements from the Dutch and the other confederates, and he also was
+left more at liberty by them to follow his own course. Indeed, before
+even a blow was struck, his enterprise had paralyzed the enemy and had
+materially relieved Austria from the pressure of the war. Villeroy, with
+his detachments from the French Flemish army, was completely bewildered
+by Marlborough's movements, and, unable to divine where it was that the
+English general meant to strike his blow, wasted away the early part of the
+summer between Flanders and the Moselle without effecting anything.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: "Marshal Villeroy," says Voltaire, "who had wished to follow
+Marlborough on his first marches, suddenly lost sight of him altogether,
+and only learned where he really was on hearing of his victory at
+Donawert."]
+
+Marshal Tallard, who commanded forty-five thousand French at Strasburg, and
+who had been destined by Louis to march early in the year into Bavaria,
+thought that Marlborough's march along the Rhine was preliminary to an
+attack upon Alsace; and the marshal therefore kept his forty-five thousand
+men back in order to protect France in that quarter. Marlborough skilfully
+encouraged his apprehensions by causing a bridge to be constructed across
+the Rhine at Philippsburg, and by making the Landgrave of Hesse advance his
+artillery at Mannheim, as if for a siege of Landau.
+
+Meanwhile the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Marsin, suspecting that
+Marlborough's design might be what it really proved to be, forbore to press
+upon the Austrians opposed to them or to send troops into Hungary; and they
+kept back so as to secure their communications with France. Thus, when
+Marlborough, at the beginning of June, left the Rhine and marched for the
+Danube, the numerous hostile armies were uncombined and unable to check
+him.
+
+"With such skill and science," says Coxe, "had this enterprise been
+concerted that at the very moment when it assumed a specific direction the
+enemy was no longer enabled to render it abortive. As the march was now to
+be bent toward the Danube, notice was given for the Prussians, Palatines,
+and Hessians, who were stationed on the Rhine, to order their march so as
+to join the main body in its progress. At the same time directions were
+sent to accelerate the advance of the Danish auxiliaries, who were marching
+from the Netherlands."
+
+Crossing the river Neckar, Marlborough marched in a southeastern direction
+to Mundelshene, where he had his first personal interview with Prince
+Eugene, who was destined to be his colleague on so many glorious fields.
+Thence, through a difficult and dangerous country, Marlborough continued
+his march against the Bavarians, whom he encountered on July 2d on the
+heights of the Schullenberg, near Donauwoerth. Marlborough stormed their
+intrenched camp, crossed the Danube, took several strong places in Bavaria,
+and made himself completely master of the Elector's dominions except the
+fortified cities of Munich and Augsburg. But the Elector's army, though
+defeated at Donauwoerth, was still numerous and strong; and at last Marshal
+Tallard, when thoroughly apprised of the real nature of Marlborough's
+movements, crossed the Rhine; and being suffered, through the supineness of
+the German general at Stollhoffen, to march without loss through the Black
+Forest, he united his powerful army at Biberach, near Augsburg, with
+that of the Elector and the French troops under Marshal Marsin, who had
+previously been cooperating with the Bavarians.
+
+On the other hand, Marlborough recrossed the Danube, and on August 11th
+united his army with the Imperialist forces under Prince Eugene. The
+combined armies occupied a position near Hoechstaedt,[1] a little higher up
+the left bank of the Danube than Donauwoerth, the scene of Marlborough's
+recent victory, and almost exactly on the ground where Marshal Villars and
+the Elector had defeated an Austrian army in the preceding year. The French
+marshals and the Elector were now in position a little further to the east,
+between Blenheim and Lützingen, and with the little stream of the Nebel
+between them and the troops of Marlborough and Eugene. The Gallo-Bavarian
+army consisted of about sixty thousand men, and they had sixty-one pieces
+of artillery. The army of the allies was about fifty-six thousand strong,
+with fifty-two guns.
+
+[Footnote 1: The Battle of Blenheim is called by the Germans and the French
+the battle of Hoechstaedt.--ED.]
+
+Although the French army of Italy had been unable to penetrate into
+Austria, and although the masterly strategy of Marlborough had hitherto
+warded off the destruction with which the cause of the allies seemed
+menaced at the beginning of the campaign, the peril was still most serious.
+It was absolutely necessary for Marlborough to attack the enemy before
+Villeroy should be roused into action. There was nothing to stop that
+general and his army from marching into Franconia, whence the allies drew
+their principal supplies; and besides thus distressing them, he might, by
+marching on and joining his army to those of Tallard and the Elector, form
+a mass which would overwhelm the force under Marlborough and Eugene. On
+the other hand, the chances of a battle seemed perilous, and the fatal
+consequences of a defeat were certain. The disadvantage of the allies in
+point of number was not very great, but still it was not to be disregarded;
+and the advantage which the enemy seemed to have in the composition of
+their troops was striking.
+
+Tallard and Marsin had forty-five thousand Frenchmen under them, all
+veterans and all trained to act together; the Elector's own troops also
+were good soldiers. Marlborough, like Wellington at Waterloo, headed an
+army of which the larger proportion consisted, not of English, but of men
+of many different nations and many different languages. He was also obliged
+to be the assailant in the action, and thus to expose his troops to
+comparatively heavy loss at the commencement of the battle, while the enemy
+would fight under the protection of the villages and lines which they were
+actively engaged in strengthening. The consequences of a defeat of the
+confederated army must have broken up the Grand Alliance, and realized
+the proudest hopes of the French King. Alison, in his admirable military
+history of the Duke of Marlborough, has truly stated the effects which
+would have taken place if France had been successful in the war; and when
+the position of the confederates at the time when Blenheim was fought is
+remembered--when we recollect the exhaustion of Austria, the menacing
+insurrection of Hungary, the feuds and jealousies of the German princes,
+the strength and activity of the Jacobite party in England, and the
+imbecility of nearly all the Dutch statesmen of the time, and the weakness
+of Holland if deprived of her allies--we may adopt his words in speculating
+on what would have ensued if France had been victorious in the battle,
+and "if a power, animated by the ambition, guided by the fanaticism, and
+directed by the ability of that of Louis XIV, had gained the ascendency in
+Europe.
+
+"Beyond all question, a universal despotic dominion would have been
+established over the bodies, a cruel spiritual thraldom over the minds, of
+men. France and Spain, united under Bourbon princes and in a close family
+alliance--the empire of Charlemagne with that of Charles V--the power
+which revoked the Edict of Nantes and perpetrated the massacre of St.
+Bartholomew, with that which banished the Moriscoes and established
+the Inquisition, would have proved irresistible, and, beyond example,
+destructive to the best interests of mankind.
+
+"The Protestants might have been driven, like the pagan heathens of old by
+the son of Pépin, beyond the Elbe; the Stuart race, and with them Romish
+ascendency, might have been reestablished in England; the fire lighted by
+Latimer and Ridley might have been extinguished in blood; and the energy
+breathed by religious freedom into the Anglo-Saxon race might have expired.
+The destinies of the world would have been changed. Europe, instead of a
+variety of independent states, whose mutual hostility kept alive courage,
+while their national rivalry stimulated talent, would have sunk into the
+slumber attendant on universal dominion. The colonial empire of England
+would have withered away and perished, as that of Spain has done in the
+grasp of the Inquisition. The Anglo-Saxon race would have been arrested
+in its mission to overspread the earth and subdue it. The centralized
+despotism of the Roman Empire would have been renewed on Continental
+Europe; the chains of Romish tyranny, and with them the general infidelity
+of France before the Revolution, would have extinguished or perverted
+thought in the British Islands."
+
+Marlborough's words at the council of war, when a battle was resolved on,
+are remarkable, and they deserve recording. We know them on the authority
+of his chaplain, Mr. (afterward Bishop) Hare, who accompanied him
+throughout the campaign, and in whose journal the biographers of
+Marlborough have found many of their best materials. Marlborough's words to
+the officers who remonstrated with him on the seeming temerity of attacking
+the enemy in their position were: "I know the danger, yet a battle is
+absolutely necessary, and I rely on the bravery and discipline of the
+troops, which will make amends for our disadvantages." In the evening
+orders were issued for a general engagement, and were received by the army
+with an alacrity which justified his confidence.
+
+The French and Bavarians were posted behind the little stream called the
+Nebel, which runs almost from north to south into the Danube immediately in
+front of the village of Blenheim. The Nebel flows along a little valley,
+and the French occupied the rising ground to the west of it. The village
+of Blenheim was the extreme right of their position, and the village of
+Luetzingen, about three miles north of Blenheim, formed their left. Beyond
+Luetzingen are the rugged high grounds of the Godd Berg and Eich Berg,
+on the skirts of which some detachments were posted, so as to secure the
+Gallo-Bavarian position from being turned on the left flank. The Danube
+secured their right flank; and it was only in front that they could be
+attacked. The villages of Blenheim and Luetzingen had been strongly
+palisaded and intrenched; Marshal Tallard, who held the chief command, took
+his station at Blenheim; the Elector and Marshal Marsin commanded on the
+left.
+
+Tallard garrisoned Blenheim with twenty-six battalions of French infantry
+and twelve squadrons of French cavalry. Marsin and the Elector had
+twenty-two battalions of infantry and thirty-six squadrons of cavalry in
+front of the village of Luetzingen. The centre was occupied by fourteen
+battalions of infantry, including the celebrated Irish brigade. These were
+posted in the little hamlet of Oberglau, which lies somewhat nearer
+to Luetzingen than to Blenheim. Eighty squadrons of cavalry and seven
+battalions of foot were ranged between Oberglau and Blenheim. Thus the
+French position was very strong at each extremity, but was comparatively
+weak in the centre. Tallard seems to have relied on the swampy state of
+the part of the valley that reaches from below Oberglau to Blenheim for
+preventing any serious attack on this part of his line.
+
+The army of the allies was formed into two great divisions, the largest
+being commanded by the Duke in person, and being destined to act against
+Tallard, while Prince Eugene led the other division, which consisted
+chiefly of cavalry, and was intended to oppose the enemy under Marsin and
+the Elector. As they approached the enemy, Marlborough's troops formed the
+left and the centre, while Eugene's formed the right of the entire army.
+Early in the morning of August 13th the allies left their own camp and
+marched toward the enemy. A thick haze covered the ground, and it was not
+until the allied right and centre had advanced nearly within cannon-shot
+of the enemy that Tallard was aware of their approach. He made his
+preparations with what haste he could, and about eight o'clock a heavy fire
+of artillery was opened from the French right on the advancing left wing of
+the British. Marlborough ordered up some of his batteries to reply to
+it, and while the columns that were to form the allied left and centre
+deployed, and took up their proper stations in the line, a warm cannonade
+was kept up by the guns on both sides.
+
+The ground which Eugene's columns Jiad to traverse was peculiarly
+difficult, especially for the passage of the artillery, and it was nearly
+mid-day before he could get his troops into line opposite to Luetzingen.
+During this interval Marlborough ordered divine service to be performed by
+the chaplains at the head of each regiment, and then rode along the
+lines, and found both officers and men in the highest spirits and waiting
+impatiently for the signal for the attack. At length an aide-de-camp
+galloped up from the right with the welcome news that Eugene was ready.
+Marlborough instantly sent Lord Cutts, with a strong brigade of infantry to
+assault the village of Blenheim, while he himself led the main body down
+the eastward slope of the valley of the Nebel, and prepared to effect the
+passage of the stream.
+
+The assault on Blenheim, though bravely made, was repulsed with severe
+loss, and Marlborough, finding how strongly that village was garrisoned,
+desisted from any further attempts to carry it, and bent all his energies
+to breaking the enemy's line between Blenheim and Oberglau. Some temporary
+bridges had been prepared, and planks and fascines had been collected; and
+by the aid of these, and a little stone bridge which crossed the Nebel
+near a hamlet called Unterglau, that lay in the centre of the valley,
+Marlborough succeeded in getting several squadrons across the Nebel, though
+it was divided into several branches, and the ground between them was soft,
+and, in places, little better than a mere marsh.
+
+But the French artillery was not idle. The cannon-balls plunged incessantly
+among the advancing squadrons of the allies, and bodies of French cavalry
+rode frequently down from the western ridge, to charge them before they had
+time to form on the firm ground. It was only by supporting his men by fresh
+troops, and by bringing up infantry, who checked the advance of the enemy's
+horse by their steady fire, that Marlborough was able to save his army in
+this quarter from a repulse, which, succeeding the failure of the attack
+upon Blenheim, would probably have been fatal to the allies. By degrees,
+his cavalry struggled over the bloodstained streams; the infantry were
+also now brought across, so as to keep in check the French troops who held
+Blenheim, and who, when no longer assailed in front, had begun to attack
+the allies on their left with considerable effect.
+
+Marlborough had thus at length succeeded in drawing up the whole left wing
+of his army beyond the Nebel, and was about to press forward with it, when
+he was called away to another part of the field by a disaster that
+had befallen his centre. The Prince of Holstein Beck had, with eleven
+Hanoverian battalions, passed the Nebel opposite to Oberglau, when he was
+charged and utterly routed by the Irish brigade which held that village.
+The Irish drove the Hanoverians back with heavy slaughter, broke completely
+through the line of the allies, and nearly achieved a success as brilliant
+as that which the same brigade afterward gained at Fontenoy.
+
+But at Blenheim their ardor in pursuit led them too far. Marlborough came
+up in person, and dashed in upon the exposed flank of the brigade with some
+squadrons of British cavalry. The Irish reeled back, and as they strove to
+regain the height of Oberglau their column was raked through and through by
+the fire of three battalions of the allies, which Marlborough had summoned
+up from the reserve. Marlborough having reestablished the order and
+communications of the allies in this quarter, now, as he returned to his
+own left wing, sent to learn how his colleague fared against Marsin and the
+Elector, and to inform Eugene of his own success.
+
+Eugene had hitherto not been equally fortunate. He had made three attacks
+on the enemy opposed to him, and had been thrice driven back. It was only
+by his own desperate personal exertions, and the remarkable steadiness of
+the regiments of Prussian infantry, which were under him, that he was able
+to save his wing from being totally defeated. But it was on the southern
+part of the battle-field, on the ground which Marlborough had won beyond
+the Nebel with such difficulty, that the crisis of the battle was to be
+decided.
+
+Like Hannibal, Marlborough relied principally on his cavalry for achieving
+his decisive successes, and it was by his cavalry that Blenheim, the
+greatest of his victories, was won. The battle had lasted till five in the
+afternoon. Marlborough had now eight thousand horsemen drawn up in two
+lines, and in the most perfect order for a general attack on the enemy's
+line along the space between Blenheim and Oberglau. The infantry was drawn
+up in battalions in their rear, so as to support them if repulsed, and
+to keep in check the large masses of the French that still occupied the
+village of Blenheim. Tallard now interlaced his squadrons of cavalry with
+battalions of infantry, and Marlborough, by a corresponding movement,
+brought several regiments of infantry and some pieces of artillery to his
+front line at intervals between the bodies of horse.
+
+A little after five Marlborough commenced the decisive movement, and the
+allied cavalry, strengthened and supported by foot and guns, advanced
+slowly from the lower ground near the Nebel up the slope to where the
+French cavalry, ten thousand strong, awaited them. On riding over the
+summit of the acclivity, the allies were received with so hot a fire from
+the French artillery and small arms that at first the cavalry recoiled, but
+without abandoning the high ground. The guns and the infantry which they
+had brought with them maintained the contest with spirit and effect. The
+French fire seemed to slacken. Marlborough instantly ordered a charge along
+the line. The allied cavalry galloped forward at the enemy's squadrons, and
+the hearts of the French horsemen failed them. Discharging their carbines
+at an idle distance, they wheeled round and spurred from the field, leaving
+the nine infantry battalions of their comrades to be ridden down by the
+torrent of the allied cavalry.
+
+The battle was now won. Tallard and Marsin, severed from each other,
+thought only of retreat. Tallard drew up the squadrons of horse that he had
+left, in a line extended toward Blenheim, and sent orders to the infantry
+in that village to leave it and join him without delay. But long ere his
+orders could be obeyed the conquering squadrons of Marlborough had wheeled
+to the left and thundered down on the feeble array of the French marshal.
+Part of the force which Tallard had drawn up for this last effort was
+driven into the Danube; part fled with their general to the village of
+Sonderheim, where they were soon surrounded by the victorious allies and
+compelled to surrender. Meanwhile Eugene had renewed his attack upon the
+Gallo-Bavarian left, and Marsin, finding his colleague utterly routed, and
+his own right flank uncovered, prepared to retreat. He and the Elector
+succeeded in withdrawing a considerable part of their troops in tolerable
+order to Dillingen; but the krge body of French who garrisoned Blenheim
+were left exposed to certain destruction.
+
+Marlborough speedily occupied all the outlets from the village with
+his victorious troops, and then, collecting his artillery round it, he
+commenced a cannonade that speedily would have destroyed Blenheim itself
+and all who were in it. After several gallant but unsuccessful attempts to
+cut their way through the allies, the French in Blenheim were at length
+compelled to surrender at discretion; and twenty-four battalions and twelve
+squadrons, with all their officers, laid down their arms and became the
+captives of Marlborough.
+
+"Such," says Voltaire, "was the celebrated battle which the French called
+the battle of Hoechstaedt, the Germans Blindheim, and the English Blenheim.
+The conquerors had about five thousand killed and eight thousand wounded,
+the greater part being on the side of Prince Eugene. The French army was
+almost entirely destroyed: of sixty thousand men, so long victorious,
+there never reassembled more than twenty thousand effective. About twelve
+thousand killed, fourteen thousand prisoners, all the cannon, a prodigious
+number of colors and standards, all the tents and equipages, the general of
+the army, and one thousand two hundred officers of mark in the power of the
+conqueror, signalized that day!"
+
+Ulm, Landau, Treves, and Traerbach surrendered to the allies before the
+close of the year. Bavaria submitted to the Emperor, and the Hungarians
+laid down their arms. Germany was completely delivered from France, and the
+military ascendency of the arms of the allies was completely established.
+Throughout the rest of the war Louis fought only in defence. Blenheim had
+dissipated forever his once proud visions of almost universal conquest.
+
+
+
+%UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND%
+
+A.D. 1707
+
+JOHN HILL BURTON
+
+
+Although not one of the longest, the reign of Queen Anne was one of the
+most glorious, in English history. Not only was it signalized by the
+victorious deeds of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession, but
+also by the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, one of the
+principal events in British annals.
+
+Before the union England and Scotland had no political partnership save
+that derived through the person of the sovereign by inheritance of both
+crowns. From the completion of the union in 1707 both countries have been
+not only under one royal head, but also represented in a single Parliament.
+At the beginning of Anne's reign the attitude of Scotland toward England
+was hostile, old antagonisms surviving in memory to intensify fresh
+irritations. Although William III, predecessor of Anne, had urged a union
+of the kingdoms, all negotiations to that end had failed. In 1703, and
+again in 1704, the Scottish Parliament had passed an act of security
+declaring in favor of the abrogation of the union of the crowns which had
+existed for a century. The English Parliament resorted to retaliatory
+measures.
+
+By this time, however, the wiser statesmen in both countries saw that open
+hostilities could be averted only by a complete political union of the two
+kingdoms, and they used all their influence to bring it about. How this
+great historic reconciliation was accomplished, Burton, the eminent
+Scottish historian and jurist, shows with equal learning and impartiality.
+
+The English statute, responding by precautions and threats to the Scots Act
+of Security, contained clauses for furthering an incorporating union as the
+only conclusive settlement of accumulating difficulties. It provided that
+commissioners for England appointed by the Queen under the great seal shall
+have power "to treat and consult" with commissioners for the same purpose
+"authorized by authority of the Parliament of Scotland." The statute of the
+Parliament of Scotland completing the adjustment, with the short title "Act
+for a treaty with England," authorizes such persons "as shall be nominated
+and appointed by her majesty under the great seal of this kingdom" to treat
+and consult with "the commissioners for England."
+
+The next great step was the appointment of the two commissions, thirty-one
+on either side. On the English were the two archbishops; for Scotland there
+was no clerical element. It was noticed that for England all the members
+not official were from the peerage, while in Scotland there seemed to be a
+desire to represent the peerage, the landed commoners, and the burgesses
+or city interest, in just proportions. At an early stage in the daily
+business, the English brought up a proposition about the reception of which
+they had considerable apprehension: that there should be "the same customs,
+excise, and all other taxes" throughout the United Kingdom--virtually a
+resolution that Scotland should be taxed on the English scale. This was
+easily passed by means of a solvent--due, no doubt, to the financial
+genius of Godolphin--that, on an accounting and proof of local or personal
+hardships arising from the adoption of uniformity, compensation in money
+should be made from the English treasury. But a more critical point was
+reached when, on April 24th, the chancellor of Scotland brought forward,
+among certain preliminary articles, one "that there be free communication,
+and intercourse of trade and navigation, between the two kingdoms and
+plantations thereunto belonging, under such regulations as in the progress
+of this treaty shall be found most for the advantage of both kingdoms."
+This was frankly accepted on the part of England, and faithfully adjusted
+in detail. It was felt to be a mighty sacrifice made to exercise indefinite
+but formidable calamities in another shape.
+
+At this point in the progress of the union all interest resting on the
+excitements of political victory and defeat, or the chances of a bitter
+war, came to an end. There were a few small incidents in Scotland; but
+England was placidly indifferent. She had cheerfully paid a heavy stake as
+loser in the great game, and it would trouble her no more. The statesmen
+of the two countries knew that the union must pass unless the Jacobites of
+Scotland were joined by an invading French army; and that was not a likely
+casualty while Marlborough was hovering on the frontiers of France. There
+was a touch of the native haughtiness in this placid indifference of
+England. No doubt it helped in clearing the way to the great conclusion;
+but for many years after the fusing of the two nations into one, disturbing
+events showed that it had been better had the English known something about
+the national institutions and the temper of the people who had now a right
+to call themselves their fellow-countrymen.
+
+It was expected that Scotland would be quietly absorbed into
+England--absorptions much more difficult in the first aspect were in
+continuous progress in Asia and America. The Englishman had great
+difficulty in reconciling himself to political and social conditions not
+his own, and his pride prompted him to demand that, if he left England, any
+part of the world honored by his presence should make an England for his
+reception. When expecting this on the other side of the border, he forgot
+that the Scot had too much of his own independence and obstinacy. True, the
+Scot, among the sweet uses of adversity, had imbibed more of the vagrant,
+and could adapt himself more easily to the usages and temper of other
+nations. But on the question of yielding up his own national usages and
+prejudices in his own country he was as obstinate as his mighty partner.
+
+There was stills world of business to be transacted in details of the
+unattractive kind that belong to accountants' reports. These may be objects
+of vital and intense interest--as in the realizing of the assets in
+bankruptcies, where persons immediately interested in frantic excitement
+hunt out the array of small figures--two, three, four, or five--that tells
+them whether they are safe or ruined. But the interest is not of a kind to
+hold its intensity through after generations. On some items of the present
+accounting, however, there was, in the principle adopted, a fund of
+personal and political interest. The heavy debts of England had to be
+considered--and here, as in all pecuniary arrangements, England was
+freehanded. The Scots made an effort to retain their African Company, but
+they fortunately offered the alternative of purchasing the stock from the
+holders. On the alternative of retention the English commissioners were
+resolute in refusal and resistance, but they were ready to entertain the
+other; and they accepted it in a literal shape. To have bought the stock at
+its market value would have been a farce, after the ruin that had overcome
+the company. But if it could not be even said that England had ruined
+the company, the sacrifice had been made in the prevalence of English
+interests, and while there was yet a hold on England it should be kept.
+There was no difficulty in coming to a settlement satisfactory to the
+Scots, and willingly offered by the English. It was substantially payment
+of the loss on each share, as calculated from an examination of the
+company's books.
+
+The adjustment of the several pecuniary claims thus created in favor of
+Scotland was simply the collective summation of the losses incurred by all
+the stockholders; and when the summation was completed the total was passed
+into a capital sum, called the "Equivalent." This sum total of the various
+items, with all their fractions, making up a fractional sum less than four
+hundred thousand pounds, might be otherwise described as a capital stock
+held by the shareholders of the old company trading to Africa and the
+Indies, each to the extent of his loss. Odious suspicions were, down to
+the present generation, propagated about an item or group of items in the
+Equivalent. A sum amounting to twenty thousand five hundred forty pounds
+seventeen shillings sevenpence had been made over by the English treasury,
+to be paid to influential Scotsmen as the price of their votes or influence
+in favor of England.
+
+Fortunately this affair was closely investigated by the celebrated
+committee of inquiry that brought on Marlborough's dismissal and Walpole's
+imprisonment. It was found that the Scots treasury had been drained; and
+the crisis of the union was not a suitable time either for levying money
+or for leaving debts--the salaries of public offices especially--unpaid.
+England, therefore, lent money to clear away this difficulty. The
+transaction was irregular, and had not passed through the proper treasury
+forms. It was ascertained, however, that the money so lent had been repaid.
+In discussions of the affair, before those concerned were fully cleared
+of the odium of bribery, taunting remarks had been made on the oddity and
+sordid specialties of the items of payment. Thus the allowance to the Lord
+Banff was, in sterling money, eleven pounds two shillings. It would have
+had a richer sound, and perhaps resolved itself into round numbers, in
+Scots money; but as it is, there is no more to be said against it than
+that, as a debt in some way due to the Lord Banff, the exact English
+book-keeper had entered it down to its fraction.
+
+There remained a few matters of adjustment of uniformities between the two
+countries for the advantage of both--such as a fixed standard for rating
+money in account. The Scots grumbled, rather than complained, about the
+English standard being always made the rule, and no reciprocity being
+offered. But the Scots were left considerable facilities for the use of
+their own customs for home purposes in pecuniary matters, and in weights
+and measures. If, for the general convenience of commerce and taxation,
+any uniformity was necessary, and the practice of the greater nation was a
+suitable standard for the other, it was the smaller sacrifice, and to both
+parties the easier arrangement, that those who were only an eighth part of
+the inhabitants of the island should yield to the overwhelming majority.
+
+It was in keeping with the wisdom and tolerance prevailing throughout on
+the English side of the treaty that it should be first discussed in the
+Parliament of Scotland. If this was felt as a courtesy to Scotland it was
+an expediency for England. All opposition would be in Scotland, and it was
+well to know it at once, that disputes might be cleared off and a simple
+affirmative or negative presented to the Parliament of Scotland.
+
+The Parliament of England has ever restrained vague oratory by a rule that
+there must always be a question of yes or no, fitted for a division as the
+text of a debate. In Scotland on this occasion, as on many others, there
+was at first a discussion of the general question; and when this, along
+with other sources of information, had given the servants of the Crown
+some assurance of the fate of the measure, there was a separate debate
+and division on the first article, understood on all hands to be a final
+decision. The debate was decorated by a work of oratorical art long admired
+in Scotland, and indeed worthy of admiration anywhere for its brilliancy
+and power. It was a great philippic--taking that term in its usual
+acceptation--as expressing a vehement torrent of bitter epigram and
+denunciatory climax.
+
+The speech of John Hamilton, Lord Belhaven, "On the subject-matter of a
+union betwixt the two kingdoms of England and Scotland," was so amply
+dispersed in its day that if a collector of pamphlets on the union buys
+them in volumes he will generally find this speech in each volume. It is,
+no doubt, an effort of genius; but what will confer more interest on the
+following specimens selected from it is that it was an attempt to rouse the
+nation to action at this perilous and momentous crisis, and succeeded only
+in drawing attention and admiration as a fine specimen of rhetorical art:
+
+"I think I see the present peers of Scotland, whose noble ancestors
+conquered provinces, overran countries, reduced and subjected towns and
+fortified places, exacted tribute through the greater part of England, now
+walking in the court of requests like so many English attorneys, laying
+aside their walking-swords when in company with the English peers, lest
+their self-defence should be found murder.
+
+"I think I see the royal state of boroughs walking their desolate streets,
+hanging down their heads under disappointments, wormed out of all the
+branches of their old trade, uncertain what hand to turn to, necessitate
+to become 'prentices to their unkind neighbors, and yet after all finding
+their trade so fortified by companies and secured by prescriptions that
+they despair of any success therein. But above all, my lord, I think I see
+our ancient mother, Caledonia, like Caesar, sitting in the midst of our
+senate, ruefully looking round her, covering herself with her royal
+garment, attending the fatal blow, and breathing out her last with a _'et
+tu quoque mi fili,'_"
+
+The great remedy for all is an end of rancorous feuds and hatreds dividing
+Scotland; and this calls from him a glowing picture of the land that by
+union and industry has made itself too powerful to be a safe partner for
+humiliated Scotland:
+
+"They are not under the afflicting hand of Providence as we are; their
+circumstances are great and glorious; their treaties are prudently managed
+both at home and abroad; their generals brave and valorous; their armies
+successful and victorious; their trophies and laurels memorable and
+surprising; their enemies subdued and routed. Their royal navy is the
+terror of Europe; their trade and commerce extended through the universe,
+encircling the whole world, and rendering their own capital city the
+emporium for the whole inhabitants of the earth."
+
+The speech was for the country, not for the House. The great points about
+trade and virtual independence had been conceded by England, and a union
+was looked to rather as a refuge and a gain than as oppression and plunder.
+It has even been said that there was some inclination to receive the speech
+with irony; and Defoe, who seems to have been present on the occasion,
+gives this account of what followed:
+
+"Mr. Seton, who made the first speech, stood up to answer the Lord
+Belhaven; but as he had already spoken, the order of the House--viz., 'that
+the same member could not speak twice in the same cause'--was urged against
+his speaking, and the Earl of Marchmont standing up at the same time, the
+lord chancellor gave place to him, who indeed made a short return to so
+long a speech, and which answer occasioned some laughter in the House. The
+Earl of Marchmont's speech was to this purpose, viz.: He had heard a long
+speech, and a very terrible one; but he was of opinion it required a short
+answer, which he gave in these terms: 'Behold he dreamed, but, lo! when
+he awoke, he found it was a dream.' This answer, some said, was as
+satisfactory to the members, who understood the design of that speech as if
+it had been answered vision by vision."
+
+In the debates on the union, some Scots statesmen found a tactic,
+infinitely valuable to them in the united Parliament, of voting in a group.
+They were called the "New party," and nicknamed the "_Squadrone volante_."
+In the correspondence already referred to, it was good news at St.
+Stephen's when it was announced that the New party had adopted the union.
+On the critical division the numbers stood one hundred eighteen for the
+article and eighty-three against it. The remainder of the clauses passed
+without division, a ready acceptance being given to amendments, that were
+virtually improvements, in giving effect to the spirit of details in the
+treaty; as where it was adjusted that, for trading purposes, vessels bought
+abroad for trade from the Scots harbors should be counted equivalent to
+vessels of Scottish build.
+
+There was a considerable noisy excitement through the country, the
+Jacobites ever striving to rouse the people in the great towns to riot
+and sedition, and, when they found that impossible, spreading exaggerated
+accounts of the effects of their efforts. A mob was raised in Edinburgh,
+but it was appeased without the loss of life and with no other casualty
+save the frightening of the provost's wife. There were some eccentric
+movements among the Cameronians, rendered all the more grotesque by the
+Jacobites taking the leadership in them; and some of the more vehement
+clergy betook themselves to their own special weapons in the holding of a
+day of humiliation and prayer.
+
+Ere the whole came to a conclusion, a point was yielded to the Presbyterian
+Church of Scotland. It was passed as a separate act before the Act of Union
+was passed--the separate act stipulating its repetition in any act adopting
+the Treaty of Union. It provided for the preservation of the discipline,
+worship, and ecclesiastical government of the establishment. It was further
+provided that every sovereign of the United Kingdom, on accession to the
+throne, should make oath in terms of this act. Hence it happens that this
+oath is taken immediately on the accession, the other oaths, including
+that for the protection of the Church of England, being postponed till the
+ceremony of the coronation. On October 16, 1706, there came a vote on the
+passing of the "Act ratifying and approving the Treaty of Union." This was
+carried in the Scots Parliament by one hundred ten to sixty-nine.
+
+It was the determination of the Queen's ministers for England to carry the
+treaty as it came from Scotland, word for word; and they employed all their
+strength to do so. It was the policy of the English government and their
+supporters in the matter of the union, to avoid a Parliamentary debate upon
+it clause by clause at St. Stephen's.
+
+To this end there was an endeavor to give it, as much as in the peculiar
+conditions could be given, the character of a treaty between two
+independent powers, each acting through its executive, that executive
+acknowledging the full power of Parliament to examine, criticise, and
+virtually judge the act done as a whole, but not admitting Parliamentary
+interference with the progress of the details. If there were an
+illogicality in the essence of a treaty where the executive--the Queen--was
+the common sovereign of both realms, the difficulty could be discarded as
+a pedantry, in a constitutional community where the sovereign acts through
+responsible advisers. Some slight touches of apprehension were felt in
+England when it was seen that the Scots Estates were not only voting the
+separate articles, but in some measure remodelling them.
+
+The Estates were taking the privilege naturally claimed by the weaker party
+to a bargain in protecting themselves while it was yet time. When all was
+adjusted, England, as the vast majority, could correct whatever had been
+done amiss in the preliminary adjustment of her interests, but poor
+Scotland would be entirely helpless. There was another reason for
+tolerating the alterations, in their being directed to the safety and
+completeness of the legal institutions left in the hands of Scotland
+untouched, as matters of entire indifference to England; still it weakened
+the hands of those who desired to evade a Parliamentary discussion on the
+several articles in England that this had been permitted in Scotland, and
+had become effective in the shape of amendments. John Johnston, who had
+been for some time secretary of state for Scotland--a son of the celebrated
+covenanting hero Archibald Johnston of Warriston--was then in London
+carefully looking at the signs of the times. He wrote to Scotland, saying:
+"You may, I think, depend on it that the alterations you have hitherto
+made will not break the union; but if you go on altering, it's like your
+alterations will be altered here, which will make a new session with you
+necessary, and in that case no man knows what may happen." All is well as
+yet (January 4th), and if there be no more serious alterations the English
+ministers will be able to give effect to their resolution "to pass the
+union here without making any alterations at all."
+
+By what had been usually called a message from the throne, the attention of
+Parliament was directed to the treaty as it had come from Scotland, but the
+matter being of supreme importance the Queen was her own messenger. From
+the Commons she had to ask for a supply to meet the equivalent. To both
+Houses she said: "You have now an opportunity before you of putting the
+last hand to a happy union of the two kingdoms, which I hope will be a
+lasting blessing to the whole island, a great addition to its wealth and
+power, and a firm security to the Protestant religion. The advantages that
+will accrue to us all from a union are so apparent that I will add no more,
+but that I shall look upon it as a particular happiness if this great
+work, which has been so often attempted without success, can be brought to
+perfection in my reign."
+
+The opportunity was taken to imitate the Scots in a separate preliminary
+act "for securing the Church of England as by law established." There was a
+desultory discussion in both Houses, with a result showing the overwhelming
+strength of the supporters of the union. In the House of Lords there were
+some divisions, and among these the largest number of votes mustered by
+the opposition was twenty-three, bringing out a majority of forty-seven by
+seventy votes for the ministry. The conclusion of the discussion was a vote
+of approval by each House.
+
+The opposition, however, did not adopt their defeat. They were preparing to
+fight the battle over again, clause by clause, when a bill was brought in
+to convert the Articles of Union into an act of Parliament. The English
+House of Commons has always been supremely tolerant to troublesome and
+even mischievous members, so long as they adhere to the forms of the
+House--forms to be zealously guarded, since they were framed for averting
+hasty legislation and the possible domination of an intolerant majority. It
+was determined, however, that the impracticals and impedimenters should not
+have their swing on this occasion, when the descent of a French army to
+gather to its centre the Jacobitism still lingering in the country darkened
+the political horizon. Both Houses had a full opportunity for discussing
+the merits of every word in the treaty, and the risk of national ruin was
+not to be encountered because they had not expended all their loquacity,
+having expected another opportunity.
+
+The tactic for evading the danger was credited to the ingenuity of Sir
+Simon Harcourt, the attorney-general. The two acts of ecclesiastical
+security and the articles of the treaty were all recited in the preamble of
+the bill under the command of the mighty "Whereas," the enacting part
+of the act was dropped into a single sentence, shorter than statutory
+sentences usually are. The opposition might throw out the measure, and
+the ministry with it, if they had strength to do so; but there had been
+sufficient discussion on the clauses, and there should be no more. In the
+descriptive words of Burnet: "This put those in great difficulties who had
+resolved to object to several articles, and to insist on demanding several
+alterations in them, for they could not come at any debate about them; they
+could not object to the recital, it being mere matter of fact; and they had
+not strength enough to oppose the general enacting clause; nor was it easy
+to come at particulars and offer provisos relating to them. The matter
+was carried on with such zeal that it passed through the House of Commons
+before those who intended to oppose it had recovered out of the surprise
+under which the form it was drawn in had put them."
+
+There was thus but one question, that the bill do pass, and the opposition
+had not reaped encouragement to resist so great an issue. The Lords had, in
+their usual manner of dignified repose, managed to discuss the clauses, but
+it was rather a conversation, to see that all was in right order, and that
+no accident had happened to a measure of so vital moment, than a debate.
+
+On March 6, 1707, the Queen came to the House of Lords, and in a graceful
+speech gave the royal assent to the act.
+
+
+
+%DOWNFALL OF CHARLES XII AT POLTAVA%
+
+TRIUMPH OF RUSSIA
+
+A.D. 1709
+
+K. WALISZEWSKI[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Russian by Lady Mary Loyd.]
+
+
+The battle of Poltava was selected by Sir Edward Creasy as one of the
+fifteen great decisive contests which have altered the fate of nations. His
+able narrative of the battle has been superseded in scholars' eyes by the
+more modern work of the great Russian authority, Waliszewski; but the
+importance of the event remains. It reversed the positions of Sweden and
+Russia in European politics, and placed Russia among the great countries of
+the modern world; Sweden among the little ones.
+
+Before 1709 Sweden still held the rank to which Gustavus Adolphus had
+raised her in the Thirty Years' War. Her prestige had been a little dimmed
+by the victories of the "Great Elector" of Prussia; but her ally Louis XIV
+had saved her from any considerable diminution of the extensive territories
+which she held on the mainland to the south and east of the Baltic Sea.
+About 1700 the young and gallant warrior, Charles XII, the "Madman of the
+North," reasserted her prowess, made her once more the dictator of Northern
+Europe, one of the five great powers of the world.
+
+Meanwhile Peter the Great was progressing but slowly with his
+transformation of Russia. His people had little confidence in him; his
+armies were half-barbaric hordes. When he ventured into war against Sweden
+Europe conceived but one possible result: these undisciplined barbarians
+would be annihilated. At first the expected occurred. Again and again large
+Russian armies were defeated by small bodies of Swedes; but with splendid
+tenacity Peter persisted in the face of revolt at home and defeat abroad.
+"The Swedes shall teach us to beat them" was his famous saying, and at
+Poltava he achieved his aim. From that time forward Russia's antagonism to
+her leader disappeared. His people followed him eagerly along the path to
+power.
+
+It would appear that it was not till Peter's visit to Vienna, in 1698, that
+he conceived the idea of attacking Sweden. Up till that time his warlike
+impulse had rather been directed southward, and the Turk had been the sole
+object of his enmity. But at Vienna he perceived that the Emperor, whose
+help he had counted on, had failed him, and forthwith the mobile mind of
+the young Czar turned to the right-about. A war he must have of some kind,
+it little mattered where, to give work to his young army. The warlike
+instincts and the greed of his predecessors, tempted sometimes by the Black
+Sea, sometimes by the Baltic and the border provinces of Poland, had,
+indeed, always swung and turned back and forward between the south and the
+north. These alternate impulses, natural enough in a nation so full of
+youth and strength, have, since those days, been most unnecessarily
+idealized, erected into a doctrine, and dignified as a work of unification.
+It must be acknowledged that every nation has at one time or the other
+thus claimed the right to resume the national patrimony at the expense
+of neighboring peoples, and Peter, by some lucky fate, remained in this
+respect within certain bounds of justice, of logic, and of truth. Absorbed
+and almost exhausted, as he soon became, by the desperate effort demanded
+by his war in the North, he forgot or imperilled much that the conquering
+ambition of his predecessors had left him in the South and West. He clung
+to the territory already acquired on the Polish side, retired from the
+Turkish border, and claimed what he had most right, relatively speaking, to
+claim in the matter of resumption, on his northwestern frontier.
+
+On that frontier the coast country between the mouth of the Narva, or
+Narova, and that of the Siestra, watered by the Voksa, the Neva, the
+Igora, and the Louga, was really an integral part of the original Russian
+patrimony. It was one of the five districts (_piatiny_) of the Novgorod
+territory, and was still full of towns bearing Slavonic names, such as
+Korela, Ojeshek, Ladoga, Koporie, Iamy, and Ivangrod. It was not till 1616
+that the Czar Michael Feodorovitch, during his struggle with Gustavus
+Adolphus, finally abandoned the seacoast for the sake of keeping his hold
+on Novgorod. But so strong was the hope of recovering the lost territory,
+in the hearts of his descendants, that, after the failure of an attempt on
+Livonia, in Alexis' reign, a boyar named Ordin-Nashtchokin set to work to
+build a number of warships at Kokenhausen, on the Dvina, which vessels were
+intended for the conquest of Riga. Peter had an impression, confused it may
+be, but yet powerful, of these historic traditions. This is proved by the
+direction in which he caused his armies to march after he had thrown down
+the gauntlet to Sweden. He strayed off the path, swayed, as he often was,
+by sudden impulses, but he always came back to the traditional aim of his
+forefathers--access to the sea, a Baltic port, "a window open upon Europe."
+
+His interview with Augustus II at Rawa definitely settled his wavering
+mind. The _pacta conventa_, signed by the King of Poland when he ascended
+his throne, bound him to claim from the King of Sweden the territories
+which had formerly belonged to the republic of Poland. For this end the
+help of Denmark could be reckoned on. The Treaty of Roeskilde (1658), which
+had been forced on Frederick III, weighed heavily on his successors, and
+the eager glances fixed by the neighboring states on Holstein, after the
+death of Christian Albert, in 1694, threatened to end in quarrel. There
+were fair hopes, too, of the help of Brandenburg. When Sweden made alliance
+with Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, that country abandoned its historic
+position in Germany to Prussia. But Sweden still kept some footing, and was
+looked on as a rival.
+
+Further, Augustus had a personal charm for Peter sufficient in itself to
+prove how much simplicity, inexperience, and boyish thoughtlessness still
+existed in that half-polished mind. The Polish Sovereign, tall, strong,
+and handsome, an adept in all physical exercises, a great hunter, a hard
+drinker, and an indefatigable admirer of the fair sex, in whose person
+debauch of every kind took royal proportions, delighted the Czar and
+somewhat overawed him. He was more than inclined to think him a genius, and
+was quite ready to bind up his fortunes with his friend's. At the end of
+four days of uninterrupted feasting, they had agreed on the division of the
+spoils of Sweden, and had made a preliminary exchange of arms and clothing.
+The Czar appeared at Moscow a few weeks later wearing the King of Poland's
+waistcoat and belted with his sword.
+
+In the beginning of 1700 Augustus and Frederick of Denmark attacked Sweden;
+but Peter, though bound by treaty to follow their example, neither moved
+nor stirred. Frederick was beaten, his very capital was threatened. So much
+the worse for him! Augustus seized on Dunamunde, but utterly failed before
+Riga. All the better for the Russians; Riga was left for them! Another
+envoy came hurrying to Moscow. The Czar listened coolly to his reproaches,
+and replied that he would act as soon as news from Constantinople permitted
+it. Negotiations there were proceeding satisfactorily, and he hoped shortly
+to fulfil his promise, and to attack the Swedes in the neighborhood of
+Pskof. This was a point on which the allies had laid great stress, and
+Peter had studiously avoided contradicting them. It was quite understood
+between them that the Czar was not to lay a finger on Livonia. At last on
+August 8, 1700, a courier arrived with the longed-for dispatch. Peace with
+Turkey was signed at last, and that very day the Russian troops received
+their marching orders. But they were not sent toward Pskof. They marched on
+Narva, in the very heart of the Livonian country.
+
+The army destined to lay siege to Narva consisted of three divisions of
+novel formation, under the orders of three generals--Golovin, Weyde, and
+Repnin--with 10,500 Cossacks, and some irregular troops--63,520 men in all.
+Repnin's division, numbering 10,834 men, and the Little Russian Cossacks,
+stopped on the way, so that the actual force at disposal was reduced to
+about 40,000 men. But Charles XII, the new King of Sweden, could not bring
+more than 5300 infantry and 3130 cavalry to the relief of the town. And,
+being obliged, when he neared Wesemburg, to throw himself in flying
+column across a country which was already completely devastated, and,
+consequently, to carry all his supplies with him, his troops arrived in
+presence of an enemy five times as numerous as themselves, worn out, and
+completely exhausted by a succession of forced marches.
+
+Peter never dreamed that he would find the King of Sweden in Livonia. He
+believed his hands were more than full enough elsewhere with the King of
+Denmark; he was quite unaware that the Peace of Travendal, which had been
+signed on the very day of the departure of the Russian troops, had been
+already forced upon his ally. He started off gayly at the head of his
+bombardier company, full of expectation of an easy victory. When he
+arrived before the town, on September 23d, he was astounded to find any
+preparations for serious defence. A regular siege had to be undertaken, and
+when, after a month of preparations, the Russian batteries at last opened
+fire, they made no impression whatever. The artillery was bad, and yet more
+badly served. A second month passed, during which Peter waited and hoped
+for some piece of luck, either for an offer to capitulate or for the
+arrival of Repnin's force. What did happen was that on the night of
+November 17th news came that within twenty-four hours the King of Sweden
+would be at Narva. That very night Peter fled from his camp, leaving the
+command to the Prince de Croy.
+
+None of the arguments brought forward by the sovereign and his apologists
+in justification of this step appears to me to hold water. The necessity
+pleaded for an interview with the Duke of Poland, the Czar's desire to
+hasten on Repnin's march, are mere pitiful excuses. Langen and Hallart, the
+generals sent by Augustus to observe the military operations in Livonia,
+gravely reported that the Czar had been obliged to go to Moscow to receive
+a Turkish envoy--who was not expected for four months! The Emperor's envoy,
+Pleyer, is nearer the mark when he says the sovereign obeyed the entreaties
+of his advisers, who considered the danger too great for him to be
+permitted to remain. And Hallart himself, speaking of these same
+counsellors, whether ministers or generals, does not hesitate to declare,
+in his rough soldierly language, that "they have about as much courage as
+a frog has hair on his belly." The Russian army, disconcerted by the
+unexpected resistance of the Swedes, ill-prepared for resistance,
+ill-commanded, ill-lodged, and ill-fed, was already demoralized to the last
+extent. The arrival of Charles caused a panic, and from that panic Peter,
+the most impressionable of men, was the first to suffer.
+
+The startling rapidity with which Charles had rid himself of the weakest of
+his three adversaries, under the very walls of Copenhagen, would have been
+less astonishing to Peter if the young sovereign had better realized the
+conditions under which he and his allies had begun a struggle in which, at
+first sight, their superiority appeared so disproportionate. King Frederick
+had reckoned without the powers which had guaranteed the recent Treaty of
+Altona, by which the safety of Holstein was insured; without the Hanoverian
+troops, and those of Luneburg, which at once brought succor to Toeningen;
+without the Anglo-Dutch fleet, which forced his to seek shelter under the
+walls of Copenhagen, and thus permitted the King of Sweden to cross
+the Sound unmolested, and land quietly in Zealand; and finally, he
+reckoned--and for this he may well be excused--without that which was
+soon to fill all Europe with terror and amazement: the lucky star and the
+military genius of Charles XII.
+
+This monarch, born in 1682, who had slain bears when he was sixteen, and at
+eighteen was a finished soldier, greedy for glory and battle and blood, was
+the last representative of that race of men who, between the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries, held all Central Europe in their iron grip; fierce
+warriors who steeped Germany and Italy in fire and blood, fought their way
+from town to town, and hamlet to hamlet; giving no truce and showing no
+mercy; who lived for war and by war; grew old and died in harness in a very
+atmosphere of carnage, with bodies riddled with wounds, with hands stained
+with abominable crimes, but with spirits calm and unflinching to the last.
+Standing on the threshold of the new period he was the superb and colossal
+incarnation of that former one, which, happily for mankind, was to
+disappear in his person.
+
+Count Guiscard, who as envoy from the King of France accompanied him on his
+first campaign, describes him thus: "The King of Sweden is of tall stature;
+taller than myself by almost a head; he is very handsome, he has fine eyes
+and a good complexion, his face is long, his speech a little thick. He
+wears a small wig tied behind in a bag, a plain stock, without cravat, a
+very tight jerkin of plain cloth, with sleeves as narrow as our waistcoat
+sleeves, a narrow belt above his jerkin, with a sword of extraordinary
+length and thickness, and almost perfectly flat-soled shoes--a very strange
+style of dress for a prince of his age."
+
+In order to reach Narva with his eight thousand men, Charles, after
+having crossed a tract of desert country, was obliged, at a place called
+Pyhaioggi, to cross a narrow valley divided by a stream, which, if it had
+been fortified, must have stopped him short. The idea occurred to Gordon,
+but Peter would not listen to him, and it was not till the very last moment
+that he sent Sheremetief, who found the Swedes just debouching into the
+valley, received several volleys of grape-shot and retired in disorder.
+The mad venture had succeeded. But Charles' farther advance involved the
+playing of a risky game. His men were worn out, his horses had not been fed
+for two whole days. Still he went on; he reached Narva, formed his Swedes
+into several attacking columns, led one himself, and favored by a sudden
+hurricane which drove showers of blinding snow into his adversaries' faces,
+threw himself into their camp and mastered the place in half an hour. The
+only resistance he met was offered by the two regiments of the guard. All
+the rest fled or surrendered. A few Russians were drowned in the Narva. "If
+the river had been frozen," said Charles discontentedly, "I do not know
+that we should have contrived to kill a single man."
+
+It was a total breakdown; the army had disappeared, and the artillery. The
+very sovereign was gone, and with him the country's honor. That had sunk
+out of sight amid the scornful laughter with which Europe hailed this
+undignified defeat. The Czar was in full flight. All Peter's plans of
+conquest, his dreams of European expansion and of navigating the northern
+seas, his hopes of glory, his faith in his civilizing mission, had utterly
+faded. And he himself had collapsed upon their heaped-up ruins. Onward
+he fled, feeling the Swedish soldiers on his heels. He wept, he sued for
+peace, vowing he would treat at once and submit to any sacrifice; he sent
+imploring appeals to the States-General of Holland, to England and to the
+Emperor, praying for mediation.
+
+But swiftly he recovered possession of his faculties. Then, raising his
+head--through the golden haze with which his insufficient education, the
+infatuation inherent to his semi-oriental origin, and his inexperience, had
+filled his eyes, through the rent of that mighty catastrophe and that cruel
+lesson--he saw and touched the truth at last! He realized what he must set
+himself to do if he was to become that which he fain would be. There must
+be no more playing at soldiers and sailors; no more of that farce of power
+and glory, in which, till now, he had been the chief actor; no more aimless
+adventure, undertaken in utter scorn of time and place. He must toil now
+in downright earnest; he must go forward, step by step; measure each day's
+effort, calculate each morrow's task, let each fruit ripen ere he essayed
+to pluck it; learn patience and dogged perseverance. He did it all. He
+found means within him and about him to carry out his task. The strong,
+long-enduring, long-suffering race of which he came endowed him with the
+necessary qualities, and gave him its own inexhaustible and never-changing
+devotion and self-sacrifice.
+
+Ten armies may be destroyed, he will bring up ten others to replace them,
+no matter what the price. His people will follow him and die beside him to
+the last man, to the last morsel of bread snatched from its starving
+jaws. A month hence, the fugitive from Narva will belong to a vanished,
+forgotten, almost improbable past; the future victor of Poltava will have
+taken his place.
+
+Of the Russian army, as it had originally taken the field, about
+twenty-three thousand men remained--a certain number of troops--the cavalry
+under Sheremetief's command, and Repnin's division. The Czar ordered fresh
+levies. He melted the church-bells into cannon. In vain the clergy raised
+the cry of sacrilege; he never faltered for a moment. He went hither and
+thither giving orders and active help; rating some, encouraging others,
+inspiring everyone with some of his own energy--that energy which his
+misfortune had spurred and strengthened. Yet, Byzantine as he was by
+nature, he could not resist the temptation to endeavor to mislead public
+opinion. Matvieief was given orders to draw up his own special description
+of the battle of Narva and its consequences, for the benefit of the
+readers of the _Gazette de Hollande_ and of the memoranda which he himself
+addressed to the States-General.
+
+The Swedes, according to this account, had been surrounded by a superior
+force within the Russian camp, and had there been forced to capitulate;
+after which event, certain Russian officers, who had desired to pay their
+respects to the King of Sweden, had been treacherously seized by
+his orders. Europe only laughed, but in later years this pretended
+capitulation, and the supposed Swedish violation of it, were to serve
+Peter as a pretext for violating others, to which he himself had willingly
+consented. At Vienna, too, Count Kaunitz listened with a smile while Prince
+Galitzin explained that the Czar "needed no victories to prove his military
+glory." Yet, when the vice-chancellor inquired what conditions the Czar
+hoped to obtain from his victorious adversary, the Russian diplomat calmly
+claimed the greater part of Livonia, with Narva, Ivangrod, Kolyvan,
+Koporie, and Derpt--and future events were to prove that he had not asked
+too much.
+
+Before long this boldness began to reap its own reward. To begin with,
+Charles XII made no immediate attempt to pursue his advantage on Russian
+soil; Peter had the joy of seeing him plunge into the depths of the Polish
+plains. The King of Sweden's decision, which, we are told, did not tally
+with his generals' opinion, has been severely criticised. Guiscard thought
+it perfectly justifiable, so long as the King had not rid himself of
+Augustus, by means of the peace which this Prince appeared more than
+willing to negotiate, through the mediation of Guiscard himself.
+But Charles turned a deaf ear to the French diplomat's prayers and
+remonstrances. He feared, declared Guiscard, "he might run short of
+enemies," and as he could not advance on Russia and leave the Saxons and
+Poles in his rear, he desired--and here doubtless he was right--first of
+all to insure his line of communication, and of possible retreat. Thus, by
+his own deed, he strengthened and cemented an alliance which had already
+been shaken by common defeat.
+
+Augustus, repulsed by the Swedish King, threw himself into Peter's arms,
+and in February, 1701, the common destinies of the Czar and the King of
+Poland were once more bound together. A fresh treaty was signed at the
+Castle of Birze, close to Dunaburg.
+
+The year 1701 was a hard one for Peter. The junction between the army,
+which he had contrived after some fashion to put on a war footing, and
+the Saxon troops of Augustus, only resulted in the complete defeat of the
+allied forces under the walls of Riga, on July 3d. In the month of June
+the Moscow Kremlin caught fire; the state offices (_prikaz_) with their
+archives, the provision-stores, and palaces, were all devoured by the
+flames. The bells fell from the tower of Ivan the Great, and the heaviest,
+which weighed over a hundred tons, was broken in the fall. But in midwinter
+Sheremetief contrived to surprise Schlippenbach with a superior force, and
+defeated him at Erestfer, December 29th.
+
+Peter's delight, and his wild manifestations of triumph, may easily be
+imagined. He did not content himself with exhibiting the few Swedish
+prisoners who had fallen into his hands at Moscow, in a sort of imitation
+Roman triumph; his practical mind incited him to make use of them in
+another way, and Cornelius von Bruyn, who had lived long enough in the
+country to be thoroughly acquainted with its customs, calmly reports that
+the price of war captives, which had originally been three or four florins
+a head, rose as high as twenty and thirty florins. Even foreigners now
+ventured to purchase them, and entered into competition in the open market.
+
+On July 18, 1702, Sheremetief won a fresh victory over
+Schlippenbach--30,000 Russians defeated 8000 Swedes. According to Peter's
+official account of the battle, 5000 of his enemies were left dead on the
+field, while Sheremetief lost only 400 men. This report made Europe smile,
+but the Livonians found it no laughing matter. Volmar and Marienburg fell
+into the hands of the victor, who ravaged the country in the most frightful
+fashion. The Russians had not as yet learned any other form of warfare,
+and, as we may suppose, the idea that he might ever possess these
+territories had not yet occurred to Peter. His mind, indeed, was absorbed
+elsewhere. His old fancies and whims were strong upon him, and he left
+Apraxin to rage on the banks of the Neva, in Ingria, on the very spot where
+his future capital was to stand, while he himself gave all his time and
+strength to the building of a few wretched ships at Archangel. It was not
+till September, when the ice had driven him out of the northern port, that
+he returned to the west and took up his former course. He reached the Lake
+of Ladoga, sent for Sheremetief, and the end he was to pursue for many a
+long year seems at last to have taken firm root in his hitherto unstable
+mind. He laid siege to Noteburg, where he found a garrison of only four
+hundred fifty men, and on December 11, 1702, he rechristened the little
+fortress he had captured, by a new and symbolic name, "Schluesselburg" (Key
+of the Sea).
+
+Next came the capture of Nienschantz, at the very mouth of the Neva, in
+April, 1703, a personal success for the captain of Bombardiers, Peter
+Mikhailoff, who there brought his batteries into play. A month later the
+artilleryman had become a sailor, and had won Russia's first naval victory.
+Two regiments of the guard manned thirty boats, surrounded two small
+Swedish vessels, which, in their ignorance of the capture of Nienschantz,
+had ventured close to the town, took possession of them, and murdered their
+crews. The victor's letters to his friends are full of the wildest and most
+childish delight, and there was, we must admit, some reason for this joy.
+He had reconquered the historic estuary, through which, in the ninth
+century, the first Varegs had passed southward, toward Grecian skies. On
+the 16th of the following May wooden houses began to rise on one of the
+neighboring islets. These houses were to multiply, to grow into palaces,
+and finally to be known as St. Petersburg.
+
+Peter's conquests and newly founded cities disturbed Charles XII but
+little. "Let him build towns; there will be all the more for us to take!"
+Peter and his army had so far, where Charles was concerned, had to do only
+with small detachments of troops, scattered apart and thus foredoomed to
+destruction. The Russians took advantage of this fact to pursue their
+successes, strengthening and intrenching themselves both in Ingria and
+Livonia. In July, 1704, Peter was present at the taking of Derpt. In August
+he had his revenge for his disaster at Narva, and carried the town after
+a murderous assault. Already in November, 1703, a longed-for guest had
+appeared in the mouth of the Neva, a foreign trading-vessel laden with
+brandy and salt. Menshikoff, the Governor of _Piterburg_, entertained the
+captain at a banquet, and presented him with five hundred florins for
+himself, and thirty crowns for each of his sailors.
+
+Meanwhile Charles XII tarried in Poland, where Augustus' affairs were going
+from bad to worse. A diet convened at Warsaw in February, 1704, proclaimed
+his downfall. After the disappearance of James Sobieski, whose candidature
+was put a stop to by an ambuscade, into which the dethroned King lured the
+son of the deliverer of Vienna, Charles, who was all-powerful, put forward
+that of Stanislaus Lesczynski. Though he gave little thought just then to
+Russia and to the Russian sovereign, the Czar was beginning to be alarmed
+as to the consequences which the Swedish King's position in Poland and in
+Saxony might entail on himself. Charles was sure to end by retracing
+his steps, and an encounter between Sheremetief and Loewenhaupt, at
+Hemauerthorf in Courland (July 15, 1705), clearly proved that the Russian
+army, unless in the case of disproportionate numerical superiority over the
+enemy, was not yet capable of resisting well-commanded Swedish troops. On
+this occasion Sheremetief lost all his infantry and was himself severely
+wounded.
+
+What then was Peter to do? He must work on, increase his resources, and add
+to his experience. If Sheremetief and his likes proved unequal to their
+task, he must find foreign generals and instructors, technical and other;
+he must keep patience, he must avoid all perilous encounters, he must
+negotiate, and try to obtain peace, even at the price of parting with some
+of the territory he had conquered. The years between 1705 and 1707 were
+busy ones for him.
+
+A treaty of peace among his enemies took him by surprise and found him
+quite unprepared. He soon made good his mistakes, took a swift decision,
+and adopted the course which was infallibly to bring him final victory. He
+evacuated Poland, retired backward, and, pushing forward the preparations
+which Charles' long stay in Saxony had permitted him to carry on with great
+activity, he resolved that the battle should be fought on his ground, and
+at his chosen time. He took fresh patience, he resolved to wait, to wear
+out his adversary, to draw back steadily and leave nothing but a void
+behind him. Thus he would force the enemy to advance across the desert
+plains he had deliberately devastated, and run the terrible risk, which had
+always driven back the ancient foes of his country, whether Turks, Tartars,
+or Poles--a winter sojourn in the heart of Russia. This was to be the final
+round of the great fight. The Czar, as he expressed it, was to set ten
+Russians against every Swede, and time and space and cold and hunger were
+to be his backers.
+
+Charles, the most taciturn general who ever lived, never revealed the
+secret inspiration which drove him to play his adversary's game, by
+marching afresh on Grodno. During 1707 he seemed to give the law to Europe,
+from his camp in Saxony. France, which had been vanquished at Blenheim
+and Ramillies, turned a pleading glance toward him, and the leader of the
+victorious allies, Marlborough himself, solicited his help.
+
+Charles may have had an idea of making Grodno his base for a spring attack
+on the Czar's new conquests in the North. This supposition would seem to
+have been the one accepted by Peter, if we may judge by the orders
+given, just at this time, to insure the safety of Livonia and Ingria, by
+completing their devastation; and these very orders may have induced the
+King of Sweden to abandon his original design, in favor of another, the
+wisdom of which is still contested by experts, but which, it cannot be
+denied, was of noble proportions. Charles, too, had found an ally to set
+against those natural ones with which Russia had furnished the Czar, and he
+had found him within the borders of the Czar's country. The name of this
+ally was Mazeppa.
+
+The stormy career of the famous hetman, so dramatic, both from the historic
+and domestic point of view--from that adventure with the _pan_ Falbowski,
+so naively related by Pasek, down to the romance with Matrena Kotchoubey,
+which colored the last and tragic incidents of his existence--is so well
+known that I will not narrate it here, even in the concisest form. Little
+Russia was then passing through a painful crisis--the consequence of
+Shmielnicki's efforts at emancipation, which had been warped and perverted
+by Russian intervention. The Polish lords, who formerly oppressed the
+country, had been replaced by the Cossacks, who not only ground down the
+native population, but railed at and quarrelled with their own chief. The
+hetmans and the irregular troops were at open war, the first striving
+to increase their authority and make their power hereditary, the others
+defending their ancient democratic constitution.
+
+The Swedish war increased Mazeppa's difficulties. He found himself taken
+at a disadvantage between the claims of the Czar, who would fain have his
+Cossacks on every battle-field in Poland, Russia, and Livonia, and the
+resistance of the Cossacks themselves, who desired to remain in their own
+country. Being himself of noble Polish birth, brought up by the Jesuits,
+having served King John Casimir of Poland, and sworn allegiance to the
+Sultan, he saw no reason for sacrificing his interests, much less his life,
+for Peter's benefit. The approach of Charles XII made him fear he might,
+like his predecessor Nalevaiko, be deserted by his own followers, and given
+up to the Poles.
+
+The appearance of Charles on the Russian frontier forced him to a definite
+resolution, and, in the spring of 1708, his emissaries appeared at
+Radoshkovitse, southeast of Grodno, where Charles had established his
+head-quarters. The King of Sweden's idea, at that decisive moment, would
+seem to have been to take advantage of the hetman's friendly inclination,
+to find his way into the heart of Russia, using the rich Southern Provinces
+as his base, to stir up, with Mazeppa's help, the Don Cossacks, the
+Astrakhan Tartars, and, it may have been, the Turks themselves, and thus
+attack the Muscovite power in the rear. Then Peter would have been forced
+back upon his last intrenchments, at Moscow or elsewhere, while General
+Luebecker, who was in Finland with fourteen thousand men, fell on Ingria
+and on St. Petersburg, and Leszcynski's Polish partisans, with General
+Krassow's Swedes, held Poland.
+
+It was a mighty plan, indeed, but at the very outset it was sharply
+checked. Mazeppa insisted on certain conditions, and these conditions
+Charles thought too heavy. The hetman agreed that Poland should take the
+Ukraine and White Russia, and that the Swedes should have the fortresses of
+Mglin, Starodoub, and Novgorod-Sievierski, but he himself insisted on being
+apportioned Polotsk, Vitebsk, and the whole of Courland, to be held in
+fief. Thus the negotiations were delayed. Meanwhile Charles, perceiving
+that he was not strong enough to make a forward movement, made up his mind
+to send for Loewenhaupt, who was in Livonia, and who was to bring him
+sixteen thousand men and various stores. But the Swedish hero had not
+reckoned fairly with distance and with time. Many precious days, the best
+of the season, fled by before his orders could be obeyed. And, for the
+first time, he showed signs of uncertainty and irresolution which were
+all too quickly communicated to those under his command. Loewenhaupt grew
+slower than usual. Luebecker slackened his activity, and Mazeppa began to
+play his double game again: prudently preparing his Cossacks to revolt,
+in the name of the ancient customs, national privileges, and church laws,
+which Peter's reforms had infringed; fortifying his own residence at
+Batourin, and accumulating immense stores there, but still continuing to
+pay court to the Czar, wearing the German dress, flattering the sovereign's
+despotic taste by suggesting plans which would have annihilated the last
+vestiges of local independence, and accepting gifts sent him by Menshikoff.
+
+And so the summer passed away. A winter campaign became inevitable, and the
+abyss which Peter's unerring eye had scanned began to gape.
+
+It was not till June that Charles XII left Radoshkovitse, and marched
+eastward to Borisov, where he crossed the Berezina. Menshikoff and
+Sheremetief made an attempt to stop him, on July 3d, as he was crossing a
+small river called the Bibitch, near Holovtchin. A night manoeuvre, and
+a wild bayonet charge, led by the King himself, carried him once more to
+victory. The town of Mohilef opened its gates to the Swedes, but there
+Charles was forced to stay, and lose more time yet waiting for Loewenhaupt.
+He marched again, early in August, in a southerly direction, and his
+soldiers soon found themselves in the grip of one of Peter's allies. They
+were driven to support themselves by gathering ears of corn, which they
+ground between two stones. Sickness began to thin their ranks. Their three
+doctors, so the fierce troopers said, were "brandy, garlic, and death"!
+Loewenhaupt had reached Shklof, and was separated from the invading army by
+two streams, the Soja and the Dnieper, between which Peter had taken up
+his position. The Swedish general, after having successfully passed the
+Dnieper, was met at Liesna, on October 9th, by a force three times as large
+as his own, and Peter was able, on the following day, to report a complete
+victory to his friends: "8500 men dead on the field, without mentioning
+those the Kalmucks have hunted into the forest, and 700 prisoners!"
+According to this reckoning, Loewenhaupt, who could not have brought more
+than 11,000 troops into action, should have been left without a man; as a
+matter of fact, he reached Charles with 6700, after a flank march which all
+military experts consider a marvel. But, not being able to find a bridge
+across the Soja, he was forced to abandon his artillery and all his
+baggage, and he led his starving troops into a famine-stricken camp.
+
+There was bad news, too, from Ingria, where Luebecker had also been
+defeated, losing all his baggage and three thousand first-class troops.
+Charles grew so disconcerted that he is reported to have confessed to
+Gyllenkrook, his quartermaster-general, that he was all at sea, and no
+longer had any definite plan. On October 22d he reached Mokoshin on the
+Desna, on the borders of the Ukraine, where he had expected to meet
+Mazeppa. But the old leader broke his appointment. He still desired to
+temporize and was loath to take any decisive resolution. He was driven to
+take one at last, by the Cossacks about him, who were alarmed at the idea
+of the Russians following the Swedes into the Ukraine. It would be far
+better, so they thought, to join the latter against the former. One of
+these Cossacks, Voinarovski, who had been sent by the hetman to Menshikoff,
+had returned with most terrifying news. He had overheard the German
+officers on the favorite's staff, speaking of Mazeppa and his followers,
+say: "God pity those poor wretches; to-morrow they will all be in chains!"
+Mazeppa, when he heard this report, "raged like a whirlwind," hurried to
+Batourin to give the alarm, and then crossed the Desna and joined the
+Swedish army.
+
+It was too late. The popular sentiment, on which both he and Charles
+had reckoned to promote an insurrectionary movement, confused by the
+tergiversations and the ambiguous actions of the hetman, had quite gone
+astray and lost all consistency. All Mazeppa could reckon upon was a body
+of two thousand faithful troops; not enough even to defend Batourin, which
+Menshikoff snatched from him a few days later--thus depriving the Swedish
+army of its last chance of revictualling. When the fortresses of Starodoub
+and Novgorod-Sievierski closed their gates against him, the whole of the
+Ukraine slipped from the grasp of the turncoat chief and his new allies.
+His effigy was first hung and then dragged through the streets of Glouhof
+in Peter's presence; another hetman, Skoropadski, was appointed in his
+place, and then came winter--a cruel winter, during which the very birds
+died of cold.
+
+By the beginning of 1709 Charles' effective strength had dwindled to nearly
+twenty thousand men. The Russians did not dare to attack him as yet, but
+they gathered round him in an ever-narrowing circle. They carried his
+advanced posts, they cut his lines of communication. The King of Sweden, to
+get himself mere elbow-room, was driven to begin his campaign in the month
+of January. He lost one thousand men and forty-eight officers in taking the
+paltry town of Wespjik (January 6th). By this time the game, in Mazeppa's
+view, was already lost, and he made an attempt to turn his coat again;
+offering to betray Charles into Peter's hands if Peter would restore him
+his office. The bargain was struck, but a letter from the old traitor,
+addressed to Leszcynski, chanced to fall into the Czar's hands, and made
+him draw back, in the conviction that Mazeppa was utterly unreliable.
+
+In March, the near approach of the Swedish army, then advancing on Poltava,
+induced the Zaporoje Cossacks to join it. But the movement was a very
+partial one, and Peter soon put it down, by means of a series of military
+executions, mercilessly carried out by Menshikoff, and of various
+manifestoes against the foreign heretics, "who deny the doctrines of the
+true religion, and spit on the picture of the Blessed Virgin." The capture
+of Poltava thus became the last hope of Charles and his army. If they could
+not seize the town, they must all die of hunger.
+
+The fortifications of the place were weak, but the besieging army was
+sorely changed from that which had fought under the walls of Narva. It had
+spent too long a time in fat quarters, in Saxony and Poland, to be fit
+to endure this terrible campaign. Like the Russian army at Narva, it
+was sapped by demoralization before it was called on to do any serious
+fighting. Even among the Swedish staff, and in the King's intimate circle,
+all confidence in his genius and his lucky star had disappeared.
+
+His best generals, Rehnskold and Gyllenkrook, his chancellor Piper, and
+Mazeppa himself were against any prolongation of the siege, which promised
+to be a long one. "If God were to send down one of his angels," he said,
+"to induce me to follow your advice, I would not listen to him!" An
+ineradicable illusion, the fruit of the too easy victories of his early
+career, prompted him to undervalue the forces opposed to him. He knew,
+and would acknowledge, nothing of that new Russia, the mighty upstanding
+colossus, which Peter had at last succeeded in raising up in his path.
+According to some authorities, Mazeppa, in his desire to replace Batourin
+by Poltava, as his own personal appanage, encouraged him in this fatal
+resolution. But it may well have been that retreat had already become
+impossible.
+
+It was long before Peter made up his mind to intervene; he was still
+distrustful of himself, desperately eager to increase his own resources,
+and with them his chances of victory. On his enemy's side, everything
+contributed to this result. By the end of June all the Swedish ammunition
+was exhausted, the invaders could use none of their artillery and hardly
+any of their fire-arms, and were reduced to fighting with cold steel. On
+the very eve of the decisive struggle, they were left without a leader.
+During a reconnaissance on the banks of the Vorskla, which ran between
+the hostile armies, Charles, always rash and apt to expose himself
+unnecessarily, was struck by a bullet. "It is only in the foot," he said,
+smiling, and continued his examination of the ground. But, when he returned
+to camp he fainted, and Peter, reckoning on the moral effect of the
+accident, at once resolved to cross the river. A report, as a matter
+of fact, ran through the Swedish camp that the King, convinced of the
+hopelessness of the situation, had deliberately sought death.
+
+Yet ten more days passed by, in the expectation of an attack which the
+Russians did not dare to make. It was Charles who took action at last,
+informing his generals, on June 26th (July 7th) that he would give battle
+on the following morning. He himself was still in a very suffering
+condition, and made over the command to Rehnskold, a valiant soldier but
+a doubtful leader, for he did not possess the army's confidence, and,
+according to Lundblad, "hid his lack of knowledge and strategical powers
+under gloomy looks and a fierce expression." After the event, as was so
+commonly the case with vanquished generals, he was accused of treachery.
+
+The truth would seem to be that Charles' obstinate reserve, and habit of
+never confiding his plans and military arrangements to any third person,
+had ended by gradually depriving his lieutenants of all power of
+independent action. In his presence they were bereft of speech and almost
+of ideas. All Rehnskold did was to rage and swear at everyone. Peter,
+meanwhile, neglected nothing likely to insure success. He even went so far
+as to dress the Novgorod regiment--one of his best--in the coarse cloth
+_(siermiaga)_ generally reserved for newly joined recruits, in the hope of
+thus deceiving the enemy. This stratagem, however, completely failed. In
+the very beginning of the battle, Rehnskold fell on the regiment, and cut
+it to pieces.
+
+The Russian centre was confided to Sheremetief, the right wing to General
+Ronne, the left to Menshikoff. Bruce commanded the artillery, and the Czar,
+as usual, retired modestly to the head of a single regiment. But this was a
+mere disguise; in real fact, he was everywhere, going hither and thither,
+in the forefront of the battle, and lavishing effort in every direction. A
+bullet passed through his hat, another is said to have struck him full
+on the breast. It was miraculously stopped by a golden cross, set with
+precious stones, given by the monks on Mount Athos to the Czar Feodor, and
+which his successor habitually wore. This cross, which certainly bears the
+mark of some projectile, is still preserved in the Ouspienski monastery, at
+Moscow.
+
+The heroism and sovereign contempt of death betrayed by Charles were worthy
+of himself. Unable to sit a horse, he caused himself to be carried on a
+litter, which, when it was shattered by bullets, was replaced by another
+made of crossed lances. But he was nothing but a living standard, useless,
+though sublime. The once mighty military leader had utterly disappeared.
+The battle was but a wild conflict, in which the glorious remnants of one
+of the most splendid armies that had ever been brought together; unable to
+use its arms, leaderless, hopeless of victory, and soon overwhelmed and
+crushed by superior numbers, struggled for a space, with the sole object
+of remaining faithful to its king. At the end of two hours Charles himself
+left the field of battle. He had been lifted onto the back of an old horse
+which his father had formerly ridden, and which was called _Brandklepper_
+("Run to the Fire"), because he was always saddled when a fire broke out in
+the city.
+
+This charger followed the vanquished hero into Turkey, was taken by the
+Turks at Bender, sent back to the King, taken again at Stralsund in 1715,
+returned to its owner once more, and died in 1718--the same year as his
+master--at the age of forty-two. Poniatowski, the father of the future
+King of Poland, who was following the campaign as a volunteer--Charles had
+refused to take any Polish troops with him on account of their want of
+discipline--rallied one of Colonel Horn's squadrons to escort the King, and
+received seventeen bullets through his leather kaftan while covering the
+royal retreat. Field Marshal Rehnskold, Piper the chancellor, with all his
+subordinates, over one hundred fifty officers, and two thousand soldiers
+fell into the victor's hands.
+
+The Russians' joy was so extreme that they forgot to pursue the retreating
+enemy. Their first impulse was to sit down and banquet. Peter invited the
+more important prisoners to his own table, and toasted the health of his
+"masters in the art of war." The Swedes, who still numbered thirteen
+thousand men, had time to pause for a moment in their own camp, where
+Charles summoned Loewenhaupt, and, for the first time in his life, was
+heard to ask for advice--"What was to be done?" The general counselled him
+to burn all wagons, mount his infantry soldiers on the draught-horses and
+beat a retreat toward the Dnieper. On June 30th the Russians came up with
+the Swedish army at Perevolotchna, on the banks of the river, and, the
+soldiers refusing to fight again, Loewenhaupt capitulated; but the King
+had time to cross to the other side. Two boats lashed together carried his
+carriage, a few officers, and the war-chests which he had filled in Saxony.
+Mazeppa contrived to find a boat for himself, and loaded it with two
+barrels of gold.
+
+At Kiev, whither Peter proceeded from Poltava, a solemn thanksgiving was
+offered up in the church of St. Sophia, and a Little Russia monk, Feofan
+Prokopovitch, celebrated the recent victory in a fine flight of eloquence:
+"When our neighbors hear of what has happened, they will say it was
+not into a foreign country that the Swedish army and the Swedish power
+ventured, but rather into some mighty sea! They have fallen in and
+disappeared, even as lead is swallowed up in water!"
+
+The Sweden of Gustavus Adolphus had indeed disappeared. Charles XII was ere
+long to be a mere knight-errant at Bender. The Cossack independence, too,
+was a thing of the past. Its last and all too untrustworthy representative
+was to die in Turkey before many months were out--of despair, according to
+Russian testimony--of poison voluntarily swallowed, according to Swedish
+historians. The poison story has a touch of likelihood about it, for Peter
+certainly proposed to exchange Mazeppa's person for that of the chancellor
+Piper. The cause of the Leszcynski, too, was dead. It was to be put
+forward again by France, but for the benefit of France alone; and with the
+Leszcynski cause, Poland itself had passed away and lay a lifeless corpse
+on which the vultures were soon to settle.
+
+Out of all these ruins rose the Russian power, its northern hegemony, and
+its new European position, which henceforth were daily to increase and
+reach immense, immoderate proportions. Europe played a special part in the
+festivities which graced the return of the victors to Moscow, a few months
+later. European ideas, traditions, and forms appeared in the triumphal
+procession, and served as trappings for the trophies of victory. Peter,
+playing the part of Hercules, and conquering a Swedish Juno, in a _cortège_
+in which Mars figured, attended by furies and by fauns, was a fit symbol of
+the alliance of Russia with the Graeco-Latin civilization of the West. Old
+Muscovy--Eastern and Asiatic--was numbered with the dead.
+
+
+
+%CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL[1]%
+
+FRANCE SURRENDERS NOVA SCOTIA TO ENGLAND
+
+A.D. 1710
+
+DUNCAN CAMPBELL
+
+[Footnote 1: From Duncan Campbell's _History of Canada_.]
+
+
+Each time that England and France quarrelled in Europe their colonies
+became engaged in strife. In 1690, when William III fought Louis XIV the
+able Governor of Canada, Frontenac, despatched his Indian allies to ravage
+New England, while with rare military skill he defended himself and his
+province. He could not, however, prevent the capture of Port Royal (now
+Annapolis) in Nova Scotia. This great fortress, the pride of Louis XIV, was
+attacked by the New England colonists under Sir William Phips, the Governor
+of Massachusetts, and was captured by a most dashing attack. When England
+and France made peace, Port Royal was restored to the French, much to the
+dissatisfaction of the English colonists, who saw clearly that as soon as
+another war arose they would have to make the assault again.
+
+During the era of Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) French and Indian forays and
+incursions were frequent on the borders of Acadia and New England. Britain,
+meanwhile, was desirous of limiting the growth of France in the New World,
+and, with the provocation that had been given the New England colonies by
+the murderous raids of the French and Abenaquis Indians on her towns and
+border settlements, the English colonists retaliated by attempting, in 1704
+and 1707, to recapture Acadia. They finally succeeded in 1710 under
+General Nicholson. The story of this expedition will be found appended
+in Campbell's narrative, as well as the account given of the disastrous
+failure of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker's formidable expedition in 1711 up
+the St. Lawrence with the design of assaulting Québec. On the capture by
+the New England colonies of Port Royal, and the expulsion of its French
+garrison, the place became an English fortress and was renamed Annapolis
+Royal, in honor of Queen Anne.
+
+In perusing the history of Nova Scotia, the reader is struck with the
+frequency with which the country, or, in other words, the forts, passed
+from the French to the English, and _vice versa_. As a rule, permanent
+retention was not contemplated. Hence we find that when Port Royal was
+taken by Phips, he departed without leaving a solitary man to defend it.
+A few days after the expedition had left, the Chevalier de Villebon, the
+newly appointed French Governor, arrived, and if accompanied by the means,
+had a favorable opportunity of putting it once more in a state of defence
+and retaining it as a French stronghold. But Phips was not far off, and he
+therefore deemed it prudent, considering the small force at his disposal,
+to retire to the river St. John, where he remained for some years,
+destroying New England vessels and organizing schemes for the consolidation
+of French authority in the province.
+
+In the mean time Villebon showed his temper toward the New Englanders by
+building a chapel on the disputed territory, and driving their fishermen
+from the coast of Nova Scotia. Villebon was succeeded by Brouillan, in
+1700, and not only was an enemy to the fishermen, but actually afforded
+protection to pirates who preyed on the trade of Massachusetts, which
+inspired a degree of hostility in New England that, on the accession of
+Queen Anne, in 1702, the declaration of war which followed was hailed in
+that colony with demonstrations of joy.
+
+The New Englanders had a long catalogue of grievances unredressed, hostile
+attacks unrevenged, and were more determined than ever to put forth their
+strength for the expulsion of the French from the province. In 1704 a
+preliminary expedition was despatched by them to the coast of Nova Scotia,
+consisting of a ship of forty-two and another of thirty-two guns, a number
+of transports and whale-boats, on board of which were upward of five
+hundred men, under the command of Colonel Church, whose instructions were
+to destroy settlements, and where dams existed to deluge the cultivated
+ground and make as many prisoners as possible. One detachment visited
+Minas, and spread desolation and ruin in that fertile region, through which
+Brouillan passed on his way to Annapolis, representing the people as living
+like true republicans, not acknowledging royal or judicial authority, and
+able to spare eight hundred hogsheads of wheat yearly for exportation, and
+as being supplied with abundance of cattle.
+
+Another detachment went to Port Royal, which they deemed it prudent not to
+attack. Brouillan having died in 1706, M. Subercase was appointed governor.
+In the spring of 1707 another expedition was sent from New England to
+attack Port Royal. It consisted of twenty-three transports and the province
+galley, convoyed by a man-of-war of fifty guns, on which were embarked two
+regiments of militia, under Colonels Wainwright and Hilton. The expedition
+arrived at the entrance to Port Royal on June 6th. A landing was soon
+effected; but Subercase's dispositions for resistance were so able that the
+English found it impossible to make any impression on the defences, and,
+after losing eighty men, the troops were reembarked and proceeded to Casco
+Bay, from which place the commanders communicated with the Governor of
+New England and waited orders. The failure of the expedition caused great
+indignation in New England, and the Governor immediately resolved to
+strengthen the army with a hundred recruits and to order a second attack.
+Accordingly the expedition again sailed for Port Royal, when Subercase was
+in a far more formidable position than formerly. After a siege of fifteen
+days, in which the English officers displayed unaccountable cowardice, the
+ships retired, having lost sixteen men, while the French had only three men
+killed and wounded.
+
+Subercase immediately proceeded to strengthen his position in anticipation
+of a third attack. A bomb-proof powder magazine was accordingly
+constructed, capable of containing sixty thousand pounds of powder, and the
+fort was otherwise improved. This Governor, who had formed a high estimate
+of the climate, soil, and general resources of the province, was one of the
+ablest appointed under French rule. He made urgent appeals to the French
+government to colonize the country on a large scale, pointing out the
+advantages that would follow; but all his suggestions were disregarded, and
+he had the mortification, notwithstanding his zeal and personal sacrifices
+in the service of his country, to receive less encouragement and support
+from the home government than any of his predecessors.
+
+In the year 1710 great preparations were made for the conquest of Canada
+and Nova Scotia. The New York House of Assembly sent a petition to Queen
+Anne, praying for such assistance as would expel the French entirely from
+the country. Colonel Vetch is said to have inspired this application, and
+to have submitted to the British government a plan of attack. Promises of
+liberal support are said to have been made, which, however, the government
+was tardy in affording.
+
+The command of the New England forces was intrusted to Francis Nicholson,
+who was appointed Governor of New England, under Sir Edmund Andros, in
+1688, being Governor of New York in 1689, and in the following year
+Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia. In 1692 he was transferred to
+the government of Maryland, and in 1698 sent back to Virginia as
+Governor-in-Chief, at which time he held the rank of colonel in the army.
+Nicholson was an earnest advocate of a confederation of the British North
+American provinces for purposes of defence, to which the people of Virginia
+were popularly opposed.
+
+Nicholson sailed from Boston on September 18, 1710, with a fleet of about
+thirty-six vessels, including five transports from England, conveying
+a considerable force, composed of troops supplied by Massachusetts,
+Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, which arrived at Port Royal
+on September 24th. Subercase was not in a condition to resist so formidable
+a force; hence we find him writing to the French minister that the garrison
+is dispirited, and praying for assistance in men and money. The strait to
+which he was reduced is indicated by the following passage: "I have had
+means," he says, "by my industry to borrow wherewith to subsist the
+garrison for these two years. I have paid what I could by selling all my
+movables. I will give even to my last shirt, but I fear that all my pains
+will prove useless if we are not succored during the month of March or
+early in April, supposing the enemy should let us rest this winter."
+
+But it was far from the intention of the enemy to let them rest; for three
+days after the despatch of the communication in which the passage quoted
+occurred, Nicholson sent a summons to the Governor requiring the immediate
+delivery of the fort, and in the event of non-compliance, expressing his
+resolution to reduce it by force of her majesty's arms. No reply having
+been sent to the summons, Nicholson prepared to land his troops, to which
+Subercase offered no resistance, as he could not trust the garrison beyond
+the walls of the fort on account of the discontent induced by the universal
+conviction of their inability to oppose the English, who mustered to the
+number of upward of three thousand, exclusive of seamen, to which force the
+Governor could not oppose more than three hundred fighting men. In the mean
+time the garrison became disorganized and many desertions took place, when
+the Governor, yielding to necessity, opened a communication with Nicholson
+with the view to capitulation.
+
+The articles were, in the circumstances, highly favorable to the garrison.
+They provided that the soldiers should march out with their arms and
+baggage, drums beating and colors flying; that they should be conveyed to
+Rochelle, and that the inhabitants within three miles of Port Royal should
+be permitted to remain on their lands, with their corn, cattle, and
+furniture, for two years, if so disposed, on their taking the oath of
+allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain. The destitute condition of
+the garrison was manifested by their tattered garments and absence of
+provisions necessary to sustain them even for a few days. In conformity
+with the terms of the capitulation four hundred eighty men in all were
+transported to Rochelle, in France. A garrison, consisting of two hundred
+marines and two hundred fifty New England volunteers, was left in Port
+Royal, under Colonel Vetch, as governor--General Nicholson returning to
+Boston with the fleet.
+
+The English, sensible of the disastrous consequences resulting from the
+policy hitherto adopted of abandoning Port Royal after having taken
+repeated possession of it, had now resolved to retain it permanently. The
+Acadians were alarmed at the indications of permanent occupancy which they
+witnessed, and evinced a degree of hostility which caused the Governor to
+adopt such measures as were calculated to convince them that they must act
+in virtue of their temporary allegiance to the British crown, as became
+faithful subjects. The restraints imposed were galling to the French,
+and they despatched a messenger with a letter to the Governor of Canada,
+referring to their general misery under British rule, and praying to be
+furnished with the means of leaving a country where they could not enjoy
+absolute freedom, but the letter contained no specific charges.
+
+In the hope of regaining the fort, and impressed with the importance in the
+mean time of intensifying Indian hostility to English rule, the Canadian
+Governor sent messengers to the French missionaries to exert their
+influence in that direction. The consequence was that parties sent out to
+cut wood were attacked, and that travelling beyond the fort was rendered
+dangerous. Eighty men sent from the garrison on that service were attacked
+by the Indians, who killed about thirty of the party, taking the rest
+prisoners. Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, had made preparations to
+assist in the recapture of the fort, but intelligence of a strong force
+being in preparation to attack Canada prevented the accomplishment of his
+purpose.
+
+General Nicholson, on leaving Port Royal, went to England, for the purpose
+of inducing the Government to adopt measures for the thorough conquest of
+Canada, preparations for that end being in progress in New England. His
+appeal was cordially responded to, and a fleet of twelve line-of-battle
+ships, with storeships and transports, and having eight regiments and a
+train of artillery on board, the whole commanded by Admiral Walker, left
+England on April 28, 1711, arriving in Boston, June 25th. If his formidable
+force, which consisted of sixty-eight vessels in all, having about six
+thousand fighting-men on board, left Boston on July 30th, arriving at
+Gaspé, August 18th, where wood and water were taken in. They sailed thence
+on the 20th.
+
+The pilots seem to have been incompetent, for on August 23d the ships got
+into difficulties in a fog, losing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near Egg
+Island, eight transports and eight hundred eighty-four men. At a council of
+war it was determined to abandon the enterprise, and intelligence of the
+resolution was sent to General Nicholson, who had left Albany with an
+army for the purpose of attacking Montreal, and who consequently had the
+mortification of being obliged to return immediately. On September 4th the
+fleet arrived at Spanish Bay and anchored in front of Lloyd's Cove. It is
+questionable if the noble harbor of Sydney has ever since presented so
+lively a spectacle as on this occasion.
+
+Admiral Walker was instructed if he succeeded in taking Québec, to attack
+Placentia, in Newfoundland, but at a council of war it was declared
+impracticable to make any attempt against that place, while from the
+condition of the stronghold it could have been easily taken. On his return
+Walker was the laughing-stock of the nation. Literary squibs and pamphlets
+were showered upon him, and his attempts at a vindication of his conduct
+only rendered him the more ridiculous. He stood in the estimation of the
+nation in precisely the same position as Sir John Cope, the commander of
+the force sent to attack Prince Charles Edward Stuart on his march from the
+north of Scotland, in 1745, to Edinburgh, who, after having held a council
+of war, resolved to march in the opposite direction from that in which the
+enemy was to be found, and whose consummate folly or cowardice in doing so
+is a standing national joke.
+
+The severe contests in which France and Britain were almost continually
+engaged required occasional breathing-time. Hence, notwithstanding the
+series of brilliant victories gained by Marlborough, the war had become
+unpopular, and the governmental policy had to be assimilated to the
+national will. France was equally desirous of peace, and no great
+difficulty was experienced in coming to terms. In the preparation of
+previous treaties, France had succeeded in making the cession to her of
+any portion of North American territory wrested from her a fundamental
+condition of agreement. Great Britain had hitherto shown a degree of
+pliability, in yielding to the desire of her great opponent, in this
+matter, which seems unaccountable, and certainly incompatible with British
+interests; but the representations of the New Englanders as to the impolicy
+of such procedure were so urgent and unanswerable that the Government had
+resolved that the period of vacillation was past, and that the exercise of
+firmness in the permanent retention of Nova Scotia was necessary. Hence, in
+the celebrated Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was provided that all Nova
+Scotia or Acadia should be yielded and made over to the Queen of Great
+Britain and to her crown forever, together with Newfoundland, France
+retaining possession of Cape Breton.
+
+General Nicholson, having been appointed governor of Nova Scotia in 1714,
+as well as commander-in-chief, Queen Anne addressed a graceful letter to
+him, dated June 23, 1713, in which, after alluding to her "good brother,"
+the French King, having released from imprisonment on board his galleys
+such of his subjects as were detained there professing the Protestant
+religion, she desired to show her appreciation of his majesty's compliance
+with her wishes by ordering that all Frenchmen in Nova Scotia and
+Newfoundland who should desire to remain should be permitted to retain
+their property and enjoy all the privileges of British subjects; and if
+they chose to remove elsewhere, they were at liberty to dispose of their
+property by sale ere they departed.
+
+Meanwhile the Acadians, as well as the inhabitants of Newfoundland, were
+pressed by the French Governor of Louisburg, M. de Costabelle, to remove to
+Cape Breton, which the great body of the latter did. The Acadians, however,
+could not appreciate the advantages to be gained in removing from the
+fertile meadows of the Annapolis Valley to a soil which, however excellent,
+required much labor to render it fit for cultivation. It appears that they
+sent a deputation to examine the island and report as to its adaptability
+for agricultural purposes, for one of their missionaries, addressing M.
+de Costabelle, the Governor, says that from the visits made they were
+satisfied there were no lands in Cape Breton suitable for the immediate
+maintenance of their families, since there were not meadows sufficient to
+nourish their cattle, from which they derived their principal support.
+He at the same time represents the Indians--who had been also desired to
+remove--as being of opinion that living as they did by the chase, the
+island was quite insufficient for that purpose, as well as from its narrow
+limits, equally unfitted for the exercise of their natural freedom.
+
+But while declining to leave Nova Scotia, the Acadians expressed a firm
+determination to continue loyal to the King of France, affirming that they
+would never take the oath of allegiance to the crown of England, to the
+prejudice of what they owed to their King, their country, and their
+religion, and intimating their resolution, in the event of any attempt to
+make them swerve from their fidelity to France, or to interfere with the
+exercise of their religion, to leave the country and betake themselves to
+Cape Breton, then called the Ile Royale. And they there remained until
+1755, at which time the English and New England colonists finally drove
+forth and dispersed them with hateful cruelty.
+
+
+
+%CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS
+VOLUME%
+
+A.D. 1661-1715
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies or the various nations, and of the careers of famous
+persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page references
+showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+A.D.
+
+%1661%. Execution of the Marquis of Argyle. Burning of the _League and
+Covenant_ by the hangman, in all parts of England.
+
+Episcopacy restored in Scotland.
+
+In France Louis XIV assumes personal rule; Colbert begins his ministry. See
+"Louis XIV ESTABLISHES ABSOLUTE MONARCHY," xii, i.
+
+%1662%. Sale of Dunkirk to the French by Charles II. Passage of a new Act
+of Uniformity; ejectment of nonconformist ministers from their livings, in
+England.
+
+A charter given the Connecticut and New Haven colonies.
+
+%1663%. Hungary overrun by the Turks under Koprili.
+
+Foundation of the French Academy of Inscriptions.
+
+The Carolinas granted by charter to Clarendon and others.
+
+%1664%. Passage of the Conventicle Act in England, directed against
+nonconformists or dissenters.
+
+Victory of the united forces of Germany, France, and Italy, under
+Montecucoli, general of Leopold I, at St. Gotthard, Hungary.
+
+Charles II grants the territory between the Connecticut and James rivers to
+his brother, James, Duke of York; New Amsterdam occupied and New Netherland
+taken by the English; New York is the name given to both province and city.
+James sells a portion of his domain, to which the title of "New Caesarea"
+was first given, afterward changed to New Jersey. See "NEW YORK TAKEN BY
+THE ENGLISH," xii, 19.
+
+East and West India companies formed in France; colonies planted in
+Cayenne, Martinique, Guadelupe, Ste. Lucia, and Canada.
+
+1665. Continued persecution of dissenters in England by the passage of the
+Five-mile Act.
+
+War between England and Holland.
+
+Newton invents his methods of fluxions.
+
+Completion of the union of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies.
+
+Death of Philip IV; his son, Charles II, ascends the throne of Spain.
+
+"GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON." See xii, 29.
+
+1666. Great naval victory of the English over the Dutch, in the Downs.
+
+Resort to arms by the Scotch Covenanters; they are defeated.
+
+"DISCOVERY OF GRAVITATION." See xii, 51.
+
+War against England declared by France.
+
+Foundation of the Académie des Sciences, Paris.
+
+Burning of London. See "GREAT FIRE IN LONDON," xii, 45.
+
+William Penn joins the Society of Friends.
+
+1667. Opening of the first fire-insurance office in London. Ravages up the
+Medway and Thames, England, by the Dutch, during negotiations for peace.
+
+Treaty of Breda; peace between England, Holland, France, Denmark.
+Publication of Milton's _Paradise Lost_.
+
+1668. Triple alliance against France formed by England, Holland, and
+Sweden.
+
+Recognition by Spain of the independence of Portugal. Foundation of the
+mission of Sault Ste. Marie, by Father Marquette. Introduction of the art
+of dyeing into England by Brewer, who fled from Flanders before the French
+invaders.
+
+1669. John Locke draws up a constitution for the government of the
+Carolinas.
+
+Candia surrenders to the Turks.
+
+Expedition of La Salle from the St. Lawrence to the West.
+
+Discovery of phosphorus by Brandt.
+
+1670. A secret treaty (Dover) between Charles II of England and Louis XIV
+of France; Charles basely sells his allies, the Dutch, and engages himself
+to become a Catholic.
+
+Incorporation of the Hudson Bay Company.
+
+1671. Leopold attempts the subjugation of the liberties of Hungary; his
+drastic methods include the execution of Frangepan, Nadasdy, and Zrinyi.
+
+Attempt of Colonel Blood to steal the English crown and regalia from the
+Tower; the King pardons and pensions him.
+
+"MORGAN, THE BUCCANEER, SACKS PANAMA." See xii, 66.
+
+Building of Greenwich Observatory.
+
+1672. William III, Prince of Orange, has supreme power conferred on him
+by the Dutch. The De Witts massacred. See "STRUGGLE OF THE DUTCH AGAINST
+FRANCE AND ENGLAND," xii, 86.
+
+1673. Passage in England of the Test Act, excluding dissenters and papists
+from all offices of government.
+
+Battle of Khotin; defeat of the Turks by John Sobieski.
+
+"DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI." See xii, 108.
+
+Occupation of New York and New Jersey by the Dutch.
+
+Joliet and Marquette make discoveries on the upper Mississippi.
+
+1674. Peace between England and Holland; the former regains New Netherland.
+
+Occupation of Pondicherry by the French.
+
+John Sobieski elected to the Polish throne.
+
+1675. "KING PHILIP'S WAR." See xii, 125.
+
+Battle of Fehrbellin; the Swedes, having invaded Brandenburg, are defeated
+by Frederick William. See "GROWTH OF PRUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT ELECTOR," xii,
+138.
+
+Beginning of the building of St. Paul's, London, by Sir Christopher Wren.
+
+Leeuwenhoek discovers animalculae in various waters.
+
+1676. Rebellion of Bacon in Virginia.
+
+Defeat of the Dutch admiral, De Ruyter, by the French, under Duquesne, off
+the Sicilian coast.
+
+Building of Versailles.
+
+1677. William of Orange defeated by the French at Casel. Freiburg captured
+by the French.
+
+Mary, daughter of the Duke of York (James II), marries William of Orange.
+
+1678. Invention of the Popish Plot by Titus Oates.
+
+Peace of Nimeguen between France, Spain, and Holland.
+
+First war between Russia and Turkey.
+
+Struggle of the Hungarians, under Tokolyi, against Austria.
+
+1679. Persecution of the Covenanters in Scotland; they take up arms but are
+defeated by Monmouth, at Bothwell Bridge. Murder of the primate, Sharp.
+
+Passage in England of the Habeas Corpus Act.
+
+La Salle builds the Griffon on Niagara River.
+
+Peace of Nimeguen between France and the German Emperor.
+
+1680. Beginning of the captivity of the Man with the Iron Mask. (Date
+uncertain.)
+
+Execution of Viscount Strafford for alleged participation in the Popish
+Plot.
+
+Alsace incorporated with French territory.
+
+The Whig and Tory parties first so named in England.
+
+1681. Strasburg seized by Louis XIV.
+
+A patent by the crown granted to William Penn. See "WILLIAM PENN RECEIVES
+THE GRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA," xii, 153.
+
+Renewed persecution of Protestants in France.
+
+First museum of natural history in London.
+
+1682. Attempt of Louis XIV to seize the Duchy of Luxemburg.
+
+Bossuet, in behalf of the French clergy, draws up a declaration which sets
+forth the liberties of the Gallican Church.
+
+Colonizing of Pennsylvania by William Penn; he founds Philadelphia; also,
+with other Friends, purchases East Jersey.
+
+Expedition of La Salle to the mouth of the Mississippi. See "DISCOVERY OF
+THE MISSISSIPPI," xii, 108.
+
+Death of Czar Feodor III; his sister, Sophia, regent in the name of her
+brothers Ivan V, of weak intellect, and Peter I (Peter the Great).
+
+%1683%. A penny-post first established in London, by a private individual.
+Execution in England of Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney, for participation
+in the Rye House Plot.
+
+Siege of Vienna by the Turks. See "LAST TURKISH INVASION OF EUROPE," xii,
+164.
+
+Attack on the Spanish Netherlands by Louis XIV.
+
+%1684%. Forfeiture of the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company.
+
+Formation of the Holy League by Venice, Poland, Emperor Leopold I, and Pope
+Innocent XI against the Turks.
+
+Genoa bombarded by the French. Louis XIV forcibly occupies Luxemburg.
+
+An embassy sent from the King of Siam to France.
+
+Publication by Leibnitz of his invention of the differential calculus. (See
+Newton, 1665.)
+
+%1685%. Death of Charles II; his brother, James II, ascends the English
+throne. Insurrection of Argyle and Monmouth; they are both executed.
+Jeffries' Bloody Assizes. See "MONMOUTH'S REBELLION," xii, 172.
+
+Pillage of the coast of Peru by the buccaneers.
+
+"REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES." See xii, 180.
+
+A demand made for the surrender of Connecticut's charter; it is hidden in
+Charter Oak.
+
+Bradford's printing-press arrives in Pennsylvania. See "ORIGIN AND PROGRESS
+OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+%1686%. Attempt of James II to restore Romanism in the British domains; a
+camp established by him at Hounslow Heath. Revival of the Court of High
+Commission.
+
+League of Augsburg formed by William of Orange, by which the principal
+continental states unite to resist French encroachments.
+
+A bloody crusade waged by Louis XIV, and Victor Amadeus II of Savoy,
+against the Waldenses of Piedmont.
+
+Recovery of Buda by the Austrians from the Turks.
+
+Appointment of Sir Edmund Andros as Governor over the consolidated New
+England colonies.
+
+%1687%. Refusal of the University of Cambridge to admit Francis, a
+Benedictine monk, recommended by James II.
+
+Leopold I compels the Hungarian Diet to make the kingdom hereditary in the
+Hapsburg family.
+
+Battle of Mohacs; defeat of the Turks by the Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Capture of Athens by the Venetians.
+
+Appointment of Tyrconnel, a Roman Catholic, as Lord Deputy of Ireland.
+
+Publication of Newton's _Principia_.
+
+Assumption of power by Peter the Great, in Russia.
+
+1688. Louis XIV declares war against Holland: he makes war on Germany.
+
+Capture of Philippsburg by the French.
+
+Battle of Enniskillen in Ireland.
+
+Landing in England of William of Orange, on invitation of the malcontents
+in that country. See "THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION," xii, 200.
+
+New York and New Jersey united with New England under Governor-General Sir
+Edmund Andros.
+
+1689. William and Mary, she being daughter of the ex-king, are proclaimed
+King and Queen of England. Passage of the Bill of Rights.
+
+James II lands in Ireland; he unsuccessfully besieges Londonderry: battle
+of Newtown Butler, defeat of the Irish Catholics.
+
+Great Britain joins the League of Augsburg.
+
+Overthrow of Andros in New England. See "TYRANNY OF ANDROS IN NEW ENGLAND,"
+xii, 241.
+
+At the instance of Louvois, his war minister, Louis XIV lays waste the
+Palatinate.
+
+Battle of Killiecrankie, Scotland; defeat of the government forces by the
+Highlanders; Claverhouse, their leader, slain.
+
+"MASSACRE OF LACHINE, CANADA." See xii, 248.
+
+"PETER THE GREAT MODERNIZES RUSSIA." See xii, 223.
+
+1690. Battle of the Boyne. See "SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY," xii, 258.
+
+Presbyterianism reestablished in Scotland.
+
+Defence of Canada by Frontenac.
+
+James II leaves Ireland and returns to France.
+
+Destruction of Schenectady by the French and Indians.
+
+Conquest of Acadia and unsuccessful attempt on Québec by the English.
+
+John Locke publishes his _Essay Concerning the Human Understanding_.
+
+1691. Overthrow of the Jacobites in Scotland.
+
+Battle of Salankeman; victory of Louis of Baden over the Turks.
+
+Execution in New York of Jacob Leisler.
+
+1692. Union of the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts.
+
+Beginning of the witchcraft mania in New England. See "SALEM WITCHCRAFT
+TRIALS," xii, 268.
+
+The duchies of Hanover and Brunswick become an electorate; Ernest Augustus
+elector.
+
+Battle of La Hogue; the attempted French invasion of England defeated by
+the victory of the English and Dutch fleets.
+
+Massacre, at Glencoe, of the MacDonalds.
+
+1693. Defeat of the English fleet, off Cape St. Vincent, by Tourville,
+admiral of the French fleet.
+
+Distress in France from famine and the expense of the war with England.
+
+Founding of the College of William and Mary, Virginia.
+
+Bradford's printing-press removed from Pennsylvania to New York. See
+"ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+1694. Attacks on the coast of France by the English.
+
+Death of Queen Mary, consort of William. Cessation of the censorship of the
+press in England.
+
+"ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND." See xii, 286.
+
+Peter the Great of Russia employs Brant, a Dutch shipwright, to build a
+vessel at Archangel.
+
+1695. Peace arranged between France and Savoy.
+
+Azov captured from the Turks by Peter the Great.
+
+1696. On the death of John Sobieski the Polish crown is purchased by
+Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony.
+
+1697. Barcelona captured by the French.
+
+Peace of Ryswick between France, Holland, England, and Spain.
+
+Election of Francis I as King of Poland.
+
+Battle of Zenta; crushing defeat of the Turks by Leopold I.
+
+1698. Foundation of Calcutta by the English.
+
+A Scotch colony established on the Isthmus of Darien: abandoned in 1700.
+
+Peter the Great recalled from England by a revolt of the Strelitz guards;
+he subdues and disbands them.
+
+Society for Propagating Christianity formed in London.
+
+Partition of Spain arranged between England, France, and the Netherlands.
+
+1699. Iberville settles a French colony in Louisiana. See "COLONIZATION OF
+LOUISIANA," xii, 297.
+
+Reduction of the Turkish territories in Europe, by nearly one-half,
+arranged by the Peace of Carlowitz, between Turkey, Austria, Venice, and
+Poland.
+
+Peter the Great introduces the computation of time in Russia by the
+Christian era, but adheres to the old style, which still obtains in that
+country.
+
+1700. Russia, Poland, and Denmark make joint war against Sweden. The army
+of Peter the Great overwhelmed at Narva, by Charles XII of Sweden.
+
+Foundation of the future Yale College, Connecticut.
+
+1701. Frederick III of Brandenburg crowns himself King of Prussia. See
+"PRUSSIA PROCLAIMED A KINGDOM," xii, 310.
+
+Passage of the Act of Settlement in England; the Hanoverian succession
+founded.
+
+Beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession.
+
+Charles XII defeats the Poles and Saxons.
+
+1702. Death of William III; Queen Anne succeeds to the throne of England.
+
+Command of the army of the States-General given to Marlborough, the English
+general.
+
+Battle of Vigo; naval victory of the English and Dutch over the Spaniards
+and French.
+
+Beginning of Queen Anne's War in America.
+
+Foundation of a French settlement on the Mobile River, Alabama.
+
+Charles XII occupies Warsaw; he defeats Augustus II at Klissow; Cracow
+entered by him.
+
+1703. Methuen Treaty between England and Portugal, for facilitating
+commerce between those countries.
+
+Peter the Great lays the foundation of St. Petersburg. See "FOUNDING OF ST.
+PETERSBURG," xii, 319.
+
+Defeat of Augustus II by Charles XII at Pultusk.
+
+1704. English conquest of Gibraltar from Spain. "BATTLE OF BLENHEIM." See
+xii, 327.
+
+At Boston is published the first newspaper in the American colonies of
+England. See "ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+Sack, burning, and massacre of the inhabitants of Deerfield, Massachusetts,
+by French and Indians.
+
+Charles XII completes the subjugation of Poland.
+
+1705. Failure of the French and Spaniards in an attempt to recapture
+Gibraltar.
+
+Invasion of Spain by the English under the Earl of Peterborough; capture of
+Barcelona.
+
+1706. Battle of Ramillies; Marlborough defeats the French under Villeroi.
+
+Unsuccessful attempt of the French and Spaniards on Barcelona. Birth of
+Benjamin Franklin.
+
+1707. Sanction of the Union of England and Scotland by the Scotch
+Parliament. See "UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND," xii, 341.
+
+Charles XII subjugates Saxony; he dictates the Peace of Altranstaedt.
+
+1708. Russia invaded by Charles XII.
+
+Battle of Oudenarde; victory of Marlborough and Prince Eugene over the
+Dukes of Burgundy and Venddme.
+
+1709. Annihilation of the army of Charles XII at Poltava See "DOWNFALL OF
+CHARLES XII," xii, 352.
+
+Invasion of Sweden by the Danes. Recovery of Poland by Augustus II.
+
+1710. Expulsion of the Danes from Sweden by Stenbock. Request of the Irish
+Parliament for union with that of Great Britain. "CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL,
+CANADA." See xii, 373.
+
+1711. After further successes in Flanders, Marlborough is removed from
+command; the Whig ministry falls in England.
+
+Under Walker, the English and New England forces make an unsuccessful
+attempt on Canada.
+
+Having taken up arms for Charles XII, the Turks nearly achieve the ruin
+of Peter the Great, whose army is hemmed in near the Pruth River; peace
+arranged, the Turks recovering Azov and other towns.
+
+%1712%. Peace conference at Utrecht.
+
+Newspapers come under the operation of the Stamp Act, in England; so many
+discontinue publication that it is called the "Fall of the Leaf."
+
+Second Toggenburg War between the Reformed and Catholic cantons of
+Switzerland.
+
+%1713%. Peace of Utrecht ending the War of the Spanish Succession. Great
+Britain acquires Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Gibraltar, Minorca, Hudson Bay,
+and the Isle of St. Kitts; with the title of king the Duke of Savoy is
+ceded Sicily by Spain, and by France, Savoy and Nice with certain fortified
+places; the King of Prussia exchanges the principality of Orange and
+Châlons for Spanish Gelderland, Neuchâtel, and Valengin; Spain cedes to
+Austria, Naples, Milan, Spanish Tuscany, and sovereignty over the Spanish
+Netherlands; the harbor and fortifications of Dunkirk to be destroyed.
+
+Charles I issues the Pragmatic Sanction securing succession to the female
+line in default of male issue.
+
+%1714%. Establishment of the Clarendon Press at Oxford, from the profits of
+Clarendon's _History of the Rebellion_.
+
+Death of Anne and accession in England of George (I), Elector of Hanover.
+
+Capture of Barcelona by the French and Spanish forces; the citizens
+deprived of their liberties.
+
+Fahrenheit invents his thermometer.
+
+%1715%. Jacobite rebellion in Britain in behalf of the Pretender.
+
+Death of Louis XIV; he is succeeded by his great-grandson, Louis XV; the
+Duke of Orléans regent.
+
+A Barrier Treaty made between Austria, England, and Holland; it gave the
+Dutch a right to garrison certain places in the Austrian Netherlands.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Volume 12, by Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, V12 ***
+
+This file should be named 8ge1210.txt or 8ge1210.zip
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