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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9929-8.txt b/9929-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b1ed0 --- /dev/null +++ b/9929-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15195 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Volume 12, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Rossiter Johnson + +Posting Date: November 17, 2011 [EBook #9929] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 1, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS, VOL 12 *** + + + + +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 Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS, VOL 12 *** + +***** This file should be named 9929-8.txt or 9929-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/9/2/9929/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lazar Liveanu and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/9929-8.zip b/9929-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..006ff8b --- /dev/null +++ b/9929-8.zip diff --git a/9929.txt b/9929.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bff17d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/9929.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15195 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Volume 12, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Rossiter Johnson + +Posting Date: November 17, 2011 [EBook #9929] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 1, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS, VOL 12 *** + + + + +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 cooperate with its rulers in the work of the government and the +reform of abuses. On more than one occasion such cooperation 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 cooperation 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 cooperation 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 cooperate 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 cooperate +there with the Duke de Noailles, governor of the province. The intendant of +Lower Languedoc, D'Aguesseau, although he had zealously cooperated 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 Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS, VOL 12 *** + +***** This file should be named 9929.txt or 9929.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/9/2/9929/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lazar Liveanu and PG +Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**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: 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 *** + +This file should be named 7ge1210.txt or 7ge1210.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7ge1211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7ge1210a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lazar Liveanu and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**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 +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ge1211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ge1210a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lazar Liveanu and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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