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THE

HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS,

FROM THE

INCLUDING

\ NARRATIVE OF THE PERSECUTIONS BY STATE AND CHURCH IN ENGLAND; THE EARLY VOYAGES TO NORTH AMERICA; THE EXPLORATIONS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS; THEIR HARDSHIPS, SUFFERINGS, AND CONFLICTS WITH THE SAVAGES; THE RISE OF COLONIAL POWER; THE BIRTH OF INDEPENDENCE; THE FOR- MATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE GRADUAL PROGRESS OF THE STATE FROM ITS EARLIEST INFANCY TO ITS PRESENT HIGH POSITION.

BY

GEORGE LOWELL AUSTIN.

BOSTON:

B. D. RUSSELL, ESTES 8c LAURIAT,

55 CoRXHiLL. 301 Washington St.

1876.

Copyright,

GEORGE L. AUSTIN,

i87S-

ELECTROTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 19 SPRING LANE.

PREFACE.

When the traveller, after a long journey, has at length arrived at his destination, he lays down his burden, and for a while reflects upon the varying scenes through which he has just passed. Likewise, the people of these United States, while standing at the dawn of a new cen- tury, are mindful of the privileges and privations of their forefathers, and are reviewing the past, with gratitude to that divine Providence who has conducted the nation through the maze of doubt and of danger to prosperity and peace.

In the following pages I have endeavored to trace the sequence of events wliich constitute the history of Massa- chusetts from the landing of the Pilgrims to the present time. Massachusetts has a history which both she and her sister states may well regard with feelings of pride ; and in this hour, when the Centennial celebrations of great events are rekindling the fires of patriotism and the ardor of filial devotion, it is especially fitting that her sons should seek to explore lier annals of the past in the light of the pres- ent. Within her borders were sown the seeds which,

V

vi PREFACE.

blooming and ripening, have given birth to a great nation. Here came, and lived, and died its early founders. Here American freedom raised its first voice, and here " it still lives in the strength of its manhood, and full of its original spirit." In the words of her greatest orator and statesman, " Massachusetts needs no encomium. There she is, — behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history, — the world knows it by heart."

While aiming to overlook nothing of interest and of importance in the history of the state, I have purposely refrained from imparting to the narrative the complete- ness and fullness of detail which would justly be de- manded in a work of greater pretension. I may be per- mitted to say that I have written this volume for the people, to whom, with all its imperfections, it is now submitted, in the hope that it will be found not wholly undeserving of their attention. If the special student should find that it falls short of what other writers might accomplish, the foregoing statement must serve as my sole apology.

In a work of this character, the historian can lay no claim to originality. As another has said, " it is not his province to create facts, but to take those already fur- nished " in the best sources of information. The researches of earlier historians have been such as to render almost unnecessary any special investigation on the part of those who follow after them ; and the facts, such as they exist, are well known and easily accessible, either in print or

PREFACE. vii

manuscript. In the preparation of my narrative, I have endeavored to make good use of the material afforded me, and have relied, for the most part, on those writers who were contemporary with the events which they describe. At the same time, I have had constantly before me the works of the principal later historians, and have derived no small advantage from the published Collections and Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and from its volumes of lectures upon the early history of the state. While treating my subject, I have generally followed the arrangement adopted by Barry, whose History is by far the most comprehensive and important that has yet appeared. To the student it is an invaluable mine of facts ; but to the ordinary reader, whose interest in the past is measured by his leisure moments, it is to be feared that the work is much too copious to prove of large and enduring service.

With regard to the following pages, this much may be said in truth. While all preceding historians have ended their labors either with or before the year 1820, it is believed that this is the first attempt yet made to trace the sequence of events following this date. The inter- vening period is full of interest and of vital importance, ahke to the citizen and to humanity. It has witnessed the birth of conflicting opinions ; the rise and progress of new parties in the arena of politics ; the sudden out- burst of passions which had long been dormant ; the vin- dication of right and the abolition of wrong. Last, but

viii PREFACE. '

not least, the period has been emphasized by a struggle, which, beginning in mistrust, continuing in bloodshed, and ending in the uplifting of truth and the downfall of error, has rendered discord and disunion forever impossible, and has sealed the hearts of the nation as one.

The proudest boast of all is, that Massachusetts and South Carolina, too long alienated by prejudices and false pre- cepts, stand to-day as they stood when together they went through the Revolution, — shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, and united in purpose and principle. While we cherish in memory the great names which seal the glory and honor of Massachusetts, let us not forget how much we owe to those heroes of the south, whose renown " is of the treasures of the whole country."

I must not fail to acknowledge my sense of obligation to the library of Harvard College, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and to the Boston Public Library, which have been opened to me as freely as if they were my own possessions. To those, my friends, also, who have, either by the loan of rare material or by the generous offering of suggestions, and of encouragement, in no small degree facilitated my endeavors, I here express my indebtedness and thanks. To the people of Massachu- setts I dedicate whatever there is of worth and interest in the volume which is now set before them.

Cambridge, July, 1875.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY.

Religious Parties in England. — Character of James I. — His Policy. — Tlie Parliament of 1604. — The King's Proclamation. — Flight of the Independents. — The Pilgrims in Lcyden. — Agents sent to England. — The English in North America. — The London and Plymouth Colonies.

— The Pilgrims leave England. — The Compact. — Forefathers' Eock.

— Hardships. — The Spring of 1C2L — Treaty with Massasoit. — A Local Government instituted. — Death of John Carver. — Thanksgiv- ing. — A new Patent. — A League against the Colonies. — The Ships of Master Weston. — Settlement at Wessagusset. — Illness of Massa- soit. — Plot against Weston's Colony. — Standish sent to Wessagusset.

— Overthrow of Weston's Colony. — Fate of Weston. — Eegulation of the Fisheries. — Distress of the Colonists. — Arrival of new Emigrants.

— Colony of Robert Gorges. — Plot of Lyford and Oldham. — Their Expulsion. — The Dorchester Company founded. — The Colony at Cape Ann. — Intercourse with the Dutch. — De Rasieres in Plymouth. — Connection with the Merchant Adventurers dissolved. — Mr. AUerton goes to England. — Settlement at Mount Wollaston. — Morton of Merry Mount. — A new Grant obtained. — Progress of Settlement 1-26

CHAPTER II.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY.

Accession of Charles I. — The Dorchester Company dissolved. — Patent of the Massachusetts Colony. — The Massachusetts Company formed.

— Emigration under Endicott. — Local Government established. — Em- igration under Higginson. — Settlement at Charlestown. — Church or- ganized at Salem. — Episcopacy expelled. — Cradock's Proposal. — John Winthrop. — His Associates. — Transfer of the Charter. — Em- igration under Winthrop. — Mortality in the Colony. — Dispersion of the Settlers. — A Fast appointed. — Arrival of Supplies. — An Kxcnr-

h ix

CONTENTS.

sion to Plymouth. — New Accessions. — Churches organized. — Admin- istration of Governor Winthrop. — Dudley chosea Governor. — Arrival of new Emigrants. — Henry Vane. — Chosen Governor. — Opposition.

— Anne Hutchinson. — Her Popularity. — Charges against her, — A Synod convened. — Fate of Mrs. Hutchinson. — Samuel Gorton. — His Banishment to Rhode Island. — His Arrest. — Winthrop re-elected.

— Progress of Settlement. — Connecticut settled. — Hostility of the Pequots. — Expedition to Block Island. — Roger Williams. — His Ban- ishment. — His Removal to Providence. — His Character. — His Inter- course with the Indians. — War declared. — Mason's Expedition. — Close of the War 27-63

CHAPTER III.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES.

Puritan Legislation. — Limitation of the Elective Franchise. — Oath of Allegiance. — House of Representatives established. — The " Body of Liberties." — Abstract of the Code. — Morality of the People. — Diffi- culties with England. — The Defenders of the Colonies. — Tyranny of Charles I. — Appointment of a Special Commission. — Measures of De- fence. — Mr. Winslow sent to England. — His Imprisonment. — Disso- lution of the New England Council. — A Quo Warranto issued. — In- ternal Enemies. — Petition to the King. — The Spirit of Independence.

— Confederacy proposed. — New Hampshire joined to Massachusetts.

— Difficulties with the French. — The Conduct of La Tour. — Affray witli Hocking and D'Auluey. — Condition of the Colonists. — Progress of Agriculture. — Commerce and Manufactures. — Education fostered.

— Harvard College founded. — Its Early History. — Grammar Schools.

— A Printing Press erected. — Population of New England. — The Confederacy of the Colonies. — The Preamble. — Articles of Confed- eration. — Voice of Hooker 54-76

CHAPTER IV.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES II.

Death of Charles I. — Meeting of the Long Parliament. — Political Dis- cussions. — Cromwell and the Colonies. — Hostility of the Dutch. — The Quakers. — The Era of Persecution. — Accession of Charles II.— Addresses sent to England. — The King's Response. — A Declaration of Rights. — Agents visit England. — An alarming Rumor. — Arrival of Royal Commissioners. — A Petition to the King. ~ The Chagrin of the Commissioners. —Departure of the Same. — The Defiance of Mas- sachusetts. — A Season of Quiet. 77-95

CONTENTS. . xi

CHAPTER V.

KING PHILIP'S WAR.

The wild Tribes of New England. — Missionary Enterprise. — John Eliot.

— The Praying Indians. — Philip of Mount Hope. — The War begins.

— Causes. — Attack on Swanzey. — Movements of the English. — En- counter at Brookfield. — Hadley surprised. — Attack on Deerfield. — Fresh Troops raised. — Attack on Fort Narragansett. — The Lancaster Massacre. — Story of Mrs. Rowlandson. — The Defeat of Captain Pierce.

— Distress of the Indians. —The Contest at Turner's Falls. -Flight of Philip. — The Courage of Captain Church. — Death of Philip. — End of the War 9G-116

CHAPTER VI.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER.

Prosperity of Massachusetts. — Edmund Randolph. — Complaints of Gorges and Mason. — Threats of the King. — Agents sent to EngUmd. — A War against the Charter. — A Quo Warranto issued. — Accession of James II.

— Joseph Dudley. — Arrival of Andros. — His arbitrary Government.

— Accession of William of Orange. — The Tidings reach Boston. — Andros imprisoned. — The Province Charter 117-138-

CHAPTER VII.

THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

Revision of the Colonial Laws. — Sir William Phips. — His Policy. —A Party Collision. — Administration of Stoughton. — Administration of Bellamont. — Administration of Dudley. — Tlie Unpopularity of Dud- ley.—The French in North America. —The Expedition against Port Royal. -War declared. — The English at Quebec. — The Valor of Fron- tenac. — Attack on Port Royal. — Failure of the Expedition. — The Col- onists in Despair. —Ravages of the Indians. — Attack on Haverhill.— Story of Hannah Dustin. — The Peace of Ryswick. — Renewal of Hos- tilities. —The Conference at Casco. — Attack on Deerfield. — The Wil- liams Tragedy. — Second Attack on Haverhill. — A new Expedition against the French. — Surrender of Port Royal. — A Fleet arrives at Boston. — The Disaster at Quebec. — The Reduction of Canada aban-

, , 129-153

doned

xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION.

Privations of the Early Settlers. — Evidences of Be-witchment. — The Controversy at Salem. — Parris and his Family. — Persecution re- newed. — Cotton Mather. — A Court convened. — Progress of the Tri- als. — The Story of Mrs. Carey. — Oyer and Terminer Court estab- lished.—Susanna Martin.— Rebecca Nurse. — Gallows Hill. — George Burroughs. — Other Victims. — Margaret Jacobs and Giles Corey. — Sorrow in Salem. — Mather's "Invisible Wonders." — The End of Persecution. — The People of Andover. — Parris driven from Salem.

— The Lesson of the Tragedy 154-174

CHAPTER IX.

THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. y/

Money Affairs. — Governor Shute. — The Commerce of Massachusetts. — ^S-^ji^ The King's Policy. — Autocracy of England. — A Controversy with the / Jl'^iy'' Governor. — The Small-pox in Boston. — Hostility of the French. — ' / \> Conflict at Norridgewock. — Death of Sebastian Rasles'. — Lovewell's Expedition. — Peace declared. — William Dummer. — Governor Bur- net. — Opposed by the Legislature. — Dummer's Advice. — Governor Belcher. — War between England and Spain. — A fruitless Campaign.

— Character of Belcher. — Administration of Governor Shirley. — The Great Awakening. — George Whitefield. — Renewed Controversies. — War with France. — The English at Canseau. — Shirley's Ignorance. — The Siege of Louisburg. — Capture of the "Vigilant." — Progress of the Siege. — The Surrender of Louisburg. — The Joy of America. — The Conquest of Canada proposed. — Disaster to the French Fleet. — Capture of Fort Massachusetts by the French. — The Peace of Aix-la- Chapelle. -•- Impressment of American Seamen. — The Result. — The Census of 1748. — Commercial Wealth of the Province 175-200

CHAPTER X.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

The Claims of France. — The Projects of the English. — Halifax settled.

— The Ambition of Governor Shirley. — Commencement of Hostilities.

— George Washington. — The Surrender of Fort Necessity. — The Congress of 1754. — Plans of Union. — Character of the Confederacy.

— Adjournment of the Congress. — Failure of the Plan. — Franklin visits Boston. — Correspondence between Shirley and Franklin. — En-

CONTENTS. xiii

croachmcnts of the French. — Forts erected by the Americans. — The Conference at Alexandria. — Braddock's Projects for conducting the War. — Expedition of Braddock. — Expedition of Shirley. — Expedi- tion to Crown Point. — Dicskau sent to America. — Battle of Lake George. — Defeat of Dieskan. — Expedition to Nova Scotia. — Move- ments of Winslow. — Character of the Acadians. — Ilomoval of the Acadians. — Position of the Forces. — Conference at New York. — Plans of Shirley. — Proceedings of the Legislature of Massachusetts. — Proceedings of Parliament. — Recall of Shirley. — The Earl of Lou- doun appointed Commander-in-Chief. — Affairs in the Army. — Affairs at Oswego. — Fall of Oswego. — Pitt appointed Prime Minister of Eng- land. — Pownall appointed Governor of Massachusetts. — Attack on Fort "William Henry. — Its Capture. — The Americans despondent. — Loudoun recalled. — Capture of Louisburg. — Reduction of Fort Du Quesne. — Failure of the Crown Point Expedition. — The new Cam- paign.— Siege of Fort Niagara. — Crown Point forsaken by the French.

— Siege of Quebec. — "Wolfe and Montcalm. — Surrender of Quebec.

— Conclusion of the War 201-225

CHAPTER XI.

THE STAMP ACT.

The Prophecy of Charles Davenant. — The Wisdom of Richard Hooker.

— Contests with the Crown. — Shirley supports tlie Prerogative. — Bill for Strengthening the Same. — A Stamp Tax proposed. — Massachu- setts imposes a Stamp Tax. — Bernard appointed Governor. — The Work of Abuse. — Otis and his Associates. — Character of Hutchinson.

— His "History" and "Letters." — Accession of George IIL — Trial of the Revenue Officers. — Gridley's Argument. — Thacher's Reply. — Speech of Otis. — The Opinion of John Adams. — Pitt resigns his Of- fice. — The Earl of Egrcmont his Successor. — Otis's Speech at the Close of the French War. — Townshend's Scheme. — Grenville's Scheme. — Change in the Ministry. — Advice of the Lords of Trade.

— The Stamp Act proposed. — Action of the General Court. — Samuel Adams. — Address to the House of Commons. — Action of Parliament. — The Stamp Act passed. — The News reaches America. — Action of the General Court. — Tlie Mutiny Act. — Change in the Ministry. — Oliver . hung in Effigy. — Proclamation of the Governor. — Hutchinson's House attacked. — Another Change in the Ministry. — Message of the Gover- nor. — "Views of John Adams. — Congress at New York. — Course of the British Ministry. — The First of November. — Oliver resigns his Office. — The Repeal of tlie Stamp Act proposed. — Speech of Pitt. — Speech of Grenville. — Reply of Pitt. —Examination of Franklin.— Debate on the Repeal. — The Stamp Act repealed 226-256

xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII.

MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE.

Celebration of the Repeal of the Stamp Act. — Changes in the British Ministry. — Pitt created Earl of Chatham. — Affairs in England. — Course of Townshend. — Course of Shelburne. — Course of the French Minister. — The Revenue Bill. — Public Spirit in America. — Course of the Boston Merchants. — Proceedings of the General Court. — Course of Hutchinson. — Impressment of Seamen. — Seizure of the "Liber- ty."— A Town-meeting called. — Address to the Governor. — Arrival of Troops in Boston. — The King's Speech. — Debates in Parliament.

— A new Legislature convened. — Controversy ■with the Governor. — Close of Bernard's Administration. — Hutchinson appointed Governor.

— Speech of Pitt. — Speech of Camden. — Reply of Lord North. — Affairs in Boston. — Murder of Snider. — The Boston Massacre. — Meeting of the Citizens. — Trial of the Soldiers. — The Responsible Parties 257-277

CHAPTER XIII. ^

THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE.

The American Question in Parliament. — The Controversy with Hutch- inson. — Burke's Resolves. — The General Court prorogued. — A Sea- son of Quiet. — Samuel Adams. — The Foundation for American Union. — Revenue Projects. — The Third of November. — A Conven- tion in Faneuil Hall. — A Meeting in the Old South. — The Boston Tea- party. — The Debates in Parliament. — Arrival of General Gage. — Departure of the Governor. — A Plan for Union. — The Continental Congress. — A Provincial Congress organized. — The Last Appeal of Chatham 278-298

CHAPTER XIV.

t

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.

Proceedings of the Committees of Safety. — The Movements of Gage. — Paul Revere. — Hancock and Adams. — March of the British. — The Yeomanry of Lexington. — The Massacre on Lexington Common. — The Alarm in Concord. — Assembling of the Militia. — Arrival of the British. — Captain Timothy Wheeler. —Fight at the Old North Bridge.

— Retreat of the Enemy. — Skirmishing. — The British re-enforced.

— The Halt at Bunker Hill. — The Roll of Honor 299-310

CONTENTS. XV.

CHAPTER XV.

BTINKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

Meeting of the Provincial Congress. — Preparing for War. — Washington chosen Commander-in-Chief. — Movements of the British. — Brescott ordered to Bunlccr Hill. — The March. — Fortifications raised. — The Morning of the 17tli of June. — Gage holds a Council' of War. — The British Advance. — Position of the Americans. — The First At- tack. — The Second Attack. — The Burning of Charlestown. — The Third Attack. — Retreat of the Americans. — Death of Warren. — Gage's Proclamation. — Washington in Cambridge. — New Fortifica- tions raised. — The News reaches England. — Distress of the British Army. — Dorchester Heights fortified. — Howe's Chagrin. — The Sev- enth of March. — Evacuation of Boston. — Condition of the Metrop- olis 311-331

CHAPTER XVI.

THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.

Boston Harbor fortified. — Action of the General Court. — Fresh Troops required. — The Resolutions of the Seventh of June. — The Declara- tion of Independence. — Speech of John Adams. — The Debate in Con- gress.— The Final "Vote. — Adoption of the Declaration. — How re- ceived by the People. — Affairs in the Autumn. — Paper Money issued.

— The Naval Armament of Massachusetts. — Success of the British Army. — Surrender of General Burgoyne. — A Tax levied. — Affairs in Rhode Island. — A Desire for Peace. — The New Year. — The Penob- scot Expedition. — Complaints of the People. — Overtures for Peace.

— Negotiation. — Close of the War 332-346

CHAPTER XVII.

ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION.

Proceedings of the General Court. — A Convention at Cambridge. — The Interests of Science. — The Dark Day. — The National Bank. — The Massachusetts Mint. — Establishment of the Supreme Judicial Court.

— Slavery in Massachusetts. — Election of Governor Bowdoin. — The Portland Convention. — Harvard College favored. — A Dispute settled.

— Society at the Close of the Revolution. — Habits of the People. — The Country Folk. —The first Play-house erected. — Manner of Dress.

— The Census of 1784 347-363

xvi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SHAYS' REBELLION.

Massachusetts at the Close of the War. — Great Excitement. — The Hat- field Convention. — The Courts Interrupted. — The Spirit of Insurrec- tion. — Tlie Militia ordered out. — Daniel Shays. — Proceedings of the General Court. — Warrants issued. — Fresh Troops raised. — The Con- test at Sj)ringfield. — Pursuit of the Insurgents. — Indemnity prom- ised. — General Lincoln's Letter. — Close of the Rebellion. — Re-elec- tion of Governor Hancock 364-375

CHAPTER XIX.

ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.

The Philadelpliia Convention. — A Constitution discussed. — Presented to Congress. — The Massachusetts Convention. — A long Discussion. — Debate on the Slavery Question. — Speech of General Heath. — The Constitution ratified. — Amendments drawn up. — Inauguration of President Washington. — His Visit to New England. — The Federal- ists and the Anti-federalists. — Proceedings of tlie General Congress. — Confidence regained. — Internal Improvements. — Governor Adams. — France and the United States. — Citizen Genet. — John Jay. — Treaty with Great Britain. — Opposition to the Same. — Washington's Reply.

— The Treaty ratified. — Election of Governor Sumner. — President Adams. — Commissioners sent to France. — The Negotiation. — A War commenced. — Death of Governor Sumner. — Election of Caleb Strong.

— President Jefferson. — James Sullivan. — Party Feelings. — An Em- bargo laid. — President Madison. — Levi Lincoln. — Christopher Gore.

— Election of Governor Gerry .376-396

CHAPTER XX.

THE WAR OF 1812.

The Policy of the General Government. — Message of Governor Gerry.

— Re-election of Caleb Strong. — "Gerrymandering." — Causes of Con- troversy. — Madison's Message. — War declared against Great Britain.

— Opposition of Massachusetts. — Address of the Senate. — Address of the House. — Correspondence between Governor Strong and Gen- eral Dearborn. — Madison's System of Impressment. — Progress of the War. — The Hartford Convention. — Peace declared. — Industry in Massachusetts. — Election of Governor Brooks. — Maine becomes a State. ^ The Revision of the State Constitution 397-410

CONTENTS. xvii

CHAPTER XXI.

THE ERA OF POLITICS.

o' Missouri Question. — The "Missouri Compromise." — Census of 1820.

— Pauperism discussed. — Daniel Webster. — Election of Governor Eus- tis. — Election of President Adams. — Levi Lincoln Governor. — His prosperous Administration. — A Lunatic Hospital established. — The Fiftieth Anniversary of Bunker Hill Battle. — Death of John Adams. — Webster elected to Congress. — The " Republican " Party. — Speech of Webster. — Election of President Jackson. — The "National Republi- can " Party. — Election of Governor Davis. — A dastardly Outrage. — An Indignation Meeting. — The Democratic Party. — Anti-Masonry. — Van Buren President. — Governor Everett 411-425

CHAPTER XXII.

THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION.

Governor Everett's Administration. — Normal Schools. — The Western Railroad. — Rise of the Slavery Question. — The " Specie Circular." — Harvard College. — Administration of Governor Morton. — The Latimer Slave Case. — The North-Eastern Boundary Dispute. — Political Con- ventions. — Webster's Apology. — Election of Governor Briggs. — The Berkshire Jubilee. — The "Liberal Party." — Affairs in the General Court. — The Mexican War. — Charles Sumner. — Education fostered.

— Address of Governor Briggs. — Death of John Quincy Adams. — The Water Supply of Boston. — The Webster-Parkman Murder. — Close of

the Administration 426-455

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE SLAVERY AGITATION.

Election of President Taylor. — The "Free Soil" Party. — The Coalition of 1850. — Administration of Governor Boutwell. — The "Fugitive Slave Bill." — Speech of Charles Sumner. — Election of Sumner to the United States Senate. — The Sims Case. — Visit of Kossuth. — Death of Daniel Webster. — Politics. — Election of Governor Clifford.

— Everett chosen United States Senator. — The Labor Question. — Revision of the State Constitution. — Election of Governor Washburn.

— The Burns Case. — The Kansas-Nebraska Bill. — Party Politics. — Election of Governor Gardner. — Henry Wilson elected to the United States Senate. — Know-Notliingism. — Assault on Senator Sumner. —

xviii CONTENTS.

Election of President Buchanan. — Governor Banks. — Prosperity of the State. — The "Personal Liberty" Act. — Election of Governor Andrew. — His Inaugural Address. — War inevitable 456-487

CHAPTER XXIV.

MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR.

Inauguration of President Lincoln. — Fall of Fort Sumter. — Call for Volunteers. — The Response of Massachusetts. — The Three Months' Regiments. — Their Record. — Anotlier call for Volunteers. — An extra Session of the Legislature. — Deimrture of the Three Years' Regiments.

— The Battle of Ball's Bluff. — Proceedings of the Maryland Legisla- ture. — Re-election of Governor Andrew. — The Spring of 18G2. — Position of the Massachusetts Troops. — The third Call for Troops. — New Regiments recruited. — The Battle of Antietam. — The Emancipa- tion Proclamation issued. — The colored Troops. — The Nine Months' Regiments. — Riot in Boston. — Party Conventions. — Re-election of Governor Andrew. — More Troops wanted. — Speech of Governor Andrew. — Progress of the War. — Re-election of President Lincoln.

— Re-election of Governor Andrew. — Death of Edward Everett. — Surrender of General Lee. — Death of President Lincoln. — Close of the War. — Inauguration of Governor Bullock 488-527

CHAPTER XXV.

SINCE THE WAR.

The Legislature of 18G6. — The Militia Act. — The Hoosac Tunnel. — Debate on the Liquor Question. — Grant to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad. — Debt of the State. — Revival of the Liquor Question. — The Troy and Greenfield Railroad. — The Hoosac Tunnel. — Election of Governor Claflin. — Proceedings of the Legislature. — The "Peace Jubilee." — Party Conventions. — Continued Discussion of the Liquor Question, — The Prohibitory Law amended. — The Hartford and Erie Railroad. — The Legislature of 1871. — The Autumn Campaign. — Elec- tion of Governor Washburn. — The Legislature of 1872. — Political Com^entions. — Election of President Grant. — The "World's Peace Jubilee." — The Boston Conflagration. — Proceedings of the Legisla- ture.— Election of Ex-Governor Boutwell to the United States Senate.

— The Liquor Question. — Legislature of 1873. — Boston enlarged. — Politics. — Death of Senator Sumner. — Election of Senator Washburn.

— The Mill River Disaster. — Politics. — Legislature of 1875. — Election of Senator Dawes. — Lexington and Concord Centennial. — Bunker Hill Centennial. — Cambridge Centennial. — Politics. — Election of Governor Rice. — Death of Vice President Wilson. — Conclusion 528-566

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Evacuation of Boston Frontispiece.

Samuel Adams 280

John Adams 385

Daniel Webster 413

Edward Everett 426

Charles Sumner 462

John A. Andrew 489

Henry Wilson 550

xix

A POPULAR

HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY.

At the close of the sixteenth century, four religious parties existed in England. The CathoHcs, or adherents of the church of Rome, were still powerful in certain localities. The Protestant element was divided into three sects — the Anglicans, or members of the English church ; the Puritans, or non-conformists, who differed from the former only in a disregard of special rites and observances; and the Inde- pendents, or Separatists, who refused to sanction the found- ing of a national church, on the ground that it was purely contrary to the Word of God. In the minds of all classes a sort of mutual hatred had arisen, and heated controversies soon resulted in the most bitter persecutions. Had not these evils become unbearable to the weaker sects, hun- dreds would not so wiUingly have forsaken the land of then- nativity and taken refuge across the sea.

After the death of Elizabeth, in 1G03, James I. ascended the throne. His want of personal dignity, his coarse 1 1

2 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

buffoonery, his drunkenness, his contemptible cowardice, were only partially offset by his natural ability, his ripe scholarship, his fund of shrewdness, his mother-wit, and his ready repartee. Always a pedant, he had also a pedant's temper, and a pedant's inability to reconcile theories with actual facts. He believed, for instance, in the divine right of kings, and that a monarch was free from all control by law, or from responsibility to anything but his own royal will. This notion, founded on a blunder, was quite new to his people ; but, nevertheless, it became the basis of a system of government, a doctrine which bishops preached from the pulpits, and which the Established Church was not slow to adopt.

Before his accession to the throne, King James had always professed a sincere regard for the teachings of Knox, and his open declarations naturally aroused the hopes of the Puritan sect. Ere long, however, he showed himself a dissembler. Behind his intellectual convictions lay a host of prejudices, and it was plain to discern that his favorite religion was that which most favored his ideas of " absolute monarchy." The Puritans dared to dispute his boasted infallibility, and to denounce ceremonies, which, it was alleged, "had authority in the writings of the Fathers." For this reason the king turned himself against them, swearing either to " make them conform " or to " harry them out of the kingdom." "No bishop, no king," was his motto; and he declared he would have only "one doc- trine and one discipline, one religion in substance and in ceremony." ^

While men were dwelling ominously on the claims of absolutism in church and state, which were constantly on

' Sanderson, James I., 303.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 3

the royal lips, the Parliament of 1604 was convened. Three fourths of the House of Commons were in sympathy with the Puritans, and the energy wliich characterized their action showed plainly that the insolence of the sovereign had pro- voked the temper of the nation at large. In his opening address, the king acknowledged the Roman to be his mother church, though defiled by " new and gross corruptions," and branded the Puritans as " a sect insufferable in a well-s:ov- erned commonwealth." In July, a proclamation was issued compelling " all curates and lecturers to conform strictly to the rubrics of the prayer-book on pain of deprivation." In consequence of this edict, -many subjects of the realm, fleeing " a tyrant's and a bigot's bloody laws," quitted for- ever the land of their birth.

The Independents suffered equally with the Puritans. The churches which they had established at Scrooby and Gainsborough were broken up. The first attempt of the members at flight was defeated ; and when they made another, their wives and children were seized at the very moment of departure. At length, however, the magis- trates were " glad to be rid of them at any price," and the fugitives arrived safely at Amsterdam, whence, shortly after- wards, they removed to Leyden, " a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation." Of -this small company — who " knew they were Pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits," — the proudest pedigree is Massachusetts and America.^

For several years the exiles remained in Leyden in undis- turbed quiet. Still, they felt that they were strangers in a strange land. The " hardness of the place " made toil

' Bradford, in Cliron. rilgrim., 87, Baylies, Plyiu. Col., i. 11.

4 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

severe ; the infirmities of old age crept on too soon ; the young people were growing up amid corrupting influences, and without the means of obtaining an education ; and, finally, the outlook betokened gloomy aspects for the future. These were potent, but not the chief, causes which promj)ted a speedy removal. The Pilgrims cherished a "great hope and inward zeal of laying some good foundation for the propagating and advancing of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in remote parts of the world ; yea, though they should be but as stepping-stones to others for performing of so great a work." ^

But whither should they go ? Surely, not back to Eng- land, where the darkest hour of Protestantism was swiftly approaching ; nor to Virginia, whence had recently come tidings of extreme suffering. In the words of Canning, they resolved, however, to turn " to the New World to redress the balance of the- Old ; " and in the wilds of America they hoped to plant an equality of rights and a religious freedom. " We are well weaned," wrote John Robinson, their pastor, " from the delicate milk of the mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land ; the people are industrious and frugal. We are knit together as a body in a most sacred covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we hold ourselves strictly tied to all care of each other's good and of the whole. It is not with us as with men whom small things can discourage." ^

The die was cast, and agents were at once sent to England to negotiate with the Virginia Company for a grant of land whereon they might " live in a distinct body by themselves,"

' Hubbard, Mass., 42. Chron. Pilgrim., 44-48.

' Chron. Pilgrim., 60. '

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 5

and to "solicit of the king liberty of conscience." After tedious delays, a patent was obtained, together with the king's verbal promise that he would " not molest them, provided they conducted themselves peaceably." Next were put forth efforts to increase the common fund, and to secure the necessary means of transportation. Only the youngest and strongest were to be the " pioneers of tlie church," while the eldest and weakest were hoping to follow them at some future time. Two vessels were chartered, one the " Speedwell," of sixty tons, in Holland, and the other the " Mayflower," of one hundred and eighty tons, being pro- cured in England. The poverty of the Pilgrims is strikingly illustrated by the fact that the whole cost of the undertaking did not exceed twelve thousand dollars !

On the day preceding that of the departure of the Pil- grims from Holland, Mr. Robinson discoursed some worthy advice to the founders of New England. When the sermon was ended, there was a feast at the pastor's house. Then farewells were said, and the emigrants hastily withdrew to Delfthaven to embark on board the Speedwell. " The last night," says one of their number, " was passed with little sleep by the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Chris- tian love." On the 22d of July, 1620, the Pilgrims, "lifting up their hands to each other and their hearts for each other to the Lord God," sailed for Southampton, where the May- flower was waiting them.^

Before following them farther, we ought first to recall some of the earlier attempts to colonize North America. The discovery of the New World promised little for free- dom ; and its foremost result, indeed, was to give an enor-

' Chron. rilgrira., 384; also idem, 88.

6 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

mous impulse to the most bigoted and tyrannical of the Con- tinental powers, and to pour the wealth of Mexico and Peru into the treasury of Spain. But while the Spanish galleons traversed the southern seas, and Spanish settlers claimed the southern part of the great continent for the Catholic crown, the truer instinct of Englishmen drew them to the ruder and more barren districts along the shores of North America. Two years before Columbus reached the actual mainland of America, a Venetian merchant, John Cabot, sailing from Bristol in England, had landed among the icy solitudes of Labrador. In the following year, his son, Sebastian Cabot, departing from the same port, pushed south as far as Maryland, and north as high as Hud- son's Bay. After a long interval, in which the western world was well nigh forgotten, Englishmen turned again to the discoveries of the Cabots. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh, having obtained a patent from Elizabeth, de- spatched two ships under Captains Amidas and Barlow. The expedition explored Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and Roanoke Island, and then returned home with glowing accounts of a country where " men lived after the manner of the Golden Age." In the next year, Raleigh fitted out seven ships and one hundred and eight colonists to make a settlement. But the attempt proved a failure, and thus the century closed without witnessing a single permanent English colony in America.

In the year 1606, however, James I. granted charters to two companies, which had organized " for trade, settlement, and government " — the London and the Plymouth Compa- nies. Three ships, in the succeeding year, were sent out by the London Company to plant a colony in Virginia. In the month of April they sailed up the James River, named after

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 7

their king, and in May landed and founded tlieir colony at Jamestown. They already kneV that the secret of the conquest of the New World lay simply in labor ; and acting on this conviction, " the men fell to building houses and planting corn." Thus the laws and representative institu- tions of England were first introduced into the New World.

To return, now, to our main subject. Two weeks after their arrival at Southampton, the Pilgrims hoisted sail and started on the voyage westward. Scarcely had they lost sight of land, when the Speedwell sprung a leak, and was obliged to put into Plymouth. " By the consent of the whole company " she was dismissed from service ; and all but twenty of her passengers were transferred to the May- flower. On the 6th of September the Mayflower, having on board one hundred passengers, and with the wind " east- north-east, a fine small gale," again put out to sea.

For sixty-three days the ship, "freighted with the desti- nies of a continent," pursued its onward course. Fair weather was ere long followed by fierce winds and storms. Several of the passengers fell sick, and two were removed by death. To Stephen Hopkins was born a son, christened " Oceanus," who survived only a short season. On the 9th of November the sandy cliffs of Cape Cod were descried by the voyagers ; and after beating about for some time, the ship came to anchor in Cape Cod harbor, when, falling upon their knees, the Pilgrims " blessed the Lord, the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all perils and miseries therein." Before going ashore, the following com- pact was drawn up and signed by all the male members of the company, who were of age : —

8 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

" In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord. King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, &c., hav- ing undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and com- bine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, con- stitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony ; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunder sub- scribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the 18th, and of Scot- land the 54th, A. D. 1620." i

On this and succeeding days parties were sent out from the ship to explore the country. Already the snow cov- ered the earth, and it was thus with endless difficulty that they succeeded in picking out their way. At length, hav- ing formed some satisfactory notion of the locality, and eager to exchange the sea for terra jirma^ the Pilgrims, on Monday, the 11th day of December, old style, effected a landing upon Fokefather's Rock. On the 20th the settlement at Plymouth was commenced, and on the fol- lowing days a fort, a storehouse, and shelter for the fami-

• Chron. Pilgrim., 121. Hubbard, 53, 62. Forty-one signed the compact.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 9

lies, were erected. These buildings were of the simplest construction, and all were fashioned " of logs, with the interstices filled with sticks and clay ; the roofs were cov- ered with thatch ; the chimneys were of fragments of wood, plastered with clay ; and oiled paper served as a substitute for glass for the inlet of light." ^

The first winter passed by these colonists in America was marked by unprecedented suffering, and in less than four months forty-fouTirad died. In a small burial-ground, on Cole's Hill, the survivors laid away their fallen friends, and carefully levelled and sowed with grain the earth that rested upon them. Brave and resolute men still lingered behind. There were Carver, Bradford, Brewster, Standish, Winslow, and others. Female fortitude and submission, also, were not wanting ; and there, too, was " chilled and shivering childhood, houseless but for a mother's arms, couchless but for a mother's breast." From a ''land to which they were never to return " the Pilgriras had come ; and " hither they had brought, and here they were to fix, their hopes and their affections."^

The spring of 1621 dawned at length, and the heart- rending trials of the first winter had well nigh ceased. One March day a solitary Indian savage approached the settlement, and bade the Pilgrims, " Welcome." This was Samoset, who had come from the eastern coast, " of which he gave profitable information." He gave the English many facts relative to the surrounding regions and the wild tribes which peopled them, and said that the place of settlement which they had named Plymouth, " in mem- ory of the hospitalities which the company had received at the last English port from which they had sailed," was by

1 Barry, Hist, of Mass., i. 90. "^ Everett's Plymouth Address.

2

10 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

the natives called Patuxet. Two clays later, on the 18th, Samoset reaj^peared with five companions, all of whom " made semblance of friendship, ate liberally of the English victuals, and sang and danced after their manner like an- tics." Before the month had closed, Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoags, possessing the country north of Nar- ragansett Ba}^ came in and was received with open hos- pitality by the settlers, who, including both wives and children, now numbered not more than fifty. A league of peace was at once concluded, which was kept inviolate for more than half a century. The "sachem" acknowledged liimself " content to become the subject of King James, and gave unto " the colonists and their " heirs all the adjacent lands." 1

One of the earliest proceedings of the colony was the institution of a local government. Measures of self-defence had already been taken, and Captain Miles Standish had been intrusted with "authority of command in affairs." Several "laws and orders" were now passed, and John Carver was chosen governor. As the season advanced, the settlers turned their attention to the means of future sup- port. Twenty acres of land were planted with corn and beans, and six acres with peas and barley. While thus toiling, fresh evils beset the patient laborers. On the day following the return of the Mayflower to England, — April 6, — Governor Carver, a man " of a public spirit as well as of a public purse," was seized with illness while at work in the fields, and died a few hours afterwards. On his first landing he had lost a son, and his broken-hearted wife soon followed him in death. William Bradford, who became the historian of the colony, was appointed as the

' Morton's Mem., 23, 24. Chron. Pilgrim., 180-195.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. \\

successor of Governor Carver. His first official act was to send an embassy to Massasoit, in order " to discover the country, and to strengthen and establish the league which had been formed with him."

At this time the ''Massachusetts" tribe of Indians, whose capital was at Shawmut, now Boston, held a wide sway. To this tribe a trading expedition of ten men, under the command of Standish, was sent in September. They proceeded from Pl3'mouth, in a shallop, to the " bottom of the bay," — probably near Squantum, — thence, by a cir- cuitous route, they reached the site of Charlestown. But their provisions soon gave out, and the explorers were obliged to return home, " with a considerable quantity of beaver, and a good report of the place."

The labors of the spring were rewarded by a bounteous harvest in the autumn. There was an abundance of wild fruits in store, and a large quantity of game had been brought in. An invitation was sent to Massasoit and his warriors to feast with the Pilgrims " after a special man- ner ; " and on the appointed day the festival of Thanks- givmg was institute4, and both hosts and guests partook of venison, wild turkeys, water-fowl, and other choice delica- cies. It was now the month of November ; and just a year had gone by since the passengers in the Mayflower had first sighted the cliffs of Cape Cod. At this time the " vil- lage " of Plymouth could boast of seven dwelling-houses ; while of the original number of human souls that had land- ed on the Rock, just one half had been gathered within their graves. In the solitude of primeval forests the sur- vivors still found courage to lay the corner-stone of Ameri- can nationality.^

' Chron. Pilgrim., 231.

12 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

On the anniversary of their arrival, an unknown bark was descried hovering around Cape Cod. It was the " For- tune," with thirty-five souls, " all in health," on board. The new-comers were warmly welcomed at Plymouth ; but more pleasing was the letter which they brought with them from England — a new patent, "'better than the former, with less limitation," from the Council for New England. This charter, it may here be said, is the oldest state paper in existence in Massachusetts.

After the Fortune had returned to England, the sad dis- covery was made that the supply of food on hand could not last longer than six months, " even at half-allowance." To add to the deplorable situation, the Narragansetts began to assume an attitude of defiance. At the opening of the new year — 162^ — a war-challenge was actually received from Canonicus, the sachem of the tribe, in the shape of a bundle of arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake. Governor Bradford, having stuffed the skin with powder and ball, , sent it back with a message, saying that if Ca- nonicus " desired war rather than peace, he might begin whenever he pleased ; they were ready to receive him." This bold rejoinder produced the desired effect, and the sachem thought no more of hostilities. Nevertheless, the colonists, conscious of their own weakness, resolved to strengthen their means of defence.^

In the month of April, while a second trading expedition *' to the Massachusetts," was being planned, the startling announcement was made that the Narragansetts had leagued with Massasoit for the purpose of exterminating the English. Hobomok, an Indian guide in the employ of the colonists, refused to give credit to this intelligence, and

> Chron. Pilgrim., 283. Hubbard, 69.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 13

" expressed his willingness to vouch for the fidelity of Massasoit." It soon transpired that Hobomok was right in his belief, and that nothing of evil had been pre- meditated against the colony. Thus encouraged, Captain Standish and his party resumed their journey. Meanwhile, Massasoit himself, having learned of the apprehensions of his English allies, arrived at Plymouth, and demanded the surrender of Tisquantum, — an Indian guide, who had fasely accused the great chief of treachery, — in order that he might be put to death. Governor Bradford, who highly esteemed the services of Tisquantum, refused to give him up. At length, however, it was found that the " i^ropriety of the claim in accordance with the treaty could not be disputed ; " and, accordingly, the perjurer was surrendered to his doom. As the fatal moment drew nigh, " a boat was espied, which crossed before the town, and disappeared behind a headland ; and the governor availing himself of this incident to justify delay, the messengers " of Massasoit, "mad with rage," departed, and Tisquantum escaped.

Towards the last of INIay, tidings were brought in that a fishing-vessel, the " Sparrow," was anchored off Damarin's Cove, near INIonhegan. As the colonists were wholly with- out provisions, they regarded the intelHgence of good omen. Mr. Edward Winslow was despatched to the vessel, and found that it had been sent out by Messrs. Weston and Beauchamp, EngHsh merchants and adventurers. He was graciously received by the captain of the vessel, and was furnished " with a sufficiency of bread to allow each person four ounces per day until harvest." By strict economy and by subsisting often on "muscles and clams," the colo- nists began to grow better in their condition. But another draught of misery was in store for them.

14 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Before the days of July had vanished, two ships belong- ing to " Master Weston " came to Plymouth. They car- ried on board nearly sixty men, the nucleus of a small colony. " They are no men for us," remarked Mr. Cush- man ; and even Master Weston himself pronounced them "rude and profane fellows." If we may safely judge from all accounts, they were not only irreligious, but also dissolute and thievish. The Pilgrims had as little as possible to do with them ; and, after a brief stay in the neighborhood, the adventurers, having already obtained a patent of land, departed, and made a settlement at Wessagusset, now Weymouth. This was the first plantation established in Boston harbor.

These men thought to live without thrift, and placed all their faith in luxury and carousal. As a consequence, extreme suffering fell upon the colony, and soon its members were compelled to seek aid from Plymouth, by offering the use of one of their vessels in procuring supplies. After several fruitless attempts in this direction. Governor Bradford, having taken command of the ship, undertook to voyage " to the southward of Cape Cod." He landed at Monamoycke, now Chatham, and purchased of the Indians eight hogsheads of corn and beans. At Nauset and at Barnstable additional supplies were procured. Upon return- ing, the cargo of the " Swan " was equally divided between the colonists of Plymouth and Wessagusset.

A little later it was announced that Massasoit was danger- ously ill. Ere messengers could reach him, the intelligence was received that the great chief was dead. But this was not the truth. As soon as the messengers reached the abode of the sachem, Mr. Edward Winslow and his com- panions administered " a confection of many comfortable

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 15

conserves." On the next day the chief had much improved in health, and was able to exclaim, " Now I see the Eng- lish are my friends, and love me ; and whilst I live I will never forget this kindness they have showed me." Before the messengers were ready to return home, Massasoit advised Hobomok of a plot against the English, and Lade him to admonish the colonists " to slay the conspirators " without delay.i

By the 23d of March, 1623, everybody in Plymouth was apprised of the impending hostilities, — which, it appears, had been provoked by the injustice of the Wessagusset colonists towards the Indians, — and Captain Standish, with a party of men, was sent to warn the former of their danger. Scarcely had he reached the settlement when the Indians came in sight, and began to hover around. One of them, as if suspecting that the plot had been discovered, approached Hobomok, and said, " Tell your captain we know what he has come for, but fear him not, neither will we shun him. Let him begin when he dare, he shall not take us unawares." Standish, although " angry in his heart," dis- covered no signs of rage, and waited until the conspirators, whom he recognized, were together. His own men, well armed, were ready for action. At a given signal, the door of the house — in which all had met as if for a parley — was closed, and a frightful conflict opened. One after another of the villains fell dead ; their comrades were completely routed, and victory declared for the English. When the scene had ended, some of the rescued sailed in a ship for Monhegan, and soon afterwards for England. The remainder followed Standish to Plymouth. "When the allies of the INIassachusetts tribe heard of this proceeding,

' Hubbard, 77, alleges that Weston's men provoked the conspiracy.

16 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

" they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men distracted, living in swamps and other desert j)laces, and so brought manifold diseases among themselves," whereof many died.^

Thus one short year witnessed the beginning and the end- ing of the Wessagusset colony. Behold the sequel. Soon a wanderer approaches Monhegan. Embarking in a shallop, he is wrecked near the Merrimack. Indian savages rob him of his clothing ; but he escapes with his life, and craves a shelter at Plymouth. So wretched a man " the sun never shone upon." And yet this is Master Weston, the Merchant Adventurer, " the companion of nobles, the founder of colonies"! His fate teaches a moral. "When," says Hubbard, " men are actuated by private interest, and are eager to carry on particular designs of their own, it is the bane of all generous and noble enterprises, and is very often rewarded with dishonor and disadvantage to the undertakers." ^

In midsummer, 1623, Captain Francis West, having been commissioned by the king Admiral of New England, and instructed to restrain all unlicensed vessels from fishinsr upon the northern coast of America, entered upon his official duties. But, unhappily, he found the fishermen "too stubborn to submit to his authority, and the ocean too wide to be under his surveillance;" and, having re- linquished his undertaking and discharged his vessel, he left for England. Forthwith the question arose as to whether the king had any right to interpose his authority in this matter. Masters of vessels regarded the interference as prompted by a monstrous assumption, and speedily peti- tioned Parliament for a redress of their grievances. The

' Winslow, in Cliron. Pilgrim., 345. * Barry, i. 118. Hubbard, 72.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 17

former claimed that no restrictions Avhatevcr ought to be laid upon the fisheries. The king remained inflexible, while the Commons, regardless of the fact that the New England Council had always exercised a monopoly in American waters, refused to coincide with him. The sub- ject was given long consideration, and a bill revoking the restrictions was passed, which the king reluctantly signed. But the proceeding gave cause for a quarrel which lasted through very many years. As one of its immediate results, " the fishery at the banks was suddenly and disastrously checked, the number of vessels diminishing in five years from four hundred to one hundred and fifty ; and in the excitement which prevailed, those merchants who had purchased Monhegan, and furnished it with stores, sold their property, and withdrew from the business."

From the beginning of this year, the condition in which the colonists found themselves was most painful. Indeed, during the spring they were actually reduced to want ; and " by the time their corn was planted, their victuals were spent, and they knew not at night where to have a bit in the morning ; nor had they corn or bread for three or four months together." The prodigality of the Wessa- gusset colonists was, as previously described, one of the main causes of this distress ; while another was " the clause in their compact by which all that was raised in the colony was placed in a common stock." Still the Plymouth settlers were not disheartened ; and even a drought, which set in in May, and, lasting for six weeks, very nearly ruined the grain in the fields, did not lead them to abandon all hope for the future.

A better day dawned unexpectedly. Rain fell " with- out either wind or thunder, and by degrees in that abun- 3

18 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

dance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith." The tender plants and grain stalks revived, and once more " a day of thanksgiving unto the Lord " was eolemnized. The Indians who had shared the despondency of the colonists, said to them, " Now we see Englishmen's God is a good God ; for he hath heard you and sent you rain, and that without storms, and tempests, and thunder, which usually we have with our rain, which breaks down our corn; but yours stands whole and good still. Surely your God is a good God." '^

In July the colonists saw two more vessels sail into their harbor, — the " Little James " and the "Anne," — together having on board sixty passengers. We are told that " on landing and witnessing the miserable condition of their predecessors, they were daunted and dismayed. Some wished themselves in England again ; while others, in the distress of their friends, gaunt with hunger and meanly clad, im- agined they saw their own lot pictured. The scene pre- sented a strange mixture of chagrin, sorrow, sympathy, and joy, — chagrin and sorrow that the circumstances of the colony were so mean and impoverished, sympathy and joy caused by the meeting of parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, after a long and painful separation." ^ Two months later the Anne returned to England ; the Little James, having been built for the exclu- sive use of the colony, remained.

In the autumn of 1623, Captain Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando, having been appointed lieutenant-general of the country, arrived in the Massachusetts Bay. He had re- ceived from the Plymouth Council a grant of " the Massa- chusetts," embracing "all the shores and coasts for ten

' Chron. Pilgrim., 348. « Barry, i. 125.

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 19

English miles in a straight line towards the north-east, and thirty miles into the mainland, through all this breadth." He was accompanied by William Morrcll, a clergyman of the Established Church, who came to exercise a sort of jurisdiction over ecclesiastical affairs. Gorges first visitec' the site of the Wessagusset colony, where, shortly after- wards, he planted a new colony. For nearly a year he labored arduously for the success of his enterprise, when necessity urged his quick return to England. Morrell fol- lowed him in a brief season.

When the Anne sailed for England, Mr. Edward Wins- low departed therein for the purpose of transacting business with the Merchant Adventurers. He returned home during the wmter, in the " Charity," with a " full supply of cloth- ing and a quantity of neat cattle," and also a number of letters addressed to his associates at Plymouth. Whilst in England, Mr. Winslow obtained a j^atent of lands at Cape Ann, executed by Edmund, Lord Sheffield, a member of the Council for New England, in favor of Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, " for themselves and their associates." Of this patent, and of the plantation which was erected under it, more remains to be said here- after.

Unfortunately for the colonists, an Episcopal minister, John Lyford, accompanied Mr. Winslow on his return voyage. The coming of Lyford gave rise to a serious dis- turbance. Although his personal character was far from being respectable, the colonists received him graciously, and admitted him to their councils. Soon, however, he was found plotting with one John Oldham, who had come over in the Anne, and between whom " there was nothing but private whisperings and meetings, they feeding themselves

20 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

and others with what they should brmg to pass iii Enghand, by the faction of their friends there ; which brought others as well as themselves into a fool's iDaradise." These men addressed letters to their friends in England, and placed them to be forwarded, in trust, with the captain of the Charity. A portion of the letters were intercepted by Gov- ernor Bradford.

Having matured his scheme, Lyford withdrew from the colonial church, and observed the Episcopal form of wor- ship. A court was convened, and the governor preferred charges against him, and supported them with the inter- cepted letters. Both Lyford and Oldham were sentenced to banishment. In the spring of 1625, the latter, who had gone to live at Nantasket, returned to Plymouth, and agam proved obnoxious. Rigorous treatment, however, soon calmed his disposition, and he eventually became a foremost member of the Massachusetts colony. This whole affair, when judged from a modern stand-point, must always be looked upon with regret. Religious zeal had already deep- ened into violent sectarianism, of which, as it will shortly appear, the present was not the most deplorable result.

Nearly five years had elapsed since a settlement had been made at Plymouth. Its fame, however small it may have seemed, was not insignificant, and had spread itself far and wide. Already extensive fisheries were being carried on at " Munhiggon " by merchants of Bristol, and stages had been erected at Cape Ann by merchants of Dorchester. Hundreds in England watched the progress of American colonization with interest, and impatiently awaited the ful- filment of grander and more important results. The Rev. Mr. White, of Dorchester, having called to his assistance certain gentlemen of means residing in his locality, organ-

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 21

ized, on a capital of three thousand pounds, what was known as the Dorchester Company, which, forming a con- nection with the grantees of the Sheffield patent, shipped to America a number of persons to form a settlement at Cape Ann. By invitation, the banished Lyford became the minister of these people. Not long afterwards, a rupture occurred between the Plymouth colonists and the IMerchant Adventurers, occasioned, probably, by errors on both sides. From the beginning " the connection of the merchants with the colonists was more mercenary than moral ; and the con- nection of the colonists with the merchants was involuntary and profitless." ^

Circumstances were such that neither party in the quar- rel Avished for a reconciliation ; and hence, in order to close up affairs in a proper manner, Captain Standish was sent to England, in the autumn of 1625, bearing a letter to the Council for New England, "soliciting their interference." Notwithstanding that his mission was partially unsuccessful, he won the favor and esteem of several members of the Council, with whom he negotiated a loan of one hundred and fifty pounds. In the following spring he returned home with a supply of goods, and also with the sorrowful intelligence of the deaths of John Robinson and of Mr. C ash- man. During his absence, his associates, rejoicing over a bountiful harvest and the continuance of good health, had sent out a trading party to the region of the Kennebec, which brought back " seven hundred pounds of beaver in exchange for their corn." The reward of this and other similar enterprises was amply sufficient to cancel the debt which Standish had contracted in England, as m'cII as others of longer standing. The rupture with the ^Merchant Ad-

' Mass. Kist. Col., vol. iii.

22 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

venturers was not, therefore, so fraught with evil as many at first had conjectured.

The Ptymouth people firmly believed in thrift and enter- prise. As nothing was to be obtained without labor, so nothing could be gained without venture. To be always upon the watch for likely risks was their motto. In the spring of 1627, messengers from the Dutch settlement at Manhattan arrived at Plymouth, bearing " fairly written " letters from the secretary of New Netherland. The Pilgrims were shocked to read themselves "high titled" in these epistles, but were exceedingly well pleased with the " agree- able overtures " to trade that were therein conveyed. These ■ overtures were accepted ; and inasmuch as the good folk at Manhattan " had monopolized nearly all the fur trade at Narragansett and Buzzard's Bay, they were desired to for- bear trading in those parts, as they were held to be within the limits of the Plymouth patent." Whereupon the Dutch took offence, and asserted their intention to defend rights which, they alleged, were delegated to themselves by the States General of Holland. The Pilgrims forwarded this defiant response to their friends in England, and solicited advice.

In September, 1627, De Rasieres, secretary of New Netherland, came in person to Plymouth, where he was hospitably entertained. He proposed offers of trade, which the colonists accepted. Upon returning, he carried letters to the director general of Manhattan, in which the Pilgrims insisted that the Dutch should "clear the title of their planting in these parts, which his majesty hath, by patent, granted to divers his nobles and subjects of quahty." Mean- while Mr. Allerton, who had been sent to England to wind up the connection with the Merchant Adventurers, returned

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 23

home. While abroad, he had effected a compact with the Adventurers, the terms of which were, that, " for eighteen hundred pounds, to be paid at the Royal Exchange every Michaelmas, in nine equal annual instalments, the first in 1628, the Company sold to ' the Pilgrims ' all their inter- est in the plantation, including merchandise and lands." This compact, being deemed a favorable one, was fully sanctioned by the colonists; and, in order to be able to fulfil its conditions, " a new partnership was formed, into which every head of a family and every prudent young man were admitted ; the trade was to be managed as before ; and provisions were made for the payment of the debts of the colony, and the division of the neat cattle and lands among the settlers." ^ Enterprise received a fresh impetus, and the limits of the same were extended. A pinnace was built at Manomet; a house was erected, servants lodged therein, "ever in readiness to go out with the boat," and corn was planted in the neighboring field. Such was the beginning of Sandwich.

The colonists were now, in one sense, independent, and in a condition to act for themselves. Again Mr. AUerton sailed for England, and in 1628 secured a " patent for the Kennebec," and paid the first instalment of two hundred pounds to the Adventurers. It was in this way that the partnership with the latter was dissolved, and the colonists entered upon a new period of happiness and prosperity. From these considerations we now turn to an episode which marks the history of these 3'ears.

So early as 1625, about thirty persons, under the com- mand of one Captain Wollaston, began a settlement on an eminence in Quincy, — still known as Mount Wollaston.

' Barry, i. 139. Hubbard, 98.

24 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Among the number was Thomas Morton, a lawyer, of whom little else is handed down. In a year's time Wollaston went to Virginia, leaving a Mr. Filcher in charge of the colony. During his absence, Morton and his retainers de- posed Filcher, and amid scenes of drunkenness and debauch- ery " such as these western wilds had never before wit- nessed," themselves assumed all control. Morton became " lord of misrule," and to the place gave the name of Merry Mount. " Bacchanalian revelry," says an historian, " reigned triumphant ; and around a tall May-pole, decked with garlands, the leader of the party, with his companions and the dissolute Indian women of the vicinity, like so many Hecates, danced the Saturnalia of wantonness and lewdness. Merry Mount became the school of Atheism, the asylum of the vicious, and the resort of the profligate."

One of the first acts of Morton, after coming into power, was to instruct the Indians in the use of fire-arms. He even sold to them upwards of twenty guns and a large quantity of ammunition, and then departed to England for more. This proceeding was deemed by the Plymouth colo- nists one of misconduct ; and a meeting of the chief plant- ers was held to take the matter into consideration. It was declared that " so public a mischief" ought to be guard- ed against.

In response to an entreaty to desist from such acts, Morton said, " Proclamations are no laws, and enforce no penalties. The king is dead, and his displeasure dies with him. I shall trade with the natives despite of your pro- tests." This rejoinder, couched in the most profane and insulting language, was sufficient cause for wrath ; and Cap- tain Standish, with a company of men, was ordered to arrest Morton. The latter made a vain show of bravado, but was

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 25

finally brought a prisoner to Plymouth. In the custody of John Oldham, he was sent to England to be tried, where, however, by " audacious and colored pictures," he success- fully pleaded his own cause, and was released. In the spring of 1629 he returned to Plymouth as the secretary of Mr. Allerton, and within a short time after his arrival again *' resorted to his old haunts." A second time " the Lord of iNIerry Mount " was shipped to England, on suspicion of murder. Being tried and acquitted, he came back to Amer- ica, and died " in obscurity at Piscataqua." It remains to be said that the scene of his rascality "became the seat of an honest, thriving, and sober township," and latterly noted as the birthplace of the Adamses. The story of Morton's career furnishes one of the most singular episodes in the his- tory of Massachusetts, and has variously been judged by different writers. Morton himself was the author of several works, and in his " New English Canaan," presents the following ludicrous account of the aborigines : " The Indians may be rather accompted as living richly, wanting nothing that is needful, and to be commended for leading a con- tented life, the younger being ruled by the elder, and the elder ruled by the Powahs, and the Powahs are ruled by the Devill, and then you may imagine what good rule is like to be amongst, them." ^

Meanwhile the affairs of the Plymouth colony were in a prosperous condition. In the autumn of 1629 a new grant was obtained from England ; and eleven j^ears later the patent from the New England Council was surrendered by Governor Bradford to the people. In 1636 the laws of the colony were revised, and the powers of the executive were defined. Three 3-ears afterwards, deputies from the several

• Morton, N. Eng. Can. Barry, Bancroft, &c.

4

26 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS

towns in the colony assembled, and assumed the authority which had hitherto been lodged with the whole body of freemen. At the close of 1643, there were, besides Plym- outh, six settled towns in the colony, namely : Duxbury, so named from its being the home of the military chief (dux) Miles Standish ; Scituate, Taunton, Barnstable, Sandwich, and Yarmouth, — all of which were in a most flourishing state. It is impossible for the present generation to look back upon the career of the Pilgrims without being impressed with the magnitude and the importance of their mission. Goaded by religious persecution, these separatists " showed the way to an asylum for those who would go to the wil- derness for the purity of religion or the liberty of con- science." Reared amid hardships and want, early inured to toil, and unaccustomed to luxury and wealth, they set the example of colonizing New England, " and formed the mould for the civil and religious character of its institu- tions." These men " were the servants of posterity, the benefactors of succeeding generations. In the history of the world, many pages are devoted to commemorate the men who have besieged cities, subdued provinces, or overthrown empires. In the eye of reason and of truth, a colony is a better offering than a victory ; the citizens of the United States should rather cherish the memory of those who found- ed a state on the basis of democratic liberty ; the fathers of the country ; the men who, as they first trod the soil of the NcAv World, scattered the seminal principles of repub- lican freedom and national independence. They enjoyed in anticipation the thought of their extending influence, and the fame which their grateful successors would award to their virtues." ^

* Bancroft, i. 320.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 27

CHAPTER II.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY.

After the death of James I., in 1625, his son Charles I., succeeded to the throne. He cherished the politi- cal theories of his predecessor, showed only small respect for Parliaments, to whom he granted " liberty of coun- sel, but not of control," and did not hesitate to invade the rights and religious scruples of his people. One of his earliest and most obnoxious acts was to depose the lenient Abbott, and to place the infamous Laud at the head of ecclesiastical affairs. As a result of this proceeding, the severest penalties were imposed upon all those who refused to become members of the Established Church. The com- motions in church and state bore heavily upon the Puritans, who now besran to look around them for some safe retreat.

O

Already the good reports from the Plymouth colony had awakened their attention ; and to America they also dared to turn "for the tranquil and peaceful enjoyment " of their rights.^

The Dorchester Company, which, as has been related in the previous chapter, established a colony at Cape Ann in the autumn of 1623, was dissolved in 1626. Mr. Roger Conant, who had been placed in charge of the colony, soon became dissatisfied with the location, and removed to " a fruitful neck of land " at Naumkeag, now Salem, " secretly

' Barry, i. 153. Pari. Hist. Eng., ix. 69, seq.

28 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

conceiving in his mind that in following times it might prove a receptacle for such as, uj)on the account of religion, would be willing to begin a foreign plantation in this part of the world, of which he gave intimation to his friends in England." ^ Although the colony which was presided over by this excellent man was exceedingly diminutive, — num- bering, perhaps, not more than fifty persons, — still it should always be remembered as having been the germ of the re- nowned Massachusetts colony.

Mr. Conant lost no time in informing the Rev. John White, the father of the Cape Ann colony, and " under God one of the chief founders of the Massachusetts colon}^," of his new project. The latter immediately wrote back, saying that, if Mr. Conant should, together with John Woodbur}^, John Balch, and Peter Palfreys, remain at Naum- kcag, he would obtain for them a patent, and forward men and supplies. The companions of Mr. Conant at first re- fused to enter into this engagement, preferring rather to remove to Virginia. They were persuaded, however, to tarry ; and in consequence of this resolution, their names have descended to the present generation as " the sentinels of Puritanism on the Bay of Massachusetts." ^ Faithful to his promise, Mr. White obtained a patent, in 1628, con- veying to six individuals. Sir Henry Rosewell, Sir John Young, John Humphrey, Thomas Southcote, John Endicott, and Simon Whetcomb, "that part of New England lying between three miles to the north of the Merrimac and three miles to the south of the Charles River, and of every part thereof, in the Massachusetts Bay; and in length be- tween the described breadth, from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea." 3

' Hubbard, Hist., 102-107. 3 Hubbard, 108. 8 M. H. Coll., iii. 326, seq.

• Bancroft, i. iJU'J.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY, 29

This patent having been secured, Mr. "White labored hard to advance the enterprise still farther. It required all the eloquence and argument at his command to interest others in the undertaking. After some delay, Rosewell, Young, and Southcote withdrew, and the rest, having entered into a partnership with certain London merchants, assumed all rights by purchase, and formed themselves into an organiza- tion known as the Massachusetts Company, of which John Endicott was chosen a leading representative, and was commissioned " to carry on the plantation of the Dorchester agents, and to make way for the settling of another colony in the Massachusetts." ^ In June, 1628, Endicott, with a small company of emigrants, left England, and in the same year arrived safely at Xaumkeag, where the former at once "entered upon the duties of his office as magistrate and governor." 2 At the close of the year, the colony numbered about one hundred persons, who had come hither mostly " from Dorchester and some places adjoining." ^

In the following year the colony was largely increased by new arrivals, and arrangements were ' set on foot for the establishing of a local government, to be styled " The Governor and Council of London's Plantation in the Mas- sachusetts Bay, in New'England." Thirteen members were chosen to constitute this government. John Endicott was appointed governor ; and John Browne, Samuel Browne, Samuel Sharpe, Thomas Graves, and the three ministers, constituted his council. " These eight chose three others, from among the new emigrants, or those of the previous year, at their option, and the 'old planters,' two more, making, with the governor, thirteen in all. This govern- ment was strictly subordinate to the company in England ;

' Hubbard, 109. * Barry, i. 1G2. ^ Chron. IMass., cli. xvii.

30 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

its members were not chosen by the freemen of the place ; and though its powers were extensive, they were by no means unlimited. Punishment for ordinary offences could be inflicted, but to some cases neither its jurisdiction nor that of the company at this time extended ; and in these cases the guilty parties were to be returned to England for the final adjudication of their offences, where the supreme legislative authority then lay." ^

Land was apportioned among the settlers, and restrictions were laid upon their manner of habitation. A just and hon- orable policy was adopted towards the Indians. All territory was to be purchased from them by agreement, and nothing was to be wrested by force. Little or no familiar inter- course was to be maintained with them, however ; but a deference and respect were to be cherished for their natural rights. The moral regulation of the colony was an object of the first importance. The Sabbath was to be *' celebrated in a religious manner ; " profanity was absolutely forbidden under penalty ; industry was to be always encouraged, and idleness proscribed. As moderation was deemed the first duty of a pioneer, all cases of drunkenness were to be ex- emplarily punished.

In June, 1629, a company of emigrants, under the con- duct of Mr. Francis Higginson, a minister of Leicestershire, and a man " mighty in the Scriptures and learned in the tongues," arrived at Naumkeag. Mr. Higginson is still re- membered as the author of " New England's Plantation," a small volume, first published in London, in 1630, and which contains one of the best descriptions of the country. Shortly after the arrival of this company, three brothers, Ralph, Richard, and William Sprague, and others, made a journey

' Barry, i. 1G5.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 31

to " Mishawum," now Charlestown. The report which they brought back of the place was extremely favorable, and led to the laying out of a town in that locality, " with streets around the hill." Before the year had drawn to a close, there were living at Charlestown nearly one hundred inhabitants, and at Salem at least four hundred. It will thus be seen that the Puritan colony had far outstripped in numbers that of the impoverished Pilgrims.

In midsummer a council was held with the " Plymouth brethren " with regard to the organization of a church. On this interesting occasion thirty members were gathered ; a choice was made of the elders and deacons, and a covenant and confession of faith were subscribed. Mr. Samuel Skel- ton, of Lincolnshire, was ordained pastor, and Mr. Higgin- son teacher of this small body. Thus was established the church at Salem, — the second in Massachusetts on the basis of Independent Congregationalism. ^

And yet there were a few among these Puritans who pronounced these proceedings arbitrary. Two brothers, John and Samuel Browne, complained bitterly because the service of the Episcopal Church was " taken of no account," and thus aroused the indiscretion of their associates. Gov- ernor Endicott, " finding these two brothers to be of high spirits, and their speeches and practices tending to mutiny and faction," told them that " New England was no place for them, and therefore he sent them both back to Eng- land at the return of the ships the same year." '^ Posterity has variously judged the conduct of Mr. Endicott. But whatever may be thought of it now, it is certainly to be regretted that an exclusive spirit should so early have taken

' Mather, Magnalia. Felt's Hist, of Salem. Barry, i. 171 * Hubbard, 64.

32 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

root in a colony founded, as was the Massachusetts colony, upon the broad grounds of Christian toleration.

We have now to record one of the most unique transac- tions in the history of English colonization, and one, too, which has oftentimes been the subject of warm discussion. In July, 1629, Matthew Cradock, governor of the Massa- chusetts Company, presented at one of the courts " certain propositions conceived by himself, namely : that for the ad- vancement of the plantation, the inducing and encouraging persons of worth and quality to transport themselves and families thither, and for other weighty reasons therein con- tained, to transfer the government of the plantation to those that shall inhabit there, and not to continue the same in subordination to the company here, as it now is." ^

Hitherto the Massachusetts Company and the Massachu- setts colony had been closely identified ; but now they were virtually distinct bodies, " the latter subordinate to the for- mer, and dependent upon it for support." The change which Mr. Cradock proposed was one of the most vital importance, and consequently it awakened great interest. This is not the place to enter into any discussion either of its merits or demerits, or even to revive the question of its legality. It is sufficient for us to know that Justice Story has written that " the whole structure of the char- ter " granted to the Massachusetts Company " presupposes the residence of the company in England, and the transac- tion of all its business there ; " ^ while, on the other hand, not a few eminent jurists have expressed the opinion that the so-called transfer of the charter was wholly legal. The

' Hubbard, 123.

* Story, Com. on Const., i. 48. 'See Washburn's Judicial History, 13. Chal- niere's Annals, ir3.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 88

colonists themselves maintained that " their charter made them a corporation on the place." Whether it was legal or not, the latter opinion was certainly democratic, and was sanctioned by the Long Parliament of England. " Other plantations," writes John Winthrop, in his Journal,^ " have been undertaken at the charge of others in England, and the planters have their dependence upon the companies there, and those planters go and come chiefly for matters of profit ; but we came to abide here, and to plant the gospel, and people the country ; and herein God hath marvellously blessed us."

Some time before the agreement was made relative to the transfer of the charter, twelve gentlemen in Cambridge, England, signed a compact that if " before the last of Sep- tember the government and patent of the plantation were legally transferred, to remain with the emigrants, they, with such of their families as were to go with them, would, by the first of March, 1G30, embark to inhabit and continue in New England." ^ Inasmuch as the transfer was to blend the company and the colony into one, a meeting was held at the earliest moment for the purpose of choosing new officers.

There was one man associated with the organization whose name should never be forgotten. This was John Winthrop, a native of Groton, a lawyer by profession, and a Christian by example. He was " accustomed from youth to an easy and familiar intercourse with persons of refine- ment and intelligence ; associating with the Avorthiest of the commoners, and nobility of the realm ; conversant with the- ology as well as with the law ; possessed of a comfortable estate of at least six hundred pounds' income ; eminent for

' Winthrop, iL 3GG. * Chron. Mass., ch. xiv.

5

34 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

his liberality, and distinguished for his hospitality, — he was now in the maturity of his powers and the vigor of his years, having just turned forty — a period when, if ever, the character of the man is developed, and the full energies of his being are brought into activity." ^ Mr. Winthrop was a gentleman, who possessed both the esteem and con- fidence of his fellows ; and thus he enjoys the high honor of being the first governor chosen by the freemen of the Massachusetts colony.

Associated with him in the enterprise were Thomas Dud- ley, Richard Saltonstall, Isaac Johnson, John Humphrey, William Coddington, Simon Bradstreet, and other persons of influence and respectability. They were, in great part, men of the professional and middle classes, some of them of large landed estates, some zealous clergymen, some shrewd London lawyers, or young scholars from Oxford. The bulk were God-fearing farmers from Lincolnshire and the eastern counties. They desired, in fact, " only the best," as sharers in their enterprise ; they were driven forth from their father- land, not by earthly want, nor by the greed of gold, nor by the lust of adventure, but by the fear of God and the zeal for a godly worship. How fortunate for New England that it was settled by such men !

On the 28th of August, 1629, "after a long and serious debate " before the court, the government and patent of the Massachusetts colony were settled in New England ; and the associates of Winthrop were then " confirmed in the desire to found a new and a better commonwealth beyond the Atlantic, even though it might require the sale of their hereditary estates, and hazard the inheritance of their children." Did such a desire annihilate the love of

' Barry, i. 184,

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 35

country ? "I shall call that my country," wrote Winthrop, " where I may most glorify God, and enjoy the presence of my dearest friends." ^ The fit word was spoken ; and the Puritan emigration began on such a scale as England had never before witnessed.

At the appointed season, in March, 1G30, a fleet of eleven vessels, " filled with passengers of all occupations, skilled in all kinds of faculties needful for the planting of a new colony," set sail for the New World. " Farewell, dear Eng- land ! " was the cry which burst from the first little com- pany of emigrants, as its shores faded from their sight. " Our hearts," said one to the brethren left behind, " shall be fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we shall be in our poor cottages in the wilderness." The voyage was stormy and tempestuous ; but by the 8tli of July all the vessels \vere safely moored in the harbor of Salem. Governor Winthrop himself arrived about the mid- dle of June.

On the 17th of June, Winthrop, with others, " sailed up the Mystic," and there found " a good place." A second party, setting out shortly afterwards, found a place "three leagues up Charles River," which suited better. On the 10th of July, a removal from Salem was determined upon, because " it did not suit for the capital town," and the majority of the emigrants proceeded to Charlestown, where they erected houses around the hill.^ Not many days had gone by before a distressing mortality, occasioned by hard- ships and a want of nourishing food, carried off many of the colonists. The venerable Higginson, the wives of Pynchon and Coddington, and of Phillips and Alcock, were among the number. But the saddest death of all was that of the

' Winthrop, i. 432. » Hubbard, 13-1. Chron. Mass., 378.

36 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Lady Arabella, wife of Isaac Johnson, Esq., who had come " from a paradise of plenty and pleasure into a wilderness of wants." One month later, her husband also died, " over- whelmed in a flood of tears and grief." ^

The sufferings of the people of Charlestown were such that a further dispersion was agreed upon. Before the year had closed, two hundred had passed from the living. To Watertown went Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Phillips, and others ; Mr. Bradstreet and Mr. Dudley and others, settled at Newtown, now Cambridge ; Mr. Pynchon and others, at Roxbury ; while of the remainder some repaired to Lynn, some to Mystic, and a few, including Governor Winthrop and Mr. Wilson, settled at Shawmut, and there laid the foundations of Boston. Over a hundred persons, who had become disheartened, returned home to England.^

The succeeding winter brought no amelioration of hard- ships ; and before spring was ushered in, " the wolf of famine " was prowling around nearly every door. The gov- ernor's last loaf of bread was in the oven, and the pros- pect before all was death. The 6th of February was appoint- ed a day of fasting and prayer. But on the day preceding, a bright omen appeared. A vessel was descried off Nan- tasket, — the " Lyon," — laden with provisions, and having twenty-six passengers on board. Gratitude supplanted grief, and " the fast was changed into a thanksgiving, which was celebrated throughout all the colony with ardent rejoi- cing." 2 Happily for the colonists, the Indians gave no real cause for apprehension. The policy of the English dis- posed them to peace rather than to war, and won from them the most pleasing tokens of friendship.

• Winthrop, i. 40-44.

« Chron. Mass., 313. 2 M. H. Coll. iv. 202, seq. Winthrop, i. 448.

=• Barry, i. 19G. Hubbard, 139.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY 37

A visit to Plymouth bj' Governor Winthrop and others, in the autumn of 1G32, tended to unite the two sister colonies in fidelity and love. Constant accessions strens^thened the Massachusetts colony, and gave promise of a brilliant future. In 1633, among the number of those who came over from England were John Haynes, afterwards governor of Massa- chusetts, and still later of Connecticut, whose name is worthy to be always associated with that of Winthrop ; Thomas Leverett, a prominent layman, for many years elder of the church of Boston ; John Cotton, one of the most remarkable characters in our history ; Thomas Hooker, " the light of the western churches, and the rich pearl which Europe gave to America, a prodigy of learning and an eloquent orator ; " and Samuel Stone, a worthy pastor of the church at Hartford. It was once a saying of the colonists that " the God of heaven had supplied them with what would in some sort answer their three great temporal necessities — Cotton for their clothing. Hooker for their fish- ing, and Stone for their building." ^

One of our early writers affirms that " it is as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able min- istry as for a smith to work his iron without a fire."^ In other words, it ought never to be supposed that the spiritual affairs of the colony were permitted to fall into disrepute. One after another, in quick succession, religious societies were formed, and churches were gathered. On the 30th of July, — about three weeks after the colonists had reached Charlestown, — the church at Boston was organized. The church at Charlestown was gathered two weeks later. About the same time, the church at Watertown sprang into

' Matlier, lii. cli. xvi. Young, in Chron. fliass. * Jolmson, m 2 M. II. Coll., vn. 40.

38 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

life ; as also those at Lynn, Roxbuiy, Dorchester, and New- town. Before the close of the year 1636, the Massachu- setts colony could boast of at least nine churches, all of wliich were in a well-settled and flourishing condition, and zealous in the propagation " of their own system of ortho- dox faith." 1 Who can count the changes that have taken place since that day, and the sects which, springing out of the conflicting elements of the Puritan intellect, have mul- tiplied and increased ?

It has already been remarked that, when the charter was transferred from the possession of the Massachusetts Com- pany, holding its residence in London, into the hands of the Massachusetts colony, John Winthrop was unanimously chosen governor by the freemen of the latter. It must not for a single moment be imagined that the administration of this most excellent man was all sunshine, nor that the spirits of the governed were all in full accord with the conduct and character of the chief magistrate. " In the management of such a body of men," says' an historian, " exulting in their escape from the oppressions of the mother country, and luxuriating in the sense of newly-acquired freedom, it would not be strange if some errors were com- mitted, or if those prejudices were awakened which are easily induced by conceived assumptions of authority in magistrates, or conceived encroachments upon civil and spiritual rights." ^

Whether from some mistaken notion, or from some other reason, certain of his associates openly accused Mr. Win- throp of desiring to perpetuate "his incumbency of the office he held ; " and, this opinion having become quite uni- versal, the choosing of another governor was resolved upon.

' See Savage on Winthrop, i. 114. * Barry, i. 204.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 39

In vain did Mr. Cotton eulogize the virtues of his friend, and seek to implant the doctrine that " the right of an honest magistrate to his place was like that of a proprietor to his freehold, and that neither should be removed unless convicted of injustice." A new election was held in 1634, and Thomas Dudley was chosen governor, and Roger Lud- low deputy governor.

Before retiring from his office. Governor Winthrop was subjected to a mortification which his sensitive mind keenly felt. Although he stood high in the hearts of his country- men, he was not allowed to withdraw into private life with- out being annoyed by the petty jealousies of his rivals. A false imputation was placed upon his honesty, and he was called upon to give an account of the receipts and disburse- ments during his administration. In vindication of his char- acter, he made an open and frank reply. " In all these things," he said, "I refer myself to the wisdom and jus- tice of the court, with this protestation — that it repenteth me not of my cost or labor bestowed in the service of this commonwealth, but do heartily bless the Lord our God that he hath been pleased to honor me so far as to call for anything he hath bestowed upon me, for the service of his church and people here, the prosperity whereof, and his gracious acceptance, shall be an abundant recompense to me. I conclude with this one request, which in justice may not be denied me — that, as it stands upon record that upon the discharge of my office I was called to account, so this my declaration may be recorded also, lest hereafter, when I sliall be forgotten, some blemish may lie upon my pos- terity, when there shall be nothing to clear it." ^

Notwithstanding that very many were earnest to raise

' Winthrop, Hist., i. 47G.

40 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Dudley to office, his popularity did not permit him to hold it longer than one year ; when John Haynes, who had served as one of his assistants, was appointed governor, and Richard Bellingham deputy governor. During this admin- istration over three thousand emigrants left England, and came over and settled in the colony. There were not a few distinguished men among them, including Ricliard Mather, long the minister of the church at Dorchester ; Anthony Thatcher, a writer of repute ; Hugh Peters, afterwards the counsellor of Oliver Cromwell ; and Thomas Shepard, the worthy pastor of the first church in Cambridge. Not one of the preceding names, however, possessed the eminence, at the time, of that of Sir Henry Vane, " a young gentle- man of excellent parts," who freely relinquished the gaye- ties and splendors of a brilliant court, and, attaching him- self to Puritanism, came to New England " to enjoy the ordinances of Christ in their purity." ^

Although scarcely twenty-five years of age, he was, even in youth, one of the most remarkable characters that the Old World gave .to the New. The son of a secretary of state, he was destined to play one of the first parts in the coming revolution, while his arrival in Massachusetts seemed to herald the coming of the very heads of the Puritan movement. The excellence of his genius won for him the majestic encomiums of Milton. " If he were not superior to Hampden," wrote Lord Clarendon, " he was inferior to no other man ; his whole life made good the imagination that there was in him something extraordinary." ^

Sir Henry arrived at a time when the freemen were pre- paring for a new election. Flattered by the thought that

' Neal, N. Eng. Hist., i. 14-t. Hutchinson, i. G5 * Hist. liebellion, i. 180-188.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 41

so brilliant a personage should have condescenclecl to join their ranks, and blind to the fact that he lacked both years and experience, they unwisely chose hira governor. This was in IGoG, at a time when it had become " the theme of wonder and admiration with them all that such a man, so fitted by his talents and position to sway the destinies of men in courts and palaces, should choose the better part wath the remote and unfriended exiles of the obscure wil- derness of Massachusetts." ^ Sudden outbursts of popular fervor always come to a speedy end, and errors of impru- dence are more keenly felt by those who have allowed themselves to become their victims. In reality. Vane came only as " a sojourner, and not as a permanent resident ; neither was he imbued with the colonial prejudices, the genius of the place ; and his clear mind, unbiassed by previ- ous discussions, and fresh from the public business of Eng- land, saw distinctly what the colonists did not wish to see — the really wide difference between their practice under their charter and the meaning of that instrument on the principles of English jurisprudence." ^

Political factious were already creating a disturbance, and party strife was dissevering the bonds of reason and justice. On the very day when Vane was ushered into office, oppo- sition began to set face against him ; and from this time onward it did not cease to embarrass his government at every step. The first open manifestation of this intense feel- ing was occasioned by a very trivial incident, which must here be related.

Two years before, Mr. Endicott had cut the red cross from the flag at Salem, as a " relic of Popery insufferable ill a Puritan community." ^ This proceeding w^as censured

• Foster's Statesmen of the Conim., 2G8. ' Winthrop, i. 175, scq.

* Bancroft, i, 384.

42 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

as both " rash and uncharitable ; " but shortly afterwards the same judges declared the use of a cross in an ensign to be unlawful, and proposed to change it to the " red and white rose." When, three months later, the ship "St. Pat- rick," belonging to Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Strafford, approached Castle Island, her commander was ordered to strike her flag. He obeyed, and then complained of the order as " a great injury." Next, the ship " Hec- tor" sailed into the harbor; and one of her mates, finding the king's colors not displayed on the fort, denounced the colonists as " traitors and rebels." This affair caused such a commotion that Governor Vane felt it to be his duty to seek advice. A consultation was held Avith " the min- isters," to whom Governor Vane expressed his determina- tion to display the king's colors on the fort. Although Mr. Winthrop strongly protested against it, the resolve was immediately put into execution. Not a suit of unmu- tilated colors could be found in the colony ; and the magis- trates were, accordingly, forced to accept the loan of the suits of two ship captains, — and this even when " fully persuaded that the use of a cross in an ensign was idola- trous."

There was still another cause which inflamed opposition to the administration of Governor Vane. Of the number of those who had come over to America, in the emigration of 1634, was Anne Hutchinson, the wife of William Hutch- inson, of Lincolnshire, " a woman of a ready wit and a bold spirit." ^ Such was her admirable understanding, that even her enemies could never speak of her without acknowl- edging her eloquence and ability. Soon after her arrival she became a member of the Boston church, and, finding

' Winthrop, i. 239.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 43

that women were debarred from speaking in the religious meetings of the week, and believing that " the elder wo- men " should " teach the 3'ounger," she " established sepa- rate female assemblies, of which she was the leader, and in which her didactic powers and her gifts in devotional performances were conspicuously exercised." ^ These gath- erings embraced many foremost members of the sex, and became immensely popular. The discussions were wholly based upon religious themes ; and much ability was dis- played in the expounding of passages of Scripture, and the resolution of questions of doctrine. In thought and feeling they were "mothers' meetings" of a genuine order.

]\Irs. Hutchinson received encouragement not from her female associates alone. John Wheelwright, who had mar- ried her husband's sister, publicly advocated her opinions ; and even Mr. Cotton and Governor Vane openly avowed themselves her firm supporters. This opened the eyes of the people at large, of whom hundreds soon began to re- gard her with great admiration. The majority of the mem- bers of the Boston church were so " tinctured with her views," that Mr. Wheelwright was " called to be a teacher there ; " but the eloquence of Mr. Winthrop defeated this proposal, and Mr. Wheelwright was, instead, " called to a new church, to be gathered at Mount Wollaston," now Braintree. ^

Meanwhile the popularity of INIrs. Hutchinson increased to such an extent, and the opposition of some of the clergy became so formidable, that a theological warfare burst out in many of the churches. Contrary to the teachings of the ministers, Mrs. Hutchinson maintained that " outward signs- of discipleship might be displayed by a hypocrite, and hence

> Barry, i. 245. « Winthrop, i. 241. Hubbard, 286, seq.

44 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

that the ' sanctification ' which embraced these signs was not infallible evidence of 'justification,' or true Christian discipleship. The clergy, also, who were believers in the personality of the Holy Ghost, denied, for the most part, his union with the regenerate in any sense ; but Mrs. Hutchinson, understanding this phrase to include an embodi- ment of spiritual graces or gifts, maintained that in the true Christian these graces and the Spirit had their abode ; or, in the language of her accusers, that there was an ' indwelling of the person of the Holy Ghost ' in the heart of the true believer, ' so as to amount to a personal union ' — a doctrine which, in their estimation, made ' the believer more than a creature,' and which some censured as rank ' Montanism.' " 1

The magistrates and ministers now resolved to prosecute Mrs. Hutchinson as a heretic, and a long and tedious wrangle ensued. At length the opposers of Mrs. Hutchin- son proved stronger than her friends, and by the former every effort was put forth to suppress " the Hutchinsoniau heresy." An order was passed prohibiting the admission of strangers into the colony without permission. Fierce speeches were made. Mr. Wilson, the pastor of the Boston church, harangued the multitude from a tree, into which he had climbed. In the midst of the excitement. Vane was turned out of the government, and in August, 1637, returned to England.^

On the 30th of the same month a synod met at Newtown, at which were present "all the teaching elders throughout the country, and some new come out of England." ^ This was the first inquisitorial council ever convened in Massa-

' Barry, i. 248. 3 Johnson, In 2 M. H. Coll., iv. 34.

* Autlioritics, %t supra-.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 45

chusetts ; and it Imd for its main purpose the condemnation of heres}- and the settlement of the faith of all future genera- tions. It is unnecessar}^ to record the full proceedings of this synod, which opened with the " emptying of private passions," and closed in full harmony and understanding. During its session the public meetings of Mrs. Hutchinson were con- demned, and certain questions of church discipline were, " through the grace and power of Christ, discovered, the defenders of them convinced and ashamed, the truth estab- lished, and the consciences of the saints, settled, there being a most wonderful presence of Christ's spirit in that assembly held at Cambridge." ^ A three weeks' session having termi- nated " comfortably and cheerfully," the followers of " un- lawful heresy " ceased to be formidable. At the next meet- ing of the General Court, however, it was " agreed to send away some of the principal " offenders. Mr. Wheelwright, who was accused of being as " busy in nourishing contentions as before," was banished from Massachusetts. Attended by a few faithful followers, he journeyed to New Hampshire, and laid the foundations of Exeter.^ Mr. Cotton returned to the "bosom of the church, never more to depart." The last victim remained to be punished, and this was Mrs. Hutchin- son herself. She, ''being convented," says the record, "for traducing the ministers and their ministry in the country, was thereupon banished, and in the mean while was commit- ted to Mr. Joseph Welde, of Roxbury, until the court shall dispose of her." 3 Mr. Cotton himself, now " fully satisfied that he had been made her stalking-horse," and being urged

' Shepard, in McKcnzie, First Cliurch in Canib., 57.

* Wintlirop, i. 338 : " Upon the acknowledgment of his evil carriacjes, he was received again as a member of this colony," says Muss. Records, iii, G.

=• Mass. Records, i. 207-226.

46 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

to do so, " pronounced the sentence of admonition mth great solemnity, and with much zeal and detestation of her errors and pride of spirit."

This was the iinkindest cut of all. The " American Jezebel," worried by her tormentors, and excommunicated in due form, followed her husband to Narragansett. From the island of Aquidneck, the ill-fated woman, now left a widow, removed, in 1642, into the territory of the Dutch, where, in the following j^ear, she, her son-in-law, and all their family, save one child, perished by the rude weapons of Indian savages. Thus her stormy life found a stormy close ; and so ended also the Antinomian strife in Massachusetts. " The principles of Anne Hutchinson," says Bancroft, " were a natural consequence of the progress of the reformation. She had imbibed them in Europe ; and it is a singular fact, though easy of explanation, that, in the very year in which she was arraigned at Boston, Descartes, like herself a refugee from his country, like herself a prophetic harbinger of the spirit of the coming age, established philosoi^hic liberty on the method of free reflection. Both asserted that the conscious judgment of the mind is the highest authority to itself. Descartes did but promulgate, under the philosophic form of free reflection, the same truth which Anne Hutchin- son, with the fanaticism of impassioned conviction, avowed under the form of inward revelations." ^

Before the controversy with Mrs. Hutchinson had ended, the religious strife, disturbing the peace and harmony of the colonists, was still further increased by the arrival at Boston, in 1636, of Samuel Gorton. This man, a citizen of London, was branded, at the time, as " a proud and pestilent seducer, laden with blasphemies and familistical opinions." He left

' Hist. U. S., i. 391.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 47

Boston after a short season, and settled at Plymouth ; but lie spent the most of his time in Rhode Island, where, sa3's a writer, " he was almost constantly in office ; and during a long life there is no instance of record of any reproach or censure cast upon him." ^

While living at Plymouth, however, he fell into a dispute with both the ministers and the magistrates, and was not only sentenced to pay a heavy fine, but was even ordered to leave the place within fourteen days. In the " extremity of winter," 1638, he departed for Rhode Island, where he was again punished for misconduct. At length he found shelter under the roof of Roger Williams, and behaved himself so ungraciously, that a majority of the inhabitants of Providence, " fearful that Gorton would expel them from their posses- sions," requested the interference of the magistrates of Massa- chusetts. Without delay, the colonial authorities assumed jurisdiction over the settlement. But Gorton, who was wont to say that " heaven was not a place ; there was no heaven but in the hearts of good men, no hell but in the mind," ^ was as insubordinate as ever before ; and, having purchased of Miantonomo a parcel of land at Shawomet, now Warwick, he, with eleven associates, removed thither. Another diffi- culty arose, and Massachusetts issued a warrant requiring the appearance of the inhabitants of Shawomet at Boston. To this a reply was transmitted : " If you put forth your hand to us as countrymen, ours are in readiness for you ; if your sword be drawn, ours is girt upon our thigh ; if you present a gun, make haste to give the first fire, for we are come to put fire upon the earth, and it is our desire to have it speedily kindled." ^ A second warrant was issued, and

' Savage on Winthrop, ii. 70, seq. Hubbard, ch. 47.

* Bancroft, i. 419. ^ 3 M. II. Coll., i. 5-15.

48 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

troops were sent to enforce it. In quick haste Gorton and his friends were arrested, marched through the streets of Boston, and at the next court the leader himself was con- demned as a blasphemer. The whole party " were confined with irons upon their legs, kept at work for their living, and their cattle and goods were taken to defray the expenses of the court." ^ The men were released in the spring of 1643, because, as it appears, the people were murmuring at the severity of their rulers, and shortly afterwards returned to Shawomet, and there lived out their lives without further molestation. Gorton and his partisans were, confessedly, advocates for liberty of conscience, and avowed enemies to colonial independence. The conduct of Massachusetts in this whole affair was not only impolitic, but equally unjust ; and it can only be accounted for on the ground that the magistrates were betrayed into a stretch of authority by their zeal for the suppression of heresy.

The contest of 1637 ended in the re-election of Mr. AVin- throp as governor, and of Mr, Dudley deputy governor. With the exception of four years, — Mr. Dudley was governor in 1640 and 1645, Mr. BelHngham in 1641, and Mr. John Endicott in 1644, — Mr. Winthrop continued in office until his death, in 1649. His administration was not only a complete triumph for himself, but was also one of great prosperity for the colony. Scarcely a week passed without witnessing the arrival of new emigrants, and the progress of settlement was proportionally rapid, Hingham was settled in 1634. Concord, Newbury, and Dedham were incorporated in the following year. Between this date and 1643, the towns of Salisbury, Lynn, North Chelsea, Rowley, Sudbury, Braintree, Woburn, Gloucester, Haver-

' Barry, i. 265.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 49

hill, "Wenliam, and Hull were incorporated. Springfield was made a town in 1636. In 1643, four counties were erected — Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, and Old Norfolk, together com- prising just thirty towns.^

One of the results of the intercourse between the Plym- outh colonists and the Dutch was the discovery of the Connecticut River. The region lying along its banks was marvellousl}^ fertile, and was generally recommended as a " fine place for habitation and trade." In the year 1633 both the English and the Dutch laid claims to this newly- discovered country, the former by virtue of their patent, the latter b}^ right of occupation. A controversy arose, in which the Dutch were victorious. In 1635 certain of the Massachusetts colonists, " straitened for want of room," removed from Dorchester to Mattaneag, now Windsor, where the Plymouth people had erected a trading-house. In the following spring several residents of Newtown, including Mr. Hooker and Mr. Haynes, and numbering one hun- dred in all, set out for Connecticut. Pursuing their wa}'^ " over mountain-top, and hill, and stream, through tangled woods and dismal swamps, it was a fortnight before they reached their haven of rest."

During the summer. Captain Stone, Captain Norton, and John Oldham fell victims to the rapacity of the Pequots. This formidable tribe peopled the region lying between the Mystic and the Thames, and was able to muster no less than seven hundred warriors. The English demanded reparation for the murders which had been committed, and threatened to declare war if the request were unheeded. The Indians refused the demand, and secreted themselves at Block Island. An expedition, embracing between eighty

' Mass. Eecords, ii. 38.

50 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

and ninety men, under the command of Endicott, departed from the colony in the autumn of 1636, and proceeded rapidly into the land of the enemy, bearing a commission to " put to death the men of Block Island, but to spare the women and children; and from thence to go to the Pequots to demand the murderers of Captain Stone and other English, and one thousand fathoms of wampum for damages, and some of their children as hostages, which if they should refuse, they were to obtain it by force." ^ The party landed at Block Island, revelled for two days in scenes of devastation, and then sailed for Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut.

Here Endicott received a fresh supply of boats and men from the commander of the fort at Saybrook, and, again setting out, the party entered the Pequot River, now the Thames, and held a parley with the savages. This, how- ever, amounted to nothing ; and so, after having committed further devastation, the troops, flushed with success, returned home to Boston.

Ere long the rumor was spread abroad that the Pequots were seeking to induce the Narragansetts to unite with them in exterminating the English. To Roger Williams, who alone exerted any influence among the Narragansetts, the colonists now looked for assistance. Only a little while before, Williams had been unjustly expelled from the colony, simply because he had evolved " from the alembic of his own soul the sublime principle of liberty of conscience," and had dared to affirm that " the ecclesiastical should be wholly divorced from the civil power, and that the church and the magistracy should each be confined to its appro- priate sphere." Endless difficulties conspired to render his presence obnoxious, and his teachings " erroneous and

' Winthrop, i. 229.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 51

dangerous " to his " associates in the church of Christ." lieing constantly persecuted both by the church and the state, and arraigned on a charge of sedition, he was brought to trial, and sentenced " to depart out of our jurisdiction within six weeks, all the ministers, save one, approving' the sentence." ^ Leaving Salem in the winter of 1G35, the magnanimous exile turned his steps towards the shores of the Narragansett Bay. "Moving to the other side of the water," he, with five others, laid the foundations of Provi- dence. On his first arrival he secured the friendship of the Narragansetts, whose sachem, Canonicus, " loved him as his son to the last gasp." The chiefs gave him lands on which to build his colony, while he, in turn, again gave away to his friends " until he gave away all." ^

It cannot be denied that Roger Williams was the victim of one of the most blind-guided persecutions that has ever raged within the borders of this state. Still it ought to be remembered that his sentence of banishment was not passed without reluctance. When Governor Winthrop was urged to sign the order, he replied, " I have done enough of that work already," and to the very day of his death sought to have the cruel sentence revoked. It is not a little remarkable that nearly all of those who were foremost in procuring the banishment of Mr. Williams lived long enough to repent of the ignominious transaction. And behold the magnanimity of the founder of Rhode Island ! Fearless in his attacks on the spirit of intolerance, the doctrine of persecution, he never permitted himself to traduce either his oppressors or the colony of Massachusetts. ' " I did ever

' Winthrop, i. 204.

" Backus, i. 290. One of the most eloquent tributes ever paid to this noble- uiinded man is tliat of Bancroft, U. S., i. 3G7-382.

52 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

from my soul honor and love them, even when their judg- ment led them to afflict me," are his own words.^ It is not strange, indeed, that "many hearts were touched with relentings."

To such a man it was that the colonists, in their sore distress, had the face to turn for assistance. Nor was their entreaty vain. Having received letters from Vane and the council of Massachusetts urging him to prevent the league, Roger Williams, " putting his life in his hands," embarked in a frail canoe, and hastened to the house of the sachem of the Narragansetts. Already the Pequot am- bassadors had arrived before him, and were skilfully ply- ing arguments in their own behalf. For three days and nights the conference continued. But the eloquence of Williams finally prevailed, and, a few days later, Mian- tonomo and two sons of Canonicus repaired to Boston, and there signed a treaty of peace and alliance.

The Pequots, having thus been foiled in their negotia- tions, " set out upon a course of greater insolence than be- fore, and slew all they found in the way." Not a day passed which did not bear witness to some new tragedy, and the most heartless cruelties were perpetrated. Roused to im- mediate action, a court was convened at • Hartford, and war was decreed. Ninety men were mustered into service, and placed under the command of Captain John Mason, who had fought under Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Netherlands. Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, with about eighty war- riors, joined with the English as an ally.

On the 25th of May, 1637, Captain Mason, with his little force, encamped " near a swamp, between two hills, on land now in Groton, about two miles from Fort Mystic, where

' Savage on Winthrop.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 53

the Pequots had assembled to hold their festival, aided by the light of a brilliant moon." Before daybreak an attack was made upon the fort. Captain Mason advanced upon one entrance, and Captain Underbill upon the other. An Indian sentinel, awakened by the barking of a dog, spread the alarm, and at once a fierce encounter ensued. The savages outnumbered their assailants nearly four to one, and, fighting hand to hand, victory was tardy. "We must burn them ! " shouted Mason ; and at the word a brand was seized, and the wigwams were fired. With terrific speed the flames rolled on. The carnage was com- plete. In about an hour the frightful work was ended, and the rising sun bore witness of a triumph. Nearly six hundred Indians, men, women, and children, perished in this scene. The flower of the tribe was gone. Although the gallant Mason was forced to encounter three hundred or more Pequots, as they proudly advanced from their second fort, he succeeded in routing them also, and making good his escape to Hartford. •

A few days later, the Massachusetts troops, commanded by Captain Israel Stoughton, of Dorchester, arrived, and united with Captain jNIason. The main body of the fugitive Pequots was purs\ied into a swamp ; their wigwams were burned, and Sassacus, their sachem, was murdered. Re- duced to utter want, those who survived — about two hun- dred in all — surrendered to the English, by whom they were distributed among the other tribes. On the return of the troops, a day of thanksgiving was ordered to be observed, in which all the towns participated. Thus ended the first Indian war in New England. Its best result was, that it struck terror into the hearts of the savages, and secured a long peace.

54 HISTORY OF MAS'SACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER III. THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES.

A STUDY of the civil policy of the Massachusetts colony reveals the fact that sturdy and rigid Puritanism lay at the basis of all legislation. The people themselves placed greater faith in the five points of Calvinism than in the five points of a well-founded government — an hereditary monarchy, an established church, an order of nobility, a standing army, and a military police. Upon all occasions, and under all circumstances, they subordinated the govern- ment to the church, and believed that no sort of govern- ment was admissible which was not so shaped as to secure the life and welfare of the church. " When a common- wealth," they affirmed, " hath liberty to mould his own frame, the Scripture hath given full direction for the order- ing of the same, and that in such sort as may best main- tain the euexia of the church." And again : " Better the commonwealth be fashioned to the setting forth of God's house, which is his church, than to accommodate the church frame to the civil estate." ^ It is always well to bear this truth in mind, when one is disposed to censure and explain the actions of our forefathers.

The colonists possessed many invaluable rights, of which the charter of Charles I. was the cherished palladium. The}'' held their lands as their own possessions, and forbade

' Hutchinson, Coll., 27, 437. *

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 55

strangers planting " at any j^lace within the limits of the patent without leave from the governor and assistants, or the major part of them." We have already seen in what manner they dealt with those persons whose religious views they considered " dangerous." " If we be here a corpora- tion," they maintained, " established by free consent, if the place of our cohabitation be our own, then no man hath right to come in to us without our consent." When Vane became governor, he opposed this spirit of limitation ; but Winthrop's reply prevailed. '' The intent of the law," said he, "is to preserve the welfare of the body, and, for this end, to have none received into any fellowship with us who are likely to disturb the same ; and this intent, I am sure, is lawful and good." ^

In 1631 it was ordered that " no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic but such as are members of some of the churches of the same."" A most arbitrary law was this ; for in no way can piety be promoted at the jeopardy of freedom and of justice. The purpose of its makers was evidently to build up a Puritan community on as exclusive a foundation as was that of the English Church during the reign of King James. It was as much a political regulation as it was a sectarian scruple. Such a policy was, unquestionably, a great mistake. As a writer has well said, "It vested undue power in the clergy and the church. It established a practical oligarchy of select religious votaries. It debarred from the exercise of the elective franchise all, however honest, who were unwilling to conform to the standard of colonial orthodoxy. But at the same time, it may be doubted whether a different policy could have been safely adopted without subjecting the

• Ilutohinson. Coll., G7-100.

56 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

colonists to what they would have regarded as the greatest of all evils — the intrusion of a body of men inimical to their views, whose aim would have been to subvert their churcli and destroy their government." ^

In lGo4 another order was framed, compelling every male resident, twenty years old and upwards, not a freeman, to acknowledge, under oath, liis subjection to the colonial government, and to promise obedience to tlic same. These three enactments thus secured " the alhsgiance of all not entitled to the immunities of citizenship."

By the terms of the colonial charter, the principal officers were to be chosen directly by the freemen. So soon as a settlement was formed, it was ruled that the governor and deputy should be chosen by tlie assistants from among themselves, and these assistants l)y tlie freemen. In tho following year, liowcvcr, it became lawful for tho " com- mons " to propose the names of such persons as they wished slioiild be chosen as assistants ; and shoitly afterwards it was agreed that all officers should be " chosen anew every year by the whole court." 'J'he substitution of delegates to represent tho freemen was an early proceeding, and in 1082 " every town chose two men to be at the next court, to advise; willi tho governor and assistants about tin; raising of a i(iil)li(! stock, so as what <h(!y should jigrce uj)on should bind all." '-^ In May, 1034, a House of Representatives was estaldishcd, coini)osed of twenty-four delegates. IJut even then the relative jmwer of the officers and delegates was undetermined, and a discussion upon the i>oint aros(!, when the people of Newtown requested permission to icinove to Connecticut, which culminated in a political contioversy of many years' duration.

' IJjirry, i. 270. « Mass. RecordM, i. 87, acq.

THE COM'EDERACY OF THE (VL0A7ES. .-,7

In hl.'5r> four of tlio miicjistrutos wno drimliHl to fiamo a l)o(ly of laws w liich shoulil hcnv a '' rostMiihlaiiro (o ii Maj^Mia Cliarla." Nearly six yt'iirs \V(M(> spiMil lu'l'oro (lu^ co(lt> was liiially cuiiiiilt'li'tl. This " luxly of I .ihrrlics," so callcil, coiiiiirisi'd one liuinlrctl laws, and was adoplcd in Dfcrndx-r, hill. Nallianicl W'aiil, of Ipswirli, was (lu> (•()iii|iil('r of llio system; and "astlu* anilioi- of the funda- mental code," says IJanerol't, "he is the most, remarkable aUKin;;- all I he early le!;islators of INIassaehnset Is; lu' had hetMi leinierly a Nindenl. and |iraelisei' in the courts of common law in l'!n<;laiid, l>ul. hecanu^ u non etinlormin;', minisitu' ; so thai he was enmpelcnt. to eond>in(t (ho hnmaut^ doetriues of the (diumoii law with the |irinei|)les of natural ri^ht and LMluality, ari deduced iVoiii the Hilile."'

W'e may here eiunnerale sonu" of the mort> imporlani, fealairoH of this code. All ^'oneral oIlieiM's w imi> to he (>lected annually, and recompensed from (ho couunou fund, 'i'he iVeeiiien in the sev(M'al towns wert^ tt> ehooS(» depu- ties IVom amoni'; Ihem.selves, "or elsewhere, as lh(<v iudL;'ed til lest-', who were t<» he paid from the (reasnry of the ii»speo- tive towns, and to servo * at the most hut. one v«iar.' " Twelve cajiilal offence.i were it'co|_^in/ed. lale, lihcrlN', honor, ioid property were constantly under IIh^ protection of I he law. lOvei'y man was piomisetl cipial justice under all ( M cinnslaiKMiK, and hail the lilierl\' tomo\iMin\ (pn-stion CM' present. an\ pelilion at any coiul, conmil, or town mct^l- iu". All properly wan U* l)e (\vo from lim-s, and the dispo.i lion of Ihe Haum l>y will was earnfully secured and miarded. The ri^^iitrt of widows were* respected, and the protection ol Ihe law WiiM thrown aroiuid oiph.in.. A iefni;e was f^Manlcd to nhipwicelved inarnierM, and Ihen p^ooda wero

' jliiiiisoM, I li(i

58 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

defended against spoliation. Slavery was prohibited, ex- cept in the case of " lawful captives taken in just war, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves, or are sold to us ; " all such, however, were " to have all the liber- ties and Christian usages which the law of God estab- lished in Israel required." The old practice of wife-whip- ping was absolutely forbidden, although the court reserved the right of " chastisement " under just reasons. " Inhu- man, cruel, or barbarous " modes of bodily punishments were not allowable ; and " no true gentleman, nor any man equal to a gentleman, was to be punished with whip- ping, unless his crime was very shameful, and his course of life vicious and profligate." Death was the penalty only for murder, adultery, man-stealing, rape, and bearing false witness wittingly to deprive any man of life. ' With re- gard to religious matters, all who were orthodox in judg- ment, and not scandalous in daily life, could become mem- bers of a church estate, and exercise all the ordinances of God. Such is a brief transcript of the Body of Liberties, which, " embracing the freedom of the commonwealth, of municipalities, of persons, and of churches according to the principles of Independency, exhibits the truest picture of the principles, character, and intentions of that people, and the- best evidence of its vigor and self-dependence." ^

Says a quaint old writer, whose prophetic words may here fittingly find a place, " The air of New England, and the diet, equal if not excelling that of Old England, besides their honor of marriage, and careful preventing and punishing of furtive congression, giveth them and us no small hope of their future puissance and multitude of subjects. Herein, saith the wise man, consisteth the

' Bancroft, i. 418.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 59

strength of a king, and likewise of a nation or kingdom." ^ The moral condition of the people of New England, at this period, was equal, if not superior, to that of any other nation on the face of the globe.

Meanwhile a storm of no small magnitude was brewing. While the colonists were thus perfecting the civil policy of the commonwealth, " a thousand eyes were watching over them to pick a hole in their coats." ^ The severe disci- pline which had been exercised by the government at Salem and elsewhere produced an early harvest of ene- mies, of whom several, breathing revenge, returned to England, and there murmured complaints in the ears of Mason and Gorges. These two gentlemen, who had wasted thousands of pounds in fruitless attempts at colonization, now became jealous of the Massachusetts colony, and pre- sented a petition to the lords of the privy council, " com- plaining of distractions and disorders in the colony," and demanding the speedy recall of its charter. The news of these proceedings reached Boston in February, 1633.

But New England, however, had her able defenders in the mother country, who were not afraid to speak in her behalf. Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Humphrey, and Mat- thew Cradock, having broached the matter before the coun- cil, were assured " that his majesty did not intend to impose the ceremonies of the Church of England " upon the colonists, " as it was considered that it was the freedom from such things that made people come over to the colo- ny." 3 When these second tidings reached Boston, in May, a day was appointed for thanksgiving.

Although the spirit of revenge had been defeated, it did not slumber. Although the king had shown himself gra-

' 3 M. II. Coll., vi. 42. ^ 3 M. H. Coll., i.\. 244. ' Winthrop, ii. 119-123.

60 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ciously disposed to his subjects abroad, he proved the tyrant to those at home. " Many of the best, both ministers and Christians," left England for America ; and the extent of emigration was so great that it was deemed " a more ill- boding sign to the nation than the portentous blaze of comets, and the impressions in the air, at which astrologers are dismayed." ^ Dignitaries of the church and state be- came alarmed, and a warrant was issued, in 1634, to stay the departure of several vessels, which were then ready to sail for New England.

Nor was this all. In the same year, by royal decree, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, and ten others, were constituted a commission to regulate and govern the New England plantations, both temporally and spiritually; and on the 1st of May, three days later, a general governor was appointed, and vessels were provided for his transfer to this country.

It was not long before the colonists received intelligence of these doings. The greatest excitement was produced. Poor as were the settlements, it was unanimously resolved to appropriate six hundred pounds for purposes of defence. Provisions were made for the erection of a fort at Boston, another at Castle Island, and for raising fortifications at Dorchester and Charlestown. All of the ministers were summoned to Boston, and their opinions were consulted. It was agreed that, if a general governor should be sent, he ought not to be accepted. " We ought," said the fathers, " to defend our lawful possessions, if we are able ; and otherwise, to avoid or protract." ^ In the fall of 1634, Mr. Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, was sent to England as "joint agent for the colonies of Plymouth and Massachu-

' Bancroft, i. 406. Winthrop, i. 171-183.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 61

setts," in order to " obtain a commission to withstand the intrusions of the French and the Dutch at the east and at the west." He arrived safely, and was received favorably by the lords. Ere long, however, he was arrested by order of Archbishop Laud, and held a prisoner four months.

Although one evil step naturally led to another, neither could emigration be wholly stopped, nor was the courage of the colonists relaxed. For some years previous, the New England Council, whose affairs, though not always philo- sophical, were nevertheless conducted by a proud company of philosophers, had been involved in controversies with the rival Virginia Company and Parliament. It had, at this period, little or no authority in the New World, and was already on the point of dissolution. " Several of the com- pany desired, as individuals, to become the proprietors of extensive territories, even at the dishonor of invalidating all their grants as a Corporation. The hope of acquiring principalities subverted the sense of justice. A meeting of the lords was duly convened, and the whole coast, from Acadia to beyond the Hudson, being divided into shares, was distributed, in part at least, by lots. Whole provinces gained an owner by the drawing of a lottery." ^ In June, 1635, after presenting to the king the " humble petition of Edward, Lord Gorges, president of the Council of New England, in the name of himself and divers lords and others of the said council," praying him "to order Mr. Attorney General to draw patents " for confirmation of their several parcels of land, a formal act of surrender of the charter was executed, giving up "all and every the liber- ties, licenses, powers, privileges, and authorities therein granted." 2

' Bancroft, i. 408. » Barry, i. 288. Hubbard, 272.

62 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The affair had now reached its most serious turn, and the colonists were in a state of intense perplexity. It was said in England that they were sworn to resist any unjust invasion of their rights. Whereupon the king and his coun- cil, fearful of the unbridled spirit of the Americans, re- solved to carry out his measures of oppression still farther. A quo warranto was immediately brought against the Com- pany of the Massachusetts Bay, and against fourteen of its members judgment was pronounced individually. At the same time, all the " liberties, privileges, and franchises " of the said company were " taken and seized into the king's hands." It must not be supposed, however, that by this proceeding the charter which had been granted to the Massachusetts Company was revoked. The death of Mason, the chief mover of all these aggressions, suspended, for a while at least, further interference.

Meanwhile the colony was forced to deal harshly with enemies at home. A man named Burdet, who was in reality a spy of Laud, had sent to England various charges, accusing the colonists of aiming " at sovereignty," and as- serting that " it was accounted treason in their General Courts to speak of appeals to the king." In July, 1638, a letter was received at Boston, from the clerk of the privy council, containing a demand for the return of the patent. The people sent over a reply, saying that it would not " be best to send back the patent, because their friends in England would conceive that it was surrendered, and therefore the colony would be bound to receive such a gov- ernor and such orders as might be sent to them, and many bad and weak minds would think it lawful, if not neces- sary, to accept a general governor." ^ In their petition to

' Wintlirop, i. 323, seq.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 63

the king they wrote, " We came into these remote parts with his majesty's license and encouragement, under his great seal of England, and in the confidence Ave had of the assurance of his favor, we have transported our fami- lies and estates ; and if our patent should now be taken from us, many thousand souls will be exposed to ruin, being laid open to the injuries of all men ; the rest of the plantations about us, if we leave the place, will, for the most part, dissolve and go with us, and then the whole country will fall into the hands of the French or the Dutch ; if we should lose all our labor, and be deprived of those liberties which his majesty hath granted us, and nothing laid to our charge, nor any failing found in point of allegiance, it will discourage all men hereafter from the like undertakings upon confidence of his majestj'^'s royal grant ; and lastly, if our patent be taken from us, the common people will conceive that his majesty hath cast them off, and that hereby they are freed from all alle- giance and subjection, and therefore will be ready to con- federate themselves under a new government, for their necessary safety and subsistence, which will be a danger- ous example to other plantations, and perilous to our- selves, if incurring his majesty's displeasure, which we would by all means avoid." The petition concludes, " Let us be made the objects of his majesty's clemency, and not cut off in our first appeal from all hope of favor. Thus with our earnest prayer unto the King of kings for long life and prosperity to his sacred majesty and his royal family, and for all honor and welfare to your lord- ships, we humbly take leave." ^

But there was now no time to oppress New England,

» Hubbard, 200-271.

64 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

for Kine Charles's attention was involved in the insur- rection in Scotland. The throne began to totter, and Eng- land itself was all ablaze. A letter received in June, 1639, from Mr. Cradock bore the intelligence that the lords had accepted the petition of the colonists, and had no inten- tion to curtail their liberties. The troubles which terminated in the overthrow and death of Charles happily averted any- further attempts to obtain possession of the colonial pat- ent. The perplexities of the people, however, had already aroused a spirit of independence. The government was fast " hardening into a republic ; " and a sturdy resist- ance against all encroachment was the watchword of the hour. The colonists were hoping, indeed, to be "joined togrether in one common bond." ^ It remains to be seen in what manner this cherished union was fulfilled.

The establishment of a confederacy among the Puritan colonies of New England was an all-important measure. As early as in 1637, immediately after the victories over the Pequots, such a union had been proposed. In the following year, the proposition came again into discussion, and articles of confederation were sent to the General Court at Newtown, which declined to accept them. Owing to other miscarriages, the union was not effected. In May, 1639, Mr. Haynes, the governor of the Hart- ford colony, and the Rev. Mr. Hooker visited Boston for the purpose of renewing the treaty. But once more nego- tiations were checked.

About this time the people of New Hampshire, having long been harassed by vexatious proprietary claims, and left wholly to shift for themselves, gave token of a desire to come under the government of Massachusetts. The

' Hubbard, 3G6.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 65

people of Dover and of Portsmouth had combined them- selves into bodies-politic, like their neighbors at Exeter. In 1G40, four distinct governments, including one at Kittery, were established near the Piscataqua. Not one of these settlements was sure of a long continuance, and under the ruling circumstances it was deemed utterly impossible to form a general government. In con- sequence of the unsafety of their situation, the "lords and gentlemen " at Dover and Strawberry Bank, who held patents, " finding no means to govern the people," mutu- ally agreed in 1G41 to resign their interest of jurisdiction to Massachusetts. In the following year Exeter followed their example.^

Some mention ought to be made hero of troubles which arose with the French, who had made settlements near Cape Sable. These emigrants had been sent over to Amer- ica by Cardinal Richelieu, and included in their number several Jesuit priests. The Massachusetts people, fearing that they might prove " ill neighbors," agreed, in 1632, " to finish the fort at Boston, to erect another at Nan- tasket, and to commence a plantation at Ipswich, to bar their entrance should they make a descent upon the coast." In the autumn of that year, La Tour, " governor to the east of the St. Croix," visited Machias, and tliere violently asserted his claim to the place. Shortly after- wards Mr. Allerton, of Plymouth, was sent to demand of La Tour some reason for his misconduct. " My au- thority," responded the Frenchman, " is from the King of France, who claims the coast from Cape Sable to Cape Cod ; I wish the English to understand that if they trade to the eastward of Pemaquid, I shall seize them ; my

' Barry, i. 303.

66 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

sword is all the commission I shall show; when I want help, I will produce my authority." ^

In the next year, the commander of a pinnace, named Hocking, visited Kennebec, and insolently interfered with the trade, which the Plymouth people were there carry- ing on. In an encounter which ensued, Hocking killed one of the tradesmen, and was himself shot in return. One of the Plymouth magistrates, Mr. John Alden, who was a witness of this affair, was, at the instance of a kins- man of Hocking, arraigned on a charge of murder. The case was tried in Boston ; and Mr. Alden, being found not guilty, was discharged.

Still another disturbance was created in the following year. D'Aulney, governor to the west of the St. Croix, sailing under a commission from Razilla, commandant of the fort at La Heve, made an attack upon the Plymouth trading-house at Penobscot, and rifled it of all its con- tents. An attempt was made to avenge this insult ; but it was not brought to any result. The foregoing en- croachments were some of the reasons why Mr. Winslow was sent to England as the agent of the colonies. For- tunately, at this point, troubles with the French ceased altogether, and neither party gave to the other any cause for apprehension.

Turning now to the colonies themselves, it is well to glance at their condition at this period of their history. When the Puritans came over to America, they, just like the Pilgrims, already knew that their future success and prosperity depended wholly upon hard and persistent labor. When they arrived, they at once set to work as an agri- cultural people, toiling for their daily bread, and not yet

' Wintlirop, i. 117.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 07

mindful of the wealth which might eventually crown their efforts. The misfortunes of the first winter, although se- vere, did not dishearten. With poverty staring them in the face, they learned those lessons of thrift, patience, and economy, which profited them through the remainder of their lives, and which their descendants have so advanta- geously cherished to this day.

It was not to be expected that the immigrants could arrive from England bounteously supplied with all the necessaries of life. On the other hand, they did not set out on their perilous adventure without providing them- selves with the germs — so to speak — of their future opu- lence. Besides materials for building, tliey brought over with them articles of clothing for their families, tools and utensils for their husbandry, and a number of neat cat- tle, sheep, swine, and poultry. For several months they subsisted mainly on Indian corn, which they obtained from the natives, and such other wild products as the country afforded. As soon as the chill of winter departed, they began to break the land for their spring labors. Seeds were sown for their future harvests ; the soil proved rich and fertile, the air was salubrious, the waters pure. Soon the young stalks of grain began to blossom in the fields. Fish was plentiful in the neighboring streams, and game of various kinds roamed freely in the forests. The pros- pect was encouraging, and all were seemingly blessed with good cheer and content. In this manner the early planters sought to unveil the fruitfulness of New England. Before the beginning of the year 1643, nearly fifteen thousand acres of land were being cultivated for grain purposes, and at least one thousand acres had been worked into gardens and orchards. The number of neat cattle had

68 ■ HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

increased to twelve thousand, and that of sheep to three thousand.

Prosperity showed itself in other respects. Many of the colonists who had " had not enough to bring them over," were now worth, in stock and lands, hundreds of pounds. Surplus products were exchanged for furs, a^^d the latter were soon shipped to England. In this way was laid the foundation of a thriving commerce. Moreover, " new build- ings, some even of brick, sprang up in every quarter of Boston ; markets were erected ; wharves stretched into the harbor ; native and foreign vessels were sent to the West Indies and to the Madeira Islands, and returned laden with sugar, oranges, wine, cotton, tobacco, and bullion ; and these, Avith the furs, and the products of the fish- eries at the Cape and at the Banks, including morse teeth and oil, procured in trips farther to the north, were sent to England to pay for the manufactured goods needed for their wants." ^

As wool, flax, and hemp were everywhere becoming plen- tiful, the colonists now turned their attention to manu- facturing. In the towns possessing good water privileges, mills were erected. Elsewhere, glass works were com- menced, ship-yards opened, and at Lynn and Braintree, in the Massachusetts colony, and at Raynham, in Plymouth, iron founderies were established. Although much energy and zeal were displayed in these several investments, it was not until " the chanoes in England checked the flow of emigration from the Old World to the New, causing an im- mediate and remarkable reduction in the value of cattle, that manufactures assumed an increased importance, and were prosecuted with more vigor." ^

' Barry, i. 309. « Barry, i. 310. Winthrop, ii. 21, seq.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 69

As many of the cavly settlers of the Massachusetts col- ony, and particularly the clergy, were men of a liberal education, and in some cases were graduates of English universities, it was not to be expected that they would permit the interests of education to be forgotten. It was always the custom, and it soon became a law, that " none of the brethren shall suffer so much barbarism in their families, as not to teach their children and apprentices so much learning as may enable them perfectly to read tlie English tongue." When the colonies had reached a sufficient degree of prosperity, it was ordered that, " to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, every township, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall appoint one to teach all children to write and read ; and where any town shall increase to the number of one hun- dred families, they shall set up a grammar school ; the masters thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university." ^

Boston had been settled just six years, when, in the autumn of IGOG, the General Court voted the sum of four hundred pounds — equal to a year's rate of the whole col- ony— towards the erection of "a school or college." One half of this amount was to be paid in the next year, and the balance when the work should be completed. On the 15th of November, ICoT, the college was " or- dered to be at Newtown ; " and in the following spring it was further ordered that '' Newtown shall henceforward be called Cambridge," in honor of the seat of the alma mater of many of the emigrants. Before this year ended, John Harvard, a minister settled at Charlestown, shortly

' Col. Laws, 74, 18G.

70 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

before his death bequeathed to the institution one half of his estate and the whole of his library. In return for this benefaction, it was ordered that the " college agreed upon formerly to be built at Cambridge shall be called Harvard College."

Mr. Nathaniel Eaton was the first master of this " school," and had charge of its funds as well as of the buildings and pupils. Having demeaned himself in a " cruel and scanda- lous manner," and the parsimony of his Avife having given rise to much complaint, Eaton was soon dismissed from his position, and his place supplied by another. " He was a mere Arbilius," says Hubbard, with righteous indignation, " fitter to have been an officer in the Inquisition, or master of an house of correction, than an instructor of Christian youth." ^ In 1G38 v/as commenced the regular course of academic instruction ; and in 1642 nine young gentlemen were graduated and received degrees. This was the first commencement in the history of Harvard College. The graduates " were young men of good hope, and performed their acts so as gave good proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts," writes Governor John Winthrop."'^ The " theses " of the class have been preserved. In this same year a charter for the college was granted, and a board of overseers established. The " learned, reverend, and judicious Mr. Henry Dunster " now stood at the head of the seminary as its first president. For fourteen years he faithfully discharged the duties of his office, to the " great comfort " of his associates.

In a small tract, entitled " New England's First Fruits," written in Boston, in 1642, and published in London in the next year, occurs the earliest contemporary account of the

> Hist., 247. 2 Hist., ii. 88.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 71

founding of the college. It is extremely interesting as showing the spirit of the people in relation to the institu- tion. It says, —

"After (Jod had carried us safe to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared, convenient places for God's worship, and settled the civill government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity ; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust. And as we were thinking and consulting how to effect this great work, it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard (a godly gentleman and a lover of learning, then living amongst us) to give the one half of his estate (it being in all about 1700^.) towards the erecting of a colledge and all his library. After him another gave 300?. ; others after them cast in more, and the publique hand of the state added the rest. The colledge was by common consent appointed to be at Cambridge (a place very pleasant and accommodate), and is called (according to the name of its first founder) Harvard Colledge." The early appearance of the college is thus quaintly described in the same work : " The edifice is very faire and comely within and without, having in it a spacious hall, where they daily meet at commons, lectures, and exercises, and a large library with some bookes to it, the gifts of diverse of our friends, their chambers and studies also fitted for and possessed by the students, and all other roomes of office necessary and convenient, with all needful offices thereto belonging."

The infant institution soon became a great favorite. All of the colonies contributed offerings towards its support ;

72 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

the state granted the use of a ferry ; and magistrates and citizens were ahke profuse in their liberaht3\ In return, the college moulded the early character of the country. Indeed, its influence was such as to give cause of alarm to the commissioners of Charles II., who in their report wrote that, " It may be feared this college may afford as many scismaticks to the Church, and the Corporation as many rebells to the King, as formerly they have done if not timely prevented." The Marquis of Wellesley is accredited with having said to an American, many years later, " Estab- lishing a seminary in New England at so early a period of time hastened your revolution half a century."

Nor were grammar schools unthought of at this period. As education was deemed to be an object of the highest importance, a law was passed compelling every town to support a district school within its limits. The school at Cambridge, under the charge of " Master Corlet," prepared students for the college. The schools at Watertown, Boston, Charlestown, Roxbur}^, Dorchester, those also in Plymouth and in Connecticut, each sent thither its quota. " In these measures," says an historian, " especially in the laws estab- lishing common schools, lies the secret of the success and character of New England. Every child, as it was born into the Avorld, was lifted from the earth b}'- the genius of the countr}^, and, in the statutes of the land, received, as its birthright, a pledge of the public care for its morals and its mind." ^

In 1G89 the first printing press erected in New England was set up at Cambridge by Stephen Daye, at the charge of the Rev. Joseph Glover, who had brought over both pressmen and press from England. " The first thing

» Bancroft, U. S., i. 459.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 73

printed," says Winthrop in his Journal, " was ' The Free- man's Oath;' the next an Ahnanac made for New Eng- land b}' Mr. Pierce, mariner ; the next was the Psahns newly turned into metre." The press soon fell into the possession of Samuel Green, who followed the printer's trade in Cambridge for more than forty years. In 1649 he published the " Cambridge Platform," in IGGO the "Laws of the Colony," and in 1G85 the "Psalter," Eliot's " Catechism," Baxter's " Call," and the Bible in the Indian language. These several publications are now very rarely met Avith.

In 1643, or thereabouts, the population of New England was not far from twenty-five thousand ; that of jNIassa- chusetts was about eighteen thousand. Among the number of the latter there were not a few restless minds, of whom some were already projecting new settlements in the Baha- mas. A plan of government was draughted, and a large number of families departed to the "new land." Erelong Spanish interference checked the progress of this dangerous scheme ; the settlers were dispersed, and those Avho were so fortunate as to return to New England applied themselves to objects of more permanent value.

And now the plan' which had been so much talked about around firesides and in the General Court — the confederacy of the colonies — was again held up for public consideration. There was not the slightest doubt but that such a union was necessary, as much for the interests of religion as for the common safety. On the 19th of May, 1643, the initiatory step was taken. On this day commissioners from four of the colonies met in Boston, and agreed upon terms of confederation.! The articles were then signed by the

' Bradford, 41G. 10

74 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

commissioners from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven ; but, inasmuch as the Plymouth delegates were not authorized to sign, the latter reported them to their General Court, which submitted them for ratification to the several towns. In this manner they were ratified by the people. On the 7th of September the measures had beeii confirmed ; and thus was formed the cenfederation of " The United Colonies of New England," the prototj'pe of the North American Confederacy of 1774, The four jurisdic- tions comj)rised a population of about- twenty-four thousand, living in thirty-nine towns. ^

The preamble to the articles of confederation reads as follows : " We all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, viz. : to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity with peace ; and whereas by our settling, by the Avise providence of God, we are further dispersed upon the sea-coast and rivers than was at first intended, so that we cannot, according to our desire, with convenience communicate in one government and jurisdiction ; and where- as we live encompassed with people of several nations and strange languages, which hereafter may prove injurious to us or our posterity ; and forasmuch as the natives have for- merly committed sundry insolences and outrages upon several plantations of the English, and have of late combined them- selves against us, and seeing by reason of the sad distractions in England (which they have heard of) and by which they know we are hindered both from that humble way of seek- ing advice and reaping those comfortable fruits of protection which at other times we might well expect ; we therefore do conceive it our bounden duty, without delay, to enter

» Winthrop, ii. 119-127; Hubbard, 4G7, seq.

THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. I'y

into a present consociation among ourselves, for mutual help and strength in all future concernment, that as in nation and religion, so in other respects, we be and continue one, according to the true tenor and meaning of the ensuing articles."

This explicit preamble is followed by twelve articles. The first fixes the name, " The United Colonies of New England." The second is a declaration of a perpetual league, with its purposes. The third asserts the right of jurisdiction of each colony within its own boundaries, and confines the confederacy to the four colonies forming it, until otherwise agreed. The fourth establishes the rule to be followed in the apportionment of colonial expenses in time of war. The fifth states the course to be pursued in case of any foreign invasion. The sixth gives to each colony the power to choose two commissioners, fully author- ized to act in its behalf. The seventh provides for the election of a president of the board. The eighth provides for the establishing of " agreements and orders in general cases of a civil nature," and for the preservation of justice in general. The ninth forbids each colony engaging in war, without the consent of the rest. The tenth provides for calling extraordinary meetings. The eleventh provides for cases arising from a breach of the articles ; and the twelfth ratifies and confirms the whole. ^

This league generally met with the expectations of its founders. Remarkable for unmixed simplicity, it was yet strong in its purpose, and was virtually an assumption of the sovereignty of the people. Its existence was as unpre- meditated from early years as it was inevitable at the last. Majesty itself could not have prohibited it ; nor was it

' Wiiithrop, ii. 119-127.

76 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

probably foreseen by the charter of Massachusetts. When the bond of union had been agreed upon, Thomas Hooker wrote to Governor Winthrop, m terms which disclose to us the elevated thought and exalted aims of the fathers of New England.

" Much honored in our blessed Savior ! At the return of our magistrates, when I understood the gracious and desired success of their endeavor, and by the joint relation of them all, not only your Christian readiness, but enlarged faithfulness in an especial manner to promote so good a work, — ray heart Avould not suffer mo but as unfeignedly to acknowledge the Lord's goodness, so affectionately to remember your candid and cordial carriage in a matter of so great consequence ; laboring b}"- your special prudence to settle a foundation of safety and prosperity in succeeding ages ; a work which will be found not only for your comfort, but for your crown at the great day of your account. It's the greatest good that can befall a man in this world to be an instrument under God to do a great deal of good. To be the repairer of the breach was of old counted matter of the highest praise and acceptance with God and man ; much more to be a means, not only to maintain peace and truth in j'our days, but to leave both as a legacy to those that come after until the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds." 1

• 4 M. H. Coll., vi. 390.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES' II. 77

CHAPTER IV.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES H.

The revolution in England, which dethroned and sent Charles I. to the scaffold, broke up the Court of High Commission, abolished the Star Chamber, and crushed the power of associate tyrants, exerted no small degree of in- fluence on the fortunes of New England. When the news first reached these shores that a new Parliament had been formed, and there was some hope of a reform, some of the Puritans " began to think of returnhig back to Eng- land, and others, despairing of further help from thence, turned their minds wholly to a removal to the south." The Long Parliament, which met in London in 1641, con- tained among its members many favorers of the Puritan plantations, some of whom, says Winthrop, " wrote to us advice to solicit for us in the Parliament, giving us hope that we might obtain much. But consulting about it, we declined the motion for this consideration, that if we should put ourselves under the protection of the Parlia- ment, we must then be subject to all such laws as they should make, or, at least, such as they might impose upon us." ^ The same sagacity was displayed by the settlers when they received letters, in the following year, invit- ing them to send deputies to the Westminster Assembly of divines.

' Wlnflirop, ii. 30,

78 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

However, the colonists resolved to send Hugh Peters and two others to England, to " mediate ease in customs and excise ; " and their mission proved successful. So pleasant continued the relations between Parliament and the colonies, that in 1643 the former freed their imports and exports from all taxation, " until the House of Com- mons should take order to the contrary." The General Court of Massachusetts, feeling grateful for the ordinance, " entered it word for word on their records, as a memo- rial to posterity." Meanwhile the events of the time gave rise to many political discussions. Abstract questions of government were freely debated ; public meetings were fre- quent ; and at every annual court one of the ministers was appointed to preach an " Election Sermon." In these discussions, wide differences of opinion were expressed, and there was manifested a growing jealousy, on the part of the people, of their highly aristocratical charter gov- ernment. Although the appointment, by Parliament, of a governor general of America was not quite pleasing to Massachusetts, the people still acknowledged their alle- giance to England ; it was also ordered by the court, that " whosoever should endeavor to disturb the public peace, directly or indirectly, by drawing a party, under the pretence that he was for the King of England and such as joined with him .against the Parliament, should be accounted an offender of a high nature against the commonwealth, to be proceeded with, either capitally or otherwise, according to the quality or degree of his offence."

In 1645 several difficulties arose within the colonies which called for the exercise of skilful diplomacy. Cer- tain parties, hostile to the government of Massachusetts,

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 79

had returned to England bearing grievances and seeking a redress for the same. Tliese disturbances, united to others of a religious nature, led to the appointment of a commission. Mr. Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, was sent to England to answer these charges, together with those of Gorton, should they be brought into Parliament. Mr. AVinslow left Boston in December, 1G4G, and on arriving in England, he held interviews with Sir Henry Vane and the Earl of Warwick. These gentlemen re- ferred the case to Parliament, and the result was a vin- dication of the colonists. The complaints of Gorton and of others against them fell flat. The loyalty of Massa- chusetts thus procured the protection of Parliament in that it encouraged no appeals from its decisions, and left it with all the freedom and latitude that it might claim.

Cromwell always manifested great love for the colonists, from whom, m return, he won the fullest confidence. After he had achieved his success in Ireland, he conceived the project of introducing Puritanism in that island, and invited tlie people of Massachusetts to remove thither. For just reasons the colonists declined the proposal, pre- ferring their own land and government, " the happiest and wisest this day in the world." When this answer was returned to the lord protector, a petition was also sent, soliciting his intervention " to avert the sad conse- quences apprehended from the recall of the charter." " English history," says Bancroft, " must judge of Crom- well by his influence on the institutions of England ; the American colonies remember the years of his power as the period when British sovereignty was for them free from rapacity, intolerance, and oppression. He may be called the benefactor of the English in America ; for he left

80 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

them to enjoy unshackled the liberal benevolence of Prov- idence, the freedom of industry, of commerce, of religion, and of government." ^

During these years the Puritans and the Pilgrims worked harmoniously together to build up a mighty common- wealth. Small beginnings could not but lead to potent results. Said the General Court, in 164G, " Plantations are above the rank of an ordinary corporation ; they have been esteemed other than towns, yea, than many cities. Colonies are the foundations of great commonwealths. It is the fruit of pride and folly to despise the day of small things." On the other hand, relations with neighboring colonies were not altogether pleasant. In 1G53, there was a rumor current that the Dutch governor at Manhattan was seeking to incite the Indians against the English; and when the rumor seemed to be confirmed, the people of Connecticut clamored loudly for war. The General Court of Massachusetts, having reviewed the evidence, declared that " no determination of the commissioners, though they should all agree, should bind them to join in an offensive war which should appear to be unjust." This refusal to coincide with the views of the Connecticut people came very near resulting in a dissolution of the confeder- ac3^ Before passion thus weakened discretion, the tidings arrived that Cromwell had ordered three ships to be sent over to assist in the reduction of the Dutch.

In the month of June the court convened ; and Major Robert Sedgewick and Captain John Leverett received permission to raise a force of five hundred volunteers. Just as the expedition was on the point of starting for Manhattan, the news came that a peace had been con-

' Bancroft, i. 446.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 81

eluded between England and Holland. The plans of the colonists were, therefore, altered ; and the military force was despatched to dislodge the French from the Penob- scot and St. John's. This object was speedily accom- plished. On the 20th of September a thanksgiving Avas celebrated throughout the colony, in gratitude for the peace with the Dutch, and the " hopeful establishment of gov- ernment in England." In the following year an expedi- tion was sent to Niantick for the purpose of quieting a conspiracy, which had originated with the Narragansett tribe. But as nothing serious resulted from it, the war was discontinued.

"With regret we must now briefly allude to another display of the persecuting spirit which prevailed in Mas- sachusetts at this time. As we have already observed, a national uncompromising church had been founded in the colony. The union of church and state was fast corrupt- ing both. Base ambition was mingled with the former, while a false direction was given to the legislation of the latter. The Congregationalists of Massachusetts were led to the "indulgence of the passions which had disgraced their English persecutors, and Laud was justified by the men whom he had wronged."

In the summer of 1656 the first Quakers arrived in Massachusetts. Inasmuch as their doctrines were deemed " another assault of Satan upon God's poor people here," and as opening anew that '■ Dead Sea of heterodoxy, that vast and horrid sink such as makes the land to stink in the nostrils both of God and man," the new comers were all imprisoned and treated with great indignity. In the autumn they were banished, and the court ordered that a penalty of one hundred pounds should be imposed upon 11

82 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

the master of any ship bringing Quakers within the juris- diction. If any Quakers should come hither, they were to be whipped, and then transported. Other laws, equally severe, were passed, prohibiting the harboring of the sect. So intense was the bigotry of the age, that the fathers declared that " heretical doctrine is not only a sin, but profession of a doctrine which is both all sin and a way of sin." Plymouth and Connecticut shared the prevailing sentiments of Massachusetts, while Rhode Island alone, under the wise guidance of Roger Williams, looked with favor on the " pernicious sect."

For a season persecution reigned unbridled. Large num- bers of the Quakers, men, women, and children, mothers with infants lying on their breasts, children too young and innocent to excite other than feelings of compassion, were scourged, fined, imprisoned, and banished. A ter- rible tragedy was being enacted. Scenes of blood were frequent. " I would carry fire in one hand," said Mr. Wilson, " and fagots in the other, to burn all the Quakers in the world." And again, " Hang them," he cried, " or else — " and with a significant gesture he passed his hand across his throat. There was no excuse for such proceedings as these. What if the conduct of the Quakers had been provoking — what if their manners were oddly affected, their sense of delicacy debased, and all their acts Avere seemingly devoid of reason? Neither then nor now could any apology be offered for the shameless sins of their persecutors. "When," says George Fox, "did ever the true apostles and teachers whip, hang, brand with an hot iron, banish upon pain of death, and spoil the goods?" 1

' Fox, Answer to New Laws, 4.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 83

Four of the Quakers — William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyer, and "NVenlock Christisson — were early made victims of the scaffold. Let us not dwell upon the inhumanity that marked these frightfid scenes. ''We desired their lives absent rather than their death present," was the only excuse which the magistrates could offer. When Christisson was put on trial, he asked by what law the magistrates condemned him. " Our own," was the cool reply. " Who empowered you to make that law ? " was his next question ; and being told that they were authorized by the patent, he inquired, " Can you make laws against those of England?" What else could they say, but "No"? "Then," said he, fearlessly, "have you overstepped your bounds, and your hearts are as rot- ten towards the king as towards God." When the sen- tence of dccith was pronounced, he exclaimed, " What do you gain by taking Quakers' lives ? For the last man you put to death here are five come in his room ; and if ye have power to take my life, God can raise up ten in my stead." ^

But at length the tidings of these fearful barbarities reached the shores of England. " There is a vein of blood opened in your dominions, which, if not stopped, will over- come all," said Edward Burroughs to Charles II., who now sat upon the throne of his father. " Ah, I will stop that vein," said the king, promptly. " Do it speedily," contin- ued the ally of Fox. " As speedily as ye wall," was the response ; " call to the secretary, and I will do it presently."

The secretary obeyed the summons ; a mandamus was granted ; and Samuel Shattuck, a worthy Quaker, was ordered to be the bearer of it to Massachusetts. In a

- Bishop, N. E. Judged, 336-340.

84 HISTORY OF MASS ACH I/SETTS.

little while the news reached Boston that a ship-load of Quakers, " Shattiick, the devil, and all," were anchored in the harbor. On the following day, it being Monday, two personages, Shattuck, the king's deputy, and the cap-, tain of the vessel, repaired to the residence of Governor Endicott. Upon being admitted, the former was ordered to remove his hat ; but " when the mandamus was placed in his hands, he took off his own hat and returned that of the messenger." A consultation was held, followed by this laconic reply : " We shall obey his majesty's com- mand."

The j)ersecution was now virtually ended. Terror had supplanted vengeance in the minds of the people, and the Quakers were allowed to proceed about their busi- ness. Fearing that some evil results might follow, Mr. Bradstreet and Mr. Norton were sent to England, as agents of the colony. The king received them favorably ; and an attempt on the part of the Quakers to bring them to an account for the murder of their friends was finally compromised. From this hour the rigor of the colonial laws abated, and the principles of toleration began to surmount the evils of bigotry. Says a writer, " Let us not censure too harshly the conduct of men to whom we are so largely indebted for the blessings we enjoy. Candid minds will not be indisposed to cast over their errors the mantle of charity. We have no disposition to conceal those errors ; neither would we magnify them to an undue extent. Future ages, perhaps, in considering the laws of the middle of the nineteenth centmy, will look back with wonder to our daj's, and may find it as difficult to conceive how we should have strayed so far from the spirit of the gospel as then understood, as we

AfASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES II. 85

find it difficult to conceive how our ancestors should have strayed so far from that spirit as we understand it. Let each age be judged by its own light, and let due credit be given for all that was good in the past." ^

In May, 1G60, Charles II. mounted the throne of his ancestors. The hand of death had fallen upon the pro- tectorate, and Puritanism had declined in England, never to rise again. The new House of Commons had voted that " according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this kingdom, the government is, and ought to be, by King, Lords, and Commons," and accordingly restored the old constitution. When Charles, a few days later, landed at Dover, and made his triumphal entry into Whitehall, he laughed with characteristic iron}^ and said, " It is my own fault that I had not come back sooner ; for I find nobody who does not tell me he has always longed for my return." The king was a brute incarnate ; and as a key to the moral character of his reign, it need only be said that, the first night of his return to London was signalized by the seduction of a beautiful woman of nineteen, the wife of one of his subjects.

In December of this year, intelligence of the accession of a new king had reached Massachusetts ; the General Court convened and prepared addresses to his majesty. In these addresses his favor towards the colonies was so- licited, and their own allegiance to his sovereignty was declared. Instructions were forwarded to Mr. Leverett, their agent, to direct the proper transmission of the peti- tions. " If the king or Parliament," said they, " should demand what these privileges are which we desire the continuance of, your answer may be. All those which are

1 Barry, i. 372.

86 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

granted us by patent, and that we have hitherto enjoyed in church and commonwealth, without any other power imposed over us, or any other infringement of them which would be destructive to the ends of our coming hither. As also that no appeal may be permitted from hence in any case, civil or criminal, Avhich would be such an intolerable and insupportable burden as this poor place, at this distance, is not able to undergo, but Avould render authority and government vain and ineffectual, and bring us into contempt with all sorts of people. And if 3'ou find the king and Parliament propitious to us, to use your utmost endeavors for the renewing that ordinance that freed us from customs, 10th jNlarch, 1642." 1

In the folloAving May a reply, signed by Mr. Secretary Morrice, together with a mandate for the arrest of Goffe and Whalley, the regicides who had escaped to jNIassa- chusetts, was received in Boston. The king's response contained a general expression of good will, which, how- ever, did not quiet the apprehensions of the colonists. The air was filled with rumors, and something seemed to forebode an earl}^ collision with the crov/n. At a special session of the court held in June, " a declaration of natu- ral and chartered rights " was approved and published. In this document the people affirmed their right " to choose their own governor, deputy governor, and repre- sentatives ; to admit freemen on terms to be prescribed at their own pleasure ; to set up all sorts of officers, superior and inferior, and point out their power and places ; to exercise, by their annually elected magistrates and deputies, all power and authority, legislative, execu-

' Hutchinson, Coll., 330.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 87

tivc, and judicial ; to defend themselves by force of arms against every aggression ; and to reject as an infringe- ment of their rights, any parliamentary or royal imposi- tion, prejudicial to the country, and contrary to any just act of colonial legislation." ^

More than a year elapsed from the restoration of Charles II. to his ])ublic recognition at Boston. While in Old England the people welcomed his return with riotous festivit}-, —

"The rich, the poor, the old, the young, agree To celebrate a joyful jubilee ; And to the utmost all themselves employ To make free demonstrations of their joy. Some quaff full goblets of the ricliest wine, And others make the blazing bonfires shine; Whilst the devout their prayers to Heaven sent, For blessings on the king and government,"- —

in New Ensrland even the drinking of his health was forbidden, and the event was celebrated only amid the coldest formalities.

Meanwhile the colonists not only declared, but openly assumed, their rights ; and in consequence complaints were almost daily instituted by those who were hostile to the government. Political opinion was diversified ; and while " a majorit}' were for sustaining, with the charter, an inde- pendent government in undiminished force, a minority were willing to make some concessions." In the midst of the discussions, John Norton, " a friend to moderate coun- sels," and Simon Bradstreet were induced to go to Eng- land as agents of the colony. Having been instructed to convince the king of the loyalty of the people of Mas- Fachnsetts, and to " engage to nothing prejudicial to their

' Hutchinson, Hist., i. 19G, scq. * Wolcott, in 1 M. H. Coll., iv. 2G2.

88 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

present standing according to their patent, and to endeavor the establishment of the rights and privileges then en- joyed," the commissioners sailed from Boston on the 10th of February, 1G62.

In England they were courteously received by King Charles, and from him obtained, in a letter dated June 28, a confirmation of their charter, and an amnesty for all past offences. At the same time the king rebuked them for the irregularities which had been complained of in the government ; directed " a repeal of all laws derog- atory to his authority ; the taking of the oath of alle- giance ; the administration of justice in his name ; a con- cession of the elective franchise to all freeholders of competent estate ; and as ' the principle of the charter was the freedom of the liberty of conscience,' the allow- ance of that freedom to those who desired to use 'the booke of common praj^er, and perform their devotion in tlie manner established in England.'"^

These requisitions of the king proved anything but acceptable to the people of Massachusetts. With them the question of obedience became a question of freedom, and gave rise to the j^arties which continued to divide the colony until the establishment of actual independence. It was not thought best to comply immediately with his majesty's demands ; on the other hand, no refusal to do so was promulgated. Always observant of the signs of the times, the government ceased not to strengthen itself for a continuance of their relisfious institutions and their democratic self-reliance.

Before long tidings reached England — they were false, of course — that the regicides Goffe and Whalley were

' Bancroft, ii. 75.

MASSACNl/SErrS AND CHARLES II. 89

at the head of an army, and tliat the colonies were plotting for union and independence from the crown. Even the most influential friends of America, including Lord Say and Seal, failed to disperse these rumors. " New England men are of altogether another principle," said Lord Say and Seal. But the words proved ineffective. The intercessions of Sir Thomas Temple, who had resided several years in New England, and of John Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut, drew from Lord Clarendon, the king's minister, a significant reply. " I assure you " — such is Clarendon's message to Massachusetts — " of my true love and friendship to your country ; neither in your privileges, charter, government, nor church dis- cipline, shall you receive any prejudice." Scarcely had these words reached America when the rumor followed that royal commissioners were to be appointed to regu- late the affairs of New England.^

Precautionary measures Avere now taken. The patent and a duplicate of the same were delivered to a com- mittee of four, with instructions to hold them in safe keep- ing. Captain Davenport, at Castle Fort, was ordered to give early announcement of the arrival of his majesty's ships. Officers and soldiers were forbidden to land from shij)s, except in small parties. Strict obedience to the laws was enjoined upon all the people ; and finally, a day of fasting and prayer was appointed " to implore the mercy of God upon them, under their many distractions and troubles."

On the 2od of July, 1G64, " about five or six of the clock at night," the " Guinea," followed by three other ships of the line, arrived in Boston harbor. They were well

' 4 M. II. Cull., ii. 284.

12

90 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

manned and equipped for the reduction of the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and brought commissioners hos- tile to colonial freedom, and who were charged by the king to determine " all complaints and appeals in all causes and matters, as well military as criminal and civil," and to " proceed in all things for the providing for and set- tling the peace and security of the country, according to their good and sound discretions." Colonel Richard Nich- ols, and Colonel George Cartwright were the chief mem- bers of the commission. At the earliest possible moment they produced their legal warrant, the king's letter of April 23, and requested the assistance of the colonies in the reduction of the Dutch. Shortly afterwards the fleet set out for New Netherlands.

On the 3d of August the General Court convened, and the state of affairs was discussed. It was resolved " to bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty, and adhere to their patent, so dearly obtained, and so long enjoyed by undoubted right in the sight of God and men." It was also agreed to raise a force of two hundred men, at colonial expense, to serve against the Dutch ; and mes- sengers were sent to inform the commissioners of these proceedings. In consequence of the capitulation of the Dutch, the troops were not mustered into active service. On the same day the king's letter of June 28 was debated upon.i Although its demands were thought to be unreasonable, it was agreed " to modify the old law, by providing that all English subjects, being freeholders, and of a competent estate, and certified b}^ the ministers of the place to be orthodox in faith, and not vicious in their lives, should be made freemen, although not members of

' See page 88.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 01

the church.'" ^ Before the session closed, INIassachusetts published an order forbidding the making of complaints to the commissioners, and prepared the following eloquent address to the king : —

" Dread Sovereign : The first undertakers of this plantation did obtain a patent, wherein is granted full and absolute power of governing all the people of this place, by men chosen from among themselves, and according to such laws as they should sCe meet to establish. A royal donation under the great seal is the greatest security that may be had in human affairs. Under the encourage- ment and security of the royal charter, this people did, at their own charges, transport themselves, their wives and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, cost, and difficulties ; for a long time wrestling with the wants of a wilderness and the burdens of a new plan- tation ; having also, now above thirty j-ears, enjoyed the privilege of Government within themselves, as their undoubted right in the sight of God and man. To be governed by rulers of our own choosing, and lawes of our own, is the fundamental privilege of our patent.

" A commission under the great seal, wherein four per- sons (one of them our professed enemy) are empowered to receive and determine all complaints and appeals ac- cording to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of our all. If these things go on, your subjects here will either be forced to sceke new dwellings, or sink under intolerable burdens. The victor of all new endeavors will

' Barry, i. 392. Hutchinson, i. 212.

92 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

be enfeebled ; the king himself will be a loser of the wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from hence into England, and this hopeful plantation will in the issue be ruined.

" If the aime should be to gratify some particular gen- tlemen by livings and revenues here, that will also fail, for the poverty of the people. If all the charges of the whole government by the 3'ear were put together, and then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a coalition in this course the people will never come ; and it will be hard to find another people that will stand under any considerable burden in this country, seeing it is not a country where men can subsist without hard labor and great frugalit3\

" God knows our greatest ambition is to live a quiet life, in a corner of the world. We came not into this wildernesse to seek great things to ourselves ; and if any come after us to seeke them heere, the}' will be dis- appointed. We keep ourselves within our line, a just dependence upon, and subjection to, your majestic, accord- ing to our charter, it is far from our hearts to disac- knowledge. We would gladly do anything within our power to purchase the continuance of your favorable as- pect. But it is a great unhappiness to have no testi- mony of our lo3'alty offered but this, to yield up our liberties, which are far dearer to us than our lives, and which we have willingly ventured our lives, and passed through many deaths to obtain.

" It was Job's excellenc}^ when he sat as king among his people, that he was a father to the poor. A poor people, destitute of outward favor, wealth, and power,

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES IT. 93

now cry unto their lord the king. May your majcstie regard their cause, and maintain their right ; it will stand among the marks of lasting honor to after generations."

Such was the substance of an address full worthy of its origin. The spirit of the people corresponded with it ; and if any dared to pay court to the commissioners, they became objects of derision. In February, IGGo, three of the commissioners returned to Boston. Their reception was far from being cordial, and they were not slow to detect that their presence in the colony had stirred up against themselves the hatred of the multitude. At Plym- outh, whither they soon went, they found little to tempt their cupidity ; in Rhode Island and Connecticut they met with better success. Having in April returned to Massachusetts, they delivered five propositions to the deputy governor, — Mr. Endicott, the governor, having recently deceased. On the next day was held the annual election. It proceeded quietly, and Mr. Bellingham was chosen to succeed Mr. Endicott, and Mr. Willoughby was appointed deputy governor. On the days immediately fol- lowing, the commissioners communicated all his majesty's instructions, and the propositions before mentioned were laid before the court. The discussion waxed with heated animation ; and the commissioners, finding themselves out- matched by the politicians of INIassachusetts, asked, "Do you acknowledge his majesty's commission to be of full force to all the intents and purposes therein contained?" They received no definite answer from the court. ^

The commissioners now resolved to take more decided ground, and on the 23d of j\Iay they ordered Joshua

' lIutclli^^()n, i. i!17, seq.

94 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Scottow, a Boston merchant, to present himself at the house of Captain Breeden, to answer to the charges of Thomas Deane and others. When the trial opened, a herald from the governor appeared, sounded his trumpet, and, in the name of the king, formally forbade any abet- ting the commissioners. The latter were astonished ; the magistrates were inexorable. "Since you will misconstrue our endeavors," exclaimed the commissioners in tones of rage, " we shall not lose more of our labor upon you." So saying, they departed to the north.

AVhen King Charles heard of these proceedings, he changed the scene of negotiations from Massachusetts to England ; and Bellingham and Hathorne were ordered, under penalty, not to fail in their appearance. On the 11th of September, the court convened for the purpose of considering the king's letter of April 10. The most eminent clergymen of the colony were present. " Let some regular way be propounded for the debate," said Belhngham. " The king's prerogative gives him power to command our appearance," said Bradstreet ; " before God and men we are to obey." — " You may have a trial at law ; when you come to England, you ma}^ insist upon it and claim it," interposed a royalist. " We must as well consider God's displeasure, as the king's," remarked Willoughby, " the interest of ourselves and of God's things, as his majesty's prerogative." — "Prerogative is as necessary as law," replied the artful royalist. — " Prerog- ative is not above law," retorted Hathorne. " We have already furnished our* views in writing, so that the ablest persons among us could not declare our case more fully," concluded the court.^

* Bancroft, ii. 88.

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 95

The defiance of Massachusetts was followed by no im- mediate danger. For a season the contest with the crown ceased. The king himself was too much engaged with his women to bestow his attention upon matters of state ; and thus, while England was lamenting the want of a good government, the colonies, true to them- selves, their country, and their God, flourished in purity and peace

96 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER V.

KING PHILIP'S WAR.

Prior to the year 1675, four powerful tribes of Indians held territory in New England. Of all the tribes, not one was more dreaded by the English than the Narra- gansetts, who peopled almost the entire region which forms the present state of Rhode Island, extending west to the Tliames River in Connecticut, and northward to the territory of the Nipmucks. The land of the Nip- mucks lay principally in Massachusetts, about half way between Boston and the Connecticut. Wachusett Moun- tain was the favorite seat of the sachems of this tribe. The Mohegans, who had separated from the Pequots be- fore the destruction of the latter, occupied the territory lying between the Connecticut and the Thames. The Wampanoags appear to have exercised sway over the petty tiibes of the interior as far west as the Nipmucks, while their own territory extended from Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod through the disputed tracts north of the Narragansett country to the bay bearing the same name. Their influence was courted or dreaded by all the surrounding tribes ; and had they been hostile to the Pil- grims, instead of friendly, there would have been small need, probably, to write the history of the latter. Besides these ruling tribes, there were many smaller ones, who were neither numerous nor powerful. These, for the most part,

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led a desultory life, being in some cases dependent for their very existence upon the generosity of their neighbors.

It will be remembered that one avowed purpose of the Massachusetts colonists in forsaking their native land was " the propagating and advancing of the gospel of the king- dom of Christ in these remote parts of the world." To unlock the mysteries of savage life, and to attempt the conversion of the ignorant inhabitants of New England, became one of the earliest duties of the settlers. The Pilgrims had labored in this direction ; and later, Roger Williams had likewise assumed the task. " Many solemn discourses," says he, " I have had with all sorts, from one end of the country to another. I know there is no small preparation in the hearts of multitudes of them. I know their many solemn confessions to myself, and one to another, of their lost, wandering condition. I know strong convictions upon the consciences of many of them, and their desires uttered that way. I know not with how little knowledge and grace of Christ the Lord may save, and therefore neither will despair nor report much." ^ In 1644 an order was passed in Massachusetts that the county courts should " take care that the Indians resid- ing in the several shires should be civilized and instructed in the knowledge and worship of God."

The true Apostle to the Indians, however, was John Eliot, of Roxbury, who is usually called " the morning star of missionary enterprise," in America. In point of time, indeed, Mayhew, of Nantucket, preceded him in the field, and produced the first fruits of benevolent effort for the conversion of the wild tribes. Although the labors of the latter did not spread over a very wide

' 1 M. H. Coll., iii. 20G.

13

98 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

region, they are none the less entitled to the commen- dation of the philanthropist. John Eliot was a man "justly famous in the church of God, not only as an eminent Christian and an excellent minister among the English, but also as a memorable evangelist among the Indians of New England ; " and " All who contemplate," says one of his biographers, " his active services, his be- nevolent zeal, his prudence, his upright conduct, and his charity, are ready to declare his memory precious."

In October, 16-46, on the elevated grounds east of New- ton Corner, Mr. Eliot preached his first sermon. The spot was afterwards called "Nonantum," or "the place of rejoicing." Once begun, the good work was continued ; and meetings were likewise held at Concord, Neponset, and at other towns in the colony. One of the first con- victions of the evangelist was, that the civilization of the Indians was a prerequisite to their Christianization, and his earlier efforts were accordingly directed to this end, with no small success. In his intercourse with the tribes, he found them possessed of a vast amount of natural vigor, shrewdness, and deep penetration. Oftentimes his auditors would propound questions which it was not so easy to answer. Said one, " If a man should be en- closed in iron a foot thick, and then be cast into the fire, what would become of his soul? Could it escape, or not ? " Another inquired, " Which was made first, the devil or man?" And still others, "Why did not God give all men good hearts, that they might be good ? " — " Why did not God kill the devil, that made all men so bad, he having all power ? " The after-life of the young was incomprehensible, and they asked, " Where do children go when they die, seeing they have not sinned ? "

KING PHILIP'S WAR. 99

Finally, " Wh}^ does God punish in hell forever ? Man doth not so, but after a time lets them out of prison again. And if they repent in hell, why Avill not God let them out again ? " — " Seeing the body sinneth, why should the soul be punished? " And, " If all the world be burned up, where shall hell be ? "

Through the exertions of Mr. Winslow, who was at this time in England as the agent of the colony, a Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England was formed in 1649. English clergymen " stirred up their congregations to con- tribute liberally to its funds ; a correspondence was held with the commissioners of the United Colonies, who were emplo3^ed as the agents of the company ; and in a short time a sum yielding six hundred pounds per annum was raised, and the proceeds of the same were regularly forwarded for the purchase of clothing, the education of children, the publication of books, the maintenance of teachers, and such other expenses as were incident to the mission ; and these funds were faithfully husbanded, and sacredly disbursed for the purposes intended." ^

Mr. Eliot continued unremitting in his labors. At his request the people of Dedham granted to the Indians a town- ship of about six thousand acres, where the Praying In- dians, so called, of the vicinity were gathered. This set- tlement afterwards received the name of Natick, or " the place of hills." In this town, founded in 1650, schools and churches were established, a form of government was adopt- ed, and education and religion were zealously fostered. The Indians, who had settled here, devoted themselves largely to agricultural pursuits, and the women freely shared the labors of the men. "In the winter," says a writer, "they dis-

' Barry, i. 355. Ilutcliinson, i. 153-15G.

100 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

posed of brooms, staves, baskets, and turkeys ; in the spring, cranberries, strawberries, and fisli ; in the summer, whortle- berries, grapes, and fish ; and several of them worked with the English in haj'time and harvest." ^

While thus engaged, Mr. Eliot undertook the task of translating the Bible into the dialect of the Indians. He also prepared a Grammar, Catechisms, a Primer, and other works of a religious character, all of which were printed by the Society for Propagating the Gospel. In 1661r was erect- ed the " Indian College," at Cambridge, which was furnished with accommodations for twenty scholars. Three years later, two Indian churches were gathered in the colony, and four- teen Praying towns were settled. And thus the good work went on, until it met with a serious interruption in the war with Philip. Already many had begun " to doubt the suc- cess of the enterprise, and some openly contemned it." " If the value of an enterprise," says Barry, " is to be meas- ured by its success, the conversion of the Indians must be regarded as a failure. The race itself has dwindled away, leaving behind few tokens of its presence in the country ; and nearly all that remains to remind us of the genius and exertions of Eliot are the few scattered books which have descended to us from the past, as unintelligible as the in- scriptions upon the obelisk of Luxor ; yet, like tliat, they are memorials of the labors of man, and impressive and instruc- tive are the lessons they teach." ^ From this pleasing pic- ture of the honest efforts of our fathers, we must now turn to one of the saddest episodes in the history of New Eng- land. There is but small need of repeating the assertion, for the annals of this country have already proven its truth, that two peoples, essentially unlike, cannot long coexist

' Homer, in 1 M. H. Coll., v. 2G0. * Hist., i. 3G0

KING PHILIP'S WAR. 101

without frequent collisions. In this light it may almost be said that at the very moment when the English gained a footing in America, the doom of the red race was sealed.

Philip of Mount Hope is one of the few Indian chiefs who are acknowledged by the white man to have been truly great. As the years lengthen out their span, so does his fame increase. A century and a half ago he was stig- matized by the historian and divine as a rebel, a murderer, a monster accursed of God and man. Fifty years later, the descendants of those who had quartered his lifeless remains, and sold his child into the burning slavery of the tropics, read the story of his misfortunes with sorrow, and found in it ex- cuse for the evils he inflicted upon their fathers. Now, Philip is regarded as a hero and a patriot, to whom all our sympathies would be given, were it not that he waged war against our own ancestors.

After the death of Alexander, the son and the successor of Massasoit, Philip, his brother, became sachem of the Wam- panoags. Like his predecessors, he established his residence at Mount Hope, where he conducted all his affairs, and made treaties with adjoining tribes in favor of the colonists. It is unnecessary to conceal the fact that, m his dealings with the English, justice was not always extended towards the aged chief. Whosoever possesses a human soul is not slow to awaken to a sense of danger. Philip and his warriors read their doom in the faces of the white men ; and they were wise enough to endeavor to intercept it.

It was in 1G70, or thereabouts, that the people of Mas- sachusetts began to suspect that Philip of Mount Hope Avas preparing to break that friendship which, eight years before, he had pledged with the colonists at Plymouth. It was even rumored that he was about to begin hostilities, that meet-

102 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ings of his tribe were being frequently held, and that all of his warriors were grinding their hatchets for a general conflict. Several wanton murders, which were committed about this time, seemed to confirm these rumors, and roused the English to speedy action. At an interview which took place shortly afterwards, for the adjustment of grievances, Philip scoffed the notion of war, and, as pledges of his fidelity, proffered the surrender of all his English arms to the government at Plymouth. A three years' peace followed this event ; but it was only the transient calm which pre- cedes the outbreak of a tempest.

In these years of quiet Philip matured all his plans ; and in 1675 the war began, directly caused, it is said, by the murder of one Sassamon, of the Massachusetts tribe. It was Sassamon who first communicated Philip's hostile in- tentions to the governor of Plymouth, and thus, it is sup- posed, incurred the vengeance of the chief. In the spring of 1675 Sassamon suddenly disappeared, and a few days later his body was found under the ice in Assawomset Pond, near Middleborough. An Indian, friendly to the Eng- lish, represented that he had himself beheld one of Philip's men commit the deed. At a meeting of the court in June, three Indians, instead of one, were arraigned for the mur- der; and being adjudged guilty, they were put to death. This affair was the signal for war, at the prospect of which the Plymouth people rejoiced, imagining that there would be little difficulty in driving the " Canaanites " from the land. It was not till Philip had convinced them that he was not the weak savage they supposed him to be, that they began to perceive how serious was the contest.

Hostilities commenced at once. On the 20th of June, 1675, a band of Indians fell upon the town of Swanzey,

KING PHILIP'S WAR. 103

fired several houses, but shed no blood. Like wildfire the tidings of the attack spread through the colony. The roads were crowded Avith fugitives " wringing their hands and be- wailing their losses." On the 24tli, while the congregation were returning home frorfi church, tlic Indians again sur- rounded the town. Whilst the flames rolled onward from house to house, nine of the inhabitants fell victims to the savages. Upon the bodies of six the Indians " exercised more than brutish barbarities, beheading, dismembering, and mangling them, and exposing them in the most inhuman manner." Four days later a Plymouth force under the command of Major James Cudworth arrived at Swanzcy,