The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1
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Title: The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1
Author: John Marshall
Release date: June 15, 2006 [eBook #18591]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18591
Credits: Produced by Linda Cantoni and David Widger
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, VOL. 1 ***
Produced by Linda Cantoni and David Widger
THE
LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE
AMERICAN FORCES,
DURING THE WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY,
AND
FIRST PRESIDENT
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
COMPILED UNDER THE INSPECTION OF
THE HONOURABLE BUSHROD WASHINGTON,
FROM
_ORIGINAL PAPERS_
BEQUEATHED TO HIM BY HIS DECEASED RELATIVE, AND NOW IN POSSESSION OF
THE AUTHOR.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
AN INTRODUCTION,
CONTAINING A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE COLONIES PLANTED BY THE ENGLISH
ON THE
CONTINENT OF NORTH AMERICA,
FROM THEIR SETTLEMENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THAT WAR WHICH TERMINATED
IN THEIR
INDEPENDENCE.
BY JOHN MARSHALL.
VOL. I.
THE CITIZENS' GUILD
OF WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD HOME
FREDERICKSBURG, VA.
1926
[Illustration: General Washington
_From the full length portrait by John Trumbull at Yale University_
_This portrait is one of 54 canvasses the artist presented to Yale
University in return for an annuity of $1,000. Washington was in his
forty-third year and it is considered the best likeness of him at the
outbreak of the Revolution. The canvas depicts him, "six feet two
inches in height, with brown hair, blue eyes, large head and hands,
and strong arms."_]
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
In his will George Washington bequeathed to his favorite nephew,
Bushrod Washington, his personal letters, private papers and secret
documents accumulated during a lifetime of service to his country.
When the bequest became known, many of the literary men of the country
were proposed for the commission to write the authorized life of our
First President.
Bushrod Washington's choice fell upon John Marshall, Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court. To him he handed over all the precious papers left
him by his distinguished relative. George Washington and Marshall's
father, Thomas Marshall, were boyhood companions, so John Marshall
knew "the Father of His Country" as a neighbor and friend from his
earliest youth, and served under him in the Revolution.
If it be true that it takes a great man to interpret the life of a
great man then Bushrod Washington made no mistake in the selection of
a biographer. For Marshall, under the influence of Washington, came to
be nearly as great a man as the character whose life and achievements
held his deepest thought for nearly a quarter of a century. Certainly
his services to his country rank close to Washington's. Marshall's
sympathetic understanding of his subject, his first-hand knowledge of
events with his remarkable powers of expression qualified him to
produce the masterpiece that has come down to us.
Seven years were spent in preparing the first edition, published in
1804-07. The work was based chiefly on Washington's own diaries and
letters and secret archives and it told not simply the epic story of
this great life but the truth about the birth of our nation. Marshall
later spent fifteen years revising the first edition, verifying to the
last detail every chapter, page and paragraph of his monumental work.
The first edition, published by C.P. Wayne of Philadelphia, was an
achievement in beautiful printing and bookmaking and still stands out
today as such. The present publishers have followed the format of the
original edition but have used the revised text which Marshall spent
so many years in perfecting.
Washington's personality lives on in John Marshall's great biography.
He still has the power to raise up men to greatness as he did during
his lifetime. The precepts, the principles and the shining example of
this foremost of self-educated, self-made Americans have the power to
uplift and start toward new heights of achievement, all who come in
contact with him. The work is now reissued in the hope that it may
give his countrymen of the present day the benefit of the counsel, the
guidance and the inspiration that has proven so valuable in the past.
February 22nd, 1926.
PREFACE
BY THE AUTHOR
A desire to know intimately those illustrious personages, who have
performed a conspicuous part on the great theatre of the world, is,
perhaps, implanted in every human bosom. We delight to follow them
through the various critical and perilous situations in which they
have been placed, to view them in the extremes of adverse and
prosperous fortune, to trace their progress through all the
difficulties they have surmounted, and to contemplate their whole
conduct, at a time when, the power and the pomp of office having
disappeared, it may be presented to us in the simple garb of truth.
If among those exalted characters which are produced in every age,
none can have a fairer claim to the attention and recollection of
mankind than those under whose auspices great empires have been
founded, or political institutions deserving to be permanent,
established; a faithful representation of the various important events
connected with the life of the favourite son of America, cannot be
unworthy of the general regard. Among his own countrymen it will
unquestionably excite the deepest interest.
As if the chosen instrument of Heaven, selected for the purpose of
effecting the great designs of Providence respecting this our western
hemisphere, it was the peculiar lot of this distinguished man, at
every epoch when the destinies of his country seemed dependent on the
measures adopted, to be called by the united voice of his fellow
citizens to those high stations on which the success of those measures
principally depended. It was his peculiar lot to be equally useful in
obtaining the independence, and consolidating the civil institutions,
of his country. We perceive him at the head of her armies, during a
most arduous and perilous war on the events of which her national
existence was staked, supporting with invincible fortitude the unequal
conflict. That war being happily terminated, and the political
revolutions of America requiring that he should once more relinquish
his beloved retirement, we find him guiding her councils with the same
firmness, wisdom, and virtue, which had, long and successfully, been
displayed in the field. We behold him her chief magistrate at a time
when her happiness, her liberty, perhaps her preservation depended on
so administering the affairs of the Union, that a government standing
entirely on the public favour, which had with infinite difficulty been
adopted, and against which the most inveterate prejudices had been
excited, should conciliate public opinion, and acquire a firmness and
stability that would enable it to resist the rude shocks it was
destined to sustain. It was too his peculiar fortune to afford the
brightest examples of moderation and patriotism, by voluntarily
divesting himself of the highest military and civil honours when the
public interests no longer demanded that he should retain them. We
find him retiring from the head of a victorious and discontented army
which adored him, so soon as the object for which arms had been taken
up was accomplished; and withdrawing from the highest office an
American citizen can hold, as soon as his influence, his character,
and his talents ceased to be necessary to the maintenance of that
government which had been established under his auspices.
He was indeed, "first in war,[1] first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his fellow citizens."
[Footnote 1: The expressions of a resolution prepared by
general Lee, and passed in the house of representatives of
the United States, on their being informed of the death of
general Washington.]
A faithful detail of the transactions of a person so pre-eminently
distinguished will be looked for with avidity, and the author laments
his inability to present to the public a work which may gratify the
expectations that have been raised. In addition to that just
diffidence of himself which he very sincerely feels, two causes beyond
his control combine to excite this apprehension.
Accustomed to look in the page of history for incidents in themselves
of great magnitude, to find immense exertions attended with
inconsiderable effects, and vast means employed in producing
unimportant ends, we are in the habit of bestowing on the recital of
military actions, a degree of consideration proportioned to the
numbers engaged in them. When the struggle has terminated, and the
agitations felt during its suspense have subsided, it is difficult to
attach to enterprises, in which small numbers have been concerned,
that admiration which is often merited by the talents displayed in
their execution, or that interest which belongs to the consequences
that have arisen from them.
The long and distressing contest between Great Britain and these
states did not abound in those great battles which are so frequent in
the wars of Europe. Those who expect a continued succession of
victories and defeats; who can only feel engaged in the movements of
vast armies, and who believe that a Hero must be perpetually in
action, will be disappointed in almost every page of the following
history. Seldom was the American chief in a condition to indulge his
native courage in those brilliant achievements to which he was
stimulated by his own feelings, and a detail of which interests,
enraptures, and astonishes the reader. Had he not often checked his
natural disposition, had he not tempered his ardour with caution, the
war he conducted would probably have been of short duration, and the
United States would still have been colonies. At the head of troops
most of whom were perpetually raw because they were perpetually
changing; who were neither well fed, paid, clothed, nor armed; and who
were generally inferior, even in numbers, to the enemy; he derives no
small title to glory from the consideration, that he never despaired
of the public safety; that he was able at all times to preserve the
appearance of an army, and that, in the most desperate situation of
American affairs, he did not, for an instant, cease to be formidable.
To estimate rightly his worth we must contemplate his difficulties. We
must examine the means placed in his hands, and the use he made of
those means. To preserve an army when conquest was impossible, to
avoid defeat and ruin when victory was unattainable, to keep his
forces embodied and suppress the discontents of his soldiers,
exasperated by a long course of the most cruel privations, to seize
with unerring discrimination the critical moment when vigorous
offensive operations might be advantageously carried on, are actions
not less valuable in themselves, nor do they require less capacity in
the chief who performs them, than a continued succession of battles.
But they spread less splendour over the page which recounts them, and
excite weaker emotions in the bosom of the reader.
There is also another source from which some degree of disappointment
has been anticipated. It is the impossibility of giving to the public
in the first part of this work many facts not already in their
possession.
The American war was a subject of too much importance to have remained
thus long unnoticed by the literary world. Almost every event worthy
of attention, which occurred during its progress, has been gleaned up
and detailed. Not only the public, but much of the private
correspondence of the commander in chief has been inspected, and
permission given to extract from it whatever might properly be
communicated. In the military part of this history, therefore, the
author can promise not much that is new. He can only engage for the
correctness with which facts are stated, and for the diligence with
which his researches have been made.
The letters to and from the commander in chief during the war, were
very numerous and have been carefully preserved. The whole of this
immensely voluminous correspondence has, with infinite labour, been
examined; and the work now offered to the public is, principally,
compiled from it. The facts which occurred on the continent are,
generally, supported by these letters, and it has therefore been
deemed unnecessary to multiply references to them. But there are many
facts so connected with those events, in which the general performed a
principal part, that they ought not to be omitted, and respecting
which his correspondence cannot be expected to furnish satisfactory
information.
Such facts have been taken from the histories of the day, and the
authority relied on for the establishment of their verity has been
cited. Doddesly's Annual Register, Belsham, Gordon, Ramsay, and
Stedman have, for this purpose, been occasionally resorted to, and are
quoted for all those facts which are detailed in part on their
authority. Their very language has sometimes been employed without
distinguishing the passages, especially when intermingled with others,
by marks of quotation, and the author persuades himself that this
public declaration will rescue him from the imputation of receiving
aids he is unwilling to acknowledge, or of wishing, by a concealed
plagiarism, to usher to the world, as his own, the labours of others.
In selecting the materials for the succeeding volumes, it was deemed
proper to present to the public as much as possible of general
Washington himself. Prominent as he must be in any history of the
American war, there appeared to be a peculiar fitness in rendering him
still more so in one which professes to give a particular account of
his own life. His private opinions therefore; his various plans, even
those which were never carried into execution; his individual
exertions to prevent and correct the multiplied errors committed by
inexperience, are given in more minute detail; and more copious
extracts from his letters are taken, than would comport with the plan
of a more general work.
Many events too are unnoticed, which in such a composition would be
worthy of being introduced, and much useful information has not been
sought for, which a professed history of America ought to comprise.
Yet the history of general Washington, during his military command and
civil administration, is so much that of his country, that the work
appeared to the author to be most sensibly incomplete and
unsatisfactory, while unaccompanied by such a narrative of the
principal events preceding our revolutionary war, as would make the
reader acquainted with the genius, character, and resources of the
people about to engage in that memorable contest. This appeared the
more necessary as that period of our history is but little known to
ourselves. Several writers have detailed very minutely the affairs of
a particular colony, but the _desideratum_ is a composition which
shall present in one connected view, the transactions of all those
colonies which now form the United States.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Commission of Cabot.... His voyage to America.... Views of discovery
relinquished by Henry VII.... Resumed by Elizabeth.... Letters patent
to Sir Humphry Gilbert.... His voyages and death.... Patent to Sir
Walter Raleigh.... Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.... Colonists
carried back to England by Drake.... Grenville arrives with other
colonists.... They are left on Roanoke Island.... Are destroyed by the
Indians.... Arrival of John White.... He returns to England for
succour.... Raleigh assigns his patent.... Patent to Sir Thomas Gates
and others.... Code of laws for the proposed colony drawn up by the
King.
CHAPTER II.
Voyage of Newport.... Settlement at Jamestown.... Distress of
colonists.... Smith.... He is captured by the Indians.... Condemned to
death, saved by Pocahontas.... Returns to Jamestown.... Newport
arrives with fresh settlers.... Smith explores the Chesapeake.... Is
chosen president.... New charter.... Third voyage of Newport.... Smith
sails for Europe.... Condition of the colony.... Colonists determine
to abandon the country.... Are stopped by Lord Delaware.... Sir Thomas
Dale.... New charter.... Capt. Argal seizes Pocahontas.... She marries
Mr. Rolf.... Separate property in lands and labour.... Expedition
against Port Royal.... Against Manhadoes.... Fifty acres of land for
each settler.... Tobacco.... Sir Thomas Dale.... Mr. Yeardley....
First assembly.... First arrival of females.... Of convicts.... Of
African slaves.... Two councils established.... Prosperity of the
colony.... Indians attempt to massacre the whites.... General war....
Dissolution of the company.... Arbitrary measures of the crown.... Sir
John Harvey.... Sir William Berkeley.... Provincial assembly
restored.... Virginia declares in favour of Charles II.... Grant to
Lord Baltimore.... Arrival of a colony in Maryland.... Assembly
composed of freemen.... William Claybourne.... Assembly composed of
representatives.... Divided into two branches.... Tyrannical
proceedings.
CHAPTER III.
First ineffectual attempts of the Plymouth company to settle the
country.... Settlement at New Plymouth.... Sir Henry Rosewell and
company.... New charter.... Settlements prosecuted vigorously....
Government transferred to the colonists.... Boston founded....
Religious intolerance.... General court established.... Royal
commission for the government of the plantations.... Contest with the
French colony of Acadié.... Hugh Peters.... Henry Vane.... Mrs.
Hutchison.... Maine granted to Gorges.... Quo warranto against the
patent of the colony.... Religious dissensions.... Providence
settled.... Rhode Island settled.... Connecticut settled.... War with
the Pequods.... New Haven settled.
CHAPTER IV.
Massachusetts claims New Hampshire and part of Maine.... Dissensions
among the inhabitants.... Confederation of the New England
colonies.... Rhode Island excluded from it.... Separate chambers
provided for the two branches of the Legislature.... New England takes
part with Parliament.... Treaty with Acadié.... Petition of the
non-conformists.... Disputes between Massachusetts and Connecticut....
War between England and Holland.... Machinations of the Dutch at
Manhadoes among the Indians.... Massachusetts refuses to join the
united colonies in the war.... Application of New Haven to Cromwell
for assistance.... Peace with the Dutch.... Expedition of Sedgewic
against Acadié.... Religious intolerance.
CHAPTER V.
Transactions succeeding the restoration of Charles II.... Contests
between Connecticut and New Haven.... Discontents in Virginia....
Grant to the Duke of York.... Commissioners appointed by the crown....
Conquest of the Dutch settlements.... Conduct of Massachusetts to the
royal commissioners.... Their recall.... Massachusetts evades a
summons to appear before the King and council.... Settlement of
Carolina.... Form of government.... Constitution of Mr. Locke....
Discontents in the county of Albemarle.... Invasion from Florida....
Abolition of the constitution of Mr. Locke.... Bacon's rebellion....
His death.... Assembly deprived of judicial power.... Discontents in
Virginia.... Population of the colony.
CHAPTER VI.
Prosperity of New England.... War with Philip.... Edward Randolph
arrives in Boston.... Maine adjudged to Gorges.... Purchased by
Massachusetts.... Royal government erected in New Hampshire....
Complaints against Massachusetts.... Their letters patent
cancelled.... Death of Charles II.... James II. proclaimed.... New
commission for the government of New England.... Sir Edmond Andros....
The charter of Rhode Island abrogated.... Odious measures of the new
government.... Andros deposed.... William and Mary proclaimed....
Review of proceedings in New York and the Jerseys.... Pennsylvania
granted to William Penn.... Frame of government.... Foundation of
Philadelphia laid.... Assembly convened.... First acts of the
legislature.... Boundary line with Lord Baltimore settled.
CHAPTER VII.
New charter of Massachusetts.... Affairs of New York.... War with
France.... Schenectady destroyed.... Expedition against Port Royal....
Against Quebec.... Acadié recovered by France.... Pemaquid taken....
Attempt on St. Johns.... Peace.... Affairs of New York.... Of
Virginia.... Disputes between England and France respecting boundary
in America.... Recommencement of hostilities.... Quotas of the
respective colonies.... Treaty of neutrality between France and the
five nations.... Expedition against Port Royal.... Incursion into
Massachusetts.... Plan for the invasion of Canada.... Port Royal
taken.... Expedition against Quebec.... Treaty of Utrecht.... Affairs
of New York.... Of Carolina.... Expedition against St. Augustine....
Attempt to establish the Episcopal church.... Invasion of the
colony.... Bills of credit issued.... Legislature continues itself....
Massacre in North Carolina by the Indians.... Tuscaroras defeated....
Scheme of a Bank.
CHAPTER VIII.
Proceedings of the legislature of Massachusetts.... Intrigues of the
French among the Indians.... War with the savages.... Peace....
Controversy with the governor.... Decided in England.... Contests
concerning the governor's salary.... The assembly adjourned to
Salem.... Contest concerning the salary terminated.... Great
depreciation of the paper currency.... Scheme of a land bank....
Company dissolved by act of Parliament.... Governor Shirley
arrives.... Review of transactions in New York.
CHAPTER IX.
War with the southern Indians.... Dissatisfaction of Carolina with the
proprietors.... Rupture with Spain.... Combination to subvert the
proprietary government.... Revolution completed.... Expedition from
the Havanna against Charleston.... Peace with Spain.... The
proprietors surrender their interest to the crown.... The province
divided.... Georgia settled.... Impolicy of the first regulations....
Intrigues of the Spaniards with the slaves of South Carolina....
Insurrection of the slaves.
CHAPTER X.
War declared against Spain.... Expedition against St. Augustine....
Georgia invaded.... Spaniards land on an island in the Alatamaha....
Appearance of a fleet from Charleston.... Spanish army re-embarks....
Hostilities with France.... Expedition against Louisbourg....
Louisbourg surrenders.... Great plans of the belligerent powers....
Misfortunes of the armament under the duke D'Anville.... The French
fleet dispersed by a storm.... Expedition against Nova Scotia....
Treaty of Aix la Chapelle.... Paper money of Massachusetts
redeemed.... Contests between the French and English respecting
boundaries.... Statement respecting the discovery of the
Mississippi.... Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada....
Relative strength of the French and English colonies.... Defeat at the
Little Meadows.... Convention at Albany.... Plan of union.... Objected
to both in America and Great Britain.
CHAPTER XI.
General Braddock arrives.... Convention of governors and plan of the
campaign.... French expelled from Nova Scotia, and inhabitants
transplanted.... Expedition against fort Du Quêsne.... Battle of
Monongahela.... Defeat and death of General Braddock.... Expedition
against Crown Point.... Dieskau defeated.... Expedition against
Niagara.... Frontiers distressed by the Indians.... Meeting of the
governors at New York.... Plan for the campaign of 1756.... Lord
Loudoun arrives.... Montcalm takes Oswego.... Lord Loudoun abandons
offensive operations.... Small-pox breaks out in Albany.... Campaign
of 1757 opened.... Admiral Holbourne arrives at Halifax.... Is joined
by the earl of Loudoun.... Expedition against Louisbourg
relinquished.... Lord Loudoun returns to New York.... Fort William
Henry taken.... Controversy between Lord Loudoun and the assembly of
Massachusetts.
CHAPTER XII.
Preparations for the campaign of 1758.... Admiral Boscawen and General
Amherst arrive at Halifax.... Plan of the campaign.... Expedition
against Louisbourg, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point.... General
Abercrombie repulsed under the walls of Ticonderoga.... Fort
Frontignac taken.... Expedition against Fort Du Quêsne....
Preparations for the campaign of 1759.... General Amherst succeeds
General Abercrombie.... Plan of the campaign.... Ticonderoga and Crown
Point taken.... Army goes into winter quarters.... French repulsed at
Oswego.... Defeated at Niagara.... Niagara taken.... Expedition
against Quebec.... Check to the English army.... Battle on the Plains
of Abraham.... Death of Wolfe and Montcalm.... Quebec capitulates....
Garrisoned by the English under the command of General Murray....
Attempt to recover Quebec.... Battle near Sillery.... Quebec besieged
by Monsieur Levi.... Siege raised.... Montreal capitulates.... War
with the southern Indians.... Battle near the town of Etchoe.... Grant
defeats them and burns their towns.... Treaty with the Cherokees....
War with Spain.... Success of the English.... Peace.
CHAPTER XIII.
Opinions on the supremacy of parliament, and its right to tax the
colonies.... The stamp act.... Congress at New York.... Violence in
the towns.... Change of administration.... Stamp act repealed....
Opposition to the mutiny act.... Act imposing duties on tea, &c.,
resisted in America.... Letters from the assembly of Massachusetts to
members of the administration.... Petition to the King.... Circular
letter to the colonial assemblies.... Letter from the Earl of
Hillsborough.... Assembly of Massachusetts dissolved.... Seizure of
the Sloop Liberty.... Convention at Fanueil Hall.... Moderation of its
proceedings.... Two British regiments arrive at Boston.... Resolutions
of the house of Burgesses of Virginia.... Assembly dissolved.... The
members form an association.... General measures against
importation.... General court convened in Massachusetts.... Its
proceedings.... Is prorogued.... Duties, except that on tea,
repealed.... Circular letter of the earl of Hillsborough.... New York
recedes from the non-importation agreement in part.... Her example
followed.... Riot in Boston.... Trial and acquittal of Captain
Preston.
CHAPTER XIV.
Insurrection in North Carolina.... Dissatisfaction of
Massachusetts.... Corresponding-committees.... Governor Hutchinson's
correspondence communicated by Dr. Franklin.... The assembly petition
for his removal.... He is succeeded by General Gage.... Measures to
enforce the act concerning duties.... Ferment in America.... The tea
thrown into the sea at Boston.... Measures of Parliament.... General
enthusiasm in America.... A general congress proposed.... General Gage
arrives.... Troops stationed on Boston neck.... New counsellors and
judges.... Obliged to resign.... Boston neck fortified.... Military
stores seized by General Gage.... Preparations for defence.... King's
speech.... Proceedings of Parliament.... Battle of Lexington....
Massachusetts raises men.... Meeting of Congress.... Proceedings of
that body.... Transactions in Virginia.... Provincial congress of
South Carolina.... Battle of Breed's hill.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.
Commission of Cabot.... His voyage to America.... Views of
discovery relinquished by Henry VII.... Resumed by
Elizabeth.... Letters patent to Sir Humphry Gilbert.... His
voyages and death.... Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh....
Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.... Colonists carried back
to England by Drake.... Grenville arrives with other
colonists.... They are left on Roanoke Island.... Are
destroyed by the Indians.... Arrival of John White.... He
returns to England for succour.... Raleigh assigns his
patent.... Patent to Sir Thomas Gates and others.... Code of
laws for the proposed colony drawn up by the King.
The United States of America extend, on the Atlantic, from the bay of
Passamaquoddi in the 45th, to Cape Florida in the 25th, degree of
north latitude; and thence, on the gulf of Mexico, including the small
adjacent islands to the mouth of the Sabine, in the 17th degree of
west longitude from Washington. From the mouth of the Sabine to the
Rocky mountains, they are separated from Spanish America by a line
which pursues an irregular north-western direction to the 42d degree
of north latitude, whence it proceeds west, to the Pacific. On the
north they are bounded by the British provinces; from which, between
the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky, or Stony mountains, they are
separated by the 49th parallel of north latitude. Their northern
boundary, west of these mountains, has not yet been adjusted.
The extent of this vast Republic, in consequence of its recent
acquisition of almost unexplored territory, has not yet been
accurately ascertained; but may be stated at two millions of square
miles.
Its population, which began on the Atlantic, and is travelling rapidly
westward, amounted in 1820, according to the census of that year, to
nine millions six hundred and fifty-four thousand four hundred and
fifteen persons. The enumerations which have been made under the
authority of government, show an augmentation of numbers at the rate
of about thirty-four _per centum_[2] in ten years; and it is probable,
that for many years to come, this ratio will not be materially
changed.
[Footnote 2: The general estimate in the United States is,
that their population doubles in twenty-five years.]
Public sentiment, to which the policy of the government conforms, is
opposed to a large military establishment; and the distance of the
United States from the great powers of the world, protects them from
the danger to which this policy might otherwise expose them.
The navy has become an object of great interest to the nation, and may
be expected to grow with its resources. In April 1816, Congress passed
an act appropriating one million of dollars annually, to its gradual
increase; and authorising the construction of nine ships, to rate not
less than seventy-four guns each, and of twelve, to rate not less than
forty-four guns each.
The execution of this act is in rapid progress. Inconsiderable as the
navy now is, with respect to the number and force of its ships, it is
deemed inferior to none in existence for the bravery and skill of its
officers and men. When we take into view the extensive sea coast of
the United States, the magnificent lakes, or inland seas, which form a
considerable part of their northern frontier, the abundance of their
materials for ship building, and the genius of their population for
maritime enterprise, it is not easy to resist the conviction that this
bulwark of defence will, at no very distant period, attain a size and
strength sufficient to ensure the safety of the nation and the respect
of the world.
The net revenue of the United States amounted, in the year 1822, to
considerably more than twenty millions of dollars; and, unless a
course of legislation unfavourable to its augmentation be adopted,
must grow with their population.
In arts, in arms, and in power, they have advanced, and are advancing,
with unexampled rapidity.
The history of their progress, from the first feeble settlements made
by Europeans on a savage coast, to their present state of greatness;
while it has just claims to the attention of the curious of all
nations, may be expected deeply to interest every American.
[Sidenote: Commission of Cabot.]
Soon after the return of Columbus from that memorable voyage which
opened the vast regions of the west to civilized man, the maritime
states of Europe manifested a desire to share with Spain, the glory,
the wealth, and the dominion to be acquired in the new world. By no
one of these states, was this desire carried into action more promptly
than by England, Henry VII. had received communications from Columbus,
during the tedious and uncertain negotiations of that great man, at
the dilatory court of Ferdinand, which prepared him for the important
discoveries afterwards made, and inclined him to countenance the
propositions of his own subjects for engaging in similar adventures.
On the 5th of March 1495, he granted a commission to John Cabot, an
enterprising Venetian who had settled in Bristol, and to his three
sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, empowering them, or either of
them, to sail under the banner of England, towards the east, north, or
west, in order to discover countries unoccupied by any Christian
state, and to take possession of them in his name.
[Sidenote: His voyage to America.]
It does not appear that the expedition contemplated at the date of
this commission was prosecuted immediately; but in May 1496, Cabot,
with his second son, Sebastian, sailed from Bristol in a small
squadron, consisting of one ship furnished by the King, and four barks
fitted out by merchants of that city; and, steering almost due west,
discovered the islands of Newfoundland and St. Johns, and, soon
afterward, reached the continent of North America, along which he
sailed from the fifty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of north
latitude, in the vain hope of discovering a passage into the Pacific.
Thus, according to the English historians, was first discovered that
immense continent which stretches from the gulf of Mexico as far north
as has yet been explored; and to this voyage, the English trace their
title to the country they afterwards acquired by settlement, and by
arms.
France, which has since contested with Britain the possession of a
considerable portion of this important territory, has also advanced
claims to its discovery; but they seem not to be well founded.
[Sidenote: The scheme of making settlements relinquished.]
The ardour which had been excited in the bosom of Henry for making
acquisitions in the new world, expired with this first effort. Cabot,
on his return, found that monarch entirely disinclined to the farther
prosecution of a scheme in which he had engaged with some zeal, the
commencement of which had been attended with encouraging appearances.
Several causes are supposed to have contributed to suspend the
pursuits of the English in America. Previous to its discovery, the
Portuguese had explored the Azores, or Western Islands; in consequence
of which they claimed this continent, and contended for the exclusion
of the Spaniards from the Western Ocean. The controversy was decided
by the Pope, who, on the 7th of May 1493, of his own "mere liberality
and certain knowledge, and the plenitude of apostolic authority,"
granted to Spain, the countries discovered or to be discovered by her,
to the westward of a line to be drawn from pole to pole, a hundred
leagues west of the Azores; (excepting such countries as might be in
the possession of any other Christian prince antecedent to the year
1493;) and to Portugal, her discoveries eastward of that line.
The validity of this grant was probably strengthened, in the opinion
of Henry, by other circumstances. He set a high value on the
friendship of the King of Spain, with whom he was then negotiating the
marriage which afterwards took place between his eldest son and
Catharine, the daughter of that monarch. Ferdinand was jealous to
excess of all his rights; and Henry was not inclined to interrupt the
harmony subsisting between the two crowns, by asserting claims to the
country discovered by Cabot, which was obviously within the limits to
which the pretensions of Spain extended.
[Sidenote: Renewed by Elizabeth.]
The fisheries of Newfoundland were carried on by individuals, to a
considerable extent, and a paltry traffic was continued with the
natives; but no serious design of acquiring territory, and planting
colonies in America was formed until the reign of Elizabeth, when a
plan for making permanent settlements was proposed and patronized by
several persons of rank and influence. To select a man qualified for
this arduous task, and disposed to engage in it, was among the first
objects to which their attention was directed. Sir Humphry Gilbert had
rendered himself conspicuous by his military services, and by a
treatise concerning the north-west passage, in which great ingenuity
and learning, are stated by Dr. Robertson, to be mingled with the
enthusiasm, the credulity, and sanguine expectation which incite men
to new and hazardous undertakings. On this gentleman the adventurers
turned their eyes, and he was placed at the head of the enterprise. On
the 11th of June 1578, he obtained letters patent from the Queen,
vesting in him the powers that were required; on receiving which, he,
with the associates of his voyage, embarked for America. But his
success did not equal his expectations. The various difficulties
inseparable from the settlement of a distant, unexplored country,
inhabited only by savages; the inadequacy of the supplies which could
be furnished for a colony by the funds of a few private individuals;
the misfortune of having approached the continent too far towards the
north, where the cold barren coast of Cape Breton was rather
calculated to repel than invite a settlement; have been assigned as
the probable causes of his failure.[3]
[Footnote 3: Robertson. Chalmer.]
Two expeditions conducted by this gentleman ended disastrously. In the
last, he himself perished; having done nothing farther in the
execution of his patent, than taking possession of the island of
Newfoundland, in the name of Elizabeth.
Sir Walter Raleigh, alike distinguished by his genius, his courage,
and the severity of his fate, had been deeply interested in the
adventures in which his half brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert, had wasted
his fortune, and was not deterred by their failure, or by the
difficulties attending such an enterprise, from prosecuting with
vigour, a plan so well calculated to captivate his bold and romantic
temper.
{1584}
[Sidenote: Patent to Sir Walter Raleigh.]
On the 26th of March, he obtained a patent from the Queen; and, on the
27th of April, dispatched two small vessels under the command of
captains Amidas and Barlow for the purpose of visiting the country,
and of acquiring some previous knowledge of those circumstances which
might be essential to the welfare of the colony he was about to plant.
To avoid the error of Gilbert in holding too far north, Amidas and
Barlow took the route by the Canaries, and the West India islands, and
approached the North American continent towards the gulf of Florida.
On the 2d of July, they touched at a small island situate on the inlet
into Pamplico sound, whence they proceeded to Roanoke, near the mouth
of Albemarle sound.
{1585}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville.]
After employing a few weeks in traffic with the Indians, from whom
they collected some confused accounts respecting the neighbouring
continent, they took with them two of the natives, who willingly
accompanied them, and embarked for England, where they arrived on the
15th of September. The splendid description which they gave of the
soil, the climate, and the productions of the country they had
visited, so pleased Elizabeth, that she bestowed on it the name of
Virginia, as a memorial that it had been discovered during the reign
of a virgin Queen.[4] Raleigh, encouraged by their report to hasten
his preparations for taking possession of the property, fitted out a
squadron consisting of seven small ships, laden with arms, ammunition,
provisions, and passengers, which sailed from Plymouth on the 9th of
April, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, who was his
relation, and interested with him in the patent. Having taken the
southern route, and wasted some time in cruising against the
Spaniards, Sir Richard did not reach the coast of North America, until
the close of the month of June. He touched at both the islands on
which Amidas and Barlow had landed, and made some excursions into
different parts of the continent around Pamplico, and Albemarle
sounds.
[Footnote 4: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: First colony.]
Having established a colony, consisting of one hundred and eight
persons, in the island of Roanoke, an incommodious station, without
any safe harbour, he committed the government of it to Mr. Ralph Lane;
and, on the 25th of August, sailed for England.[5]
[Footnote 5: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1586}
[Sidenote: Colonists carried back to England by Drake.]
An insatiate passion for gold, attended by an eager desire to find it
in the bowels of the earth, for a long time the disease of Europeans
in America, became the scourge of this feeble settlement. The English
flattered themselves that the country they had discovered could not be
destitute of those mines of the precious metals with which Spanish
America abounded. The most diligent researches were made in quest of
them; and the infatuating hope of finding them stimulated the
colonists to the utmost exertions of which they were capable. The
Indians soon discerned the object for which they searched with so much
avidity, and amused them with tales of rich mines in countries they
had not yet explored. Seduced by this information, they encountered
incredible hardships, and, in this vain search wasted that time which
ought to have been employed in providing the means of future
subsistence. Mutual suspicion and disgust between them and the natives
ripened into open hostility; and, the provisions brought from England
being exhausted, they were under the necessity of resorting for food
to the precarious supplies which could be drawn from the rivers and
woods. In this state of distress, they were found, in June, by Sir
Francis Drake, who was then returning from a successful expedition
against the Spaniards in the West Indies. He agreed to supply them
with about one hundred men, four months' provisions, and a small
vessel; but, before she could be brought into a place of security, and
the men and stores disembarked, she was driven out to sea by a sudden
and violent storm. Discouraged by this misfortune, and worn out with
fatigue and famine, the colonists unanimously determined to abandon
the colony, and were, at their own request, taken on board the fleet
which sailed for England.[6]
[Footnote 6: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
Thus terminated the first English colony planted in America. The only
acquisition made by this expensive experiment, was a better knowledge
of the country and its inhabitants.
[Sidenote: Grenville plants a second colony.]
[Sidenote: Destroyed by the Indians.]
A few days after the departure of Drake with Lane and his associates,
a small vessel which had been dispatched by Raleigh with a supply of
provisions, reached its place of destination. Not finding the
colonists, this vessel returned to England. Soon after its departure,
Sir Richard Grenville arrived with three ships and ample supplies.
Having searched in vain for the colonists he had left, and being
unable to conjecture their fate, he placed fifteen men in the island
with provisions for two years, for the purpose of retaining possession
of the country, and returned to England. This small party was soon
destroyed by the Indians.
{1587}
Not discouraged by the ill success which had thus far attended his
efforts to make a settlement in America, Raleigh, in the following
year, fitted out three ships under the command of captain John White,
and, it is said, directed the colony to be removed to the waters of
the Chesapeake, which bay had been discovered by Lane in the preceding
year. Instructed by calamity, he adopted more efficacious means for
preserving and continuing the colony than had before been used. The
number of men was greater; they were accompanied by some women, and
their supply of provisions was more abundant. Mr. White was appointed
their governor, twelve assistants were assigned him as a council, and
a charter incorporating them by the name of the governor and
assistants of the city of Raleigh in Virginia, was granted them.
[Sidenote: Third colony arrives.]
Thus prepared for a permanent settlement, they arrived in July at
Roanoke, where they received the melancholy intelligence of the loss
of their countrymen who had been left there by Sir Richard Grenville.
They determined, however, to remain at the same place, and began to
make the necessary preparations for their accommodation. Aware of the
danger to be apprehended from the hostile disposition of their
neighbours, they endeavoured to effect a reconciliation with the
natives, one of whom, who had accompanied Amidas and Barlow to
England, and who was distinguished by his unshaken attachment to the
English, was christened, and styled Lord of _Dassa Monpeake_, an
Indian nation in the neighbourhood.[7]
[Footnote 7: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
About the same time the first child of English parentage was born in
America. She was the daughter of Ananias Dare, and, after the place of
her birth, was named _Virginia_.
{1588}
Soon perceiving their want of many things essential to the
preservation, and comfortable subsistence of a new settlement, the
colonists, with one voice, deputed their governor, to solicit those
specific aids which their situation particularly and essentially
required. On his arrival in England, he found the whole nation alarmed
at the formidable preparations for their invasion, made by Philip II.
of Spain; and Raleigh, Grenville, and the other patrons of the colony,
ardently engaged in those measures of defence which the public danger
demanded. Mingling, however, with his exertions to defend his native
country, some attention to the colony he had planted, Raleigh found
leisure to fit out a small fleet for its relief, the command of which
was given to Sir Richard Grenville; but, the apprehensions from the
Spanish armament still increasing, the ships of force prepared by
Raleigh were detained in port by order of the Queen, and Sir Richard
Grenville was commanded not to leave Cornwall, where his services were
deemed necessary. On the 22d of April, White put to sea with two small
barks, but, instead of hastening to the relief of his distressed
countrymen, wasted his time in cruising; and, being beaten by a
superior force, was totally disabled from prosecuting his voyage.[8]
[Footnote 8: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Smith.]
{1589}
[Sidenote: Raleigh assigns his patent.]
The attention of Raleigh being directed to other more splendid
objects, he assigned his patent to Sir Thomas Smith and a company of
merchants in London.
{1590}
[Sidenote: Third colony lost.]
After this transfer, a year was permitted to elapse before any effort
was made for the relief of the colony. In March, three ships fitted
out by the company, in one of which Mr. White embarked, sailed from
Plymouth; but, having cruelly and criminally wasted their time in
plundering the Spaniards in the West Indies, they did not reach
Hatteras until the month of August. They fired a gun to give notice of
their arrival, and sent a party to the place where the colony had been
left; but no vestige of their countrymen could be found. In attempting
the next day to go to Roanoke, one of the boats, in passing a bar, was
half filled with water, another was overset, and six men were drowned.
Two other boats were fitted out with nineteen men to search the island
thoroughly on which the colony had been left.
At the departure of Mr. White, it was in contemplation to remove about
fifty miles into the country; and it had been agreed that, should the
colonists leave the island, they would carve the name of the place to
which they should remove, on some tree, door, or post; with the
addition of a cross over it, as a signal of distress, if they should
be really distressed at the time of changing their situation. After
considerable search, the word CROATAN was found carved in fair capital
letters on one of the chief posts, but unaccompanied by the sign of
distress which had been agreed on.
Croatan was the name of an Indian town on the north side of Cape
Lookout, and for that place, the fleet weighed anchor the next day.
Meeting with a storm, and several accidents, they were discouraged
from proceeding on their voyage, and, determining to suspend their
search, returned to the West Indies.
The company made no farther attempt to find these lost colonists; nor
has the time or the manner of their perishing ever been discovered.[9]
[Footnote 9: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1602}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Gosnald.]
The subsequent voyages made by the English to North America were for
the sole purpose of traffic, and were unimportant in their
consequences, until the year 1602, when one was undertaken by
Bartholomew Gosnald, which contributed greatly to the revival of the
then dormant spirit of colonising in the new world. He sailed from
Falmouth in a small bark with thirty-two men; and steering nearly
west, reached the American continent, on the 11th of May, in about
forty-three degrees of north latitude.
Finding no good harbour at this place, Gosnald put to sea again and
stood southward. The next morning, he descried a promontory which he
called cape Cod, and, holding his course along the coast as it
stretched to the south-west, touched at two islands, the first of
which he named Martha's Vineyard, and the second, Elizabeth's Island.
Having passed some time at these places, examining the country, and
trading with the natives, he returned to England.[10]
[Footnote 10: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
This voyage was completed in less than four months, and was attended
with important consequences. Gosnald had found a healthy climate, a
rich soil, good harbours, and a route which shortened considerably the
distance to the continent of North America. He had seen many of the
fruits known and prized in Europe, blooming in the woods; and had
planted European grain which grew rapidly. Encouraged by this
experiment, and delighted with the country, he formed the resolution
of transporting thither a colony, and of procuring the co-operation of
others by whom his plan might be supported. So unfortunate however had
been former attempts of this sort, that men of wealth and rank, though
strongly impressed by his report of the country, were slow in giving
full faith to his representations, and in entering completely into his
views. One vessel was fitted out by the merchants of Bristol, and
another by the earl of Southampton, and Lord Arundel of Wardour, in
order to learn whether Gosnald's account of the country was to be
considered as a just representation of its state, or as the
exaggerated description of a person fond of magnifying his own
discoveries. Both returned with a full confirmation of his veracity,
and with the addition of so many new circumstances in favour of the
country, as greatly increased the desire of settling it.
Richard Hackluyt, prebendary of Westminster, a man of distinguished
learning and intelligence, contributed more than any other by his
judicious exertions, to form an association sufficiently extensive,
powerful, and wealthy, to execute the often renewed, and often
disappointed project of establishing colonies in America.
At length, such an association was formed; and a petition was
presented to James I., who had succeeded to the crown of England,
praying the royal sanction to the plan which was proposed. That
pacific monarch was delighted with it, and immediately acceded to the
wishes of its projectors.
[Sidenote: Patent to Sir Thomas Gates and others.]
On the 10th of April, letters patent were issued under the great seal
of England, to the petitioners, Sir Thomas Gates and his associates,
granting to them those territories in America, lying on the sea coast,
between the 34th and 45th degrees of north latitude, and which either
belonged to that monarch, or were not then possessed by any other
Christian prince or people; and also the islands adjacent thereto, or
within one hundred miles thereof. They were divided, at their own
desire, into two companies. One, consisting of certain knights,
gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers of the city of London, and
elsewhere, was called the first colony, and was required to settle
between the 34th and 41st degrees of north latitude; the other,
consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other
adventurers of Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, and elsewhere, was named the
second colony, and was ordered to settle between the 38th and 45th
degrees of north latitude; yet so that the colony last formed should
not be planted within one hundred miles of the prior establishment.
The adventurers were empowered to transport so many English subjects
as should be willing to accompany them, who, with their descendants,
were, at all times, to enjoy the same liberties, within any other
dominions of the crown of England, as if they had remained, or were
born, within the realm. A council consisting of thirteen, to be
appointed and removed at the pleasure of the crown, was established
for each colony, to govern it according to such laws as should be
given under the sign manual and privy seal of England.
Two other boards to consist also of thirteen persons each, and to be
appointed by the King, were invested with the superior direction of
the affairs of the colonies.
The adventurers were allowed to search for, and open mines of gold,
silver, and copper, yielding one-fifth of the two former metals, and
one-fifteenth of the last, to the King; and to make a coin which
should be current both among the colonists and natives.
The president and council were authorised to repel those who should,
without their authority, attempt to settle, or trade, within their
jurisdiction, and to seize, and detain the persons, and effects, of
such intruders, until they should pay a duty of two and one-half _per
centum ad valorem_, if subjects, but of five _per centum_ if aliens.
These taxes were to be applied, for twenty-one years, to the use of
the adventurers, and were afterwards to be paid into the royal
exchequer.
[Sidenote: Code of laws for the colony drawn up by the King.]
While the council for the patentees were employed in making
preparations to secure the benefits of their grant, James was
assiduously engaged in the new, and, to his vanity, the flattering
task of framing a code of laws for the government of the colonies
about to be planted. Having at length prepared this code, he issued it
under the sign manual, and privy seal of England. By these
regulations, he vested the general superintendence of the colonies, in
a council in England, "composed of a few persons of consideration and
talents." The church of England was established. The legislative and
executive powers within the colonies, were vested in the president and
councils; but their ordinances were not to touch life or member, were
to continue in force only until made void by the King, or his council
in England for Virginia, and were to be in substance, consonant to the
laws of England. They were enjoined to permit none to withdraw the
people from their allegiance to himself, and his successors; and to
cause all persons so offending to be apprehended, and imprisoned until
reformation; or, in cases highly offensive, to be sent to England to
receive punishment. No person was to be permitted to remain in the
colony without taking the oath of obedience. Tumults, mutiny, and
rebellion, murder, and incest, were to be punished with death; and for
these offences, the criminal was to be tried by a jury. Inferior
crimes were to be punished in a summary way, at the discretion of the
president and council.
Lands were to be holden within the colony as the same estates were
enjoyed in England. Kindness towards the heathen was enjoined; and a
power reserved to the King, and his successors to ordain farther laws,
so that they were consonant to the jurisprudence of England.[11]
[Footnote 11: Robertson.]
Under this charter, and these laws, which manifest, at the same time,
a total disregard of all political liberty, and a total ignorance of
the real advantages which a parent state may derive from its colonies;
which vest the higher powers of legislation in persons residing out of
the country, not chosen by the people, nor affected by the laws they
make, and yet leave commerce unrestrained; the patentees proceeded to
execute the arduous and almost untried task of peopling a strange,
distant, and uncultivated land, covered with woods and marshes, and
inhabited only by savages easily irritated, and when irritated, more
fierce than the beasts they hunted.
CHAPTER II.
Voyage of Newport.... Settlement at Jamestown.... Distress
of colonists.... Smith.... He is captured by the Indians....
Condemned to death, saved by Pocahontas.... Returns to
Jamestown.... Newport arrives with fresh settlers.... Smith
explores the Chesapeake.... Is chosen president.... New
charter.... Third voyage of Newport.... Smith sails for
Europe.... Condition of the colony.... Colonists determine
to abandon the country.... Are stopped by Lord Delaware....
Sir Thomas Dale.... New charter.... Capt. Argal seizes
Pocahontas.... She marries Mr. Rolf.... Separate property in
lands and labour.... Expedition against Port Royal....
Against Manhadoes.... Fifty acres of land for each
settler.... Tobacco.... Sir Thomas Dale.... Mr. Yeardley....
First assembly.... First arrival of females.... Of
convicts.... Of African slaves.... Two councils
established.... Prosperity of the colony.... Indians attempt
to massacre the whites.... General war.... Dissolution of
the company.... Arbitrary measures of the crown.... Sir John
Harvey.... Sir William Berkeley.... Provincial assembly
restored.... Virginia declares in favour of Charles II....
Grant to Lord Baltimore.... Arrival of a colony in
Maryland.... Assembly composed of freemen.... William
Clayborne.... Assembly composed of representatives....
Divided into two branches.... Tyrannical proceedings.
The funds immediately appropriated to the planting of colonies in
America, were inconsiderable, and the early efforts to accomplish the
object, were feeble.
The first expedition for the southern colony consisted of one vessel
of a hundred tons, and two barks, carrying one hundred and five men,
destined to remain in the country.
{1606}
[Sidenote: Voyage of Newport.]
The command of this small squadron was given to captain Newport, who,
on the 19th of December, sailed from the Thames. Three sealed packets
were delivered to him, one addressed to himself, a second to captain
Bartholomew Gosnald, and the third to captain John Radcliffe,
containing the names of the council for this colony. These packets
were accompanied with instructions directing that they should be
opened, and the names of his Majesty's council proclaimed, within
twenty-four hours after their arrival on the coast of Virginia, and
not before. The council were then to proceed to the choice of a
president, who was to have two votes. To this unaccountable
concealment have those dissensions been attributed, which distracted
the colonists on their passage, and which afterwards impeded the
progress of their settlement.[12]
[Footnote 12: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1607}
[Sidenote: Is driven into the Chesapeake.]
Newport, whose place of destination was Roanoke, took the circuitous
route by the West India islands, and had a long passage of four
months. The reckoning had been out for three days, and serious
propositions had been made for returning to England, when a fortunate
storm drove him to the mouth of the Chesapeake. On the 26th of April,
he descried cape Henry, and soon afterward cape Charles. A party of
about thirty men, which went on shore at cape Henry, was immediately
attacked by the natives, and, in the skirmish which ensued, several
were wounded on both sides.
{May 13th.}
The first act of the colonists was the selection of a spot for their
settlement. They proceeded up a large river, called by the natives
Powhatan, and agreed to make their first establishment upon a
peninsula, on its northern side. In compliment to their sovereign,
this place was named Jamestown, and the river was called James. Having
disembarked, and opened the sealed packets brought from England, the
members of the council proceeded to the election of a president, and
Mr. Wingfield was chosen. But, under frivolous pretexts, they excluded
from his seat among them, John Smith, one of the most extraordinary
men of his age, whose courage and talents had excited their envy.
During the passage, he had been imprisoned on the extravagant charge
of intending to murder the council, usurp the government, and make
himself king of Virginia.[13]
[Footnote 13: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
The first indications of a permanent settlement in their country, seem
to have excited the jealousy of the natives. Displeased with the
intrusion, or dissatisfied with the conduct of the intruders, they
soon formed the design of expelling, or destroying, these unwelcome
and formidable visitors. In execution of this intention, they attacked
the colonists suddenly, while at work, and unsuspicious of their
hostility; but were driven, terrified, into the woods by the fire from
the ship. On the failure of this attempt, a temporary accommodation
was effected.
Newport, though named of the council, had been ordered to return to
England. As the time of his departure approached, the accusers of
Smith, attempting to conceal their jealousy by the affectation of
humanity, proposed that he also should return, instead of being
prosecuted in Virginia; but, with the pride of conscious innocence, he
demanded a trial; and, being honourably acquitted, took his seat in
the council.
About the 15th of June, Newport sailed for England, leaving behind him
one of the barks, and about one hundred colonists. While he remained,
they had partaken of the food allowed the sailors; but after his
departure, they were reduced to the necessity of subsisting on the
distributions from the public stores, which had sustained great damage
during their long passage. These were both scanty, and unwholesome;
the allowance to each man, for a day, being only a pint of worm-eaten
wheat and barley. This wretched food increased the malignity of the
diseases generated by the climate, among men exposed to all its
rigours. Before the month of September, fifty of the company were
buried; among whom was Bartholomew Gosnald, who had planned the
expedition, and had contributed greatly towards its prosecution. Their
distress was increased by internal dissension. The president was
charged with embezzling the best stores of the colony, and with
feasting at his private table, on beef, bread, and _aqua vitæ_, while
famine and death devoured his fellow adventurers. The odium against
him was completed by the detection of an attempt to escape from them
and their calamities, in the bark which had been left by Newport. In
the burst of general indignation which followed the discovery of this
meditated desertion, he was deposed, and Radcliffe chosen to succeed
him.[14]
[Footnote 14: Stith. Smith.]
As misfortune is not unfrequently the parent of moderation and
reflection, this state of misery produced a system of conduct towards
the neighbouring Indians, which, for the moment, disarmed their
resentments, and induced them to bring in such supplies as the country
afforded at that season. It produced another effect of equal
importance. A sense of imminent and common danger called forth those
talents which were fitted to the exigency, and compelled submission to
them. On captain Smith, who had preserved his health unimpaired, his
spirits unbroken, and his judgment unclouded, amidst this general
misery and dejection, all eyes were turned, and in him, all actual
authority was placed by common consent. His example soon gave energy
to others.
He erected such rude fortifications as would resist the sudden attacks
of the savages, and constructed such habitations as, by sheltering the
survivors from the weather, contributed to restore and preserve their
health, while his own accommodation gave place to that of all others.
In the season of gathering corn, he penetrated into the country at the
head of small parties, and by presents and caresses to those who were
well disposed, and by attacking with open force, and defeating those
who were hostile, he obtained abundant supplies.
While thus actively and usefully employed abroad, he was not permitted
to withdraw his attention from the domestic concerns of the colony.
Incapacity for command is seldom accompanied by a willingness to
relinquish power; and it will excite no surprise that the late
president saw, with regret, another placed above him. As unworthy
minds most readily devise unworthy means, he sought, by intriguing
with the factious, and fomenting their discontents, to regain his lost
authority; and when these attempts were disconcerted, he formed a
conspiracy with some of the principal persons in the colony, to escape
in the bark, and thus to desert the country. The vigilance of Smith
detected these machinations, and his vigour defeated them.[15]
[Footnote 15: Stith.]
[Sidenote: Smith is captured by the Indians,]
[Sidenote: is condemned to death,]
[Sidenote: saved by Pocahontas.]
The prospect which now presented itself of preserving the colony in
quiet and plenty, until supplies could be received from England, was
obscured by an event which threatened, at first, the most disastrous
consequences. In attempting to explore Chiccahomini river to its
source, Smith was discovered and attacked by a numerous body of
Indians; and in endeavouring, after a gallant defence, to make his
escape, he sank up to his neck in a swamp, and was obliged to
surrender. The wonder and veneration which he excited by the
exhibition of a mariner's compass, saved him from immediate death. He
was conducted in triumph, through several towns, to the palace of
Powhatan, the most potent king in that part of the country, who doomed
him to be put to death by placing his head upon a stone, and beating
out his brains with a club. At the place of execution, with his head
bowed down to receive the blow, he was rescued from a fate which
appeared to be inevitable, by that enthusiastic and impassioned
humanity which, in every climate, and in every state of society, finds
its home in the female bosom. Pocahontas, the king's favourite
daughter, then about thirteen years of age, whose entreaties for his
life had been ineffectual, rushed between him and the executioner, and
folding his head in her arms, and laying hers upon it, arrested the
fatal blow. Her father was then prevailed upon to spare his life, and
he was sent back to Jamestown.[16]
[Footnote 16: Stith.]
[Sidenote: Returns to Jamestown.]
On arriving at that place, after an absence of seven weeks, he found
the colony reduced to thirty-eight persons, who seemed determined to
abandon a country which appeared to them so unfavourable to human
life. He came just in time to prevent the execution of this design.
Alternately employing persuasion, threats, and even violence, he
induced the majority to relinquish their intention; then turning the
guns of the fort on the bark, on board which were the most determined,
he compelled her to remain, or sink in the river.[17]
[Footnote 17: Stith.]
By a judicious regulation of intercourse with the Indians, over whom
he had gained considerable influence, he restored plenty to the
colony, and preserved it until the arrival of two vessels which had
been dispatched from England under the command of captain Newport,
with a supply of provisions and instruments of husbandry, and with a
reinforcement of one hundred and twenty persons, composed of many
gentlemen, several refiners, gold smiths, and jewellers, and a few
labourers.
The influence of Smith disappeared with the danger which had produced
it, and was succeeded by an improvident relaxation of discipline,
productive of the most pernicious consequences.[18]
[Footnote 18: Ibid.]
[Sidenote: A glittering earth mistaken for gold dust.]
About this time, a shining earth, mistaken by the colonists for gold
dust, was found in a small stream of water near Jamestown. Their
raging thirst for gold was re-excited by this incident. Smith, in his
History of Virginia, describing the frenzy of the moment, says, "there
was no thought, no discourse, no hope, and no work, but to dig gold,
wash gold, refine gold, and load gold. And, notwithstanding captain
Smith's warm and judicious representations how absurd it was to
neglect other things of immediate use and necessity, to load such a
drunken ship with gilded dust, yet was he overruled, and her returns
were made in a parcel of glittering dirt, which is to be found in
various parts of the country, and which they, very sanguinely,
concluded to be gold dust."
{1608}
The two vessels returned laden, one with this dirt, and the other with
cedar. This is the first remittance ever made from America by an
English colony.
The effects of this fatal delusion were soon felt, and the colony
again began to suffer that distress, from scarcity of food, which had
before brought it, more than once, to the brink of ruin.
[Sidenote: Smith explores the Chesapeake.]
The researches of the English settlers had not yet extended beyond the
country adjacent to James river. Smith had formed the bold design of
exploring the great bay of Chesapeake, examining the mighty rivers
which empty into it, opening an intercourse with the nations
inhabiting their borders, and acquiring a knowledge of the state of
their cultivation and population. Accompanied by Doctor Russel, he
engaged in this hardy enterprise in an open boat of about three tons
burthen, and with a crew of thirteen men. On the 2d of June, he
descended the river in company with the last of Newport's two vessels,
and, parting with her at the capes, began his survey at cape Charles.
With great fatigue and danger, he examined every river, inlet, and
bay, on both sides of the Chesapeake, as far as the mouth of the
Rappahannock. His provisions being exhausted, he returned, and arrived
at Jamestown on the 21st of July. He found the colony in the utmost
confusion and disorder. All those who came last with Newport were
sick; the danger of famine was imminent; and the clamour against the
president was loud, and universal. The seasonable arrival of Smith
restrained their fury. The accounts he gave of his discoveries, and
the hope he entertained that the waters of the Chesapeake communicated
with the south sea,[19] extended their views and revived their
spirits. They contented themselves with deposing their president, and,
having in vain urged Smith to accept that office, elected his friend
Mr. Scrivener as vice president.
[Footnote 19: This error might very possibly be produced by
the Indians representing the great western lakes as seas.]
After employing three days in making arrangements for obtaining
regular supplies, and for the government of the colony, Smith again
sailed with twelve men, to complete his researches into the countries
on the Chesapeake.
From this voyage he returned on the seventh of September; having
advanced as far as the river Susquehannah, and visited all the
countries on both shores of the bay. He entered most of the large
creeks, sailed up many of the great rivers to their falls, and made
accurate observations on the extensive territories through which he
passed, and on the various tribes inhabiting them, with whom he,
alternately, fought, negotiated, and traded. In every situation, he
displayed judgment, courage, and that presence of mind which is
essential to the character of a commander; and never failed, finally,
to inspire the savages he encountered, with the most exalted opinion
of himself and of his nation.
When we consider that he sailed above three thousand miles in an open
boat; when we contemplate the dangers and the hardships he
encountered; when we reflect on the valuable additions he made to the
stock of knowledge respecting America; we shall not hesitate to say
that few voyages of discovery, undertaken at any time, reflect more
honour on those engaged in them. "So full and exact," says Dr.
Robertson, "are his accounts of that large portion of the American
continent comprehended in the two provinces of Virginia and Maryland,
that after the progress of information and research for a century and
a half, his map exhibits no inaccurate view of both countries, and is
the original, on which all subsequent delineations and descriptions
have been formed."[20]
[Footnote 20: Dr. Robertson must allude to the country below
the falls of the great rivers.]
[Illustration: Ruins of the Old Brick Church Built at Jamestown in
1639
_Settled by the English in 1607, on the banks of the James River about
32 miles from its mouth, it was at Jamestown that the first
legislative assembly in America was held in 1619, and here in the same
year slavery was first introduced into the original thirteen colonies.
The site of the settlement, which was originally a peninsula, but is
now an island, is owned by the Association for the Preservation of
Virginia Antiquities. Besides the ruins of the church shown here those
of the fort and of two or three houses built more than a hundred years
before the Declaration of Independence was signed are still
standing._]
[Sidenote: Is chosen president.]
On his return from this expedition, Smith was chosen president of the
council; and, yielding to the general wish, accepted the office. Soon
after, Newport arrived with an additional supply of settlers, among
whom were the two first females who adventured to the present colony;
but he came without provisions.
The judicious administration of the president, however, supplied the
wants of the colonists, and restrained the turbulent. Encouraged by
his example, and coerced by his authority, a spirit of industry and
subordination was created among them, which was the parent of plenty
and of peace.[21]
[Footnote 21: Robertson. Chalmer.]
{1609}
[Sidenote: New Charter.]
The company in England, though disappointed in the hope of discovering
a passage to the Pacific, and of finding mines of the precious metals,
still indulged in golden dreams of future wealth. To increase their
funds, as well as their influence and reputation, by the acquisition
of additional numbers, to explain and enlarge their powers and
privileges, and to ensure a colonial government conforming to their
own views and wishes, the company petitioned for a new charter, which
was granted on the 23d of May. Some of the first nobility and gentry
of the country, and most of the companies of London, with a numerous
body of merchants and tradesmen, were added to the former adventurers,
and they were all incorporated, by the name of "The treasurer and
company of adventurers of the city of London, for the first colony in
Virginia." To them were granted, in absolute property, the lands
extending from Cape or Point Comfort, along the sea coast, two hundred
miles to the northward, and from the same point, along the sea coast,
two hundred miles to the southward, and up into the land, throughout,
from sea to sea, west and north-west; and also all the islands lying
within one hundred miles of the coast of both seas of the precinct
aforesaid: to be holden as of the manor of East Greenwich, in free and
common soccage, and paying, in lieu of all services, one-fifth of the
gold and silver that should be found. The corporation was authorised
to convey, under its common seal, particular portions of these lands
to subjects or denizens, on such conditions as might promote the
intentions of the grant. The powers of the president and council in
Virginia were abrogated, and a new council in England was established,
with power to the company to fill all vacancies therein by election.
This council was empowered to appoint and remove all officers for the
colony, and to make all ordinances for its government, not contrary to
the laws of England; and to rule the colonists according to such
ordinances. License was given to transport to Virginia, all persons
willing to go thither, and to export merchandise free from customs for
seven years. There was also granted, for twenty-one years, freedom
from all subsidies in Virginia, and from all impositions on
importations and exportations from or to any of the King's dominions,
"except only the five pounds in the hundred due for customs." The
colonists were declared to be entitled to the rights of natural
subjects. The governor was empowered to establish martial law in case
of rebellion or mutiny; and, to prevent the superstitions of the
Church of Rome from taking root in the plantation, it was declared
that none should pass into Virginia, but such as shall have first
taken the oath of supremacy.[22]
[Footnote 22: Charter.]
[Sidenote: Third voyage of Newport.]
The company, being thus enlarged, and enabled to take more effective
measures for the settlement of the country, soon fitted out nine
ships, with five hundred emigrants. Lord Delawar was constituted
governor and captain-general for life; and several other offices were
created. The direction of the expedition was again given to Newport;
to whom, and Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers, powers were
severally granted to supersede the existing administration, and to
govern the colony until the arrival of Lord Delawar. With singular
indiscretion, the council omitted to establish precedence among these
gentlemen; who, being totally unable to settle this important point
among themselves, agreed to embark on board the same vessel, and to be
companions during the voyage. They were parted from the rest of the
fleet in a storm, and driven on Bermudas; having on board one hundred
and fifty men, a great portion of the provisions destined for the
colony, and the new commission and instructions of the council. The
residue of the squadron arrived safely in Virginia.
"A great part of the new company," says Mr. Stith, "consisted of
unruly sparks, packed off by their friends to escape worse destinies
at home. And the rest were chiefly made up of poor gentlemen, broken
tradesmen, rakes and libertines, footmen, and such others as were much
fitter to spoil and ruin a Commonwealth, than to help to raise or
maintain one. This lewd company, therefore, were led by their
seditious captains into many mischiefs and extravagancies. They
assumed to themselves the power of disposing of the government, and
conferred it sometimes on one, and sometimes on another. To-day the
old commission must rule, to-morrow the new, and next day neither. So
that all was anarchy and distraction."
The judgment of Smith was not long suspended. With the promptness and
decision which belong to vigorous minds, he determined that his own
authority was not legally revoked until the arrival of the new
commission, and therefore resolved to continue its exercise. Incapable
of holding the reins of government with a feeble hand, he exhibited,
on this emergency, that energy and good sense which never deserted him
when the occasion required them. After imprisoning the chief promoters
of sedition, and thereby restoring regularity and obedience, he, for
the double purpose of extending the colony, and of preventing the
mischiefs to be apprehended from so many turbulent spirits collected
in Jamestown, detached one hundred men to the falls of James river,
under the command of West, and the same number to Nansemond, under
that of Martin. These persons conducted their settlements with so
little judgment, that they soon converted all the neighbouring Indians
into enemies. After losing several parties, they found themselves in
absolute need of the support and direction of Smith. These were
readily afforded, until a melancholy accident deprived the colony of
the aid of a man whose talents had, more than once, rescued it from
that desperate condition into which folly and vice had plunged it.
Returning from a visit to the detachment stationed at the falls of
James river, his powder bag took fire, while he was sleeping in the
boat, and, in the explosion, he was so severely wounded as to be
confined to his bed. Being unable to obtain the aid of a surgeon in
the colony, he embarked for England about the beginning of October.
[Sidenote: Smith returns to England.]
[Sidenote: State of the colony.]
At his departure, the colony consisted of about five hundred
inhabitants. They were furnished with three ships, seven boats,
commodities ready for trade, ten weeks' provision in the public
stores, six mares and a horse, a large stock of hogs and poultry, some
sheep and goats, utensils for agriculture, nets for fishing, one
hundred trained and expert soldiers well acquainted with the Indians,
their language and habitations, twenty-four pieces of ordnance, and
three hundred muskets, with a sufficient quantity of arms and
ammunition.[23]
[Footnote 23: Stith.]
The fair prospects of the colony were soon blasted by a course of
folly and crime, of riot and insubordination.
Numerous pretenders advanced their claims to the supreme command. The
choice at length fell upon captain Percy, who derived much
consideration from his virtues, as well as from his illustrious
family; but his talents, at no time equal to this new and difficult
station, were rendered still less competent to the task, by a long
course of ill health. Being generally confined by sickness to his bed,
he was incapable of maintaining his authority; and total confusion
ensued, with its accustomed baneful consequences.
The Indians, no longer awed by the genius and vigour of Smith,
attacked the colony on all sides. West and Martin, after losing their
boats and nearly half their men, were driven into Jamestown. The stock
of provisions was lavishly wasted; and famine added its desolating
scourge to their other calamities. After devouring the skins of their
horses, and the Indians they had killed, the survivors fed on those of
their companions who had sunk under such accumulated misery. The
recollection of these tremendous sufferings was long retained, and,
for many years, this period was distinguished by the name of THE
STARVING TIME.[24]
[Footnote 24: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Beverly.]
{1610}
In six months, the colony was reduced, by these distresses, to sixty
persons, who could not have survived ten days longer, when they were
relieved from this state of despair by the arrival of Sir Thomas
Gates, Sir George Somers, and Captain Newport, from Bermuda.
[Sidenote: They abandon the country.]
The determination to abandon the country was immediately taken, and
the wretched remnant of the colony embarked on board the vessels, and
sailed for England. "None dropped a tear," says Mr. Chalmer, "because
none had enjoyed one day of happiness."
[Sidenote: Stopped by Lord Delawar.]
Fortunately, they met Lord Delawar, who prevailed on them to return;
and, on the 10th of June, resettled them at Jamestown.
{1611}
By mildness of temper, attention to business, and judicious exercise
of authority, this nobleman restored order and contentment to the
colony, and again impressed the Indians with respect for the English
name. Unfortunately, ill health obliged him to resign the government
which he placed in the hands of Mr. Percy, and sailed for the West
Indies, leaving in the colony about two hundred persons in possession
of the blessings of health, plenty, and peace.
[Sidenote: Sir Thomas Dale.]
On the 10th of May, Sir Thomas Dale, who had been appointed to the
government, arrived with a fresh supply of men and provisions, and
found the colony relapsing into a state of anarchy, idleness, and
want. It required all the authority of the new governor to maintain
public order, and to compel the idle and the dissolute to labour. Some
conspiracies having been detected, he proclaimed martial law, which
was immediately put in execution. This severity was then deemed
necessary, and is supposed to have saved the settlement.[25]
[Footnote 25: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Beverly.]
In the beginning of August, Sir Thomas Gates, who had been appointed
to succeed Sir Thomas Dale, arrived with six ships, and a considerable
supply of men and provisions. After receiving this addition to its
numbers, the colony again extended itself up James river; and several
new settlements were made.
{1612}
[Sidenote: New Charter.]
Extravagant accounts of the fertility of Bermuda having reached
England, the company became desirous of obtaining it as a place from
which Virginia might be supplied with provisions. Application was
therefore made to the crown for a new patent, to comprehend this
island; and, in March, a charter was issued, granting to the treasurer
and company all the islands situate in the ocean within three hundred
leagues of the coast of Virginia. By this charter, the corporation was
essentially new modelled. It was ordained that four general courts of
the adventurers should be holden annually, for the determination of
affairs of importance, and weekly meetings were directed, for the
transaction of common business. To promote the effectual settlement of
the plantation, license was given to open lotteries in any part of
England.[26]
[Footnote 26: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Beverly.]
These lotteries, which were the first ever drawn in England, brought
twenty-nine thousand pounds into the treasury of the company. When
they were discontinued, in 1620, on the complaint of the House of
Commons, they were declared to have "supplied the real food by which
Virginia had been nourished."
[Sidenote: Captain Argal seizes Pocahontas.]
About this time an event took place which was followed by important
consequences to the colony. Provisions in Jamestown continuing to be
scarce, and supplies from the neighbouring Indians, with whom the
English were often at war, being necessarily uncertain, captain Argal,
with two vessels, was sent round to the Potowmac for a cargo of corn.
While obtaining the cargo, he understood that Pocahontas, who had
remained steadfast in her attachment to the English, had absented
herself from the home of her father, and lay concealed in the
neighbourhood. By bribing some of those in whom she confided Argal
prevailed on her to come on board his vessel, where she was detained
respectfully, and brought to Jamestown. He was induced to take this
step by the hope that the possession of Pocahontas would give the
English an ascendancy over her father, who was known to dote on her.
In this, however, he was disappointed. Powhatan offered corn and
friendship, if they would first restore his daughter, but, with a
loftiness of spirit which claims respect, rejected every proposition
for conciliation which should not be preceded by that act of
reparation.
During her detention at Jamestown, she made an impression on the heart
of Mr. Rolf, a young gentleman of estimation in the colony, who
succeeded in gaining her affections. They were married with the
consent of Powhatan, who was entirely reconciled to the English by
that event, and continued, ever after, to be their sincere friend.
This connexion led also to a treaty with the Chiccahominies, a brave
and daring tribe, who submitted themselves to the English, and became
their tributaries.[27]
[Footnote 27: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Beverly.]
{1613}
About the same time, an important change took place in the internal
arrangements of the colony.
[Sidenote: Separate property in lands.]
Heretofore no separate property in lands had been acquired, and no
individual had laboured for himself. The lands had been held, cleared,
and cultivated in common, and their produce carried into a common
granary, from which it was distributed to all. This system was to be
ascribed, in some measure, to the unwise injunction contained in the
royal instructions, directing the colonists to trade together for five
years in one common stock. Its effect was such as ought to have been
foreseen. Industry, deprived of its due reward, exclusive property in
the produce of its toil, felt no sufficient stimulus to exertion, and
the public supplies were generally inadequate to the public
necessities. To remove this cause of perpetual scarcity, Sir Thomas
Dale divided a considerable portion of land into lots of three acres,
and granted one of them, in full property, to each individual.
Although the colonists were still required to devote a large portion
of labour to the public, a sudden change was made in their appearance
and habits. Industry, impelled by the certainty of recompense,
advanced with rapid strides; and the inhabitants were no longer in
fear of wanting bread, either for themselves, or for the emigrants
from England.[28]
[Footnote 28: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith. Beverly.]
{1614}
Early in the following year, Sir Thomas Gates returned to England,
leaving the government again with Sir Thomas Dale. This gentleman
detached captain Argal on an enterprise of which no immediate notice
was taken, but which was afterwards recollected with indignation.
The French, who had directed their course to the more northern parts
of the continent, had been among the first adventurers to North
America. Their voyages of discovery are of a very early date, and
their attempts to establish a colony were among the first which were
made. After several abortive efforts, a permanent settlement was made
in Canada, in the year 1604, and the foundation of Quebec was laid in
the year 1608. In November 1603, Henry IV. appointed De Mont
lieutenant-general of that part of the territory which he claimed,
lying in North America, between the 40th and 46th degrees of north
latitude, then called Acadié, with power to colonise and to rule it;
and he soon afterwards granted to the same gentleman and his
associates, an exclusive right to the commerce of peltry in Acadié and
the gulf of St. Lawrence. In consequence of these grants, a settlement
was formed in the subsequent year, on that coast, near the river St.
Croix; and in 1605, Port Royal was built on a more northern part of
the bay of Fundy.
The colony, receiving not much support from France, was feeble and
unprosperous, but retained quiet possession of the country. In a time
of profound peace, the expedition of Argal was directed against it. He
found it totally unprepared for defence. The inhabitants, who had
assiduously and successfully cultivated the friendship of the Indians,
were scattered abroad in the woods, engaged in their several pursuits;
and a ship and bark just arrived from France, laden with articles
necessary for the use of the colony, were surprised in port, and their
cargoes taken to Jamestown. After the departure of Argal, the French
resumed their former station.
The pretext for this predatory expedition was, that the French, by
settling in Acadié, had invaded the rights of the English, acquired by
the first discovery of the continent.
Argal also paid a visit to New York, then in possession of the Dutch;
which country he claimed under the pretext that captain Hudson was an
Englishman, and could not transfer the benefit of his discoveries from
his sovereign. He demanded possession of the place; and the Dutch
governor, being unable to resist, "peaceably submitted both himself
and his colony to the King of England, and the governor of Virginia
under him," and consented to pay a tribute. Argal then continued his
voyage to Jamestown. But another governor soon afterwards arriving
from Amsterdam with better means of asserting the title of his nation,
the payment of the tribute was refused, and the place put in a state
of defence.[29]
[Footnote 29: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: Fifty acres of land laid off for each settler.]
The advantages resulting to the colony from allowing each individual
to labour, in part for himself, having soon become apparent, the
system of working in common to fill the public stores, seems to have
been totally relinquished; and, not long afterwards, fifty acres of
land, promised by the rules of the company to each emigrant, were
surveyed and delivered to those having the title.
{1615}
[Sidenote: Tobacco.]
About the same time, tobacco was first cultivated in Virginia.
This plant, although detested by the King, who even wrote a pamphlet
against it, which he styled a _counter blast_; although
discountenanced by the leading members of parliament, and even by the
company, who issued edicts against its cultivation; although extremely
unpleasant to persons not accustomed to it, and disagreeable in its
effects, surmounted all opposition, and has, by an unaccountable
caprice, been brought into general use, and become one of the most
considerable staples of America.[30]
[Footnote 30: Robertson.]
{1616}
[Sidenote: Yeardly.]
In the spring of the following year, Sir Thomas Dale sailed for
England, leaving the government in the hands of Mr. George Yeardly,
who, after a lax administration of one year, was succeeded by captain
Argal.
{1617}
[Sidenote: Argal.]
Argal was a man of talents and energy, but selfish, haughty, and
tyrannical. He continued martial law during a season of peace; and a
Mr. Brewster, who was tried under this arbitrary system, for
contemptuous words spoken of the governor, was sentenced to suffer
death. He obtained with difficulty an appeal to the treasurer and
company in England, by whom the sentence was reversed.[31]
[Footnote 31: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Yeardly.]
While martial law was, according to Stith, the common law of the land,
the governor seems to have been the sole legislator. His general
edicts mark the severity of his rule. He ordered that merchandise
should be sold at an advance of twenty-five _per centum_, and tobacco
taken in payment at the rate of three shillings per pound, under the
penalty of three years' servitude to the company; that no person
should traffic privately with the Indians, or teach them the use of
fire arms, under pain of death; that no person should hunt deer or
hogs without the governor's permission; that no man should shoot,
unless in his own necessary defence, until a new supply of ammunition
should arrive, on pain of a year's personal service; that none should
go on board the ships at Jamestown, without the governor's leave; that
every person should go to church on Sundays and holidays, under the
penalty of slavery during the following week for the first offence,
during a month for the second, and during a year and a day for the
third. The rigour of this administration necessarily exciting much
discontent, the complaints of the Virginians at length made their way
to the company. Lord Delawar being dead, Mr. Yeardly was appointed
captain-general, with instructions to examine the wrongs of the
colonists, and to redress them.[32]
[Footnote 32: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1619}
The new governor arrived in April, and soon after, to the
inexpressible joy of the inhabitants, declared his determination to
convoke a colonial assembly.
This is an important era in the history of Virginia. Heretofore, all
legislative authority had been exercised, either by the corporation in
England, or by their officers in the colony. The people had no voice,
either personally, or by their representatives, in the government of
themselves; and their most important concerns were managed by persons
often unacquainted with their situation, and always possessing
interests different from theirs. They now felicitated themselves on
having really the privileges of Englishmen.
[Sidenote: First colonial assembly.]
This first assembly met at Jamestown on the 19th of June. The colony
being not then divided into counties, the members were elected by the
different boroughs, amounting at that time to seven. From this
circumstance the popular branch of the legislature received the
appellation of the house of burgesses, which it retained until all
connexion with England was dissolved.
The assembly, composed of the governor, the council, and burgesses,
met together in one apartment, and there discussed the various matters
which came before them. The laws then enacted, which, it is believed,
are no longer extant, were transmitted to England for the approbation
of the treasurer and company.[33]
[Footnote 33: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: First arrival of females,]
{1620}
Although the emigrations from England continued to be considerable,
few females had crossed the Atlantic. Men without wives could not
consider their residence in the country as permanent, and must intend
after amassing some wealth, to return to their native land. To remove
this impediment to the population of the colony, ninety girls, of
humble fortune and spotless character, were transported by the company
to Virginia; and in the subsequent year, they were followed by sixty
of the same description. They were received by the young planters as a
blessing which substituted domestic happiness for the cheerless gloom
of solitude; and the face of the country was essentially changed.[34]
The prospect of becoming parents was accompanied with the anxieties
for the welfare of their children; and the education of youth soon
became an object of attention. The necessity of seminaries of learning
was felt, and several steps were taken towards founding the college,
afterwards established by William and Mary.
[Footnote 34: Mr. Stith says the price for a wife was at
first, one hundred, and afterwards, one hundred and fifty
pounds of tobacco; and a debt so contracted was made of
higher dignity than any other.]
[Sidenote: and of convicts.]
About the same time the company received orders from the King to
convey to Virginia one hundred idle and dissolute persons, then in
custody of the knight marshal. These were the first convicts
transported to America. The policy which dictated this measure was
soon perceived to be not less wise than it was humane. Men who, in
Europe, were the pests of the body politic, made an acceptable
addition to the stock of labour in the colony; and, in a new world,
where the temptations to crime seldom presented themselves, many of
them became useful members of society.
{1621}
[Sidenote: African slaves.]
Heretofore the commerce of Virginia had been engrossed by the
corporation. In the year 1620, this distressing and unprofitable
monopoly was given up, and the trade was open to all. The free
competition produced by this change of system was of essential
advantage to the colony, but was the immediate cause of introducing a
species of population which has had vast influence on the past, and
may affect the future destinies of America, to an extent which human
wisdom can neither foresee nor control. A Dutch vessel, availing
itself of this commercial liberty, brought into James river twenty
Africans, who were immediately purchased as slaves.[35]
[Footnote 35: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
[Sidenote: Two councils established.]
In July, the company passed an ordinance establishing a frame of
government for the colony. This instrument provided that there should
be two supreme councils in Virginia, the one to be called the Council
of State, to be appointed and displaced by the treasurer and company,
and to assist the governor with advice on executive subjects; the
other to be denominated the General Assembly, and to consist of the
governor, the council of state, and burgesses; to be chosen for the
present, by the inhabitants of every town, hundred, or settlement, in
the colony, two for each. The assembly was empowered to enact general
laws for the government of the colony, reserving a negative to the
governor. Its acts were not to be in force until confirmed by the
general court in England, and the ratification returned under its
seal. On the other hand, no order of the general court was to bind the
colony until assented to by the assembly.
{1622}
A controversy concerning the importation of tobacco into the European
dominions of the crown, which had for some time existed between the
King and the company, was, at length, adjusted.
The King had demanded high duties on that article, while he permitted
its importation from the dominions of Spain, and also restrained its
direct exportation from Virginia, to the warehouses of the company in
Holland, to which expedient his exactions had driven them. It was at
length agreed that they should enjoy the sole right of importing that
commodity into the kingdom, for which they should pay a duty of nine
pence per pound, in lieu of all charges, and that the whole production
of the colony should be brought to England.
[Sidenote: County courts.]
The industry, population, and produce of the colony, were now greatly
increased. At peace with the Indians, they had extended their
settlements to the Rappahannock and to the Potowmac. This change of
circumstances having rendered it inconvenient to bring all causes to
Jamestown before the governor and council, who had heretofore
exercised all judicial power in the country, inferior courts were
established, to sit in convenient places, in order to render justice
more cheap and accessible to the people. Thus originated the county
courts of Virginia.
[Sidenote: Indian conspiracy to massacre all the whites.]
In this year the cup of prosperity, which the colonists had begun to
taste, was dashed from their lips by an event which shook the colony
to its foundation. In 1618, Powhatan died, and was succeeded, in his
dominions and in his influence over all the neighbouring tribes, by
Opechancanough, a bold and cunning chief, as remarkable for his
jealousy and hatred of the new settlers, as for his qualifications to
execute the designs suggested by his resentments. He renewed, however,
the stipulations of Powhatan; and, for a considerable time, the
general peace remained undisturbed. The colonists, unsuspicious of
danger, observed neither the Indians nor their machinations. Engaged
entirely in the pursuits of agriculture, they neglected their military
exercises, and every useful precaution. Meanwhile, the Indians, being
often employed as hunters, were furnished with fire arms, and taught
to use them. They were admitted, at all times, freely into the
habitations of the English, as harmless visitants, were fed at their
tables, and lodged in their chambers. During this state of friendly
intercourse, the plan of a general massacre, which should involve man,
woman, and child, in indiscriminate slaughter, was formed with cold
and unrelenting deliberation. The tribes in the neighbourhood of the
English, except those on the eastern shore of the Chesapeak, who were
not trusted with the plan, were successively gained over; and,
notwithstanding the perpetual intercourse between them and the white
people, the most impenetrable secrecy was observed. So deep and dark
was their dissimulation, that they were accustomed to borrow boats
from the English to cross the river, in order to concert and mature
their execrable designs.
The 22d of March was designated as the day on which all the English
settlements were to be attacked. The better to disguise their
intentions, and to ensure success, they brought, in the preceding
evening, deer, turkies, and fish, as presents; and, even on the
morning of the massacre, came freely among the whites, behaving in
their usual friendly manner, until the very instant which had been
appointed for the commencement of the scene of carnage. The fatal hour
being arrived, they fell at once on every settlement, and murdered
without distinction of age or sex. So sudden was the execution of
their plan, that few perceived the weapons, or the approach of the
blow, which terminated their existence. Thus, in one hour, and almost
in the same instant, fell three hundred and forty-seven men, women and
children; most of them by their own plantation tools.
The massacre would have been still more complete, had not information
been given, the preceding night, to a Mr. Pace, by an Indian
domesticated in his house, and treated as a son, who, being pressed to
murder his benefactor, disclosed the plot to him. He immediately
carried the intelligence to Jamestown, and the alarm was given to some
of the nearest settlements, which were thereby saved. At some other
places, too, where the circumstances of the attack enabled the English
to seize their arms, the assailants were repulsed.
[Sidenote: General war.]
This horrible massacre was succeeded by a vindictive and exterminating
war, in which the wiles of the Indians were successfully retaliated on
themselves. During this disastrous period, many public works were
abandoned; the college institution was deserted; the settlements were
reduced from eighty to eight; and famine superadded its afflicting
scourge to the accumulated distresses of the colony.[36]
[Footnote 36: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
As soon as intelligence of these calamitous events reached England, a
contribution was made by the adventurers for the relief of the
sufferers; arms from the tower were delivered to the treasurer and
company; and several vessels were dispatched with those articles which
might best alleviate such complicated distress.
[Sidenote: Dissension and dissolution of the company.]
But the dissolution of the company was rapidly approaching. That
corporation contained many men of the first rank and talents in the
nation, who in their assemblies, were in habits of discussing the
measures of the crown with the accustomed freedom of a popular body.
Two violent factions, which assumed the regular appearance of court
and country parties, divided the company, and struggled for the
ascendancy. James endeavoured to give the preponderance to the court
party, but his endeavours were unsuccessful; and his failure disposed
him to listen to complaints against a corporation, whose deliberations
he found himself unable to control. To their mismanagement he ascribed
the slow progress made by the colony, and the heavy losses that had
been sustained.[37]
[Footnote 37: _Ibid._]
{1623}
{1624}
[Sidenote: Colony taken into the hands of the King.]
After hearing both the corporation and their accusers, the privy
council determined to issue a commission, appointing persons to be
named by the crown, to inquire into the affairs of Virginia from the
earliest settlement of the province, and to report thereon to the
government. This commission seized the charters, books, and papers of
the company; and all letters and packets brought from the colony were
ordered to be laid unopened before the privy council. Their report
attributed the misfortunes of the colony to the corporation in
England; and James, at no time a friend to popular assemblies,
communicated to them his resolution to revoke the old charter and
grant a new one, which should respect private property, but place
power in fewer hands. The requisition that they should assent to this
proposition, and surrender their charter, was accompanied with the
information that the King was determined, in default of submission, to
take such proceedings for recalling their letters patent as might be
just. The company, however, resolutely determined to defend its
rights; whereupon a writ of _quo warranto_ was instituted in the court
of King's Bench, which was decided according to the wishes of the
monarch. The company was dissolved, and all its powers were revested
in the crown.
Above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling had been expended
in planting the colony; and more than nine thousand persons had been
sent from England to people it. Yet, at the dissolution of the
company, the annual imports from Virginia did not exceed twenty
thousand pounds in value, and the population of the country was
reduced to about eighteen hundred persons.
While these things were transacting in England, the war against the
Indians was prosecuted in the colony, with vigour and success. The
neighbouring hostile tribes were nearly exterminated, and were driven
entirely from the rivers, so that the settlements were extended in
safety.
In February, the general assembly was once more convened. The several
orders which had been previously made by the governor and council,
were enacted into laws; and form the oldest legislative rules of
action now remaining on record. Among them are various regulations
respecting the church of England. But the act best representing the
condition of the colonists, is a solemn declaration, "that the
governor should not impose any taxes on the colony, otherwise than by
the authority of the general assembly; and that he should not withdraw
the inhabitants from their private labour to any service of his own."
At this session, too, the privilege of exemption from arrest, while
the assembly was sitting, was extended to the burgesses. Several other
measures were adopted for the correction of abuses; and the laws of
that session, generally, are marked with that good sense and
patriotism, which are to be expected from men perfectly understanding
their own situation, and legislating for themselves.
From this assembly, the royal commissioners endeavoured, in vain, to
procure an address to the King, professing "their willingness to
submit themselves to his princely pleasure, in revoking the ancient
patents;" but a petition was agreed to and transmitted, acknowledging
their satisfaction at his having taken the plantation into his more
especial care, beseeching him to continue the then form of government,
to confirm to Virginia and the Somers isles, the sole importation of
tobacco, and soliciting that, if the promised aid of soldiers should
be granted them, the governor and assembly might have a voice in
directing their operations.
Virginia having thus become a royal government, the King issued a
special commission, appointing a governor and twelve councillors, to
whom the entire direction of the affairs of the province was
committed. No assembly was mentioned, nor was it intended to permit
the continuance of that body, for, to the popular shape of the late
system, James attributed the disasters of the colony. But some
attention to their interests, was mingled with this subversion of
political liberty. Yielding to the petitions of the English parliament
and of the colonists, he issued a proclamation prohibiting the growth
of tobacco in the kingdom, and the importation of it into England or
Ireland, except from Virginia, or the Somers isles, and in vessels
belonging to his subjects. His death prevented the completion of a
legislative code for the colony, which he had commenced, and which he
flattered himself, would remedy all the ills that had been
experienced.
[Sidenote: Charles I.]
[Sidenote: Arbitrary measures of the crown.]
{1625}
Charles I. adopted, in its full extent, the colonial system of his
father. He committed to Sir George Yeardly, whom he appointed governor
of Virginia, and to his council, the whole legislative and executive
powers of the colony, with instructions to conform exactly to orders
which should be received from him. They were empowered to make laws
and to execute them; to impose taxes, and to enforce the payment of
them; to seize the property of the late company; and to apply it to
the public use; and to transport the colonists to England, to be
punished there for crimes committed in Virginia. To complete this
hateful system, the crown exacted a monopoly of the tobacco trade, and
appointed agents, to whose management that article was entirely
committed.[38]
[Footnote 38: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1629}
[Sidenote: Sir John Harvey.]
{1636}
The full pressure of these arbitrary regulations was not felt till Sir
John Harvey, on the Sir John death of Sir George Yeardly, was
appointed governor of Virginia. The mind of this gentleman is
represented by the historians of the day, as having been of a
structure to make even tyranny more odious. Rapacious, haughty, and
unfeeling, he exercised his powers in the most offensive manner.
Respect for his commission, suppressed opposition to his authority for
several years. Roused, at length, almost to madness by oppression, the
Virginians, in a fit of popular rage, seized their governor, and sent
him a prisoner to England, accompanied by two deputies charged with
the duty of representing their grievances, and his misconduct.
{1637}
Charles deemed it necessary to discountenance this summary and violent
proceeding, so entirely incompatible with that implicit obedience
which he had ever exacted from his subjects. The deputies of the
colony were sternly received; no inquiry appears to have been made
into the conduct of Harvey; and, early in the succeeding year, he was
sent back to Virginia, invested with all his former powers.[39]
[Footnote 39: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
The time, however, approached, when a new system of administration was
to be adopted. The discontents of the nation, and his own wants,
obliged Charles to determine on convening a parliament. He was
probably unwilling to increase the ill temper resulting from his
maladministration at home, by bringing before the representatives of
the people, complaints of the despotism which had been exercised in
America.
[Sidenote: Sir William Berkeley.]
[Sidenote: Provincial assembly restored.]
To this change of circumstances may be ascribed the appointment of Sir
William Berkeley to succeed Harvey as governor of Virginia. In almost
every respect, this gentleman was unlike his predecessor. Highly
respectable for his rank and abilities, he was still more
distinguished by his integrity, by the mildness of his temper, and by
the gentleness of his manners. To complete the satisfaction of the
colonists, he was empowered and directed to summon the burgesses of
all the plantations, to meet the governor and council in the general
assembly, and thereby to restore to the people their share in the
government. These changes had such an effect in Virginia that, when
afterward informed of a petition presented in the name of the assembly
to parliament, "praying for the restoration of the ancient patents,
and corporation government," the general assembly not only transmitted
an explicit disavowal of it, but sent an address to the King,
expressing their high sense of his favour towards them, and earnestly
desiring to continue under his immediate protection. During the civil
war, as well as after the establishment of the commonwealth, they
continued firm in their attachment to the royal family.
{1650}
The House of Commons, however, having succeeded in the establishment
of its power over England, was not disposed to permit its authority to
be questioned in Virginia. An ordinance was passed, declaring that, as
the colonies were settled at the cost and by the people of England,
"they are and ought to be subordinate to, and dependent on, that
nation; and subject to such law and regulations as are or shall be
made by parliament. That in Virginia and other places, the powers of
government had been usurped by persons who had set themselves up in
opposition to the commonwealth, who were therefore denounced as rebels
and traitors; and all foreign vessels were forbidden to enter the
ports of any of the English settlements in America." As the men who
then governed were not in the habit of making empty declarations, the
council of state was empowered to send a fleet to enforce obedience to
parliament.[40]
[Footnote 40: Robertson. Chalmer.]
{1651}
Sir George Ayscue was accordingly detached with a powerful squadron,
and was instructed to endeavour, by gentle means, to bring the
colonists to obedience; but, if these failed, to use force, and to
give freedom to such servants and slaves of those who should resist,
as would serve in the troops under his command. After reducing
Barbadoes, and the other islands to submission, the squadron entered
the Chesapeak. Berkeley, having hired a few Dutch ships which were
then trading to Virginia, made a gallant resistance; but, unable long
to maintain so unequal a contest, he yielded to superior force, having
first stipulated for a general amnesty. He then withdrew to a retired
situation where, beloved and respected by the people, he resided as a
private man, until a counter revolution called him, once more, to
preside over the colony.[41]
[Footnote 41: Robertson. Chalmer.]
After the revocation of the charter, it became more easy to obtain
large grants of land. This circumstance, notwithstanding the tyranny
of the provincial government, promoted emigration, and considerably
increased the population of the colony. At the commencement of the
civil war, Virginia was supposed to contain about twenty thousand
souls.[42]
[Footnote 42: Idem.]
[Sidenote: Charles II. proclaimed in Virginia.]
While the ordinance of 1650, forbidding all trade between the colonies
and foreign nations, was dispensed with in favour of republican New
England, it was rigorously enforced against the loyal colony of
Virginia. These restrictions were the more burdensome, because England
did not then furnish a sufficient market for all the produce, nor a
supply for all the wants of the colonies. This severity was not
calculated to detach the affections of the people from the royal
family. Their discontents were cherished, too, by the great number of
cavaliers who had fled to Virginia after the total defeat of their
party in England. Taking advantage of an interregnum occasioned by the
sudden death of governor Matthews, the people resolved to throw off
their forced allegiance to the commonwealth, and called on Sir William
Berkeley to resume the government. He required only their solemn
promise to venture their lives and fortunes with him in support of
their King. This being readily given, Charles II. was proclaimed in
Virginia, before intelligence had been received of the death of
Cromwell. His restoration was soon afterwards effected in England; and
this rash measure not only escaped chastisement, but became a
meritorious service of which Virginia long boasted, and which was not
entirely forgotten by the Prince.[43]
[Footnote 43: Robertson. Chalmer.]
At the restoration, the colony contained about thirty thousand
persons.
One of the causes which, during the government of Harvey, had
disquieted Virginia, was the diminution of territory occasioned by
grants of great tracts of country lying within the limits of the
colony. The most remarkable of these was the grant of Maryland to Lord
Baltimore.
[Sidenote: Maryland.]
In June 1632, Charles I. granted to that nobleman for ever, "that
region bounded by a line drawn from Watkin's Point on Chesapeak bay,
to the ocean on the east; thence, to that part of the estuary of
Delaware on the north, which lieth under the 40th degree, where New
England is terminated; thence, in a right line, by the degree
aforesaid, to the meridian of the fountain of the Potowmac; thence,
following its course, by the farther bank to its confluence." The
territory described in this grant was denominated Maryland, and was
separated entirely from Virginia. The proprietor was empowered, with
the assent of the freemen, or their delegates, whom he was required to
assemble for that purpose, to make all laws for the government of the
new colony, not inconsistent with the laws of England. Privileges, in
other respects analogous to those given to the other colonies, were
comprised in this charter; and it is remarkable that it contains no
clause obliging the proprietary to submit the laws which might be
enacted to the King, for his approbation or dissent; nor any
reservation of the right of the crown to interfere in the government
of the province.[44]
[Footnote 44: Chalmer. Robertson.]
This is the first example of the dismemberment of a colony, and the
creation of another within its original limits, by the mere act of the
crown.
{1633}
The first migration into the new colony consisted of about two hundred
gentlemen with their adherents, chiefly Roman Catholics, who sailed
from England under Calvert, the brother of the proprietor, in
November, and, early in the following year, landed in Maryland, near
the mouth of the Potowmac. Their first effort was to conciliate the
good will of the natives, whose town they purchased, and called St.
Mary's. This measure was as wise as it was just. By obtaining the
peaceable possession of land already prepared for cultivation, the
Marylanders were enabled to raise their food immediately; and this
circumstance, together with their neighbourhood to Virginia, where the
necessaries of life were then raised in abundance, secured them from
famine and its concomitant diseases;--afflictions which had swept away
such numbers of the first settlers of North America.
The inhabitants of Virginia presented a petition against the grant to
Lord Baltimore, which was heard before the privy council in July,
1633. The decision was in favour of the continuance of the patent;
leaving to the petitioners their remedy at law. To prevent farther
differences, free commerce was permitted between the colonies; and
they were enjoined to receive no fugitives from each other; to do no
act which might bring on a war with the natives; and on all occasions
to assist each other as became fellow subjects of the same state.
{1635}
[Sidenote: Assembly of all the freemen.]
{1638}
[Sidenote: William Clayborne.]
In February 1635, the first assembly of Maryland was convened. It
appears to have been composed of the whole body of the freemen. Their
acts were, most probably, not approved by the proprietor, who
transmitted, in turn, for their consideration, a code of laws prepared
by himself. This code was laid before the assembly who rejected it
without hesitation, and prepared a body of regulations adapted to
their situation. Among these was an act of attainder against William
Clayborne, who was charged with felony and sedition, with having
exercised the powers of government within the province without
authority, and with having excited the Indians to make war on the
colony.[45]
[Footnote 45: Chalmer.]
As early as the year 1631, Charles had granted a license to William
Clayborne, one of the council and secretary of state of Virginia, "to
traffic in those parts of America for which there is already no patent
granted for sole trade." To enforce this license, Harvey, then
governor of Virginia, had granted his commission also, containing the
same powers. Under this license and commission, Clayborne made a small
settlement in the isle of Kent, near Annapolis, which he continued to
claim; and refused to submit to the jurisdiction of Maryland. Not
content with infusing his own turbulent spirit into the inhabitants of
Kent island, he scattered jealousies among the natives, and persuaded
them that "the new comers" were Spaniards, and enemies of the
Virginians. Having been indicted, and found guilty of murder, piracy,
and sedition, he fled from justice; whereupon his estate was seized
and confiscated. Clayborne loudly denounced these proceedings as
oppressive, and complained of them to his sovereign. At the same time,
he prayed for a confirmation of his former license to trade, and for a
grant of other lands adjoining the isle of Kent, with power to govern
them. The lords commissioners of the colonies, to whom this subject
was referred, determined that the lands in question belonged to Lord
Baltimore; and that no plantation, or trade with the Indians, within
the limits of his patent, ought to be allowed, without his permission.
The other complaints made by Clayborne were not deemed proper for the
interference of government.
{1639}
Hitherto, the legislature had been composed of the whole body of the
freemen. But the increase of population, and the extension of
settlements, having rendered the exercise of the sovereign power by
the people themselves intolerably burdensome, an act was passed, in
1639, "for establishing the House of Assembly." This act declared that
those elected should be called burgesses, and should supply the place
of the freemen who chose them, as do the representatives in the
Parliament of England. These burgesses, with others called by special
writ, together with the governor and secretary, were to constitute the
General Assembly; but the two branches of the legislature were to sit
in the same chamber. In 1650, this last regulation was changed; and an
act was passed declaring that those called by special writ should form
the upper house, while those chosen by the hundreds should compose the
lower house; and that bills assented to by both branches of the
legislature and by the governor, should be deemed the laws of the
province.
{1641}
Perfect harmony prevailed between the proprietor and the people; and
Maryland, attentive to its own affairs, remained in a state of
increasing prosperity until the civil war broke out in England. This
government, like that of Virginia, was attached to the royal cause;
but Clayborne, who took part with the Parliament, found means to
intrigue among the people, and to raise an insurrection in the
province. Calvert, the governor, was obliged to fly to Virginia for
protection; and the insurgents seized the reins of government. After
the suppression of this revolt, and the restoration of tranquillity,
an act of general pardon and oblivion was passed, from the benefits of
which only a few leading individuals were excepted; but this, like
most other insurrections, produced additional burdens on the people
which did not so soon pass away. A duty, for seven years, of ten
shillings on every hundred weight of tobacco exported in Dutch
bottoms, was granted to the proprietor; the one-half of which was
appropriated to satisfy claims produced by the recovery and defence of
the province.[46]
[Footnote 46: Chalmer.]
{1651}
This state of repose was disturbed by the superintending care of
Parliament. In September 1651, commissioners were appointed "for
reducing and governing the colonies within the bay of Chesapeak."
Among them was Clayborne, the evil genius of Maryland. As the
proprietor had acknowledged and submitted to the authority of
Parliament, he was permitted to govern the colony in the name of "the
keepers of the liberties of England;" but could not long retain the
possession of actual authority. The distractions of England, having
found their way into Maryland, divided the colonists; and the
commissioners supported with their countenance, the faction opposed to
the established government. The contentions generated by this state of
things, at length broke out in a civil war, which terminated in the
defeat of the governor and the Roman Catholics. A new assembly was
convened, which, being entirely under the influence of the victorious
party, passed an act declaring that none who professed the popish
religion could be protected in the province by the laws; that such as
profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, although dissenting from the
doctrine and discipline publicly held forth, should not be restrained
from the exercise of their religion, provided such liberty was not
extended to popery, or prelacy, or to such as, under the profession of
Christ, practise licentiousness. Other laws in the same spirit were
enacted; and a persecution was commenced against the Quakers, as well
as against those guilty of popery, and prelacy.
A scene of revolutionary turbulence ensued, in the course of which a
resolution was passed declaring the upper house to be useless, which
continued in force until the restoration. Philip Calvert was then
appointed governor by Lord Baltimore, and the ancient order of things
was restored. The colony, notwithstanding these commotions, continued
to flourish; and, at the restoration, its population was estimated at
twelve thousand souls.
CHAPTER III.
First ineffectual attempts of the Plymouth company to settle
the country.... Settlement at New Plymouth.... Sir Henry
Rosewell and company.... New charter.... Settlements
prosecuted vigorously.... Government transferred to the
colonists.... Boston founded.... Religious intolerance....
General court established.... Royal commission for the
government of the plantations.... Contest with the French
colony of Acadié.... Hugh Peters.... Henry Vane.... Mrs.
Hutchinson.... Maine granted to Gorges.... Quo warranto
against the patent of the colony.... Religious
dissensions.... Providence settled.... Rhode Island
settled.... Connecticut settled.... War with the Piquods....
New Haven settled.
{1606}
The steps by which the first, or southern colony, advanced to a firm
and permanent establishment, were slow and painful. The company for
founding the second, or northern colony, was composed of gentlemen
residing in Plymouth, and other parts of the west of England; was less
wealthy, and possessed fewer resources than the first company, which
resided in the capital. Their efforts were consequently more feeble,
and less successful, than those which were made in the south.[47]
[Footnote 47: Robertson.]
{1607}
{1608}
{1614}
The first vessel fitted out by this company was captured and
confiscated by the Spaniards, who, at that time, asserted a right to
exclude the ships of all other nations from navigating the American
seas. Not discouraged by this misfortune, the company in the following
year dispatched two other vessels, having on board about two hundred
persons designed to form the proposed settlement. The colonists
arrived safely on the American coast in autumn, and took possession of
a piece of ground near the river Sagahadoc, where they built fort St.
George. Their sufferings during the ensuing winter were extreme. Many
of the company, among whom were Gilbert their admiral, and George
Popham their president, sank under the diseases by which they were
attacked; and the vessels which brought them supplies in the following
spring, brought also the information that their principal patron, Sir
John Popham, chief justice of England, was dead. Discouraged by their
losses and sufferings, and by the death of a person on whom they
relied chiefly for assistance, the surviving colonists determined to
abandon the country, and embark on board the vessels then returning to
England. The frightful pictures they drew of the country, and of the
climate, deterred the company, for some time, from farther attempts to
make a settlement, and their enterprizes were limited to voyages for
the purposes of taking fish, and of trading with the natives for furs.
One of these was made by captain Smith, so distinguished in the
history of Virginia. Having explored, with great accuracy, that part
of the coast which stretches from Penobscot to Cape Cod, he delineated
it on a map; which he presented to the young Prince of Wales, with
descriptions dictated by a sanguine mind, in which enthusiasm was
combined with genius. The imagination of the Prince was so wrought
upon by the glowing colours in which Smith painted the country, that
he declared it should be called New England, which name it has ever
since retained.[48]
[Footnote 48: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
The languishing company of Plymouth, however, could not be stimulated
to engage in farther schemes of colonisation, the advantages of which
were distant and uncertain, while the expense was immediate and
inevitable. To a stronger motive than even interest, is New England
indebted for its first settlement.
An obscure sect, which had acquired the appellation of Brownists from
the name of its founder, and which had rendered itself peculiarly
obnoxious by the democracy of its tenets respecting church government,
had been driven by persecution to take refuge at Leyden in Holland,
where its members formed a distinct society under the care of their
pastor, Mr. John Robinson. There they resided several years in safe
obscurity. This situation, at length, became irksome to them. Their
families intermingled with the Dutch, and they saw before them, with
extreme apprehension, the danger of losing their separate identity.
Under the influence of these and other causes, they came to the
determination of removing in a body to America.
{1618}
They applied to the London company for a grant of lands; and, to
promote the success of their application by the certainty of their
emigrating, they said, "that they were well weaned from the delicate
milk of their mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a
strange land. That they were knit together in a strict and sacred
bond, by virtue of which they held themselves bound to take care of
the good of each other, and of the whole. That it was not with them,
as with other men, whom small things could discourage, or small
discontents cause to wish themselves at home again." The only
privilege on which they insisted, was a license under the great seal,
to practise and profess religion in that mode, which, under the
impulse of conscience, they had adopted. This reasonable and moderate
request was refused. James had already established the church of
England in Virginia; and, although he promised to connive at their
non-conformity, and not to molest them while they demeaned themselves
peaceably, he positively refused to give that explicit and solemn
pledge of security, which they required. This, for a short time,
suspended their removal; but the causes of their discontent in Holland
continuing, they, at length, determined to trust to the verbal
declarations of the King, and negotiated with the Virginia company for
a tract of land within the limits of their patent.[49]
[Footnote 49: Robertson.]
{1620}
[Sidenote: Settlement at New Plymouth.]
In September, they sailed from England, with only one hundred and
twenty men, in a single ship. Their destination was Hudson's river;
but the first land they made was Cape Cod. They soon perceived that
they were not only beyond their own limits, but beyond those of the
company from which they derived their title; but it was now the month
of November, and consequently too late in the season again to put to
sea in search of a new habitation. After exploring the coast, they
chose a position for their station, to which they gave the name of New
at New Plymouth. On the 11th of November, before landing, a solemn
covenant was signed by the heads of families, and freemen, in which,
after reciting that they had undertaken to plant a colony for the
glory of God, and for the honour of their King and country, and
professing their loyalty to their sovereign Lord King James, they
combined themselves into a body politic, for the purpose of making
equal laws for the general good.[50]
[Footnote 50: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
Having thus formed a compact, the obligation of which all admitted,
they proceeded to the choice of a governor for one year; and to enable
him the better to discharge the trust confided to him, they gave him
one assistant. In 1624, three others were added; and the number was
afterwards increased to seven. The supreme power resided in, and,
during the infancy of the colony, was exercised by, the whole body of
the male inhabitants. They assembled together, occasionally, to
determine on all subjects of public concern; nor was a house of
representatives established until the year 1639. They adopted the laws
of England as a common rule of action, adding occasionally municipal
regulations. Some of the changes in their penal code strongly marked
their character and circumstances. While only a moderate fine was
imposed on forgery, fornication was punished with whipping, and
adultery with death.[51]
[Footnote 51: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
Misguided by their religious theories, they fell into the same error
which had been committed in Virginia, and, in imitation of the
primitive Christians, threw all their property into a common stock,
laboured jointly for the common benefit, and were fed from the common
stores. This regulation produced, even in this small and enthusiastic
society, its constant effect. They were often in danger of starving;
and severe whipping, administered to promote labour, only increased
discontent.
The colonists landed at a season of the year which was unfavourable to
the establishment of a new settlement. The winter, which was intensely
cold, had already commenced; and they were not in a condition to
soften its rigours. Before the return of spring, fifty of them
perished with maladies increased by the hardships to which they were
exposed, by the scarcity of food, and by the almost total privation of
those comforts to which they had been accustomed. The survivors, as
the season moderated, encountered new difficulties. Their attention to
the means of providing for their future wants was interrupted by the
necessity of taking up arms to defend themselves against the
neighbouring savages. Fortunately for the colonists, the natives had
been so wasted by pestilence, the preceding year, that they were
easily subdued, and compelled to accept a peace, on equitable terms.
The colonists were supported, under these multiplied distresses, by
the hope of better times, and by that high gratification which men
exasperated by persecution and oppression, derived from the enjoyment
of the rights of conscience, and the full exercise of the powers of
self-government. From their friends in England, they received
occasional but scanty supplies; and continued to struggle against
surrounding difficulties, with patience and perseverance. They
remained in peace, alike exempt from the notice and oppression of
government. Yet, in consequence of the unproductiveness of their soil,
and their adherence to the pernicious policy of a community of goods
and of labour, they increased more slowly than the other colonies;
and, in the year 1630, amounted to only three hundred souls.
Until the year 1630, they possessed no other title to their lands than
is derived from occupancy. In that year they obtained a grant from the
New Plymouth company, but were never incorporated as a body politic by
royal charter. Having received no powers from the parliament or King,
and being totally disregarded by the Plymouth company, they remained a
mere voluntary association, yielding obedience to laws, and to
magistrates, formed and chosen by themselves. In this situation they
continued undisturbed, and almost unknown, more tolerant and more
moderate than their neighbours, until their union with a younger, and
more powerful sister, who advanced with a growth unusually rapid to a
state of maturity.[52]
[Footnote 52: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
The original company of Plymouth, having done nothing effectual
towards settling the territory which had been granted to them, and
being unable to preserve the monopoly of their trade and fisheries,
applied to James for a new and more enlarged patent. On the 3d of
November, he granted that territory which lies between the 40th and
48th degrees of north latitude to the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of
Buckingham, and several others, in absolute property; and incorporated
them under the name of "the council established at Plymouth, for
planting and governing that country called New England;" with
jurisdiction and powers similar to those which had before been
conferred on the companies of south and north Virginia, and especially
that of excluding all other persons whatever from trading within their
boundaries and fishing in the neighbouring seas. This improvident
grant, which excited the indignation of the people of England, then
deeply interested in the fur trade and fisheries, soon engaged the
attention, and received the censure of parliament. The patentees were
compelled to relinquish their odious monopoly; and, being thus
deprived of the funds on which they had relied to furnish the expense
of supporting new settlements, they abandoned the design of attempting
them. New England might have remained long unoccupied by Europeans,
had not the same causes, which occasioned the emigration of the
Brownists, still continued to operate. The persecution to which the
puritans were exposed, increased their zeal and their numbers. In
despair of obtaining at home a relaxation of those rigorous penal
statutes under which they had long smarted, they looked elsewhere for
that toleration which was denied them in their native land.
Understanding that their brethren in New Plymouth were permitted to
worship their creator according to the dictates of conscience, their
attention was directed towards the same coast; and several small
emigrations were made, at different times, to Massachusetts bay; so
termed from the name of the Sachem who was sovereign of the country.
{1627}
[Sidenote: Sir Henry Rosewell and others.]
Mr. White, a non-conforming minister at Dorchester, formed an
association of several gentlemen, who had imbibed puritanical
opinions, for the purpose of conducting a colony to the bay of
Massachusetts, and rendering it an asylum for the persecuted of his
own persuasion. In prosecution of these views, a treaty was concluded
with the council of Plymouth for the purchase of part of New England;
and that corporation, in March 1627, sold to Sir Henry Rosewell and
others, all that part of New England lying three miles to the south of
Charles river, and three miles north of Merrimack river, and extending
from the Atlantic to the South sea. A small number of planters and
servants were, soon afterwards, dispatched under Endicot, who, in
September, laid the foundation of Salem, the first permanent town in
Massachusetts.[53]
[Footnote 53: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
{1628}
The purchasers perceived their inability to accomplish the settlement
of the extensive regions they had acquired, without the aid of more
opulent partners. These were soon found in the capital; but they
required that a new charter should be obtained from the crown,
comprehending their names, which should confirm the grant to the
council of Plymouth, and confer on the grantees the powers of
government. So seldom is man instructed by the experience of others,
that, disregarding the lessons furnished by Virginia, they likewise
required that the supreme authority should be vested in persons
residing in London. The proprietors having acceded to these
requisitions, application was made to Charles for a patent conforming
to them, which issued on the 4th day of March, 1628.
This charter incorporated the grantees by the name of "The governor
and company of Massachusetts bay in New England."
The whole executive power was vested in a governor, a deputy governor,
and eighteen assistants; to be named, in the first instance, by the
crown, and afterwards elected by the company. The governor, and seven,
or more, of the assistants, were authorised to meet in monthly courts,
for the dispatch of such business as concerned the company, or
settlement. The legislative power was vested in the body of the
proprietors, who were to assemble four times a year in person, under
the denomination of the general court; and besides electing freemen,
and the necessary officers of the company, were empowered to make
ordinances for the good of the community, and the government of the
plantation and its inhabitants; provided they should not be repugnant
to the laws of England. Their lands were to be holden in free and
common soccage; and the same temporary exemption from taxes, and from
duties on exports and imports, which had been granted to the colony of
Virginia, was accorded to them. As in the charter of Virginia, so in
this, the colonists and their descendants were declared to be entitled
to all the rights and privileges of natural born subjects.
The patent being obtained, the governor and council engaged with
ardour in the duties assigned them. To support the expenses of a fresh
embarkation, it was resolved that every person subscribing fifty
pounds, should be entitled to two hundred acres of land as the first
dividend. Five vessels sailed in May, carrying about two hundred
persons, who reached Salem in June. At that place they found Endicot,
to whom they brought a confirmation of his commission as governor. The
colony consisted of three hundred persons, one hundred of whom removed
to Charlestown.
Religion, which had stimulated them to remove from their native land,
became the first object of their care in the country they had adopted.
Being zealous puritans, they concurred in the institution of a church,
establishing that form of policy, which has since been denominated
independent. A confession of faith was drawn up to which the majority
assented; and an association was formed in which they covenanted with
the Lord, and with each other, to walk together in all his ways, as he
should be pleased to reveal himself to them. Pastors, and other
ecclesiastical officers, were chosen, who were installed into their
sacred offices, by the imposition of the hands of the brethren.[54]
[Footnote 54: Robertson.]
A church being thus formed, several were received as members who gave
an account of their faith and hope as Christians; and those only were
admitted into the communion, whose morals and religious tenets were
approved by the elders.[55]
[Footnote 55: Robertson.]
{1629}
Pleased with the work of their hands, and believing it to be perfect,
they could tolerate no difference of opinion. Just escaped from
persecution, they became persecutors themselves. Some few of their
number, attached to the ritual of the church of England, were
dissatisfied with its total abolition; and, withdrawing from communion
with the church, met apart, to worship God in the manner they deemed
most proper. At the head of this small number were two of the first
patentees, who were also of the council. They were called before the
governor, who, being of opinion that their non-conformity and
conversation tended to sedition, sent them to England. The opposition
ceased when deprived of its leaders.[56]
[Footnote 56: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
[Sidenote: Government transferred to Massachusetts bay.]
The following winter brought with it the calamities which must be
uniformly sustained by the first emigrants into a wilderness, where
the cold is severe, and the privations almost universal. In the course
of it, nearly half their number perished, "lamenting that they did not
live to see the rising glories of the faithful." The fortitude,
however, of the survivors, was not shaken; nor were their brethren in
England deterred from joining them. Religion supported the colonists
under all their difficulties; and the intolerant spirit of the English
hierarchy diminished, in the view of the puritans in England, the
dangers and the sufferings to be encountered in America; and disposed
them to forego every other human enjoyment, for the consoling
privilege of worshipping the Supreme Being according to their own
opinions. Many persons of fortune determined to seek in the new world
that liberty of conscience which was denied them in the old; but,
foreseeing the misrule inseparable from the residence of the
legislative power in England, they demanded, as preliminary to their
emigration, that the powers of government should be transferred to New
England, and be exercised in the colony. The company had already
incurred expenses for which they saw no prospect of a speedy
reimbursement; and although they doubted the legality of the measure,
were well disposed by adopting it, to obtain such important aid. A
general court was therefore convened, by whom it was unanimously
resolved "that the patent should be transferred, and the government of
the colony removed from London to Massachusetts bay." It was also
agreed that the members of the corporation remaining in England,
should retain a share in the trading stock and profits for the term of
seven years.[57]
[Footnote 57: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
{1630}
[Sidenote: Boston founded.]
Such was the effect of this revolution in the system of government,
that, early in the following year, fifteen hundred persons, among whom
were several of family and fortune, embarked, at an expense of upwards
of twenty thousand pounds, and arrived at Salem in July. Dissatisfied
with this situation, they explored the country in quest of better
stations; and, settling in many places around the bay, they laid the
foundation of several towns, and, among others, of Boston.
{1631}
The difficulty of obtaining subsistence, the difference of their food
from that to which they had been accustomed, the intense cold of the
winter, against which sufficient provision was not yet made, were
still severely felt by the colonists, and still carried many of them
to the grave; but that enthusiasm which had impelled them to emigrate,
preserved all its force; and they met, with a firm unshaken spirit,
the calamities which assailed them. Our admiration of their fortitude
and of their principles, sustains, however, some diminution from
observing the sternness with which they denied to others that civil
and religious liberty which, through so many dangers and hardships,
they sought for themselves. Their general court decreed that none
should be admitted as freemen, or permitted to vote at elections, or
be capable of being chosen as magistrates, or of serving as jurymen,
but such as had been received into the church as members. Thus did men
who had braved every hardship for freedom of conscience, deny the
choicest rights of humanity, to all those who dissented from the
opinion of the majority on any article of faith, or point of church
discipline.
{1633}
The numerous complaints of the severities exercised by the government
of Massachusetts, added to the immense emigration of persons noted for
their enthusiasm, seem, at length, to have made some impression on
Charles; and an order was made by the King in council, to stop the
ships at that time ready to sail, freighted with passengers for New
England. This order, however, seems never to have been strictly
executed, as the emigrations continued without any sensible
diminution.
{1634}
Hitherto the legislature had been composed of the whole body of the
freemen. Under this system, so favourable to the views of the few who
possess popular influence, the real power of the state had been
chiefly engrossed by the governor and assistants, aided by the clergy.
The emigration, however, having already been considerable, and the
settlements having become extensive, it was found inconvenient, if not
impracticable, longer to preserve a principle which their charter
enjoined. In the year 1634, by common consent, the people elected
delegates who met the governor and council, and constituted the
general court. This important improvement in their system, rendered
familiar, and probably suggested, by the practice in the mother
country, although not authorised by the charter, remained unaltered,
so long as that charter was permitted to exist.[58]
[Footnote 58: Robertson. Chalmer. Hutchison.]
[Sidenote: Commission for the government of the plantations.]
{1635}
The colony of Massachusetts having been conducted, from its
commencement, very much on the plan of an independent society, at
length attracted the partial notice of the jealous administration in
England; and a commission for "the regulation and government of the
plantations" was issued to the great officers of state, and to some of
the nobility, in which absolute power was granted to the archbishop of
Canterbury and to others, "to make laws and constitutions concerning
either their state public, or the utility of individuals." The
commissioners were authorised to support the clergy by assigning them
"tithes, oblations, and other profits, according to their discretion;
to inflict punishment on those who should violate their ordinances; to
remove governors of plantations, and to appoint others; and to
constitute tribunals and courts of justice, ecclesiastical and civil,
with such authority and form as they should think proper;" but their
laws were not to take effect until they had received the royal assent,
and had been proclaimed in the colonies. The commissioners were also
constituted a committee to hear complaints against a colony, its
governor or other officers, with power to remove the offender to
England for punishment. They were farther directed to cause the
revocation of such letters patent, granted for the establishment of
colonies, as should, upon inquiry, be found to have been unduly
obtained, or to contain a grant of liberties hurtful to the royal
prerogative.[59]
[Footnote 59: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
From the first settlement at Salem, the colony of Massachusetts had
cultivated the friendship of their neighbours of New Plymouth. The
bonds of mutual amity were now rendered more strict, not only by some
appearances of a hostile disposition among the natives, but by another
circumstance which excited alarm in both colonies.
The voyages for discovery and settlement, made by the English and
French, to the coast of North America, having been nearly
cotemporaneous, their conflicting claims soon brought them into
collision with each other. The same lands were granted by the
sovereigns of both nations; and, under these different grants, actual
settlements had been made by the French as far south and west as St.
Croix, and, by the English, as far north and east as Penobscot. During
the war with France, which broke out early in the reign of Charles I.,
that monarch granted a commission to captain Kirk for the conquest of
the countries in America occupied by the French; under which, in 1629,
Canada and Acadié were subdued; but, by the treaty of St. Germains,
those places were restored to France without any description of their
limits; and Fort Royal, Quebec, and Cape Breton, were severally
surrendered by name. In 1632, a party of French from Acadié committed
a robbery on a trading house established at Penobscot by the people of
New Plymouth. With the intelligence of this fact, information was also
brought that cardinal Richelieu had ordered some companies to Acadié,
and that more were expected the next year, with priests, Jesuits, and
other formidable accompaniments, for a permanent settlement. The
governor of Acadié established a military post at Penobscot, and, at
the same time wrote to the governor of New Plymouth stating, that he
had orders to displace the English as far as Pemaquid. Not being
disposed to submit quietly to this invasion of territory, the
government of New Plymouth undertook an expedition for the recovery of
the fort at Penobscot, consisting of an English ship of war under the
command of captain Girling, and a bark with twenty men belonging to
the colony. The garrison received notice of this armament, and
prepared for its reception by fortifying and strengthening the fort;
in consequence of which Girling, after expending his ammunition and
finding himself too weak to attempt the works by assault, applied to
Massachusetts for aid. That colony agreed to furnish one hundred men,
and to bear the expense of the expedition by private subscription; but
a sufficient supply of provisions, even for this small corps, could
not be immediately obtained, and the expedition was abandoned. Girling
returned, and the French retained possession of Penobscot till 1654.
The apprehensions entertained of these formidable neighbours
contributed, in no small degree, to cement the union between
Massachusetts and Plymouth.[60]
[Footnote 60: Hutchison.]
{1636}
Two persons, afterwards distinguished in English annals, arrived this
year in Boston. One was Hugh Peters, the coadjutor and chaplain of
Oliver Cromwell; the other was Mr. Henry Vane, the son of Sir Henry
Vane, who was, at that time a privy councillor of great credit with
the King. The mind of this young gentleman was so deeply imbued with
the political and religious opinions of the puritans, that he appeared
ready to sacrifice, for the enjoyment of them, all his bright
prospects in his native land. His mortified exterior, his grave and
solemn deportment, his reputation for piety and wisdom, his strong
professions of attachment to liberty and to the public good, added to
his attention to some of the leading members in the church, won
rapidly the affections of the people, and he was chosen their
governor.
His administration commenced with more external pomp than had been
usual, or would seem to be congenial either with his own professions,
or with the plain and simple manners of the people whom he governed.
When going to court or church, he was always preceded by two sergeants
who walked with their halberts. Yet his popularity sustained no
diminution, until the part he took in the religious controversies of
the country detached from him many of its most judicious
inhabitants.[61]
[Footnote 61: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
Independent of the meetings for public worship on every Sunday, of the
stated lecture in Boston on every Thursday, and of occasional lectures
in other towns, there were frequent meetings of the brethren of the
churches, for religious exercises. Mrs. Hutchinson, who had been much
flattered by the attentions of the governor, and of Mr. Cotton, one of
the most popular of the clergy; who added eloquence to her enthusiasm,
and whose husband was among the most respected men of the country;
dissatisfied with the exclusion of her sex from the private meetings
of the brethren, instituted a meeting of the sisters also, in which
she repeated the sermons of the preceding Sunday, accompanied with
remarks and expositions. These meetings were attended by a large
number of the most respectable of her sex; and her lectures were, for
a time, generally approved. At length she drew a distinction between
the ministers through the country. She designated a small number as
being under a covenant of grace; the others, as being under a covenant
of works. Contending for the necessity of the former, she maintained
that sanctity of life is no evidence of justification, or of favour
with God; and that the Holy Ghost dwells personally in such as are
justified. The whole colony was divided into two parties, equally
positive, on these abstruse points, whose resentments against each
other threatened the most serious calamities. Mr. Vane espoused, with
zeal, the wildest doctrines of Mrs. Hutchinson, and Mr. Cotton
decidedly favoured them. The lieutenant governor Mr. Winthrop, and the
majority of the churches, were of the opposite party. Many conferences
were held; days of fasting and humiliation were appointed; a general
synod was called; and, after violent dissensions, Mrs. Hutchinson's
opinions were condemned as erroneous, and she was banished. Many of
her disciples followed her. Vane, in disgust, quitted America;
unlamented even by those who had lately admired him. He was thought
too visionary; and is said to have been too enthusiastic even for the
enthusiasts of Massachusetts.
The patentees, having no common object to prosecute, resolved to
divide their lands; and, in the expectation of receiving a deed of
confirmation for the particular portion which fortune should allot to
each, cast lots, in the presence of James, for the shares each should
hold in severalty. They continued, however, to act some years longer
as a body politic, during which time, they granted various portions of
the country to different persons; and executed under the seal of the
corporation, deeds of feoffment for the lots drawn by each member of
the company; patents of confirmation for which were solicited, but
appear to have been granted only to Gorges, for Maine. The charter was
surrendered by the company and accepted by the crown.[62]
[Footnote 62: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
{1637}
Charles, in pursuance of his determination to take the government of
New England into his own hands, issued a proclamation directing that
none should be transported thither who had not the special license of
the crown, which should be granted to those only who had taken the
oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and had conformed to the discipline
of the church of England. This order, however, could not be completely
executed; and the emigrations, which were entirely of non-conformists,
still continued. Those who were disgusted with the ceremonials rigidly
exacted in England, estimated so highly the simple frame of church
policy established in Massachusetts, that numbers surmounted every
difficulty, to seek an asylum in this new Jerusalem. Among them were
men of the first political influence and mental attainments. Pym,
Hampden, Hazlerig, and Cromwell, with many others who afterwards
performed a conspicuous part in that revolution which brought the head
of Charles to the block, are said to have been actually on board a
vessel prepared to sail for New England, and to have been stopped by
the special orders of the privy council.[63]
[Footnote 63: Hume.]
{1638}
The commissioners for the regulation and government of the plantations
having reported that Massachusetts had violated its charter, a writ of
_quo warranto_ was issued, on which judgment was given in favour of
the crown. The process was never served on any member of the
corporation; and it is therefore probable that the judgment was not
final. The privy council however ordered the governor and company to
send their patent to England to be surrendered. The general court
answered this order by a petition to the commissioners in which they
said, "we dare not question your Lordship's proceedings in requiring
our patent to be sent unto you; we only desire to open our griefs; and
if in any thing we have offended his Majesty or your Lordships, we
humbly prostrate ourselves at the foot stool of supreme authority; we
are sincerely ready to yield all due obedience to both; we are not
conscious that we have offended in any thing, as our government is
according to law; we pray that we may be heard before condemnation,
and that we may be suffered to live in the wilderness." Fortunately
for the colonists, Charles and his commissioners found too much
employment at home, to have leisure for carrying into complete
execution, a system aimed at the subversions of what was most dear to
the hearts of Americans.
To the religious dissensions which distracted Massachusetts, and to
the rigour with which conformity was exacted, is to be attributed the
first settlement of the other colonies of New England. As early as the
year 1634, Roger Williams, a popular preacher at Salem, who had
refused to hold communion with the church at Boston, because its
members refused to make a public declaration of their repentance for
having held communion with the church of England during their
residence in that country, was charged with many exceptionable tenets.
Among several which mark his wild enthusiasm, one is found in total
opposition, to the spirit of the times and to the severity of his
other doctrines. He maintained, that to punish a man for any matter of
conscience is persecution, and that even papists and Arminians are
entitled to freedom of conscience in worship, provided the peace of
civil society be secured. The divines of Massachusetts, in opposition
to this doctrine, contended that they did not persecute men for
conscience, but corrected them for sinning against conscience; and so
they did not persecute, but punish heretics. This unintelligible
sophism not convincing Williams, he was, for this, and for his other
heresies, banished by the magistrates, as a disturber of the peace of
the church, and of the commonwealth.
[Illustration: Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1622
_From the painting by W.L. Williams_
_Here, under Governor Bradford, who directed their destiny for a
precarious quarter of a century, the Pilgrim Fathers strove
desperately to maintain a foothold in America, and several times were
on the point of abandoning the enterprise. To such straits were they
reduced, in 1622, a year after the death of Governor Carter, that half
rations were doled out, and when, in May of that year, a ship arrived
from England bearing encouraging letters to the Pilgrims, but no
substantial supplies, Governor Bradford remarked bitterly: "All this
is but cold comfort to fill hungry bellies."_]
[Sidenote: Providence settled.]
Many of his disciples followed him into exile, and, travelling south
until they passed the line of Massachusetts, purchased a tract of land
of the Narraghansetts, then a powerful tribe of Indians, where, in
1635, they made a settlement to which they gave the name of
Providence. After fixing the place of their future residence, they
entered into a voluntary association, and framed a government composed
of the whole body of freemen. After the manner of Massachusetts, they
created a church by collecting a religious society; but, as one of the
causes of their migration had been the tenet that all were entitled to
freedom of conscience in worship, entire toleration was established.
The new settlers cultivated with assiduity the good will of the
natives, with whom a long peace was preserved.[64]
[Footnote 64: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
[Sidenote: Rhode Island settled.]
The banishment of Williams was soon followed by that of Mrs.
Hutchinson. She was accompanied by many of her disciples, who,
pursuing the steps of Williams, and, arriving in his neighbourhood,
purchased a tract of land from the same tribe, and founded Rhode
Island. Imitating the conduct of their neighbours, they formed a
similar association for the establishment of civil government, and
adopted the same principles of toleration. In consequence of this
conduct the island soon became so populous as to furnish settlers for
the adjacent shores.[65]
[Footnote 65: Chalmer.]
{1634}
[Sidenote: Connecticut settled.]
{1636}
Connecticut too is a colony of Massachusetts. As early as the year
1634, several persons, among whom was Mr. Hooker, a favourite minister
of the church, applied to the general court of Massachusetts for
permission to pursue their fortunes in some new and better land. This
permission was not granted at that time; and, it being then the
received opinion that the oath of a freeman, as well as the original
compact, bound every member of the society so as not to leave him the
right to separate himself from it without the consent of the whole,
this emigration was suspended. The general court, however, did not
long withhold its assent. The country having been explored, and a
place selected on the west side of the river Connecticut, a commission
was granted to the petitioners to remove, on the condition of their
still continuing under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, some few
huts had been erected the preceding year in which a small number of
emigrants had wintered; and, the fall succeeding, about sixty persons
traversed the wilderness in families. In 1636, about one hundred
persons, led by Pynchon, Hooker, and Haynes, followed the first
emigrants, and founded the towns of Hartford, Springfield, and
Weathersfield. There are some peculiarities attending this commission
and this settlement, which deserve to be noticed.
The country to be settled was, confessedly, without the limits of
Massachusetts; yet Roger Ludlow was authorised to promulgate the
orders which might be necessary for the plantations; to inflict
corporal punishment, imprisonment, and fines; to determine all
differences in a judicial way; and to convene the inhabitants in a
general court, if it should be necessary. This signal exercise of
authority grew out of the principle, solemnly asserted by the general
court of Massachusetts, that the oath of fidelity to the commonwealth
was binding, although the person should no longer reside within its
limits.
There were other difficulties attending the title of the settlers. The
Dutch at Manhadoes, or New York, claimed a right to the river, as its
first discoverers. In addition to this hostile title, Lord Say and
Seal, and Lord Brooke, with some others, contemplating a retreat in
the new world from the despotism with which England was threatened,
had made choice of Connecticut river for that purpose, and had built a
fort at its mouth, called Saybrooke. The emigrants from Massachusetts,
however, kept possession; and proceeded to clear and cultivate the
country. They purchased the rights of Lord Say and Seal, and Lord
Brooke, and their partners; and the Dutch, being too feeble to
maintain their title by the sword, gradually receded from the river.
The emigrants, disclaiming the authority of Massachusetts, entered
into a voluntary association for the establishment of a government,
which, in its form, was like those established in the other colonies
of New England. The principal difference between their constitution
and that of Massachusetts was, that they imparted the right of freemen
to those who were not members of the Church.[66]
[Footnote 66: All the powers of government for nearly three
years, seem to have been in the magistrates. Two were
appointed in each town, who directed all the affairs of the
plantation. The freemen appear to have had no voice in
making the laws, or in any part of the government except in
some instances of general and uncommon concern. In these
instances committees were sent from the several towns to a
general meeting. During this term, juries seem not to have
been employed in any case.]
These new establishments gave great and just alarm to the Piquods, a
powerful tribe of Indians on the south of Massachusetts. They foresaw
their own ruin in this extension of the English settlements; and the
disposition excited by this apprehension soon displayed itself in
private murders, and other acts of hostility. With a policy suggested
by a strong sense of danger, they sought a reconciliation with the
Narraghansetts, their ancient enemies and rivals; and requested them
to forget their long cherished animosities, and to co-operate
cordially against a common enemy whose continuing encroachments
threatened to overwhelm both in one common destruction. Noticing the
rapid progress of the English settlements, they urged, with reason,
that, although a present friendship subsisted between the
Narraghansetts and the new comers, yet all, in turn, must be
dispossessed of their country, and this dangerous friendship could
promise no other good than the wretched privilege of being last
devoured.
[Sidenote: War with the Piquods.]
These representations could not efface from the bosoms of the
Narraghansetts, that deep rooted enmity which neighbours, not bound
together by ligaments of sufficient strength to prevent reciprocal
acts of hostility, too often feel for each other. Dreading still less
the power of a foreign nation, than that of men with whom they had
been in the habit of contending, they not only refused to join the
Piquods, but communicated their proposition to the government of
Massachusetts, with whom they formed an alliance against that tribe.
Open war being resolved on by both parties, Captain Underhill was sent
to the relief of fort Saybrooke which had been besieged by the
Indians; and the three colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth, and
Connecticut, agreed to march their united forces into the country of
the Piquods, to effect their entire destruction. The troops of
Connecticut were first in motion. Those of Massachusetts were detained
by the controversy concerning the covenant of works, and of grace,
which had insinuated itself into all the transactions of that colony.
Their little army, when collected, found itself divided by this
metaphysical point; and the stronger party, believing that the
blessing of God could not be expected to crown with success the arms
of such unhallowed men as their opponents in faith on this question,
refused to march until their small band was purified by expelling the
unclean, and introducing others whose tenets were unexceptionable.
While this operation was performing, the troops of Connecticut,
reinforced by a body of friendly Indians and by a small detachment
from Saybrooke, determined to march against the enemy. The Piquods had
taken two positions which they had surrounded with palisadoes, and had
resolved to defend. The nearest was on a small eminence surrounded by
a swamp near the head of Mystic river. Against this fort the first
attack was made. The Indians, deceived by a movement of the vessels
from Saybrooke to Narraghansett, believed the expedition to have been
abandoned; and celebrated, in perfect security, the supposed
evacuation of their country. About day-break, while they were asleep,
the English approached, and the surprise would have been complete, had
they not been alarmed by the barking of a dog. They immediately gave
the war whoop, and flew undismayed to arms. The English rushed to the
attack, forced their way through the works, and set fire to the Indian
wigwams. The confusion soon became general, and almost every man was
killed or taken.
Soon after this action, the troops of Massachusetts arrived, and it
was resolved to pursue the victory. Several skirmishes terminated
unfavourably to the Piquods; and, in a short time, they received
another total defeat, which put an end to the war. A few only of this
once powerful nation survived, who, abandoning their country,
dispersed themselves among the neighbouring tribes, and were
incorporated with them.[67]
[Footnote 67: Chalmer. Hutchison. Trumbull.]
This vigorous essay in arms of the New England colonists impressed on
the Indians a high opinion of their courage and military superiority;
but their victory was sullied with cruelties which cannot be
recollected without mingled regret and censure.
{1638}
Immediately after the termination of this war New Haven was settled.
[Sidenote: New Haven settled.]
A small emigration from England conducted by Eaton and Davenport,
arrived at Boston in June. Unwilling to remain where power and
influence were already in the hands of others, they refused to
continue within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts; and, disregarding
the threats at Manhadoes, settled themselves west of Connecticut
river, on a place which they named New Haven. Their institutions,
civil and ecclesiastical, were in the same spirit with those of their
elder sister, Massachusetts.
The colony was now in a very flourishing condition. Twenty-one
thousand two hundred emigrants had arrived from England; and, although
they devoted great part of their attention to the abstruse points of
theology which employed the casuists of that day, they were not
unmindful of those solid acquisitions which permanently improve the
condition of man. Sober, industrious, and economical, they laboured
indefatigably in opening and improving the country, and were
unremitting in their efforts to furnish themselves with those supplies
which are to be drawn from the bosom of the earth. Of these, they soon
raised a surplus for which fresh emigrants offered a profitable
market; and their foreign trade in lumber, added to their fish and
furs, furnished them with the means of making remittances to England
for those manufactures which they found it advantageous to import.
Their fisheries had become so important as to attract the attention of
government. For their encouragement, a law was passed exempting
property employed in catching, curing, or transporting fish, from all
duties and taxes, and the fishermen, and ship builders, from militia
duty. By the same law, all persons were restrained from using cod or
bass fish for manure.
CHAPTER IV.
Massachusetts claims New Hampshire and part of Maine....
Dissensions among the inhabitants.... Confederation of the
New England colonies.... Rhode Island excluded from it....
Separate chambers provided for the two branches of the
Legislature.... New England takes part with Parliament....
Treaty with Acadié.... Petition of the non-conformists....
Disputes between Massachusetts and Connecticut.... War
between England and Holland.... Machinations of the Dutch at
Manhadoes among the Indians.... Massachusetts refuses to
join the united colonies in the war.... Application of New
Haven to Cromwell for assistance.... Peace with the
Dutch.... Expedition of Sedgewic against Acadié....
Religious intolerance.
{1639}
[Sidenote: Massachusetts claims New Hampshire and part of Maine.]
The government of Massachusetts, induced by the rapidity with which
the colony had attained its present strength to form sanguine hopes of
future importance, instituted an inquiry into the extent of their
patent, with a view to the enlargement of territory. To facilitate
this object, commissioners were appointed to explore the Merrimack,
and to ascertain its northernmost point. The charter conveyed to the
grantees all the lands within lines to be drawn three miles south of
Charles river, and the same distance north of the Merrimack. The
government construed this description as authorising a line to be
drawn due east from a point three miles north of the head of
Merrimack, which soon leaves that river, and includes all New
Hampshire, and a considerable part of Maine. In pursuance of this
exposition of the charter, the general court asserted its jurisdiction
over New Hampshire, in which there were a few scattered habitations,
and proceeded to authorise settlements in that country.[68]
[Footnote 68: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
The attempts which had been made to colonise the northern and eastern
parts of New England had proved almost entirely unsuccessful. Sir
Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason had built a small house at the mouth
of Piscataqua, about the year 1623; and, nearly at the same time,
others erected a few huts along the coast from Merrimack eastward to
Sagadahock for the purpose of fishing. In 1631, Gorges and Mason sent
over a small party of planters and fishermen under the conduct of a
Mr. Williams, who laid the foundation of Portsmouth.
When the Plymouth company divided New England among its members, that
territory lying along the coast from Merrimack river, and for sixty
miles into the country to the river Piscataqua, was granted to Mason,
and was called New Hampshire; that territory northeastward of New
Hampshire, to the river Kennebec, and sixty miles into the country,
was granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges. In 1639, Gorges obtained a
patent for this district under the name of Maine, comprehending the
lands for one hundred, instead of sixty miles, into the country,
together with the powers of sovereignty. He framed a system of
government which, being purely executive, could not even preserve
itself. After struggling with a long course of confusion, and drawing
out, for several years, a miserable political existence, Maine
submitted itself to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and consented
to become a part of that colony. In the course of the years 1651 and
1652, this junction was effected, and Maine was erected into a county,
the towns of which sent deputies to the general court at Boston. To
this county was conceded the peculiar privilege that its inhabitants,
although not members of the church, should be entitled to the rights
of freemen on taking the oath.[69]
[Footnote 69: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
The settlements in New Hampshire, too, were maintaining only a
doubtful and feeble existence, when they drew a recruit of inhabitants
from the same causes which had peopled Rhode Island and Connecticut.
{1637}
In 1637, when Mrs. Hutchinson and other Antinomians were exiled, Mr.
Wheelright, her brother in law, a popular preacher, was likewise
banished. He carried with him a considerable number of his followers;
and, just passing the north-eastern boundary of Massachusetts, planted
the town of Exeter. These emigrants immediately formed themselves,
according to the manner of New England, into a body politic for their
own government.
{1640}
A few persons arrived soon afterwards from England, and laid the
foundation of the town of Dover. They also established a distinct
government. Their first act proved to be the source of future discord.
The majority chose one Underbill as governor; but a respectable
minority was opposed to his election. To this cause of discontent was
added another of irresistible influence. They were divided on the
subject of the covenant of works, and of grace. These dissensions soon
grew into a civil war, which was happily terminated by Williams, who
was, according to the practice of small societies torn by civil
broils, invited by the weaker party to its aid. He marched from
Portsmouth at the head of a small military force; and, banishing the
governor, and the leaders of the Antinomian faction, restored peace to
this distracted village.
Massachusetts had asserted a right over this territory. Her claim
derived aid, not only from the factions which agitated these feeble
settlements, but also from the uncertainty of the tenure by which the
inhabitants held their lands. Only the settlers at Portsmouth had
acquired a title from Mason; and the others were, consequently,
unfriendly to his pretensions. These causes produced a voluntary offer
of submission to the government of Massachusetts, which was accepted;
and the general court passed an order, declaring the inhabitants of
Piscataqua to be within their jurisdiction, with the privileges of
participating in all their rights, and of being exempted from all
"public charges, other than those which shall arise for, or among
themselves, or from any action, or course that may be taken for their
own good or benefit." Under the protecting wing of this more powerful
neighbour, New Hampshire attained the growth which afterwards enabled
her to stand alone; and long remembered with affection the benefits
she had received.[70]
[Footnote 70: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
Charles, environed with difficulties arising from his own misrule, was
at length compelled to meet his Parliament; and, in November, the
great council of the nation was again assembled. The circumstances
which had caused such considerable emigrations to New England, existed
no longer. The puritans were not only exempt from persecution, but
became the strongest party in the nation; and, from this time, New
England is supposed to have derived no increase of population from the
parent state.[71]
[Footnote 71: Hutchison.]
[Sidenote: Confederation of the New England colonies.]
{1643}
About the same period many evidences were given of a general
combination of the neighbouring Indians against the settlements of New
England; and apprehensions were also entertained of hostility from the
Dutch at Manhadoes. A sense of impending danger suggested the policy
of forming a confederacy of the sister colonies for their mutual
defence; and so confirmed had the habit of self-government become
since the attention of England was absorbed in her domestic
dissensions, that it was not thought necessary to consult the parent
state on this important measure. After mature deliberation, articles
of confederation were digested; and in May 1643, they were
conclusively adopted.[72]
[Footnote 72: This was an union, says Mr. Trumbull, of the
highest consequence to the New England colonies. It made
them formidable to the Dutch and Indians, and respectable
among their French neighbours. It was happily adapted to
maintain harmony among themselves, and to secure the rights
and peace of the country. It was one of the principal means
of the preservation of the colonies, during the civil wars,
and unsettled state of affairs in England. It was the great
source of mutual defence in Philip's war; and of the most
eminent service in civilising the Indians, and propagating
the Gospel among them. The union subsisted more than forty
years, until the abrogation of the charters of the New
England colonies by King James II.]
By them the united colonies of New England, viz. Massachusetts,
Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, entered into a firm and
perpetual league, offensive and defensive.
Each colony retained a distinct and separate jurisdiction; no two
colonies could join in one jurisdiction without the consent of the
whole; and no other colony could be received into the confederacy
without the like consent.
The charge of all wars was to be borne by the colonies respectively,
in proportion to the male inhabitants of each, between sixteen and
sixty years of age.
On notice of an invasion given by three magistrates of any colony, the
confederates were immediately to furnish their respective quotas.
These were fixed at one hundred from Massachusetts, and forty-five
from each of the other parties to the agreement. If a larger armament
should be found necessary, commissioners were to meet, and ascertain
the number of men to be required.
Two commissioners from each government, being church members, were to
meet annually on the first Monday in September. Six possessed the
power of binding the whole. Any measure approved by a majority of less
than six was to be referred to the general court of each colony, and
the consent of all was necessary to its adoption.
They were to choose annually a president from their own body, and had
power to frame laws or rules of a civil nature, and of general
concern. Of this description were rules which respected their conduct
towards the Indians, and measures to be taken with fugitives from one
colony to another.
No colony was permitted, without the general consent, to engage in
war, but in sudden and inevitable cases.
If, on any extraordinary meeting of the commissioners, their whole
number should not assemble, any four who should meet were empowered to
determine on a war, and to call for the respective quotas of the
several colonies; but not less than six could determine on the justice
of the war, or settle the expenses, or levy the money for its support.
If any colony should be charged with breaking an article of the
agreement, or with doing an injury to another colony, the complaint
was to be submitted to the consideration and determination of the
commissioners of such colonies as should be disinterested.[73]
[Footnote 73: Chalmer. Hutchison. Trumbull.]
[Sidenote: Rhode Island excluded from it.]
This union, the result of good sense, and of a judicious consideration
of the real interests of the colonies, remained in force until their
charters were dissolved. Rhode Island, at the instance of
Massachusetts, was excluded; and her commissioners were not admitted
into the congress of deputies which formed the confederation.
On her petitioning at a subsequent period to be received as a member,
her request was refused, unless she would consent to be incorporated
with Plymouth. This condition being deemed inadmissible, she never was
taken into the confederacy. From the formation of this league, its
members were considered by their neighbours as one body with regard to
external affairs, and such as were of general concern; though the
internal and particular objects of each continued to be managed by its
own magistrates and legislature.
The vigorous and prudent measures pursued by the united colonies,
disconcerted the plans of the Indians, and preserved peace.
Rhode Island and Providence plantations, excluded from the general
confederacy, were under the necessity of courting the friendship of
the neighbouring Indians. So successful were their endeavours that, in
the year 1644, they obtained from the chiefs of the Narraghansetts a
formal surrender of their country.[74]
[Footnote 74: Chalmer.]
The first general assembly, consisting of the collective freemen of
the plantations, was convened in May, 1647. In this body the supreme
authority of the nation resided. The executive duties were performed
by a governor and four assistants, chosen from among the freemen by
their several towns; and the same persons constituted also the supreme
court for the administration of justice. Every township, forming
within itself a corporation, elected a council of six, for the
management of its peculiar affairs, and for the settlement of its
disputes.[75]
[Footnote 75: Ibid.]
{1644}
Hitherto the governor, assistants, and representatives, of
Massachusetts had assembled in the same chamber, and deliberated
together. At first their relative powers do not seem to have been
accurately understood; nor the mode of deciding controverted questions
to have been well defined. The representatives being the most numerous
body, contended that every question should be decided by a majority of
the whole, while the assistants asserted their right to a negative.
More than once, this contest suspended the proceedings of the general
court. But the assistants having, with the aid of the clergy,
succeeded on each occasion, the representatives yielded the point, and
moved that separate chambers should be provided for the two branches
of the legislature. This motion being carried in the affirmative,
their deliberations were afterwards conducted apart from each other.
This regulation was subsequently modified with respect to judicial
proceedings; for the legislature was the court of the last resort. If,
in these, the two houses differed, the vote was to be taken
conjointly.
[Sidenote: New England takes part with Parliament.]
In England, the contests between the King and Parliament, at length
ripened into open war. The colonies of New England took an early and
sincere part on the side of Parliament. Their interests were committed
to such agents as might best conciliate the favour of the House of
Commons, who, in return, manifested the impression received from them,
and from the general conduct of their northern colonies, by passing a
resolutions exempting from the payment of "duties or other customs,"
until the house should order otherwise, all merchandises exported to
or from New England.[76] And, in 1644, the general court passed an
ordinance declaring "that what person soever shall by word, writing,
or action, endeavour to disturb our peace directly or indirectly by
drawing a party under pretence that he is for the King of England, and
such as join with him against the Parliament, shall be accounted as an
offender of a high nature against this commonwealth, and to be
proceeded with either capitally or otherwise, according to the quality
and degree of his offence; provided always that this shall not be
extended against any merchants, strangers and shipmen that come hither
merely for trade or merchandise, albeit they should come from any of
those parts that are in the hands of the King, and such as adhere to
him against the Parliament; carrying themselves here quietly, and free
from railing, or nourishing any faction, mutiny, or sedition among us
as aforesaid."[77]
[Footnote 76: In the subsequent year Parliament exempted New
England from all taxes "until both houses should otherwise
direct;" and, in 1646, all the colonies were exempted from
all talliages except the excise, "provided their productions
should be exported only in English bottoms."]
[Footnote 77: Hutchison.]
These manifestations of mutual kindness were not interrupted by an
ordinance of Parliament, passed in 1643, appointing the earl of
Warwick, governor in chief and lord high admiral of the colonies, with
a council of five peers, and twelve commoners, to assist him; and
empowering him, in conjunction with his associates, to examine the
state of their affairs; to send for papers and persons; to remove
governors and officers, appointing others in their places; and to
assign over to them such part of the powers then granted as he should
think proper. Jealous as were the people of New England of measures
endangering their liberty, they do not appear to have been alarmed at
this extraordinary exercise of power. So true is it that men close
their eyes on encroachments committed by that party to which they are
attached, in the delusive hope that power, in such hands, will always
be wielded against their adversaries, never against themselves.
[Sidenote: Treaty with Acadié.]
This prosperous state of things was still farther improved by a
transaction which is the more worthy of notice as being an additional
evidence of the extent to which the colonies of New England then
exercised the powers of self-government. A treaty of peace and
commerce was entered into between the governor of Massachusetts,
styling himself governor of New England, and Monsieur D'Aulney,
lieutenant general of the King of France in Acadié. This treaty was
laid before the commissioners for the colonies and received their
sanction.
{1646}
[Sidenote: Petition of the non-conformists.]
The rigid adherence of Massachusetts to the principle of withholding
the privilege of a freeman from all who dissented from the majority in
any religious opinion, could not fail to generate perpetual
discontents. A petition was presented to the general court, signed by
several persons highly respectable for their situation and character,
but, not being church members, excluded from the common rights of
society, complaining that the fundamental laws of England were not
acknowledged by the colony; and that they were denied those civil and
religious privileges to which they were entitled, as freeborn
Englishmen, of good moral conduct. Their prayer to be admitted to the
rights, or to be relieved from the burdens, of society, was
accompanied with observations conveying a very intelligible censure on
the proceedings of the colony, and a threat of applying to Parliament,
should the prayer of their petition be rejected.
The most popular governments not being always the most inclined to
tolerate opinions differing from those of the majority, this petition
gave great offence, and its signers were required to attend the court.
Their plea, that the right to petition government was sacred, was
answered by saying that they were not accused for petitioning, but for
using contemptuous and seditious expressions. They were required to
find sureties for their good behaviour; and, on refusing to
acknowledge their offence, were fined at the discretion of the court.
An appeal from this decision having been refused, they sent deputies
to lay their case before Parliament; but the clergy exerted themselves
on the occasion; and the celebrated Cotton, in one of his sermons,
asserted "that if any should carry writings or complaints against the
people of God in that country to England, it would be as Jonas in the
ship." A storm having risen during the passage, the mariners,
impressed with the prophecy of Cotton, insisted that the obnoxious
papers should be thrown overboard; and the deputies were constrained
to consign their credentials to the waves. On their arrival in
England, they found Parliament but little disposed to listen to their
complaints. The agents of Massachusetts had received instructions to
counteract their efforts; and the governments of New England were too
high in favour, to admit of a rigid scrutiny into their conduct.[78]
[Footnote 78: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
In some of the internal dissensions which agitated Massachusetts,
Winthrop, a man of great influence, always among their first
magistrates, and often their governor, was charged while deputy
governor with some arbitrary conduct. He defended himself at the bar,
in the presence of a vast concourse of people; and, having been
honourably acquitted, addressed them from the bench, in a speech which
was highly approved.
As this speech tends to illustrate the political opinions of the day,
an extract from it may not be unworthy of regard. "The questions," he
said, "which have troubled the country of late, and from which these
disturbances in the state have arisen, have been about the authority
of the magistrate and the liberty of the people. Magistracy is
certainly an appointment from God. We take an oath to govern you
according to God's law, and our own; and if we commit errors, not
willingly, but for want of skill, you ought to bear with us, because,
being chosen from among yourselves, we are but men, and subject to the
like passions as yourselves. Nor would I have you mistake your own
liberty. There is a freedom of doing what we list, without regard to
law or justice; this liberty is indeed inconsistent with authority;
but civil, moral, and federal liberty, consists in every man's
enjoying his property, and having the benefit of the laws of his
country; which is very consistent with a due subjection to the civil
magistrate. And for this you ought to contend, with the hazard of your
lives."[79]
[Footnote 79: Hutchison.]
During the remnant of his life, he was annually chosen governor.
{1649}
About this time, a controversy which had long subsisted between
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, was terminated. The latter, for the
purpose of maintaining Saybrooke, had laid a duty on all goods
exported from Connecticut river. The inhabitants of Springfield, a
town of Massachusetts lying on the river, having refused to pay this
duty, the cause was laid before the commissioners of the united
colonies; and, after hearing the parties, those of Plymouth and New
Haven adjourned the final decision of the case until the next meeting,
in order to hear farther objections from Massachusetts, but directed
that, in the meantime, the duty should be paid.
At the meeting in 1648, Massachusetts insisted on the production of
the patent of Connecticut. It was perfectly well known that the
original patent could not be procured; and the agents for Connecticut,
after stating this fact, offered an authentic copy. The commissioners
recommended that the boundary line should be run, to ascertain whether
Springfield was really in Massachusetts, but still directed that the
duty should continue to be paid. On this order being made, the
commissioners of Massachusetts produced a law of their general court,
reciting the controversy, with the orders which had been made in it,
and imposing a duty on all goods belonging to the inhabitants of
Plymouth, Connecticut, or New Haven, which should be imported within
the castle, or exported from any part of the bay, and subjecting them
to forfeiture for non-payment. The commissioners remonstrated strongly
against this measure, and recommended it to the general court of
Massachusetts, seriously to consider whether such proceedings were
reconcilable with "the law of love," and the tenor of the articles of
confederation. In the meantime, they begged to be excused from "all
farther agitations concerning Springfield."
In this state of the controversy fort Saybrooke was consumed by fire,
and Connecticut forbore to re-build it, or to demand the duty. In the
following year, Massachusetts repealed the ordinance which had so
successfully decided the contest.[80]
[Footnote 80: Chalmer. Hutchison.]
Thus does a member of a confederacy, feeling its own strength, and the
weakness of those with whom it is associated, deride the legitimate
decisions of the federal body, when opposed to its own interest or
passions, and obey the general will, only when that will is dictated
by itself.
{1651}
Although, while civil war raged in the mother country, New England had
been permitted to govern itself as an independent nation, Parliament
seems to have entertained very decisive opinions respecting the
subordination of the provinces, and its
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