The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 (of 5)
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[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 Acadie.... 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 Acadie....
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.