OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES BY CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN AUTHOR OF "THE BOYS OF '76" "THE STORY OF LIBERTY" &C. NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS,, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1881 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All right* reterved. PREFACE. To the Boys and Girls of America : THE settlement of our country was the beginning of a new era in human affairs. The people of England, ever since the days of King John, when the barons compelled him to sign the Magna Charta in the meadow of Runnymede, had struggled against tyranny ; and when the emigrants sailed across the Atlantic to rear their homes in Virginia and New England, it was the transplanting of liberty to a continent where everything was new, and where the conditions that surrounded them were wholly unlike those of the Old World. This volume is an outline of some of the principal events that tran- spired during the colonial period of our country, and portrays the hard- ships and sufferings of those who laid the foundations of a new empire. It will show how the Old World laws, habits, and customs were gradually changed ; how the grand ideas of Freedom and the Rights of Man took root and flourished. It covers the period from the discovery and settle- ment of America to the Revolutionary War. In 1876 I wrote a volume entitled " The Boys of '76 " — a narrative of the battles of the Revolution, and of the trials and devotion of our fathers in establishing the indepen- dence of the United States. While preparing that work, I discovered that there was no volume in existence that would give the young people of our country an idea of the struggles of men in England and Europe against the tyranny of emperors, kings, popes, archbishops, bishops, and inquisitors; to supply that want, I wrote a second volume, entitled "The Story of Liberty," which traced a chain of events through a period of five hundred years, from the signing of the Magna Charta to the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth. This volume, therefore, fills the gap between the others in time, and together they make a series, not of general history, but an outline history of the progress of ideas. 6 PREFACE. I desire to call your attention to a few things which will be made plain in this volume. You will notice that the beginning of the history of our country is clear and distinct, while the beginnings of the histories of other countries are obscured by tradition or made doubtful by fable. Our early history is definite ; the early history of other lands uncertain. The history of a nation is like the flowing of a river ; there are many rivulets starting wide apart, which unite to swell the ever -deepening stream. Many of the fountain-heads of American history are in England and Europe; and in order to obtain a correct view of what transpired in the colonies, we must cross the Atlantic and follow the rivulets to their sources. The tracing of the relationship of one event to another, and showing their effect upon the human race, is the philosophy of history, and by studying the philosophy we are able to arrive at some conclusion as to its meaning. You will notice how, through priority of discovery, Spain, France, and England claimed various sections of this continent, and how conflicting claims led to a great struggle between England and France for suprem- acy ; that it was a conflict between two races, two languages, two relig- ions, two systems of laws, two distinct civilizations ; that great ideas were behind the struggle. In the opening chapter you will read how John and Sebastian Cabot sailed along the northern coasts, how Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence ; the closing pages will picture a battle on the Plains of Abraham. It was an engagement which lasted only a few minutes, yet it was one of the great decisive battles of the world — mo- mentous in its results. John and Sebastian Cabot, Cartier, Champlain, the Kings of France and England, the Pope, Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits, Oliver Cromwell, the Pilgrims of the Mayflwwer, the Puritans, are as in- separably connected with that battle as "William Pitt, James Wolfe, and the Marquis de Montcalm. The history of the entire colonial period leads up to it. You will notice that the forces of Nature — the turning of the earth upon its axis, the flowing of the Gulf Stream, the contour of mountain ranges, the courses of the rivers, have had a far-reaching influence upon the history of our country. The rivers were the highways along which the Indians paddled their canoes to fall upon the settlers — along which the armies of England and France marched to engage in battle. Moun- PREFACE. 7 tains were barriers, stopping awhile the progress of civilization, and also shielding the colonies from attack. Not only these, but the order of the Pope forbidding people to eat meat on Fridays, saints' days, and during Lent, but granting permission to eat fish, the desire of the people of Eu- rope to wear hats made from the glossy fur of the beaver, the love for tobacco, their ideas of holding men in slavery, are forces that have had much to do in shaping the history of our country. The longing for adventure, the hunger for gold, led to the settlement of Virginia. Through convictions of duty and obligations to God, the Pilgrims were driven from England to Holland, and across the Atlantic, to begin self-government, and to give to the world the ideal of a written constitution. The hatred of the Puritans to the ritual of the Church of England, the determination of the bishops and archbishops to compel them to conform to it, are great fountain-heads of history. The inner light which illumined the soul of George Fox, the stern convictions of Roger Williams, of his obligation to conscience, are forces which give direction to the course of events. All the motives by which men are actuated — their passions, aifections, religious convictions, the selfish ends — are part and parcel of the grand drama of Time. I have spoken of the meaning of history. Surely it has a meaning, else what are we living for? Whichever way we turn in the material world we find things needful for our use, and we think of them as God's forethoughts, and as designed for our welfare. If there is design in the material world, there must be some meaning to history, some ultimate end to be accomplished. In "The Story of Liberty," and in this volume, you will see how Tyranny and Wrong have fought against Liberty and Justice ; how that banner which the barons flung to the breeze at Runny- mede, inscribed with the rights of man, which Cromwell bore amidst the carnage of Marston Moor, which waved from the mast-head of the May- flower when that lone vessel crossed the Atlantic, has never been trailed in the dust in this Western World ; but Tyranny and Wrong have gone down before it. Through the colonial period there was an advance of principles which are eternal in their nature. All through those years conditions and influences were preparing men for self-government. Men die, generations come and go, but ideas live on. When the world was ready for it, and not before, the American Revolution came, with the an- 8 PREFACE. nouncement that all men are created free and equal, and endowed with inalienable rights. Through all the narratives of wars, massacres, and bloodshed, you will see Right, Justice, and Liberty ever advancing. " Old Times in the Col- onies," therefore, is not an unmeaning record of events, but the story of the rise of a great nation, the growth of individual liberty, the coming in of constitutional government in this Western World — the history of the first period in the new era in human affairs. As you peruse these pages, the conviction, I trust, will come that, un- der the power of great ideas, our country is leading the human race in its march toward a state of society inexpressibly grand and glorious. CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR 17 CHAPTER II. FORCES OF CIVILIZATION 37 CHAPTER III. FIRST SETTLEMENTS 54 CHAPTER IV. THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES 72 CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNING OF Two CIVILIZATIONS 87 CHAPTER VI. How BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION 97 CHAPTER VII. THE PILGRIMS Ill CHAPTER VIII. FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH 129 CHAPTER IX. SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA 141 CHAPTER X. THE PURITAN BEGINNING 152 CHAPTER XI. THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND ... 171 CHAPTER XIT. RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE..., 184 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. PAGE AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN CHAPTER XIV. THK STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN ENGLAND, AND How IT AFFECTED AMKRICA 20G CHAPTER XV. THE QUAKERS 216 CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF DUTCH RULE IN AMERICA -"-'I CHAPTER XVII. THE TIMES OF CHARLES II 234 CHAPTER XVIII. KING PHILIP'S WAR 241 CHAPTER XIX. Louis FRONTENAC IN CANADA 251 CHAPTER XX. GOVERNOR BERKELEY AND THE VIRGINIANS 259 CHAPTER XXI. How THE KING TOOK AWAY THE CHARTERS OF THE COLONIES 265 CHAPTER XXII. KING WILLIAM'S WAR 271 CHAPTER XXIII. NEW JERSEY AND MARYLAND 291 CHAPTER XXIV. SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 297 CHAPTER XXV. WITCHES 303 CHAPTER XXVI. THE LEGACY OF BLOOD 318 CHAPTER XXVII. MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE 328 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CAROLINAS .. 337 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER XXIX. PAGE GEORGIA , 350 CHAPTER XXX. THE NEGRO TRAGEDY 357 CHAPTER XXXI. THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT STRUGGLE 363 CHAPTER XXXII. DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK 374 CHAPTER XXXIII. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S WILL 389 CHAPTER XXXIV. INCOMPETENT AND COWARDLY GENERALS 408 CHAPTER XXXV. Two CIVILIZATIONS 421 CHAPTER XXXVI. THE DESTINY OF AN EMPIRE 437 INDEX.. .. 455 ILLUSTRATIONS. Battle of the Plains of Abraham.... Frontispiece Icebergs between Europe and America 18 Food for Fishes 19 What John and Sebastian Cabot Saw 20 Columbia's Spring 22 Foliage of Florida 23 Church Built by Cortez 24 Spanish Discoveries 25 John Verrazano 25 The Gloomy Solitudes 26 Where Carder passed the Winter 28 De Soto 29 Burial of De Soto 30 St. Augustine 31 Palms on the St. John's 32 Sir Humphrey Gilbert 33 English and French Discoveries 34 Chair made from Wood of the Ship of Sir Francis Drake 35 St. Malo 37 Street in Morlaix 38 Homes of the Fishermen of Brittany 39 Fish-house and Boats 40 The Beaver and its Home 42 The Trapper 43 After a Moose 44 Tobacco 45 The Slave-ship 46 "To be sold as slaves" 48 The Tomahawk and Scalping- knife doing Bloody Work 50 Dining-room in a Puritan Manor-house 52 Riding out a Gale on the Banks 54 Running for Shelter 55 Strait of Canso 56 Cape Ann 57 Portsmouth, New Hampshire 58 PAGE De Monts 59 Cape Cod 60 Monhegan 61 Pemmaquid 62 Captain John Smith 62 Arrival at Jamestown 63 Holland 64 Samuel Champlain 65 Tadousac 66 Quebec to the Saguenay 67 The Beginning of Trade on the Hudson.... 68 "They see a lightning flash, and hear a roar" 70 The Rocky Cliffs 73 Ledge of the Orkneys 74 The Bell - ringers Rung out their Joyful Peals 75 Street Leading to Parliament-house 76 Tobacco-shop. (From an Old Print.) 78 The Dinner 79 Globe Theatre 80 House in which Shakspeare was Born 81 Holy Trinity Church, Stratford 82 Stra tford Portrait of Shakspeare 83 Bear-garden 84 Medal of James 1 86 Birthplace of Henry IV 87 The Indians at Home 88 Nun Taking the Veil 93 Mount Desert 94 Penobscot Bay 95 Smutty-nose 97 Captain John Smith's Monument, Isles of Shoals 98 Captain Block building the "Onrust" 99 View at the Hague 100 John of Barneveld ... 101 ILLUSTRATIONS. Going to Fight the Iroquois 103 Agreement between the Dutch and Iro- quois 104 A Huron War-dance 105 Cultivation of Tobacco 108 First Settlements on the Chesapeake and Delaware 109 Dutch Revel. (From an Old Picture.) 112 Execution of Barneveld. (From Motley's "Life and Death of John of Bame- veld.") 113 Dartmouth , 117 Provincetown 118 Map 119 Plymouth 121 Where they were Buried 124 Plymouth Rock 125 " With tearful eyes they saw the white sails fade away " 127 Governor Bradford's House 130 Edward Winslow 131 Plymouth Wilderness 132 Wampum 133 Kitchen of Standish House 135 Captain Standish stirring the Punch 136 Standish's Sword, and the Barrel of the Gun with which Philip was killed 137 Autographs of some of the Pilgrims 139 The Pilgrim Monument, Plymouth 140 .Mouth of the Piscataqua — Whale's -back Light 141 Landing of the Walloons 143 Manhattan 144 On the Delaware 144 • Esplanade Hill, Quebec 145 Falls of Montmorenci 147 Court of the White Horse, Fontainebleau... 149 Christmas ] 54 Puritan Settlements in New England 155 Gloucester, Massachusetts 156 John Endicott 157 Entrance to Salem Harbor 158 Endicott's Pear-tree , 159 Charles 1 160 Old-fashioned Washing-machines 161 Cosy the Homes they left behind them 163 John Winthrop 165 Groton Church 166 "Norman's Woe" 167 The Cliffs 168 Blackstone's House 169 First Meeting-house in Boston 169 Statue of Governor Winthrop 170 Nantucket 171 Cohasset Harbor 173 Old Meeting-house, Hinghani 174 Emigrants at Night 175 Lady Fenwick's Tomb 176 Wild Turkeys 177 Indian Rock, Narragansett 178 Where they Landed 180 New Haven 182 Harvard College, 1720 t 184 General View of the University Buildings, Cambridge 185 Where Roger Williams landed 189 Residence of Governor Coddington, New- port, 1641 190 Old-time Houses, Newport 191 Newport, from Fort Adams 192 Map 193 Manhattan 195 Wouter Van Twiller swearing Great Dutch Oaths 196 Paying Tribute 198 Gustavus Adolphtis 199 The First Church in Philadelphia 200 Old Swedes' Church, Philadelphia 201 The American Colonies in 1640 202 The Massacre of the Indians 204 Strafford on his Way to Execution 208 The Battle-fields 211 The Washington House, Little Brington.... 212 Brington Church 213 Church in which Sir John Washington worshipped 214 George Fox 216 Quakers doing their Duty 220 Old Town Church, Newbury 221 Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Governor of New Amsterdam 224 Anna Merica Bayard, WTife of Peter Stuv- vesant 225 Old Tiled Fireplace, Winthrop House 227 The Dutchman at Home 228 The Van Cortlandt Manor-house 229 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAOK His Lips were White 232 A Cavalier, Time of Charles II 235 Patches, in the Time of Charles II 236 Nell Gwynne. (From a Painting by Sir Peter Lely.) 237 New Haven ,. 238 Under this Bridge the Judges were con- cealed 239 The Judges' Cave 240 Mount Hope 242 King Philip 243 Fight at Tiverton 245 Only One Entrance across a Log 246 Death of Philip 248 Colbert 251 A Trapper going his Rounds 252 Louis XIV 253 The Rival Companies soliciting Trade 255 Berkeley, near Harrison's Landing 259 "All travel was by boats on the river " — 260 Indian Massacre 261 Discussing the Charter 266 The Charter Oak ... 267 Where William Landed 272 Major Waldron's Terrible Fight 275 Sch enec t ady 278 "He staggers with him through the woods" 283 Women Standing Guard 287 "A few strokes of the paddle bring them back to the island" 289 Middle Colonies .„. 291 First Church in Newark 292 The Old Schuyler Mansion 292 Peter Schuyler 293 Arms of the Cal vert Family 293 First Mass in Maryland 294 Laying out Baltimore 296 William Penn 297 Landing of William Penn at Philadelphia. 299 First Brick Building erected in Philadel- phia— Given by Mr. Penn to his Daughter 300 James Logan, Secretary to William Penn. . 301 Penn's House 301 The Penn Seal 302 Lake Geneva 304 Stories were Told of what the Witches were doing 306 Their Hearts Leaping up their Throat. The Idea was abroad that she had a lignant touch" Thomas Beadle's Tavern, 1692 Rebecca Nurse's Home Shattuck's House The Hill on which they were Hung Palace of St. Germain Garrison House, York In Ambush View from Fort George Map Death of the Medicine-man , Building Ships 3 Family of Bishop Berkeley 3'i Carolina Home 3£8 On the Ashley 3f.S) Yeamans Hall, Goose Creek 3-1-6 Drayton Hall, Western Front 341 Picking Figs 342 Orange Fruit and Flowers 343 St. Michael's Church 314 Landgrave Smith's Back River Residence.. 345 Old Meeting-house, Dorchester 34G Oglethorpe 351 John Wesley 353 Charles Wesley 354 The French Forts 364 "Crack! crack! went the guns of the In* dians" 365 Arms and Crest of the Washington Fam- ily 368 Mount Vernon 369 Washington Surveying Lord Fairfax's Land 371 The Land in Dispute 3v* Braddock's Head-quarters 378 Washington's Talk with Braddock 379 " They saw puffs of smoke, but few of the enemy" 381 Braddock's Grave 383 Lake George 384 Joseph Brant 385 Sir William Johnson 386 Hendrick 386 Site of Fort Number Four 389 Cape Breton 390 Following a Trail .. 391 14 ILLUSTRATIONS. Going tc Denning Wentworth ................ Agreemea House, Little Harbor ............. quoistln Pepperell's House ................ A Hurr^> Kittery, Maine ...................... Culth'l'am ljepperell .............. ............. Firsttridge ....................................... ])erding their wives and children " ....... Dutch ''ans Aiming at the Loop-holes ...... "join 1755 ................................... v< it Oswego ................................... Da William Henry ............................ pni Stark ......................................... ]>iradise Bay ...................................... Ian of Fort William Henry ................. Bloody Pond ...................... . ............... Dragging the Boats .............................. Lake George, from the Top of liogers's Rock .............................................. EurlofBute... .. PAGE 393 394 395 396 397 398 400 406 409 410 410 412 414 417 418 419 423 424 425 Southern End of Lake George 426 "The great flotilla moves away" 427 Sabbath-day Point 428 The Northern End of Lake George 429 Plan of Attack by General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga, July 8th, 1758 431 "The Highlanders are brave" 432 Fort George 433 Taking Possession of Fort Du Quesne 435 William Pitt 437 Montreal, 1760. (From an Old Print.).... 438 Wolfe 441 Montcalm 442 Montcalm's Head-quarters 443 St. John's Gate, Quebec 444 The Place where Wolfe Landed 445 Battle of Quebec 446 Burning the Prisoners 448 A Scalp-dance 450 Wolfe and Montcalm's Monument 452 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER I. DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. THERE it was, a green and sunny island. Christopher Columbus be- held it in the dawning light of October 12, 1492 ; an earthly paradise with stately trees, fragrant flowers, groves of oranges and bananas, hang- ing vines, birds of bright plumage, and groups of dusky men, women, "and children. It was San Salvador, one of the Bahama Islands. A few days later Columbus discovered Cuba and Hispaniola, now known as St. Domingo, and returned to Spain with the wonderful news. Who owned the islands ? They were occupied by Indians ; but the Pope, Alexander VI., Roderick Borgia, wicked and cruel, a murderer, claiming to be God's agent on earth and endowed with all power, gave all lands that might be discovered west of an imaginary line, drawn north and south one hundred leagues west of the Azores, to Ferdinand and Isa- bella, king and queen of Spain. So, by priority of discovery, and by the decree of the Pope, Spain entered upon the possession of what Columbus had discovered. The news reached England. The merchants of Bristol who were send- ing their ships to France, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, applied to the king, Henry VII., for leave to send out an expedition for the dis- covery of new lands. " If you discover any countries, they shall be mine," he said, asserting his right to hold or give away lands, against that claimed by the Pope. " If you make any money by the expedition, one-fifth of it shall be mine," he added. The merchants accepted the conditions, fitted out two vessels com- manded by John and Sebastian Cabot, father and son, two Venetians in 2 18 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. their employ as sea-captains. In May, 1497, the ships sailed down the river Severn, and steered west for a voyage over unknown seas, where vessels had not sailed since the days of the old Northmen. In June they found themselves on soundings, and the sea around swarming with codfish. The water was warm, and dense fogs arose. A little farther on the water was colder, and filled with icebergs. They had reached a place where two great currents of the ocean meet. They did not know, nor was it till many years later that anybody knew, what caused the flowing of these currents; that the earth was whirling around the sun, and also turning on its own axis; that the speed at the equator was eighteen miles a minute. ICEBEKGS BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMMJICA. We now know that the revolution of the earth upon its axis sets the water between Africa and South America to flowing westward, and that when the current strikes the coast of South America it is divided, a part flowing south and part north. The northern section, carrying with it the fresh water brought down the Amazon and Orinoco from the Andes and the plains of South America, sweeps into the Caribbean Sea, and whirls DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 19 onward to the Gulf of Mexico, being heated by the sun to a temperature of eighty-six degrees. The Mississippi pours in its mighty flood, bringing minute particles of soil from the far distant prairies and mountains. FOOD FOR FISHES. Having no other outlet, the waters rush through the passage between Florida and Cuba, tearing great masses of sea-weed from the beds of white coral, which the coralline insects are building beneath the waves. This river of hot water, one thousand feet deep and fifty miles wide, sweeps on at the rate of five miles an hour, bearing the soil of two conti- nents, the sea-weed, and myriads of marine insects — polyps, star and jelly- fish, in infinite variety. East of Newfoundland it meets a current of cold water flowing south, from the frozen region of the North, bringing great icebergs; but the warm current whirls them north-east, speedily 20 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. WHAT JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT SAW. melting them, dropping the stones and gravel torn from the shore of Greenland beneath the sea. The fine particles of sand brought down from the Andes by the Amazon, and from the prairies of the West by the Mississippi, also settle to the bottom of the sea, thus making that portion of the sea a great dumping-place—building up the bank of New- DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 21 foundland. The hot river supplies the codfish with food, gives a mild climate to England, and makes it possible for men to live in Iceland and Northern Norway. John and Sebastian Cabot caught all the fish they needed, and, sail- ing still west, on June 24th beheld the waves breaking against the rocky shore of Labrador. Since the days of the old Northmen, no European eye had seen the main-land of the Western World. The Cabots sailed northward along a bleak and forbidding coast, with dense forests beyond the white granite ledges. They saw white-bears, floating on cakes of ice, plunge into the sea and catch fish in their paws. Walruses and seals frequented the shores, and myriads of birds reared their young upon the rocky cliffs ; but their provisions failing, they returned to England. What a year for discovery was 1498 ! Stimulated by what he had seen, Sebastian Cabot — young sagacious, bold — sailed once more west- ward. He coasted along the southern shore of Newfoundland, entered the Bay of Fundy, gazed upon the cliffs of Mount Desert, the majestic pines of Maine, the sandy beaches of Cape Cod, sailing southward to Vir- ginia— thus, by priority of discovery, enabling England to claim the con- tinent from Labrador to Cape Hatteras. Christopher Columbus, at the same time, was making his third voy- age; discovering the island of Trinidad, the coast of South America and Orinoco. He landed, and drank from a spring that still bears his name. There was another brave sailor on the seas, Yasco da Gam a, of Portu- gal, who was sailing south along the west coast of Africa, doubling the Cape of Good Hope ; sailing on till, through the ocean haze, he beheld the mountains of Hindostan, thus opening a long sought for route to India. There was still another voyager on the seas, Amerigo Vespucci, a merchant of Florence, engaged in trade at Seville, in Spain, who, ani- mated by a spirit of adventure, sailed to the West Indies with Captain Ojeda, and from thence to the coasts of South and Central America. He wrote interesting accounts of what he saw, which were published in 1507 — probably the first printed narrative given to the public of the dis- coveries in the West. The pamphlet fell into the hands of Martin Wald- seemuller, of Freibourg, in Germany, who translated it into German. People spoke of the new world as Amerigo's country, and thus the name became attached to the Western Continent, though the honor of discov- ery belongs to John and Sebastian Cabot. The King of Portugal, desiring a share in the new world, sent Gas- per Cortereal upon a voyage of discovery, who sailed along the coast of 22 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. COLUMBUS S SPRING. North America, from Virginia northward to Newfoundland. He enticed a num- ber of Indians on board his ships, and treacherously carried them to Portugal and sold them into slavery. Men do not like to grow old. How gladly would they ever retain the freshness of youth ! The longing to be young again became a passion with Ponce de Leon, Governor of Porto Rico. The gray hairs had come, and there were furrows in his cheeks. Poets had written of a fountain of perpetual youth — a stream so clear, and pure, and life-giving, that those who drank of it would be forever young and fair. De Leon resolved to go in quest of it, that, tasting its refreshing waters, he might ever be young. DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 23 He sailed from Porto Rico, with three vessels, in 1513. On Easter- Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pasqua de Flores, he sighted land a few miles north of St. Augustine, and took possession of the country for the King of Spain, naming it Florida. He was charmed by its scenery — the wide-spreading live-oaks, the fan-leaved palmettos, the tangle of jessamine and honeysuckle, filling the air with fragrance ; but vain his search for the fabled Fountain of Eternal Youth ; and, after coasting along the shores, landing here and there and exploring the country, he returned to Porto Rico. The Spaniards in the West Indies heard of the wonderful land of Mexico, inhabited by millions of people — a land of cities and villages, cultivated fields and gardens, abounding in silver and gold, advanced in arts and architecture, with schools, courts of justice, and great stone temples. FOLIAGE OF FLOKIDA. On the 15th of February, 1519, an expedition, commanded by Her- nando Cortez, sailed from Ravenna to conquer the empire of the West, landing first in Yucatan ; again at the mouth of the river Tobasco, in the Bay of Campeachy, fighting a battle on the banks of that stream, sweep- 24 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ing the Indians down like grain before the reaper by his cannon and volleys of musketry, beginning a series of conquests that made him mas- ter of the empire of the Montezumas, and extending the authority and dominion of Spain westward to the Pacific, and northward to the Colo- rado and the Rio Grande ; establish- ing the religion of the Roman Cath- olic Church, and the language and civilization of Spain over that vast section of North America. The Spaniards were in need of more slaves to work in their mines and cane-fields, and to obtain them Vasquez D'Ayllou visited the coast of South Carolina in 1520. He called the country Chicora, and entered the Combahee River, which he named the Jordan, and gave the name of St. Helen to the cape which bounds St. Helen's Sound on the south. The Indians received him kindly, accept- ed his trinkets, flocked in great numbers on board the ships, when he treacherously seized them, hoisted his sails, and carried them away. But it was to little profit ; for, knowing nothing of the Gulf Stream, one of his vessels was borne upon rocks by the current, and wrecked, while upon the other the captives sickened and died. D'Ayllon made his second appearance in St. Helen's Sound in 1525, where one of his vessels was wrecked. The Indians attacked him, and drove him on board his ships, mortally wounding him. Instead of conquering them, and establishing the Spanish language and the Catholic religion in Carolina, as Cortez was doing in Mexico, he returned to Cuba to die. Francis I. was King of France. He had desired to be Emperor of Germany, but his rival, Charles V. of Spain, had been elected instead ; besides this, the Pope had given the whole Western Continent to Spain. "I should like to be shown the clause in the will of Adam which disinherits me in the New World!" he bitterly exclaimed. Francis despatched John Verrazano on a voyage of discovery in the ship Dolphin from Dieppe, January 24th, 1524. He reached South Caro- lina in March, and sailed northward along the coast, entering Narragansett Bay and the harbor of Newport, R. I., passing around Cape Cod to the CHURCH BDILT BY CORTEZ. DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 25 coast of Maine. He landed in many places, and had interviews with the Indians. In January, 1525, Stephen Gomez sailed from Cornnna, in Spain, en- tered the Hudson River on St. Anthony's day, June 13th, named it St. Anthony. He seized some of the Indians, taking them to Spain and sell- SPANISII DISCOVERIES. ing them. The country was cold, and he reported that Spaniards could not live there. Hunger for gold, desire for con- quest, zeal for the establishment of religion, thirst fur adventure — are there any stronger motives than thesfi_tQ_lead men to brave danger or endure hardships? Moved by such motives, Pamphilio Narvaez, Cabez de Vaea, and several hun- dred young men from the rich and noble families of Spain, sailed from the Guadalquiver for Amer- ica, landing in Tampa Bay, on the west coast of Florida, April 14th, 1528, taking possession of the coun- try for the King of Spain. The JOHN VEKRAZANO. 26 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. THE GLOOMY SOLITUDES. Indians that flocked around them were in possession of gold ornaments. When asked where they obtained them, they pointed to the north. Narvaez marched in that direction. There were three hundred in the party, with horses and small cannon. Never before had the eyes of the DISCOVEKY OF SAN SALVADOR. 27 adventurers beheld such gloomy solitudes — dense forests of pine, dark groves of cypress, wide- spreading oaks with long trails of gray moss drooping from the branches, magnolias filling the air with their overpow- ering fragrance. They toiled through swamps ; bays, inlets, and rivers impeded their progress, and their way was blocked by decaying trees torn up by whirlwinds and blasted by lightning. They saw strange animals — the opossum, that carried its young in a pocket ; panthers prowled around them, and bears. At every stream they were compelled to con- struct rafts. They had little to eat. They expected to find rich and populous Indian towns, but only beheld clusters of wigwams. JACQUES CARTIKR. In August they were at St. Mark's, on Appolodree Bay ; but their ships had not arrived, nor did they ever see them again. They began the construction of boats, making their swords into saws and axes, their stirrups and the bits of their bridles into nails. They plundered the In- 28 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. dian corn-fields to obtain food, and ate their horses. They twisted the film of the palmetto and the hair of their horses' manes and tails into ropes ; calked the seams of the boats with grass, and smeared them with pitch; sewed their shirts together for sails; made water-bottles of the •\VHERE CARTIER PASSED THE WINTER. skins of their horses; and on the 2d of September embarked, two hun- dred and fifty in number, in five frail vessels, so deeply loaded that the gunwales were hardly six inches above the water. They seized some In- dian canoes, split them in pieces, and built up the sides of their boats. Slowly they crept along the shore westward. On the 30th of October they reached the Mississippi, and tried to enter it, but the current swept them back. On the 5th of November two of their boats were wrecked not far from Galveston, and the others were driven out to sea. Of the company all but four — De Vasca, Dorantes, Castillo, and Estevarrico — per- DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 29 ished. They made themselves at home among the Indians, learned their language, passed from tribe to tribe, travelled northward through Texas to the Canadian River and westward to the Rio Grande, and from thence to San Miguel, in Sonora, which they reached in 1536, where they found some of the soldiers of Cortez, who conducted them to the city of Mexico. Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534:, and set up a cross at Gaspe, claiming the country for France. The next year he made a second voyage up the St. Lawrence, beheld the gloomy gorges of the Saguenay, and dropped anchor in the Bay of Or- leans. Upon the northern shore, under a rocky cliff, was a cluster of wig- wams; the Indians called the place Stadacone. Little did Cartier think that on the plateau behind the town the last decisive battle between France and England for supremacy in America would be fought ; that upon the site of the wigwams would rise the city of Quebec. Cartier sailed up the river in a boat, to a town which the Indians called Hoche- laga. A hill which overlooked the town and all the surrounding coun- try he named Mont Royal — which time has changed to Montreal. The ice closed around Carrier's ship before he could get away, and he spent the long winter at Stadacone, returning to France in the spring. Cabeza de Vaca, who had experienced such hardships in his journey from Florida through Texas to Mexico, reached Cuba. His accounts of what he had seen fired the ardor of Ferdinand de Soto, Governor of the island, who had been with Pizarro in Peru. He resolved to conquer Florida, and landed on its western coast, near Hillsborongh River, with six hundred men ; marched north through Georgia, Alabama, Missis- sippi, crossing the Mississippi near the boundary of Tennessee, explor- ing the country north to New Mad- rid, in Missouri, and west to the western boundary of Arkansas. At the mouth of the Red River, De Soto died, and was buried beneath the waters of the Mississippi. The survivors of the party wandered in Louisiana till July, 1543, when they constructed boats, descended the Mississippi, reached the Gulf, and made their way west to the Span- ish settlements in Mexico. 30 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Cabeza de Yaca and his companions, while in Texas and Mexico, heard of a country still farther north which the Indians called Cibola. BURIAL OF DE 8OTO. The Governor of Western Mexico, Coronado, resolved to conquer it. He despatched two vessels up the Gulf of California, which ascended the Col- orado River about eighty-five miles beyond the present boundary between Mexico and the United States. Coronado himself with an army marched to Central Arizona, and eastward to Santa Fe, on the Rio Grande, claim- ing the country for the King of Spain. While Coronado was marching through Arizona, Francis de la Roque and Cartier were planning the colonization of Canada. They made a settlement at Quebec, but the winter was cold, the emigrants pined for home, and they went back to France. The Dominican priests in Cuba and Spain had set their hearts on con- verting the Indians of Florida, and, in 1549, Louis Cancella and several other priests endeavored to establish a mission. The Indians had not for- gotten the cruelties of D'Ayllon, Narvaez, and De Soto, and in revenge killed several of the priests, and compelled the others to leave the country. The Huguenots of France were heretics, and the Catholics were hunt- ing them down. John Ribault, of Dieppe, turned his eyes to America as a place of refuge for himself and friends. He sailed to Carolina, and left twenty-six men to begin a settlement at Port Royal. When he returned to France civil war was raging, and he could send no supplies. The men at DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 31 Port Royal were homesick. Their provisions failed. They built a small vessel and set sail. Some died, but the others were picked up by an Eng- lish vessel and saved. Two years passed. There was a lull in the strife between Catholics and Protestants in France, and Ribault began another settlement, on the St. John's River, in Florida. Several hundred Hu- guenots, with their families, weary of the strife in France, emigrated to Florida. The news reached Spain. French heretics on Spanish soil ! What an outrage ! They were Frenchmen, and must be driven out : heretics — and must be exterminated. A heretic — one who did not recognize the Pope as head of the Church — must be put to the sword, as an enemy of God and man. Philip Melendez, fired with zeal for the Church, stimulated by the preaching of the Jesuit priests and bishops, quickly gathered an army. The high-born sons of Spain enlisted under his banner to wipe out the insult to Spain and to the holy Catholic Church. A great company of priests joined in the enterprise. With twenty-five hundred men he made his appearance on the coast of Florida. It \vas St. Augustine's day, and he discovered a beautiful harbor to which he gave the name of the saint. ST. AUGOST1NK. He approached Fort Carolina. Ribault's vessels went out to meet him. A storm came on, and the French vessels were wrecked ; but Melendez reached the harbor at St. Augustine. Fort Carolina was defenceless, and he marched overland, entered it without opposition, and massacred men, women, and children, old and young, sick and helpless, alike. A few men only escaped on two little vessels. 32 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. Upon the smouldering ruins of the fort, amidst the ghastly forms of mangled corpses, Melendez reared a cross, with this inscription : "NOT AS TO FRENCHMEN, BUT AS LUTHERANS." The Jesuit priests chanted a Te Deum, and, laden with the spoil, the army returned to St. Augustine. PALMS ON THE ST. JOHN'S. The shipwrecked sailors of the French fleet, living on roots, frogs, and alligators, gave themselves up as prisoners. Their hands were tied behind them, and then the work of death began. Those who were Catholics were spared to become slaves; the others were inhumanly butchered. Beneath the palmettos, on the banks where the alligators lay basking in the sun of the St. John's, and on the beach of the St. Augustine, lay the mangled bodies of nine hundred men, women, and children, murdered through bigotry and hate; while over the gloomy scene priestly hands DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 33 held the cross, emblem of love and peace, amidst the chantings of a Gloria to Almighty God. The work of death done, the work of colonization began. Forts were built at St. Augustine, a town laid out, a chapel and houses erected. It was the first permanent settlement within the present boundaries of the United States, begun in 1565. Intelligence of the horrible massacre reached the ears of Dominic de Gourges in France. He was a Huguenot and- wealthy, but of what value was wealth with so terrible a crime unavenged ? He sold his estates, pur- chased ships, enlisted one hundred and fifty men, sailed secretly, captured the garrison in a fort on the St. John's, hung the captives upon the wide- spreading branches of the surrounding trees, with this inscription above them : "NOT AS UNTO SPANIAKDS, BUT AS TO MURDERERS. He was too weak to attack St. Augustine, and sailed for France, having only in part accomplished his purpose. Sir Francis Drake, with three ships, had passed through the Straits of Magellan to wage war upon the Spaniards in Peru. One of his ships had been wrecked ; the others had sailed he knew not where ; but in the Pel- ican he carried havoc to the Spanish towns. In June, 1579, he was so far north off the coast of Oregon that his crew complained of the cold. In a spacious harbor — possibly in the Bay of San Francisco — he refitted his ships, made a map of the coast, and gave the name of New Albion to the country. From thence he sailed west across the Pacific, re- turning to England by the Cape of Good Hope. Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed from England in 1583, with five small vessels, on a voyage of dis- covery. On the 3d of August he dropped anchor in the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, where he found thirty-six vessels. The crews were catching fish and dry- ing them on the rocks. Sir Hum- phrey informed the fishermen that the island belonged to Queen Eliza- beth, and that they must obey the laws of England. If any one said 3 SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. anything against it he was to have his ears cropped off, and lose his goods. The fishermen for many years had been drying their fish on the rocks, but now they were informed that they must pay for the privilege. It was the beginning of a controversy about fish which has lasted three hundred years, and which is not yet settled. Having set up the authority of Elizabeth, Sir Humphrey sailed for Pom HOYAt/frtneh undo- SiliauU ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES. DISCOVERY OF SAN SALVADOR. 35 England, but his vessel went down in a storm with all on board ; the other vessel reached Eiigland in safety. Sir Walter Raleigh had large ideas in regard to America, and greatly desired to have England obtain a foothold in the New World. He sent two vessels, commanded by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, to explore the coast. They sailed south-west, and on the 3d of July, 1584, found themselves off the coast of North Carolina. They were kindly received by the Indians, and, upon their return to England, gave such a satisfac- tory account of the country that Sir- Walter Raleigh sent a few men to establish a colony. Sir Francis Drake was ranging the seas, destroying the ships, and plundering towns in the West Indies, which he called "singeing the beard of the King, of Spain." He plun- dered Porto Rico and St. Augustine, then sailed along the coast and dis- covered Sir Walter's colony. The settlers longed to see England once more, and sailed with him for their old home. They had but just gone, however, when Sir Richard Gren- ville arrived at the abandoned settle- ment with supplies, which Sir Walter had sent. The houses were there, and the fields of wheat ready for the sickle. Sir Richard, not willing to give up the enterprise, landed fifteen CHAIR MADE FROM WOOD OF THE SHIP OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. men on Roanoke Island, with two years' provisions, to hold the country against Spain ; but the men quar- relled with the Indians, and were destroyed. Sir Walter Raleigh, instead of being disheartened, sent out one hun- dred and fifty colonists to found the city of Raleigh. John White was governor ; lie laid out a town on Roanoke Island. On the 18th of August, 158T, Mrs. Dare gave birth to a daughter, who was named Virginia — the first child of English parents born in America. The ships departed for England, and when they again returned to America the colonists had disappeared. The houses were there, but 36 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. weeds were growing in the yards. What became of the settlers no one ever knew. From these voyages and discoveries, covering a period of one hun- dred years, it came about that Spain, England, and France, by priority of discovery, could lay claim to various sections of the New World. FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. CHAPTER II. FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. F1 That was the news carried to England, in 1497, by John and Se- bastian Cabot. The people across the Channel, in Brittany and Normandy, heard of the discovery ; they were accustomed to brave the dangers of the sea; to make hazardous voyages in their little fishing- boats; and it was not long before the sailors of St. JVIalo, Honfleur, Morlaix, and other quaint old towns along the coast, were bidding good-bye to their friends, leaving their humble homes, and spreading their sails for a trip to a re- gion all unknown till traversed by the Cabots. The fishermen of Honfleur steered west, past the Jersey Islands, till they came to the wonderful fishing-ground, where they soon filled their boats, and returned to spread the welcome news. No one knows exactly how it came about, but many years before the discovery of the New World the Pope decreed that it was wicked to eat meat on Fridays, saints' days, or during Lent, but that it was not wrong to eat fish. There were so many saints to be honored that on more than 38 OLD TIMES IN THE COLOMES. one hundred days during the year no meat could be eaten, and in conse- quence there was a great demand for fish. The people of Brittany were all good Catholics, and, for that matter, there were no Protestants anywhere ; everybody accepted the Pope as the head of the Church. The people in the old towns counted their beads, STREET IN MORLAIX. said their prayers devoutly, and sailed boldly out upon the stormy ocean, enduring great hardships. They reached the Banks of Newfoundland, moored their frail vessels in the harbor of St. John's, dried their fish upon the rocks, and then, with full cargoes, sailed away to find a market in the seaports of Portugal, Spain, France, England, and Holland. FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. 39 In 1527 the captain of an English vessel wrote to the Kino- of En£- 1 O O O land that the French were occupying the fishing-ground that belonged to the English ; that he found twelve vessels from Brittany in one of the harbors of Newfoundland ; that the Bretons were dressing and drying their fish upon the rocks, and taking possession of the country; that one of the islands was named Cape Breton. HOMES OF THE FISHERMEN OF BRITTANY. After awhile the question arose as to who owned the fishing-ground. England claimed it because John and Sebastian Cabot had discovered it. France claimed that the ocean was free, and that England could not set up any boundaries on the water ; that fishermen of France had just as much right as Englishmen to catch codfish on the Banks of Newfound- land. The question involved the dominion of the seas. We shall see, as this narrative goes on, that this controversy, in connection with the establish- ment of fish -houses on shore, led to the settlement of Canada, Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts in part, and the plant- ing of two races, two languages, two religions in the northern section of this Western world. When the crusaders marched to the Holy Land to rescue Jerusalem, and the holy sepulchres from the Saracens, they wore caps made from 40 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. cat-skins. The French word for cat is chat, and for skins peau, and so they called a cap a chapeau. Somewhere in the East they learned the art of making felt. When the fishermen of Brittany built their huts upon the shores of Newfoundland and Cape Breton, they saw the beavers constructing their dams along the streams, felling trees, gnawing them into logs, floating the timber in the current, placing the logs in proper position, piling stones upon them, interweaving them with sticks, stopping the crevices with grass, plastering the structure with mud, curving the dam against the cur- rent to give it strength, and building their mud-houses in the ponds of still water thus created. FISH-HOUSE AND BOATS. Quite likely the hatters of France had already discovered that furs could be felted ; but when the fishermen of Brittany carried home some skins of the beaver, they saw that hats manufactured from its fur would be far more beautiful than those felted from wool : there was soon a great demand for them ; and not only the beaver, but other furs — the sable, fox, and marten — were wanted. To supply the ever-increasing demand, com- panies were organized in France, England, and Holland, with charters to carry on the fur trade ; with power to hold lands, make settlements, and establish governments. This desire to obtain furs became a mighty force. Emigrants bade THE BKAVKK AX1» ITS HOME. FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. THE TRAPPEU. farewell to friends, home, and the dear old things of the past, crossed the ocean, and reared their log-huts in the forest. The demand for furs gave a new stimulus to the Indian tribes on the northern half of the conti- nent. The knives, tinkling bells, and shining bits of tin, the glass beads, gunpowder, and rum, which the white men gave in exchange for furs, awakened desires all unknown before. Canada was settled by emigrants from France, through this demand for furs, planting on the St. Lawrence the religion of Rome and the ideas of the Feudal age, that allowed the people no rights, nor any voice in government. The same desire to obtain furs led the Dutch to New York, to lay the foundations of a State and of a city which time has made the metropolis of the Western World. Among the plants which Christopher Columbus beheld on the morn- ing of October 12th, 1492, was one with broad, green lanceolate leaves, and rose-colored flowers, native not only to San Salvador and the West Indies, but growing in luxuriance in the soil of Virginia. Columbus saw the Indians roll up a dry leaf of the plant, light one end, and inhale the smoke at the other. They called it tobacco, and used it not only for pleasure, but believed that the odor was a fragrance that gave delight to the Great Spirit. Whenever they made a treaty, or transacted important business affecting them as a tribe, they smoked a pipe, making the act an oath of confirmation. 44 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The Spaniards learned to smoke, and the French, who visited the North American shores, acquired the habit. Jules Nicot carried some of the dried leaves to France, and the plant became known to botanists as Nicot's plant, or Nicotiana tabacum. Its introduction to France was about the year 1560, and it was soon in great demand. People not only smoked it but chewed it, and ground it into dust and snuffed it. AFTKR A MOOSE. Ralph Lane carried some tobacco to London, in 1580, where it was used first as a medicine, but soon became a luxury, and was made fash- ionable by Sir Walter Raleigh. He and his friends often met at the Pied Butt tavern to smoke their pipes. King James I. hated tobacco, and wrote %'book against its use. Pope Urban VIII. and Innocent XI. issued FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. 45 bulls against smoking. The priests of the Mohammedan religion cried out against it, and the sultan, Amu ret IV., cut off the noses of those who used it. Vain the prohibition ! The love for tobacco increased. All na- tions acquired the habit of smoking. The first settlers of Virginia grew rich through the cultivation of the plant. It became their exclusive' occupation. The colony was found- ed upon it. Laws, customs, habits, social relations, the progress of the state, all were affected by it. To- bacco became the currency of the colony ; all values were reckoned by it. Far-reaching has been its influence. Through all past ages the strong have enslaved the weak. Prisoners taken in war were held as slaves. Barbaric people were reduced to bondage by those more civilized. When Christopher Columbus landed on San Salvador and Cuba he was kindly treated by the In- dians ; but the men of Spain were cruel and enslaved them, compel- 1 . -» -I • • 1* 1 \JI3A\j\j\J. ling them to work in mines and in the cultivation of the sugar-cane. They gave them hard tasks, with little to eat ; cut off their ears, noses, hands and feet upon the slightest provocation. Under such cruel treatment the Indians died in great numbers, and, to supply their places, expeditions were made to Mexico and South America. Vasquez D'Allyon visited South Carolina in 1520 to obtain slaves, en- ticing the confiding Indians on board his ship, and carrying them to Cuba. The Indians were feeble, but the negroes of Africa were strong ; and Bishop Las Casas, of Chiopia, in Mexico, who was a friend to the Indians, petitioned the emperor, Charles V., to permit the enslavement of negroes in Africa, instead of allowing the slavers to rob him of his flock. The emperor gave his consent, and the enslavement of negroes began. Captain John Hawkins, of England, visited the West Indies, and the thought came to him that he might make it profitable to bring slaves from Africa. He returned to England, laid his plan before Sir Lionel Duchet, Sir Thomas Dodge, Mr. Gunnison, Mr. Winter, Mr. Bi'omfield, 46 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. and other gentlemen, who joined in fitting out the ships Solomon, Swal- low, and Jonas. Sir John sailed in December, 1562, to TeneriflFe, and from there to Sierra Leone, in Africa, where three hundred negroes were captured or purchased from the chiefs, taken to Cuba and sold. Captain Hawkins returned to England with a great quantity of gold, besides a cargo of hides, sugar, and ginger. It was so profitable a trade that the following year he sailed with four ships, and captured five hundred ne- groes. It is not probable that Captain Hawkins or any one else con- nected with the enterprise thought for a moment that it was wrong. SLAVE-SHIP. They believed that they were God's elect servants. The ships were be- calmed in mid -ocean, and their water was running low; but Hawkins trnste^m God to bring him and his cargo safe to Cuba. He wrote this FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. 49 in his journal : " For the space of eighteen days we were becalmed, which put us in such fear that many of our men despaired of reaching the In- dies, but the Almighty God, who never suffers his elect to perish, sent us, on the 16th of February, the ordinary breeze, which never left us until we came to the Islands of Cannibals, called Dominica." In 1619 a Dutch vessel sailed up the James River with negroes stolen from Africa. They were sold to the settlers of Virginia, who were gath- ering rich harvests of tobacco. Little did the captain of that ship think what would be the outcome of that cargo of slaves — the misery, suffering, anguish, woe, and horrors ; the death of myriads of human beings in the terrible passage across the sea, crowded into hot and stifling holds, pant- ing for breath, dying of fever, thirst, hunger, confinement, homesickness ; and when the terrific typhoons came on, to lighten the ship, the living and dead cast overboard to a multitude of ravenous sharks, ever following in the wake of the vessel, looking upward with hungry eyes for their ex- pected prey ! The great artist, Turner, has pictured the horrible scene: "Aloft, all hands! Stride the top-masts and belay! Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds Declare the Typhoon's coming. Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard The dead and dying. Ne'er heed their chains. Hope ! hope ! fallacious hope ! Where is thy market now?" Little did Sir John Hawkins, or anybody else have any conception of what would one day be written upon the historic page of our country — the desolation of a great civil war, death upon the battle-field and in prison of half a million of men ! We, even, do not comprehend what is to be the ultimate result of that sale of sixteen slaves. What part are the four millions of the African race to take in the future of our coun- try ? What will they yet do for Africa? Who knows but that they will be the means of carrying a Christian civilization and Republican institu- tions to the continent where they had their origin ? In the "Story of Liberty" is an account of Ignatius Loyola, who founded the society of the Jesuits. He inspired others with his own lofty zeal. The members of the society went forth to convert the world, to thread the jungles of India, traverse the deserts of Africa and the steppes of Asia ; uphold the Cross on the banks of the Amazon, and plant it upon the peaks of the Andes ; to rear churches amidst the fertile vales of Mexico; make their home in a palace or the hut of a savage; brave 50 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. every danger, suffer every hardship ; endure every privation ; to die of hunger, thirst, cold or heat, disease or violence ; to labor without reward, except that which the Virgin Mary would extend to them, through their sacrifices to save souls from the clutches of the devil. They were to per- suade men where persuasion was available ; employ force where force was possible. It was their province to spy out the actions of men — meddle in all their affairs; fathom the secrets of human hearts; interfere in households, in cabinets, in halls of justice and legislation ; set father against son, and son against father ; stir up strife between husband and wife, mother and daughter. All earthly relations, all human considera- tions, all the ties which men deem sacred, were subordinated to the idea that baptism into the Church was of more value than anything else ; that they were commanded by the Virgin to rescue men from perdition. To bring about that end any means were justifiable. Each member THE TOMAHAWK AND SCALPIXG-KXIFE IKMXG BLOODY M'OKK. was to watch every other member; report their faithfulness or unfaith- fulness. They had one watchword— " Obedience." With a zeal such as the world had never before witnessed, the Jesuits went forth upon their missions. Their history is interwoven with that of every nation— a rec- FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. 51 ord of self-denial, hardship, suffering, martyrdom ; of burning zeal, fiery energy, tireless activity, unquenchable ardor; of religious devotions, world- ly wisdom, benevolence, and charity ; deceit, falsehood, hypocrisy, cruelty, and despotism. If they have been charitable and kind, they have also blackened history by the darkest of crimes. If they have lifted men to higher and nobler lives, they have also sent myriads to prison, and burnt hundreds of thousands at the stake. Time has not quenched their zeal ; and though three hundred and fifty years have passed since their organi- zation, they are still making their power felt in every country, controlling the consciences and actions of men. The tomahawk and scalping-knife, at the bidding of the Jesuits, will do bloody work from the Penobscot to the Ohio, and the lurid light of burning dwellings will illumine the midnight sky. Men, women, and children will pass through the gloomy wilderness, from their ruined homes on the banks of the Merrimac and Connecticut to Quebec and Mon- treal, to be sold into slavery. The old and young, the strong and weak, will redden the snows of winter with their blood. It was the disappoint- ment of Ignatius Loyola in love, and the firing of a cannon at Pampeluna that started this crimson stream. In the " Story of Liberty " is a chapter about the man who split the Church in twain — Henry VIII. — who, through his love for Anne Boleyn, defied the Pope, and set up a church of his own, himself the head: it was in 1539. His daughter, Mary Tudor, did what she could to restore things as they had been before Henry established the Church of England ; she burnt so many men and women who refused to accept the Pope as head of the Church, that she was called " Bloody Mary." Her half-sister, Elizabeth, when she carne to the throne, re-established the Church which her father had founded, making herself the head. James I., who suc- ceeded Elizabeth, endeavored to make everybody conform to the ritual which the bishop had written out. Those who refused to do this were called Non-conformists. In the "Story of Liberty" is an account of the persecutions endured by the people of Scrooby and Austerfield, because they held meetings of their own on Sunday in an old manor-house, listen- ing to the preaching of John Robinson ; how they fled to Holland, and finally sailed to America in the Mayflower. Some of the ministers of the Church of England did not like to make the sign of the cross when they baptized a child, and there were other things distasteful to them in the ritual which the bishop had established. They desired a purer form of worship, and so were called Puritans by those who ridiculed them. They were not Separatists, like those plain 52 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. farmers of Scrooby arid Austerfield, but remained in the Church. "When James came to the throne, several hundred Puritans requested a change in the ritual. He answered them rudely : "I will have," he said, "one doctrine, one discipline, one religion ; I alone will decide ; I will make yon conform, or I will harry yon out of the land, or else do worse — hang you." Convictions of what is right and true are forces for good which op- pression and tyranny never can suppress. Obedience to such convictions led the men and women of Scrooby to flee from their pleasant homes to Holland, and from thence to America, to find peace and quiet in the soli- tude of the wilderness. Conviction of what was right and true also led the Puritans — some of whom lived in fine houses, with spacious halls, DIXIXG-ROOM IX A PURITAN MAXOR-HOCSE. where they entertained their friends in princely style — to turn their backs upon all the comforts and refinements of life to which they had been ac- customed, and make their humble homes in the wilderness, laying the foundations of a State which, though small in area, has wielded a wonder- ful influence on the history of our country. In obedience to this conviction, George Fox preached in the fields, the streets, entered churches unbidden, wearing his hat, and dressed in sheep- skin clothes. He preached that men should always be guided by the FORCES OF CIVILIZATION. 53 "inner light" which God would reveal to every honest heart. The jus- tices sent him to prison as a fanatic and disturber of the peace ; but as soon as he was out he resumed his preaching, making many converts to his ideas. On other pages of this volume we shall read of the persecutions, suf- ferings, and obloquy endured by the Quakers ; of their fanaticism and mistakes, and also the founding of the State of Pennsylvania by the fol- lower of George Fox. How strange that the firing of a gun on the shore of Lake Cham plain should set in motion a train of events which have had a mighty influence upon the destiny of our country ! In another chapter we shall accom- pany a hardy pioneer from France (Samuel Champlain) along the shore of the lake that bears his name. He will lire a gun whose echoes have not yet ceased to reverberate through the wilderness. Insignificant the event ; but it will set the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Canandaiguas, and Cayugas — the five tribes composing the Iroquois Nation — forever against the French. They will make their power felt in the great strug- gle between France and England for supremacy in America. Such are some of the forces that gave direction to the early history of our country. It is a history not designed by man; for the men of one generation cannot lay a plan for the generation that succeeds it. Every person exercises his own individual will ; and it is only a Divine hand that oift of the greed, selfishness, avarice, ambition, and passions of the multi- tude— out of their blunders, mistakes, and crimes — out of all the turmoils and conflicts of centuries — can mould a great Republic in which law, or- der, liberty, and an exalted sense of justice and right shall be supreme. OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER III. FIRST SETTLEMENTS. century of discovery closed, and the period of settlement began. Elizabeth was Queen of England, Henry IV. King of France, and Philip II. of Spain. A great fleet of vessels crossed the ocean every year from England and Brittany to the Banks of Newfoundland to obtain fish. The hardy sailors moored their little craft upon the banks, rode out fear- IUDING OUT A GALE ON THE BANKS. ful gales, or, when the storms came on, hoisted sail and ran to the harbor of Newfoundland for shelter. Some of the fishermen passed through the Straits of Canso into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Others coasted along Nova Scotia, and dropped anchor in the harbor of Maine — the sailors open- ing trade with the Indians, purchasing a large pile of beaver skins witli a FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 55 few knives, fish-hooks, or bits of tin ; carrying the furs to France, and sell- ing them to the hatters, making quite as much money on their furs as on their fish. A gentleman of Brittany, the Marquis de la Roche, resolved to capture and keep to himself a goose that would lay no end of golden eggs, by ob- taining from the king the exclusive privilege of trading witli the Indians. The King of France had no claim to America, except through the discov- eries made by John Verrazani and Jacques Cartier ; but he granted De la Roche's request, and made him Governor of Canada, Newfoundland, and RUNNING FOR SHELTER. Labrador — a vast undefined territory — with power to raise troops, declare war, build cities and forts ; to give away the land to whomsoever he pleased. The marquis tried to induce the people of Brittany to emigrate to Canada, but they preferred to remain at home and enjoy the comforts of life in their native villages. Not being able to get any settlers, De la Roche obtained leave to ship criminals from the prisons, and set sail with forty thieves and murderers. It was not a promising beginning, for the villains pummelled and pounded one another fearfully on the voyage. One morning they beheld the long yellow beaches of Sable Island, off 56 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. the shore of Maine. As De la Roche had not decided where to make a settlement, he landed the criminals, and sailed away to explore the coast ; but a storm came on, and the north-west winds blew so furiously that he STRAIT OF CAXSO. was swept nearly across the Atlantic, and found himself so near home that he returned to St. Malo. Forty thieves, with no one to govern them, no law — no authority — what will they do ? what will become of them ? A vessel had been wrecked on the island years before, and the hulk lay half buried on the beach ; from its planks they built some huts. Herds of wild horses cropped the stunted grass in the meadows, and the sea was alive with fish, so that they would not lack food. There were trouble- some times in France, and De la Roche could not visit them. Five years •went by, when a vessel approached the island and sent a boat on shore. Twelve men, wearing clothes made from the skins of foxes, were all that remained : the others had been killed, or had died from exposure or home- sickness. The weak had gone down before the strong ; might had made right. So ended the first attempt of the French to make a settlement in America. The merchants of Bristol, England, began to turn their eyes to the New World, and sent Bartholomew Gosnold on a voyage of discovery. He sailed in 1602, in the ship Concord, descrying first the white gran- ite ledges of Cape Ann. Turning southward, lie discovered a sandy promontory, which he named Cape Cod. He dropped anchor in the har- bor of Provincetown, caught many fish, sailed south once more around the cape to the islands of Kan tucket and Martha's Vineyard, entered Buzzard's Bay, and landed on an island which the Indians called Cutty- hunk. He was charmed with the country, the tall forest-trees, the grape- vines which grew along the shore; built a fort, intending to leave six FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 57 men, but was so short of provisions that he was obliged to abandon the project. He loaded his ship with sassafras, which was greatly esteemed in London, the doctors using it as a medicine, and hastened away, having only a single biscuit left when he reached England. The next year the Bristol merchants sent Martin Pring to see what he could discover. He sailed along the coast of Maine, entered Casco Bay, Kennebunk Harbor, the Saco, and Piscataqua. It was midsummer, and the fields on the west shore of the Piscataqua were so red with straw- berries that he named it Strawberry Bank. The quaint old town of Portsmouth now covers the ground where the sailors feasted themselves upon red, ripe berries. Captain Pring was so enthusiastic over what he had seen, upon his return to England, that Richard llakluyt, one of the ministers of Bristol, CAPE ANN. became greatly interested, and wrote letters to influential friends — Sir George Somers, Edward Wingfield, and others in London — telling them that it was the duty of Englishmen to do something to checkmate Spain, who had already obtained possession of Mexico, South America, and Flor- ida, and who was in a fair way to control the whole Western World, 58 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. While Richard Hakluyt was thus endeavoring to awaken an interest among his friends, there was a gentleman in France, Pierre de Gnast, who saw that it was time for France to be getting a foothold in America. Henry IV. bestowed the title of Sieur de Monts upon De Guast, and gave PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE. him the territory now comprised in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to which was given the name of Acadia. He gave to De Monts, Baron Pon- trincourt, and Samuel Cham plain, as he had once given to De la Roche, the sole privilege of trading with the Indians. They were to build up the empire of New France in the New World. It was a strange company that sailed from Havre de Grace, April 7th, 1604. There were De Monts, Pontrincourt, Pontgrave, Champlain, sev- eral Jesuit priests and Huguenot ministers, and a crowd of thieves and vagabonds which De Monts had taken from the prisons. The Jesuits and Huguenots were almost at swords' points ; and when they could not con- vince one another by argument, fell to with their fists, while the thieves blackened each other's eyes in their frequent quarrels. They sailed into the Bay of Fundy, laid out a town on the sandy island of St. Croix, built a great house for the noblemen, and smaller houses for the others ; and then the vessels returned to France, leaving De Monts, Champlain, and seventy men. What a dreary winter it was ! The snows whirled around the houses, FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 59 and the nights were so cold that the wine which De Monts had brought from France was frozen in the casks. Disease thinned their ranks. Be- fore spring one-half died. In the spring a vessel came from France with forty men, whom De Monts had hired. He saw that the soil of the island was poor, and sailed in search of a better place — visiting the Keimebec, Saco, and Piscataqua riv- ers and the Isle of Shoals, discovering the Merrirnac River, which he named for himself, La Riviere de "Guast. He called Cape Ann Cape St. Louis, and Cape Cod Cape Blanco. He landed at Nausett ; and while the sailors were ob- taining fresh water an In- dian darted from behind a tree and seized a kettle. A crowd of Indians were upon them, letting fly their arrows ; but Chain plain fired a gun, which so frightened them that they fled. De Monts returned to his settlement, sailed east- ward, and selected a beau- tiful site on the eastern shore of the Bay of Fun- dy, and laid out a town which he named Port Roy- al, putting up a spacious house, containing a great hall with a wide-mouthed fireplace, a row of smaller buildings, and a church. So France obtained her first foothold in the Western World. Gold ! gold ! The ships of Spain wrere bringing it by the cart-load from Mexico and South America. For more than a century rich cargoes had been gathered in by the rapacious gold-hunters of Castile, Arragon, and Andalusia. The people of England began to have the gold hunger, DE MOSTS. f,0 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. arid fondly imagined that gold could be found almost anywhere in Amer- ica. Poets pictured the attractions of the New World in glowing Ian- CAPE COD. guage. In one of the plays, Captain Seagull narrated to a fellow named Spendthrift wonderful accounts of the country beyond the sea: /Spendthrift. "Is there such treasure there as I have heard?" /Seagull. "I tell thee, gold is more plentiful there than copper is with us. For as much copper as I can carry, I'll have thrice weight in gold. Why, man, all their pots and pans are of purest gold ; all their prisoners are fettered in gold ; and as for rubies and diamonds, they go forth and gather them by the sea-shore to hang on their children's coats and stick in their children's caps." FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 61 Spendthrift. " Is it a pleasant country ?" Seagull. "As ever the sun shone on: temperate, and full of all sorts of excellent viands. Wild-boar is as common there as bacon is here, and venison as mutton. You may be an alderman there, and not a laborer ; an officer, and not a slave." Night after night crowds flocked to the theatres to see the play, and have their imaginations fired by the exhibition of pieces of gold supposed to have been brought from America. Queen Elizabeth was dead, and James was on the throne, and the merchants of London and Plymouth petitioned him for a grant of land in America : he complied with their request, and gave the London mer- chants the country between Long Island and Cape Fear; and to the Plymouth merchants the country between Long Island and Nova Scotia. The Plymouth men sent out Captain Weymouth to explore the coast. He reached Cape Cod on May 13th, 1605, then sailed north and landed on the island of Monhegan. He entered a harbor on the coast of Maine on MONHEGAN. Pentecost Sunday, and named it Pentecost. He landed (he next day, and the sailors dug up a patch of ground and sowed some garden-seeds — the first sown by the hands of Englishmen in the Western World. Captain Weymouth sailed up the Kennebec River, entered Booth Bay, and landed at Pemmaquid. The Indians flocked around his ship in their bark canoes. He enticed them on board, treacherously seized five, and sailed away to England. What an excitement there was in the old town of Plymouth when the ship Archangel, with five Indians on board, dropped anchor in the harbor! All the town came to see Squanto and his red-skinned fellow- savages. Sir Fernando Gorges, the governor, became greatly interested 62 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. PEMMAQUID. in them. Wherever they went great crowds flocked to see them, which set everybody to talking and thinking about America. Sieur de Monts, the while, was spending his money freely in buying provisions and supplies for his colony on the Bay of Fundy, treating the Indians kindly, feasting their old chief, Membertu, at his own table, and tossing strips of bear-meat to the dusky warriors who squatted on the floor of the great hall. The savages grunted their satisfaction, and look- ed up with longing eyes for more; it was better than tramping through the forest all day in pursuit of game — they would always be friends of the French. A vessel sailed into the harbor, bringing a letter for Sieur de Monts : " Your enemies have persuaded the king to deprive you of the sole privilege of trading with the Indians," was the message. Everything was abandoned — houses, furniture, all — and with a sad heart Sieur de Monts sailed away; so the second attempt of France to get a foothold in Can- ada ended in failure. The vessel which carried the disappointed Frenchmen back to France almost came in contact, in mid -ocean, with three ships from London, which were bear- ing to Virginia the men who CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. . . ., were to make the first perma- nent English settlement in America at Jamestown. FIEST SETTLEMENTS. 63 In April, 1607, Captain Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, Captain John Smith, and a party of colonists sailed into the peaceful waters of Chesapeake Bay, dropping anchor off a point o£ land where everything around was so pleasant : after tossing so many weeks on ship-board, they named it Point Comfort. The vessels sailed up a noble river, which Captain Newport named the James, in honor of the king. He made a settlement on an island, to which he gave the name of Jamestown. The expedition had been fitted out by the London Company of mer- AKR1VAL AT JAMESTOWN. chants. The colonists consisted of four carpenters, a few laborers, and forty-eight "gentlemen," sons of noblemen, who had wasted their fort- unes, and who expected to find gold lying in heaps. They had vague ideas of a life of exciting adventure in the wilderness. How different the reality ! They found no gold ; the sun blazed in the heavens like a fiery ball, and they wilted beneath the heat ; fever set in ; death began to pick them off; provisions failed; and had not Captain Smith obtained corn from the Indians, all would have perished. Instead of gold and ad- ventures, sickness, death, and disappointment ! While this was transpiring in Virginia, William Brewster, William Bradford, and the farmers of Scrooby and Austerfield, in obedience to their convictions of duty and obligation, were fleeing from England to Holland — the country which the sturdy, patient, plodding Dutchmen had banked in from the sea, pumped dry with their windmills, and converted it into farms and gardens — the only country on the face of the earth where they would be wholly free to think for themselves. OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "What land is this, that seems to be A mingling of the land and sea? This land of sluices, dikes, and dunes? This water-net that tessellates The landscape? this unending maze Of gardens, through whose latticed gates The imprisoned pinks and tulips gaze ; Where in long summer afternoons The sunshine, softened by the haze, Comes streaming down as through a screen ; Where over fields and pastures green The painted ships float high in air, And over all and everywhere The sails of windmills sink and soar Like wings of sea-gulls on the shore?" Sir Fernando Gorges, Governor of Plymouth, who took so much in- terest in the Indians which Captain Weymouth carried to England, en- listed his friend, Chief-justice Lord John Popham, in American affairs. Lord John had been wild in his youth, but having an ambition to get on in the world, became sober-minded, and worked his way into Parliament, and had been appointed chief-justice of the realm. He was harsh and cruel, and sent so many men to the gallows, that people called him "Hang- man Popham." He joined Sir Fernando Gorges in fitting out an expe- dition to make a settlement in Maine, but made a fatal mistake. Think- ing that anybody would count one, he emptied the jails, and sent a pack of criminals to establish a colon}-. To build a State we must have men, not the riffraff of society. The spot selected for a settlement was at the mouth of the Sagada- hock, or Kennebec, River, in Maine. Trees were cut down, and houses, church, and a log fort erected. Though the Indians had not forgotten the treachery of Captain Wey- mouth, they held friendly intercourse with the new-comers, who, in re- FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 65 turn, loaded a cannon to the muzzle with bullets, and induced the Indians to take hold of the drag-ropes and help them draw it. When all were in a line, one of Sir John's villains touched a live coal to the priming; there was a flash, a cloud, a roar, and the ground was strewn with corpses. The Indians, indignant at such treachery, fell upon the villains with their tomahawks. The cowards fled to their ships, and the Indians rushed into the fort. Suddenly there was an explosion, and the fort and the Indians went up into the air. The savages had touched off the magazine, and blown up the fort and themselves. Those who had been sent out by Sir John to manage affairs, saw that after such an affair it would be impossi- ble to establish the colony. They returned to England, and Sir John, who had hoped to add to his wealth, found himself out of pocket. Although the King of France had taken the monopoly of the fur- trade away from Sieur de Morits, that gentleman was ready for new en- terprises, and fitted out two vessels, appointing Samuel Champlain and a SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. merchant of St. Malo — Pontgrave — commanders. The cargoes were trink- ets, knives, blankets, and other knickknacks for the Indians. 5 66 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. On tne 5th of April, 1608, Pontgrave, Champlain, and the sailors at- tended mass in the old church of St. Malo, bade good-bye to their friends, and sailed out upon the ocean. Pontgrave entered the Gulf of St. Law- rence, reached Tadousac, on the northern shore, where he found a party of Spaniards trading with the Indians. 7*^7 vW'<*Mt* "*%J •', ' I>A, ' • »". •.upS*7*^ ~'-.**v-' '- ^ ""«.,, TADOCSAC. " This is French territory ; you have no right here," said Pontgrave', running out his cannon and opening fire upon the Spanish vessel ; but the Spaniards were strongest, and the French were getting the worst of it, when Champlain fortunately arrived and conquered the Spaniards, allowing them to go home to Spain, but holding on to their furs. Up the river St. Lawrence sailed Champlain to the spot where, in 1535, stood the Indian town of Stadacone ; but the wigwams were no longer there — all had disappeared. "It is a good place for a town," said Champlain, and set the men to work erecting houses, surrounding them with a palisade, planting his can- non, clearing a bit of ground for a garden, and giving the name of Que- bec to the settlement. It was the first permanent planting of the civilization, language, and literature of France in America. The English are in Virginia, the French in Canada. Feeble both the plantings. Which will have the most vigorous growth ? What are the forces lying behind to give them strength ? One is of the Magna Charta — FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 67 the right of the many ; the other of the Feudal ages — the privilege of the few, and the right of none. In England the people are questioning the privileges of the king ; in France the king is absolute, and no one asks any questions. England rejects the supreme authority of the Pope; France accepts it. In the great struggle between these two diverse civ- ilizations, which will most likely go down ? which, for the well-being, hap- piness and advancement of the human race, ought to go down ? Samuel Champlain, of Brittany, is ever looking into the future of this 68 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Western World. He is dreaming of the time when there shall be a new empire, under the dominion of France and the sway of the Pope. He will make the Indians his allies ; will conquer them by kindly acts, attach them forever to France by making them his friends, and use them to ob- tain territory and power. With the aid of the Jesuits he will convert them to Christianity, and so extend the dominion of the Church. During the winter he feeds them, and the simple- hearted red men are ready to lay down their lives for such a benefactor. Spring opens. The Indians of Canada are at war with the Iro- quois, and Cham plain resolves to take part in the struggle. They as- THK BEGINNING OF TRADE ON THE HUDSON. FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 71 cend the St. Lawrence, enter the Richelieu, carry their canoes past the falls, launch them once more, and glide along the peaceful waters of Lake Champlain. On the western shore, as the sun is setting, July 29th, 1609, the Algonquins discover a war party of their enemies. Morning comes, Champlain loads his gun, puts on his breastplate of glittering steel, and in his cap a plume. The Iroquois have won many victories over the Algonquins, and ex- pect an easy triumph. The warwhoop resounds through the forest; the arrows fly. The Iroquois behold what they never before have seen — a strange being with the sunlight glistening on his breast. They see a lightning-flash, and hear a roar. A chief and a warrior are weltering in their blood. Another flash, more warriors going down. The warwhoop changes to a despairing cry on the one side, and victory on the other. In an instant the Iroquois are gone, and the victory is with the Algonquins. Champlain is their great chief. They rend the air with shouts. Now they will ever be victorious. Champlain rejoices with them. He has bound them to himself forever. Ah ! if he could but lift the veil that hides the future, he would see that in the flash of his gun there was more than the securing of the friendship of the Algonquins ; that there was, in addition, the undying hatred of the Iroquois toward the French ; that for a century and a half the Iroquois would never forget that defeat. How strangely things come about ! Champlain was laying founda- tion of empire in Canada; but if he had gone southward from that bat- tle-field two days' journey, he would have beheld a vessel from Holland — the Half-Moon — commanded by Henry Hudson, through whom the Dutch were to gain a foothold in America. He would have seen the Indians flocking around the Half-Moon in their canoes, the chiefs feasting Hud- son on baked dog, pigeons, pumpkins, and grapes, filling the vessel with fur in exchange for trinkets — the opening of trade on a river along whose peaceful waters the commerce of an empire is now borne to the sea. It was the beginning of Dutch influence in America, hostile to France and the Pope, antagonistic to the designs of Champlain and the Jesuits, the subsequent enlisting of the Iroquois as their allies, re-enforced by the power of undying hatred of the French. 72 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. CHAPTER IV. THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. HOW quickly we can learn to hate ! If anybody wrongs us, we do not soon forget it. How little do we understand that what we sow that we shall also reap! We know that if we sow thistles we shall have a crop of thistles ; but it has taken the human race many hun- dred years to comprehend that if they sow Bigotry they will reap a har- vest of the* same. When "Bloody Mary," as she was called, burnt hundreds of men and women at the stake because they were Protestants, she did not stop to think of what might come of it ; that it would set in motion a train of events that would sweep the Roman Catholic Church out of England ; that the people would come to regard the Pope as the embodiment of all wickedness. Queen Mary was daughter of the King of Spain, and that country was the great champion of the Church of Rome. The Spaniards were hard- hearted, treacherous, vindictive. The Jesuits had the consciences of the Spaniards in keeping, teaching them to do any evil that good might come. When Elizabeth was queen, they planned to have her assassi- nated ; and the assassin, Somerville, who was to commit the bloody deed, received the host at their hands before starting for London. They bar- gained with one of Elizabeth's servants to poison her. When the plots were discovered, the people were so enraged that the Jesuits were ban- ished from England. They conspired with Anthony Babington, and other Catholics who were in Elizabeth's household, to kill her ; when she was out of the way, they hoped to put Mary of Scotland on the throne. The people shuddered with horror when the plo't was discovered, and London blazed with bonfires when the conspirators were condemned to death. Spain and the Jesuits were hated more than ever. When Spain fitted out the great armada to invade England, the spirit of all the peo- ple was aroused. Spain conquer England ? Never ! Catholics were as loyal as the Protestants. They were all Englishmen. They were so THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 73 loyal that Elizabeth appointed Lord Howard, a Catholic, as one of her admirals. The Armada sailed up the Channel — one hundred and thirty vessels — carrying 2500 cannon, 8000 sailors, and 20,000 soldiers. - The English had only eighty ships ; but Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and Martin Frobisher, who had sailed amidst the icebergs of the Northern seas, were THE ROCKY CLIFFS. commanders of Elizabeth's squadrons. They sailed boldly out, cutting off ship after ship from the Armada. "We picked their feathers one by one," said the seamen. Then came a great battle. Lord Howard sent ships adrift piled with hemp, smeared with tar, and all ablaze, to burn the ships of the Armada at anchor on the coast of France. A fair wind wafted them upon the Spaniards. What a panic in the Armada — the galleons cutting their cables, hoisting sails, steering anywhere to get away ! Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher close in upon them, with the wind in their favor — running out their cannon, pouring in broadsides. Masts and spars go down with a crash. The vessels of the Spaniards are slaughter- pens. Three great galleons, with gaping holes in their sides, where the shot had ripped out the timbers, go to the bottom : others are driven ashore, and the waves complete the work of destruction. " We are lost !" cries the faint-hearted, incapable Medina Sidonia, commander of the Ar- mada. 74 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. He calls his officers together. " "What shall we do ?" " The wind is south, but we can sail around England and Scotland, and so get back to Spain," said the Spaniard. Only fifty vessels ever reached Spain. One by one they went to the bottom, or were dashed upon the ledges of the Orkneys, or lay their bones upon the rocky cliffs of Ireland. Eight thousand Spaniards perished be- tween the Giant's Causeway and the south of Ireland. More than twenty thousand perished in battle and by shipwreck. In every town and city of England bonfires blazed. The bell-ringers rung out their most joyful peals. Again the Spaniards and Jesuits had been foiled in their plans. On March 24th, 1603, Elizabeth died, and James, son of Mary of Scot- land, whom Elizabeth had beheaded, came to the throne. England, Scot- land, and Sweden were the only Protestant countries of Europe ; all others were Catholic; for Spain had Holland by the throat, and Henry IV. of France had abjured the Protestant faith. LEDGE OF THE ORKNEYS. The Jesuits had not given up the hope of bringing England once more under the authority of the Pope. James was a bigot. He would have no religion except that of the Church of England, and was so hard THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 75 upon the Catholics that he drove six thousand out of the country. The Jesuits resolved to strike back, and laid a plan which they fondly be- lieved would make England a Roman Catholic nation once more. Parliament was to meet November 5th, 1605. If James, the bishops, lords, and commons could all be got rid of at a stroke, it would be easy for Spain to take possession of the realm, and then Protestantism would be crushed forever. Robert Catesby conceived the plan. The Jesuits fomented it. Priests THE BELL-RINGERS RUNG OUT THEIR JOYFUL PEALS. in disguise visited the Catholic lords, let them into the secret, and obtained their promises to aid. They were to be ready to strike. Arms were sent over from the Netherlands. The Roman Catholic gentlemen were to meet the first week in November; word was to be given out that they were T6 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. going to have a grand deer- hunt. When Parliament assembled, Guy Fawkes and four other villains were to touch off barrels of powder, which ' they would secrete in the cellar of the building, and there would be an ex- STREET LEADING TO PARLIAMENT-HOUSE. plosion that would shake every house in London. King, ministers, lords, and commons would go sky-high. Before the people could inquire what had happened, the conspirators would seize the king's two sons and hurry them across the Channel. A Spanish army would land, and the Protestants would be under the heels of the Pope and Jesuits. Conscience is ever a good angel, warning us whenever we set our- selves to do wrong. The conscience of one of the conspirators troubled him ; for one of the members of Parliament, Lord Monteagle, was his friend. It is only the vilest wretch that can deliberately murder a friend. THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 77 The thought of what he was about to do so troubled the conspirator's conscience that he wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle, warning him not to attend Parliament at its opening. It was afternoon, November 4th, that Lord Monteagle received the letter. It contained a sentence that puzzled him : " Though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say this Par- liament shall receive a terrible blow, and yet they shall not see who hurts them." What was the meaning of it ? Lord Monteagle hastened to the king's ministers. "Let us search the cellar of the Parliament -house," they said ; and the sheriff and his men, with drawn swords, went down into the cellar, groped through dark passages with lanterns, and discovered Guy Fawkes and four other villains placing the barrels of powder and laying the train. The sheriff's men ran their swords through two of the con- spirators, and seized the others. All England held its breath over the astounding revelation. Is it a wonder that the people hated the Pope, the Jesuits, and Spaniards more than ever ? " Down with the Jesuits ! Hang them ! No popery in Eng- land !" they cried. Some of the leaders were hung; some fled to other countries; many were imprisoned. So intense was the hatred that a Roman Catholic was not safe on the streets. If one appeared, the mob pelted him with stones. They could hold no worship, and could only cherish their belief in silence. The bishops of the Church of England, the ministers in all the par- ishes, preached bitter sermons against the Papists and Jesuits. The bal- lad-writers wrote songs against them, which were sung by minstrels at all the county fairs, arousing the hatred of the people. Ever as November 5th came round, the boys in London, and in every town and village, made a mock pope, stuffing old clothes with straw, putting a mitre on the head of the image, dragging it through the streets, and pelting it with stones. He who could hit it in the eye was the best fellow. When evening came they tied it to a stake, piled fagots around it, and danced in savage glee while it was burning. "Pope's Day" was the jolliest of the year. It was a day on which all England drank the health of the king and shouted "No popery!" The Jesuits had sowed Bigotry, and they were reaping the legitimate fruit. If they were having a hard time in England, the Protestants were having a harder time in France, Holland, and Germany. Bigotry and Intolerance alike were regarded as virtues by the Church of Rome and ' the Church of England. The world was very far from understanding 78 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. the meaning of Christian chari- ty. We need not wonder if, farther along, we see Intolerance taking root in the New World. James was so wise in some things, and foolish in others, that he was called a " wise fool." He believed that men and women, by making a league with the devil, could bewitch people, and wrote a book about witchcraft; also a book against the smoking of tobacco. He tried to suppress the habit, but smoking increased ; tobacco - shops were opened all over London. James believed that he was especially and divinely appoint- ed of God to be king — to rule as he pleased — and that subjects had only to obey. The bishops agreed with him, and said that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost. When the king travelled, he was accompanied by a great number of earls, lords, and bishops. Noblemen spent their fortunes in entertaining him. One Sunday he dined with Sir Arthur Lake at Houghton Hall, and this was the bill of fare : TOBACCO-SHOP. — (FROM AN OLD PRINT.) First Course. Second Course. Pullets. Hot pasty of Venison. Hot Pheasant. Rabbits. Boiled Capon. Roast Turkey. Quails. Ducks. Boiled Mutton. Burred Veal. Partridges. Burred Chicken. Boiled Chicken. Roast Swan. Poults. Pea Tarts. Boiled Duck. Hot Chicken-pie. Roast Pigeon. Plovers. Roast Mutton. Cold Rabbits. A made Dish. Red Deer-pie. Roast Veal. Jiggets of boiled Mutton. Turkey-pie. Burred Pig. Pallets. Snipe-pie. Hogs Cheeks, dried. Hot Roast Heron. Cold Roast Heron. Boiled Breast of Veal. Cold Turkey. Roast Lamb. Custards. Roast Capon. Artichoke-pie. Gammon of Bacon. Roast Venison. Cold Tongue- pie. Chicken. Pullets and Greens. Burred Capon. Boiled Sprod. Roast Curlew. Dried Tongue. Roast Pig. Buttered Pease. Pheasant Tarts. A great deal of meat, and not much besides. THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 79 After dinner the servants presented a petition to the king, requesting permission to engage in sports and games on Sunday afternoon. The king gave them liberty to wrestle, run races, play ball, pitch quoits, throw iron bars ; but they were not to set cocks to lighting, or worry bulls with dogs on Sundays. On week-days they might attend cock-tights, or engage in any other brutal sport. He had a cockpit of his own near the palace, and took great delight in seeing the cocks peck one another to pieces. James took great pleasure in attending the theatres, although many of the plays were very indecent. The theatres were foul places. The king, the ladies and gentlemen of the court, the noblemen, occupied the boxes, but down in the pit there was a dirty crowd, sitting on benches that had no backs. Between the acts they guzzled beer, which was drawn from a barrel in the centre of the pit. The language of the plays was vile, and interlarded with oaths and ribaldry. There were indecent scenes; but the king, queen, lords, and ladies witnessed them without blushing. THE DINNER. Writers record the thoughts of the age in which they live, and the spirit of any period will ever be seen in the literature of the time. Ben Jonson tells us how vile the drama was in the time of James. 80 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. GLOBE THEATRE. "In dramatic or stage poetry," he says, "nothing but ribaldry, profana- tion, blasphemies, all license of offence toward God and man is pictured. Nothing but filth of mire is uttered." The actors ridiculed the Bible, called Moses a juggler, and maintained that religion was a farce. Many ladies and gentlemen thought it an ac- complishment to use profane language ; and if a person did not interlard his conversation with oaths, he was set down as being a Puritan, and sub- jected to all manner of ridicule. " Every stage and every table," wrote Lucy Hutchinson, " belched forth profane scoffs upon the Puritans. The drunkards made the songs, and all tiddlers and musicians learned to abuse them." Shakspeare never ridiculed the honest convictions of men. He wrote nothing against the Puritans, perhaps because his daughter Judith, as is supposed, was a Puritan ; perhaps because he never forgot the Sundays of THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 81 his boyhood, when he walked beneath the stately trees in the church-yard at Stratford, on the green banks of the Avon, and listened to the sermons preached in the old stone church. Either from the sermons or from the Bible, he obtained such a comprehension of duty, obligation, con- science, and retribution, that when, in after years, he sat down to write, he produced plays which portray vice in its hatefulness and virtue in all its loveliness. James had married Anne of Denmark, and when her father, the King of Denmark, came to make a visit, Ben Jonson, the poet-laureate, wrote a dramatic poem which represented the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. James gave a grand entertainment in his palace to all the ladies and gentlemen of the court, some of whom were selected to perform Jon- son's play. Unfortunately, the noble lady who personated the Queen of HOUSE IN WHICH SHAKSPEARE WAS BORN. Sheba had drunk so much wine, that when she kneeled before the King of Denmark, who personated Solomon, to present a tray containing a gob- let of wine, a dish of custard, a pitcher of cream, and a plate of cakes, she 6 82 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. lost her bal- ance and spilt them in bis lap. The King of Den- mark was in a sorry plight, but the servants came with napkins and wiped him off. He attempted to dance, but was so tipsy that he lost his footing and tumbled upon the floor. Three ladies, representing Faith, Hope, and Charity, had drunk so much wine that they could not speak their parts. Ben Jonson had prepared a part for Victory, but the wine had gone to HOLY TRIS1TV CHCRCH, 8TRATFOKD. THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 83 her head, and she became crazy for the time being, slapped the lords and ladies in the face with her olive-branch of peace, and made so much dis- turbance that the servants were obliged to put her out of the hall. The people loved games, and on market-days, in the country towns, there was cock- fighting, worrying of bulls by dogs, and games in which women and girls took part — running for prizes, or seeing which could make the broadest grin or loudest yawn ; noblemen, courtiers, and many ministers spent much of their time in gambling with cards and dice in the tobacco-shop, for the people were learning to smoke. The Puritans believed that life was not a holiday, but that men were STRATFORD PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE. in this world for a grand purpose; that they were accountable to God for every act ; that it was the duty of everybody to live soberly and right- eously. They brought the power of the world to come to bear upon ev- ery thought and act. No person had a right to be idle. A frivolous life was a wasted life. 84 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Such ideas were distasteful to the crowd of courtiers, who ridiculed the sober-minded men and women who were ever talking of duty and ob- ligation. Thus it came about that society was divided into two classes : the king, nobility, courtiers, bishops, the ministers who had fat livings and who loved their ease, the rich tradesmen, the play-actors, those who loved sports on Sunday, on one side ; on the other were many farmers BEAR-GARDLN. and peasants, some tradesmen and mechanics, some ministers, not many of the nobility, and very few of the courtiers. Only a small portion of the people were Puritans while James was king, but their numbers in- creased as the years rolled on ; not altogether because people became more religious, but because of the arbitrary acts of James and his son Charles. Political questions made men Puritans. James wanted more money than Parliament was willing to grant, and obtained it by selling titles. If a man wished to be a viscount, he must pay one hundred thousand dollars; if an earl, one hundred and fifty thousand. " Why not create a new title and raise more money ?" suggested Sir Thomas Shirley. James acted upon the hint, and created the title of bar- onet, and reaped a harvest of a million dollars. THE WISE FOOL OF ENGLAND AND HIS TIMES. 85 Parliament had granted the king duties on all goods brought into or sent from England, at a fixed rate ; but James discovered a way to put money in his pockets by increasing the rates. Vessels, for instance, which came from Greece brought cargoes of dried currants, which paid two shil- lings sixpence on every hundred pounds; James raised it to seven shil- lings sixpence without consulting Parliament ; and so with everything else — putting all into his own pocket. The judges of the Star-chamber and the bishops of the court of High Commission did as he desired. The laws said that no man who was accused of a crime should be compelled to testify against himself, but the judges and bishops disregarded it. Two men were brought before the bishops for not conforming to the ritual, and to answer other charges. " We will not take an oath to testify against ourselves," they said. The bishops sent them to prison; but they appealed to the judges of another court for a writ of habeas corpus, which means "to have the body ;" that is, the judges of the other court had power to order the sheriff to take the two men from prison, and bring them before their court for examination ; and they could order their release if they pleased, or send them to prison again. Mr. Fuller argned the case before the judges of the King's Bench. " They ought to be released," he said, " because the High Commission has not been empowered by law to fine or imprison, neither to administer oaths." That was a blow at the authority of the bishops, who summoned Ful- ler to appear before them ; and, when he refused to take the oath, they threw him into prison, and compelled him to pay a fine of one thousand dollars. The judges of the King's Bench did not interfere, and the Star- chamber and High Commission went on with their oppression. Men were put into prison, whipped, branded on the cheek, or had their noses and ears cut off for not conforming to the ritual, or for denying the au- thority of the bishops. For light offences men were subjected to cruel punishments. In every village there was a whipping-post, pillory, and stocks. If a woman scolded her husband or neighbors, she was put in the pillory, or whipped, or tied to the ducking-stool and soused in a pond. If a man spoke dis- respectfully of the bishops or king, he was flogged. For stealing or breaking into houses, men were hung. It was a ghastly spectacle that the passengers across London Bridge beheld — skeletons hanging in chains and swinging in the wind. Those 86 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. who passed beneath the Temple gate saw rows of skulls grinning upon them from the parapet. It was believed that unless bodily pain was inflicted ; unless offenders were whipped, or had their noses cut off; unless they were imprisoned or hung, there would not be a proper administration of justice, and society would not be secure. The laws were brutal, because the people were brutal. What we call the spirit of the age, is only our own spirit. When criminals were hung, thousands flocked to behold the hanging, and made sport when the sheriff swung them off. The multitude experienced a savage pleasure in seeing Jack Ketch cut off a man's head. The judges had a great deal to say about the majesty of the law. Bishops claimed the right to compel everybody to believe as they be- lieved and worship as they worshipped, and had power to punish by tines, flogging, and imprisonment all who would not obey their commands. Will the people who cross the Atlantic to settle America, who have been subject to persecution, at once become charitable ? Change of place cannot change the spirit of an age. Time alone can do it. MEDAL OF JAMES I. THE BEGINNING OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS. 87 CHAPTER Y. THE BEGINNING OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS. A COACH blazing with gold, with white lilies on its panels — the arms of France — rumbled through a narrow street in Paris on the after- noon of Juljr 14th, 1610. In the coach was a gray -haired man, with a hooked nose, sharp chin, wrinkled face, and stiff gray mustache. Fifty- BIRTHPLACE OF HENRY IV. seven years had passed since his birth in an old stone castle at Pan, in the Pyrenees, where his fond grandfather poured wine and garlic down his throat to make him strong (see "Story of Liberty"); twenty years had gone by since his white plume, waving in the thickest of the fight at 88 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Ivry, had won a great victory for the Huguenots — toleration for them and peace to France — through the Edict of Nantes, that alike protected THE INDIANS AT HOME. Catholic and Huguenots. Henry IV., beloved by the people, hated by the Jesuits, was riding alone through the narrow street, where the quaint old houses, jutting story over story, shut out the sunlight. T\vo carts blocked the way, and the coach came to a stand-still. A stout man with red whiskers, deep-set, wolfish eyes, the Jesuit Ravaillac, wearing a cloak, stepped up to the window. A dagger gleamed in the air, and then was buried to the handle in the heart of the king. A gasp, a gurgling in the throat, a sinking of the body upon the cushions, and all is over. He is gone ; gone also the peace of Europe, the tranquillity of France, the hope THE BEGINNING OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS. 89 of the Huguenots ; but there is rejoicing in convents and nunneries, for no more will the Jesuits be thwarted in their plans by Henry IY. Marie de Medicis, pliant, unprincipled, wicked — regent for her little son till he shall become king — will be a supple tool in their hands; what- ever they ask she will grant, and they will train the son to follow in the footsteps of the mother. What glorious news ! The red men of America all becoming Chris- tians! Young Biencourt, son of Baron Pontrincourt, brings the intelli- gence. Four years had passed since the abandonment of Port Royal by Sieur de Monts, who, having lost much money, sold all his rights in Acadia to Baron Pontrincourt, who hastened across the sea to take possession of his purchase. There was rejoicing in the wigwams of the Indians when his vessel dropped anchor in Port Royal. The houses and the furniture re- mained just as Sieur de Monts had left them. Membertu, the Indian chief, who was very old, welcomed his friends the French once more. " I have served the devil all my life, and now I want to be good," he said. Possibly he remembered the dinners he had eaten in the great hall with Sieur de Monts, and would like to partake of other feasts. " I would like to accept the white man's God, and my squaws and children will also accept him."' On the day of St. John the Baptist there was an imposing scene at Port Royal. Barori Pontrincourt and the other gentlemen of the expedi- tion, wearing glittering breastplates and plumed hats, guarded by soldiers, keeping step to the drum-beat, marching in procession, escorted the Jes- uit priests from the little log church to the sea-shore. The sailors and colonists gathered in groups around, greatly interested in all that was going on ; also the dusky warriors who had come to see their old chief and his wives become Christians. Membertu and his family kneeled upon the pebbled beach, the priest sprinkled them with holy-water, a Te Deum, was sung, the cannon thundered on ship and shore. " Henceforth you will be called Henri," said the priest to Membertu, naming him for the King of France. " I give you the iiame of Marie," said the priest to wife No. 1, bestow- ing upon her the name of Marie de Medicis. Another thundering of cannon, and the old chief and all his family were Christians. Indians far away heard that Membertu had accepted the Frenchman's religion, and hastened to Port Eoyal to be baptized. 90 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "Will they have such good dinners in the next world as you give here?" they asked. Captain John Smith the while was exploring Chesapeake Bay, trav- elling in an open boat three thousand miles up the eastern -and down the western shore, and up the Potomac, till stopped by the falls above Wash- ington. We may believe that the thought never came to him that upon the northern bank would one day stand the capitol of a great republic. Several hundred new colonists arrived at Jamestown, sent out by the London Company. A historian of Virginia has given this description of the new-comers: " They were gentlemen reduced to poverty by gaming and extrava- gance, too prond to beg, too lazy to dig; broken tradesmen with some stigma of fraud yet clinging to their names; fortune-hunters who had expended in their mother country the last shred of honest reputation they had ever held ; rakes consumed by desires, and shattered by the service of impurity ; libertines whose end of sin was yet to run ; and un- ruly sparks packed off by their friends to escape worse destinies at home." "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" The greatest of all teachers put this question eighteen hundred years ago, and history has always confirmed his answer. States are not built of such material. The merchants of London had not grasped the idea that Industry, Thrift, Economy, Virtue, Intelligence, Integrity, and Character are needed to make a prosperous community ; that what does not help, hinders; that the idlers and vagabonds could pull down faster than they could build up. They repeated Sir John Popham's mistake. All was confusion at Jamestown. The new-comers ate up the pro- visions of the colonists. They were lazy. " We did not come here to work," they said. "Then you shall not eat," said Captain John Smith, and ruled them with a determination that soon brought order out of confusion. But when he sailed for England the vagabonds had things their own way ; they robbed the Indians, and the Indians, in revenge, split open the skulls of the robbers. Famine came. Thirty of the scapegraces seized one of the vessels in the river and turned pirates. The Indians became more bold — cutting off all stragglers. In six months after Captain Smith's de- parture the settlers dwindled from four hundred and ninety to sixty ; and they were eating their last provisions when Sir Thomas Gates arrived from the West Indies. What a scene was that which he beheld ! A few haggard, starving wretches on the verge of despair ! THE BEGINNING OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS. 91 Sir Thomas had suffered shipwreck at the Bermudas, but had built two small vessels there, and had reached Jamestown with very little food to give to the starving colonists. "We must abandon the settlement, make our way to Newfoundland, and join the fishermen/' said Sir Thomas. " We will burn the cursed place," shouted the colonists, ready to set the houses on fire ; but Sir Thomas prevented them from carrying out their plan. They sailed down the James; but their hearts were made glad at meeting Lord Delaware in a ship bringing supplies and emigrants. With fresh courage they went back to begin once more the foundations of an empire. Lord Delaware was appointed governor. He ruled mild- ly but firmly. The new colonists were more industrious. Early in the morning they all gathered in the little church while prayers were read, and made their devotions more pleasant by keeping the building adorned with flowers. After prayers they had breakfast, and then worked from six till ten. They rested while the sun was hottest, but labored from two till four in the afternoon. " He that tilleth the land shall be satisfied with bread." Solomon said it three thousand years ago, and the colo- nists quickly proved its truth. The harvest was bountiful, and there were abundant supplies. Lord Delaware returned to England, and Sir Thomas Dale succeeded him as governor. A code of laws printed in England was sent out. The governor had all power, and could inflict severe punishment. If a colo- nist used an oath against the king, he was to be put to death. The poets, who a few years before had written plays picturing the richness and attractiveness of Virginia, now held the country and settlers up to ridicule, which so grieved Rev. Mr. Crashaw that he wrote this prayer for the use of the settlers, and which was printed with the laws : "Whereas, we have, by undertaking this plantation, undergone the re- proof of a base world, insomuch as many of our own brethren laugh us to scorn, O Lord we pray thee fortify us against this temptation. Let San- ballat and Tobias, Papists and players, and such other Amorites and ITor- onites, the scum and dregs of the earth — let them mock such as help to build up the walls of Jerusalem. They that be filthy, let them be filthy still." In 1611 three hundred men and one hundred cattle were sent to Vir- ginia. Part of the emigrants settled at Hampton, and part up the river beyond Jamestown. The laws were made more severe. If a man stayed away from church on Sunday, he was to suffer the loss of a week's provi- 02 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. sion ; for a second offence he was to be whipped ; and for staying away three times, was to be put to death. If he refused to tell the minister what he believed in regard to religion, he was to be whipped till he com- plied. If a washer-woman stole a piece of linen, she was to be tied to' the whipping-post and flogged. If the baker did not put a given amount of flour into his loaves, he was to have his ears cut off. The company held everything in their own hands, and there was no incentive to labor, no hope of reward. A ne\v policy was inaugurated by the governor — the giving of a few acres of land to each settler for an orchard and garden. The land was taken from the Indians, no regard be- ing paid to their rights, nor anything given in return, and the settlers helped themselves to corn which the Indians had raised. The company in London wanted money; and as no revenue had been received from the colony, the king gave a new charter, with the privilege of their setting up a lottery. They advertised great prizes, but, when the drawing took place, the people who had purchased tickets found that there were sixty thousand blanks to one prize! It was a dreary winter, that of 1612, to the Jesuit fathers, and the few Frenchmen in the little settlement on the eastern shore of the Bay of Fundy. They had little to eat, and could give no such feasts to the In- dians as De Monts had spread for them seven years before. Father Biard was studying the Indian language, giving them bits of bread to induce them to talk. The Indians made game of him. " What are the Indian words for Faith, Hope, Charity, Sacrament, Bap- tism ?" asked the priest. The unsuspecting father wrote down, in all soberness, the low, scurril- ous, and indecent words which they gave. He made a catechism, but was greatly perplexed at the laughter of the savages when he came to use it. In midwinter, when their provisions were running low, a vessel from France arrived, bringing information that Baron Pontrincourt had lost much money, and was obliged to sell his rights in Acadia to Madame de Guercheville, a rich and noble lady, deeply religious, who was ready to employ her wealth in converting the Indians to the Catholic faith. The Jesuits told her of the glory and honor that would await her in the next world if she should be the means of saving the souls of the Indians. Her zeal was fired for the Church. In grand old cathedrals, amidst the pomp and gorgeous ceremony of the Church, women weary of the world were bidding good-bye to its fri- volity, taking the veil, consecrating themselves to lives of penance and self-denial, that they might win heaven. Madame de Guercheville planned THE BEGINNING OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS. 93 to send a company of nuns and Jesuit fathers to carry on the work al- ready begun. She infused a little of her own spirit into the indolent, NUN TAKING THE VEIL. frivolous, voluptuous crowd that swarmed around the boy -king, Louis XIII., so that they opened their purses and contributed liberally to her enterprise. The Jesuits laid far-reaching plans, persuading Madame de Guerche- ville to ask Louis to give her all the country between the St. Lawrence and Florida. What was a wilderness on the other side of the sea to a OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. boy? What did he know or care about it? Nothing. He granted all that Madame de Guercheville asked, giving her the whole of America north of the territory claimed by Spain, including Virginia. The Jesuits MOUNT DESERT. were delighted ; the continent was theirs ! Not quite. There were other forces at work, and other wills and plans besides theirs. Time would reveal them. Along the towering cliffs of Mount Desert, into the peaceful waters of Somes Sound, sailed a ship from Honfleur. It was the month of May, and the forest was robed in green, and the air fragrant with the odors of spring. The vessel was owned by Madame de Guercheville, and com- manded by an officer of the Court of Louis XII., De Saussaye. The ves- sel had touched at Port Royal, and taken on board Father Biard and other Jesuits. Madame de Guercheville had sent out a company of col- onists, who, with the priests, were to establish missions to convert the Indians. A signal fire was blazing on the beach, kindled by the Indians, and Father Biard hastened to the shore. The Indians knew him, for they had been to Port Royal and eaten good dinners at the hall. " Our chief is sick, and will die, and live in hell forever if he is not baptized !" they said. The priest hastened to see the chief, and found that he had only a bad cold, and was in no danger of dying. But he saw what a beautiful place it was — a green and grassy slope descending to the sea — a delight- ful harbor protected from the ocean's waves. THE BEGINNING OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS. 95 The colonists went on shore. The priest set up the cross, and mass was said. The four white tents which Madame de Guercheville had sent were pitched on the verdant slope, and the boxes, bales, and chests of goods unloaded. What vessel was that sailing into the harbor, with a red flag and the cross of St. George at the mast-head, and sixteen cannon protruding from the port-holes, and sixty men on her deck ? It was a ship commanded by Samuel Argall, who was roving the sea, trading to the West Indies, and fishing near Virginia. He had been to Jamestown; had coasted northward to the Isle of Shoals; from thence had sailed into Penobscot Bay. Indians came out in their canoes, and climbed on board. "Normans," they said, pointing eastward. PENOBSCOT BAY. Captain Argall understood by their signs and words that the French were in that direction, and sailed for Mount Desert. Frenchmen mak- ing a settlement on English territory ! He would see about that. He descried the vessel sent out by Madame de Guercheville at anchor, and 96 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. the white tents on the beach. Saussaye was on shore, but Lieutenant La Motte and the Jesuit priest De Thet were on shipboard. " Who are you ? What do you want ?" shouted De la Motte. A roar from all his cannon was Argall's answer. "Fire! fire!" shouted De Thet. He touched off a cannon, and the next moment was lying wounded on the deck, knocked down by a ball. Over the railing climbed the English, capturing the vessel. Saussaye and those on shore fled to the woods, while Argall landed and searched the chests and boxes, putting into his pocket the commission which the king had given Saussaye. To remain in the woods was to die of starvation, and the Frenchmen gave themselves up as prisoners. "King James owns this country," said Argall. "I have authority from the King of France to make a settlement here." " I would like to see it, if you please." Saussaye searched his trunk, but could not find it. " You are a robber, and deserve to be hung. I shall take possession of your property," said Argall. He set some of the captives adrift in a boat to find their way to the French fishermen at Newfoundland, and took the remainder to Virginia. " I will hang the rascals," said Sir Thomas Dale ; but as France and England were at peace, he did not quite dare to; but he made short work of the colony at Port Royal by sending Argall to stamp it out. A few days later, charred brands and heaps of ashes alone marked the site of the great hall ; and Biencourt, the governor, and the colonists were wanderers in the wilderness, living through the winter in wigwams, on roots, and the bark and buds of trees, and clams from the sea-shore, and such morsels as they could get from the Indians. So a rover of the sea, acting on his own responsibility, upset all the plans of the Jesuits. They must begin again. It was the first conflict in the great struggle on the American continent between the two sys- tems of civilization. HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. 9T CHAPTER VI. HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. OX April 14th, 1614, two vessels, one commanded by Captain John Smith and the other. by Captain Hunt, dropped anchor off the Island of Monhegan, on the coast of Maine. They had been sent out by the London Company to explore the coast. Captain Smith set some of the men to work building a boat ; and while they were sawing out the planks he sailed with eight men eastward to the Bay of Penobscot, exploring the islands and harbor ; then steering west, he sailed past Whale's Back Isl- and, and entered the beautiful Piscataqua, and saw the bank from which Martin Pring had picked strawberries. Seven miles off the shore he saw a group of islands — mostly barren ledges and high cliffs, with rocky reefs, on which the waves were breaking, and named them the Isles of Shoals. SMUTTY-NOSE. One of the group bears the name of Smutty-nose ; another, Star Island, on which a monument has been erected in honor of the intrepid man who did so much to make the country known to people in England, and who did more than all others to build up the settlement at Jamestown. 7 98 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. From the Isles of Shoals Captain Smith steered south to Cape Ann, and into Massachusetts Bay ; cruising among the islands, he entered a CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH S MONUMENT, I8LK8 OF SHOALS. river, which he named Charles, in honor of King James's second son. He found two vessels from France at anchor in the bay, the crews trading with the Indians. We are to remember that France claimed all the country, through Cartier's and Verrazani's discoveries, and that the boy- king of France has given it to Madame de Guercheville. Leaving the French ships, Captain Smith and Captain Hunt sailed along the coast, past the ledges of Cohasset to Cape Cod, where they parted company — Smith returning to Monhegan, and from there to Eng- land, where he made a map of the coast, which he presented to Prince Charles. Captain Hunt enticed some of the Indians on board his ship, and carried them to England to sell into slavery. If Captain Smith, instead of returning to England, had kept on around Cape Cod to the Hudson River, he would have found Adriaen Block, of Holland, hard at work building a little vessel on the island of Manhattan. He had been trading with the Indians, buying furs for the hat-makers of Amsterdam, and had nearly filled his ship with beaver- HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. 99 skins, when it took fire and was burnt. Captain Block was not a man to sit down and wring his hands over his loss, but built a log-house for his crew, and set them to work, with such tools as they had, to construct another vessel, and soon had it ready for sea. It was only sixteen tons burden. He called it the Onrust, or Restless. Although so small, the Dutchman set sail, hoping to fall in with some larger vessel in which he could make his way to Holland. The tide swept the little bark through the surging waters of Hell Gate, and a south wind wafted it to Connecti- CAPTAIN BLOCK BUILDING THE "ONRCST." cut River — the first white sail ever seen by the Pequot Indians, who gazed upon it from the hills along the shore. Captain Block steered for the island that bears his name, and from 100 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. thence eastward, past Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, around Cape Cod to Valiant. A sail ! How the hearts of the men on board the Onrust were glad- dened at the sight of that white speck upon the horizon off Cape Ann ! How joyful to meet Hendrick Christiansen ! He was from Amsterdam, on his way to the Hudson to buy furs. They exchanged vessels — Chris- tiansen going westward, and Block striking boldly across the Atlantic. In the city of Hague, or the hedye, in Holland, is the grand old Bin- nenhof, the building in which the government of Holland in old times held its meetings. In one of the rooms, on October llth, 1614, sat John of Barneveld, the founder of the Dutch Republic. He was sixty-eight years old. His hair and beard were white. He had large features, high cheek-bones, a sharp nose, broad forehead, firmly-set lips, and mild blue eyes. He wore a velvet robe trimmed with sable, and a starched white ruff. Around him were the members of the Council of State, in velvet robes and white ruff — men of influence— wealthy burghers of the Repub- HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. 101 lie. A door opened, and Adriaen Block, with the merchants from Am- sterdam, entered. " I have a map of a part of the New World that I have visited to present to yon," said Captain Block ; and he spread upon the table a map showing Hudson River, Long Island, the Connecticut River, Block Island, Narragansett Bay, and all the shore along which he had sailed. Barne- veld and those with him followed his finger as he pointed out the location, and spoke of the trade that might be opened in America with the Indians. " By-and-by that region may be of great political importance to the Dutch Republic," said Barneveld ; and the men around him assented. "We are here to obtain a special license to open trade in those re- gions," said the merchants. JOHN OF BARNEVELD. The Council granted their request, and drew up a paper in which the country, nameless before, was called New Netherlands. The merchants 102 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. were to have the sole privilege of trade with the Indians between New- foundland and Virginia. Hendrick Christiansen sailed up the Hudson River, and on an island just below Albany built a log-house, surrounding it with a palisade, dig- ging a moat, mounting two cannon and eleven small guns on swivels, and naming it Fort Nassau. He made friends of the Indians, and filled his vessel with beaver-skins. Hendrick Christiansen did not know, while he was building the fort, that out in the forest, toward the setting sun, a battle was raging, which in its results would be far more effective than his cannon in preserving peace with the Indians. Before seeing the battle, we must go back a little. About two hundred years before John and Sebastian Cabot discovered America, a young man in the town of Assisi, in France, became wild on the subject of religion. He had strange dreams, and heard supernatural voices. He took a vow to be a beggar all his life; thinking, with all other monks and friars, that to be dirt}1, wear rags, and go barefoot, was a sign of humility. To show that he renounced the world, he strip- ped off all his clothes, wearing only a mantle around his loins. The peo- ple flocked in crowds to his preaching. He was so much of a fanatic that he went out into the fields and preached to the ducks and geese, doves and sparrows. He took the name of St. Francis; and though he called himself a saint, he robbed his father to obtain money to build a church, declaring that, as the object was good, the action was right. Oth- er men went wild with religion, and to show their humility became dirty and wore rags, and, instead of working, begged their living. They went on missions, and spread themselves over all the world. In May, 1615, Samuel Champlain, with four priests of the Order of St. Francis — Denis Jamet, Jean Dolbean, Joseph le Caron, and Pacific du Plessis — landed at Quebec. The settlers came out and kneeled as they stepped on shore, while the cannon of the ship and fort thundered a sa- lute. They had come to convert the Indians. Jean Dolbean went down the north shore of the St. Lawrence to tell the Indians of that region about Christianity. He slept in their wigwams, which were so full of smoke that he came near losing his sight, and returned to Quebec. Jo- seph le Caron was to go to the Hurons around the upper lakes. Samuel Champlain had a great plan ; he wanted the Indians con- verted, but he desired also to build up a great empire in America. He was a statesman, and saw that if he could establish his influence over the various tribes, the vast region could be brought under the dominion of HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. 103 France. Spain had already acquired Mexico, Florida, and South America ; and if he could make his influence supreme, he could, in time, drive out the few English at Virginia, and save by far the largest portion of North America for France. Grand and magnificent the ideal. There was a great gathering of tribes at Montreal to fight the Iro- quois. The gnn fired by Champlain at Ticonderoga had not ceased to reverberate. The defeat of the Iroquois in that battle had stirred them GOING TO FIGHT THE IROQUOIS. to fresh endeavors, and every year they had carried home many scalps from Canada. The Indians welcomed Champlain. " We go to fight our enemies. If our father will go with us, we will beat them," they said. 104 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. There were twenty-five hundred warriors. It was a great opportunity ; by going with them and fighting their battles, Champlain would make his influence supreme. He accepted their invitation, and joined them with AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND IROQUOI8. twelve soldiers. The route was up the Ottawa River to Lake Huron, then south through a chain of small lakes to Lake Ontario. They secreted their canoes on the southern shore of the lake, and then marched south to Lake Oneida, capturing seven Iroquois men and four women. The Hurons held a great dance, and then put their prisoners to death. It was on October 10th when the Hurons reached one of their Iro- quois towns on the shore of the lake not far from Syracuse. The Iro- quois had built a palisade thirty feet high around it. They came out to HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. 107 fight, but were greatly astonished when they heard the sound of guns, and when the bullets struck them down. They fled inside the palisade. Champlain set the Indians at work building a tower, and in a short time they had one so high that from the top of it he and his companions could pick off the Iroquois, who fought bravely, and wounded Champlain with an arrow. " Set the palisade on fire !" he shouted. The Hnrons built a fire, but the Iroquois dashed water upon the flames. All the while both sides kept up a terrible warwhoop. Cham- plain tried to direct the Hurons, but they would not hear him, and were finally compelled to retreat, with several killed and wounded. While this was going on, Hendrick Christiansen was trading with the Mohawk Indians. The other Iroquois heard of it, and hastened to make friends with the Dutch, that they might obtain weapons that would spit fire and kill their enemies. They met the Dutch beneath a great tree. The Iroquois chief held one end of the belt of peace, and the Dutch the other, and so they agreed to be friends. They buried a hatchet, and the Dutch said they would build a church upon the spot, that it might never be dug up. This agreement never was broken, and the Iroquois became the allies of the settlers of New York, in all the conflicts with the French and In- dians, till the English became masters of Canada, one hundred and forty- three years later. Captain Argall became governor of Virginia in 1618, and issued hard laws. He had one price for goods. The settlers might sell tobacco for three shillings a pound ; but if they charged more or took less, they were to be sold into slavery for three years. No man could hunt a deer with- out permission from the governor. Any person staying away from church on Sunday, or on holy days, was to be tied neck and heels overnight, and be a slave for a week ; for the second offence he was to be enslaved for a month ; the third, a }'ear. Many of the settlers were little better than slaves. Men who wrere in debt in England were sold by their creditors. Although ,so many of the settlers were scrapegraces and vagabonds, King James thought there was room for more, and sent over one hundred thieves and rob- bers. Pie appointed Sir George Yeardly governor, who found things in a sorry condition upon his arrival. The houses in Jamestown were tumbling to the ground. In Richmond there were only three dwellings, and a church that was little better than a hovel. There were only three ministers in the colony, and only one of them had authority from the bishop to preach. The settlers were ground down by the 108 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. cruel laws. Men were flogged and had their ears cut off for very slight offences. Sir George Yeardly was humane, and informed the people that they should be governed by the laws of England. The company of planters had all power, and the people none. He proclaimed that the people should have a voice in government ; that there should be a general assem- bly gf delegates or burgesses from each borough, who were to be elected by the inhabitants, and the burgesses were to make all needful laws. They assembled at James City; John Pory was chosen speaker. A prayer was read, and the first Legislature that ever assembled in the New World was ready to proceed to business. The burgesses accepted the CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO. privileges which Governor Yeardly had given them as their great char- ter. The Church of England was established as the Church of the col- ony, and the ministers were to receive the value of two hundred pounds a year, to be paid in tobacco. Laws were passed against idleness, drunk- enness and gambling. If people wore costly clothes they were to be taxed for them ; everybody was required to attend church twice every Sunday ; and everybody who owned a gun was to carry it, to be ready to fight if attacked by the Indians. The price of first quality tobacco was fixed at three shillings per pound; second quality, half-price. It was the beginning of a new state of affairs. The settlers took heart, and built good houses. Virginia was their home. There were only about six hundred inhabitants; but now that the cruel laws were repealed, and the rights of the people recognized, there were thousands HOW BEAVER-SKINS AND TOBACCO HELPED ON CIVILIZATION. 109 in England ready to emigrate. In twelve months twelve hundred and sixty-one persons crossed the Atlantic to find new homes on the banks of the James. Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton were members of the London Company. They were large-hearted men, and through their in- fluence the company granted a written constitution to the settlers. The company were to appoint the governor and his council, while the peo- ple were to elect the burgesses. There had been so many wars, and so many men had been killed in battles, that there were far more women than men in England. There were very few women in Virginia ; and in order to supply the settlers with wives, the company sent out a ship-load of girls, who were ready to emigrate for the sake of getting husbands. There were ninety of them. The company paid the cost of their going; but each settler must pay one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco for the girl whom he might select. The tobacco was reckoned at three shillings a pound ; so they must pay three hundred and sixty shillings for a wife, which they were ready to do, and in a very short time every girl was provided with a husband. Wives were in such de- mand that sixty more girls were sent out, and the price raised to one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. While the settlers were purchasing their wives, a Dutch ship sailed up the James with sixteen negroes on board, which were purchased as slaves by the tobacco-raisers of Jamestown. It was the beginning of African slavery in America. As things are constituted in this world, the innocent suffer for the guilty. In Vir- ginia some of the settlers were hard-work- ing, industrious, and thrifty, doing what they could to build up the colony; but many others were indolent, shift- less, and vicious. Instead of working for a livelihood, they stole the corn which the Indians had raised. No one likes to be plundered. In civilized society robbers are put into prison ; but the Indian knows nothing of courts of law or jails ; the tomahawk is his administrator of justice. The Indians laid a plan to fall upon the settlements along the James, FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE CHESA- PEAKE AND DELAWARE. 110 OLD TIMES IS THE COLONIES. and at a blow finish the white men who were taking their land, stealing their corn, and driving the game out of the country. What a scene the sun rose upon on the 22d of March, 1622! Three hundred and forty- seven massacred, and the colonists fleeing to James- town pursued by the blood-thirsty savages. The Indians were brave to strike blows, but fled like cowards when the bullets began to whistle about their ears. The total number of emigrants had been nearly four thousand ; some had gone back to England; but there were still twenty -five hundred people. A ship carried the news to England. There was great consternation. The city of London and gentlemen of fortune contributed money to pur- chase arms to send to the colonists. "You must roast out the savages!" was their message. o zj There were brave men in Virginia, who had no thought of sitting down and wringing their hands. George Sandys, Governor Yeardly, and Captain Madigan enlisted men, and marched into the Indian country, burning their wigwams, driving them from their hunting-grounds, and giving them little rest. Notwithstanding this, the colony languished. The shares of the company were worthless. The members were at log- gerheads with each other and with the king. They had fierce discussions in their meetings. James had made concessions in the charter, for he saw that it gave the colonists some rights which he wished to recover. He wanted to be an absolute monarch, and ordered the judges of the court to take measures to revoke the charter. Under such a state of affairs, the colony came to a stand-still. THE PILGRIMS. Ill CHAPTER VII. THE PILGRIMS. IN England, Holland, France, and Germany there was a great difference of opinion in matters of religion. Men everywhere were thinking for themselves, instead of accepting the opinion of pope, bishop, or priest. In England the people were nearly all Protestants; in France the ma- jority were Catholics; in Holland they were nearly equally divided. In England the Protestants would not tolerate anybody who did not accept the Church which Henry VIII. had set up; in France the Catholics were ever ready to persecute the Protestants; in Holland men could be Catholic or Protestant as they pleased. So it came about that the men and women of Scrooby, when persecuted for separating themselves from the Church of England, and meeting in William Brewster's house on Sunday for wor- ship, fled to Holland, as the place where they could think and act for themselves. They settled at Leyden, working hard to keep the wolf from the door. They were industrious, and so honest, minding their own busi- ness, that the Dutch treated them with great respect. Instead of fre- quenting the beer-houses, and taking part in the Dutch revelries, they re- mained quietly at home when their days' work was done; and instead of carousing on Sundays, they met in the house of John Robinson for wor- ship. They used no praj^er-book, nor had they any particular form of worship. They organized themselves into a Church with Christ as their head. All were equal. They elected their deacons, who were to be their servants. It was a Church in which the rights of every person was re- spected. They believed that Christ and the apostles organized just such churches ; that a bishop, instead of having any authority to rule them, should only be their minister or servant ; that they had authority from Christ to rule themselves. Ruling themselves! Let us not forget it. When men rule themselves there will be the largest freedom ; they will respect the rights of their fellow-men, for only by so doing can they have their own rights. Through all the centuries, presbyters, priests, bishops, and popes had 112 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ruled in religious matters; but these men of Scrooby rejected all such authority, and made their declaration to the world— The people alone have the right to rule ! Ten years passed. No one molested them in their religious opinions ; none disturbed their worship ; but Holland was divided into two great political parties — Prince Maurice being at the head of one, and John of Barueveld, before whom Captain Block laid his map of Hudson Kiver, DUTCH BEVEL. (FROM AN OLD PICTURE.) and of the coast along which he sailed in the Onrust, was at the head of the other. James of England, Louis of France, and Philip of Spain, all were in- terfering in the affairs of Holland. Civil war broke out, armies were on the march, and the whole country was disturbed. It was a terrible scene which the people at the Hague beheld at sun- rise on May 13th, 1619 — John of Barneveld, seventy-two years old, kneel- THE PILGRIMS. 115 ing on a wooden scaffold in front of the Binnenhof. All the morning the drums had been beating, the trumpets sounding, and soldiers march- ing. A great crowd had gathered. The old man drew the black cap over his white locks, and kneeled with his face toward his own house, a little distance awa}r. One blow, and the head of the true-hearted patriot rolled upon the planks, and the- crowd, scrambling upon the scaffold, dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, to keep as souvenirs of his death. So Holland's great statesman died, at the hands of those who hated him, because he was so great. Pie had done grand things for his country, but intrigue, political faction, and jealousy could not be content till he was in his grave. The rneii who had fled from Scrooby to find a home in Holland loved peace. They stood aloof from wrangling. Their true-hearted pastor, John Robinson, taught them to love all men. They could find no com- fort amidst such scenes. What should they do? The question confronted them. They could not go back to England without conforming to the ritual of the Church ; that they would not do. Why not emigrate to America ? But how could they get there ? They were poor. William Brewster was trying to earn a living by working in a printing-office ; one laid bricks, another was a carpenter; one was a blacksmith, another a tailor. They learned that there were men in England ready to help them. The Plymouth Company of merchants, who had obtained the grant of land between Long Island and Nova Scotia, wanted the country settled. They were anxious to obtain furs, and, as they were ready to venture their money, were called " adventurers." One of the number was Thomas Weston, of London, who heard that the Pilgrims were ready to go to America, and went to Holland to see them. " I will help you. I will lend you money and obtain ships," he said, thinking the while how good a bargain he might make. A plan was agreed upon. The "adventurers" were ready to supply money and ships; the Pilgrims were to go as planters. The Pilgrims formed themselves into a company, fixing the shares of stock at fifty dol- lars. Every settler sixteen years old was to be equal to one share. Ev- ery man who furnished an outfit worth fifty dollars was to have an addi- tional share, and children between ten and sixteen years of age were to be counted as half a share. All the settlers bound themselves to work together for seven years, their labor to go into a common fund, and all to be supported from it. At the end of that period the property was to be divided according to the shares. For seven years they were to put all 116 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. their hardships, dangers, and work on an equality with the money ad- vanced by the merchants, who would thus be enabled to speculate on their toil. The conditions were hard, yet, for the sake of bringing up their children in the principles that were dearer than all things else, they would accept them. On the 22d of July, 1620, the Pilgrims met for the last time at the house of John Eobinson in Leyden, to spend the morning in prayer, and to hear the parting words of their beloved pastor. After the sermon they ate together and sung a psalm. Their ship, the Speedwell, was lying at Delftshaven, fourteen miles from Leyden, whither they went, accompa- nied by their pastor and friends, and where they spent the night. Morn- ing came, the wind was fair, and the captain in haste to be gone. They kneeled upon the deck, the minister offering a parting prayer. The fare- wells were spoken, the vessel swung from her moorings, the sails caught the breeze, and swept them out upon the ocean and across the Channel to Southampton, where the Mayflower was waiting. "They passed the frowning towers of Breil, The 'Hook' of Holland's shelf of sand, And grated soon with lifting keel The sullen shove of Father-land." How hard it is to tear things up by the roots— to leave home, friends, things we love, around which our affections are entwined ! It was not a hard thing for the scapegraces of London to cross the Atlantic in search of adventure in Virginia. They pulled nothing up by the roots ; they had no roots. Gamblers, spendthrifts, vagabonds, who do nothing for the world, who give nothing to society, never can have any roots. The Pilgrims were exiles. England was no longer their home ; but their friends were still living in the dear old land. While they were in Holland, they could hear from them often ; but now they were going far away, to make their homes in the wilderness. Never more would they gaze upon the green fields, or meet face to face those most dear ; but, in obedience to their convictions of what was true, just, and right — of what they owed to God rather than man — calmly and unflinchingly they could pull all up, and make their homes in the wilderness. Thomas Weston was at Southampton. He was a grasping, avaricious man, and wanted to change the agreement, making it still harder for the Pilgrims. But they would not change, whereupon he refused to pay one hundred pounds, which, according to agreement, he ought to pay. " I'll let you stand on your own legs !" he said, and left them. THE PILGRIMS. 117 The Pilgrims would not leave England with a debt hanging over them, and to pay it sold eighty firkins of butter, resolving to do without butter on their bread rather than to be beholden to Weston, or in debt to any man. They were men who loved order. They knew it was necessary to have some one in authority on shipboard. They cast their votes for a governor, electing John Carver. Let us not forget that they elected him. He was not appointed by the king, but chosen. It was the beginning of a new order of things. The ship sailed from Southampton ; but almost before they were out of the harbor the Speedwell was found to be leaking, and they put into Dartmouth for repairs. Two weeks passed, and they sailed again ; but the captain of the Speedwell declared that the vessel was not sea- worthy, and they put into Plymouth. Some of the Pilgrims were discouraged, but DARTMOUTH. others were not. They had no money to obtain another vessel, and all who were anxious to go crowded into the Mayflower — one hundred in all. Again, on the 16th of September, they bade farewell to friends— to the land that gave them birth, from which they had been exiled. 118 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "No home for them ! too well they knew The mitred king behind the throne : The sails were set, the pennon flew, And westward ho ! for worlds unknown." On the 21st of November, 1620, the Mayflower dropped anchor in the calm waters of Provincetown harbor, Cape Cod. While on the voyage, Mrs.White gave birth to a babe, whom they named Peregrine. PROVINCETOWN. Among the men sent ont by the merchants was John Billington ; he was' not one of the Pilgrims, but a servant, who gave ont word that he should do as he pleased when he reached land ; that no one should have any authority over him, for John Carver had no commission, nor had the Pilgrims any charter from the king. The Pilgrims had ruled themselves as a church, but had been subject to the laws of Holland ; they saw that they must organize themselves into a State, make their own laws, and execute them. They met in the cabin of the Mayflower, signed their names to a paper, organizing as a body politic, agreeing to obey the laws which they might make, and the governor whom they might elect. The world never before had seen such a paper. It was a constitution formed by the people — the beginning of popular government. It was Saturday, and the women went on shore, kindled fires, and washed their clothes. At night they returned on shipboard, and on Sun- day prayed and sung as they had done through the voyage. During the following week, Captain Miles Standish and sixteen men marched along the shores, and came upon some Indians, who quickly fled. DVD X B TT/R. T THE PILGEIMS. 121 They found some corn, which they took, intending to pay the Indians if they ever saw them. On the 16th of December, Captain Standish and a party, with Thomas Clark, the mate of the vessel, started in a boat to find a suitable place to make a settlement, camping at night on shore. While they were cooking their breakfast the next morning, they heard a strange cry, and arrows fell around them ; but a volley from the muskets of the Pilgrims put the Indians to flight. They came near losing their lives in a cold storm, but landed, kindled a fire, and saved themselves from freezing. In the morn- ing they discovered that they were on an island, which they named Clark's Island, for the mate. The next day was Sunday, but they regard- ed it as holy, and remained where they were. On Monday they pulled to the main-land, climbed a high hill, and beheld a charming prospect. Under the brow of the hill was a brook and a spring of fresh water. It was so delightful that they decided to recommend it to those on the ship PLYMOUTH. as the place for the building of their town. They returned to the vessel, and on Sunday, William Brewster, whom they had chosen to be their minister, preached his last sermon on shipboard. The next morning the 122 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Mayflower sailed across the bay and came to anchor. The men went on shore and examined the place once more, and, after praying God to direct them wisely, took a vote as to where they should build their houses. It was the first town meeting ever held in America. The majority decided affairs, and the new State, the new order of things — self-government — had begun. On the morning of the 22d the long-boat of the ship, filled with men, women, and children, glided over the still waters to a rock that made a convenient landing. They stepped from the boat upon the rock, and the new State was in possession of its future home. There were no idlers in the party. All hands knew how to work, and labor was a duty which they owed to one another and to God. They cut down the trees, split them into planks, and built a house for the stor- ing of their goods, making the roof flat, and mounting their cannon upon it. They laid out a street at the foot of the hill and built their houses, covering them with thatch, for they had not learned to peel the bark from the oak-trees or split the pines into shingles. Death came. Degory Priest was the first to be laid beneath the earth, January 1st, 1621. On Sunday, January 14th, the thatch on their common house, in which was stored all their goods, caught fire, and they had hard work to put it out; if that had been consumed, quite likely they would have been compelled to return to England, or else would have perished. On the 29th of January a great grief came to Captain Standish. His beautiful young wife, Rose, had been fading day by day ; the hardships were too great for her. Pos- sibly she pined for the green fields and pleasant home far away. She had never been in Holland, but joined the Pilgrims at Southampton. But heaven was nearer than her old home. "With tearful eyes and swelling hearts they carried her to the burying-place upon the hill, and made this entry in their journal, mournful in its briefness: "Jan. 29, Died, Rose, wife of Captain Standish" The Pilgrims were greatly surprised, one day, at seeing an Indian march boldly into their settlement and hear him say, " Welcome, English- men !" His name was Samoset. He had been to Pemmaquid, to Sir Fer- nando Gorges's colony. The Pilgrims treated him kindly, and he soon brought another Indian, Squanto, who had been kidnapped by the villain Hunt. He had been in London, and could speak English. Samoset in- formed them that four years before a terrible disease had destroyed nearly all the Indians in that region. Massasoit, the chief of the Indians, came with sixty warriors. Governor Carver sent Edward Winslow to meet him, and assure him of the friendship of the Pilgrims. Captain Stand- l?*v . • fu * • -"^\ '•'$$' • '• -^< i-,V/*j: i THE PILGRIMS. 125 ish, with six men carrying their guns, escorted the chief into one of the houses, and spread out a yellow rug and cushion for a seat. The gov- ernor came in state, the drummer beating his drum, the trumpeter blow- ing a trumpet, attended by all the soldiers with their muskets. The gov- ernor and chief kissed each other's hands, then they ate and drank to- gether, and agreed to be friends forever. Massasoit never broke his pledge, neither did the Pilgrims violate theirs ; but so long as he lived they were true friends. Spring came, with its smiling sun ; but of the one hundred and one who had landed in December, forty-six were at rest beneath the ground on Burial Hill, with the earth smoothed over them, that the Indians might not count the graves and discover how many had died. They had droop- ed, one by one, through the hardships of the long passage and want of food. The Pilgrims caught fish and lobsters, and, when the tide was out, gathered clams along the sandy beach. From the mud-flats they obtain- PLYMOUTH KOCK. ed eels. Now and then they killed a deer. They had so little to eat that they staggered, through faintness. "When spring came, they planted corn upon the graves of the dead, that the Indians might not discover where they had been buried. Through these months the Mayflower had been swinging at anchor in the harbor, but the time had come for the departure of the vessel. Though everything wore so gloomy a prospect, though they were so few in number, and death was thinning their ranks, they had no thought of returning to England. Many months would pass before the ship would come back, and none but God knew what might happen the while. The vessel might go down in mid-ocean, and then their friends in Eng- land never would hear from them. 126 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. With tearful eyes they stood upon the hill above the graves of their loved ones, and saw the white sails fade away. When the ship disap- peared, they went calmly about their work. Their destiny was fixed. It is well for the world that such heroic souls have no fear of the future. They might die, but Truth and Liberty were eternal ! The next day after the departure of the Mayflower their beloved gov- ernor was suddenly taken ill, his sickness ending in death. But the State did not die. The people elected William Bradford as his successor. A new truth dawned upon the world — that so long as there are people to rule themselves, there will be a State. FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH. 129 CHAPTER VIII. FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH. "r INHERE can be no lawful marriage without a priest to perform the -*- ceremony: marriage is a sacrament," said the Churches of Rome and England. But the men and women who had established themselves in the wilderness at Cape Cod rejected all ecclesiastical authority. Ed- ward Winslow had laid his beloved wife, Elizabeth, down to sleep on Burial Hill, and Susanna White, with two children — the youngest born while the Mayflower was at Cape Cod — had no one to care for her : why should not he be her helper and husband ? " You cannot be married without a minister," said the laws of England. "We will be married, as were Boaz and Ruth, in the presence of the people," said the Pilgrims. So Edward Winslow and widow White joined hands before the newly- elected governor, William Bradford, and were married. What audacious things that little company were doing ! forming a constitution to guide them, electing their own officers, ordaining their own minister, marrying themselves without the aid of minister or priest. What a cutting loose from the customs, traditions, and usurpations of the ages! They had no laws except of their own making, based on their sense of Justice and Right. No edict from King James could have added any- thing to the validity of their laws ; nor could any high constable make them more effective. They recognized their governor as head of the State, and entitled to honor and respect. On Sunday, Captain Standish, with the trumpeter, drummers, and the settlers carrying their guns, es- corted the governor to meeting ; not because he was William Bradford, but because he represented what they reverenced — law and order. When gathered in their little meeting-house, they listened with great respect to William Brewster's preaching, because they had elected him to expound to them the truths of the Bible. William Brewster had no au- thority except what they had delegated to him : he was their minister, nothing more. 9 130 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Not all of the settlers were Pilgrims. Stephen Hopkins had two servants, who were bound to him for a term of years, and who were fool- ish enough to attempt to settle a quarrel by fighting a duel with swords, GOVEKNOR liHADFOKOS HOUSE. which Governor Bradford looked upon as a crime against the peace and dignity of the State. He made the whole community a court, and it was voted that the two be tied neck and heels together for twenty-four hours, with nothing to eat or drink. The Pilgrims could tolerate no duels. If they were quick to punish, they were also tender-hearted ; for, when the offenders had endured the punishment one hour, and promised to behave themselves, Governor Bradford ordered their release. In every prison in England and throughout Europe were terrible instruments of torture de- signed to inflict pain ; but reformation, instead 0f pain, was the Pilgrim's idea of punishment. Governor Bradford was no milksop, but as coura- geous as he was tender-hearted. Canonicus, one of the Narragansett Indians, regarded the English as intruders, and tied the skin of a rattle-snake around a bundle of arrows, and sent it to Governor Bradford as a declaration of his hostility. Gov- FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH. 131 ernor Bradford filled the skin with powder and bullets and sent it back, which so frightened Canonicus that he would not touch it, and it was brought back to the settlement. Of the one hundred and one who landed from the Mayflower, only fifty remained when spring opened. The Indians knew how weak they were, for nearly every day some of the Indians came to see them, and were always kindly treated. " We never have paid the Indians for the corn which we took on EDWARD WINSLOW. Cape Cod," said Governor Bradford ; and to make amends, and cement the friendship that had sprung up, he sent Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins to make Massasoit a present. 132 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. With Squanto to guide them, they travelled through the wilderness forty miles. Massasoit was delighted to see them. Winslow and Hop- kins saluted him by firing their guns, gave him a red coat trimmed with PLYMOUTH WILDERNESS. lace, and put a copper chain around his neck. Massasoit gave them some corn to plant, renewed his agreement to always be their friend, and con- firmed it by smoking the pipe of peace. Massasoit had very little to eat. FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH. 133 His wigwam was swarming with fleas, and "Winslow and Hopkins were glad enough to get back to the settlement. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn, dropping the kernels in a hill and putting in a herring to fertilize it. The brooks and rivers were alive with fish, and through the summer they had sufficient food, such as it was. Their corn and barley ripened ; they dried the fish which they caught ; ducks and geese reared their young along the marshes ; in the woods were deer and wild turkeys. Massasoit came one morning with ninety men to visit the Pilgrims. The Indians went into the woods and killed five deer; the Pilgrims con- tributed fish and corn, and for three days they held a feast, giving thanks to God for all his goodness — the first Thanksgiving in the Western World. An Indian came to the settlement with the startling news that there o was a vessel across the bay, in the harbor at the end of the Cape. And now from the hill the governor could see the white sail ; the ship was steering toward them. Was it a French ship ? If so, it was an enemy. The settlers were out in the fields and woods. " Fire a cannon to call them home," was the order of the governor. The roar of the gun echoed along the shores, and the men and boys seized their guns, ready to fight if need be. Nearer came the ship, with the banner of England floating at the mast-head. It was the Fortune, sent out by the London merchants. Robert Ctishman and some of their fellow-pilgrims from Holland were on board ; also some wild fellows who had come as adventurers. Instead of bringing supplies, of which the set- tlers were in great need, there was not food enough on the ship to last the crew on their return voyage, and the settlers had to supply them. Thomas Weston, who thought of nothing but getting great interest on his money, sent a letter complaining that the settlers had not sent him any beaver-skins in the Mayflower. The selfish man could not see that the Pilgrims had all they could do to keep soul and body together during the first dreary winter, instead of hunting beaver and catch- ing fish. They had been very industrious, l 11 11111 however, so that they were able to load the Fortune with lumber and furs to the value of five hundred pounds. They gave the Indians knives, beads, trinkets, fish-hooks, and blankets in exchange for furs. The Indians used sea-shells strung upon a string for money ; they called it " wampum :" its value depended upon the 134 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. length of the string. It was easy to obtain such money, and its value soon declined. Christinas came. We think of it as the most delightful day of the year, but the Pilgrims associated it with the Church of Rome, the Jesuits, the Church of England, and with all the persecutions they had endured. They had suffered a great deal at the hands of the Bishop of England, who made Christmas a holy day. The Pilgrims did not so recognize it, and went on with their work. The wild fellows that came in the Fort- une refused to work. "It is against our conscience," they said. " If it is a question of conscience, I will excuse you," said the gov- ernor. The Pilgrims went out into the woods, attending to their labor, but when the governor came home at noon the new-comers were playing ball, and seeing which could throw an iron bar farthest. He took the bar and ball away from them, and ordered them into the house. " If it is against your conscience to work to-day, it is against my con- science to allow you to play while others work." There could be no fooling with such a governor. Those plain men and women from Scrooby had become exiles for con- science' sake, and they had discovered a great truth, that no man has a right to control another's convictions of duty and obligations toward God. Popes, bishops, kings, usurped authority over men's convictions ; but they recognized the right of every man to think for himself in matters of re- ligion, with due regard in their actions to the rights of others. Governor Bradford respected the scruples of the dissolute fellows who came in the Fortune, so long as they regarded Christmas as a holy day ; but when they made it a holiday, and began a carouse, it was an offence against the con- victions and rights of the community who had elected him their gov- ernor, and it was his duty to put a stop to it. It was the rule of the ma- jority. The new State, with no authority from king, bishop, or pope, but from the people, deriving their ideas from the Bible, recognizing what was just and right between man and man, and obligation to God, emanci- pating itself from the Past, inaugurated its mighty Future. Thomas Weston, thinking that there was a chance to make money by fishing, and trading with the Indians, sent out forty men at his own ex- pense to make a settlement at Weymouth, twenty miles north of Plym- outh ; but instead of attending to business they idled their time away. When their provisions failed, they stole the Indians' corn. To the honest, hard-working men at Plymouth that was not only an FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH. 135 offence but a crime. What should they do? Weymouth was outside of their grant, and they had no jurisdiction over the territory; but if the reckless fellows were allowed to go on, would not the Indians rise in their anger, and destroy them all? If they had no authority from the king to interfere, they had the au- thority which God gives to every man — that of preserving his own life. One of the Indians, Wittiainit, had already killed two white men, and was planning to massacre all at Plymouth and Weymouth. Governor Bradford ordered Captain Standish to settle matters. He wras a small man. He had fought the Spaniards in Holland, and was not afraid of KITCHKN OF STANDISH HOUSE. Indians or anybody else. He selected eight men. It is said that he made a bowl of smoking-hot punch before starting. " 'Twas on a dreary winter's eve, the night was closing dim, When old Miles Standish took the bowl and filled it to the brim ; The little captain stood and stirred the posset with his sword, And all his sturdy men-at-arms were ranged about the board." Captain Standish and his men sailed out of Plymouth harbor, steered north past the rocky shore of Cohasset, entered Massachusetts Bay, and 136 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CAPTAIN 8TAKDISH STIRRING THE FCXCH. found the Sparrow — Mr. Western's vessel — at anchor, with no one on board. The half -starved men were wandering along the beach search- ing for clams, or in the woods digging ground -nuts. They were very much frightened when informed of the plans of the Indians to kill them all. The Indians sent a challenge to Captain Standish through Ilobba- moc, a friendly Indian who lived with the Pilgrims. " Tell the captain that we are not afraid of him !" they said, ready for a fight. Captain Standish gave them all the fighting they wanted. He ran his sword through Teoksuat and Wituamit. His men killed another, and hung a fourth. In all, seven Indians were killed, and their conspiracy was nipped in the bud. It was the sword against the tomahawk! The victory struck the Indians with terror. FIRST YEARS AT PLYMOUTH. 137 The Pilgrims supplied Weston's men with food, and sent them back to England. Captain Wollaston made a settlement not far from Mr. Weston's. One of the colonists was Thomas Morton, a lawyer from London, who came to America to enjoy unrestrained license where no justice of the peace could reach him. The forty men who accompanied him were as reckless as himself. They sold the Indians rum, guns, and ammunition. They set up a pole eighty feet high, with deer-horns on the top, hanging garlands around it on the first day of May, holding a grand revelry, drinking rum, firing their guns, and dancing with the half-naked Indian women. They called the place Merry Mount. Such revelry was an offence to the staid and sober people at Plym- outh. Governor Bradford sent a remonstrance to Morton; but what cared the London lawyer for that? He was beyond the reach of courts of justice, and would carouse as he pleased. He was outside of Governor Bradford's territory and jurisdiction ; besides, who was Governor Brad- ford ? He had no commission from the king or anybody else ; he was only elected by the people. The people ! they had no authority ! Ah ! a new order of things was beginning in human government, as Thomas Morton soon discovered. Captain Standish and a little handful of reso- STANDISH S SWORU, AND THE BARREL OF THE GUN WITH WHICH PHILIP WAS KILLED. lute men from Plymouth made their appearance at Wollaston. Morton's men were in a log-house. It was strong as a fort; they had plenty of 138 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. powder, and three hundred bullets. They took a drink of rnm, and stood ready to pick off the little captain and his men whenever they should make their appearance. The man who had fought the Spaniards, who had cut off Wituamit's head and carried it in triumph to Plymouth, was not at all afraid of the swaggering lawyer and his drunken crew. " Surrender, or I will burn the house down over your heads!" he said. Why did not Thomas Morton bring his gun to his shoulder and put a bullet through Miles Standish ? Why did not the drunken crew riddle him in an instant? Because they were cowards, and because they were confronted by law and order. Through all ages people had called the king "His Majesty," but now the people themselves were Majesty, ex- ercising authority, and able to deal summarily with Thomas Morton or anybody else. Did Thomas Morton fire? Oh no; lie opened the door, became as meek as a lamb, was marched down to Plymouth, and packed off to England. Captain Standish had laid his beautiful young wife, Rose, down to sleep on Burial Hill, but why should he live alone? Why not make that sweet girl, Priscilla Mullens, Mrs. Standish ? There were wrinkles on his brow; the crows'-feet were gathering in the corners of his eyes; he had seen hard service, been in many a battle ; his hair was turning gray. Pris- cilla was young and fair ; perhaps she might say " No." He thought that it would be better to get bashful John Aldcn, who was about Priscilla's age, to open the matter to her. "Why don't you speak for yourself, John ?" said Priscilla. So it came about that Priscilla, instead of going over to the hill on the other side of the ba}r, to be mistress of Captain Standish's house, became Mrs. John Alden. William Bradford — governor, not a minister but a magistrate — bade them join hands, pronounced them husband and wife; and we may believe that they could not have been any happier if a bishop had conducted the ceremony. The settlers of Plymouth had been knocked about so much that few of them had had any time to acquire knowledge. All could read. All who signed the agreement in the cabin of the Mayflower wrote their names in full. William Bradford, William Brewster, and Edward Wins- low could speak several languages. " We have no common school for want of a fit person, or means to maintain one, though we desire now to begin," wrote William Bradford in 1624. They were poor; were bound by a hard bargain to the London mer- FIRST YEAES AT PLYMOUTH. 139 chants. Half their number had died. They had their houses to build, their corn to plant ; everything to do, with none to lend a helping hand. Instead of being helped, twice they had to supply Mr. Weston's ship and his starving men with provisions, and to take care of the sick left on their hands. How could they support a school? The mothers taught the children what they could ; but children worked. There were no drones in the hive. As the years went on, some of the settlers crossed the bay and settled Duxbury. Miles Standish built his house there. Edward Winslow went farther north. The settlements together were known as the " Old Col- ony." They were kind to the Indians, treating them fairly when buying their beaver-skins, and the Indians treated them kindlv in return. AUTOGRAPHS OF SOME OF THE PILGRIMS. These were the rules which the Pilgrims hung up in their houses to guide them in the affairs of life : "Profane no Divine ordinance. Touch no State matters. Urge no healths. Pick no quarrels. Encourage no vice. Repeat no grievances. Reveal no secrets. Maintain no ill opinions. Make no comparisons. Keep no bad company. Make no long meals. Lay no wagers." 140 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. In what other age has there been such seed sowing? What will come of it ? What sort of institutions — what civilization — what good to the world will spring up from such seed-corn ? Time will show. THE PILGRIM MONUMENT, PLYMOUTH. SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA. 14.1 CHAPTER IX. SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA. John Mason and Sir Fernando Gorges obtained a grant of land extending from the Kennebec River to the Merrimac, which they called Laconia. Captain Mason took the section between the PIS- MOUTH OF THE PJSCATAQOA — WHALE 8-BACK LIGHT. 142 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. cataqua and the Merrimac, extending sixty miles inland, and named it New Hampshire. David Thompson, and Edward and William Hilton, canle to make settlements and carry on the fishing business. Mr. Thomp- son built a house not far from the Piscataqua, and called the place Little Harbor. He laid off a tract of a thousand acres for Captain Mason, who intended to build a great manor-house, and live there like an English lord. Edward and William Hilton went up the Piscataqua ten miles, and built their houses at Dover: they set their nets in the stream, caught shad and salmon, sailed down the river to a ledge of rocks called the Whale's Back, made trips to the Isle of Shoals, or coasted along the sandy beaches to the Merrimac. They reared their houses in 1623, and were the first settlers in New Hampshire. While the Hiltons were building their houses on the Piscataqua, a lum- bering Dutch vessel was sailing from Amsterdam with a company of men, women, and children, who were looking for the last time upon a city that had given them refuge during days of bitter persecution. Who were they ? Years before, when the Jesuits were burning thousands of heretics in the country along the Rhine, the fathers of these men and women left their homes, abandoned their vineyards along the Rhine and Moselle, and fled to Holland for refuge. They called themselves Walloons. The merchants of Amsterdam, who were with Captain Block when he exhibited his map to John Barneveld, and who had been sending their ships to America, were incorporated as "the West India Company." Their capital was $2,500,000. Their charter gave them all the land they could obtain in America, with power to build war-ships, appoint govern- ors, raise armies, and take any steps they pleased to help on their trade. They were made a great and powerful corporation. Spain and Holland were at war, and the company sent out its armed ships to plunder the Spanish towns in the West Indies and South America. They captured so many ships laden with gold and silver, that in a short time their $2,500,000 became $6,000,000. The company did not wish, however, to carry on war, but to purchase furs of the Indians. The beads, bits of looking-glass and tin, the bright- colored blankets and knives which the Indians wanted, cost but little, while the furs obtained for them were of great value. The ship New Netherlands, commanded by Cornelius May, was fitted out, and thirty families of Walloons bade farewell to Holland. The ship entered Hudson River; eight families landed on Manhattan. Some of them went up the river, and built a new fort at Albany, which they named Fort Orange. SETTLEMENT OP NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA. 143 Peter Minuet was appointed Governor of New Netherlands. On a bright May morning he met the Indians for a trade. He wanted the isl- and of Manhattan ; while they wanted the buttons, beads, and trinkets which he displayed before their longing eyes. The bargain was made, and for twenty-four dollars he obtained the island of Manhattan. Having purchased the island, he set Krym Frederick to building a battery, upon which were planted several cannon pointing down the harbor, with a palisade protecting the rear, naming it Fort Amsterdam. He built a stone house, thatched it \vith grass and rushes, in which the LANDING OF THE WALLOONS. goods' were stored. More vessels came with Walloons, and by midsum- mer Manhattan contained thirty houses. It was an Old World and an old time idea that men must be governed by force — by the fear of punishment. The idea had not dawned upon rulers that men would obey laws because laws were good. The trouble was that the laws were not always good; that they were often made not for the people but in the interest of the rulers, who looked upon people as their subjects. Instead of ruling by just and equitable laws, rulers endeavored to force men to obedience. To this end Governor Minuet erected stocks and pillory in the square at Manhattan. OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. MANHATTAN. The grain which the Walloons sowed on the cleared patches of ground grew luxuriantly, and they reaped a grand harvest of wheat, rye, oats, barley, and beans. The Walloons appointed two of their number as " comforters to the sick," and who read the Bible and led their prayers on Sunday. Peter Minuet lived in state, with three negro slaves to wait upon him. One day the negroes met an Indian in the woods with a lot of beaver-skins. A thought came to them : why not seize his skins ? They had been stolen from Africa by the white men, and were in slavery. Might they not plunder the heathen Indian ? They fell upon him, and in the melee the Indian was killed ; but his nephew, a little boy, saw the clubs smash his uncle's skull. " I shall have my revenge !" he said to himself, as he fled through the woods. The West India Company voted that any member who would send fifty adults to New Netherlands should have sixteen miles of land along ON THE DELAWARB. SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA. 145 the Hudson River, extending back into the country without limit, and they were to have the title of Patroon, or Feudal chief. They were to pay no taxes for ten years ; the settlers were to be serfs ; the Patroons were to have the exclusive right of trade, except in furs. The wives of the serfs were not to spin any yarn, weave any cloth, or manufacture any hats ; but the company and the Patroons were to have all the profits on the sale of goods upon which they could fix their own prices. Samuel Godyn and Samuel Bloomaert having turned over the scheme before its adoption, sent a trusty agent to prospect the coun- try, who selected a beautiful re- o-ion on the south side of Dela- O ware Bay, near Cape Henlopen. A company sent out by the two burghers began a settlement — the ESPLANADE HILL, QUEBEC. first in the State of Delaware. Gillis Hosset was governor. He nailed a glittering piece of tin upon a tree, representing the sovereignty of Hol- land. It shone so brightly, that one of the Indians tore it down and cut it into strips for jewellery. Gillis Hosset, not reflecting that the Indians were like children, that they knew nothing of its meaning, regarded it as an insult and outrage, and put the Indian to death. 10 146 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The Dutchmen had a great bull-dog, of which the Indians were very much afraid, as the dog always showed his teeth and growled at them. One day, when all the colonists except two were in the field at work, a company of Indians came with beaver-skins as if to open trade, but, watch- ing their opportunity, buried their hatchets in the heads of two men at the trading-house, shot twenty-five arrows into the dog, set the buildings on fire, went into the fields and killed all the others; thus wiping out the settlement. It was in 1615 that Samuel Champlain set himself to work to build up the empire of New France ; years had passed, and instead of an em- pire there was only a settlement. At Quebec there was the house which he had built in 1615, and close by were the stores which the traders had built, and around which In- dians were ever loitering, looking with longing eyes upon the blankets and trinkets, knives, little mirrors, and tinkling bells, which they could only obtain with skins of the beaver, marten, sable, fox, and other animals. There was one other building, the chapel of the friars, with its sweet- toned bell tolling for mass or vespers. Within, on the walls, were pict- ures portraying in bright colors the torments of hell and the bliss of heaven. Overlooking all, upon the cliff, was the fort, and around it fields and gardens. The whole French population was only about fifty ; they were all fur- traders or friars. Some of the fur-traders were Catholics, some Hugue- nots. The king had forbidden the Huguenots from holding meetings in New France; but the king was far away, and the Huguenots sung and prayed, which gave great offence to the friars. The company had forbidden all trade with the Indians, except by their permission ; but there were sailors on shipboard, and citizens who traded on the sly, to the great vexation of the regular traders. There was constant irritation — everybody picking at everybody. The Duke de Montmorenci paid eleven thousand crowns for the privilege of being Viceroy of Canada. The river, which pours over a high precipice just below Quebec, and down which the people of the city glide on' sleds and sledges in winter, enjoying royal sport, bears his name. He appointed Champlain governor. There was so much trouble between the fur-traders of St. Malo and Rouen, that Montmorenci with- drew their privileges and appointed two Huguenots — William and Emery de Caen — to manage the fur-trade, which was only jumping from the fry- ing-pan into the fire. The old fur-traders refused to give up the privi- leges by which they were growing rich. They quarrelled with the new- SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA. 147 coiners. The friars joined with them. Huguenots control the trade with the Indians? Never! One of the friars hastened to France. The Jesuits there were powerful. They besieged the king, who, to make peace, allowed both parties to trade. The young Duke de Montmprenci, weary of being vice-king of a country which contained only one little miserable village, sold out his FALLS OF MONT.MORENCI. title to the Duke de Ventadour, his neighbor, who was so religious that he had turned his back on the gay court at Fontainebleau, bade farewell to all the vanities of the world, became a Jesuit priest, and set himself 148 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. to make New France a country in which the Jesuits should have full control. Charles Lalemant, M. and Jean de Brebeuf, obeying the order of their superior, sailed for Canada. A little later, Fathers Noirot and De la None landed at Quebec. The two Huguenot traders were singing and praying in public, and the sailors, and some of the laborers which the Jesuits had taken over, flocked to hear them. "There shall be no more psalm-singing by Huguenots," was the order sent over by the Jesuit viceroy. Champlain could stop their singing, but not their praying. A great man was wielding affairs in France — Cardinal Richelieu — who saw that, to build up an empire in the New World to checkmate England, vigorous measures must be adopted. He founded the company of "New France," composed of one hundred of the dukes, marquises, and noblemen of France, with merchants and ministers. He placed himself at the bead. The king gave them the whole of America, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea — from Newfoundland to the Pacific Ocean. They were to have the monopoly of the fnr- trade forever. Already the Indians were crossing from the waters of the Far West, bringing twenty-five thousand beaver-skins per annum to Quebec. The company was to have control of all traffic for fifteen years. The king gave the company two ships of war, armed and equipped. The company made this stipulation, that every person settling in New France was to be a Catholic. None of the hated Huguenots were to be allowed to enter. Perfect the plan for building up an empire in which there should be no heresy, but where everybody would owe allegiance to the Pope, and where the Jesuits would have complete control of the consciences of men. We think our plans perfect, and so they may be, so far as we are concern- ed ; but there are other plans than ours. No one plan can be independent of all others; but on the contrary our plans are constantly interfered with. Richelieu and the Jesuits had their plans. Charles I. of England and the Duke of Buckingham had theirs. Richelieu undertook to put down the Huguenots; the Duke of Buckingham tried to sustain them. Wai- broke out between the two countries. A Scotchman — William Alexan- der— had tried to establish a colony in Newfoundland, and he put it into the head of the Duke of Buckingham to send a fleet up the St. Law- rence to seize Quebec. David Kirk, a Huguenot, who had been driven from France, was appointed commander of a fleet which sailed up the river and appeared before Quebec. Champlain could make no resistance, SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND CANADA. 151 and was compelled to see the flag of France give place to that of England on the fort at Quebec. For the moment all the plans of Richelieu and the Jesuits were upset ; but when peace was brought about, the King of England gave up, and the Jesuits and French began once more to build up an empire in America. 152 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER X. THE PURITAN BEGINNING. ON March 25th, 1625, James died, and Charles I. became King of Eng- land. He thought that he could strengthen himself by marrying the sister of the King of France, Henrietta Maria, a young girl who had played in the garden of the old palace of Fontainebleau, but who knew very little about England or the English people. She was only fifteen, while Charles was old enough to be her father. Charles met her at Do- ver. She was at breakfast when he arrived, but came down-stairs, kneeled at his feet, intending to say, " Sir, I have come to be commanded by you," but was so frightened she could not recall a word, and was so mortified that she covered her face with her hands and burst into tears; but the king raised her to her feet and kissed them away. Henrietta was a Catholic, and brought with her a bishop, thirty priests, and a great company of French cooks, servants, chamber-maids, and hang- ers-on— in all, about four hundred persons. She established the mass in her own chapel, which gave great offence to the people, who had not for- gotten the efforts of Bloody Mary to establish popery. The hatred of the Puritans to the Pope was so intense that they would not observe Christmas ; the custom, so beautiful and delightful to us, of adorning our homes with evergreens whenever the day comes round, they denounced as idolatrous. When a man deliberately sets himself to do as he pleases', without any regard for the rights of other men, he is pretty sure to find trouble. Charles attempted such a course of action, and found trouble enough. That determination of his started a train of events which have been of far-reaching influence upon the history of our country. We can only fol- low a few of them. There was no written constitution, nor is there now a written con- stitution in England ; but from time to time laws were passed in accord- ance with customs which former kings had respected, so that by usage it was understood that the king could not collect taxes without the consent CHRISTMAS. like that oi i . of- John . : • - 1 . • • 156 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. going, that the merchants of Dorchester, who were fitting ont vessels, resolved to build houses on Cape Ann for the fishermen to. live in while GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS. the ships were crossing the ocean to and fro. They selected Gloucester harbor as a good place, and built huts along the shore, sending over Roger Conant to manage affairs. Rev. John White, a Puritan minister in Dorchester, knew that the fishermen must have a lonely time, and became greatly interested in them. Through his influence Rev. John Lyford sailed to Cape Ann, to look after the moral welfare of the fishermen. But the merchants soon discovered that the enterprise did not pay expenses, and the men whom they had employed went back to England — all except Roger Conant, Rev. Mr. Lyford, and one other. Conant was pleased with the country, espe- cially with the region a little south of Gloucester, which the Indians called Xaumkeag. The Dorchester merchants were Puritans. They had lost money : but, if they were to go themselves with their families and cultivate the ground, they thought they might make it profitable. A company was formed, and the members petitioned Charles for a grant of land. Quite THE PUEITAN BEGINNING. 157 likely the king was glad to have them go ; but, be that as it may, he com- plied with the request, and gave them a grant extending from three miles north of Merrimac River to three miles south of the Charles, and west- ward to the " South Sea." Where the " South Sea " was, no one knew, only that it was far away. John Endicott, of Dorchester, a member of the company, a stern Pu- ritan— brave, honest, clear-headed, with decided opinions of his own — was elected governor of the colony which they proposed to establish. In June, 1628, the ship Abigail, with John Endicott, his wife, and one hundred colonists, set sail for the beautiful harbor where Roger Conant JOHN ENDICOTT. had built his log-cabin. They reached it in safety, and it was so peaceful a place that they named it Salem. Endicott brought cattle, and garden -seeds, and fruit-trees. One of the pear-trees set out by him is still living; the white-weed which he 158 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. sowed in his garden, to be used for medicine, has spread pretty much over the country. While John Endicott was sailing to America, the king, the bishops, and Archbishop Laud were carrying things with a high hand in England. Charles published a declaration, which still stands in the Prayer-book of the English Church in front of the Articles, that no man was to preach or EXTKAXCE TO SALEM HAUBOIt. write on doctrines about which men did not agree. Who was to judge? The bishops. What was that but putting manacles upon the intellect and conscience of every man, woman, and child in England ? But there were men who would not be thus manacled. Puritan ministers went on preaching their own convictions of what was right and true, and Arch- bishop Laud and the bishops went to work to silence them. They had a powerful engine for that purpose, called " the Court of High Commis- sion," established by Elizabeth. This court had no power originally to send men to prison ; but Archbishop Laud was determined to crush out the Puritans, and the court therefore usurped the power to imprison men. If a minister preached what the bishop did not like ; if any one sold a book or pamphlet which contained anything they did not relish, the court condemned them to prison, the whipping -post, the pillory, or to have their ears cropped off and noses slit. The bishop's officers were soon hunting out offenders, and there was so little comfort for the Puritans that they turned their eyes toward America as a place of refuge. Charles levied illegal taxes, which greatly offended the people. John THE PURITAN BEGINNING. 159 Eliot, a member of Parliament, thinking it time to put a stop to the usurpations of the king, introduced a bill into the House of Commons declaring that whoever should introduce popery, or whoever should levy taxes not granted by Parliament, or whoever should voluntarily pay any such taxes, was to be regarded as an enemy of the country. "I will not read the paper," said the Speaker of the House, who sided with the king. " Neither will I," said the clerk. " I will read it myself, and I demand that it may be put to vote," said John Eliot. " The king has commanded me not to put it to vote," said the Speak- er, and sprung out of the chair ; for if any one were to put it to vote while he was in the chair it might be regarded as a legal act. But there were resolute men in the Commons, and the Speaker found himself back in his seat, and held down by two strong men, while Denzil Hollis put the vote. Charles was very angry, and sent the sheriff, who arrested John Eliot, Denzil Hollis, and the other two members, and put them in the Tower. The king soon had them up before his court, called the Privy Council. "We will not answer to the Privy Council. We are answerable only to Parliament," they said ; and the Commons sustained them. ENDICOTT S PEAR-TREE. " Go home, you vipers ! There shall be no more of your meetings while I am king !" said Charles, dissolving Parliament. Having sent Parliament home, Charles set himself to levying more taxes, selling exclusive privileges to those who would pay him most. He 160 OLD TIMES IN THE COLON! I -IS. issued an order forbidding everybody from making soap, except the Lon- don Soap Makers' Company, who paid him ten thousand pounds for the CHARLES I. exclusive privilege, and who agreed to pay him eight pounds for every ton they 'might manufacture. Everybody was obliged by law to buy that company's soap. The poor washer-women complained bitterly, and went THE PURITAN BEGINNING. 161 through the streets of London with their wash-tubs, denouncing the soap- makers, and the miserable stuff manufactured by them. " It rots the clothes !" said one. " It is nothing but lime and tallow !" said another. "It eats our flesh to the bone!" shouted a third. In order to show what mean stuff it was, and to enlist the sympathy of the people, the women held public washings, trampling the clothes in OLD-FASUIONEIJ WASHING-MACHINES. their tubs with their bare feet, or scrubbing them with their hands. The people took their part, and made an outcry which the soap company were obliged to heed. Charles made every trade and occupation a monopoly, and kept a great company of officers travelling through the country as spies, or to collect revenue; thus providing for an army of place-hunters, who obtained their 11 162 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. living by fleecing the people. He issued an order forbidding the build- ing of any more houses in London. " The city is large enough," he said. Mr. Moore, not heeding the order, built a house; the Star-chamber ordered him to tear it down before Easter, and because he did not, was condemned to pay two thousand pounds. The sheriff pulled down forty- two houses that had been built near St. Martin's Church. They also de- stroyed a great many in the country. The tavern-keepers had to pay roundly for the privilege of keeping a hotel. Some paid six thousand pounds. Charles wanted money to build ships, and assessed taxes upon land. John Hampden was a plain farmer, and his tax was only twenty shillings, which he could have paid many times over, but it was illegal, and he made up his mind that, come what might, he would not submit to the imposition. When a man has right on his side he can afford to make a brave tight. Riches, ease, comfort, position in society, the favor of the king, are noth- ing in comparison with right. Money is of little account, if we did but know it. Fire burns it, thieves steal it. Ease and comfort are delightful, but they are of the present moment, while Right is forever, and by-and-by it is going to conquer Wrong. John Hampden would not pay his tax, and the case went into the courts, and before the courts were through with it all England was aflame with John Ilampden's spirit. The Puritans had obtained a grant of land from Charles; but they wanted something more — a charter under which they would have author- ity to govern their colony. Sir Dudley Carleton, who bore the name of Lord Dorchester, was Secretary of State, and the Puritans had no diffi- culty in obtaining a charter, which, considering that the king had deter- mined to rule England without a Parliament, was a remarkable document. The merchants were incorporated under the name of the " Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay." They were to choose their own gov- ernor, a deputy-governor, and eighteen assistants. The members of the company were called freemen, and four times a year they were to meet in a general court to make such laws as they pleased, that were not in oppo- sition to the laws of England. Here are some of the provisions: Permission to make their own laws. Choose their own officers. Power ct/ to punish all offenders. To pardon. To rule. To require everybody /// the colony to take an oath of allegiance to them. Power to expel or any one annoying mem. THE PURITAN BEGINNING. 163 " The king 1ms given us the land, but if the Indians claim it you are to pay them. Let no wrong be shown them," were the instructions of the company to John Endicott. They desired that the Indians should become civilized and Christianized, and for a seal they adopted the figure of an Indian standing erect with an arrow in his hand, and underneath the words, " Come over and help us." The Puritans were members of the Church of England ; they had not, like the Pilgrims, separated from it. It was dear to them, and it cost them a pang to think of turning away from all that they had loved and cherished. When Rev. Francis Higginson, of Leicester, the first Puritan COSY THE HOMES THEY LEFT BEHIND THEM. minister who came to America, stood upon the deck of the vessel and saw the old land fading away, he wrote these words : " We will not say, as the Separatists are wont to say, ' Farewell, Baby- lon ! farewell, Rome !' but we will say, ' Farewell, dear England ! Fare- well, the Church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there.' We do not go as Separatists from the Church of England, though we can- not but separate from the corruptions of it." Cosy the homes they left behind them ; but, with confidence in them- 164: OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. selves and God, they looked forward to the time when they would have equal comforts far from priestly rule. Little did he know the sorrow that awaited him. Two days later his daughter Mary was down with the small -pox, and when the ship was tossing in mid-ocean the sailors sewed her lifeless body in a shroud and consigned it to the deep. Before the ship sailed there was a sifting of those on board, and some servants, who were idle, were sent ashore. " We will have no drones," said the emigrants. There were to be no idle hands in their new homes. So long as there are human beings there will be differences of opinion, and it is well for the world that it is so ; for only by looking at Truth from every side will men attain the highest happiness. What we need to learn is to permit everybody else to exercise the same freedom that we claim for ourselves. When the Puritans began their settlement on Cape Ann, men had only just begun to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of the ages. They were beginning to obtain a glimpse of the principles which underlie Liberty, and made many grievous mistakes. They ex- pected, perhaps, to live in perfect peace, and to have no such trouble as had made life unbearable in England, but forgot that it is impossible for all men to think alike. Two of the Salem men, John and Samuel Brown, had great reverence for the Prayer-book ; and, instead of attending meeting, set up a meeting of their own, and conducted the service. There was a discussion and conflict of opinions and actions. What should be done ? John and Sam- uel Brown were good men, but the Prayer-book was hateful, because the archbishops and bishops were tyrants who had imprisoned Puritans, and cropped off their ears and noses. If the Prayer-book was tolerated, in a very short time there would be a bishop among them, and then good- bye to freedom, peace, happiness, and everything else. A majority de- cided that the Prayer-book should not be used, and that the Browns were stirring up strife. If the majority were not to rule, there was an end to the colony. Under the charter they had all authority to regulate their own affairs; and as John and Samuel were disturbers of the peace and welfare of the community, Governor Endicott sent them back to Eng- land. The persecutions of the bishops made life so bitter to the Puritans in England that many rich and influential men were desirous of emigrating to America, while others, who were not quite ready to bid farewell to the old home, were willing to help those who needed a helping hand. Mat- THE PURITAN BEGINNING. 165 thew Cradock, a rich London merchant, gave liberally to fit out ships and otherwise help the emigrants. One of the men well to do in worldly affairs was John Winthrop, of Groton, a little village in Suffolk County. There his father and grand- father had lived ; they had attended service in the old stone church. It was a delightful place; but John Winthrop, though of a calm and even temper, was not the man to sit quietly down and lead an easy do-noth- ing life in the village of his ancestors, surrendering all his convictions of right, in subservience to the king and bishop. There were hardships, sufferings, and self-denial beyond the sea; but he was ready to accept anything that might come to him, rather than surrender his liberty. In the New World, under the charter which Charles had given, he would do what he could to establish a State in which God should be recognized as sovereign, O O ' and the Bible as the rule of man's conduct ; in which there should be no wor- rying of bulls with dogs, or sports on Sunday, but where every man should respect the day, and where all should do what was just and right toward their fellow-men. He was elect- ed governor, to succeed John Endicott. Eleven vessels were fit- ted out to transport seven hundred men, women, and children across the Atlantic. Among the ships pur- chased was t\\Q Eagle ; but the name was changed to Arbdla, in honor of Lady Arbella Johnson, sister of the Earl of Lincoln, who, after her marriage to Isaac Johnson, had lived in the town of Boston. Her minister was Rev. John Cotton, who preached in St. Botolph's Church — a grand old edifice, with a stone tower two hundred and eighty feet high, upon the top of which a lan- JOHN WINTHROP. 166 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. tern was displayed at night to light vessels out on the German Ocean into the harbor. It was from the town of Boston that the men of Scrooby attempted to escape to Holland in 1607, and were arrested and thrust into the filthy jail under the shadow of St. Botolph's. So rapidly had some of the ideas of the men of Scrooby advanced, that Rev. John Cotton and thousands of the citizens of Lincolnshire were now ready to follow them to America. A very important meeting of the Massachusetts Company was held in London, at John Goffe's house, August 28th, 1629. Matthew Cradock put this question to vote: "Shall the government of the colony be in New England or here? All in favor of transferring it to New England will hold up their hands." The hands were raised. " It is a vote." Was it simply the transfer of the management of a company across the ocean of men engaged in buying furs, catching fish, building houses, and opening farms? It was rather the transfer of a commonwealth. It was the beginning of a State. All the authority, all the power that they GROTOX CHCKCH. had desired from the king to make laws and execute them, was trans- planted to America by this vote. Isaac Johnson, Lady Arbella, and John Winthrop were passengers on the Arbella. On the 10th of April they saw the land fade away, and on June 6th they sighted Cape Sable, and then coasted along the shores of Maine. THE PURITAN BEGINNING. 1GT "NORMAN'S WOE." The governor made this entry in his journal : "We had warm, fair weather, and so pleasant and sweet airs as did refresh us, and there came a smell off the shore like the smell of a gar- den." Southward they saw the Isles of Shoals, where there was a ship at anchor, the Lyon, Captain Pierce, who had been many times on the coast. Beyond the islands they beheld Cape Ann, its white ledges gleaming in the sunlight. Out from the shore they beheld the waves breaking over "Norman's Woe," where many vessels since then have been wrecked. It was on those ragged ledges that the Hesperus, as described by the poet Longfel- low, was torn to splinters by the angry sea : 168 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. " Fast through the midnight, dark and drear, Through the whistling sleet and snow, Like a sheeted gliost the vessel swept Toward the reef of Norman's Woe." The Arbetta rounded the cape, and sailed proudly into Gloucester harbor. Her anchor was dropped, and the women and children hastened on shore to tread once more the green earth, to pick wild strawber- ries, and to sit beneatii the stately trees. John Endicott arrived in his boat, and Governor Winthrop, Mr. John- son, and Lady Arbella went with him to Sa- lem, where they sat down to a supper of venison, pastry, and small-beer. Governor Win- throp and John Endi- cott sailed down the coast past the cliffs of Marblehead, to find a place where they might build a town. They visited Noddles Island, where Samuel Maverick was living. At Mishawan they found Mr. Walford, who had been living there several years. William Blackstone, an Episcopal minister, who was not a Puri- tan, but who had left England because he loved solitude, had built a house on a peninsula on the opposite side of Charles River, south of Mish- awan. The Indians called the place Shawmut, but the colonists renamed THE CLIFFS. THE PURITAN BEGINNING. BLACKSTONES HOUSE. it Trimountain, from three hills which dotted the peninsula. Mr. Black- stone had set out an orchard and planted a garden. A sweet spring sup- plied him with water. lie had a library of several hundred hooks, and for seven or eight years had been enjoying him- self far from the turmoil going on in England. Mr. Blackstone wanted them to settle at Trimonntain, which was a peninsula with a narrow neck, and which could be easily fortified against the In- dians. The Puritans accepted the invi- tation, and changed the name to Boston. One of the first buildings erected was a meeting-house. Many of the Puritans had lived in affluence in England, and it was a great change to pass from their former spacious mansions to the huts which they reared in the wilderness. Never in Old England had they seen such snows as drifted around them when winter came. Their pro- visions failed. Meal was so scarce, that one of the colonists wrote this to his friends in England : "The crumbs of my father's table would be sweet to me. Once I- had a peck of corn or thereabouts for a little puppy dog." He obtained the meal of the Indians, who were very friendly. Some- times the hunters killed a deer, and that gave them a bit of meat. They caught fish, and when the tide was out, the women and children used to wander along the beach and gather clams ; but it was poor fare after what they had been accustomed to, and many sickened and died. Governor Winthrop knew that pro- visions would be wanted, and engaged the ship Lyon, which was at the Isles of Shoals, to hasten to England for sup- plies. Months passed. Day after day the famishing people looked seaward to dis- cern, if possible, the returning ship. February 5th, 1631, was a joyful day, for the people saw the Lyon sailing into the harbor. Their provisions were al- most gone. Governor "Winthrop had appointed a day of fasting, but it was changed into one of thanksgiving. FIRST MEETING-HOUSK IN BOSTON. 1TO OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. On the Lyon was a young minister, Koger Williams — a man of ardent spirit, conscientious, a great lover of liberty — who could not be turned a hair-breadth from doing what he thought was right. The hardships and sufferings had been so great that, when the flowers bloomed again in spring, more than two hundred of the emigrants were at rest forever in their graves. Among the number were Isaac Johnson and Lady Arbella. People in distress, with no one but God on whom they can call for help, do not need a prayer-book to make known their wants. Those who saw their loved ones fading away felt how unsatisfying were the prayers which the bishop had writ- ten to express their desires. The Pilgrims at Plymouth were getting along without prayer-books. Doc- tor Fuller, who hastened from Plym- outh to help care for the sick, need- ed no prayer-book to read from as he visited the dying ; so by various influences it came about that the colonists discontinued the use of written prayers, and became wholly independent of the Church of Eng- land, and, like the Pilgrims, man- aged their own affairs, calling their ministers; dismissing them when thev pleased : electing their govern- STATCE OF GOVERNOR WINTHROP. * * or and his assistants in town-meet- ing, and conferring upon them authority to make their laws. THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 171 CHAPTER XI. THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. Indians who lived on the banks of the Connecticut called it Long River. They heard that there were white men at Boston and Plym- outh, and one of them made a visit to Governor Winthrop. "I will give the white men eighty beaver-skins every year if they will settle on the Long River," he said. He wanted the fish-hooks, hatchets, blankets, and trinkets which the white men had for sale. Governor Winthrop treated him kindly, but told him that the Boston men could not go so far away. NANTUCKET. The Iirdian visited Plymouth, and Governor Winslow was so im- pressed with what he had to say about the country that he sailed in the Pilgrim's little vessel around Cape Cod, past the Shoals, past Nantueket — which very few if any white men had visited — past Martha's Vineyard and Block Island, and along the Narragansett shore to the beautiful stream, beholding fertile meadows, rounded hills, stately forest-trees, and hanging vines. There were myriads of fish in the river, arid the beaver were 172 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. abundant along the smaller streams. He returned to Plymouth, resolving to take possession of the valley. Pie hud but just turned the prow of his vessel eastward when a sail appeared in the west — a Dutch ship from Manhattan, with John Van Corlear and six men on board, sent by Wonter- van Twiller to occupy the country. The lumbering craft made its way up the stream as far as Hartford, where Van Corlear built a little fort, which he called Good Hope. The summer passed, October came, and once more the Plymouth ves- sel was sailing up the Connecticut, with William Holmes and a company of resolute Pilgrims on board. Van Corlear was amazed when he saw the little vessel gliding defiantly up stream, all sails set to catch the fa- voring wind. " Stop 1" he shouted. " I have a commission from Governor Window to go up the river," was the answer of Captain Holmes. " Haul down your colors, or I will fire !" cried Van Corlear. "I am ordered to go up the river, and am going!" Holmes replied; and before the Dutchmen could get over their astonishment at such au- dacity, Captain Holmes was out of sight. He landed at Windsor, put up a house, built a palisade around it, with loop-holes in the walls, and opened trade with the Indians. Wouter van Twiller was astounded when he heard of it. Plymouth men buying beaver-skins under his nose, as it were! He would put a stop to it. He sent seventy men to Van Corlear, with orders to drive them out of the valley. With drums beating and banners flying, the Dutch marched from Fort Goad Hope to Windsor. "You must leave here!" shouted Van Corlear to Captain Holmes. " I am ordered to stay here, and intend to obey orders !" said Holmes. "I shall open fire upon you, and tear down your house," said Van Corlear. "I shall return your fire !" said Holmes.- No doubt John Van Corlear was a brave man, but his men did not like the looks of those muskets peeping through the loop-holes, and re- fused to begin the fight. Van Corlear thought the matter over, and con- cluded that it would be better to let Wouter van Twiller settle the mat- ter peacefully, rather than shed his blood for a few beaver -skins, and marched his men back to Good Hope. So it came about that the English and Dutch both obtained a foothold in the Connecticut valley in 1633. Three years before this little flurry the Plymouth Company in Eng- THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 173 land had given the land, from Narragansett Bay northward to the Massa- chusetts line, and westward to the Pacific Ocean, to the Earl of Warwick. The gift took no notice of the Dutch on the Hudson. The Earl of War- wick, in turn, transferred it to Lord Say-and-Seal and Lord Brooke. The Dutch claimed to have purchased it of the Pequod Indians. They did not care anything about cultivating the land; they only wanted to buy beaver-skins. Who should have it — the Dutch or English ? The people of Massa- chusetts settled the question. Emigrants were leaving England by the thousand, and settling along the coast of Massachusetts. A colony from New bury, in England, had selected a beautiful site on the south bank of the Merrimac, and named it for their old home. Another colony from Salisbury had looked for the last time on the lofty spire of their grand old cathedral, and had settled a new Salisbury on the north bank of the Merrimac. South of Newbury the settlers from Ipswich had started a new Ips- CUHASSET HARBOR. wich. South of Boston the settlers from Dorchester had begun a new Dorchester. There were emigrants at Cohasset, at Hingham, up the Charles River, at' Newton, Watertown, and Brookline. The settlers in Boston wanted more pasturage for their cattle. They 174: OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. heard of the fertility of the Connecticut Valley, and in October, 1635, nearly sixty of them, with their wives, children, and cattle, started on OLD MEKTIXG-HOUSK, HINGHAM. their journey to begin a settlement. Xo Englishman had ever threaded the pathless wilds. It was a wearisome journey. There were hills to climb, and streams to cross. The bright -colored leaves were falling; the chill winds of autumn swept through the forest; the rains were cold. There were many obstacles — rocks and fallen trees. Winter had set in before they reached the Connecticut, and they must construct rafts before they could cross. In December they reared their log-cabins on the western bank, and called the place Hartford. The snow fell, whirled by the wind into blinding drifts. Their cattle had nothing to eat, and began to die. Provisions failed. A vessel which was to have reached them did not come. The river froze. Death stared them in the face. They ate the bark of trees, scraped the snow from the ground beneath the oak-trees in search of acorns. The Indians were kind, and sold them a little corn ; but they saw that if they attempted to remain, all would die of starvation. Some of them started through the forest ; others went down the river and found a small vessel frozen in the ice, but it was two days before they could cut a channel with their axes to clear wa- ter; but they reached it, and, with almost the last morsel of food gone, reached their old homes. The men of Massachusetts who had suffered such hardships in their THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 175 journey gave glowing reports of the valley — of its wide meadows and fertile soil — and when spring opened a second party started to occupy the fertile acres. Their minister, Rev. Thomas Hooker, went with them. He had been an eloquent preacher in England. Earls and nobles often travelled many miles to hear him. He was as good as he was eloquent, but, because he could not conscientiously use the form of service which the bishop had prescribed, had been driven out of England. He had been at Cambridge, Mass., two years, and was greatly beloved. The flow- ers were in bloom, and the forest clothed in its richest verdure in June, when Rev. Mr. Hooker and his company, with their wives and children — one hundred in all — and cattle and sheep, struck out into the wilderness, travelling, as the compass guided them, through swamps, over hills, and across rivers. The men carried heavy packs on their backs. Some of the women walked, carrying infants in their arms. Mrs. Hooker was weak, EMIGRANTS AT NIGHT. and rode in a litter. The boys and girls drove the cattle and sheep, while their fathers cleared the way with their axes. Feather-beds were strap- ped upon the backs of the cattle and horses, together with pots and ket- 176 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. LADY FENWICK 8 TOMIJ. ties. At night great fires were kindled beneath the trees. Morning and evening they had prayers. Two weeks passed before they reached the beautiful stream and began to rear their homes. It was midsummer. There were myriads of salmon and shad in the river; the woods were full of turkeys, pigeons, and herds of deer; the meadows green with grass. Amidst such riches of nature, and with such a company, began the settlement of Connecticut. Charles I. was carrying things with so high a hand in England that John llampden and his cousin, Oliver Cromwell, resolved to emi- grate to Connecticut. They sent out young John AVinthrop, son of the Governor of Massachusetts, to make a beginning. He built a fort on the west bank of the Connecti- cut at its mouth, and named it Say- brook. A little colony was started, and John Winthrop> Jr., was elected governor. llampden and Cromwell were ready to leave England. The vessels were in the Thames, at London, with their goods on board, when the king, exercising his arbitrary authority, stopped them. Far better for him if he had permitted their departure. One of the gentlemen who came with John Winthrop was Colonel Fen wick, who was accompanied by his beau- tiful young wife, Lady Alice. What a change it was for her, to leave the old country home, with all its luxury and refinement, and make her home in a log-cabin inside the fort at Saybrook ! But she was always light-hearted. She knew how to fire a gun, and could ride horseback at a breakneck speed. She tamed the rabbits : the squirrels were her friends. She was the life of the little company while she lived. She died in 1648. Matthew Griswold erected a memorial stone above her grave. Her husband went back to England, and was one of the judges that condemned Charles I. to death. The Pequod Indians lived along the sea -shore, east of Connecticut River. They occupied a fine country. In the woods were deer, turkeys, and pigeons; in the rivers salmon, shad, and alewives. In calm weather they paddled their canoes along shore, and caught cod and mackerel. THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 177 The bravest and proudest of the Pequods was Sassacus, lord of twenty- six sachems. He built two forts for the safety of the tribe ; one was on a hill near Mystic River, the other near Connecticut River. Sassacus was a statesman, and saw that sooner or later the English would be in possession of their hunting-grounds. The English were at Saybrook, at Weathersfield, Hartford, Windsor, and Springfield ; they were in Rhode Island, and all along the shore to Plymouth, Boston, and Piscataqua. How long would it be before there would be no more deer in the woods, and no more flocks of turkeys? Quite likely, if we had been in Sassacus's place, seeing people from a foreign country taking posses- sion of all the beautiful lands, we might have resolved, as he resolved, to make war upon them. He knew very little of natural rights, or that the only right which men can have in land is in its cultivation. Sassacus */ o knew nothing of physical or moral laws. He was in pos- session of the lands of his fathers ; they were his. Why should he not drive out the English? Relying upon the power and bravery of his warriors, he resolved to make war upon the English. He began by inciting his followers to murder Captain Stone, and the crew of a vessel, ten in all, who had come from Virginia to Connecticut to trade. The Governor of Massachusetts demanded the surrender and punishment of the murderer, but Sassacus put him off with fair speeches, arid the murderers were not surrendered. On a midsummer's day, 1636, John Gallup, with an- other man and two boys, were sailing past Block Island, when they discovered a vessel moving about strangely, as if those on board did not know how to manage the craft. Get- ting nearer, they saw that the deck was crowd- ed with Indians. They knew that John Oldhain, of Watertown, Massa- chusetts, was on a trad- ing-cruise to Connecti- cut, and that this was his vessel. What should they do? There were fourteen Indians on WILD TURKEYS. 12 178 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. INDIAN ROCK, NARRAGANSETT. board, armed with bows, arrows, spears and guns. John Gallup was brave. He had two guns, two pistols, and some shot, but no balls. They were four against fourteen ; but they ran along-side, and so peppered the Indians with shot that they all crept beneath the hatches. "Run them down!" shouted Gallup to the boy at the helm of his vessel. The wind filled the main-sail, and the prow came against the hulk of the other with a thump, which so frightened the Indians that six of them leaped into the sea. There came a second thump, and four Indians sprung overboard. Gallup leaped on board the vessel, and two of the Indians gave themselves up as prisoners. The other two would not come out from the hold, and he shut the hatches upon them. He found Old- ham's body on board, still warm, the head split open, and feet and hands chopped off ! The Governor of Massachusetts sent John Endicott and Captain John Underbill to chastise the Indians. They burnt the wigwams of those on Block Island, and then sailed over to the main-land, burning more wigwams, and had a skirmish with the Indians, killing and wounding nearly forty. Sassacns had been at war with the Xarragansetts, but had made peace with them, and tried to enlist them on his side ; but Governor Winthrop sent for Miantonoma and some of the other chiefs, who visited Boston and were kindly entertained, and who made a treaty of peace and friend- ship with the English. The Pequods began war on the English along the Connecticut River. They killed a man close to Saybrook fort. A few days after, in October, they captured two men in a boat, cutting off their feet and hands, gashing their flesh with knives, and filling the gashes with THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 179 hot ashes ! They killed the settlers' cattle, and burnt their hay-stacks. In February, 1737, ten men at work were waylaid and three of them killed : two were captured — their bodies split open and hung upon the trees. A man from Wethersfield was roasted alive! The Indians at- tacked that town, killed seven men, a woman, a child, and carried away two girls. The girls were not harmed, however, for the wife of the chief Mononotto became their friend and protected them. The magistrates of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor met in coun- cil. What should they do? Thirty English had been killed. War was upon them. They were two hundred and fifty fighting men against one thousand Pequods. A messenger was sent to Boston and Plymouth asking for aid. Massachusetts voted to send one hundred and sixty men, and Plymouth forty. Connecticut determined to act with vigor. Ninety men marched at once. Captain John Mason, who had fought against the Spaniards in Holland, commanded them. Seventy Mohegans joined them. Once they had paid tribute to the Pequods, but their chief, Uncas, had rebelled, and had placed himself under the protection of the English. The grass was springing fresh and green on the 10th of May, when they dropped down the Connecticut from Wethersfield in their little vessels. The Pequods were on the hills, and shouted defiantly as they floated past. They reached Fort Saybrook, and were glad to find that Captain John Underbill had arrived with twenty men from Massachusetts. They were fearful that the Indians would fall upon their settlement in their absence and murder their wives and children, so twenty were sent back to protect them. Captain Underbill joined the expedition. " You are to land at Pequod Harbor," was the order which Captain Mason had received from the magistrate. Should he obey it? The Pe- quods were there, ready for him. Why land where they wanted him to? " Never go where your enemy wishes you to go," was the maxim of Na- poleon. Captain Mason thought it out one hundred and fifty years be- fore Napoleon was born. The other officers thought they must obey the order of the magistrate. They believed in obedience; it was a duty. " We will ask Rev. Mr. Stone to pray over it," said Captain Mason. Eev. Mr. Stone wras a man of sense as well as of prayer, and the next morning he declared Captain Mason's plan was the one to follow. The little fleet sailed out upon Long Island Sound eastward. The Pequods behold the white sails disappearing in the distance. They shout, leap, and brandish their tomahawks. The English are afraid. They are on their way to Boston. They do not dare to fight. 180 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Eastward all day Saturday sailed the vessels, dropping anchor at last in a harbor a short distance west of Point Judith. No one thought of inarching Sunday ; it was the Lord's-day. Monday was stormy, and the waves so high that they could not approach the shore. Tuesday evening they landed on a pebbled beach. Canonicus came with two hundred Narragansetts, and an Indian who had run all the way from Providence to inform Captain Mason that Captain Patrick with men from Massa- chusetts were on their way, but Captain Mason would not wait ; he in- tended to surprise the Pequods. He had executed a flank movement, and would take them in the rear. They expected him to attack from the west; they thought that he had fled ; but he would fall upon them from the east. It was forty miles to the fort that overlooked the beautiful THEY LANDED. harbor of Mystic. There were rivers to cross; there were rocks and fallen trees in the way, but onward moved the determined band, the Narragansetts and Mohegans in front, boasting of what they would do. "Indians brave, white men afraid !" they said. Fifteen miles brought them to a fort of the Narragansetts, who would not permit the English to enter it. Captain Mason had his eyes open. If the Indians would not permit him to go into it, no Indian should come out of it during the night, to steal away and inform the Pequods that he was on the march. He surrounded it with sentinels. The next night brought them within five miles of the Pequod fort. At sunset they came to a halt, threw themselves upon the ground, and ate their supper in silence. The Mohegans and Narragansetts who had been THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 181 so boastful, who led off so bravely, dropped behind, saying nothing now as to what daring deeds they would do. Once more the little band moved on in silence and in single file, till they could hear the Indian drums beating in the fort, and the shouts of the warriors, who were dancing in savage glee over the cowardice of the English. They are thinking of the scalps and plunder they will take when they fall upon the defenceless settlers. " Halt !" The whisper runs down the line, and the men under Captain Mason drop upon the ground, sentinels keeping watch while the others sleep. It is two o'clock, May 24th, and Captain Mason awakes the sleepers. The full-moon is riding in the heavens, and daylight will soon be stream- ing up the eastern sky. The soldiers uncover their heads while the chap- lain prays, and then in silence they move on. The sounds of revelry have died away. There are no Indian sentinels keeping watch in the fort that crowns the summit of the hill. There are two entrances, one on the east- ern and the other on the western side, with two rows of wigwams within. The Indians are sleeping soundly; their dogs have quicker ears than they; one barks. An Indian hears a commotion ; the truth flashes upon him. "Owanux! Owanux /" — " English ! English !" he shouts. Captain Mason and sixteen men are inside the palisade, and Captain Underbill and his men are coming in on the opposite side. The warriors rush out of their wigwams. The muskets flash, arrows fly. Mason drives them against Underbill, and Underbill drives them back again. "Burn them!" Mason shouts, and springs into a wigwam and takes up a firebrand. A warrior draws his bow to send an arrow through his heart, but a soldier swings his sword and cuts the bowstring. The cap- tain holds the brand against the wigwam, and in an instant it is ablaze. The wind sweeps the fire down the line of wigwams. There are six hundred Indians in the fort — warriors, squaws, and papooses. Humanity has no place in this fight. Old and young alike go down — some shot, oth- ers cut down by the sword, others roasted in the flames. The Mohegans and Narragansetts who have been outside the fort come in and finish the work. Seven escape, and seven only are taken prisoners. When the sun rises, its beams fall upon nearly six hundred ghastly corpses blackened by the flames. Two of the English have been killed, twenty wounded, out of the seventy-seven composing the party. It was a narrow escape, that of Lieutenant Bull's — the piece of hard cheese he had in his pocket stopping the arrow. John Dyer and Thomas Stiles each had arrows shot through their neck- cloths. 182 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. It was only a few miles to the other fort, but Captain Mason could not go over to attack it. His provisions were gone, his men exhausted. One -third were wounded or broken down. He must carry them to the vessels, which were miles away. He knew that the warriors of the other fort would soon be upon him, and wisely began his return. The NEW HAVEN. Indians of the other fort made their appearance. The forest echoed their howlings ; but Captain Mason, hiring the Narragansetts to carry the wounded, kept them at bay, and reached the sea-shore. The vessels came and took them on board, bearing them safely to their homes. A great blow had been struck. The Pequods lost all heart. Sassacus fled, and was killed by the Mohawks. In a few weeks the once powerful tribe was widely dispersed. Some of the captives were taken to the West Indies and sold into slavery by the Massachusetts people. No one questioned the rightfulness of such an act. If it was right to enslave negroes, why was it not right to sell Indians taken in war? THE PURITANS TAKE POSSESSION OF NEW ENGLAND. 183 The blow struck terror to the heart of every Indian in New England ; and for a long period the settlers lived in peace and security in the Con- necticut Valley, and everywhere else east of the Hudson River. « The next year Theophilus Eaton and Rev. John Davenport, of London, with a party of colonists, settled New Haven. They were rich, and pur- chased the land of the Indians. They agreed that only members of the church should have any voice in public affairs. They chose Eaton for their governor. Thus it came about that there were three distinct colonies in Connect- icut— Saybro&k, New Haven, and Hartford. Windsor and Wethersfield joined Hartford in establishing a government, and, in contrast to the New Haven Colony, agreed that everybody who had a good character should be allowed to vote. It was a government of all the people — the first in America. So, after ages of bondage, the human race arrived at the con- summation of the grand idea that all men should have a voice in gov- ernment. 184 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XII. RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. I. and Archbishop Laud made life so bitter to the Puritans of England, that many thousands crossed the ocean and settled in New England. The king and archbishop were determined that every- body should accept the Prayer-book. They sent a minister to Edinburgh to force it upon the people of Scotland. When he undertook to read prayers in the cathedral, Jennie Geddis let fly a three-legged stool at his head. " What ! ye villain ! Will you say mass here !" she shouted. HARVARD COLLEGE, 1720. "Stone him! stone him!" cried the people, and the minister had to run for his life. In a short time all Scotland was in an uproar, and a little later all England, and John Hampden, John Pym, and Oliver Cromwell had a hand in public affairs. Between 1629 and 1639 more than twenty thou- sand Puritans left England, and settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut. "We must have a school, that our children may not grow up in igno- rance," said the people around Boston. The general court voted to es- RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 187 tablish one, which was opened in Cambridge, 1638 — the first in America. John Harvard, the minister of Charlestown, seeing the needs of the peo- ple, and taking a long look ahead, gave half of his property — about eight hundred pounds — and his library to the school; and the people, reveren- cing his memory, named it Harvard College. Joseph Glover started from England with a printing-press and type, but died before reaching America, and Stephen Daye took charge of the press. The oath which men took when they became voters was the first printing in America. The first pamphlet was an Almanac for 1639. The next year, 1640, John Eliot and Thomas Welde translated the Psalms in metre, and Thomas Daye printed them, making a volume of three hundred pages — the first book printed in America north of Mexico. Among the people who arrived in Massachusetts was a young minis- ter, Roger Williams, and his wife. He had been educated at Cambridge. He was exceedingly conscientious, and so staunch a Puritan that the offi- cers of Archbishop Laud compelled him to flee from England. He went to Plymouth, preached awhile, and visited the Narragansett Indians. He was kind-hearted, and they welcomed him as a friend. From the wig- wams of the Indians he went to Salem to preach. He had an intense hatred of the Pope and all the superstitions of the Church of Rome ; and he so stirred up John Endicott, who was captain of the militia, that one day, when the soldiers were drilling, Endicott run his sword through the flag and cut out the cross, because it was an emblem of superstition. Mr. Williams maintained that the settlers had no right to occupy their lands. " King James," he said, " never owned the land in America. He never purchased it ; never paid the Indians anything for it. Though he had given it to the colonists, he had no right to do so ; and the colonists had no title." This was calling in question not only their title to land, but every- thing else. Such an opinion sounded very much like treason. He was called to account by the governor, and promised to burn a pamphlet which he had written, thus making amends. During Queen Elizabeth's reign a law had been passed that compelled everybody to attend church. James I. re-enacted the law. The men of Scrooby who would not obey it had been driven out of England to Hol- land, and from thence to Plymouth. The Puritans of England were just as strenuous as the king and the archbishop that everybody must go to meeting on Sunday. The Puritans who settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut re-enacted the law, but Mr. Williams disputed their right to do so. 188 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. " It is contrary to the liberty of conscience," he said. " Under it no man can be truly free. No man should be forced to attend worship or maintain worship against his own free consent." He was right ; and Elizabeth, James, and his fellow -Puritans were wrong. Through all past ages everybody had been wrong. " Is not the laborer worthy of his hire ?" asked the magistrates. "Yes, from those who hire him," said Mr. Williams. The justices of peace and the officers of government were selected from the members of the church. " Do you employ a doctor because he is a member of the church, or because he is a good physician ? Do you trust your ship to the pilot be- cause he is a member of the church, or because he knows where the rocks are, and how to avoid them ?" " It is the duty of the officers to guard the people from error and her- esy," said his opponents. " The officers are the people's agents. Conscience belongs to the in- dividual : it is not public property. The civil officer has nothing to do with conscience," Mr. Williams replied. Never before had such an idea been advanced. The Puritans loved liberty, and their ideas of what constituted liberty were far in advance of those held by the bishop and nobility of England ; but Mr. Williams could see what his fellow-Puritans could not discern — that neither the gov- ernor nor the justice of the peace had anything to do with the religious beliefs of men. Mr. Williams had promulgated a great truth which they could not understand ; but he was not always right in his thinking or wise in his actions. The governor under the charter had authority to require every settler to take the oath of allegiance. Mr. Williams dis- puted that right, and said it was also a violation of the liberty of con- science. Instead of continuing to preach to the people of Salem, he sent them a letter informing them that he would not preach in the meeting-house any more, nor should he have anything to do with the churches ; for they wrere defiled by hypocrisy and worldliness, and they were false worship- pers. The ministers were false teachers, and their doctrine corrupt. Un- less the Salem people were ready to leave their church and follow him, he should preach to them no longer. He preached in his own house, but not in the meeting-house. What should the governor, the magistrates, and his fellow-ministers do ? Mr. Williams was defying authority, and stirring up trouble. If permitted to go on, the community would be divided into factions. If RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 189 authority were overthrown, there would be anarchy. He was a good man, conscientious, self-denying, tenacious of his views, thinking that he was right and everybody else wrong. The ministers, the governor, and his assistants were equally conscientious. For the peace and harmony of the colony, it would be best to send him to England, as they had a right to do under the charter ; but while they were deliberating Mr. Williams disappeared from Salem. It was midwinter; but rather than be sent back to England he went out into the wilderness, wandering through deep snows, sleeping at night in hollow trees, finding shelter and food in the wigwams of the Indians. Governor Bradford at Plymouth learned that he was witli the Indians, and sent him a kind letter. Five friends joined him. He began to build a house at Seekonk ; but Governor Bradford informed him that the location which he had chosen was within the boundary of Massa- chusetts, and advised him to go beyond it. Mr. Williams thought it wise to do so. He and his friends pad- dled their canoes down the Paw- tucket River to the country of the Narragansetts. " Welcome ! wel- AV'HERE ROGER WILLIAMS LANDED. come !" said his old friends, the Indians. He landed upon a lovely spot, where a spring of pure water bubbled from the ground. "Here we will make our home," said Mr. Williams, naming the place Providence, in acknowledgment of God's providential care. Canonicus, chief of the Narragan setts, gave Mr. Williams a tract of land; but he was so large-hearted that he gave farms to all who wanted to build a home. 190 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "I desire that it may be a shelter for persons distressed for con- science," he said. People who had suffered persecution in England, and who did not like the rule of the Puritans in Massachusetts, flocked to Mr. "Williams's RESIDENCE OF GOVERNOR CODDINGTOX, NEWPORT, 1(>41. settlement, where they could do pretty much as they pleased. Mr. Wil- liams persuaded Miantonoma, one of the Narragansett chiefs, to give the island of Aquidneck to "William Coddington. No matter what opinions a man held, he was welcome in Mr. Wil- liams's settlement, and also in the town laid out in 1639 by William Cod- dington, which he called Newport. The settlers knew that law and order were necessary for the pros- perity of every community, and held a meeting in which everybody voted, declaring that all should have liberty of conscience forever; that they would obey the laws which the men whom they selected for that purpose might make. They were aware that they needed something more to give themselves a standing in the world — a charter. The other colonies would not recognize them as a colony. To obtain a charter they sent Roger Williams to England, who, through the in flu- RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 191 ence of Sir. Henry Vane, obtained one from Parliament, which was fight- ing King Charles. What a joyful day it was when Mr. Williams returned with it ! When he reached Seekonk he found the river full of canoes. The whole settlement came to welcome him, and escorted him to his home. Many people who were discontented otherwheres — in England, Massa- chusetts, and Connecticut — emigrated to Rhode Island, but not always to find peace. Some people have discontented natures, and are restless wher- ever they may be. They are not happy unless they are making it hot for themselves or somebody else. There were such people in Rhode Isl- and, who were ever having a war of words with their neighbors. They had fierce discussions at town-meetings ; but they had no tithes or taxes to pay, to support a minister who might preach what they did not believe. Whatever was given for religious worship was a voluntary contribution. What a step it was ! Nearly two hundred and fifty years have passed away, and England, the birthplace of every one of those settlers of Rhode Island, has not yet attained the grand ideal which put forth its first blos- soms along the peaceful waters of Narragansett Bay ! The good minister, John Cotton, who preached in St. Botolph's Church, Boston, England, to whom Isaac Johnson and Lady Arbella had listened to for so many years, could preach there no longer. Archbishop OLD-TIME HOUSES, NEWPORT. Laud was hunting him down, because he would not conform to the c^ 7 ritual. He was hiding here and there, fleeing by night from place to place, making his way to London, and from there to Boston, in Massa- chusetts. 192 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. One of his parishioners, Mrs. Ann Hntchinson, so loved to hear him preach that she followed him to America with her husband. Mrs. Hutchinson was good and kind-hearted. Her old neighbors missed her, for when anybody was sick and needed help she was ever ready to assist them. Mrs. Hutchinson had opinions of her own. She believed that the Holy Spirit told her just what to do every day in all the affairs of life. She maintained that there were two classes of Christians — the sound and the unsound ; the sound were those who accepted her belief. She was living by grace, while those who did not believe with her were living by works. She was very charitable toward the poor and sick, and quick to NEWPORT, FKOM FOKT ADAMS. relieve their wants, but she used hard words toward those who differed from her opinion. Mrs. Hutchinson did not like the ministers of Boston and Charlestown, who preached against her doctrine, and called them "Unchristian vipers," and invited the neighbors in to discuss their ser- mons. In a very short time many were of her way of thinking, includ- ing Rev. Mr. Cotton and Sir Henry Vane, the handsome young governor just arrived from England. Rev. John Wheelright, who, when a boy, attended school with Oli- ver Cromwell, and played foot-ball with him and became his fast friend, was minister at Dorchester. He was Mrs. Hutchinson's brother, and ac- cepted her teachings. Mrs. Hutchinson, like Roger Williams, took great pleasure in holding an argument with somebody. Rev. Mr. Cotton liked to argue, and in a short time everybody in Boston and the surrounding settlements was discussing "grace and works." The community divided into two parties. Mr. Wheelright preached a sermon in which he used expressions which his fellow-ministers thought were calculated to create RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 193 a disturbance. The magistrates held a court, and declared him guilty of sedition. Governor Vane protested ; but the magistrates rejected his pro- test, whereupon he resigned and went to England. Election came on, and one great question before the people was of " Works against Grace." The ministers preached, and the people talked. Everybody discussed theology. They had been educated under bigotry and intolerance. The tyranny of the bishops had driven them out of England ; and it was not possible for either Mrs. Hutchinson, Rev. Mr. Wheelright, John Endicott, John Cotton, John Winthrop, or anybody else to discuss the question calmly, or to exercise charity. The ministers used hard words in the pulpits. The people repeated them as they argued the questions by the blazing fires during the long winter evenings. Bitterness and hate sprung up between old friends as the controversy went on. The election was held, and Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends were defeated. The mag- istrates would put up with her no longer, or Rev. Mr. Wheelright, and ordered them to leave the colony. Mr. Wheelright was not a man to stay and make trouble, after the people had turned against him. He had his convictions of what was right. He would not go to Rhode Island, where there were so many discontented spirits ; but, with Mrs. Ilutchin- son, went north to New Hampshire, sailed up the Piscataqua, purchased land of the Indians and made a settlement, naming it Exeter. Mr. Wheelright's friends joined him. They chose one of their number gov- 13 194 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ernor, appointed men to assist him, and all took an oath to obey whatever laws might be passed. The people of Dover did the same, also those of Portsmouth. They were so few in number that they thought best to unite with Massachu- setts, each town having the privilege of sending two representatives to the General Court; and so for thirty -eight years New Hampshire was under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. There were troublesome times in England between the king and the people. The great struggle for liberty was beginning. Governor Wi 11- th rop and the far -sighted men in Massachusetts were wondering what might come of it. What if the Spaniards or French were to take advantage of England's disorder, and pounce upon the American settlements? He saw that the colonies might be united. Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Connecticut joined in the plan ; commissioners from each, meeting in May, 1643, agree- ing to stand by each other to defend themselves, and to make war if need be, each to pay its proportion of expense. They were to meet annually. They took the name of the " United Colonies of New England." It was the beginning of the American Union, and of the first Congress in the Western hemisphere. AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. 195 CHAPTER XIII. AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. rr\FLE Zouterberg, one of the West India Company's ships, with Wouter -•- van Twiller, the new governor of New Netherlands, on board, dropped anchor in the harbor of Manhattan in April, 1633. The cannon on the battery and on the ship thundered a salute, the trumpeter blew a blast, the drums beat, the soldiers presented arms, as the short, dumpy governor, five burghers, who were to be his councillors, Rev. Mr. Bogar- dus, the dominie, and the school-master, Adam Roelandsen, stepped on MANHATTAN. shore. Casks of wine were tapped, and everybody in Manhattan drank the health of Wouter van Twiller. Another vessel arrived, commanded by Captain De Yries, who reported to Governor Van Twiller that the Indians of the Delaware, who had killed Giles Hosset and the men with him, had been pacified, and that the traders would not be molested. So the new governor began his administration of affairs under favorable auspices. 196 OLD TIMKS IX THE COLONIES. WOUTER VAN TWILLER SWEARING GREAT DUTCH OATHS. Still another vessel arrived, an English ship commanded by Captain Jacob Eelkins, who had founded the Dutch settlement at Albany, but who had been dismissed from the service of the West India Company. His ship, the William, dropped anchor, and Captain Eelkins invited Gov- ernor Van Twiller and the burghers on board to a sumptuous dinner. Captain Eelkins brought out his best wines, but kept his own counsel. The dinner over, the governor went on shore, and was greatly astonished, soon after landing, to see the English ship hoisting her sails and moving up the river, bound for Albany. Captain Eelkins was intending to trade with the Indians without leave or license. AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. 197 " Get the cannon ready !" shouted the governor, and the soldiers wheeled the cannon into position and loaded it. " Run up the flag !" cried Van Twiller. Bang! went the gun. The governor expected to see the English ship haul down her sails and come to anchor, but Captain Eelkins ran up his flag instead, and fired a gun as if returning a salute. Wouter van Twiller was dutnfounded. "Bring out a cask of wine," he cried, and the soldiers rolled out a cask and tapped it. The governor took a big drink, smacked his lips, wiped his forehead, and swung his broad-brimmed hat, and shouted, "All you who love the Prince of Orange, and who care for me, do as I do, and help me stop the Englishmen." The people of Manhattan were glad to do as he was doing — drink great bumpers of wine. They filled their glasses and winked at each other. " The English are our good friends ; and, as for drinking, we will emp- ty six casks instead of one," they said to themselves, and laughed at the astonished governor, who was walking up and down the fort, gazing at the William sailing far away. "Why didn't you fire shot? and why don't you send the Zouterberg after her?" De Vries asked. Van Twiller drank more wine, and went to bed to think about it, and finally concluded to send the Zouterherg. Up the Hudson sped the William. Eelkins landed at Albany, pitched a tent, and traded his trinkets for furs. A week passed, and the Dutch vessel, her deck covered with green boughs,* sailed up the river. Just before reaching Albany, the captain gave the crew a drink of rum ; and the trumpeter, standing on deck, took a long breath, puffed out his cheeks, and blew a great blast that echoed far up and down the Hudson. Jacob Eelkins had no intention of fight- ing, so he folded his tent and went down the river. "Don't you men come here again to trade with the Indians !" shouted Van Twiller to Eelkins ; and, " Don't anybodj7 write anything to Holland about it," was his order to the people of Manhattan. Governor Van Twiller built a house for himself with bricks brought from Holland. He also erected three windmills. The people were glad to see the great arms go round in the wind as they had seen them in Hol- land. Jle built a church with a steeple north-east of the fort, and close by a cottage for Dominie Bogardus, with a great brass knocker on the front door. He erected a guard-house, a gibbet and whipping-post, and a house for the officers of the Company. 198 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The Dutch in New Netherlands were not getting on as well as the people of Massachusetts. On the Hudson the West India Company and PAVING TRIBUTE. the planters controlled everything, and the governor was absolute in au- thority ; while in Massachusetts the people had a voice in public affairs, owned their farms, and could trade without restriction. The West India Company sent over William Kieft as governor. It was not a wise selection, for he had once failed in business, and his por- trait had been nailed on the pillory as a sign of his disgrace. He had been sent by the Dutch Government to Turkey, to redeem some sailors that were held in slavery : he did not redeem them, and no one but him- self ever knew what became of the money. He was a fussy, bustling, self-conceited little man, with a sharp nose and deep-set, restless gray eyes. " You may have as many councillors as you please," said the Company. William Kieft knew what he was about, and concluded that he would have as few as he pleased, and chose only one — Doctor John La Montagnc. AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. 199 " You may have one vote, and I will have two," said Kieft to the doctor. Under Wouter van Twiller the inhabitants had had their own way in many things, but William Kieft determined that they should bow to his will. These were his regulations: No smuggling of furs. No smuggling of tobacco. No selling of guns to Indians under pain of death. No sailors on shore after dark. Nobody to leave Manhattan without a passport. Everybody must go to bed when the nine o'clock bell rung in the evening, and be up when it rung in the morning. ;' You must pay tribute of furs or corn," said the governor to the Indians. The Indians came with bundles of furs, threw them down at the gov- ernor's feet, and went away with scowls on their faces. They could not understand it ! Why should they pay tribute ? Gustavus Adolphus was King of Sweden — a large-hearted man — the great champion of Protestantism. He had seen towns and cities plun- dered and burnt, and he sickened at the sight. He fought only because he could see no other way to defend the right ; but he thought that in a new country men might live together in brotherly love. To carry out that idea, he empow- ered a company to emigrate to America and begin such a set- tlement. There was to be no slavery or oppression. It was a beautiful plan ; but before emigrants conld be gathered, a great war, which lasted thirty years, broke out in Europe, and Gustavus had other things to attend to. He died, but the project wras not altogether for- gotten. Ten years passed. In the spring of 1638 two vessels from Guttenberg, in Sweden, sailed into Delaware Bay, bringing emigrants to establish a col- ony. The flowers were in bloom, the trees clothed with greenest verd- ure. The country was so delightful that they called Cape Henlopen Paradise Point. They sailed up the river, landed on the western shore, GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 200 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. near a little creek, erected a fort, which they named Christina, for the child-queen of Sweden, built a church, and reared their log-houses. It was the beginning of settlements in Pennsylvania. Peter Minuet, of New Netherlands, who had been dismissed by the West India Company, but who had sold his services to the Swedes, was THE FIRST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA. their leader. They built their huts along the western bank of Delaware River, cleared patches of ground, and erected a little building of logs, which was a church below and block-house above. Other settlers came. They were industrious and hard-working, honest and frugal, and in 1642 built a brick church, which is still standing. All the settlers gave their time to erect it, the minister carrying the brick and mortar. Their friends in Sweden aided them, sending for ornaments the figures of two cherubs holding an open Bible, with this inscription : "THE PEOPLE WHO SAT IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT." "William Kieft, governor of New Netherlands, sent a message to Peter Minuet, commanding him and the Swedes to leave the country, as it was owned by the Dutch ; but the Swedes paid no attention to the order, and went on with their work. More Swedes arrived, and made settlements along the Delaware. Their governor, John Printz, planted his cannon to sweep the river, and compelled all the vessels of the Dutch that went past it to pay toll, which aroused the wrath of the traders of Manhattan. The Swedes had pur- chased the land of the Indians, but the Dutch claimed it because Henry Hudson had first sailed into the Hudson ; therefore they vowed that the whole country belonged to them. To hold it, they built Fort Casimir, AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. near Philadelphia, only five miles from Fort Christina, could not put up with such an insult, and tore it down. 201 The Swedes The Indian boy who had seen the club, in the hands of Peter Minuet's negroes, crush the head of his uncle, had been biding his time. He was now a man, and had nursed his revenge through the years, and gratified it by killing a poor inoffensive old man who made cart-wheels. "I will wage war upon the savages," said Governor Kieft. u You have outraged the people, and they will not sustain you," said some of his friends. The governor did not dare to go to war without consulting the people. William Kieft, quite likely, did not see what would ultimately come OLD SWEDES CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. from this calling of the first meeting of the people of Manhattan — that it would be the beginning of representative government. Twelve men were chosen to consult with the governor, and they voted that peace ought to be preserved. Kieft was in a rage. He dismissed the burghers ; then called them together again. He had ruled as he pleased, with absolute power; but the burghers informed him that thence- forth they were to have a voice in governing. He was more angry than 202 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ever, but conceded what they asked. They went to their homes, but, as soon as they were gone, lie posted up a paper, forbidding the people to THE AMERICAN COLONIES IN 1G40 Scale of Statute Miles n 50 100 150 B.netl k*u.tt»T»N.T. meet in any assembly without his permission, and taking back all he had agreed to. The Indians loved rum, and the Dutch were ever ready to give a glass of liquor in exchange for a beaver-skin. Myndert van der Horst had a settlement at Newark, in New Jersey. One day one of the settlers sold rum to a Hackensack Indian, and when he was drunk stole his bea- AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. 203 ver-skin coat. The Indian, who was a chief's son, in his anger, not caring who he killed, shot James van Vorst as he was thatching his house. Gov- ernor Kieft was in a rage. "Deliver up the murderer!" he demanded of the Indians. " You ought not to have sold him liquor ! It was the rum, and not he that did it — he was crazy," said the Indians. "I must have the head of the murderer!" the governor replied. Jan Dam, one of the burghers, invited the governor and his secretary — Van Tienhoven — to a dinner -party. It was the 24th of February. Jan Dam treated the company to his best liquors. The more the gov- ernor drank, the greater his rage. The secretary drew up a petition, urg- ing him, in the name of the twelve men, to make war; and Maryn Adri- ansen and two others signed it. " I pray you, don't do it !" pleaded Dominie Bogardus. "Wait till the next ship comes in," said Doctor La Montagne. " Only three of the twelve have signed it ; the others are opposed to it," said Captain De Vries. What cared William Kieft for the twelve burghers? He was gov- ernor, and would do as he pleased. " Go !" was the order to Sergeant Rodolf. The soldiers stepped into the boats at the Battery and rowed to the Jersey shore. It was midnight, and the Indians — men, women, and chil- dren— were asleep in their wrigwams. No suspicion of treachery on the part of the Dutch had ever come to them. Silently the soldiers landed, and surrounded the wigwams. The work of death began. Captain De Yries, friend of the Indians, stood on the Battery and saw the flash of guns. A wail of agony floated over the waters — the death-cry of eighty men and women at Pavonia, and thirty at Corlaer's Hook. Men and women were shot down without mercy ; infants in their mother's arms were hacked to pieces. The wounded were pinned to the earth with stakes, or tossed into the river to be swept away by the tide. What a sight was that which Captain De Vries beheld in the dim gray of the midwinter's morning! Indian women kneeling at his feet, with their hands chopped off, a foot gone, great gashes in their sides, begging his protection. " The Mohawks have done this," they said, never dreaming that the Dutch had butchered them ! Oh, how hard it was for the kind-hearted man to tell them that they whom they had treated so kindly, whom they believed to be their firm friends, had done it ! The soldiers returned to the fort, each man bringing the head of an 204 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Indian. What a ghastly spectacle — a pile of bleeding heads! The people came to see them — some sickening at the sight, others rejoicing. The secretary's mother-in-law, in her glee, kicked the heads as if they were foot-balls. Is it a wonder that the Indians vowed vengeance? that the warwhoop rung through the forest? that the midnight skies were red- THE MASSACRE OF THE INDIANS. dened with the glare of burning buildings? that men, women, and chil- dren went down before the tomahawk and seal ping-knife? Revenge was sweet ! A few days later, and the settlers came flocking to New Am- sterdam, while the Indians shot their cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, and rioted upon the plunder of the houses. The wrath of the settlers rose against the governor. " Give us back our murdered children !" cried the weeping mothers. " You did it !" said the settlers. " You must blame the freemen," the cowardly governor replied. AFFAIRS AT MANHATTAN. 205 " You forbade the freemen to meet !" "Maryn Adriansen and two others signed the petition, they are re- sponsible." "What lies are these you tell about me?" shouted Adriansen, drawing his sword and aiming his pistol at the governor. " Put the assassin in prison !" cried Kief t ; and he was marched off to jail. There was a commotion in Manhattan — the people demanding Adrian- sen's release, and not a soul in the community offering to stand by the governor, who was compelled to permit twelve men, whom the people chose, to have a voice in public affairs. There was one man in whom the Indians trusted — Captain De Vries — for he was always their friend ; and through his good offices a treaty of peace was signed, and the settlers went out to their farms. But there were some Indians who would not be bound by the treaty ; they had their revenge to gratify, and the war broke out anew. Ainono- those massacred was Ann H-utchinson, who had been com- O f pelled to leave Boston on account of her religious opinions, and who had made her way to New Netherlands. Captain John Underbill, who was in the attack upon the Pequod In- dians, arrived, and was placed in command of the troops of Manhattan. With one hundred and eighty men, he sailed through Hell-gate, landed at Greenwich, and surrounded an Indian village, in which there were five hundred men, women, and children. The Dutch had guns, the In- dians only bows and arrows. It was a fearful slaughter, and \vhen it was over there was a heap of mangled corpses — the entire five hundred, except five who managed to escape. The Indians never recovered from the blow ; it was the going down of the weak before the strong. The West India Company had had enough of William Kieft. He had spent a great deal of money, and was so inefficient that he was order- ed to return to Amsterdam, and the people rejoiced when he was gone. 206 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XIV. THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN ENGLAND, AND HOW IT AFFECTED AMERICA. these years the lawyers of England were discussing the right of the king to levy a tax of twenty shillings upon John Hamp- den for ship-money when Parliament had not ordered it. The judges, wearing their big flowing wigs, met day after day ; no end of documents and old musty parchments were examined ; points of law were discussed, long arguments made, much Latin quoted, but the five judges appointed by Charles I. were ever ready to carry out his will, regardless of Right, and they decided that the king had power to levy the tax without con- sulting Parliament. It was easy for the judges to make such a decision, but it was quite another thing to make the people believe it was righteous judgment. This people beheld bloody scenes. William Prynne, a lawyer, wrote a book against theatres, calling them the devil's chapels, and the players Satan's ministers. He denounced the setting up of May-poles, also dancing, wearing false hair, and the use of Christinas evergreens. He had the bad taste to denounce the queen for attending the theatre, and was put in prison ; but while in jail he wrote a pamphlet denouncing the bishops, calling them wolves. One of his fellow-prisoners was John Bastwick, who wrote a book denouncing the bishops. "Hell has broke loose, and the devils in sur- plices, hoods, and capes, are among us !" he said. Mr. Burton wrote a book in which he said the bishops were robbers of souls. "What a scene was that in Palace -yard, January 30th, 1637! The three prisoners were brought out from their cells and put in^ie pillory ; the court also condemning them to pay five thousand poi^^Beach. A great crowd gathered to see the sheriff carry out the rest of^re sentence. They saw him heat an iron red-hot and stamp it on their foreheads, then slit their nostrils, and crop off their ears! It was very affecting when Rev. Mr. Bastwick's wife stood upon a stool, and kissed him as he was in THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. 207 the pillory, and tenderly laid. the pieces of his ears upon her handker- chief. The sheriff inarched the prisoners away with the blood streaming down their cheeks, taking them to distant prisons, a great crowd follow- ing, and the people showing their sympathy by putting Mrs. Bastwick in a carriage and almost smothering her with flowers, for her faithfulness and devotion to her husband. Archbishop Laud wreaked his revenge upon Rev. Mr. Leighton, who, for saying that the bishops were men of blood, and the queen a daughter of Heth, was placed in the pillory, lost his ears, and was sent to prison for life ! Peter Sanart, for saying " I hate those that love superstitious ceremonies and vanities," was condemned to spend eleven years in prison. It was in 1629 that Charles said he never would have another Parlia- ment, and he got along without one for eleven years; but he could go no longer, for, notwithstanding he had sold monopolies and levied illegal taxes, he could not get all the money he wanted ; so it came about that he was obliged to call another meeting of the representatives of the peo- ple, who came together April 13th, 1640. John Hampden's twenty shil- lings taxes for ship-money confronted the king, for all the members had been compelled to pay ship-money, and.they were angry. The spirit of liberty was rising. Charles asked for £840,000. "If you will grant it, I will give up collecting any more ship-money," he said. "We have been illegally taxed. We demand that the judges shall be punished before we vote any supplies," said the Commons. The king, in a great rage, again dissolved Parliament, but before the year was out called the Commons together again. The members came with a spirit and determination such as never before had been seen in England. They had their arms filled with petitions from men who had lost their noses, who had been branded on the forehead, asking for release from prison and redress of their wrongs. Oliver Cromwell presented the petition of John Lilburn, a printer's apprentice, who had been whipped and imprisoned for having sold one of Prynne's books. "Let u^^vc the prisoners before us," said the Commons, and com- manded the^niers to bring them. What a sight was that for Charles I. to look upon ! — four thousand men on horseback, two hundred coaches, and a great crowd of people with bou- quets of flowers in their hands, escorting, Prynne, Burton, Bastwick, and 208 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Li 1 burn into London ! The spirit of the people was rising like a flood against oppression. " There are some cobwebs that must be swept away, and there are some things that we must pull up by the roots," said John Pym to George Hyde. One of the cobwebs that John Pym had in mind was the Earl of Strafford, who had urged the king on to do illegal acts. "I ask that everybody not a member be excluded from the hall, and the doors locked," said Pym. The doors were locked, and Pym began the work of pulling things up by the roots. " There is one man," he said, " who has become the greatest enemy to STRAFFORD OS HIS WAY TO EXECUTION. the liberties of his country, and the greatest fountain of tyranny that any age has produced — the Earl of Strafford." It was late in the night, but the Peers were in their chamber, wonder- ing what the Commons were doing with the doors locked, so that no one could come out. The door suddenly opened, and Pym, w^k three hun- dred men following, marched across the hall to the chain bo^B^he Peers. "In the name of the House, and of all the Commons oW?ngland, we impeach Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, of high-treason, and ask his arrest." It was a tap-root which the Commons had taken hold of, and an THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. 209 hour later the earl found himself a prisoner in the Tower. A few davs later, Archbishop Laud and the two judges who had given the unjust de- cision against John Hampden found themselves in the Tower. The Earl of Stratford was found guilty of high-treason — that is, conspiring against the State — and was condemned to death. He was a brave old man. When the sheriff marched him out to be executed he walked with a firm step. When they reached the window of Laud's cell, the earl kneeled upon the stone pavement to receive the archbishop's blessing. All Lon- don came to witness the execution. A stroke, and it was over. " His head is off ! His head is off !" shouted the multitude. Bells rung and bonfires blazed. So the people manifested their joy at the death of Thomas Wentworth, who had conspired to overthrow their liberties. The Commons passed laws which the king did not like, and Charles determined to have his revenge. He started from Whitehall with four hundred soldiers to seize John Pym and four other members. The sol- diers stood guard at the door while the king went into the hall. " The birds are flown, I see, but I will have them yet," he said. " Our privileges ! Our privileges !" shouted the members, as the king went out. What right had the King of England to enter the hall with an armed force? None. He had trampled on the privileges of the people. All London was in an uproar. Military companies were forming. Not much longer would they submit to such outrages. The people were marching with pikes, spears, and guns. The Commons passed a bill regulating the militia. "Will it not be best to grant what they desire?" asked one of Charles's friends. "I will not yield!" the king replied, swearing a great oath, determined to let the Commons and everybody else know that he was master. The nobles, the gentlemen, the bishops, the aristocracy sided with Charles, while the merchants, shopkeepers, boot and shoe makers, mechan- ics, apprentices, and men of all trades, the Puritans, and many of the fanners, were in favor of Parliament. The Marquis of Newcastle, at York, set himself to raise an army for the king, and Charles, turning away from London, made haste to Notting- ham. In a few days he had an army of twelve thousand men. High- spirited gentlemen on high-spirited horses, accustomed to the chase, joined him. Charles made a mistake at the outset by appointing his nephew, Prince Ilnpert, only twenty-three years old — headstrong, imperious, self-willed — • 14 210 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. to command his cavalry. He was brave, but not wise. The king was confronted by the army of Parliament, numbering twenty -five thousand, commanded by the Earl of Essex. One of the captains of the Parlia- ment cavalry was Oliver Cromwell, forty-three years old — a rough, un- gainly farmer, who had been elected to Parliament. John Hampden was his cousin. " Who is that sloven ?" asked Lord Digby, one day in Parliament, when Oliver was making a speech. " That sloven, if we should come to a breach with the king, will be the greatest man in the kingdom," John Hampden replied. Oliver Cromwell raised two companies of cavalry, and gave five hun- dred pounds toward supplying the soldiers with an outfit. On Sunday, October 23d, 1642, the two armies met at Edge Hill. It was two o'clock before the battle began. The drums beat, the cannon thundered. Sir Faithful Fortescue, commanding a regiment of cavalry in the Par- liament army, proved himself unfaithful, turned traitor, led his men across the field, and joined the king. What joy on the part of Prince Rupert and the Royalists ! They would win an easy victory. "Forward!" Prince Rupert gives the word; the gentlemen draw their swords, eager to trample down the farmers and clodhoppers, mount^ ed on their cart-horses. And they do it. They sweep over the field, leapr ing hedge-rows and fences, and fall upon the Parliament cavalry. Some of the clodhoppers are trampled upon, their skulls split open ; the others flee, pursued by Prince Rupert, two miles along the roads and fields, till stopped by John Hampden, who is hastening to the battle with infantry and cavalry. Prince Rupert thinks the day is won, but is greatly mistaken". The infantry in the ranks of the Parliament army have stood like a wall of adamant ; and when the king's troops charge upon them, they are rolled back as the waves of the sea are tossed back by the granite ledges. When Prince Rupert reaches the battle-field he finds that the Earl of Lindsay has been mortally wounded, and taken prisoner, and that the king's colors have been taken. Night shuts down upon the field. The king has lost one -third of his army; the Parliament one-third of theirs. Neitlver party has won. Neither is ready to fight the next day. Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden talk about the battle. Oliver bitterly recalls the discomfiture of the Parliament's cavalry. " No wonder we were swept away," he says, " with such a miserable set of animals — old broken-down cart-horses — and the men only tapsters, THE STRUGGLE FOK LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. 211 good-for-nothing fellows, and people of that sort, while the king's men are sons of gentlemen, accustomed to the chase, and their horses the best in the kingdom. Do you think that such vagabonds as we have will make a stand against gentlemen full of resolution?" "You are right, Oliver, but how can it be helped ?" " I will show you. I will have men who will fear God — men of con- science— and I promise you that they shall not be beaten." Oliver Cromwell was looking for a long war, and a terrible struggle. He was also looking into the nature of things. The Cavaliers, as the gen- tlemen were called, had resolution, and a high sense of honor and loy- alty to the king; but he believed that men who feared God, who put conscience into everything, would be animated by a higher loyalty ; that they would be brave in battle, and esteem death better than life if they fell in defence of their convic- tions. He chose for his soldiers young Puritan farmers who were rich enough to own good horses, who could ride as well as the gentlemen ; men who had listened to the preach- ing of ministers, who would not conform to the ritual, and who were fired by lofty ideas of duty and obligation ; who used no oaths ; who prayed night and morning, and before going into battle. The war went on. The people in the eastern counties of England mainly sided with Parliament, while those in the western counties were more in favor of the king. The line on the map given above shows how the country divided. Many battles were fought. On Marston Moor, a wide plain six miles from York, June, 1644, a terrible battle was fought — sixty thousand men taking part in it. It be- gan at sunset, and lasted until ten o'clock ; cannon thundering, muskets flashing, pike-men stabbing each other to the heart, beating out each oth- ers' brains; five thousand cavalry, on the high-spirited, mettled horses, dashing against the young Puritan fanners, who, just before the battle be- gan, held a prayer-meeting. THE BATTLE FIELDS. 212 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. What a shock it was! Ten thousand men on horseback; two great armies meeting in the middle of the plain ! Loyalty to the king on one side ; loyalty to God on the other. The highest and noblest motives by which men are actuated — to give courage, resolution, strength ; to be re- gardless of death ; thinking of nothing but duty and obligation. Can- non-shot ploughed through them, volleys of musketry swept them down. Horses and men struggled in the fight. Five thousand killed ; many thousands wounded ; the cavalry of Prince Rupert broken, routed, scat- tered to the winds; fifteen hundred prisoners, twenty -five cannon, ten thousand muskets taken, the fruits of victory to the army of Parlia- ment. When it was over, the iron -sided men sung a psalm and gave God the glory. A year later, June 12th, 1645, the two armies meet on the field of "Queen Mary!" shout the Cavaliers, as they prepare to dash across the green fields and fall upon the Puritans. Honors, loyalty to the king and queen, to their ideal of divine right to rule, is the thought that animates the Cavaliers. "God with us f" shout the iron-sided men. When the battle closes the king is fleeing westward. All is over. " This is the head of a traitor," said the executioner, as he held up the bloody head of the king be- fore a great crowd of people THE M'ASHINGTON HOUSE, LITTLE BRINGTON. THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. 213 in London, June 30th, 1649. The people, for the first time in human his- tory, trampled beneath their feet the doctrines preached by Pope and Bishop — the divine right of kings to rule. The Puritans had cut off the king's head, but they had not obtained a correct conception of what constitutes true liberty. They could not at once throw off, as the caterpillar casts its shroud, the ideas of the past ; they could not rule themselves, for they were divided in opinions, and BRIXGTON CHURCH. the "sloven," the man whose iron -sided soldiers had never been de- feated, Oliver Cromwell, became Protector of England — a king all but in name. He made the powrer of England felt as never before among the nations. But what has this to do with the history of our country ? A great deal. When James began his persecutions the Pilgrims fled to Holland, and from thence crossed the sea. When Charles came to the throne, and be- gan his persecutions of the Puritans, they emigrated to America ; and when the Royalists saw their last hope die out at Naseby, when the king lost his head, and Oliver Cromwell controlled affairs, they too looked to America as a place of ref nger for fear of what might happen to them. They selected Virginia as their future home, for of the American col- onies it alone had remained loyal. In Virginia they could attend the 214 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. king's church, and many gentlemen who had followed Charles through the great struggle sold their estates, and crossed the Atlantic to begin life CHUICUU IN WHICH SIK JOHN WASHINGTON WORSHIPPED. anew along the James and Potomac. They were not persecuted, but emi- grated of their own free will, carrying to Virginia the ideas of Church and State, the prejudices, hates, manners, customs, and refinements of the Royalists. They were men who never had been accustomed to work with their own hands, but who were rich enough to employ servants. They regarded classes in society as the natural and divine order of things. Men who labored belonged to one class ; they to another, higher, better, with nobler blood in their veins. Virginia had been settled nearly half a century, but had made little progress. It was weak and feeble. Some of the planters were getting THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. 215 rich by raising tobacco and slaves, but a great majority of the colonists were poor, and others shiftless and lazy, with no ambition to better their condition. Like produces like. It is one of Nature's laws. "We reap what we sow. The first settlers of Virginia were either gentlemen, spendthrifts, or vagabonds. James made it a penal colony, and sent several ship-loads of criminals to form a part of the community. How could their children be much better than they ? The men who had stood by Charles in the great struggle were not vagabonds ; they had been animated by lofty ideas. They were refined and intelligent, as refinement and intelligence then were rated, and their advent in Virginia was the beginning of a higher civilization. One of the emigrants was Sir John Washington, whom James had knighted in 1622. He had followed Charles in all his misfortunes; but when the king lost his head, when the outlook for the future, as he saw it, was only dark and gloomy, he sold his old home, bade farewell to all that was dear — the lands which he had owned, the old church, the graves of his fathers — crossed the Atlantic, and made him a home on the banks of the Potomac. 216 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XY. THE QUAKERS. IT was Thursday, June llth, 1G56, but no one was at work in Massachu- setts. The oxen, instead of being yoked to the plough, were chewing their cuds in the pastures; the blacksmith's hammer was resting on the anvil ; the joiners had laid aside their planes, the shoemakers their lap- stones. No one ate any dinner; it was a day of fasting and prayer, pro- claimed by the governor, that the Lord would save England from the Ranters and Quakers. And who were they ? They were followers of George Fox, a shoe- maker, who, before he was twenty- one years old, left his business and wandered by himself in the fields and woods, wearing a broad -brim- med hat and sheepskin coat and pantaloons, sleeping at night in hol- low trees or under hay-stacks. He fancied that the Lord told him ev- erything he ought or ought not to do ; that it would be wrong for him to take off his hat as a mark of re- spect; that he must not say "good- morning" or "good-evening;" that he ought to say " thee " and " thou " when speaking to people ; that it was wrong to tight, or to take an oath, even when commanded by a judge. He called the churches "steeple-houses." The ringing of the sweet-toned church-bells offended him ; also the preaching of the min- isters, whom he called " hireling priests," because they were paid. It GEORGE FOX. THE QUAKERS. 217 was revealed to him that he must " testify " to what the Lord had made known to him. All this was a matter of conscience. George Fox was sincere in his beliefs, and he conceived great truths which the people of that time could not comprehend ; but he was not always wise in his actions. He entered a church one Sunday and began to talk without taking off his hat ; the constable hustled him to jail, from whence he was taken before a justice. " I bid thee tremble before the Word of the Lord !" Fox said to the magistrate. " I bid thee quake before the law !" the justice replied ; and from that time he and his followers were called Quakers. Fox was put in prison many times, but was so steadfast in his belief, and persistent in preaching, that he made many friends. His followers called themselves " Friends," and in a short time there were hundreds of men and women travelling through England, preaching in the fields or entering churches, disturbing the congregations, or getting themselves into prison. They believed that their imaginations were revelations from God. Some of them were very religious, and were actuated by pure mo- tives, while others did many foolish things. William Simpson felt that he was was "moved of the Lord" to take off all his clothing and g-o into o o the streets and churches to preach. Robert Huntington wrapped himself in a white sheet and went into Carlisle Church " to testify." Richard Sale astonished the people of Westchester by coming to church at mid- day with a lighted candle in a tin lantern. James Naylor rode into Bris- tol, a woman leading his horse, other -women spreading their shawls and cloaks in the streets, and shouting " Hosanna ! blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The people said it was blasphemy; and Parlia- ment condemned him to be whipped, his tongue bored through, and to be branded on the forehead and imprisoned two years. Sarah Goldsmith laid aside all her clothing, and, with dust on her head, walked through the streets of Bristol, saying that the Lord had told her thus to testify against the wickedness of the people. The mayor thought it was indecent behavior, and sent her to jail. Many of the best men and women of England believed that the Quakers were deluded by the devil ; and one minister was so sure of it, that he wrote a book entitled "Hell let Loose !" They increased so rapidly, that four years after George Fox be- gan to preach they numbered eighty thousand. Every vessel arriving in Boston brought intelligence of the unaccount- able behavior of men and women who seemed to have lost all sense of shame. Need we wonder that the people of Massachusetts, when they 218 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. heard of it, were sincere in their belief that Satan was indeed let loose, and that it was their duty to fast, and pray that the Lord would circum- vent the wicked one ? The Quakers were moved by a fervent zeal, and went out as mission- aries to other lands. Mary Fisher was whipped and imprisoned for preaching; but it only made her more zealous to proclaim what to her was the truth. She went to Barbadoes with Anne Austin, and from thence sailed for Boston in the ship Swallow, commanded by Simon Kempthorn. Governor Endicott was not at home ; but Lieutenant-governor Rich- ard Bellingham and the Council determined that no such emissaries of Satan should have a chance to preach in Massachusetts, and ordered the sheriff to put them in jail and have them examined, to see if there were any warts or other witch-marks on their persons. Everybody in those days believed in witches — even George Fox ; but the women who exam- ined them found none of the devil's marks. For five weeks they were kept in jail, and not allowed to communicate with any one. Their backs were burnt with hot irons. When the Swallow was ready to sail the women were placed on board, and Captain Kempthorn was ordered to take them back to Barbadoes, or pay a fine of one hundred pounds. Though not permitted to preach in New England, Mary Fisher's zeal was not in the least quenched. She made her way to Turkey, and preached to the sultan, Mohammed IV. A few days after the Swallow departed another vessel arrived from England with eight Quaker preachers on board, who were put in jail while the vessel was in port, and then sent back to England. Governor Endicott and his Council were determined that there should be no Quaker preaching in the country, and a law was passed for the whipping and im- prisonment of any who should attempt it. By the terms of the charter they had a right to pass such a law. We are to keep in mind the fact that the governor and Council, and nearly everybody else, sincerely believed that the Quakers were deluded by the devil, and that they would be answerable to God if they did not do all in their power to preserve the colony from the wiles of the adversary. The other colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island, passed similar laws. The people thought that severe punishments would deter the Quakers from coining to America. They had little knowledge of human nature. They did not see that the determination to adhere to their religious con- victions— the same desire which had impelled themselves to leave Eng- THE QUAKERS. 219 land — would stimulate the Quakers to brave everything for what they believed was the truth ; that duty would be to them the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day, to lead them on to obey what they believed were God's commands. The Puritans had no conception of the peace of mind experienced by such women as Mary Fisher and Anne Austin. In passing rigorous laws, they believed that they were doing God ser- vice. The Quakers, on the contrary, believed that they were serving God by violating such laws, and were ready to take the consequences. It is a noble faculty in our nature that inspires us to brave suffer- ing and death in doing what we believe to be right ; but what, in our ig- norance and short-sightedness, we think is right, we sometimes find, to our sorrow, is all wrong. If the Quakers did what they believed to be their duty, equally sincere were they who opposed them ; both were mis- taken, both wrong. Time alone could open men's eyes to what was really true. William and Mary Dyer lived in Rhode Island. They had a beauti- ful family of children, and, strange as it may seem, Mary felt that it was her duty to bid good-bye to those she loved, cross the Atlantic, and " tes- tify " to the people of England. Quite likely her neighbors thought it was her duty to remain at home and care for her children ; but the con- viction to " testify " had taken possession of her, and was above every other consideration. She went to England, and, after preaching awhile, sailed with Anne Burden to Boston. The governor, instead of permitting them to preach, put them in jail. Mary's husband came and took her home, while Anne was sent back to England. Their books were burnt, and they were compelled to pay their jail fees. Very soon after, six of those who had been sent to England by Governor Endicott the year be- fore returned. Two, John Copeland and Christopher Holder, went into Salem meeting-house on Sunday wearing their hats, and disturbed the meeting. Christopher attempted to speak, but the constable held him down upon the seat, and stuffed a glove into his mouth. They were whipped and sent to jail. Samuel Shattuck, and Lawrence and Cassan- dra Southwick, sympathized with them, and they in turn were whipped and put in jail, also several others. The governor and Council, believing that the emissaries of the devil, in spite of the law, were getting a foot- hold in the colony, determined to make it still more severe : that whoever entertained a Quaker should pay a fine of forty shillings for every hour of entertainment, and be imprisoned till the fine was paid ; that every Quaker entering the colony should have his right ear cut off, and if he came back after being sent away, must lose his other ear. Women were 220 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. to be whipped, put in the House of Cor- rection, and if they came into the colony a third time, have their tongues bored through. The law was not passed in mal- ice, but with a conviction that it was for the protection and well-being of the com- munity. Very cruel it seems to us, but the laws were cruel all over the world. QUAKERS DOING THEIR DUTY. In England many had lost their ears ; thousands had been imprisoned ; hundreds had been hung or burnt for denying that the bread became Christ's body when blessed by a priest. Thousands also had been impris- oned, and others hung, for not accepting the ritual of the bishops ; and had not thousands been forced to leave their homes to escape persecution ? In Germany, Holland, France, and Spain, hundreds of thousands of men and women had suffered death because they would not accept the Pope as the head of the Church. THE QUAKERS. 221 Under the charter the people of Massachusetts had the right to make such laws as they pleased for the preservation of the colony. Would not God hold them responsible in the last great day, if they did not do all in their power to protect the community from the wiles of Satan ? We must put ourselves in their place, .must see things just as they saw them, to understand the motives actuating the governor and Council in passing a law imposing the penalty of death upon every Quaker who, after being sent out of the colony, should return. Did the laws deter any one from becoming a Quaker? Not in the least. They went on instead doing foolish things ; the men wearing their hats, and the women taking their spinning-wheels to meeting, and persisting in spinning while the minis- ter was preaching. Some of them, carried away by a strange fanaticism, acted indecently. Lydia Wardell, laying aside all her clothing, went into the l^ewbury meeting-house, saying that the Lord had directed her to do so. The constable quickly had her in jail ; but her imprisonment did not OLD TOWN CHURCH, NEWBURY. deter Deborah Wilson from walking naked through the streets of Salem. Patience Scott, only eleven years old, travelled from Providence to Bos- ton to " testify ;" and Mary Wright, thirteen years old, travelled from Long Island to Boston for a like purpose. 222 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Thomas Newhouse went into a meeting-house in Boston with two glass bottles which he smashed, shouting to the people, " So shall ye be broken in pieces." Margaret Brewster clothed herself in sackcloth, sprinkled ashes in her hair, and went into the Rev. Mr. Thatcher's meeting. John Denien, Mrs. Marshfield, and Mary Eoss stripped off their clothing, and danced together. One Quaker attempted to offer his son in sacrifice, in imitation of Abraham, but was prevented by his neighbors. William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevens, and Mary Dyer, who had been sent out of Massachusetts, returned in defiance to the law. Mary could have no peace in her soul till she had " testified " in Boston. " Why do you come to Boston ?" asked Governor Endicott. " In obedience to a divine call," she replied. What should the governor and Council do? Ought they to execute the law? Were not the children of Israel commanded to put blasphe- mous Sabbath-breakers and witches to death ? "Joyfully shall I go to my death," said Mary, when sentenced to die. Death had no terror for her. She was doing her duty ; and when, with faltering voice, Governor Endicott pronounced her doom, he felt that he was doing his duty. It is August 27th. The pathway over the narrow strip of land, the only road leading into Boston from Roxbury, is crowded with men, women, and children. Boats ply to and fro between Charlestown, Cam- bridge, and Boston, filled with people hastening to the hanging. The drums beat, and William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevens, and Mary Dyer, guarded by soldiers and followed by the crowd, march from the jail to the Common, where the gibbet has been erected. The prisoners walk cheerfully to their death. There is no blanching of their cheeks. If it is sweet to die for one's country, it is far sweeter to die in defence of the truth. "We suffer not as evil-doers, but as those who have testified to the truth !" Robinson exclaimed. Robinson and Stevens are hung. Mary Dyer sees their bodies swing- ing in the air. The rope is put upon her neck. " This to me is the hour of greatest joy I ever had in the world. No ear can hear, no tongue can utter, no heart can understand the sweet income and the refreshings of the spirit of the Lord I now feel," are her words. But a messenger comes with a reprieve ; she is taken back to jail and sent to her home. She is restless there. Once more she leaves her husband and children. THE QUAKERS. 223 and makes her way to Boston. She has shown her fidelity to her faith by going calmly and joyfully to the gallows; can she do more? Yes, she must die for the truth. What shall the governor do ? She will not stay away, but has out- raged clemency by returning. Can the government submit to a defiance of laws ? Is she not, indeed, led on by Satan ? Once more the drum-beat is heard, and the sheriff marches her to the gallows. "Do not be deluded longer by the devil. Repent and live!" is the exhortation of Rev. Mr. Wilson. " I come here not to repent ; I have been in paradise already several days." No more may she be reprieved ; and Mary Dyer, in obedience to what she believes to be a divine call, swings upon the gallows. William Ledden, who had been banished, returned, and was executed. Four in all were hung, and forty-seven sent out of the colony. Quakers were imprisoned, whipped, or otherwise punished in all the colonies, ex- cept Plymouth and Rhode Island. In another chapter we shall see how they were treated by the Dutch in New Netherlands. They were persecuted and hung in Virginia. In all the colonies, between one and two hundred were arrested. In Eng- land, though none were hung, more than thirteen thousand were put in prison ; many had their tongues bored through or their noses slit, and their ears cropped off. The truth had not come to the world that convictions of right and o duty can never be extinguished by force. Paul, afterward apostle, at- tempted it, and failed. He was sincere in his conviction that Christians ought to be put to death that Truth might be preserved. Those who persecuted the Quakers, without doubt, were equally sincere, but terribly mistaken. On the other hand, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevens, and Mary Dyer, while holding important truths, which most men now accept, never once suspected that they were not doing right in all respects. Time has cleared away the haze, and we can see that the Governor and Council of Massachusetts on the one side, and Mary Dyer and her companions on the other, were grievously mistaken in their conceptions of Right and Duty. 224: OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF DUTCH RULE IN AMERICA. PETEK STUYVESANT was appointed governor of New Amster- dam. He had lost a leg in a battle with the Spaniards, and stumped round upon a wooden one. He was so resolute and determined in every - PETER STUYVESANT, THE LAST GOVERNOR OF NEW AMSTERDAM. thing that the Dutch called him "Hard koppig Piet," or Headstrong Peter. Some of them called him " Old Silver Lear ;" but he soon brought O ' O order out of confusion. The Swedes at Christina, on the Delaware, demolished Fort Casimir, THE END OF DUTCH EULE IN AMERICA. 225 which the Dutch had erected near by. Hard koppig Piet was not the man to submit to such an outrage. He settled the matter by sailing with seven war ships and several hundred men, capturing Fort Christina, and putting an end to Swedish rule in America. Governor Stuyvesant could not settle matters in Connecticut quite so summarily. On the contrary, the Connecticut people were crowding him out of Long Island. They were getting possession of all the good land, ANNA MERICA BAYARD, WIFE OF PETER STUYVESANT. altering the names of the towns, and electing delegates to represent them at Hartford in making laws. Hard koppig Piet would have no heresy in New Netherlands, but everybody must attend the Reformed Church. There were a few Luther- ans who wished to worship God in their own way. "I shall fine every one of you twenty-five pounds for every offence," said the governor, and sent their minister out of the country. " You must have your children baptized in the Reformed Church," he said to the Lutherans, and when they refused the sheriff marched them to prison. The Baptists Jield a meeting; but the governor put a stop to 15 226 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. that sort of tiling by fining their minister one thousand pounds, and ban- ishing him from the country. There was strict law in Manhattan. De Sille, who acted as deputy- governor, accused a man of stealing, and the Court sentenced the culprit to be whipped and banished. Jan Adamzen slandered his neighbors, and was condemned to have a red-hot iron rim through his tongue, and be banished from the country. "VVolfert Weber removed a pile of stones that belonged to Nicholas Verbuth. "VVolfert, when brought before the Court, offered to replace them with other stones. " I want the same stones," said Nicholas ; and the Court ordered Wolfert to carry back the same stones within eight days, or suffer the consequences. Robert Hodgson and other Quakers came to New Netherlands. The governor heard of their arrival, and, to nip their heresy in the bud, imposed a fine of fifty pounds upon any one who might give shelter to a Quaker for a night : if any ship's captain brought one into New Netherlands, his vessel and cargo were to be confiscated. John Chatterton and Henry Townsend broke the law: they were fined five hundred guilders, and sent to prison. Tobias Feck and Edward Hart were selectmen of Flushing, and, be- cause they would not carry out the governor's order against the Quakers, were thrown into prison. Robert Hodgson was arrested, and also two women, one with a bnbe in her arms. The sheriff put the women into a cart, tied Robert to its tail, and took them to New Amsterdam, and thrust them into filthy dun- geons. Robert was brought before the judge and tried. His sentence was in Dutch, of which he did not understand a word, but was told that he must pay six hundred guilders, or work two years, with a negro, chained to a wheelbarrow. Feeling that he had not done any wrong, he refused to work ; where- upon the sheriff ordered a negro to give him one hundred blows. All day long he was chained to the barrow. At night he was put into a dun- geon, and in the morning chained to the barrow, but he would not work. The next morning a rope was tied around his waist, a log of wood to his feet, and he was drawn up to a ring-bolt overhead till he could not touch the floor with his toes, and whipped again — the rope cutting great gashes in his back, and the blood streaming upon the floor. After two days he was tied up again, and whipped till he fainted away. Through all the cruel scourging he had sweet peace in his soul. He was suffering for the truth, as he believed. The governor's sister was a kind-hearted woman, and through her intercession he was set at liberty. THE END OF DUTCH RULE IN AMERICA. 227 A Quaker visited Long Island, and held a meeting in Henry Town- send's house, whereupon Governor Stuyvesant sent a company of sol- diers, and arrested Mr. Townsend, and set a guard to prevent any more meetings. John Brown, of Flushing, suspected of being a Quaker, was fined and banished to Holland ; and John Tilton and his wife were ordered to leave the country. " There shall be no religious meetings except those of the Reformed Church !" was the governor's proclamation. On a day in April, 1662, John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut, was Old Hied TIRE WintJ-iropHoufe, ushered into the king's presence, at Whitehall, London. He had crossed the ocean to obtain a charter for Connecticut. He had written it out in a clear hand, and had no difficulty in obtaining an audience with 228 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Charles ; for Lord Say-and-Seal, keeper of the king's privy seal, and the Earl of Manchester, the king's chamberlain, were his friends. Though John Winthrop's home in Connecticut was a plain edifice, THE DUTCHMAN AT HOME. though he lived in the wilderness, he was accustomed to good society, for he had been educated at Cambridge, in England. He had pleasing ways. He wore a ring of curious workmanship upon one of his fingers, which he gave to the king. "Your majesty's grandmother, Anne of Denmark, gave it to me. Shall I have the pleasure of presenting it to your majesty?" • Charles was greatly pleased. What could he do for Governor Win- tlirop in return? Governor Winthrop wanted nothing for himself; but the people of Connecticut had no charter, and if his majesty would but grant one it would be a generous act, certainly. His name was written upon the paper, and Connecticut had a charter as a separate and distinct colony, with jurisdiction over the country, bounded north by Massachu- THE END OF DUTCH KULE IN AMERICA. 229 setts, east by Narragansett Bay, south by Long Island Sound, and west by the Pacific Ocean! It lapped Connecticut right across New Nether- lands. The English were crowding the Dutch in every direction ; they were taking possession of Long Island ; were pushing westward from the Connecticut to the Hudson. The Dutch were good, easy, slow-going peo- ple, who loved to smoke their pipes, thinking of nothing in particular, while the English were quick, active, hard-working. The English who had settled in the territory of the Dutch gave no attention to Governor Stuyvesant's commands. They paid taxes to Connecticut. Governor Stuyvesant sent Burgomaster Van Cortlandt and two others to Hartford to settle matters. Governor Winthrop showed them their charter. The Dutch opened their eyes wide : they were astonished. " If your province extends to the Pacific Ocean, where is New Neth- ' erlands ?" they asked. " Really we do not know," said the Connecticut men, chuckling in their sleeves. " We made a treaty with you in 1650 about boundaries. How are we to regard that ?" " Of no force whatever — the charter has abolished it," said the Con- necticut men. It was a little matter for Charles II. to sign his name to the charter- which Governor Winthrop had obtained, and it was just as easy for him THE VAX CORTLAXDT MANOR-HOUSE. to sign a second paper, giving his brother James, the Duke of York, all the country from Connecticut River to the Delaware. James wanted it, and Charles gave it to him. Very little did Charles care for the Dutch, 230 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. or their claim to the country. Sebastian Cabot discovered and sailed along the shores a hundred years before the Half Moon dropped anchor in the Hudson. Were not the Dutch interlopers on English soil ? Their gift to the Duke of York included more than half of the territory which Charles had just given to the people of Connecticut ; but what of that ? Could not a king take back to-day what he granted yesterday? Eng- land and Holland were at peace, but there was a quarrel going on between the African Company of England and the West India Company of Hol- land. The African Company was composed of London merchants, lords, and dukes. James had an interest in it, and they were trying to crowd the Dutch out of the West India and African trade. The London merchants wanted to control the trade in mm and slaves, which gave rise to many fights between the Dutch and English sailors on the coast of Africa. James and the London merchants conceived the plan of taking possession of New Netherlands. Charles furnished ships and soldiers to carry it out. Little did the West India Company, or any one else in Holland, mis- trust what was in the wind when four war-vessels, with four hundred and fifty soldiers on board, steered west for a voyage across the Atlantic. " The English are going to take New Netherlands !" was the message which Richard Lord, of Lyme, in Connecticut, sent to Thomas Willet in •New Amsterdam, who hastened to inform Governor Stuyvesant. There was a sudden assemblage of the burgomasters in the Stadt House. The treasury was empty, but Jeremias Van Rensselaer was ready to let the governor have all the money he wanted. They would defend New Amsterdam to the last. " The King of England has sent out some frigates to compel the peo- ple of New England to become Episcopalians !" was the word brought to New Amsterdam by a vessel arriving from Holland. The burgomasters went home, and Governor Stuyvesant sailed up the Hudson to look after matters at Fort Orange. " The English squadron is on its way from Boston to seize the city !" was the word which came to Stuyvesant, and he hastened back, set his slaves to thrashing wheat and carting it to the fort. He was in dismay when he discovered that he had only six hundred pounds of powder! besides, the reflection came to him that all the English iii the province would be against him. He could muster only four hundred soldiers, and they were poorly armed ; but men were set to work repairing the fort — he would defend it to the last. The ships of the Duke of York sailed into the harbor. Richard Nichols, commanding the troops, sent a messenger, demanding the sur- THE END OF DUTCH KULE IN AMERICA. 231 render of New Amsterdam. Governor Winthrop was on board the fleet, and sent a letter promising freedom, security of property, and all their old privileges, if the fort was surrendered. There was a great crowd around the Stadt House. " Read the letter to the people," said the burgomasters, who did not want to fight. " I will not !" the governor replied. "All that concerns the public welfare should be made public," said Van Cortlandt. At that the governor, in his rage, tore the letter in pieces. The bur- gomasters, with lowering brows, turned their backs upon Hard koppig Piet, and marched out of the chamber. The men at work in the fort, hearing what the governor had done, threw down their shovels, rushed to the Stadt House, and shook their fists in his face. " Give us the letter — the letter !" they shouted. Nicholas Bayard picked up the pieces of paper, laid them together, and read the letter to the people. Stuyvesant wrote a letter to Nichols : " Let us discuss the question," he said. " I shall come with my ships and soldiers to discuss it," Nichols re- plied, and the ships sailed in nearer the fort. " It is not soldiership to attempt to hold the fort," said Vice-governor De Sille. " I am governor. I am here to defend this place, and I will !" said the governor. The soldiers stood ready to open fire on the English ships. " It is madness," said Dominie Megapolensis, laying his hand on the governor's shoulder. " What will our twenty guns do against the sixty- two cannon of the ships? There is no help for you. Pray do not be the first to shed blood !" " There is a paper signed by seventjT-three of the principal men, be- seeching you not to doom the city to ashes " — a burgomaster handed the governor a paper. His lips were white ; there was no one to stand by him. " I had rather be carried to my grave !" He gulped down his grief. The struggle of a brave heart was over. " Hoist the white flag !" he said. A little later the flag of Holland gave place to the cross of St. George, and New Netherlands took the name of New York. Very low down, indeed, is that man who will not resent an insult. 232 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. So thought the people of Holland. The seizure of New Netherlands -was not by a lawless company, but it was the perfidious action of the English nation. James was Lord High Admiral — the commander of all the fleets of England. Charles had supplied him with ships, sailors, and soldiers. HIS LIPS WEKE WHITE. The people of Holland had once cut the dikes, letting the sea in upon their towns to drive out the Spaniards, and they had not lost their high sense of honor. They declared war against England, which raged for three years. The people who lived along the southern coast of England saw the fleets of the two countries sail up and down the Channel, their sides aflame, cannon-balls ripping through their timbers, masts tottering, and the sea strewn with wrecks and mangled corpses. Admirals Van Tromp and De Ruyter commanded the Dutch fleets, and James, Prince Rupert, and the Duke of Albemarle the English fleets. One of the English commanders, Admiral Penn, had a son who, instead THE END OF DUTCH RULE IN AMERICA. 233 of fighting, was attending Quaker meetings, to the grief of the admiral. We shall make the acquaintance of the son a little further on. Terrible the conflicts ! Hundreds of ships were battered to pieces, set on fire, blown up, or sunk with all on board. It is said that in one battle Admiral Van Tromp, having fired away all his shot, kept up the fight by using round Dutch cheeses for cannon-balls ! The English landed on the coast of Holland, and set the towns along the shore on fire. John De Witt, who was at the head of the Dutch gov- ernment, determined that England should smart for it. There came a day when the people of London stood aghast, for they could hear the roaring of cannon down the Thames, and see columns of black smoke rising heav- enward. The Dutch fleet was there making sad havoc with the English vessels, setting the shipping on fire, capturing four frigates, one of them the Royal Charles, which had brought Charles across the Channel in 1660. While the people were listening, with white lips, to the roar of thun- der, Charles was at Greenwich, with a heartless crew of courtiers around him, playing with his dogs, and saying soft things to the frivolous and voluptuous women who kept him company. " Things would not be as they are if Oliver Cromwell were living," said the people, who remembered the days when England was a power in the world. They were beginning to be sick of Charles and the fops around him. Those were terrible days in London ; seventy thousand people had just died of the plague, and now the Dutch were destroying the shipping and paralyzing trade. The nation was paying a round price for dancing to the tune which Charles and his brother James were playing. A few days later came a terrible fire — thirteen thousand houses, eighty-six churches licked up by the flames, and two hundred thousand homeless people wan- dering in the fields, and starving beneath hay-stacks and hedges. " Now that the rebellious city is in ruins, the king can have his own way," said one of the scapegrace courtiers, as he beheld the heaps of ashes, the crumbled chimneys and walls. The city had opposed Charles I. in his efforts to trample out the peo- ple's liberties, and the merchants and tradesmen were opposing Charles II. ; so the heartless courtiers, who were spending their time in idleness, living upon the people's bounty to the king, gloated over the ruins. The Dutch sent a fleet across the Atlantic, and once more the flag of Holland floated over New Amsterdam for a short time ; but when peace came, the Dutch gave up New Netherlands to the English, who thence- forth held undisturbed swav from Maine to Florida. 23-i OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTEK XVII. THE TIMES OF CHARLES II. Commonwealth in England was at an end. John Pyrn, John -•- Hampden, John Milton, and Oliver Cromwell, the far-sighted, strong- hearted, liberty-loving men who had overthrown Charles I., were dead. The people of England were not far enough advanced in their idea of liberty to govern themselves. Charles II. was invited to come to Eng- land and be king. He had been long in exile in France. Just before crossing the Channel, he issued a proclamation promising pardon for everybody, so far as he was concerned, for all that had been done against his father. If Parliament should decide not to pardon everybody, that was another matter. Parliament was to be free, and there were to be no more persecutions on account of religion. The vessel which brought him to Dover was the Naseby, named from the battle-field where his father had suffered defeat. He renamed it the Royal Charles. He ate a hearty breakfast of pork and pease, stepped into a boat, and was rowed to the shore, all the cannon thundering. When he landed, the Mayor of Dover kneeled at his feet and presented a Bible. " I love it better than anything else in the world," said Charles ; yet he cared very little for the Bible. He was tall and swarthy, gay, careless, and kind-hearted. He had few sober thoughts. He loved ease and pleas- ure. His tastes were low ; his life impure. He was a scapegrace, and yet all London turned out to welcome him; bells rung; bonfires blazed. It was a grand holiday; people drank wine and beer till they could drink no more, and were wild with delight to think that they had once more a king. Charles had promised pardon to offenders ; but Parliament had some- thing to say. Charles's father had been condemned to death by judges appointed by Parliament ; but twenty-five of them were dead. Of the living, nineteen fled to other countries. Two, John Goff and Edward Whalley, secreted themselves on a ship and crossed the Atlantic. Twenty-nine were arrested by Charles's sheriffs. A few days later, as THE TIMES OF CHARLES II. 235 John Evelyn was taking a walk in London, he saw a sight that made him shudder — baskets filled with the mangled bodies of some of the judges, whom the executioners had hacked to pieces at Charing Cross. King Charles was seated in a pavilion and gloated over the scene. Cromwell was dead, and so was his son-in-law, Mr. Ireton, and Judge Bradshaw, who read Charles's condemnation. They had been buried in Westminster Abbey; but the king had the bodies torn from the coffins and hung up at Tyburn, from nine in the morning till sunset, and then taken down and thrown into a pit. Admiral Blake had defeated the enemies of England in many hard- fought battles on the sea, but Charles had his body taken out of its coffin and burnt in St. Margaret's church-yard. There had been no May-poles, no wrestling- matches, no worrying of bulls with dogs, during Cromwell's time ; but now the May-poles were set up, and bulls were worried on market-days. For twenty years there had been little gambling; but gambling-houses sprung up all over London. Charles set the example. Every Sunday evening there was a carousal at "Whitehall Palace — Charles, the dukes, earls, lords, and ladies of the court playing cards, winning or losing great heaps of gold. During the Civil "War, and through Cromwell's time, men and women dress- ed plainly ; but the Cavaliers took great pleasure in adorning themselves with laces, ruffles, and ribbons. They wore their hair long, to spite the "Round- heads," as they called the Puritans, who cut theirs short. The Cavaliers adorned their hats with plumes. The ladies of Charles's court adopted the fashion of covering their faces with patches. It is said that one lady used court-plaster to cover up a pimple, that it at the same time added to her beauty ; that from such a beginning the fashion went on, till the cheeks and forehead were covered with sun, moon, stars, and fanciful designs. A CAVALIER, TIME OF CHAHLES II. The court of the king was gay, friv- olous, and wicked. Charles married Catharine of Portugal — a plain, sim- 236 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. PATCHES, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES II. pie-hearted girl ; but he cared far more for Lady Castlemaine, for the actress Nell Gwynne, and a vain, false-hearted woman sent out by Louis XIV. of France to exercise her fascinations upon the foolish king. He was so completely under her thumb that he made her Duchess of Portsmouth, and lavished one hun- dred and thirty thousand pounds upon her in a single year. Never was there such drinking, swearing, and indecency in the palace of the king. Duchesses, countesses, ladies of the bed-chamber —all could swear great oaths, sing indecent songs, and never a blush come upon their cheeks. The Puritans were laughed at, scoffed, ridiculed, de- spised, and contemptuously treated. Although the king said he loved the Bible better than anything else in the world, he cared very little for relig- ion. He was determined, however, that every- body should use the Prayer-book; and because the Puritan ministers would not use it, more than two thousand of them were thrust oi>t of the pulpits on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662. Parlia- ment passed a law declaring that all meetings held on Sunday by those who would not use the Prayer-book were seditious, or in conspiracy against the government. If more than four persons were present in such an as- sembly, it was sedition. If there were more than four persons in a fam- ily, there could be no blessing asked at table. In a very short time the prisons were filled with Quakers and Puri- tans. One was a poor tinker, who used to travel through the country mending pots and pans. He was very profane and wicked, but became a good man, and went to preaching to his associates that they ought to lead purer lives. If he had spent his time in gambling, worrying bulls, or dancing, the bishops would not have thought of putting him in prison ; but Charles and the bishops would not permit any praying without a Prayer-book, and so one morning John Bunyan found himself in Bed- ford jail, where he was kept, half-starved, for twelve years. The bishops thought that, by so doing, they would stop his preaching; but two and a quarter centuries have rolled away, and John Bunyan has been preaching through all the years, and will preach on to the end of time; for the "Pil- grim's Progress," written in the old stone prison of Bedford, deals with things invisible and eternal. Charles and the bishops are dead, but John Bunyan lives. For him there is no death. John Goff and Edward Whalley reached Boston. Whalley had been THE TIMES OF CHARLES II. 237 a lieutenant-general, and Goff a major-general in Cromwell's army. They were learned and agreeable gentlemen. They stayed in Cambridge until February, 1661 ; but the king's officers were on their tracks, and they went to New Haven, in Connecticut, and stopped with Rev. Mr. Dan- forth. Thomas Kirke, who, a few years later, put scores of men and wom- NELL GWYNNE. — (FROM A PAINTING BY SIK PETER LELY. ) en to death in Scotland, was following Goff and Whalley, with Thomas Kelland, another officer appointed by Charles. They called upon Governor Winthrop at Hartford, who treated them courteously, not because he wanted to aid them, but because they were officers of the kino\ o " General Goff and General Whalley are not here," said the governor, 238 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. NEW HAVEN. and the officers pushed on to Milford, and called upon Deputy-governor Leet. " We would like to confer with you in private. We are on the track of the rascals; we are sure that they are here. We must have men to help us," they said. " The gentlemen whom you seek have been here, but I have not seen them for several weeks. I do not believe they are in New Haven. Have you authority to arrest them ?" " Here are our papers." Governor Leet began to read them aloud. " Please do not read aloud ; somebody may overhear, and get wind of our business." But the governor went on reading aloud. "I must consult with the Council; for this is a grave matter. It is late to-night. We will ride to New Haven in the morning, and call the Council together," said the governor. THE TIMES OF CHARLES II. 239 The officers went to bed ; but while they were asleep an Indian stole out in the darkness, and ran through the woods to New Haven. The governor and the officers rode there in the morning, and the Council met and consulted all day. "This is a very important matter. "We dare not act without calling the Assembly," they said. " The king will resent any concealment of such archtraitors," said the officers. " "We are always ready to honor the king, but we have tender con- sciences, and we must let the Assembly decide." The commissioners were in a rage. They would search for them- selves, and ransacked Mr. Danforth's house, and treated him rudely be- cause he had befriended the refugees. Mrs. Eayers had given them shel- ter, and the officers knocked at her door. Mrs. Eayers was very polite. Oh yes ! she knew General "Whalley and General Goff : they were very courteous gentlemen. They had been to her house, and she hoped to have the pleasure of meeting them again. These may not be her ex- UNDER THIS BRIDGE THE JUDGES WERE CONCEALED. act words ; but Mrs. Eayers was so much of a lady that the officers could not think of searching her closets to see if the refugees were there. 240 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The officers took their departure, little suspecting that the two men were up-stairs the while. But they could stay there no longer; they fled and secreted themselves under a bridge, and not long after heard the hoofs of the officers' horses upon the planks above them. William Jones concealed them; but the officers were still on their track, and they found refuge in a cave on the side of a hill, which they named " Providence Hill." The pursuit was getting hot, and again they disappeared ; which way the officers could not discover. They were completely baffled, and returned to England denouncing the people of Connecticut as enemies of the king. THE JCDGES CAVE. KING PHILIP'S WAR. 241 CHAPTER XVIII. KING PHILIP'S WAR. PHILIP, son of Massasoit, was chief of the Wampanoag Indians. He lived at Mount Hope, near Bristol, Rhode Island. From the summit of the rounded hill he could look out upon the country occupied by his tribe. Northward and eastward were their hunting-grounds; south- ward were the calm waters of Narragansett Bay, swarming with fish and dotted with green islands ; westward, beyond the bay, was the coun- try of the Narragan setts. Philip had been selling his land, piece by piece, to the English. From his wigwam he could see the blue smoke curling up from their 'hearth- stones in every direction. The English in New England never took the lands of the Indians without paying for them. It was not much that they paid ; but to the Indians the glass beads, little tinkling bells, the knives and red blankets of the white men, were of more value than the woods and meadows. They were only children in their ideas of property, and when the trinkets were lost, and the blankets worn to rags — when they saw that the lands remained, that there were gardens, flowers, fields of waving grain, where a few months before there was only the forest, they came to the conclu- sion that the white men had cheated them. They could no longer live by hunting, for cattle were feeding in the former haunts of the deer. They ate the corn which the squaws had planted. " Build a fence around your corn," said the white men. " Indian no build fence," was the reply. Labor was degrading. Squaws might work, but braves never. " You give us rum, and when we are drunk you cheat us." The white men laughed in their sleeves, for they knew that the Indian would part with everything for rum. They called it " Killdevil." Philip's warriors were restless. All through the years, from 1620 to 1675, they had not been to war save with the Narragan setts. There was excitement in war, bravery and daring to waylay their foes, fall upon 16 24:2 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. them in ambush, burn their dwellings, split their skulls with the toma- hawk, take their scalps, humble them in the dust — that was worth living for ! The English were extending their laws over them. If one Indian killed another, the Boston men hung the murderer, cut off his head, and placed it on the gibbet, where the birds could pick out the dead man's eyes. What right had the white man to interfere in the affairs of the Indian ? From 1670 to 1675 there were reports that Philip was meditating a war. Many things occurred to lead him on. Quite likely Philip saw that he had made foolish trades, and was angry with himself. The white men had hung one of his men for murder: they had demanded that the Indians should give up all their guns. His warriors were urging him to MOUNT HOPK. fight ; if he did not, would they not call him a coward, and depose him from being chief? All the Indian tribes from Narragansett Bay to Merrimac Eiver had recognized his father as their great chief ; would they not look with con- tempt upon him if he remained at home in his wigwam, and allowed the white men to overrun the country ? Is it any wonder that he sent mes- sengers to the Nipmuck, JSTarragansett, Nashua, and other tribes to see what they thought about matters? It is not quite certain that Philip wanted to go to war. He is represented as having been wily and blood- thirsty, but that does not appear to have been his character. He was KING PHILIP'S WAR. 243 proud and haughty. He had influence over other tribes, and exercised it ; but it is not clear that he delighted in brutality. "I am sorry," he said, when he heard that the war had begun ; and this was the way it began : John Sassamon, who had been taught to read and write by John Eliot at Natick, and who sometimes wrote letters for Philip, informed the white men that the Indians were planning war. For giving this in- & O O O formation three of Philip's men killed him, and put his body under the ice in Middleborough pond, whereupon they were arrested by the Boston men and one of them hung, which greatly angered Philip's men, who killed the cattle of the Swanzey people. They did not fire upon the set- tlers; they waited for the white men to shed the first blood, believing what their medicine men told them, that the party that drew the first blood would be beaten. It was on June 19th, 1675, that a Swanzey man fired upon an Indian for shooting his oxen, and wounded him. This was the signal. Blood had been shed by the white man, who would be vanquished in the struggle. Thursday, June 24th, was fast-day. The settlers of Swanzey were going home from meeting in the afternoon, when there was a sudden rattle of guns from an unseen foe. One fell dead, and several were wounded. Two men who went for the doctor to dress the wounds were killed. When night closed, six had been killed and many wounded. Messengers rode in haste over the country. The next afternoon drums were beating in Boston, and the beacon was blazing on the hill. In a few hours men from Boston, Plymouth, and other towns were on the march. The war which they had feared had come at last ; instead of peace and se- curity, there were alarm and terror. It was on the afternoon of Saturday that the Dedham men started for Swanzey. That night there was an eclipse of the moon. The soldiers knew very little about eclipses. The moon was of the color of blood, and there was one dark spot which looked like a scalp. As the "eclipse came KING PHILIP. 24:4: OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. on the shape of the moon was like a bow when the arrow is about to fly. Such the superstition and imagination as they inarched through the gloomy forest. Philip was not at Swanzey when his men began the war, but at Mount Hope. Captain Thomas Savage, with sixty men on horses and sixty on foot, marched directly to Mount Hope, and came so suddenly upon Philip, who was at dinner in his wigwam, that he barely escaped capture. Cap- tain Savage killed fifteen Indians, took all of Philip's cattle and hogs, and destroyed his cornfield. In front of his wigwam were the heads of eight white men on poles ; but in Boston, on the cross-beams of the gibbet, were the skulls of Indians and murderers bleaching in the sum- mer sun. Philip was no more brutal in that respect than the people in Boston, London, and Paris. It was the custom of the time. Captain Moseley, of Boston, with one hundred and ten men, had a fight near Swanzey, in which several Indians were killed. Lieutenant Oaks, in command of a party, killed three Indians, whose scalps were sent to Boston. Captain Church went to Pocasset, now Tiv- erton, Rhode Island, across the narrow arm of Narragansett Bay, east of Mount Hope. He had thirty-six men, and found himself suddenly at- tacked by three hundred Indians. He retreated to the water-side, piled flat stones one upon another, and built a barricade, and fought till Cap- tain Golding came to his relief in a sloop. The sloop could not come to the shore, and the canoe that plied between the shore and the vessel could only carry two at a time. Church was the last to go. A bullet grazed his hair; another struck a stake in front of him ; two passed through the canoe ; they riddled the sail of the sloop, but not a man was killed. Philip, having been driven from Mount Hope, began the war in ear- nest. On the 14th of July he fell upon Mendon, killed five white men, and burnt the houses. There was one tribe that he could not prevail upon to join him— the Mohegans. Uncas was still alive. He was Philip's rival. He had seen Sassacus and the Pequods destroyed; and now in his old age he would renew his alliance with the white men, who would soon vanquish the Wampanoags. He sent his twro sons with a party of warriors to Boston, offering to fight against Philip. They were of great service in piloting the white men through the forests. The Indians attacked Brookfield, Massachusetts. Eighty settlers fled to the garrison-house, which was built of logs, and loop-holed. The In- dians set the other houses on fire, and then attacked the garrison, shelter- KING PHILIP'S WAR. 245 ing themselves behind trees and fences. They crept through the grass on their bellies ; but there were sudden flashes at the loop-holes, and In- dian after Indian was killed. There were six or seven hundred of them, who howled like wolves hungry for their prey. Not to be thwarted, they obtained a cart, piled bundles of flax upon it, sheltered themselves behind it, set the flax on fire, and wheeled the cart toward the house. There were flashes at the loop-holes ; one by one the Indians fell. The build- ing was on fire; but one of the brave settlers ran out and extinguished it, the balls rattling round him like hail. Soon after the hearts of the settlers were gladdened by the arrival of Major Willard and a party of soldiers, who came to their relief. They found eighty dead Indians. FIGHT AT TIVEUTON. The Narragan setts had joined Philip. They built a strong fort in a swamp, which had only one entrance over a log across a brook. In the fort were their wives and children, their stores of corn and acorns, which the women had gathered while the warriors were on the war-path. There were five hundred wigwams within the enclosure, and nearly three thousand Indians. The colonies united to strike a blow which the Indians would feel. Massachusetts sent five hundred and twenty-seven men ; Plymouth one hundred and fifty-eight ; Connecticut three hundred and fifteen. Yol- unteers from Khode Island joined, which, with one hundred and fifty 24:6 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ONLY ONE ENTRANCE ACROSS A LOG. Mohegan Indians, made the largest army ever assembled in America at that time — numbering more than eleven hundred. It is Sabbath morning, December 19th. The troops have slept on the snow, making their beds of hemlock boughs. They eat breakfast before daylight, and are on the march before the sun rises. Governor Winslow is commander ; by his side is Captain Church. The fort is fifteen miles distant, but they reach it by one o'clock. An Indian who has been in the fort pilots them, and tells them that it is very strong ; that it encloses several acres ; that there is a high palisade, and that trees and brush have been laid against the walls ; that there is only the one entrance across the log, which will be swept by the fire of the Indians. The army forms. The men who are to lead the attack know that death is certain ; but there is no flinching. They remember the desolate homes ; the murdered men, women, and children all along the frontier. They have come to be avenged ; to fight, to die, if need be. They rush toward the log. The walls of the fort blaze, and the men upon the log go down. Others take their places; they too fall, men and officers to- gether— six captains, one after another. " But the white men are so deter- mined, there are so many of them, that the Indians cannot load their guns quick enough to keep them back. They run across the log, gather upon the opposite bank, and rush to the fort, and swarm inside the enclosure, pouring their fire upon the astonished Indians. Now comes the hand- KING PHILIP'S WAR. 247 to-hand fight — the white men using-^heir swords and hatchets, the In- dians their tomahawks. It is the figl«^civilization. against barbarism ; power against weakness; the Future asMfist the Fast. The Past goes down in the terrific struggle. The India^Btarriors flee to the other side of the fort, leap over the wall, and disappel^H^ie forest, leaving their wives and children in the wigwams. Nearly WnKhundred of the white men have been killed or wounded. The infuriated soldiers will have their revenge : they set the wigwams on fire. Captain Church protests against it. " We can live on their corn, and make our wounded comfort- able," he says. But the blood of the soldiers is up, and they will not listen to rea- son ; and as the sun goes down the flames of the burning wigwams illu- mine the wintry sky, and night closes in upon the ghastly scene of three hundred blackened corpses roasting in the flames, and upon the dying and the dead slain in battle. The troops bearing their wounded take up their line of march. A storm has risen. Snow is falling, and the chill wind sweeps through the forest. Many of the wounded die, and the snow is their winding-sheet. They reach their rendezvous in the morning. Their victory has been dearly bought ; but they have accomplished their object — the wiping out of the Narragansett nation. Out in the forest are the Indians. It is a terrible night to them ; their stronghold lost ; their wives and children massacred or burnt to death ; their provisions gone. Nothing left but eternal hate. The white man shall suffer — the Indian will have his revenge. The war goes on ; Canonicus, chief of the Narragansetts, is captured. " We will spare your life if you will procure a treaty of peace," said his captors. " The Indians never will cease fighting," he replied. " You are condemned to death." " I like it. I shall die before I speak anything unworthy of myself," is the heroic reply. Lancaster, Medfield, Weymouth, Groton, and Marlborough, in Massa- chusetts, were burnt by the Indians. In Rhode Island, Providence and Warwick. From the east Philip went west to attack the towns on the Connecticut — Springfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Deerfield, and Northampton. It is fast-day in Hadley, and the people are attending meeting. They hear the wrar-whoop of the Indians ; behold their houses in flames, and their wives and children fleeing along the street, and rally to their defence. Suddenly an old man with long white beard appears among them, 248 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. directing them. He is brave, cool, collected. He speaks with authority. The Indians are driven off, and the white-haired man disappears. "Who is he? None know. They think of him as God's angel sent for their deliverance. Years go by before they learn that it was one of the men who sat in judgment upon King Charles — William Goff, who has been secreted, with Edward Whalley, in the house of the minister, Rev. Mr. Russell. All through the summer of 1676 the war goes on. Philip sees that his men are being killed, that his power is waning. He tries to enlist DEATH OF PHILIP. the Mohawks, but they will not listen to his proposal. He can only ob- tain powder from the French in Canada or Acadia. He will not hear of peace, and kills one of his followers who makes the suggestion. Revenge ! How sweet to gratify it ! How many great plans have been upset by it ! The Indian struck down by Philip in his anger had a brother, who, when he saw the tomahawk crash through the skull of the murdered man, determined to have his revenge. No longer would he recognize Philip as chief, no longer be a friend, but a bitter, unrelenting enemy. In the darkness of the night he stole away to give himself up to the English — to lead them on the track of Philip. Captain Church captures Philip's wife and child ; this is a sad blow. KING PHILIP'S WAR. 249 "My heart breaks! I am ready to die," said the chief. His warriors were disheartened ; there were only a few left. He had carried desola- tion to the whites : he had fought bravely, bnt the struggle was over. Never again could he rally his followers. An archangel's trumpet only could summon them from their graves. Those who remained were plot- ting against him. He was disheartened. The white men had sold his wife and child into slavery in Bermuda. Broken in spirit, he returns once more to his old home, Mount Hope. The avenger is on his track. On Saturday morning, August 12th, Captain Church and Captain Gold- ing, with their men, surround a swamp in which Philip has concealed himself. He is awakened by the footsteps of the soldiers, springs to his feet, and dashes through the forest. Caleb Cook and the avenger stand side by side ; Cook's gun misses fire, but the Indian sends a bullet through Philip's heart, and then with his hatchet chops off his head and bears it in triumph to Plymouth, where it is set upon the top of the gallows. The Indian is avenged upon his dead brother ; and so perishes the son of Massasoit — the last chief of the Warn pan oags. The once powerful tribe was extinct ; those who escaped joined other tribes — quite a number casting in their lot with the Indians in New Hampshire and Maine, who had been committing depredations upon the English, killing settlers at Dover, Exeter, and Berwick. The Governor of Massachusetts sent one hundred and thirty men to Dover to arrest the murderers, and make a new treaty of peace. Major Waldron sent word to all the well-disposed Indians to come to the garri- son. He was well known to the savages, who put faith in him. The dusky warriors assembled, and with them the Pequods. How shall they be seized? Major Waldron proposes to the Indians to have a sham fight. "You shall fire first blank cartridges," he says. The parties divide; the Indians fire; their guns are empty. In an instant the troop closes around them, and they are prisoners. Two hun- dred of them are sent to Boston, and from thence to the West Indies, to be sold as slaves. It is a perfidious, cruel act. Will the Indian forget it ? lie will bide his time ! One Indian escaped, and ran into the house of Elizabeth Heard, who secreted him till the soldiers were o-one. It is an act of kindness which o the Indian will never forget. It has been a costly war to the English ; thirteen towns have been burnt. More than six hundred men have been killed in battles; many 250 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. have been maimed for life ; and the colonies are burdened with a debt of more than half a million of dollars. There is grief in every household, and distress everywhere. Starvation stares them in the face. Connecti- cut has not felt the desolation ; and the people of that colony generously contribute one thousand bushels of corn, which is sent to Massachusetts to be distributed among the needy. LOUIS FRONTENAC IN CANADA. 251 CHAPTER XIX. LOUIS FRONTENAC IN CANADA. ON a summer day in 1672 Louis Froutenac, fifty-two years of age, just arrived from France, stepped on shore at Quebec — the first governor- general of Canada. Sixty years had rolled away since Champlain erected the first house in Canada, and so slow had been the emigration that there 252 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. were not more than three or four thousand Frenchmen in the World. There had been civil war in France, but peace had come. Louis XIV. was king. Colbert was his prime -minister. He saw that the English were settling along the Atlantic coast, that the Dutch were driving a O O ' O A TRAPPER GOING HIS ROUNDS. profitable trade on the Hudson with the Indians; that Spain had colo- nized the West Indies and Mexico, were masters of South America, and had a foothold in Florida; while France had done very little toward de- veloping the vast empire, extending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Mexico, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. The energetic prime -minister selected Count Frontenac to manage matters in Xew France. We may think of Frontenac as turning over in LOUIS FRONTENAC IN CANADA. 253 his mind the work before him, the helps and hinderances. As he spreads ont the map which the geographers have made, he sees the St. Lawrence and the lakes, the Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers, and their tribu- LOUIS XIV. taries, forming natural highways, by which the coureurs de bois — the rangers of the woods, as they are called, half Indian and half French — reach every section of the vast domain. 254 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. He sees that the English have no such great natural routes for travel, that all the rivers emptying into the Atlantic have their sources in the great mountain range, extending from the White Mountains, in New Hampshire, to Alabama. The mountain range is a barrier which nature has established between the Atlantic slope and the Mississippi Valley. In the valley of that river, on the banks of the Ohio, and upon the broad prairies of Illinois, the peasants of New France could rear their homes. The king — who came to the throne when he was but four years old — Louis XIV., whose armies had won great victories, would give men and money. The Church of Rome would aid. The priests of St. Francis and the Jesuits had been among the Indians of the Great West, enlisting them on the side of France, and against the Dutch and English. The Dutch traders had never been beyond Niagara, while the French every year were chaffering with the Indians at Mackinac and on the Mississippi. All the Indians had been won to the side of France except the Iro- quois, who had never forgotten that their fathers had been driven from the St. Lawrence, nor that Champlain fought against them many moons before. Jean de Lamberville, a Jesuit missionary, was living with the Onondagas, trying to convert them to Christianity, and to call Louis XIV. their great father ; but the warriors, who had carried their victorious arms to Tennessee, who had compelled the Illinois to pay them tribute, would call him brother only ; never father. Years before they had buried a hatchet with the Dutch beneatli a great tree at Albany ; the Dutch had treated them kindly, and would pay them twice as much for beaver -skins as the Canadian traders. Count Frontenac might give them presents, speak honeyed words, make large promises of friendship, but he could not make them his allies; the old grudge would always be kept in remembrance, but never would they resign their independence. On what foundations shall the empire of France in the Western World be constructed — on the natural rights of man ? No ; for neither the king, the Romish Church, nor the Jesuits have any conception of nat- ural rights. "I am the State," shouts Louis XIV., striking his hand upon his breast. Neither in France nor in Canada can the people have a voice in public affairs. Pope, bishop, and priest alone have the right to say what men shall believe, or how they shall worship. There shall be no schools, unless taught by priests and nuns. The government which Count Frontenac established consisted of him- LOUIS FRONTENAC IN CANADA. 255 self, the Intendant, the man who had charge of the trade, the bishop, the attorney-general, and five councillors. These nine men made the laws. They divided the land into great estates, called seigniories. The owners, who called themselves seigniors, or noblemen, rented it to the farmers, who had nothing to do with government except to pay the taxes. Count Frontenac does not see that such a system of government will THE RIVAL COMPANIES SOLICITING TRADE. end in failure ; but he will learn by-and-by that in the New World the instinctive love of freedom which exists in every human heart will make itself manifest ; that the woods, the vast reaches of country, the influences of nature, will awaken new thoughts and aspirations in the minds of men. The king will be far away. Count Frontenac will have no army to en- force the laws which he and the other eight men may make ; his subor- 256 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. dinate officers will grasp all the money they can as it passes through their hands; there will be quarrels between the governor and the intendant, between the governor and the bishop. The Jesuits will attempt to con- trol affairs. These are some of the obstacles to the building up of the new empire which he will encounter. For ten years Count Frontenac labored. Ship-load after ship-load of emigrants arrived from France, but the intendant thwarted his plans. The bishop quarrelled with him. The Iroquois would not be cajoled; and in 1682 he went back to France. Governor De la Barre succeeded him, but, after serving three years, was succeeded by Denonville. The Iroquois had been at war with other Indians. They had con- quered tribes in Virginia, compelling them to become Iroquois. They paddled along the southern shore of Lake Erie, through lakes Huron and Michigan, to the terror of the Hurons; invaded Illinois, wiped out the war-parties of their enemies; returned with hundreds of prisoners, and boats filled with beaver-skins, which the fur-traders of Canada had pur- chased, and which they had captured. They were ruining the fur-trade of Canada. " Capture the Iroquois, and send them as slaves to France," was the word which Louis XIV. sent to Denonville. The new governor, who read his prayer-book a great deal, but who knew very little about the Iroquois, determined to punish the haughty tribes who were carrying things writh so high a hand. Near the outlet of Lake Ontario were some Indians related to the Iro- quois. Governor Denonville invited them to come to Fort Frontenac and have a feast. They accepted the invitation ; but when they were in- side the fort, he seized them all — thirty men, ninety women and children — and sent out a party, who returned with eighteen more warriors, and sixty women and children. He had them baptized, and the men sent as slaves to France. He summoned the tribes from the West — from lakes Huron, Michigan, and Illinois — to come and be revenged upon their enemies. A few weeks later a great fleet of canoes came down from the upper lakes filled with dusky warriors. On a bright sunny day, July, 1687, the warriors from the St. Law- rence, from the shores of Michigan and the banks of the Mississippi, drew their canoes on shore in Irondequoit Bay, Lake Ontario, north-east of Rochester, New York. Never before had there been such an army in the service of Louis XIV. — soldiers in the uniforms of the king; officers, who had danced at Versailles; Jesuit priests, who had threaded the Far West- ern wilds, educated in the seminaries of the Old World, yet becoming savage in their modes of life, that they may win the heathens to the LOUIS FKONTENAC IN CANADA. 257 Church ; Indians in war-paint and feathers, wearing skins of the buffalo, the horns branching from their foreheads, the tails trailing upon the earth, wielding their tomahawks, brandishing their scalping-knives around the camp-fires at night, as they rehearse the deeds of daring they will un- dertake to destroy their haughty enemies. The chief town of the Senecas is only fifteen miles away, and a broad path leads to it. Governor Denonville resolves that it shall be a heap of ashes ; that the waving fields of corn shall be cut down ; that the haughty tribes shall be brought into subjection. The army of two thou- sand French and Indians marches southward. The day is hot and sultry. The French officers pant beneath the terrible heat. Scouts, who have been reconnoitring around the village, report that no warriors are to be seen — only a few squaws. The invaders pass through a defile, but no Iroquois are in ambush; they pass a second defile, but no war-whoop resounds through the forest. Their enemies must have fled in terror. They reach the third, pass through it in haste, pressing on to surprise the town. Suddenly a yell, fiercer than the howl of a thousand wolves, breaks the stillness. Guns flash in their faces and upon their flanks. The Iro- quois spring from the ground, confronting them with defiant shouts. Some of the French officers fall flat upon the earth, terror-stricken by the sudden apparition. The air is thick with flying arrows. Governor De- nonville is brave; he encourages his men, orders the drums to beat, and stops the soldiers who start to run. The Canadian Indians leap from tree to tree, and exchange shots with their old enemies. For a few minutes the battle rages, and then the Senecas, who are only three hundred, disappear, carrying their wounded and some of their dead. Six French were killed, and thirty wounded. The Senecas had thirty or more killed, and sixty wounded. In the morning the army marched on to destroy the town, but found only a heap of ashes ; the Senecas themselves burnt it several days before, and had retired southward, with their wives and children. Governor Denonville could only destroy their corn. Having done that, he went back to the lake, dismissed his allies from the Far West, and re- turned to Montreal, after building a fort near Niagara Falls. In a few days the Senecas were back again building new wigwams. " If you overturn a wasp's nest, you must kill the wasp, or you will get stung!" said an Indian to Governor Denonville, on his way back to the lake. Denonville discovered after awhile that the wasp had stings. Dongan was Governor of New York. He invited the Iroquois to meet him in council, and the chiefs came to Albany. "You are subjects of King James," he said; "you must not make 17 258 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. treaties with the French without my consent. You ought to drive the French out of the West, so that you can get all the beaver-skins from that section. You ought not to let the Jesuits live among you." "We will fight the French as long as we have a warrior left," replied the Iroquois. They went back to their homes with presents, with the promise of the governor that the King of England would stand by them in their struggle against the French. Fifteen hundred of them stole along Lake Champlain, paddling their canoes by night, secreting themselves in the forest during the day. On the morning of August 5th, 1689, they crawled on their hands and knees into the village of Lachine, six miles from Montreal. Just as the robins and swallows were singing their songs in the early summer morning, the terrible war-whoop rung through the settlement, and the butchery began. There were three forts near by, from which the soldiers looked out and saw the inhabitants fall before the tomahawk. All the morning the bloody work went on, the street running with blood, the tall column of smoke ascending to heaven ; the Iroquois hanging men, women, and chil- dren on stakes, and drinking themselves drunk on brandy. Colonel Subercose started with four hundred men, and arrived at the burning village in the afternoon. " The Indians are only a mile and a half away, dead drunk," said a Frenchman who had escaped. Colonel Subercose started to attack them, when an officer came in hot haste from Montreal. " The governor orders that you stand on the defensive, and run no risks." Subercose was brave. He believed that the Indians, in their drunken stupor, could be routed ; but at the command of the frightened governor he had to turn about ; and the next day, the wasps, having recovered from their drunk, attacked a party of eighty soldiers, and defeated them. For more than two months the Iroquois roamed the country around Montreal, killing, scalping, torturing their prisoners, paralyzing all Can- ada, wreaking terrible vengeance. GOVERNOR BERKELEY AND THE VIRGINIANS. 259 CHAPTER XX. GOVERNOR BERKELEY AND THE VIRGINIANS. " T THANK God there are no free schools in Virginia, and I hope we -*- shall not have them these hundred years." So said Sir William Berkeley, whom Charles II. had appointed governor of Virginia. Sir William lived in a stately house on the banks of the James. He rode in a lumbering old coach, and kept a retinue of servants. His table was spread with silver; he ruled pretty much as he pleased, and was king in a small way. He hated schools and printing-presses, for he knew that BERKELEY, NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING. knowledge is power, and that if the people were educated he would not be able to keep them so completely under his thumb. He cared so little for their prosperity that no roads were built. The highway was only a path. All travel was by boats on the river. Berkeley was arbitrary, avaricious, and cared more for feathering his own nest than for the in- terests of the people. There was not a bridge in Virginia. He allowed public interests to take care of themselves. He had a monopoly of trade with the Indians, and he alone possessed the right to sell them gunpowder. 260 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "ALL TRAVEL WAS BY BOATS ox THE RIVER." The Cavaliers, who had emigrated from England because they could not bear the Puritans' rule, favored aristocracy. They regarded the men who worked for a living with haughty contempt. They little knew how, without schools, the common people of the colony were being educated- how the freedom of the woods, the necessity of caring for themselves, was making them self-reliant ; and how, when the time came, they would take matters into their own hands. The time came in 1675. The Indians on the Upper Potomac killed three settlers, and then, growing bolder, came down the James River, and killed thirty-six. Governor Berkeley ordered Sir Henry Chiceley to pursue them with troops; but when the troops were all ready, Berkeley ordered them to disband. If he chastised the Indians, of course he would have no more profits from trade. The In- dians went on plundering and murdering, and laying the country in waste. Before the year was out they killed more than three hundred settlers. " We are ready to wipe out the savages," said the settlers to the gov- ernor. " No troops shall march without my orders," was the reply. Self- preservation is a greater law than any edict which Governor Berkeley GOVERNOR BERKELEY AND THE VIRGINIANS. 261 could issue; and with Nathaniel Bacon at their head, three hundred set- tlers took matters into their own hands, and wiped out the Indians at a blow. Bacon was only thirty-three years old; he had been in Virginia only two years, but had seen a great deal of the world. He hated tyranny. The people elected him to the Assembly; and through his influence a law was passed, which deprived Governor Berkeley of some of the fat fees which he had ingulfed. Bacon had inarched against the Indians without orders; he held no commission. Berkeley would not overlook such conduct. " You are a traitor and a rebel," said the governor ; but, notwithstand- ing his hate, he was obliged to yield to the demands of the people and INDIAN MASSACKE. give Bacon a commission, who started once more to drive the Indians out of the colony. When all were ready, Berkeley forbade them going, and denounced Bacon and his men once more as rebels and traitors. " We are ready to lay down our lives for our wives and children, and for the colony ; we will go and see why he calls us traitors," said Bacon. " Amen !" shouted the troops. The drums beat, and they took up their march to confront the gov- ernor. Berkeley fled across Chesapeake Bay, and Bacon halted at Wil- liarnsburg. 262 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. " The flight of the governor is to be regarded as abdicating the gov- ernorship. The people must take matters into their own hands," said Bacon, and the Assembly came together at his call. He disbanded nearly all o,f his soldiers. The men who adhered to Berkeley rallied around him, and he went up to Jamestown. Bacon hastened thither with his handful of men. There was a fight, but Bacon won the victory, and his soldiers, in the ex- ultation over the governor, set the town on tire. The flames licked up every house, leaving nothing but chimneys and the crumbling walls of the church. It was an unhealthy locality; so malarious the climate, that Bacon sickened and died a few days later. The people were without a leader. Berkeley set Robert Beverly to hunting down those who had taken part in the rebellion. Thomas Hans- ford was the first to suffer, " You die as a rebel !" said the governor. " I die a loyal subject, and a lover of my country !" said Hansford, as he gazed unflinchingly upon the gibbet. Mr. Cheeseman was condemned to be hung. " Let me die instead of my husband," said Mrs. Cheeseman. "He joined the revolt because I wanted him to." She fell upon her knees before Berkeley. "Away!" shouted the hard-hearted governor. " You shall be hanged in half an hour!" he said, smilingly, to William Drummond, whose wife and children were turned out upon the world to beg their living. The implacable man was not satisfied till thirty-two had been hung. " The old fool !" said Charles II., when he heard of it ; " he has taken away more lives in that miserable country than I for the mur- der of my father." "Had we let him alone he would have hanged half the country," said a member of Parliament. Charles sent over an order to the lieutenant- governor to assume the government. " He is under me, and I will not yield," said Berkeley, and told the hangman to drive the commissioners who brought the letter out of the country. Charles II. would not submit to such an insult, and the next ship summoned Berkeley to England. Governor Culpepper arrived in Virginia in 1680. He was cunning and avaricious. Before leaving England, he induced the king to have his salary raised one thousand pounds, and the perquisites increased, so that it would be equal to two thousand pounds income additional per annum, which the colonists had to pay. Tobacco was the only thing they culti- vated, and the price of the plant was all the time falling. GOVERNOR BERKELEY AND THE VIRGINIANS. 263 Governor Culpepper thought out a plan to make towns grow. The vessels which went up the river and gathered the hogsheads from the plantations were ordered to call only at certain places. The governor thought that a town would spring up at each landing, but no towns ap- peared. There were no industries in the colony to make towns grow. The planter, who had been shipping his tobacco from his own plantation, under the order was obliged to drive it many miles to the landing, thus adding to the cost. The price of tobacco was falling. Was it because people were leaving off smoking? On the contrary, it was in greater de- mand than ever. " The price is low because we raise too much," said some of the igno- rant people, who could not see that the taxes and the restrictions ate up the profits. "Let us cut up the plants," shouted a mob, which went into their neighbors' fields and destroyed many acres. To destroy tobacco -was to diminish the governor's salary, and Governor Culpepper let them know that he was master by hanging several of the ringleaders. " Five shillings shall be reckoned as six shillings in all trades between yourselves ; but in the payment of my salary five shillings shall be only five," said the governor. The Assembly protested against such an unrighteous act ; but he was master, and drove them out of the chamber. Culpepper stayed four years, and then was succeeded by Governor Effingham, who taxed the people still worse. If they remonstrated, he became more exacting. While he was in office, ship-loads of poor creat- ures, seized by the king's officers for having been concerned in a rebellion, arrived in Virginia, and were sold into servitude for ten or twenty years. When William and Mary came to the throne, Sir Francis Nicholson was appointed lieutenant-governor while Effingham was in England. He saw that the people needed roads, and built one through the most thickly settled section. He encouraged the people to dress skins of cattle and sheep, and to cultivate flax. He tried to stop the terrible profanity which the people indulged in by putting them in the stocks. While he was governor, Rev. James Blair, who was the commissary of the Bishop of London, and at the head of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, obtained a grant from the king and queen for a college. It was named William and Mary, and was liberally endowed by them. "What is the use of having a college in Virginia?" asked Seymour, the attorney-general of the crown, when Mr. Blair called upon him to see about the charter. 264 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. " The people of Virginia, as well as people in other parts of the world, have souls to be saved." " Curse your souls ! Raise tobacco !" Seymour replied. Nevertheless, the king and queen having ordered it, he was obliged to make out the charter, which he did in 1692 — the second in America. There were none but Episcopal churches in Virginia. The law would not allow the existence of other denominations. Mr. Blair, who had ob- tained the charter for the college, was a good man ; but most of the other ministers were graceless scamps who read prayers for a living, and the planters were obliged to give them many pounds of tobacco per annum. The ministers were illiterate. They spent their time in hunting, fishing, or in getting drunk. On Sundays they read prayers, and preached what they called a sermon — a few commonplace words strung together, with quotations from the Bible; and, when service was through, drank their grog, and were ready for another week of idleness and carousal. Governor Nicholson went to England in 1705, and for live years the people ruled themselves; and they did it so peaceably and sensibly that they were the five happiest and most prosperous years the colony had ever seen. In 1710 Governor Spotswood came, bringing the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. He ruled twelve years. During that period and through the following years the colony took on new strength. In 1732 Joiste Hite went into the Valley of the Shenandoah with a colony from Pennsylvania, and began a settlement at Winchester. John Lewis settled Staunton. Between 1730 and 1740, many Germans, Scotch Presbyterians, and Quakers crossed the Upper Potomac, and settled that region. They were industrious, hard-working, thrifty, religious, and intense lovers of liberty. They rejected the Established Church, chose their own ministers, and supported them. So it came about that there were two distinct settle- ments in Virginia — that east of the Blue Ridge, and that in the Valley of the Shenandoah. THE CHARTERS OF THE COLONIES TAKEN AWAY. 265 CHAPTER XXL HOW THE KING TOOK AWAY THE CHARTERS OF THE COLONIES. THERE was too much liberty in America to suit the King of England. The people of Massachusetts, under the charter given them by the grandfather of Charles II., were making their own laws arid governing themselves, and Charles II. determined to take it from them. The King's ' O Court issued a writ of quo warranto — that is, commanding the people of Massachusetts to appear before the Court and show by what authority they held the charter. If they were to say, " It was granted by King James." the Court could reply, "If the king had power to grant it, the king has power to take it away." The people of Massachusetts employed a lawyer to defend them; but the judges were ready to do the king's bidding, and the charter was revoked October 23d, 1684. For fifty years the people had elected their own officers, but now the king was to appoint the governor, make laws, and levy taxes. There were to be no more general courts. It was to be absolute power on one side, and abject humility and serfdom on the other. Charles II. laid his plans, or his ministers laid them for him, but Death stepped suddenly in, putting an end to a worthless life. His brother, the Duke of York, became King James II. On May 14th, 1686, a war-ship arrived at Boston, bringing Edmund Randolph, whom James had sent out to establish a new government. James appointed Joseph Dudley president, giving him authority to seize one of the meeting-houses in Boston. The Bishop of London sent Rev. Robert Ratcliffe to read prayers. " The prayers in the book are nothing but trash ; they are like leeks and garlic," said the people, hating the Prayer-book more than ever. "I want you to have the bell tolled every Wednesday and Friday at nine in the morning, for the people to come to prayers," said the new governor to the owner of one of the meeting-houses. "It is against our conscience; besides, we own the meeting -house. We will not do it !" 266 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Sir Edmund Andros arrived, bringing his commission as governor of all New England. James had determined to carry out his brothers plan. He would see if he could not have prayers in church. " The governor demands the keys of the meeting-house," said Edmund Randolph, whom Andros sent to obtain them. " The land and the house belong to us, and we will not let him have them," said the pew-owners; but the sexton, being terribly frightened, DISCUSSING THE CHAKTKK. gave them up, and Rev. Mr. Ratcliffe read prayers on Good-Friday. It was the beginning of absolute government in Massachusetts. Governor Andros appointed Joseph Dudley, William Stougliton, John Usher, and Edmund Randolph justices of the court to settle all questions of law. He appointed Edmund Randolph to collect the taxes. A few men had nice positions in government, charging what fees they pleased. The people had bought and sold land under the charter, but Governor Andros said the titles were worthless, because the charter had been revoked, and that they must take out new titles, for which they were to pay roundly. Andros ordered each town to choose a man to act with the selectmen in levying taxes. Rev. John Wise and John Appleton, of Ipswich, ad- vised the people to pay no attention to the order, but to do as they always had done. But Governor Andros soon let them know that he would not permit such talk. He had them up before the Court. THE CHARTERS OF THE COLONIES TAKEN AWAY. 267 "You have no privileges; you ought to be sold as slaves," said Dud- ley, who was ready to deprive them of every right. " We send you to prison for twenty-one days, and you are to pay a fine besides," was the sentence of the judges, and the sheriffs marched them to prison. "We cannot levy any taxes which the Assembly have not voted," said Shadrack Wilbur, town-clerk of Taunton, whereupon the judges sent him to jail for three months for his impudence. Andros ruled as he pleased, giving to his friends not only fat offices, but the farms which people had bought and paid for. Having established his authority in Massachusetts, he went to Con- necticut, to take away the charter which Governor Win slow had obtained THE CHARTER OAK. from Charles II. He rode in state, accompanied by sixty gentlemen, with a company of soldiers as his body-guard. The people of Connecti- cut received him respectfully, a troop of horsemen escorting him from Wethersfield to Hartford. 268 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. The governor and council called a meeting in the evening of the last day of October, 1687, to compel a surrender of the charter. There was a crowd in the chamber. The box containing the charter was placed upon the table. Two or three tallow-candles threw their dim light upon the document under which they had elected their own officers and made their own laws. Somebody lifted a finger, or made a sign ; and in an instant the candles went out. There were no matches in those days. They must strike a light with a flint and steel, or get a coal from somewhere. We can only imagine what Governor Andros and everybody else was think- ing about, sitting there in the darkness while somebody was going to the nearest house for a light ; but when the candles were lighted, the charter was nowhere to be seen. No one knew what had become of it ; no one but Captain James "VVardsworth, who was wise enough to keep his knowl- edge to himself. It was not in his house or any other building, but se- creted in a hollow oak-tree out on the Common. Although Governor Andros had not got possession of the charter, he set up his own government, and his secretary wrote this in the records: "His Excellency Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, Captain, General, and Governor of his Majesty's Territory and Dominion in New England, by order from his Majesty James the Second, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the 31st of October, 1687, took into his hands the govern- ment of the colony of Connecticut, it being by his Majesty annexed to Mas- sachusetts and other colonies under his excellency's government. FINIS." The word was written ; but nothing is final in this world that is not based on Eight, as Governor Andros discovered after a while. New Eng- land for the time being wras under his heel. The governor returned to Boston, fitted out an expedition, sailed east- ward to the Penobscot, and plundered the French at Castine, in Maine. lie kept six hundred soldiers in arms, compelling the people to pay the taxes. Edmund Randolph, the tax-collector, sold out his privilege to John West, wrho seized the goods of those who did not pay. It was on the 4th of April, 1689, that a vessel entered Boston harbor from Nevis, with a sailor named John Winslow on board, which sailed from that island in February. Just before he left there, a vessel sailed in bringing copies of the Prince of Orange's proclamation. The word ran through the streets. " You are wanted at the governor's house," said a messenger. " Why didn't you come here at once ?" asked Andros. " It is not customary for a passenger to go to the governor when the master of the ship has the news." THE CHARTERS OF THE COLONIES TAKEN AWAY. 269 "Where is the Declaration of the Prince of Orange that you brought? I want it." " I will not give it to you, because you are not willing the people shall know what has taken place." "You are a saucy fellow. Sheriff, take him to the justice of the peace ; let him deal with him." " Give us the Declaration of the Prince of Orange," said the justice. " I will not ; you keep the news from the people. I bought it with my own money." " Away with him to prison !" and the sheriff marched him off. The people of Boston did not know what was going on in England, only that William had landed. But their blood was rising. Governor Andros saw it, and moved into the fort on Fort Hill. Out in the harbor was the frig- ate Jfose, swinging at anchor. It was election-day, April 18th, and people came in from Cambridge, Roxbury, and Dorchester to hear the minister of the First Church preach. They were early ; some of them discovered Captain George on shore, and put him under guard. Somebody beat a drum at nine o'clock. A man climbed up the staff on Beacon Hill and hung out a flag. All Boston saw it, and the people out in Cambridge. Captain Hill's company suddenly made its appearance in King Street, marched to the State-house, escorting Simon Bradstreet, Thomas Danforth,and several of the old magistrates who had sympathized with the people. In a very short time Edmund Randolph, who had done so much to help Andros, Justice Foxcraft, John Sherlock — the sheriff who had marched John Winslow to jail — and many others who had held offices under Andros, found themselves in jail. The jailer himself, who had turned the key on so many good men, found himself in a cell, and Mr. Scates, a bricklayer, turning the key upon him. There were twenty companies under arms in Boston; drums were beating; men were running with their muskets. There was a great crowd on the shore at Charlestown — four hundred men, with guns, ready to help. Parties were coming down Charles River from Newton — down the Mystic from Medford. Never before had there been such a crowd in King Street. Somebody read a paper from the balcony of the State-house, setting forth the op- pression they had suffered, and resolving to have justice. The Rose was opening her port- holes, running out her guns. The lieutenant was issuing his order, swearing great oaths at the insults to the captain. He sent a boat and soldiers to bring them on board ; but the people seized the guns of the sailors, and marched them to the Town- 270 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. house. John Kelson commanded the troops. He marched to the fort, and planted his cannon. " Surrender the fort !" was the order to Andros. He gave it up, and Captain Fairweather turned the gun upon the frigate. Captain George promised that the frigate should not tire, and ordered the sails to be brought on shore. Great crowds poured into town all the afternoon, ready to take their revenge upon Andros, who was marched off to the fort. He tried to es- cape by putting on woman's clothes. He passed two sentinels, but the third discovered his thick-soled shoes, and marched him back. The peo- ple elected Simon Bradstreet governor, and absolute rule was at an end in Massachusetts. On the 29th of May a vessel sailed into the harbor, bringing joyful news. William, Prince of Orange, was King of England, and there was an end forever of absolute rule in England. In commemoration of the event the people of Boston sat down to a grand dinner in the Town-house, providing an abundance of wine, everybody eating and drinking till the sexton rung the bell at nine o'clock in the evening, when they made their way home, rejoicing over the downfall of King James, Andros, and all their minions. KING WILLIAM'S WAR. 271 CHAPTER XXII. KING WILLIAM'S WAR. AT three o'clock Tuesday morning, December llth, 1688, James II., King of England, rose noiselessly from his bed, passed with stealthy step from his palace, entered a carriage in waiting, was driven rapidly to the bank of the Thames, where he stepped into a boat and was rowed swiftly down the stream. As the boat shot past the old palace of Lam- beth, he flung into the river the Great Seal of England, used in stamping all the roj7al documents to give them validity. He was fleeing from his palace, his throne, his kingdom, from a people whom he had outraged in his attempts to set up a personal and absolute government by his tyrannical acts. The people had risen against him. They had invited his son-in-law, William of Orange, to aid them in over- throwing the government. He had landed at Torquay, had been wel- comed by the nation, and James was a fugitive, seeking refuge in France with Louis XIV., whose adopted daughter, Mary of Modena, was James's wife. On the last day of December, James entered the old palace of St. Germain, on the bank of the Seine, near Paris, which Louis XIV. had placed at his disposal. The Queen of England, with her infant child, arrived two days be- fore. Louis went out to meet her with a great retinue of courtiers. " St. Germain shall be your home," he said. He gave her a key to a casket which contained twenty thousand dollars in gold. " You are still King of England, and I will aid you to recover your kingdom," he said to James, and prepared for war against England. It was not simply a generous act on the part of Louis to a fellow- sovereign who was in trouble, but there were ideas behind it. Louis XIV. and James II. believed in the absolute right of kings to rule as they pleased ; that the people should have no voice in the government ; that kings were appointed of God to govern, and that the people must do their bidding. They had the right to levy taxes, to wage war, and com- 272 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. pel the people to fight at their pleasure. "I am the /State!" said Louis, and that comprehended all. Not another being in France was of any account. William, on the other hand, believed that the people had a right to make their own laws through a Parliament of their own choosing; that WHEKK "WILLIAM LANDED. the Parliament should be free to act, and that it was the duty of the king to execute the laws. James and Louis were Roman Catholics. James had done what he could to crush out the Protestant and establish the Roman religion in England. Louis hated Protestants, and drove them from his kingdom. He took pride in calling himself " the most Catholic King." He regarded himself as the great defender of the Roman Church. William was a Protestant; his wife Mary, daughter of James, was a Protestant, and he was regarded by the Protestants of all Europe as the defender of their religion. So the war was not waged merely that James might regain his crown ; but it was to be a great struggle between the absolute right of kings and the freedom of the people. KIXG WILLIAM'S WAR. 273 On the banks of the Rhine, the Danube, the Po, in the meadows of Holland, on the plains of Germany, amidst the vineyards of Italy, in the wilderness of North America, upon the Penobscot, the Piscataqua, Mer- rimac, and Mohawk, the struggle is to go on — not whether James shall be once more King of England, but whether the people shall have a voice in government, and think for themselves in matters pertaining to religion. Quenchless the ardor of the Jesuits. Through all the years, from the landing of the missionaries sent out by Madame de Guercheville, the black-gowned fathers were making their influence felt among the Indians of the Penobscot and Kennebec. Gabrielle Dreuillet, bidding farewell to France, obedient to the orders of his superior, crossed the Atlantic and established a mission on the Ken- 'v nebec, raised a chapel, set up the cross and an image of the Virgin Mary, gave presents to the dusky warriors, and reaped a rich harvest of converts so far as baptism was concerned. When the Iroquois, from beyond the Hudson, stole through the wilderness and fell upon the tribes in Maine, Father Gabrielle visited Boston, to ask the Puritans to use their influence in constraining the implacable Iroquois. He was hospitably entertained, and the Governor of Massachusetts used his influence to restrain the Mo- hawks. Three Jesuits succeeded Father Gabrielle — Father Thury, and the two brothers Bigot. They stirred up the Indians to make war upon the English. "My children," said Thury, "how long will you suffer your lands to be encroached upon by heretics ? By the religion I have taught you, I exhort you to resist them. The hatchet must be cleaned of its rust. Night and day a continual prayer shall ascend to heaven for your success ; an unceasing rosary shall be observed till your return, covered with the glory of triumph." During these years the Indians had made themselves at home in Dover, New Hampshire, coming and going as they pleased. There were five houses in the town, strongly fortified, in which the settlers slept at night. It was the evening of the 27th of June, 1688, when two squaws called at Major Waldron's garrison and asked if they might sleep there. " Indians are coming to trade to-morrow," they said. Major Waldron was pleased to hear it, for trade with the Indians always meant a good bargain to the white man. " Supposing \ve should want to go out in the night, how shall we open the door?" asked the squaws. They are shown how to undo the fastenings. 18 2 T-i OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Major Waldron is eighty years of age, white-haired, wrinkled ; but there is force yet left iu his arm, and he is as courageous as ever. He has no fear of any Indian that walks the earth; and the vague rumors and whisperings are as idle as the wind to him. He lies down to sleep. The lights in all the houses are extinguished. No sentinel walks the O ° street. In the darkness dusky forms glide noiselessly through the town. The doors of the houses open. The terrible war-whoop breaks the still- ness of the summer night. A half-dozen Indians enter the room where the brave old man is sleeping. He springs from the bed, seizes his sword, and single-handed drives them from the chamber into the large room. In the darkness one steals behind him, strikes a blow, and he falls. It is their hour of tri- umph. He has been a ruler and a judge. The Indians can be sarcastic. They seat him in his arm-chair, lift him upon the table. It is his throne. " Get us supper !" is their command to the family. They eat, and then turn to their bloody work. Oae by one they slash their knives across his breast. " So I cross out my account," they say. They are settling an account that has been standing thirteen long years. An Indian cuts off one hand. "Where are the scales? Let us see if it weighs a pound." Major Waldron bought beaver-skins, and was accustomed to put his hand as a weight upon the opposite scale when he weighed them. One cuts off his nose, another his ears. The old man's strength is gone, and, as he falls, one holds his sword, which pierces his body. In one of the garrisons is a faithful dog, whose barking awakes the inmates. The Indians rush upon the door. Elder Wentworth throws himself upon the floor, holds his feet against it, braces himself with all his might. The bullets whistle over him, but do him no harm, and he holds it fast. Elizabeth Heard, with her children, on this evening has come from Portsmouth in a boat. They are belated, and the Indians are at their bloody work when she reaches Major Waldron's house. Her children flee, while she sinks in terror upon the ground. An Indian with a pistol stands over her, but does not fire. " No harm shall come to you," he says. It is the Indian whom she befriended thirteen years ago. When the morning dawns it is upon the smouldering ruins of burn- ing dwellings, upon the mangled bodies of twenty-three men and women, and upon twenty-nine women and children going into captivity — a long KING WILLIAM'S WAR. 277 and weary march through the woods to Canada, to be sold as slaves to the French or kept in servitude by the savages. Louis XIV. saw that France could build up a new empire in America; but to accomplish such a result a man with a strong hand must be sent out to direct affairs, and Count Louis Frontenac was selected as the one most suitable for the work, with which he was already familiar. He reached Quebec, and laid his plans to strike three blows at the same time upon the English — one in the Valley of the Mohawk, one in New Hampshire, and one in Maine. In was in mid-winter that the three picked parties of French and In- dians started — one from Montreal, the second from Three Rivers, the third from Quebec. Let us follow them, and see how the French and Jesuits carried on this war of ideas in the wilderness of the Western World. In the middle of January, 1690, one hundred and sixty French and ninety Indians, wrho had been baptized by the Jesuits, started from Mont- real on snow-shoes, carrying heavy packs, and dragging their provisions on sleds. They toiled day after day through the snow to Lake Champlain, along its entire length on the ice, and then through the woods to the Valley of the Mohawk. On a Saturday night they halted two miles from Schenectady. The sun went down in a haze, and the night was bit- ter cold. At eleven o'clock they reached the town. Schenectady is so far from Canada, the snow is so deep, the cold so severe, that no enemy would un- dertake a hostile raid. So thought the easy-going Dutch settlers, who at nine o'clock raked up their fires, laid aside their pipes, and went to bed, little dreaming of the blow that was about to fall upon them. The party was commanded by D'Aillebout de Mantet and Le Moyne de Sainte- Helene, who had wTith him his two brothers, Le Moyne d'Iberville and Le Moyne de Bienville, whom we shall see again. The night was cold ; the wind howled through the forest ; snow was falling. The men stamped their feet to warm them. They were impa- tient of delay. French and Indians alike longed for the moment when the bloody work was to begin. The officers post their men. Then comes the war-whoop, the breaking in of doors. The settlers leap from their beds to fall before the tomahawk; women seize their children and run into the streets, to be shot down alike by French and Indians. Turn which way they will, there is nothing but death. The snow is crimsoned with their blood. The streets are strewn with the dead and dying. The flames of forty dwellings illumine the wintry sky, and in .the lurid light 278 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. the Indians, with strings of bleeding scalps of white-haired men and help- less women and fair -faced girls hanging at their sides, dance in frantic joy. The haze that settled down at night upon the horizon was the precursor of an approaching storm. The wind howls through the forests, sweeping the snow in blinding drifts. Yet out in the storm, barefooted, clad only in their night-dresses, men and women are fleeing with infants in their arms, freezing where they fall. Ah, what a scene is that which Captain Mantet and Lieutenant Sainte- Helene beheld on Sunday morning! the peaceful village in ruins — sinoul- SCHENECTADY. dering ashes instead of houses — every house except two burnt; sixty ghastly corpses in the snow; infants with their brains dashed out; men and women and maidens ruthlessly butchered. So those soldiers reared in France have massacred the inhabitants of this village, so far away in the wilds of the American Continent. At sunrise they are on their way with twenty-seven prisoners, and all the horses, making a swift retreat to Canada. Count Frontenac was greatly pleased with the result of the expedition, and wrote these words to Louis XIV. : " You cannot believe the joy that KING WILLIAM'S WAR. 279 this slight success has caused, and how much it contributes to raise the people of Canada from their dejection." The second party sent out by Frontenac consisted of twenty -four French and twenty-five Indians, commanded by Francis Hertel de Rou- ville, whom we shall see again.' On the 28th of January the fifty-one men started from Three Rivers southward through the wilderness, up the valley of the St. Francis to the highlands between the Atlantic and the St. Lawrence, to the head-waters of the Connecticut, across Northern New Hampshire to the Saco; and from the Saco to the Piscataqua they made their way through ice and snow, animated by the thought that they would strike terror to every Englishman on the continent. On the 27th of March they reached the English settlement at Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua, ten miles only from the sea. Seventy years had passed since Edward and AVilliam Hilton had reared their fish-houses at Dover, only five miles distant ; and this settlement of Salmon Falls was the frontier town in New Hampshire — so slow had been the advance of civil- ization. While Hertel and his men were preparing for their bloody work, the scouts crept in the darkness up to the residences of the settlers. The.y discovered a saw-mill, where men had been at work through the day, a fortified house, and two stockades, and scattered farm-houses. No senti- nel challenged them. No one was astir. The water was falling over the dam ; no other sound broke the stillness of the night. In the darkness Hertel posted his men, and the work began : thirty persons tomahawked and shot, fifty-four women and children captured. Morning dawned upon the scene of desolation — mangled corpses and burning dwellings, with Hertel and his prisoners moving away. A few hours later a party of settlers came up with him. He saw them approach, and posted his men on the bank of a river. It was nearly night when the fight began. The English lost two killed and seven wounded. Hertel lost several ; but he prevented the English from crossing the stream, and hurried his captives away, giving some of them to the Indians — Christian Indians, who had been baptized by the Jesuits, who tied them to trees, and put them to death with horrible tortures. The third party sent by Frontenac started from Quebec, consisting of fifty French and sixty Christian Indians, commanded by a Canadian offi- cer, Captain Portneuf, and Lieutenant Courtmanche. They reached the Kennebec River in May. They travelled slowly, catching fish, and killing moose and deer. Upon the Kennebec lived the Abenakis Indians, who 280 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. joined the expedition. The Jesuit priests had been among them, and had used their influence to stir them up to wage war upon the English. From the Penobscot came St. Castine, with some French and Indians. Hertel, in his return to Canada, had taken the route of the Kenne- bec, and joined Portneuf. Altogether there were nearly five hundred men. On the shore of Casco Bay, at Portland, was Fort Loyal, and a little village with four block-houses. On the morning of the 20th of May the people saw their cattle in the pastures running and tossing their heads in fright. The news of what had taken place at Salmon Falls had reached Portland, and the settlers had flocked into the village. There were one hundred of them in the fort, commanded by Captain Davis. The men in the garrison heard a gun fired, and then the yells of Indians. Portneuf's Christian Indians had killed a man, and could no longer restrain them- selves. Their shooting alarmed the garrison, and every man seized his gun. Captain Davis resolved to keep his men in the garrison ; but Lieu- tenant Clark was for going out to find the enemy. There was little dis- cipline, and he went out with thirty men, when suddenly there came a volley from an unseen enemy which killed or wounded every man, and only four succeeded in reaching the fort, into which all the settlers, with their families, fled. The French commander had no cannon ; but collecting the shovels of the settlers, he began to dig a trench to undermine the fort. While some of his men were at work, others were lying in secure places, ready to pick off any soldier that attempted to fire. For three days and nights the French worked in the trench till it was close to the fort. " Surrender !" shouted the French commander. "Will you give me good quarter, with liberty to march to the nearest English town, and have a guard for our defence and safety ?" Captain Davis asked. " You shall be protected ; I swear it !" said Portneuf, lifting his hand and taking a solemn oath that everything that was asked for should be granted. The gates were opened, the garrison laid down their arms, and then the work of death began. The tomahawk crashed through the skulls of men and women alike. The scalping-knife encircled their brows; infants wrere dashed against the stones ; and all that were spared were taken into captivity. " You have violated your solemn pledge," protested Captain Davis. " You are rebels against your lawful king, James II.," replied Port- KING WILLIAM'S WAR. 281 neuf, who, setting the town on fire, retreated to Canada, having wiped the settlement from the face of the earth. Captain Davis and four other men were spared. Upon reaching Que- bec, he was brought before Frontenac. " We were promised good quarter. I thought I had to do with Chris- tians that would have been careful of their engagements, and not violate their oaths," said Davis, fearlessly. "You are rebels against your rightful king," said Frontenac; but he treated Captain Davis courteously, and liked him for his outspoken opinions. About twelve miles from the sea, on the Merrimac River, in Massa- chusetts, is the beautiful town of Haverhill. It was a small settlement in 1690, but it was easy for the Indians to descend the river in their ca- noes and attack it. In the month of August, 1692, John Keezar went into his meadow with his scythe to cut grass. He took his gun with him, and leaned it against a tree. While mowing, an Indian crept through the woods, reached the tree, and seized the gun. "Me kill you now," he said, bringing his gun to his shoulder. John Keezar was brave, and he was quick to act. He was not the man to flee ; that would be certain death. He could yell louder than any Indian. With a screech he rushed upon the savage with his scythe, who dropped the gun and took to his heels ; but Keezar overtook him, and gave a stroke which cut a fearful gash across the half-naked body of the savage, who fell dead at his feet. Two boys, Isaac Bradley, fifteen years old, and Joseph Whittaker, eleven, were at work one day in Mr. Bradley's field, when a party of In- dians sprung out of the woods and seized them. Isaac was small, but was bright and brave ; Joseph, though four years younger, was as large as Isaac, but he had less heart and strength. The Indians did not stop to kill any of the settlers, but hastened away, travelling through the woods to the beautiful Lake Winnipissankie, where they had established their camp for the winter. In a very short time Isaac picked up enough of their language to know what they were saying. "We shall go to Canada in the spring," was what he heard them say. April came; the snow was gone, the flowers were beginning to ap- pear. In a few days the Indians would be on their march to sell them to the French. But Isaac had no intention of going to Canada. Day after day he thought over the matter. He knew that the English settle- 282 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. ments were far away to the south, but there was no path. lie had no compass. How could he ever reach them ? He would be guided by the sun by day and the stars by night. He would make the attempt. He might perish, but death was better than captivity. " I am going to try it to-morrow night. I am afraid you won't wake,'' he said to Joseph, who always slept soundly, and snored in his sleep. " Oh yes, I will !" Joseph replied. The Indians had killed a moose, and Isaac managed to secrete a large piece of the meat in the bushes near the camp. He tilled his pockets with bread. Night came ; all were asleep except lasac, who was so stirred by the thought of escaping that his eyes would not close. Every sense was quickened. He arose softly and touched Joseph, who was sound asleep. He did not stir, and Isaac shook him harder. "What do you want?" Joseph asked. In an instant Isaac was stretched out by his side, and snoring. The Indians did not wake; and after a little while the boys arose softly, and crept out of the wigwam, Isaac with an Indian gun and ammunition. They made their way to the meat, took it in their arms, and started upon the run, guiding their way by the stars. On through the wilderness, amidst the tall trees, over fallen trunks, over stones, through thickets and tangled brushwood, they travelled till morning, and then crept into a hollow log. Great the consternation in the camp of the Indians. Their captives gone ! A gun lost ! At daybreak the Indians, with the dogs, were on their track, and in swift pursuit. The boys heard the barking of the dogs, which soon came sniffing round the log. What shall the boys do now ? Isaac is quick-witted. " Good fellow, Bose ! Good fellow ! Here is some breakfast for you ;" and he tosses the moose-meat to them. The dogs know his voice, devour the meat, and are as happy as dogs can be. The boys are their friends; they cease barking, and trot around with no further concern. The Indians come upon the run. The boys hear their voices as they hasten, followed by the dogs ! Through the day they lie secreted in the log, and when night comes strike out once more in a different direction from that taken by the In- dians. All night long they travelled, nibbling the bread in their pockets. Morning came, and again they concealed themselves. Once more at night they are on the march. On the third day Isaac shoots a pigeon, but does not dare to kindle a tire, and they eat it raw. They find a turtle, smash its shell, and eat the meat. On, day after day, they toil, * "HE STAGGERS WITH HIM THROUGH THE WOODS." The •>>.! see the v They steal so: .in, carry them. The morni;- i ihiy c is failing'; his courage is bitterly. They are in the wilderness, they know not v, : their clothes in rags, their fe«t bleeding. -<--ph! Hero are some ground nuts. Here, drink ;-• - Isaac. -, no act of kindness can «m!\:ken the courage of the fainting boy. What shall Isaac do? Stay, and die with Ijun. or try and is way out? Sad the parting — the younger lying down to die upon, • older turning away, alone, lost in the vv i kierne^s. With faltering steps Isaac pushes on, and discovers ?, iuuise! No in- ; bnt he knows that there must be white men not far d pulse he tnriis back to the d>itjg boy, awakens him fro: his legs and bathes his' temples, ph, we are saved ! Help is near." few steps, then takes him on his back, staggers with -is, and strikes a beaten path. ley! The world's history has many a story of r;on, but uonu i;-ii>!ei' Or braver than this a^t of yours. Before a fort upon tlie Jiaco River, and aMoiiish tlie »-. ^ 'ho ston cnf.ures. In March. H')07, Thotnat ->f Ilaverhill, wa* »\ uork in his J; be terrible whoop of Indians, aini vsn toward his 1-. cst only a w«*»,k oi-1, TJic u tended' by her nurse, M^ry >ietf. " he shouted to hi* othw ^U'ldro?). rt >t, while Mr. D»£tiu ru»h«.'.'i into '< ri'tie I re close upon him. He could no. children. He c equally dear to hir he house, and s. • - ' I • ..',..,- . • . bohinii • 286 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. springs into the saddle, and is away, with the bullets flying around him. He loads his gun \vhile on the gallop, reaches his children, dismounts, and is ready for the pursuers ; so, keeping them at bay, he reaches the garri- •son, saving all the children. In a few moments, twenty-seven men, women, and children in the set- tlement are massacred, their houses set on fire, and the Indians are fleeing toward Canada. It was the middle of March. In the woods there was still much snow. The streams were swollen with its melting, and yet, with but one shoe, Mrs. Dustin began her march through the wilderness, driven by her cap- tors. Her feet were torn and chilled. Every step was marked by her blood. Some of her fellow -captives grew faint and fell, and then the tomahawk despatched them. All except Mrs. Dustin and Mary Neff were killed. Three days brought them to the Indian rendezvous, a little island at the junction of the Merrimac and Contoocook Rivers, in Boscawen, New Hampshire. It was a place where the Indians could catch fish, and where Mrs. Dustin found a little boy, Samuel Leonardson, who had been a cap- tive for more than a year, and who had learned the Indian language. In a few days, all except twelve of the Indians started upon another marauding expedition. Upon their return, the captives would be taken to Canada. The woman who has seen her infant dashed against a stone has an heroic spirit. Death will be preferable to captivity. They who would be free must strike the blow that will give them freedom. She lays her plan, "Ask the Indians where they strike with the tomahawk when they want to kill a person quick," she says to Samuel. " Strike 'em here," the Indian replies to Samuel's question, placing his finger on Samuel's temples. Little does the savage think that his own hatchet will be buried in his brains by the keen-eyed woman who watches his every movement. The Indian shows Samuel how to take off a scalp, all of which Mrs. Dustin observes. Night comes, and she informs Mary Neff and Samuel of her plan, and stimulates them by her heroic courage. There are twelve Indians in all who lie down to sleep, feeling that their captives cannot escape. No one keeps watch. The wigwam fires burn low. No sound breaks the stillness of the night except the waters of the Contoocook sweeping over its rocky bed. Mrs. Dustin rises, seizes a tomahawk, gives one to Mary Neff, another to Samuel. Each selects a KING WILLIAM'S WAR. 287 victim. A signal, and the hatchets descend, crushing through the skulls of the Indians, blow after blow in quick succession. It is the work of a WOMEN STANDING GUARD. minute, but in that brief time ten of the twelve have been killed ; the two escape in the darkness ! The prisoners, prisoners no longer, gather up the provisions, take the guns of the Indians, scuttle all the canoes but one, and take their depart- 288 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. lire down the Merriniac. A thought comes to the woman : will their friends believe the story they will have to tell. They will have indis- putable evidence. A few strokes of the paddle bring them back to the island. Mr~. Dustin runs the scalping-knife around the brows of the dead Indians, takes their scalps, and starts once more, guiding the canoe with her pad- dle, landing, and carrying it past dangerous rapids, reaching Ilaverhill, sixty miles distant, with her bloody trophies, to the astonishment of her friends, who thought her dead. The Government of Massachusetts made her a present of fifty pounds; and in these later years the people of the Merrimac Valley, to commemorate her heroism, have reared a monument upon the spot where she achieved her liberty. All along the frontier, from the Penobscot to the Hudson, the Indians murdered, plundered, and carried the settlers into captivity. The people could have no security only as they huddled into forts. If they worked in the fields, some kept watch, while others ploughed, mowed, or reaped. On Sunday every man carried his gun to meeting, and the men always s:it nearest the pew-door that they might spring out first in case of an attack. Scouts roamed the woods, and sentinels kept watch day and night. The colonies did very little in retaliation except to send an expedition under William Phipps to Acadia. He captured Port Royal (Annapolis), and went on to capture Quebec, but failed. Some of his ships were wrecked in a terrible storm, and the men drowned. Several hundred perished in the expedition. The colonies had gathered four hundred troops at Albany to invade Canada; but there was a scarcity of provisions, the commanders disagreed, and the troops were disbanded. Captain John Schuyler, of Albany, was indignant at the failure, and with twenty-nine white men and one hundred and twenty Mohawk In- dians swept down Lake Champlain and the Richelieu to Chambly, and fell upon the French settlement at La Prairie, killing and capturing twenty -five persons, burning houses and killing cattle — giving the French just such warfare as they waged upon the English. Down in Maine Le Moyne d'Iberville took the fort at Pemaquid. So for eight years, while great battles were being fought in Europe, the bloody, indecisive contest raged in America, over the ideas spoken of at the beginning of this chapter, till peace was declared at Ryswick in 1697 — Louis XIV. consenting to recognize William and Mary King and Queen of England. NEW JERSEY AND MARYLAND. 291 CHAPTER XXIII. NEW JERSEY AND MARYLAND. Dutch called the Delaware "South River," and the Hudson "North River." When Peter Minuet came to be governor of Man- hattan, some of the settlers crossed the North River, and made a settle- ment on the western bank at Pavonia, as a good place to trade with the Indians. It was the first settlement in New Jersey. They also went up the South River, and built a trading -house at Burlington ; but not till after the end of Dutch rule in America were there any more settlements. Charles II. gave New Jersey, as well as New York, to James, who sold the southern half to George Carteret and Lord Berkeley. Carteret took the east and Berkeley the west half. Carteret had been governor of the island of Jersey, and they agreed to call his half East Jersey, and Berkeley's West Jersey. Car- teret laid out a town, and called it Eliza- beth, in honor of his wife. Robert Treat and some other people from Connecticut explored the country around Elizabeth, and Newark purchased it of the Indians, and made a settlement. Other settlers came — a great many Quakers, Presbyterians from Scot- land, Huguenots and Dutch from New York. One of the Dutchmen was Arent Schuyler, who bought a large farm, built a great house, and had many slaves. One of the field hands discovered a piece of stone, green and heavy. He showed it to Mr. Schuyler, who sent it to England. Word came back that it was very rich copper ore. Mr. Schnyler had a great deal of the ore on his farm, and shipped many loads to the brass founders of England, and became very rich. MIDDLE COLONIES. 292 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. '• What shall I do for yon ?•' he asked of the slave, Caesar. " Kame any three things you want, and you shall have them." " Please, massa," said Caesar, " I should like to live with you always; second, please let me have all the to- bacco I want; and, third, I should like a dressing-gown like yours, massa." "Oh, ask for something of value." "Well, then, Massa, please give me a little more tobacco." Mr. Schuyler had a son, Peter, a resolute, sturdy man, who had much to do with what was going on in public affairs. He had many weary marches through the forests around Lake Champlain, up the Mohawk, in the French and Indian wars. Philip Carteret, son of George, was appointed Governor of East Jer- sey. He wanted things his own way, but found that the men from Con- necticut, the Presbyterians from Scotland, and the Quakers had ideas of their own. They compelled him to grant them the right to have a voice in the making of laws. FIRST CHURCH IS NE\VAHK. THE OLD 8CHCYLER MANSION. NEW JERSEY AND MARYLAND. 293 Their charter said : " No person shall at any time, in any way, be call' ed in question, or in the least punish- ed or hurt, for opinion in religion." In 1702, Carteret and Berkeley gave up their rights to Queen Anne, and the two colonies became one, the queen appointing the governor. From that time on there was little disturbance, and the people were so prosperous that travellers said there were no poor in the colony. Before Charles I. became king, he went to Spain to see if he could bring about a marriage between him- self and the King of Spain's daugh- ter. George Calvert went with him to manage affairs ; but the Spaniards wanted to drive such a hard bargain, politically, that Charles went back PETER SCHUYLER. to England utterly disgusted. Nevertheless, when he came to the throne, he rewarded George Cal- vert by making him Lord Baltimore, and giving him the island of New- foundland. Lord Baltimore undertook to plant a colony there, calling it Avalon ; but the fogs, rain, sleet, and snow were so disagreeable that he could not induce people to settle there, and Charles gave him a tract of country bounded on the south by the Potomac River, from its mouth to the Alleghanies, and on the north by the fortieth parallel of latitude. William Claybourne, a surveyor from London, sent out by the London Company to Virginia, had already sur- veyed a portion of the country, and had purchased the island of Kent in the Chesapeake, and made a settlement there in 1631. Georo-e Calvert died before he could O carry out any plans for the settlement ARMS OF THE CALVKRT FAMILY. of lllS UCW ColoilV J bllt lllS SOU Cecil OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. sent his brother Leonard, with three hundred emigrants, in two ships, the Ark and the Dove, to make a beginning. Most of the settlers were Catholics ; and the Jesuits, ever on the watch FIRST MASS IN MARYLAND. to get a foothold in America, sent Father White and two other priests of the order of Loyola. On March 25th, 163-i, the day of Annunciation, the priests set up a cross on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, and celebrated mass. They laid out a town, and named it St. Mary's. Lord Baltimore gave the name of Maryland to the province. The Indians flocked around, and were kindly treated. Lord Baltimore bought the land of them, and made them liberal presents. The Indians NEW JERSEY AND MARYLAND. 295 had cultivated large fields of corn, their wigwams were well made, and they gave two of the largest to the Jesuit priests. There was trouble at the outset. " You are under my authority," was the word sent by Lord Baltimore to William Claybourne and the men of Kent. Claybourne was acting under the Governor of Virginia ; besides, he had purchased the island of Kent. " What shall I do ?" was the question put by Claybourne to the Gov- ernor of Virginia. " Stand by your rights." Claybourne went on trading with the Indians for their furs; where- upon the St. Mary's people, watching their opportunity, seized a vessel loaded with furs owned by the Kent people. At that the Governor of Virginia sent a vessel to demand redress. There was a fight, and several were killed ; but the St. Mary's people were victorious. William Claybourne hastened to England, and the trouble was re- ferred to the court. The judges discussed the question of authority. It took them a long while to do it ; but in 1639 they informed Claybourne that Lord Baltimore had all authority. The judges did not know that the people in Maryland the while were quietly taking things into their own hands. Lord Baltimore and his friends, to whom Charles had given the territory, sent out a code of laws ; but the settlers, instead of accepting it, formed a code of their own, in which they said that everybody, slaves only excepted, should have equal rights. "We will have a government of our own, elect our representatives, and make our own laws," they said. The spirit of liberty was rising. It was having a great uplift in Eng- land, and all along the eastern shore of America, from the Piscataqua to the Potomac. There were many petty troubles in Maryland during the conflict be- tween the King and Parliament, and during Cromwell's time. William Claybourne never lost sight of his claim. In 1655 quite a battle was fought between Governor Stone and Claybourne and their followers. Stone was taken prisoner, and some of his officers were hung. There was anarchy for several years. Things were more quiet after Charles II. came to the throne ; but when James II. became king, he sent out Sir Lionel Copley as governor, who established the Church of England, and who would not permit the Catholics to have any voice in government. There was so much disturbance, the laws of England in regard to 296 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. commerce were so unjust, that no great towns sprung up. It was not till 1730 that Philip Jones went out with his compass and chain, and laid out the city of Baltimore. The people had very little trouble from the Indians; and during all the years that the New England colonies were fighting the French and Indians the people of Maryland were living in peace and quiet. LAYING OUT BALTIMORE. SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 297 CHAPTER XXIV. SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. of the commanders of the English navy who fought the Dutch on that day when Charles II. and the frivolous Cavaliers were at Greenwich, and heard the roar of cannon down the Thames, was Admiral WILLIAM PENS. Penn. He was a brave man, and so loyal that he lent the king a large sum of money. His son William was a student at Oxford, who for at- tending a Quaker meeting was expelled from college. 298 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ""William has become a Qnaker, or some melancholy thing," said his old associates, when they heard of his expulsion. " A Quaker ! William a Quaker !" The admiral could not believe it; but when he found that William was thinking seriously about becoming a follower of George Fox, he be- came furious, and turned him out-of-doors. The admiral died in 1670, leaving a great estate, which fell to Wil- liam. Part of the property was the money which the king had borrowed — amounting to sixteen thousand pounds. Charles could spend thousands of pounds every week foolishly, but never had any for the payment of his debts. William Perm, probably understanding that it would not be easy to obtain the money, proposed to take it in land in America. A grand idea came to him. The Quakers could have little peace in England ; he would start a colony in America, where they would be exempt from per- secution. Charles was delighted at the proposition. Of what value to him was a wilderness three thousand miles away, inhabited by savages? To cancel the debt, he gave Penn all the territory now included in Pennsylvania. On September 1st, 1682, the ship William, with Penn on board and one hundred Quakers, sailed from England for their new home. It was a sad voyage, for the small-pox broke out ; and before the ship entered Delaware Bay, one-third had died. It was a day of rejoicing when they reached Newcastle. The Swedes and the Quakers who had already settled near there welcomed him as their benefactor. Other vessels came — thirty-three in all — bringing Quakers who were eager to turn their backs upon England, where they had suffered bitter persecution. " There shall be freedom of thought and speech to all. You shall be governed by laws of your making. I shall not usurp the right of any, nor suppress any person," said Penn. Three Swedes, sons of Swan Swanson, owned a strip of land between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers; Penn picked it out as the site for the city of "Brotherly Love," which he proposed to build. He pur- chased the land, and set Thomas Holmes to surveying it, who laid the streets straight from river to river, and named one Chestnut, another Walnut, a third Mulberry. The king had given Penn the land, but he made the Indians his friends by purchasing it of them. He invited the chiefs to meet him be- neath the wide-spreading trees on the banks of the Delaware. "We are SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 299 one flesh and blood, brothers," said Penn. " We will live in love as long as the sun and moon shine," the Indians replied. Penn gave them blank- ets, knives, kettles, axes, beads, and trinkets, which cost him but little, but which were of great value in the e}7es of the confiding Indians. It was a recognition of their right, and they were satisfied. They regarded every man who wore a broad-brimmed hat as their friend. The Quakers were taught by George Fox that they ought not to fol- low the fashions of the world, and so their clothes were never out of fash- ion, for they were made after an unchanging pattern. Their meeting- LANPING OF WILLIAM PENN AT PHILADELPHIA. house was plain. Sunday they called First Day. No one preached un- less moved by the Spirit, which they believed would tell them what to say or do at all times. Nevertheless, a whipping-post and stocks were set up 300 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. FIRST BKICK BUILDING ERECTED IN PHILADELPHIA — GIVEN BY MR. PENN TO HIS DAUGHTER. for the punishment of offenders. They regarded theatres as demoral- izing. The Quakers lived in the city of " Brotherly Love," but they found that they could not get on without judges and courts. They claimed to be guided by the " inner light," but could not free themselves from super- stition. Margaret Mattson and Jeshro llendrickson were accused of being witches, and brought before Penn for trial. The neighbors testified against them; but the judges said the testimony would not warrant hang- ing them, and they were set at liberty. The settlers were superstitious. They believed that the devil was prowling here and there, seeking whom he might devour. Rev. Mr. Hesselius — the Swedes' minister — cousin of Emanuel Swedenborg, wrote an account of the devil's doings; how a cap- tain of a ship, who was very profane, was seized by the devil and thrown into the river in sight of the people. He also had a marvellous tale to tell how, for fifteen days, it rained upon a black oak-tree, while all the rest of the forest was dry ! Gabriel Thomas wrote to his friends about matters in Philadelphia during the first year of its settlement. There were thirty carts in the colony. William Penn rode in a coach or on horseback. Laboring men could get paid as much for their time as in England. Women could get very high wages — from five pounds to ten pounds per annum. No girl need be an old maid, for there were more men than women, and a girl could have her pick of the young men. Gabriel and his fellow-citizens used to drink their grog at the Blue SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 301 Anchor Tavern. It was only when a ship came from England that they had any news to tell. They discussed the affairs of their neighbors, and told stories of pirates and robbers. William Penn remained two years, and then returned to Eng: land, leaving his secretary, James Logan, to look after affairs. After he was gone the great " Walking Purchase " of land took place. The settlers wanted more land, and made a bargain with the Indians to give them so many blank- ets, kettles, knives, and axes for what land a man could walk around in a day. The Quakers laid out a path, removed the fallen trees, made a smooth way, picked out the fastest 11 j.1 T it. 1J ii J ._ JAMES LOGAN, SECRETARY TO WILLIAM PENN. walker that they conld find, and put him in training. The Indians came to see him walk, and were astounded when they saw him walking so fast that they had to run to keep up with him, going round a great tract. " The land is ours now ; you must build your wigwams somewhere else," said the Quakers. "We have been cheated ; we will not leave," said the Indians. It was the beginning of no end of trouble; but the white men were the strongest, and the Indians had to leave. In December, 1699, William Penn, after being fifteen years in England, revisited Pennsylva- nia once more. " I am going to my American Desert," he wrote when he was about to leave England. But Pennsylvania was not a desert. The inhabitants numbered more than twenty thousand, and Philadelphia was a town. William Penn had a charming country residence on the Delaware above the city. An PENN S HOUSE. 302 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. avenue of poplars extended from the house to the river, and the grounds were laid out in lawns and gardens. There were apples, peaches, plums, grapes, and strawberries, and flowers of every hue. If the governor wanted to enjoy himself on the river, he had but to step into his barge. There was a cook-house, a wash-house, a brewery where he could brew his own beer; and it took a great deal to supply the people who came to transact business, or to pay their respects to him. In the great hall were long tables, where everybody, the poor as well as the rich, Indians, negroes, all could find something to eat, with ser- vants to wait on them. Once when he gave an entertainment there were so many to eat that the tables were spread beneath the trees, and the people ate one hundred roast turkeys, besides other meats. He brought furniture from England — covered chairs, oaken tables, ware manufactured in the potteries of England, damask curtains, and plush cushions. He lived in the style of an English gentle- man, but did not look upon himself as being any better than other men because he had money. One Sunday, when he was going to meeting on horseback, he overtook Rebecca Ward, who was trudging along without shoes or stockings. "Will thee ride, Rebecca?" he asked; and, seating her upon the pillion behind him, gave her a fine ride. William Penn purchased several slaves, but treated them kindty. He was always a true friend to the Indians ; and in 1701 invited the chiefs of all the tribes to meet him, to make a treaty under which they should have the same rights before the law as the English. In 1701 he was obliged to return to England, to look after his inter- ests there. He never visited Pennsylvania again. THE PENN SEAL. WITCHES. CHAPTER XX Y. WITCHES. ALL the world believed in witches — that men and women, by making a bargain with the devil, had power to torment whomsoever they pleased. Everybody believed that the devil was very much like a man in form, only that he had wings like a bat, a tail, cloven feet, and horns ; that he was able to confer great power on witches, enabling them by infernal arts to raise storms, sink ships, afflict children with tits, kill cattle, set chairs and tables to dancing; that they had power to make themselves invisible, creep through key-holes, ride on broomsticks through the air, and that it was a special delight to hold their orgies in thunder-storms. To doubt the existence of witches was to reject the teachings of the Bible. Were not the children of Israel commanded not to suffer a witch to live? In 1488, four years before Columbus sailed in search of the New World, a storm swept over Constance, in Switzerland, which destroyed the corn and grapes ; and the people accused Anne and Agnes Min- delen of having raised it. They confessed that the devil put them up to it, and were burnt to death. Two years before this, Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull directing that witches should be burnt. When the O wicked and cruel Alexander VI. was in the papal chair, he set the In- quisitors to work to rid the world of witches. They burnt six hundred poor old women in the bishopric of Bamberg, in Germany. By the shore of Lake Geneva, in 1515, during three months more than five hun- dred were burnt to death. What a scene! Innocent women, accused of horrible crimes by their neighbors and best friends, led out by the score, chained to stakes, fagots piled around them, their bodies smeared with pitch, that the fire might take surer hold upon the quivering flesh! In 1549 the good Archbishop Cranmer gave these directions to the bishops: "You shall inquire whether any one makes use of charms, sor- cery, enchantments, witchcraft, soothsayings, or any like craft invented bv the devil." 30i OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The Countess of Lennox, who conspired against Queen Elizabeth, con- sulted witches. In 1591 Archbishop Spotswood spent nearly all his time in examining witches. All through Spain, France, Germany, and Holland, during these years, thousands of men and women were burnt. In the village of Lind- heim, in Germany, containing only six hundred inhabitants, thirty were LAKE GENEVA. put to death in one year. More than one hundred thousand were burnt in all. In 1618 seventeen witches were condemned to death in Lancashire ; sixteen in Yarmouth ; fifteen at Chelmsford. When a woman was accused of being a witch, her hands were tied to her feet, and she was thrown into a pond ; if she did not sink, it was re- garded as positive proof that she was a witch — that the devil alone enabled her to float. If, on the contrary, she went to the bottom, she was supposed to be innocent. Very few floated ; nearly all the poor creatures were drowned while showing that they were innocent. Matthew Hopkins was appointed witch-finder. He travelled through England, having his expenses paid, and a fat fee besides, arresting whom- WITCHES. 305 soever he pleased, examining their bodies for witch marks. If a pimple, wart, or wen was discovered, it was a sure indication that the person was in league with bad spirits. They were the devil's marks. The accused were subjected to terrible torture to make them confess. In a short time more than one hundred persons were hung through Hopkins's zealous efforts. He was aided by some of the best men in England. One of those who suffered deatli at the hands of Hopkins was a good old minis- ter, eighty years of age, who had preached for half a century. Hopkins threw him into a pond ; but, as he did not sink, it was clear that he had sold himself to the devil. The good man died, declaring to the last that he was innocent. Hopkins was greatly reverenced by the people, as endowed with supe- rior wisdom ; but after awhile he himself was accused, and had a taste of his own medicine. His thumbs were tied to his great toes, and he was tossed into a pond. He managed, however, to swim, and stoutly protest- ed that he was not a witch, and so saved his neck from the halter. Sir Matthew Hale, lord chief-justice, was a good man, an upright judge, and presided at the trials of many witches. Amy Duny and Rose Cul- lender were accused by Margaret Arnold of bewitching her little girl, who was afflicted with fits. " One day," said Margaret, " a bee flew into the face of my child, and a few minutes after she vomited up a two-penny nail. At another time my little girl caught an invisible mouse which she threw into the fire, and it instantly flashed like gunpowder." Nearly all the testimony was as silly as this. Sir Matthew called upon Sir Thomas Brown, a great and learned phy- sician, to give his opinion. " I am clearly of the opinion," said Sir Thomas, " that the fits are natural, but heightened by the devil co-operating with the malice of the witches at whose instance he did the villanies." Sir Matthew was tender-hearted ; but here was the testimony of the greatest physician in all England that the devil and two old women had a hand in making the child sick. The Bible commanded him to put them to death, and he ordered them to be executed. Sir Matthew wrote a book about witchcraft. Rev. Richard Baxter, a learned and godly min- ister, wrote another. Rev. Mr. Perkins published a third, all detailing the horrible crimes and incantations of the witches. The printers of Lon- don kept their presses going, printing pamphlets about witches. No one doubted the stories told by the accusers, especially when many of the accused confessed that they were in league with the devil. 20 306 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Every vessel crossing the Atlantic brought accounts of the doings of witches in England, and books and pamphlets found their way into the settlers' homes all over New England and Virginia. Governors, judges, STORIES WERE TOLD OF WHAT THE WITCHES WEKE DOISC. ministers, and people alike read them, firmly believing what such good men as Chief-justice Hale and Richard Baxter had written. When any- thing strange happened that they could not account for, it was ascribed to witches. If the butter would not come in churning, the cream was bewitched ; and the way to get the witch out was to heat a horseshoe red- hot and drop it into the churn, which would so scorch the hag that she would leave in a twinkling. A horseshoe nailed over a door would pre- vent witches from entering it. Ministers preached about witches,, warning their hearers that the Prince of the Power of the Air was round about them, going up and down the earth seeking whom he might devour. By the wide-mouthed fireplaces in the old kitchens stories were told of what the witches were doing. The eager listeners felt their flesh creep, and their hair stand on end as the stories were rehearsed. Timid people were afraid to go out- of-doors after dark, fearing that they might encounter a ghost or hob- goblin. Boys and girls, if sent down cellar after a mug of cider or fur WITCHES. 307 apples, felt their hearts leaping up their throats as they beheld fantastic shadows on the walls. When they crept up- stairs to bed, it was with quick and nervous step, for there was no knowing what might be behind the boxes and barrels in the garret. When the lightnings glared, and the rain beat against the windows, they thought of the witches that were ca- reering through the air on broomsticks or holding a revel in the forest. The dim, pale light which they sometimes saw along the marshes was will-o'-the-wisp — the devil's wisp — ready to lure them into some snare. The devil was ever round about them, and the witches would do his bidding. About the time that Matthew Hopkins was tossing women into ponds and hanging them, the people of Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1618, ac- cused Margaret Jones of being a witch. She doctored people with roots THKIK HEARTS LEAPING UP THEIll THROATS. and herbs. The idea was abroad that she had a " malignant touch ;" that if she laid her hands upon persons in anger they would become blind, deaf, or in some way afflicted. She was put in prison, and the man who guard- ed her said that he saw a little child with her, which instantly vanished. 308 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Notwithstanding she declared her innocence, the deluded people protested that she was in league with the devil, and she was ex- ecuted. John Winthrop, who kept a diary, says, "The day and hour she was executed there was a very great tempest in Connecticut, which blew down trees, and did much damage" — the superstitious and credulous people firmly believing that the devil was thus taking vengeance upon the country. Margaret's husband, Thomas, had a sorry time of it after she was hung: people pointed their fingers at him, and made life so unpleasant that he went on board a ship bound for Barbadoes. It was a small ves- THE IDEA WAS ABROAD THAT SHE HAD A LIGNANF TOUCH." WITCHES. 309 sel, and there were eighty horses on the deck, which made it top-heavy. While at anchor in the harbor the craft began to roll fearfully, and the superstitious sailors said that Thomas Jones was the cause of it, and hustled him on shore and into prison as a witch. People were such firm believers in witchcraft, and so credulous, that it was easy to create a suspicion against a person, and many women were accused of being witches by their jealous and envious neighbors. One of the settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts, Hugh Parsons, sawed boards and planks for a living. He worked hard during the day and filed his saws at night, and made money faster than some of his neighbors, who through jealousy, perhaps, accused him of being a witch. He was ar- rested ; and Hannah Lankton and her husband testified that one day they had a boiled pudding for dinner, and when they took it out of the bag it was cut open lengthwise, as if with a knife. They did not know what to make of it, and said it was bewitched. They threw a piece of it into the lire, and soon after Mr. Parsons came to the door, which convinced them that he had bewitched it. A neighbor could not get a tap out of a beer- barrel, but Mr. Parsons pulled it out without any difficulty, which wras sure proof that he was a witch. Mrs. Parsons was sick and became in- sane, and the ignorant people said that she had sold herself to the devil. Her little child died, and they said that she and her husband had poisoned it. They were put in prison, and the neighbors testified against them. One man saw snakes in his room at night. A woman saw a light flicker- ing around her petticoat ; a cow would not give down her milk; a woman had a pain in her breast; a little girl said that she saw a dog, though no one else could see it. Others saw things that they could not account for, which made them think that their neighbor Parsons \vas a witch. Al- though he and his wife were cast into prison, the judges did not think they were witches, and they were not put to death. In nearly every town there were men and women who were suspected of being witches. Hampton, New Hampshire, had a witch — General Moulton — who made money so fast that his superstitious neighbors said that the devil helped him. One day his house caught fire and was burnt, and they said that the Evil One had done it because the general fooled him. He bargained with Satan to fill one of his boots every night with gold. The devil came to fill it, and was amazed to find that it took several cart-loads. Wonder- ing how so small a boot could hold so much, he made an examination, and discovered that the general had cut a hole in the sole and another in the floor, that the gold had run through it, and that he had filled the cellar ; whereupon he blew a flame from his mouth and set the house on fire ! 310 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The saddest story in the history of , our country is that of the witch craze at Salem, Massachusetts, brought about by a negro woman and com- pany of girls. The negress, Tituba, was a slave, whom Rev. Samuel Par- ris, one of the ministers of Salem, had purchased in Barbadoes. We may think of Tituba as seated in the old kitchen of Mr. Parris1 s house during the long winter evenings, telling witch-stories to the minister's niece, Eliz- abeth, nine years old. She draws a circle in the ashes on the hearth, burns a lock of hair, and mutters gibberish. They are incantations to call up the devil and his imps. The girls of the village gather in the old kitchen to hear Tituba's stories, and to mutter words that have no meaning. The girls are Abigail Williams, who is eleven ; Anne Putnam, twelve; Mary Walcot and Mary Lewis, seventeen; Elizabeth Hubbard, Elizabeth Booth, and Susannah Sheldon, eighteen ; and two servant-girls, Mary Warren and Sarah Churchill. Tituba taught them to bark like dogs, mew like cats, grunt like hogs, to creep through chairs and under tables on their hands and feet, and to pretend to have spasms. Mr. Parris had read the books and pamphlets published in England — how persons bewitched acted like animals, and went into spasms, and he came to the conclusion that they were bewitched. He sent for Doctor Griggs, who said that the girls were not sick, and without doubt were bewitched. The town was on fire. People came to see the girls, who, delighted with the success of their play, crept about all the more like cats and dogs, barking, mewing, and uttering piercing screams. Sunday came; and when the congregation had finished singing, Abi- gail Williams said to Mr. Parris, "Now stand up and name your text." * The minister and everybody else was amazed, but he read his text. " It is a long one," said Abigail. The minister went on with his preaching. " There, we have had enough of that," shouted another girl. "There is a yellow bird on the minister's hat," cried Anne Putnam. The parents of the girls stood aghast, and Mr. Parris, believing that they were assaulted by the devil, invited the ministers of the other par- ishes to come and hold a day of fasting and prayer. The ministers as- sembled, saw the girls go into fits, rolling their eyes, holding their breath, muttering gibberish, peeping like frogs, barking like dogs, and devoutly believed that they were bewitched. They prayed solemnly and fervently, recalling the saying of Jesus Christ — " This kind goeth not out except by fasting and prayer." The news spread, and the people came in crowds to see the girls. WITCHES. 311 "Who bewitches yon ?" they asked. " Sarah Good, Sarah Osbnrn, and Tituba," said the girls. Sarah Good was a poor old woman, who begged her bread from door to door. Sarah Osburn was old, wrinkled, and sickly. What a scene was that around the meeting-honse, March 1st, 1692 ! All Salem was there ; for the women who were accused of being witches were to be examined by the justices. "A gathering on the village green — The cocked hats crowd to see ; Their clothing ancient velveteen, With buckles on their knee. " A clustering round the tavern-door, Of square-toed village boys, Still wearing as their grandsires' wore — The Old-world corduroys." Sheriff and constable escorted the justices, John Hathorne and Jon- athan Corwin, from Thomas Beadle's tavern to the meeting-house, and gave them seats in front of the pulpit. Rev. Mr. Parris prayed that God L _J THOMAS BEADLE'S TAVERN, 1692. would direct them. The girls were there, and Sarah Good was brought o / o in by the sheriff. " Have you made a contract with the devil ?" asked Justice Ha- thorne. ""No." "Children, is this the person who hurts you?" 312 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "Yes ; she is sticking pins into us !" and the girls screeched. "Why do you torment the children?" " I do not." The girls went on with their screeching, and the justice and all the people were so deluded, and were such firm believers in witchcraft, that they accepted all that the girls said as truths, and the denials of the wrinkled old women as lies. " Sarah Osburn, have you made a contract with the devil ?" asked the justice. " I never saw the devil." "Why do you hurt the children ?" " I do not hurt them." " She does ! she does !" said the girls, and the people decided in their minds against her. " Tituba, why do you hurt the children ?" " I do not." "Who is it, then?" " The devil, for aught I know." " Did you ever see the devil ?" " Yes, he came to me and bid me serve him. Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn wanted me to hurt the children, but I would not." " How does the devil appear when he comes to you ?" "Sometimes like a hog, and sometimes like a great black dog/' "What else have you seen ?" "Two cats; one red, and the other black. I saw them last night, and they said ' Serve me ;' but I would not." "What did they want you to do?" " Hurt the children." "Did you not pinch Elizabeth Ilubtfard?" " Yes, they made me pinch her, and wanted me to kill her with a knife." " How do you ride when you go to meet the devil ?" "On a stick. I ride in front, and Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn be- hind me. We go up over trees, and in a short time are in Boston or any- where else." Tituba had a great many other things to narrate — that the devil some- times wore a tall black hat ; that one of his imps was about three feet high, hairy all over, and had a long nose; that the imp came into Mr. Parris's house and stood by the fire. The people believed her. Would she be likely to admit that she was WITCHES. 313 a witch if she were not one ? The girls accused her of pinching them, and she acknowledged that she did so ; and the girls, therefore, were telling the truth, and Sarah Osburn arid Sarah Good, in denying that they were witches, were telling a lie. So the justice and the people reasoned, and the sheriff took them to Ipswich jail, ten miles away, and the people went home to talk over the wonderful event. The ministers of Salern, Boston, and the surrounding towns met to consult upon the matter. Among them was the learned Cotton Mather, who accepted as truthful the terrible accounts that reached him from England. Few if any doubted that the girls were bewitched ; and they, finding it pleasant to have so much notice taken of them, went on with their creeping, barking, mewing, and falling into convulsions, and crying REBECCA NURSK S HOME. that somebody was sticking pins into them. They accused Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, two women who were kind to the poor, and very re- ligious ; but so credulous were Rev. Mr. Parris and Rev. Mr. Noyes, and everybody else, that they were arrested. When they were examined be- fore the justice, the girls all cried out that the women were torment- ing them. " I am as innocent as a child unborn," said Mrs. Nurse ; but the people, the ministers, the justices, all had lost their heads, and the women were committed to prison. Mrs. Good had a little girl, Dorcas, live years old, and the bewitched girls said that Dorcas helped her mother in tormenting them. "She bites me!" they cried, and showed the prints of teeth on their arms. The sheriff thereupon arrested Dorcas and put her in prison, where she was chained with her mother; for it was be- 314: OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. lieved that unless the witches were chained they would fly out through the key-hole. Sarah Cloyse and Elizabeth Proctor were the next persons accused. The judges met sometimes at Thomas Beadle's tavern, some- times in the meeting-honse. The news spread. No one doubted that the devil had come in great wrath to afflict the good people of Salem, Rev. Mr. Lawson, Rev. Mr. Parris, Rev. Mr. Noyes, and 'other ministers preached sermons against witchcraft, setting forth that these manifestations were without doubt produced by the devil. The whole colony was excited, and Lieutenant- governor Danforth and his councillors — six hundred men — went to Salem to sit in judgment at the trial of Sarah and Elizabeth. Abigail Williams brought a horrible accusation. " I saw a company of witches at the Rev. Mr. Parris's house," she • said; "there were forty of them. They had a sacrament, and Sarah Cloyse and Sarah Good were their deacons, and the witches drank blood." When Sarah Cloyse fainted at the terrible accusation, the girls went into convulsions, and John, Mr. Parris's negro, rolled and tumbled upon the floor, and all cried that the witches were tormenting them. Governor Danforth and his councillors were amazed. The prisoners had no one to help them, for there were few lawyers in America in those days. The governor and the judges asked them questions, assuming at the outset that they were witches, and the poor women, friendless and alone, as- tounded, knew not what to say. They could only say, "We are inno- cent." Though they said it, the governor, judges, and everybody else be- lieved the girls, and the poor women were thrust into prison. Instead of there being fewer witches, there were more, and in a short time the jails were filled with men and women. Among those arrested was Rev. George Burroughs, who had once preached in Salem, but who was living in Maine. The sheriff made a long journey to arrest him. Not only the girls and Tituba, but others accused those arrested of being witches. If a man had anything against his neighbor, it was easy for him to take revenge by accusing him of exercising witchcraft. Sam- uel Shattuck, who dyed clothes for a living, had trouble with Bridget Bishop. John the negro also had a grievance against her, and testified that she was a witch. " I saw her go through a hole no larger than my hand," said John ; and the judges accepted his testimony. Samuel Shat- tuck's child had fits. " I believe it is the work of Bridget," he said. What should the judges do ? What but condemn them to be hung. The Bible commanded that witches should not be suffered to live. For one hundred and fifty years the laws of England had been in force against WITCHES. 315 witches. Thirty thousand had been executed in England. Parliament had appointed a witch-finder. King James had written a book against them. Archbishop Jewell had begged Queen Elizabeth to burn them. Rev. Richard Baxter, whose name was reverenced everywhere, had written against witches. In all lands they were regarded as the enemies of God and man, and here they were conspiring with the Evil One against the lives, the peace, and happiness of the community. The great and good Lord Chief-justice of England, Matthew Hale, had condemned those to death who were not near so diabolical as the accused, and had written a book showing from the Bible that witches were in league with the devil. Besides everybody in Salem, the friends and neighbors all believed that the accused were witches, and ought to be put to death. They were magistrates, appointed of God, as they believed, to administer the laws faithfully and impartially. They themselves had seen the girls go into convulsions, and heard them cry when the witches pinched them. With the rest of the world, the judges lost their heads, and condemned the poor creatures to death. Through the streets of Salem rattled the cart that bore them to the place of execution, out to a hill overlooking the village, where a gallows was erected. They climbed the ladder with the halter around their necks, men and women, the minister, and those who had listened to his preaching. People gazed in horror upon their old friends and neigh- SHATTUCK S HOU8B. bors, swinging in the air and struggling in the throes of death ; and when life was extinct, the bodies were thrown into holes, and earth heaped above them. They trampled it down, and thought of them as suffering the tor- 316 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. rnents of the devil. How horrible ! yet, if we had been living then, we too should have lost our judgment, reason, and common-sense, as the people, the wisest and best men of 1692, lost their judgment, under the terrible delusion, wild foundation, and lamentable ignorance of that period. Till-: HILL OX WHICH T1IKY \\ KKK IITNC. Sad to think that nineteen were hung; that Giles Corey, who would either say "Guilty" or "Not Guilty," had rocks piled upon him till he was crushed to death ; that one hundred and lifty men and women were thrown into prison before people came to their senses! The wife of Rev. Mr. Hale, of Beverly, was accused. There was not a woman in Massachusetts more beloved, honored, and respected. The people were amazed. • They could not believe that so godly a woman could be in league with the devil. They began to see, what they had not before thought of, that the testimony of the girls had been only assertion that the witches were tormenting them. The judges had not questioned the girls, but the accused instead ; and the denials of the accused had been regarded as lies, while the assertion of the girls had been accepted as the truth. The spell was broken. People saw that they had been under a delu- sion. One of the judges, Samuel Sewall, made a humble confession on Sunday in the Old South Church in Boston, with tears rolling down his cheeks, and ever after, so long as he lived, kept a day of fasting and re- pentance once a year to manifest his sorrow to the world. " Touching and sad n tale is told, Like a penitent liyinn of the Psalmist old, WITCHES. 317 Of the Past which the good man life-long kept, With a haunting sorrow that never slept, As the circling years brought round the time Of an error that left the sting of crime." The sheriff threw open the prison doors, and the girls, finding that no one believed their accusations, had no more stories to tell of being tor- mented. So the great wave of superstition, that had sent hundreds of thousands to an untimely grave in Europe, died out in the village of Salem. Some of the girls made humble confession of their sin and folly, and endeavored by right living to atone for the past, but found little happi- ness in life, for ever before their eyes were the swinging forms of those who had died upon the gibbet. Nothing that they could do could ever recall the dead from their graves. What they had begun in sport ended in a terrible tragedy. 318 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XXVI. THE LEGACY OF BLOOD. SPAIN was a great empire — including South America, Mexico, Florida, the West Indies, Italy, and Sicily. The King of Spain, Charles II., was dying. He was childless; who should succeed him? His oldest sister was Queen of France, wife of Louis XIV. ; his youngest Empress of Germany, wife of Leopold of Austria. All Europe would be by the ears if a descendant of either of the sisters were to be king of the whole Span- ish realm. Louis XIV. for France, and William III. for England and Holland, set themselves up as administrators of the estate of the King of Spain in advance of his death. They agreed that the Archduke Charles of Austria should succeed him, and have the Netherlands, America, and the West Indies : that France should have the Spanish possessions in Italy. They never consulted the people of those countries as to what would be agree- able to them, but laid their plans regardless of the wishes of everybody. While making this agreement with William, Louis XIV. was pulling secret wires, sending ambassadors to Rome to .pull wires in the Vatican, and other ambassadors and agents to Madrid, to manage affairs there in the palace of the dying king ; and when, on the 3d of November, 1700, Charles died, and all the grandees of Spain and the ambassadors of Eng- land and Austria assembled in the great hall of the palace to hear the reading of the king's will, they learned that Charles had bequeathed ev- erything to the grandson of Louis XIV., Philip of Aragon. Leopold of Austria was not the man to sit down submissively after such a blow be- tween the eyes ; he made preparations for war. It was midsummer, 1701, and James II. of England was dying in the palace of St. Germain. For thirteen years he had waited for some event that would restore him to the throne of England. Vain his waiting. He had thrown away his crown, and the people of England never again would recognize him or his descendants as their legitimate sovereign. Mary of Modena, a bigoted queen, but a loving and devoted wife, THE LEGACY OF BLOOD. 319 watched by his side through the waning hours, thinking of the future of her boy of thirteen. If Louis would but recognize him as rightful heir to the throne of England, perhaps in time he might be king. Madame de Main tenon was her friend, and Louis would do anything for madame. Louis XIV. rode from Versailles to. St. Germain to bid a last farewell to James. "I am come to say that, whenever it shall please God to call your Majesty out of this world, I will take your family under my protection, and recognize your son as Prince of Wales, and as the heir of your three realms," said the King of France. Louis had no thought as to what would grow out of that promise; I'ALACK OF ST. GERMAIN. possibly, even if he had foreseen the future, he would not have recalled it. What cared he for human woe! He did not see that it would be the beginning of a mighty struggle between France and England ; that three-quarters of a century would roll away before it would end. In consequence of those words the scalping-knife and tomahawk were to gleam in the hands of blood-thirsty savages, from the Penobscot to the Hudson : men would be shot in cold blood ; women would see their in- fants dashed upon the rocks, and they themselves would endure all the horrors of captivity in the wilderness. Burning dwellings would illu- mine the midnight sky, and there would be no end of woe. Up to the utterance of that promise, England had taken no part in 320 OLD TIMES IX THE COLONIES. the contest over the question of who should be King of Spain ; but Louis had violated the agreement made at Ryswick, and England joined in the mighty struggle. On the bank of the St. Lawrence, ninety miles above Quebec, was the Indian town of St. Francis, established by the Jesuits. It was a cluster of wigwams, with a chapel and a parsonage for the priests. The Indians were the remnants of several tribes, which war had thinned out. Morn- ing and evening they met in the chapel, counted their beads, kneeled before the image of the Virgin Mary, and said the prayers taught them by the Jesuits; but in everything else, in habits, in all Christian virtues and graces, they were savages still. They were called St. Francis Indians, and were ever ready to do the bidding of their priests. Although war had been raging in Europe, and the armies of England and France had met in battle, all was peaceful in America. The settlers were clearing the forests, sowing and reaping. Why should they trouble themselves about conflicts three thousand miles away? Not so the Jesuit priests at St. Francis, Quebec, and Montreal ; they were taking part in the struggle. England was Protestant, France Roman Catholic. Protestants were heretics — enemies of God — who ought to be exterminated. It was right to employ any means, to commit murder even, if the glory of God could be promoted. They urged the Indians to begin war against the English in Maine. Governor Dudley, of Massachusetts, heard of their do- ings, and invited all the chiefs, from the Merrimac to the Penobscot, to meet him for a friendly talk, and they assembled at Falmouth — now Port- land— June 20th, 1703. Bomazeen, one of the chiefs, spoke for them all : " The French friars have asked us to go to war, but their words have not moved us. As far as the sun is from the earth are our thoughts of taking the hatchet." The Indians -gave the governor a belt of wampum, and heaped a pile of stones, to let him know that they spoke the truth. August came, the settlers were harvesting their grain, not knowing that through the summer months the priests had been urging the In- dians to wipe out all the settlements at Berwick and Kittery, on the Pis- cataqua; at York, ten miles eastward; at Wells, Scarborough, and the hamlets on Casco Bay, at a single blow; that along the entire distance for fifty miles, five hundred Indians were ready to begin their blood}7 work at the same instant. On the morning of August 10th the blow fell. At Berwick five were killed ; but the other settlers, hearing the alarm, fled to the garrison, and Captain Neale and his men killed nine Indians, and wounded several THE LEGACY OF BLOOD. 321 others. The Indians, in their rage over their ill-success, tied Joseph Ring to a stake and burnt him to death. They went out in their canoes and captured a vessel, killing the crew, seven in number. At Spurwink, one of the settlements on Casco Bay, the Indians butchered twenty-two. At Piirpooduck they massacred twenty-five, and captured eight. They appeared before the new fort at Falmouth, where Major March was in command, held up a white flag, and made signs that they had no arms. Major March and two men went out to talk with them, when suddenly each Indian (there were three of them) whipped out a toma- hawk from beneath their blankets, and struck at the major and his com- panions. Crack ! crack ! went the guns of several Indians in ambush. One of the men with the major fell mortally wounded. The major was brave and strong. lie knocked one of the tomahawks aside, wrenched another out of the hands of an Indian, and kept all at bay until Lieuten- ant Hook came to his rescue. They retreated to the fort, carrying the wounded man. The Indians spent a week around the fort, but could not capture it. What a scene is that which the sun of August 10th reveals ! one hun- dred and fifty-five mangled corpses — tall columns of smoke ascending GARRISON HOUSE, YORK. to heaven ; all the way from the Piscataqua to Casco, a crowd of men, women, and children going into captivity ! The Indians tried to capture Stephen Harding, who lived in "Wells. He was a great hunter, and knew all their tricks, and could follow a trail as well as they. Often he went into the wilderness as far as the White Mountains, while hunting. He loved the solitudes; but he had married, and his wife and young child were dear to him. He saw signs that the Indians were near. 21 322 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "Take the baby and go through the cornfield to an oak-tree, and wait for me. I will see if the redskins are prowling around here," he said to his wife. She went with the baby. He gave a -whoop. Instantly a party of Indians ran toward the house, thinking one of their number had given the signal. All rushed to the door. While they were trying to burst it open he leaped through a window, joined his wife, but alas! she had fainted. He was strong, took her under one arm, and the baby and rifle under the other, and ran through the woods. The Indians did not dare to follow; they knew that he never fired without killing his game. Night came, and Stephen kept guard while his wife and baby slept. They had only blueberries for supper and breakfast; but they reached the fort, nine miles distant, in safety. So, through the instigation of the Jesuits, the bloody work began. Winter came. The snow was deep, but not too deep to prevent Francois Hertel, who had massacred the inhabitants of Falmouth, from marching once more to plunder and destroy the English. He started from the vil- lage of St. Francis with three hundred and forty French and Indians. They loaded themselves down with heavy packs, piled their provisions on hand-sleds, and walked on snow-shoes. They toiled through the wilder- ness of Canada to the head-waters of the Connecticut, and down its valley to the little town of Deerfield, in Massachusetts. On the last day of February, Hertel stood on a bluff amidst the tall pines, two miles north of the settlement. There was a hard crust, and across the gleaming snow he could see the little settlement. Leaving their packs, the French and Indians moved stealthily toward the garrison. No sentinel was on the watch. The snow lay in a huge drift against the palisade; they walked over it and entered the village. De Rouville posted his men, two or more at each house. Then came the whoop, and the bursting in of doors. Mr. Williams is the minister. He springs from his bed, seizes a pistol, aims it at the heart of an Indian. It misses fire, and he is seized and tied. Two of his children are massacred before his eyes. Mrs. Williams has a young child, but she is pulled from her bed and driven out into the snow. All around the work of death goes on. What a scene is that which the sun shines upon in the morning! Forty or more mangled corpses; the snow crimsoned with blood; burning buildings. One hundred and eight men, women, and children driven — some of them barefooted and thinly- clad — through the snow, northward, toward Canada, to perish in the wilderness; to be starved, to fall before the tomahawk, to endure the hardships, toil, suffering, and woe of the terrible march. At sunrise THE LEGACY OF BLOOD. 325 De Eouville is on his march. He has struck his blow, and is hastening away with his captives, knowing that the settlers of the valley will be upon him if he lingers. Day after day, in the snow or wading through streams, the captives drag their weary limbs, loaded down with the plun- der of their own house, which their captors compel them to carry. Mrs. Williams's strength is failing. She talks with her husband sweetly and serenely of a house not made with hands,' eternal in the heavens. She comes to a swollen river, whose rushing waters sweep her down ; but with a struggle she reaches the shore. Her Indian captor, who calls him- self a Christian Indian, steps behind her and buries his tomahawk in her skull. She sinks upon the snow, crimsoning it with her blood. The promise of Louis XIV. to the dying James is bearing its fruit. One by one the sick and weak go down beneath the tomahawk, and the bodies are left in the wilderness. Not all the houses in Deerfield were burnt. One was courageously defended by seven men, who fired from the windows upon the enemy ; the brave women with them ran bullets and loaded their guns. Many times the French and Indians tried to set the house on fire, but without avail. Captain Stoddard, watching his chance, leaped from a window, and ran to Hatfield and gave the alarm. Quickly the people were on .De Rouville's track, came up with him and had a battle, but were obliged to retreat. The French officer hastened up the valley of the Connecticut to White River, and then divided his party — a portion going to Lake Champlain, and a portion up the Connecticut to Montreal. He had de- stroyed a settlement, killed or captured nearly one hundred and fifty, los- ing about forty of his own men. How should the war be waged ? It was little use for the English to follow the Indians. Their bloody work was done in an hour, and in a few days they would be back in Canada. They were more savage than the wild beasts. Why not treat them as such ? Massachusetts and New Hampshire offered a reward of twenty pounds for every Indian captured under ten years of age, and forty pounds for every scalp of an Indian over ten. If the Jesuits were to make it a war of extermination, so would they. In 1704, Captain Benjamin Church, with five hundred and fifty men, ravaged all the French settlements east of the Penobscot — burning build- ings, and capturing all he could lay his hands upon. The price set upon the Indians' heads made them more afraid. But in 1705 they fell upon the settlers at Cape Neddick, in Maine, and killed seven. At Kittery they shot Mr. Shapleigh, and carried his son to Can- 326 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ada. An Indian cut off the boy's fingers, and then thrust the bleeding stumps into their hot tobacco-pipes and laughed at his agony. They attacked the settlements in New Hampshire at Dover and Durham. One day Colonel Hilton went out with a scouting-party and killed four warriors, and captured a squaw. She begged for her life. " I will show you more Indians/' she said, and led them to a camp where eighteen were asleep. It was jnst at daybreak. Colonel Hilton posted his men ; each picked out an Indian. Crack went their guns; all were killed but one, who was captured. At Winter harbor, not far from Saco, there were two fishing-boats at anchor, with eight men on board. Suddenly a great company of Indians appeared in their canoes. The men in one of the boats jumped into the other, cut the cable, and hoisted the sail. There are eight in all, who pour a volley into the canoes. Some of the Indians drop into the water, others leap on board the fishing-boat They do not know how to man- age it ; but the Indians in the canoe take it in tow, ply their paddles, and hasten on. They are a fine mark for the sailors, who pick them off one by one. There are one hundred and fifty Indians against eight white men. The bullets fly thick and fast, boring holes through the sail, strik- ing the keel, spattering into the water. One strikes Benjamin Daniels, who knows that he has but a few moments to live. " Give me a gun, quick ! that I may kill one more before I die," he cries, fires his last shot, and lies lifeless upon the deck. Not till nine are killed and eighteen wounded do the Indians give up the battle. Daniels is the only one injured on the vessel. Twice has Francois Hertel massacred the English, and he thirsts for more blood. A grand expedition is planned. Once more he starts, trav- ersing the pathless wilderness to the White Mountains, and southward to the beautiful Winnipisseogee. He sets up his camp upon the shores of the lake, and waits for the Indians of Maine to join him. The Jesuits have been among them ; but they have lost so many warriors, there is such a price upon their heads, that they are weary of war, and would be glad to bury the hatchet. Hertel has intended to wipe out Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Piscataqua ; but, as the Indians do not come, he does not dare to make the attempt. He will fall upon Haverhill. August 29th, 1708, is a calm and peaceful day. The settlers of the little village lie down to sleep, having no suspicion of the presence of the foe. The daylight streaks the east. Hertel arouses his Christian savages. They ask the Virgin to protect them, divide into parties, and give the war-whoop. They rush upon the minister's house — Rev. Mr. Rolfe's. THE LEGACY OF BLOOD. 327 There are three soldiers on guard within, bat are so frightened that they know not what to do. Mr. Rolfe springs out of bed to hold the door. The Indians fire through it and wound him in the elbow, burst it in, bury their hatchets in his skull, kill Mrs. Rolfe, dash out the brains of their infant child upon a stone, and hack the cowardly soldiers to pieces. They shoot Thomas Hartshorn and his two sons, smash the skull of the third, shoot John Johnston, massacre his wife by his side. Simon Wain- wright is killed at the first fire. Mrs. Hartshorn, with all of her children except the baby, which is on a bed up-stairs, go down through a trap- door into the cellar. The Indians do not discover the door, but they go up-stairs and toss the baby out of the window, which, though it falls upon a pile of boards, is not killed — only stunned. The Indians and French attack Mr. Swan's house. Mrs. Swan is a plucky woman, and holds the door against them. One of the savages gets it partly open and runs his arm in to undo the fastening, but Mrs. Swan, seizing an iron skewer, drives it through his arm, to pin him to the door-post. Nathan Simons shoots two of the savages. Mr. Davis is an intrepid man. He runs out of his house and shouts, " Come on !" as if he had a company of men. The enemy take to their heels. They have set the meeting-house on fire, but the settlers put it out. Captain Samuel Ayer musters a company, follows Hertel, corning up with him and giving battle. Captain Ayer is killed ; Hertel's brother is killed ; and thirty others of the enemy. Six- teen of the settlers lay down their lives, and thirty-three are wounded or captured. To strike a blow in return for all these attacks, a fleet sailed from Bos- ton to Acadia and captured Port Royal, changing the name to Annapolis, in honor of Anne, Queen of England. The next year the English Government sent a fleet under Sir Hoven- den Walker, with an army, to capture Quebec; but the admiral was pig- headed and incompetent. Eight of his vessels were wrecked in the St. Lawrence, and nearly nine hundred men drowned ; and the grand expe- dition came to an inglorious end. For twelve years the war raged in Europe and in America, till, ex- hausted by the struggle, Louis XIV. consented to make peace, which was signed at Utrecht, April llth, 1713. 328 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XXVII. MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. ON the banks of the Kennebec, at a favorite fishing-place of the In- dians, Sebastian Eale, Jesuit from France, built a chapel, and set up the cross and an image of the Virgin. Upon the chapel walls were pict- ures of his own painting, portraying the bliss of the redeemed and tor- ments of the damned. The Indians were ever his children, and he their father. He was so kind that they regarded him as their true friend. If they went on a grand hunting expedition, Father Rale joined them ; when they left their village at Norridgewock in midsummer for a sojourn at the sea-shore, he accompanied them. For twenty-five years he labored with untiring zeal to convert them to the Catholic faith. Such patience and energy brought its reward. The dusky warriors threw aside their " medicine " charms, and were baptized as Christians. Forty Indian boys in white gowns chanted the Sunday service. On gala-days they marched in procession, bearing banners and crosses. Those who had not been bap- tized still regarded him as their father. By acts of friendship, by untir- ing devotion and quenchless zeal, he made his power and influence felt among the Indians from the Hudson to the Gulf of Newfoundland. At the beginning of Queen Anne's War, Governor Dudley, of Massa- chusetts, sent Colonel Hilton to seize the man who was wielding such mighty influence against the English. Colonel Hilton reached Norridge- wock in midwinter, but did not find Father Rale, who had gone to Que- bec. He burnt the chapel and returned. When the war closed, and peace was signed at Utrecht in 1713, it was agreed that Maine, Nova Scotia, and Acadia should belong to England. The Indians met Governor Shute, of Massachusetts, on an island in the Kennebec, and promised to be faithful subjects of Great Britain ; and agreed that the English might occupy the former settlements, and that they would not molest them. The agreement was very distasteful to Sebastian Rale. He was a Frenchman, and he saw the few French settlers moving from the Pe- MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 329 nobscot, and Englishmen taking their place. They were at York, Saco, Wells, and Kennebunk. The smoke of their log-cabins was curling over the waters of Casco Bay. They were moving farther up the Piscataqua and Merrimac ; soon they would be wanting the land at Norridgewock. What, then, would become of his flock? The English were heretics, enemies of the Church. Had not Louis XIV. driven hundreds of thousands of them out of France! It was the duty of the Indians to resist the English. What right had the English to the land of the Indians? By subtle arts he influenced them against the settlers. The Indians began a war on their own account by killing three men at Casco, and destroying the settlement, in August, 1720. " Rale is at the bottom of it," said the General Court of Massachusetts. One hundred and fifty men marched to Norridgewock to seize the Jesuit, but he had gone to Quebec. The chief of the Xorridgewocks, sin- cerely wishing to remain at peace with the English, gave up several war- riors as hostages. Yaudreuil was Governor of Canada. " Tell the Indians to drive out the English ; I will give them all the assistance they want," said Yaudreuil to Rale. " Norridgewock is within the territory of King George, and it is con- trary to an Act of Parliament and a law of this province for any Jesuit or Roman priest to reside in any part of the British dominions," wrote Shute to Vaudreuil, and sent Colonel Westbrook to seize Rale ; but the priest fled to the woods and escaped. The Indians, to retaliate, fell upon the settlements at the mouth of the Kennebec, and captured their fishing-sloop. They attacked Fort George, on Arrowsick Island, burnt twenty-six houses, and destroyed Brunswick. Father Rale in his chapel, in constant communication with Vaudreuil at Quebec, urged the Indians on ; and all along the frontier, from the Con- necticut to Nova Scotia, Indian bands prowled everywhere, falling upon the defenceless settlers. It was the same sad story everywhere — of sur- prises and ambushes — the shooting of defenceless men and women — tak- ing their scalps — going as suddenly as they came ; Father Rale and Van- dreuil ever urging them on. It was little use to chase the Indians, who in a few hours would be far away, to fall upon another settlement. A blow must be struck at the head-quarters : there could be no peace as long as Sebastian Rale could wield his power. Captains Moulton, Hanson, and two hundred men moved swiftly up the Kennebec. It is August 12th, 1722. The men move in silence through the for- 330 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. est. They are near the Indian village ; the party divide. They will not wait till nightfall, but push swiftly on. " Take Rale prisoner. Let the Indians tire first," are the orders of Moulton. He surmises that the surprise will so agitate the Indians that they will take poor aim. The soldiers run toward the village. A wild cry rises from the wig- wams. Sixty warriors rush out — fire ; but their hands tremble, and not an Englishman is injured. A volley from the white men, and the Indians go down like grain before the reapers. Sebastian Rale fastened his house, and fired upon the invaders. Lieutenant Hanson burst open the door; Rale was loading his gun, and would ask no quarter. Hanson's blood was up. A flash from his gun, and the white-haired priest born amidst VIEW FROM FORT UEUUGE. the vineyards of France — who had been a zealous missionary in the wil- derness along the great lakes of the West, in Canada and the wilds of Maine, through whose pernicious influence hundreds of settlers had been slain — met his fate. The women and children escaped to the river, and many of the warriors; but the chiefs of the tribe, Mogg and Bomazeen, fell to rise no more. The chapel of the Jesuits was set on fire, and the expedition returned, having suffered no loss. It was a blow from which the Norridgewocks never recovered. At the southern base of the White Mountains, where the River Saco winds through green meadows, was the home of the Pigwaket Indians. Their chief was Paugns. During the years of peace he visited the frontier towns of Massachusetts, and was well acquainted with the settlers ; but his allegiance was to the French in Canada, at Montreal, where he could always obtain gunpowder and bullets. When the Jesuits stirred np the Indians of the Penobscot and Kennebec to make war upon the English, Paugns was ready to aid. It was a short inarch to the "Smile of the MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 331 Great Spirit," as the Indians called Lake Winnipiseogee ; launching his canoe upon its peaceful waters, he could easily make his way to the Mer- rimac, and, descending that stream, fall upon the settlers of Dunstable, Bradford, and Haverhill. There was a man in Dunstable who was as brave as any Indian, Cap- tain John Lovewell. He could find his way through the forest as read- ily as the savages. He knew their haunts, their modes of fighting, their canning. In 1724 the Indians fell upon Dunstable, and killed two men. When the alarm was given, and eleven men started in pursuit, the Indians shot nine of them, took their scalps, and returned to the wigwams on the Saco, and held a great feast and dance over the success of their exploits. "I will pay one hundred pounds for every Indian scalp," said the Governor of Massachusetts; and Captain Lovewell started with his sol- diers to chastise the Pigwakets. . It was in December. The leaves had fallen, and there was snow on the ground, when Captain Lovewell wTith forty men marched up the Mem- mac valley, and along the southern shore of Lake Winnipiseogee. They discovered tracks and followed them through the day, discovering, just at sunset, ten Indians sitting around a fire. At midnight there was a click of gun-locks, then a volley. The entire ten were killed. There was great rejoicing in all the towns — Dover, Newbury, Salem, and Boston — as Cap- tain Lovewell and his men made their triumphant return, with the ten scalps dangling from a pole. There were ten Indians less. One thousand pounds prize-money ! It was a quick way to get rich. "We will attack the Pigwakets in their homes," said Captain Love- well. His soldiers were eager to march. It was in April, 1725, when they started up the Merrimac, turning eastward, crossing the Winni- piseogee, leaving seven men who were sick; the others went bravely on to the boundary between Maine and New Hampshire. It was Saturday morning. They were not far from the Indian vil- lages. " We will leave our packs here," said Captain Lovewell, and the men threw them upon the ground. Before starting, the chaplain, Jonathan Frye, offered prayer. While he wras praying they heard a gun, and saw an Indian across the pond. "We are discovered ; shall we go on, or return ?" asked Lovewell. • " We have come to find the Indians. We have prayed God that we might find them. We had rather die for our country than return with- out seeing them. If we were to go back, the people would call us cow- ards," said the men, and Lovewell moved on. 332 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Suddenly they came upon a single Indian, who was killed by Ensign Wyman ; but who, before falling, fired his gun at Captain Lovewell, mor- tally wounding him. " We will go back to our packs," they said ; but when they reached the place, found that the Indians had seized them. They were between two little brooks, that meandered through the pine forest and emptied into the lake. Suddenly they found themselves confronted by nearly one hundred Indians, armed with new guns which they had ob- tained in Canada. They had gone past the Indian village, which was only a short distance away, and the Indians had cut off their retreat. The terrible war-whoop rung through the forest. At the first fire seven English were killed and several wounded. "Retreat to the shore of the pond!" shouted Lieutenant Wyman. He saw that the Indians were intending to surround them. By retreat- ing to the water's edge, they would have no Indians at their back. One cowardly man ran, at the first volley, back, to make his escape to the men who had been left behind on the march. The others retreated to the lake, sheltered themselves behind the trees, and resolved to fight to the last. All day long the fight went on, the Indians howling like wolves. Their medicine-man held a pow-wow — invoking the spirits to aid them; but Lieutenant Wyman put an end to it by sending a bullet through his heart. "We will give you quarter," said the Indians. "We ask for no quarter except at the muzzles of our guns!" was the defiant reply, and the battle went on until Paugus fell, shot by Lieuten- ant Wymau ; then the Indians lost heart. When night came on, they stole away. Pitiable the condition of the English ! The young chaplain, who had fought bravely — who, when wounded, still prayed for victory, was dead ; Jacob Farrar was dying ; Lieutenant Robbins and Robert Usher could not last many hours; eleven others were badly wounded. The Indians had seized their packs, and they were twenty miles from the seven men they had left at Ossipee. "Load my gun, so that when the Indians come to scalp me I can kill one more !" said Lieutenant Robbins. In the darkness of the night, the living, faint and weary, started. Four were so, badly wounded that they could not travel. "Leave us; you cannot help us, and we shall hinder you," they said. It was a brave parting; but if any were to reach home they must push MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 335 on. In war, necessity knows no compassion. They readied Ossipee, to find the seven men gone. The man who fled at the first fire had told a pitiable story — how all had been killed ; and the soldiers, fearing that the Indians would soon be upon them, fled to Dunstable. Weary the return. For three days they had only two ground-squir- rels to eat ; then they shot a partridge, caught some fish, and so sustained life until they reached home. The Indians were weary of war. Their bravest warrior had fallen ; BUILDING SHIPS. there was no longer a Father Rale to urge them on, and they made peace once more. So ended the war, which had been kindled wholly through the influence of the Jesuits. Peace ! how delightful it was ! No longer were the people compelled to work with their rifles by their sides, ever on the watch for the lurking foe. The settlers went farther into the country. All the industries re- vived. Towns and villages sprung up. In Boston, on the Merrimac and Piscataqua, companies were building ships ; and the colonies took on such vigorous life that George Berkeley, who had come from England to Rhode Island with his family, fired with enthusiasm to do something for education and religion in the Western World, and who gave his books to 336 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. FAMILY OF BISHOP BERKELEY. establish the Redwood Library at Newport — looking forward, wrote this poetic prophecy of America : "In hnppy climes, the seat of innocence, Where nature guides and virtue rules; Where men shall not impose for truth and sense The pedantry of courts and schools — "There shall be sung another golden age — The rise of empire and of arts; The good and great inspiring epic rage; The wisest heads and noblest hearts. "Not such as Europe breeds in her decay; Such as she bred when fresh and young, When heavenly flame did animate her clay, By future poets shall be sung. "Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; Time's noblest offspring is the last." THE CAROLINAS. 337 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CAROLINAS. men who had been instrumental in bringing Charles II. to the throne of England — Edward Hyde, whom Charles made Earl of Clarendon, George Monk, whom he made Duke of Albemarle, and six others — applied to him for a grant of land in America; and the frivolous man, who cared more for his pet poodle than all America, gave them the territory between Virginia and Florida, and extending west to the Pacific Ocean. They called it Carolina. It was a wilderness, except a small set- tlement near the Chowan River, made in 1653 by Roger Green and oth- ers, who had moved from Virginia to enjoy perfect freedom. William Drummond was appointed governor ; but what cared the peo- ple for him, or for Stevens, who succeeded him in 1667? Nothing. The men who built their rude log-cabins, with chimneys made of sticks and mud, who roamed the forest at will, living on wild turkeys and deer, snapped their fingers in the governor's face. They had suffered much under the arbitrary laws of Virginia ; and in 1669 met in convention, and declared that there should be complete freedom of conscience ; that there should be no taxes except what they themselves might impose. Quite likely the earls and lords did not know what the settlers were doing : be that as it may, they employed the great metaphysician, John Locke, to plan a government. He knew very little of the influences at work in the New World — how men were being educated to think and act for themselves — but based his plan on Old World ideas; on a plan which Plato thought out among the olive-groves of Athens, when Greece was in her glory. He thought that there ought to be three orders of no- bility— Landgrave, men who would own great tracts of land, like the earls of England and Germany ; Cassiques, who were to be of a lower order ; and Barons, who were to have a rank similar to the barons of England. The titles were to descend from the fathers to the eldest sons. They were to be exclusive owners of the land. They were to make and exe- cute the laws. The people were to have no voice in affairs ; they were to be only serfs. 22 338 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. John Locke, with all his learning, never mistrusted that the time had gone by for the establishment of such a government, for English-speak- CAROLINA HOME. ing people were in the "Western "World. The Frenchmen in Canada might consent to live under such a government, but Englishmen — never. Neither the great metaphysician nor any one else in England took into account the distance of three thousand miles, the influence of the wilder- ness, the fact that there was little to interfere with the freedom of men. They did not reflect that men who could have venison, turkey, and fish on their tables the year round, who, by scratching the ground and putting in a few potatoes, could obtain sufficient food, were not likely to submit to such laws, or accept such a system as he had contrived. The settlers cut gashes in the tall pines, and gathered the fragrant tur- pentine that oozed from the pores. The lords claimed the soil, and all there was on it; but when the tax-gatherer came to collect dues for the land and turpentine, they laughed in his face. Pay rents ! Not they. One of the governors which the lords sent over was not only gov- ernor, but secretary and collector, and attempted to carry things with a high hand, whereupon Jack Culpepper and a few others handled him so THE CAROLINAS. 339 roughly that he was glad to get out of the colony. They ruled them- selves for two years. In truth, they were a lawless set. They would not obey John Locke's laws, neither their own. Seth Sothel came from Eng- land to govern them ; but he was a dissolute fellow, and they drove him out of the colony. The settlements, up to 1670, were in the northern section of the terri- tory ; but in that year the earls and lords to whom Charles had given the land sent out a colony to develop the southern portion. The ships sailed into the harbor of Port Royal, and a beginning was made where Ribault ON THE ASHLEY. had established himself a century and a quarter before. It was called the Carteret Settlement, for Lord Carteret, one of the proprietors. After the settlers had erected their houses, they remembered how the 340 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Spaniards, in 1562, had massacred the Huguenots on that spot ; and, fear- ing that they might come again, abandoned the place for one more secure, YEAMANS HALL, GOOSE CREEK. which they formed farther north, at the junction of two rivers, one of which they named Ashley, and the other Cooper, for Lord Ashley Cooper, one of the proprietors. They named the new settlement Charleston. The eight men who had received the land from Charles never thought of purchasing it from the Indians — they appropriated it. Buy land of the savages! Oh no. They were peers of the English realm, and the king had given them the land : why should they pay the Indians for it? The colonists were charmed with the country, the winding rivers, the stately pines, the wide -spreading live-oaks, the jessamine and honey- suckle, magnolias, and azaleas filling the air with perfume. They cut down the trees, and opened plantations. Many of them were little better than slaves ; for, having gotten into debt in England, they were put in jail, and were released only by selling their services to the proprietors, who charged high rates of interest for the money advanced. In 1671 the lords sent out Sir John Yeamans to be Governor of South Carolina. One of the gentlemen accompanying him was from Drayton Hall, in Northamptonshire, who opened a beautiful plantation on the bank of the Ashley, above Charleston, and where his grandson reared a noble mansion, which is still standing. THE CAROLINAS. The same year some negroes were brought to Charleston and sold — the beginning of negro slavery in South Carolina. It was a community of Cavaliers, Puritans, and Dutchmen. Few had money ; many of them were struggling to get out of debt, and who found it all the harder after the introduction of slaves. Huguenots came from France, driven from their old homes, from their mulberry orchards and vineyards, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. They selected South Carolina as their future home. The mulberry and grape would thrive in its genial clime. They could feed the leaves of the mulberry to the silk-worm, reel the glossy fibre from the cocoons, spin and weave, and enjoy their religious belief unmolested by king or Pope, in their new far-off homes. Strange to say, the colonists wished they would stay away. Why should Frenchmen be DRAYTON HALL, WESTERN FRONT. allowed there? It was a revival of the old hatred between English- men and Frenchmen ; but the Huguenots attended to their own affairs. They were peaceable and orderly. It was an infusion of some of the best blood of France. They soon forgot that they were Frenchmen. They became American citizens. The names of some of their descend- ants—Grimke, Huger, Legare, Laurens, Marion— are inseparably connected with the history of our country. 342 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The first settlers cared very little about building churches. The first — St. Michael's — was not erected until 1682. There were a few Episcopa- P1CKIXG FIGS. lians, and some Dissenters ; but most of the people did not care whether they had a church or not, or else were too poor to put forth any effort to build one. The Earl of Albemarle sent over this order : " The Church of England must be made the established church of Carolina." Sir Nathaniel Moore, who had been appointed governor, issued an order compelling each colonist to pay thirty pounds annually for the sup- port of a minister. The country was divided into parishes, and all who would not pay were disfranchised, deprived of holding any office of honor, trust, or profit. Quakers could not serve on a jury. The church- wardens, with two constables, every Sunday forenoon and afternoon visit- THE CAROLINAS. 343 ed all the grog-shops, arresting all idlers, and marching them to jail for not being in their places at church. The laws were harsh toward those who had sold their services to the lords. Dennis Mahand attempted to escape to the Spaniards in Florida ; but was caught, and had thirty-nine lashes put upon his bare back with the cat-o'-nine-tails. Many other settlers were whipped for attempting to escape. Spain and England were at peace; but the Spaniards at St. Augus- tine suddenly fell upon the English settlement at Edisto in 1686, pil- ORANGE FRUIT AND FLOWERS. laged Mr. Marston's house, murdered the governor's brother, and carried off thirteen slaves. They destroyed another settlement at Port Eoyal. The people of Charleston determined to have their revenge. Four hundred men were ready to march to St. Augustine ; but just then Gov- 344 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ST. MICHAELS CHCRCH. ernor Colleton arrived from England, and threatened to hang them if they attempted it. In 1695 a vessel arrived at Charleston from Madagascar. Governor Smith went on board, and received a present from the captain of some rice, which he sowed in his garden. It was so luxuriant that he began its cultivation. His neighbors also cultivated it, and in a short time the colony not only supplied itself with rice, but sent ship-loads to England and to the colonies. It was the beginning of a great industry. Governor Thomas Smith was born at Exeter, in England. He emigrated to South Carolina in 1671. He had a brother who emigrated to Boston, whose granddaughter, Abigail, married John Adams, the second President of the United States. THE CAROLINAS. 345 He built a country house on Back River, and made port-holes in the walls, so that it could be defended against the Indians, and dug a passage underground to the river, where he kept a boat concealed, so that, if not able to defend the house, he could escape by the secret passage. When he was appointed governor, or landgrave, the proprietors gave him forty-eight thousand acres of land. He was a Puritan, clear-headed and honest ; but there were so many quarrels going on between the col- onists, between those who had sold their services and those who had bought them, that he became tired of being governor, and sent word to the proprietors that they must send over somebody else to take his place ; as for being governor, he would not. While he was in office, the colony was divided into North and South Carolina. It was Rev. Mr. White, of Dorchester, England, who started the Pu- ritan emigration to New England ; and the second party of emigrants from that town in 1630, settling in Massachusetts, named their new home Dorchester. In 1696, a party of their descendants, hearing of the attractions of Carolina — the richness of the soil, the genial climate, where during sum- LANDGRAVE SMITH S BACK RIVER RESIDENCE. mer and winter the flowers were ever in bloom — bade good-bye to their friends in Massachusetts, to start life anew amidst the live-oaks and mag- nolias of the South. They selected a site on the bank of the Ashley, and 346 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. named it Dorchester. They were Puritans, and one of the first buildings erected was a church. They were hard-working, and Dorchester soon became a thrifty town. They established a market, and had fairs twice a year, which attracted people from all parts of the colony. They estab- lished a free school. " We have come," they said, " to encourage the pro- motion of religion." From the banks of the Ashley, another colony went out in 1752 to Georgia, and started still another Dorchester. It was vigorous seed OLD MEETING-HOUSE, DORCHESTER. which Eev. John White sent out from that little fishing-town on the southern coast of England. Dorchester on the Ashley has disappeared. Stately trees grow where the thrifty settlers once held their annual fair; and the azaleas, honey- suckles, and jessamine bloom where once they drove their teams. Ev- erything has disappeared, except the old white church in which they wor- shipped. In 1702, when war was declared between England and Spain, Gov- ernor Moore sailed, with several hundred men, to capture St. Augustine ; THE CAEOLINAS. 347 but he had no cannon, the Spanish fort was strong, and he accomplished nothing. The expedition cost six thousand pounds, and was the begin- ning of a great deal of trouble. There were only five thousand people in the colony, and their taxes were so great that they could not pay them. They accused Governor Moore of feathering his own nest — of purchasing supplies of himself, and in other ways. Two parties arose — the governor and his friends, who were Episcopalians, and the people, who were Dis- senters. The lords sent over Sir Nathaniel Johnson to succeed Moore. He was self-willed and obstinate. The colonists had had no schools, and very few could read. Those who lived in the backwoods had no churches — many had never heard a sermon. They knew very little about the Bible or anything else. They used very profane oaths, and Governor Johnson undertook to make them good church -going people by passing laws against swearing. " Whoever blasphemes the Trinity, or questions the Divine authority of the Bible, will be sent to prison for three years." " Every citizen chosen member of the Assembly must partake of the Lord's Supper in accordance with the rule of the Church," was the law passed by the As- sembly, which disfranchised all the Dissenters ! Though disfranchised, the people were patriots, and showed what good Englishmen they wrere when a frigate and four other French ves- sels appeared off Charleston to attack the place. The drums beat, and they came with their guns to resist the invasion. Governor Johnson built a fort on an island in the harbor, which still bears his name. He had but a few soldiers, but he would make the most of them. Captain Le Feboner, who commanded the French, sent a lieutenant on shore with a white flag, demanding the surrender of the place. The lieu- tenant was blindfolded, and marched from place to place ; but wherever the handkerchief was taken from his eyes, he beheld troops around him, and went back reporting that the English had a large army ; whereas Gov- ernor Johnson had kept a company on the march ahead of the French- man, and he had seen the same troops all the time. Captain Le Feboner was amazed. He sailed away, not daring to make an attack. Soon after he was gone, a French vessel, with ninety men and supplies, sailed into the harbor, and was captured. The Tuscaroras were the most powerful Indian tribe in North Caro- lina. Settlers had taken their lands, stolen their corn and sweet pota- toes, and were driving the game from the country. The Indians resolved to be revenged. They dipped a stick in blood, and sent it to the Yea- 348 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. manes, in South Carolina, who joined the conspiracy, and sharpened their scalping-knives for the terrible work. In the spring of 1715 the blow fell. Hundreds of settlers were killed ; but Governor Craven defeated the Yeamanes near Port Royal with a ter- rible slaughter, and the Tuscaroras lost three hundred in a battle with the North Carolina settlers. They were so nearly annihilated that they tied North, and joined the Iroquois. The lords who owned the land would not assist the colonists, who were ground down with taxes. There was so much trouble that Queen Anne bought back their territory, paying the proprietors twenty-two thousand five hundred pounds, and the attempt to establish a government on the plan thought out by John Locke came to an end in 1729. The governors of North Carolina found so much difficulty in ruling the indolent people, that one of them, Governor Burrington, in 1731, wrote this to the Duke of Newcastle : " The people of North Carolina are neither to be cajoled nor outwitted. "Whenever a governor attempts to effect anything by this means, he will lose his labor, and show his ignorance. The inhabitants are not industri- ous, but subtle and crafty ; always behaving insolently to their governor. Some they have imprisoned; driven others out of the country; and at times have set up a governor of their own choice, supported by men un- der arms." Burrington was so distasteful to them, that they soon compelled him to leave. He was a wicked man, and in 1734 was murdered in a carouse in London. The people loved liberty ; but cared very little for those other quali- ties of character necessary for the building up of a thrifty State. Governor Johnson, a Scotchman, appointed in 1734, was a good man. In his address to the Assembly he deplored the condition of affairs. " The morals of the people are loose. There is no provision for edu- cation. Law is disregarded by the rich, and they oppress the poor, who have no redress." He was wise and prudent, and had so much influence in Scotland that many people emigrated from that country, sailing up Cape Fear River, and settling on the high banks in the interior. They loved law and order, and were deeply religious. With their coming, North Carolina took on a new life. Through the years in which New York and New England were strug- gling against the Indians — from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the time of the Revolution — there was very little occurring to disturb THE CAROLINAS. 349 the Carolinas. The settlers of North Carolina made tar and turpentine, and the planters of South Carolina cultivated their rice-fields. Many ship-loads of slaves were brought from the West Indies and Africa. The planters grew rich on their labor, reared stately mansions in Charleston, and elegant residences in the country ; living in princely style, riding in coaches, and attended by retinues of servants. They adorned their grounds with flowers, and entertained their friends with hospitality ; but the poor people found themselves growing poorer. How could they get on where there were so many slaves? The planters regarded labor as degrading, and treated the poor whites with contempt. So it came about that there were wider distinctions in society in South Carolina than in any other colony. 350 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XXIX. GEORGIA. T^HE jails of England were filled with men who could not pay their debts. Some were spendthrifts; others had worked hard; but the wolf was ever at the door, and they could not get on in the world. Hard-hearted creditors had thrust them behind the prison-bars. What hope for such a prisoner ? "No grateful fire before him glows, And yet the winter's breath is chill ; And o'er his half-clad person goes The frequent ague thrill! "Silent, save ever and anon, A sound, half murmur and half groan, Forces apart the painful grip Of the old sufferer's bearded lip ; O sad and crushing is the fate Of old age chained and desolate!" What could society do? It might have changed the laws, but did not. The large-hearted General James Oglethorpe, member of Parliament, forty years old, and who had fought the Turks in Hungary, who was in the great battles around Belgrade with Prince Eugene, conceived a plan for the relief of poor, deserving men — that of founding a colony in America, where, with a little help, they might start life anew. He en- listed some of the noblemen of England in his enterprise. George II. favored it, and granted them the country between the Altamaha and Savannah Rivers, for a colony to be named Georgia. Noblemen, mem- bers of Parliament, and kind-hearted people contributed to the enterprise ; and in January, 1733, the ship Anne, with thirty-five families, one hun- dred and thirty persons, entered the Savannah River. Oglethorpe laid out a town, with streets running at right angles, with many pleasant parks, and named it Savannah. He held a feast the next Sunday after his arrival. Many of the South Carolina people were there ; and alto- GEORGIA. 351 gether they devoured four fat hogs, eight turkeys, besides chickens and beef, drank one hogshead of punch, one of beer, and a vast deal of wine. General Oglethorpe purchased the land of Tomo Chichi, one of the Indian chiefs. He hired the slaves of some of the planters of South Carolina to clear the ground and prepare it for planting. The emigrants worked with a will ; and in a very short time the settlers were living in nice houses. The woods wrere full of game, and there were fish in the rivers ; they were so near Carolina that they could obtain abundance of food, and none of the hardships were encountered which other colonies had en- dured. Captain M'Pherson, with a company of Scotchmen, built a fort on the Ogeechee River, and named it for the Duke of Ar- gyle. Other colonists came; and in two OGLETHOKPE. years there were more than five hundred settlers. Many of the emigrants were from Scotland. One party settled at Darien, on the Altamaha. They brought their bagpipes, and, when through with work for the day, passed the evening hours in playing the quaint melodies of the dear old land. They were industrious and devout. The Salzburgers came ; and who were they ? They were descendants of the Waldenses, who lived in the beautiful valley of Yaudois, in Pied- mont, who, away back in the twelfth century, wanted to read the Bible, which the Pope would not permit. Terrible the persecutions they en- dured.* Armies were sent against them, again and again ; thousands were killed in battle or burnt at the stake; but nothing could quench the spirit of religious freedom in the Waldenses. Some who escaped the hor- rible massacres perpetrated by the armies sent by the Pope fled north- ward through Switzerland, crossed Lake Constance, and found refuge in Salzburg. For more than fifty years they lived in peace — so few in num- bers that the priests took no notice of them ; but they increased and held meetings of their own. That the priests could not permit. They were thrown into prison, and suffered the horrors of the terrible torture- chamber. The jailer made them lay a finger or a thumb upon a post ; he gently touched a spring — whack ! down came a hammer like a gun-lock, driv- * See " Story of Liberty," p. 304. 352 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ing a sharp needle through the finger, and nailing it to the post ! He put iron bracelets on their arms that came together with a spring, and driving pins like the prickles of a chestnut-burr into the flesh. He had an iron cap which he put upon their heads, with a lining of sharp knives that gashed the scalp. He stripped off their clothing, laid them upon a bench of corrugated oak, and kneaded them, as a baker does his bread, with a knobbed rolling-pin. He put them in a wide, deep cradle, the bottom and sides all knobs, rocked them to and fro until the flesh became like quivering jelly ! He sawed their thighs to the bone with a string of iron beads ; he thrust an iron ball into their mouths, pulled a string, and the ball blossomed into an iron lily — forcing open their jaws until they cracked in the sockets! A pair of pinchers clasped the tongue: one twitch, and it was torn out by the roots ! They were led through dark and gloomy passages to a dungeon, to be embraced by a maiden — and who was she ? There she stood — an iron statue, hooded, and wearing an iron ruffle, enveloped in an iron cloak. The jailer touched a spring, and the maiden clasped her victim in her iron arms. It was not a quick em- brace ; but one slow and long enduring, with needles of steel piercing the flesh, two iron spikes piercing the eye-balls. The jailer gave a turn of a screw, and the spikes went a little deeper; another turn, and deeper still. AVhat ages of pain, fever, thirst, agony ! Another turn of the screw, and closer the embrace. When death had ended all, a trap-door opens, and the maiden drops her victim. Down — down — down it falls, two hundred feet into a dark and gloomy cavern, upon the dying forms of those that had preceded it. No record, except in God's book of remembrance ! In 1728 the Archbishop of Salzburg set himself to eradicate the Prot- estants from his bishopric. In three years he drove thirty thousand into exile — to Prussia, Holland, and England, or where they could find refuge. They heard of America as a land for the oppressed, and fifty families started in 1733, dragging their goods in rude carts, carrying heavy packs, making their way to Frankfort-on-the-Hain, and floating down the river in boats, sailing for Georgia. They reached the promised land, worn, weary, and poor in everything except faith in the principles for which they had suffered. They loved the Bible and Prayer-book better than anything else. "'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us," they said, and called the little settlement on the bank of the Savannah, Ebenezer. The settlers were not all so sturdy in their religious principles as the Salzburgers; some of the English and Scotchmen quarrelled, or drank more rum than was good, for them, and were put in the stocks. They GEORGIA. 353 were pleased with the country, and wrote home such glowing accounts of the delightfulness of the climate that many others came. Among the number were two young men, brothers — John and Charles Wesley — who had been educated at Oxford, and who were fired with religious zeal. They were the first Methodists. John visited the Indian chief, Tomis Chichi, and asked him to become a Christian. " Me be Christian ? Christians get drunk ! Christians beat men ! Christians tell lies ! Me no Christian !" said Tomis. John and Charles Wesley did not stay long, but went back to Eng- land. Another preacher, Rev. George Whitefield, visited Charleston and Savannah in 1Y38. " Don't have anything to do with him," said Rev. Alexander Gordon, the Episcopal minister at Charleston, and preached a sermon from the text, " Those who have turn- ed the world upside down have come hither also." Instead of inducing the people to stay away from Mr. Whitefield's preaching, every- body wanted to hear him, and came in crowds. Mr. White- field loved a joke, and preach- ed a sermon in reply, taking this for his text : " Alexan- der the coppersmith did me much evil." Rum and negroes! — The laws passed by Parliament said that nobody should sell rum or hold slaves in Geor- gia ; but men would have their rum, notwithstanding the law. General Oglethorpe saw that South Carolina was getting rich through the employment of slave-labor. General Oglethorpe was large-hearted ; he established a home for orphans at Savannah, and begged money for their support in England. He discovered, also, a way to make it self-supporting. He was opposed to slavery on principle. The laws would not let him hold slaves in Georgia, but he might do it in South Carolina. Would not the nobleness of charity make it right for 23 JOHN WKSLEY. 354 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. him to hold slaves ? He thought it would, and bought a plantation and a large number of slaves. If the governor could do it outside of Georgia, why could not others, less scrupulous, hold slaves inside the boundary ? How could Oglethorpe prose- cute them for doing openly what he was doing, as it were, surreptitiously ? So, through the Jesuitical action of Ogle- / - -—... ^*-^V^_-**v \ thorpe, slavery was intro- duced. Many of the negroes brought from Africa to Charleston by the slave-ships panted for freedom and fled into the forests of Geor- gia. Some reached St. Au- gustine. Spain and England \vere at war. The Jesuits at St. Augustine prevailed upon some of the negroes to return to South Carolina and stir up the slaves to revolt, and mur- der their masters. The slaves, not reflecting that they were weak and their masters strong, began an insurrection in 1740, which was quickly put down. "Arrest any of the Jesuits or Spaniards you may find in Georgia," said Governor Oglethorpe to the sheriff, who scoured the country with a, posse of men. Oglethorpe sent a letter to the Governor of New York and other col- onies, informing them of what the Spaniards were doing, and the whole country was thrown into a fever of excitement. Oglethorpe made a set- tlement on St. Simond's Island, at the mouth of the Altamaha, with forts to protect it. "An English settlement at St. Simond's — right under our noses!" The Spaniards at St. Augustine resented it. The Jesuits sent presents to the Indians to induce them to be their allies in sweeping the English into the Atlantic ; but Oglethorpe, getting wind of the movement, made his way through the forests, threading thickets, crossing rivers, and enduring many hardships, to meet the Indians in a grand council, which assembled CHAKLKS WE8LKY. GEORGIA. 355 at Coweta, three hundred miles north-west of Savannah, and was so influ- ential that they agYeed to be true friends of the English. Thirty vessels were off St. Simond's, with the Spanish flag at their mast-heads, and cannon peeping out of the port-holes ! Don Manuel de Montiama was commander, with five thousand soldiers. He would make ash-heaps of St. Simond's and Savannah. Oglethorpe could muster only eight hundred men, with one merchant- vessel of twenty guns, and two schooners. He made a brave fight with his vessels ; but the Spaniards obliged him to abandon them. Monti- ama sailed into the harbor of Frederica. The town was at the head of the bay. To get up to it the Spaniards must make a sweep around the " Devil's Elbow," a point of land on which Oglethorpe planted some cannon, which could give such a raking fire that Montiama, instead of attempting to pass it, landed his troops below to move upon the town. It would be an easy march along a sandy road, beneath tall pines and green palmettoes on one side, and a swamp on the other. Veteran troops of Spain, in light uniforms, banners waving, started at daybreak along the narrow way, putting to flight the few men which Oglethorpe had stationed to guard the road. The Spaniards pursued, but could not overtake them. The day was warm. They stacked their guns, threw themselves upon the ground to wipe the sweat from their brows, before marching across the plain to enter the town. They begin to prepare for breakfast. Crack ! crack ! A volley ! There was a flashing amidst the palmet- toes. Some of the Spaniards lying upon the ground never rose again. Others, rising, went down, pierced by the bullets of a company of Scotch Highlanders. A panic seized the Spaniards ; down the defile they fled, leaving their guns, knapsacks, everything — pursued by the Highlanders and the Indians, who were allies of the English. The Indians buried their tomahawks in the skulls of those they captured. The Spaniards did not stop until they reached the boats. Don Montiama had lost sev- eral hundred men; but he had still four thousand. He supposed that Oglethorpe had nearly as many, and was greatly surprised to learn from a deserter that the English numbered only eight hundred. Oglethorpe knew that the men had deserted, and some plan must be contrived to deceive the Spaniards. What did he do but write a letter to the deserters ! " Persuade the Spaniards to believe that the English have only a few hundred men. Don't let the Spaniards know that two thousand men are coming from Charleston, nor that Admiral Yernon is on his way with a 356 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. fleet to attack St. Augustine. If you are successful, a heavy reward will be paid you !" Oglethorpe had taken some of the Spaniards prisoners. One of them was promised a great reward if he would deliver the letter to the desert- ers. Did the deserter receive the letter? Not by any means. It found its way, just as Oglethorpe expected it would, into the hands of Don Montiatna. " Sails !" " Sails !" There they were, white specks out upon the ocean. The Spaniards could see them. They must be a part of Admiral Vernon's fleet, bound for St. Augustine. There was a commotion in the Spanish camp — soldiers embarking in hot haste; and when they were on board, Don Montiatna hoisted sail and hastened to St. Augustine, to de- fend it against Admiral Vernon. But the admiral never made his ap- pearance : the vessels were merchantmen quietly pursuing their voyage to other ports. So, through the trick played by Oglethorpe, the Spanish invasion came to an inglorious end. THE NEGRO TRAGEDY. 357 CHAPTER XXX. THE NEGRO TRAGEDY. TT was. a foolish thing for Mrs. Hogg to do — open her money-drawer -*- when a rascally young sailor, by the name of Wilson, was in her shop ; for, having caught a glimpse of the silver, he walked down Broad Street to John Hughson's tavern, and told three negroes, Caesar, Prince, and Cuffee, all about it. The next morning, when Mrs. Hogg opened her shop, she found that it had been plundered — that goods and money were missing. It was the spring of 1741. New York contained twelve thou- sand inhabitants, and in a short time everybody was talking about the burglary. Some people cannot keep a secret. Cuffee could not, but showed a handful of silver to Mary Burton, who did chores in John Hughson's dirty tavern down by the North River. It was not a nice place for Mary, who was only fifteen years old, for the groggery was the resort of sailors and the scum of the town. Negro slaves bought their grog at Hughson's bar. Mary was bound out to the tavern-keeper, and quite likely heard much vile language. Cuffee gave Mary a piece of money, which she in turn showed to her playmates. The secret was out, and the constable marched Cuffee, Prince, Caesar, an Irish girl named Peggy, and John Ilughson and his wife to jail as robbers and accomplices. " Fire ! fire ! The governor's house on fire !" The people of New York were just finishing their dinners. They ran with pails, buckets, and ladders, but before they could put out the fire the governor's house, the secretary's office, and the soldiers' barracks were in ashes. A plumber had been soldering the tin on the roof of the gov- ernor's house, and a spark from his furnace had done the mischief. The loss was so great that everybody talked about it. " Fire ! lire ! Captain Warren's house on fire !" It had caught from the chimney on the roof, but was quickly put out. "Fire! fire! Van Zandt's storehouse on fire!" The storehouse stood down by the East River, and was filled with lumber and hay. A man 358 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. had been smoking in the building; no one doubted that a spark from his pipe had started the flames. " Fire ! fire ! Mr. Quirk's barn on fire !" Bells are ringing, and people are running to put it out. This the next day after Van Zandt's. The barn was on the east side of the town. "Another fire over west." Ben Thomas's house, next to Captain Sar- bay's. Two fires at the same time on Saturday. Ben Thomas owned a negro slave, and the fire started in his chamber over the kitchen, between two beds. Coals near a hay-stack, close to John Murray's stables in Broadway — right in the heart of the town. That was what somebody discovered on Sunday morning. The coals had gone out, but there they were. Who put them there ? That was the question. "Fire! fire! Sergeant Burns's house is on fire!" That was the alarm on Monday morning. The people ran, but found that it was only the burning of soot in the chimney. "Fire! fire! Mrs. Hilton's house, next to Captain Sarbay's — the roof in flames !" That was the alarm of Monday afternoon ; seven alarms in two weeks. No doubt somebody was trying to burn the town. Who could it be ? " The negroes — Spanish negroes !" Who were they? Captain Sarbay owned one of them. They had been brought into New York from a Spanish vessel which had been captured. "We are freemen in our own country," said the negroes; but the court had condemned them to be sold as slaves. It must be that they were taking their revenge. That was the conclusion arrived at, without thought or reason. There was no positive evidence that either of the houses had been set on fire. That in Ben Thomas's house was over the kitchen, and a spark from a crevice in the chimney might have set the straw-beds on fire. The coals by John Murray's hay-stack might have been extinguished before they were thrown there. Mrs. Earle, who lived on Broadway, had a story to tell. Three ne- groes were going past her house. One said, " Fire ! fire ! scorch a little now; but by-and-by— Then he swore. Mrs. Earle's hair stood on end. Those words " by-and-by," did they not mean something terrible ? She told her neighbor Mrs. George about it, and Mrs. George felt the cold shivers creep over her. " There they are !" The two women looked out. and saw the three negroes ; one of them was Mr. Walters's Quaco. The women, with their hearts in their mouths, rushed out to tell their neighbors that there was THE NEGRO TRAGEDY. 359 a dreadful conspiracy among the negroes to burn the town. People lost their wits, became panic-stricken, and seized a large number of the negroes and thrust them into jail. "What did you mean, Quaco, when you said, 'Scorch a little — but by-and-by ?' " "I meant that the Spaniards had got scorched by Admiral Yernon, and that they would get more by-and-by," said Quaco. The news had just come that Admiral Vernon had captured Porto Bello, in the West Indies. " To white people, one hundred pounds ; to free negroes, one hundred pounds and pardon ; to slaves, one hundred pounds, pardon, freedom !" That was what the governor offered to those who would tell what they knew about the conspiracy. He called out the troops to patrol the town. He called the Supreme Court together, and summoned the grand-jury. Every lawyer in New York offered his services to the governor to aid in ferreting out the conspirators. Governor, judges, sheriffs, grand-jury, lawyers, people — all were beside themselves. The entire community was panic-stricken. The soldiers inarched the streets with their guns, the constables searched all the houses of the negroes who were in jail ; but they found no evidence of any conspiracy or plan for insurrection. April came, and the court sat to try the negroes ; also John Hughson for robbing Mrs. Hogg, and Arthur Price for stealing goods when the governor's house was on fire. Mary Burton was the chief witness. " Do you know anything about the conspiracy ?" Mary bit her apron. " Tell us all about it, Mary ; you can have one hundred pounds." One hundred pounds ! What a sum for a girl of fifteen ! Mary hesitated. " You must tell us ; you must speak the truth. What a terrible sin if you do not ! you will have to answer for it at the day of judgment. It will be a damnable sin laid at your door," said Judge Horsmenden. She was in court. There sat the judges, wearing their big white wigs. There were seventeen of the coolest -headed men and most re- spected citizens of New York. Is it strange that a chore-girl of a dirty tavern, who had no education, no friends, who was little better than a slave, whose master and mistress were in jail for receiving stolen goods — is it a wonder that, with one hundred pounds before her, besieged by the governor, judges, jury, and all the lawyers, she should tell such a story as they wanted to hear — that there was a conspiracy among the negroes ? "Yes, there was a conspiracy; she had heard Cuffee, Caesar, and Prince talk it over. They talked about burning the fort and the tavern. 360 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. They were going to do it in the night, and when the people came to put out the fires the negroes would kill them. John Hughson, Mrs. II ugh son, and Peggy, an Irish girl, had promised to help them. Caesar was to be governor, and Hughson king. There were thirty negroes in it. They had eight muskets, three pistols, and four swords !" What a revelation! Judges and jury stood agh'ast! Every white man, woman, and child not in the plot to be murdered ! They were so horrified that they could not see how absurd the story, and how great the improbability — that it was a lie from beginning to end. Thirty negroes, with eight guns, three pistols, and four swords, were to murder twelve thousand white men and women, and set up a government of their own ! " Go on, Mary. Tell us more.1' And Mary went on, telling how they were to stand at the door of Trinity Church, and murder the people when they came out of meeting. Arthur Price, who was in prison for stealing goods from the govern- or's house, saw that there was a chance for him to get clear, and have one hundred pounds besides. He swore that Mary had told a true story. Caesar and Prince were condemned to be hung. " We are not guilty," said the negroes, as they stood with the halters around their necks. No- body believed them, and the sheriff swung tfyem off. The governor appointed May 13th for fastyig and prayer. On that day there was a fire over in Hackensack, and two barns burnt. Of course the negroes did it. Two were arrested, one confessed ; both were tied to stakes and burnt to death. Wilder grew the excitement. Mary Burton had more confessions to make; the judges and jury accepted every word of her statement as truth. John Hughson, his wife, and Peggy were hung. "We are innocent; there is not a word of truth in Mary's stories," they said. But what were their protestations worth with people who were going crazy with excitement. There must be somebody behind the negroes. A ship sailed into the harbor from Savannah, bringing a letter from Governor Oglethorpe, of Georgia, to Lieutenant-governor Clark. "I have some intelligence of a villanous design. The Spaniards have em- ployed emissaries to burn all the magazines and large towns in America. Many priests are employed for the purpose, who pretend to be physicians, dancing- masters, and other such kind of occupations," wrote Governor Oglethorpe. "The Spaniards! the Papists! the Papists!" The cry ran through the town. Who were the emissaries? THE NEGRO TRAGEDY. 361 " John Ney, the school-master ; he is a priest in disguise." Poor John ]S"ey, a quiet, inoffensive, retiring man, who had always minded his own business, and had eked out a scanty living by teaching school, was hauled up before the court. " He has been often at our house," said John Hughson's daughter, Sarah, who also had been arrested, and who was thinking how she could save her own neck from the halter. " He used to draw a circle on the floor with chalk, and each negro put his foot in it and swore a terrible oath to kill all the white folks. He gave them the sacrament, and ab- solved them from all sin," she said, telling a lie which governor, judges, jury, and lawyers all believed ; and John Ney, without a friend to utter a word in his defence, was taken out to the gallows. "I never knew Hughson or his wife; never saw them. I have no knowledge of any conspiracy. I am not a Catholic, but a minister of the Church of England." What was that denial to a panic-stricken court and people ? "He is a Papist — a conspirator. Hang him !" The rope was put round his neck, the black cap drawn over his head, the rope cut, and his lifeless body dangled in the air. Mr. Roosevelt's negro, Quaco, was charged with having set the govern- or's house on fire, when, before the panic, everybody was satisfied that the wind had blown a spark from the plumber's furnace, which had set the roof on fire. " Burn him, if he will not confess." Quaco was tied to the stake, and the fagots piled around him. "Tell all you know about the conspiracy, and you shall be pardoned." "I set the governor's house on fire. I took a coal from the kitchen and carried it up to the roof, but it didn't catch. I went up the next day, blew the coals into a flame, and kindled the fire." " Burn him ! burn him !" shouted the crowd, too crazy to see that Quaco's confession was a lie — that a brand would not hold its fire for twenty-four hours. "Burn him ! burn him !" The fagots were lighted, the flames curled around him, and his life went out amidst the hootings and maledictions of the demented multi- tude. "White men who wore ruffled shirts used to come to the tavern. They sent letters to Hughson with money in them," said Mary Burton, inventing more lies. White men with ruffled shirts! Who were they? Mary gave the names of some of the best men in New York. 362 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Ah! Judge Horsmanden begins to see things in a different light. That cannot be. Mary is telling lies. The panic dies out as suddenly as it began. The governor appoints a day of thanksgiving. For what? "To thank God for having delivered the colony from the execrable conspir- acy ;" so read the proclamation. Conspiracy! There had been none. The negroes were innocent. John Ney was innocent. The Papists, the Spaniards, had laid no plans. The Pope had no emissaries in disguise. There was not a Catholic priest in New York. John Hughson, his wife, and Peggy were all innocent, except as receivers of the goods which Cuffee, Prince, and Ceesar had stolen. There was no evidence entitled to the court's credence that any fire had been set by design. The confession which Quaco had made was invented by the poor fellow in his fright — a vain effort to save his life. How sad the record ! Nearly two hundred imprisoned ; twelve burnt to death ; eighteen hung ; thirty - two transported and sold as slaves in the "West Indies, and every one innocent ! How shall we account for such a craze? 'Governor, judges, the wisest and best men, the whole community, going mad, losing their wits, im- prisoning, hanging the innocent, believing the stories of an injudicious chore-girl of a dirty groggery, rejecting the protestations of a school-mas- ter— a minister of the Church of England. Accepting lies for truth, and regarding the truth as lies. The hanging of the twenty men and women at Salem was a ripple of the great wave of superstition that had been sweeping over Europe, sending hundreds and thousands to the stake and gallows. Popes, bish- ops, priests, Catholic and Protestant alike — good men in every country — believed that God had commanded them to put witches to death. There were tears upon the cheeks of the judges at Salem when they condemned Rebecca Nurse. A half-century had rolled away since the delusion in regard to witch- craft ; but suddenly, with no superstition of the ages to give it force, a wilder panic seized the people of New York. Everybody went crazy — governor, judges, jury, lawyers, ministers, people ! It is the most unaccountable event in the history of our country. THE BEGINNING OF A GEEAT STRUGGLE. 363 CHAPTER XXXI. THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT STRUGGLE. WHO owned the country west of the Alleghanies? "England owns it by priority of discovery," said George II. ; " for Sebastian Cabot was the first to sail along the Atlantic Coast, and Sir Francis Drake was the first to visit the Pacific. England owns from ocean to ocean." " It belongs to France," said Louis XV. " Champlain was the first European who visited the country of the Great Lakes." Four years had passed since the signing of the treaty between France and England at Aix-la-Chapelle. It was only the laying down of the sword for a short time. Nothing had been said about boundaries in America, and anybody could see that the struggle sooner or later would begin again. During the year the Indians of Canada, especially of the St. Francis tribe, which were most under the influence of the Jesuits, were restless. They had made many forays in the past upon the settle- ments in New Hampshire, and were eager to be once more engaged in capturing English prisoners, and selling them as slaves to the French in Montreal. In April, 1752, David Stinson, Amos Eastman, William and John Stark, paddled up the Merrimac in canoes. Twenty-five miles brought them to the frontier settlement at Boscawen. They pushed on up the winding river forty miles farther; entered Baker's River, a little stream which meandered through a lovely valley, built a camp, and set their traps to catch the beaver which were building their dams across the streams. "There are Indians about. I have discovered their tracks," said one of the party. "We had best take up our traps," they said, and John Stark went to take them up, when suddenly he found himself confronted by two In- dians, who made him their prisoner. They did not know that there were more English near by, nor did John tell them. " Why is John gone so long ? Perhaps he has got lost," said the other hunters. They fired a gun. The countenances of the Indians 364 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. lighted with joy. They stole through the forest with John, and came upon his three companions. Eastman was on the shore, William Stark and Stinson in the boat. They seized Eastman. •f Shmr- general liner of frmvh jnthtar^pottt. THE FRENCH FORTS. "Pull to the other shore!" shouted John. Crack ! crack ! went the guns of the Indians. Stinson fell dead, and a bullet split the paddle in "William Stark's hand. He leaped to the THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT STRUGGLE. 367 other bank. Crack ! crack ! went the guns again. The bullets whistled around William, but he was a swift runner, and was soon out of sight. The Indians gave John a whipping for having shouted to William, loaded him with the plunder of the camp, and marched quickly to their canoes. They divided, one party going west over the Green Mountains with the furs which they had captured — going directly to Albany, because they could get better prices there than in Canada — and the other party, with their two prisoners, paddling up the Connecticut, carrying their canoes to Lake Memphremagog, descending the St. Francis River to their village on the bank of the St. Lawrence, half-way between Quebec and Montreal. The village of St. Francis was a collection of miserable cabins. The Jesuits had built a chapel, where a little tinkling bell called the Indians to morning mass and evening vespers. The whole population — warriors, squaws, and children — came out to receive the party returning from so successful a foray. True, there was no war between France and England, but what of that ? Had they not made war on their own account ? The Jesuit fathers had no rebuke for them. Were not the English all heretics? The prisoners must run the gauntlet. It is not quite certain what the word came from, but it means running between two rows of men armed with sticks, each Indian to give the prisoner a whack as he passed. Eastman was the oldest, and ran first. Whack ! whack ! fell the blows, beating his flesh black and blue. "Your turn now!" said an Indian to John Stark. He is thirty years old, tall, and broad-shouldered. His muscles are springs of steel. He has an iron will. He is quick to think and act. The Indians grasp their cudgels in a firmer grip. Stark comes upon the run. Quick as a flash he wrests a cudgel from an Indian, swings it about his head with the strength of a giant, giving blows on their faces and on their foreheads. They go down as the Philistines fell before Samson. The Indians take to their heels to escape his mighty strokes. " You hoe corn," they say, putting a hoe in his hands. He strikes it into the ground a few times, hoeing up the young corn instead of the weeds, then flings the hoe into the river. " Squaws hoe corn, braves fight !" he said. Did they punish him? On the contrary, they patted him on the shoulder. "Bono! bono!" — good! good! they said, greatly pleased at his spirit; they wanted him to be their chief. Eastman got his freedom for sixty dollars; but Stark had to pay one hundred for being so bold and brave. 368 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. While the Jesuit Indians were making raids upon the Merrimac, Christopher Gist was crossing the Alleghany Mountains with eleven families, and making a settlement near Pittsburgh. Intelligence of what he was doing reached the Governor of Canada. The English were tak- ing possession of Ohio ! He would not permit it. lie determined to drive them out. He sent a party of soldiers, who built a fort on the Alleghany at Franklin, in Venango County, in the territory which the Ohio Company had purchased. Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, looked around to find some one to send a message to the French. There were many able men in the prime of life in Virginia, but he passed them all by, and selected a tall young man — only twenty-two years old — George Wash- ington. Who was he, and what had he done to commend himself to act as ambassador in a matter affecting the relations not only of the Ohio Company, but Virginia and all the other colonies ? He was great- grandson of John Washington, who stood so staunchly by Charles I., who emigrated to Virginia when Cromwell came into power. He was born on February 22d, 1732, on the banks of the Potomac, in a little, old, low -roofed house, with a big chimney on the outside of each gable. ARMS AND CREST OF THE WASHINGTON , , . . . , , . - , Soon after his birth his father moved FAMIL i • to Fredericksburg, and George went to school and studied arithmetic and grammar, and learned to write a clear round hand. His oldest brother, Lawrence, was sent to England to be educated. He came back in 1740. England and Spain were at war, and the English went on an expedition to the West Indies to capture the Spanish towns. Virginia raised some troops, and Lawrence Washington went as captain, and had a taste of fighting in an attack by Admiral Ver- non on Carthagena. He was gone two years. His father died in 17-13, leaving a great estate on the Potomac to Lawrence, which he named Mount Vernon, in honor of his commander, Admiral Vernon. He built a fine mansion overlooking the river, married Annie Fairfax, and lived in fine style, having a stable full of horses. George was eleven years old, and was sent to Mr. Williams's school, THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT STRUGGLE. 369 where he studied surveying. He wanted to be a midshipman on one of Admiral Vernon's ships. A commission was obtained for him; but his mother asked him to give up the idea of being a sailor, and his affection for her was so tender that he did not accept the commission. "When he was fifteen years old he went to Mount Vernon to live with Lawrence, whose next neighbor was Lord Fairfax — a tall, gaunt, raw- boned man, with sharp nose, piercing eyes, sixty years old, who owned immense estates on the Potomac, and beyond the Blue Ridge along the Shenandoah, which he had inherited from his mother, daughter of Lord MOUNT VERNON. Culpepper, to whom they had been given by Charles II. Lord Fairfax had many horses. He was fond of hunting and riding at a breakneck speed, leaping fallen trees and high fences, in chasing deer and foxes with (a pack of hounds and a troop of his neighbors. A fox-hunt in the early morning, when the air was fresh and invigorating, stirred the blood — the master of the band sending out blasts from his trumpet that echoed far over the valley, and singing a hunting song: 24 370 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "A southerly wind and cloudy sky Proclaim it a hunting morning ; Before the sun rises, away we fly, Dull sleep and a downy bed scorning. Tantara! tantara! tuntara!"' Of all the riders there was none bolder than George Washington. Ko untamed colt, no matter how high he might kick, could unseat the tall boy when he was once on the animal's back. Lord Fairfax wanted his land in the Shenandoah surveyed, and en- . gaged the sixteen-year-old lad to do the work. He rode on horseback up the valley of the Potomac, entered the valley of the " Daughter of the Stars," as the Indians called the beautiful Shenandoah. He laid off the wild laud into farms, working hard all day with his compass, sleeping at night on the floor of a log-cabin, or wrapping himself in his blanket beneath the trees, earning ti ve or six dollars a day. He laid out a manor for Lord Fairfax, who built a great house, with numerous outbuildings, and who treated everybody with the greatest hos- pitality. He called his place Green way Court. Squatters, negroes, In- dians, always could have a meal of victuals at Greenway. The Governor of Virginia appointed him public surveyor. The planters paid him liberally. They raised a great deal of tobacco, which they pressed into hogsheads, and which was rolled to Belhaven, on the Potomac, where they loaded it on vessels and shipped it to England. Belhaven was a hamlet of a few houses; but Colonel Fairfax, Law- rence Washington, and a few of their neighbors, thinking it might be made a large town, purchased the land, and set the young surveyor to lay- ing it out. They named it Alexandria. Whatever he undertook to do was well done. He wrote the notes of his survey in a clear round hand, easy to read as a printed page. He was so much respected that the gov- ernor appointed him a major in the militia when he was only eighteen. He took fencing lessons of Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman, who had been with his brother Lawrence in the war against the Spaniards. Governor Dinvviddie had tried in vain to find some one who would take a letter to the French beyond the mountains. Of all the brave and able men in Virginia, no one cared to go. There were terrible hard- ships to be encountered, to say nothing of the chance of a man losing his scalp. " I will go, sir," said the young surveyor, twenty years old, and he was so self-reliant and capable that the governor intrusted him with the mission. i THE BEGINNING OF A GKEAT STRUGGLE. 371 WASHINGTON SURVEYING LORD FAIRFAX S LAND. The leaves were falling from the elms and maples on the 30th of October, when he started from Williamsburg with Jacob Van Braarn, who was to go with him. Eight men, with a tent and provisions, accom- panied them on horseback. Two were Indians. They rode up the valley of the Potomac to Cumberland, followed 372 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. np a little stream called Will's Creek, climbed over the mountains, and reached the Monongahela. The provisions were put in a canoe arid sent down the stream; but the men on horseback reached the Ohio before the men in the boats. While waiting for it, the young surveyor was making a map of the country. "Here is a place for a fort, and it will be a city some day," he said, as he stood upon the point of land at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela, where now the smoke of thousands of furnaces of Pitts- burgh darken the sun. It was seventy miles np the valley to the first French fort at Venango. The French commander, Joncaire, had no authority to receive the letters. He must send Major Washington to his superior up French Creek, to Fort La Boeuf ; but he treated the young officer from Virginia with great respect, entertaining him with wine grown in the vineyards of France. " The country is ours, and we intend to hold it," said the French com- mander. Four weary days through the snow, where now fountains of oil are flowing, brought them to Fort La Boeuf, fifteen miles only from Lake Erie. Washington presented his letter, was courteously entertained two days, and received a letter in reply, to be delivered to the Governor of Virginia. Great were the hardships of the homeward journey. There had been heavy rains. French Creek was swollen. The canoes of the voyagers were in danger of being dashed upon the rocks. Many times Washing- ton had to leap into the water to lift the boats from the rocks. It was Christmas when they started from Venango. The pack-horses were broken down. Washington piled the baggage on his horse, and started on foot, dressed as an Indian. The snow was deep, and the rivers filled with ice. Washington and Mr. Gist, who was with him, left Van Braam and the others, and struck through the forest for the junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela, taking an Indian for a guide; but the Indian was in the pay of the French, and led them a roundabout tramp through the woods. The Indian was in advance; suddenly he turned, raised his gun, and fired at Washington. He was not three rods away, but, strange to say, missed him. The Indian sprung behind a tree, and began to load his gun. Washington and Gist seized him. " I'll put an end to the rascal !" said Gist. "Oh no," said Washington ; "we will set him adrift." They gave him a piece of meat, but kept his gun. They travelled all night, going by the compass, and reached the Alleghany. The river THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT STRUGGLE. 373 was filled with floating ice. They had only one hatchet, but set them- selves to work, taking turns in building a raft, which took them all day. They got on board with poles to push it across the stream. When half- way, a cake of ice struck Washington with such force that it knocked him from the raft ; but he got on board once more. The ice was so thick that they could not push the raft to either shore, and landed upon an island. Night came on. They were drenched to the skin. Their clothes were coats of frozen mail. They nearly lost their lives from freezing; but when morning came the river was frozen from shore to shore, and they gained the land, pushed on all day, reached the cabin of a settler, and were saved from perishing. Jacob Van Braam and the others of the party carne ; and with fresh horses they made their way over the mountains, reaching Williamsburg January 16th, 1754. What was the reply of the French ? That the letter of the Governor of Yirginia would be sent to the Governor of Canada, the Marquis du Quesne. 374 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XXXII. DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. WE must secure the Ohio country in advance of the French," was i the declaration of the Governor of Virginia. The assembly voted ten thousand pounds. A regiment was raised. Joshua Fry was appointed colonel, and George Washington lieutenant* THE LAND IN DISPUTE. colonel. Two of the companies were sent to build a fort on the spot which Washington had selected. They made their way through the woods, down the Monongahela, and began to build the fort ; but were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of sixty large flat-boats and DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. 375 three hundred canoes, bringing one thousand French and Indians, and eighteen cannon. Captain Contrecoeur was commander. " Surrender, or I shall fire upon you," he said. There were only forty-one Virginians in the party, and Ensign Ward, who commanded them, was obliged to surrender, but was permitted to leave with his men. The French went to work with axes and spades, and erected a strong fort, mounted their cannon upon it, and named it Du Quesne, in honor of the Governor of Canada. Ensign Ward reached Cumberland, and told Washington of what had taken place. Though the French had occupied the country in advance of Washington, he was not the man to turn back, but marched to Great Meadows, thirty-seven miles from Pittsburgh. " The French are coming out to surprise you," was the word brought by an Indian. Why not surprise them? He started at midnight and fell upon them. Their leader, Jumonville, was killed, and half the party captured. He returned quickly to Great Meadows, threw up a little fort, which he named "Fort Necessity," and sent a messenger for his re-enforcements to hasten ; but before they arrived a large body of French and Indians were upon him, and he was obliged to surrender. War had not been declared between France and England, but it had begun. It was not a struggle merely to determine to whom the country west of the Alleghany belonged ; not a question of boundaries, but a con- flict between two civilizations, two races, two religions. The French were descended from people who spoke the Latin lan- guage. They were Catholics. Their rulers had always taught that gov- ernment was paternal, and would take care of them. The English had German and Norman blood in their veins. Their language was strong and vigorous. They did not regard the king as their father; they had protested against the claim of popes and priests to hold their consciences and intellects in their keeping. Government to them was not paternal. Men were individuals, and had a right to make their own laws, which the king himself was bound to obey. The French and Jesuits were setting themselves to hold a vast terri- tory, capable of sustaining millions of the human race. They intended to make the range of mountains, from the White Mountains in New Hampshire to Central Alabama, the boundary between the two civiliza- tions, races, and religions. The English colonies had a population of eleven hundred and sixty- five thousand whites, and two hundred and sixty-eight thousand negroes. 376 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. The French population of Canada was only about one hundred and twen- ty thousand ; so there were fourteen people in the English settlements where there was one in Canada. Why had not Canada grown faster? because the French did not like to leave their vineyards and their sunny homes, to live in a country where the snow covered the ground from Xoveinber to May. The peas- ants of la belle France preferred to live where they could gather with their neighbors in the pleasant wine-shops of their native villages, and talk of what was going on, and have a dance upon the green in the calm summer evenings. Why should they leave such pleasures to live where the wolves and foxes were ever howling? The Jesuits had done what they could to build up Canada. They had been very zealous for the Church of Rome and for the order of Loyola. There was scarcely a heretic in all that vast reach of country. Bitter their hatred ; but hate and prejudice always make men blind, not only to what is right but to their own interests. It was an irreparable mistake which the Jesuits made when they in- duced Louis XIV. to revoke the Edict of Nantes, and at the same time excluding the Huguenots from Canada. The Huguenots were attached to France, and when they were in exile, when they were being burnt to death, sent up fervent prayers for the king. They would have emigrated to Canada, but the Jesuits kept them out. Canada and the whole of America between the Alleghanies and the Pacific Ocean was to be theirs. They were ever intermeddling with the Governor of Canada, and quarrel- ling with the fur-traders. The Governors of Canada were ever looking after their own interests. One, who died just before George Washington made his journey to the Ohio, was feathering his own nest while managing affairs. The King of France allowed him thirteen hundred dollars salary, but he laid up sixty thousand livres every year by plundering the people. The exam- ple of the governor was followed by everybody else. Father Letour, a Jesuit priest, was so greedy of making money that he had a con- tractor murdered who stood in the way of his supplying a fort with provisions. How could Canada grow when everybody in office was plundering the people? The Canadians lived by hunting and fishing. They loved the wild life of the woods. They planted but little. Why should they clear land and delve among the stumps with hoes, when the woods and streams were full of game ? Away back at the beginning of things, when Adam was in Eden, God DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. 377 told him to dress it and subdue the ground, and it should bring forth food. It is the subduing of the ground that is at the beginning of all progress. A people who live by hunting and fishing will always be poor and low down in civilization. It is digging the ground that produces wealth, and there is no end to the riches which men can accumulate if they begin in the right way. The English in America, with sturdy blows, had been letting the sun- light in upon the wilderness — clearing farms, ploughing, sowing, reaping ; the women spinning and weaving: wheels were humming and shuttles flying from morning till night. Working writh the hands sets the brain to work. Every town had its school, its church, a school-master, and minister. Men were thinking for themselves — upon government, upon individual rights, upon obligations to themselves, their neighbor, and to God. Life, activity, energy along the Atlantic shore — on the Connecticut, Hudson, and Potomac ; sluggishness and torpor on the St. Lawrence. The King of France and the Jesuits managed everything in Canada. The people had no voice in anything, while in the English colonies the people managed their own affairs. Two frigates, the Nightingale and /Sea-horse, commanded by Admiral Keppel, with sixteen merchant- vessels, sailed up the Potomac to Alexan- dria, bringing two regiments of British troops, commanded by Major-gen- eral Edward Braddock — haughty, proud, austere, who looked down with contempt upon the people of America. There were stirring times in Alexandria — the king's troops landing, pitching their tents, appearing on parade. There was a gathering of governors — Shirley from Massachusetts, Delancey from New York, Mor- ris from Pennsylvania, Sharp from Maryland, Dinwiddie from Virginia, with their secretaries. The rich planters came to pay their respects to the commander of the king's troops and the governors. There were grand dinner-parties and much ceremony. General Braddock took Colonel Carlyle's house — the best in Alexandria — for his head-quarters. It had been built two years before, in 1753, of stone brought from the Isle of Wight, in vessels that sailed to Virginia after tobacco. Men whose names are written large in the history of our country came to see General Brad- dock. Benjamin Franklin, who was the king's deputy-postmaster, came to make arrangements for sending letters. He knew more about public affairs than General Braddock and all the governors together. Horatio Gates came from New York, to tender two companies to General Brad- dock ; Richard Henry Lee, captain of a company of Virginia troops, was 378 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. there to offer his services. Hugh Mercer came with a company of vol- unteers from Fredericksburg. Daniel Morgan, a teamster from Occo- quan, between Alexandria and Mount Vernon, was there to drive a wagon. He was accepted as a teamster, and for doing something which displeased Braddock was whipped. General Braddock and all the English officers had a good opinion of themselves, but thought very little of the "provin- BRADDOCK 8 HEAD-QUARTERS. cials," as they called everybody who lived in America. No provincial general or colonel, commissioned by the governor, could hold any rank while serving with the officers commissioned by the king. Colonel George Washington was high-spirited enough to resent such an insult, and re- signed his commission. General Braddock found that he needed the man who knew all about the Ohio country, and appointed him on his staff, and the Governor of Virginia appointed him commander of the Virginia troops which were to accompany Braddock. Who should pay for the support of the troops — the king or the colo- nies? The question had been discussed among the king's ministers in Parliament ; and now, on the 14th of April, 1755, the governors, with Gen- DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. 379 eral Braddock and Admiral Keppel, meet in a secret congress to discuss and settle the question. The king and his ministers and Parliament were taxing the people of the provinces in various ways ; the governors were all getting rich bj plundering them ; and the Legislatures, ever watchful of their rights, were refusing to vote supplies, when they could have nothing to say as to how the money was to be expended. The governors all sided with the king and the ministers. It was nat- ural, for they were all appointed by the king. They resolved that the king's ministers ought to find out seme method of compelling the people of America to supply the troops under General Braddock. It was a little cloud on the horizon, which became a thunder-gust in after years. The people of Alexandria had swung their hats when Braddock came, but they \vere heartily glad when his troops were on their way up the Potomac ; for there was bad blood between his soldiers, whose uniforms were bright and new — red coats with buff facings — and the Virginia sol- diers, whose uniforms were home-made, and so short-tailed that the reg- ulars called them "bobtails." With rum in abundance,- with contempt WASHINGTON S TALK WITH BRADDOCK. on the part of the regulars, and a resenting of insult on the part of the Virginians, there were many brawls and fights. 380 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. Braddock's whole force was twenty-one hundred men, including the eight companies of Virginians under Washington. The English general had fought on European battle-fields. He had marched on smooth roads, but knew nothing of the difficulties of getting through an American wilderness. He scorned advice. He was so punctilious and fussy, that the army only made five miles a day ; and if it had not been for Benja- min Franklin, would not have gotten on at all for want of wagons and horses, but he obtained them from the Pennsylvania farmers. The army reached Cumberland the first week in June. General Braddock accepted Washington's advice to leave the heavy baggage, and move on with twelve hundred men more rapidly. It was a bright July morning. The army was approaching Fort Du Quesne ; ten miles more, and it would be there. Proudly the soldiers moved along the valley of the Monongahela, wearing their bright red uniforms, their gun-barrels and bayonets glaring in the sunlight, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and their banners waving. Lieutenant-col- onel Gage, with three hundred men, led the advance. He forded the river, crossed a plain, and ascended a hill. Mr. Gordon was in advance of all, with a company, marking out the road. General Braddock had no expectation of being attacked. He was to attack the French. Mr. Gor- don beheld a man wearing a gray hunting-frock waving his hat. A sil- ver gorget gleamed upon his breast. It was a French officer, Beaujean, who had come out from Fort Du Quesne with two hundred and thirty Frenchmen and six hundred and thirty Indians, to give General Braddock a little taste of fighting in the wilderness of America. From every tree there came a flash, and the head of Gage's column melted away ; but the English fired a volley, and Beaujean and thirteen of his men went down. Gage's artillerymen wheeled two cannon into position, and opened fire. The roar of the cannon echoed along the river, frightening the In- dians, who started to run ; but the French held their ground. The In- dians came back, yelling the war-whoop. " Yive le Koi !" shouted the French. " Hurrah for King George !" cried the English. Lieutenant -colonel Burton came up with a re -enforcement, but his troops were panic-stricken. General Braddock tried to rally his men. They loaded and fired at random ; they saw flashes, puffs of smoke, but few of the enemv. There was firing in front, on both flanks and in the •/ o rear, where the Indians were shooting the horses of the baggage-train. The drivers fled. Men and officers were dropping all the time. Brad- dock was trying to form his men in platoons and battalions, after the DEFEAT OF GENERAL BBADDOCK. 381 method laid down in all military books; while the Virginians, accustomed to the wilderness, sprung behind rocks and trees, or fell flat on the ground, and watched their opportunity to put a bullet through the head of a Frenchman or Indian. Braddock cursed them for not standing up in platoons, and struck them with his sword. How preposterous ! Whoever heard of a battle being fought in that way from behind trees ! Captain Waggener placed his company of Virginians behind a fallen tree, which served them for a breastwork, and poured a telling volley "THEY SAW PUFFS OF SMOKE, BUT FEW OF THE ENEMY." 382 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. upon the French, but the next minute fifty of them were killed by the panic-stricken British, who had so lost their wits that they took them to be Frenchmen. The French and Indians aimed to pick off all the English officers. Sir Peter Ilalket, Braddock's second in command, fell O 9 ' dead. Shirley, Braddock's secretary, went down with a bullet through his breast. Colonels Burton, Gage, and Orme, Major Spark, Major Ilalket, Captain Morris, all were wounded. Washington's horse was killed. He mounted a second; that, too, was shot. A bullet went through his coat ; another, a third, a fourth ; but his time had not come to die. God had a great work for him to do for the human race, and this was the beginning. All through the afternoon, from two o'clock to five, the hurly-burly went on — the English huddled in groups or scattered along the narrow road, firing away their ammunition, seeing only now and then a French- man or Indian. The Virginians alone were cool, watching their oppor- tunity, and sending their bullets through the skulls of the savages as they peeped from behind the trees. It was five o'clock in the afternoon ; General Braddock had had five horses shot under him; he was issuing an order when a bullet struck him, and he fell upon the ground. His troops threw aside their guns and knapsacks, then fled like a herd of frightened sheep. Washington tried to stop them. He begged, threatened, but in vain. "Don't leave your general to be scalped!" shouted Colonel Orme. " I'll give you sixty guineas to carry him off." What was Braddock or money to them ? To escape was their only thought. Captain Stewart and another Virginian officer took the wound- ed general in their arms and bore him from the field. All through the night, all the next day, the English fled, the Virginians under Washington protecting the rear and carrying the wounded general. The French and Indians made no attempt at pursuit; they had won a great victory, and were dividing the spoil — drinking the rum, eating the bacon, and counting their scalps in savage glee. It was Sunday evening. The remnant of the defeated army was at Great Meadows. Braddock had issued his orders up to this time, but no other words had passed his lips. The death pallor was settling over his face. " AVho would have thought it ? We shall know better how to deal with them next time," he said. They were his last words; a few min- utes, and the heart ceased its beating. Incapacity, haughtiness, pride, con- tempt of advice, had resulted in defeat and disaster. Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, was at Oswego, in Xe\v York, in- DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. 383 tending to capture Niagara; but the news of the defeat of Braddock so disheartened his men and upset all his plans, that he did not make the attempt. Another expedition, under General Johnson, started from Albany to capture Crown Point. The troops were mostly from New England. The news of the dis- BUADDOCK S GKAVE. aster to Braddock, instead of dispiriting them, only made them more resolute. One of the regiments was from New Hampshire, commanded by Colonel Blanchard. One of the companies of the regiment was called the " Rangers." The soldiers had rifles, and wore green frocks. They were commanded by Robert Rogers. John Stark was lieutenant. They built a fort on the Hudson, which they named Fort Edward. General Johnson opened a road from the Hudson to Lake St. Sacra- 384 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ment. Johnson hated the name given by the Jesuits, and changed it to Lake George, for the King of England. No French or Jesuit names for LAKE GEORGE. him. Two hundred ship-carpenters went to work building boats, in which he intended to go down the lake, making his way to Ticonderoga, where he would build a fort which would command both lakes, and be a barrier in the path of the French. He had thirty -four hundred men. Hen- drick, the Mohawk chief, joined him with two hundred warriors. General Johnson's son, Thayendanegea, or Joseph Brant, or "Bundle of Sticks," whose mother was one of Johnson's Indian wives, accompanied his father, although he was only thirteen years old. Scouts brought w*ord that the French were already building a fort at Ticonderoga. Baron Dieskau, the commander, was quick to act. "Boldness wins," was Dieskau's motto. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not. He conceived a bold plan, that of marching past Johnson, capturing Fort Edward, and falling upon Albany. He had nine hundred French and six hundred Indians. Such a move would cut off Johnson, and carry consternation to the English everywhere. The Indians did not like to attack forts; they were afraid DEFEAT OF GENERAL BEADDOCK. 385 of cannon, and urged Dieskau to attack Johnson, who was encamped on the shore of the lake. "The French are going to attack Fort Edward," was the word brought by scouts. General Johnson called a council of war, proposing to send one thou- sand troops under Colonel Williams to meet Dieskau. JOSEPH BRANT. " What do you think ?" he asked of the chief of the Mohawks. " If they are to fight, they are too few ; if to be killed, too many," said Hendrick. Notwithstanding the advice, General Johnson ordered Colonel Wil- liams to march. He was a brave officer. He had made his will when he was at Albany, bequeathing his property for the founding of a school, the beginning of Williams College. 25 386 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. 8IK WILLIAM JOHNSON. Four miles out from Johnson's camp there was a swamp on one side of the road, and a low ridge on the other. The trees were tall, and the underbrush very thick. What a place for an ambush ! Dieskau posted his men, where they could sweep the road with their fire. The Indians threw them- selves on their faces, or crouched behind the trees. Into the trap marched the Mohawks — Hen- drick in advance. Nearly a century and a half had passed since that battle on the shore of the lake, a few miles further north, between the Iroquois and Algonqnins — in which Samuel Champlain took part; and the enmity between the Indians was still the same. Colonel Williams, Lieutenant Whiting, and Lieutenant Israel Putnam, with the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut troops, were just behind. A gun flashed, and the old Mohawk chief — ever the friend of the Eng- lish— fell dead. The swamp and low ridge were aflame. The Mohawks fled. Colonel Williams was shot. Though the backwoodsmen of New England were confronted by troops who had fought on the battle-fields of France, they fought bravely, retreating in good order to the lake. Boldness wins! Baron Dieskau had won one victory, and would quickly make an end of the English. Johnson's troops were hard at work. They were all wood - choppers, and the trees were falling beneath their blows for a breastwork. The artillerymen were dragging the cannon up from the ships and putting them in position. It was half -past eleven, when the English saw beneath the boughs of the trees the white uniforms of the French, who came on in platoons, firing volley after volley. The Canadian Indians poured in a rattling fire HENDKICK. DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. 387 from behind the trees, but were terribly frightened when Johnson's can- non began to thunder, and fled to a safe distance. " Cowards !" cried Dieskau ; but that did not make them brave. The Mohawks had also skulked to the rear, but they took heart and returned. Johnson was slightly wounded at the beginning of the battle, and went to his tent, leaving General Lyman, of Connecticut, to com- mand the troops. He was a brave, cool-headed man, and his men were as brave as he. " They fight like devils !" said Dieskau. A bullet struck him, but he would not leave the field. Boldness wins! he would fight on. St. Pierre, his next officer, was killed. Another bullet strikes Dieskau ; a third ; but he will not leave the field. He sits upon a stump and coolly gives his orders. The September sun wheels down the west. For five hours the battle goes on. The strength of the French is failing. The men of New Eng- land, defeated in the morning, can restrain themselves no longer. They leap over the barricade, fall upon the French, and strike them down with the butts of their guns, putting them to rout. Seth Pomeroy, of Connecticut, comes upon Dieskau, who sits upon a stump, unable to move. Pomeroy does not understand French, nor Dies- kau English. The French general puts his hand in his pocket to pull out his watch to present to his captor. Pomeroy thinks he is drawing a pistol, and fires, wounding the brave Frenchman once more ; but he is kindly cared for by the surgeons, and lives to reach England. The French and Indians flee. General Lyman begs Johnson to let him follow on and finish them ; but Johnson will not permit him. He is afraid of a trap somewhere. But Captain McGuinnes, with two hun- dred men from New Hampshire, has heard the firing at Fort Edward, and is hastening through the woods. He meets the fleeing French, and the battle begins again. McGuinnes is killed; but his men avenge his death by putting the enemy once more to rout. The sun goes down. Three battles have been fought between the trained troops of France and their Indian allies on the one side, and the men of New England, who have left their harvest-fields to become sol- diers. Nearly four hundred of their number have fallen ; but they have retrieved the disaster of the morning, and are victors on the field. The French have lost nearly half their number. General Johnson has had little to do with winning the victory, but he reaps all the honors. The king makes him a baronet, and presents him with twenty-five thousand dollars. General Lyman, the brave, cool-head- 388 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. ed man, who has directed affairs, gets nothing, and Johnson makes little mention of his services. George II. and his ministers — the Dukes of Cumberland, Newcastle, Devonshire, and Bedford — opinionated, incompetent men, who were mis- managing the affairs of England, rejoiced when they heard of the victory ; but they were not far-sighted enough to see what would be its influence — how it would lead the people in America to draw contrasts; that by every fireside men would talk about the arrogance, haughtiness, and in- competency of British officers and soldiers — defeated on the banks of the Monongahela, Braddock's army saved by the coolness and bravery of the young Virginian colonel and his soldiers; how the veteran soldiers of France and the Indians of Canada had been beaten by the men of New England and New York, and not a British soldier or officer present to help or hinder. "We can manage our own affairs, and fight our own battles," was the conclusion they arrived at. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S WILL. 389 CHAPTER XXXIII. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S WILL. IV., Emperor of Austria, made his will, giving his empire to Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary ; but no sooner was the breath out of his body than a pack of hungry princes set themselves to get pos- session of portions of the territory, and in a short time all Europe was at SITE OF FORT NUMIJER FOUR. war. It was a turmoil that reached eastward to the Ganges in India, and westward to the Hudson. Men were hacked to pieces by the sword on the plains of India, while the Indians of America buried their toma- hawks in the skulls of men, women, and children on the banks of the Merrimac and Connecticut, in consequence of that act. 390 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. War was declared by France against Great Britain March 15th, 1744:. The King of France sent a vessel across the Atlantic with orders to Gen- eral Du Vivier at Louisburg, Cape Breton, to strike a blow upon the Eng- lish. Du Vivier was quick to act. He sailed from Lonisburg on the 15th of May with one thousand men, and captured the English fort at Canso, and its garrison of eighty men. He sent the prisoners to Boston. Not till the vessel bringing the prisoners entered the harbor did anybody know that war had begun. Upon the breaking out of the war, all the Indians east of the Hudson, except the Stockbridge tribe in Massachusetts, hastened to Canada to join the French. On April 17th, 1744, they struck their first blow at Gorham, in Maine, killing Mr. Bryant and several others. Another party killed Josiah Bishop in Boscawen, New Hampshire, on the Merrimac. Another party swept down the Connecticut to Charlestown, New Hampshire, to Fort Number Four, captured three men, took them to Canada, and sold them as slaves. No huntsman could go for beaver or deer now with safety. Indians were sure to be following stealthily upon their trail, to shoot them down and take their scalps. On the eastern shore of Cape Breton, looking toward Newfoundland, was the great and strong fortress of Louisburg, which for thirty years the C CAPE BRETON. French had been building. The walls were thirty feet high, built of stone. There were six bastions, with platforms for one hundred and eighty cannon. Outside the walls was a ditch eighty feet wide. On an island was a battery of thirty cannon ; and there was still another fortifi- cation, called the Royal Battery, with thirty more cannon. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S WILL. 393 Beneath the guns of the fortress the vessels of the French could find protection and shelter, or sail out to capture the fishermen of New Eng- land, or to harass and ravage the 'New England coast. France had erected it to command the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and protect New France from hostile fleets. Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, lived at Little Har- GOVERNOR BENNING WENTWORTH. bor, near Portsmouth, in a spacious mansion that contained more than fifty rooms. One of his neighbors, Colonel Yaughan, unfolded to him a grand project — the capture of Louisburg. "It can be done!" said the colonel. Governor Wentworth was so interested in the plan, that he sent him to Boston to confer with Governor Shirley, who saw what a grand idea it was, and laid the matter before the General Court. OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. "I propose that we send four thousand soldiers to capture Lonisburg, and I ask you to keep the matter secret," he said to the members. The members were astonished. What chance would four thousand men have against such a fortress, with French frigates in the harbor? Not any. It could not be done ; we cannot think of it, was the decis- ion. The members alone held the great secret; but one of them unwit- tingly made it known while he was praying one morning with his family. " Let thy wisdom, Lord, guide us in the proposed great undertaking !" was his prayer. What did he mean? What was the great undertaking? Perhaps his wife wormed the secret out of him ; at any rate, a few days later, it was known that the governor had proposed to send an army to capture Louis- burg, and that the General Court had refused to entertain the project. Capture Louisburg! The people caught the great idea. " Let it be done !" urged the men of Marblehead, Salem, and Boston, sending letters to urge on the project. "We will do it!" said the members of the General Court, deciding the WENTWORfH HOUSE, LITTLE HARBOR. matter by a single vote in the majority. A single vote does great things sometimes. "I desire the assistance of your fleet," was Governor Shirley's mes- sage to Admiral Warren in the West Indies. "We will send five hundred men," responded the Legislature of Con- necticut. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S WILL. 395 " We will send three hundred," was the word from New Hampshire ; and Rhode Island promised the same number. Who should command ? In all New England there was not an officer who had seen fighting, SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL'S HOUSE. except with the Indians. William Pepperell, of Kitterj, had some excel- lent qualifications for a commander, for he was cool, self-reliant, and had made his mark as one able to win success. His father came, a poor boy, from England to the Isles of Shoals, and made money catching lish. He settled at Kittery. William had built ships, and sent them to Europe and the West Indies. He had sent to London for law-books, and was studying law. He was colonel of a regiment, and kept a sharp eye on the Indians. In all that he had undertaken he had succeeded ; and he was so much respected, and people had such faith in him, that Governor Shirley appointed him commander. " I am not capable of taking command," said Pepperell. "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be!" answered George White- field, the great preacher, urging him on. "Nil desperandum, Christo duce" was the motto which Whitefield gave, to be placed upon his flag. 396 OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES. In less than two months all was ready, so great was the enthusiasm of the people. On the 1st. of April a fleet of nearly one hundred ves- sels sailed out of Boston harbor and steered eastward. Admiral Warren came with five vessels, carrying sixty guns each, and six frigates. Great the consternation at Louisburg on the 29th of April, 174:5, when the French saw one hundred and twenty vessels in the harbor, and thousands of soldiers landing in boats on the beach. Near the Royal Battery was a long row of houses filled with barrels of pitch, tar, and oakum. Colonel Vaughan, of New Hampshire, with four hundred men, when night came on, crept up to the houses and set them on fire, which so frightened the Frenchmen holding the battery that they fled into the fortress, leaving all the cannon and ammunition. "By the grace of God and the courage of thirteen men, I entered the Royal Battery about nine o'clock, and am waiting for re-enforcements and a flag," was the note which Colonel Vaughan wrote to General Pepperell. Now came the hard work — the lifting of heavy cannon into boats, landing them on the beach, dragging them on sledges through the shal- lows, wading up to their knees in half-frozen mud — working from dark till sunrise, so that the French should not discover what was going on. Colonel Gorham attempted to take the battery on the island ; but the NAVT-YAKD, KITTE11Y, MAINE. wind was blowing a gale, some of the boats were swamped, and one hun- dred and seventy men were lost. A French war-vessel, with sixtv-four 7. New Albion, 33. " Amsterdam, 231. 2.°,3. Newbury settled, 173. New Hampshire settled, 142. " Haven settled, 183. " Jersey settled, 291. Newport settled, 190. New York settled, 142. Ney, John, burnt, 361, 362. Nicot, Jules, carries tobacco to France, 44. Nicholson, Sir Francis, 263. Norridgewock expedition, 328. Northmen, 18, 21. O. Oglethorpe, General, 350, 351, 353, 355, 360. Oldham, John, killed by Indians. 177. Oswego captured, 409. P. Pamphilio Nnrvaex. L'.">. Parliament under Charles I., 159. Parris, Rev. Mr., 310, 312, 313, 314. Parsons, Hugh, 309. Patroons, 14.~>. Penn, Admiral, 198. " William, 297-299, 301, ;}(I2. Pepperell, William, 395. Pequod Indians, 176, 179, 180. Philadelphia settled, 298. Philip, King, 241-245, 248, 249. Phipps, William, 290. Pigwaket Indians, 330. Pilgrims, 111-140. Pitt, William, 422, 425, 437. Pittsburgh named, 436. Plains of Abraham, 446. Pomeroy, Seth, 387. Ponce de Leon, 22. Pontrincourt, Baron, 58. Pope Alexander VI., 17, 303. Pope's Day, 77. Popham, Lord John, 64, 65. Population of Canada, 375. Portland attacked, 280. Port Royal, Nova Scotia, 59, 290. " " South Carolina, 30, 339. Porto Rico, 35. Prayer-book, 164, 268. Priest, Degory, 120. Pring, Martin, 57. Printing in Virginia, 259. Prynne, William, 206. INDEX. 459 Punishments in time of James I., 85, 152-183, 345. Puritans, 51, 84. Pym, John, 208. Q Quaco, Burning of, 3(51. Quakers, 216-227, 299, 342. Quebec, 30, 66, 14G, 441-444. Quo warranto, 265. R. Kaleigh, Sir Walter, 35. Rale, the Jesuit, 328. Randolph, Edmund, 265. Rangers, 383, 413, 427, 444. Knvnillac, the Jesuit, 88. Revelry at Court of James I., 82. Revolution in Boston, 269. " in Virginia, 261. Rhode Island settled, 190. Ribault, John, 30, 31. Rice brought to South Carolina, 344. Richelieu, Cardinal, 148. Roanoke Island settled, 35. Robinson, John, 51, 1 15. Rogers, Major, 383. " Robert, 411, 422, 424. Running the gauntlet, 365. Rupert, Prince, 209. S. Sable Island, 56. Sainte-Hc'lene, 278. Salem settled, 157. " witchcraft, 310-317. Salmon Falls attacked, 279. Salzburg, Archbishop of, 351. Samoset visits Plymouth, 122. San Salvador discovered, 17. Sante Fe, 30. Savannah, 350, 355. Saybrook settled, 176. Schenectady attacked, 277. Schools in Massachusetts, 187. Schuyler, A rent, 291. Separatists, 5 1 . Sewall, Samuel, 316. Shawmut settled, 169. Ship-money, 162. Shirley, Governor, 382. Ship Abigail, 157. " Anne, 350. " Arbella, 166. " Archangel, 61. " Concord, 56. " Eagle, 165. " Fortune, 133. " Half- Moon, 71. " Hesperus, 167. " Jonas, 46. " Lyon, 167, 169. " Mayflower, 116, 124, 125. " Naseby, 234. " New Netherlands, 142. " Onrust, 99. " Rose, 269. " Royal Charles, 233. " Solomon, 46. " Sparrow. 136. " Swallow, 46, 218. " William, 196, 298. " Zouterberg, 195. Smith, John, 90, 97. Soap-makers' Company, 160. South Carolina, 24, 347. Southwick, Lawrence and Cassandra, 219. Spaniards attack Savannah, 355. " in .Florida, 343. Spotswood, Archbishop, 304. " Governor, 264. St. Augustine, 33, 347. St. Botolph's church, 165. St. Croix settlement, 58. St. Francis, 102. " " Indians, 320, 365, 402, 449. St. John's destroyed, 33. St. Patrick's Day, 411. Stafford, Earl of, 208. Standish, Miles, 118, 121, 127, 135, 138, 139. " Rose, 122. Stark, John, 363-365, 411, 414, 427, 430. Stevens, Phineas, 398. Strawberry Bank, 57. Stuyvesant, Peter, 224, 230. Sunday sports, 79. Swedish settlements, 199. T. Tadousac settled, 66. Taxes in Virginia, 263. Thanksgiving, 133, 169. 460 INDEX. Theatres in time of James I., 80. Thompson, David, 142. Tituba, 310. Ticondcroga, 42G, 428-431, 440. Tobacco, 43, 2G3. Tribute paid by Indians, VJ8.. Trinidad discovered, 21. Tuscarora Indiiins, 348. U. Underbill, John, 178,179. Universal Suffrage, 183. United Colonies, 194. Utrecht, Peace of, 327. V. Van Braaro, Jacob, 373. Van Kensselaer, Jeremias, 230- Vane, Sir Henry, 192. Vasco da Gama, 21. Vasquez D'Ayllon, 24. Vaudreuil, General, 398. Vaughan, Colonel, 393, 39C. Ventadour, Duke of, 147. Vernon, Admiral, 355, 359, 368-. Verrazano, John. 24. Virginia settled, 63. W. Waggener, Captain, 381. Walking Purchase, 301. Waldron, Major, 249, 274. Walloons, 141. Walpole attacked by Indians, 402. Warnpanoag Indians, 241. Wampum, 1 33. War between England ami Holland, 232. War between France and England. 3!)0. Warren, Admiral, 394. Washington, George, 368-370,372. " Lawrence, 369. " Sir John, 215. Washer-women, 161. Webb, General, 410, 415, 416. Wentworth, Benning, 393. " Thomas, 209. West India Company, 142, 230. Wesley, John and Charles, 353. Weston, Thomas, 115, 116, 133, 134. Weymouth, Captain, 61. settled, 134. Whalley, Edward, 236, 248. Wheelright, Rev. John, 192, 193. White, Johii, 35, 156. Whitfield, Rev. George, 353. Whittaker, Joseph, 281. William and Mary College, 263. " of Orange, 271. Williams, Ephraim, 385. " Roger, 170, 187-189. Winslow, Edward, 122, 129, 172. Wintlirop, John, 165, 168, 169. " Jr., 227, 228, 237. Witches, Chapter XXV., 300. Wives for Virginia settlers, 109. Wolfe's, General, death, 447. Wollaston, Captain, 137. Wouter van Twiller, 195-197, 224, 230. y. Yeamans, Sir John, 340. Yeardly, Sir George, 107. York, Duke of, 231. INTERESTING BOOKS FOR BOYS. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST. Part I. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan and China. By THOMAS W. KNOX. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST. Part II, Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Siarn and Java. With Descriptions of Cochin- China, Cambodia, Sumatra, and the Malay Archipelago. By THOMAS W. KNOX. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW IN HIS VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD IN THE SHIP "BEAGLE." Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. 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