COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE DAVIS, CALIFORNIA From a Painting by George M. Schmidt WILLIAM JAMES JACKMAN OF TH6 AMERICAN NATION By WILLIAM J. JACKMAN JACOB H. PATTON JOHN LORD . THEODORE ROOSEVELT GEO. F. HOAR JAMES BRYCE GROVER CLEVELAND CHAS. A. DANA HORACE PORTER ROSSITER JOHNSON ROGER SHERMAN JOHN HAY HERBERT WELCH GEO. WM. CURTIS HENRY W. GRADY JOHN H. VINCENT HENRY CABOT LODGE BENJ. F. TRACY, and Others Edition de Luxe VOLUME I RESS IASSOCIATION; CHICAGO COPYRIGHT 1911 L. W. WALTER COMPANY REVISED AND REPRINTED 1920 WHITMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY RACINE, WISCONSIN Authorities Consulted In the preparation of this History the writers have had in mind the idea that no one author, however talented, is in po sition to write on every period of Our Country's life, even if the period of any one man's life would furnish time in which to properly cover such a stupendous task. Therefore we have consulted every authority available, the object being to make this a History of the United States by the greatest writers of American History, and in justice make grateful acknowledg ment of our indebtedness to the following leading authorities : EDWARD ABBOTT Revolutionary Times. JOHN ADAMS, LL. D. Novanglus, a History of the Dispute with America from 1754-1774. HENRY ADAMS History of the United States. 1801- 1817. Administration of Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809. Administration of James Madison. American History Association Pa pers. COL. ETHAN ALLEN Narrative of the Capture of Ticon- deroga. GEORGE ALLEN, LL.D. Battles of Mexico. CAPT. ENOCH ANDERSON Personal Recollections. ELISHA B. ANDREWS, PRESIDENT BROWN UNIVERSITY A History of the United States. A History of the Last Quarter Cen tury in the United States. JOHN ANDREWS, LL.D. History of the War with America. GEN. JOHN ARMSTRONG Notes on the War of 1812. WILLIAM S. BAKER, Itinerary of Gen. Washington, 1775- 1783. GEORGE BANCROFT, PH. D. LL.D. A History of the United States. Literary and Historical Miscellanies. HUBERT HOWE BAN CROFT, LL.D. A History of the Pacific States of North America. Early American Chroniclers. HENRY M. BRACKEN- RIDGE History of the Late War Between the United States and Great Brit ain. CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY Border Fights and Fighters. Indian Fights and Fighters. ELDRIDGE STREETER BROOKS Century Book of the American Rev olution. ALEXANDER BROWN, D. C. L. The First Republic in America, An Account of the Origin of this Na tion, Written from the Records then (1624) concealed by the Council, rather than from the His tory licensed by the Crown. NICHOLAS M. BUTLER The Effect of the War of 1812 Upon the Consolidation of the Union. ANDREW CARNEGIE Triumphant Democracy, or, 50 Years March of the Republic. BRIG. GEN. HENRY B. CARRINGTON Battles of the Revolution, 1775-1781. JAMES H. CARLETON, A.M., LL.D. Battle of Buena Vista. Complete History of the Mexican War. WILLIAM ESTABROOK CHANCELLOR The United States, A History of Three Centuries. BENJAMIN CHURCH, M.D. History of the Eastern Expeditions, 1689, 1690, 1692, 1698, 1704. King Philip's War. GROVER CLEVELAND, LL.D. Presidential Problems. CHARLES C. COFFIN Days and Nights on the Battlefield. Building the Nation. Drumbeats of the Nation. MAJ. GEN. GEORGE W. CULLUM Campaigns of the War of 1812-15. Struggle for the Hudson. RICHARD HARDING DAVIS Cuban and Porto Rican Campaigns. BENJAMIN F. DE COSTA, D.D. Pre-Columbian Discoveries of Amer ica by the Northmen. Sailing Directions of Henry Hudson The Northmen in Maine. SAMUEL GARDNER DRAKE Book of the Indians. Early History of New England. French and Indian Wars. EDWARD EGGLESTON A History of the United States and Its People. Beginners of a Nation. Transit of Civilization from Eng land to America. EDWARD S. ELLIS Historical Reading. Peoples' Standard History of the United States. HENRY WILLIAM ELSON History of the United States. Side Lights on American History. GEORGE PARK FISHER, D.D., LL.D. Colonial Era REDWOOD S. FISHER Progress of the United States of America, from the Earliest Peri ods, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical. JOHN FISKE, LL.D. Discovery of America. Old Virginia and Her Neighbors. The Beginning of New England. The Dutch and Quaker Colonies of America. The American Review. The War of the Indians. A Critical Period in American His tory. HENRY GANNER, The Building of a Nation. LIEUT. LION GARDENER Lieut. Lion Gardener. His relations of the Pequot Wars. WILLIAM GORDON, D.D. History of the Independence of the United States. JAMES GRAHAME History of the Rise and Progress of the United States of North Amer ica. LIEUT. COL. SAMUEL. ABBOTT GREEN, M. D. Blodgett's Plan of the Battle of Lake George. School Histories and Errors in Them. REV. WILLIAM E. GRIF- FIS, D.D. Romance of Conquest. REV. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, S.T.D. Memories of a Hundred Years. History of the United States. MURAT HALSTEAD Our Country in War Relations with all Nations. Full Official History of the War with Spain. The Story of the Philippines. ALBER B. HART Exposition of the Constitution of the United States. White's Universal History. (Editor.) American History Told by Contem poraries. (Editor.) Courses in the Constitution and Po litical History of the United States. Formation of the Union. Source Book of American History. LIEUT. RICHMOND P. HOBSON Sinking of the "Merrimac." THOMAS HUTCHINSON, GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF MASSA CHUSETTS, 1771-1774. A History of the Province of Massa chusetts Bay. CHARLES JARED INGER- SOLL, LL.D. A History of the Territorial Acqui sitions of the United States. A History of the War of 1812-1815, Between Great Britain and the U. S. JOHN ROBERT IRELAN, M.D. The Republic, or, A History of the United States in the Administra tions. JOHN FRANKLIN JAME SON, M.D. William Usselinx, Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies. Constitutional History of the United States. (Editor.) Dictionary of United States History. (Editor.) JOHN LOUIS JENNINGS Eighty Years of Republican Gov ernment in the United States. HENRY P. JOHNSON Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn. L. CARROLL JUDSON Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution. The Growth of the American Na tion. HORATIO 0. LADD The History of the War with Mex ico. For "History of the Minor Wars of the United States." HENRY CABOT LODGE, PH.D. The English Colonies in America. Studies in History. JOHN BENSON LOSSING, LL.D. Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six, or, The War for Independence. Lives of the Presidents of the Unit ed States. The New World. Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of Independ ence. Pictorial Field Book of the Revolu tion. Pictorial History of the United States. National History of the United States. The American Nation. JUSTIN MCCARTHY, LL.D. A Short History of the United States. JOHN B. McMASTERS, A History of the People of the Unit ed States from the Revolution to the Civil War. With the Fathers. GEORGE W. MANYPENNY Our Indian Wards. JOSEPH C. MARTINDALE, M.D. A History of the United States from 1492 to 1864. J. A. PARTRIDGE The Making of the American Na tion. CHARLES H. PECK, The Jacksonian Epoch. SAMUEL PERKINS Historical Sketches of the United States from the Peace of 1815 to 1830. DAVID RAMSAY, M.D. A History of the United States from their First Settlement as Colonies of England in 1607 to the Year 1808. JAMES F. RHODES, LL.D. A History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, LL.D. and D.D. A History of the United States. Popular History of the United States. THEODORE ROOSEVELT Naval War of 1812. The Rough Riders. NATHAN SARGENT Public Men and Events, 1817-1853. ADMIRAL WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY Forty-Five Years Under the Flag. GEN. JOHN M. SCHOFIELD Forty-five Years in the Army. JAMES H. SCHOULER, LL.D. The History of the United States Under the Constitution. Historical Briefs. HORACE E. SCUDDER The History of the United States. Men and Manners a Hundred Years Ago. ELLEN CHURCHILL SEMPLE American History and its Geograph ical Condition. COL. TALIAFERO P. SHAFFNER, LL.D. The War in America. A History of the United States of America, from the Earliest Period to 1857. NATHAN SHALER, S.D., LL.D. The United States of America, A Study of the American Common wealth. JOHN D. G. SHEA, LL.D. The Story of a Great Nation. EDWIN E. SPARKS Men Who Made the Nation of the United States of America. JARED SPARKS, LL.D. Letter to Lord Mahon on Washing ton's Writings. Reply to Lord Mahon. Letters of Washington to Reed. The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution. JESSE A. SPENCER, LL.D. History of the United States. ALEXANDER H. STEPH ENS, LL. D. History of the United States. History of the War Between the States. JOHN R. SPEARS History of Our Navy, from its Or igin to the War with Spain. FRANCIS E. WALKER, LL.D. The Making of the Nation. HENRY WATTERSON History of the Spanish-American War. NOAH WEBSTER, LL.D. History of the United States. GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER The Santiago Campaign. MARCIUS WILLSON History of the United States. WOODROW WILSON, A.M., PH.D. Division and Reunion, 1829-1889. History of the American People. JUSTIN WINSOR, LL.D. Cartier to Frontenac. The Westward Movement. The Mississippi Basin. Narrative and Critical History of America. (Editor.) VOLUME I PREFACE IN the preparation of this work it has been the aim of the author to present the various facts and inci dents marking the history of the United States in an impartial, unbiased manner. Few men, even among those who make close, analytical study of con ditions, view the same things in exactly the same way. For this reason there is apt to be a wide vari ance in historical works in treating on the same sub jects. All careful historians will agree on the main facts, especially as to well-established occurrences and dates, while differing widely as to the causes and results of these occurrences. If it were not for this characteristic of history re cording and analysis marking the difference in the various works of this nature, one history (provided it were reliable) would be as valuable as another, and there would be little or no choice between them, ex cept in the matter of diction. But history students of the present day are becoming more and more im bued with a desire to advise themselves accurately on matters other than a knowledge of dates and occur rences; they wish, and laudably so, to draw deduc tions from these events ; to know why and how cer tain occurrences were brought about, and the effect on subsequent affairs. This is particularly the case with men and women who have advanced beyond the mere school stage. They have become reasoning in dividuals with minds of their own and the power to deduce their own inferences from comparison of the various authorities. It is to assist in this endeavor that the author has made of the "History and Government of the United States" something more than an ordinary historical record. He has endeavored to analyze the causes and effects of important events, briefly in some instances, and at considerable length in others. It would be strange, remarkably so, if all readers should agree with the author's deductions as thus made, but, de spite such disagreements in opinions, and they are legitimate ones, these deductions have been made in all candor and honesty, and with the sole purpose of assisting discriminating readers to draw their own conclusions. This is becoming more and more, and rightly so, the main object of conscientious histor ians. As will be seen this work extends beyond the mere history of the United States. It dates back to the earliest days of America, not merely for the purpose of reiterating the well-known facts of discovery and settlement, but to establish the necessary chrono logical chain of events, and bring out the historical connection between the past and the present. Aside from an interesting chapter on "American Prehis toric Races," these early events in the history of our country are treated as briefly as is consistent with the general purpose of the work, and a careful read ing of them will aid to a better and more intelligent understanding of conditions leading up to the present situation. It is only fair and proper that the thanks of the author should be given to the eminent gentlemen whose invaluable contributions have made it possible to complete an authentic and reliable work of this magnitude. W. J. J. CONTENTS. VOLUME I. Pages 17-54 SKETCH: The History, Greatness and Dangers of America, by John Lord, D.D., LL.D. LIEF ERICSSON, Pages 55-56 And other Norse Adventurers. CHAPTER I. Pages 57-62 COLUMBUS. His Discoveries. Misfortunes. Death. Amerigo Vespucci and the name America. CHAPTER II. Pages 63-89 American Prehistoric Races. CHAPTER III. Pages 90-93 SPANISH DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS. South Sea. First Voyage Round the World. Ponce de Leon. Florida. Vasquez de Agllon. Mexico and Peru. CHAPTER IV. Pages 94-100 ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES. John Cabot discovers the American Continent. His son, Se bastian. Voyages of Verrazzani. Voyages of Cartier. Attempts at Settlement. CHAPTER V. Pages 101-106 DE SOTO AND THE MISSISSIPPI. Lands at Tampa Bay. On the Mississippi. His Death. 12 CONTENTS CHAPTER VI. Pages 107-108 THE REFORMATION AND ITS EFFECTS. CHAPTER VII. Pages 109-116 THE HUGUENOTS IN THE SOUTH. Settlement Destroyed. St. Augustine. De Gourges. Settle ments in New France. Champlain. CHAPTER VIII. Pages 117-124 ENGLISH ENTERPRISE. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The Fisheries. St. John's, New foundland. Sir Walter Raleigh. Exploring Expedition. Virginia. Failures to Colonize. Contest with Spain. Death of Sir Walter. CHAPTER IX. Pages 125-137 THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA. London and Plymouth Companies. King James's Laws. The Voyage and Arrival Jamestown, John Smith, his Energy. His Captivity. Misery of the Colonists. New Emigrants. Lord Delaware. Sir Thomas Gates. Poca- hontas; her Capture and Marriage. George Yeardley. First Legislative Assembly; CHAPTER X. Pages 138-155 COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. First Voyage to. Explorations of John Smith. The Church of England. The Puritans. Congregation of John Robinson. Pilgrims in Holland. Arrangements to Emi grate. The Voyage. Their Prominent Men. A Consti tution adopted. Landing at Plymouth. Sufferings. In dians. Weston's Men. Thanksgiving. Democratic Gov ernment. CHAPTER XL Pages 156-181 COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. A Company Organized; Settlement of Salem. The Charter Transferred. Boston and Vicinity Settled. Roger Wil liams: his Banishment; he founds Providence. Discus sions Renewed. Anne Huchinson; Settlement of Rhode Island. The Dutch at Hartford; Disputes with. Migra tions to the Connecticut; Hooker and Haynes. Pequod War. Rev. John Davenport; Settlement of New Haven. Sir Ferdinand Gorges; New Hampshire. The United Colonies. Educated Men; Harvard College, Printing Press, Common Schools. Quakers: Persecution of. Eliot the Apostle the Mayhews. Inner Life of the Colonists. The Tithing Man. The title of Mr. Progress. CONTENTS 13 'CHAPTER XIL Pages 182-198 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. Slavery. Massacre by the Indians. King James's Sympa thies. Lord Baltimore. Settlement of Maryland. Clay- borne's Rebellion. Toleration. Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, Intolerance. State of Society. Aristocratic Assembly. War with the Susquehannas. Nathaniel Bacon. Disturbances, Obnoxious Assembly Dissolved. Jamestown burned; Death of Bacon. Tyranny of Berk eley; Aristocratic Assembly; its Illiberal Acts. Deplor able state of the Colony. College of William and Mary. Troubles in Maryland. CHAPTER XIII. Pages 199-217 COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK. Hudson's Discoveries. A Change Wrought. The Fort on the Isle of Manhattan. Walloons the first Settlers Peter Minuits. The Patroons; Van Twiller Governor. Kieft his Successor. Difficulties with the Indians. They Seek Protection; their Massacre. Peace Concluded. Stuyves- ant Governor. The Swedish Settlement on the Dela ware; Pavonia. New Netherlands Surrendered to Eng land. The Influence of the Dutch. Settlements in New Jersey; Scotch Presbyterians. CHAPTER XIV. Pages 218-229 COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA. The Quakers. William Penn; his Education. Obtains a Charter. Lands at New Castle; Philadelphia Founded. Rights of the Indians. German Emigrants. Fletcher the Royal Governor. New Charter Granted the People. Presbyterians from Ireland and Scotland. Trials of Penn; his Death. Benjamin Franklin. CHAPTER XV. Pages 230-245 COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS. The first Settlers. Grants to Royal Favorites. The "Grand Model." Settlement at Cape Fear River. Sir John Yea- mans. Emigrants Under Sayle. The Huguenots. The People Independent. Churchmen and Dissenters. Rice. Manufactures Prohibited. War. Failure to Capture St. Augustine. The ruin of the Apalachees. Religious Controversies. German Emigrants. Indian Wars. The People repudiate the Authority of the Proprietaries. CHAPTER XVI. Pages 246-257 COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA. Founded in Benevolence. Oglethorpe. First Immigration. 14 CONTENTS Savannah. Encouragements. Germans from the West ern Alps. The Moravians. Scotch Highlanders. The Wesleys. Whitefield; his Orphan House. War with Spain, its Cause. Failure to Capture St. Augustine. Repulse of the Spanish Invaders. The Colony Becomes a Royal Province. CHAPTER XVII. Pages 258-273 NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES H. The Restoration. The Commissioners. Progress of Trade. Causes of King Philip's War. Death of Wamsutta. State of the Colony. Attack at Swanzey. Philip Among the Nipmucks. Attacks on Northfield; on Hadley, Goffe. Tragedy at Bloody Brook. The Narraganset Fort De stroyed. Philip Returns to Mount Hope to die. The Disasters of the War. James II.;His Intolerance. The Charters in Danger. Andros Governor. His Illegal Measures. Charter of Rhode Island Taken Away. An dros at Hartford. Andros in Jail; the Charters Resumed. The Men of Influence. CHAPTER XVIII. Pages 274-299 COMMOTION IN NEW YORK WITCHCRAFT IN MASSACHUSETTS. Leisler Acting Governor of New York. The Old Council Re fuses to Yield. Sloughter, Governor. Trial and Execu tion of Leisler and Melbourne. Benjamin Fletcher, Gov ernor; His Failure at Hartford. Yale College. The Triumps of a Free Press. Witchcraft; Belief in. Cotton Mather. Various Persons Accused at Salem. Stoughton as Judge, and Parris as Accuser. Minister Burroughs. Calef's Pamphlet. Mather's Stand in Favor of Inocula tion. Persons put to Death as Witches in England and Scotland. The Humane Penal Laws in New England. Land Holding in New England. The Effect of the Revo lution of 1688. Land Holding in Virginia. Education in Virginia. Management of Civil Affairs. Literary Cul ture in the Middle Colonies and the Newspapers. The Inner Life in New England and Virginia. CHAPTER XIX. Pages 300-311 MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE. The Emigrants Few in Number. The Jesuits; their zeal as Teachers and Explorers. Missions Among the Hurons. Ahasistari. The Five Nations, or Irquois. Father Jogues. The Abenakis; Dreuilettes. The Dangers of the Missions. French Settlers at Oswego. James Marquette. The Mississippi. La Salle; His Enterprise; His Fail ure and Tragical End. A SKETCH OF THE History, Greatness and Dangers AMERICA By JOHN LORD, LL.D. Author of "Beacon Lights of History" etc. A SKETCH OF THE History, Greatness and Dangers of America By JOHN LORD, LL.D. Author of "Beacon Lights of History," etc. It would be difficult to point out an event in the history of the world followed by more important re sults, certainly in a material and political aspect, than the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus ; and as centuries and years roll on, these results appear greater and grander, so that no hu man intellect can grasp the mighty issues which per petually arise to view. How little did the great dis coverer anticipate the consequences of his adventure some voyages! How little conscious was he of the boon he rendered to civilization and the human race ! It was too great to be measured by any ordinary hu man services. Nearly a century passed away before the European mind began to appreciate the true import of the dis covery. Columbus himself did not imagine the bless ings which he had almost unconsciously bestowed. He had no idea even that he had given a new world to Ferdinand and Isabella. He supposed at first that he had reached the eastern shores of Asia the Zipango of Marco Polo; that he had solved a great geographical problem of vast commercial importance, and was entitled to high reward. Yet it had been the Old and not the New that he was seeking; while it was the New, that has made memorable the year of our Lord 1492. 18 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION In taking this introductory glance at the history of four hundred years, which Prof. Patton has told in detail, we wish but to mark a few of the great events, the great men and the great elements that have con tributed to make that history most notable in the life of the modern world. It was not long after Columbus, before the Span iards, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch and the French perceived that something strange had been discovered, and successive voyages made it clear that a new continent had really been opened to the enterprise of European nations; that it was rich in mines of gold and silver; that they had only to take possession of it by hoisting a national flag. They found, as their explorations extended, that this new continent was peopled by entirely unknown races, in various stages of barbarism or savagery, whose lan guages no one could understand tribes inclined to be friendly and peaceable, but revengeful and treach erous if treated unjustly and unkindly. All the var ious tribes from Mexico to Canada had the same gen eral peculiarities of feature and color, different from any known type in Asia or Africa. What was the origin of this strange race? Were they aborigines, or did their remote ancestors come from Asia ? Their whole history is involved in hopeless mystery. Peaceful relations were not long kept up between the natives and the adventurers who sought the new world with the primary view of improving their for tunes. Hence the first century of American history is the record of conflicts with Indians, of injustice and cruelty, producing deadly animosities on both sides, until the natives were conquered and nearly exterminated. There were few permanent settlements, but there was great zeal in explorations, in which Vespuccius, Ponce de Leon, the Cabots, Cartier, De Soto and other I HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 19 famous captains and navigators distinguished them selves, who, on their return home, reported lands of mineral wealth, natural fertility and great beauty, but uncultivated and sparsely populated. This led to a great emigration of adventurers, chiefly for work ing the mines. The result was the enrichment of Spain, but not a healthy colonization on the part of that or any other European nation. Nor was the second century of North American history fruitful in those movements and characters which have much interest to the present generation, except that it was the period of colonization. Noting particularly the English and French settle ments, the first in importance was that of Virginia under the patronage of James I of England. He gave to his favorites and courtiers immense territories. He also gave charters to companies of merchants and others more or less favored, who hoped to be en riched, not by mines of gold and silver, but by the culture of tobacco through African slaves. The first settlement was at Jamestown, 1607, made chiefly by sanguine adventurers, most of whom were broken- down gentlemen, or younger sons of noble families, who did not know how to work. They were so unfor tunate also as to quarrel with the Indians. In conse quence they were molested, discouraged and help less, and their numbers dwindled away by sickness and famine. Though continually reinforced by new arrivals, the Colony did not thrive. In two years the able-bodied men numbered only about two hundred, and only forty acres of land were brought under cul tivation. The Colonists were idle and dissolute. When John Smith, who led the first settlers, returned to England discouraged, there were only sixty men left out of the four hundred and ninety who had ar rived at different times. In 1612, under Sir Thomas Gates, three hundred additional Colonists arrived, 20 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION and year after year their number was again in creased, and yet in twelve years the settlement con tained no more than six hundred persons. At last the Company in England sent over one hundred and fifty respectable young women who became wives of the Colonists, and a better day dawned. In 1619, the London Comany granted to the people the right to make their own laws, and the Houses of Burgesses became the first legislative assembly in the New World, and enacted laws in favor of industry, virtue and good order. In a few years the population of the colony numbered nearly four thousand, chiefly employed in the cultivation of tobacco, then worth on the London docks six shillings a pound. But the people were not all voters. Only those who possessed a landed estate had the right of suffrage. The aris tocratic organization of the Colony was not unfavor able to property, since the demand for tobacco con tinually increased. In a hundred years Virginia was the richest and most populous of the North American colonies ; ruled by planters who resembled the county gentlemen of England in their habits, their senti ments and their pride. In religion they were Epis copalians, and in their social life they were aristo crats who disdained manual labor, which was done by African slaves. The next event of importance in American Colonial history was the settlement of New England, by a dif ferent class of men, who sought a home in the wilder ness to escape religious persecution. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth. I need not dwell on their lofty sentiments, their fervent piety, the privation and sufferings they cheerfully endured, exposed to innumerable dangers, which developed among them extraordinary self-reliance and the spirit of liberty. No rich soil, no crops of tobacco re warded their hard labors. It was a struggle for ex- HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 21 istence during two generations. But they were brave, industrious, frugal and moral ; they conquered nature when she was most unpropitious. Among them there were no distinctions of rank. They were too insignificant to excite the rapacity of royal gov ernors. They were chiefly farmers, mechanics and fishermen who had few wants and ambitious aspira tions, with a sprinkling of educated men who took their place naturally as leaders, but all animated by the same sentiments, among which the fear of God was pre-eminent a noble race to lay the foundation of prosperity and power. Progress of settlement was slow but sure. There were no drawbacks, as in Vir ginia. The word sent back by the Plymouth Colony to their Puritan friends in England resulted in a further emigration in 1628, and the founding of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; and the settlements spread. The Puritans were honest in their dealings with the Indians, with whom they remained at peace until jealousies among the Indians themselves in cited war upon the settlers. Then the English fight ing blood aroused and conquered a bloody peace, last ing for half a century. After that, expansion brought conflict, and the Indians were driven westward. The New England Colonists elected their own governor and magistrates, and in their town-meetings freely expressed their sentiments. For a hundred years they produced few distinguished men except minis ters. They knew but little of what are called fine arts, either music, architecture or painting. No sci ences received an impulse from them, and no litera ture except sermons. Socially they were not inter esting, being narrow and bigoted and indifferent to amusements. But they all were taught the rudi ments of education and independence of mind. In fervent religious life they never were excelled by any people on the face of the earth. Nor in individual 22 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION sense of duty were they ever surpassed. The diffi culty of earning a living on a sterile soil prevented the accumulation of property, and perhaps led them to attach undue value to money. Their frugality and poverty made them appear parsimonious. Their whole history is a refutation of the theories of Buckle, as also is life in Scotland, Switzerland and Northern Germany. The colonization of Canada (New France) by the French, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, by Dutch and English, resembled in the main that of New England rather than that of Vir ginia and the Carolinas. But all the colonists, north and south, were exposed to the same outward dan gers in the hostility of the various Indian tribes. So far as they have a common history, it was incessant conflicts with the aborigines, on whose hunting grounds the white men encroached, until the Indians were exterminated or driven to the west a sad record of injustice and wrong to be palliated only by seeming necessity. It was the old story of the war fare between barbarism and civilization. William Penn's experience in successful dealings with the In dians by means of just and equitable negotiations show that the whole black record of the white man's oppression of the Indian has been utterly needless the outgrowth of greed. It was not until the 18th century that the Colonies, whether French or English, can be said to have had any notable history, and even this is meagre strug gles with colonial governors, warlike expeditions through a pathless wilderness, religious persecutions, the extension of frontier settlements, theological quarrels, political theories, all of which favored growth and development, but which produced no his toric names, except of theologians like Jonathan Ed wards. No great character arose who gave a new HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 23 political direction to colonial growth. There were no great events which either interest or instruct us until the Seven Years' War in Europe led to a contest be tween the English and French settlements, resulting in the fall of Louisburg, through the bravery of New England troops led by Sir William Pepperell, a Kit- tery merchant, and the conquest of Canada under the inspiration of William Pitt, when James Wolfe was the hero. It was in this war that the colonists first distinguished themselves, fighting for the mother- country rather than for their own interests; that Washington, the greatest name in our history, first appeared upon the way, as an aide to the brave, but obstinate and unfortunate, General Braddock. The result of this war was to destroy the prestige of English soldiers, and to fan a military spirit in the colonies. It taught the raw .American militia self-reliance, and incited a passion for national inde pendence. The colonists numbered now nearly four millions of people, wearied by English rule, ambi tious to become a nation, and bound together by the ties of interest. As yet no light in science had arisen except Benjamin Franklin, no distinguished literary men, no poets or historians, no great political writers, no lawyers even, except of local fame. Books were scarce and dear, and newspapers few. There was not a merchant in the country whom we now should con sider rich, probably not a single millionaire from Portland to Charleston. The richest men were the planters of Virginia and South Carolina; and even the foundations of their prosperity were being under mined by negro slaves and the fall in the price of tobacco the great staple of Southern industry. The ambitious residences of the planters, built in imitation of baronial halls, were falling into decay, and their vast estates were encumbered and mort gaged, which led to the rise of a class of lawyers for 24 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the collection of debts, such at Jefferson and Patrick Henry in their early career, and also to the increase of the yeomanry, neither rich nor poor, among whom was developed the passion for liberty and opposition to royal governors, as seen in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Twenty years of peace followed the Seven Years' War, but they were not years of rest. It was a period of agitation and discontent. Political theories inter ested every class, who now began to catch glimpses of the future extension of the country. It was also a period of great material prosperity. The fisheries of Newfoundland were a source of profit to the peo ple on the New England coast, as well as a colonial trade. Lumber and fish were exchanged in the West India Islands for molasses and rum a new enter prise, which demoralized as well as enriched. Land was cleared of forests and cultivated from the East coast towns to the Hudson river and beyond ; and the population, chiefly consisting of farmers, who still remained poor, was yet independent and intelligent. Beautiful villages arose on the banks of every river and at the base of hills. The fear of Indians passed away* Some fine houses were built in the larger towns, and luxuries to some extent were enjoyed by country merchants and the professional classes. Col leges and academies arose, to which resorted the sons of prosperous farmers. Mechanics acquired skill, and some articles which were formerly imported were manuf actrued in a rough way. But the most marked feature of the time was po litical agitation and a desire to be free from the mother-country. This, indeed, was not avowed nor everywhere desired; but there was a growing impa tience of restraints imposed by the English Govern ment, and the haughty tone of Colonial governors and judges who were appointed by the Crown.^ In HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 25 town meetings the principles of liberty were dis cussed. Much was written on the imposition of taxes toward the support of the English Government, weakened by the Seven Years' War. The popular orators, like Samuel Adams, James Otis and Patrick Henry, declared that the people could not be taxed without their own consent. Some supported this doctrine from those abstract rights which appeal to consciousness, and others from the constitutional history of England. Nobody felt the burden of tht> taxes imposed, but everybody believed that the prec edent of taxation would be abused until it became op pressive. Public sentiment, however, was nearly unanimous that taxation by Great Britain was an infringement on liberties and charters, which were to be defended as sacred. But I am inclined to the belief that opposition to English taxation was based on the secret desire to be free from England alto gether as much as on fear of oppression at least, among the leaders of agitation, like John Adams, who clearly saw the inevitable extension and future power of the Colonies, especially if united. The spirit of the Colonies from north to south was aggressive, bold, independent, fearless, with a probable exagger ation of their military strength, natural to people who lived so far away from the great centres of civilization, and accustomed to self-reliance amid the dangers which had menaced them for more than a hundred years. Hence arose the American Revolution, not merely the most important event thus far in American his tory, but one of the greatest events in the history of the world, in view of the remote consequences. The Colonists were very poorly prepared for a contest with the greatest power in Europe, but they rushed into it with the utmost enthusiasm; their earliest resistance was successful, and the British troops, 26 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION mostly veterans, were driven from Boston, to the immense astonishment and chagrin of the English government, which expected a ready submission. Yet resistance would not have been successful if the defence had been made in Europe, with its good roads and means of transportation for regular troops. It was so in America rather by reason of the impass able wilderness which skirted the settlements than the military strength of the Colonists. Nor would independence probably have been then achieved had it not been for the transcendent abilities, patience and patriotism of the leader whom Providence pointed out for them. Though defeated in almost every battle, and driven from one position after an other, leading almost the life of a fugitive, with a feeble band, like David in the Wilderness, the heroic Washington persevered long after success had given way to crushing disaster, amid great obstacles, with treason among his followers, slanders and popular discontents; without money and with scarcely any military equipments for his raw militia, until his cause was won and won more by taking advantage of the difficulties which nature imposed on the ene my than by the skill and bravery of his own troops. Without him for a leader, with jealousies and rival ries on the part of generals and politicians, and grow ing apathy on the part of the people, who, as the war went on, tardily and reluctantly enlisted, and then only for short periods, the contest would have been at least prolonged, like that of the Greek revo lutionists ; and if France had not come to the rescue not from sympathy with a struggling people so much as from the desire to cripple its ancient and im placable British foe the cause might have been giv en up in despair until fought for again in a succeed ing generation. The whole conflict to a thoughtful and religious HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 27 mind has the significance of a providential event, or of manifest destiny to those who claim to be philo sophical and who cast their eyes on the immense re sources which were sure to be developed at no distant day in the unsettled wilderness which stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As we speculate on the results of this memorable contest, we are compelled to notice the special attrac tions which a free country has held out for emigrants from the old States of Europe: the unbounded facil ities for the poor man to earn a living and even to become rich ; the increasing openings for enterprise of all kinds ; the vast expanse of public lands to be entered upon ; the legal facilities for acquisition, sale and purchase of land diametrically opposite in pol icy to the conservative restrictions in the old coun tries ; the unparalleled and rapid increase of popula tion, doubling every twenty-five years ; the resistless tide of emigration toward the Ohio and Mississippi, and finally to the Pacific Ocean ; the universal sense of security in the new settlements, and the feeling of nationality which has animated and united the whole population. With political unity and the advance of material interests leading to wealth and power, we do not see, it must be confessed, a corresponding progress in morals or eminent attainments, in literature and science. The untoward influences retarding this higher growth began very early. The war of the Revolution relaxed the social restraints which Pur itanism had favored. The disbanded soldiers were neither so temperate nor industrious as their fathers, and the vices of drunkenness and profanity became alarming even in the land of steady habits, to say nothing of the looseness in religious opinions. The old Calvinistic divines were succeeded in many par ishes by more indulgent ministers who preached 28 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION short sermons of ethical platitudes, forgot pastoral duties and had a keen eye to professional interests, while many a sturdy farmer added Jamaica rum to his supposed necessities, and ended by putting a mortgage on his paternal lands. Scarcely had the United States started on their ca reer of prosperity after their successful struggle with England when they were exposed to a new dan ger, from the reluctance of many States to adopt the Constitution which the wisest and greatest states men of the land had framed in Philadelphia, in 1787. John Fiske has well called this "the critical period in American history." There were in the Constitu tional Convention every variety of opinion, and inces sant debates. There were fifty-five men in all, rep resenting the different States. Among the more illustrious were Franklin, Washington, Hamilton and Madison. Differences arose as to the ratio of repre sentation, the mode of election of President and the powers to be delegated to him, the functions of the two legislative Houses and the election of members, the Federal courts and commercial regulations. There was an obvious antagonism between the North and South, and between the larger and smaller States, as to representations. There were angry dis cussions whether slaves should be considered prop erty or persons. Some leaned toward a centralized government, after the manner of monarchial insti tutions, and others to extreme democracy. After four months of tof.some compromises the Constitu tion was signed, as the best that could be made under the circumstances. And although, at the time, it sat isfied no one in all its parts, it has been characterized as the most admirably written constitution ^ver formulated, at once the simplest, the most elastic, HISTORY. GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 20 the best adapted to the circumstances for which it was prepared.* The next thing was to get it ratified, but some of the States stood aloof, especially New York. This called out Jay, Hamilton and Madison in a series of able papers called The Federalist an immortal State document which seemed to turn the balance, and the constitution was saved, subject to future amend ments. Then followed the election of President, and such was the universal veneration for Washington, re spect for his abilities and gratitude for his services, that he was unanimously elected the wisest choice that could possibly be made, since the nation was safe under his guidance. His administration was not marked by stirring events, but by great sagacity. It was memorable for the formation of the two great political parties which, under different names, have since divided the nation, the Federalists, and the Republicans or Dem ocrats the. one led by Hamilton and the other by Jefferson. The Federalists aimed at greater central ization of Federal power; the Republicans so-named after the French republican clubs leaned to State sovereignty. The first party was composed chiefly of the professional and educated classes, merchants, and men of high social position ; the second embraced the common people and their ambitious leaders who sought extension of the suffrage a party which con tinually increased until political power fell into its hands, never afterward to be lost, until their democ racy made itself a tool of the slave-holding artistoc- racy. Washington received a second election, and when his term of office closed he gladly retired to his beloved Mount Vernon, and in a few years died, leav- * "As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." W, E.Gladstone. 30 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ing the most unsullied fame than any man of modern times has earned. His successor, John Adams, had rendered great services, both before and during the revolution, in advising and assisting his countrymen to shake off English domination ; he had been an efficient, though not remarkable diplomatist in Holland, France and England ; and was an honest and patriotic statesman, an industrious legislator, an effective public speaker, a brilliant conversationalist and letter writer, with the only drawback of a hasty, irascible and disputa tious temper, and great personal vanity. He was a Federalist like Washington, and made few re movals from office. He retired reluctantly from his high position and withdrew to Quincy to nurse his resentments, especially against Jefferson, the suc cessful rival who succeeded him in the Presidency, having been elected to it by the Republican or Anti- Federalist party. The eight-years' administration of Jefferson, like those of Washington and Adams, was not fruitful in matters of historical interest, but was marked by great public prosperity. Jefferson was a philosopher and a man of peace, and although provoked almost beyond endurance by the injuries which France and England continued to inflict on American commerce, and by the impressment of seamen and hostility to the United States, yet he abstained from plunging the nation into war. He made a great mistake in his "embargo", which pleased only those who had no ships to rot on the wharves, without inflicting serious injury on British manufactures, and he made himself ridiculous by his gunboats as a means of national de fence. With him anything was better than war. And here he was probably right, considering the de fenseless state of the country with all its financial embarrassments. His great aim was to pay off the HISTORY. GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 31 national debt, and develop industries. But he was hostile to a national bank and Federal tariffs on foreign goods for protection to domestic manufac tures. He threw his influence into measures for the welfare of farmers rather than of manufacturers and merchants. As his party had acquired undisputed ascendency, old political animosities died out. Al though a Democrat (as the Republican party had come to be called) , succeeding a Federalist adminis tration, he made very few removals from office. His policy was pacific and conciliatory, and his popular ity increased with the national prosperity. He was the most long-sighted of all American politicians, seeing that political power hereafter would be lodged with the common people, and he adapted himself to their wants, their prejudices and their aspirations. Though born on a plantation, he was democratic in his sympathies. He was no orator like John Adams ; indeed, he could not make a speech at all; but he could write public documents with masterly abilities, and was fond of writing letters. His greatest feat was the purchase of Louisiana from France, but his administration was most memorable for departing from the policy of Washington and Adams, in break ing away from the courtly formality and dignity of official life and inaugurating an era of popular "re publican simplicity." The day of strong Federalism in government gave way to the reactionary Democ racy. Jefferson was an original thinker and a natural opponent of authority, whether in politics or religion. For his own epitaph he described himself as "Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom." Jefferson bequeathed to his successor, Madison, the responsibility of settling the growing difficulties with Great Britain. Madison was the disciple, ad mirer and friend of Jefferson, through whose influ- 32 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ence he had been weaned from Federalism, which originally he had adopted. He, too, one of the most able statesmen of the times, and one of the most en lightened, would have kept the country from drifting into war had that been in his power. He clearly saw that the nation was unprepared that it had neither an army or navy of any size ; but the unabated insults of the English government, the continual injuries it inflicted on American commerce, and its haughty and arrogant tone in all negotiations, were infuriat ing Congress and the American people. It became clear that war was simply a choice of evils that the nation must either submit to humiliation and dis honor, or risk disaster, the defeat of armies and the increase of the national debt. The war of 1812 was without glory on the land, being a miserable series of blunders and misfortunes on the part of generals, and without results at all gratifying to American pride. And it was also regarded as unnecessary by those who were most injured by naval depredations. It was popular only among those who lived in the in terior, and who cherished the traditions of Bunker Hill and of Yorktown. Its calamities were indeed partially redeemed by naval successes, which shed renown on such captains as Decatur, Barron and Bainbridge. It might have been more successful if the whole people had been united in it, to accomplish a distinctive practical object, as in the French and Indian War when Canada was conquered, or in the Revolutionary struggle for liberty. But it had no specific aims except to vindicate national honor. As such it was not without important results. It con vinced England, at least, that the Americans would no longer be trifled with, and that all future hostili ties, whichever way they terminated, would inflict evils without corresponding benefits. The war doubt less gave a great stimulus to the infant manufactures HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 33 of the country, and various kinds of industries, since the people were driven to them by necessity, and thus helped to build up New England in spite of its ruined commerce. The war also scattered wealth and in flated prices. All wars have this effect ; but it demor alized the people like the Revolutionary War itself, notwithstanding the great bonus it bestowed. Both countries were glad when the war termi nated, for both were equal sufferers, and, to all ap pearances, gained but trifling advantages. In the peace which was consummated at Ghent, of which John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay were the chief negotiators, nothing was said about the injuries which provoked the contest, but they never were for gotten, and the United States were doubtless put on a better footing with foreign powers. From that time national progress was more rapid than before, and all classes settled down to peaceful prosperity and to improving their condition. The only event of importance which occurred dur ing Madison's administration, after the close of the war, was the cession of Florida to the United States in 1819, negotiated by John Quincy Adams, but op posed by Henry Clay. The latter great man had now become one of the most prominent figures in Amer ican politics, and his entrance upon the political arena marked the growing importance of Congress in the domestic affairs of the country at large. From this time the abler statesmen in the National Legis lature obtained by their debates a greater promi nence in the public eye than even the Executive itself. This was true especially during the administration of Madison's successor, Monroe, who was more dis tinguished for respectability than eminent abilities the last of the "Virginia dynasty". His name has been particularly associated with a declaration made 34 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION in his message to Congress in March, 1822, that, "as a principle, the American Continents, by the free and independent position they have assumed and main tained, are henceforth not to be considered as sub jects for future colonization by any foreign power." This is known as "the Monroe Doctrine", although it should probably be credited to John Quincy Adams, Monroe's Secretary of State. During the times of "good feeling" and absence of party animosities which marked the administration of Monroe, two great men, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, appeared in the halls of Congress destined to make a mark in the domestic history of the nation. And there was one event which happened during the same period, the political consequences of which were of great importance, the work of these rising states men rather than of the President. This was the famous Missouri Compromise, marking the first con flict between slavery and freedom a question which thenceforward dwarfed all other subjects of national interest. Hitherto the great question had been kept in the background, but in 1818 a bill was introduced into Congress proposing the admission of Missouri into the Union, which when it reached the Senate was amended by Mr. Tallmadge of New York, pro viding that slaves should not be further introduced into the State. Angry discussions followed, and al though the amendment was adopted, the question was not lost sight of, but for two years engaged the intensest interest of Congress and the public, until in 1821 a compromise was effected by Henry Clay, by which slavery was forever excluded from United States territory north of 36 30 of latitude, and west of the western boundary of Missouri. This admitted Missouri as a slave State, but drew the line of de marcation at that. The administration of John Quincy Adams, Mon- HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 35 roe's successor, was unmarked by important political events, and he quietly continued the policy of his pre decessor, making but few removals from office. He had been a Federalist, but swung around to the Re publican or Democratic party. No one since Wash ington was so little of a partisan as this President, and no one was ever more conscientious in the dis charge of the duties of his office. But he was not popular. Neither his habits nor opinions gained him friends, while they created many enemies, the most implacable of whom was General Jackson, who con sidered himself cheated out of the Presidency by a supposed coalition between Adams and Clay, on which he harped to the day of his death. In 1829 the public career of John Quincy Adams apparently closed, but his best days were yet to come as the champion of human freedom in the House of Representatives. His most distinctive trait of char acter was moral heroism. He had a lofty self-respect which prevented him from conciliating foes, or re warding friends; an old Puritan, sternly incorrupt ible, disdaining policy in the inflexible sense of duty and personal dignity, learned without genius, elo quent without rhetoric, experienced without wisdom, and religious without orthodoxy, yet securing uni versal respect from his austere integrity and un doubted patriotism, the last of the great statesmen, except the military heroes, who reached exalted rank from the services he had previously rendered. The elevation of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency was memorable for a new departure in the political history of the United States. He was a man of re markable force. Born poor, he had, almost without friends, made his own way, becoming lawyer, Con gressman, United States Senator, Judge of the Su preme Court of Tennessee, volunteer militia officer, Major-General and Department Commander, and 36 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION Governor of Florida. He had rendered undoubted services in the war of 1812, especially by his brilliant victory at New Orleans, and he also had shown con siderable ability in conflicts with the Indians, which gave him great popularity. But he was accused of being ignorant, prejudiced, unscrupulous, and self- willed. He began his administration by making the members of his Cabinet his tools or clerks, and giv ing his confidence to a few unofficial admirers, called the "Kitchen Cabinet". So far as he was ruled at all it was by these "machine politicians", whose policy was a division of the spoils of office. At the start Jackson foolishly quarreled with nearly all the mem bers of his Cabinet, because their wives would not associate with a woman of inferior social position who had married the Secretary of War. Next, he turned out most of the office-holders whom his pre decessors had appointed, who were not his partisans, on the infamous doctrine : "To the victor belongs the spoils", a movement which unfortunately became the policy of his successors of all parties, as a party measure. This course cannot be sustained by justice or by argument from experience, either in conserving party strength or advancing official efficiency in charge of the national interests. It causes intense hatreds and bitter disappointments. Jackson made ten times more removals in one month than all his predecessors had done before him, and this without regard to fitness for office, but avowedly to reward partisans, in a time of intense political partisanship. It was not long after his inauguration before Jack son became involved in a quarrel with the United States Bank. The notes of this bank were as good as gold, and it had proved useful in the regulation of the currency, in fact, a necessity which had the confidence of business men throughout the country. Under the pretense that it was an engine of political HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 37 corruption the President waged an uncompromising war until he effected his purpose of crippling it. I need not detail the financial troubles which ensued when the great central bank, the Federal balance- wheel of all money operations, was stopped, and when State banks called "Pets" sprung up everywhere, without sufficient capital, to which the public funds were intrusted until they all burst together in the financial crash of 1837, and the general suspension of specie payments. In justice I must add that this crash was not caused wholly by the winding up of the United States Bank, but largely by an enormous inflation of paper money in the craze for universal speculation, to which everybody was tempted by the prosperity of the country, arising from its rapid set tlement and development. But more important than the President's war on the United States Bank was the compromise tariff of 1833, which led to the greatest series of debates ever seen before in the halls of Congress, and in which Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were the parliamentary giants. The United States Senate never has had such famous debates as during the administration of General Jackson. He seemed to call out all the bitter hostilities which had been buried since the times of Jefferson. The extraordinary ability which was de veloped at this time in both Houses of Congress, but especially in the Senate, was directed to everything of national interest. Into all political subjects did statesmen cast their fearless eyes questions of fi nance, political economy, internal improvements, manufactures, commerce, and Indian difficulties. Congressional legislation during the memorable eight years of Jackson's rule is exceedingly interesting. The opposition was conducted by the Whig party, suc cessors of the Federalists, friends of the United States Bank, of a tariff involving protection to in- 38 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION fant industries, and generally of what the Democrats opposed. The Whig press was wonderfully active, not only in discussing public measures, but in caricatur ing public men, especially the President himself, who acted from the counsels of his own will alone, while everybody approved or must submit to the penalty of his displeasure. The debates on the tariff settled nothing. What question of political economy ever was settled, any more than doctrines of theology? For more than half a century our legislators have attempted to solve this puzzle whether a tariff sould be imposed for revenue only, or for the protection of various indus tries but the question was probably never more ably discussed than by Clay, Calhoun and Webster at this period. They showed themselves to be states men, like Sir Robert Peel and Gladstone, rather than mere politicians such as have generally been elected to succeed them. There is only one other Jacksonian subject to which the limits of this sketch will allow me to allude, and that is the nullification movement in South Caro lina, which grew out of a jealousy of Northern growth and the tenacity of slave institutions, leading to the great parliamentary discussion in which Web ster and Hayne were the combatants. To the credit of General Jackson that movement was summarily put down. In this affair the imperious military pres ident who was patriotically devoted to the Union rendered an important public service, the result of which was to stave off the slavery contest until the country was better prepared for it. Moreover, it must be admitted that, stormy as was the adminis tration of Jackson, and high-handed as were some of his most important measures, the country was seem ingly never more prosperous. His sturdy will was serviceable also in favorable settlements of outstand- HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 39 ing disputes with foreign nations France, Spain, Naples and Denmark, besides some important foreign treaties. Nor was the country ever marked by grand er popular agitations leading to an enlightened public opinion on national issues. The whole land was aroused v* ith the eloquence of popular orators on al most every subject of human interest, and remark ably separated from questions of mere material wel fare discussions and lectures without end on slav ery, on peace and war, on temperance, and on every other social reform. The platform, for a time, seemed to be as great a power as the pulpit or the press. The popular discussions of that day prepared the way for the higher grade of intellectual speakers who not many years after began to appear the pe riod when great lecturers arose like Everett, Holmes, Emerson, Giles, Beecher, Greeley, Sumner, Phillips, followed by Chapin, Whipple, Curtis and a host of others whose literary disquisitions were nearly as ex citing as harangues on political and social questions. For a generation the platform held its own as a great popular power, and then gradually passed away, like other fashions useful in their day, to be succeeded by magazines and periodicals whose highest triumph is at the present time assisted by pictorial art. Concerning the strife of parties and the succession of administrations after Jackson, I need say nothing. Ordinary political history, after all, is only a strand in the rope. True history embraces the development of agriculture and manufactures, of science, of art, of literature, of morals, and of religion as well all social growth a boundless field, which no historian can fully master. The prominent element of interest in the history of the United States, from Jackson to Lincoln, is almost unwritten except in statistical tables, and that was, the marvellous expansion of the country in every re- 40 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION spect. The tide of immigration set in from almost every European nation until it modified all forms of American life. Not merely the poor and the miser able, but the enterprising and adventurous sought the western continent to improve their condition, un til the whole country was settled from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The grain of mustard seed had become a tree for all the birds of the air. With the progress of emigration to the western States all kinds of industry had been developed. The country was getting rich ; the national debt was paid off ; col leges were being planted in every States ; the prime val forests, where the red man had roved for a pre carious support from his bow and arrows, had be come fertile fields ; cereals were exported to Europe to feed starving populations, while peace and plenty reigned in every section of the land. Never was a country more bountilf ully blessed. The reports of its wonderful fertility, its industrial resources, its mechanical inventions, especially in the application of steam to machinery, navigation and rapid transit, its philanthropical enterprises, its educational move ments and its free institutions reached every corner of the Old World and turned the eyes of suffering peoples to this poor man's paradise, where every fa cility was afforded for getting an honest living, un molested by government enactments and the tryanny of caste. The accidental discovery of gold in California in 1848 gave a fresh impulse to emigration, enterprise and ambition. Streams of western-bound transmi gration crossed the Plains, passed the Rocky moun tains and the great interior basis, and found lodg ments all along the route, until the whole continent was opened up to colonists, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with mines of untold wealth and every va riety of fruits and cereals known to civilization ; for HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 41 the expanse of territory provided every diversity of climate, from seaboard to mountain-top, from the tropics to the ice ; and this vast continent was peopled by a few people, under a centralized but almost unf elt government at Washington, of whose power the mak ers of the Constitution had never dreamed. Material life assumed a new aspect, and gigantic fortunes arose far exceeding those known to ancient aristoc racies. But there was one dark cloud which, amid this gen eral prosperity, arose upon the horizon, giving in tense solicitude to statesmen in Congress and the people in their assemblies, and this was the agitation caused by the persistent growth of negro slavery. This, little by little, entered more and more deeply into the minds of the people, and at last became a new political force of extraordinary influence. The eyes of the more thrifty and intelligent part of the nation were opened to the most monstrous absurdity that ever confronted the human intellect: that from three to five millions of people were ground down by hopeless and bitter slavery under a Consti tution which proclaimed unbounded liberty; and, further, that this bondage was intolerable, cruel, in human, hopeless that there was no apparent rem edy for the most disgraceful injustice under the sun, and that the mere agitation of the subject created bit ter animosities among freemen themselves, and threatened National disunion. Gradually all other subjects of legislation paled before the tremendous issues which became obvious to every thinking mind. Even tariffs and internal improvements, which had been for forty years the leading subjects of discus sion in Congress, lost their interest in comparison with the mighty evil which apparently was to divide the North from the South and make two rival and hostile nations instead of one united power. Con- 42 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION gressional and even Presidential elections began to hinge on their connection with the slavery agitation. Those very men whom we now venerate as the most enlightened and philanthropic of patriots were ma ligned, slandered and persecuted, because they strove to enlighten the National conscience as to the evils of slavery. Animosities daily increased between statesmen from different sections of the country. The South looked with alarm and hatred upon all who advocated human rights, and with jealousy at the growing power of the free States, while the North beheld with astonishment and indignation the out rages which slave-owners inflicted on the most pa tient and gentle people who ever endured the yoke of bondage, and with apprehension saw them reach ing out after more territory, for, as the thriftless labor exhausted the soil, slavery must expand or die. Such a state of things could not last amid the mighty commotions of the nineteenth century. The inevitable conflict must come. The blinded South would not listen to reason or humanity, and became the aggressor, with the main object of increasing slave territory and dividing the Union. In vain the elo'quent memories of Clay and Webster, the adroit ness of Douglas and Seward: Southern leaders, like Calhoun and Hayne, had prepared the Southern mind for disunion, under the plea of State sovereignty, which Southern politicians had ever advocated, for- seeing difficulties which they dared not openly dis cuss. The extension and intensification of the con test over Kansas and the new States, tho disruption of the Missouri Compromise in the interest of slav ery, the growth of the anti-slavery sentiment in the North, and the election of Lincoln as President, were skilfully used to "fire the Southern heart" to overt rebellion; the guns of organized State treason at length fired upon the Federal Fort Sumter, and the HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 43 mightiest contest of the nineteenth century was fairly opened. It is not my object to present even the outline of that tremendous war, the details of which are nar rated with accuracy and candor in the work before us, in the course of which such great names as Lin coln, Grant, Lee and others became prominent and immortal. What can be said in a few sentences of a contest which lasted four years and in which more than a million of men perished, and from five to eight thousand millions of dollars were expended? The sincere but misguided State patriotism of the South made a magnificent fight, and the triumph of the North was won not so much by superior genius and patriotic fervor as by its overwhelming strength, to which the Southern leaders had been blind because that strength was latent. The life of any one of the prominent generals pre sents more material for history than the whole mili tary career of Washington, and the short adminis tration of Lincoln more than that of the united lives of all the previous Presidents. Who can present, within the narrow limits of an introductory essay, the patience, the fortitude, the sagacity and the pa triotism of the man whom Providence raised up from humble life to guide the fortunes of a mighty nation ? And who in a few lines can show the military genius of the great generals who brought the war to a suc cessful issue ? What was this issue ? It was the liberation of mil lions of slaves whose cries of despair had ascended to heaven. It was the wiping out of a national dis grace which insulted humanity. It was the preserva tion of a Union whose mission for good is infinite. It was the final elevation of the Southern half of the Anglo-Saxon population of American to an equality with the triumphant North, and the development of 44 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION resources which Southern politicians never dreamed of in the most prosperous period of their old-time power. It was the opening up of Southern territory to trade, manufactures and industries which have almost revolutionized it. It was the burial of a sub ject of contention which had kept forty millions of people in perpetual conflict, and the removal of which left them free to pursue their wonderful career. With the close of the Civil war a renewed and still more marvellous expansion of energies took place in every part of the land, and in every conceivable form. The increase in wealth and industries was perfectly amazing. The mind is bewildered by their contem plation. It is like surveying the stars rather than the moon. No intellect can grasp the mighty develop ment in mines, in agricultural wealth, in commerce, in manufactures, in inventions, in steam navigation, in railways, in the electrical applications of power, in education, in philanthropy, in the erection of churches, in the endowment of colleges and schools, in the spread of liberal ideas. Even Canada may practically become an integral part of this great Anglo-Saxon empire. The little mountain stream is now a mighty river whose tributaries fertilize mil lions of square miles of soil as rich as the Babylonian plains. The little sapling at Plymouth Kock is now a tree whose branches conceal the heaven itself. Where is the end to be ? What country has such sub lime destinies? A generation has not passed away since the war without seeing the population of the country doubled, and its wealth, real and personal, increased to more than sixty thousand millions of dollars. Thus are all events overruled for good. The war, which some thought would exhaust and ruin the country, opened channels of unexpected development. Thus is Providence prodigal of the sufferings and the HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 45 lives of men, and still more of their wealth, to bring forth, out of disaster, blessings which could never be foreseen. This is the most impressive lesson which history teaches, seen alike in the struggles of ancient Greece and the conflicts of most modern na tions the everlasting burning of the world-phoenix to send forth undying hopes and bring about per petual progress. All this is the bright side of the picture. There is, alas ! another side, fraught with great peril, bringing solicitude to every thoughtful mind. All countries have peculiar dangers and difficulties to contend with, which sap the foundations of true National prosperity. In the old Roman world dis proportionate fortunes, slavery, egotism and social vices undermined the moral health and prepared the way for violence. There was no material on which conservative forces could work. In some countries we find popular discontents, socialism, communism, nihilism, threatening and overthrowing established institutions. We see in other quarters combinations of labor against combinations of capital, fearful to behold, the end of which no mortal can predict. We notice in some nations an intolerable religious des potism, paralyzing energies and destroying all indi vidual independence of mind, and in other countries the opposite evil rampant infidelity, the destruction of religious faith, lax morality, and an insensibility to religious impressions. Some countries are nearly ruined by intemperance, and others by disgraceful li centiousness. Wherever we turn our eyes, there is something pregnant with dangers, and, seemingly, almost impossible to eradicate all fatal to healthy development ; seeds of ruin ; sources of despair. And storming our line of vision, in modern Europe we find the tremendous upheaval of the Great War due to the attempted rampage of military despotism, 46 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION vast standing armies, the constant preparation for war, due, too, to the moral degeneration of a people. We have had our own dangers here in the United States. Please God, there is hope in our possible purification through the great struggle. No light dangers, these. One is the inordinate value attached to mere material wealth. Before 1914 and even after that if you discussed the destinies of America with a boastful optimist he would be very apt to speak of the inexhaustible mines of gold, silver, iron and other metals, enough to buy the industries of the whole word, and make the country rich, even if no wheat or cotton were exported to Europe. Or he would have pointed to the vast plains under culti vation, producing grain enough to supply almost all of the wants of Europe, after using all we need for ourselves. Or he perhaps would enumerate the miles of railway twenty times more than would circle the whole earth, bringing every conceivable product of the land to the seaboard. He might have enumer ated the millions of hogs slaughtered in Cincinnati, Chicago and Kansas City, the innumerable cattle which Texas sends to the east. Everything centered in his eye on material wealth, and the luxuries which wealth secured. When a foreigner traveled in this country not so long ago it was the vast and undevel oped resources of the West which most astonished him. The common eye saw chiefly the colossal pro duction of the country, and gloried in the boundless results which were sure to reward miners, agricul turists, and manufacturers alike. It is this material life in which an immense majority seemed to have gloried as the highest object of desire. Hence there was the adoration of rich men, the only aristocrats whom society here recognizes, and in whom power seems to be centralized. There are philanthropists HISTORY. GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 47 who found colleges ; but even colleges are becoming more and more utilized for science to develop ma terial forces adapting their supply of learning to the material demands of the age. There are relig ious people who build churches ; but these must be so expensively constructed and so splendidly decorated that poor people cannot afford to worship in them. Many are still ambitious to live in a fine house, and the wealthy rivaled the ancient Romans in the lux ury of their tables and the gorgeousness of their furniture. It was these things to which most people "pointed with pride", as the political party platforms phrase it. Even political aspiration was cast aside for money. This unconscious admiration of material power was nearly universal, and was slowly demoral izing, because we put our trust in it as being our happiness and strength. Our entrance into the war the war for democracy against autocracy brought us sharply to, so it seems to me. A fine spirit, the spirit of sacrifice, of love of country became prevalent everywhere, among the rich and the poor. Ideals became high, never were they higher. In one fell swoop, the false stand ards and beliefs of yesterday were washed away, leaving us cleansed and with the spirit of our fore fathers. After all, what are material riches? No matter how broad and how splendid a mere material civili zation may be, it is built upon the sand. What is the body of a man? His soul only himself it is, that is precious and immortal. Whatever degrades the soul is a poison which destroys the body. Material glories are likely to blind us as to our true and higher destinies. Make New York a second Carthage, Phil adelphia a second Antioch, Chicago a second Babylon, and Washington a second Rome, and we simply re peat the old achievements which ended in dismal 48 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION failure. There is no reason, drawn from human ex perience, why this country should escape the fate of all other nations, not in the extinction of their popu lation, but in the extinction of their glories unless spiritual forces such a force as moves us in this present epoch shall arise which will counteract the downward tendency in morals and spiritual life. If America has a great mission to fulfill she must al ways put forth those agencies and proclaim those ideas which elevate the soul, and which will save other nations also. No stretch of territory, no rich ness of mines, no fertile fields of corn, no money- making mills are anything, in the loftiest aspect, if true life has fled. And hence it is emancipating ideas and ideals and enlightened modes of education which should be the object of highest aim, if America is to fulfill its pe culiar privilege in promoting the elevation and hap piness of mankind. The final value of the discovery and settlement of America must be established not so much in feeding uncounted millions, to pass away like the leaves of the forest, as in creating new insti tutions and social conditions, which shall spread throughout the world. Thus only can we even con serve the glories of which we boast. Another subject of solicitude to a patriotic Amer ican is the problem of what shall be done for the emancipated colored people of the South. That is a question peculiar to ourselves, and which we alone can solve. The rapid increase of the colored popula tion may not endanger our institutions or affect the prosperity of the East and West. On the contrary, the unfortunate people whom we freed from bond age, and to whom we, perhaps unwisely, gave polit ical rights, may yet be scattered throughout the land; and they will inevitably find the political and industrial level to which they became adapted, al- HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 49 though social intermixture with the whites seems neither possible nor desirable ; nor will they weaken the resources of the South, but will rather develop them. Yet their condition is most pitiable. Even Fred Douglass, in a lecture on their sad life, inti mated, in my hearing, that, in spite of all that had been gained by many of them, the condition of the great mass was not substantially improved by eman cipation that they were still largely in the power of the whites ; that they were still often oppressed, and miserable, ignorant and degraded, and might here after, with their rapid increase, become a dangerous element in our civilization. Something ought to be done for a people who have been subjected to so great injustice. There is no ap parent remedy for the increasing cloud of portentous evil but in their education, to make them citizens whom we fear not; and who is to educate them? They must be taught by those who are stronger and wiser. The Southern whites are slow to teach and help them, but at times even insult and isolate the philanthropic teachers who come to save them; al though in many localities these old prejudices are passing away as the whites begin to see the higher worth of intelligent laborers. This is marked, for instance, with regard to the Hampton Institute for Negroes and Indians, some of the best friends of which are Southern men. The material wealth of the nation must be utilized in their favor must be turned in a channel of goodness and benevolence. No feeble charity, no pittance of superfluous wealth, will avail anything. Donations large and free, not only of private but of public moneys not thousands of dollars but millions should be contributed to give them common schools, industrial training-schools and colleges ; not directly to teach the masses of ig norant and depraved humanity, but especially to edu- 50 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION cate the better class of them, to raise up colored teachers who can best instruct their fellow-sufferers. The boon which Abraham Lincoln conferred upon the slaves as a war measure will not turn out so great a blessing as was supposed, until some National aid for their further emancipation from ignorance and brutality shall be appropriated to their education by our National Legislature, as a national necessity. Much the same line of thought applies to the rem nants of our aboriginal Indian tribes who, as "Wards of the Nation," might well accuse us of a gross and gigantic breach of trust. The efforts making to ed ucate the Indians, both in private and Governmental schools in the West and in the Hampton and Carlisle institutions in the East, give most encouraging re sults. They promise to fit these people for a reason able use of the freedom and responsibility that will be theirs when the Government divides their land to them in individual severalty instead of by tribes, and when they put their nobler qualities of truthfulness and self-respect to work in the sphere of American citizenship. We should not too harshly criticize our uncivilized "inferior races", for we ourselves have much to learn in the practice of Christianity, honesty and common fair dealing, when our Government, legislative and executive together, unites in making a "Chinese ex clusion law", in plain contravention of existing treaties. That was done in the year of our Lord 1892. The dangers which some deplore in immigration, in Mormonism, and in Roman Catholicism I fail to see, at least to any alarming extent. Immigration planted the West and developed its industries. Why should not the poor and miserable of foreign lands have a share in a boundless inheritance? It is not necessary that they should always be ignorant. HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 51 They are as civilized as our remote ancestors, and they have as noble aspirations. They have already largely amalgamated with the Anglo-Saxon race. Mormonism is only a spot upon a sun, and must fade away with advancing light unless more deeply im pregnated with evil than I am inclined to believe; while Catholicism has a mission to fulfill among peo ple still enslaved by the dogmas and superstitions of the Middle Ages. Grasping as the Catholics are of political power, it is because they had none in the countries from which they came, and their privileges are all the dearer from their former political sig nificance. Every succeeding generation becomes more enlightened and more impressible by grand ideas. They are still the most religious, and in some respects the most moral, of all our colonists; and their priests are the most hard-worked and most self-denying of all our clergy teaching, with all their prejudices and ecclesiastical bondage, the card inal principles of the Christian religion. The Cath olics may become a very powerful and numerous re ligious party, but they never can become a domi nating power while faith remains in the agencies which have produced so wonderful a civilization as this, nor could the Pope encroach largely on civil freedom in this utilitarian age, even were he so dis posed. Indeed, his utterances, as to both French and American affairs, seem to show a sagacious sympa thy with the political tendencies of the day. No picture can be true which does not show the shadows as well as the lights. We have had to look at some dark ones. But it is to be remembered that America is not a completed country. Much of the great prospect is chaotic, confused, unsightly, show ing piles of dirt and accumulations of refuse ma terial like the building-ground of a huge edifice during construction. Such rapid advancement in 52 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION nation-building was never made before on the earth, because all classes have been free and interested workers. We are in a transition stage, and even ap proximate perfection is a long way off. We may take courage, however, in the knowledge that not only is our edifice well founded "broad-based upon a na tion's will" but that, counteracting against the in felicities and tendencies to danger, is a new force arising among the builders the thoughtful and the devotional alike which is making more of conduct than of creed, more of piety than of institutional re ligion, more of individual character than of eccles iastical form. This leaven is spreading with whole some infection, and must find its sphere of work in arousing the multitude of individual consciences of American freemen to loftier standards of life and aspiration, in business, in all kinds of manual labor, in politics, in law-making and law-keeping briefly, in good citizenship. It is much that a land has been found large and rich enough to raise its people out of the degradation of poverty to a higher plane of physical and social life, for morals and intelligence follow that. And there is great hope in the new pop ular movements in favor of education, the Chau- tauqua Circles for home culture, the University Ex tension for giving collegiate instruction to non-col legiate youth, the libraries and reading clubs, the societies for political, literary and socialistic discus sion, the literature-classes among women, and a great number of local associations for self -improve ment and for the helping of others, from which ra diate newer and better and loftier influences into all ranks of our people even the very lowest. For among these a fresh zeal of Christian effort, aided by common sense, is carrying the light of physical cleanliness and comfort, together with moral and spiritual light. Moreover, the ancient civilizations, HISTORY, GREATNESS AND DANGERS OF AMERICA 53 whose material greatness toppled them to their ruin, lacked two things that we rely on, free schools and an untrammeled press. Frequent political revolt tends to avert the more destructive armed rebellion ; and the growing intelligence of our youth, with the atmosphere of free discussion into which they come up, will prove, under the influence of Christianity, a vital force to throw off evil as well as to propagate good. I have but a word more to say, and that is on the dignity and utility with which the history of this great nation is invested. It will not be long before every university of Europe will have a chair to study and teach the development of our civilization. Such a wonderful progress in a hundred years cannot pass unnoticed by the students of the Old World. Even now the best treatises on our political institutions have been written by a Frenchman, a German and an Englishman, and are used as text-books in our own colleges. The field of American history cannot be exhausted any more than our mines of coal. Ev eryone who writes a school-book or an elaborate sur vey of the changes through which we have passed, everyone who collates a statistical table, or writes a treatise or a popular epitome of leading events, is a benefactor. Everyone who paints and analyzes a great character makes an addition to our literature. Even the honest and industrious expert who drags out of oblivion the driest and most minute details, is doing something to swell the tide of useful knowledge in this great country. Especially useful to the hard- pushed student or the busy man must be any reason ably compact record of American life which presents the essential forces and facts that have produced re sults. Such a work should not only show the annals of political, military and industrial growth, but should note the characteristics of the various groups 54 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION of colonists and the social, religious and civic ele ments that entered with influence into the formative periods of our composite national character. It should give at successive points analyses of the prin ciples of republican government and their religious applications from the town-meeting to the highest Federal department. It should, in brief, show not only the results and processes, but the reasons for them, and thus offer wholesome stimulant to the reader's mind. The excellent book to which this is a merely sug gestive introduction, while it does not startle us by brilliant creative generalization nor enter upon crit ical speculations on disputed points, makes admir able use of accepted facts. It is clear in style, con densed though interesting in narrative, lofty in tone and truthful in statement. It is rather remarkable for its discriminating selection of events and influ ential elements to be set forth and for its lucid pre sentation of them. The account of our Four Hun dred Years of American History should have a wide circulation, for it is a valuable contribution to the cause of education and popular instruction. JOHN LORD. Stamford, Conn. A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION LIEF ERICSSON, And Other Norse Adventurers About five hundred years before Columbus landed on Guanahani, one of the Bahama Islands, Lief Er icsson, a Scandinavian, sailed from Brattahlid, now New Herrnhut, in Greenland, in a due south direc tion, and after passing over sixteen degrees of lati tude, or about 1,100 statute miles, sighted Newfound land, and thence sailing southwest along the coast reached Cape Cod. Afterward other adventurous Northmen made voyages occasionally along the same coasts, from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. These explorers landed at several places ; and records show that they attempted to found a colony in a re gion which they named Vinland. The place selected for the settlement is supposed to have been somewhere within the boundaries of the present States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but every trace of the colony disappeared long before the advent of the English upon the same territory. Meanwhile, an Icelandic collection of legends or sagas, which treat of these early discoveries, shows that explorations were made even as far south as Florida, in the vicinity of where St. Augustine now stands. 56 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION No marked influence was exerted by these discov eries and partial explorations, however, unless it may have been, as generally supposed, that an account of the voyages of Ericsson and others reached Colum bus and stimulated him in his efforts to obtain the means of making an expedition of discovery toward the West. CHAPTER I 1492-1795 COLUMBUS His Discoveries, Misfortune, and Death :Amerigo Vespucci, and the name America.. For nearly fifteen hundred years after the birth of our Saviour, the great Western Continent was un known to the inhabitants of the Old World. The people of Europe had looked upon the Atlantic Ocean as a boundless expanse of water, surrounding the land and stretching far away they knew not whither. This vast unknown, their imaginations had peopled with all sorts of terrible monsters, ever ready to devour those who should rashly venture among them. But the cloud of mystery and superstition that hung over this world of waters was now to be dispelled a spirit of discovery was awakened in Europe. The Azores and Madeira Islands were already known. Mariners, driven out by adverse winds, had discovered them. Tradition told of islands still further west, but as yet no one had gone in search of them. Even though the bold Norsemen did find and touch upon Western shores, the knowledge of them was neither published nor utilized. The atten tion of the people of maritime Europe was turned in the opposite direction ; they wished to find a passage by water to the eastern coasts of Asia. The stories told by those early travellers, Sir John Mandeville and Marco Polo, had fired their imaginations; they believed that among those distant regions of which they wrote, so abundant in precious stones, diamonds 58 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION and gold, was the veritable land of Ophir itself. Their intense desire to obtain the treasures of India led to a result most important in the world's history a result little anticipated, but which was to have a never-ending influence upon the destinies of the human family the discovery of America. There appeared at this time a remarkable man Christopher Columbus. He was a native of Genoa, one of the great commercial cities of Italy. He had been from his childhood familiar with the sea, and had visited the most distant portions of the world then known. His time and talents were devoted to the study of navigation, geography and astronomy. He read also many books of travel, and it is now thought that he had seen in Iceland or elsewhere the accounts of land visited in the west by the Norse men, as mentioned in our Introduction. He began to astonish his countrymen with strange notions about the world. He boldly asserted that it was round, in stead of flat ; that it went around the sun instead of the sun going around it ; and moreover, that day and night were caused by its revolution on its axis. These doctrines the priests denounced as contrary to those of the church. When he ventured to assert that by sailing west, he could reach the East Indies, they questioned not ony the soundness of his theory, but that of his intellect. For years he labored to obtain the means to explore the great western ocean, to prove that it was the pathway to the coveted treasures of the East. He applies to John the Second, king of Portugal, to aid him in his enterprise, but without success ; he then applied to Henry the Seventh, king of England, with a similar result. After years of delay and dis appointment, his project having been twice rejected by the Spanish court, and he himself branded as a wild enthusiast, he succeeded in enlisting in its favor COLUMBUS 59 the benevolent Isabella, Queen of Spain. She offered to pledge her private jewels to obtain means to de fray the expenses of the expedition. Thus the bless ings, which have accrued to the world from the dis covery of America, may be traced to the beneficence of one of the noblest of women. After numerous delays and many disappointments, on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, Columbus sailed from the little port of Palos, in Spain. He confidently launched forth upon the unknown ocean. His three little vessels were mere sail-boats compared with the magnificent ships that now pass over the same waters. He sailed on and on, day after day, and at length came within the influence of the trade winds, which without intermission urged his vessels toward the west. The sailors began to fear if these winds continued, they never could return. They noticed the variation of the compass; it no longer pointed to the pole, was this mysterious, but hitherto trusty friend, about to fail them ? Ten weeks had already elapsed, and the winds were still bearing them farther and farther from their homes. It is true, there were many indications that land was near; land birds were seen; land weeds, a bush with fresh berries upon it, and a cane curiously carved, were found floating in the water. Again and again, from those on the watch, was heard the cry of land, but as often the morning sun dispelled the illusion; they had been deceived by the evening clouds that fringed the western horizon. Now, the sailors, terror-stricken, became mutinous, and clam ored to return. They thought they had sinned in venturing so far from land, and as a punishment were thus lured on to perish amid the dangers with which their imaginations had filled the waste of waters. Columbus alone was calm and hopeful ; in the midst 60 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION of all these difficulties, he preserved the courage and noble self-control that so dignifies his character. His confidence in the success of his enterprise, was not the idle dream of a mere enthusiast ; it was founded in reason, it was based on science. His courage was the courage of one, who, in the earnest pursuit of truth, loses sight of every personal consideration. He asked only for a little more time, that he might prove to others the truth of what he himself so firmly believed. When lo! the following night the land breeze, fragrant with the perfume of flowers, greeted them; never was it more grateful to the worn and weary sailor. The ships were ordered to lie to, lest they should run upon rocks. Suddenly the ever watchful eye of Columbus saw a light, a moving light ! The alternations of hope and fear, the visions of fame and greatness, or the higher aspirations that may have filled his soul on that eventful night, are more easily imagined than described. The next morning, they saw lying before them in all its luxuriant beauty an island, called by the na tives Guanahani, but renamed by Columbus, San Sal vador, or Holy Saviour. With a portion of his crew he landed. Falling on their knees, they offered thanksgivings to God, who had crowned their labors with success. Columbus raised a banner, and planted a cross, and thus took formal possession of the land in the names of his sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. The awe- stricken natives watched the ceremony from amid the groves ; they thought the white strangers were the children of the sun, their great deity. Alas ! the cross did not prove to them the emblem of peace and good- will ! Columbus explored this island one of the Ba hama group and discovered others, now known as the West Indies. Thus he spent three months ; then COLUMBUS 61 taking with him seven of the natives, he sailed for home. On the 15th of March he arrived at Palos. From that port to the court at Barcelona, his prog ress was a triumphal procession. He was graciously received by the King and Queen, who appointed him Viceroy or Governor of all the countries he had or should discover. They conferred upon him and his families titles of nobility, and permission to use a coat of arms. The day he made his discovery, was the day of his triumph ; this day was the recognition of it by his patrons and by the world. His past life had been one of unremitting toil and hope deferred ; but in the future were bright prospects for himself and his family. But his title, the object of his hon orable ambition, proved the occasion of all his after sorrows. The honors so justly conferred upon him, excited the jealousy of the Spanish nobility. From this time his life was one continued contest with his enemies. He made more voyages, and more discoveries. On his third voyage he saw the main land at the mouth of the Orinoco. It seems never to have occurred to him, that a river so large must necessarily drain a vast territory. He supposed the lands he had discovered were islands belonging to Cathay, or Farther India; from this circumstance the natives of the New World were called Indians. It is more than probable Columbus died without knowing that he had found a great continent. After a few years his enemies so far prevailed, that on a false accusation he was sent home in chains from the island of Hispaniola. Isabella, indignant at the treatment he had received, ordered them to be taken off, and all his rights and honors restored. Ferdinand promised to aid her in rendering him jus tice, and in punishing his enemies ; but, double-deal ing and ungenerous, he did neither. To the misfor tunes of Columbus was added the death of Isabella, 62 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION his kind and generous patroness. And now he was openly maligned and persecuted. Their work was soon done ; in a short time he died, worn out by dis ease and disappointment. His last words were: "Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit." His body was deposited in a convent in Spain. Fer dinand, it is said, ordered a monument to his mem ory. The justice he had denied him in life he was willing to inscribe upon his tomb, it was to bear the inscription : "Columbus has given a world to Castile and Leon." The body of Columbus was afterward conveyed to Hispaniola. After a lapse of almost three hundred years that island passed into the hands of the French. Generations had come and gone, but the Spanish nation remembered that Columbus had "Giv en a world to Castile and Leon ;" and they wished to retain his remains within their own territories. They disinterred them, and with imposing ceremonies transferred them to Havana in the island of Cuba, where they still remain. About seven years after the first voyage of Colum bus, Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine gentleman, vis ited the West Indies, and also landed on the eastern coast of South America. On his return he published a glowing description of the newly discovered coun tries. From this circumstance the name America was given to the New World by a German writer on Geography, who may have been ignorant of the claims of Columbus. CHAPTER II AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES The Origin of the American Indians Who were the first human beings on the American continent ? How did they get there ? In these ques tions we have the two-fold aspect of a problem which, from the time of Columbus to our own day, has proved of absorbing interest to every type of mind. The many attempts at a solution of this problem re solve themselves into three distinct theories. The first of them that gained general currency regarded the aboriginal Americans as descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. This view was certainly stimulating to the imagination, and its very picturesqueness must have contributed immensely to its diffusion. Even the scientific and skeptical critic found in the idea an incentive to careful study of the manners and customs of the natives of our continent, in the hope of thus discovering analogies that would lead ulti mately to the truth. But science has slowly but sure ly undermined the foundations such as they were of this belief, and it remains today what it was in the beginning a mere assumption and nothing more. The second theory takes us back to one of the famous legends of the ancient Greeks. This is the legend of Atlantis, an island realm of the western seas, of which Plato gives us a splendid vision in one of his most impressive passages. To state this the ory in its crudest but simplest form, Atlantis must have been a vast land area, or series of land areas, ex tending from Europe to the continent of America. 64 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION Our remote predecessors were thus afforded a natural bridge over which they crossed by easy stages from the Old World to the New. That some vague tra ditions of this sort had survived in the minds of men from a very ancient period is beyond dispute. The legend of Atlantis had evidently cast its spell over the imagination of the old Roman philosopher Sen eca, inspiring, it may be, his immortal prophecy that mankind would yet discover a new world beyond the seas. The fancy of Columbus had been caught by the boldness of the same vision, and the fabled At lantis thus became a factor in the achievement of the greatest triumph in the annals of geographical science. Nor is this island continent of Atlantis to be dismissed as a mere creation of the myth-makers. Many able men of science have seen no escape from the conclusion that a bridge or area of land extend ing across the Atlantic Ocean must have afforded the path by means of which human beings first gained the American continent. Science in this twentieth century does not, to be sure, view the subject in the simple spirit of the old Spaniard who, on the strength of the land-bridge theory, assigned a Celtiberian or igin to the Indians. The theory removes one diffi culty, but it creates another. What became of the convenient continent between Europe and America? It can scarcely have subsided beneath the waves without leaving a trace of its former presence. Yet every attempt to establish even the outlines of the missing continent by sounding the heights and depths of the Atlantic has proved an idle task. Only the most tremendous of natural convulsions could have wiped out a vast land area between Europe and America. The advanced geological science of our time can find no traces of a submersion on this gi gantic scale. Nevertheless, geologists of distinction have maintained that the northern bed of the At- AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 65 lantic was not always covered with water. If their view be the right one, man may have left the Old World for the New at a time when climatic conditions on the earth were very different from those known to us. We come now to the third and last theory of the peopling of America. The shipping of Asiatic coast dwellers was driven from time to time by stress of wind and weather as far as the Alaskan shore. An involuntary migration was thus set up from a remote prehistorical period. A glance at the map shows this view of the case to be an extremely simple one. Nowhere do the continents of the Old World and the New come so closely together as in the Alaskan re gion. That slender arm known as Bering Strait forms the only division between these mighty areas. Transit from one to the other can have presented no insuperable difficulties even to the most primitive craft. The plausibility of this view is supported by certain resemblances between the American aborig ines and Mongolian peoples. Some American races of the Pacific states have characteristics in common with the nations of civilized Asia. There are Chi nese legends of a land of Fu-schan which point un mistakably to Aztec civilization, in the opinion of many scientists. Upon these and other considera tions is based the theory of a Chinese origin for the first inhabitants of America. But all this ingenious theorizing has been unable to withstand the ordeal of more searching investigation. America was cer tainly not peopled by the Alaska route within a peri od during which we can trace even the most ancient Chinese races. Only after the glacial period did the remote northwestern extremity of our continent emerge from the bosom of the Pacific. Such, at any rate, is the conclusion of recent geological science. The first dwellers of America could never have trav- 66 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ersed the infinite width of waters stretching in that dim and distant pre-glacial past from pole to pole. The bones of many generations of men were already whitening even then in the soil of the New World. This time-worn question has, however, lost much of its importance. The human race in the Old World can not be traced back to a remoter past than the human race in the New. But America was not the cradle of the human race, for the anthropoid apes never made their home there. This much is estab lished by the fossil "finds". Yet the theory of evo lution cannot dispense with the anthropoid apes as the connecting link between man and the lower ani mals. It is, of course, possible that the first human beings on our continent gained access to it at a time when the divisions of land and water on the earth's surface were as yet totally different from those we know anything about. If so, geology will some day be in a position to establish the fact beyond dispute. Meanwhile we can only suspend judgment upon the ories assigning an Asiatic origin to America's sav age and haf-savage peoples. All disputes as to whether America's civilization is the outcome of Aryan or of Semitic influences must be indeed idle if man first made his home on this continent at a time when his fellow creatures in the Old World still shared with the brutes the privilege of devouring some fallen carcass, and still found in a natural cave of the mountains their only refuge from the ele ments. And we know that life's development in the New World was continuous and unaffected by any outside influence, from the age of the mammoth down to the discovery by Christopher Columbus. At a later age than that of the mammoth al though even this later age was well within the pre- historical period America already had a consider able population. This is shown by the great size and AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 67 wide diffusion of those rubbish-mounds known as kitchen-middens. These compromise heaps of fish refuse mingled with the domestic utensils and other relics of prehistoric man, all dating back to the old est American form of civilization or semi-civilization. Some of the mounds, however, are assignable to as recent a period as the later stone age, beyond which the Indians of eastern South America never ad vanced. But even the most ancient of them must have been of very slow formation. In many in stances they are hundreds of feet long and of great height. The elements would certainly have inter fered with a rapid accumulation of such masses, which abound along the coasts as well as throughout the interior of North and South America. The fairly dense population indicated by this state of things is significant. Were Europe and Asia in this remote era inhabited by races as yet never civilized ? If so, the evolution of any form of civilization on the Amer ican continent cannot have been due to any foreign influence. Former geographical conditions on our continent would not enter into the question in the least. Argument based upon such a theory would be as futile as the speculations of Cortez and Pizarro regarding those twin mysteries of life in the New World the civilizations of Mexico and of Peru. It was reasonable to anticipate that a study of the dialects and traditions of the primitive races of America might throw some light on their origin. But the result is disappointing. The savage in a state of nature is found to have little knowledge and less curiosity regarding his own origin. In excep tional cases he may recall the names of both his father and his grandfather. He may even remember where they lived. Anything more than this involves him in a maze of childish fancy. The language in which these primitive Americans conveyed their few 68 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ideas had more elements of permanence. But it was subject, nevertheless, to countless modifications, arising principally from the introduction of captive women into a conquering tribe. For our earliest pre decessors on this continent had every instinct of the beast of prey. There is every reason to suspect that cannibalism in its most ruthless form once prevailed throughout the length and breadth of America. Man triumphed over his prey by devouring him and won his wife by stealing her. Such was the order of ideas conveyed by a formless speech which must long have remained but a stage in advance of the uncouth cry of the brute. Rude word-forms, the survivors, it may be, of this period of warfare of "all against all", have been analyzed with infinite patience in the light of linguistic science, only to leave the student very often as wise at the end of his labors as he was in the beginning. RACIAL DIVISIONS OF THE INDIANS The whole population of the region now comprising the United States can scarcely have exceeded half a million in the time of Columbus. The number is sur prisingly insignificant in comparison with the vast- ness of the area. Indeed, the earliest students of the subject concluded that the inhabitants of our portion of America must have numbered some millions in the year 1492. We know now that these observers were misled partly by the accounts of the red men them selves, partly by the bewildering variety of dialects that prevailed, and party by the probabilities of the case. It is possible that the population of North America, in an indefinite prehistoric period, could have been computed by the million. But this popu lation had evidently been declining for a long time perhaps for centuries. We may attribute this de cline, perhaps, to a type of civilization unfitted to AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 69 cope with the surrounding savagery of the red man. How the red man himself reared the superstructure of his peculiar mode of life during the slow decline of the prehistoric civilization we can only vaguely con jecture. When the Indians of our part of the world came so abruptly into history, their state of culture pre sented three stages. These stages were not sharply defined. In fact, they tended to shade into one an other, although they were sufficiently distinguish able for purposes of study and classification. The most abject of the tribes were in what is called the later period of savagery. They used the bow and arrow, but had no pottery. Tillage of the soil was beyond their capacity. On a higher plane than this were the Indians in the older period of barbarism. They could raise a crop of something resembling maize, they herded together within a circle of hovels, and they fished and hunted in a haphazard and dis organized way. We must look to the "village" In dians those in the middle period of barbarism for the highest type of culture on this continent when Columbus reached it. These tribes had an agricul ture and an architecture. They were progressing in a definite direction. But they were overcome at in tervals by the savages of a ruder type, and in the struggle for existence they were doomed not to sur vive. The Indians in the second stage, the older pe riod of barbarism, might have made themselves su preme over the whole North American continent had not the arrival of the European changed the whole course of human history in the New World. So much we may infer from their rapid progress along the lines of federation and their capacity for combi nation in a military sense. The half -million Indians of the Columbian period have been differentiated into about a dozen racial 70 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION stocks. It is true that these twelve nationalities or races were not evident to the first observers, nor is it to be supposed that the lines of demarcation were absolute. This classification of the native American applies, moreover, only to those members of the red race dwelling north of what is now Mexico. And while each of these twelve nationalities had features peculiar to itself, all had in common those general traits of person and character which unfailingly de note the "noble red man". The type varied little. A copper-colored skin, prominent cheek-bones, straight black hair, and a keen dark eye, were the universal physical heritage. The fundamental ideas of these beings were formed on equally rigid lines. All held tenaciously to certain laws of kindred, upon which their conception of government and society was founded. Every red man was passionately attached to his particular area of the continent which com prised the "home land" of his people. This attach ment was absolute. One nationality seldom, if ever, annexed the domain of another, although they fre quently invaded it. These two principles of conduct reverence for ties of kindred and devotion to the soil are the grand clues to Indian human nature. The Algonquins come first in order of the twelve groupings we have to consider. Their vast domain extended along the coast of the Atlantic from Labra dor to South Carolina, stretching inland almost to that "father of waters", the Mississippi. The Al gonquins were fighters who knew not the meaning of fear. They would tolerate no authority but their own within the region they regarded as the land of their race. Our authentic knowledge of them does not go back quite to the Columbian period, but they were among the first red men to come into contact with European civilization. The effect upon their disposition was disastrous, yet some of the noblest AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RAGES 71 and most remarkable types of Indian character were produced by the innumerable tribes making up the Algonquin stock. A still more gifted people were the Iroquois, among whom we include the Hurons. Ethnologists of dis tinction maintain that these tribes are really of the Algonquin race. Be this as it may, their lands bounded those of the Algonquins for many miles, especially in the region of the great lakes, and com prised much of the territory within the present State of New York, extending southward, moreover, as far as the mountain region of Virginia. The Hur ons and the Iroquois supplied the general type of Indian character that enriches the pages of Feni- more Cooper, while their prowess in war has impart ed a sanguinary aspect to our colonial history. The Iroquois got their appellation from the French, and they seem to have been divided at first into five tribes, to which was subsequently added a sixth. The "Six Nations" annihilated many tribes in the course of their warlike history. They developed a perfectly framed system of federal union. Their chiefs met in regular council to determine the com mon policy of their alliance. So well executed were their measures of war and peace that their power be came irresistible. These "Romans of the West" would have conquered the new world east of the Mis sissippi and north of the Ohio, according to Parkman, had the white man deferred his appearance for an other hundred years or so. The gift of eloquence was theirs in a marked degree, and the speeches of Logan and Red Jacket have become classic. The land of the Dakotas third on our list of races comprised the leagues of billowy prairie that roll westward from the Mississippi to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The Dakotas were known to the French as Sioux, and, as was inevitable in the case 72 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION of a prairie people, they were renowned hunters of the buffalo. Some of their more eastern tribes had a primitive kind of agriculture, but the Dakotas gen erally subsisted from the chase. Their physical characteristics were often strikingly unlike those of all other red men. The color and texture of their hair presented variations not met with elsewhere, while in complexion their women approached more nearly to the blonde type than did the squaws of the other North American tribes. They spent more time in their ablutions than seemed proper to the Indian of the coast, and the hair of both males and females was allowed to attain its full growth. There was a reserve in the character of a Dakota squaw that sug gested some notion of feminine delicacy ; and her at tachment to her children is the subject of many beautiful stories. The men were magnificent swim mers. They loved personal adornment and were af fable in manner. Their cruelty, however, was pro verbial. The exquisite tortures they inflicted upon captives were equaled only by the punishments they contrived for themselves. Their purpose in thus testing their own powers of endurance was the same as that of the ancient Spartans. The Athabascan Indians formed a northern stock. The possessions of these tribes included much of what has since become the Dominion of Canada, and they hunted even as far northward as Alaska. Their lands also extended considerably within the present limits of the United States, for the Apaches and Navajoes were Athabascans, although some author ities incline to the view that the Apaches were really southerners. The Athabascans generally were a fierce and untamable people. Some of the tribes lived by fishing. Others are said to have kept slaves. Again, we are assured that many Athabascan clans were mild and gentle until contact with the white AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 73 race transformed them. The truth seems to be that the vast territory inhabited by these people was long inaccessible to the trader and explorer. Our knowl edge of the Athabascans has, therefore, been meager or conflicting. The Esquimaux are the most northern of the races within our scheme of classification. Their country comprises a thin strip of snow land capping the North American continent. They are at once the most interesting and the most repellent of peoples. Small, hairy-faced, dull and dirty, they have always stood apart from the other races encountered by the European in his conquest of the new world. The Thlinket tribes lived on the Pacific coast, be tween the Simpson River and Mount St. Elias. They seem to have been miserable creatures physically, who had no settled mode of life and no particular ca pacity as hunters or fishers. Some writers consider them a degenerate branch of the so-called Columbian race, which forms one of the most important of our twelve subdivisions. The hunting grounds of the Columbian Indians included the whole of the present states of Washington and Oregon, besides a great portion of the area to the immediate north, which is now called British Columbia. They are said to have professed especial devotion to the "Great Spirit". Many of the tribes suffered severely from scarcity of food, and subsisted for months at a time upon roots and even grasses. Their chief weapon was a primi tive kind of spear, which they did not discard until long after experience with the white trader had de veloped a certain fierceness in their disposition. Some of the Columbian tribes were expert canoeists. One branch of the race was characterized by a mal formation of the cranium, produced, it is said, by pressure on the head during infancy. The California Indians are seventh in our classifi- 74 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION cation, their low level of existence calling for no ex tended notice. The Yumas come next, their home being in southern Arizona and eastern California. We have now to consider briefly the very import ant Pueblos. Not only were they a distinctive stock in physique and culture, but they are regarded as the survivors of the prehistoric civilization of the North American continent. Their territory in the Colum bian period can scarcely have exceeded the present limits of New Mexico and Arizona, although there is much plausible evidence in favor of a more compre hensive area. At the time of their discovery by the Spaniards, the Pueblos had long been in a state of decline; but even then their superiority to every form of culture north of Mexico was striking. It is as architects that these people make their most powerful appeal to the attention of the student. The famous Cliff Palace in Colorado is an impressive me morial of the antiquity as well as of the splendor of their civilization. It is inferred that this race had been receding for generations before a rising tide of barbarism. Some authorities contend that the Pueblos are the distant kin of the Aztecs. There are certainly many striking similarities between them. The most recent investigation, however, tends to dis sipate this idea. Pueblo, it should be noted, means village, and it is as "village Indians" that the Span iards sought to distinguish them. The village in this instance was almost a town, and the inhabitants, even in their dejected condition, represented, as has been observed heretofore, the most advanced culture within the area north of Mexico. The Shoshones were, to adopt their own expres sion, "a great people." They inhabited a vast and vaguely defined region in the northwest, roaming over the territory now assigned to Idaho, Utah, Wy oming, and adjacent states. The Pawnees dwelt in AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 75 this region also, the two races having many charac teristics in common, although they used different dialects. Taking them together, their lands reached as far south as Texas, and they presented an infinite variety of tribal character, from the destitute root diggers of the mountains to the "warlike Com- manches." Finally, we have the Appalachians, or Muskokis, a spirited and intelligent race or series of races. They lived in what the American of today calls "the south," that is, in the area from the Carolinas to the Gulf as far westward as Louisiana. Some of the most famous tribes in our history, such as the Choc- taws, the Creeks, the Seminoles, and the Cherokees, were of this Appalachian stock. All of these peoples were extremely handsome, from the Indian point of view, and very vain of their personal appearance. The first effect of contact with the white man was an epidemic of smallpox, which is said to have rav aged them mercilessly and to have spared but a frac tion of their original numbers. All were more or less addicted to fanciful deformations of themselves, and all were proficient in treachery. Some observers credit them with greater facility in the acquisition of European languages than any other red race dis played. Such was the racial aspect of America north of Mexico, in the time of Columbus, or at any rate in a period not much later than his day. This division into twelve families is not perfectly accurate, nor does it receive the sanction of all authorities. But it answers the purpose of classification very well, al though another scheme would lessen the number of distinct races by enlarging the application of the term Algonquin. It may be anticipated that scien tists will in time discover a simpler system of classi fication than the vague one prevailing. 76 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITIONS OF THE INDIAN The social, moral, and personal relations of the Indians of America, north of Mexico, show the effect of a long and intimate contact with nature. They had no notion of private property in land. Nobody would inherit anything, in our legal sense of the word. The unit of society was not the family. Even the family was not an institution, for the father had no status as such. Speaking generally, the tribe, which was some times only a small gathering of two hundred per sons, was organized on the basis of the clan. This clan was a grouping of individuals under the limited authority of a male member who stood in some rela tion of kinship to them all. But this kinship was traced almost always through the female line, and marriage within that circle was forbidden, although a man belonging to one clan could marry a woman of another clan. Hence, a certain relationship by marriage was apt to exist throughout all the tribe, but an individual always belonged to the clan of the mother. Occasionally tribes were encountered with a gentile basis of kinship, descent being reckoned through the male. There was also a system of adop tion into a tribe in which relationship was nominally in the female line. The family authority was vested in the eldest member of the circle. Thus an elder brother exacted obedience from a younger. In the tribe at large, however, the governmental authority depended almost wholly upon personal merit, es pecially in time of war. The several clans forming a tribe dwelt together. Their habitations radiated about a common center, but were usually close to one another. The common center was likely to be the rallying place, in which general concerns were discussed. Here the old men AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 77 and the valiant warriors (herded under one great roof, or, it might be, out in the open) planned war or the hunt, worshiped the "Great Spirit" or merely frittered away the time. As for the dwellings, they were apt to be constructed of poles, logs, twigs, or sod, according to the resources at command. The sanitary arrangements were nearly always most primitive, a fact which explains the general liability of the red man to epidemics. The squaws did the work, while the men fought and amused themselves. But it was not unusual for women of forceful char acter to acquire influence in the council, while the more elderly females were sometimes regarded with a kind of veneration. Life was not apt to be dull in the village, for everybody knew everybody else, and the spirit of emulation was keen. Dress and personal adornment were among the oc casions of this emulation. Attire was variegated, the hide of the deer, the hare, the buffalo, and even the snake, contributing some element to the general effects. Shirts and leggings were the conspicuous necessities of the men, and the skins of their four- footed quarry supplied the materials. But softer fabric was available in the shape of vegetable fibers woven in combination with fur, sinew, and feathers. These materials served the women for skirts gar ments which rarely reached the ground. The men had, apparently, little notion of the coat. Their up per garments were sack-like, with holes for the head and arms. The nether garment varied from the loin cloth supplemented with leggings to an elaborate cov ering of skin and feathers, which decorated the low er limbs with a porcupine-like fringe. There were, of course, tribes which wore very little at all in the way of attire. Others had different sets of clothes for all the occasions of life, political, military, and religious. The robe seems to have been used more 78 HISTpRY OF THE AMERICAN NATION for ceremony than for service. The use of the moc casin was widely distributed, although the word seems to have been peculiar to the Algonquin peoples. This footwear was usually of deer-skin, or some kind of leather, and the sole was soft. So, too, was the upper, which had often much ornament. The head of the Indian was surmounted by feathery or hairy contrivances, which became more elaborate as the tribe rose in the scale of existence. Personal adornment was one of the great concerns of life. The manliest brave did not disdain to give minute attention to the tattooing of his skin and the painting of his face. The former operation was pain ful, necessitating the employment of darts made of fish-bone or metal. The flesh was pricked in a stab bing manner that inflicted exquisite pain, while the coloring matter had sometimes a poisonous effect that caused death. But the Indian attached too much importance to the beasts, birds, suns, or stars stamped indelibly upon his body that the chance of death did not deter him from the practice. These adornments, in addition to their value from the med icine-man's point of view, conf ered certain social ad vantages. Painting was an indispensable requisite of ceremonial intercourse. The males daubed their foreheads, noses, eyebrows, and craniums, and the females their cheeks. There seems to have been no fixed standard of taste in this matter, except that in war the braves conformed to a type of decoration that apprised the beholder of a state of hostilities. It has been said that the experienced observer could almost read the life history of an Indian by the paint ings upon his person, but this could not have applied to the average case. There can be no doubt, however, that a gathering of the clans in the village center was apt to be preceded by an enormous application of paint. AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 79 The personal relations of the tribesmen with one another were rather pleasant, on the whole. Their notions of dignity and of social forms were severely adhered to, and the innumerable assemblages to dance, or to sing, or to pray in common, always had a definite order of procedure. They began with an address by some venerable elder or recognized chief, but they ended, very often, in noise and frenzied ex citement. But this was, in a sense, the conventional course of events, especially on religious occasions. Weird dances, attended at times with self-inflicted violence, formed the leading ceremonial element in these rites, and led naturally to the physical col lapse of all concerned. These performances were de signed as a formal recognition of certain personifica tions of nature, and constituted the only public wor ship of which the Indians were capable. They seem to have had little inward relation to the individual, and worship was rarely solitary. But other phases of religion were numerous, for the mind of the red man resembled the mind of the ancient Greek in its readiness to attribute personality to the forces and faces of nature. Some tribes made a god of the thunder and lightning, and others of the sun. The winds were brothers, each with his appropriate name. Every beast of the forest was deified in the abstract and was typical of a sentiment or a power. The antelope meant peace to the Dakotas, and the grizzly bear signified war. In nothing was the In dian's close contact with nature more strikingly manifested than of his conception of the superna tural. The rites of this many-sided system of personifica tion were not limited to the dance. There were in cantations by means of fire and water, accompanied by singing, and addresses to the guardian spirit of the tribe. The bear, the wolf , the eagle, were tokens 80 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION of this spirit, who was as likely as not to be of a malignant disposition, to be propitiated only by the gloomiest and most hideous practices. This fact contributed immensely to the medicine man's import ance. He was supposed by some of the tribes to hold communication with the spirits of evil, and to be able to reduce them to a state of subjection. Hence his efficacy as a physician. Herbs and roots had a magical rather than a therapeutic value, and experience has not generally sustained the tradi tional reputation of Indian remedies. The medicine man was a contortionist of proficiency, and lathered himself into a foam during an important ceremony. This personage, by the way, should not be confused with a sachem, who in many tribes had a quite differ ent authority. The sachem frequently united the character of chief with that of venerable old man. His authority was supernatural only in exceptional cases, whereas the medicine-man was always some thing of a magician. The tribes of the western prai ries seem to have encouraged the magic of the medi cine-man in a quite extraordinary degree, and their type of religion invested these strange creatures with almost the importance of a sacerdotal caste. It was undoubtedly the function of the medicine-man to interpret the tribe's crude philosophy of life and ap ply to the emergencies of every day, material as well as spiritual. Thus was brought about, probably, the connection between the Indian system of medi cine and the Indian system of worship. There is no reason to infer that the medicine-man lacked faith in himself or in his system. He was not always con sciously a quack or an upholder of delusion. The "Great Spirit," of whom so much is made, has occasioned controversy. This being was originally accepted as the Indian's idea of one supreme diety, rewarding the good and punishing the evil. But AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 81 later investigation leads to the suspicion that the "Great Spirit" and "the happy hunting grounds" may have been read into the Indian's theology through the misunderstandings of early travelers and missionaries. On the other hand, many of the tribes revered a single supernatural personality, who was credited with an indefinite supremacy over their concerns. The ease with which most tribes accepted the notion of a supreme being from the missionary, has been held to denote that their own previous the ology was in line with that idea. The lore of the medicine-men, which ought to decide the point, does not always sustain this theory. There were many gods in their systems, but there was little agreement as to the supremacy of any one. Each tribe had its favorite divinity, the tendency being to exalt him until a "great spirit" of local jurisdiction was evolved. This object of general veneration was rep resented in an animal form, for, as we have observed already, every animal was in the abstract an earthly aspect of some deity. When, therefore, a tribe had evolved its "great spirit," his form in this world was identified with the bear, or the buffalo, or some other available creature, which became the totem or object of everybody's superstition. Many savages re garded themselves as descendants of their totem. If this happened to be an elk, they must refrain from molesting that animal, fearing dire penalties. A poisonous serpent has been elevated to the rank of totem, in which case it inspires no dread, except among traitors to the tribe, who must infallibly die of its bite. Many totems were those of a clan rather than of a whole tribe. They were drawn or cut upon the entrances to the dwelling, and in certain cases were tattooed upon the clansman's body. One far western tribe had adopted the head of the buffalo for its totem, another the tail. Again, a totem might 82 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION inspire such awe that its devotees feared to look at it. Individuals owing allegiance to a common totem had special obligations to one another. This circum stance led to the formation of secret covenants which grew into cults, presided over by the medicine-men. The totem, of course, invested the Indian mythol ogy with a peculiar solemnity. Life in the other world was considered a higher type of the life of this world. The red men conceived the gods to have been divided into clans, to meet for common action, and to con cern themselves with the fate of human beings. The gods were shades, but could assume any material form, and their magical powers were infinite. They were occasionally pleased to descend to earth in hu man shape for the benefit of mankind. Such a char acter was Hiawatha, the wise, who came down from above before Columbus had reached America. He taught men the ways of wisdom, and at his sugges tion the great confederacy of the Iroquois was formed. While the tribesmen were in council, Hia watha and his beautiful daughter emerged from a canoe, and a mighty wind was heard. The heavens were obscured by an enormous heron, snow-white, which overwhelmed and killed the maiden in its rush and slew itself. Hiawatha grieved for his child but fulfilled his mission, and the Iroquois "became a mighty people." On a somewhat lower imaginative level was the great hero Atatarho, who lived alone in a cave, drinking from the skulls of his fallen foes. He wore garments of living serpents and spent his leisure in meditation, solaced by his pipe, until the Indian tribes about his home made him the chief of their confederacy. Those were the "days of "Git- che Manito, the mighty, the creator of the nations," or, in less poetic language, of some period of storm and stress among the tribes reflecting itself in the cosmogony of the medicine-man. Thus the legends AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 83 involve themselves with the real and the unreal, ap pearing in many shapes, the delight of the poet and the despair of the scientist. Immoderate indulgence in dancing and open-air exercise, varied by eating to repletion, constituted the leading phases of social life to the Indian mind. Outdoor games and athletic competitions formed an important part of the business of life to which much time was devoted. Probably the most celebrated of these diversions was a match between two sets of opposing players with the object of carrying or throwing a ball through the ranks of those on the other side. This game was played without any particular rules, nor was there any limit to the number of players. Hand implements not unlike butterfly nets were used in the pursuit of the ball. The match entailed much dodging, leaping and running, and was regarded as a splendid part of the education of a warrior, fitting him for the battlefield and giving him strength and endurance. A game of this kind would not infre quently last the greater part of the day, and was par ticipated in by every able-bodied man in a village, while the rest of the inhabitants looked on and ap plauded. Such is the origin of the modern game of lacrosse. Another spirited game was "snow-snake," a win ter sport of immense popularity. A solid layer of snow over all the land, and a long, slender piece of wood curved upward at one end were the requisites of this amusement. The object was to see who could propel the piece of wood farthest over the hard sur face of the snow. This looked simple, but it required great deftness and muscular power. The stick had to be grasped at the back and shot forward by a movement of the arm. It then glided over the snow, with end curved upward and a tremendous move- 84 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ment that strikingly suggested the serpent. Some of the braves could, it is said, send the snow-snake a quarter of a mile. There were other forms of this game, which, by means of a wheel-shaped contriv ance, could be adapted to the summer season. The squaws had their ways of amusing themselves as well as the braves. Among them was football, not the kind we know, but a game with the object of keeping the ball up in the air. This involved ener getic and constant muscular exercise. Other games were played with pieces of bone and horn. The play ers sat on the ground, and the competition was one mostly of skill in tossing. There were also social diversions and forms of amusement in which both the braves and the squaws participated. A circle was formed about a blanket or a fire, while some player inside or outside the ring tried to find a bone or chip that passed from hand to hand. It seems clear that Indian character suffered from an inadequate idea of the social value of the sexes to each other. In general, there was a well-defined difference between the work of a man and that of a woman. The notion entertained of woman's sphere may be inferred from the fact that the enslaved pris oner was "degraded" by compelling him to work with the squaws. Women gathered the firewood, tilled the ground, if the tribe happened to be agricultural, hauled the household goods when the village moved to a new site, cooked, and were generally useful. The list of their tasks, it must be remembered, looks much more formidable than it really was, for there were many squaws and no great amount of toil to be done. There seem to have been occasions when wives accompanied their husbands on hostile expeditions, but as a rule they stayed at home. The brave could usually dissolve his marriage at any time, but the AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 85 tendency seems to have been among the strongest tribes towards monogamy. The Hurons had a bad reputation as regards the relations between the sexes, and polygamy was practiced in many tribes. Marriage was not the subject of any definite ethics, but a wife's position was clearly determined, and in her home she was mistress. The wigwam was usu ally known by the wife's name when it had any desig nation at all. Morally and intellectually the Indian was a contra diction. He had the instinct of vengeance in an ex traordinary degree. The pursuit of a foe during many years, and his ruthless slaughter at last, were deemed a moral proceeding. Allusion has been made more than once to Indian treachery. Certain tribes were very proud of their capacity in this direction, as tales told around the camp fire and recorded on high authority abundantly prove. The infliction of torture, under every conceivable circumstance of horror and atrocity, afforded the Indian the greatest of his many inducements to war. With some tribes, in fact, torture was a cult and they practiced it with diabolical inventiveness and ingenuity. Of benev olence there was seldom any trace, and yet this must not be held to deny the existence of kindliness within a given circle. The Indian could feel a sense of duty to persons of real or nominal relationship to himself, but he had little sense of his duty to man as man. His myths and traditions show a kind of savage eth ics, with here and there some glimmering of a noble idea obscured by the superstition that overgrows it. His theory of conduct had relations almost entirely to physical consequences. The dog was the companion of the Indian when Columbus came, but no other domestic animal was in his service. The buffalo was never tamed. Nor did the red man know what to do with the ores that 86 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION cropped richly to the surface of the ground he trod. It was as much as he could accomplish to shape a nugget by hammering it. Pottery, outside of the Pueblo region, never attained importance, although much serviceable ware was made by hand and dec orated tastefully. Food was obtained in variety and often in abundance. The vegetable kingdom yielded berries, fruits, maize, maple sugar and even rice of an indigenous wild variety, and wild honey. Fish abounded, but certain tribes would not eat this sort of food. The innumerable creatures of the forest and prairie supplied the larder, and rendered want a con sequence only of primitive savagery. Every investigator has been surprised by the great number of dialects prevailing among the North American Indians. There has been much speculation as to the cause of the phenomenon, some referring it to the isolation of clans and tribes in so vast a space, while others think the mixture of tribes resulting from warfare and vicissitudes must be held respon sible. The folk-lore of the Indians throws little light on this matter, but it greatly illuminates every other aspect of the original American's existence. It is thought significant of a childish intellectual condition that the animal story is given so much prominence. The bear, the beaver, the buffalo, the coyote, and the grasshopper, were all subjects of an infinite num ber of fables. There seems to be some indefinite con nection between this imaginativeness and the lan guage in which its imagery finds expression. At any rate, a theory of this sort has given a decided im petus in recent years to the renewed study and classi fication of the folk-lore. The wealth of material is infinite. Tales of wars among the buffaloes, of ghost ly lovers, and star maids, or of the woman who mar ried a tree, are, in this view of the case, sources of knowledge that may yet dispel much of the darkness AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 87 in which the history of the pre-Columbian redskin is involved. There is but one detail, although it is an important one, upon which anything like agree ment prevails. The characteristic of the Indian was childishness. He was a child in his wars, in his re ligions, in the boy-like barbarity of which he was guilty. Precisely what the Indians could have had to go to war about prior to the time of Columbus it ds difficult to imagine. Their wars nevertheless appear to have been long and bloody. By the beginning of the six teenth century, the red man had evolved a military code of his own, and, of course, the presence of the white man did not retard his development as a fight er. The "braves" were a recognized element of standing and influence in the Indian village. They were the strongest and most active of the young men. With more or less regularity, they set forth together or singly in pursuit of the foe. Their weapons on such expeditions were arrows, bludgeons, axes, dag gers, and scalping-knives. The manufacture of these implements was inevitably crude, although skill of a certain primitive kind was not wanting. But the arrow of the Indian was a work of art. The head of the arrow was usually of 'quartz, or white agate, or kindred substances, pointed with delicate precision into the acutest of barbs. This was fixed either to a stout quill or to a hardwood stick, or well-weighted rush, and whole steadied for flight, when necessary, by a tail of feathers. The arrow-head was barbed at the back very often to prevent its easy withdrawal by a victim. Sometimes the arrow-head was made of bone. Sinew and thongs secured it to the stick. The bow was a long, curved piece of hickory, when ever that wood was available. Otherwise any suit able material, even buffalo horns and driftwood, could be made to serve. The string connecting the ends 88 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION was mostly of gut, and was stretched with no more tautness than would permit the bending of the bow to the full. It was in the terrific force of the recoil thus produced that the deadliness of the arrow's flight originated. Nothing in aboriginal American life was so terribly impressive as the silent flight of a volley of arrows among the foe. The braves aimed from ambush whenever possible. Their tactics en abled flight after flight of arrows to be poured with consummate skill and rapidity into the very center of a mass of panic-stricken victims. The arrows having been discharged, the next movement was a rush of the braves upon the enemy, provided the enemy were sufficiently weak and help less. Then the scalping-knife came into requisition. Scalping was a simple process surgically, but it re quired much skill and experience to do it neatly and with speed. The brave seized the locks on top of his victim's head, made one round slash with the knife and ripped the skin from the skull. The scalp there after might dangle from the belt of the brave, or serve some other purpose of adornment. Its pos session conveyed to the savage mind the idea of dis tinction, and to have many scalps in this fashion de noted a personality of importance. But no military authority or rank seems to have accompanied these insignia of prowess, although they constituted a weighty claim to preferment in the tribe. Having no conception of the regiment, and little imperative need of discipline, the Indians entirely lacked war organization. Their movements were simply planned and cruelly executed. The silence of the 'forest solitudes and the stillness of evening fur thered the perpetration of every imaginable 'treach ery. The mother and her babes perished as they slept, whole villages were wiped out in a night, and ruin and desolation were everywhere. AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES 89 The tomahawk was a battle-axe with a stone head. This head was variously fashioned, sometimes con sisting of a wedge-shaped stone, sharpened to a cut ting edge and again being merely the pronged frag ment of a deer-horn. The weapon thus produced was not unwieldy, and its deadliness was unquestionable. Burying the tomahawk .symbolized peace to many tribes, as digging it up was equivalent to a proclama tion of war. The Indian learned much from the European regarding war, and he taught much in return, the result being that peculiar form of hos tility known in our early history as "border war fare." The red man made, all things considered, a bad ally, but a formidable foe. He changed sides at almost a moment's notice, and made peace as readily as he went to war. In some few tribes fighting was the business of a particular clan or clans, but the no tion of a military .caste was otherwise foreign to the Indian mind. The distinction between officers and men did not exist, the authority of the chief in actual battle having not the slightest relation to the course of events. Here again, however, the influence of the white man asserted itself, and the Indians of the colonial period had done much in the direction of a scientific military system. CHAPTER III. SPANISH DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS South Sea. First Voyage Around the World. Ponce de Leon. Florida, Discovery and Attempt to Settle. Vas- quez de Ayllon. Conquest of Mexico and Peru. In a few years the Spaniards subdued and colon ized the most important islands of the West Indies. The poor timid natives were either murdered or re duced to slavery. Unheard of cruelties in a short time wasted, and almost exterminated, the entire race. Not satisfied with the possession of these islands, the Spaniards made further discoveries from time to time around the Gulf of Mexico ; they explored the southern part of the peninsula of Yucatan; they planted a colony on the narrow Isthmus of Darien. Until this time, no settlement had been made on the Western Continent. When in search of gold, Nunex de Balboa, the gov ernor of this colony, made an exploring tour into the interior, he ascended a high mountain, and from its top his eyes were greeted with the sight of a vast expanse of water extending away to the south, as far as the eye could reach. He called it the South Sea. But seven years later, Magellan, a Portuguese mar iner in the service of Spain, passed through the dan gerous and stormy straits which bear his name ; and sailing out into the great field of waters, found it so calm, so free from storms, that he called it the Pacific or peaceful ocean. Magellan died on the voyage, but his ship reached the coast of Asia, and thence re- SPANISH DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS 91 turned home to Spain by the Cape of Good Hope, thus realizing the vision of Columbus, that the world was a globe, and could be sailed round. Juan Ponce de Leon, a former governor of Porto Rico, fitted out at his own expense three ships to make a voyage of discovery. He had heard from the natives of Porto Rico that somewhere in the Bahama Islands, was a fountain that would restore to the vigor of youth all those who should drink of its waters or bathe in its stream. This absurd story many of the Spaniards believed, and none more firm ly than De Leon. He was an old man, and anxious to renew his youthful pleasures; with eager hopes he hastened in search of the marvelous fountain. He did not find it, but in coasting along to the west of the islands, he came in sight of an unknown coun try. It appeared to bloom with flowers, and to be covered with magnificent forests. As this country was first seen on Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pascua Florida, he named it Florida. With great difficulty he landed to the north of where St. Augus tine now stands, and took formal possession of the country in the name of the Spanish sovereign. He sailed to the south along the unknown and dangerous coast, around the extreme point, Cape Florida, and to the south-west among the Tortugas islands. He received for his services the honor of being appointed Governor of Florida by the King of Spain, rather an expensive honor, being based on the condition that he should colonize the country. A year or two afterward, he attempted to plant a colony, but found the natives exceedingly hostile. They attacked him and his men with great fury many were killed, the rest were forced to flee to their ships, and Ponce de Leon himself was mortally wounded. He had been a soldier of Spain; a com panion of Columbus on his second voyage ; had been 92 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION governor of Porto Rico, where he had oppressed the natives with great cruelty ; he had sought an exemp tion from the ills of old age ; had attempted to found a colony and gain the immortality of fame. But he returned to Cuba to die, without planting his colony or drinking of the fountain of youth. About this time was made the first attempt to ob tain Indians from the Continent as slaves to work in the mines and on the plantations of Hispaniola or St. Domingo. The ignominy of this attempt belongs to a company of seven men, the most distinguished of whom was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon. They went first to the Bahama Islands, thence they passed to the coast of the present State of South Carolina, landing at or near St. Helena Sound. The natives of this region knew not as yet what they had to fear from Europeans. They were, how ever, shy at first, but after presents had been dis tributed among them, they received the strangers kindly. They were invited to visit the ships. Curi osity overcame their timidity, and they went on board in crowds. The treacherous Spaniards im mediately set sail for St. Domingo, regardless of the sorrows they inflicted upon the victims of their cruel ty and avarice. Thus far their plot was successful ; soon, however, a storm arose, and one of the ships went down with all on board; sickness and death carried off many of the captives on the other vessel. Such outrages upon the natives were common; and instead of being condemned and punished, they were commended. Vasquez went to Spain, boasting of his expedition as if it had been praiseworthy. As a re ward, he received from the Spanish monarch a com mission to conquer the country. When he had expended his fortune in preparations, he set sail, and landed upon the coast. Bitter wrongs had been inflicted upon the natives, and their spirit SPANISH DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS 93 was roused. They attacked him with great vigor, killed nearly all his men, and forced him to give up the enterprise. It is said that grief and disappoint ment hastened the death of Vasquez. The Spaniards were more successful elsewhere. The explorers of the west coast of the Gulf had heard of the famed empire of Mexico and its golden riches. As evidence of the truth of these marvelous stories, they exhibited the costly presents given them l>y the unsuspecting natives. Under the lead of Fernan do Cortez, six hundred and seventeen adventurers in vaded the empire; and though they met with the most determined resistance, in the end Spanish arms and skill prevailed. Defeated at every point, and disheartened at the death of their emperor, Monte- zuma, the Mexicans submitted, and their empire be came a province of Spain. Just three hundred years from that time, the province threw off the Spanish yoke and become a republic. Rumor told also of the splendor and wealth of a great empire lying to the south, known as Peru. Pizarro, another daring adventurer, set out from Panama with only one hundred foot soldiers and sixty-seven horsemen to invade and conquer it. Af ter enduring toil and labors almost unparalleled, he succeeded; and that empire, containing millions of inhabitants, wealthy, and quite civilized, was reduced to a province. Pizarro founded Lima, which became his capital. He oppressed the natives with great cruelty, and accumulated unbounded wealth drawn from mines of the precious metals, but after a rule of nine years he fell a victim to a conspiracy. CHAPTER IV. ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES John Cabot Discovers the American Continent. Enterprise of His Son Sebastian. Voyages of Verrazzani and Cartier. Attempts at Settlement. Whilst these discoveries, conquests, and settle ments were in progress in the South, a series of dis coveries was going on in the North. John Cabot, a native of Venice, residing, as a mer chant, in Bristol, in the west of England, made appli cation to Henry VII., the reigning sovereign, for per mission to go on a voyage of discovery. The king gave to Cabot and his three sons a patent, or commis sion, granting them certain privileges. This is said to be the most ancient state paper of England rela ting to America. As Henry VII. was proverbially prudent in money matters, he would not aid the Cabots by sharing with them the expense of the expedition, but he was care ful to bind them to land, on their return, at the port of Bristol, and pay him one-fifth part of the profits of their trade. They were, in the name of the king, to take possession of all the territories they should discover, and to have the exclusive privilege of trad ing to them. Bristol, at this time, was the greatest commercial town in the West of England, and had trained up multitudes of hardy seamen. These seamen had become habituated to the storms of the ocean, by battling tempests in the Northern seas around Ice land, in their yearly fishing excursions. It is quite ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES 95 probable they had there heard the tradition, that at a remote period the Icelanders had discovered a coun try to the west of their island. Cabot and his son Sebastian sailed almost due west, and before long discovered the American conti nent, it is supposed near the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude. What must have been their sur prise to find, in the latitude of England, a land dreary with snow and ice, barren rocks, frowning cliffs, polar bears, and wild savages ! This discovery was made more than a year before Columbus, on his third voyage, saw the South American coast, at the mouth of the Orinoco. Thus the western continent was discovered by private enterprise alone. The next year a voyage was undertaken for the purposes of trade, and also to ascertain if the country was suitable for making settlements. The king now ventured to become a partner in the speculation, and defrayed some of the expense. Sebastian Cabot sailed, with a company of three hundred men, for Labrador, and landed still further north than at his first voyage. The severity of the cold, though it was the commencement of summer, and the barrenness of the country, deterred him from remaining any length of time. He sailed to the South and explored the coast, till want of pro visions forced him to return home. The family of the Cabots derived no benefit from their discovery, as the trade to those barren regions amounted to noth ing. It is a matter of regret that so little is known of the many voyages of Sebastian Cabot. Around his name there lingers a pleasing interest. He is repre sented as being very youthful, not more than twenty years of age, when he went on his first voyage. Mild and courteous in his manners; determined in pur pose, and persevering in execution; with a mind of 96 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION extraordinary activity ; daring in his enterprises, but never rash or imprudent; he won the hearts of his sailors by his kindness, and commanded their respect by his skill. Such was the man who, for more than fifty years, was the foremost in maritime adventure. He explored the eastern coast of South America; sailed within twenty degrees of the North Pole, in search of the North- Western passage ; and at differ ent times explored the eastern coast of this conti nent, from Hudson's straits to Albemarle sound. The Cabots had noticed the immense shoals of fish which frequented the waters around Newfound land. The English prosecuted these fisheries, but to no great extent, as they continued to visit the Ice landic seas. French fishermen, however, availed themselves of the way opened by their rivals, and prosecuted them with great vigor. Plans for plant ing colonies in those regions were often proposed in France, yet nothing was done beyond the yearly visits of the fishermen. Francis I. was finally in duced to attempt further explorations. For this pur pose he employed Verrazzani, a native of Florence, in Italy, a navigator of some celebrity, to take charge of an expedition. This was the first voyage, for the purpose of discovery, undertaken at the expense of the French government. Verrazzani sailed south to the Madeira Isles, and thence due west, in quest of new countries. On the passage he battled a terrible tempest, but at length saw land in the latitude of Wilmington, North Caro lina. No good harbor could be found as he coasted along to the south for one hundred and fifty miles. Then turning north, he cast anchor from time to time and explored the coast. The surprise of the natives and that of the voyagers was mutual; the one wondered at the white strangers, their ships and equipments; the other at the "russet color" of the ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES 97 simple natives ; their dress of skins set off with var ious rude ornaments and gaudy-colored feathers. The imagination of the voyagers had much to do with the report they made of their discoveries. The groves, they said, bloomed with flowers, whose frag rance greeted them far from the shore, reminding them of the spices of the East ; the reddish color of the earth was, no doubt, caused by gold. The explorers examined carefully the spacious harbors of New York and Newport. In the latter they remained fifteen days. They noticed the fine personal appearance of the natives, who were hos pitable, but could not be induced to trade, and ap peared to be ignorant of the use of iron. They con tinued their voyage along the then nameless shores of New England to Novia Scotia, and still further north. There the natives were hostile; they had learned, by sad experience, the cruelty and treachery of white men. Caspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, some years before, had visited their coast, stolen some of their friends, and sold them into slavery. They were willing to trade for instruments of iron or steel, but were very cautious, fearful of again being entrapped. After his return Verrazzani published a narrative of his voyage, giving much more information of the country than had hitherto been known. On the ground of his discoveries, France laid claim to the territory extending from South Carolina to New foundland. Ten years after, an expedition was sent, under James Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, to make further discoveries, with the ultimate design of founding a colony. His voyage was very successful ; he reached Newfoundland in twenty days; passed through the Straits of Belleisle ; sailed to the south-west across a gulf and entered a bay; which, from the extreme heat of the weather, he named Des Chaleurs. Coast- 98 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ing along still further west he landed at the inlet called Gaspe, where he took formal possession of the country, in the name of his sovereign. This he did by planting a cross, surmounted by the lilies of France, and bearing a suitable inscription. Continu ing his course still further west, he entered the mouth of a great estuary, into which he ascertained flowed an immense river, larger by far than any river in Europe. These explorations were made dur ing the months of July and August. It was now necessary for him to return home. His account of the climate as "hotter than that of Spain," and of the country as "the fairest that can possibly be found ;" of its "sweet-smelling trees ;" of its "strawberries, blackberries, prunes and wild corn;" its "figs, apples and other fruits," together with his description of the great gulf and noble river, excited in France the most intense interest. Immediately plans were devised to colonize the country. The court entered into the scheme. Some of the young nobility volunteered to become col onists. By the following May the arrangements were completed. Cartier, "who was very religious," first conducted his company to the cathedral, where they received the bishop's blessing, then set sail, with high hopes of founding a State in what was then called New France. After a somewhat stormy passage, he reached the northern part of the gulf, on the day of St. Lawrence the Martyr, in honor of whom it was named in time, the name was applied to the river also. The strangers were received hospitably by the natives. Cartier ascended the river in a boat to an island, on which was the principal Indian settlement. It was in the mild and pleasant month of September. He ascended a hill, at the foot of which lay the In dian village; he was enraptured by the magnificent ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES 99 scene ; the river before him evidently drained a vast territory; the natives told him "that it went so far to the west, that they had never heard of any man who had gone to the head of it." He named the hill Mont-Real, Royal-Mount; a name since transferred to the island, and to the city. This country was in the same latitude with France ; he thought its climate must be squally mild, its soil equally fertile ; and that it might become the home of a happy and industrious people, and this beautiful island the center of an almost unbounded commerce. He did not know that God had sent the warm waters to the south through the Gulf Stream to the west of Europe; that they warmed the bleak west winds, and made the delightful climate of his native France different from that in the same lati tude in North America.* A rigorous winter dissipated his visions. His honest narrative of the voyage, and of the intense coldness of the climate deterred his countrymen from making further attempts to colonize the country. There was no gold nor silver to be found no mines of precious stones. What inducement was there for men to leave their fertile and beautiful France, with its mild and healthful climate, to shiver on the banks of the St. Lawrence ? Thus it remained for four years. Among many who thought it unworthy a great nation not to found a State on the shores of the magnificent gulf and river of the New World, was a nobleman of Picardy, Francis do la Roque, lord of Roberval. He obtained a commission from Francis I. to plant a colony, with full legal authority as viceroy over the territories and regions on or near the Gulf and River of St. Law- * "The quantity of heat discharged over the Atlantic from the waters of the Gulf Stream in a winter's day, would be sufficient to raise the whole column of atmosphere that rests upon France and the British Isles, from the freezing point to summer heat." Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, p. 51. 100 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION rence. These were to be known in history under the ambitious name of Norimbega. Cartier was induced by Roberval to receive a com mission as chief pilot of the expedition. They did not act in concert ; both were tenacious of honor and authority, and they were jealous of each other. Cartier sailed the following spring, passed up the river, and built a fort near where Quebec now stands. To establish a prosperous colony, virtue, industry, and perseverance must be found in the colonists. The first enterprise, composed of young noblemen and amateur colonists failed, as might have been ex pected. In the second attempt they went to the other extreme, the colonists were criminals, drawn from the prisons of France. During the winter Cartier hung one of them for theft; put some in irons; and whipped others, men and women, for minor faults. In the spring, just as Eoberval himself arrived with a reinforcement, he slipped off to France, heartily disgusted with his win ter's occupation. Roberval remained about a year, and then returned home, perfectly willing to resign the viceroyalty of Norimbega, and retire to his estates in Picardy. After a lapse of fifty years, a successful attempt was made by the French to col onize the same territory. CHAPTER V. DE SOTO AND THE MISSISSIPPI The name Florida was given by the Spaniards to the entire southern portion of the United States. Their attempts to conquer this territory had hither to failed. For some unexplained reason, the most exaggerated stories were told of the richness of the country; there was no evidence of their truth, yet they were implicitly believed. The success of Cortez in conquering Mexico, and of Pizarro in conquering Peru, excited the emulation of Ferdinand de Soto. He had been a companion of Pizarro ; had gained honors by his valor, and, in ac cordance with the morals of the times, had accumu lated an immense amount of wealth by various means of extortion. Still, it must be said in his favor, that he was, by far, the most humane of any of the Spanish officers who pillaged Mexico and Peru. Foreseeing the endless quarrels and jealousies of the Spaniards in Peru, he prudently retired to Spain with his ill-gotten gains. Ambition did not permit him to remain long in retirement. He panted for a name, for military glory, to surpass the two conquerors of the New World. He asked permission to conquer Florida at his own expense. The request was graciously granted by the Emperor Charles V. He also re ceived an honor much more grateful to his ambition ; he was appointed governor of Cuba, and of all the countries he should conquer. The announcement that he was about to embark on 102 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION this enterprise, excited in Spain the highest hopes, hopes of military glory and of unbounded wealth. Enthusiastic men said these hopes must be realized ; there were cities in the interior of Florida as rich, if not richer than those of Mexico or Peru ; temples equally splendid, to be plundered of their golden or naments. Volunteers offered in crowds, many of noble birth, and all proud to be led by so renowned a chief. From these numerous applicants De Soto chose six hundred men, in "the bloom of life." The enthusiasm was so great, that it appeared more like a holiday excursion than a military expedition. He sailed for Cuba, where he was received with great distinction. Leaving his wife to govern the island, he sailed for Florida, and landed at Espiritu Santo, now Tampa bay. He never harbored the thought that his enterprise could fail. He sent his ships back to Cuba ; thus, in imitation of Cortez, he deprived his followers of the means to return. Vol unteers in Cuba had increased his army to nearly one thousand men, of whom three "hundred were horse men, all well armed. Everything was provided that De Soto's foresight and experience could suggest; ample stores of provisions, and for future supplies, a drove of swine, for which Indian corn and the fruits of the forest would furnish an abundance of food. The company was provided with cards, that they might spend their "leisure time in gaming ;" a dozen of priests, that the "festivals of the church might be kept," and her ceremonies rigidly performed; chains for the captive Indians, and bloodhounds, to track and tear them in pieces, should they attempt to escape; incongruities of which the adventurers seemed unconscious. They now commenced their march through path less forests. The Indian guides, who had been kid napped on former invasions, soon learned that they DE SOTO AND THE MISSISSIPPI 103 were in search of gold. Anxious to lead them as far as possible from the neighborhood of their own tribes, they humored their fancies, and told them of regions far away, where the precious metal was abundant. In one instance they pointed to the north east, wh Te they said the people understood the art of refining it, and sent them away over the rivers and plains of Georgia. It is possible they may have referred to the gold region of North Carolina. When one of the guides honestly confessed that he knew of no such country, De Soto ordered him to be burned for telling an untruth. From this time onward the guides continued to allure the Spaniards on in search of a golden region, a region they were ever approaching, but never reached. At length the men grew weary of wandering through forests and swamps ; they looked for cities, rich and splendid, they found only Indian towns, small and poor, whose finest buildings were wig wams. They wished to return ; but De Soto was de termined to proceed, and his faithful followers sub mitted. They pillaged the Indians of their provi sions, thus rendered them hostile, and many conflicts ensued. They treated their captives with great bar barity ; wantonly cut off their hands, burned them at the stake, suffered them to be torn in pieces by the bloodhounds, or chained them together with iron col lars, and compelled them to carry their baggage. They moved toward the southwest, and came into the neighborhood of a large walled town, named Mavilla, since Mobile. It was a rude town, but it afforded a better shelter than the forests and the open plains, and they wished to occupy it. The Indians resisted, and a fierce battle ensued. The Spanish cavalry gained a victory, a victory dearly bought; the town was burned, and with it nearly all their baggage. 104 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION Meantime, according to appointment, ships from Cuba had arrived at Pensacola. De Soto would not confess that he had thus far failed ; he would send no news until he had rivalled Cortez in military re nown. They now directed their course to the north west, and spent the following winter in the northern part of the State of Mississippi. From the Indian corn in the fields they obtained food, and made their winter quarters in a deserted town. When spring returned, a demand was made of the Chickasaw chief to furnish men to carry their baggage. The indignant chief refused. The hostile Indians de ceived the sentinels, and in the night set fire to the village and attacked the Spaniards, but after a se vere contest they were repulsed. It was another dear victory to the invaders; the little they had saved from the flames at Mobile was now consumed. This company, once so "brilliant in silks and glitter ing armor," were now scantily clothed in skins, and mats made of ivy. Again they commenced their weary wanderings, and before many days found themselves on the banks of the Mississippi. De Soto expressed no feelings of pleasure or of admiration at the discovery of the magnificent river, with its ever-flowing stream of turbid waters. Ambition and avarice consume the finer feelings of the soul ; they destroy the apprecia tion of what is noble in man and beautiful in na ture. De Soto was only anxious to cross the river and press on in search of cities and gold. A month elapsed before boats could be built to transport the horses. At length they were ready, and white men, for the first time, launched forth upon the Father of Waters. The natives on the west bank received the stran gers kindly, and gave them presents. The Indians of southern Missouri supposed them to be superior be- DE SOTO AND THE MISSISSIPPI 1Q5 ings children of the sun and they brought them their blind to be restored to sight. De Soto answered them, "The Lord made the heavens and the earth: pray to Him only for whatsoever ye need." Here they remained forty days ; sent out explorers further north, who reported that buffaloes were so numerous in that region that corn could not be raised ; that the inhabitants were few, and lived by hunting. They wandered two hundred miles further west; then turned to the south, and went nearly as far, among Indians who were an agricultural people, living in villages, and subsisting upon the produce of the soil. In this region another winter was passed. It was now almost three years since De Soto had landed at Tampa bay. With all his toil and suffering, he had accomplished nothing. In the spring, he descended the Wachita to the Red River, and thence once more to the Mississippi. There he learned that the coun try, extending to the sea, was a waste of swamps, where no man dwelt. His cup of disappointment was full; his pride, which had hitherto sustained him, must confess that his enterprise had been a failure. He had set out with higher hopes than any Spanish conqueror of the New World; now his faithful band was wasted by disease and death. He was far from aid ; a deep gloom settled upon his spirit; his soul was agitated by a conflict of emotions; a violent fever was in duced ; and when sinking rapidly, he called his fol lowers around him, they, faithful to the last, im plored him to appoint a successor; he did so. The next day De Soto was no more. His soldiers mourned for him ; the priests performed his funeral rites ; with sad hearts they wrapped his body in a mantle, and, at the silent hour of midnight, sunk it beneath the waters of the Mississippi. 106 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION His followers again wandered for awhile, in hopes of getting to Mexico. Finally they halted upon the banks of the Mississippi ; erected a forge, struck the fetters off their Indian captives, and made the iron into nails to build boats; killed their horses and swine, and dried their flesh for provisions. When the boats were finished they launched them upon the river, and floated down its stream to the Gulf of Mexico. After the lapse of one hundred and thirty years, the Mississippi was again visited by white men of another nation. CHAPTER VI. THE REFORMATION AND ITS EFFECTS From this period we find interwoven with the early history of our country a class of persons who were not mere adventurers, seekers after gold or fame but who sought here a home, where they might en joy civil and religious liberty, and who held the prin ciples of which we see the result in the institutions of the United States, so different in some respects from those of any other nation. This difference did not spring from chance, but was the legitimate effect of certain influences. What has made this younger member of the great family of governments to differ so much from the others ? What were the principles, what the influences, which produced such men and women as our revolutionary ancestors? The world has never seen their equals for self-denying patriot ism ; for enlightened views of government, or relig ious liberty, and of the rights of conscience. When great changes are to be introduced among the nations of the earth, God orders the means to accomplish them, as well as the end to be attained. He trains the people for the change. He not only prepared the way for the discovery of this continent, but for its colonization by a Christian people. Fifty years before the first voyage of Columbus, the art of printing was invented and twenty-five years after the same voyage, commenced the Reformation in Germany under Martin Luther. The art of print ing, by multiplying books, became the means of dif fusing knowledge among men, and of awakening the human mind from the sleep of ages. One of the 108 .HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION consequences of this awakening, was the Reforma tion. The simple truths of the Gospel had been ob scured by the teachings of men. The decrees of the church had drawn a veil between the throne of God and the human soul. The priesthood had denied to the people the right of studying for themselves the word of God. The views of the Reformers were the reverse of this. They believed that God, as Lord of the Conscience, had given a revelation of his will to man, and that it was the inherent right and privilege of every human being to study that will, each one for himself. They did not stop here : they were dili gent seekers for truth; the advocates of education and of free inquiry. Throwing aside the traditions of men, they went directly to the Bible, and taught all men to do the same. On the continent, the Reformation began among the learned men of the universities, and gradually extended to the uneducated people. In England, the common people were reading the Bible in their own language, long before it was the privilege of any na tion on the continent.* Thus the English were pre pared to enter into the spirit of the Reformation under Luther. Soon persecutions of the Reformers arose ; with civil commotions and oppressions involv ing all Europe in war. These troubles drove the Huguenots from France and the Puritan from Eng land, to seek homes in the wilderness of the New World. From the Bible they learned their high and holy principles ; fiery trials taught them endurance. They brought with them to our shores the spirit of the Reformation, the recognition of civil rights and relig ious liberty. These principles have been transmitted to us in our national institutions and form of gov ernment. *D'Aubigne's Hist, of the Reformation, Vol. V. CHAPTER VH. THE HUGUENOTS IN THE SOUTH Their Settlement Destroyed. The Colony of St. Augustine. De Gourges. Settlements in New France. Champlain and His Success. While these contests were going on in Europe be tween the friends of religious liberty and the Roman Catholics, Coligny, high admiral of France, a devoted Protestant, conceived the idea of founding a colony in the New World, to which his persecuted country men might flee, and enjoy that which was denied them in their native land ; the inestimable privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscience, enlightened by his holy word. The French government took no interest in the matter. Those influences were then at work, which a few years later produced their dire effect in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Coligny, however, easily obtained a commission from Charles IX. Preparations were soon made, and the expedition sailed under the direction of John Ribault, a worthy man, and a sincere Protestant. They knew the character of the country and of the climate in the latitude of the St. Lawrence, and they wished to find a region more fertile and a climate more genial. They made land in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Florida; they continued further north along the coast, and landed at Port Royal entrance. They were delighted with the country, its fine cli mate, its magnificent forests, fragrant with wild flowers; but above all with the capacious harbor, HO HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION which was capable of floating the largest ships. Here it was determined to make a settlement : a fort was built on an island in the harbor ,and in hono/ of their sovereign called Carolina. Leaving twenty- five men to keep possession of the country, Ribault departed for France, with the intention of returning the next year with supplies and more emigrants. He found France in confusion ; civil war was raging with all its attendant horrors. In vain the colonists looked for reinforcements and supplies none ever came. Disheartened, they resolved to return home; they hastily built a brigantine, and with an insufficiency of provisions, set sail. They came near perishing at sea by famine, but were providentially rescued by an English bark. Part of these colonists were taken to France, and part to England, there they told of the fine climate and the rich soil of the country they had attempted to colonize. We shall yet see the effect of this information in directing English enter prise. Two years after, tnere was a treacherous lull in the storm of civil discord in France ; Coligny again attempted to found a colony. The care of this expe dition was intrusted to Laudoniere, a man of up rightness and intelligence, who had been on the form er voyage. The healthf ulness of the climate of Flor ida was represented to be wonderful : it was believed that, under its genial influence, human life was ex tended more than one-half, while the stories of the wealth of the interior still found credence. Unfor tunately proper care was not exercised in selecting the colonists from the numerous volunteers who of fered. Some were chosen who were not worthy to be members of a colony based on religious principles, and founded for noble purposes. They reached the coast of Florida, avoided Port Royal, the scene of former misery, and found a suit- THE HUGUENOTS IN THE SOUTH 111 able location for a settlement on the banks of the river May, now called the St. Johns. They offered songs of thanksgiving to God for his guiding care, and trusted to his promises for the future. They built another fort, which like the first they called Carolina. The true character of some of the col onists soon began to appear, these had joined the enterprise with no higher motive than gain. They were mutinous, idle, and dissolute, wasting the pro visions of the company. They robbed the Indians, who became hostile, and refused to furnish the col ony with provisions. Under the pretext of avoiding famine, these fel lows of the baser sort asked permission of Laudo- niere to go to New Spain. He granted it, thinking it a happy riddance for himself and the colony. They embarked, only to become pirates. The Spaniards, whom they attacked, took their vessel and made most of them slaves; the remainder escaped in a boat. They knew of no safer place than Fort Carolina. When they returned Laudoniere had them arrested for piracy ; they were tried, and the ringleaders con demned and executed; a sufficient evidence that their conduct was detested by the better portion of the colonists. Famine now came pressing on. Month after month passed away, and still there came no tidings no supplies from home. Just at this time arrived Sir John Hawkins from the West Indies, where he had disposed of a cargo of negroes as slaves. He was the first Englishman, it is said, who had engaged in that unrighteous traffic. Though hard-hearted toward the wretched Africans, he manifested much sympathy for the famishing colonists; supplied them with provisions, and gave them one of his ships. They continued their preparations to leave for home, when suddenly the cry was raised 112 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ships were coining into the harbor. It was Ribault returning with supplies and families of emigrants. He was provided with domestic animals, seeds and implements for cultivating the soil. The scene was now changed; all were willing to remain, and the hope of founding a French Protestant State in the New World was revived. Philip II., the cruel and bigoted King of Spain, heard that the French French Protestants had presumed to make a settlement in Florida ! Immed iately plans were laid to exterminate the heretics. The king found a fit instrument for the purpose in Pedro Melendez ; a man familiar with scenes of car nage and cruelty, whose life was stained with almost every crime. The king knew his desperate charac ter; gave him permission to conquer Florida at his own expense, and appointed him its governor for life, with the right to name his successor. His colony was to consist of not less than five hundred persons, one hundred of whom should be married men. He was also to introduce the sugar-cane, and five hundred negro slaves to cultivate it. The expedition was soon under way. Melendez first saw the land on the day consecrated to St. Augustine; some days after, sailing along the coast, he discovered a fine harbor and river, to which he gave the name of that saint. From the Indians he learned where the Huguenots had established themselves. They were much sur prised at the appearance of a fleet, and they inquired of the stranger who he was and why he came; he replied, "I am Melendez, of Spain, sent by my sov ereign with strict orders to behead and gibbet every Protestant in these regions; the Catholic shall be spared, but every Protestant shall die !" The French fleet, unprepared for a conflict, put to sea ; the Span iards pursued but did not overtake it. Melendez then returned to St. Augustine. After a religious THE HUGUENOTS IN THE SOUTH H3 festival in honor of the Virgin Mary, he proceeded to mark out the boundaries for a town. St. Augus tine is, by more than forty years, the oldest town in the United States. His determination was now to attack the Hugue nots by land, and carry out his cruel orders. The French, supposing the Spaniards would come by sea, set sail to meet them. Melendez found the colonists unprepared and defenseless; their men were nearly all on board the fleet. A short contest ensued ; the French were overcome, and the fanatic Spaniards massacred nearly the whole number, men, women and children ; they spared not even the aged and the sick. A few were reserved as slaves, and a few es caped 'to the woods. To show to the world upon what principles he acted, Melendez placed over the dead this inscription : "I do not this as unto Frenchmen, but as unto heretics." Mass was celebrated, and on the ground still reeking with the blood of the inno cent victims of religious bigotry and fanaticism, he erected a cross and marked out a site for a church the first on the soil of the United States. Among those who escaped, were Laudoniere and Le Moyne, an artist, sent by Coligny to make draw ings of the most interesting scenery of the country ; and Challus, who afterward wrote an account of the calamity. When they seemed about to perish in the forests from hunger, they questioned whether they should appeal to the mercy of their conquerors. "No," said Challus, "let us trust in the mercy of God rather than of these men." After enduring many hardships, they succeeded in reaching two small French vessels which had remained in the harbor, and thus escaped to France. A few of their com panions, who threw themselves upon the mercy of the Spaniards, were instantly murdered. While these scenes of carnage were in progress, a 114 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION terrible storm wrecked the French fleet ; some of the soldiers and sailors were enabled to reach the shore, but in a destitute condition. These poor men, when invited, surrendered themselves to the promised clem ency of Melendez. They were taken across the river in little companies ; as they landed their hands were tied behind them, and they were driven to a con venient place, where at a given signal they were all murdered. Altogether nine hundred persons per ished by shipwreck and violence. It is the office of history to record the deeds of the past the evil and the good ; let the one be condemned and avoided, the other commended and imitated. May we not hope that the day of fanatic zeal and religious persecution has passed away forever? The French government was indifferent, and did not avenge the wrongs of her loyal and good sub jects ; but the Huguenots, and the generous portion of the nation, were roused to a high state of indig nation at such wanton, such unheard of cruelty. This feeling found a representative in Dominic de Gourges, a native of Gascony. He fitted out, at his own expense, three ships, and with one hundred and fifty men sailed for Florida. He suddenly came upon the Spaniards and completely overpowered them. Near the scene of their former cruelty he hanged about two hundred on the trees ; placing over them the inscription, "I do not this as unto Spaniards and mariners, but as unto traitors, robbers, and murder ers!" Gourges immediately returned to France, when the "Most Christian" king set a price upon his head ; and he who had exposed his life, and sacrificed his fortune to avenge the insult offered to his coun try, was obliged to conceal himself to escape the gal lows. Thus perished the attempt of the noble Col- igny and the Huguenots to found a French Protes tant State in the New World. THE HUGUENOTS IN THE SOUTH H5 After the unsuccessful expeditions of Cartier and Roberval, French fishermen, in great numbers, con tinued to visit the waters around Newfoundland. As the government had relinquished its claim to Florida, the idea was once more revived of colonizing on the shores of the St. Lawrence. The Marquis de la Roche obtained a commission for this purpose. His colonists, like those of Rober val, were criminals taken from the prisons of France : like his, this enterprise proved an utter failure. The efforts of some merchants, who obtained by patent a monopoly of the fur trade, also failed. At length, a company of merchants of Rouen en gaged in the enterprise with more success. That suc cess may be safely attributed to Samuel Champlain, a man of comprehensive mind, of great energy of character, cautious in all his plans ; a keen observer of the habits of the Indians and an unwearied ex plorer of the country. In the latter part of this same year, a patent, ex clusive in its character, was given to a Protestant, the excellent and patriotic Sieur De Monts. The pat ent conferred on him the sovereignty of the country called Acadie a territory extending from Philadel phia on the south, to beyond Montreal on the north, and to the west indefinitely. It granted him a mo nopoly of the fur trade and other branches of com merce ; and freedom in religion to the Huguenots who should become colonists. It was enjoined upon all idlers, and men of no profession, and banished per sons to aid in founding the colony. The expedition was soon under way in two ships. In due time they entered a spacious harbor on the western part of Nova Scotia, which they named Port Royal, since Annapolis. The waters abounded in fish, and the country was fertile and level advantages that induced some of the emigrants to form a settle- 116 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ment. Others went to an island at the mouth of the St. Croix, but the next spring they removed to Port Royal. This was the first permanent French settle ment in the New World ; and these were the ancest ors of those unfortunate Acadiens whose fate, nearly a century and a half later, forms a melancholy epi sode in American history. Among the influences exerted upon the Indians was that of the Jesuits, who, a few years afterward, were sent as missionaries to the tribes between the Penobscot and the Kennebec in Maine. These tribes became the allies of the French, and remained so during all their contests with the English. De Monts explored the coast and rivers of New England as far south as Cape Cod, intending somewhere in that re gion to make a settlement; but disaster followed disaster, till the project was finally abandoned. Meantime, Champlain, whose ambition was to es tablish a State, had founded Quebec, that is, it was the center of a few cultivated fields and gardens. Huguenots were among the settlers ; they had taken an active part in the enterprise ; but there were also others who were of the Catholic faith. Soon religious disputes as well as commercial jealousies arose, which retarded the progress of the colony. Cham- plain, the soul of the enterprise, was not idle; he made many exploring expeditions, and discovered the beautiful lake which bears his name. In spite of the quarrels between the Jesuits and the Hugue nots, and the restlessness of the Indians and disap pointments of various kinds, the persevering Cham- plain succeeded in establishing a French colony on the banks of the St. Lawrence. For one hundred and twenty years it remained under the dominion of his native France, and then passed into the hands of her great rival. CHAPTER VIII. ENGLISH ENTERPRISE Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The Fisheries. St. Johns, Newfound land. Sir Walter Raleigh. Exploring Expedition. Vir ginia; failure to Colonize. Contest with Spain. Death of Sir Walter. England never relinquished her claims to North America; they were based upon the discovery and explorations of Sebastian Cabot. According to the received rules of the times, she was right, as he was undoubtedly the first discoverer. For many reasons, she was not prepared to avail herself of these claims, till nearly ninety years after that discovery. This time was not passed by the English sailors in mari time idleness. During the reign of Henry VIII., in tercourse was kept up with the fisheries of New foundland, that school of English seamen, in which were trained the men who gave to that nation the supremacy of the ocean the element upon which the military glory of England was to be achieved. The king cherished his navy, and took commerce under his special protection. The reign of Mary, of bloody memory, saw the struggle commence between England and Spain for the supremacy of the ocean. She married Philip II., the most powerful monarch of the age: he de signed to subject the English nation to himself, and its religion to the church of Rome. When this be came known, the Protestant spirit rose in opposition. This spirit pervaded the entire people ; they exerted their energies to the utmost. Instead of submitting Jig HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION to the dictation of Spain, England boldly assumed the position of an antagonist. There was a marked contrast between the two nations. The navy of the one was immense, that of the other was small, but brave and efficient: the one drew her wealth from mines of gold and silver in the New World the other obtained hers by the slow process of industry and economy. The one became proud and indolent, luxurious and imbecile the other may have become proud, but certainly not indolent ; luxurious, but cer tainly not imbecile. On her accession, Queen Elizabeth pursued the policy of her father Henry VIII., towards her navy and commerce. While some of her subjects were trading by land with the east, others were on the ocean cruising against the Spaniards: some were prosecuting the fisheries around Newfoundland and in the seas northwest of Europe ; some were explor ing the western coast of America, and the eastern coast of Asia : others were groping their way among the islands of the extreme north, in a vain search for the northwest passage. Explorers were still haunted with the idea that mines of exhaustless wealth were yet to be found in the New World. Great was the exultation when a "mineral man" of London declared that a stone brought by an English sailor from the Polar regions, contained gold. England was to find in the region of eternal snow mines of the precious metal, more prolific than Spain had found in Mexico. Soon fif teen vessels set sail for this northern island, where there was "ore enough to suffice all the gold-gluttons of the world." They returned laden, not with golden ore, but with worthless yellow stones. Meanwhile, the fisheries around Newfoundland had become a certain, though a slow source of wealth. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a gentleman of distinction ENGLISH ENTERPRISE 119 and of upright principles, obtained a commission from the Queen to plant a colony in the vicinity of these fisheries. He landed at St. Johns, Newfound land, and there in the presence of the fishermen of other nations, took formal possession of the terri tory in the name of his sovereign. He then passed further south, exploring the coast but losing his largest ship with all on board, he found it necessary to sail for home. Only two vessels remained, one of which, the Squirrel, was a mere boat of ten tons, used to explore the shallow bays and inlets. The closing acts of Sir Humphrey's life afford proofs of his piety and nobleness of character. Unwilling that the humblest of his men should risk more danger than himself, he chose to sail in the boat rather than in the larger and safer vessel. A terrible storm arose ; he sat calmly reading a book doubtless that book from which he drew consolation in times of sorrow and trial. To encourage those who were in the other vessel, he was heard to cry to them, "we are as near to heaven on sea as on land," the reality of this cheering thought he was soon to experience. That night, those on the larger vessel saw the lights of the little boat suddenly disappear. The next attempt at colonization was made by Gil bert's half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the noblest of that age of noble spirits : gallant and court eous in his manners ; a scholar, a poet, a benefactor of his race ; his name should ever be held in grateful remembrance by the people of this country. He studied the art of war with Coligny, the high admiral of France. When in that country, he determined to plant a colony in those delightful regions from which the Huguenots had been driven by the hand of violence. He had learned from them of the charming climate, where winter lingered only for a short time, where the magnificent trees and fragrant woods 120 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION bloomed during nearly all of the year, where the gushing fountains, noble rivers, and fertile soil in vited the industrious to enjoy the fruits of their labor. When Sir Walter returned home from France, he found the people prepared to enter upon schemes of colonization in the south. They, too, had heard of those "delightful regions" from the Huguenots, who at sea had been rescued from death, and brought to England. Raleigh without difficulty obtained a com mission, granting him ample powers, as proprietor of the territories he was about to colonize. He first sent an exploring expedition, consisting of two ships, under Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, to obtain more definite information of the country. They sailed the usual route, by the Canaries and the West Indies, came first upon the coast of North Carolina, landed upon one of the islands forming Ocracock in let, and took formal possession of the country. They partially explored Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and the islands and coast in the vicinity, and then sailed for home. They took with them two of the natives, Wanchese and Manteo; the latter was aft erward very useful to the colonists as an interpreter. Amidas and Barlow on their return, confirmed what the Huguenots had reported of the excellence of the country. They saw it in the month of July. They described the unruffled ocean, dotted with beautiful islands ; the clearness of the atmosphere ; the luxur iant forests vocal with the songs of birds ; the vines draping the trees, and the grapes hanging in clusters. This sunny land, in all its virgin beauty, appeared to these natives of foggy England, as the very paradise of the world. Elizabeth, delighted with the descrip tion, named the country Virginia, in honor of herseii, as she took pride in being known as the Virgin Queen. It was not difficult now to obtain colonists ; soon a ENGLISH ENTERPRISE 121 fleet of seven vessels was equipped, containing one hundred and eight persons, who intended to form a settlement. Sir Richard Grenville, a friend of Ral eigh, and a man of eminence, commanded the fleet, and Ralph Lane was appointed governor of the col ony. After a tedious voyage, they landed, in June, fifteen hundred and eighty-five, on an island called Roanoke, lying between Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. Before long they excited the enmity of the Indians. On one of their exploring expeditions, a silver cup was lost or stolen. The Indians were charged with the theft ; perhaps they were innocent. Because it was not restored, Grenville, with very lit tle prudence and less justice, set fire to their village and destroyed their standing corn. Little did he know the train of sorrow and death he introduced by thus harshly treating the Indians and making them enemies. A few weeks after the fleet sailed for Eng land, unlawfully cruising against the Spanish on the voyage. Governor Lane now explored the country, noticed the various productions of the soil, and the general character of the inhabitants. The colonists found many strange plants, the corn, the sweet po tato, the tobacco plant, were seen by them for the first time. Lane was unfit for his station ; he became unreasonably suspicious of the Indians. With pro fessions of friendship he visited a prominent chief, and was hospitably received and entertained; this kindness he repaid by basely murdering the chief and his followers. Men capable of such treachery were necessarily unfit to found a Christian State. Pro visions now began to fail and the colonists to de spond. Just at this time, Sir Francis Drake, on his way home from the West Indies, called to visit the colony of his friend Raleigh. Though they had been but a year in the country, the colonists begged him to 122 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION take them home. Drake granted their request. They were scarecely out of sight of land, when a ship, sent by Raleigh, laden with supplies, arrived. The colonists could not be found, and the ship re turned to England. In a fortnight Grenville ap peared with three ships ; not finding the colonists he also returned home, unwisely leaving fifteen men to keep possession of the territory. Though disappointed, Raleigh did not despair. The natural advantages of the country had failed to induce the first company to remain. It was hoped, that if surrounded by social and domestic ties, future colonists would learn to look upon it as their true home. Sir Walter's second company was composed of emigrants with their families, who should culti vate the soil, and eventually found a State for them selves and their posterity. Queen Elizabeth pro fessed to favor the enterprise, but did nothing to aid it. The expedition was fitted out with all that was necessary to form an agricultural settlement. Raleigh appointed John White governor, with direc tions to form the settlement on the shores of Chesa peake bay. They came first to the island of Roanoke, there to behold a melancholy spectacle the bleaching bones of the men whom Grenville had left. All had become a desert. Doubtless they had been murdered by the Indians. Fernando, the naval officer in command of the fleet, refused to assist in exploring the shores of the Chesapeake, and the colonists were compelled to remain on the Island of Roanoke. The scene of two failures was to be the witness of a third. The Indians were evidently hostile. The colonists be coming alarmed, urged the governor to hasten to England and speedily bring them assistance. Previ ous to his leaving, Mrs. Dare, his daughter, and wife of one of his lieutenants, gave birth to a female child, ENGLISH ENTERPRISE 123 the first child of English parentage born on the soil of the United States; it was appropriately named Virginia. White on his return found England in a state of great excitement. The Pope had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth, and had absolved her subjects from their allegiance to her throne; at the same time promising her kingdom to any Catholic prince who should take possession of it. The revengeful Philip, of Spain, that good son of the Church, had been for three years preparing an immense army and fleet, with which he intended to invade and conquer Eng land. The fleet was boastfully named the Invincible Armada. The English naval commanders flocked home from every part of the world to defend their native land, and to battle for the Protestant religion. English seamanship and bravery completely tri umphed. From that hour the prestige of Spain on the ocean was gone it passed to England. It is not strange that in such exciting times the poor colonists of Roanoke were overlooked or forgotten. As soon as the danger was passed, aid was sent ; but it came too late : not a vestige of the colony was to be found ; death had done its work, whether by the hand of the savage, or by disease, none can tell. What may have been their sufferings is veiled in darkness. Eighty years after, the English were told by the Indians that the Hatteras tribe had adopted the colonists into their number. The probability is that they were taken prisoners and carried far into the interior. A few years before Sir Francis Drake had broken up the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine. Thus, one hundred years after the first voyage of Columbus, the continent was once more in the possession of the Red Men. Sir Walter Raleigh had now expended nearly all his fortune; yet, when he saw no prospect of ever 124 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION deriving benefit from his endeavors, he sent several times, at his own expense, to seek for the lost col onists and to render them aid. Sir Walter's genius and perseverance prepared the way for the success ful settlement of Virginia; he had sown the seed, others enjoyed the harvest. The remainder of his life was clouded by misfortune. On the accession of James I., he was arraigned on a frivolous charge of high treason; a charge got up by his enemies, never substantiated, and never believed by those who condemned him. On his trial he defended himself with a dignity and consciousness of innocence that excited the admiration of the world and put to shame his enemies. His remaining property was taken from him by the king, and for thirteen years he was left to languish in the Tower of London ; James not yet daring to order the execution of the patriot statesman, who was an ornament to England and the age in which he lived. After the lapse of sixteen years the hour came, and Sir Walter friet death on the scaffold with the calmness and dignity of an in nocent and Christian man. CHAPTER IX. THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA London and Plymouth Companies. King James* Laws. The Voyage and Arrival. Jamestown. John Smith; his Character, Energy, Captivity and Release. Misery of the Colonists. New Emigrants. Lord Delaware. Sir Thomas Gates. Pocahontas; Her Capture and Marriage. Yeardley. First Legislative Assembly. The bold and energetic Elizabeth was succeeded by the timid and pedantic James I. To sustain herself against the power of Spain, she had raised a strong military force, both on sea and land. But James had an instinctive dread of gunpowder, he was in favor of peace at all hazards, even at the expense of na tional honor. He disbanded the greater portion of the army, and dismissed many of those employed in the navy. These men, left without regular employ ment, were easily induced to try their fortunes as colonists in Virginia. They were not good material, as we shall see, but they prepared the way for better men, and ultimately for success. Sir Walter Raleigh having sacrificed his fortune in fruitless attempts to found a colony, had induced some gentlemen to form a company, and engage in the enterprise. To this company he had transf ered his patent, with all its privileges, on very liberal terms. The company man ifested but little energy: they had neither the en thusiasm nor the liberality of Sir Walter. England claimed the territory from Cape Fear, in North Carolina, to Newfoundland, and to the West indefinitely. This territory King James divided into two parts : South Virginia, extending from Cape Fear 126 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION to the Potomac ; and North Virginia, from the mouth of the Hudson to Newfoundland. There were now formed two companies: one known as the London Company, principally composed of "noblemen, gent lemen, and merchants," residing in London; the other the Plymouth Company, composed of "knights, gentlemen, and merchants," living in the West of England. To the London Company James granted South Virginia, to the Plymouth Company North Virginia. The region between the Potomac and the mouth of the Hudson was to be neutral ground, on which the companies were at liberty to form settle ments within fifty miles of their respective bound aries. The London Company was the first to send emigrants. King James was enamored of what he called king craft. He believed that a king had a divine right to make and unmake laws at his own pleasure, and was bound by no obligation, not even to keep his own word. In maintaining the former of these kingly rights, James sometimes found difficulty; he was more successful in exercising the latter. He took upon himself the authority and labor of framing laws for the colony about to sail. These laws are a fair specimen of his kingcraft. They did not grant a single civil privilege to the colonists, who had no vote in choosing their own magistrates, but were to be governed by two councils, both appointed by the king, one residing in England, the other in the col ony. In religious matters, differences of opinion were forbidden ; all must conform to the rites of the church of England. The Indians were to be treated kindly, and if possible, converted to Christianity. Three ships were sent with one hundred and five emigrants; of the whole number, not twenty were agriculturists or mechanics, there was not a family nor a woman in the company. The great majority THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA 127 were gentlemen, a term then applied to those who had no regular employment, but spent their time in idleness and dissipation. The names of those who were to form the govern ing council, together with their instructions, were, by order of the king, foolishly sealed up in a box, there to remain until they were ready to form a government. Thus when dissentions arose on the voyage, there was no legal authority to restore har mony. Captain Newport, who commanded the expedition, came first upon the coast of North Carolina, intend ing to visit the island of Roanoke, the scene of Ral eigh's failures, but a storm suddenly arose, and for tunately drove him north into Cheasapeake bay. The little fleet soon entered a large river, and explored its stream for fifty miles then on the thirteenth of May, one thousand six hundred and seven, the me?r* bers of the colony landed, and determined to form a settlement. The river was named James, and the settlement Jamestown, in honor of the king; while the capes at the entrance of the bay, were named Charles and Henry, in honor of his sons. In every successful enterprise, we observe the power of some one leading spirit. In this case, the man worthy the confidence of all, because of his knowledge, and natural superiority of mind, was Captain John Smith, justly styled the "Father of Virginia." Though but thirty years of age, he had acquired much knowledge of the world. He had travelled over the western part of Europe, and in Egypt ; had been a soldier in the cause of freedom in Holland ; had fought against the Turks in Hungary, where he was taken prisoner, and sent to Constanti nople as a slave. He was rescued from slavery by a Turkish lady, conveyed to the Crimea, where he was ill-treated, his proud spirit resisted, he slew his op- 128 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION pressor and escaped, wandered across the continent, and returned to England just as plans were maturing to colonize Virginia. He entered into the enterprise with his habitual energy. His cool courage, his knowledge of human nature, civilized and savage, but above all, his honesty and common sense, fitted him for the undertaking. The superiority of Smith excited the envy and jealousy of those who expected to be named members of the council, when the mysterious box should be opened. On false and absurd charges he was ar rested and placed in confinement. The box was opened the king had appointed him one of the coun cil. An effort was made to exclude him, but he de manded a trial ; his accusers, unable to substantiate their charges, withdrew them, and he took his seat. Wingfield, an avaricious and unprincipled man, was chosen president of the council and governor of the colony. When these difficulties were arranged, Newport and Smith, accompanied by some twenty men, spent three weeks in exploring the neighboring rivers and country. They visited Powhatan, the principal In dian chief in the vicinity " a man about sixty years of age, tall, sour, and athletic." His capital of twelve wigwams, was situated at the falls of James river, near where Richmond now stands. His tribe seems to have been fearful and suspicious of the intruding white men from the very first impressed, it may be, with a foreboding of evil to come. Soon after, Newport sailed for home, leaving the colonists in a wretched condition. Their provisions nearly all spoiled, and they too idle to provide against the -effects of the climate much sickness prevailed, and more than half the company died before winter. To add to their distress, it was discovered that Wing- field had been living upon their choicest stores, and THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA 129 that he intended to seize the remainder of their pro visions, and escape to the West Indies. The council deposed him, and elected Ratcliffe president. The change was not for the better; he was not more honest than Wingfield, and mentally less fit for the station. In this emergency the control of affairs passed by tacit consent into the hands of Smith. He knew from the first what was needed for the colony. As it was now too late in the season to obtain food of their own raising, he had recourse to trading with the Indians for corn. Toward the close of autumn, an abundance of wild fowl furnished additional pro visions. The colony thus provided for, Smith fur ther explored the neighboring rivers and country. In one of these expeditions he ascended a branch of the James river, and leaving the boat in care of his men, took with him his Indian guide, and struck out into the forest. Finding himself pursued by the In dians, he fastened his guide to his arm as a shield against their arrows, and defended himself with great bravery, but at length sinking in a swamp, he was taken prisoner. His captors regarded him with strange wonder ; his cool courage and self-possession struck them with awe. He, aware of the simplicity and inquisitiveness of the savage character, showed them his pocket compass. They wondered at the motion of the needle, and at the strange transparent cover, which secured it from their touch. Was their captive a superior being? was he friendly to them selves? how should they dispose of him? were questions that now perplexed them. They permitted him to .send a letter to Jamestown. The fact that he could impress his thoughts upon paper, and send them far away, they regarded as strong proof of his superiority. He was led from place to place, to be gazed at by the wondering natives of the forest. For three days they performed powwows, or religious 130 HISTORY 01- THE AMERICAN NATION ceremonies, in order to learn from the spirit world something of his nature and intentions. Finally, he was sent to Powhatan, to be disposed of as he should decide. The Indian chief received him with a great display of savage pomp, but decided that he must die. Preparations were made, but the eventful life of Smith was not destined to be closed by the war-club of the savages. The heart of Pocahontas, a young daughter of Powhatan, a girl of ten or twelve years of age, was touched with sympathy and pity. She pleaded with her father for his life. She clung tend erly to him as he bowed his head to receive the fatal stroke. Her interposition was received by the sav ages as an indication of the will of heaven, and the life of Smith was spared. Her people have passed away most of their names are forgotten, but the name of Pocahontas, and the story of her generous deed, will ever be honored and remembered. The Indians now wished to adopt Smith into their number; they strove to induce him to join them against the English. He dissuaded them from an attack upon Jamestown, by representing to them the wonderful effects of the "big guns." After an ab sence of seven weeks, he was permitted to return. He had obtained much valuable information of the country, of its inhabitants, their language and cus toms. He found the colony reduced in number to forty in want of provisions, and in anarchy and confusion, while some were making preparations to desert in the pinnace ; this he prevented at the risk of his life. The famishing colonists were partly sustained through the Winter by the generous Pocahontas, who with her companions almost every day brought them baskets of corn. In the spring, Newport returned with another com pany of emigrants ; like the first, "vagabond gentle- THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA 131 men," idlers and gold-hunters. These gold-hunters lighted upon some earth, glittering with yellow mica ; they thought it golden ore. Every thing else was neglected; the entire company engaged in loading the ships with this useless earth. What a blessing to England and the colony that it was not gold ! While the people of Jamestown were thus foolishly employed, Smith explored the harbors and rivers of Chesapeake bay, and established friendly relations with the Indians along its shores. From them he learned of the Mohawks, who "made war upon all the world." On his return, he was, for the first time, formally elected President of the Council. Industry was now more wisely directed; but in the autumn came another company of idle and useless emigrants. Smith, indignant that his efforts to improve the colony should thus be frustrated, wrote to the coun cil to send him but a few husbandmen and mechanics, and "diggers up of trees' roots," rather than a thou sand such men as had been sent. The complaint was just. During two years they had not brought under cultivation more than forty acres of land, while the number of able-bodied men was more than two hun dred. The energetic arm of Smith was soon felt. The first law he made and enforced was, that "He who would not work should not eat ;" the second, that "Each man for six days in the week should work six hours each day." In England, about this time, an unusual interest was manifested in the colony; subscriptions were made to its stock, and the charter materially changed. The council was now chosen by the stock holders of the company, instead of being appointed by the king. This council appointed the governor, but he could rule with absolute authority. Not a single privilege was yet granted the colonists: his property, his liberty, his life were at the dispostal of 132 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the governor ; and he the agent of a soulless corpora tion, whose only object was gain. The company had expended money, but the course they themselves pursued prevented their receiving a return. Instead of sending the industrious and virtuous, they sent idlers and libertines ; instead of farmers and mechan ics, they sent gold-seekers and bankrupt gentlemen. Instead of offering a reward to industry they gave a premium to idleness, by making the proceeds of their labor go into a common stock. The new charter excited so great an interest in the cause, that a fleet of nine ships was soon under way, containing more than five hundred emigrants, and, for the first time, domestic animals and fowls. Lord Delaware, a nobleman of excellent character, was ap pointed governor for life. As he was not prepared to come with this company, he nominated Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and Newport, to act as his commissioners until his own arrival. Seven of the vessels came safely, but the ship on which the commissioners embarked, with another, was wrecked on one of the Bermuda islands. This company of emigrants appears to have been worse than any before. As the commissioners had failed to reach the colony, these worthies refused to submit to the authority of Smith, the acting Presi dent, contending that there was no legal government. But these men, who "would rule all or ruin all," found in him a determined foe to disorder and idle ness ; he compelled them to submit. Unfortunately, just at this time, he was injured by an accidental ex plosion of gunpowder, and obliged to return to Eng land for surgical aid. He delegated his authority to George Percy, a brother of the Duke of Northum berland. And now the man who had more than once saved the ^ colony from utter ruin, bade farewell tc Virginia forever ; from his arduous labors he derived THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA 133 no benefit, but experienced at the hands of the com pany the basest ingratitude. During the administration of Smith the Indians were held in check ; he inspired them with confidence and respect. When the colonists "beat them, stole their corn, and robbed their gardens," they com plained to him, and he protected their rights. After his departure, they formed a plan to cut off the white men at a single blow ; but Pocahontas, the good gen ius of the English, came at night, in a driving storm, to Jamestown, revealed the plot, and saved the col ony. What tha Indians failed to do, vice and famine nearly accomplished. In six months after the depar ture of Smith, of the four hundred and ninety col onists only sixty were living, and they would have perished in a few days had they not obtained relief. Sir Thomas Gates, and those who were wrecked with him, found means to build a small vessel, in which, at this crisis, they reached James river. They were astonished at the desolation. They all determined to abandon the place and sail to Newfoundland, and there distribute themselves among the fishermen. They dropped down the river with the tide, leaving the place without a regret. What was their sur prise the next morning to meet Lord Delaware com ing in with more emigrants and abundance of sup plies. They returned with a favoring wind to James town the same night. From this tenth day of June, one thousand six hundred and eleven, the colony began, under more favorable circumstances, to revive. Other influences moulded their characters. They acknowledged God in all their ways, and their paths were directed by His providential care. Under the just administra tion of the excellent Delaware, factions were un known; each one was disposed to do his duty. Be- 134 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION fore they commenced the labors of the day, they met in their little church to implore the blessing of heav en. The effects were soon visible in the order and comfort of the community. They cheered their friends in England: "Doubt not," said they, "God will raise our state and build his Church in this ex cellent clime." In about a year, failing health com pelled Lord Delaware to return to England. He left Percy, Smith's successor, as his representative. The next year Sir Thomas Gates arrived, with six ships and three hundred emigrants; a majority of whom were of a better class, temperate and indus trious in their habits. A measure was now intro duced which produced the greatest effect on the well- being of the colony : to each man was given a portion of land, which he was to cultivate for himself. The good results of this was soon seen in the abundance of provisions. The colony became so prosperous that some of the neighboring tribes of Indians wished to be "called Englishmen," and to be subjects of King James. Some of the colonists, however, manifested neither gratitude nor justice toward the natives. A neighboring chief was won by the gift of a copper kettle to betray into the hands of Captain Argall, Pocahontas, that faithful friend of the colony. Ar gall had the meanness to demand of her father a ransom. For three months the indignant Powhatan did not deign to reply. Meantime Pocahontas re ceived religious instructions: her susceptible heart was moved, she became a Christian and was bap tized ; she was the first of her race "who* openly re nounced her country's idolatry." John Rolf e, a pious young man, of "honest and discreet carriage," be came interested in the youthful princess; he won her affections and asked her in marriage. Powhatan was delighted. This marriage conciliated him and his tribe, and indeed gave general satisfaction, except THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA 135 to Kmg James, who was greatly scandalized that any man, but one of royal blood, should presume to marry a princess. Rolfe took his wife to England, where she was much caressed. She never again saw her native land. Just as she was leaving England for Virginia she died, at the early age of twenty-two. She left one son, whose posterity count it an honor to have descended from this noble Indian girl. Sir Thomas Dale introduced laws, by which private individuals could become proprietors of the soil. The landholders directed their attention almost exclusive ly to the raising of tobacco, which became so profit able an article of export, that it was used as the currency of the colony. At one time, the public squares and streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco, and the raising of corn so much neglected that there was danger of a famine. After a rule of two years, Dale resigned and re turned to England, leaving George Yeardley as dep uty-governor. During his administration, industry and prosperity continued to increase. Under the in fluence of a faction, Yeardley was superseded by the tyrannical Argall, but in two years his vices and extortion, in connection with frauds upon the com pany, procured his dismissal, and the people once more breathed freely under the second administra tion of the benevolent and popular Yeardley. Although the colony had been in existence twelve years, it contained not more than six hundred per sons, and they appeared to have no settled intention of making the country their permanent home. Ef forts were still made to send emigrants, twelve hun dred of whom came in one year, and every means were used to attach them to the soil. At different times the company sent over more than one hundred and fifty respectable young women, who became wives in the colony, their husbands paying the ex- 136 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION pense of their passage. This was paid in tobacco, the cost of each passage varying from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pounds. It was deemed dishonorable not to pay a debt contracted for a wife ; and to aid the husbands, the government, in giving employment, preferred married men. Thus surrounded by the endearments of home and domes tic ties, the colonists were willing to remain in the New World. Governor Yeardley was "commissioned by the company" to grant the people the right to assist in making their own laws, for which purpose they could hold an Assembly once a year. In July, one thousand six hundred and nineteen, met the House of Burgesses, consisting of twenty-two members chosen by the people. A peculiar interest is attached to this first Legislative Assembly in the New World. The laws enacted exhibit the spirit of the people. "Forasmuche," said the Assembly, "as men's affaires doe little prosper when God's service is neglected, we invite Mr. Bucke, the minister, to open our sessions by prayer, that it would please God to sanctifie all our proceedings to his owne glory and the good of this plantation." They passed laws against vices and in favor of industry and good order. "In detes tation of idleness," the idler was "to be sold to a master for wages till he shewe apparent signes of amendment." Laws were made against playing of dice and cards, drunkenness, and other vices ; and to promote the "planting of corne," of vines, of mul berry trees, and the raising of flax and hemp. They made provision "towards the erecting of the Uni versity and College." This was designed for the ed ucation of their own children, as well as for "the most towardly boyes in witt and graces" of the "natives' children." The governor and council sat with the Assembly, and took part in its deliberations. It was THE SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA 137 granted that a "generall Assembly should be held yearly once," "to ordain whatsoever laws and orders would be thought good and profitable for our sub sistence."* This right of the people to have a voice in making their own laws, was rigidly maintained until it found its full fruition in the institutions established one hundred and fifty years afterward by the Revolution. Emigration from England was greatly stimulated ; in a few years the population numbered nearly four thousand, while the inducements to industry and general prosperity increased in the same proportion. The company granted a written constitution, under which the people could have a legislative assembly of their own choosing. It was necessary that the laws passed by the colonial legislature should be sanctioned by the company in England. As a check to royal intereference, no laws emanating from the court could be valid, unless ratified by the House of Burgesses. Thus it continued until the dissolution of the London company, when King James arbitrar ily took away its charter. *Art. IX., Vol. III., Part 1. Second Series of Collections of the New York Historical Society. The "Reporte" of the proceedings of this "First Assembly of Virginia," was discov ered among the papers of the British State Paper Office. All trace of it had been lost for perhaps more than two cen turies; at length a search, instituted by Bancroft the his torian, was successful. CHAPTER X. 16021640- COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND First Voyages to. Plymouth Company. Explorations of John Smith. The Church of England. The Puritans. Congregation of John Robinson. "Pilgrims" in Holland. Arrangements to Emigrate. The Voyage. A Consti tution Framed on Board the May-Flower. Landing at Plymouth. Sufferings. Indians. Treaties With. "Weston's Men." Thanksgiving. Shares of the London Partners Purchased. Democratic Government. The usual route to America had been by the Ca naries and the West Indies. Bartholomew Gosnold was the first navigator who attempted to find a shorter one, by sailing directly across the Atlantic. His effort was crowned with success : after a voyage of seven weeks, he came upon the coast in the vicin ity of Nahant. Coasting along to the south, he landed upon a sandy point, which he named Cape Cod; and passing round it he discovered Martha's Vineyard, and several other islands in the vicinity. While he explored the coast he also traded with the natives, and when he had obtained a cargo of sassa fras root, which in that day was much valued for its medicinal qualities, he sailed for home. The voyage consumed but five weeks, thus demonstrating the su periority of the new route. Gosnold, who saw the country in the months of May and June, was enraptured with its appearance its 'forests blooming with shrubs and flowers ; its springs of pure fresh water, and little lakes; its beautiful islands nestling among equally beautiful bays along the coast. His description, together with the shortness and safety of the voyage, led to many COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 139 visits and minor discoveries by Martin Pring and others, all along the coast of New England. The Plymouth Company, of which mention has been made, attempted to form a settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec in Maine. The rigors of a severe winter, and the death of their president, so discouraged the colonists, that they abandoned the enterprise, and returned to England. A few years afterward, Smith, whose valuable services we have seen in Virginia, undertook to ex plore the country. He constructed a map of the eastern portion, and noted the prominent features of the territory. The country he named New Eng land a name confirmed by the Prince of Wales, afterward Charles I. After Smith left for England, his associate, a captain named Hunt, treacherously enticed twenty-seven of the natives with their chief, Squanto, on board his ship, then set sail. He sold these victims of his avarice into slavery in Spain. A few of them were purchased by some friars, who kindly taught them, in order to send them back as missionaries to their countrymen. Among this number was Squanto. In this age, we are unable to appreciate fully the trials and sufferings experienced by the explorers and first settlers of this continent. When we remem ber the frailty of the vessels in which their voyages were made, the perils of the unexplored ocean, the dangers of its unknown coasts, the hostility of the wily savages, the diseases of an untried climate, the labor of converting the primitive forests into culti vated fields, we may well be astonished that such dif ficulties were ever overcome. We have now to narrate the causes which led to the settlement of New England. Previous to the time of Henry VIII. the clergy and government of England had been in religious matters the 140 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION implicit subjects of the church of Rome. While this may be said of the clergy it was dif ferent with great numbers of the people. The spirit of religious truth was pervading their minds and moulding their character. They read the Bible in their own language, discussed freely its truths, and compared them with the doctrines and practices of the Romish church. The P pe claimed to be the temporal and spiritual head of i le church, and by vir tue of this claim to depose pi.nces or absolve sub jects from their allegiance. Henry wished to be di vorced from his queen in order to marry another ; but the Pope, to whom he applied, as the highest author ity, hesitated to dissolv. the marriage. The angry king, when threatened with excommunication, re pudiated the Pope and his authority, and declared the English church independent of that of Rome. Parliament afterward confirmed by law what the king in a fit of anger had done, and recognized him as the head of the church in his own dominions. Thus England, by the act of her own government, became Protestant. True reformation in religion does not apply so much to its external form, as to its effect upon the hearts and consciences of men. That portion of the English people who had learned this truth from the Word of God, recognized no human being as the head of their church; they received Christ alone as the Head of His own chuch, and they refused to acknowledge the pretensions of the king. For the maintenance of this belief they were perse cuted through a series of years ; during the reign of Henry for not admitting his authority in spiritual matters ; during the reign of his daughter Mary, still more fiercely, for denying the authority of the church of Rome. Many at the stake sealed their faith with their lives, and many fled to foreign lands. After the death of Mary the persecuting fires were COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 141 extinguished, and the accession of Elizabeth was the signal for the exiles to return home. They came back with more enlightened views of the rights of conscience and of free inquiry. Of these some were Presbyterians, some Congregationalists, and others members of the Established Church. They de manded a more pure and spiritual worship than that of the church of England. For this they were in de rision called Puritans a name which they soon made respected, even by their enemies. Elizabeth was a Protestant, but she was far from being a Puritan. She wished to have a church that should reconcile all parties, whose ceremonies should be a happy medium between the showy church of Rome and the simple form of worship asked for by the Puritans. She contended strenuously for her headship of the church, while the Puritans rejected the presumptous doctrine. She demanded of her subjects implicit obedience to her in religious matters: the Puritan took the high ground that it was his right to worship God according to his own conscience. Severe laws were passed from time to time, and they were enforced with unrelenting cruelty. All were enjoined to conform to certain ceremonies in worship. Those who did not comply were banished ; if they returned without permission, the penalty was death. The person accused was compelled to an swer on oath all questions, whether pertaining to himself or to his fellow-worshippers. Ministers who would not comply with these laws were driven from their parishes ; the members of their congregations were "beset and watched night and day;" if they were detected in listening to their deprived ministers, or were absent a certain length of time from the services of the Established Church, they were fined and imprisoned, and punished in various ways. To avoid the effects of such intolerable laws, many bade 142 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION farewell to their native land, and Holland and Switz erland became the asylum of some of the noblest men and women of England. Thus the contest had raged for nearly forty years, when, in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the Puritans began to hope that the dark clouds of persecution which had so long overshadowed the land would be dispelled under her successor, James L, who was educated in Scotland, principally under Presby terian influence. They had reason to believe he would protect them in the exercise of their form of worship. They were grossly deceived, and cruelly disappointed. When it was for his interest, James professed to be very favorable to the Reformation, and more especially to the Puritan form. Upon one occasion, standing with his hands lifted up to heav en, he "praised God that he was king of such a kirk the purest kirk in all the world ;" adding, "As for the kirk of England, its service is an evil said mass." Such was the language of James just before he be came king. The moment he ascended the throne he threw off the mask and openly proclaimed his fa mous maxim, "No bishop, no king." The Puritans humbly petitioned him for a redress of grievances; he treated them with the greatest contempt. Said he to his bishops : "I will make them conform, or I will harry them out of the land, or else worse : only hang them that's all." During all these years they hoped for better times, and were unwilling to separate from the church of their fathers ; but suffering and persecution at length brought that hour. Hitherto individuals and fam ilies had gone into exile; but now, in the north of England, a pastor with all his congregation deter mined to leave their homes and flee to Holland, where there was already a church of English exiles. This was the congregation of John Robinson. These poor COLONIZATION OP NEW ENGLAND 143 people were harassed by the minions of the king and clergy, and subjected to the petty ^annoyances dic tated by religious intolerance. Preparations were made for them to leave. As they were about to sail, the officers of the government, with the connivance of the captain of the ship, came on board the vessel, and arrested the whole company; searched their prisoners, took possession of their effects, and car ried them to prison ; men, women, and children. In a short time most of them were released ; only seven persons were brought to trial. They also were lib erated. The court could not convict them of crime. The members of the congregation persevered ; and soon they engaged a Dutch captain to take them from an unfrequented common. The women and children were to be taken to the place of embarkation in a small boat, the men to go by land. The latter reached the ship, and were taken on board. The boat contain ing the women and children was stranded, and before it could be got off they were seized by a party of their enemies. The captain, lest he should become involved in difficulties with the English authorities, sailed immediately, taking with him the men, over whelmed with grief for their defenseless wives and children in the hands of their cruel oppressors. The poor women and helpless children were dragged, suffering from cold, hunger and fear, before a magis trate, as if they had been guilty of crime. They were treated very harshly, but were finally permitted to join their husbands and fathers in Holland. Now they were Pilgrims indeed, strangers in a strange land ; "but they lifted up their eyes to heav en, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." They remained about a year at Amsterdam ; not sat isfied, however, they removed to Leyden. Their in tegrity and industry, their piety and self-denial, in what they believed to be the cause of truth, elicited 144 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the respect of the Dutch. The government officers would have treated them with marked favor, but they feared to offend King James. From year to year they received accessions from their brethren in England. They were still surrounded by evils, which made it necessary for them again to change their homes. Their labors were severe; though frugal and industrious, they obtained a support with great difficulty. The desecration of the Sabbath, the dis solute morals of the disbanded soldiers and sailors among whom they were thrown, caused them to fear for their children. Holland could not be their per manent home. It dawned upon the minds of the more intelligent, that it was their duty to seek some other land. Their thoughts were directed to the wilderness of the New World. They expressed not a wish in regard to worldly comfort, but a desire to consecrate all to the great cause of promoting Chris tianity. Though they had been so harshly treated by Eng land, they loved her still, and were not willing to ac cept the offers made them, to colonize under the pro tection of the Dutch. They had heard of the fine climate and the settlement of Virginia, and resolved to apply to the London Company for permission to emigrate to their territory. For this purpose they sent two of their number, John Carver and Robert Cushman, to confer with the company. Their prop osition was favorably received by the excellent Sir Edwin Sandys, the secretary. Their request, signed by the greater part of the congregation, was after ward sent to the company. In it they made a sum mary of their principles, and a statement of their motives of action. They said, "We verily believe that God is with us, and will prosper us in our en deavors; we are weaned from our mother country, and have learned patience in a hard and strange COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 145 land. We are industrious and frugal; we are bound together by a sacred bond of the Lord, whereof we make great conscience", holding ourselves to each other's good. We do not wish ourselves home again; we have nothing to hope from England or Holland ; we are men who will not be easily discour aged." They were to emigrate under the sanction of the company; but owing to dissensions in the company itself, the plan was not carried out. At this time the king was oppressing their brethren in England more and more ; the only favor the Pilgrims could obtain from him was a half promise that he would not mo lest them in the wilds of America. In truth, James wished to be freed from those of his subjects who had any just notions of human rights. Said he, "I would rather live like a hermit in the forest, than be king over such people as the pack of Puritans that overrule the House of Commons !" There was yet another difficulty. The Pilgrims were poor poor indeed; in their persecution and exile they had lost their all. Upon very hard condi tions they secured the means to emigrate ; yet they were willing to make any sacrifice could they but worship God in peace, and protect the morals of their children. A company was now formed of London merchants, who agreed to furnish the money, while the emigrant was to give his entire services for seven years ; these services were to constitute his stock in the company. The profits were to be reserved to the end of that time, then a valuation of all the property held by the company was to be made, and the amount dis tributed to each in proportion to his investment. By contract, the merchant who invested ten pounds re ceived as much as the colonist who gave seven years of labor. This throwing of all their labor and capital 146 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION into a common stock, was the result of necessity, not of choice. They purchased one ship, the Speedwell, and hired another, the May-Flower, a ship of one hundred and eighty tons. As these vessels could carry only a part of the congregation, they determined to send the younger and more vigorous, while the pastor, Robin son, and the aged and infirm, were to remain at Leyden. Their ruling Elder, William Brewster, who had suffered much in the cause, and was respected and loved for his integrity, was to conduct the emi grants. Before they left, they observed a day of fasting and prayer. They "sought of God a right way for themselves and their little ones." The parting address of the venerable Robinson gives us a glimpse of the principles in which, from year to year, he had instructed them. As he ad dressed them for the last time, he said : "I charge you before God and his holy angels, that you follow me no farther than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveal anything to you, be ready to receive it ; for I am verily persuaded the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his Holy Word. I beseech you to remember it is an article of your church covenant, that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written Word of God. Take heed what you receive as truth; examine it, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of truth before you receive it ; the Christian world has not yet come to the perfec tion of knowledge." A number of their brethren came from Leyden to Delft-Haven, where they were to embark. The night before their departure was passed in religious inter course and prayer: as the morning dawned, they pre pared to go on board the ship. On the shore they all knelt, and the venerable Robinson led them in prayer COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 147 they heard his voice for the last time. They sailed first to Southampton; in a fortnight they left that place for their distant home. It was soon discovered that the Speedwell needed repairs, and they must re turn. After the lapse of eight days of precious time, they again make the attempt, and still again the cap tain of the Speedwell asserts that his ship cannot cross the Atlantic. They put back to Plymouth: they there leave the Speedwell, and those whose courage failed them, and to the number of one hun dred one once more they commit themselves to the winds and waves, trusting to the good providence of God. Let us glance for a moment at the circumstances and characteristics of this company. They were bound together by the strong bonds of religious sym pathy united in interest and purpose, they expected to endure, to suffer, to rejoice together for many years, even to the end of life. Prominent among them was William Brewster, the ruling elder and lay preacher, already mentioned, who was to supply the place of the pastor, Robinson. He was a man of education, of refined associations, and above all of a lovely and Christian spirit. "He laid his hand to the daily tasks of life, as well as spent his soul in trying to benefit his fellows so bringing himself as near as possible to the early Christian practices ; he was worthy of being the first minister of New England."* There was also the dignified and benevolent John Carver, the worthy governor of this band of Christian exiles, who in the cause laid down his fortune, and at length his life for he soon sank beneath the hardships to which he was unused. These two were comparatively old men, but most of the "Pilgrim Fathers" were in the bloom and vigor of life. * Elliott's History of New England. 148 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION William Bradford was but thirty-two, earnest, sa gacious, true and steady in purpose, "a man of nerve and public spirit;" self-educated, and so ardent in the pursuit of knowledge, that amidst all his trials and labors, he accumulated books, and found time to read and even to study them. As a farmer's boy in England, as a dyer in Holland, as the governor of a small nation in the wilds of America, he acted well his part. Edward Winslow was "a gentleman born," with a mind cultivated by travel and books ; gentle in man ner as in spirit, his soul melted at the sorrows of others. Miles Standish was a soldier, fearless, but not rash ; impetuous, but not vindictive : though not a member of the church, he was strongly attached to its institutions and to its most rigorous advocates. Winslow was twenty-six, and Standish thirty-six years of age. A tedious voyage of sixty-three days brought them in sight of Cape Cod. They had left their native land to seek in a howling wilderness an asylum from per secution. They had not the sanction of a charter from their king, and they appealed to no body of men for protection: they must have a government; they were all on an equality, and they now drew up a constitution, or compact, to which the men, servants and all, to the number of forty-one, subscribed their names, and mutually pledged their obedience. The words of this first constitution, made and adopted by an entire people, plainly indicate whence its principles were derived. They say, "In the name of God, amen: we whose names are underwritten, having undertaken for the glory of God and advance ment of the Christian faith, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do sel- emnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 149 into a body politic; and by virtue hereof, to enact such just and equal laws from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the good of the col ony. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." Thus the principle of popular liberty, that laws and constitutions should be framed for the benefit of the entire people, found its utterance in the cabin of the May-Flower, by the act of the people themselves. John Carver was elected governor for one year. Miles Standish, who had been an officer in the army sent by Queen Elizabeth to aid the Dutch against the Spaniards, was chosen captain. Winter was coming on they were anxious to land, but unfortunately the shallop needed repairs. In the meantime Stand ish, Bradford and others, impatient of delay, went to seek a convenient harbor, and a suitable place for the settlement. The country was covered with snow ; in one place they found some baskets of corn, and in another an Indian burial-ground. In a fortnight the shallop was ready for use, and the governor, Winslow, Bradford, and Standish, with others and some seamen, went to explore the bay. The cold was intense, freezing the spray of the sea on their clothes, until, as they expressed it, they were made as hard as iron. They landed occasional ly, found graves and a few deserted wigwams, but no other evidence of human beings. On one of these occasions they encamped at night on the shore near where the shallop was moored. The next morning as they were closing their devotions, they were startled by a strange cry the war-whoop of the sav age it was accompanied by a fligKt of arrows. At the report of their guns the Indians fled. All that day was spent in seeking a safe harbor for the ship. Near night a violent storm of rain and snow drove them through the breakers into a cove, protected 150 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION from the blast by a hill. In the midst of the tempest they landed, and with difficulty kindled a fire. In the morning they found they were on an island at the entrance of a harbor. The next day was the Sab bath ; though urged by every consideration to hasten to the ship, they religiously observed the day. On the morrow, December twenty-second, one thousand six hundred and twenty a day ever to be remembered in the annals of our country, the Pil grims landed. The place they named after the town in England from which they last sailed. The bless ings which have flowed from the settlement of New England are associated with the spot where they first set foot the Rock of Plymouth. No time was spent in idleness. A place was se lected for the settlement, and divided into lots for families. On the third day they began to build; their houses went up but slowly; the forest trees must first be felled and split into timbers ; the season was inclement their strength failed them: many from exposure had received into their bodies the seeds of death ; many were sick, and many died. At one time there were only seven of the whole company not disabled by sickness. During the winter, more than forty were numbered with the dead; among these were the wives of Bradford and Winslow, and also Rose, the young bride of Miles Standish. The benevolent Carver lost his son then he himself sunk in death, soon to be followed by his heart-broken widow. They were all buried but a short distance from the rock on which they had landed. Lest the many graves should tell the Indians the story of weakness and death, the spot where they rested was levelled and sown with grass. At length spring drew near, and warm winds from the south moder ated the cold. The trees began to put forth their foliage, and among their branches the "birds to sing COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 151 pleasantly," while the sick were gradually recover ing. When the May-Flower left for England, not one of these heroic men and women desired to leave the land of their adoption. They had now a government; they had a church covenant ; they had a constitution under which their rights were secured, and each one according to his individual merit could be respected and honored. So dear to them were these privileges, that all the privations they had suffered, the sickness and death which had been in their midst, the gloomy prospect for them, could not induce them to swerve from their determination to found a State, where these blessing should be the birthright of their chil dren. Famine pressed hard upon them, for in the au tumn they were joined by some new emigrants, who had come ill-provisioned ; and for the succeeding six months they had only half a supply. "I have seen men," says Winslow, "stagger by reason of faintness for want of food." Their privations for two or three years were greater than those of any colony planted in the country. But their implicit confidence in the goodness of God was never shaken. At times Indians were seen hovering around their settlement, but no communication had been held with them, as they fled when approached. One day, to their surprise, an Indian boldly entered their village, crying out, wel come Englishmen! welcome Englishmen! It was Samoset. He belonged to the Wampanoags, a tribe living in the vicinity. He had learned a few English words from the fishermen on the Penobscot. Samoset, in the name of his tribe, told the Pilgrims to possess the land, for the year before those to whom it belonged had been swept away by a pest ilence. This announcement was a great relief to their fears. Samoset soon again appeared, and with 152 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION him Squanto, who, as has been mentioned, had been kidnapped and sold into slavery in Spain, had been freed, found his way to England, and finally home. They announced that Massasoit, the grand sachem of the Wampanoags, desired an interview. The chief and his retinue of warriors had taken their position on a neighboring hill. Squanto acted as interpreter. A treaty of friendship was made between the chief and the English, by which they promised to defend each other when attacked by enemies. For more than fifty years, till King Philip's war, this treaty was observed. The Pilgrims offered to pay for the baskets of corn they had found buried ; this they did six months afterward when the owners appeared. A trade, very beneficial to the colony, commenced with the Indians, who promised to sell them all their furs. Why not remember the humble services of Squan to? The Pilgrims looked upon him as a "special in strument of God sent for their good beyond their ex pectation." He taught them how to plant corn to put fish with it to make it grow, where to find the fish and how to take them. He was their interpreter and their pilot. Under his tuition they soon raised corn so abundantly as to have a surplus to exchange with the Indians for furs. By means of these furs they obtained from England the merchandise they wanted. He remained their friend till his death, and when dying asked the governor to pray that he might go to the "Englishman's God in heaven." Massasoit desired the alliance with the Pilgrims as a protection against Canonicus, the chief of the powerful Narragansetts, who lived on the shores of the beautiful bay which bears their name. Canon icus was not, however, to be deterred from exhibiting his hostility. As a challenge he sent to Plymouth some arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake. Bradford, who was now governor, sent back the same COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 153 skin filled with powder and shot. The Indians looked upon it as containing a deadly influence, to be exerted against the enemies of the English. In terror they sent it from tribe to tribe, none of whom dared either keep or destroy it. Finally, the skin and its contents were returned to the colony. Canonicus himself, in a short time, desired an alliance of peace ; evidently more from fear than from good-will. In trade the Pilgrims took no advantage of the ig norance of the Indians. They became involved in difficulties with them, however, through the im proper conduct of others. Thomas Weston, a merchant of London, who had invested money in the enterprise of founding the Plymouth Colony, now wished to engross the entire profits of the fur trade with the Indians. He ob tained a patent for a small district, near Weymouth, on Boston harbor, and sent over about sixty men, chiefly indented servants. These men ill treated the Indians, stole their corn, and thus excited their hos tility. The savage seeks redress by murdering those who do him wrong. The Indians did not distinguish between the honesty and good-will of the Pilgrims, and the dishonesty and evil acts of "Weston's men ;" they plotted to involve all the white strangers in one common ruin. Massasoit was dangerously sick; Winslow kindly visited him ; turned out of the wig wam the Indian doctors, who were making a great noise to drive off the disease, and relieved the chief by giving him medicine and quiet. The grateful Massasoit revealed the plot. The people were greatly alarmed; they had heard of a terrible massacre in Virginia, and they feared such would be their own experience. Not a moment was to be lost ; they must act in self defense. Captain Standish hastened with eight men to the assistance of those at Weymouth. He arrived in time not only to prevent the attack, but 154 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION to surprise the Indians themselves. In the conflict, the principal plotting chief and some of his men were killed. This exploit taught the Indains to respect the English ; many of the neighboring chiefs now sought peace and alliance. When the good pastor, Mr. Rob inson, heard of this conflict, he exclaimed, "Oh, that they had converted some before they killed any!" One year saw the beginning and the end of this trad ing establishment at Weymouth. Apprehension of danger from the natives was now removed. As "Thanksgiving" has now become a national festival, the manner in which it was first instituted has a peculiar interest. In the autumn of 1623, after the fruits of the harvest were gathered in, Governor Bradford sent out a company for game, to furnish dainty materials for a feast. God had blessed their labors, and this was to be a feast of Thanks-Giving. "So they met together and thanked God with all their hearts, for the good world and the good things in it." The merchant partners in England complained of the small profits derived from their investments. They began to neglect the interests of the colony, and to manifest their displeasure in various ways. They v/ould not permit Robinson and his family, with the remainder of the church at Leyden, to join their friends at Plymouth. They sold the colonists goods at enormous prices, and sent a ship to rival them in their limited fur trade. They outraged their feelings by attempting to force upon them one Lyford, a clergyman friendly to the Established Church. Ly ford was expelled from Plymouth, not on account of his religious views, but, according to Bradford, for conduct injurious to the colony and immorality. In time industry and frugality triumphed; the Pilgrims in five or six years were able to purchase the entire stock of those who were annoying them in this ungenerous manner. The stock and the land were COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 155 equitably divided, and the arrangement of private property fully carried out, each one becoming the owner of a piece of land. Though the Pilgrims had no charter, they formed a government upon the most liberal principles. They had a governor, who was chosen by the people, and whose power was limited by a council of five. For more than eighteen years the whole male population were the legislators. They were the pioneers of religious freedom the openers of an asylum in the New World, to which the persecuted for religion's sake, and political opinions, have been flocking from that day to this. Says Gov ernor Bradford, in his history of the colony: "Out of small beginnings great things have been produced, by His hand that made all things out of nothing ; and as one small candle will light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea, to our whole nation." CHAPTER XI. 16241655 COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY A Company Organized. Settlement at Salem. The Charter Transferred. Boston and Vicinity Settled. Encourage ments. Disputes. Roger Williams; His Banishment; He Founds Providence. Discussions Renewed. Anne Hutch- inson. Settlement of Rhode Island. The Dutch at Hart ford; Disputes With. Migrations to the Fertile Valley of the Connecticut; Hooker and Haynes. Springfield. Fort at Saybrooke. Pequods Become Hostile. Expedi tions Against Them; Their Utter Ruin. Rev. John Dav enport. Settlement of New Haven. Sir Ferdinand Gorges. New Hampshire. The United Colonies. The Providence Plantations. Educated Men. Harvard Col lege. The Printing Press. Common Schools. Grammar Schools. Quakers; Persecution of. Eliot the Apostle. The Mayhews. Progress. Persecution raged through the reign of James, and threatened to continue through the reign of his son and successor, Charles I. The various accounts sent to England by the col onists at Plymouth, excited great interest, especially in the minds of the Puritans. They listened to them as to a voice from Heaven, calling upon them to leave their native land, and join their brethren in these ends of the earth. This was not wild enthusi asm, but the calm promptings of duty. Pamphlets were published giving descriptions of the land of promise ; it promised not wealth and ease, but only peace and quietness. There were many who preferred these, with toils and privations in the wilds of America, to religious persecutions in their own land. The Rev. Mr. White, of Dorchester, was a control!- COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 157 ing spirit in the enterprise. He was a Puritan, but not of the Separatists from the Established Church, as were Robinson and his congregation. The Council of Plymouth had taken the place of the old Plymouth Company. This Council had no worthier object than gain; it granted the same re gion to different individuals, and thus laid the foun dation for endless disputes. It sold to some gentle men of Dorchester a belt of territory, extending from three miles south of Massachusetts bay to three miles north of any part of Merrimac river, and, as usual, west to the Pacific. The company prepared to send a colony. The care of the enterprise was in trusted to one of their number, John Endicott, a man of stern character and sterling integrity. He brought with him his family, and about one hundred other persons ; they landed at Salem, and there com menced the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Men of wealth and influence, such as Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, Saltonstall, Bellingham, Johnson, Simon Bradstreet, William Coddington, and others, who afterward exerted a great influence in the colony, were willing to bear a part in carrying the "pure gospel" to New England. The king looked upon the colony about to be founded more as a trading corpor ation than as the germ of an independent nation, and he willingly gave them a charter under which they lived more than fifty years. By the terms of this charter the royal signature was not necessary to give validity to the laws made under it. Soon another choice company, in which "no idle persons were found," was ready to sail. The good Francis Higginson accompanied them as their minis ter. As the shores of England receded from sight, Higginson expressed the f eelings of the emigrants ; as from the deck of the ship his eyes turned for the last time to his native land, he exclaimed, "Farewell, 158 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION England! farewell, all Christian friends! we sep arate not from the church, but from its corruptions ; we go to spread the gospel in America." There were about two hundred in this company; the ma jority remained at Salem, the rest went to Charles- town. Privations and exposure brought sickness, and before the end of a year death had laid his hand on more than half their number, among whom was their pastor, Higginson. When the summons came, the dying seemed only to regret that they were not per mitted to aid their brethren in founding a pure church in the wilderness. The charter contained no provision for the rights of the people, it left them at the mercy of the corpor ation ; and as long as that charter remained in Eng land, they could take no part in their own govern ment. It was also silent on the subject of their re ligious freedom ; at any moment this might be inter fered with by the king and his clergy. There was only one way to be freed from such undue inter ference. By the charter their governing council could choose the place of meeting for the transaction of business. It was a bold step ; but they chose, here after, to meet on the soil of the colony. This trans fer of the governing council and charter made its government virtually independent. The officers were to be a governor, a deputy gov ernor, and eighteen assistants. These were elected before leaving England. John Winthrop was chosen governor, and Thomas Dudley deputy governor. A fleet of seventeen ships set sail with the officers elect, and fifteen hundred emigrants; they arrived in June and July. Their arrival was opportune, for those who had preceded them were in great distress from sickness and scarcity of food. Settlements were now made at various places around the bay; Charlestown, Newton, Dorchester, COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 159 Watertown. A fine spring of pure water, on the peninsula called Shawmut, induced the governor and some other persons to settle there. The position was central, and it became the capital, under the name of Boston. The change of climate and mode of living brought disease upon great numbers ; yet they looked upon their sorrows as so many trials, designed to make them appreciate still more the blessings which the future had in store for them. As they hoped, these evils gradually passed away, and pros perity smiled. At first the assistants could hold office for life, and in addition it was their privilege to elect the governor. The people became jealous of their liber ties ; the dispute was compromised by their electing their magistrates annually. They were to be chosen by the freemen of the colony, of whom no one who was not a church member could have a vote. This law was injudicious, though enacted with the best in tentions. They wished a government based on pure ly religious principles, and they thought to secure such a government by allowing none but the religious to take part in it. Another change was made from the purely democratic form, when all the freemen met in convention and voted on the laws, to that of the republican, when the people elected deputies, who were authorized to legislate and transact the affairs of the colony. The colonists dealt honestly with the Indians and endeavored to preserve their good will. They "were to buy their lands, and not to intrude upon, and in no respect injure them;" they also "hoped to send the gospel to the poor natives." Many of the neigh boring chiefs desired their friendship. One came from the distant river Connecticut ; he extolled its fertile valleys and blooming meadows; he offered them land near him, because he wished their protec- 160 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION tion against the brave and fiery Pequods. Fraternal and Christian intercourse was held from time to time with the old colony of Plymouth; as a harbinger of the future, there came from Virginia a vessel laden with corn ; and the Dutch, who some years before had settled at Manhattan, visited them with kindly greet ings. Thus dawned a brighter day. During this year more than three thousand per sons came from England, many of whom were men of influence, wealth, and education. Prominent among these was Hugh Peters, an eloquent clergy man, and Harry Vane, a young man of much prom ise, the son and heir of a privy-councillor a fact of some importance in the eyes of the people. Vane, however, was a true Republican. The people the next year unwisely elected him governor, in place of the dignified and benevolent Winthrop. The Puritans had experienced all the evils of re ligious intolerance, but unfortunately they had not themselves learned to be lenient. In the colony there was a young clergyman, Roger Williams, a man of ardent temperament, a clear reasoner, and very de cided in his opinions. He came in conflict with the magistrates, as he advanced sentiments which they deemed subversive of all authority, such as that obedience to the magistrate should not be enforced that the oath of allegiance should not be required: he also denounced the law that compelled all persons to attend worship, as an infringement of the rights of conscience; he said the service of the church should be supported by its members, and not by a tax upon all the people. His principles were in ad vance of the age in which he lived : one hundred and forty years after this time they were fully carried out. He contended that the charter from the king was invalid; the Indians were the original proprie tors. The people repelled the aspersion as unjust, COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 161 because they had purchased their lands from the In dians, and acknowledged their rights by making treaties with them. The contest waxed warm. Wil liams accepted an invitation to Salem : the people of that place were admonished by the General Court to beware, lest they should encourage sedition. Upon this he retired to Plymouth, there for two years he maintained his opinions unmolested. The people of the old colony had learned the lesson of toleration in their exile in Holland. Williams was again invited to Salem, in open de fiance of the authority of the General Court, the gov erning power of the colony. A committee of min isters held conferences and discussions with him, but without inducing him to retract. As the people of Salem sustained him, the Court admonished them, and pronounced the sentence of banishment against Williams. It was not the expression of opinions on the subject of conscience, or "soul-oppression," as he termed it, that alarmed the Court, but the expres sion of opinions which, if carried into effect, would, they affirmed, destroy all human government. In midwinter, Williams became a wanderer for conscience' sake. He went to the sons of the forest for that protection denied him by his Christian brethren. For fourteen weeks he wandered; some times he received the simple hospitality of the na tives ; sometimes his lodging place was a hollow tree. At last he was received into the cabin of Massasoit, at Mount Hope. He was the Indians' friend, and they loved him. He thought of settling at Seekonk, on Pawtucket river ; that place being within the bounds of the Plymouth colony, Winslow, the governor, ad vised him to remove beyond their limits, lest it should create difficulty with the Bay colony. Wil liams received this advice in the spirit in which it was given, and removed to the country of the Narra- 162 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION gansets. With five companions in a canoe, he went round to the west side of the arm of the bay. Land ing at a beautiful spot, he found a spring of pure water. He resolved there to make a settlement. In thankfulness he called the place Providence. Tradi tion at this day points out the spring near which he built his cabin. Canonicus, the chief of the Nar- ragansets, would not sell his land, but gave him a little domain "to enjoy forever." Williams here put in practice his theory of govern ment. The land was given to him, and he distributed it to his followers. It was purely a government of the people. All promised to obey the voice of the ma jority in temporal things : in things spiritual, to obey only God. Discussions were still rife in Massachusetts on all subjects. The men held meetings, in which they dis cussed matters pertaining to their liberties; edified each other with expositions of passages of Scripture, and criticized the weekly sermons of their ministers. As women were not allowed to speak in these meet ings, Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a woman of great elo quence and talent, thought the rights of her sex were not properly respected ; she therefore held meetings for their benefit at her own house. At these meet ings, theological opinions were advocated, at variance with those of the ministers and magistrates. The people became divided into two parties, and the affair soon took a political turn : on the one side were arrayed Winthrop and the older settlers, and with few exceptions, the ministers : on the other, Governor Vane and the adherents of Mrs. Hutchinson. She and her party were accustomed to speak of them selves as "being under a covenant of grace," and of their opponents as "being under a covenant of works." These indefinite phrases irritated her op ponents exceedingly. They proclaimed her a despis- COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 163 er of all spiritual authority ; "like Rogers Williams, or worse ;" and darkly insinuated that she was a witch. The friends of Mrs. Hutchinson spoke of appealing to the king ; this was downright treason in the eyes of their opponents, their allegiance was given to the government of the colony, not to the king. A con vention of ministers was held, they investigated her doctrines, and declared them unsound and injurious. At the ensuing election, Winthrop was chosen gov ernor; and soon after Vane left for England. Mrs. Hutchinson and her followers were admonished, but without effect; she, with her brother-in-law John Wheelwright, and others, were exiled from the col ony. How much wiser it would have been had the magistrates permitted her to exercise her "gift of discussing," even if she did say they were "under a covenant of works" ! Roger Williams invited the exiles to settle in his vicinity. By his influence they obtained from Mi- antonomoh, the nephew and prospective successor of Canonicus, a beautiful island, which they named the Isle of Rhodes. Here this little company of not more than twenty persons, formed a settlement. William Coddington, who had been a magistrate in the Bay Colony, was elected judge or ruler. They, too, cove nanted with each other to obey the laws made by the majority, and to respect the rights of conscience. Mrs. Hutchinson and her family remained here sev eral years, and then removed farther west beyond New Haven, into the territory of the Dutch; there she and all her family who were with her, with the exception of one daughter, who was taken captive, were murdered by the Indians. The Dutch from Manhattan explored the Connecti cut river six years before the landing of the Pil grims at Plymouth. They erected a fortified trad- 164 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ing house near where Hartford now stands, but by ill-treating the Indians they excited their hostility, and lost a trade that might have been valuable. Unable to occupy the territory, and unwilling to lose its advantages, they invited the Pilgrims to leave the sterile soil of Plymouth and remove to the fertile vales of the Connecticut, and live under their pro tection. The invitation was not accepted ; but as the Pilgrims were convinced that a change to more fer tile lands was desirable, Governor Winslow went on an exploring tour to that region; having found the soil as fertile as had been represented he promoted emigration. The Council of Plymouth had given a grant of Con necticut to the Earl of Warwick, who the next year transferred his claim or patent to Lords Say and Brooke, John Hampden, and others. The eastern boundary of this grant was the Narraganset river, and the western the Pacific ocean. When the Dutch learned of this grant, they purchased of the Indians the tract of land in the vicinity of Hartford, on which stood their trading-house, and prepared to de fend their rights ; they erected a fort and mounted two cannons, to prevent the English from ascending the river. In the latter part of the year Captain William Holmes, who was sent by Governor Winslow, arrived in a sloop, with a company, and prepared to make a settlement. The Dutch commandant threat ened him with destruction if he should attempt to pass his fort. The undaunted Holmes passed by un injured, and put up a fortified house at Windsor. He was not permitted to enjoy his place in peace; the next year the Dutch made an effort to drive him away, but not succeeding they compromised the mat ter by relinquishing all claim to the valley. The parties agreed upon a dividing line, very nearly the same as that existing at this day between the States COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 165 of New York and Connecticut. As the natural mea dows on the Connecticut would furnish much more grass and hay for their cattle than the region nearer the sea shore, many of the Pilgrims determined to remove thither. The following autumn, a party of sixty persons, men, women and children, undertook the desperate work of going through the woods and swamps from Plymouth to Connecticut. The journey was labor ious and the suffering great. When they arrived at the river the ground was covered with snow, the pre cursor of an unusually severe winter. A sloop from Plymouth, laden with provisions and their household furniture, failed to reach them on account of storms and ice. Their cattle all perished; a little corn ob tained from the Indians, and acorns, were their only food; they barely escaped starvation. During this year three thousand persons came to Boston from England. Among these was the Rev erend Thomas Hooker, who has been called "The Light of the Western Churches." He was a man of great eloquence, and of humble piety ; his talents, of a high order, commanded universal respect, while his modesty won him ardent friends. When he was silenced for non-conformity in England, great num bers of the clergy of the Established Church peti tioned that he might be restored. But in those days to be a Non-Conformist was an unpardonable of fense. A portion of his congregation had emigrated the year before. When he arrived at Boston with the re mainder of his flock, the colony was in the ferment the Williams controversy was going on; his people were wearied with the turmoil. John Haynes, who was a member of his congregation in England, and who had been Governor of Massachusetts, deter mined, with others, to remove to Connecticut. In the 166 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION spring, a company, under the lead of Hooker and Haynes, set out from the vicinity of Boston for the pleasant valley. They numbered about one hundred persons, some of whom had been accustomed to the luxuries of life in England. With no guide but a compass they entered the untrodden wilderness; toiled on foot over hills and valleys ; waded through swamps and forded streams. They subsisted prin cipally on the milk of the kine that they drove before them, and which browsed on the tender leaves and grass. They moved but slowly. Their sick they car ried on litters. The trustful spirit of piety and faith was present, and the silence of the forest was broken for the first time by Christian songs of praise. The man whose eloquence in his native land attracted crowds of the educated and refined, now, in the wil derness, comforted and cherished the humble exiles for religion's sake. The first of July brought an end to their laborious journey. The greater part of the company remained at Hartford; some went up the river and founded Springfield ; some went down and joined those at Wethersfield. John Winthrop, the younger, who had been sent to England on business for the colony, returned as agent for Lords Say and Brook. He was directed to build a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut river; it was named Saybrooke. These settlements were now threatened with de struction. The valley of the river and the region ad joining were more densely populated with Indians than any portion of New England. The powerful Pequods, the most warlike tribe in the country, num bered almost two thousand warriors, and ruled over a number of smaller tribes ; they inhabited the south eastern part of Connecticut, and the shore of Long Island Sound to the mouth of the Connecticut river, and west almost to the Hudson. The Mohegans, who COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 167 dwelt in the north-eastern part of Connecticut, and the Narragansets, who lived around Narraganset bay, were the enemies of the Pequods and the friends of the English. The Pequods were jealous of the English, not merely because they had settled near them, but because they were friendly to their ene mies. These Pequods were charged with murdering, some years before, a Virginia trader, named Stone, with his crew, on the Connecticut river. Stone had the reputation of being intemperate and quarrel some; the Pequods said that he had attacked them and they killed him in self-defense. Captain Oldham, who was exploring the Connecticut, was murdered, with his crew, by the Indians living on Block Island. Captain John Endicott was sent to punish the mur derers. Previous to this the Pequods had sent chiefs to Boston to make an alliance, and explain the diffi culty in relation to the Virginia trader. They prom ised to deliver up so the magistrates understood them the two men who had killed him. Endicott was ordered to call, on his way home from Block Is land, at the Pequod town, and demand the promised satisfaction. The Indians, according to their cus tom, offered a ransom for the two men but refused to give them up to certain death. Endicott had no respect for their customs; he must have blood for blood. Angry at their refusal, he burned two of their villages and destroyed their corn. It was after this that the Pequods began to prowl about the settle ments, and pick off stragglers, until they had, during the winter, killed more than thirty persons. The people in the Connecticut valley were in great alarm ; they knew not at what moment nor at what point the storm would burst. They called upon Massachusetts for aid; only twenty men were sent under Captain Underbill. The whole community was so much absorbed in discussing theological 168 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION questions with Mrs. Hutchinson that every other consideration was overlooked. Although the Pequods were more warlike and more numerous than any other tribe, they were not willing to enter upon the war single-handed. They sent a deputation to Miantonomoh, the chief of the Narra- gansets, to enlist him against the common enemy. Governor Vane wrote to Roger Williams, urging him, if possible, to prevent the alliance. Williams hasten ed to visit Miantonomoh ; he found the Pequod chiefs already there, urging their ancient enemy to join them and exterminate the white intruders the Narragansets were wavering. At the risk of his life, Williams labored for three days to prevent these tribes uniting their forces against the colonists. The disappointed and angry Pequods threatened him with death. He not only prevented the alliance, but ob tained the promise of the Narragansets to aid the English. Meantime, he sent a messenger to Boston to warn them of the impending danger. At length the infant settlements of Connecticut in convention at Hartford declared war against the Pequods. The little army of not more than eighty men, including those sent from Massachusetts, as sembled at Hartford: the pious Hooker exhorted them, and gave the staff of command to Captain John Mason, who had been a soldier in the Nether lands. At the request of the soldiers, part of the night preceding the day they were to march was spent in prayer. Stone, one of their ministers, ac companied them as chaplain. They floated down the river, and sailed around the coast to Narraganset bay, intending to go across the country, and attack the Pequods in their fort. As the latter had a very exalted opinion, of their own prowess, they supposed the English were making their escape, when they saw them sailing past the mouth of the Pequod, now the COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 169 Thames river. The English landed at a harbor in the bay, and religiously observed the Sabbath. On the following day they repaired to Canonicus, the old Narraganset chief, but his nephew Miantonomoh hesitated to join them ; their numbers were so small, and the Pequods so numerous. Two hundred war riors, however, consented to accompany them, but as rather doubtful friends and about seventy Mo- hegans joined them under their chief Uncas. Sassacus, the bold chief of the Pequods, was too confident in the strength of his two forts, and in the bravery of his warriors to be cautious. His main fort, on the top of a high hill, was defended by posts driven in the ground, and deemed by him impreg nable. He was yet to experience an attack from the English. In the night Mason, guided by an Indian deserter, approached the main fort, and halted with in hearing of the triumphant shouts of the Pequods, as they exulted over his supposed flight. Toward the break of day the English moved to the attack, while their Indian allies took a position to surround the fort. The coming struggle was one of life or death to all that was dear to the little army : if they were defeated, all hope would be lost for their fam ilies on the Connecticut. The barking of a dog awoke the Indian sentinel ; he rushed into the fort with the cry, "The English! the English 1" In a moment more, the English were through the palisades, and fighting hand to hand with the half awakened warri ors. Their numbers were overwhelming. "We must burn them," shouted Mason, as he applied a torch to the dry reeds which covered a wig-warn the flames spread with great rapidity. All was in confusion as the despairing warriors vainly endeavored to ex tinguish the flames they became targets for the Eng lish marksmen. The Narragansets and Mohegans now joined in the conflict. More than six hundred of 170 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the Pequods perished, men, women, and children in one common ruin, merciless and unrelenting: only seven escaped. In an hour's time the work was done; just then appeared the warriors, three hun dred strong, from the other fort. They came forth expecting victory. When they perceived the ruin which had come upon their friends, they raved and stamped the ground in despair. Mason with a chosen band held them in check, till the remainder of the army had embarked on the boats, which had come round from Narraganset Bay. Then they hastened home, lest there should be a sudden attack upon the settlements. In a few days Captain Stoughton arrived from Massachusetts with one hundred men. The spirit of the Pequods was broken ; they fled to the west, and were pursued with untiring energy. Their villages were burnt their cornfields destroyed their wom en and children slain without mercy. They took refuge in a swamp, and in desperation once more made a stand: again they were overwhelmed with great slaughter. Sassacus, their chief, escaped with a few followers, and made his way to the Mohawks, where he was afterward basely murdered by one of his own subjects. The remainder, old and young, surrendered to the victors, who disposed of them: some they gave as captives of war to their enemies, the Narragansets and Mohegans ; and some they sent to the West Indies to be sold as slaves. Their terri tory was declared to be conquered, and their name blotted out. They were the foremost in that mourn ful procession in which the Indian race, from that day to this, have been moving on toward utter ex termination. This terrible example of the white man's power sent a thrill of horror through the other tribes ; and for more than forty years, they dared not COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 171 raise an arm in defense of the graves of their fath ers. The year following, John Davenport, a celebrated clergyman of London, arrived at Boston with him came his friend Theophilus Eaton, a rich merchant. They and their associates had been exiled. They were cordially welcomed in Massachusetts, and ur gently pressed to remain in "cnat colony. They pre ferred to go into the wilderness rather than dwell in the midst of so much controversy. Rumor had told of the fine region found to the west by the pur suers of the Pequods. Eaton, with a few men, after exploring the coast of the Sound, spent the following winter at a desirable place in that region. As soon as spring opened, the company sailed from Boston; in due time they arrived at the place where Eaton had spent the winter; there, under a large tree, on the Sabbath after their arrival, Davenport preached his first sermon in the wilderness. A day of fasting and prayer for direction was observed, and then they formed a government, pledging themselves "to be governed in all things by the rules which the Scrip tures held forth to them." Such was the settlement of New Haven, and thus was it to be governed. They purchased from the Indians the right to the land Eaton was elected governor; and to the end of his life, for more than twenty years, he was annually chosen to that office. After the war with the Pequods was ended, the people of the several settlements on the Connecticut held a convention at Hartford, and adopted a consti tution and form of government. The constitution was framed on liberal principles. They agreed to "maintain the purity of the gospel," and in civil af fairs to be governed by the laws under their constitu tion. No jurisdiction was admitted to belong to the King of England. Every one who took the oath of 172 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION allegiance to the commonwealth was entitled to vote. The governor and other officers were to be chosen annually by ballot. The number of their representa tives to the General Assembly was to be apportioned to the towns, according to the number of inhabitants. For one hundred and fifty years this constitution re mained in force. Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason obtained, from their associates of the Council of Plymouth, a grant of land, lying partly in New Hampshire and partly in Maine. This was named Laconia. A small number of emigrants were sent over, who settled at Portsmouth, Dover and a few other places near the mouth of the Piscataqua. Wheelwright, when ban ished from Massachusetts, settled with his fellow- exiles at Exeter. These settlements progressed very slowly. Only a few trading houses were scattered along the coast, and for many years they took no more permanent form. These settlers were not all Puritans, and were but little united among them selves; yet, they applied and were annexed to the colony of Massachusetts. The General Court agreed not to insist that the freemen and deputies should be church members. In all their troubles the colonists of New England had never appealed to the mother country. They felt under no obligation to her; she had driven them forth with a harsh hand to take care of themselves, or to perish in the wilderness. A spirit of independ ence pervaded their minds. They had the energy and industry to sustain themselves, and the courage to act in every emergency. Rumors had reached them that unprincipled men were planning to take away their charter ; that Arch bishop Laud was meditating to establish over them COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 173 the rule of the Church of England ; that a governor- general had been appointed, and was on his way. They would not recognize the right of the king even to investigate by what authority they held their charter, lest it might be inferred that they were in any respect dependent upon his will. For the same reason, when the Long Parliament professed to be their friends, they respectfully declined any favors. When they feared an attempt to place over them a royal governor, and to change their colony into a royal province, they determined to defend their lib erties, and poor as they were, raised six hundred pounds for fortifications. Twenty thousand emigrants were in New England, when the Puritans of the mother country, galled be yond endurance by the outrages committed on their rights and persons, commenced that fearful struggle, which, in its throes, overturned the throne, and brought the tyrannical Charles I. to the scaffold, and established the Commonwealth under Cromwell. During this period emigration almost entirely ceased. Many hastened home to England to engage in the conflict, among whom were the Rev. Hugh Peters and Harry Vane. They both perished on the scaf fold after the Restoration. The colonists, though unmolested by the home government, were still surrounded with dangers. They were in the midst of hostile Indians ; the French threatened them in the Northeast and the Dutch in the West. For mutual safety and interest, Plym outh, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven, joined themselves together, under the title of "The United Colonies of New England." Each was to be perfectly free in the management of its own affairs ; while those which properly belonged to the whole confederacy were to be intrusted to commissioners two from each colony. Church-membership was the 174 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION only qualification required of these commissioners. The expenses of the government were to be assessed according to the number of inhabitants. The purity of the gospel was also to be preserved. This con federacy, the germ of "The United States of Amer ica," lasted forty years. Rhode Island was not per mitted to joint it because she would not acknowledge the jurisdiction of Plymouth. The two settlements on Narraganset bay now determined to apply for an independent charter. When, for this purpose, Roger Williams arrived in England, he found the country engaged in civil war; the Puritans and Parliament on the one side and Charles I. on the other. Williams applied to his friend Harry Vane, and through his influence obtained from the Parliament a charter, under the title of "The Providence Plantations." Roger Williams afterwards became a Baptist, and founded the first church of that denomination in the United States. A very great number of men of education, minis ters and laymen, emigrated to New England. There were of ministers alone more than eighty, some of whom were equal to any of their profession in their native land. There was an unusual amount of gen eral intelligence among all classes of the community. The Bible to them was as familiar as household words. In truth, it was the intelligent alone who could appreciate the blessings for which they exiled themselves. They wished to secure for their children the benefits of education ; and as soon as possible an effort was made to found a high school and ulti mately a college. Funds, with some books, were ob tained. The place selected was Newtown, but as many of the men had been educated at Cambridge University, England, the name was changed to Cambridge. The Rev. John Harvard left the infant COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 175 institution half his fortune and his library. Grati tude has embalmed his memory in its name. The next year a printing-press, the gift of some friends in Holland, was established^ Its first work was to print a metrical version of the Psalms, which continued for a long time to be used in the worship of the churches in New England. The following pre amble explains the next law on the subject of educa tion: "It being a chief project of that old deluder Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scrip tures," it was determined that every child, rich and poor alike, should have the privilege of learning to read its own language. It was enacted that every town or district having fifty householders should have a common school ; and that every town or dis trict, having one hundred families, should have a grammar school, taught by teachers competent to prepare youth for the college. All the New England colonies, with the exception of Rhode Island, adopted the system of common schools. This event deserves more than a mere record. It was the first instance in Christendom, in which a civil government took measures to confer upon its youth the blessings of education. There had been, indeed, parish schools connected with individual churches, and foundations for universities, but never before was embodied in practice a principle so com prehensive in its nature and so fruitful in good re sults, as that of training a nation of intelligent people by educating all its youth. There had arisen among the Puritans in England a new sect, called in derision Quakers. An unfavor able report of their doctrines and doings had reached Massachusetts ; they were represented as denouncing all forms of worship and denying all civil authority. At length two women of the dreaded sect appeared : they were arrested and detained until their books 176 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION could be examined, and the question was raised whether they themselves were not witches. Their books were burnt by the hangman, and they sent back to England. Barbarous laws were made to deter Quakers from coming to the colony; but they came, and were inhumanly treated and sent back. Then a law was passed that if a Quaker, after being banished, returned, he should be put to death. This the magistrates fondly hoped would be effectual. We may judge their surprise when some of those who had been banished returned. They came to call the magistrates to repentance for their persecuting spirit. What was to be done ? Must the law be en forced or repealed ? It had been passed by only one majority. The vote was taken again; one majority decided that the law must be obeyed. Four of the Quakers suffered the penalty of death. Severity did not accomplish the end in view; their brethren flocked to Massachusetts as if courting the honor of martyrdom. From the first the people had been op posed to the cruel law, and at their instance it was repealed. There was little apology for these harsh proceedings; the magistrates could only say they acted in self-defense, in excluding those who taught doctrines that would interfere with the affairs of the colony. As soon as persecution ceased, the Quakers became quiet citizens; many of them de voted themselves to teaching the Indians under the direction of the missionary Eliot. The Puritans had long desired to carry the gospel to the Indians. John Eliot, the devout and benevo lent pastor of the church in Roxbury, in addition to his pastoral labors, gave them regular instruction in Christianity. He learned their language that he might preach to them; he translated the Bible, and taught them to read in their own tongue its precious truths. This translation, which cost him years of COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 177 labor, is now valued only as a literary curiosity ; it is a sealed book, no living man can read it. The lan guage has passed away with the people who spoke it. This kind instructor induced them to cease from roving, and to settle in villages ; he taught the men to cultivate the soil, and the women to spin and weave cloth, to supply their wants. He mingled with them as a brother ; and though he met with much op position from their priests and chiefs, he led many of them in the right path. His disciples loved him ; his gentleness and goodness won their hearts. As he lived, so he died, laboring for the good of others. In his last days, when borne down by years and infirmities, he said, "My memory, my utterance fails me, but I thank God my charity holds out still." Even up to the day of his death, which took place when he was eighty-six years of age, he continued to teach some poor negroes and a little blind boy. To Minister Walton, who came to see him, he said, "Brother, you are welcome, but retire to your study, and pray that I may be gone." Soon after, without a fear or a pang, the spirit of this good "Apostle" passed away ; his last words were "Welcome joy !" Eliot was not alone in his labors. The young, the winning, the pious Mayhew, an accomplished scholar, thought it a privilege to toil for the souls of the poor Indians who lived upon the islands in and around Massachusetts bay. He took passage for England to excite there an interest in his mission. He was never heard of more ; the ship in which he sailed went down in unknown waters. His father, although at this time seventy years of age, was moved to take his place as a teacher of the Indians. There, for twenty- two years, he labored with the happiest results, till death withdrew him from the work. Let us glance at the inner life of these colonists during the first generation or two after their settle- 178 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ment in the wilderness. In these earlier days the magistrates had a sort of patriarchal authority over the community, somewhat as a parent over his own household. And as the inhabitants were then com paratively few in number, and were perhaps known individually to the respective magistrates in their own vicinity, the influence of the latter was more directly exercised than when the population had largely increased. The children received instruction in Scripture lessons, and in the catechism, as well as in the very important virtue obedience to parents. In all such matters the magistrates and ministers took a special interest, and thus aided the parents in training the young. Nor is it strange, under these considerations, that the magistrates censured the wearing of costly apparel, and the following of vain new fashions, because the people were poor and did wrong, they thought, to waste their means on dress unnecessarily expensive, and they exercised their prerogative as a parent who reproves the extrav- gance of his children. Their descendants sometimes smile at what they term the crude notions of these Puritan fathers ; but do these sons and daughters re flect how they themselves acquired their conscious ness of their own superiority over their ancestors who lived more than two hundred years ago ? Their own attainments unquestionably have been the result of that severe training continued from generation to generation ; each succeeding one modified and refined by the experience, the education, and correct moral influence of the one preceding ; so that each genera tion thus profiting, unconsciously rose to a still high er plane of Christianized civilization. This result is in accordance with the God-implanted principle in the hearts of parents, to desire that their children should have better advantages than they themselves enjoyed in their own youth. The Puritans were far COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 179 in advance of their contemporaries in the training of their children and households in the sterling virtues of honor and integrity; these combined influences have produced, in the course of five or six genera tions, the most remarkable progress known to his tory. The Puritans felt the vast importance of sacred things, and were strenuous in carrying out their principles. They were careful to leave off labor at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon to prepare for the Sabbath. They went to church, heard sermons twice a day, each two hours long, heard prayers, and sang psalms of proportionate length, and enjoyed it. The tithing-man passed round with his staff of of fice, on the one end of which was a brass ball, on the other a tuft of feathers : with the former he tapped the heads of the men who fell asleep during the ser mon; with the latter he gently tickled the faces of the drows^ women. Thee were not so democratic as to make no dis tinction in social life.* The term gentleman was sel dom used; the well-born and the well-bred by cour tesy received the title of Mr., while the common folk were dignified with that of Goodman or Goody. These titles were sometimes taken away by the court as a punishment. It is recorded that Mr. Josias Plaistow robbed an Indian of corn, for which he was sentenced to lose his title of Mr., and henceforth to be known only as Josias. Their luxuries were few indeed, but the women prized none more highly than that of tea. In those days it was customary for them to carry their own china cup and saucer and spoon to visiting parties. To be the possessor of a "tea equipage of silver" was deemed a worldly desire, to be sure, but not of an objectionable kind ; it was com mendable. * Elliott's History of New England. 180 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION Though there has been associated with these col onists a certain austere manner, chilling the heart of cheerfulness, yet let it not be forgotten they had their innocent pleasure parties, especially when the neighbors joined to aid each other in harvest times or in house-raisings. The farmers and their families were accustomed to go in groups at least once a year, to spend a season at the seashore and supply them selves with salt and fish. They usually went at the close of harvest, when the weather was suitable for camping out. If they rejected the festival of Christ mas as a relic of "Popery," they instituted Thanks giving, and enjoyed it with as much relish as the entire nation does today. Within thirty years great changes had taken place in the colony. The people were prosperous ; industry and self-denial had wrought wonders. Says an enthusiastic chronicler of the times:* "The Lord hath been pleased to turn all the wig wams, huts, and hovels the English dwelt in at their first coming, into orderly, fair, and well-built houses, well furnished, many of them, with orchards filled with goodly fruit-trees and garden flowers." The people had numerous cattle and herds of sheep and swine, and plenty of poultry ; their fields produced an abundance of wheat, rye, oats, barley, and Indian corn ; and they could furnish fish, lumber, and many commodities for export. "This poor wilderness hath equalized England in food, and goes beyond it for the plenty of wine, and apples, pears, quince-tarts, in stead of their former pumpkin pies." "Good white arid wheaten bread is no dainty ; the poorest person in the country hath a house and land of his own, and bread of his own growing if not some cattle." "Johnson's "Wonder-working Providence of Zion's Sav iour in New England," as quoted by Hildreth. COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 181 \ These things were not obtained without labor. Of the thirty-two trades carried on, the most successful were those of coopers, tanners, shoemakers, and shipbuilders. "Many fair ships and lesser vessels, barques, and ketches were built." Thus the chron icler anticipates the growth of Boston, which, "of a poor country village, is become like unto a small city; its buildings beautiful and large some fairly set out with brick, tile, stone, and slate, orderly placed, with comely streets, whose continual enlarge ments presageth some sumptuous city." They had their soldiers, too, and a "very gallant horse-troop," each one of which had by him "powder, bullets, and match." Their enemies were graciously warned that these soldiers "were all experienced in the deliver ances of the Lord from the mouth of the lion and the paw of the bear." CHAPTER XII. 16191716 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND Slavery. Massacre by the Indians. Lord Baltimore. The Settlement of Maryland. Clayborne's Rebellion. The Colony Prosperous. Toleration Berkeley Governor of Virginia; Trade Crippled; Intolerance Indian War State of Society Aristocratic Assembly Complains of Berkeley War with the Susquehannahs Nathaniel Ba con Disturbances Obnoxious Assembly Dissolved Evils Corrected Bacon Goes Against the Indians Insin cerity of Bacon Tyranny of Berkeley Aristocratic As sembly; Its Illiberal Acts Culpepper Governor A Series of Extortions Deplorable State of the Colony Diffi culties in Maryland. In August of this year slavery was introduced into the colonies. A Dutch ship entered James river, having on board twenty negroes for sale as slaves. Although the Dutch continued occasionally to bring Africans to the Virginia market, the number of slaves increased but slowly for a third of a century. The trade was discouraged, but not absolutely forbid den. The Indians were scattered throughout the coun try, in little villages, along the streams and in the most fertile districts. The planters, who wanted these places for their tobacco, took possession of them. Powhatan, the friend of the English, was dead; his brother and successor, Opechancanough, though professing friendship, was their enemy: his proud spirit burned within him at the wrongs of his people. Not daring the meet the English in open con flict, he planned secretly a terrible revenge; even their entire extermination. At this time the number VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 183 of colonists was about four thousand; that of the Indians within sixty or a hundred miles of James town, about five thousand. At noon on a certain day, the Indians were to fall upon every settlement, and murder all the whites. Meanwhile, Opechancanough was warmer than ever in his professions; "sooner would the skies fall," said he, "than that my friend ship for the English should cease." On the morning of the intended massacre, the Indians were in the houses and at the tables of the planters, and mani fested more than their usual good will. On that morning, a converted Indian, named Chauco, brought the news of the plot to Jamestown. He had learned of it only the night before. Messengers were sent in every direction to warn the people, but it was too late to reach the distant settlements. Throughout the extent of one hundred and forty miles, the merciless savages attacked the settlers at the same moment; and on the twenty-second of March, there perished within one hour, three hundred and forty-seven per sons, men, women and children. Some of the settle ments, though taken by surprise, repulsed their as sailants, yet the effect was terrible. Of eighty plan tations, all but eight were laid waste, and the people hastened for safety to Jamestown. Desolation reigned over the whole colony; death had entered almost every family, and now famine and sickness prevailed. Within three months the four thousand colonists were reduced to twenty-five hundred; the decrease continued, and at the end of two years not more than two thousand remained of the nine thou sand who had emigrated to Virginia. Their misfor tunes excited much feeling in England. Assistance was sent; the city of London did much to relieve their pressing wants, and private individuals were not backward in sending aid. Even King James* sympathies were enlisted; he had never aided the Ig4 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION colonists, but he now gave them some old muskets that had been thrown aside as useless. The planters did not fear the Indians in open con flict; but it was necessary to guard against their secret attacks. In their turn, they formed plans to exterminate the savages, or drive them far back into the wilderness. Expeditions for this purpose were sent against them from time to time, during the space of ten years. In time, industry began to re vive, and signs of prosperity once more were seen. The London Company was now bankrupt ; endless discussions arose among the numerous stockholders,. They became divided into two political parties, one favored the king's prerogative ; the other, the liberty of the colonists. These questions were freely dis cussed at the meetings of the company, greatly to the annoyance of James. When he found it impos sible to prevent the stockholders from expressing their opinions, he arbitrarily took away the charter of the company. To console the colonists, he an nounced that he had taken them under his own spe cial protection. He began to frame laws for their government laws no doubt in accordance with his peculiar notions of kingcraft ; but his labors and life were suddenly ended. Charles I., his son and successor, appeared to favor the colony: it conformed to the church of England, and he did not suspect its politics. More than this, he wished to ingratiate himself with the colonists, for he desired the monopoly of their tobacco trade. He even went so far as to recognize the House of Burgesses as a legislative body, and requested them to pass a law by which he alone could purchase the tobacco of the colony. The House, in a dignified and respectful manner, refused to comply with the royal request, as it would be injurious to their trade. After the death of the liberal and high-minded VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 185 Yeardley, the council elected Francis West governor. Charles, piqued at this independence, appointed Sir John Harvey. Harvey had been a member of the colonial council, where he was the willing instrument of a faction that had almost ruined the prospects of the colony. The enemy of the rights of the people, he was exceedingly unpopular; he now took special care of his own interests and those of his friends, by appointing them alone to office. The histories of Virginia and Maryland are inti mately connected. As has been mentioned, Captain Smith was the first to explore the Chesapeake; the trade with the Indians along its shores had now be come profitable. Though the Potomac river was the northern boundary of Virginia, the colonists had ex tended their trade and influence with the Indians on both sides, up to the head of the bay. William Clay- borne, a bold and restless spirit, a surveyor of land by profession, was employed by the Governor of Vir ginia to explore the sources of the Chesapeake. A company was formed in England for the purpose of trading with the Indians, who lived on both sides of the bay. Clay borne, the agent of the company, ob tained a license to trade, and established two sta tions, one on Kent Island, opposite Annapolis, and one at the mouth of the Susquehannah. During the turmoil of religious parties and perse cutions in England, Sir George Calvert, afterward Lord Baltimore, left the Protestant church, resigned his office as Secretary of State, and professed him self a Roman Catholic. This did not affect his stand ing with James or his son Charles. Calvert mani fested a strong interest in the cause of colonization. He wished to found a colony to which Catholics might flee to avoid persecution. He first obtained permis sion to found a settlement on the cold and barren shores of Newfoundland; that enterprise was soon 186 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION abandoned. He turned to Virginia, a clime more genial ; there he was met by the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, to which, as a good Catholic, Lord Baltimore could not subscribe ; Virginia could never be a peaceful asylum for those of his faith. The region north of it attracted his attention, and he ap plied to King Charles for a portion of that territory. Charles gave him a grant of land, most of which is now included in the State of Maryland; it was named after Henrietta Maria, the wife of the king. As a proprietary Lord Baltimore deserves all praise for his liberality. The colonists were to have a voice in making their own laws ; they were not to be taxed without their own consent. He was bold to repudiate intolerance, and politic to adopt a form of govern ment which alone could insure success. He designed his colony to be an asylum for the Catholic, but the Protestant was invited to share it. Just as the charter was about to be issued he died. To his son Cecil, under the same title, the charter was contin ued ; to him belongs the honor of carrying into effect the intentions of his father. He deputed his brother, Leonard, to take charge of the emigrants, who, to the number of two hun dred, after a protracted voyage, arrived safely on the Chesapeake. A tribe of Indians residing on the St. Mary's, a branch of the Potomac, were about to re move on account of their enemies the Susquehan- nahs ; they sold to the infant colony their cultivated land and their tillage. The Indian women taught the strangers' wives to make bread of maize ; and soon the emigrants had corn-fields and gardens, and ob tained abundance of game in the forest. A few days after their arrival, Governor Harvey, of Virginia, paid them a friendly visit; it was the desire of Charles that they should be welcomed by the sister colony. Friendly relations were established with the VIEGINIA AND MARYLAND 187 neighboring Indians; the colonists for a time ob tained their necessary provisions from Virginia, but as they were industrious, the fruitful earth soon re paid their labor. At the commencement of the sec ond year, the freemen of the colony held their first legislative Assembly. Clayborne was the evil genius of Maryland. His license to trade with the Indians was made void by Lord Baltimore's charter. He attempted to excite a rebellion, but was overpowered and compelled to flee to Virginia. The Governor of Maryland demanded him as a fugitive from justice; to evade the demand Harvey sent him to England to be tried. This of fended the people of Virginia, who sympathized with Clayborne; to avenge him, they impeached Harvey himself, "and thrust him out of his government." The Assembly appointed commissioners to prosecute the charges against him in England. The commis sioners met with no favor from the king ; and soon, under a new appointment, the unpopular Harvey came back as governor. Meanwhile peace and plenty continued to be the lot of Maryland. Every vear the rights of the peo ple were better understood ; they acknowledged their allegiance to England, and respected the rights of Lord Baltimore. Their lands produced an abundance of tobacco, and commerce began to prosper. Efforts were now made to convert some of the neighboring Indians to Christianity. The priests established four stations among them, and not without effect. One chief, Tayac, with his wife, was baptized, he taking the name of Charles and she that of Mary. Soon after one hundred and thirty other converts received baptism, some of whom sent their children to receive a Christian education under the care of the priests. But, alas ! these efforts were as vain as the other at tempts of the time to Christianize the poor natives. 188 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION The same evil causes were here at work wars and the influence of bad men. It is said these grateful tribes ever after remained friendly to those who en deavored to instruct them. The persevering Clayborne returned, to mar their peace by another and more successful insurrection. The Governor of Maryland was now, in his turn, com pelled to flee to Virginia. After two years of mis rule, peace was again restored, and all the offenders were pardoned. As an interesting fact, it may be mentioned, that in this year Maryland passed a law of perfect tolera tion to all Christian sects ; two years previous Rhode Island had granted toleration to all opinions, Infidel as well as Christian. During the rule of Cromwell the government of Maryland was very unsettled. The Assembly, finally, repudiated both Cromwell and Baltimore, and pro claimed the authority of th^ people as supreme. Scarcely was this accomplished when the restora tion of Charles II. took place. Lord Baltimore made known to the king that his professions of republic anism were made only to obtain the favor of Crom well, and that really he was a good royalist. Charles immediately restored him his proprietary rights. Baltimore was not vindictive; he proclaimed a gen eral pardon, and for almost thirty years the colony enjoyed repose. Sir William Berkeley, as successor to Harvey, was appointed Governor of Virginia. The trade of the colony was crippled by severe restrictions; as Eng land claimed its trade for herself alone. Thus began a series of acts and infringements on commerce by the home government, which annoyed the people of the colonies, and interfered with their industry and commercial prosperity for more than one hundred and thirty years, when these grievances were swept VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 189 away by the Revolution. The colony was now per mitted for a time to take care of itself, Charles I. being engaged in a contest with his subjects at home. The Virginians were stanch friends of the king, and the party in the mother country contending against him met with no favor from them. The Puritans who were living in Virginia, being identified with re publicanism, were looked upon with suspicion ; those of their number who would not conform to the cere monies of the Church of England were banished. A majority of these passed over into Maryland. Thus it was, the Puritan would not permit the Episcopalian to come to New England, and the Episcopalian ban ished the Puritan from Virginia. No peace was granted to the Indians. After a space of twenty-two years, they once more made an effort to free themselves from their enemies. The frontier settlements were suddenly attacked, and about three hundred persons killed. When resisted, the savages fled to the wilderness. They were pur sued with great vigor, and after a contest of two years their power was completely broken. Opechan- canough, their aged chief, was taken captive, and soon after died in prison; his proud spirit deeply wounded that he should be gazed at by his enemies. The next year a treaty was made, by which they relinquished forever the fertile valleys of their fath ers, and with sorrowful hearts retired far into the wilderness. After the execution of Charles I., great numbers of the royalists, "good cavalier families," fled to Vir ginia, where they were welcomed as exiled patriots. She was the last of the colonies to acknowledge the authority of the Commonwealth. But when commis sioners were sent, who granted the people all the civil rights and privileges they asked, they submitted. After the death of Cromwell, and before it became 190 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION known who was to rule in England, the House of Burgesses resolved, "that the supreme power will be resident in the Assembly." Then Berkeley was elected governor. In accepting office, he acknowl edged the authority of the people's representatives, saying, "I am but the servant of the Assembly." We shall now see how sincere was that declaration. When Charles II was in exile he was invited to come and be "king of Virginia ;" from this incident, it has been called "The Old Dominion." This loyalty Charles after his restoration repaid, by basely taking away their privileges, and distributing their lands among his favorites. The society of Virginia was peculiar. The first set tlements were made under the protection of the no bility; this favored the growth of an aristocratic class of land-holders. There were two other classes the negro, who was a slave for life, and the in dented white man, sent from the mother country to serve a certain number of years. These white serv ants were sometimes criminals but oftener political offenders. The latter, when their term of servitude expired, mingled with the people on an equality. The Assembly held their sessions once in two years, their members were chosen by the people, and only for one session. The first Assembly was held after the Restoration was composed of landholders. Berkeley now declared himself governor, not because he was elected by the people, but because Charles when in exile had appointed him. The Assembly went still further, and deprived the people of the privilege of choosing their own legisla tors, by assuming to themselves the right to be per petual. This Assembly remained thus in violation of law for fourteen years. During this usurpation, all that the people had gained of civil rights for more than a third of a century, this aristocratic House of VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 191 Burgesses swept way. The only right allowed them was that of petitioning their rulers for redress of grievances but these petitions were disregarded. The Church of England was declared to be the re ligion of the State, and all were bound by law under penalties of fines and banishment, not only to attend its services, but to pay a tax to support it. Govern or Berkeley complained of its ministers: "as of all other commodities, so of this the worst are sent us, and we have few that we can boast of, since the per secutions in Cromwell's tyranny drove divers worthy men hither." The cause of education was neglected, and almost prohibited. The poor were peculiarly un fortunate "out of towns," says a chronicler of the times, "every man instructs his children as best he can:" no aid was afforded them by those in author ity. Says the aristocratic Berkeley: "I thank God there are no free schools nor printing ; and I hope we will not have them these hundred years !" Such was the language of a man who was Governor of Virginia for nearly forty years. The printing-press was es tablished in Massachusetts ninety years before there was one in Virginia. The people of Maryland became involved in war with the Indians. A company of Virginians, under John Washington, great-grandfather of ' George Washington, crossed over the Potomac to aid them. Six chiefs of the Susquehannahs came to treat for peace, but the Virginians treacherously murdered the whole company. For this evil deed the innocent were made to suffer. The Susquehannahs immedi ately passed over into Virginia to revenge their death, by killing ten persons for each chief. Accord ing to their belief, until this sacrifice was made, the souls of their chiefs could not be at rest in the spirit land. The people cried to the governor for protec tion, which he was slow to give ; they attributed his 192 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION tardiness to his interest in the fur-trade. They now asked permission to defend themselves ; to invade the enemies' country, and drive them from their hiding places ; this was also refused. During this delay, the Indians pursued their murderous work all along the frontiers. There was in the colony a young planter, not more than thirty years of age, a native of England; a lawyer by profession; eloquent and winning in his manners; bold and determined in spirit; a true pa triot; disliked by the goveriior, because he was a true republican ; but dear to the people for the same reason : such was Nathaniel Bacon. To him, in their extremity, they turned. Those who had volunteered to go against the Indians, asked of the governor a commission for Bacon to command them. Berkeley obstinately refused to grant it. He would not coun tenance such presumption on the part of the "com mon people." The murders continued; the volun teers waited no longer on the tardy government, but set out under the command of Bacon to repel the savages. The moment they were gone, Berkeley pro claimed Bacon a traitor, and his soldiers rebels, and gave orders for them to disperse. The populous counties on the Bay began to show signs of insurrection. Their quarrel was not with the Indians, but with the acts and continued exist ence of the House of Burgesses. Bacon, meanwhile, had returned successfully from his expedition. The haughty old governor was forced to yield; the ob noxious Assembly was dissolved, and writs issued for the election of another, to which Bacon was returned triumphantly from Henricho county. This Assembly corrected the evils of the long one. The unjust taxes on the poor were removed ; the privileges of voting for their legislators was restored to the people, and VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 193 many abuses in relation to the expenditure of the public money rectified. The House elected Bacon commander of the army. These measures were very distasteful to Berkeley and his advisers he would not give them his sanction. Finally, however, he yielded to necessity; and even went so far as to transmit to England, his own and the council's com mendations of Bacon's loyalty and patriotism. The Indians still continued their attacks upon the settlements, and Bacon with a small force went to punish them : again the insincere Berkeley pro claimed him a traitor. Such treachery excited Ba con's indignation and that of the army. No confi dence could be placed in the governor's word. "It vexes me to the heart," said the gallant patriot, "that while I am hunting the wolves which destroy our lambs, that I should myself be pursued like a sav age the whole country is witness to our peaceable behavior; but those in authority, how have they obtained their estates? Have they not devoured the common treasury? What schools of learning have they promoted?" Such were the questions asked, and such were the sentiments that stirred the hearts of the people. They must have their rights restored : wives urged their husbands to contend for their liberties. Berkeley with a few royalist followers and advis ers, went to the eastern shore of the bay. There by promises of plunder, he collected a rabble of sailors belonging to some English vessels, and a company of vagabond Indians. When the rumor of the govern or's intentions spread throughout the land, the people with one accord met in convention at the Middle Plantation, now Williamsburg, where they deliberat ed all day, even until midnight. They decided it was their duty to defend themselves from the tyranny of the governor. They adjourned, however, and went 194 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION to their homes, determined to be guided in their con duct by the course he should pursue. They were not long in suspense, for Berkeley crossed over with five ships to Jamestown, to put down what he was pleased to call a rebellion. In a very short time the little army so successful against the Indians, was gathered once more under the same leader. The conflict was short; Berkeley's cowardly rabble broke and fled; deserting Jamestown, they went on board their ships and dropped down the river. The victors entered the deserted town. A council was held as to what was to be done. Should they leave it as a place of defense for their enemies ? It was deemed necessary to burn it. Drummond and Lawrence, men prom inent in the popular movement, applied the torch to their own dwellings; the example was followed by others, and, in a few hours, the first town founded by Englishmen on this continent was in ruins. A crumbling church-tower is all that now remains to mark the site of old Jamestown. The good results of this struggle were doomed to be lost. Bacon suddenly fell ill of a violent fever, which terminated his life in a few days. He was called a traitor and a rebel by Berkeley and his royalist party, as was Washington by the same party one hundred years afterward. The people were now without a leader without any one to plead their cause. Berkeley played the tyrant, ravaged the country and confiscated the prop erty of the patriots. He caused to perish on the scaffold more than twenty of the best men of Virginia. One or two incidents may serve to exhibit his spirit. When Drummond (who is represented as a "sober, Scotch gentleman, of good repute") was brought into his presence, "You are very welcome," said he, bow ing at the same time, with mock civility ; "I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia ; you shall VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 195 be hanged in half an hour !" He derided, in vulgar terms, a young wife who came to plead for her hus band, to take the blame of his offense upon herself, and to offer her own life for his. If any one dared speak disrespectfully of Berkeley or his rule, he was publicly whipped. The end came at last; Berkeley left the country, and the people celebrated his departure with bonfires and rejoicings. When he arrived in England he found that public opinion severely condemned his conduct; and, what was more wounding to his pride, even Charles, to serve whom he had stained his soul with innocent blood, exclaimed, "That old fool has taken away more lives in that naked land than I for the death of my father !" The names and characters of Bacon and his adherents were vilified, and for a century these slanders were not disproved ; the truth was not per mitted to be published. The facts, as now known, prove that the men who thus opposed the tyranny of Berkeley were not rebels and traitors, but worthy to be numbered among the patriots of the land. The first Assembly held after this unsuccessful struggle was devoted to the interests of the aristoc racy. All the liberal laws passed by the preceding one were repealed ; henceforth only freeholders could vote for members of the House of Burgesses. The poor man was as heavily taxed as the rich, but unless he was a landholder he had no vote. The profligate Charles gave Virginia to two of his favorites Arlington and Culpepper; the latter soon after purchased the claim of the former. The king appointed Culpepper governor for life. He came au thorized to heal differences between the people and the government, but he used the power for his own interest alone ; he valued Virginia only in proportion to the money his rapacity could extort ; even the sol diers, sent to maintain his authority, he defrauded 196 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION of their wages. When he had secured to himself the highest possible revenue, he sailed for England. The condition of the Virginians was wretched in the ex treme; the rewards of their industry went to their rapacious rulers, and they, goaded to desperation, were on the point of rebellion. Rumors of these discontents reached England, and the truant governor reluctantly left his pleasures to visit his domain. Having the authority of the king, Culpepper caused several men of influence to be hanged as traitors. The people who owned farms in the territory, given him by royal grant, he now com pelled to lose their estates, or compromise by paying money. Charles had now another favorite to provide for; Culpepper was removed, and Effingham ap pointed. This change was even for the worse ; Eff ingham was more needy and more avaricious. On the accession of James II. what is known in history as Monmouth's Rebellion occurred. After its suppression, multitudes of those implicated in it were sent to Virginia and Maryland to be sold as servants for a term of ten years. Many of these were men of education and of good families. The House of Burgesses, to their honor be it said, declared these poor men free, though the cruel James had forbidden the exercise of such lenity. So little were the claims of humanity respected at this time in the West of England, that it was a com mon occurrence to kidnap persons of the poorer sort, and send them to the colonies to be sold as servants for a term of years. These were principally brought to Virginia and Maryland, as there the planters re quired many laborers. The trade was profitable, more so than the African slave trade. After the accession of William and Mary an effort was made to establish a college in Virginia, "to edu cate a domestic succession of Church of England VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 197 ministers," as well as to teach the children of the Indians. The celebrated Robert Boyle made a large donation, and the king gave, in addition to three other grants, outstanding quit-rents, valued at about $2,000. Such was the foundation of the college of William and Mary. The Rev. James Blair, said to be the first commis sary sent to the colonies by the Bishop of London, "to supply the office and jurisdiction of the bishop in the out-places of the diocese," was its president for fifty years. Though William was thus moderately liberal, he was by no means the representative of the true feel ing of his ministry ; they even looked upon this pit tance as uncalled for. Blair, the pious and energetic Scotchman, once urged upon Seymour, the attorney- general, the importance of establishing schools to ed ucate ministers of the gospel. "Consider, sir," said he, "that the people of Virginia have souls to save." He was answered by a profane imprecation upon their souls, and told to "make tobacco." This pithy rebuff indicated the spirit and general policy of the home government; it valued the colonies only as a source of wealth. For many years voluntary emigration to Virginia almost ceased. There were no inducements, no en couragements to industry, all commerce was re stricted. The planters were at the mercy of the Eng lish trader ; he alone was permitted to buy their to bacco and to sell them merchandise. The whole province was given over to the tender mercies of royal favorites and extortioners, while the printing- press, that dread of tyrants, was still forbidden. How dearly did loyal Virginia pay for the honor of being named the "Old Dominion !" The struggles of the people of Virginia under Ba con and others, had an effect on the people of Mary- 198 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION land. At the death of Lord Baltimore, his son and heir assumed the government, and ruled with justice till another revolution in England brought a change. The deputy-governor hesitated to acknowledge Wil liam and Mary. This was seized upon by some rest less spirits to excite discontent in the minds of the people. Among other absurd stories, it was said that the Catholics, who were few in number, were about to invite the Indians to aid them in massacring the Protestants. At this time the Jesuits had excited the Indians of New England and Canada against the New England colonies. This gave a shadow of prob ability to the charge. Under the lead of some per sons, who professed to be very zealous Protestants, the deputy-governor was seized, and a convention called, which deposed Lord Baltimore, and proclaimed the people the true sovereign. Two years after, King William, taking them at their word, unjustly de prived Lord Baltimore of his property, and made the colony a royal province. The people now suffered the penalty for ill treating their benevolent proprietary. The king placed over them a royal governor; changed their laws for the worse ; established the Church of England, and taxed them to maintain it ; did not pro mote education, but prohibited printing; discouraged their domestic manufactures; and finally disfran chised the Catholics, who had laid the foundation of the colony sixty years before. The rights of Lord Baltimore were afterward restored to his infant child, and the original form of government was es tablished. No colony experienced so many vicissi tudes as Maryland. CHAPTER XIII. 16091683 COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK Hudson's Discoveries Indian Traffic Fort on the Isle of Manhattan Walloons the First Settlers Peter Minuits The Patroons Van TW/ier Governor; His Misrule Succeeded by Kieft Difficulties with the Indians They Seek Protection; Their Massacre Peace Concluded Styvesant Governor The Swedish Settlement on the Del aware Pavonia Threatening Rumors New Netherland Surrendered to England New Jersey Sold by the Duke of York The Influence of the Dutch. When there were high hopes of discovering a northwest passage to India, Henry Hudson was sent in search of it by a company of London merchants. He was unsuccessful; yet his enthusiasm was not diminished by his failure. He requested to be again sent on the same errand, but the merchants were unwilling to incur further expense. He then applied to the Dutch East India Company; the directors of which, at Amsterdam, furnished him with a ship, the Half -Moon, with liberty to exercise his own judg ment in the prosecution of the enterprise. He first sailed to the northeast, away beyond the Capes of Norway, as far as the ice would permit. He saw that an effort in that direction would be fruitless. He turned to the west, crossed the Atlantic, and coasted along the continent till he found himself opposite the Capes of Virginia; then turning to the north he entered a "great bay with rivers," since known as the Delaware ; still further north he passed through a narrow channel, and found himself in a beautiful bay. Here he remained some days. The natives, 200 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION "clothed in mantles of feathers and robes of fur," visited his ship. Their astonishment was great ; they thought it was the canoe of the Great Spirit, and the white faces, so unlike themselves, were his servants. Hudson explored the bay, and noticed a large stream flowing from the north ; this, thought he, leads to the Eastern Seas. That stream, called by some of the native tribes the Cahohatatea, or River of Mountains, and by others the Shatemuc, he explored for one hundred and fifty miles ; it did not lead to the Eastern Seas, yet that river has immortalized the name of Henry Hudson. What a change has come over the "River of Moun tains" since he threaded his way up its stream over three hundred years ago ! It has become the high way to the great inland seas of a continent, upon whose bosoms float the fruits of the industry of mil lions ; and the island at its mouth the heart of a na tion's commerce, whose every throb is felt throughout that nation's length and breadth. From the highest church steeple, on this Isle of Manhattan, the eye takes in a horizon containing a population very much greater than that of the thirteen colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence. There are other changes which the philanthropist loves to contem plate. Here are seen the humanizing influences of Christianity, of civilization, of intelligence, and of industry, embodied in institutions of learning, of science, and of benevolence, that pour forth their charities and blessings, not alone for this land but for others. The coincidence is striking, that, nearly at the same time, the representatives of three nations were penetrating the wilderness and approaching each other. Champlain, on behalf of France, was explor ing the northern part of New York ; John Smith, one COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 201 of the pioneers of English colonization, was pushing his discoveries up to the head waters of the Chesa peake, while the Half -Moon was slowly sounding her way up the Hudson. Hudson arrived safely in England, but he was not permitted by the government to continue in the serv ice of the Dutch, lest they should derive advantage in trade from his discoveries. However, he found means to transmit to his employers at Amsterdam, an account of his voyage. Once more he sailed under the patronage of some English merchants. He passed through the straits into the bay known by his name ; groped among a multitude of islands till late in the season, and then determined to winter there, and in the spring continue his search for the wished-for passage. When spring came his provisions were nearly exhausted ; it was impossible to prosecute his design. With tears of disappointment he gave or ders to turn the prow of his vessel homeward. A day or two afterward his crew mutinied. They seized him, put him, with his son and seven seamen, four of whom were ill, on board the shallop, and in humanly left them to perish. "The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name, is his tomb and his monument." Hudson, in his communication to his employers, described the extensive region he had discovered as well watered by rivers and as lying around bays and inlets ; as covered with forests abounding in the finest timber for shipbuilding ; and as "a land as beautiful as ever man trod upon." The numerous tribes of In dians who met him in friendship and the multitudes of beaver and otter, gave indication also of a profit able trade. The next year a ship was sent to trade ; the traffic was profitable, and was still further prosecuted. In 202 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION a few years there were forts or trading houses on the river, as far up as Fort Orange, since Albany. A rude fort at the lower end of Manhattan island was the germ of the present city of New York. The Dutch during this time were busy exploring the waters from the Delaware to Cape Cod. They were as yet but a company of traders ; no emigrants had left Holland with the intention of making a perma nent settlement. A company was formed, under the title of the Dutch West India Company; an association for the purpose of trade only. They took possession of the territory as temporary occupants ; if they grew rich they were indifferent as to other matters ; they had no promise of protection from Holland, and as a mat ter of policy they were peaceful. The States-General granted them the monopoly of trade from Cape May to Nova Scotia, and named the entire territory New Netherland. The claims of the English, French, and Dutch thus overlapped each other, and led to "terri torial disputes, national rivalries, religious antipa thies, and all the petty hatreds and jealousies of trade." About thirty families, Walloons or French Prot estants, who had fled to Holland to avoid persecution, were the first to emigrate with the intention of re maining. Some of these settled in the vicinity of what is now the Navy Yard in Brooklyn, others went up the river to Fort Orange. The central position of the island of Manhattan obtained for it the honor of being chosen as the resi dence of the agent for the company. Peter Minuits was appointed such, under the title of governor, and the few cottages at the south end of the island were dignified with the name of New Amsterdam. The island itself belonged exclusively to the company, and was purchased from the Indians for about twen- COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 203 ty-four dollars. Effort was now made to found a State. Every person who should emigrate had the privilege* of owning as much land as he could properly cultivate, provided it was not on lands especially claimed by the company. To encourage emigration, it was ordered that any member of the company who in four years should induce fifty persons to settle anywhere in New Netherland, except on the island of Manhattan, should be recognized as "Patroon," or "Lord of the Manor." Under this arrangements "Patroons" could purchase a tract of land sixteen miles long by eight in width. They secured to them selves, by purchase from the Indians, the most valu able lands and places for trade. The less rich were by necessity compelled to become tenants of the Patroons. The people, thus deprived of that inde pendence which is essential to the progress of any community, took but little interest in cultivating the soil, or in improving the country. The company, for the sake of gain, determined, even at the expense of the prosperity of the colonists, to make New Amsterdam the center of the trade of New Netherland. Under the penalty of banishment the people were forbidden to manufacture the most common fabrics for clothing. No provision was made for the education of the young, or the preaching of the gospel; although it was enjoined upon the Patroons to provide "a minister and a schoolmaster," or at least a "comforter of the sick," whose duty it should be to read to the people texts of Scripture and the creeds. The company also agreed, if the specula tion should prove profitable, to furnish the Patroons with African slaves. As Hudson had discovered Delaware bay and river, the Dutch claimed the territory. Samuel Godyn pur chased from the Indians all their lands from Cape Henlopen to the mouth of the Delaware river. Two 204 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION years after this thirty colonists arrived, fully pre pared to found a settlement. When De Vries, who was to be a Patroon and commander, came the next year, he found not a vestige of the settlement; all had perished by the hands of the savages. After the resignation of Minuits, Walter Van Twil- ler, through the "influence of kinsmen and friends," was appointed governor. He proved himself unfitted for the station. As a clerk, he was acquainted with the mere routine of business, but ignorant of human nature ; as conceited as he was deficient in judgment and prudence he failed to secure the respect of those he governed. In his zeal for the interests of his em ployers, he neglected the rights of the people, and was so inconsistent in the management of public af fairs that Dominee Bogardus sent him a letter of severe reproof, threatening to give him "such a shake from the pulpit on the following Sunday as would make him shudder." The inefficient Van Twiller was succeeded by Wil liam Kieft. Though he had not the same defects as Van Twiller, his appointment was a most unfortu nate event for the colony. A bankrupt in Hol land, his portrait was affixed to the gallows ; an evi dence of the estimation in which his character was held. Avaricious and unscrupulous, so arbitrary in his measures that during his rule the colony was in a continual turmoil, he quarrelled with the Swedes on the Delaware, had difficulties with the English in New England, made the Indians his enemies, and had scarcely a friend in his own colony. The Dutch were on friendly terms with the Indians during the rule of Van Twiller. It was forbidden by law to sell them fire-arms; but the traders up the river, indifferent to the interests of the settlers, sold them guns to such an extent, that at one time more than four hundred of the Mohawks, or Iroquois, were COLONIZATION OP NEW YORK 205 armed with muskets. By this means these terrible marauders and despots of the wilderness were rend ered more haughty and dangerous. They paid enormous prices for guns, that they might be able to meet their enemies the Canadian Indians, who were supplied with fire-arms by the French. Though the traders did not sell guns to the tribes living near New Amsterdam and on the river, yet they sold them rum. Kief t pretended that the company had ordered him to levy an annual tribute upon the river Indians the Mohegans and other clans of the Algonquin race. They refused to pay any tribute, saying he "was a shabby fellow to come and live on their lands with out being invited, and then want to take away their corn for nothing." Such injustice, with the partial ity shown to their enemies, the Mohawks, gradually alienated their feelings of friendship for the Dutch. An act of Kief t awoke the slumbering anger of the savages. The Raritans, a tribe living on the river which bears their name, were accused of stealing hogs, which had been taken by some Dutch traders. Kieft did not inquire into the truth of the charge, but sent soldiers to punish them, who destroyed their corn and killed some of their number. De Vries, who, in the meantime, had planted a settlement on Staten Island, was himself a friend of the Indians. The Raritans attacked this settlement and killed four men. The people now urged the governor to concili ate the savages, but without effect. Twenty years before a chieftain had been killed by a Dutch hunter in the presence of his nephew, then a little boy ; that boy, now a man, according to their custom, avenged the death of his uncle by murdering an innocent Dutchman. Kieft demanded that the young man should be given up to him, to be punished as a mur derer. The tribe would not comply with the demand, 206 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION but offered to pay the price of blood. The violent governor refused any such compromise. With his permission a meeting of the heads of families was called. They chose twelve of their num ber to investigate the affairs of the colony. They passed very soon from the Indian difficulties to other abuses ; even to the despotic actions of the governor himself. As the "twelve men" refused to be con trolled by Kieft, but persevered in expressing their opinions of his conduct, he dissolved the Assembly. Thus ended the first representative Assembly in New Netherland. Nearly all the difficulties with the Indians may be traced to some injustice practised upon them by the whites. An instance of this kind now occurred which led to direful results. A Dutchman sold a young Indian, the son of a chief, brandy, and when he was intoxicated, cheated and drove him away. The In dian, raging with drink, and maddened by the treat ment he had received, went to his home, obtained his bow and arrows, returned and shot the Dutchman dead. The chiefs of the murderer's tribe hastened to the governor to explain the matter, and to pay the price of blood ; they wished for peace ; but the gov ernor was inexorable. He demanded the murderer; but he had fled to a neighboring tribe. "It is your own fault !" exclaimed the indignant chiefs ; "why do you sell brandy to our young men? it makes them crazy; your own people get drunk, and fight with knives." Just at this time came a company of eighty Mo hawks, all armed with muskets, to demand tribute of the enfeebled River Tribes. The latter fled to the Dutch for protection. Now is the time, urged the people, to obtain forever the friendship of the Indians living around us, by rescuing them from the rapac ious Mohawks. Now is the time, thought the stub- COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 207 born and cruel Kieft, to exterminate those who have fled to me for safety. "If you murder these poor creatures who have put themselves under your protection, you will involve the whole colony in ruin, and their blood, and the blood of your own people, will be required at your hands!" urged the kind-hearted De Vries. The ad monition was unheeded. The unsuspecting victims of this scheme of treach ery and barbarous cruelty were with the tribe of Hackensacks, just beyond Hoboken. About the hour of midnight the soldiers from the fort, and some freebooters from the ships in the harbor, passed over the river. Soon were heard the shrieks of the dying Indians; the carnage continued, the poor victims ran to the river, to pass over to their supposed friends in New Amsterdam. But they were driven into the water; the mother, who rushed to save her drowning child, was pushed in, that both might per ish in the freezing flood. These were not the only victims. Another company of Indians, trusting to the Dutch for protection, were encamped on the is land, but a short distance from the fort. They were nearly all murdered in the same manner. In the morning the returning soldiers received the congrat ulations of Kieft. When the people learned of the massacre they were filled with horror at its atrocity, and expressed their detestation of its author, and their fears that all the Indians in their neighborhood would become their deadly enemies. The guilty Kieft cowered before the storm ; it would have been well if the only effects of his acts had been the re proaches of the people. When it became known that it was not their ene mies the Mohawks, but their pretended friends the Dutch, who had wantonly killed their countrymen, the rage of the River Tribes knew no bounds. They 208 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION rose as one man to take revenge. Every nook and corner, every swamp and thicket, became an ambush for the enraged savages. The settlements up the river were destroyed. On Long Island, on Staten Island, the retribution fell ; all around Manhattan the smoke of burning dwellings arose to heaven. The people at a distance from the fort were either mur dered or taken captive, especially the women and children. All who could deserted their homes, and sought safety in the fort at Manhattan; many of whom afterward left for Holland. A pleasing incident is related of Indian gratitude. De Vries had, on that fearful night, rescued an In dian and his wife from death. When his settlement on Staten Island was attacked, this Indian hastened to his countrymen who were besieging the people in the block-house, and told them how he and his wife had been rescued. The besiegers immediately told the people they would molest them no more ; and they kept their word. A temporary truce was made at Rockaway on Long Island. The chiefs of a number of tribes agreed to meet the messengers of the Dutch, and treat of peace. De Vries, whom the Indians knew to be their friend, went with two others to the interview. When the conference was opened one of the chiefs arose, having in his hand a number of little sticks ; taking one, he commenced: "When you first came to our shores you wanted food ; we gave you our beans and our corn, and now you murder our people." He took another stick : "The men whom your first ships left to trade, we guarded and fed; we gave them our daughters for wives ; some of those whom you mur dered were of your own blood." Many sticks still remained, but the envoys did not wish to hear a fur ther recital of wrongs. They proposed that they should both forget the past, and now make peace for- COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 209 ever. Peace was made. It was not satisfactory to the young warriors ; they thought "the bloody men," as they now called the Dutch, had not paid the full price of the lives they had taken; and war broke forth again. Now the leader of the Dutch was Cap tain John Underhill, who had had experience in the Pequod war in New England. For two years the In dians were hunted from swamp to swamp, through winter and summer; yet they were not subdued. They lay in ambush round the settlements, and picked off the husbandman from his labor, and car ried into captivity his wife and children. There was no security from the midnight attack ; scarcely any corn was planted ; famine and utter ruin stared the colony in the face. Sixteen hundred of the Indians had been killed, and the number of white people was so much reduced, that, besides traders, there were not more than one hundred persons on the Isle of Manhattan. What a ruin had been wrought by the wicked perverseness of one man! At length both parties became weary of war. The chieftains of the tribes around New Amsterdam, and, as mediators, a deputation from their ancient enemies the Mohawks, met the deputies of the Dutch beneath the open sky, on the place now known as the Battery, in New York City, and there concluded a peace. Thanksgivings burst forth from the people at the prospect of returning safety. There was no consola tion for Kieft; he was justly charged by them with being the cause of all their misfortunes. The com pany censured him, and disclaimed his barbarous conduct. He was without a friend in the colony. After two years, with his ill-gotten gains, he sailed for his native land. The vessel was wrecked on 210 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the coast of Wales, and, with many others, he was lost. In the midst of all these difficulties there were those who labored to instruct the poor heathen In dians of New Netherland. Several years before the missionary Eliot commenced his labors with the tribes near Boston, Megapolensis, the Dutch clergy man at Fort Orange, endeavored to teach the Mo hawks the truths of the gospel. He strove to learn their language, that he might "speak and preach to them fluently," but without much success ; their lan guage was, as he expressed it, so "heavy." The grave warriors would listen respectfully when told to renounce certain sins, but they would immediately ask why white men committed the same. Efforts were made afterward to instruct in Christianity the tribes around Manhattan, but the good work was neutralized by other and evil influences. The West Indian Company appointed Peter Stuyve- sant to succeed Kieft as governor. He had been ac customed to military rule, and was exceedingly arbi trary in his government ; honest in his endeavors to fulfill his trust to the company, he also overlooked the rights of the people. He thought their duty was to pursue their business, and pay their taxes, and not trouble their brains about his manner of government. The colony was well-nigh ruined when Stuyvesant came into power ; for nearly five years the dark cloud of war had been hanging over it. The Indians had been dealt with harshly and treacherously ; policy as well as mercy demanded that they should be treated leniently. The company desired peace with the var ious tribes, for the success of trade depended upon their good-will. Although the Dutch claimed the territory from Cape Cod to the Capes of Virginia, they preferred to negotiate with New England, and desired that the COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 211 wars between their mother countries in the Old World should not disturb the harmony of the New. It must be confessed that the Connecticut people annoyed Stuyvesant exceedingly. The absurd stories told by the wily Mohegan chief, Uncas, of the Dutch conspiring with the Narragansets to cut off the Eng lish, found a too ready credence ; so ready as to leave the impression that such stories were rather welcome than otherwise, provided they furnished an excuse for encroaching upon the territory of the Dutch. When accused of this conspiracy, said a sachem of the Narragansets, "I am poor, but no present can make me an enemy of the English !" We have now to speak of others settling on terri tory claimed by the Dutch. Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden, was induced to engage in sending a colony to the New World. He wished to found an asylum to which Protestants of Europe could flee. Peter Minuits, who has already been mentioned, as commercial agent at New Amsterdam, offered his services to lead the company of emigrants. The same year that Kieft came as a governor to New Amsterdam, Minuits landed on the shores of the Del aware with a company of emigrants, about fifty in number. They purchased from the Indians the ter ritory on the west side of the bay and river from Cape Henlopen to the falls at Trenton. This was very nearly the soil of the present State of Dela ware. Nearly all this territory had been purchased some years before by the Dutch, who looked upon the Swedes as intruders. The latter built a fort and a church on the site of Wilmington, and named the country New Sweden. The Dutch protested, but the Swedes went quietly to work, and increased from year to year by accessions from their native land. For years the disputes between the two colonies con tinued ; at length Stuyvesant, obeying the orders of 212 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the company, determined to make the Swedes sub mit to Dutch rule. The former, in surrendering, were to lose none of their rights as citizens. Thus, after an existence of seventeen years, the Swedish colony passed under the sway of the Dutch. Many of them became dissatisfied with the arbitrary acts of their rulers, and from time to time emigrated to Virginia and Maryland. What is now New Jersey was also included in the territory claimed by the Dutch. They built a fort, a short distance below Camden, which they named Nassau. Michael Pauw bought of the Indians Staten Island, and all the land extending from Hoboken to the river Raritan. He named the territory Pavonia. Meanwhile the Swedes passed over to the east side of Delaware bay, and established trading houses from Cape May to Burlington. Manhattan in the meanwhile was gaining num bers by emigration. The stern Stuyvesant was some times intolerant, but the company wished the people to enjoy the rights of conscience. They wished New Amsterdam to be as liberal to the exile for religion's sake as was its namesake in the Old World. Every nation in Europe had here its representatives. It was remarked "that the inhabitants were of different sects and nations, and that they spoke many different languages." The public documents were issued sometimes in Dutch, sometimes in English, and sometimes in French. Two centuries ago it was prophesied that here would be centered the commerce of the world. Time is realizing the prediction. To promote emigration the mechanic had his passage given him. The poor persecuted Waldens came from their native valleys and mountains at the ex pense of the old city of Amsterdam. Africa, too, had her representatives. Her sons and daughters were brought as slaves at the charge of the West Indian COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 213 Company; and the city of Amsterdam, in this case also, shared the expense and the profit. The spirit of democracy began to pervade the minds of the Dutch ; the credit of this has been given to the New Englanders, who were continually en lightening them on the subject of the freedom of Englishmen. This annoyed Stuyvesant beyond en durance. He often expressed his contempt for the "wavering multitude;" he despised the people, and scoffed at the idea that they could govern themselves. It was their duty to work, and not discuss the mys teries of government. They had no voice in the choice of their rulers, and were even forbidden to hold meetings to talk of their affairs. Stuyvesant finally consented to let them hold a convention of two delegates from each settlement; but as soon as these delegates began to discuss his conduct as gov ernor, he dissolved the convention, bluntly telling them he derived his authority from the company, and not from "a few ignorant subjects." When a citizen, in a case in which he thought himself ag grieved, threatened to appeal to the States-General of Holland, "If you do" said the angry governor, "I will make you a foot shorter than you are." When the day of trial came, Stuyvesant found that by such despotic measures he had lost the good-will of the people of every class and nation. Rumors were now rife that the English were about to subdue New Netherland. The people for the most part were indifferent; they had now no civil rights, and to them the change might be for the better; it was not probable that it would be for the worse. The English portion longed for the rights of Englishmen. Though there had been war between England and Holland, the people of Virginia and New England, except perhaps those of Connecticut, were well dis posed toward the Dutch as neighbors. 214 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION Stuyvesant was soon relieved of his troubles with the people of Manhattan. Charles II., without re gard to the rights of Holland, with whom he was at peace, or to the rights of the people of Connecticut under their charter, gave to his brother, the Duke of York, the entire country from the Connecticut to the Delaware. The first intimation Stuyvesant had of this intended robbery, was the presence of a fleet, under Richard Nicholls, sent to put in execution the orders of the English king. The fleet had brought to Boston the commissioners for New England, and there received recruits, and sailed for New Amster dam. All was in confusion; Stuyvesant wished to make resistance, but the people were indifferent. What was to be done ? The fleet was in the bay, and the recruits from New England had just pitched their tents in Brooklyn : Long Island was already in the hands of the enemy : Nicholls sent Stuyvesant a letter requiring him to surrender his post, which the valiant governor refused to do without a struggle. A meeting of the principal inhabitants was called ; they very properly asked for the letter which the governor had received from the English admiral. They wished to know the terms he offered to induce them to acknowledge English authority. Rather than send the letter to be read to the "wavering multitude," the angry Stuyvesant tore it to pieces. Instead, there fore, of preparing to defend themselves against the enemy the people protested against the arbitrary conduct of the governor. At length the capitulation was made, on the condition that the people should be protected in their rights and property, religion and institutions. In a few days Fort Orange surrendered ; and in a few weeks the Dutch and Swedes on the shores of the Delaware passed under the rule of England. Nicholls was appointed governor. New Amsterdam COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 215 was to be hereafter known as New York, and Fort Orange as Albany. A treaty was also made with the Mohawks; they had been the friends of the Dutch, and now they be came the friends of the English, and remained so in all their contests, both with the French, and the Col onies during the revolution. They served as a bulwark against incursions from Canada. Their hatred of the French was intense. They said, the Canadian In dians never invaded their territory unaccompanied by a "skulking" Frenchman. England and Holland were soon at war again ; and suddenly a Dutch squadron anchored in the bay, and demanded the surrender of the colony. Thus the territory became New Netherland once more. In a little more than a year peace was made, and the province was restored to England. Thus, after half a century, the rule of the Dutch passed away, but not their influence it still remains to bless. The struggles of their fathers in Holland in the cause of civil and religious freedom, are embalmed in the his tory of the progress of the human mind. In their principles tolerant, in religion Protestant, a nation of merchants and manufacturers, laborious and frugal, they acquired a fame as wide as the world for the noble virtue of honesty. Defenders of the right, they were brave, bold, and plain spoken; they were peaceful ; they were justly celebrated for their moral and domestic virtues; nowhere was the wife, the mother, the sister more honored and cherished. Such were the ancestry and such the traditions of the people just come under British rule. A little more than a century elapsed, and their descendants, with scarcely an exception, took their places with the lov ers of their country in the struggle for independence. The change of rulers was not beneficial to the peo ple ; the promises made to them were not kept ; their 216 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION taxes were increased ; the titles to their lands were even called in question, that the rapacious governors might reap a harvest of fees for giving new ones. It was openly avowed by the unprincipled Lovelace, the successor of Nicholls, that the true way to govern was by severity; to impose taxes so heavy that the people should have "liberty for no thought but how to discharge them." When the people respectfully petitioned in relation to their grievances, their pe tition was burned by the hangman before the town- hall in New York, by order of the same Lovelace. The same species of tyranny was exercised over the colonists on the Delaware. The Duke of York sold to Lord Berkeley, brother of Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, and Sir George Carteret, the soil of New Jersey. They made liberal offers to emigrants to settle in the ter ritory, promising to collect no rents for five years. Many families were induced to come from Long Is land. Their principal settlement was named, in honor of Carteret's wife, Elizabethtown. All went smoothly till pay day came, and then those colonists who had lived under Dutch rule refused to pay. They contended that they had bought their lands from the Indians, the original owners of the soil, and that Carteret had no claim to rent because the king had given him a grant of land which did not belong to him. Others said they derived no benefit from the proprietary, and why should they pay him quit- rents ? The Duke of York had but little regard to the rights of Carteret or Berkeley ; he appointed Andros, "the tyrant of New England," governor of the col ony. Berkeley, disgusted by such treatment, sold what was called West Jersey to Edward Byllinge, an English Quaker, who in a short time transferred his claim to William Penn and two others, who afterward COLONIZATION OF NEW YORK 217 made an arrangement with Carteret to divide the territory. Penn and his associates taking West Jer sey, and Carteret retaining East Jersey, the line of division being drawn from the ocean, at Little Egg Harbor, to the northwestern corner of the province. Episcopacy having been re-established in Scotland, a certain portion of the Presbyterians, the Camer- onians or Convenanters, refused to acknowledge the authority of that church, and in consequence they be came the victims of a severe persecution. To escape this they were induced to emigrate in great numbers to East Jersey, which thus became the cradle of Pres- byterianism in America. The original settlers of New Jersey were the Dutch, English, Quakers, Puri tans, from New England, and Presbyterians, from Scotland, which may account for that sturdy opposi tion to royal or ecclesiastical tyranny so character istic of its inhabitants. CHAPTER XIV. 16501742 COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA The Quakers. William Penn. His Education. Obtains a Charter. Preparations to plant a Colony. He lands at Newcastle Philadelphia Rights of the Indians Settle ment of Germantown Fletcher, the Royal Governor New Charter Granted the People Prosperity of the Col ony Trials of Penn: His Death Benjamin Franklin. We have in the course of this history met with the sect known as Quakers, a sect, perhaps, more than any other drawn from the humbler classes of the Eng lish people. We have found them at one time few in number, despised and persecuted ; treated as the en emies of social order and morals. They were perse cuted by all the sects in turn. The Puritans of New England endeavored to drive them from their shores ; the Churchmen of Virginia refused them a resting place ; and the politic and trading Dutch, though de sirous for colonists, treated them harshly. The Quakers loved and cherished the truths of the Bible with as much zeal as the most devoted Puri tans. As non-resistants, they believed that the only evil a Christian should resist, was the evil of his own heart : as followers of the Prince of Peace, they were opposed to war. How much blood and sorrow would be spared the nations, if in this respect they were governed by the principles of Quakerism ! We have now to speak of this despised sect as the founders of a State, where their principles were to be applied to the government of men. George Fox, their founder, had visited the Ameri- COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 219 can colonies; the condition of his followers touched his heart. Was there no asylum for them in the New World? Who should furnish them the means to form for themselves a settlement ? Among the few who joined them from the higher classes of English society, was one destined to exert a great influence on the sect, and to be admired and reverenced as a benefactor of his race by the good of every age. When a mere youth, his heart was touched by the conversation of a simple-minded Quaker, who spoke of the peace and comfort derived from the witnessing of God's Spirit with his own: "the inner light," or voice of conscience. This youth was William Penn, the son of Sir William Penn, who was distinguished as a successful naval commander in the times of Cromwell and Charles II. The posi tion of his father afforded him great advantages. He studied at Oxford University, was then sent to the Continent to improve his mind by travel and intercourse with men, and to eradicate his tendency toward Quakerism. After the absence of two years he returned, improved it is true, but in religion still a member of that despised sect everywhere spoken against: a sect, which its enemies affirmed, would destroy every government. The ambitious and worldly-minded Admiral was angry and disappointed. He insisted that his son should renounce Quaker ism. The son reflected he loved and reverenced his father; he desired to obey and please him, but could he violate his conscience ? No ; he calmly resigned all earthly preferment, and became an exile from his father's house. A mother's love secretly relieved his pressing wants. Before long we find him in prison for his religion. When the Bishop of London threatened him with imprisonment for life if he did not recant, he calmly replied, "Then my prison shall be my grave!" When 220 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION a clergyman, the learned Stillingfleet, was sent to convince him by arguments, he referred to his pris on walls, and remarked, "The Tower is to me the worst argument in the world ; those who use force for religion never can be in the right !" "Religion," said he, on another occasion, "is my crime and my inno cence ; it makes me a prisoner to malice, but my own freemen." At the expiration of a year he was re leased, through the intercession of his father. Promotion in the navy, royal favor, and every worldly inducement was now urged to tempt him to desert his principles ; but in vain. Within a year he was arraigned again for having spoken at a Quaker meeting. As he pleaded his own cause, he told the court "that no power on earth had the right to debar him from worshipping God." The jury brought in a verdict of not guilty. The court, determined to per secute, ordered them back to their room, saying, "We will have a verdict, or you shall starve for it." Penn admonished them as Englishmen to remember their rights. To the great annoyance of his ene mies, the jury, though they "received no refresh ments for two days and two nights," again brought in a verdict of not guilty. The court fined the jury it could not intimidate. Though thus acquitted, the recorder, under plea of contempt of court, fined Penn, and again remanded him to prison. As he was leav ing the room, he mildly remarked to the angry magis trate: "Thy religion persecutes and mine forgives." His father soon afterward paid the fine, and he was liberated. Ere long that father, when dying, became reconciled to his son, and called him to his bedside. Worldly prosperity and honor did not seem so im portant to the admiral in his dying hour as they h ,d done in other days. "Son William," said he, "if y u and your friends keep to your plain way of preaching and living, you will make an end to the priests !" COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 221 Weary of persecutions, Penn determined to seek in the New World an asylum for himself and his suf fering friends. There was, perhaps, no man in the kingdom better fitted to take the lead in colonizing a State : familiar, from books as well as from obser vation, with the governments of Europe, and by per sonal intercourse with some of the most enlightened statesmen of the age; the friend and companion of man, as eminent in science and philosophy as they were in purity of morals. His father had bequeathed him a claim of sixteen thousand pounds against the government. He of fered to receive lands in payment. Charles II., always in want of money, readily granted him territory west of the Delaware river, corresponding very nearly with the present limits of the State of Pennsylvania, a name given it by the king. The Duke of York claimed the region now known as the State of Dela ware; Penn wishing to have free access to the bay obtained it from him. As proprietary he now drew up a proclamation for those who were about to emigrate, as well as for the settlers already on the Delaware. He proposed that they should make their own laws, and pledged him self to interfere with nothing that should be for their benefit ; saying, "I propose to leave myself and suc cessors no power of doing mischief ; that the will of no one man may hinder the good of a whole country." With instructions to govern in accordance with law he sent his nephew William Markham, as agent. He had expended so much to aid his suffering breth ren, that his estate was now nearly exhausted. When about to sail for his colony he wrote to his wife : "Live low and sparingly till my debts are paid ; I desire not riches, but to owe nothing ; be liberal to the poor, and kind to all." At this time of embar rassment a very large sum was offered him by a com- 222 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION pany of traders for the exclusive right to trade be tween the rivers Susquehannah and Delaware. He refused to sell such right, saying each one in his colony should have an equal privilege to acquire prop erty. Penn, accompanied by one hundred emigrants, landed at New Castle. The Swedes, Dutch and Eng lish alike welcomed him. He passed up the river to where the capital of his province was yet to rise; there, under a spreading elm, he met a large number of sachems of the neighboring tribes, and with them entered into a treaty. No record of this treaty has been preserved, yet it remained for fifty years in force; neither party violating its provisions. The sons of the forest received the "Quaker King" as a friend, and they never had cause to regret their con fidence. He promised to treat them justly ; a promise observed not only by himself but by the Quaker set tlers. During this year twenty-three ships laden with emigrants arrived safely in the colony ; and they continued to fiock thither from year to year. Lands, lying between the Schuylkill and the Dela ware, were purchased from the Swedes: a place de sirable for a city, from its situation, healthy air, and springs of fresh water. It was to be a "greene coun try town, gardens round each house, that it might never be burned, and always be wholesome." The streets were marked out in the primitive forest by blazing the trees the walnut, the spruce, the chest nut. A city for all mankind, it was significantly named Philadelphia. The new city grew very rapidly : in three years it contained more than six hundred houses while the colony had a population of nearly ten thousand. Well might the benevolent proprietary look forward to the future in cheerful hope ; he had based his gov ernment on truth and justice. The rights of the Red COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 223 Men were respected ; no one could wrong them with out incurring the same penalty as that for wronging a fellow planter. If difficulties occurred between them and the settlers, the juries to try such cases were to be composed of six Indians and six white men. In the earlier days of the colonies the natives manifested their friendship by bringing as presents the products of the chase, wild fowl and venison. Presently the first Assembly in Pennsylvania was convened. Penn gave to the people a "charter of lib erties" a representative government, and toleration in religious matters; to prevent lawsuits, three "peace-makers" were appointed for each county. Laws were made to restrain vice and to promote virtue. Labor upon the Sabbath was forbidden. The confidence which the Indians had in his integrity gave security to their friendship, and Pennsylvania was free from frontier wars, and more prosperous and happy than any other colony. Had the Red Men been treated as justly by the other colonists as by the Quakers, thousands of lives would have been spared and the general prosperity of the whole coun try promoted. The interests of the young were not forgotten; efforts were made for their education, and a public high school chartered by Penn, was established at Philadelphia, where already a printing press, the third in the colonies, was doing its work. After Penn returned to England, the people of Del aware, or the three lower counties, who sympathized but little with the Quakers, began to be restless. They feigned grievances, as a means to become in dependent. He yielded to their request, and ap pointed for them a separate deputy governor. Being the personal friend of the Duke of York, Penn urged him when he became king, to relieve the oppressed, and in consequence more than twelve hun- 224 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION dred Quakers were liberated, who had been impris oned many years for conscience' sake. His benevol ence was not limited to those of his own persuasion, but extended to all, both Catholics and Protestant. When the great revolution drove the arbitrary James into exile, and placed William of Orange on the throne, Penn was accused by his enemies of favor ing the interests of the exiled monarch, with whom he corresponded. This correspondence afforded no evidence of the truth of these calumnies, but Wil liam lent them too ready an ear. He was at a loss to conceive how Penn could be the friend of James in exile, without wishing him to return to England as a sovereign. These false charges, together with rumors of dissensions in the colony, furnished the royal government a pretext for depriving Penn of his proprietary rights. The Quakers became divided in their sentiments ; a few went to the extreme of non-resistance, saying, that it was inconsistent for a Quaker to engage in public affairs, either as a magistrate or as a legisla tor. The prime leader in this was George Keith. After disturbing the province beyond even Quaker endurance, he was indicted by the grand jury, as a disturber of the peace and violator of the laws. He was tried, and fined for using improper language ; but lest it might be thought a punishment for the free expression of opinion, the fine was remitted. The cry of persecution was raised; but time proved the falsehood of the charge. The first German emigrants to Pennsylvania were Quakers in their religious views converts of Penn and Barclay, who some years before had travelled on the continent as missionaries. These settled Ger- mantown and the vicinity. Twenty years later, the ravages of war drove many Germans from their homes on the banks of the Rhine. These emigrated COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 225 in great numbers first to England, and then to Penn sylvania. In religious views they were German Re formed and Lutherans. They chose fertile districts, settled together, and soon became celebrated as the best farmers in America. Their numbers gradually increased by accessions of emigrants from home. They did not assimilate with the English colonists : preserved inviolate their customs, their religion, and their language, which alone they permitted to be taught their children. The isolaton of a population so large, had an important influence upon the people of Pennsylvania, on their system of education by common schools, on the struggle for independence, and since politically. An attempt was now made to convert Pennsylvania and Delaware into one royal province, over which Benjamin Fletcher was appointed governor. Some of the magistrates refused to recognize his authority, and some resigned their offices. When the Assembly met, the opposition became more determined. The members of this body deemed the laws made under the charter received from Penn as valid; neither would they legislate under any other authority. The charter given by King Charles, said they, is as valid as one given by King William ; and they refused to throw a suspicion over their existing laws by re-en acting them. They never noticed the governor ; with Quaker coolness passed and repassed his door, and in every respect ignored his presence. Meanwhile, Penn had been persecuted and an noyed; he was arraigned three times on frivolous charges, which were as often not sustained. He pre pared once more to visit his colony. Crowds of emi grants were ready to go with him, when he was ar rested again. Forced to go into retirement, he de termined to wait till time should bring him justice. This delay ruined the remainder of his fortune; 226 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION death entered his family, and robbed him of his wife and eldest son. Treated harshly by the world, and in some instances by those whom he thought his friends, he mildly perserved; never changed his views of right and justice; conscious of the purity of his motives, he serenely waited for the time when his character should be vindicated from the asper sions cast upon it. Ere long that time came, the charges laid against him were proved to be false, and he was restored to his proprietary rights. The want of means delayed his visit to his colony, but he sent Markham as his deputy. He called an Assembly; the people, alarmed at the recent en croachments upon their chartered rights, framed for themselves a liberal constitution. The Assembly would levy no tax until this was granted. When Penn arrived, he recognized as valid what the people had done. When the proposition was made to form a "constitution which would be firm and lasting," he said to them, "Keep what is good in the charter and frame of government, and add what may best suit the common good." It was agreed to surrender the old charter, and in its place frame a new constitution. The territories wished to be separate, and Delaware was permitted to have her own legislature; though the governor was to be the same as that of Penn sylvania. The two governments were never again united. All the political privileges the people desired he cheerfully granted; they enjoyed religious liber ty, and annually elected their own magistrates. A large emigration began about this period, and continued for half a century, to pour into Pennsyl vania from the north of Ireland and from Scotland. These were principally Presbyterians. They settled in the eastern and middle parts of the colony, and thence gradually extended their settlements west, making inroads upon the forest. COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 227 When Penn returned to the colony it was his in tention to remain and make it the home of hie chil dren. Rumors, however, reached the province that the charters of all the colonies were to be taken away, and they thrown upon the tender mercies of court favorites. He had not only purchased his ter ritory from Charles, but he had bought the land from the Indians themselves; he was therefore the sole owner of the unoccupied soil of Pennsylvania. These rumors rendered it necessary for him to return to England. Having arranged the government so as best to promote the interests of the people, he bade farewell to the colony, for which he had spent the better part of his life, and for which he breathed his parting blessing. The virtues of William Penn saved the colony, so dear to his heart, from becoming a province ruled by royal governors and impoverished by tax-gatherers. His enemies never could persuade the court to de prive him of his property. Though in his old age so poor, on account of the sacrifices he had made, as to be compelled to go for a season to a debtor's prison, he refused to sell his estates in America unless he could secure for the people the full enjoyment of their liberties. His death was as peaceful as his life had been benevolent. He left three sons, who were minors. For them the government was admin istered by deputies until the Revolution, when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased their claims for more than half a million of dollars. Six years after the death of Penn, there came to Philadelphia a youth of seventeen, who was yet to exert a great influence, not merely upon that colony but upon the others, while his fame was to be as great in the world of science. This youth was Ben jamin Franklin, a native of Boston, the son of a tallow-chandler; at which business, till ten years of 228 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION age, he labored. But his ardent mind craved some thing far beyond. During his leisure time, and till late at night, he read and appreciated all the books he could borrow, and his limited means could pur chase. At twelve he was bound to his eldest brother, a printer, to learn the art. There he experienced, not the kindness of a brother but the harshness of a tyrant. Worn out with this oppression, the deter mined youth sold his little library to furnish means to travel, and without giving notice to his friends, left to seek his fortune in the wide world. He travelled first to New York, where he tarried but a day, and then passed on to Philadelphia. There he arrived a stranger his money reduced to a single dollar; a penny roll served him for his first dinner. In one of the two printing offices of the city he sought and obtained employment. Afterward he went to Lon don, where he spent a year and a half in the same business; then returned, but everything that could be of avail to him he had carefully marked and treasured up. In truth he never lost a moment; nothing escaped his notice, whether in the natural or political world. His wonderful combination of dili gence, keen observation, and practical wisdom, fitted him to trace the current of human affairs, as well as deduce laws from the phenomena of nature. His experiments in electricity, the discovery of its identity with lightning, and the invention of the lightning rod, made his name famous in the universi ties and courts of the Old World; while his "Poor Richard's Almanac," with its aphorisms of worldly wisdom, penetrated every nook and corner in his na tive land, and by its silent influence did much to in culcate the virtues of industry and economy. "The first native of America, who spoke the Eng lish language with classic taste and elegance," his COLONIZATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 229 influence was impressed upon the literature of the land. He established the first American periodical magazine, conducted a newspaper, and wrote popular pamphlets on topics of public interest. Pennsylvania seems to have been the chosen home of the Germans. In the autumn of one year came twenty ships to Philadelphia, with twelve thousand German emigrants on board. The two following years brought each nearly as many. The Rev. Henry M. Muhlenburg, whose influence was exerted for fifty years in laying the foundation of the Lutheran Church in America, had already commenced his labors. The Swedish churches on the Delaware sym pathized in doctrine with the Lutheran, but in time the former, more inclined to adopt the English language, united with the Episcopal church. CHAPTER XV. 16221729 COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS The First Settlers Grants to Royal Favorites The "Grand Model" Settlement at Cape Fear River Sir John Yea- mans Emigrants Under Sayle The Huguenots The People Independent Rice Churchmen and Dissenters Manufactures Prohibited War Between England and Spain Failure to Capture St. Augustine The Ruin of the Appalachees Indian Wars German Emigrants The People Repudiate the Authority of the Proprietaries. We have now to speak of the permanent settlement of the land, which the chivalric Sir Walter Raleigh endeavored to colonize; and to which the noble Coligny sent his countrymen to found a Protestant State, and where they perished by the land of Span ish violence. That vast region, extending from the southern border of Virginia to the northern border of Florida, was represented as a "delightsome land" by the adventurers who had explored it. Thither, during the space of forty years, emigrants had gone from Virginia. These were Dissenters, a term which now began to be applied to all protestants not attached to the church of England. This Church, established by law in Virginia, exercised great illi- berality toward those who would not conform to its ceremonies; and many Dissenters, greatly annoyed by the collectors of tythes, emigrated further south. Among them was a company of Presbyterians who settled on the Chowan. Berkeley, govenor of Vir ginia, assumed jurisdiction over them by appointing one of their number, William Drummond, governor. Drummond was a Scotchman by birth, a devoted ad- COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS 231 vocate of popular liberty, the same who afterward, as has been related, returned to Virginia, and was put to death by Berkeley for the part he took in Bacon's attempt to vindicate the rights of the people. Charles II., who gave away vast regions with as much coolness as if they had really belonged to him, granted to eight of his favorites a charter and cer tain privileges, to repay them for their loyalty in re storing him to the throne of his father. This grant was of the territory extending from the present southern line of Virginia to the St. Johns, in Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Many of these proprietaries were men of influence in their day. Among these were the Earl of Clarendon, who was prime minister; Sir Ashley Cooper, better known as the Earl of Shaf tesbury ; General Monk, Duke of Albermale, who took an active part in the restoration of Charles ; Sir William Berkeley, whom we have met in Virginia history ; and Sir George Carteret, a pro prietary of New Jersey. They professed to have "a pious zeal for the spread of the gospel," but their conduct has led the world to believe that they desired more to enrich themselves by means of a vast land speculation. The labor of framing a government for their em pire in the New World they intrusted to Shaf tesbury, and the celebrated philosopher, John Locke. Their joint production by pre-eminence was named the "Grand Model" or "Fundamental Constitutions." In it the right to rule was assumed to belong only to those of noble blood; and therefore its principles were pronounced immortal. It made provision for Earls, Barons, and Squires, in whose hands, under various forms, should be the entire administration of affairs; while the people were to be attached to the soil as tenants. Those who owned fifty acres of land had the privilege of voting, and were termed free- 232 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION men, but those who were tenants had no such priv ilege, neither could they ever rise above that station. To the freemen an Assembly was granted, but on such conditions, that its acts were under the control of the aristocracy. Every religion was professedly tolerated, but care was taken to declare that the Church of England alone was orthodox. Such was the frame of government prepared for the people of the Carolinas by the united wisdom of two philos ophers. Had it been designed for a people living in the Middle Ages, it might, at least, have had a trial ; an honor to which the "Grand Model" never attained. It was as easy to convert log cabins into castles, as to make the people perpetual tenants; they might be made nobles, but never dependents. Great num bers of them had left Virginia expressly to escape re straint and oppression; and they had very little re spect for the authority of the proprietaries, while they certainly did not fear and honor the king. The contest soon began. The proprietaries claimed the territory because the king had given them a charter, and they demanded quit-rents ; the settlers, already in possession, claimed their lands because they had purchased them from the Indians. Why should they pay quit-rents? A few years before, a small company from New England had formed a settlement on Cape Fear river. Every inducement was held out to retain these settlers, and to encourage others to join them. To each one was offered one hundred acres of land, at a quit-rent of half a penny an acre ; but the barren ness of the soil neutralized every effort. Many of these colonists returned home, and the distress of the remainder was so great, that contributions in their behalf were taken up in New England. Three years later an accession was made to this settlement by a company of planters from the Barba- COLONIZATION OP THE CAROLINAS 233 does. Sir John Yeamans, their leader, was appointed governor. He was instructed, in order to induce others to come, to be "very tender" toward the New Englanders. The people did the best they could with their pine barrens, by making staves and shingles ; these they sent to the West Indies : a trade carried on to this day from that region. It was enacted that debts contracted out of the colony could not be col lected from the emigrant by process of law until he had been a resident five years. It thus became a partial asylum for debtors. A company of emigrants, under the direction 'of William Sayle, was also sent by the proprietaries; and to superintend their own interests they appoint ed Joseph West commercial agent. They landed first at Port Royal, where the remains of the fort built by the Huguenots, one hundred years before were still visible. It had been called Carolina, in honor of the reigning king; the name was now retained in honor of Charles of England. One of the proprie taries, Carteret, gave his name to the colony. For some reason they, before long, removed to another situation further north, where they formed a settle ment between two rivers, which, in honor of Shaftes- bury, were named the Ashley and the Cooper. A lo cation near the harbor, and better suited for commer cial purposes, was afterward noticed. In process of tune a village grew up on this spot ; it is now known as the city of Charleston. The colony continued to increase from emigration. Dissenters came, hoping to enjoy the religious rights denied them at home; Dutch and Germans from Europe ; Presbyterians from the North of Ireland as well as from Scotland the latter furnishing great numbers of "Physicians, clergymen, lawyers, and schoolmasters ;" Churchmen from England, who ex pected their church to be established in accordance 234 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION with the provisions of the "Grand Model ;" emigrants from New York, because of the high-handed mea sures of the English governors ; and Huguenots, un der the patronage of Charles II. He wished to intro duce the culture of the vine and olive, the raising of silk worms, and ultimately the manufacture of silk. Great numbers of the Huguenots, from Languedoc, in the south of France, came to the Carolinas, at tracted by the genial climate. A law granting toleration to the Protestants of France was made by Henry IV. : this was the famous Edict of Nantes, thus named from the city where it was given. This law remained in force almost ninety years, when it was revoked by Louis XIV. He had, as long as he could enjoy it, spent his life in vice and the grossest debauchery; now he thought to silence the clamors of conscience, that terrible enemy of wicked men, and yet win heaven by converting to the Romish church his Protestant subjects. Encouraged in this by the priests, and the wiles of an apostate woman, he let loose upon these industrious and well- disposed people the terrors of persecution. Why go into the details of their wrongs ? the heart sickens at the remembrance. By a refinement of cruelty they were forbidden to flee from their native land, and every avenue of escape was guarded by their in veterate enemies. Yet, after encountering unheard-of dangers and trials, many of them did escape, and more than five hundred thousand fled to different parts of the world. In the New World they were everywhere welcomed by sympathizing friends. The Huguenots were so far superior to the Catholic portion of the French nation, in intelligence and the knowledge of the mechanic arts, that nearly all the manufactures of the country were in their hands. This skill they carried with them, and they thus be came desirable citizens wherever they chose to settle. COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS 235 In South Carolina their influence was specially felt. Their quiet and inoffensive manners won for them respect; their integrity and industry gave them in fluence. Ere long they mingled with the inhabitants ; and their descendants, almost universally, when the hour of trial came, were found on the side of justice and liberty. The original inhabitants of the Carolinas were pe culiar in their character. Numbers of them went thither from the other colonies to avoid restraint; they refused to pay taxes to the proprietaries or to the king, or duties on trade ; they were friendly to the buccaneers or pirates, who infested the Southern waters; they warred against the Indians, to obtain captives to be sent to the West Indies and sold as slaves. There were no towns in the colony; the planters were scattered along the streams and val leys. There were no roads; they travelled along paths through the woods, known only by the blazed trees, or on the rivers by means of row-boats. The proprietaries soon saw the impossibility of inducing a people so free and fearless to conform to a govern ment under the "Grand Model." Sir John Yeamans, who had been appointed gov ernor, brought with him, on his return from Barba- does, fifty families, and nearly two hundred slaves. This was the commencement of negro slavery in South Carolina. The slaves increased very rapidly, and in a few years so many had been introduced that in number they were nearly two to one of the whites. Yeamans, "a sordid calculator," had been impover ished in England, and went abroad to improve his fortune. He took special pains to guard his own in terests ; for this reason he was dismissed by the pro prietaries. Under his successor, the wise and liberal West, the colony flourished for some years. He, too, 236 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION was dismissed, not because he favored himself, but because he favored the people. The next struggle came, when an attempt was made to levy duties on the little trade of the colony. The people considered themselves independent of the proprietaries as well as of the king, and under no obli gation to pay taxes in any form. That there was much dissatisfaction in the colony, may be inferred from the fact that in the space of six years it had five governors. To allay these troubles James Colle- ton, a brother of one of the proprietaries, was sent as governor. But when he attempted to collect rents and taxes he met with as little success as any of his predecessors: the people seized the records of the province, imprisoned his secretary, and boldly defied him and his authority. Though many of the settlers left Virginia on ac count of the want of religious privileges, they found but very few ministers of the gospel in the country. Quaker preachers were the first to visit the Caro- linas; afterward George Fox himself carried them the truth as he believed it. The people warmly wel comed the messenger of the gospel. The influence of this visit was to strengthen the hearts of his follow ers, and to make many converts. The Quakers, everywhere the friends of popular rights, exerted much influence against the arbitrary rule of the pro prietaries. There arose a party of "Cavaliers and ill-livers," whose morals were fashioned after those of the court of the profligate Charles. Opposition was excited by their high-handed measures, and another party sprang into existence ; it was composed of the Pres byterians, Quakers, and the Huguenots, who had re cently been admitted to the rights of citizenship. The disputes were chiefly in relation to rents and land tenures. COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS 237 In the midst of this confusion, an upright Quaker, John Archdale, was elected governor. He assumed the part of mediator, and attempted, with some suc cess, to reconcile the disputants. In selecting his council he chose men of all parties, and by various judicious regulations partially allayed the strife. By just treatment he made friends of the Indians ; he ransomed and sent home some of their Indian con verts, who were held by a neighboring tribe as slaves, and thus conciliated the Spaniards at St. Augustine. The kind act was reciprocated; the Spaniards re stored to their friends some English sailors ship wrecked on their coast. The Dissenters numbered two-thirds of the popu lation, yet, for the sake of peace, they consented one minister of the Church of England should be maintained at the public expense. Upon one occa sion the Churchmen and aristrocracy accidentally had a majority of one in the Assembly ; they mani fested their gratitude for the concession just men tioned, by depriving the Dissenters of all their polit ical privileges; they made the Church of England the established church, to be maintained at the pub lic expense, and proceeded to divide the colony into parishes, to which the "Society for the Propogation of the Gospel" was to appoint pastors. The aggrieved people appealed to the House of Lords for redress ; and the intolerant act of the Legislature was declared to be null and void. The law disfranchising Dissent ers was repealed, that granting a support of the Church of England remained in force till the Kevolu- tion. Notwithstanding these difficulties the colony pros pered, and increased in number from immigration. Among these a company from Massachusetts formed a settlement twenty miles back of Charleston. Dur ing Archdale's administration, the captain of a ship 238 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION from Madagascar gave him some rice, which he dis tributed among the planters to be sown. The ex periment was successful, and soon Carolina rice was celebrated as the best in the world. The fur trade with the Indians was also profitable, while the forest produced their share of profit in lumber and tar. The colonists attempted to manufacture domestic cloths to supply their own wants ; an enterprise they were soon compelled to abandon. The manufactu rers and merchants of England complained, as they themselves wished to enjoy the profits that would raise from supplying them. Parliament passed an act forbidding woolen goods to be transported from one colony to another, or to any foreign port. This unrighteous law, as was designed, broke up nearly all colonial trade and manufactures, and gave the English trades and manufactures the monopoly of both. We shall see how this policy affected all the colonists. In the Carolinas, they could only engage in planting, and a new impulse was given to the slave trade. War had arisen between England and Spain, and their children in the New World unfortunately took up arms against each other. James Moore, who was now governor of Carolina, undertook an expedition against St. Augustine. He is represented as a "needy, forward, ambitious man," who was in the habit of kidnapping Indians and selling them as slaves : now he hoped to plunder the Spaniards at St. Augustine. He pressed some vessels into his service, and set sail with a portion of the troops, and sent others with the Indian allies by land. The town was easily taken, but the soldiers retired to a well fortified fort, and defied the besiegers. Moore must send to the island of Jamaica for cannon, to enable him to take the fort. Meanwhile an Indian runner had sped through the forest to Mobile, and informed the COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS 239 French settlers there of what was going on. They sent word to Havana. We may judge the surprise of Moore, when he saw two Spanish men-of-war come to rescue St. Augustine, instead of the vessel he ex pected from Jamaica. He immediately abandoned his supplies and stores, and made his way by land as best he could, to Charleston. The colony, by this un wise and wicked expedition, only gained a debt which pressed heavily upon the people for years. The Appalachees of Florida, under the influence of Spanish priests, had become converts to Romanism ; they built churches, and began to cultivate the soil and live in villages. As free intercourse existed be tween Florida and Louisiana; the English colonists professed alarm at the influence the French and Spaniards might have over the Indians of that re gion. This furnished an excuse for the ambitious Moore to lead an expedition against these inoffensive Indians, whose only crime was, that they were will ing to be taught religion and agriculture by Spanish priests. With about fifty whites and one thousand friendly Indians, he went through the wilderness, away across the State of Georgia, down on the Gulf to Appalachee Bay. The first intimation the Indians had of this freebooting expedition was an attack upon their village, one morning at daylight. The as sailants met with so warm a reception, that at first they were forced to retire, but not until they had set fire to a church. There happened to be in the bay a Spanish ship, whose commander the next day, with a few white men and four hundred Indians, made an attack on the invaders, but he was defeated. The Indian villages were now destroyed, the churches plundered of their plate, and numbers of Indians taken captive, and removed to the banks of the Alta- maha, while their own country was given to the Sem- inoles, the allies of the invaders. Thus the English 240 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION placed Indians friendly to themselves between the Spanish and French settlements, while in virtue of this expedition they claimed the soil of Georgia. More than one hundred and twenty-five years after ward, the descendants of these Seminoles were re moved beyond the Mississippi. Even then the ruins of churches marked the stations of the Spanish mis sions among the Appalachees. The next year brought Charleston two unexpected enemies a malignant fever, and while it was raging, a squadron of Spanish and French ships to avenge the attack upon the Appalachees. The people, under William Rhett and Sir Nathaniel Johnson, were soon ready to meet them. When they landed, they were opposed at every point, and driven back. A French ship was captured; and of the eight hundred men who landed, more than three hundred were either killed or taken prisoners. This victory was looked upon as a great triumph. In this conflict the Huguenots performed well their part. An unusual number of them had settled in Charleston ; here they founded a church, its forms of worship the same as those to which they were ac customed at home. This church still remains, the only one in this land that has preserved inviolate these pristine forms. A general effort was now made to extend the in fluence of the Church of England in the colonies. The politic William of Orange looked upon the project with a favorable eye. A "Society for the Propaga tion of the Gospel in foreign parts" was formed in England. Its object, the conversion of the Indians, was worthy; but at this time, by means of worldly men and politicians, its influence was directed to the establishment of the Church of England in all the American colonies. The project everywhere met with great opposition except in Virginia; there the COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS 241 dissenters were few in number. This society found ed many churches in the colonies, which remain even to this day. North Carolina was called the "Sanctuary of Run aways," a "land where there was scarcely any gov ernment," with a population made up of Presbyter ians, Independents, Quakers, and other evil-disposed persons." Such was the language of royalists and those opposed to freedom in religious opinions. The proprietaries determined to establish the Church of England, and maintain it at public expense. Those who refused to conform to this law were debarred from holding offices of trust. The people did refuse, and soon there "was but one clergyman in the whole country ;" and those in favor of freedom in religious opinions, were stigmatized as a "rabble of profligate persons." These tyrannies finally led to open rebel lion on the part of the people, who wished to govern themselves, and when unmolested did it well. Thus far North Carolina had escaped the horrors of Indian warfare. There were many tribes west and south of their territory. The greater part of the region now occupied by the States of Georgia and Alabama, was the home of the Creeks or Muscogees, numbering nearly thirty thousand. The territory of the Yamassees lay immediately west of the settlement on the north bank of the Savannah. In the vicinity were the Catawbas, on the river which perpetuates their name. West of these, a mountaineer tribe, the Cherokees, roamed through the beautiful valleys of the upper Tennessee, while they claimed as their hunting grounds the re gions north of them to the Kanawha and the Ohio. A great change had come over the powerful tribes along the coast. The Hatteras tribe, which, in Raleigh's time, one hundred and twenty-five years before, numbered nearly twenty thousand, was now 242 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION reduced to less than one hundred. Some tribes had entirely disappeared; had retired farther back into the wilderness, or become extinct. Vices copied from the white man had wrought their ruin. The Tuscaroras, a warlike tribe, whose ancestors had emigrated from the north, became alarmed at the encroachments of the colonists upon their lands. They determined to make an effort to regain their beautiful valleys. A company of German exiles from the Rhine had come under the direction of De Graffenried. The proprietaries assigned them lands that belonged to the Indians. Lawson, the surveyor-general of the province, and Graffenried, when on an exploring tour up the Neuse, were seized by a party of Tuscaroras, who hurried them on, day and night, to one of their villages. There several chiefs of the tribe held a council, and discussed the wrongs they had suffered from the English. They finally determined to burn the man, who with compass and chain had marked out their lands into farms for the settlers. When Graffenried made known to them that he had been only a short time in the country; that he was the "chief of a different tribe from the English," and moreover promised to take no more of their lands, they did not put him to death with Lawson. He was kept a prisoner five weeks, and then permitted to re turn home. During this time, the Tuscaroras, and their allies the Corees, had attacked the settlements on the Roanoke and Pamlico sound. The carnage continued for three days, and many of the poor peo ple, who had fled from persecution at home, perished by the tomahawk in the land of their adoption. The people appealed to Virginia and to South Caro lina for aid. Only a part of the Tuscaroras had en gaged in the attack. With another portion of the tribe, Spotswood, governor of Virginia, made a treaty COLONIZATION OP THE CAROLINAS 243 of peace, the only assistance he could give. Gov ernor Craven of South Carolina sent to their aid a small force, and a number of friendly Indians. These drove the Tuscaroras to their fort and compelled them to make peace. These same troops, as they were returning home, basely violated the treaty just made ; attacked some Indian towns, and seized their inhabitants to sell them as slaves. The war was of course renewed. The Tuscaroras, driven from one place of concealment to another, and hunted for their scalps or for slaves, finally abandoned their fair lands of the south ; emigrated across Virginia and Pennsyl vania to the home of their fathers, and there, at the great council-fire of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, on Oneida lake in New York, were admitted into that confederacy, of which they became the sixth nation. At this time, the people of Pennsylvania complained of the importation of these captives into their colony. A law was therefore enacted, forbidding the intro duction of "negroes and slaves, as exciting the sus picion and dissatisfaction of the Indians of the prov ince." The war seemed to be ended, and the traders of South Carolina especially, extended their traffic with the tribes who lived in the region between that col ony and the Mississippi. Soon after, these traders were driven from the villages of some of the more western tribes. This was attributed to the influence of the French of Louisiana. The Yamassees, whom we have seen in alliance with the colonists against the Tuscaroras, when they hoped to obtain captives, now renewed their friend ship with the Spaniards, with whom they had been at variance, f or they hated the priests, who attempted to convert them. They induced the Catawbas, the Creeks and the Cherokees, who had also been allies of the colonists against the Tuscaroras, to join them. 244 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION This alliance was likewise attributed to Spanish and French influence. Governor Spotswood seems to have revealed the truth, when he wrote to the "Board of Trade" in London, that "the Indians never break with the English without gross provocation from persons trading with them." These tribes had been looked upon as "a tame and peaceable people," and fair game for unprincipled traders. The savages cunningly laid their plans, and sud denly, one morning, fell upon the unsuspecting set tlers, killed great numbers and took many prisoners. The people fled toward the sea-shore. A swift run ner hastened to Port Royal and alarmed the inhabit ants, who escaped as best they could to Charleston. The Indians continued to prowl around the settle ments, and drove the inhabitants before them, until the colony was on the verge of ruin. The enemy received their first check from forces sent from North Carolina. Governor Craven acted with his usual energy, he raised a few troops and went to meet the savage foe. The contest was long and severe ; in the end the Indian power was broken. The Yamassees emigrated to Florida, where they were welcomed with joy by the Spaniards at St. Augustine. The other tribes retired further into the wilderness. Yet war-parties of the Yamassees con tinued, for years, to make incursions against these frontier settlements, and kept them in a state of alarm. The proprietaries made no effort to protect the colonists, or to share the expense of the war. The latter at length determined, as they must defend themselves, also to manage their own affairs, and they resolved "to have no more to do with the pro prietaries, nor to have any regard to their officers." On the other hand, the proprietaries complained that the "people were industriously searching for grounds COLONIZATION OF THE CAROLINAS 245 of quarrel with them, with the view of throwing off their authority." The matter was brought before Parliament, which declared the charter of the pro prietaries to be forfeited. Francis Nicholson, who for many years had been experimenting as a colonial governor, and as he said, "been falsely sworn out of Virginia and lied out of Nova Scotia," was appointed provisional governor. He was not an example of good temper, and much less of good morals. He made a treaty with the Chero- kees, who were to permit only Englishmen to settle on their lands ; and with the Creeks, whose hunting- grounds were to extend to the Savannah. He had battled against popular rights in the north, now he thought best to make his path easy, and he confirmed all the laws passed by the revolutionary Assembly. However, when he left the country he mourned over the "spirit of commonwealth notions which pre vailed," as the result, as he said, of intercourse with the New Englanders, who, at this time, were busily engaged in trading with the Carolinas. These disputes were at length ended by an act of Parliament. Seven of the proprietaries sold out their claims to the government of England. The two Carolinas were now separated, and a royal gov ernor appointed for each. CHAPTER XVI 17321750 COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA Pounded in Benevolence Oglethorpe First Emigration Sa vannah Encouragements Germans from the Western Alps Augusta The Moravians Scotch Highlanders The Wesleys Whitefield, His Orphan House War with Spain; Its Causes Failure to Capture St. Augustine Repulse of the Spanish Invaders The Colony Becomes a Royal Province. We have seen some colonies founded as asylums for the oppressed for conscience* sake, and others the offspring of royal grants to needy courtiers, bankrupt in fortune, and sometimes in morals, seek ing in their old age to retrieve for the follies of their youth. It is now a pleasure to record the founding of an asylum not alone for the oppressed for conscience' sake, but for the victims of unrighteous law a col ony the offspring of benevolence ; the benevolence of one noble-hearted man ; one who, born in affluence, devoted his wealth, his mind and his energies to the great work. James Edward Oglethorpe, "the poor man's friend," "a Christian gentleman of the Cava lier school," had sympathy for the unfortunate who were immured within prison walls, not for crime, but for debt. He labored to have repealed the laws au thorizing such imprisonment, and to reform the en tire prison discipline of England. His efforts did not end here ; he desired to provide in America an asylum for those who were, while in their own land, at the mercy of hard-hearted cred itors, as well as a place of refuge for the poor, where comfort and happiness might be the reward of in- COLONIZATION OP GEORGIA 247 dustry and virtue. There were, at this time, in Eng land, more than four thousand men in prison for debt, with no hope of relief. Through his exer tions, "multitudes were restored to light and free dom, who by long confinement were strangers and helpless in the country of their birth." Others became interested in his schemes of benev olence, and a petition numerously signed by men of influence and family was presented to the king. They asked a charter to colonize the territory south of the Savannah river, then included in Carolina, with unfortunate debtors and with Protestants from the continent of Europe. A grant was given by George II. of the region lying between the Savannah and the Altamaha, and from their head springs west to the Pacific. The territory was to be known as Georgia. It was given "in trust for the poor" to twenty-one trustees for the space of twenty-one years. The trustees manifested their zeal by giving their services without any reward. The climate of this region was thought to be very favorable for the raising of silk- worms, and the culti vation of the grape. Merchants, therefore, who could not be otherwise influenced, were induced to favor the cause by hopes of gain. The "free exer cise of religion" was guaranteed to all "except papists." Under no conditions was land to be grant ed in tracts of more than five hundred acres. This was designed to enable the poor to become owners of the soil, and to prevent the rich from monopolizing the best lands. Much interest was taken in this new field of be nevolence, and donations were made by all classes of society. What a transition for the poor debtor ! He was to exchange the gloomy walls of a prison for a home in that delightful land, where grim poverty never would annoy him more ! It was determined to 248 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION take as colonists only the most needy and helpless, and, as far as possible, exclude those of bad morals. Thirty-five families, numbering altogether one hundred and fifty persons, embarked for their new homes. While others gave to the enterprise their substance and influence, Oglethorpe volunteered to superintend the colony in person. They took with them a "clergyman with Bibles, Prayer-books, and Catechisms," and one person skilled in the raising of silk. The company landed first at Charleston; by a vote of the Assembly, they were welcomed, and pre sented with supplies of rice and cattle. Oglethorpe hastened to explore the Savannah. On a bluff twenty miles from its mouth he planted his colony. This bluff was already in the possession of a small band of Indians, from whom it was named Yamacraw. Through the efforts of Mary Musgrove, who acted as interpreter, the bluff was purchased. This woman was a daughter of a Uchee chief, and had been sent to school in Charleston, where she had married an English trader. The colonists immediately began to build and for tify their town which they named Savannah, the In dian name of the river. The town was regularly laid out, with wide streets and spacious squares. A gar den of some acres was inclosed for a nursery of mul berry trees to feed silk worms; and here also ex periments were made, in order to introduce Euro pean fruits. The aged chief of the little band of Indians wished protection. He presented to Oglethorpe a buffalo skin, on the inside of which was painted an eagle. "The eagle," said he, "signifies speed, and the buffalo strength ; the English are swift as the eagle for they have flown over vast seas ; they are as strong as the buffalo, for nothing can withstand them ; the feath ers of the eagle are soft, and signify love ; the buff a- COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA 249 lo's skin is warm, and signifies protection ; therefore, I hope the English will love and protect our little families." The hopes of poor old Tomochechi and his tribe were doomed to be sadly disappointed. The genial climate delighted the colonists, and they went cheerfully to work, building their houses. The chief s of the lower Creeks came and made a treaty; they acknowledged the English rule from the Savan nah to the St. John's, and west to the Chattahooche, and gave them permission to cultivate the lands not used by their own people. Then came a messenger from the distant Cherokees, pledging the friendship of his tribe. Soon after came a Choctaw chief say ing, "I have come a great way ; I belong to a great nation; the French are among us; we do not like them ; they build forts and trade with us ; their goods are poor, and we wish to trade with you." Thus the way was opened for a profitable traffic with the tribes north of the gulf, and west to the Mississippi. The fame of this delightful land reached Europe, and penetrated even into the fastness of the western Alps. There, long ages before the Reformation, a pure gospel had been taught. Now a persecution was raging, and the sufferings of these Christians, now become Lutherans, deeply enlisted the sympathies of the English people. These Germans were invited by the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," to emigrate to Georgia, where they could be free from their persecutors, and lands were offered them ; but they rejoiced more than all in the opportunity given them to carry the gospel to the Indians. Money was subscribed by the benevolent in England to enable them to travel from Augsburg, across the country to Frankfort on the Main. Nearly one hundred set out on their pilgrimage ; they took with them, in wagons, their wives and children ; their Bibles and books of devotion. The men as they travelled on foot be- 250 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION gulled the toils of their journey by singing praises to God, and offering prayers for his guiding hand, and his blessing on their enterprise. They passed down the Main to its junction with the Rhine and thence floated down to Rotterdam, where they were joined by two clergymen, Bolzius and Gronau. They sailed to England, and were there met and encouraged by a committee of the trustees, and thence to their dis tant home across the ocean. The faith that had cheered them on their native mountains, sustained them amid the storms of the Atlantic; when, dur ing a terrible tempest, the waves broke over the ship, and caused an outcry of alarm from the English, they continued their devotions and calmly sang on. When one of them was asked, "Were you not afraid?" "I thank God, no," was the reply. "But were not your women and children afraid?" "No, our women and children are not afraid to die." A passage of fifty-seven days brought them to re ceive a hearty welcome at Charleston from Ogle- thorpe, and in less than a week they were at their journey's end. A suitable place had been chosen for their residence, they founded a village a short dis tance above Savannah, and significantly named it Ebenezer. In gratitude they raised a monumental stone as a memento of the goodness of God in thus bringing them to a land of rest. They were joined from time to time by others from their native land. By their industry and good morals they secured pros perity, and also the respect of their fellow-colonists. At the head of boat navigation on the Savannah the town of Augusta was now founded. This soon became an important trading post with the Indians. Oglethorpe gave himself unweariedly to the work of benefiting those he governed. The success of the enterprise may be safely attributed to his disinter ested labors. "He," said Governor Johnson, of South COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA 251 Carolina, "nobly devotes all his powers to save the poor, and to rescue them from their wretchedness." After the residence of a year and a half he returned to England, taking with him several Indians chiefs, and raw silk the product of the colony sufficient to make a robe for the queen. As an inducement for settlers, the trustees offered to each one who should emigrate, at his own expense, fifty acres of lands. On these conditions came a num ber of Moravians or United Brethren, with the in tention of devoting themselves to the conversion of the Indians. They formed a new settlement on the Ogeechee, south of the Savanah. The same benevolent spirit which had relieved poor debtors in prison, now devised measures to ward off one of the most effective causes of debt and wretch edness : and accordingly the importation of rum into the colony was prohibited. The trustees also forbid negro slavery, "that misfortune of other planta tions." They did not wish to see their province "filled with blacks, the precarious property of a few." They looked upon it as cruel and inhuman, and in jurious to the "poor white settlers," for whom, in trust, they held the colony. The next year Oglethorpe returned, with more emi grants, among whom was a party of Scotch High landers, with their minister, John McLeod. These founded a settlement at Darien, on the Altamaha. There likewise came two young men as preachers to the people, and as missionaries to the Indians. These were the brothers John and Charles Wesley, men of ardent piety and zealous in the cause of religion, they hoped to make the colony eminent for its re ligious character. Enthusiastic in their feelings, and perhaps a little wanting in discretion, certainly in experience, they were soon involved in trouble. For a time, John Wesley drew crowds of hearers ; places 252 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION of amusement were almost deserted. We doubt not that he spoke the truth plainly, and in accordance with his duty, but his austere manners and denun ciation of sin created him enemies. In one case, his severe exercise of church discipline excited bitter feeling against himself, and sympathy for the vic tim of his injudicious zeal. Charles Wesley was, for awhile, the secretary of Oglethorpe, but in some un explained manner he gave offense to his patron; at length an explanation took place, and a reconciliation. Kind and gentle in his nature he was unfitted to en dure the hardships to be encountered, and to sympa thize with the unpolished colonists of Georgia. After a residence of less than two years, the Wesleys' dis appointed in their hopes of doing good there, left the colony forever. In their native land they became the founders of the denomination of Methodists, who have been, in that very colony, as well as in others, among the foremost in carrying the gospel to desti tute settlements. Thus their labors were blessed, their prayers were answered, and their hopes re alized ; but, as is often the case in the ways of Infinite Wisdom, not in the form and manner in which they expected. Just as the Wesleys, on their return home, were passing up the channel, their friend and fellow- laborer, the celebrated George Whitefield, the most eloquent preacher of his day, was leaving England to join them in Georgia. Whitefield had commenced preaching when a mere youth, and by his wonderful eloquence drew great crowds. He first preached in the prisons, and then to the poor in the open fields. Now. he felt it his duty to visit the colonies. When he arrived in Georgia, his sympathies were much en listed in behalf of the destitute children, left orphans. He visited the Lutherans at Ebenezer, where he noticed their asylum for poor children, and deter- COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA 253 mined, if possible, to found a similar one. By his fervent zeal in the cause he obtained sufficient funds in England and America. The institution was found ed a few miles from Savannah. During his lifetime it flourished ; at his death it began to languish, and finally passed out of existence. The Spaniards were not pleased with the encroach ments of the English upon what they deemed their territory, and they sent commissioners to protest against it, and to demand the surrender of all Georgia and part of Carolina. When this was unheeded, they prepared to expel the invaders. There were other causes, which made it evident that war would soon take place between the mother countries, in which the colonies would certainly become involved. The European governments restricted the com merce of their colonies so as to make them subserve their own interests. Those belonging to Spain must trade only with the port of Cadiz, and the merchan dise shipped to them was sold at enormous prices. The English traders persisted in smuggling goods into the Spanish ports. To accomplish this they re sorted to various stratagems. By treaty, an English vessel was permitted to come once a year to Porto- bello and dispose of her cargo ; but this vessel was fol lowed by others; they came in the night time, and slipped in more bales to supply the place of those sold, and continued to do this, till the market was supplied. Sometimes, under the pretense of dis tress, ships would run into Spanish ports, and thus dispose of their cargoes. Though Spain was rich and feeble, she was haughty and cruel ; and when any of these worthies, who were engaged in violating her laws, were caught, they were severely dealt with. Sometimes they were imprisoned, and sometimes their ears were cropped. This exasperated the traders, and though justly 254 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION punished, they came with the assurance of ill-treated men, to ask protection from their own government. They were looked upon as martyrs to the cause of free commerce, and merchants, in defense of such men as these, did not blush to clamor for war, in the face of justice and national integrity. In truth, the English government connived at this clandestine trade, and secretly rejoiced at the advantage gained over her rival. By this connivance at injustice she gave her own colonies a lesson on the subject of their trade which, in less than half a century, she found, to her surprise, they had fully learned. Another source of irritation to the people South Carolina, was that slaves, who ran away to Florida and put themselves under Spanish protection, were not only welcomed, but given lands; organized into military companies, and armed at the public expense. A demand made upon the authorities at St. Augus tine to restore the runaways, was promptly refused. Oglethorpe hastened to England to make prepara tions for the coming contest, and returned in less than a year, with a regiment of six hundred men, which he himself had raised and disciplined. He was now prepared to defend the southern boundary of Georgia. He renewed treaties with the Indian tribes north of the Gulf from the Atlantic to the Mississip pi, and hoped to retain them in his interest. War was at length, declared by England against Spain, and Oglethorpe received ' orders, as military com mander in Georgia and the Carolinas, to invade Flor ida. With his usual energy, he hastened to Charles ton to make the necessary preparations. Supplies were voted and a regiment enlisted; and, joined by Indian allies, he set out to lay siege to St. Augustine. He found the garrison much more numerous than he expected, and the fortifications stronger. After a short siege, the Indians began to desert, and the COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA 255 Carolina regiment, enfeebled by sickness, returned home. In five weeks the enterprise was abandoned. On this occasion, Oglethorpe exhibited the kindness of his nature; he endured all the privations of the common soldiers. The captives taken were treated kinldy, no houses were burned, and but little property destroyed. This war had a very bad effect upon the colony of Georgia. Instead of making farmers of the settlers, it made them soldiers, and their farms were neglect ed. The Moravians, who were religiously opposed to bearing arms, emigrated, one and all, to Pennsyl vania, where they founded the towns of Bethlehem and Nazareth. It was ere long the turn of Georgia to be invaded. For this purpose, the Spaniards at Havana and St. Augustine fitted out thirty-six vessels and three thousand troops. The commander, Monteano, in stead of sailing direct to Savannah, became entangled among the islands near the mouths of the St. Mary and the Altamaha, while endeavoring to take pos session of one or two insignificant settlements. Oglethorpe ascertained the intention of the enemy, but as he had received no assistance from Carolina, was ill prepared to meet them. Having but eight hundred men, he was forced to retreat from Cumber land island to St. Simons, on which was the little town of Frederica, the special object of the Spanish attack. After the enemy landed he went to surprise them in the night, but as he approached their lines, one of his soldiers, a Frenchman, fired his gun, rushed into the enemy's camp, and gave the alarm. Oglethorpe employed stratagem to throw suspicion upon the de serter ; he wrote him a letter, in which he addressed him as a spy for the English, and directed him to in duce the Spaniards to attack them, or at least remain 256 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION where they were until the English fleet of six men- of-war, which had sailed from Charleston, should reach St. Augustine, and capture it. This letter he bribed a Spanish prisoner to carry to the Frenchmen. As was to be expected, it was taken immediately to the Spanish commander, and the Frenchman soon found himself in irons. In the midst of the alarm, some Carolina ships, laden with supplies for Ogle- thorpe, appeared in the offing. Thinking these the veritable men- of -war mentioned in the letter, the in vaders determined to attack and destroy Frederica, before they should sail to defend St. Augustine. On the way they fell into an ambuscade, and, at a place since known as the "Bloody Marsh," they were sig nally defeated. The following night they embarked, and sailed to defend St. Augustine from the expected attack. Thus Georgia and the Carolinas were saved from ruin. The following year Oglethorpe left the colony for ever. There he had spent ten years of toil and self- denial ; he had for his reward no personal benefit, but the satisfaction of founding a State, and of leaving it in a prosperous condition. The form of govern ment was changed from a military to a civil rule, and the various magistrates were appointed. In time, slavery was gradually introduced. Slaves were at first hired from the Carolinas, for a short time, and then for one hundred years. The German settlers were industrious and frugal, and so were the Highlanders. They were opposed to the introduction of slaves. On the other hand, great numbers of the English settlers were idle and bankrupt from their improvidence; "they were unwilling to labor, but were clamorous for privileges to which they had no right." They contended that rum was essential to the health in that climate, and that none but the slaves could cultivate the soil of Georgia; and, in COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA 257 seven years after the benevolent Oglethorpe left, slave ships brought negroes to Savannah, direct from Africa. The trustees, when the twenty-one years for which they were to manage the "colony for the poor" were expired, resigned their trust, and Georgia became a royal province. CHAPTER XVII 16601688 NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES II. The Restoration The Commissioners Progress of Trade Causes of King Philip's War Death of Wamsutta State of the Colony Attack at Swanzey Philip among the Nipmucks Attacks on Northfield, and on Hadley Goffe The Tragedy at Bloody Brook Philip Among the Narragansets Their Fort Captured The Warriors Take Revenge Philip Returns to Mount Hope to Die Dis asters of the War James II. The Charters in Danger Andros Governor; His Illegal Measures; Takes Away the Charter of Rhode Island; Not So Successful at Hartford Andros in Jail The Charters Resumed. The first intimation of the restoration of Charles II. was brought to New England by two fugitives, Whalley and Goffe. They came branded as regicides, for they sat on the trial of Charles I. They had fled for their lives ; ere long came the royal commander to deliver them up to their pursuers, that they might be taken back to England and there punished. But royal commands and rewards were of no avail, the stern republicans were not betrayed; the people gloried in protecting them. Rumors were afloat that the governments of all the colonies were to be changed, and that soon armed ships might be expected in the harbor of Boston, sent to enforce the royal authority. After a year's delay, it was thought prudent to proclaim Charles as king. It was done ungraciously, as all manifesta tions of joy were forbidden. From time to time intelligence came of the execu tion of many of their best friends in England; among these were Hugh Peters and Sir Harry Vane : NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES IT 259 news came also that Episcopacy was again in power, and that more than two thousand clergymen had been driven from their congregations because they would not conform. At length, two agents were sent to conciliate the king, and to make guarded profes sions of loyalty, as well as to ask permission to make laws against the Quakers. Connecticut and Rhode Island had both received liberal charters from Charles, the former obtained principally through the influence of the younger Win- throp. Meantime the intolerance of Massachusetts had raised up against her a host of enemies, who were continually whispering their complaints into the royal ear. The alarm was presently increased, by information that commissioners had been ap pointed to inquire into the affairs of the colony. To provide for the future, the charter was, for safe keeping, secretly given to a committee appointed by the General Court. When the commissioners came, they outraged the prejudices of the people by having the Episcopal service performed in Boston. The Puritans observed the evening of Saturday as holy time ; after the Jew ish custom, they commenced their Sabbath at sunset. As if to annoy them, the commissioners habitually spent their Saturday evenings in carousals. They also took in hand to redress grievances, and invited all those who had complaints to make against the Massachusetts colony, to bring them to their knowl edge. Rhode Island came with her complaints, and the Narraganset chiefs with theirs ; but the General Court cut the matter short, by forbidding such pro ceedings, as contrary to the charter. The laws passed by the mother country for the ex press purpose of crippling the trade of the colonies, could not be enforced, and Boston especially attracted attention by her prosperous commerce. Industry 260 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION and temperance insured the prosperity of the people, and they increased in riches and in numbers; they also found means to indulge their taste, and began to embellish their villages. Massachusetts traded not only with the other colonies, but her ships were found in every sea where commerce invited, and not only England traded with her, but France and Spain, Hol land and Italy, were competitors for her favors. For forty years there had been no Indian war in New England ; the fate of the Pequods was not for gotten. During this time the number of the Indians had not diminished, while that of the colonists had greatly increased. Their farms had extended in every direction; they gradually absorbed the best lands of the country, and crowded the Indians down on the little bays and peninsulas, on the southern shore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This pol icy was openly avowed, as thereby they could be more easily watched. The Wampanoags and Narragansets were especial ly aggrieved. They could not, without great exer tion, obtain the means of living; the animals which they hunted, had been nearly all driven away, and they were forced to depend upon fish, and of these they could obtain but a scanty supply, and they had not learned the art of cultivating the soil, but in a very rude manner. Massasoit, the friend who had welcomed the early Pilgrims, left two sons, Wamsutta and Metacom. Years before their father's death these young men went to Plymouth, where they entered into friendly relations with the English, and received from them the names by which we know them, Alexander and Philip. They were no ordinary men, they seemed to have perceived from the first the dangers that threatened their race. If so, they concealed their NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES U 261 impressions, and could never be won over to the re ligion of the English. When Massasoit died, and Wamsutta became chief sachem of the Wampanoags, the colonists, incited by Uncas, chief of the Moheg- ans, his bitter enemy, became suspicious of him. As he reposed at his hunting lodge with eighty of his followers, he was surprised by Winslow, who had been sent out with an armed forced to bring him to the court at Plymouth. Wamsutta thought not of danger ; his arms and those of his warriors were out side the lodge and easily secured. When Winslow, with his pistol at his breast, told the astonished chief he must go with him, his proud spirit was roused to bitter indignation. His exasperation threw him into a fever so violent, that he was unable to proceed far. In consequence of his illness he was permitted to return home. "He died on his way. He was carried home on the shoulders of men, and borne to his silent grave near Mount Hope, in the evening of the day, and in the prime of his life, between lines of sad, quick-minded Indians, who well believed him the victim of injustice and ingratitude ; for his father had been the ally, not the subject of England, and so was he, and the like indignity had not before been put upon any sachem."* It is natural to suppose that the untimely and trag ical fate of Wamsutta gave character to the latent hostility that existed in the mind of his brother Philip toward the English. Soon suspicions fell up on him, and at one time he was harshly treated, and compelled to give up his firearms. A praying Indian, who lived with Philip, told the colonists that the Wampanoags entertained some designs against them. There is some doubt as to the truth of this story; however, a short time after this Indian was found murdered. Suspicion fell upon three of Philip's men, *Elliott's Hist, of New England. 262 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION who were apprehended by the authorities of Plym outh, and brought to trial; they were pronounced guilty by a jury composed of English and Indians. The execution of these men aroused the slumbering enmity of the tribe. The young warriors were clam orous for war, while the old men dreaded the contest. Philip, from his superior sagacity, foresaw that an attempt to regain their lands would end in their own destruction. The colonists could now have warded off the strife by conciliating the Indians. No effort was made to soothe their wounded feelings, they were treated as "bloody heathen," whom it was their duty, as "the chosen of the Lord," to drive out of the land. Av arice, contrary to express law, had been for many years furnishing the savages with fire-arms, and when the contest came, they were far more formid able than the Pequods had been ; to conquer them re quired a great sacrifice of the best blood of the col ony. Though there were settlements more or less ex tending from Boston to Westfield on the west, and to Northfield in the Connecticut valley on the bor ders of Vermont, and on the north to Haverhill on the Merrimac, there were vast solitudes, whose secret glens and hiding-places were known only to the In dians. The spirit of the tribes near the settlements was broken by their contact with the superior whites, but Philip had under his control seven hundred brave warriors, who rejoiced in their freedom, and scorned to be the subjects of any white chief beyond the great waters. They not only rejected the religion of the white man, but despised those tribes which had adopted it. In prospect of the threatened war, a day of fasting and prayer was observed ; as the people were return ing from church at Swanzey, they were suddenly at- NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES H 263 tacked by a comany of Philip's men, and seven or eight persons killed. Philip shed tears when he heard that blood had been shed ; the dreaded ruin of his people was drawing near. His tribe, single-hand ed, entered upon the contest ; the others were either the allies of the English or indifferent. He scorned to desert his people, or forfeit his character as a warrior, and he threw himself into the contest with the whole energy of his nature. The war began within the bounds of the Plymouth colony ; but volunteers hastened to its aid from Mas sachusetts. The army invaded the territory of the Wampanoags, and in a few weeks Philip, driven from Mount Hope, became a fugitive among the Nipmucks, a tribe in the interior of Massachusetts. After the flight of Philip and his warriors, the little army went into the territory of the Narragansets, and compelled them to promise neutrality, and also to deliver up the fugitive Indians who should flee to them. They fondly hoped the war was at an end; but this was only its beginning. The Nipmucks were induced to make common cause with Philip and his tribe. His warriors, par tially armed with muskets, prowled round the settle ments, ruthlessly murdered the whites, and treated their remains with savage barbarity. The Indians were familiar with the hidden paths of the wilder ness; not daring to meet the colonists in open con flict, they watched for opportunities of secret attack. It was not known when or where the storm would burst, and the terror-stricken inhabitants along the frontiers fled to the more thickly settled portions. Superstition added her terrors. The people saw an Indian bow across the heavens ; a scalp appeared on the face of the eclipsed moon ; troops of phantom horsemen galloped through the air ; the howlings of the wolves were more than usually fearful, and por- 264 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION tended some terrible ruin; whizzing bullets were heard in the whistling wind; the northern lights glowed with an unusual glare the harbinger of the punishment of sin. They began to enumerate their sins; among these were the neglect of the training of children, the using of profane language, the exist ence of tippling houses, the want of respect for par ents, the wearing of long and curled hair by the men, the flaunting of gaudy-colored ribbons by the wom en; and intolerance whispered that they had been too lenient to the Quakers. The Nipmucks had fifteen hundred warriors ; with some of these Philip hastened to the valley of the Connecticut, and spread desolation from Springfield, through all the settlements to the farthest town of Northfield. An effort was made to win back the Nipmucks to their old allegiance ; and Captain Hutchinson, son of Anne Hutchinson, was sent with twenty men to treat with them, but the whole company was waylaid and murdered at Brookfield. That place was burned : the people fled to the strongest house, which was be sieged two days, and finally set on fire ; but providen tially a storm of rain extinguished the flames, and others coming to their assistance, the Indians were driven off. The enemy concerted to make their attacks on the same day and hour, in different parts of the coun try. On the Sabbath, which seems to have been chosen by them as the day most favorable for an attack, they burned Deerfield; and, as the people were worshipping in church, they attacked Hadley. Suddenly there appeared a tall and venerable looking man, with a white flowing beard, who brandished a sword and encouraged and directed the people in the battle. When the savages were driven off, he disap peared; some thought him an angel, specially sent NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES IT 265 by heaven to their aid. It was Goff e, one of the regi cides of whom we have spoken. These regicides had been hunted by zealous royalists from one place of refuge to another; now they were sheltered by the good minister, John Davenport, of New Haven ; now by friends at Milford; now they had wandered in the pathless wilderness, and once they had heard the sound of their enemies' horses, as in hot pursuit of them, they crossed the very bridge under which they were secreted ; they had rested in a cave on the top of "West Rock," New Haven, known to this day as the "Judge's Cave," and at this time they were liv ing secretly in the house of Minister Russell, at Had- ley. Thus they passed their remaining years ban ished from society and from the occupations of life. A company of chosen young men, "the flower of the county of Essex," eighty in number, were en gaged in bringing the fruits of harvest down from the vicinity of Deerfield to Hadley, where it was proposed to establish a magazine for provisions. They fell into an ambuscade of seven hundred war riors, and, after a desperate encounter, nearly all per ished, at the crossing of a little stream, since called the "Bloody Brook." Ere long the flourishing settlement of Hatfield was attacked ; and the Indians in the vicinity of Spring field were induced to take up arms; but the people were prepared, and repulsed them. Philip returned home, but finding Mount Hope hi ruins, he went among the Narragansets. The colonists feared that he would induce them to join him, and in self-defense they resolved to treat them as enemies. The winter, by stripping the trees and bushes of their leaves, had deprived the Indians of their hiding places, and the swamps, their favorite sites for forts, could be passed over when frozen. A company of one thou sand men set out to attack their principal fort. This 266 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION plant of defense contained about six hundred wig wams and nearly three thousand of the tribe; war riors with their wives and children, and an abundance of provisions for the winter. They thought them selves secure ; they had taken no part in the war. Guided by an Indian traitor, the army marched fifteen miles through a deep snow, and finally arrived at the Narraganset fort, situated near where the village of Kingston in Rhode Island now stands. Their fort, surrounded by a palisade, stood in the midst of a swamp, and was almost inaccessible ; it had but one entrance, the narrow passage to which was along the body of a fallen tree. After a severe con test of two hours, the English forced themselves within the fort, and applied the torch to the frail and combustible wigwams. A thousand warriors were slain, and hundreds were made prisoners. Their pro visions were all destroyed, and those who escaped were left shelterless in the winter storms. They were forced to dig in the snow for nuts and acorns to sustain life, and great numbers died of exposure and famine before spring. The colonists suffered severe ly ; they lost six captains, and two hundred and fifty men killed and wounded. The surviving Narraganset warriors took venge ance ; they went from place to place ; they massacred, they burned, they destroyed. The settlements in their vicinity were abandoned. Though Rhode Island had not joined in the war, they made no distinction, and Providence was almost destroyed. The now aged Roger Williams felt it his duty to act as captain, in defending the town he had founded. Bands of war riors swept through and through the territory of Plymouth, and the people were only safe when with in their forts. Towns in different parts of the coun try were attacked at the same time; the enemy seemed to be everywhere. NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES IT 267 The majority of the Indians continued to fight; and though they fought without hope, they preferred death to submission. Others quarrelled among them selves, charging one another with being the cause of the war. At length the Nipmucks submitted; and the tribes on the Connecticut, having grown weary of the contest, would shelter Philip no longer. He now appealed, but in vain, to the Mohawks to take up arms. In desperation, he determined to return and die at Mount Hope. When one of his followers proposed to make peace, the indignant chieftain struck him dead at a blow. It was soon noised abroad that Philip had returned to his old home. Benjamin Church, the most energetic of the English captains surprised his camp, dispersed his followers, and took prisoner his wife and little son. Philip's spirit was now crushed; he exclaimed: "My heart breaks; I am ready to die !" A few days after he was shot by a traitor of his own tribe. His orphan boy was now to be disposed of. He was taken to Boston; some were in favor of putting him to death, others of sell ing him into slavery. The latter prevailed, and the last prince of the Wampanoags, the grandson of gen erous old Massasoit, who had welcomed the Pilgrims, and had given them his friendship, was sent to toil as a slave under the burning sun of Bermuda. After the close of the war, renewed efforts were made to convert the remaining Indians, but without success. The habits of a people are not easily changed. If those who came in contact with them had set them a Christian example, as did Eliot, and the "learned and gentle" Mayhew, the effect might have been different. The war had completely broken the power of the Indians. The more bold emigrated to Canada, and avenged themselves in after years, by guiding war parties of the French against the Eng lish settlements. Some went to the west, and, it is 268 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION said, their descendants at a later day roamed over its wide prairies. But the great majority lost their native independence, and became still more degraded by marrying with the negroes. At this day, a few descendants of the warriors who once roved over the hills and valleys of New England, may be seen linger ing in the land of their fathers. For a time the effect of the war was disastrous ; though it lasted Dut little more than a year, a dozen villages were in ashes, and others nearly destroyed. Of the private dwellings, a tenth part had been burned, six hundred of the men of the colony had perished in battle, not to mention the women and children ruthlessly massacred. Almost every family was in mourning. The expenses of the war were great, and for years weighed heavily upon the peo ple, while the desolation of the s ttlements para lyzed their energies. No aid came to the sufferers from England ; but be it remembered, that a Non-conformist church in Dublin sent them five hundred pounds. Instead of aiding them, the spendthrift Charles devised means to extort money from them by taxing their trade. This led to the establishment of a royal custom house in Boston. To compel the merchants to pay tribute, he threatened to deprive them of English passes for their ships in the Mediterranean, where, without re dress, they might be robbed by pirates along the Bar- bary coast; and he also threatened to deprive them of their trade with the southern colonies. These threats had little effect upon men who had learned to take care of themselves. James II., the brother and successor of Charles, was bigoted and stubborn ; a Catholic in disguise, he wished to establish that form of religion, not only in England, but in the colonies. The more easily to accomplish this object he professed to be very toler- NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES It. AND JAMES II 269 ant, and proclaimed what he termed an Indulgence, by which persecution for religious opinions was henceforth to end. This tolerance was only a means to evade the laws, which prohibited the introduction of Romish ceremonies and doctrines into the Church of England. He became a bitter persecutor ; in truth, to comprehend the idea of the rights of conscience or of religious freedom, was far beyond the capacity of James. That time-serving politician, Joseph Dud ley, a native of Massachusetts, who, when it was profitable, was a zealous advocate of colonial rights, now became an earnest defender of the prerogative of the king. He was appointed the royal president of Massachusetts, until a governor should arrive. There could be no free press under a Stuart, and Edward Randolph was appointed its censor. Ran dolph disliked the people of Massachusetts as cor dially as they hated him. The commission of Dudley contained no recognition of an Assembly or Repre sentatives of the people. James was at a loss to see the use of a legislature to make laws, when his wis dom could be appealed to for that purpose. Dudley, looked upon as the betrayer of his country's liber ties, was very unpopular, while Randolph took pains to have his character as little respected at court, by representing him as having "his fortune to make," and willing to "cringe and bow to anything." James had resolved to take away the charters of all the colonies and make them royal provinces. Ere long came Sir Edmund Andros, a governor of all New England. A fit instrument of a despot, he was au thorized to impose taxes, to appoint his own council, to have the control of the militia, to prohibit printing, to introduce Episcopacy, and to enforce the laws re stricting the trade of the colonies. That be might have the means to fulfil his instructions, he brought two companies of soldiers the first ever stationed 270 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION in New England. As a reward for his desertion of the people's rights, Dudley was appointed Chief Jus tice, and the busy Randolph, Colonial Secretary, and William Stoughton, through the influence of Dudley, was named one of the council. Now followed a series of measures exceedingly annoying to the people. Their schools were left to languish. To assemble for deliberation on any public matter was forbidden; but it was graciously permitted them to vote for their town officers. The customs of the country were not respected. The usual form of administering an oath was that of an appeal to heaven by the up lifted hand ; the form now prescribed was that of lay ing the hand on the Bible, which the Puritans thought idolatrous, a relic of popery. Exorbitant fees were extorted; those who held lands were told their titles were not valid, because they were ob tained under a charter which was now declared to be forfeited ; and 4 when an Indian deed was presented, it was decided to be "worth no more than the scratch of a bear's paw." No person could leave the colony without a pass from the governor. No magistrate nor minister who was deemed merely a layman could unite persons in marriage. The Episcopal clergyman at Boston was the only person in all New England authorized to perform that ceremony. Episcopacy was now fully introduced, and the people required to furnish funds to build a church for its service. A tax of the same amount was levied upon each person, poor or rich ; this some of the towns re fused to pay. John Wise, the minister of Ipswich, was bold to say the tax was unjust, and ought not to be paid. For this he was arrested. When he spoke of his privileges as an Englishman, he was told the only privileges he could claim was not to be sold as a slave ; with others, he was fined heavily. When it was said that such proceedings would affect the pros- NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES II 271 perity of the country, it was openly avowed that "it was not for his majesty's interest that the country should thrive." "No man could say that any thing was his own." Andros now demanded of Rhode Island her char ter, but as she did not send it, he went to Providence, and breaking the seal of the colony declared its gov ernment dissolved. He then went with an armed guard to Hartford, and demanded the charter of the colony of Connecticut. The Assembly was in ses sion. The members received him with outward re spect. The discussion of the subject was protracted till evening, and when candles were lighted, the charter was brought in and laid on the table. As the eager Andros reached forth his hand to seize the precious document, the lights were suddenly put out ; when they were relighted, the charter was gone. Captain William Wadsworth had slipped it away and hid it in a hollow tree. Andros, foiled and in a rage, resolved, charter or no charter, the present government should cease, and taking the book of rec ords of the Assembly, he wrote at the end of the last record the word Finis. The tree in which the charter was hid stood for more than a century and a half, and was visited as an object of historical interest. It was known as the Charter Oak. Some time since it was blown down in a violent storm. Years be fore, however, a lady of Hartford had gathered from it an acorn, which she had planted. The good citi zens of that place obtained from her the young oak, and with appropriate ceremonies planted it on the spot where stood the parent tree. Happily the tyranny of Andros was soon to an end. James, in his zeal to promote the introduction of the Catholic religion, had aroused against him the entire English people. They invited William, Prince of Orange, the husband of Mary, the eldest daughter of 272 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION James, to take possession of the throne. After find ing that his despotic measures and insincerity had lost him his kingdom, James fled, and the Prince of Orange, under the title of William III., ascended the vacant throne. When the news of that great revolution, which es tablished the constitutional rights of the English people, reached Boston, it excited the greatest joy; now they could rid themselves of the tyrant. Andros imprisoned the messenger for spreading false news. The trained bands soon assembled in arms. The craven and guilty governor, bewildered with fear, fled, with his servile council, to a fort in the town. The aged Simon Bradstreet, now more than four score, who was one of the original emigrants, and had been a magistrate, was urged to assume the of fice of governor. A declaration, said to have been written by Cotton Mather, was published, maintaining the rights of the people, in which they commit the enterprise to "Him who hears the cry of the oppressed." Andros, in the mean time, made an effort to escape ; but he and Dudley, with the troubesome Randolph, were speed ily lodged in jail. Many were clamorous for their punishment, but generous forbearance prevailed, and they were sent to England for trial. Connecticut, paying little respect to the "Finis" of Andros, now brought forth her charter from its hidden place, and resumed her former government. Plymouth resumed the constitution framed on board the May-Flower, and Rhode Island her charter. The people of Massachusetts voted almost unanimously to resume theirs, but a moderate party, consisting of the former magistrates, and some of the principal inhabitants, chose rather to refer it for the present ; as they hoped to obtain one from William, more in accordance with their own views. NEW ENGLAND UNDER CHARLES II. AND JAMES IT 273 The patriarchs who laid the foundation of the New England colonies had nearly all passed away; their places were filled by those who had not experienced the trials of their fathers, but had learned of them by tradition. The Puritans lived in serious times times that made rugged Christians as well as rugged soldiers. They may have lacked the gentler graces that adorn those living two centuries later, and en joying greater privileges, when the combined influ ence of Christianity, science, and refinement have produced a more perfect effect. They conscientiously filled their sphere of duty in the age in which they lived, and we honor their memories. The influence of their ministers was the influence of mind upon mind, enhanced by that implicit trust reposed in moral worth. They were peculiarly the educated class ; the people looked up to them as their spiritual instructors. They were the friends of ed ucation, and wished to elevate the children of their flocks by cultivating their minds, and training them for usefulness in the world; what higher position for his children could the Puritan desire ? In process of time, New England became more inviting to men of education belonging to the professions of law and medicine. In some respects, the great influence of the ministers gradually diminished, not because of dereliction of duty on their part, but because, in tem poral affairs, especially, the management passed, by degrees, into the hands of other men of influence. CHAPTER XVin. 16901763 COMMOTION IN NEW YORK WITCHCRAFT IN MASSACHUSETTS Leisler Acting Governor of New York The Old Council Re fuses to Yield Captain Ingoldsby Sloughter Governor Bitterness of Parties Trial and Execution of Leisler and Milbourne Death of Sloughter Fletcher Governor; He Goes to Connecticut Yale College The Triumph of a Free Press Witchcraft; Belief In Cotton Mather The Goodwin Children Various Persona Accused at Salem Special Court Parris as Accuser, and Stoughton as Judge Minister Burroughs Calef's Pamphlet Re vulsion in Public Sentiment- Mather's Stand in Favor of Inoculation. Difficulties with royal governors were by no means confined to New England. The people of New York were also in commotion, though not so much united, as the Dutch had not yet cordially associated in feel ing with the English. James had appointed a Catholic receiver of cus toms; this annoyed the Protestants, and Nicholson the governor, was exceedingly unpopular. The mil itary companies went in a body to Jacob Leisler, a respectable and generous-hearted merchant, and their senior captain, and urged him to take posses sion of the fort and to assume the management of affairs. He consented. Leisler, a Presbyterian and a Dutchman, was an enthusiastic admirer of the Prince of Orange. The fort and public money were taken, and the companies pledged themselves to hold the fort "foi the present Protestant power that rules in England." Leisler was to act as commander-in-chief until orders came from King William, to whom a COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 275 letter was sent giving an account of the seizure of the fort and also of the money, which was to be ex pended in building another at the lower part of the island, to defend the harbor. As a large majority of the people were in favor of Leisler and of the proceedings of the militia, Nichol son, the governor, thought best to carry his com plaints to England. The members of his council, claiming to be the true rulers of the province, went to Albany, and denounced Leisler as a "rebel." He appointed Milbourne, his son-in-law, secretary. Afterward, the people at Albany, alarmed on account of an expected attack from Canada, asked aid from New York ; Milbourne was promptly sent with a body of men to their assistance. But the members of the old council refused to acknowledge his authority, or to give him the command of the fort. To avoid bloodshed he returned, leaving them to fight the French as they could. In their extremity, the Alban ians obtained assistance from Connecticut. Present ly came a royal letter, directed to "such as for the time being administer affairs." It contained a com mission for Nicholson as governor. As the latter was on his way to England, Leisler injudiciously pro claimed himself governor by virtue of the letter, and still more imprudently ordered the members of the refractory council at Albany to be arrested. Mean time an Assembly was called to provide for the wants of the province. The letter sent to the king remained unanswered, but suddenly an English ship came into the harbor, having on board a Captain Ingoldsby, and a com pany of soldiers sent by Colonel Henry Sloughter, who had been appointed governor. Encouraged by the party opposed to Leisler, Ingoldsby demanded the surrender of the fort. He was asked his author ity ; as he had none to show the fort was not given 276 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION up. Six weeks elapsed before Sloughter made his ap pearance; meanwhile, a collision took place between the soldiers and some of the people, and blood was shed. The bitterest party spirit prevailed ; the ene mies of Leisler resolved on revenge; and when he came forward to resign his trust to the regularly appointed governor, he was arrested, and with Mil- bourne taken to prison. The charge against them was the convenient one of treason; their enemies knew that they were as loyal as themselves, but it answered their purpose. Immediately a special court was called to try the prisoners. They denied the right of a court thus constituted to try them, and refused to plead, but appealed to the king. They were, however, condemned, and sentenced to death by the degenerate Dudley, who, driven away by the indignant people of Massachusetts, now appeared as Chief Justice of New York. Sloughter was unwilling to order their execution, and he determined to leave the matter to the king. But their blood, and it alone, could satisfy the intense hatred of their enemies. To accomplish their end they took advantage of one of the numerous failings of the governor. They gave him a dinner-party; when overcome by a free indulgence in wine, they in duced him to sign the death-warrant of the unfor tunate men. About daylight the next morning, lest Sloughter should recover from his stupor and recall the warrant, Leisler and Milbourne were hurried from their weeping families to the gallows. It was whispered abroad, and although the rain poured in torrents, the sympathizing people hastened in multi tudes, to the place of execution. Said Milbourne, when he saw in the crowd one of their enemies, "Rob ert Livingston, I will implead thee for this at the bar of God." The last words of Leisler were : "Weep not for us, who are departing to our God. 9 ' Said Mil- COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 277 bourne, "I die for the king and queen, and for the Protestant religion; Father, into thy hands I com mend my spirit." When the execution was over, the people rushed forward to obtain some memorial of their friends a lock of hair, or a piece of their cloth ing. This judicial murder increased the bitterness of party animosity. The friends of the victims were the advocates of popular rights, in opposition to the royalists. All that could be was done in time to rem edy the wrong. Their estates were restored to their families, and Parliament reversed the attainder un der the charge of treason. Dudley even opposed this act of justice. Three months after this tragedy, delirium tremens ended the life of the weak and dissolute Sloughter. It was about this time that the "ancient Dutch usages" gave place to the complete introduction of English laws. A year had elapsed, when Benjamin Fletcher came as successor to Sloughter. He was a military officer, arbitrary and avaricious. His sympathies were with the enemies of Leisler. As New York was on the frontiers of Canada, all the colonies were expected to contribute to her defense. To make this more ef fective, an effort was made to put the militia of New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as that of New York, under the command of Fletcher. Accordingly, he went into Connecticut to enforce his authority. To give the command of their militia to the governor of another colony, was to sacrifice the rights of the peo ple under the charter. The Assembly was in session at Hartford, and the militia engaged in training when Fletcher arrived. He boasted that he "would not set foot out of the colony until he was obeyed." When the militia was drawn up, he ordered his secretary to read in their hearing his commission. When he commenced to read the drummers began to beat. "Silence," commanded Fletcher. For a moment there 278 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION was silence, and the reading was renewed. "Drum ! drum!" ordered Wadsworth, the same who, some years before, hid the charter. Fletcher once more or dered silence. The sturdy captain, stepping up to him, significantly remarked, "If I am interrupted again I will make daylight shine through you." Fletcher thought it best to overlook the insult and return to New York, without accomplishing his threat. More than half a century before, the Rev. John Davenport proposed to found a college in the colony of Connecticut, but as Harvard would be affected by the establishment of a similar institution, the pro ject was postponed. Now, the ministers of the col ony met at Branford, where each one laid upon the table his gift of books, accompanied by the declar ation, "I give these books for the founding of a col lege in this colony." Forty volumes were thus con tributed. How little did these good men, as they made their humble offerings, anticipate the import ance and influence of the college of which they thus laid the foundation. The following year the General Court granted a charter. The professed object of the college was to promote theological studies in particular, but after ward so modified as to admit of "instructing youth in the arts and sciences, who may be fitted for public employments, both in church and civil state." For sixteen years, its sessions were held at different places; then it was permanently located at New Haven. A native of the town, Elihu Yale, who had acquired wealth in the East Indies, became its bene factor, and in return he has been immortalized in its name. For forty years succeeding the rule of Fletcher the annals of New York are comparatively barren of in cident; during that time the province enjoyed the COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 279 doubtful privilege of having ten governors, nearly all of whom took special care of their own interests and those of their friends. The last of this number was the "violent and mercenary" William Cosby, who complained to the Board of Trade that he could not manage the "delegates" to the Assembly ; "the ex ample of Boston people" had so much infected them. The city of New York, at this time, contained nearly nine thousand inhabitants. The Weekly Journal, a paper recently established by John Peter Zenger, contained articles condemning the arbitrary acts of the governor and Assembly, in imposing il legal taxes. This was the first time in the colonies the newspapers had dared to criticize political mea sures. This new enemy of arbitrary power must be crushed. Governor Cosby, with the approbation of the council, ordered the paper to be burned by the sheriff, imprisoned the editor, and prosecuted him for libel. Zenger employed as counsel two lawyers, and they denied the authority of the court, because of the illegal appointment of the Chief Justice, De- lancy, by Cosby, without the consent of the Council. For presenting this objection, their names were promptly struck from the roll of practitioners. This high-handed measure intimidated the other lawyers, and deterred them from acting as counsel for the fearless editor. On the day of trial, a venerable man, a stranger to nearly all present, took his seat at the bar. The trial commenced, and much to the surprise of the court, the stranger announced himself as counsel for the defendant. It was Andrew Hamilton, the famous Quaker lawyer of Philadelphia, and speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania. Hamilton proposed to prove the truth of the alleged libel, but Delancy, the judge, in accordance with English precedents, re fused to admit the plea. Then Hamilton, with great 280 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION force, appealed to the personal knowledge of the jury; the statements in the paper were notoriously true. He showed that the cause was not limited to this editor alone; a principle was involved, that af fected the liberty of speech and a free press through out the colonies. In sprte of the charge of the judge to the con trary, the jury brought in a verdict of acquittal, which was received with rapturous shouts by the people. Thus, for the first time, had the press as sumed to discuss, and even condemn political mea sures, and its liberty to do so was amply vindicated. This was thirty-seven years before the same princi ple was established in England by the decision in the trial for libel brought against the publisher of the famous letters of Junius. We have now to relate the story of that sad de lusion so identified with the early history of the quiet and respectable town of Salem, in Massachusetts. The belief in witchcraft appears to have been almost universal in the age of which we write. As Chris tians were in covenant with God, so, it was believed, witches were in covenant with the devil ; that he gave them power to torment those whom they hated by pinching them, pricking them with invisible pins, pulling their hair, causing their cattle and chickens to die, upsetting their carts, and by many other an noyances, equally undignified and disagreeable. As Christians had a sacrament or communion, witches had a communion, also, at which the devil himself officiated in the form of a "small black man." He had a book in which his disciples signed their names, after which they renounced their Christian baptism, and were rebaptized, or "dipped" by himself. To their places of meeting the witches usually rode through the air on broomsticks. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 281 This delusion, absurd as it seems to be, was in that age believed by learned and good men, such as Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England; Richard Baxter, author of the "Saints' Rest;" and Dr. Isaac Watts, whose devotional "Psalms and Hymns" are so familiar to the religious world. For this supposed crime many had, at different times, been executed in Sweden, England, France, and other countries of Europe. Before the excitement at Sa lem, a few cases in the colony of Massachusetts had been punished with death. As the Bible made mention of witches and sorcer ers, to disbelieve in their existence was counted in fidelity. To disprove such infidelity, Increase Math er, a celebrated clergyman of New England, pub lished an account of the cases that had occurred there, and also a description of the manner in which the bewitched persons were afflicted. After this publication, the first case that excited general inter est was that of a girl named Goodwin. She had ac cused the daughter of an Irish washerwoman of stealing some article of clothing. The enraged moth er disproved the charge, and in addition reproved the false accuser severely. Soon after, this girl became strangely affected; her younger brother and sister imitated her "contortions and twistings." These children were sometimes dumb, then deaf, then blind ; at one time they would bark like dogs, at another mew like cats. A physician was called in, who gravely decided that they were bewitched, as they had many of the symptoms described in Mather's book. The ministers became deeply interested in the subject, and five of them held a day of fasting and prayer at the house of the Goodwins, when lo ! the youngest child, a boy of five years of age, was delivered ! As the children asserted that they were bewitched by the Irish washerwoman, she was ar- 282 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION rested. The poor creature was frightened out of her senses, if she had any, for many thought she was "crazed in her intellectuals." She was, however, tried, convicted and hanged. There was at this time at Boston a young clergy man, an indefatigable student, remarkable for his memory and for the immense amount of verbal knowledge he possessed; he was withal somewhat vain and credulous, and exceedingly fond of the mar velous; no theory seems to have been more deeply rooted in his mind than a belief in witchcraft. Such was Cotton Mather, son of Increase Mather. He became deeply interested in the case of the Goodwin children, and began to study the subject with re newed zeal ; to do so the more perfectly, he took the girl to his home. She was cunning, and soon discov ered the weak points of his character. She told him he was under a special protection; that devils, though they tried hard, could not enter his study ; that they could not strike him ; the blows were warded off by an invisible, friendly hand. When he prayed, or read the Bible she would be thrown into convulsions; while at the same time, she read with zest Popish or Quaker books, or the Book of Common Prayer. Mather uttered prayers in a variety of languages to ascertain if these wicked spirits were learned. He discovered that they were skilled in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, but were deficient in some Indian tongues. He sincerely believed all this, and wrote a book, "a etory all made up of wonders," to prove the truth of withchcraf t ; and gave out that, hereafter, if any one should deny its existence, he should consider it a personal insult. Mather's book was republished in London, with an approving preface written by Rich ard Baxter. This book had its influence upon the minds of the people, and prepared the way for the sad scenes which followed. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 2^ About four years after the cases just mentioned, two young girls, one the niece and the other the daughter of Samuel Parris, the minister at Salem village, now Danvers, began to exhibit the usual signs of being bewitched. They seemed to have done this at first merely for mischief, as they accused no one until compelled. Between Parris and some of the members of his congregation there existed much ill-feeling. Now was the time to be revenged! And this "beginner and procurer of the sore affliction to Salem village and country," insisted that his niece should tell who it was that bewitched her, for in spite of all the ef forts to "deliver" them, the children continued to practice their pranks. The niece at length accused Rebecca Nurse, a woman of exemplary and Christian life ; but one with whom Parris was at variance. At his instigation she was hurried off to jail. The next Sabbath he announced as his text these words: "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Immediately Sarah Cloyce, a sister of the accused, arose and left the church, in those days, no small offense. She too was accused and sent to prison. The excitement spread, and in a few weeks nearly a hundred were accused, and remanded for trial. After the people had driven off Andros, Bradstreet had still continued to act as governor. A new char ter was given, under which the governor was to be appointed by the crown. Sir William Phipps, a na tive of New England, "an illiterate man, of violent temper, with more of energy than ability," was the first governor. These both obtained their offices through the influence of Increase Mather, who was then in England, acting as agent for the colony. Stoughton had been the friend of Andros, and a mem ber of his council, and, like Dudley, was looked upon 284 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION by the people as their enemy. Of a proud and un forgiving temper, devoid of humane feelings, he was self-willed and selfish. The people in a recent elec tion had slighted him ; they scarcely gave him a vote for the office of judge ; this deeply wounded his pride. In his opinions, as to spirits and witches, he was an implicit follower of Cotton Mather, of whose church he was a member. The new governor, bringing with him the charter, arrived at Boston on the fourteenth of May. The General Court alone had authority to appoint Special Courts; but the governor's first official act was to appoint one to try the witches confined in prison at Salem. The triumph of Mather was complete ; he re joiced that the warfare with the spirits of darkness was now to be carried on vigorously, and he "prayed for a good issue." The illegal court met, and Parris acted as prose cutor, producing some witnesses and keeping back others. The prisoners were made to stand with their arms extended, lest they should torment their vic tims. The glance of the witch's eye was terrible to the "afflicted;" for its evil influence there was but one remedy ; the touch of the accused could alone re move the charm. Abigail Williams, the niece of Par ris, was told to touch one of the prisoners ; she made the attempt, but desisted, screaming out, "My fin gers, they burn, they burn!" She was an adept in testifying; she had been asked to sign the deviPs book by the spectre of one of the accused women, and she had also been permitted to see a witch's sacra ment. All this was accepted by the court as true and proper evidence. If a witness contradicted himself, it was explained by assuming that the evil spirit had imposed upon his brain. A farmer had a servant, who suddenly became bewitched ; his master whipped him and thus exorcised the devil, and had the rash- COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 285 ness to say that he could cure any of "the afflicted" by the same process. For this he soon found himself and wife in prison. Remarks made by the prisoners were often construed to their disadvantage. George Burroughs, once a minister at Salem, and of whom it is said Parris was envious, had expressed his dis belief in witchcraft and pronounced the whole af fair a delusion. For this he was arrested as a wiz ard. On his trial the witness pretended to be dumb. "Why," asked the stern Stoughton of the prisoner, "are these witnesses dumb?" Burroughs believed they were perjuring themselves, and promptly an swered, "The devil is in them, I suppose." "Ah ! ah !" said the exulting judge ; "how is it that he is loath to have any testimony borne against you?" This de cided the case; Burroughs was condemned. From the scaffold he made an address to the people, and put his enemies to shame. He did what it was be lieved no witch could do; he repeated the Lord's Prayer distinctly and perfectly. The crowd was strongly impressed in his favor; many believed him innocent, and many were moved even to tears, and some seemed disposed to rescue him; but Cotton Mather appeared on horseback, and harangued the crowd, maintaining that Burroughs was not a true minister, that he had not been ordained, that the fair show he made was no proof of his innocence, for Satan himself sometimes appeared as an angel of light. Many of the accused confessed they were witches, and by that means purchased their lives ; and some, to make their own safety doubly sure, accused oth ers : thus the delusion continued. Then, again, others who had confessed, repented that they had acknowl edged themselves to be what they were not, denied their confession, and died with the rest. The accu sations were at first made against those in the 286 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION humbler walks of life; now others were accused. Hale, the minister at Beverly, was a believer in witchcraft, till his own wife was accused; then he was convinced it was all a delusion. Some months elapsed before the General Court held its regular session; in the meantime twenty persons had fallen victims, and fi tf ty more were in prison with the same fate hanging over them. Now a great revulsion took place in public opinion. This was brought about by a citizen of Boston, Robert Calef , who wrote a pamphlet, first circulated in man uscript. He exposed the manner in which the trials had been conducted, as well as proved the absurdity of witchcraft itself. Cotton Mather, in his reply, sneered at Calef as "a weaver who pretended to be a merchant." Calef, not intimidated by this abuse, continued to write with great effect, and presently the book was published in London. Increase Mather, the President of Harvard College, to avenge his son, had the "weaver's" book publicly burned in the col lege yard. In the first case brought before the court, the jury promptly brought in a verdict of not guilty. When news came to Salem of the reprieve of those under sentence, the fanatical Stoughton, in a rage, left the bench, exclaiming, "Who is it that obstructs the course of justice I know not ; the Lord have mercy on the country." Not long after, the indignant inhabitants of Salem drove Parris from their village. Many of those who had participated in the delusion, and given their in fluence in favor of extreme measures, deeply re pented and publicly asked forgiveness of their fel low-citizens. But Cotton Mather expressed no regret for the part he had taken, or the influence he exerted in increasing the delusion; his vanity never would admit that he could possibly have been in error. In- COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 287 stead of being humbled on account of the sorrows he had brought upon innocent persons, he labored to convince the world that, after all, he had not been so very active in promoting the del ision. Stoughton passed the remainder of his days the same cold, proud, and heartless man ; nor did he ever manifest the least sorrow, that on such trifling and contra dictory evidence, he had sentenced to death some of the best men and women. It is a pleasure to record that, thirty years after this melancholy delusion, Cotton Mather, with fear less energy advocated the use of inoculation for the prevention of smallpox. He had learned that it was successful in Turkey, in arresting or modifying that terrible disease, and he persuaded Dr. Boylston to make the experiment. Mather stood firm, amid the clamors of the ignorant mob, who even threw a light ed grenade filled with combustibles into his house, and paraded the streets of Boston, with halters in their hands, threatening to hang the inoculators. The majority of the physicians opposed inoculation on theological grounds, contending, "it was presump tuous for men to inflict disease on man, that being the prerogative of the Most High." "It was de nounced as an infusion of malignity into the blood ; a species of poisoning ; an attempt to thwart God, who had sent the smallpox as a punishment for sins, and whose vengeance would thus be only provoked the more." Nearly all the ministers were in favor of the system, and they replied with arguments drawn from medical science. An embittered war of pamphlets ensued. The town authorities took decided ground against the innovation, while the General Court passed a bill prohibiting the practice, but the Council wisely refused to give it their sanction. At length science and common sense prevailed, and the inocu- lists completely triumphed. 288 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION Much has been said and written, more or less justly, in condemnation of these strange proceed ings; however, from this time forth the belief in witchcraft began to wane in New England, and the civil authorities noticed it no more. In justice to the misguided actors in this sad tragedy it ought to be remembered that for half a century afterward, the law of the mother country, as it always had done, still made witchcraft a capital crime; and within thirty years after these terrible scenes in Salem, per sons accused of witchcraft were condemned and put to death, both in England and Scotland ; in the former a mother and her daughter nine years old perished together on the same scaffold ; in the latter, six years afterward, an old woman was burned as a witch; and even Blackstone, when writing on the laws of England in the latter half of the eighteenth century, deems witchcraft a crime. No one of these persons at Salem suffered by that barbarous form of execution burning; nor were they put to the rack and torture. What a tribute it is to the integrity of these twenty victims that they refused to stain their souls with the crime of false hood, "and went to the gallows rather than soil their consciences by the lie of confession."* For if they confessed themselves to be witches, "and promised blameless lives for the future, they were uniformly pardoned." The seven magistrates composing this illegal court held at Salem were evidently sincere in the perform ance of their official duties, yet the sternness of Stoughton, the chief judge, seems to savor of fanat icism, as shown in his permitting the trials to be hurried through without proper deliberation; had they been postponed to the regular meeting of the General Court, some months distant, the issue, no *Palfrey's History of New England, Vol. IV., p. 138. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 289 doubt, would have been far different. The magis trates in Plymouth County were more enlightened, for when, many years previous to this time, two prosecutions for witchcraft having been brought be fore them, the accused were declared not guilty. Notwithstanding this mistaken zeal in punishing imaginary crime, it is but justice to notice that the penal laws enacted by the Puritans of New England were in their humane characteristics far in advance of those of the same period in Europe, especially in England, with which the comparison may be more properly made. Even down to 1819 there were in England two hundred and twenty-three offenses pun ishable with death, while in the very first formation of the government in the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven, the crimes punished capitally were limited to seventeen, and some of these with express reservations, "leaving the exac tion of the supreme penalty to the discretion of the court." "Larceny above the value of twelve pence was a capital crime in England ;" also, "to kill a deer in the king's forest, or to export sheep from the kingdom." It is but just to compare the laws enacted in these colonies with the contemporary ones in the Motherland, and not with those of the first quarter of the twentieth century. The marvel is that, coming from a country where such barbarous laws were in force, the colonists had the moral power to rise above the prejudices and brutalities of the age, and frame penal laws so much more humane. It may serve as an explanation that the Puritans of New England fell back upon the code of Moses as a model, deeming that to be an embodiment of the law of God for His people; sometimes forgetting, however, that these laws did not fully apply in the seventeenth century of the Christian era. In the recognition of human rights these colonial 290 HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN NATION lawgivers were far in advance of the contemporary legislators of Europe. With the former it was a cardinal principle to give every citizen a chance to improve his temporal affairs by industry and econ omy, and to educate his children. Their settlements, in accordance with the law, were originally arranged so that each member of the community had an in terest in its affairs by his becoming a land holder, and a participant in the councils of the Town Meet ings, and indirectly in those of the colony at large, through representatives elected by the aid of his vote. The farms were so laid out that their length greatly exceeded their breadth, and each farmer could thus have his house near a neighbor; usually their dwellings were built on a single street, the farms running back, while the church and school- house were so located as to be accessible to all. This plan of laying out settlements, though at first en joined by the civil authorities, was afterward, be cause of its utility, adopted in numerous instances by the people themselves. This system accounts for the greater number of villages in the colonies of New England in proportion to their extent of territory than are in the Middle, and still more in the Southern, colonies. Another division, the township or town as it was usually termed, was a district marked off of con venient size, to enable the male inhabitants to attend the town meetings, which were held at a point known as the "Centre," in which meetings measures pertain ing to the wellbeing of the people were discussed and voted upon such as related to schools, the highways, the district taxes, etc. Under these conditions all the residents became interested in the local affairs of the community. The transition was natural and easy for citizens thus trained to manifest a similar inter est in the general prosperity of the colony, and its COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 291 relations with the Home Government. In conse quence of this political schooling, we find that on the great questions which came up a hundred years later, these "citizens of the common folk" were remarkably well informed, and the sentiments of the most intel ligent patriots of that period found in their minds a ready response. For the times this kind of informa tion was therefore extensively diffused by the inter course between citizens, as well as by means of print ing; for in the earlier days that medium was often used by leading minds to express their views upon current topics of interest. The printing-press was specially utilized in the issue of short publications in the form of pamphlets in discussing questions of local interest; among these theology held a prominent place. These wars of pamphlets came often and were violent while they lasted. The mass of the people were not then far enough advanced in literary at tainments to sustain newspapers, as they were known even a century later, but on religious topics and on political subjects they were wide awake. These short publications, so often controversial, served their purpose, and in their way influenced the most en lightened minds, and they in turn those with whom they came in personal contact. The system of landholding 1 and town meetings cultivated the self-respect of every citizen, and dig nified the most humble with the consciousness that he was a member of the community, and in the di rection of its affairs the influence he might have he was at liberty to exercise. This was the outgrowth of the democratic principle which found its expression for the first time on this side of the world in the cabin of the May-Flower. 2 The system of dividing counties into towns or town ships prevailed, also, in the other colonies that after- history, p. 105. 2 History, p. 99. 292 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ward became free states, and in them, likewise, the minor local affairs were managed by the citizens in township meetings ; but not to the same extent they were in New England, because the people were not so homogeneous, there being a large proportion that were not of Anglo-Saxon descent, neither were they so harmonious nor so far advanced in their political views. In these colonies and states, however, the people elected their own civil officers, while in the southern they were nearly all appointed by the Gov ernors, Legislatures, or County Courts. This latter custom, together with the restrictions on suffrage, greatly diminished the independence of the individ ual ; for, instead of the power being lodged with the people themselves, it was exercised by a self -consti tuted oligarchy. During the three-quarters of a century immediate ly succeeding the great Revolution of England the principles religious and political which the colo nists had adopted as their rule of conduct, exerted a free and benign influence ; consequently their prog ress, under the circumstances, was very great. This revolution secured so much for the religious liberties of the English people, that afterward when any emi grated to the colonies, it was not on account of re ligious disabilities, but to better their material in terests. Among those who came during this period were companies of Protestants, such as the Presby terians 1 from Scotland, the Scotch-Irish from the north of Ireland, Huguenots from France, and Lu therans from Germany. These immigrants exerted a healthy influence on the country, in promoting its material prosperity by their industry and economy, and coalescing with the colonists in their educa tional and religious matters. They blended easily iHistory, 163, 172, 175, 179, 193. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 293 with the people, and became thoroughly assimilated in less than two generations. As New England and Virginia were populous and important colonies, they became centers of influences that produced certain results during the six genera tions 1 following the witchcraft excitement in the one, and the attempt under Bacon 2 to vindicate the rights of the people in the other. In the Virginia colony the distribution of the territory was radically different from that in New England. In the former were large undivided count ies, instead of the districts of convenient size in the latter in order to maintain schools and churches, thus making compact settlements of land-owners indepen dent and self-respecting. Lands in Virginia were frequently given by the crown to court favorites 3 in immense grants, and on these were to be located tenants; the effect upon these tenants was not to cherish independence of character, but the reverse. In consequence of this system of royal grants farms of moderate size became the exceptions ; the tendency was for the rich to own lands in very large estates, thus widely separating the homes of the inhabitants. The poor or small farmers gradually withdrew from the fertile lands of the main settlements to districts more sterile, and being deprived of the appropriate means to educate their children, they made little im provement from generation to generation. None but landholders were permitted to vote, and, as far as known, none but that class were elected legislators, thus laying the foundation for a landed aristocracy modeled after that of England; to this class was added another element of aggrandizement the sys tem of slavery. From this time forward there was more importance attached to wealth in landed es- iffistory, pp. 858-860. 2 History, pp. 139-144. 3 History, pp. 141-143. 294 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION tates and slaves than in any other form. As "only freeholders could vote for members of the house of Burgesses," so it came to pass, in process of time, that none but slave-owners were elected to office. In respect to education, the spirit of Berkeley seemed to brood over successive Virginia legisla tures ; during one hundred and ninety years after his time neither as a colony nor as a state did they es tablish schools where all the children could be edu cated, while it required more than half a century to prepare the aristocracy for the innovation of a print ing press. The "poor whites" in Virginia never re covered from the blow they received at the failure of their uprising under Bacon; twenty of their most progressive and patriotic men perished on the scaf fold by order of the inhuman Berkeley, and from that time forward they made little progress. 1 This influence extended gradually south from Virginia to the Carolinas and Georgia, where the same system prevailed of large tracts of the best land being culti vated by slaves, and with the usual result of driving the "poor whites" back to the unfertile districts. In these colonies, and afterward when states, no schools were established to educate all the children. Meanwhile the influence of slavery grew stronger and stronger ; manual labor for a white man became a badge of degradation, which attached itself to him and to his children. There is no sadder story in our history than is revealed in the inner life of the "poor whites" of the South during these two centuries. They made but little progress. They cultivated sterile fields merely to eke out a scanty subsistence ; as to manufactures, they were only by hand, and of the crudest kind, to supply their domestic wants ; in the main, the great mass making little advance in education or in mental improvement. This may ac- iLodge's History of the Colonies; Virginia, p. 21, and onward. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 295 count for the fact that so limited a number of that class rose above their condition in times of great trial, as in the days of the Revolution, when, com paratively, very few of them displayed talents of a high order. The most prominent of these was Daniel Morgan. 1 . When their youth came to manhood they were cramped by lack of education. Another effectual cause of hindering the political progress of the mechanic or farmer of limited means, was the manner in which civil affairs were con ducted. In the large counties of these colonies and states, the Court House was located near the center, and to meet at "The Court" became the practice of the aristocracy, there to see their compeers from all parts of the county: this custom passed over from colonial times to be more fully carried out in the States. In these meetings they discussed measures in relation to the interests of the county as well as general politics. The nominal citizen now owning land had no vote, and therefore he took little or no interest in these county gatherings, and the distinc tion became still more clear, so that he who owned a small farm and no slaves, felt ill at ease in an as sembly where mere wealth in land and slaves ex erted so much influence. It was the landed aristoc racy who held office under colonial governors, and who were their accepted advisers ; in the South, from this class alone came the enlightened patriots of the Revolution ; none scarcely from the ranks of manual labor or small farmers. The intercourse between the rich land and slave owners and their poorer neighbors was characterized by an obsequiousness on the part of the latter totally unknown in the northern colonies ; in them the value of knowledge and moral excellence was more clearly estimated, while that of iHistory, p. 380; also, Sergeant Jasper, p. 406. 2History, pp. 170-174. 296 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION mere wealth was reckoned only secondary in the so cial position of the individual. Of the middle colonies during this period the most advanced in literary culture was Pennsylvania. Though she had no public schools in a wide sense, yet under the influence of the French her private ones, were the best of their kind. Then came a large emi gration of Germans 2 who became famous as farmers, but unfortunately not so famous for the interest they took in education. The contrast between them in this respect and the Friends and Presbyterians 1 was very striking. In New Jersey the schools were pri vate, none were public; but the Presbyterian ele ment 1 moulded the minds of the youth, by instilling the truths of the Bible as they deemed them sum marized in their catechism; through their influence Princeton college was founded. The same in respect to private schools may be said of the Dutch of New York. In this colony, however, occurred the first instance in the English-speaking world of a trial in court in which the freedom 2 of the press was fully established, and has remained so from that day to this. When newspapers were first printed in the seven teenth century the arbitrary colonial governments suppressed them without hesitation if they contained anything these gentlemen did not relish. The first newspaper published in the colonies "The Public Occurrences" was at Boston ; it was simply a print ed narrative of events, instead of the usual one in manuscript, giving the current news. The only copy of this paper known to exist is in the Colonial State Paper Office in London. 3 It was confiscated no doubt. Fourteen years afterward the first weekly newspaper in the colonies was established also in iHistory, pp. 236, 318. 2 Hi s tory, p. 221. 3 Hudson's Journalism, p. 44. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 297 Boston "The News-Letter" by Benjamin Harris. 'The News-Letter" lived seventy years. "The American Weekly Mercury" was founded in Philadelphia, and ten years later in the same city Benjamin Franklin published the first number of the "Pennsylvania Gazette ;" two years later "The South Carolina Gazette" began its existence in Charleston, and five years afterward "The Virginia Gazette" made its appearance at Williamsburg. The influence was reciprocal ; as these papers grad ually advanced in excellence, the people, meanwhile, were becoming more and more intelligent and better qualified to appreciate their merits. They flourished more vigorously in the New England and in the three northern middle colonies than elsewhere. In the former especially the prevalence of common schools had made the great mass of the people readers ; in ad dition the harsh climate of that section, when com pared with the more genial one of the southern, led the people to cultivate indoor industries, and during the long and severe winters, to acquire knowledge and mental improvement by reading. Meantime a marvelous change had been going on during the French war, which assumed a decided character at its close. Now began the discussion, both by ad dresses of prominent men and in the newspapers, of the political questions involved in the policy of the Home Government, in its endeavor to interfere with the civil rights and industries of the colonies. The whole people were intensely roused to this phase of thought, and to the maintenance of their rights. In this clash of opinions the press became a still greater power, both in force and in numbers. It became the exponent, to a certain extent, of the sentiments of 298 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the royalists as well as the patriots, while the people themselves were stirred to their inmost souls. 1 The questions relating to civil and religious liberty absorbed the thoughts of the colonists so much that we learn only incidentally concerning their material progress, as the chronicles of the times give us only occasionally a glimpse of the domestic life of the peo ple. We know that the New Englanders, more than the people of the middle or southern colonies, were compelled by the barrenness of their soil and the bleakness of their climate to labor almost incessantly in obtaining a supply of the necessaries of life. They carefully cultivated wheat, but the sterile soil re fused abundant crops ; and they also devoted care to raising rye and Indian corn. It was different in the middle and the southern colonies: in them the soil was much more fertile, and the climate more genial ; the crops of wheat and Indian corn in the former were abundant, while in the latter tobacco was the most valuable product, because of its ready sale. This led to its extensive culture, almost to the ex clusion of the cereals the latter were supplied by the middle colonies: even in that early day the dif ferent sections of the land were dependent upon one another. The rapid sale and high price of tobacco led to the introduction of foreign luxuries, and made the planters dependent on England, especially for their needed manufactured articles. On the con trary, the handicraft of the New Englanders and the people of the middle colonies was constantly im proving, because they had no valuable product like tobacco to send to Europe to exchange for merchan dise not even to any extent for textile fabrics; hence they were compelled to manufacture these articles for themselves. *See History, chap. XXIV., pp. 317-324, for characteris tics of the colonists. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK 299 In the one section the working animal most prized was the ox, so patient and useful in cultivating the rocky farms in little valleys and on hillsides, and the cows furnishing so much food for the family, and the sheep for the production of wool. In the middle colonies the ox was used, but not so much as the draft horse, in cultivating the large wheat fields; while in Virginia the hoe was as necessary, if not more, than the plow in cultivating tobacco. The Vir ginian cherished the horse as the noblest of animals, and imported from England the finest for the saddle, for hunting, and for racing, meanwhile neglecting his domestic cattle. CHAPTER XIX 16341687 MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE The Emigrants Few in Number The Jesuits; Their Zeal as Teachers and Explorers Missions Among the Hurons Ahasistari The Five Nations, or Iroquois Father Jogues The Abenakis; Dreuilettes The Dangers of the Missions French Settlers at Oswego James Marquette The Mississippi La Salle; His Enterprise; His Failure and Tragical End. We have already given an account of the discov eries made in New France, and the settlements founded under the direction of Samuel Champlain. We now intend to trace the history of these settle ments and missions, from that period till the time when the Lily of France was supplanted by the Banner of St. George. The climate offered but few inducements to culti vators of the soil, and emigrants came but slowly; they established trading houses, rather than agricul tural settlements. To accumulate wealth their main resource was in the peltries of the wilderness, and these could be obtained only from the Indians, who roamed over the vast regions west and north of the lakes. A partial knowledge of the country had been ob tained from a priest, Father Le Caron, the friend and companion of Champlain. He had, by groping through the woods, and paddling over the waters in his birch bark canoe, penetrated far up the St. Lawrence, explored the south shore of Lake Ontario, and even found his way to Lake Huron. Three years before the death of Champlain, Louis MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE 3Q1 XIII. gave a charter to a company, granting them the control of the valley of the St. Lawrence and all its tributaries. An interest was felt for the poor sav ages, and it was resolved to convert them to the re ligion of Rome; not only convert them, but make them the allies of France. Worldly policy had as much influence as religious zeal. It was plain, the only way to found a French empire in the New World, was by making the native tribes subjects, and not by transplanting Frenchmen. The missions to the Indians were transferred to the supervision of the Jesuits. This order of priests was founded expressly to counteract the influence of the Reformation under Luther. As the Reformers favored education and the diffusion of general intel ligence, so the Jesuit became the advocate of educa tion provided it was under his own control. He re solved to rule the world by influencing its rulers ; he would govern by intellectual power and the force of opinion, rather than by superstitious fears. He en deavored to turn the principles of the Reformation against itself. His vows enjoined upon him perfect obedience to the will of his superior, to go on any mission to which he might be ordered. No clime so deadly that he would not brave its danger ; no people so savage that he would not attempt their conversion. With their usual energy and zeal, the Jesuits be gan to explore the wilds of New France, and to bring its wilder inhabitants under the influence of the Cath olic faith. To the convert was offered the privileges of a subject of France. From this sprang a social equality, friendly relations were established, and in termarriages took place between the traders and the Indian women. Companies of Hurons, who dwelt on the shores of the lake which bears their name, were on a trading expedition to Quebec. On their return home the 302 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION Jesuits Brebeuf and Daniel accompanied them. They went up the Ottawa till they came to its largest west ern branch, thence to its head-waters, and thence across the wilderness to their villages on Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. The faith and zeal of these two men sustained them during their toilsome jour ney of nine hundred miles, and though their feet were lacerated and their garments torn, they re joiced in their sufferings. Here in a grove they built, with their own hands, a little chapel, in which they celebrated the ceremonies of their church. The Red man came to hear the morning and evening prayers ; though in a language which he could not understand, they seemed to him to be addressed to the Great Spirit, whom he himself worshipped. Six missions were soon established in the villages around these lakes and bays. Father Brebeuf spent four hours of every morning in private prayer and self-flagella tions, the rest of the day in catechizing and teaching. Sometimes he would go out into the village, and as he passed along would ring his little bell and thus invite the grave warriors to a conference, on the mysteries of his religion. Thus he labored for fifteen years. These teachings had an influence on the suscept ible heart of the great Huron chief Ahasistari. He professed himself a convert and was baptized. Often as he escaped uninjured from the perils of battle, he thought some powerful spirit watched over him, and now be believed that the God whom the white man worshipped was that guardian spirit. In the first flush of his zeal he exclaimed : "Let us strive to make all men Christians." Thousands of the sons and daughters of the forest listened to instruction, and the story of their willing ness to hear, when told in France, excited a new in terest. The king and gueen and nobles vied with MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE 303 each other in manifesting their regard by giving en* couragement and aid to the missionaries, and by presents to the converts. A college, to educate men for these missions, was founded at Quebec, two years before the founding of Harvard. Two years after ward the Ursuline convent was founded at Montreal for the education of Indian girls, and three young nuns came from France to devote themselves to that labor. They were received with demonstrations of joy by the Hurons and Algonquins. Montreal was now chosen as a more desirable centre for missionary operations. The tribes most intelligent and powerful, most warlike and cruel, with whom the colonists came in contact were the Mohawks, or Iroquois, as the French named them. They were a confederacy consisting of five nations, the Senecas, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Mohawks better known to the English by the latter name. This confederacy had been formed in accordance with the counsels of a great and wise chief, Hiawatha. Their traditions tell of him as having been specially guided by the Great Spirit, and that amid strains of unearthly music, he ascended to heaven in a snow-white canoe. They in habited that beautiful and fertile region in Central New York, where we find the lakes and rivers still bearing their names. Their territory lay on the south shore of Lake On tario, and extended to the head-waters of the streams which flow into the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and also to the sources of the Ohio. These streams they used as highways in their war incursions. They pushed their conquests up the lakes and down the St. Lawrence, and northward almost to the frozen re gions around Hudson's Bay. They professed to hold many of the tribes of New England as tributary, and extended their influence to the extreme east. They 304 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION made incursions down the Ohio against the Shaw- nees, whom they drove to the Carolinas. They exer cised dominion over the Illinois and the Miamis. They were the inveterate enemies of the Hurons, and a terror to the French settlements especially were they hostile to the missions. In vain the Jesuits strove to teach them; French influence could never penetrate south of Ontario. The Mohawks closely watched the passes of the St. Lawrence, and the intercourse between the missionaries stationed on the distant lakes and their headquarters at Montreal, was interrupted unless they travelled the toilsome route by the Ottawa and the wilderness beyond. An expedition from the lakes had slipped through to Quebec, and now endeavored to return. As the fleet approached the narrows, suddenly the Mohawks attacked it; most of the Frenchmen and Hurons made for the opposite shore. Some were taken pris oners, among whom was Father Jogues. The noble Ahasistari, from his hiding place, saw his teacher was a prisoner; he knew that he would be tortured to death, and he hastened to him: "My brother," said he, "I made oath to thee, that I would share thy for tune, whether death or life; here I am to keep my vow." He received absolution at the hands of Jogues, and met death at the stake in a manner becoming a great warrior and a faithful convert. Father Jogues was taken from place to place; in each village he was tortured and compelled to run the gantlet. His fellow-priest, Goupil, was seen to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of an infant, as he secretly baptized it. The Indians thought it a charm to kill their children, and instant ly a tomahawk was buried in the poor priest's head. The Dutch made great efforts, but in vain, to ransom Jogues, but after some months of captivity he made his escape to Fort Orange, where he was gladly re- MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE 3Q5 ceived and treated with great kindness by the Dom inie Megapolensis. Jogues went to France, but in a few years he was again among his tormentors as a messenger of the gospel; ere long a blow from a savage ended his life. A similar fate was experi enced by others. Father Bressani was driven from hamlet to hamlet, sometimes scourged by all the in habitants, and tortured in every possible form which savage ingenuity could invent, yet he survived, and was at last ransomed by the Dutch. The Abenakis of Maine sent messengers to Montre al asking for missionaries. They were granted, and Father Dreuilettes made his way across the wilder ness to the Penobscot, and a few miles above its mouth established a mission. The Indians came to him in great numbers. He became as one of them selves, he hunted, he fished, he taught among them, and won their confidence. He gave a favorable re port of the place and the disposition of the tribes, and a permanent Jesuit mission was there estab lished. On one occasion Father Dreuilettes visited the Apostle Eliot at Roxbury. The noble and benev olent work in which they were engaged, served in the minds of these good men to soften the asperities ex isting between the Catholic and the Puritan, and they bid each other God speed. At this time there were sixty or seventy devoted missionaries among the tribes extending from Lake Superior to Nova Scotia. But they did not elevate the character of the Indian ; he never learned to till the soil, nor to dwell in a fixed abode ; he was still a rover in the wild, free forest, living by the chase. The Abenakis, like the Hurons, were willing to re ceive religious instructions; they learned to chant matins and vespers, they loved those who taught them. It is not for us to say how many of them received into their hearts a new faith. 306 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION The continued incursions of the ferocious Mo hawks kept these missions in peril. Suddenly one morning they attacked the mission of St. Joseph on Lake Simcoe, founded, as we have seen, by Brebeuf and Daniel. The time chosen was when the warriors were on a hunting excursion, and the helpless old men, women and children fell victims to savage treach ery. The aged priest Daniel, at the first war-cry, hastened to give absolution to all the converts he could reach, and then calmly advanced from the chapel in the face of the murderers. He fell pierced with many arrows. These marauding expeditions broke up nearly all the missions in Upper Canada. The Hurons were scattered, and their country be came a hunting ground for their inveterate enemies. Many of the Huron converts were taken prisoners and adopted into the tribes of the Five Nations. Some years after, when a treaty was made between those nations and the French, the presence of these converts excited hopes that they would receive Jesuit teachers. A mission was established among the Onondagas, and Oswego, their principal village, was chosen for the station. In a year or two missionaries were laboring among other tribes of the confederacy. But the French, who had an eye to securing that fer tile region, sent fifty colonists, who began a settle ment at the mouth of the Oswego. The jealousy of the Indians was excited ; they compelled the colonists to leave their country, and with them drove away the missionaries. Thus ended the attempts of the French to possess the soil of New York. The zeal of the Jesuits was not diminished by these untoward misfortunes ; they still continued to prosecute their labors among the tribes who would receive them. Away beyond Lake Superior one of their number lost his way in the woods and perished, and the wild Sioux kept his cassock as an amulet. MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE 3Q7 Into that same region the undaunted Father Allouez penetrated ; there at the largest town of the Chippe- was, he found a council of the chiefs of many differ ent tribes. They were debating whether they should take up arms against the powerful and warlike Sioux. He exhorted them to peace, and urged them to join in alliance with the French against the Iroquois; he also promised them trade, and the protection of the great king of the French. Then he heard for the first time of the land of Illinois, where there were no trees, but vast plains covered with long grass, on which grazed innumerable herds of buffalo and deer ; he heard of the wild rice, and of the fertile lands which produced an abundance of maize, and of re gions where copper was obtained, the mines so fa mous in our own day. He learned, too, of the great river yet farther west, which flowed toward the south, whither, his informants could not tell. After a sojourn of two years Allouez returned to Quebec, to implore aid in establishing missions in that hope ful field. He stayed only to make known his re quest; in two days, he was on his way back to his field of labor, accompanied by only one companion. The next year there came from France another company of priests, among whom was James Mar- quette, who repaired immediately to the missions on the distant lakes. Accompanied by a priest named Joliet, and five French boatmen, with some Indians as guides and interpreters, Marquette set out to find the great river, of which he had heard so much. The company passed up the Fox river in two birch-bark canoes ; they carried them across the portage to the banks of the Wisconsin, down which they floated, till at length their eyes were gratified by the sight of the "Father of Waters." They coast along its shores, lined with primeval forests, swarming with all 'kinds of game ; the prai- 308 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION ries redolent with wild flowers ; all around them is a waste of grandeur and beauty. After floating one hundred and eighty miles they meet with signs of human beings. They land, and find, a few miles dis tant, an Indian village ; here they are welcomed by a people who speak the language of their guides. They are told that the great river extends to the far south, where the heat is deadly, and that the great monsters of the river destroy both men and canoes. Nothing daunted they pass on, and ere long they reach the place where the turbid and rapid Missouri plunges into the tranquil and clear Mississippi. "When I return," says Marquette, "I will ascend that river and pass beyond its head-waters and proclaim the gospel." Further on they see a stream flowing from the northeast; it is the Ohio, of which the Iroquois have told them. We can imagine Marquette, noticing the fertility of the soil, looking with awe up on the dark and impenetrable forests, and hoping that in future ages these shores would be the homes of many millions of civilized and Christian men. As they went on they approached a warmer cli mate; and now they were sure that the great river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into that of California, as had been supposed. They met with In dians who showed them tools of European manufac ture; obtained either from the English of Virginia or from the Spanish further south. It was deemed prudent to return, as they might fall into the hands of the latter, and thus be deprived of the privilege of making known their discovery. At the mouth of the Arkansas they began the toilsome labor of paddling their canoes up the stream down which they had so easily floated. They reached the mouth of the Illi nois ; thinking it would lead them to the lakes, they passed up that river to its head-waters, and thence across to Lake Michigan. MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE 309 Joliet immediately set out to carry the news of the discovery to Quebec. Marquette was desirous to be gin his work, and he chose to remain in the humble station of a missionary in the wilderness. One day he retired to his private devotions, at a simple altar he had erected in a grove. An hour afterward he was found kneeling beside it; his prayers and his labors for the good of the poor Indian were ended ; in that hour of quiet retirement his spirit had passed away. Among the adventurers who came to Canada to seek their fortunes, was Robert Cavalier de la Salle, a young man who had been educated as a Jesuit, but had renounced the order. A large domain at the out let of Lake Ontario was granted him on condition that he would maintain Fort Frontenac, now Kings ton. But his main object was to obtain the entire trade of the Iroquois. The news of the discovery of the great river inflamed his ardent mind with a de sire to make settlements on its banks, and thus se cure its vast valley for his king. Leaving his lands and his herds, he sailed for France, and there ob tained a favorable grant of privilege. He returned passed up to Lake Erie, at the foot of which he built a vessel of sixty tons, in which, with a company of sailors, hunters and priests, he passed through the straits to the upper lakes, and anchored in Green Bay. There, lading his ship with a cargo of precious furs, he sent her to Niagara, with orders to return as soon as possible with supplies. Meanwhile he passed over into the valley of the Illinois and on a bluff by the river side, near where Peoria now stands, built a fort, and waited for his ships ; but he waited in vain ; she was wrecked on the voyage. After three years of toils, wanderings in the wil derness, and voyages to France, during which he ex perienced disappointments that would have broken 310 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NATION the spirit of an ordinary man, we find him once more on the banks of the Illinois. Now he built a barge, on board of which, with his companions, he floated down to the Mississippi, and thence to the Gulf. Thus were his hopes, after so much toil and sacrifice, realized. He had triumphantly traced the mighty stream to its mouth. He remained only to take possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, Louis XIV., in honor of whom he named it Louisiana. La Salle returned to Quebec, and immediately sailed for France. He desired to carry into effect his great design of planting a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. The enterprise was looked upon with favor by both the French people and the king. He was furnished with an armed frigate and three other vessels, with two hundred and eighty persons to form a colony. One hundred of these were soldiers ; of the remainder, some were volunteers, some were me chanics, and some priests. Unfortunately, the com mand of the ships was given to Beaujeu, a man as ignorant as he was self-willed and conceited. After surmounting many difficulties, they entered the Gulf of Mexico, but missed the mouth of the Mississippi. La Salle soon discovered the error, but the Stubborn Beaujeu, deaf to reason, sailed on directly west, till fortunately arrested by the eastern shore of Texas. La Salle soon discovered the error, but the stubborn the mouth of the great river. The careless pilot ran the store ship on the breakers; suddenly a storm arose, and very little was saved of the abundance which Louis had provided for the enterprise. It is said that he gave more to aid this one colony than the English sovereigns combined gave to all theirs in North America. As the ships were about to leave them on that des olate shore, many became discouraged, and returned home. The waters in the vicinity abounded in fish, MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE 31 1 and the forests in game, and with a mild climate and productive soil, there was no danger from starvation. A fort was built in a suitable place; the trees of a grove three miles distant furnished the material, which they dragged across the prairie. La Salle ex plored the surrounding country, but sought in vain for the Mississippi. On his return to the fort, he was grieved to find his colony reduced to forty per sons, and they disheartened and mutinous. He did not despair ; he would yet accomplish the darling ob ject of his ambition; he would thread his way through the wilderness to Canada, and induce colon ists to join him. With a company of sixteen men he commenced the journey; they travelled two months across the prairies west of the Mississippi; but the hopes that had cheered his heart amidst hardships and disappointments were never to be realized. Two of his men, watching their opportunity, murdered him. Thus perished Robert Cavalier de la Salle, as sassinated in the wilderness by his own countrymen, He was the first to fully appreciate the importance of securing to France the two great valleys of this continent. His name will ever be associated with his unsuccessful enterprise, and his tragical fate will ever excite a feeling of sympathy. Retribution was not long delayed ; his murderers, grasping at spoils, became involved in a quarrel with their companions, and both perished by the hand of violence. The remainder of the company came upon a trib utary of the Mississippi, down which they passed to its mouth, where their eyes were greeted by a cross, and the arms of France engraved upon a tree. This had been done by Tonti, a friend of La Salle, who had descended from the Illinois, but in despair of seeing him had returned. The colony of Texas perished without leaving a memento of its existence. HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA HISTORICAL MEMORANDA THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW I %1 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. IB MAR i j. 1965 OCT 2 9 REC'l Y, COLLEGE OP AGRICULTURE, DAVIS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Book Slip-10m-8,'49(B5851s4)458 66716 I 1