such children as parents wished to put under his care. In Connecticut, this provision extended to females as well as males. And the better to induce every town to avail itself of this provision, the law grants and appropriates, to each town or school district, a sum of money payable out of the treasury of the state, equal to one five hundredth part of the value of the taxable property of the inhabitants, as rated in the grand list or public assessment. In addition to this, each town has the command of a large fund arising from the sale of a tract of land called the Western Reserve. In consequence of which, almost every child in the state has access to a school, some part of the year.

QUESTIONS.

332. What sort of governments were those of New England by their charters ?

333. How were the first governors of Massachusetts chosen? 331. What were the qualifications of freemen or electors? 335, 336. The first legislature of Massachusetts consisted of one house, and all the freemen attended. When was the practice altered?

340. When and how was the division into two branches made?

342. When was voting by proxy introduced?

343. What was the manner of voting?

344. How was the governor of Connecticut elected? 345. What were the first laws of the colonies?

a body of laws compiled?

When was

346. What was the character of the first settlers of New England?

347. What was the first government of the Plymouth colony? 348. What was the supreme judicial power in the colonies? 349. Why did the Puritans leave England? What form of church government did they establish?

350. What name did the first settlers give to the days of the week and to the months? What was the origin of keeping Saturday evening as holy time?

351. What lectures were established in Boston?

352. Why were days of fasting and thanksgiving established? 353. What was the discipline of the churches?

354. When was a platform of church government established? 355. Whence arose the union of churches by associations and consociations?

356. How were the clergy at first supported? and how at present?

357. When was the first Episcopal church collected in Massachusetts, and when in Connecticut?

358. How was property held in the first settlement of Plymouth? in common or in severalty?

359. How did the Puritans attempt to restrain luxury? 360. When was the first vessel built in New England, when was it lanched, and what was it called?

361. What was the first commerce, and what the money of the first planters of Massachusetts ?

362. Who built the first ship for foreign trade? Where was it built?

363. What were the chief articles of export?

363. When was the fishery begun ?

364. What occasioned jealousies between the colonies? 365. Whence did the first planters of New England obtain their provisions and clothing?

366. What vessel first went from New England to the West Indies? and in what year?

366. Where was a market first found for lumber?

367. When did the first ship arrive from Madeira? 368. What articles did Connecticut export?

368. What great loss did New Haven sustain ? 369. When was the first mill erected, and where?

370. When and by whom was printing introduced? 370. What was first printed at Cambridge?

370. When was the first printing press established in Connecticut?

370. When was the first code of Connecticut laws printed? 370. When was the first newspaper published?

371. When was the first college founded, and where? 371. When was Yale college founded?

372. What measures did the planters of New England take to promote education?

CHAPTER XI.

MILITARY EVENTS.

373. Principal wars in the colonies. While the people of this country remained under the dominion of Great Britain, they were involved in all her contentions

with France and the Dutch. Soon after king William ascended the throne of England, in 1688, war was declared by France, and the French commander in Canada instigated the savages to fall on the frontier settlements. It was on this occasion that Schenectady was sacked, and the inhabitants massacred. To put a stop to the depredations of the French and savages, it was contemplated to conquer Canada. For this purpose, an expedition was projected by the commissioners of the colonies in 1690. The crown was solicited to afford some aid, but it could not be granted, on account of troubles in Great Britain.

374. Expedition against Canada under sir William Phips. The land forces ordered for invasion consisted of eight hundred and fifty men, raised by the colonies of New England and New York, and commanded by general Winthrop. At the same time, a fleet of armed ships and transports, with eighteen hundred men, under sir William Phips, was ordered to sail up the St. Lawrénce, to co-operate with the land forces in the reduction of Quebec. But the expedition proved unsuccessful. The fleet had a long passage, and did not arrive before Quebec till October. The land troops were not furnished with provisions, nor boats to convey them over the lake, and they returned. The forces, however, landed from the fleet, and the ships cannonaded Quebec, without much effect, while they suffered severely from the batteries of the enemy. Stormy weather soon succeeded, and made it necessary to abandon the enterprise.

375. Colonel Fletcher's commission. In 1692, colonel Fletcher arrived with the commission of governor of New York, and also with power to command the militia and garrisons of Connecticut. The colony immediately dispatched general Winthrop, as an agent, to remonstrate to the king and council, against this extraordinary power. In the mean time, colonel Fletcher went to Hartford, and in his majesty's name, required the colony to surrender to him the command of the military. The train bands in Hartford were paraded, and colonel Fletcher directed his secretary to read his

commission. But captain Wadsworth, the senior officer, ordered the drums to be beat, and interrupted the reading. Colonel Fletcher commanded silence repeatedly, till captain Wadsworth, with a firm tone, told him, "if he was not silent, he would make the sun shine through him in a mornent." Colonel Fletcher, finding he could not succeed, judged it expedient to withdraw, and returned to New York.

In

376. The progress and conclusion of this war. the spring of 1690, sır William Phips, with a few ships and a small number of men, took possession of Nova Scotia, and the country from Port Royal to Penobscot. The Massachusetts colony began to exercise the powers of government there; but was interrupted by Villebon, a Frenchman, who established himself on the river St. John. The French also sent a force from Quebec and took the fort at Pemaquid and demolished it. Upon which captain Church, with a body of troops, committed depredations upon the French inhabitants, and an attempt was made to take Villebon's fort, but by ill management it was frustrated. In 1693, a fleet under sir Francis Wheeler, was ordered to act against the French in the West Indies, and then to repair to Quebec and in conjunction with a body of New England troops, reduce Canada. But by a malignant fever, which destroyed most of the troops of the fleet, this expedition was defeated. In 1697, the French in Canada planned an attack upon Boston, and a large fleet was sent from France to co-operate in the design; but adverse winds, and other ill events, frustrated the project. In the same year, a treaty of peace was signed at Ryswick, between England and France, and hostilities ceased.

377. War in queen Ann's reign. Soon after queen Ann succeeded to the English throne, in 1702 war was declared against France, and the settlements in New England were again exposed to the incursions of ferocious Frenchmen and Indians from Canada. In 1704, colonel Church, with a party of men, visited Nova Scotia, and distressed the poor inhabitants without taking any important post. After burning and plundering several towns and villages he returned. In 1707, a

considerable force was sent under colonel March, to reduce Port Royal, in Nova Scotia; but after landing and engaging in some skirmishes, it was judged raw troops were not sufficient to take so strong a fort, and they retired to Casco. Here a reenforcement was received, and three persons arrived with authority from Massachusetts, to renew and inspect the siege. But a second attempt proved equally unsuccessful. In August 1708, a party of Indians, headed by Frenchmen, assaulted Haverhill on the Merrimac, burnt some of the houses and slew thirty or forty of the inhabitants. Mr. Rolfe, the minister, was killed; but his maid covered two of his young daughters with tubs in the cellar, and saved their lives.

378. Progress of this war. Finding the colonies could not be safe from the ravages of the French and Indians, while Canada and Nova Scotia were under the government of France, Massachusetts solicited, and the queen granted a large naval force, to aid in the reduction of those provinces. The New England colonies, with New York, in 1709, raised about two thousand and five hundred men, who were commanded by general Nicholson. These marched to Wood creek, south of lake George, and there waited to hear of the arrival of the expected fleet at Boston. But the fleet did not arrive, and the troops lay at Wood creek, till autumn. While encamped, they were attacked with a malignant disease, which occasioned a great mortality, and compelled them to withdraw. Thus ended all the expensive preparations for subduing Canada. The next year, however, a body of colonial troops, under general Nicholson, sailed to Port Royal, and took possession of it by capitulation. 379. Expedition under admiral Walker. In 1711, general Nicholson procured of the queen, a fleet of men of war and transports, under admiral Walker, for aiding in the conquest of Canada. This fleet arrived at Boston in June, and although not expected, the colonies made the best preparation they could to second the operations. The whole force, when the British and colonial troops were united, amounted to seven thousand men. General Nicholson went to Albany, intending, with additional forces, to join admiral Walker before