party of three hundred French and Indians from Montreal, to penetrate the country toward Albany. On a gloomy night in winter, when the snow was twenty inches in depth, they fell upon Schenectada [Feb. 18, 1690], a frontier town on the Mohawk, massacred many of the people, and burnt the village. Early in the spring, Salmon Falls [March 28], Casco [May 27], and other eastern villages, were attacked by another party of the same mongrel foe, the natural ferocity of the Indians being quickened by the teachings of the Jesuits concerning the proper fate of heretics.' All the colonies were aroused, by these atrocities, to a sense of their danger in having such foes intent upon their destruction; and the New England people resolved on speedy retaliation. In May, Massachusetts fitted out an expedition, under Sir William Phipps, a native of Pemaquid, consisting of eight or nine vessels, with about eight hundred men. Phipps seized Port Royal,2 in Acadie, and obtained sufficient plunder from the inhabitants to pay the expenses of the expedition. In June, Port Royal was again plundered by English privateers from the West Indies. Encouraged by these successes, the colonies of New England and New York coalesced in efforts to conquer Canada. It was arranged to send a land expedition from New York, by way of Lake Champlain, against Montreal,' and a naval expedition against Quebec. The command of the former was intrusted to the son of Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, and the expenses were borne jointly by that colony and New York.' Sir William Phipps commanded the latter, which Massachusetts alone fitted out. It consisted of thirty-four vessels, with two thousand men. Both were unsuccessful. Some of Winthrop's troops, with Indians of the FIVE NATIONS," under Colonel Schuyler, pushed toward the St. Lawrence, and were repulsed [Aug., 1690] by Frontenac, the governor of Canada. The remainder did not go beyond Wood Creek (now Whitehall), at the head of Lake Champlain, and all returned to Albany. Phipps reached Quebec about the middle of October, and landed the troops; but the city was too strongly fortified" to promise a successful siege, and he returned to Boston before the winter set in." Massa 6 1 In these massacres, instigated by the Jesuits, we may find a reason for the seeming intolerance of the Protestant majority in Maryland [page 152], the disabilities of Roman Catholics in Virginia, New York, and New England, and their exclusion from the privileges of freemen in tolerant Rhode Island. The most potent operations of the Jesuits were in secret, and the colonists were compelled to regard every Roman Catholic as the natural enemy of Protestants, and as laboring to destroy every measure tending to human freedom. Page 58. 3 Page 204. 6 Page 48. 'Milborne, son-in-law of Jacob Leisler, the democratic governor of New York [page 148], undertook to provide subsistence for the army, which marched from Albany early in July. Page 23. 'Leisler was so much incensed at this failure, that he caused the arrest of Winthrop, at Albany. There had ever been a jealous rivalry between the people of New York and Connecticut; and the feud which continually prevailed among the mixed troops, was the chief cause of the miscarriage of the enterprise. 10 Phipps, having no chart to guide him, was nine weeks cautiously making his way around Acadie and up the St. Lawrence. In the mean while, a swift Indian runner, from Pemaquid, sped across the country, and informed the French, at Quebec, of the approach of Phipps, in time for them to well prepare for defense. "This repulse was considered so important by the French, that king Louis had a commemorative medal struck, with the legend-" FRANCE VICTORIOUS IN THE NEW WORLD." chusetts was obliged to issue bills of credit, or paper money, to defray the expenses of this expedition." 2 Sir William Phipps was sent to England soon after his return, to solicit aid in further warfare upon the French and Indians, and also to assist in efforts to procure a restoration of the charter of Massachusetts, taken away by King James. Material assistance in prosecuting the war was refused; and King William instead of restoring the old charter, granted a new one, and united under it the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Maine, and Nova Scotia,' by the old name of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and made it a royal province. Phipps was appointed governor by the king, and returned to Boston with the charter, in May, 1692. But the new constitution was offensive to the people, for they were allowed scarcely any other political privileges than they already possessed, except the right to choose representatives. The king reserved the right to appoint the governor, his deputy, and the secretary of the colony, and of repealing the laws within three years after their passage. This abridgment of their liberties produced general dissatisfaction, and alienated the affections of the people from the mother country. It was one of a series of fatal steps taken by the English government, which tended toward the final dismemberment of the empire in 1776. Yet one good resulted from the change. The theocratic or religious element in the government, which fostered bigotry and intolerance, lost its power, for toleration was guarantied to all Christian sects, except Roman Catholics; and the right of suffrage was extended to others than members of Congregational churches." A very strange episode in the history of Massachusetts now occurred. A belief in witchcraft destroyed the peace of society in many communities, and shrouded the whole colony in a cloud of gloom. This belief had a strong hold upon the minds of the people of old England, and of their brethren in America. Excitement upon the subject suddenly broke out at Danvers (then a part of Salem), in March, 1692, and spread like an epidemic. A niece and daughter of the parish minister exhibited strange conduct; and under the influence of their own superstitious belief, they accused an old Indian servant-woman in the family of bewitching them. Fasting and prayer, to break the "spell," were of no avail, for the malady increased. The alarm of the family spread to the 1 Note 4, page 122. The total amount of the issue was $133,338. 2 Page 129. 3 New Scotland, the name given to the country which the French called Acadie. See note 2, 4 Page 251. Note 5, page 118. page 80. A belief in witchcraft, or the exercise of supernatural power, by men and women, has been prevalent for ages. Punishment of persons accused of it, was first sanctioned by the Church of Rome a little more than three hundred years ago. Certain tests were instituted, and thousands of innocent persons were burned alive, drowned, or hanged, in Europe. Within three months, in 1515, five hundred persons were burned in Geneva, in Switzerland. In the diocese of Como, one thousand were burned in one year. In 1520, an incredible number, from among all classes, suffered death in France. And within fifty or sixty years, during the sixteenth century, more than one hundred thousand persons perished in the flames in Germany alone. Henry the Eighth of England made the practice of witchcraft a capital offense; and a hundred years later, "witch-detectors" traversed the country, and brought many to the stake. Enlightened men embraced the belief; and even Sir Matthew Hale, the most distinguished of England's judges, repeatedly tried and condemned persons accused of witchcraft. The English laws against witchcraft were adopted in New England; and as early as 1648, four persons had suffered death for the alleged offense, in the vicinity of Boston. community; and soon a belief prevailed throughout the colony, that evil spirits, having ministering servants among men, overshadowed the land. Old and illfavored women were first accused of practising the art of witchcraft; but at length neither age, sex, nor condition afforded protection from the accuser's tongue. Even the lady of Governor Phipps did not escape suspicion. Magistrates were condemned, many pious persons were imprisoned, and Mr. Burroughs, a worthy minister, was executed. Men of strong minds and scholarly attainments were thoroughly deluded. Among these was the eminent Cotton Mather, whose father before him had yielded to the superstition, and published an account of all the supposed cases of witchcraft in New England. Cotton Mather, on account of his position as a leading divine, and his talents, probably did more than any other man to promote the spread of that fearful delusion, which prevailed for more than six months. During that time, twenty persons suffered death, fifty-five were tortured or frightened into a confession of witchcraft, and when a special court, or legislature, was convened in October, 1692, one hundred and fifty accused persons were in prison. A reaction, almost as sudden as the beginning of the excitement, now took place in the public mind. The prison doors were opened to the accused, and soon many of the accusers shrunk abashed from the public gaze.' Standing in the light of the present century, we look back to "Salem witchcraft," as it is called, with amazement. The belief in witchcraft did not cease with the strange excitement; and Cotton Mather and other popular men, wrote in its defense. Calef, a citizen of Boston, exposed Mather's credulity, which greatly irritated the minister. He first called his opponent "a weaver turned minister;" but as his tormentor's blows fell thick and fast, in a series of letters, Mather called him "a coal from 1 3 King William's war" continued until 1697, when a treaty of peace, made at Ryswick, in the west of Holland, on the 20th of September of that year, terminated hostilities. Up to that time, and later, the New England people suffered greatly from their mongrel foe. Remote settlements in the direction of Canada and Nova Scotia continued to be harassed. Almost a hundred persons were killed or made captive [July 28, 1694] at Oyster River (now Durham), ten miles from Portsmouth, in New Hampshire. Two years later [July 25, 1696], Baron St. Castine, and a large force of French and Indians, captured the garrison at Pemaquid, and exchanged the prisoners for French soldiers in the hands of the English. In March, 1697, Haverhill, thirty miles from Boston, was attacked, and forty persons were killed or carried into captivity; and during the following summer, more remote settlers were great sufferers. A respite now came. The treaty at Ryswick produced a lull in the storm of cruel warfare, which had so long hung upon the English frontiers, continually menacing the colonists with wide-spread destruction." It was very brief, however, for pretexts for another war were not long wanting. James the Second died in September, 1701, and Louis the Fourteenth, who had sheltered the exile, acknowledged his son, Charles Edward (commonly known as the Pretender), to be the lawful heir to the English throne. This offended the English, because the crown had been settled upon Anne, second daughter of James, who was a Protestant. Louis had also offended the English, by placing his grandson, Philip of Anjou, upon the throne of Spain, and thus 6 hell," and prosecuted him for slander. The credulous clergyman was glad to withdraw the suit. Cotton Mather was born in Boston, in February, 1633, and was educated at Harvard College. He was very expert in the acquirement of knowledge, and at the age of nineteen years, he received the degree of Master of Arts. He became a gospel minister at twenty-two, and holding a ready pen, he wrote much. Few of his writings have survived him. With all his learning, he was but a child in that which constitutes true manhood, and he is now regarded more as a pedant than as a scholar. He died in February, 1728. For the benefit of young men, we will here introduce an anecdote connected with him. It was thus related by Dr. Franklin, to Samuel, a son of Cotton Mather: "The last time I saw your father was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library; and on my taking leave, showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly toward him, when he said hastily, 'Stoop! stoop!' I did not understand until I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed an occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, 'You are young, and have the world before you; stoop as you go through, and you will escape many hard thumps.' This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it when I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by carrying their heads too high." 1 Page 130. This war cost England one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, in cash, besides a loan of one hundred millions more. This loan was the commencement of the enormous national debt of England, now [1856] amounting to about four thousand millions of dollars. 3 island. They also took the English fort of St. John's, Newfoundland, and several other posts on that Among their captives was a Mrs. Dustan, her child, and nurse. Her infant was soon killed, and she and her nurse were taken to Canada. A little more than a month afterward, Mrs. D., her companion, and another prisoner, killed ten of twelve sleeping Indians, who had them in custody, and made their way back to Haverhill. Just before the conclusion of this treaty, a Board of Trade and Plantations was established by the English government, whose duty it was to have a general oversight of the American colonies. This was a permanent commission, consisting of a president and seven members, called Lords of Trade. This commission was always an instrument of oppression in the hands of royalty, and, as will be seen, was a powerful promoter of that discontent which led to the rebellion of the colonies in 1775. Page 130. extended the influence of France among the dynasties of Europe. These, and some minor causes, impelled England again to declare war against France.' Hostilities commenced in 1702, and continued until a treaty of peace was concluded at Utrecht, in Holland, on the 11th of April, 1713. As usual, the French and English in America were involved in this war; and the latter suffered much from the cruelties of the Indians who were under the influence of the former. This is known in America as QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. It was a fortunate circumstance for the people of New York that the FIVE NATIONS had made a treaty of neutrality with the French in Canada [Aug. 4, 1701], and thus became an impassable barrier against the savage hordes from the St. Lawrence. The tribes from the Merrimac to the Penobscot had made a treaty of peace with New England, in July, 1703, but the French induced them to violate it; and before the close of summer, the hatchet fell upon the people of the whole frontier from Casco to Wells. Blood flowed in almost every valley; and early the next spring [March, 1704], a large party of French and Indians, under Major Hertel de Rouville, attacked Deerfield, on the Connecticut River, applied the torch,' killed forty of the inhabitants, and carried one hundred and twelve away to the wilderness. Among these was Rev. John Williams, the minister, whose little daughter, after a long residence with the Indians, became attached to them, and married a Mohawk chief.3 Similar scenes occurred at intervals during the whole progress of the war. Remote settlements were abandoned, and the people on the frontier collected in fortified houses, and cultivated their fields in armed parties of half a dozen or more. This state of things became insupportable to the English colonists, and in the spring of 1707, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, determined to chastise the French on their eastern borders. Connecticut refused to join in the enterprise, and the three colonies alone prepared an armament. Early in June, a thousand men under Colonel Marsh, sailed from Nantucket for Port Royal, in Acadie, convoyed by an English man-of-war. The French were prepared for them, and nothing was effected except the destruction of considerable property outside the fort. Three years later, an armament left WILLIAMS'S HOUSE. 1 It is known in European history as the War of the Spanish Succession. The only house that escaped the flames was that of the Rev. John Williams, represented in the engraving. It stood near the centre of the village, until within a few years. Mrs. Williams and other captives, who were unable to travel as rapidly as the Indians, wero murdered. On his arrival in Canada, Mr. Williams was treated with respect by the French, and after two years of captivity, was ransomed, and returned to Massachusetts. The chief object of the expedition to Deerfield, appears to have been to carry off the bell that hung. Williams's church. That bell was purchased the year previous for the church of Saut St. Louis, at Caughnawaga, near Montreal. The vessel in which it was brought from Havre was captured by a New England privateer, and the bell was purchased for the Deerfield meeting-house. Father Nicolas, of the church at Caughnawaga, accompanied the expedition, and the bell was carried in triumph to its original. destination, where it still remains. Note 1, page 127. Page 58. |