XVI. the afternoon of the third of January, dissolved it by a CHAP. speech of evident irritation, yet of affected regret and sorrow at the occasion demanding the summary measure. 1769. Writs for a new election were immediately issued, returnable on the fourteenth of February. The people, however, sustained the action of their representatives; and all the former members, with the exception of six, were returned by overwhelming majorities. Such was the result of the first direct appeal of the crown to the people, on the subject of the great constitutional which were now beginning les of libert to agitate the political waters to their deepest fountains. Juoppy oils AlNE CHAP. CHAPTER XVII. 1769-1770. At no time in its history, had the Confederacy of the XVII. Six Nations been in so calm a state as at the opening of 1769. the present year. It is true that an occasional brush with the Paxton men caused, at times, some uneasiness; but those land disputes, which had been a source of so much irritation, were now mostly settled; while the recent adjustment of the boundary appeared as if the whites were in future disposed to act fairly. Within the past year, moreover, efforts had been made by the principal sachems to lead back those of their number, who had strayed into lands far removed from their ancient fireplace; and generally with success. Those of the Tuscaroras, who had remained in the Carolinas, had followed their kindred; the Onondagas of Swegatchie and the Sault St. Louis again slept in the lodges of their fathers; and the Senecas of the Ohio were gradually finding their way back to Chenussio. Indian teachers, educated by Doctor Wheelock, and supported at the private expense of Sir William Johnson, were quietly diffusing among the tribes a taste for reading and peaceful avocations. The brazen age of the Confederacy seemed rapidly giving way to the golden. 1 1 One of these teachers was a Mohegan Indian, Joseph Johnson, who was born at Mohegan in 1750. He was the son of Capt. Joseph Johnson, who served near Lake George in the French war of 1757, and who was a man of piety. After he had been employed some two years, among the Six Nations, he became for a time a wanderer. Returning from a whaling voyage, in 1771, he repaired to his farm in Mohegan, and there in a time of sickness brought on by his vices, became a Christian convert by reading the New Testament and Baxter's Saint's Rest. It would seem, from his journal, which is still preserved, that he experienced the deepest convic XVII. The tranquility that now prevailed, afforded Sir Wil- CHAP. liam an opportunity of carrying out a plan which he had long meditated for the improvement of his special prote- 1769. ges, the Mohawks. The mission established by the Rev. Mr. Barclay between the Lower Mohawk Castle and Albany, since he had become the rector of Trinity Church, had been without a settled pastor-a circumstance which had been a source of much vexation both to the Indians and the Baronet. Accordingly, in the early spring, the latter, at his own expense, began the erection of a handsome little church at Canajoharie, designed expressly for the use of the Mohawks of the Upper and Lower Castles. Owing, however, to the necessity of bringing most of the building materials from New York city, the church was not completed and thoroughly furnished until June of the following year; when, a new supply of Indian prayer books having been received from Hugh Gaine, it was opened for divine worship on the seventeenth of that month, Rev. Harry Munro from Albany, at the invitation of Sir William, preaching the dedication sermon.1 While the Baronet was thus engaged, he entertained, in March, at the Hall, Professors Danford and Willard of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who were on their way to Lake Superior to observe the transit of Venus. Fears were entertained that the jealousy of the western nations might be excited at the mathematical instruments,-sus tion of sin. Afterward he was licensed to preach, and was for years a missionary in the state of New York. 1 In writing to his agent in New York, for the different materials for this church, the Baronet mentions the following items: To get a ball made and gilt; also a weathercock, and all the iron work necessary to fix them. They are to be proportioned to the building, which is a wooden church now a building at Canajoharie, of 50 ft. long by 32 wide. Also a bell, £13 or £20 in price." MS. letter, Johnson to John Wetherhead, 17th Feb., 1769. This little church is still standing in the town of Danube, Herkimer Co., N. Y. The same old bell still hangs in the belfry. Tradition states that during the revolution this bell was carried off by the Indians, who on being pursued cast it into the Mohawk, whence it was afterwards fished out and restored to its place. XVII. CHAP pecting that they were to be used in surveying their country, and although they were armed with a pass from 1769. General Gage, requesting the commanding officer at Michilimackinac to explain to the Indians the object of their visit, yet they desired to have the benefit of such suggestions from the superintendent as would best facilitate the object of their journey. In the election which took place, as stated in the last chapter, almost immediately after the dissolution of the assembly, the Baronet did not take his usual active part. This was owing to the fact, that one of the candidates for reëlection to the assemby from Albany county was Colonel Philip Schuyler, between whom and himself a coolness had recently arisen. The cause of the estrangement was as follows: During the last session of the assembly, Colonel Schuyler, chafed at some opposition in his last election, in the Spiring of 1768, from Sir John Johnson, and believing it to have emanated from the father, (although this was not the case,) made a motion for an act to prevent any member of the council interfering in future elections. Although the motion was negatived by a large majority, yet the Baronet, believing, in common with many of his friends, that this was intended for himself, felt aggrieved that one for whom he had always manifested a warm friendship, and one, moreover, whom he had but recently created a colonel as a special mark of favor, should have taken such a course. He was not a man, however, to brood in secret over a supposed injury, and he, therefore, in the middle of January, just previous to the election, wrote a letter to the colonel, stating that if the reports which he had heard were true, he could not give him his support. Colonel Schuyler, who, if he really designed the motion as a thrust at the Baronet, was not disinclined to have his influence in the coming canvas, immediately replied to Sir William's letter. His explanation, however, was evidently not satisfactory. "The several reports," XVII wrote Sir William to an intimate friend, "that I have CHAP. lately received of Phil. Schuyler's conduct towards me, are so correspondent that I have written him upon it; and 1769. although in his answer he appears very desirous of clearing up matters to my satisfaction, I find it will be necessary for me to have some little communication with him whenever I meet with an opportunity, as his answer sufficiently shows that he has been led into some capital errors relating to part of my late conduct, which he spoke of in the late assembly. However, I shall suspend my thoughts for a little time, as I am willing to suppose that a man whom I have never injured, and who has twice solicited for my interest, which I freely promised him, would hardly have insinuated anything with regard to me unless he had been excited-perhaps without any ill intention on his part. Feeling, therefore, that he could not give him his cordial support, and being unwilling to oppose one who was known as the champion of the people against ministerial oppression, he took no active part in the election. Colonel Schuyler was accordingly reëlected by a large majority, very much to the chagrin of Henry VanSchaack, who was his strong political enemy. "The people down here," wrote the latter from Kinderhook to the Baronet, "almost to a man, were greatly disappointed that there was no opposition to the last elections, as they had flattering hopes of your interfering.2 In New York city the election was warmly contested. "I hear," wrote Sir William, jocularly, to a friend in New York, "that you are likely to have a hot election, and probably there will be work for shillalahs." Nor was the writer far out in his conjecture. At no time, for many years, had the excitement been more intense; and every means and device was made use of to secure votes. 3 1 Manuscript letter; Johnson to Major Moncrieffe, 26th Jan., 1769. 2 Manuscript letter; Henry Van Schaack to Johnson, 20th March, 1769. It is surprising what trifles can be turned to the greatest advantage in elections, and be made to captivate the passions of the vulgar. A straw, |