XVII. CHAP. sent for large cargoes, which might very soon be expected in New York. This reply was entirely satisfactory. The 1770. Cherokee ambassadors returned to their own country; and the Confederates, loaded with provisions for their families, departed to their castles.1 1 On the eighteenth of October, John Earl of Dunmore, arrived in New York to occupy the gubernatorial chair, left vacant by the lamented Sir Henry Moore. The new governor is described, in a letter to Sir William, as "a very active man, fond of walking and riding, and a sportsman." This description affords a clue to the character of the man-easy in his disposition, and one who preferred the delights of the chase to controversies with his legisla ture. There was little likelihood, however, of his being troubled with a body that had, of late, grown very subservient. The news, moreover, which he brought with him, of his majesty's consent to the bill authorizing the emission of a colonial paper currency, increased the spirit of loyalty; and when, in his opening speech, on the eleventh of December, he expressed his pleasure that the example of the loyal subjects of the province had been the means of restoring friendly feelings and confidence between the parent country and the colonists, the address of the assembly, in reply, was a simple echo. During the entire session, therefore, the wheels of government rolled smoothly; and at its close, on the sixteenth of February, 1771, the loan bill was passed, as was also the one for appropriating two thousand pounds for the support of the troops. The crown had seemingly triumphed, but the end was not yet. Toward the close of the year, speculation in all kinds 1 Johnson to the minister, 12th July, 1770; Johnson to the minister, 14th Aug., 1770; Proceedings of Sir William with the Indians near the German Flats in July, 1770. 1 Lord Dunmore to Hillsborough, 24th Oct., 1770. Several writers have stated that he arrived on the 24th Oct. The date, to be sure, is not of much consequence, but if it is stated at all, it might as well be stated correctly. XVII. of adventures became rife, and among others, a company CHAP. was formed, and a grant obtained from the king, for exploring the copper mines of Lake Superior. During the 1770. fall, Sir William was overwhelmed with letters from different individuals in the company, asking advice as to the best method of conciliating the Indians in the vicinity of the mines. He was also urgently solicited to take a share in the company, the first dividend of which was to make the fortune of each member. Sir William, however, had no inclination to be caught by these golden offers. "Being now advanced pretty far in life," he wrote in reply to the president of the company, "and my constitution greatly impaired through the fatigues and hardships I have experienced in the service of the crown and the public; and having a very troublesome office to discharge, it is not in my power to find sufficient leisure from the duties thereof to attend to my present domestic concerns, as I ought to do, much less to embark in any additional engagements, however inviting."" 1 Manuscript letter; Johnson to Samuel Fouchet, 15th Sept., 1770. CHAP. CHAPTER XVIII. 1771-1772. Sir William Johnson's "new settlement" had now become a flourishing village. During the past year, it had 1771. been increased by eighty families, and had received the name of Johnstown, in honor of its founder. In the spring, several new streets were laid out; and numerous gaily painted signs, swinging from over the doors of tradesmen who had recently moved in, gave it quite a business like air. Its wants were constantly provided for by the Baronet. The inhabitants were supplied with lumber from his sawmills, and with pearl-ashes from a manufactory built on his estate for their special benefit. Nor, while attending to their temporal wants, did he neglect their spiritual and educational interests. In March, he began the erection of the stone church which stood in the village until 1836, when it was destroyed by fire;' and in the same month, he 1 Rev. Richard Moseley was the first pastor settled over this church. He commenced his labors in the summer of this year, but was compelled by ill health to resign in the spring of 1774. The character of the relations which existed between the Baronet and his pastor will appear from the following manuscript letter written to the former, shortly after the latter's departure. "Sir William : "NEW YORK, April 11th, 1774. I am at a loss to express my gratitude to you for your unbounded goodness to me during my residence at Johnstown, and particularly at my departure. I shall always retain a most grateful sense of your generosity; and that it may please God long to prolong your life, and possess you with a good state of health, will be the constant prayer and wishes of one, who has the honer of subscribing himself, SIR WILLIAM, "Your much Obliged "and very Humble Serv't XVIII. 1771. advertized in the New York and Philadelphia newspapers CHAP. for a teacher, who was "proficient in reading, writing, and arithmetic," to take charge of a free school which he proposed establishing for the benefit of the village children. While the Baronet was thus advancing the interests of his little colony, in which he justly took great pride, he was no less active in the adornment and cultivation of his own. immediate estate. Among my collection of manuscripts, I find a letter, written to a friend in Connecticut, in which he requests him to purchase and send him a large quantity of a superior quality of oats, which, it seems, were only raised in Saybrook. "I have sent you in a small box," writes another of his correspondents from Philadelphia, "a collection of scions for grafting which are cut in good season, and if you have proper stocks, I doubt not they will succeed;" and at the same time that the box arrived, he also received several bundles of choice fruit trees from another friend in New London. Indeed the valley of the Mohawk- the fertility of which had been discovered by Sir William at so early a day had assumed, in the immediate vicinity of his residence, the appearance of a rich farming country. The indefatigable zeal with which he had labored for so many years to develop the resources of the valley, and to instill into the minds of his Indian and white neighbors a love of agricultural pursuits, was beginning to bear fruit. Many of the Mohawks had become good farmers; the whites took special pride in raising good crops and choice stock; and rich farms, and beautiful meadows had succeeded the wilderness of forest that had first greeted the eyes of the young Irishman upon taking charge of his uncle's estate. Nor was his interest in the inhabitants of the Mohawk valley confined merely to his immediate neighborhood. The settlements of Fort Hunter, Canajoharie, Burnet's Fields, and even the older one of Schenectady, came within the immediate circle of his personal influence. Especially was he indefatigable in procuring spiritual food for their XVIII. CHAP. inhabitants. He was in constant correspondence with the friends and patrons of the "Venerable Society for propa1771. gating the gospel in foreign parts;" and in August, he received the formal thanks of that body for his successful efforts in furthering its plans. The spiritual and temporal condition of the Mohawk valley at this time, as well as the direct supervision exercised by him over it, will, perhaps, be best illustrated by the following extract from a letter written by Sir William, under date of February twenty-eighth, to the Rev. Mr. Burton of London: "I am unable to make a suitable return for the warm wishes you express for me, but I feel them very sensibly, and you have every thing in answer that the strongest friendship can dictate, and I cannot but greatly regret your distance and the peculiarity of your situation, which deprives me of the opportunity of a more friendly intercourse, often wishing that you could partake in the pleasing prospects which this country now affords from the advancement of religion and the improvements in agriculture. Mr. Stuart has been for sometime at his mission (Fort Hunter) where he is much esteemed, not only by the Indians, but by the Dutch inhabitants, who constantly resort to his church; his situation enables me to see him often, and I have great hopes from his appointment. Mr. Hall has an allowance from the society, and is to reside at Canajoharie until he is of age to take orders. Mr. Andrews, who has brought over a wife, is long since at Schenectady. He is sensible, and will, I believe, be of great use there, being connected with a principal inhabitant of that place. His congregation is as yet small, but zealous, and likely to increase. The only mission in this quarter, as yet unsupplied, is mine at Johnstown; the church at which being small and very ill built. I am preparing stone and materials for erecting one much stronger aud larger, that will accomodate near one thousand souls." Nor while thus engaged in aiding episcopal missions, 1 Manuscript letter. |