30, 1686], clothed with authority to govern all New England. He came with a smiling face, and deceitful lips. He appears to have been a tyrant by nature, and came to execute a despot's will. He soon made bare the rod of oppression, and began to rule with a tyrant's rigor.' The people were about to practice the doctrine that "resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," when intelligence reached Boston [April 14, 1689], that James was driven from the throne [1688] and was succeeded by William and Mary, of Orange.3 The inhabitants of Boston seized and imprisoned Andros and fifty of his political associates [April 28, 1689], sent them to England under a just charge of maladministration of public affairs, and re-established their constitutional government. Again republicanism was triumphant in Massachusetts.

The effects of the revolution in England were also sorrowful to the American colonies. That revolution became a cause of war between England and France. James (who was a Roman Catholic) fled to the court of Louis the Fourteenth, king of France, and that monarch espoused the cause of the fugitive. Hostilities between the two nations commenced the same year, and the quarrel extended to their respective colonies in America. The conflict then commenced, and which was continued more than seven years, is known in history as

KING WILLIAM'S WAR.

The colonists suffered terribly in that contest. The French Jesuits, who had acquired great influence over the eastern tribes,' easily excited them to renew their fierce warfare with the English. They also made the savages their allies; and all along the frontier settlements, the pathway of murder and desolation was seen. Dover, a frontier town, was first attacked by a party of French and Indians, on the 7th of July, 1689, when the venerable Major Waldron and twenty others of the little garrison were killed. Twenty-nine of the inhabitants were made captive, and sold as servants to the French in Canada. In August following, an Indian war party, instigated by Thury, a Jesuit, fell [August 12] upon an English stockade at Pemaquid (built by Andros), and captured the garrison. A few months later, Frontenac sent a

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Among other arbitrary acts, Andros laid restraints upon the freedom of the press, and marriage contracts; and, to use a modern term, he "levied black mail;" that is, extorted money, by menaces, whenever opportunity offered. He advanced the fees of all officers of the government to an exorbitant degree; and finally threatened to make the Church of England the established religion in all America.

2

? This was Cromwell's motto; and Thomas Jefferson had it engraved upon his private seal. 3 Note 7, page 113.

This was a Roman Catholic religious order, founded by Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, in 1539. They have ever been remarkable for their great devotion to their cause, their self-denial, and masterly sagacity in the acquirement and maintenance of power. Their missionaries preached Christianity in every part of the habitable globe. They came with the first French adventurers to America, and under their influence, whole tribes of Indians eastward of Massachusetts and in Canada were made nominal Christians. This was one of the ties which made the savages such faithful allies to the French in the contests between them and the English, previous to 1763. Page 22.

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• Waldron was eighty years of age. He had played false with the New Hampshire Indians during King. Philip's war, and they now sought revenge. They tortured him to death.

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."

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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.3 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

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1 In these massacres, instigated by the Jesuits, we may find a reason for the sceming 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.

2

Page 58.

3

Page 204.

4 Page 48.

6

Page 86.

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. 8 Page 23.

9 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.1

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, * Page 251. 5 Note 5, page 118. page 80.

6 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.

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1 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

3

"King William's war" continued until 1697, when a treaty of "'1 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

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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. Ho 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. Page 130. 2 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 Ergland, now [1856] amounting to about four thousand millions of dollars.

island.

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They also took the English fort of St. John's, Newfoundland, and several other posts on that Her infant was soon killed, Among their captives was a Mrs. Dustan, her child, and nurse. 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.

5 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.