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CHAPTER III.

SKETCH OF POLITICAL EVENTS FROM 1740 TO 1763.

Review of the State of the Colonies from the Commencement of the Century— Trade, Imports, and Exports-Attempts at domestic Manufactures discouraged-Provincials prohibited from exporting Wool from one Colony to another, or to foreign Countries-State of the Church of England in AmericaAttempt of the Society for Propagating the Gospel to introduce Bishops, grossly misrepresented-Alarm felt at the Spread of Church Principles, in Consequence of the Secession of several eminent Dissenting Divines-A Man fined fifty Pounds for maintaining that no other but Episcopal Ordination was valid-Universal Disregard of the Laws of Trade-Rebellion in Carolina—- . Establishment of a General Post Office-Opposition to it-Proposed Scheme for confederating all the Colonies-Its Details-The Plan very similar to that of General Government-Frequent Assemblies of General Officers and Governors suggest the Idea of Congress-Dispute between Lord Loudon and the General Court about Supplies for the Troops--Attack on the Judges, and also the Custom House Officers-Question as to Legality of Writs of Assistance-Speech of Mr. Otis-Peace of 1763.

In order to preserve the account entire of the controversy about fixed salaries, many incidental matters of interest have been omitted, which if now thrown together in a retrospective review will enable us to judge of the state of the colonies during the last forty years. The trade of the provinces, notwithstanding the restrictions to which it was subject, was greatly augmented. In the latter years of William III. the annual exports of the provinces to England amounted to about £320,000. The imports were nearly the same. The traffic with Europe, the West Indies, the Canaries, and the Azores, the greater part of which was illicit, was estimated at about an equal amount. The "plantation duties" collected in the colonies were sufficient to pay the expense of the custom-house establishment, and to leave a net surplus of £1200 a year.

Schemes continued to be indulged in America for the encouragement of domestic manufactures; but these enterprises, and the acts of the Assemblies for promoting them, were regarded in Great Britain with much jealousy. Woolen cloths, at that time, were the chief English production for exportation. A law, de

signed to cramp this business in the colonies, prohibited the transport of domestic woolens from one province to another, or the export of colonial wool or cloth to any foreign market.

At the commencement of the century, the venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts was incorporated. No religious association, perhaps, in the world, has produced so much good, or is at this moment diffusing so much benefit over the distant parts of the empire. Although its first efforts were comparatively feeble, from the state of its funds, its salutary influence was visible in the extension of the Church, and the dissemination of good sound principles. Throughout the colonies new congregations were forming, and additional pastors demanded. At last the Society became sensible of the error that had originally been committed, and was still allowed to continue, in its missionary work in America, in not placing the clergy under proper episcopal control. To remedy this evil, it was proposed to send over bishops. But knowing the imputations to which their conduct would be subject, and the misrepresentations of their motives, which would be maliciously invented, and vindictively circulated, they stated the object they had in view, and the limited extent of jurisdiction they required.

They assured the colonists, 1st, "That no coercive power is desired over the laity in any case, but only a power to regulate the behavior of the clergy who are in episcopal orders, and to correct and punish them according to the laws of the Church of England, in case of misbehavior or neglect of duty, with such power as the commissaries have exercised. 2. That nothing is desired for such bishops that may in the least interfere with the dignity, authority, or interest of the governor or any other officer of state. Probates of wills, license for marriage, &c., to be left in the hands where they are, and no share in the temporal government is desired for bishops. 3. The maintenance of such prelates not to be at the charge of the colonies. 4. No bishops are intended to be settled in places where the government is in the hands of Dissenters, as in New England, &c., but authority to be given only to ordain clergy for such Church of England congregations as are among them, and to inspect into the manners and behavior of such clergy, and to confirm the members thereof."

As the Society feared, their avowal awakened a storm of sectarian opposition and abuse, that unfortunately terrified them

from proceeding with their laudable and necessary plan of giving effect to the teaching and discipline of the Church. It was observed every where that Episcopalians were loyal subjects and averse to those schemes of separation, which were now becoming so general and so popular; but the secession of several eminent dissenting ministers alarmed the Puritans still more. The Connecticut College, transferred from Saybrook to New Haven, and named Yale after one of its early benefactors, had been latterly intrusted to the rectorship of the Rev. Timothy Cutler, a minister of talent and distinguished learning. To the surprise and alarm of the good people of New England, Cutler, with the tutor of the college and two neighboring ministers, took occasion, on a commencement-day, to avow conversion to Episcopacy-a lapse in which they persisted in spite of an elaborate, and, as the audience thought, most convincing argument set forth on the spur of the moment by the governor, Saltonstall, in favor of Congregationalism. Cutler was forthwith excused from all further service as rector of the college, and provision was made for requiring of all future presidents satisfactory evidence of the soundness of their faith in opposition to Arminian and prelatical corruptions.

This prompt discipline, and the vehement outcry raised against the deserters, terrified and stopped several others inclined, it was suspected, to join in the revolt. Defection, nevertheless, continued to spread. Cutler became rector of a new Episcopal Church in Boston. The dismissed ministers were maintained as missionaries by the Society, and a new element through their means, was gradually introduced into the religious system of Connecticut.

The jealousy excited by the secessions in Connecticut, was evinced in Massachusetts by the trial of John Checkley, afterward ordained as an Episcopal missionary, and sent to preach in Rhode Island, for publishing Leslie's "Short and Easy Way with the Deists," with an appendix by himself, in which prelatic ordination was insisted upon as necessary to constitute a Christian minister. This publication was charged with tending "to bring into contempt and infamy the ministers of the Holy Gospel established by law within his Majesty's province of Massachusetts." The jury having found a special verdict stating the facts, the indictment was sustained by the Court, and Checkley was fined £50.

At this period a spirit of insubordination, occasioned in part by restraint on their trade, but more by the improvident grant of

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patents that conveyed self-government to its fullest extent, was observable all over the continent. The Board of Trade. thus officially reports of the chartered colonies to William, in March, 1701: " That so far from having answered the chief design for which such large immunities had been granted, they had not in general complied with the late Acts of Parliament; that they had not only assumed the power of making by-laws, repugnant to those of England, and destructive to trade, but refused to submit their acts for approval, or to allow appeals, and continued to be the retreat of pirates and illegal traders, and the receptacle of contraband merchandise. That by exempting their inhabitants from the customs paid by other plantations, these independent governments undermined the welfare of their neighbors, and, by lowering the value of coins, turned the course of trade to the promoting of woolen and other manufactures proper for England, contrary to the true intention of such establishments. That their irregularities, arising from the ill use they made of their charter, and the independency they pretend to, evince how necessary it becomes, more and more every day, to introduce such a regulation of trade, and such an administration of government, as shall make them duly subservient to England. That since the royal commands had not been met with due obedience, it might be expedient to resume their charters, and to reduce them to the same dependency as other colonies, which will be best effected by the legislative power of this kingdom." A bill was accordingly introduced into Parliament, founded on this statement, but was allowed to be defeated by party, or neglected by ignorance or imbecility.

This very success emboldened aggression. In the southern part of the continent, where the presence of the war was but little felt, there was nothing to divert men's minds from these petty local disputes which are generally acrimonious, as the population is limited in number, and cut off from frequent intercourse with the rest of the world. Carolina openly rebelled against the proprietors, and took the government into its own hands. An association was then formed among the people for uniting the whole province in opposition to the proprietary; and the inhabitants, with scarcely an exception, subscribed the instrument of union. Governor Johnson, after a contest with the delegates on the subject, issued a proclamation for dissolving them, and retired to the country. The representatives ordered his proclamation to be torn from the

marshal's hands, and proceeded to open usurpation. Assembling on their own authority, they chose James Moore, governor, and, on a fixed day, proclaimed him in the name of the king. They next chose twelve councilors, of whom Sir Hovenden Walker was the president, and thus formed a constitution of their own free choice.

Johnson, the representative of the proprietary, having attempted to disconcert their measures, and create some embarrassment, now made his last and boldest effort for subjecting the colonists to his authority. He brought up the ships of war in front of Charleston, and threatened to destroy their capital if they persisted in refusing obedience to constituted authority. The people, however, having arms in their hands, and forts in their possession, bade defiance to his power, and he relinquished his attempt to enforce submission to the old government. Resistance was openly avowed and advocated in all cases where the interest or the pretensions of the provincials were interfered with.

About the same time, the jealousy so long felt in England, of the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, found new expression in a project for uniting these colonies with New Hampshire, into a single royal province; but the people, with their usual pertinacity, declared their resolution to part with none of their privileges unless "wrenched from them." Even the Post Office offered a ground for alarm and resistance. As early as 1692, a patent had been granted to a person of the name of Neal, for establishing posts in America. The system introduced by him, had ever been irregular and imperfect, owing to the indifference or hostility of the people. At the expiration of this monopoly, in 1710, an Act of Parliament extended in due form, the British Post Office to America. The principal department was established at New York, to which letters were to be conveyed by regular packets across the Atlantic.* The same Act regulated the rates of postage to be paid in the plantations, exempted the mail carriers from ferriage, and enabled the officers to recover their dues by summary process. So slow, however, was its pro

* The rates of postage, both packet and inland, were extremely moderate. On all letters from London to New York, and thence to London, it was-single, 18.; double, 2s.; treble, 3s.; ounce, 4s. The rate of all letters from New York to any place within sixty miles thereof, and thence to New York, was-single. 4d.; double, 8d.; treble, 1s.; ounce, is. 4d.

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