or, it will be more pleasing than to be joined with any oth- CHAP. IX. er province."* 1687. jealous of Dongan A curious intercolonial intrigue now followed. Andros, who had just come from London, and was fully acquainted with the king's policy about New England, did all he could to induce Treat and the other chief men of Connecticut to submit with a good grace to his government. But Dongan was not equally well aware of the intentions of James in regard to that colony; at all events, he was not informed by Andros, who regarded his royal fellow-servant and successor in the government of New York with personal jeal- Andros ousy, and always acted toward him with extreme official re- Dongan. serve. Both governors coveted Connecticut. Andros, who, as the Duke of York's deputy, had thought it a part of New York, was now anxious that it should be a part of New England; while Dongan sturdily maintained that what would have been advantageous to James as duke, would be more advantageous to James as king. Accordingly, Dongan, with less light than Andros, sent Palmer and Graham as 18 April. commissioners to induce the people of Connecticut to sub- sends mit to the government of New York, and to insure them of and Grathe enjoyment of their estates, offices, and other advantages. Dongan also wrote earnestly to Treat in the same April. strain. But the New York effort did not succeed. Palmer and Graham, although commissioned by Dongan to represent his views, appear to have sympathized with the present designs of their earlier patron, Andros. They wrote to him 5 May. from New Haven that they found the leading men in Con- York necticut "all united in one mind that it was their only in- write to terest to be joined to York, and they did expect that his Majesty would accordingly dispose of them that way; but they were so foolishly fond of their charter that they unanimously agreed to be passive and not active in the case; that is, they would never surrender, but if it were his Majesty's pleasure to take their charter from them, they would submit thereto." And then the New York agents told the governor of New England that Treat and most of his council were on his side, but that the king would be obliged to * Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 222-226, 375-379; Mass. II. S. Coll., xviii., 182, 237, 238; xxvii., 163, 165, 166; xxxv., 147; Hutch. Mass., i., 339; Chalmers's Ann., i., 279, 298, 306, 307; Palfrey, iii., 537, 538; ante, 452. Palmer ham to Connecti cut. The New agents Andros. Duplicity and Gra ham. 12 May. Treat's reply to Dongan. CHAP. IX. proceed to judgment against the Connecticut charter; and that as Whiting, the agent of the colony at London, had 1687. just written "that it was the discourse at Whitehall that all of Palmer to the Westward of Connecticut" [probably meaning the Connecticut River] "will be joined to New York," and as "the rest is not worth desiring," it would be Andros's "interest to make Court at home for accomplishing the matter." This "matter" was the annexation of Connecticut to New England rather than to New York, which the trusted agents of Dongan thus furtively advised Andros to "ac12 May. complish." The Connecticut Court left its "emergent occasions" in the hands of Treat and six others. Treat accordingly replied to Dongan "that the matter is in his Majesty's hands;" but that, if a new disposition was to be made, "we do earnestly request that our whole Colony or Province may together be annexed to such government as his Majesty shall see fit; for a dividing of it will be very prejudicial." On their return to New York, Palmer and and Gra Graham reported to the council "that the people of Connecticut are obstinate not to surrender to the king." Don27 May gan, however, informed Lord Sunderland that Palmer and Dongan's Graham had told him that they had prevailed on the ConLord Sun- necticut Assembly to write him a letter, in which "they signified their submission," and asked him to get them "firmly annexed" to the government of New York; and that this letter was "ready to be signed, having the unanimous approbation of the whole. But before that could be done, some of their clergy came among them, and quite overthrew all they had done; telling them that to whatev er government they should be joined it would be a grievous affliction. *** With these, and such like contrary expressions, the Assembly was wrought upon to let sending that letter alone."* 23 May. Palmer ham's re port to Dongan. report to derland. 13 June. 14 June. Andros, on his side, again urged Connecticut to surrender its charter as a "duty to his Majesty." John Saffin, the last speaker of the late General Court of Massachusetts, also wrote to Secretary Allyn that all British America be * Col. Doc., iii., 235, 236, 396, 415, 416; Col. MSS., xxxv., 5S, 61, 64, 73; Hutch. Coll., 556; R. I. Rec., iii., 223, 224; Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 227–236, 368–370, 379–381, 384; Palfrey, iii. 539, 540, 541; ante, 280, 285, 464. The Connecticut Records do not allude to this mission of Palmer and Graham from New York. Mr. Palfrey (iii., 539) wondrously muddles history by intimating that Dongan's agents were sent by Andros from Boston! urged tween Carolina and Canada would soon "be brought under a CHAP. IX. more immediate dependency and subjection to his Majesty" 1687. by the abrogation of all charters; that, whatever might hap- connectipen in England, "matters will never be againe in statu quo cott here, in each respective colony;" and that if Connecticut to Andros. adhered "to the West," or New York," you are an undone people, for there you part with your best friends." But Allyn cautiously wrote back to Andros that the Connecti- 18 June. cut Court had "resolved to continue in the Station they are in, 'till his Majesty's pleasure be made known to them for a change," which would "readily be submitted unto."* the En ernment "submis cut. By a curious coincidence, Lord Sunderland, that same day, laid before the king a report of his Plantation Com- 18 June. mittee on the Connecticut letter of the 26th of January. This report incautiously assuming that letter to express, Error of by its promise to "submit" to the royal commands a sur-glish govrender of the charter, and also a desire to be annexed to about the New England rather than to New York-recommended sion of that Andros should be instructed to signify his majesty's Connectiacceptance of the "dutiful submission" of Connecticut; to take the colony under his government; and to swear Treat and Allyn in the council of New England. James at once approved his committee's report; and Lord Sunderland was ordered to give the proper directions to Andros. This action was taken in too great confidence. All further proceedings on the Quo Warranto were dropped, in spite of Randolph's advice that a legal judgment on the writ was Randolph's absolutely necessary," as much in the case of Connecti- advice cut as it had been in that of Massachusetts. It was an error-like that into which gentlemen sometimes fall when dealing with sharpers.† 66 Dongan un writes to land about Connecti Ignorant of this action at Whitehall, Dongan again urged s Septem. Lord Sunderland to have Connecticut and the Jerseys join- again ed to New York, because he thought that the addition of any Sunderpart of Connecticut to Massachusetts would be "the most unproportionable thing in the world, they having already a hundred times more land, riches and people than this Province, and yet the charge of this government more than that,” * Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 237, 381-383; Mass. Rec., v., 514; Mass. H. S. Coll., xxvii., 177; Hutch. Coll., 556; Dalrymple, ii., 90. † Mass. H. S. Coll., xxxii., 297, 298; Chalmers's Ann., i., 298, 305–310; Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 377, 378, 38, 355, 470; Force's Tracts, iv., No. 9, p. 47; ante, 468. cut. Dongan re conduct of Treat and Allyn. CHAP. IX. which had "a vast advantage" by the recent annexation of Pemaquid. The next month, on hearing that Treat and 1687. Allyn had written to London their wish that Connecticut 4 October. "might be added to Boston," Dongan bluntly expressed to proves the the Hartford Court his "great surprise" at the weak or the deceitful conduct of their governor and their secretary; and-yet in the dark about what had been done in England-pressed the Connecticut legislators to join their colony to New York. When, at length, the whole truth was revealed, Dongan, with Celtic impulsiveness, told Lord Sunderland that Connecticut had been taken from "the bulwark to Boston," and been added to New England, “by the fraud" of Treat and Allyn, "unknown to the rest of the The people General Court; and, for one that wishes it as it is, there is ticut wish a hundred in that colony that desires it were annexed to nexed to the Government of N. Yorke." Dongan wrote honestly; New York. but he did not fully know the mind of his sovereign in England.* of Connec it to be an Andros at As soon as he received his "effectual orders" from James, 22 October. Andros left Boston with several of his council, and some Hartford. sixty grenadiers as his guard; and, traveling by way of Providence, New London, and Wethersfield, reached Hartford," where he was received with all respect and welcome congratulation," and was "greeted and caressed" by the governor and assistants of Connecticut. A General Court 31 October. of the colony, specially summoned by Treat, was in session, and there was "some treaty between his Excellency and them that evening." It is related, upon "tradition," that Treat remonstrated against the surrender of the charter; Andros se- and it is said that after Andros had secured one of the Connecti- copies of the instrument, the lights were "blown out," and cut cho that Lieutenant Joseph Wadsworth secretly carried off "the duplicate" from the table, and hid it in a large hollow oak tree. No contemporary writing, however, mentions this alleged occurrence. Andros himself does not appear to have observed it; and Secretary Allyn, in his own handwriting, closed the old records of the colony with the following entry: "His Excellency Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, Captain General and Governor of His Majesty's Territory cures the char ter, and Wads worth its "dupli cate." * Col. Doc., iii., 429, 511; Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 386, 387. New England writers seem to have shunned or obscured this detail: see Palfrey, iii., 541, 542. takes the and Dominion in New England, by order from his Majesty CHAP. IX. James the Second, King of England, Scotland, France and 1687. Ireland, the 31st of October, 1687, took into his hands the 31 October. Government of this Colony of Connecticut, it being by his Andros Majesty annexed to the Massachusetts and other Colonys governunder His Excellency's Government. FINIS." Thus did ConnectiAndros-according to Puritan notions-"commit a rape hands. on a whole colony." ment of cut into his royal com read pub Connecti The next morning Andros was conducted by the offi- 1 Novem. cers of the late Corporation of Connecticut to its "public Court-house" at Hartford, attended by the royal counselors Stoughton, Mason, Winthrop, Usher, Pynchon, Gedney, and Tyng, who had accompanied him from Boston. Suspecting no duplicity respecting the actual surrender of the Andros's Connecticut charter, the governor general had his commis- mission sion publicly read, and then swore the complacent Treat licly in and Allyn into office as royal counselors of New England. cut, and After establishing royal courts in Connecticut without any selors opposition, Andros crossed from New London to Newport, where the old seal of Rhode Island was broken, and his unquestioned authority was acknowledged. At last the dominion of James the Second was supreme throughout New England. A post-route-which had been originally 23 Novem. suggested by Lovelace and urged by Dongan-was soon in New En afterward arranged by Andros between Boston and Stam * Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 248, 249, 387-390, 450; Trumbull, i., 371, 372; Holmes, i., 421; Bancroft, ii., 430; Arnold, i., 504, 506; Palfrey, iii., 541-543, 545; Force's Tracts, iv., No. 9, p. 47, 48. Chalmers (writing in 1780, eleven years before Trumbull) states that the Connecticut charter was carefully concealed "in a venerable elm," at the time that the "submission" letter of 26 January, 1687, was written: Annals, i., 298, 306; ante, 468. The tree in which Trumbull (i., 371) says that Wadsworth hid the charter on 31 October, 1687, stood in front of the house of Samuel Willys, and was long known as "The Charter Oak," until it was blown down, in a great storm, on the morning of 21 August, 1856: Holmes, i., 422; Hist. Mag., i., 4, 5; Palfrey, iii., 542. In May, 1715, the Connecticut Court granted Wadsworth "the sum of Twenty shillings," in consideration of his good service, "especially in securing the duplicate charter, in a very troublesome season, when our constitution was struck at, and in safely keeping and preserving the same ever since, unto this day:" MS. Conn. Rec., quoted by Palfrey, iii., 543. According to Doctor Stiles, Nathaniel Stanley took one copy of the charter, and John Talcot the other, when the lights were "blown out" in the Hartford Meeting-house. One of these documents is now in the office of the Secretary of State of Connecticut; and a fragment of the other is in the Library of the Historical Society at Hartford, "having been obtained from a tailor to whom it had been given, or sold :" Palfrey, iii., 543. Considering that Wadsworth appears to have safely kept "the duplicate” in his possession until 1715, it looks as if he secured it in January, 1687 (at the time stated by Chalmers), and that the original, which was so ostentatiously "brought into the Court" on 15 June, 1687 (after Wadsworth had "secured" the duplicate), was the one of which it is supposed that Andros "obtained possession" in October of the same year: compare Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 238; Palfrey, iii., 539, 543. Chalmers and Palfrey-the earliest and the latest printed authorities-make me skeptical about the traditionary stories of Stiles or Trumbull, so reiterated in New England Common School books. royal coun sworn. Post-office gland. |