nists, who fled from episcopal persecutions. Discouraged by the operation of these prejudices, that council resigned its charter to the king 1. "The plantations, intrusted to the care of great corporate bodies, grew up stinted and unpromising, and seemed to wither away without hope of ultimate comple tion. The annihilation of these companies infused a principle of a new life. Restraint was no sooner removed, and men were left free to manage their own affairs in the way most agreeable to themselves, than the colonists engaged in every laudable pursuit, and acquired an extent of population, of commerce, of wealth, and of power, unexampled in the annals of the world."

On the surrender of that charter, a quo warranto was immediately brought by Sir John Banks, the attorney general against the governor, deputy governor, and assistants of the corporation of Massachusetts, fourteen of whom appearing, and disclaiming the charter, judgment was given for the king, that the liberties and franchises of that corporation should be seized into the king's hands 3. The arbitrary measures of the king and his ministry might have been ruinous to the infant colonies, but for the controuling power of Heaven. A great ship, built to bring over a general governor to New England, and to command on the coast, fell asunder in the launching; and the design was again frustrated 4.

The colonists of Massachusetts on account of the increase of cattle, experiencing inconveniences from the nearness of their settlements to each other, began to emigrate from the first settled towns. Some of the principal inhabitants of Ipswich, obtaining leave of the general court to remove to Quascacunquen, began a town at that place, and called it Newbury. Mr. Parker, a learned minister, who had been an assistant of Mr. Ward in the ministry at Ipswich, accompanied them 5. Liberty of removal was also granted to Watertown and Roxbury, on condition of their continuance under the go

1 Hubbard, MS. N. Eng. chap. xvi. Belknap, N Hamp. i. 24. The council took previous care " to secure some portion of the expiring inte rest to such of themselves as were disposed to accept it." Ibid. "The Act of surrender" is in Hazard, Coll. i. 393; and the "Reasons" for it, ib. 390-392.

2 Chalmers, i. 96.

3 Hubbard, MS. N. Eng. chap..xxvi.

4 lbid. chap. xxvii, xxxi. The quo warranto is in Hutchinson, Coll, 101-104; Hubbard, Coll. 423-425.

5 Hubbard, MS. N. Eng. chap. xxviii. Mr. Parker and the people with whom he now removed, came from Wiltshire in England. Ibid.

vernment of Massachusetts. Musquetequid was purchased of the natives, by some of the Massachusetts colonists, who settled the place, and called it Concord 2. The reverend Peter Hobart and his associates, from Hingham, in the county of Norfolk in England, began to settle a town, to which they gave the name of Hingham 3. A church was gathered at Scituate, in Plymouth colony, composed of members regularly dismissed from the church in Plymouth 4.

Settlements were now begun to be made on Connecticut river. Some of the people of Dorchester had made preparations for a settlement at a place on the west side of the river, called by the Indians Mattaneang 5; and the inhabitants of Newtown and Watertown had been contemplating a removal. On the fifteenth of October about sixty men, women, and children, with their horses, cattle, and swine, commenced a removal from Massachusetts, through the wilderness, to Connecticut river; and, after a very difficult and fatiguing jour ney of fourteen days, arrived at the places of their destina

1 Winthrop, Journ. 82.

2 Wonderwork. Providence, 79, 81. Hubbard, MS. N. Eng. chap. xxvii. It was called Concord, on account of the peaceable manner in which it was obtained." Coll. Hist. Soc. i. 240. The tract was six miles square.

3 Hingham Records, copied by President Stiles. The house lots of the settlers were drawn 18 September, 1655. The Rev. Peter Hobart was there on that day, "and drew a lot with the twenty-nine." Ibid. He arrived in N. England 8 June with his family. Hobart's MS. Journal.

4 The Rev. John Lothrop's MS. Records of the churches of Scituate and Barnstable, copied by President Stiles, who found the MS. in 1769 in the hands of the Rev. Elijah Lothrop of Gilead in Connecticut, and remarked: "1 account it the more valuable, as these churches of Scituate and Barnstable have no records till many years after their gathering." The settlement of Scituate commenced in 1634. The Rev. John Lothrop arrived there 27 September; the dismission of the members from Plymouth, "in case they joyned in a body att Situate," was 23 November, 1634. The church was formed by covenant 8 January, and Mr. Lothrop was inducted into the pastoral office 19 January, 1635. Ibid.

5 Hubbard [MS. N. Eng. chap. xli.] says, some of the Dorchester people went to Connecticut at the close of the last year; Dr. Trumbull [i. 49.] says, they went this summer. The place, which they selected, was near the Plymouth trading house. Plymouth was dissatisfied with this supplantation by Massachusetts; and there was danger of contention between the two colonies; but the Dorchester settlers made such offers of satisfaction, that Plymouth accepted them*. Winthrop, Journ. 86. Hutchinson, i. 48. Trumbull, i. 50. The Rev. Dr. M'Clure of Windsor [Coll. Hist. Soc. v. 167.] says, The right of settling here they purchased of the old Plymouth company in England; and the soil, of the natives the year proceeding their removal.

*The compensation was 501; 40 acres of meadow ;.and a large tract of upland. Coll. Hist. Soc. ix. 153.

tion. Mr. Warham and Mr. Maverick, the ministers of Dorchester, who were accompanied by the greatest part of their church, settled at Mattaneang, which they called Windsor. Several people from Watertown took possession of a fine tract of meadow at Pauquiaug, lower down the river, where they commenced a plantation, which they called Wethersfield. Others from Newtown began a plantation, at Sukiang, between those settlements, which was afterward called Hartford 2.

John Winthrop, a son of the governor of Massachusetts returning from England, brought a commission from lord Say and Seal, lord Brook, and others, to be their governor at the river Connecticut; with men, ordnance, ammunition, and two thousand pounds sterling for the erection of a fort 3. Soon after his arrival at Boston, he sent a bark of thirty tons with twenty men, to take possession of the mouth of that river, and begin a fortification. A few days after their arrival at the place designated, a Dutch vessel appeared off the harbour, sent from New Netherlands, to take possession of the entrance of the same river, and to erect fortifications; but the English, having two pieces of cannon already mounted, prevented their landing 4. The fort, now erected was called Saybrook fort 5.

The commission of Mr. Winthrop interfered with the settlements projected by the Massachusetts colonists; three of which they had already begun; but the agents of the lords in England, disposed to promote the general good, permitted them quietly to enjoy their possessions 6.

The general court of Massachusetts prohibited the currency of brass farthings; and ordered, that musket bullets should pass for farthings. It also established a commissioner for military affairs, with power of life and limb 7.

An extremely violent storm of wind and rain from the south east, on the fifteenth of August, did great injury in New England. Immense numbers of forest trees were destroyed.

xli.

1 Trumbull, i. 50. Coll. Hist. Soc. v. 167; ix. 154.

2 Trumbull, i. 49, 50. Coll. Hist. Soc. v. 166, 167. Hub. MS. N. Eng.

9 Winthrop, Journ. 88. Trumbull, i. 50, 51. The Articles of agreement between the lord viscount Say and Seal and others, on the one part, and John Winthrop, esquire, on the other, dated 7 July, 1635, and Mr. Winthrop's commission, to be" governor of the river Connecticut, with the places adjoining thereunto during the space of one year," dated 18 July, are in Trumbull, ibid. Appendix No. II; Hazard, Coll. i. 395, 396. 4 Trumbull, i. 51.

5 Gov. Trumbull, MS. in Mass. Hist. Society.

6 Winthrop, Journ. $8. Trumbull, i. 50. Hutchinson, i. 47. 7 Winthrop, Journ. 80.

Many

Many houses were unroofed; many blown down; and the Indian corn was beaten to the earth. The tide rose twenty feet perpendicularly. At Narraganset, the natives were obliged to climb trees for safety; yet, the tide of flood returning before the usual time, many of them were drowned 1.

Sir Henry Vane, the younger, with a fleet of twenty sail, well provided with stores and passengers, came to New England. During the year, nearly three thousand people 3, among whom were eleven ministers 4, came from England to Massachusetts; and about one hundred and forty-five freemen were added to the colony 5.

The company of New France conveyed the territory on the banks of the river St. John to Saint Etienne, and to La Tour, the general of that colony 6. Rossillon, commander of a French fort at La Heve, on the Nova Scotia shore, sent a French man of war to Penobscot, and took possession of the Plymouth trading house, and all the goods 7. The Plymouth colonists hired a large ship, and employed Girling, its master, attended by a bark of their own with twenty men, to displace the French, and recover possession. The French, amounting to about eighteen men, having notice of the expedition, fortified the place; and entrenched themselves so strongly, that Girling, after nearly expending all his ammunition, was ready to abandon the enterprise. The Plymouth bark coming to Massachusetts for consultation, the colonists agreed to aid the Plymouth neighbours with men and ammunition, at their charge, but not as in the common cause of the country. Such however was the scarcity of provisions, caused by the late hurri cane, that they could not suddenly victual out a hundred men, the number requisite for the expedition. The subject was deferred for consideration; Girling was forced to return; and the Plymouth people never afterward recovered their interest at Penobscot 8,

1 Hubbard, MS. N. Eng. chap. xxvii, xxix. Hutchinson, i. 53. "None now living in these parts, either English or Indian, had seen the like." The extremity of it continued five or six hours. "The marks of it will remain many years, in those parts where it was sorest." Morton, 103.

2 Univ. History, xxxix. 281.

3 Wonderwork. Prov. 87.

4 Josselyn, Voy. 256.

5 Wonderwork. Prov. 71.

6 Chalmers, i. 126.

7 Hubbard, MS. chap. xxvii.

8 Winthrop, Journ. 87. Hubbard, MS. N. Eng. chap. xxvii,

The

The returns from New Netherlands, this year, were fourteen thousand eight hundred and ninety-one beavers, and one thousand four hundred and thirteen otters, estimated at one hundred thirty-four thousand guilders

René Rohault, having entered into the Society of Jesus, resumed a project, which had been interrupted by the English conquest of Quebec, of founding a college in that city. The institution succeeded, and was of essential service to the colony. Many of the French were now encouraged to embark with their families for Canada 2. M. Champlain died at Quebec, justly regretted by the colony of New France, of which he was the parent 3.

The French, under the conduct of M, Bretigny, established themselves on the island of Cayenne, and on the adjacent continent 4.

1636.

Preparation being made for a settlement at Suckiang, Mr. Hooker, and Mr. Stone, the ministers of Newtown, with their whole church and congregation, travelled above an hundred miles, through a hideous and trackless wilderness, to Connecticut. They had no guide, but their compass; no covering, but the heavens. They drave one hundred and sixty cattle, and subsisted on the milk of the cows, during the journey. On their arrival at the place of their destina

1 Hazard, Coll. i. 397; where are the returns for almost every intermediate year from 1624 to 1635. In 1624, the returns were 4000 beavers, and 700 otters, estimated at 27125 guilders. The Dutch W. India company failed in 1634. From a state of its accounts, it appears, that

Fort Amsterdam in N. Netherlands cost Guilders. Stuyvers the company

and that the Province of N. Netherlands cost

.

10

4172. 412800.

11

Ibid.

2 Charlevoix, Nouv. France, i. 196, 197. Rohault had projected this seminary ten years before, at the time when the Jesuits first went into Canada. Ibid.

3 Ibid. Champlain was a man of great penetration, courage, constancy, probity, and patriotism. Charlevoix (ibid), in addition to these traits of his character, ascribes to him various and distinguished merit : " un histo rien fidéle et sincere, un voyageur, qui observe tout avec attention, un ecrivain judicieux, un bon géometre, et un habile homme de mer." 4 Univ. Hist. xxxix. 232, Bretigny was killed by the natives.