LITMIR.BIZ

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St. Augustine. … Attempt to establish the Episcopal church. … Invasion of the colony. … Bills of credit issued. … Legislature continues itself. … Massacre in North Carolina by the Indians. … Tuscaroras defeated. … Scheme of a Bank.

      1689

      The revolution which placed the Prince and Princess of Orange on the throne, revived in Massachusetts, the hope of recovering the ancient charter. Elections were held by authority of the temporary government, and the representatives requested the council to exercise, until orders should be received from England, the powers and authorities vested in that body by the charter. The council acceded to this proposition; and the ancient system was re-established. It was soon perceived by the agents of Massachusetts that the old charter would not be restored, and that the King was determined to retain the appointment of the governor in his own hands. The colony, however, was authorised to exercise the powers of government according to the ancient system, until a new arrangement should be made. The vessel by which these directions were transmitted, carried also orders that sir Edmond Andros, and those imprisoned with him should be sent to England.

      The general court deputed additional agents, with instructions to solicit the confirmation of their beloved charter; but these solicitations were ineffectual. 1691New Charter.The King was inflexible; and, at length, a new charter was framed, introducing some changes which affected radically the independence that had been long practically possessed by the colony. The governor was to be appointed by the crown, was enabled to call, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve the assembly at pleasure; he had the appointment solely, of all military officers; and, with the consent of his council, of all officers belonging to the courts of justice.

      1692

Sir William Phipps, the first governor, arrived in May, and immediately issued writs for a general assembly, which met in June, and accepted the charter; though a considerable party had been formed to oppose it. This instrument annexed Plymouth and Nova Scotia to Massachusetts; but, contrary to the wishes of both colonies, omitted New Hampshire, which became permanently a separate government.[115]

      Affairs of New York.

      In New York, Leisler, who had obtained the entire control of the lower country, associated with himself in the government, a few trusty partisans, denominated a committee of safety, over whom he presided. Some of the principal inhabitants of the city, dissatisfied at seeing a man of low birth, without education, in possession of supreme power, retired to Albany, where a convention of the people was assembled, who determined to hold the fort and country for the King and Queen, but not to submit to the authority of Leisler. On receiving intelligence of these transactions, Jacob Milbourne was detached with a small force to reduce the place; but, finding that the people adhered to the convention, and that his harangues against James and popery made no impression on them, he returned to New York. The next spring he appeared again before the fort; and, being favoured by an irruption of the Indians, obtained possession of it. The principal members of the convention absconded, upon which their effects were seized and confiscated. This harsh measure produced resentments which were transmitted from father to son.

Leisler retained the supreme power, without farther opposition, until the arrival of sir Henry Slaughter, who had been appointed governor of the province. Though informed of the commission which Slaughter bore, this infatuated man refused to yield the government to him; and showed a disposition, without the ability, to resist. This ill judged obstinacy threw the governor, who soon obtained possession of the fort, into the arms of the opposite party. Leisler and Milbourne were arrested, tried for high treason, condemned, and executed. Their estates were confiscated, but were afterwards restored to their families.[116]

      While these things were passing in the interior, the colonies of New England and New York were engaged in a bloody and desolating war with the French of Canada, and with the Indians. The English people had long viewed with apprehension, the advances of France towards universal dominion; and with infinite disgust, the influence of Louis XIV. in their cabinet. On the elevation of the Prince of Orange to the throne, they entered with alacrity into all his views for opposing barriers to the power, and restraints on the ambition, of that haughty monarch. War with France.The war which was proclaimed between the two nations, extended itself to their possessions in America. De Calliers, who sailed from Canada to France in 1688, had formed a plan for the conquest of New York, which was adopted by his government. Caffiniere commanded the ships which sailed from Rochefort on this expedition, subject however to the count de Frontignac, who was general of the land forces destined to march from Canada by the route of the river Sorel and of lake Champlain. The fleet and troops arrived at Chebucta, whence the count proceeded to Quebec leaving orders with Caffiniere to sail to New York.

      On reaching Quebec, the count found all Canada in the utmost distress. In the preceding summer, twelve hundred warriors of the Five nations had suddenly landed on the island of Montreal, and put to death about one thousand of the inhabitants whom they found in perfect security. The place was again attacked in October, and the lower part of the island entirely destroyed. In consequence of these calamitous events, fort Frontignac, on lake Ontario, was evacuated, and two vessels which had been constructed there were burnt.

Count Frontignac, who, in his sixty-eighth year, possessed the activity of youth, after remaining a few days on shore, re-embarked in a canoe for Montreal. In the hope of conciliating the Five nations, he held a great council with them at Onondago, where the Indians showed some disposition towards a peace without concluding one. To influence their deliberations, and raise the depressed spirits of the Canadians, he sent out several parties against the English colonies. That against New York, consisting of about two hundred French, and some Indians; after marching twenty-two days with their provisions on their backs, through a wilderness covered deep with snow, arrived, on 8th of February 1690, about eleven at night, at Schenectady, a village a few miles north-west of Albany. Schenectady destroyed.Finding the gates open and unguarded, they immediately entered the town, the inhabitants of which were asleep; and, dividing themselves into small parties, invested every house at the same time. No alarm was given until the doors were broken open; and then was commenced the perpetration of those barbarities which add so much to the ordinary horrors of war. The whole village was instantly in flames; pregnant women were ripped open and their infants cast into the flames, or dashed against the posts of the doors. Sixty persons were massacred, twenty-seven carried into captivity, and those who escaped fled naked, through a deep snow and storm to Albany. In the flight, twenty-five lost their limbs from the intensity of the cold. The town was pillaged until about noon the next day, when the enemy marched off with their plunder. Being pursued by a party of young men from Albany, about twenty-five of them were killed and captured.[117]

      In the spring and summer of 1689, several settlements and forts in New Hampshire and Maine, were successfully attacked by the Indians; who, wherever they were victorious, perpetrated their usual cruelties. Expedition against Port Royal.Knowing that these depredations originated in Canada and Acadié, the general court of Massachusetts planned an expedition against both Port Royal and Quebec. Early in the spring, eight small vessels, carrying seven or eight hundred men, sailed under the command of sir William Phipps; and, almost without opposition, took possession of Port Royal, and of the whole coast between that place and New England. The fleet returned in May, having taken nearly plunder enough to discharge the expense of the equipment. But two detachments made about the same time by count Frontignac, attacked the Salmon falls, and fort Casco, where they killed and took about one hundred and eighty persons.

      Penn Seeking Freedom for Imprisoned Friends

      © by Violet Oakley; From a Copley print copyright by Curtis and Cameron, Boston

      The reference made in the panel inscription at the top of this picture is to William Penn's imprisonment in the Tower of London for publishing "The Sandy Foundation Shaken," in which he attacked the doctrines of the Trinity. While in prison he wrote his most famous and popular book, "No Cross, No

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