USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. I > Part 27
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Taxation was another sore burden. Without any legisla- lative body whose sympathies were with the people, and who knew best what weight of oppression they would bear, with- out even consulting the majority of his counsel, Sir Edmund, with Randolph, and a few of his more congenial satellites, taxed the colonies at pleasure.
Thus heavily did the time drag on with the citizens of Connecticut, who had so long been fondled in the lap of free- dom, that they felt more keenly than the other colonies the yoke of a provincial tyrant.
In 1688 the province of New York was brought under the same dominion, and shared the same degradation. Indeed her people for several administrations were subjected to the tyranny of of the worst rulers.
All the charters were now gone except that of Connecticut, and the government had ceased to be operated under it. Sir Edmund, therefore, declared that the tenures by which the colonists held their lands were valueless. " An Indian deed," he would remark with a grim pleasantry befitting the simile, "an Indian deed is no better than the scratch of a bear's paw." He, therefore, compelled the planters to take out new patents for their estates, and some of them were obliged to pay a fee to the authorities of fifty pounds apiece for these new titles
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
to lands that they or their fathers had purchased of the In- dians, had reclaimed from the wilds of nature, had built houses upon and spent many times their value in improving, not to speak of a possession, adverse as against the whole world, of more than half a century's duration, and to say nothing of solemn charters, pledging the honor and faith of kings, of commissioners that ratified, and of congratulatory letters that had again and again confirmed those charters. Some of the principal gentlemen refused to submit to this tyrannical swin- dle, and were served with "writs of intrusion," rightly enough named if applied to those who thus sought to eject from their patrimony the lords of the soil .*
Not only were their estates taken from the people, but in Massachusetts the personal liberty of the citizens was tram- pled on with the same recklessness. All special town meet- ings were prohibited. The people were imprisoned at the will of the governor and his minions, and the act of habeas corpus was as little regarded as in Turkey or Algiers. In- deed, Randolph, with the frankness of an unrestrained favorite, did not scruple to tell the persons with whom he corresponded in England, that Andross and his Council were as " arbitrary as the great Turk." In vain did petitions from his oppressed subjects in New England assail the ear of the king. Proud, bigoted, prejudiced against the applicants, and dividing his time between the cruelties of persecution and the seclusion of monastic life, he turned coldly away and left them to their fate.
It is true that most of these severe shocks of power fell upon Massachusetts and Plymouth. Connecticut had not made herself obnoxious to the government, as her sister colonies had done, and besides she had the benefit of Gover- nor Treat's intercessions in her behalf, who, though he could not avert the rapacity of Andross and Randolph from the other colonies, was able to protect his own from many acts
* This was not done uniformly, and happened less in Connecticut than in Massachusetts. Had it been generally insisted on, the people would have resisted it by force, or been brought to a state of bankruptcy by it.
321
CHARTER GOVERNMENT RESUMED.
[1689.]
of oppression that would otherwise have driven her to despair. He was a member of Andross' Council, and through his in- strumentality, the other rulers with whom his fellow-citizens came more immediately in contact, were such men as would follow as nearly in the old track of administering justice, as they could be allowed to do. But, notwithstanding his exertions, the affairs of the colony grew worse and worse; and when the summer of the year 1688 was brought to a close, Con- necticut was more desponding and distrustful than she had been at the commencement of the administration. A dead torpor reigned throughout the colony.
But this darkness only heralded the dawn of a brighter day. The abdication of James put an end to the license of tyranny. On the 5th of November, William, Prince of Orange, landed in England and published his plan of conducting the affairs of his realm .* A copy of this manifesto soon arrived in Boston, and when its contents were made known to Andross, he caused the messenger who had brought it to be arrested and committed to jail "for bringing a false and traitorous libel into the country." The people bade the noble adven- turer God-speed in his undertaking, and on the 18th of April, 1689, the popular indignation, so long repressed, broke forth in civil war. The people of Boston, and the towns adjoining, arose in a mass, seized Andross and the more odious members of his Council, and re-instated the old officers of the colony.
On the 9th of May, Governor Treat, Deputy Governor Bishop, and the old magistrates under the Charter, resumed the government of Connecticut. The Assembly was con- vened, and before the close of the same month the glad tidings reached Connecticut that William and Mary, of blessed memory, were established upon the throne of the British em- pire. With hearts as glad as the young foliage upon the trees, and the smiles of the summer that was just opening, the General Assembly, specially called for that purpose, hailed the new king. With a truly epic magnificence, the glorious
* Wade, 261.
21
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
little colony who alone had kept her charter, told King Wil- liam how the "Lord who sitteth King upon the floods, had separated his enemies from him as he divided the waters of Jordan before his chosen people." In words flattering and sweet, she also told him that it was "because the Lord loved his people, that he had exalted him to be king over them, to execute justice and judgment." Her General Assembly told him further the simple story of her wrongs, the oppression of the provincial tyrant who had wantonly usurped the govern- ment of a people that had never surrendered their patent, and how they had now taken the liberty to resume the reins of government until they could learn his majesty's good plea- sure. The officers who were in power at the date of the usurpation, were re-installed into their respective places .*
But, perhaps some one will ask me if I have forgotten to tell what had become of the charter, and where it lay hid during the unhappy period of Andross' usurpation ? I have not indeed forgotten it; neither have I forgotten the other legend that has come down to us unchanged in its fair pro- portions, or in its power over the public mind-a legend more sacred than history, more veritable than a record, for it is still represented by a living witness, whose biography, were it written, would be read with an interest that could invest the life of no merely human personage.
I have already said that before Governor Wyllys came to America, he sent forward Gibbons, his steward, to prepare a place fit for his reception. We are told that while he was fell- ing the trees upon the hill where Wyllys afterwards lived, he was waited upon by a deputation of Indians from the South
* Bulkley argues that the Charter Government was extinct, because the people of Connecticut had " voluntarily omitted their annual election, the only means to continue their government, in 1688," and that, consequently, the resumption of the government was void, "there being no Governor or Deputy Governor to summon a Court of Election, according to the Charter." This would be sound reasoning but for two facts, viz., the failure to elect the annual officers in 1688, was not " voluntary," and therefore did not vitiate the Charter ; and as the Charter had never been surrendered, it was still in full force.
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THE CHARTER OAK.
Meadow, who came up to remonstrate against the cutting down of a venerable oak that stood upon the side of the mound now consecrated to freedom. With the true elo- quence of nature, the brown sons of the forest pleaded in behalf of the immemorial tree. "It has been the guide of our ancestors for centuries," said they, " as to the time of planting our corn. When the leaves are of the size of a mouse's ears, then is the time to put the seed in the ground."* At their solicitation, the tree was permitted to stand, and continued to indicate the time when the earth was ready to receive the seed corn: a vast legendary tree, that must have begun to show signs of age a hundred years before that day, in the cavity at its base that was gradually enlarging, as one generation after another of red men passed from beneath its shadow.
As soon as the lights had been extinguished in the legisla- tive chamber, in the presence of Andross, Captain Wadsworth seized the precious charter and bore it from the midst of the Assembly. Secretly he flew with it to the friendly tree, and deposited it in the hollow of its trunk. Thus the Charter of Charles II., in imitation of the exile of its author, took refuge in an oak; and thus the king and the patent, have trans- mitted to the trees that respectively shadowed them, an immortal name. But how different the lesson taught by them! The one saved from his enemies the representative of the principles of despotic power; the other gave an asylum to the record that bore witness to the rights of humanity to resist that power.
The Charter Oak still lives. Old, perchance, as the hep- tarchy, this remarkable tree, fresh in its decay, still speaks of the centuries that are gone, still points to those that are to come-the king of trees, the tree of liberty. If it does not
* The legend, as well as the beautiful words, I have from the pen of Historicus, a writer, who under several names can never hide himself from his readers. The article is to be found in the Supplement to the Connecticut Courant, under date September 13, 1845.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
live five centuries more to frown on those sons of Connecticut who are ashamed to own their honorable mother, its memory will be for ever green in the hearts of those who thank God that they were born in The Charter Oak State !
CHAPTER XV.
FRONTENAC'S INVASION. ATTEMPT UPON QUEBEC.
WHILE such important changes were taking place in New England, New York also felt the shock of revolution. Jacob Leisler had taken the government of that province into his hands, and held the fort and city in behalf of King William. As the French and Indians were assuming a very threaten- ing attitude towards the English on the Northern frontiers, Leisler wrote to Connecticut, begging her to send troops to aid in the defence of his borders. On the 13th of June, 1689, the Assembly appointed Major Gold and Captain James Fitch to go to New York and confer with Leisler on that subject, and to decide in behalf of Connecticut, how many men she should furnish .*
In accordance with the decision of this committee, the governor and council sent Captain Bull with a company to Albany, not only to defend that part of the country, but also to aid in bringing about a treaty with the Five Nations, that should secure their friendship for the English colonies. Con- necticut sent another party of soldiers to protect the fort and city of New York.t
While the Indians on the northern frontier were busy in their preparations for war, the tribes within the limits of New England were not idle. They began to assemble in numbers, and again plundered the property of the English. This new
* Colony Records ; O'Callaghan's Doc. Hist. New York, ii. 15, 16, 17, 18; Trumbull, i. 378.
t O'Callaghan, ii. 98. On the 10th of October the Assembly ordered the recall of the troops sent to relieve the fort in New York city, but they were directed to hold themselves in readiness to go to the relief of said fort in case of an attack.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
excitement among the eastern tribes was thought to be owing to the arrogant behavior of Sir Edmund Andross towards them. To inquire into the causes of it, and if possible pre- vent bloodshed, a special assembly was called, and commis- sioners were appointed to meet those of the other colonies and consult with them as to the causes of the disturbance ; and, if it should appear that the Indians had been wronged, to see that justice was done them. If, on the other hand, it should be found true that the Indians were the aggressors, then the commissioners were ordered to pledge the colony for the furnishing her proper quota of men .*
The revolution of 1688, the best landmark in British history, as it set the empire free from the chains of supersti- tion and tyranny, as might have been expected, brought along with it the indignation of France, and involved the two nations in war. In 1689, a large number of land forces was levied, and a fine fleet was prepared for the reduction of New York. The undertaking was foiled by the incursions of the Mo- hawks, who now kept Canada in a state of constant distress and fear.
To inspire the French colonists with a new courage, Count Frontenac sent out several companies of French and Indians against the frontier settlements of New York and New England. As New York was the least able to defend herself, and the most exposed on account of her thin population and remote border towns, the principal part of this hostile force was directed against her. A detachment of between two hundred and three hundred Frenchmen and Indians, under the command of D'Aillebout, De Mantil and Le Moyn, was therefore dispatched from Montreal to lay waste the unpro- tected districts of New York. These forces were provided with food and clothing suitable for a winter campaign, and arrived at Schenectady, after a painful march of twenty-two days, on Saturday, the 8th of February, 1690. It was dead winter and they had suffered so much from fatigue, cold, and hunger, that they approached the neighborhood of this outpost
Colony Records.
327
MASSACRE AT SCHENECTADY.
[1690.]
of civilization, with the anticipation that they should be obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war to the people whom they had come to subdue. But the scouts who had preceded them, and who had spent some hours in the village without exciting any suspicions, returned to them with the intelligence that the inhabitants were not prepared for their reception, and that it would be easy to surprise the town .*
Encouraged by the tidings, they resolved to make an attack. The ferocity of the French character was exhibited on this occasion, as it was afterwards in the conflicts that followed. They found the gates open and without guard. They returned to the place about eleven o'clock at night, and, dividing their forces into little parties, surrounded every house at once, while the inmates were asleep. They were aroused from their slumbers only to fall into the embraces of a still deeper repose. While yet their heads were upon their pillows, the awful work of destruction began. The very beds were streaming with blood, and mutilated bodies were scattered upon the floors of the houses. In a few minutes the whole village was in flames, and sixty of its inhabitants were slain. The barbarities practiced upon the dead are too sickening to be reported. That infants were torn from their mothers' arms, and cast as fuel into the blaze that gleamed from the half consumed dwelling, is not the less calculated to awaken our sympathy, when we reflect that they must have perished in the snow-storm that swept hurriedly by, as if to avoid the scene of murder and atrocity that outbraved the fierceness of the elements.t
Twenty captives were secured and reserved for the grati- fication of savage vengeance, when it should again demand its customary food. The rest of the inhabitants of Schenec- tady fled in their night-clothes through that awful storm. "Twenty-five of the poor wretches who thus sought to better
* Brodhead ; Trumbull ; Smith.
+ Trumbull ; O'Callaghan, ii. 71, 156.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
their condition, lost their limbs through the sharpness of the frost."*
In the massacre-I can not call it a battle-Captain Bull's Lieutenant, one of his sergeants, and three privates were killed, and five were taken prisoners.t The Connecticut troops had little opportunity for the display of their valor on this occasion, but they did all that brave men, under a brave leader, could do in their circumstances.
As soon as the news of this midnight butchery had reached Albany the next morning, universal dismay and horror filled the hearts of the people. Some of them counseled that the place should be at once destroyed, and the whole country abandoned to the ravages of the enemy. So panic-stricken were the inhabitants, that they lost all discretion, and, disaf- fected as they were at the government of Leisler, they refused to keep watch and ward, or maintain any regular military discipline. This had been the case especially at Schenectady. Had they followed the advice of Bull, and held themselves in readiness for an attack, they might have successfully repelled it. They had been unable to believe that the enemy could march hundreds of miles in that forbidding season of the year, and steal upon them in the night.
The destruction of Schenectady was only a part of the tragedy. On the 18th of March, another party of French and Indians made a sudden attack upon Salmon Falls, a settlement that had been made upon the bank of the stream that divides New Hampshire from Maine. At daybreak they entered the village, and in small parties, as they had done at Schenectady, began the massacre from several points at once. The people rallied and nobly defended themselves, until they were crushed by the superior force of their invaders. Thirty-six men were killed, and fifty-four women and children were taken captive. Of course, the dwellings were burned, and the whole place laid waste.į
The more eastern colonies were alarmed at this near ap- proach of the enemy, and earnestly begged that Connecticut
* Trumbull, i. 380. + Trumbull, i. 380. # Trumbull, i. 380, 381.
329
SETTLEMENT OF GLASTENBURY.
[1690.]
would send troops to protect their frontier. Massachusetts, especially, sent letters, asking for men to guard the upper towns upon the Connecticut river .* New York and Albany also asked the further aid of our colony, not only in the con- tinuance of Bull and his company among them, but they prayed that fresh soldiers might be sent to reinforce them.t
It has been one of the attributes of Connecticut always to be true to her friends in the hour of peril, although in doing so she has more than once been obliged to overlook some painful negligences on their part. Consistent with herself, she now responded to the call of her neighbors, and with one voice her Assembly declared that the settlement of the French at Albany must be prevented at every risk. Two companies, each of one hundred men, were immediately sent to the relief of Albany, and at the same time other troops were dispatched for the relief of the Massachusetts settle- ments upon the Connecticut river.
Nor did the Assembly fail to provide against any encroach- ments upon their own territory, but compelled all the towns to keep a constant watch within their limits. None of the inhabitants except assistants, ministers, and the aged and infirm, were exempt from this duty, and even they were obliged to employ substitutes to discharge it for them, pro- vided their pecuniary condition would admit of it. Thus every citizen in the colony was taught to spend his strength and wealth for the general good of the people.}
Meanwhile the Assembly was not unmindful of the munici- pal wants of the republic. At the same session it was ordered that all of that part of Wethersfield lying east of the Connecticut river should be invested with the ordinary cor- porate privileges, and should be known and called by the name of Glastenbury.§ Thus was the oldest town in the" colony, after so many moral and ecclesiastical divisions re- sulting in the birth of plantations near and remote, finally allowed to follow in its municipal regulations the great land-
* Holmes' Annals, i. 431 ; Hutchinson + Trumbull ; O'Callaghan.
# Colonial Records, MS. § Colonial Records, MS.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
mark of the valley, and divide itself for the sake of conven- ience into two separate jurisdictions.
I have spoken elsewhere of the beauty and fertility of the district comprising these two towns. Both of them had their birth in the midst of convulsions, threatened calamities and impending wars, and each has done its part towards the sup- port of the fame and honor of the State.
On the 1st of May, the commissioners or Congress met at Rhode Island to consult upon the affairs of the colonies, and to decide what measures were to be adopted in order to defend the country against the French and Indians. It was finally resolved that to invade the enemy would be the best security against a further attack from them, and it was accordingly ordered that eight hundred and fifty men should be raised for the reduction of Canada. It was deemed advisable, too, in this state of affairs, to ask for the help of the mother country. Accordingly, an express was sent to England to inform the government of the condition of the colonies, and to implore that a fleet might be dispatched to engage the French by sea, while the colonies invaded them by land. England, however, was unable at that time, in her unsettled state, to render the provinces the assistance that she would gladly have done under other circumstances .*
New England and New York, undaunted by this discour- aging intelligence, resolved to prosecute the enterprise alone. The plan of operations was of a bold and daring character. It was determined that about nine hundred Englishmen and more than half that number of Indians should march through the wilderness and make an attack upon Montreal, while at the same time a fleet and army of about two thousand men were to sail around to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, pro- ceed up the river with all haste, and reduce Quebec.t
Under the direction of Jacob Milborn, who had married a daughter of Leisler, and who was to act as commissary, it was expected that New York would supply the land army with provisions and canoes to enable it to cross the navigable
* Hutchinson, i. 353; Holmes, i. 431. + Holmes, i. 432.
331
EXPEDITION AGAINST CANADA.
[1690.]
waters that were interposed between the east country and Montreal. The five nations, too, were counted upon as safe allies of the English, when it was remembered how remorse- lessly they had fought against the French.
This army was placed under the command of Major-Gen- eral Fitz John Winthrop,* of Connecticut. As soon as he could get his forces in readiness, Winthrop set out for Can- ada, and arrived at the head of Wood Creek early in August. Instead of finding at the appointed rendezvous the warriors of the five nations assembled in readiness to carry on a war with the French, Winthrop saw to his surprize only about seventy Mohawks and Oneidas. He sent a courier to the other tribes, to know if they designed to join him. They replied, evasively, that they were not yet ready to go. This was only a polite way of informing the general that they did not mean to go at all, as the event proved. How- ever, he advanced about one hundred miles, until he came to the borders of the lake where he had expected to find canoes in readiness to give the army a safe passage. Here also he found that this indispensable requisite was not provided. The few canoes that he found there were totally inadequate to perform such a task.t He applied to the Indians in this emergency, and besought them to build canoes enough to transport the whole army. They replied that the season for peeling the bark from the trees had already gone by, and that they could make no more canoes until the next spring. More timid, probably, than treacherous, they told General Winthrop, that in aiming a blow at such a strong place as Que- bec, he " looked too high," and begged him to depart from his
* Fitz John Winthrop, son of Gov. John Winthrop, of Connecticut, be- came magistrate of Connecticut in 1689. In 1694 he was sent to England as agent of the colony, and discharged the duties of the appointment so satisfac- torily that the Legislature made him a present of £500. He was distinguished, like his father, for his knowledge of philosophy, his skill in politics, and his piety, and was honored by being elected a member of the Royal Society. In 1698 he was elected governor of Connecticut, and held the office till his death, in 1707.
t See Secretary Allyn's letter to Lieut. Gov. Leisler in Doc. Hist. New York, vol. ii. p. 254; also Trumbull, Brodhead, and others.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
first design, and make an attack upon Chambly and the bor- der towns upon the hither bank of the St. Lawrence. Mil- born had also neglected to provide suitable provisions for the subsistence of the army, so that the troops were not only kept from crossing the river, but were now beginning to be threatened with famine. A council of war was called, and it was reluctantly decided that the army must retreat to Albany .*
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