USA > Massachusetts > History of Massachusetts, for two hundred years: from the year 1620 to 1820 > Part 9
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Philip chose to consider the English as trespassers ; and he determined to make one great effort to drive them from the land, or to destroy them.
The merit of wishing to maintain, or to recover, the power of his tribe, and of making great efforts for that object, may be justly awarded to this brave aud intelligent sachem. But his merit would have been far greater, had he been injured, as he pretended, and had there been any plan of the English to take from him the territory of his fathers by fraud or violence. Neither his father, nor the other Indian chiefs in New England complained of injustice on the part of Mas- sachusetts or Plymouth governments ; and when com- plaints were made against individuals, they were readily re- ceived, and the wrongs fully redressed. When Philip was called upon to state the injuries done him or his tribe, or to explain his conduct in plotting against the English, and in attacking individuals, his answers were evasive and his state- ments often false. The English acted on the defensive and he was the aggressor ; unless it was just in him to destroy them or drive them by force from the territory, which they possessed by fair purchase, or the full consent of the natives. He caused some of the friendly Indians to be put to death, for giving the English information of his hostile plans and preparations ; he burnt the houses and destroyed the cattle of individuals, living at a distance from the older settlements. And many of the people were murdered by his orders, from a cruel spirit of vengeance, though under a pretext of former aggressions.
Without measures of defence by the English, they would have suffered severely by savage ferocity ; and when they raised troops and proceeded to attack the Indians in their own territory, it was to protect defenceless individuals and to save themselves from destruction in their more com- pact settlements. The conspiracy he had attempted and in some measure effected, was as extensive as New England ; and included even the eastern tribes and the Mohawks of the west. He acknowledged he had no just cause for hostilities, and promised to be friendly ; but he continued secretly to ·· prepare a powerful force to execute his plans of destruction. And it was not till they had full proof of his inveterate hostility and his disregard of promises often made, that the English concluded to raise troops to act against this insidious sachem.
The colony of Plymouth was most interested in the dis- pute with Philip, and its inhabitants most immediately ex- posed to his attacks. After he had thrown off all disguise, and committed many acts of barbarity and cruelty, Plymouth
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sent some men under Major Cudworth to protect the settlers on the frontiers of the colony, in Swanzey and vicinity ; but little more was at that time attempted than for defence, or to learn the temper and purposes of the sachem. It was not the object at first to wage an offensive war against the Indians ; and the early military movements were made by Plymouth alone. While Cudworth advanced to Swanzey, captain Church appeared at Pocasset, (at or near the present site of Fall River) with a view to prevent a junction of the Indian tribes, which was intended by Philip.
In the mean time, it was known that the conspiracy of the Indian tribes, through the persuasions of the Pocanoket chief, was so extensive, and so matured as to endanger the safety of all New England, unless prompt and decisive measures were adopted to prevent their united action. Not only Massachusetts but the united colonies resolved to assist, and to consider the hostile attitude of the Indians a common concern. It was agreed to raise 1000 men, for the occasion ; Massachusetts to furnish 527, Plymouth, 158, and Connecticut, including New Haven, 315. This was in September, 1675. At a little later period, there was an order to enlist 1000 in addition to the former detachment ; thus making 2000 in all. This was done, on learning that the formidable tribe of the Narragansetts, which had hitherto pro- fessed friendship for the English, was engaged in the hostile combination formed by Philip.
Governor Josiah Winslow, of Plymouth colony, was ap- pointed commander in chief of the troops thus ordered to be raised. Major Appleton commanded the Massachusetts men ; Major Bradford, those of Plymouth, and Major Treat those from Connecticut. The character of the Governor was dis- tinguished for mildness and lenity, as well as bravery ; and he had always been considered by the Indian chiefs who knew him, as their protector and friend. The characters of all who took an active part in the expedition and of those who advised to it, were too well established both for humanity and piety, to warrant a belief, that any motives of mere revenge, or covetousness, or of military glory could have in- fluenced them.
These troops marched into the Narragansett country in December, 1675 ; and attacked the Indians in a large swamp, who were there collected in hostile array ; and after a desper- ate assault, vanquished and routed them. But in making the assault, the English troops suffered very severely. They advanced upon the enemy by a narrow path, which exposed them to the fire and the arrows of the Indians in ambuscade,
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and 240 of the English were killed and wounded, six cap- tains being among the slain. The number of Indians slain, on this occasion, was computed at nearly 1000. And many who survived retired into the interior and distant parts of the country.
It does not appear that Philip was then with the Narra- gansett tribe. When Cudworth and Church marched to his neighborhood with the Plymouth troops, he made little effort to withstand them; and fled, or rather retired into the in- terior, to excite the various tribes, scattered through the country, to prepare for a vigorous and united attack on the English settlements. His plans, indeed, were not fully matured, when hostilities began in June 1675; as some of the chiefs of petty tribes confessed. He found the plan proposed, of more difficult accomplishment than he had imagined. The tribes nearest the English settlements and most acquainted with their conduct, were not easily persuaded to join in the conspiracy against them. Probably, the efforts and influence of the missionaries among them had attached them to the government of Plymouth and Massachusetts. Philip was an inveterate enemy to these holy men, and to the religion which they taught. It was owing to his violent passions and a thirst for vengeance, that he instigated the attacks early in 1675, on the defenceless inhabitants, and in- duced the government of Plymouth to send out Cudworth for their protection, before he was fully prepared to execute his bloody purpose.
During the following winter and spring, attacks were made by the Indians, at the instance of Philip and in pursuance of his great plan, except that the defeat of the Narragan- setts might have interrupted it, on Lancaster, Groton, Chelms- ford, Mendon, Medfield, Marlborough, Sudbury, Rehoboth, Wrentham, Deerfield, Hatfield, Bridgewater, Scituate and Plymouth. The combination was extensive and formida- ble ; and the prompt efforts made by the English in 1675, were probably the preventive of the slaughter of all New England. Many of the Massachusetts and Plymouth people were slain in 1676. A company under captain Pierce was almost wholly cut off, at Pawtucket ; and another from Boston, under captain Wadsworth, at Sudbury. But Philip did not succeed in collecting a sufficient number together, to overrun the English settlements ; nor was he able to procure a simultaneous action of different bodies and on different settlements, to accomplish the purpose he had meditated. The Indians soon became dissatisfied with his plan; and occasionally, in
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small parties, voluntarily surrendered to the English. It was believed that Philip applied to the Mohawks for assistance, but without success. In this condition of his affairs, he returned during the summer to his paternal abode, near Mount Hope ; where a few of his tribe still adhered to him and his falling. fortunes.
Perhaps, this act of the resolute sachen entitles him to the highest praise he justly merits. He was too intelligent, not to perceive that his plans had failed, and that he had forfeited his life, by his hostile acts towards a powerful people. He could now expect no success, even in a defensive' contest, nor could he promise himself a pardon for his unprovoked and aggra- vated aggressions. He chose, however, to return to his native soil, and to sacrifice himself on his father's sepulchre, and among the remnant of his native tribe. This was heroic, this was patriotic, and this gives him as honorable a rank, as justice and impartiality can award him. In this quarter, Philip was again attacked, soon after his return, by captain Church, who slew many of the Indians still attending the sachem, but he once more escaped. Church still pursued and followed him to Mount Hope Neck, where he had retired. Here, the brave savage fell by the hands of an Indian who was in the service of the English. It was, in truth, the fall of a brave man ; for he was even then preparing to annoy his enemy, or to defend himself to the last. With his death, the hostile spirit of the Indians within Massachusetts and Plymouth was quenched ; or, on account of their weak con- dition, was seldom manifested. In the neighboring territories, at the west and the east, they were still feared ; for they depredated on the frontier towns, though they did not really endanger the safety of the whole English settlements.
Although no immediate acts of oppression towards Massa- chusetts followed on the report of the commissioners, sent out in 1664, which was well calculated to raise the displeasure of the king, he was the more ready, afterwards, to listen to com- plaints against the colony, and desirous of showing his sense of his royal right to govern and control its proceedings. On their statement, that the acts of navigation and trade were not duly regarded in Massachusetts, orders were given that they should be strictly observed. These acts were of several years stand- ing, and had been passed, or revived, as well in the time of the commonwealth, as of the monarchy: they operated as restrictions on the trade pursued by Massachusetts, and were considered as, no doubt, they were designed, for the chief benefit of England. It was, indeed, the great question, so often
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afterwards agitated in the colonies, of raising a tax or revenue from this trade, for the parent state. The object of that govern- ment, in all the acts respecting trade, was not chiefly to regu- late it on general principles, but with reference to its own prosperity, while little regard was had to their effect on the colonists.
At this period there was no distinct officer of the customs, by appointment of the king, nor had there previously been any, except that the governor was authorized to see that the acts of parliament, respecting trade, were observed, and that the duties imposed were collected. But the payment of the cus- toms was often evaded, under the pretence that they were op- pressive ; or in the hope of escaping prosecution.
The men who conducted the controversy in behalf of Massa- chusetts, with the king and his agents, at this era, with their strong love of liberty, united something of the spirit and policy of courtiers ; for they were always most respectful in their ad- dresses to the crown, and when they failed to comply fully with all the requisitions of the king, they cast themselves on his clemency, and sometimes sought to flatter his vanity, or pur- chase his· favor by presents. On this occasion, though they declined a ready compliance with the royal directions, they made a present of £500, a ship load of spars, and a large amount of provisions, to the English navy in the West Indies. And from motives of humanity, or policy, they made large col- lections for the sufferers by the great fire in London, in 1666.
Charles II. had not been long on the throne, before the friends of episcopacy became very active in favor of the estab- lished church, and caused an act to be passed for strict con- formity to its rites and its governinent. Those who did not conform were again oppressed, as they had been thirty years before. The people in Massachusetts were in fear, that such a system would be introduced into the colony. A day of pub- lic fasting and prayer was set apart by the general court, to avert a calamity so much dreaded. In all seasons of appre- hended danger, both as to the welfare of the church, and the liberties of the people, such was the practice ; their faith in an overruling providence instructed and justified them in the devout act.
.On the complaints of Gorges and Mason, in 1676, that Massachusetts had assumed jurisdiction over their several terri- tories, in Maine and New Hampshire, Charles II. required that agents be sent over from the colony, to answer for the alleged usurpation. The general court appointed William Stoughton and Peter Bulkley for this service. They were in England,
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for this purpose, nearly three years ; but without adjusting the difficulties which had arisen, connected with the subject. Massachusetts had set up a claim, which could not fairly be supported. Gorges' ancestor received a grant of the territory in Maine, which he claimed; and the heirs of Mason had shown a similar title to the land they demanded, in New Hampshire; while the claim of Massachusetts had no other support than an arbitrary construction of their patent, which made their north- ern bounds three miles north of Merrimac River. They had caused a line to be run, a few years before, to the most northern stream of the Merrimac, and then running east to the ocean, claimed all south of such line to be within their patent. This construction gave all the eastern parts of New Hampshire, and a great part of Gorges' grant in Maine, to Massachusetts.
The decision by the authority in England was, that both the soil and jurisdiction of Maine, belonged to the heirs of Sir F. Gorges, who had the original grant of the territory, from Piscataqua to Sagadahoc, or Kennebec River. After this judgment, Massachusetts employed an agent to purchase it of Gorges' heirs; but subsequently, the king ordered its restora- tion to their associates, or assigns, and the purchase money was refunded. No judgment was given as to the claim of Mason's heirs, for the instrument was found to be imperfect, intended to convey the land, nor had there been any charter from the crown for a civil government over the territory claimed. Massachusetts was confirmed in her claim, to three miles north of the Merrimac, a certain distance up the river only, which excluded them from Maine, and all New Hampshire, as it now is. Mason's heirs had claimed as far as Salem, but it was ad- judged, that the claims of Massachusetts were good against his pretensions. Edward Cranfield was soon after appointed by the king, to govern New Hampshire, in his name and as his pro- vince.
On the return of Stoughton and Bulkley, in 1679, other agents were ordered from Massachusetts, by the royal authority, which was then declined by the general court, on a plea of poverty, and of heavy taxes to be raised to meet the great ex- penses of the war with Philip, and of the preparations made against the Dutch and French.
John Leverett was the governor of the colony from 1673.to 1679, when he died, and was succeeded by Simon Bradstreet, now almost the only survivor of those who came over with Winthrop, in 1630. Leverett was one of the board of assist- ants when young ; and was several years agent in England, in the time of Cromwell. His reputation was that of a wise,
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liberal, and upright man, and of an able and discreet magistrate. Bradstreet was seventy years old when chosen governor, and continued till 1686, when the charter was vacated ; and Joseph Dudley was appointed temporary President by the crown. Bradstreet was distinguished for his discretion and probity ; and yet he was less decided against the measures of the parent government, which others thought arbitrary and oppressive, and which they openly and firmly opposed. Danforth, who was deputy governor with Bradstreet, in 1679, and after, and who was one of the assistants for several years previously, was the leader among the most decided and active, in opposition to the claims, then set up by the counsellors of the king, over the colony, not only as to regulating trade, but for controlling all its proceedings, both civil and ecclesiastical, and internal, as well as external; and that by officers from England, who had little regard for the welfare or the rights of the people; and for collecting a revenue from the people to add to the trea- sures of the parent state. Soon after Charles II. was restored to the throne, designs were formed for governing the colonies more fully and more rigidly than they had been; and these de- signs were continued, with little intermission, till the charter was taken away, in 1686. There was, certainly, some reason to complain, that the king's authority and prerogative were not duly recognised in all cases, and that powers of government were assumed, which went almost to a denial of the supreme authority of parliament over the colonies. The general court of Massachusetts yielded to the authority of the crown, as to the oath of allegiance, as to the judgment respecting Gorges' and Mason's claim, as to a toleration of Episcopalian forms of worship, of Baptists and Quakers, and as to the admission of freemen, who were not members of a congregational church. But the regulations of trade were disregarded, and no revenue was collected for the parent state. That some provisions of the acts regulating trade and navigation were severe in their operation on the colonies, there can be no doubt. The politi- cal friends of the Stuart family, in Virginia and Maryland, complained loudly of such oppressions. And it would have been good policy, perhaps, as well as a generous clemency, on the part of the parent country, to have favored and cherished these infant plantations, rather than to have pressed so heavily on them, for the purpose of meeting the high expenditures called for by the court.
Edward Randolph distinguished himself, at this period, by his complaints against the government of Massachusetts, and his efforts to call forth oppressive and arbitrary measures of
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the king towards the colony. He complained, among other things, of gross and constant violations of the acts regulating trade; and was thereupon appointed collector of the customs ; to reside at Boston, the capital of Massachusetts. Randolph was styled " the accuser of his brethren ;" he acted as a spy, and was a bitter enemy to the colony, for many years ; and events proved, that, in this dishonorable conduct, he regarded less the authority of the king, than his own interest and profit.
After more than two years of delay, in 1682, the general court sent other agents to England, as ordered, to vindicate the colony from various charges which had been preferred against it. These were Joseph Dudley, a son of the governor, Thomas Dudley, and a child of his old age; but who had little of the disinterestedness and integrity of his venerable parent ; and John Richards, who had been several years in public life, but not possessed of all that talent and firmness to qualify him to be a useful advocate for the rights of the colonies, at an arbi- trary court. Dudley had talents, but they were employed in providing for his own honor and profit. To these agents, unfortunately, perhaps, were given more powers than had been given to the former ones. But to them, as well as to those be- fore sent, instructions were given, not to consent to any propo- sitions or demands, which should commit their rights, as secured by charter. But the king and his counsellors were too desirous of power, or too jealous of their authority, which was then pretended to be sacred, to dispute about rights in the colony, or to recognise the agents in the character of envoys from a sovereign nation ; and insisted, that the colony was a part of the empire, under the control of the crown; and must therefore submit to its will and pleasure in all things. And yet some of the officers of the crown, even at this time, declared, that the colonies ought to be represented in parliament, in order to ren- der it proper to lay taxes on the people residing in them. When Dudley and Richards sailed for England, Randolph accompanied, or soon followed them, to prefer more charges against the colony. He had met with opposition in attempting to discharge his duty, as a collector of the customs ; and when he called on the governor and general court for assistance, they either declined, or took no notice of his request.
In 1686, the charter of Massachusetts was solemnly declared to be vacated ;* and Dudley was soon after appointed presi-
* When the agents found that no favor or justice could be expected, unless they had power to consent to give up the charter, to be altered and moulded as the king and his ministers might dictate, they wrote to the general court, of such determination ; and advised them to submit to the
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dent of the colony, by James II. then king of England ; together with Maine, New Hampshire, and Narragansett. Narragansett, as well as New Hampshire, had been decreed to belong to the crown, in opposition to the conflicting claims of several individuals, and of Massachusetts. Sixteen persons were joined with Dudley, in the government of these places. They were taken from all the colonies, of which they were to be the rulers ; and most of them had been in public stations before. There was no provision made for a house of repre- sentatives ; and Mr. Danforth said, that without this, the people would be little better than slaves.
When Dudley laid his commission before the general court, which was in session at the time, or soon after his arrival from England, they protested against it, as a measure of gross usurp- ation, and appealed to his patriotism, and his conscience, for reasons to justify him in accepting such an appointment .* He evaded a direct reply, and referred to the authority of the king, by whom he had been commissioned. But his period of power was short, and was not particularly oppressive. It was the nature of the government established, and the seizing of the charter, which alarmed the people, and excited the pop- ular indignation against the measure. The principles of Dudley were known to be in favor of arbitrary power; for he said, while agent in England, in reply to some friend of liberty, who was contending for the preservation of the charter, "that the people in the colony must not suppose that the rights of Eng-
royal grace. But they concluded, after due deliberation, and the people generally approved of their resolution, " that it was better to die by tlie hands of others, than by their own." They professed themselves to be true and loyal subjects of his majesty, but said " they could not consent to give up their charter, nor surrender the rights they had enjoyed under it; that they would make their humble address to God, and in due time to the king, for relief." From this firm declaration, there were some dissentients, as there had been in most of the similar resolutions for several preceding years. There seems to have been two political parties ; one of which was deeply imbued with the principles of civil liberty, and the other was ready to sub- mitt o the royal prerogatives, and the oppressive measures of the parent state.
* They objected, that there was no certain and determinate rule for the administration of justice ; and what did appear was too arbitrary ; that the subjects were abridged of their liberties, as Englishmen, both as to legisla- tion and taxes ; that all power was transferred to the president and council, and no house of representatives provided for ; that it concerned him to con- sider, whether such a state of things were safe for him or the people ; that if he were satisfied with the commission, and felt bound to govern the people under it, they would not give their consent, but would demean themselves as loyal subjects of the king. At the same time, they ordered the papers relating to the charter, and to the titles to lands, to be put into the hands of a committee for safe keeping.
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lishmen would follow them to the ends of the earth." Dud- ley had a quarrel with Randolph, at this period ; a proof, that mere political aspirants, and selfish rulers, have little principle, and act in concert often, only with a view to personal advan- tage. Several of those associated with Dudley were excellent characters, and they probably had a favorable influence on his public conduct.
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