USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Lives of the governors of New Plymouth, and Massachusetts bay; from the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, to the union of the two colonies in 1692 > Part 28
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When, in the year 1643, the New England Colonies formed their memorable confederation, or union for mu- tual protection and defence, Mr. Bradstreet was one of the commissioners on the part of the Massachusetts colo- ny, and took an active part in the proceedings.t The records of that period, in all the public affairs of the col- ony, show how diligent and useful he was as a public officer, through all the changes of the infant common-
* See Farmer's Belknap, 23-26, and Farmer and Moore's Collections, ii. 236. . t Governor Winthrop, in noticing the selection made by the deputies for this important service, calls " the choosing one of the younger magistrates (Bradstreet) a great error," although he pronounces him to be " a very able man." The reason probably was, that Mr. Bradstreet was " an eastern man," being at that time a resident of Ipswich ; for he was one of the original assistants, and had been fourteen times re-elected to that office, although he was now but forty years of age.
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wealth. As one of the most active magistrates, he wa- noted as rarely ever absent from his post; and in his capa- city of secretary of the colony, his papers bore the marks of a clerkly hand, and of a mind so well trained in matters of law, and legislation, that he is spoken of by the editor of Winthrop, as having been " bred to the bar."
Mr. Bradstreet, although a strict Puritan in faith, and as decidedly opposed " to all heresy and schism," as his austere relative Dudley, was endowed with a differ- ent temper ; and for the sake of peace, or with the hope of reformation, could more readily excuse an offender. He seems to have been imbued with a spirit more gen- tle, and to have been influenced by a better idea of reli- gious freedom, than some of his associates in the colony. While the Antinomian controversy was pending, he seems to have been inclined to more moderate measures than the exasperated magistrates and elders. When Anne Hutchinson was arraigned, before Governor Win- throp, and during two days, in presence of the whole authority in church and state united, maintained her ground with a self-possession and ability that came near carrying some of the judges in her favour, as her argu- ments already had convinced a majority of the Boston church,-Mr. Bradstreet was for persuasion rather than force. He remarked to Mrs. Hutchinson, that she ought to forbear her meetings, because they gave offence; and when she interposed a plea of conscience, he replied that he was not against all women's meetings, and even con- sidered them to be lawful, but still thought they should be avoided, as matters disturbing the public peace .*
* See Account of the Trial of Anne Hutchinson, in Appendix to Hutchin- son, vol. ii.
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The rigorous discipline which the churches and mag- istrates enforced at this period, caused many to be pub- licly arraigned and punished, for offences, which would at this day be deemed trivial and insignificant. To speak evil of rulers, was an offence, and there were nu- merous instances in which this breach of order was pun- ished with severity. Mr. Bradstreet, on occasions of this description, frequently took ground in favor of freedom of speech, and voted, in opposition to the majority of magistrates, against presentments and fines "for words spoken in contempt of government."
In the same spirit, which was in advance of the age, when the witchcraft delusion overspread the colony, he discountenanced the excesses into which the government was betrayed. Brattle, in his account of this delusion, makes honorable mention of " the few men of understand- ing, judgment and piety, inferior to few if any in New England, that do utterly condemn the proceedings, and do freely deliver their judgment that these methods will utterly ruin and undo poor New England." Among the first of these he names Mr. Bradstreet .*
In 1650, Mr. Bradstreet was one of the commission- ers assembled at Hartford, to determine the long contro- verted boundary line between the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam, (New York, ) and the English Colony of New Haven.
The settlements which had been made at York and Kittery, in Maine, under grants from Gorges, early at- tracted the notice of the government of Massachusetts. They claimed the territory on the Pascataqua, as contain- ed within the bounds of their charter. In 1651, avail-
* I Mass. Hist. Coll. v. 75.
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ing themselves of the advantages presented by the dis- sensions among the people of those settlements, the gov- ernment of Massachusetts appointed Mr. Bradstreet one of the commissioners to treat with the disaffected at York and Kittery, about coming under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. In the following year, matters had been so far matured, that on Mr. Bradstreet's again appearing at Kittery, and summoning the inhabitants to come in and acknowledge their subjection to Massachusetts, they resolved to surrender, and signed an instrument of sub- mission, which was soon after followed by a similar submission of the people of York, Saco, Wells, &c.
In June, 1654, we find Mr. Bradstreet active in a meeting at Ipswich, on the subject of preparing a refuta- tion of certain calumnies, which had been forwarded to the Protector Cromwell, against the general court of Massachusetts.
It was some months after the restoration of Charles II. became known, before he was proclaimed in Massa- chusetts; although a loyal address was voted and for- warded, in December, 1660. The colonists were alarmed as to the consequences of the great revolutions in the parent state; and sinister reports of evil for a time kept the people in a state of feverish anxiety. In May, 1661, the state of public affairs was brought before the general court, Mr. Bradstreet was placed at the head of a com- mittee "to consider and debate such matters touch- ing their patent rights, and privileges, and duty to his Majesty, as should to them seem proper." This com- mittee, after grave deliberation, embodied their report in an able state paper, drawn up by Mr. Bradstreet, and adopted by the general court in special session, 10th
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June, 1661. This report declares in emphatic terms the rights and liberties of the colony. under the charter, fol- lowed by a declaration of allegiance, loyalty and duty to the king.
The Massachusetts address to the King met a favor- able reception, notwithstanding strong representations had been forwarded against the colony, growing out of the persecutions of the Quakers, and other rigorous - measures. The royal mandamus soon after put an end to this persecution; and Massachusetts was summoned to answer complaints made against the government of the colony. In this emergency, Mr. Bradstreet and Mr. Norton were despatched to England. They met with a favorable reception at court, and in answer to the address and petition of Massachusetts, they were intrus- ted with a letter from the King, which promised a full pardon of political offences, and a confirmation of the ancient privileges of the colony, but coupled with such conditions as created at once, in the midst of the general rejoicing at the prospect of peace, a deep gloom through- out the colony. The requisitions of the King, in this instance, were in the highest degree tolerant and enlight- ened, far beyond the scope of most of the acts of his reign. Bradstreet and Norton understood the matter in this light, and so it was considered by the best friends of the colony in England. But the general court looked upon the King's letter as requiring a surrender of their rights, which they determined not hastily to assent to .. The agents, who were supposed to have made unneces- sary concessions, were now loaded with reproaches, and evils which it could not have been in their power to avert, were laid to their charge. Mr. Norton, a faithful and.
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honest man, who went reluctantly upon the embassy , could not bear up under the general reproach ; but Mr. Bradstreet, conscious that he had in no way compromit- ted the honor or rights of the colony, steadily defended his course, and advocated a dutiful compliance with the requisitions of the King, as the best and only safe course. When the royal commissioners arrived in 1665, Mr. Bradstreet was one of the few who counselled a quiet compliance, and protested against the declaration of the general court drawn up in answer to the demands of the commissioners. The sturdy democracy of the Puritans, however, forbade their yielding an iota of what they conceived to be their chartered privileges; and they not only denounced the proceedings of the commissioners, but prohibited any one from abetting or aiding them. If the course advised by Mr. Bradstreet might have been under the circumstances, the more prudent and politic, that adopted by the colony was in fact more noble, and better becoming a community of freemen.
In 1673, Mr. Bradstreet was chosen deputy governor, and continued in that office under repeated elections, until the death of Governor Leverett, in 1679. In May of that year, he was first chosen governor, at the age of seventy-six years, having previously been chosen an as- sistant for fifty years in succession. He was annually re- elected governor, until May, 1686, when the charter was dissolved, and Dudley commenced his administration as president of New England. Dudley's commission from James II. bore date the Sth October, 1685, and Mr. Bradstreet was the first of the seventeen counsellors named in the commission. The new president, on re- ceiving his commission, waited upon Mr. Bradstreet at
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his house, the 14th May, 1686; but Mr. Bradstreet de- clined accepting the appointment, as did his son, Dudley Bradstreet, also named as counsellor .*
The tyranny of Andros, which followed the short rule of Dudley, bringing with it the most gloomy fore- bodings as to the future, nerved the arms of the people and knit their hearts in unison for ultimate resistance. The venerable Bradstreet, though verging upon ninety. years of age, was consulted by the people, and gave his advice as the Nestor of New England. In a letter which Hutchinson has preserved, on the subject of the arbitrary seizure of lands, and contempt of title deeds, by Andros, Governor Bradstreet states with admirable clearness his opinion of the case.t
When the people of Boston, on the 18th of April, 1689, rose in arms, and the inhabitants from the sur- rounding country flocked in to the assistance of their brethren of the capital, Mr. Bradstreet and fourteen of the magistrates of 1686, addressed a message to Andros, in the name of the people, demanding of him, an im- mediate surrender of the government and fortifications.}
* IIutchinson's Hist. Colony of Mass. Bay, 351.
t Ilutchinson's Colony of Mass. Bay, 360, 361.
# The following is the message referred to, which is copied from the origi- nal handbill, printed in black letter by Green, in 1689, in possession of Col. PETER FORCE, of Washington, D. C.
"At the Town House in Boston : April 19th, 1699.
"SIR,-Ourselves as well as many others the Inhabitants of this town and places adjacent, being surprised with the People's sudden taking to Arms, in the first motion whereof we were wholly ignorant, are driven by the present Exi- gence and Necessity to acquaint your Excellency, that for the Quieting and Security of the People inhabiting this Countrey from the imminent Dangers they many wayes lie open and are exposed unto, and for your own Safety ; We judge it necessary that you forthwith Surrender, and Deliver up the Govern- ment and Fortifications to be preserved, to be Disposed according to Order and
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SIMON BRADSTREET.
The governor with his council resisted, and withdrew to the fort. "Just then, (says Bancroft, ) the last governor of the colony, in office when the charter was abrogated, Simon Bradstreet, glorious with the dignity of fourscore years and seven, one of the early emigrants, a magistrate in 1630, whose experience connected the oldest genera- tion with the new, drew near the town-house, and was received by a great shout from the freemen. The old magistrates were reinstated, as a council of safety; the whole town rose in arms, 'with the most unanimous re- solution that ever inspired a people ;' and a declaration, read from the balcony, defended the insurrection, as a duty to God and the country. ' We commit our enter- prise,' it is added, 'to Him who hears the cry of the op- pressed, and advise all our neighbors, for whom we have thus ventured ourselves, to joyn with us in prayers and all just actions for the defence of the land.' On Charles- town side, a thousand soldiers crowded together; and the multitude would have been larger if needed. The governor, vainly attempting to escape to the frigate, was, with his creatures, compelled to seek protection by sub-
Direction from the Crown of England, which is suddenly expected may arrive, Promising all Security from violence to your Self, or any other of your Gen- tlemen and Souldiers in Person or Estate : or else we are assured they will endeavor the taking of the Fortifications by Storm, if any opposition be made. "To Sr. Edmond Andross, Knight.
William Stoughton, Thomas Danforth,
Simon Bradstreet,
Wait Winthrop,
John Richards,
Elisha Cook,
Samuel Shrimpton, William Brown,
Isaac Addington,
Barthol. Gedney,
John Foster, Peter Sergeant,
David Waterhouse, Adam Winthrop, John Nelson.
" Boston. Printed by Samuel Green, 1639."
€
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SIMON BRADSTREET.
mission ; through the streets where he had first displayed his scarlet coat and arbitrary commission, he and his fellows were marched to the town-house, and thence to prison. All the cry was against Andros and Randolph. The castle was taken; the frigate was mastered; the fortifications occupied." The people voted to re-assume the old charter ; representatives were chosen ; and Mas- sachusetts again assembled in general court, calling Brad- street to the chair of state .*
Mr. Bradstreet was annually re-elected Governor of Massachusetts, and of New Hampshire, under the union of those provinces, until the arrival of Sir William Phips, in May, 1692, with a charter, which deprived the people of the right of choosing their chief magis- trate. In this charter he was named as senior counsel- lor. But the venerable old man, after more than half a century of public service, now retired from office, and closed his eventful career at Salem, on the 27th March, 1697, in the 95th year of his age. His great age is at- tributed by Mather to his temperate habits of life. The inscription upon his tomb, in the ancient burial place at Salem, is as follows : ,
SIMON BRADSTREET,
Armiger, ex ordine Senatoris, in colonia Massachusettensi ab anno 1630, usque ad annum 1673. Deinde ad annum 1679, Vice-Gubernator. Denique ad annum 1686, ejusdem colonim, communi et constanti populi suffragio, Gubernator. Vir, judicio Lynceario preditus : quem nec numma, nec honos allexit. Regis authoritatem, et populi libertatem, aqua lance libravit. Religione cerdatus, vita innocuus, mundum et vicit, et deseruit, 27 dio Martii, A. D. 1697. Annoq. Guliel. 3t ix. et . Et. 94.
His epitaph, says Felt, gives a correct idea of his character :- " He was a man of deep discernment, whom neither wealth nor honor could allure from duty. He poised with an equal balance, the authority of the King,
* Hutchinson, 373-352. Bancroft, ii. 447.
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SIMON BRADSTREET.
1
and the liberty of the people. Sincere in Religion, and pure in his life, he overcame and left the world." The assembly of the province being in session at the time of his death, "in consideration of the long and extraordi- nary service of Simon Bradstreet, late Governor, who is now deceased, voted £100 towards defraying the charges of his interment."
The first wife of Governor Bradstreet, as has already been stated, was Anne, daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley, whom he married in England. She died 16th September, 1672, at the age of 60 years. "She is," says Savage, "the most distinguished of the early ma- trons of our land by her literary powers." A volume of her poems was published in 1678. It was dedicated to her father, in a copy of verses, dated 20 March, 1642, and is probably the earliest poetic volume written in America .*
There is also in possession of one of her descendants, a manuscript volume, in the hand-writing of Mrs. Brad- street, dedicated to her "Dear Son Simon Bradstreet," and containing seventy seven "Meditations, Divine and Moral," which she intended to continue through the volume, as we are told in a note written by her son, "but was prevented by death." Extracts from these Meditations are given in the History of the First Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts.t
After the death of his first wife, Governor Bradstreet, in 1680, married Ann, widow of Capt. Joseph Gardner, who was killed in the memorable Narragansett fight, 19 Dec. 1675. This lady was a daughter of Emanuel Dow-
* See page 295, ante.
1 By Rev. William I. Budington, published in 1845.
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ning, distinguished for her talents and accomplishments. She died 19 April, 1713, aged 79.
Governor Bradstreet's children were, four sons and four daughters, viz.
Samuel, who was graduated at Harvard College in 1653, of which he was one of the fellows, was admitted freeman, 1653, was representative for Andover, in 1670, and died before 1683.
Simon, graduated at Harvard College in 1667, was ordained as minister of New London, Connecticut, 5 Oct., 1670, and died in 1688.
Dudley, who was born 1648, was representative for Andover, in 1677 and 1692, was colonel of militia, and one of the Council of Safety, appointed in 1689.
John, born 31 July, 1652, and settled at Salem.
Ann, who in 1659, married Thomas Wiggin, of Exe- ter, New Hampshire.
Dorothy, who married Rev. Seaborn Cotton of Hampton, New Hampshire, and died 26 Feb., 1671.
Hannah, who married a Wiggin ; and Mercy, who in 1672, married Nathaniel Wade of Medford.
The Rev. Simon Bradstreet, son of the minister of New London, and grandson of Gov. Bradstreet, was graduated at Harvard College in 1693, and settled at Charlestown, 26 October, 169S. He was a man of great learning, and lively imagination ; but in the latter part of his life, became so hypochondriacal, that he was afraid to preach in the pulpit, lest he should die there, and for some time delivered his sermons from the deacon's seat .*
* The anecdote is told of him, that when Lieut. Gov. Tailer introduced him to Gov. Burnet, who was himself a scholar, he said " Here is a man, sir, who can ichistle Greek."
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IX. JOSEPH DUDLEY.
JOSEPH DUDLEY, son of Governor Thomas Dudley, was born on the 23d of July, 1647, at Roxbury, Massa- chusetts. He was the son of the Governor's old age, being born after his father had attained the age of sev- enty years. During his childhood, he was under the care of his excellent mother, and the Rev. Mr. Allin of Dedham, to whom she was married after the death of Gov. Dudley. He was educated at the free school in Cambridge, under the famous Master Corlet, and at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1665, in the 18th year of his age. Hutchinson says, "he was edu- cated for the ministry, and if various dignities had been known in the New England churches, possibly he had lived and died a clergyman; but without this, nothing could be more dissonant from his genius. He soon turned his thoughts to civil affairs. Ambition was the ruling passion, and perhaps, like Cæsar, he had rather be the first man in New England, than second in Old."
He was admitted a freeman in 1672, and in 1673 he was first chosen a representative from his native town, Roxbury, and was re-elected for the two following years. In 1676, he was chosen one of the assistants, in which office he continued, (with the exception of one year.) until 1685, when he was appointed President of Massa- chusetts and New Hampshire.
When the great Indian war broke out in 1675, Dud- ley was appointed one of the commissioners of Massa- chusetts, who, accompanying the military forces of the
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colony into the country of the Narragansetts, were ena- bled to dictate the terms of a treaty, with the chiefs of that tribe, by which they bound themselves to aid the English in the war against Philip .* Mr. Dudley was present at the great battle with the Narragansetts in December, 1675, and wrote to Governor Leverett an in- teresting account of the battle, which is published by Hutchinson.
Mr. Dudley, with a keen perception of the future in political affairs, attached himself to the moderate party in 1680, inclining to the opinion that it was best to ac- quiesce in the surrender of the old charter, and wait for circumstances. This is supposed to have paved the way for his agency to England, to which, in conjunction with Major John Richards, he was appointed in 1682. He professed himself warmly in favor of the restoration of the charter, but his conduct in England proved him to have played the courtier, rather for his own advancement, than for the interests of his native land. His mission was unsuccessful, and he returned to Boston, 23 Octo- ber, 1683. His proceedings not proving satisfactory to the people, he lost his election as an assistant in 1684.
During his visit to England, finding that he could not serve his country by obtaining a confirmation of the old charter, he determined to look well to his own in- terests ; and accordingly became a prominent candidate for the chief magistracy. Dudley was a finished cour- tier, as well as an adroit politician, and the idea of having a New England man, born and brought up among the
* Hutchinson, i. 280-201 ; where the articles are inserted. The Narragan- setts, who were then very powerful, had promised Philip to rise, in the spring of 1676, with 4000 men.
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JOSEPH DUDLEY.
inhabitants, appointed governor, was a circumstance that gave him many friends-an advantage which a man of his address knew well how to use. He was successful in his application, and when the government of Massa- chusetts was changed, in 1686, to a President and Coun- cil, he was appointed to the presidency. The people had resisted as long as possible the surrender of their charter; and when the Rose frigate arrived in May, 1686, with Dudley's commission, the general court informed the new president and council, that they did not consid- er their assuming of the government as just; but if they considered themselves bound to obey the King, they might, and the court would endeavour to act legally .*
King James II. was proclaimed with great ceremony, in the "High street in Boston," on the 20th April, 1686, and Mr. Dudley received his commission on the 15th May, and published it on the 26th, when the new Pres- ident first met the Council in form.t He was commis- sioned as President of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island; and to assist him in the gov- ernment, fifteen mandamus counsellors were appointed by the crown. No house of deputies was recognized. To the President and Council, thus constituted, was com- mitted the power of managing and controlling all the
* See Hutchinson's Colony Mass. Bay, 342. The town of Salem, in antici- pation of Dudley's appointment, gave the following instructions to their depu- ties in the general court : " In case MIr. Dudley, &c., said to be nominated and authorized by his majesty to edit another government here, do publish a loyal nullification of our Charter, and a commission from the King for their accept- ance of the government here, then our instruction to you is, that you give no countenance to any resistance, but peaceably withdraw yourselves, as represent- ing us no longer." Felt's Annals, 2:2.
t Dudley's commission as President of New England, is dated 27 Sept. 1655. Hle acted from 25 May, 1686, until 20 Dec. 1656, when Andros arrived.
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JOSEPH DUDLEY.
public affairs. The new government went into opera- tion, 25 May, 1686. In general, all the existing legal usages were observed. But Dudley's administration was short, and, though unpopular with the people, seems not to have been a very grievous one. It lasted but four months and twenty-six days, when the next political rev- olution brought Andros upon the stage, as governor of New York and New England. This man arrived at Boston on the 20th December, and published his com- mission on the following day. Dudley was retained as one of his Council, of which he became president, and was also made one of the Justices of the Superior Court. In this capacity, he opposed some of the proceedings of Andros and the Council, in their attacks upon the titles of the people to their lands. In other matters, however, he generally went with the party of Andros, and so man- aged as to keep up a friendly understanding with him and with Randolph, his infamous agent and confidential adviser.
Mr. Dudley, of course, became peculiarly the object of dislike among the people, who regarded him as little better than the betrayer of their liberties. And, when in April, 1689, they overturned the government of An- dros, Dudley, as one of the most obnoxious, was arrested and kept a close prisoner for a long time. On the 16th May, 1689, a ship arrived from England with advices of the proclaiming of William and Mary. This was most joyful news. The fears of the people, of any bad con- sequences, from their late revolutionary actions, were now over. "On the 29th, the proclamation was pub- lished in Boston, with greater ceremony than had ever been known. Governor Bradstreet and his council, the
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