USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > St. Botolph's town; an account of old Boston in colonial days > Part 5
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1649, to urge the purity of his intentions as a reason for Vane's becoming a member of the Council Sir Harry only reluctantly agreed to accept the honour and would not take the oath of office until the clause which approved of the trial and condemnation of Charles was struck out.
In the foreign wars which followed Vane bore a glorious part and when the people felt as too oppressive the taxes these struggles en- tailed he voluntarily relinquished the profits of his office as treasurer and commissioner for the navy. Later, when Cromwell followed the des- perate determination which had insidiously taken possession of him and on April 20, 1653, grasped once for all the power with which he had been dallying, Vane was the first to leap to his feet in stinging rebuke of his treacherous course. We are not surprised to read in his- tory that Oliver's retort to this was the excla- mation, in a fit of unbounded passion, “ Sir Harry Vane! Sir Harry Vane! Good Lord deliver me from Sir Harry Vane." After which he seized the records, snatched the bill from the hands of the clerk, drove the members out at the point of the bayonet, locked the doors, put the key in his pocket and returned to Whitehall to observe that the spirit of God
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had been too strong upon him longer to be re- sisted.
Tyranny once more having the upper hand in England there was nothing for Sir Harry Vane to do but again to retire to Raby Castle and pursue his philosophical and theological studies while awaiting a time when he could again serve the " good cause," as he termed it, of the people's rights and liberties. The occasion for which he longed came duly. Fol- lowing his policy of giving a sanctimonious face to each new encroachment upon liberty the Protector, as a step in his plan to make himself king and settle upon his descendants forever the crown he had wrested from its rightful owner, published, on March 15, 1656, a declaration calling upon the people to observe a general fast to the end that counsel and direc- tion might come to the government from Prov- idence concerning the best ways of promoting peace and happiness in England.
To Cromwell's unbounded surprise and in- dignation Sir Harry Vane took him at his word and composed a paper entitled " A Healing Question propounded and resolved, upon Occa- sion of the late public and seasonable Call to Humiliation in order to Love and Union amongst the honest Party, and with a Desire
OLIVER CROMWELL
4
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to apply Balm to the Wound, before it become incurable. By Henry Vane, Knight." With perfect good faith he transmitted his paper privately to Cromwell before giving to the world any hint of the advice therein contained. But when, after the lapse of a month, the man- uscript was returned without comment Sir Harry immediately issued it from the press together with a Postscript in which allusion was made to the fact that it had been previ- ously communicated to Cromwell.
Now, whether Cromwell had read the manu- script or not we shall never know, but he was furious at its publication and sent Vane a per- emptory and harshly-worded summons to ap- pear at once before the Council on the ground that his paper tended to the disturbance of the present government and the peace of the Com- monwealth. Of course it did, for in this, one of the most remarkable documents ever penned by man, Vane had asserted, for the first time in history, the need of a written constitution or body of fundamental laws by which the gov- ernment itself should be controlled! In an- swering the dictatorial summons of the Council Vane added fuel to the flames by remarking, " I cannot but observe, in this proceeding with me, how exactly they tread in the steps of the
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late king, whose design being to set the gov- ernment free from all restraint of laws, as to our persons and estates, and to render the monarchy absolute, thought he could employ no better means to effect it, than by casting into obloquy and disgrace all those who desired to preserve the laws and liberties of the na- tion." His letter concludes: " It is no small grief to be lamented that the evil and wretched principles by which the late king aimed to work out his design, should now revive and spring up under the hands of men professing godli- ness." For this and the pamphlet which pre- ceded it Vane was imprisoned in Carisbrook Castle on the Isle of Wight and, when Oliver feared longer to keep him in durance, was hunted down on his own stamping-ground and unlawfully deprived of his estates.
Then, in the fall of 1658, Oliver went to meet a King whom he could not bully and Richard Cromwell assumed the Protectorate. This was more than even Sir Harry Vane could stand with patience. Oliver had at least been a foe worthy of his steel; but that the opportunity for a republic should be set aside in order that this feeble creature should hold office was too much for any man with high hopes of England to bear. Sir Harry again offered himself for
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Parliament and, when he had been cheated out of two elections given him by the franchises of the people, he tried in a third district, that of Whitchurch in Hampshire, and was returned in spite of the machinations of his enemies. Then he made in Parliament what seems to me one of the best short speeches I have ever read :
" Mr. Speaker, Among all the people of the universe, I know none who have shown so much zeal for the liberty of their country, as the English at this time have done. They have, by the help of Divine Providence, overcome all obstacles and have made themselves free. We have driven away the hereditary tyranny of the house of Stuart, at the expense of much blood and treasure, in hopes of enjoying hered- itary liberty, after having shaken off the yoke of kingship, and there is not a man amongst us who could have imagined that any person would be so bold as to dare attempt the ravish- ing from us that freedom which has cost us so much blood and so much labour.
" But so it happens, I know not by what mis- fortune, we are fallen into the error of those who poisoned the Emperor Titus to make room for Domitian, who made away Augustus that they might have Tiberius and changed Clau-
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dius for Nero. I am sensible these examples are foreign from my subject since the Romans in those days were buried in lewdness and lux- ury; whereas the people of England are now renowned all over the world for their great virtue and discipline, - and yet suffer an id- iot without courage, without sense, nay, without ambition, to have dominion in a country of liberty.
" One could bear a little with Oliver Crom- well, though contrary to his oath of fidelity to the Parliament, contrary to his duty to the public, contrary to the respect he owed to that venerable body from whom he received his authority, he usurped the government. His merit was so extraordinary that our judgement and passions might be blinded by it. He made his way to empire by the most illustrious ac- tions. He held under his command an army that had made him a conqueror and a people that had made him their general.
" But as for Richard Cromwell, his son, who is he? What are his titles? We have seen that he has a sword by his side, but did he ever draw it? And, what is of more importance in this case, is he fit to get obedience from a mighty nation who could never make a footman obey him? Yet, we must recognize this man as our
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king under the style of Protector - a man without birth, without courage, without con- duct. For my part, I declare, sir, it shall never be said that I made such a man my master."
Following this remarkable triumph of ora- tory Richard Cromwell was forced to resign, the famous Long Parliament was reassembled, and Sir Henry Vane was appointed one of the Committee of Safety, to whom the supreme and entire power of the country was entrusted until Parliament could make further arrange- ments. Later he was made President of the Council. And if General George Monk had not sold the army to Prince Charles for the title of a duke Vane's dream of a republican Eng- land would in all probability have been real- ized. As it was, Charles the Second was crowned and England given over to the scourge of an unbridled tyranny.
Of course Sir Harry Vane was among the first to fall a victim to the treachery of the army and of Parliament. He was imprisoned, first in his own castle and then on the island of Sicily, while the king waited until he should be strong enough to claim his life. Then he kept him for another season in the Tower. In the Declaration of Breda Charles had pro- claimed amnesty to all not especially excepted
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by Parliament and as Sir Harry had not been one of his father's judges and was a well-known opponent of the action taken by the regicides, it had been supposed that he would be quite secure from the vengeance of the new monarch. Moreover, the two Houses of Parliament had been assured through the Lord Chancellor that, " If Vane were ever convicted, execution as to his life should be remitted." It was because this appeared to be sufficient that Sir Harry Vane's name was excepted from the Act of In- demnity and Oblivion which the Commons framed.
When a new Parliament came in, however, and, stimulated by desire to get a share of Sir Harry's great estate, pushed matters vigor- ously against him, the king had either to re- deem or break his pledge. Characteristically he shifted the burden of decision upon his Chancellor in the following letter which shows, as well as a whole volume of history could, the manner of man who now ruled England:
" HAMPTON COURT, Saturday, " Two in the afternoon.
" The relation that has been made to me of Sir Henry Vane's carriage yesterday in the Hall, is the occasion of this letter; which, if
HOUSES
SIR HARRY VANE'S HOUSE, STILL STANDING IN HAMPSTEAD, LONDON
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I am rightly informed, was so insolent as to justify all he had done, acknowledging no su- preme power in England but a Parliament, and many things to that purpose. You have had a true account of all and if he has given new occasion to be hanged, certainly he is too dan- gerous a man to let live, if we can honestly put him out of the way. Think of this and give me some account of it to-morrow, till when I have no more to say to you. C. R."
The end soon came. Sir Harry was by this time in the Tower and the king was thirsting, as he very well knew, for his blood. When it was suggested to Vane that he might save his life by making submission to Charles he an- swered simply, " If the king does not think himself more conserved for his honour and word than I am for my life let him take it." And indeed nothing could have availed. His trial was long but unfair from beginning to end and, even when he came to the block, look- ing very handsome in his black clothes and scarlet waistcoat, he was given none of the privileges usually accorded those about to die. Pepys, who was on hand for the execution as for most other interesting spectacles that hap- pened during his lifetime, describes, with every
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mark of admiration, the bearing of the pris- oner, adding further, loyalist though he was, that " the king lost more by that man's death than he will get again for a good while." An- other loyalist exclaimed in admiration, as he watched the dignity of those last moments, " He dies like a prince." To which I can only add, after reading his wonderful prayer for those who had betrayed him, that he died like the Prince, - that Prince of Peace whose prin- ciples he had all his life advocated and whose sublime example he followed even in the hour of his death.
VI
HOW WINTHROP TREATED WITH THE LA TOURS
SCARCELY had Winthrop been chosen gov- ernor for the fourth time when (June, 1643) there came to Boston to entreat help against his rival, Charnissay D'Aulnay, Charles La Tour, one of the lords of New France and per- haps the most picturesque figure in the early history of this continent. The manner of this powerful Frenchman's arrival in Boston was most disconcerting to the Puritans. For he came in a French armed ship and sailed straight up the harbour, past a fort in which there was not a single person to answer his military salute! Had he been an enemy he might easily have sacked the town.
As it was, he made his début in Boston in a charmingly simple fashion. For coming toward his ship as it sailed up the bay was discerned a boat containing Mrs. Gibbons, the wife of Captain Edward Gibbons, going with her children to their farm. One of the gentle-
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men on La Tour's vessel recognized her and told La Tour who she was. Whereupon the lord of New France had a boat of his own fitted out and proceeded to follow the lady to her landing-place. Mrs. Gibbons, not knowing the strangers, hastened from them as fast as she could and put in at Governor's Island, so called because it was the summer home of the Winthrops. But it happened that the governor and some of his family were on the island at the time, so La Tour was able, by having pur- sued her, the more speedily to get in touch with the very person whom he had come to see! While he was telling his story over the hos- pitable supper-table, Mrs. Gibbons returned to town in the governor's boat and spread the news of the stranger's informal arrival, so that when La Tour, later, took the governor up to Boston in his own boat, they were met by three shallops of armed men, come out to escort them ceremoniously into the town.
Before proceeding to describe the negotia- tions which went on between Winthrop and this representative of a foreign state, let us, however, digress a bit and learn who this La Tour was and why he had come to Boston. To make the matter clear one must go back to the very beginnings of the settlement of
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New France and retrace the story of Cham- plain's second expedition to the St. Lawrence, when in 1604 he sailed under De Monts (to whom the King of France had granted the land), in company with Baron de Poutrincourt, Pontgravé and divers merchants, priests and Huguenot ministers. This variously assorted company on exploration and colonization bent settled on St. Croix Island, in the mouth of St. Croix River, now the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. There they passed their first winter in America. But the next year they crossed the Bay of Fundy and founded Port Royal on the wooded shore of Annapolis Basin, in the very heart of that country where
. . . the murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
It was a wonderfully peaceful land which they found; and so it continued to be - even when the colonists suffered most from want and privation - until the passions of ambi- tious men and the schemings and counter- schemings of rival branches of the priesthood
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availed to transform it into a scene of feudal- istic strife.
Champlain's men had been content to work hard and deny themselves, to live cleanly and to beguile their days with gardening, verse- making and a nonchalant Christianization of the Indians. Not so their sons. Poutrin- court's son cared chiefly for war, and soon built among the rocks and fogs of Cape Sable a small fort to which he gave the name Fort Lomeron. This fort descended at his death to Charles La Tour, one of his adventurous re- tainers, and was by him called Fort St. Louis.
La Tour, by improving to the utmost every chance that came his way and by winning the alliance of both English and French, soon made himself a terrifying power in the Acadian land. To his first fort he ere long added another variously called to-day Fort La Tour and Fort St. Jean - the latter from its situation at the mouth of the river, in the centre of the present city of St. John, N. B.
Strong as Charles La Tour had succeeded in becoming, an even stronger man was soon to arrive from France. Under Claude de Razilly (a knight of Malta, charged by Louis XIII to seize the Acadian possessions), had sailed D'Aulnay Charnissay, a gentleman of birth,
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and to him in 1635 there came by Razilly's death royal power in Acadia. D'Aulnay made his headquarters at Port Royal, and nobody thought of disputing his authority, so clearly could it be traced to the king - nobody, ex- cept La Tour. That adventurer, having papers from both the English and the French, and having besides an indomitable spirit and inex- haustible craft, made D'Aulnay's situation from the very beginning well-nigh unbearable.
In position and qualities the two rivals were poles apart. D'Aulnay came of an old and distinguished Touraine family, and he prided himself above all things upon his character of gentilhomme français. He was a consistent Catholic, too, while La Tour's religion - like his family - was obscure. The rivalry, which had always been keen, appears to have grown into positive bitterness, when, five years after his first coming to Acadia, D'Aulnay returned from a visit to France, bringing with him a charming wife. The plucky bride was a daugh- ter of the Seigneur de Courcelles, and was well fitted by birth and breeding to transmute, by her gentlewoman's touch, the rough settlement into an orderly colony. What with old settlers and new, about forty families were now gath- ered at Port Royal and on the river Annapolis.
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And over these D'Aulnay ruled, " a kind of feudal Robinson Crusoe."
A scene for an artist, as Parkman points out, was the Port Royal of those days, with its fort, its soldiers, its manor-house of logs, its semi- nary of like construction, and its twelve Ca- puchin friars, with cowled heads, sandaled feet and the cord of St. Francis! The friars were supported by Richelieu; their main business - and they were pretty successful in it - was to convert the Micmac and Abenaki Indians into loyal vassals of France and earnest sub- jects of the Church.
But Charles La Tour was not so easily dealt with. He who had before felt himself the chief man in Acadia was now fairly aflame with jeal- ousy of this French seigneur who dwelt just across the intervening Bay of Fundy, sur- rounded by loyal retainers and solaced by a loving wife. Wives, however, were certainly to be had even if settlers were not; and since D'Aulnay had given evidence, by bringing over a woman, that he had no intention of abandon- ing his claim, La Tour resolved that he, too, would set up a home in Acadia. His agent was thereupon instructed to pick out in France a girl worthy to share his heart and fort. Ac- cordingly, Marie Jacquelin, daughter of a bar-
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ber of Mans, was selected to join La Tour at Fort St. Jean. She proved to be an Amazon. With passionate vehemence she took up her husband's quarrel, and where D'Aulnay's lady heartened her lord by gentle words and soft caresses, Lady La Tour threw herself into the thick of the fight and became a force greatly to be feared in the Acadian land.
From this time on events march. Goaded by his wife, La Tour grew more and more con- tumacious, until that day when the King of France, losing all patience, ordered D'Aulnay to seize his rival's forts and take their com- mander prisoner. In accordance with these in- structions, we find D'Aulnay (in 1642) an- chored at the mouth of the St. John and endeav- ouring to arrest the outlaw. Then it was that La Tour, rendered desperate, defied the king as well as his representative, and - Catholic though he claimed to be- turned for help to the heretics of Boston.
Boston was in no position, as we have seen, to help and La Tour's coming provided highly disturbing matter for debate. Though he was hospitably received by Governor Winthrop and the Reverend John Cotton, many there were who wished him well out of the way. Even his unimpeachable gravity of demeanour when he
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attended church with Winthrop on Sunday could not make him acceptable to these clear- sighted souls. Still, his men were not only allowed to come ashore, but permission was granted them to drill on Boston common, along with the town militia, - to the accompaniment of the ambitious band and the industrious frog chorus.
One very amusing incident is connected with the " land leave " granted the La Tour men. Winthrop, writing the next year, tells the story, not without some sense of its humour: " There arrived here a Portugal ship with salt, having in it two Englishmen only. One of these happened to be drunk and was carried to his lodging; and the constable (a godly man and a zealous against such disorders) hearing of it found him out, being upon his bed asleep; so he awaked him and led him to the stocks, there being no magistrate at home. He, being in the stocks, one of La Tour's gentlemen lifted up the stocks and let him out. The constable hearing of it, went to the Frenchman (being then gone and quiet), and would needs carry him to the stocks; the Frenchman offered to yield himself to go to prison, but the constable, not understanding his language, pressed him to go to the stocks; the Frenchman resisted
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and drew his sword; with that company came in and disarmed him and carried him by force to the stocks; but soon after the constable took him out and carried him to prison, and pres- ently after, took him forth again and delivered him to La Tour. Much tumult there was about this."
The magistrates looked into the case and decided that the gentleman must return to prison until the Court met. Some Frenchmen offered to go bail for him, but since they were strangers their offer was declined. "Upon this," continues Winthrop, " two Englishmen, members of the church of Boston, standing by, offered to be his sureties, whereupon he was bailed till he should be called for, because La Tour was not like to stay till the Court. This was thought too much favour for such an of- fence by many of the common people, but by our law bail could not be denied him; and be- side the constable was the occasion of all this in transgressing the bounds of his office, and that in six things: 1. In fetching a man out of his lodging that was asleep on his bed and that without any warrant from the authority. 2. In not putting a hook upon the stocks nor setting some to guard them. 3. In laving hands upon the Frenchman that had opened
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the stocks when he was gone and quiet, and no disturbance then appearing. 4. In carry- ing him to prison without warrant. 5. In de- livering him out of prison without warrant. 6. In putting such a reproach upon a stranger and a gentleman when there was no need, for he knew he would be forthcoming and the mag- istrate would be at home that evening; but such are the fruits of ignorant and misguided zeal."
The clever La Tours lost no time in pushing the business upon which they had come. Show- ing papers which would seem to prove the doughty Charles a lawful representative of the King of France, the governor was asked for such aid as would enable him to bring to his fort the ship, containing supplies, which D'Aul- nay would not permit to proceed up the bay. Very adroitly La Tour then suggested that he at least be permitted to hire four vessels, each fully armed and equipped, with which to defend his rights in Acadia.
Winthrop finally gave bewildered consent to this arrangement, and his action was approved by a majority of those in authority. But in the ensuing discussion over this arresting depar- ture, the " inevitable clergy " joined hotly, and texts being the chief weapons of the debate,
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various Old Testament worthies were brought forward to prove that Massachusetts would have done much better to keep out of the fight. John Endicott stoutly maintained that La Tour was not to be trusted, and that he and D'Aul- nay would much better have been left to fight it out by themselves. In this opinion several chief men of the colony concurred, saying in the famous " Ipswich letter " that they feared international law had been ill observed, and declaring in substance, that the merits of the case were not clear, that the colony was not called upon in charity to help La Tour (see 2 Chronicles xix, 2, and Proverbs xxvi, 17) ; that this quarrel was for England and France; that endless trouble would come if D'Aulnay were not completely put down, and that "he that loses his life in an unnecessary quarrel dies the devil's martyr."
This letter, trenching as it did upon Win- throp's pride of office, stung the governor into vehement retort. But he soon had the candour to admit that he had been in fault in three things: first in answering La Tour too hastily, next in not sufficiently consulting the elders, and lastly in not having opened the discussion with prayer.
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