USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the colonial period. 1492-1692 v. I > Part 26
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Thus affairs stood at the date of the Confederacy ; after Jun. 12, which, La Tour himself landed at Boston, from Rochelle, 1643. and requested aid to regain his fort at St. John's, which D'Aulney had taken ; and a meeting of the magistrates being called, he produced his commission from the Vice Admiral of France, with other papers confirming his au- thority. The community was greatly divided in opinion relative to the propriety of aiding him; fears were ex- pressed that " store of blood would be spilled in Boston ; " and a discussion ensued, characteristic of the age, and well fortified with passages and precedents from the Old Testa- ment ; but eventually, he was permitted to hire four vessels at his own risk, and, taking a few volunteers into his pay, he set sail, being instructed to parley before proceeding to extremeties. 3
Subsequently, a letter was written to D'Aulney, excul- pating the colony, on the ground that neither Christianity nor humanity would permit them to reject the petition of La Tour, and affirming, that the volunteers who aided him
1 Winthrop, 2. 51. ' Winthrop, 2. 162-3; Hazard, 1. ' Winthrop, 2. 51, 106, 109; 499-502.
Hutchinson, 1. 122.
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307
SURVEY OF THE CONDITION OF THE COLONY.
had no public commission, but engaged on their own respon- CHAP. sibility. There was, doubtless, a deep policy in thus play -~ XI. ing off these rival chieftains one against the other, to pre- vent them from invading the colony ; but the interference of Massachusetts was unquestionably a violation of the neutrality which should have prevailed, and might have resulted disastrously ; for D'Aulney immediately went to France for aid, and was expected to return the next sum- mer with a large force. Fortunately, a messenger was sent by him on his arrival, with proposals of peace ; and after some negotiation, a league was effected, and La Tour was 1615. left to the management of his own affairs. 1
The condition of the colonies at this period, in point of prosperity, is worthy a passing glance. The distresses of the first winter have been already alluded to; and such was the scarcity, with the dearness of provisions in Eng- land, that every bushel of wheat meal cost 14s. sterling, and peas were 11s., and beans 16s. per bushel.2 The emi- grants, besides materials for their buildings, tools for their husbandry, and clothing for their families, brought with them neat cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry ; but to have lived upon these would have been injurious to their future interests, as upon their increase they were to depend for the supply of coming years. Their principal food, there- fore, was Indian corn, which, before mills were erected, was prepared for domestic use by pounding it in mortars of wood or of stone.3 But the perils of the first winter were the severest they encountered; and, although there were
1 For more ample details, see Mass. Rec's., vol. 3. pp. 44, 76, et seq. ; Winthrop, vol. 2; Hutch. Coll., 113-34; Hazard, 2. 50-4; 3 M. H. Coll., 7. 91-109; Halibur- ton's Nova Scotia, 1. 51-63; William- son's Me., 1. 307-24.
2 Winthrop, 1. 55; Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., 7. 36.
& Pumpkins were esteemed a great luxury in those days. Says the " New England Ballad,"
" We have pumpkins at morning, and pumpkins at noon,
If it was not for pumpkins, we should bo undone."
308
SURVEY OF THE CONDITION OF THE COLONY.
CHAF. occasional complaints of injury to their crops, from the XI. backwardness of spring, the heat of summer, and the rava- ges of worms, industry and good husbandry succeded in securing bountiful harvests and plentiful supplies. New England, it is true, was not a terrestrial paradise, yielding, like Eden, " every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food ;" nor was it destitute of poisonous insects, vencmous reptiles, and savage beasts; yet was it far from being a wilderness of rocks, sands, and salt marshes, as its ma- ligners represented it. Its air was salubrious, and its waters were pure ; and, notwithstanding the severity of its winters, and the frequency of its storms, with the attend- ant sufferings, the skies of summer were fair and bright, and the tints of its autumnal scenery unsurpassed any- where. Its soil lacked the fertility of the alluvions of the West, or the spontaneous exuberance of tropical climes, yet it amply rewarded industrious labor. Fuel was abund- ant. Fish could be obtained whenever desired. And game, in the season of it, haunted the woods. It was a pleasant abode for cheerfulness and content; and, as a majority of the planters were frugal and moral, all had bread enough to eat and to spare.
1613.
Before 1643, there were supposed to be a thousand acres of land planted, for orchards and gardens; fifteen thou- sand other acres were under general tillage; the number of neat cattle was estimated at twelve thousand; and the number of sheep at three thousand. Many hundred labor- ers, who " had not enough to bring them over," and who hired themselves out for the payment of their passage, were now worth their scores, and some cven hundreds of pounds, carefully invested in lands and stock.1 Money was scarce ; and, by an order of Court, bullets for a time passed for farthings.2 But, as the productions of the colony increased,
1 Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., 7. 2 Mass. Rec's .. 1. 137; Winthrop, 36; Winthrop, vol. 1, passim. 1. 186.
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SURVEY OF THE CONDITION OF THE COLONY.
the surplus, with the furs obtained of the natives, laid the CHAP. foundation of a lucrative commerce. New buildings, some XI. n even of brick, sprung up in every quarter of Boston ; markets were erected ; wharves stretched into the harbor ; native and foreign vessels were sent to the West Indies, and to the Madeira Islands, and returned laden with sugar, oranges, wine, cotton, tobacco, and bullion ; and these, with the furs, and the products of the fisheries at the Cape and at the Banks, including morse teeth and oil, procured in trips further to the North, were sent to England to pay for the manufactured goods needed for their wants. The resources of the country were rapidly developed. The vast forests which clothed its surface, were converted into masts, planks, boards, staves, shingles, and hoops, all which were of value in commercial change.1 Before 1650, 1650. glass works were commenced ;2 and iron foundries were established, at Lynn and Braintree, in the Massachusetts Colony, and at Raynham, in Plymouth.3 Mills were likewise erected, and ship yards established ; and some slight pro- gress was made in the manufacture of linen and cotton cloth. 4 The facilities for domestic manufactures were ample and available. Wool was becoming plenty ; flax and hemp could be easily raised ; large quantities of hides had been imported ; and water privileges were to be found within the limits of nearly every town. But the farmers deemed it more for their profit to exchange cattle and corn for clothing ; 5 and, as the yeomanry were the body of the
1 Danforth, in his Almanack for 1648, has the following rude lines relating to the early commerce of the colony :
" Heaps of wheat, pork, bisket, beef and beer,
Masts, pipe-staves, fish should store both far and neir,
Which fetch in wines, cloths, sweets and good tobac -
O be contented then, ye cannot lack."
2 Mass. Rec's., 2. 137. These works seem to have been begun as early as 1642. Mass. Rec's., 3. 48. 3 Mass. Rec's., 2. 61, 81, 103, 125, 185; 2 M. H. Coll., 8. 11; Lewis's Lynn, chap. 6, &c.
4 Mass. Rec's., 1. 103, 294, 303; Winthrop, 2. 144; 3 M. HI. Coll., 3. 101.
5 Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., 7. 37.
310
EDUCATION FOSTERED.
CHAP. settlers, the inducements were not sufficient to enter upon XI. extensive investments while the population was limited, and supplies from abroad could be so readily obtained ; nor was it until the changes in England checked the flow of emigra- tion from the Old World to the New, causing an immediate and remarkable reduction in the value of cattle, that man- ufactures assumed an increased importance, and were prose- cuted with more vigor. 1
Nor were the interests of education forgotten or over- looked. Scarcely had the settlers of Massachusetts emerged from the struggles which they encountered upon their arri- val in this country, ere their solicitude to secure for their posterity benefits similar to those which themselves had enjoyed in the land of their birth, led to measures for the erection of a seminary, which should enlarge into a College, and eventually into an University, competing with the most famed institutions of the Old World.2 A large proportion of the clergy of New England, and some of the laity, were men of a liberal education, and were graduates of the time honored Universities of England. The materials of great- ness were already theirs, for they brought with them to these shores, in addition to their libraries, minds richly stored with the treasures of learning. But without the perpetuation of this learning, it must die with its possses- sors. Its diffusion could be secured by instruction alone. Hence, no sooner were churches erected, than school-houses sprung up,
" Fast by the oracles of God."
Learning and religion were united by indissoluble bonds, and intelligence and virtue were the consequent fruit.
Oct. 28, 1636. Six years after the settlement of Boston, and in the autumn of the last of those years, the General Court, with
1 Winthrop, 2. 21, 26, 37. 2 New England's First Fruits, ed. 1643, p .9, et seq.
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HARVARD COLLEGE.
a liberality which for ages will memorize its wisdom, voted CHAP. the sum of £400, equal to a year's rate of the whole n
XI. colony, towards the erection of a " public school or col- lege," of which £200 was to be paid the next year, and the balance when the work was finished. The ensuing fall, twelve of the principal magistrates and ministers were Nov. 20, chosen, to " take orders for a college at Newtown ; " and in 1637. the following spring, the name was changed to Cambridge, May, in honor of the seat of the Alma Mater of so many of the 1638. emigrants.1
Before the close of this season, the budding seminary, Sept. yet in its infancy, received its first and most munificent bequest, the legacy of John Harvard, a clergyman of Charlestown, and a lover of learning, who died of con- sumption after a year's residence in the country. One half his whole property, and his entire library, was the amount of this bequest : a sum greater than that appropriated by the Court ;2 and, though larger bequests have since been received, the bencfaction was so timely, and the sum so generous, that the name of the legator was at once con- ferred upon the College, and it still owns him as its princi- pal and earliest founder.3
The "school" which this donation assisted in starting, was at first under the superintendence of Mr. Nathaniel Eaton, who had charge of the funds and buildings, as well as of the pupils ; but his scandalous conduct, and the com- plaint of " short commons," through the parsimony of his wife, soon led to his dismission, and his departure from the Colony.4 In 1638, the regular course of academic instruc- 1638.
1 Mass. Rec's., 1. 183, 208, 213, Frothingham's Chas'n., 73-7, &c. 217, 228; Pierce's Hist. ; Quincy's Hist.
2 Pierce's Hist.,3 .- Hubbard, 237, says the amount of the donation was £700.
3 Mass. Rec's., 1. 253; Quincy's Hist., 9, 10, 586; Everett's Oration ;
* Winthrop .- Hubbard, 247, calls him a " mere Orbilius, fitter to have been an officer in the inquisition, or master of an house of correction, than an instructor of Christian Youth."
312
HARVARD COLLEGE.
CHAP. tion commenced ; and four years after, degrees were con XI. ferred upon nine young gentlemen.1 The "theses" of this August, 1642. first class of graduates have been preserved ; and, although the college was conducted as a Theological institution, in strict accordance with the political constitution of the colony, questions in Philology and Philosophy alone were discussed .? At this date, a Charter for the College had been granted, and a Board of Overseers established ; and the seminary itself was under the charge of President Dunster, a man of eminent talents and singular worth, who, though differ- ing in sentiment from many of his cotemporaries, continued at its head for a period of nearly fourteen years, dischar- ging with fidelity the duties of his office. The institution thus started, was fostered by all favorable to its interests, and the clergy and the laity vied with each other in con- tributing to its funds. The Commissioners of the United Colonies lent to it their influence ; liberal patronage was received from abroad ; and before the grant of the Prov- ince Charter, in 1692, the office of President had been held by a succession of distinguished men ; a large number of students had graduated from its halls; and the institution itself had materially contributed to the prosperity of the colony, and to the promotion of its highest and most per- manent interests.3
The grammar school at Cambridge, established at a very early period, and nearly coeval with the settlement of that town, under the charge of famed " Master Corlet," taught the preparatory branches, a certain degree of acquaintance with which was necessary for admission to the college ; Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, and other towns, from their humble temples of learning, contributed- their quota of scholars ; from the colony of
1 For their names, see the Cata- 2 For these theses, see Hutchin- logues, and comp. Hutchinson, 1. son, 1. 444.
8 See the admirable Histories of Pierce and Quincy. .
444.
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COMMON SCHOOLS.
Plymouth came the most promising of her youth to drink CHIAP. at the Pierian spring ; distant Connecticut sent of her sons XI thither ; ministers received students into their families, 1099 to 1643. and fitted them for "freshmen ; " and everywhere, the sem- inary was regarded with favor; its instruction was of " the best ; " and its support was as liberal as the circumstances of the times permitted or warranted.
The " village schools" of this period, varied in efficiency according to the sums appropriated for their support, and the competency of the persons employed as instructors. Both in Massachusetts and in the Plymouth Colony, schools were supported by law, and great care was taken that the benefits of education should be enjoyed by all.1 Instances of neglect were exceedingly rarc. Poverty prevented many from giving their children the highest advantages ; but comparatively few could be found whose instruction had been wholly overlooked. The literary attainments of the age, it is true, were not extensive ; yet there was no idle waste of superfluous energy herc. A preparation for the duties of practical life was sought by the most; the ambi- tion of some soared higher ; and there were those who could be satisfied only with copious draughts from an inex- haustible fountain.
Pleasing, indeed, was the aspect of things in those days of patriarchal simplicity and freshness, which some have enthusiastically termed the golden age of the colony ;? - an age when, though elsewhere
" Thankless thousands were oppressed and clogged By ease and leisure, by the very wealth And pride of opportunity made poor ; And tens of thousands faltered in their path, And sank through utter want of cheering light ; For them, the hours of labor did not flag ;
For them, cach evening had its shining star, And every Sabbath day its golden sun."
1 Mass. Rec's., 2. 203, and Laws, 2 Hubbard, 247. ed. 1672, pp. 136-7; Plym. Col. Laws, ed. 1671, p. 39.
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314
PROJECTED SETTLEMENT IN THE TROPICS.
CHAP. XL. Yet were there not wanting a few restless minds ; a few who sought for fairer climes and richer fields. And there 1639 to were others abroad to foster this spirit, and to flatter the 1643. hopes of those who desponded. Some, who had been bene- factors of the colony, were projecting new settlements in the region of the tropics, and among the Bahamas. Lord Say and Seal was the prominent patron of this enterprise ; and Mr. Humphrey, one of the Assistants, was persuaded to enlist in the design, by proffers of high offices, which are tempting to ambitious minds. A plan of government was formed, supremely aristocratical, with hereditary magistrates, and orders of nobility ; but as this was repugnant to the republicanism of the Puritans, it was subsequently changed, and assimilated more to that of Massachusetts. Mr. Win- throp, the Governor of Massachusetts, was not very friendly to this scheme. New England was his chosen home, en- deared to him by his sacrifices and labors on its behalf. And it grieved him to think there were any, who would withdraw from it their support and encouragement, or transfer their affections to another and more dangerous clime.1 The principal town of the new colony was called Providence ; thither a large number of families were sent ; and favorable reports were spread of the ease and plenty which they were bountifully enjoying ; but ere long, this " thriving town " was " taken by the Spaniards, and the lords lost all their care and cost, to the value of above £60,000."2
This disaster checked further emigration; and, though many returned to England to participate in the stirring events which were there transpiring, the majority of the colonists contentedly remained, and applied them- selves with fresh ardor to the upbuilding of their com- monwealth, and to those schemes of industry which prom
1 Winthrop, 2. 104-5.
2 Winthrop, 1. 399, 401 ; 2. 15- 16, 31, 39, 40; Hubbard, 376-9.
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315
REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE COLONY.
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ised to be of permanent utility and value. How eventful CHAP. had been their history from the period of their landing on XI. these shores ! Less than a quarter of a century had elapsed to 1013. from the settlement of Plymouth, and but little more than half that number of years from the settlement of Boston. Connecticut was in its infancy, its eldest colony being but eight years old, and its youngest but five. With some of the savage tribes which besprinkled the country, they had engaged in a deadly and exterminating strife ; and the friendship of the rest was fickle and inconstant. Plots for their overthrow, and rumors of hostilities, were daily ma- turing and reaching their cars. Our fathers felt painfully their insecurity and danger, and that they rested upon the verge of a slumbering volcano, whose streams of desolation might at any time overleap the feeble barriers which restrained them, and pour a desolating tide of lava over the country. Nor was their situation much better with respect to the French and the Dutch. At the East and at the West, their enemies were subtle, and would rejoice at their downfall.
The settlers of New England were comparatively but a handful. But the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Encompassed by dangers, and con- scious of their weakness, what more natural, in the hour of peril, distant as they were from the land of their birth, and dependent upon God and their own right hands for their preservation and support, than that they should seek to weave a four-fold cord, not easily broken: - to combine in a Confederacy for mutual aid ? Charters were nothing to the instincts of nature. Life was at stake ; and what were parchments to those who had homes and families to protect ? They did not, therefore, stop to ask permission to act from abroad. If sought, it might have been re- fused: - and what was to become, in the meantime, of all who were dear to them ? Should they be left to the contin-
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316
REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE COLONY.
CHAP. gencies of chance, when the power was in their own hands XI. to succor and preserve them ?
1639 to
1643.
And what was the amount of their debt to the mother country ? They had a charter : but it was paid for. They had governments : and little thanks to those who would have prevented it if they could! Little thanks to the ene- mics who sought to curtail their privileges, and deprive them of their rights. The conduct of Charles shows with what feelings he regarded the exiles. What battles had he fought for them ? What aid had he furnished, to deliver them from their enemies ? His acts towards the colonies had been eminently aggressive, oppressive, and ruinous :- for can we otherwise characterize his Orders in Council ? - his restrictions upon emigration ? - his attempts to destroy even the feeble tenure of the charter ? What, I again ask, had England done for the colonies ? Not even had she treated them with " contemptuous neglect," as has been asserted. All that had been achieved, had been achieved in despite of the opposition of focs. And if credit is any- where due, it is due to the resolute men, who braved all dangers, encountered all risks, and laid the foundations of their infant commonwealth upon the ruin of their personal fortunes and estates. It is due the stout-hearted and God- fearing men, who brought with them their wives, fit help- mects for spirits so earnest and daring ; their little ones, the pledges of youthful affection ; and here, in a wilderness, amidst unsubdued forests, and beasts of prey, and barba- rous men ; wresting from the soil by arduous labor the means of subsistence ; rearing their altars, and worshipping God, devoutly and prayerfully, amidst hardships and neg- lect ; ungenerously oppressed by the Prince who should have encouraged them :- if credit is any where due, it is due to the Pilgrims, -it is due to the Puritans !
Those who look at the history of New England with even the honest persuasion that Episcopacy is a divine
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جد إيسم
317
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THE CONFEDERACY.
institution, and that, where there is an established religion CHAP. and an hereditary monarchy the greatest freedom compat- XI. ible with the interests of man is enjoyed, may see little in 1639 to 1643. our annals to attract attention or excite admiration. But those who read it as an epic of freedom, yearning for liberty, and struggling to secure it ; outgrowing the bigotry of its youth, and amply atoning for it by the tolerance of its manhood ; where may be beheld, not a statue of marble, destitute of Promethean fire, cold and impassioned, but a glowing, and conscious, and animated form, with its motto, Excelsior, and in the short space of two centuries out- stripping the proudest monarchies of the Old World ; - those who thus read the history of New England, will find it a history worthy their perusal ; showing what can be done, under the influence of religion, intelligence, patriot- ism, and zeal.
We have portrayed the circumstances which preceded 1643. and made necessary that organized union, -the Confed- eracy of the Colonies. True to their principles, it was, with our fathers, a league for religion as well as for pro- tection. None were to be admitted to it but those of their own faith, sympathizing with their views, and subscribing ' to their creed. Heretic Providence was debarred from its privileges : - not that Roger Williams would have been left to suffer, nor would he have been refused assistance in the hour of danger; but he had voluntarily withdrawn from the house of the faithful, and how could there be fel- lowship, unless he repented ? The colony at Portsmouth, too, must likewise repent of its sins, or come under the jurisdiction of Plymouth, to be received into communion. And as for Gorton and his followers, they were reprobates of the worst stamp, in the estimation of the churches of the day. The rejection of these was regarded as a pro- bation, designed to give them space for repentance; then would they have been welcomed to the privileges of the 27*
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THE CONFEDERACY.
CHAP. union. If there was a spirit of rivalry in the colonies, XI. where has there not been in all human history ? If there 1613. were personal ends to be answered, where have not human actions been more or less tainted with the spirit of selfish- ness ? Instead, then, of condemning the colonists for what they left undone, let us see what they sought, and what they accomplished by this Confederated Union.
The Preamble to the Articles of Confederation, is a state- ment of the motives which prompted its formation : - " We all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, viz: to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity with peace : and whereas, by our settling, by the wise providence of God, we are further dispersed upon the seacoast and rivers than was at first intended, so that we cannot, according to our desire, with convenience commu- nicate in one government and jurisdiction ; and whereas we live encompassed with people of several nations and strange languages, which hereafter may prove injurious to us or our posterity ; and forasmuch as the natives have formerly committed sundry insolences and outrages upon several plantations of the English, and have of late com- bined themselves against us, and seeing by reason of the sad distractions in England, (which they have heard of,) and by which they know we are hindered both from that humble way of seeking advice, and reaping those comfort- able fruits of protection, which at other times we might well expect ; we therefore do conceive it our bounden duty, without delay, to enter into a present consociation among ourselves, for mutual help and strength in all future con- cernment, that, as in nation and religion, so in other respects, we be and continue one, according to the true tenor and meaning of the ensuing articles."
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