USA > Maine > The history of Maine, from the earliest discovery of the region by the Northmen until the present time; including a narrative of the voyages and explorations of the early adventurers, the manners and customs of the Indian tribes, the hardships of the first settlers, etc > Part 12
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session of the premises, feast themselves to satiety, occupy the cabin for the night, and in the morning go on their way, without saying so much as "I thank you."
The menacing attitude of the savages became alarming, and their depredations intolerable, and the more intolerable, since it was fully believed that they were stimulated to these outrages by the Dutch authorities at the mouth of the Hudson. The public agitation became so great, in view of these facts and these rumors, that a convention was held of the commissioners of the United Colonies, on the 19th of April, 1653, to take the subject into consideration. It was apprehended that the French on the east, and the Dutch on the west, were conspiring to crush the English between them. The reports were carefully inves- tigated. Indians were summoned before the court to give their testimony ; and then a very earnest letter was written to the Dutch governor requiring an explanation. Indignantly the governor replied, -
" There is not one word of truth in the scandalous report raised about my conduct. I marvel much at the novel course pursued in placing any confidence in the testimony of an Indian. I am ready at any time to make explanations, and to any extent within my power."
This denial of the governor did not satisfy the commissioners. Though they separated without declaring war against the Dutch, all friendly intercourse between them was interrupted. Indeed, the New Haven Colonists were under such apprehensions that the Dutch were about to bring down the powerful nation of the Mohawks against them, that they sent a petition to Crom- well, then Lord Protector of England, that he would aid them with a fleet and well-armed troops.1
1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 166.
t
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PROVINCE OF MAINE ANNEXED TO MASSACHUSETTS.
Troubles on the Piscataqua - Career of La Tour- Menaces of War- Measures of Cromwell -Conquest of Nova Scotia - Character of La Tour - Trading Post on the Kennebec-The Oath Administered -Sale of the Right of Traffic- Boundaries of Kennebec Patent -Political Connection between Maine and Massachusetts -Code of Laws -Northern Limits of Massachu- setts - The Articles of Union - Rev. John Wheelwright - Correspondence -Restoration of Charles II. - Petition of Gorges - Charter to the Duke of York.
I "T will be remembered that the Piscataqua River was the south-west boundary of the Province of Maine. This region was one of the favorite resorts of the Indians. Early in the spring of 1653, just as the settlers were about to put their seed in the ground, the alarming rumor ran along the coast, that more than a thousand Indian warriors were upon the upper waters of the Piscataqua, resolved to lay all the defenceless settle- ments in ashes. It was still supposed, though probably very unjustly, that the Dutch governor on the Hudson was instigat- ing this movement. The government of the New Haven Col- ony despatched agents to England, to implore the protection of Oliver Cromwell, who was then in power. The Massachusetts Colony promptly ordered Major-Gen. Dennison, with twenty- four well-armed men, to reconnoitre the strength and position of the foe.1
La Tour, whose life had been as varied and eventful as the imagination of a romancer could fancy, was now residing at St. John, with Madame D'Aulney as his bride. Upon receiving his Catholic wife, he had renounced his Protestantism, and thus he gathered around him the powerful influences of the French
1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, p. 156.
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court and the Papal Church. He was a wild, bold, reckless adventurer, but slightly influenced by any consciousness of right or wrong. The Catholic missionaries had attained a wonderful ascendency over the minds of the Indians. It was strongly suspected that La Tour was combining the Indians of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Maine, to sweep away the English settle- ments, and thus vastly to extend his realms. Under these cir- cumstances, the General Court of Massachusetts prohibited all commercial intercourse with the French on the east, and the Dutch on the west, under penalty of the forfeiture of both ves- sel and cargo.
This plunged La Tour and his colonies into great distress. They had done but little towards raising food by cultivating the land. The savages lived a half-starved life, upon the little corn they harvested, esculent roots, fish, and clams. They had no provisions to sell. The French, with their trinkets, pur- chased the furs of the Indians, which were then in great demand. With these they had obtained ample supplies of food from the more highly cultivated regions of Southern Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. This virtual blockade of their ports doomed them to starvation. La Tour, assuming that he was unjustly accused of conspiring against the English, bitterly remonstrated against this unfriendly act, when there was peace between the two nations.
It did seem to be a very harsh measure, for the Court acted upon suspicion alone without any convincing proof. For a time the General Court seemed disposed to change its policy. It occurred to some, that by treating the French kindly, and win- ning their friendship through intimate commercial intercourse, the Catholic priests among them might restrain and disarm the ferocity of the savage. They therefore loaded a vessel with flour and other provisions, and sent it to the St. John River.
In the mean time the energetic Oliver Cromwell had sent three or four war-vessels to Boston, with orders to raise there a volunteer force of about five hundred men, for the reduction of the Dutch colony on the Hudson. Secret orders were also issued, for this military expedition, which was very powerful for the time and region, immediately upon the conquest of
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Manhattan, to turn its arms against the French on the north- east, and make an entire conquest of the Province of Nova Scotia. Measures were in vigorous operation in Massachusetts, for organizing the naval and land force to strike these two col- onies by surprise, when the news reached Boston, on the 23d of June, 1654, that articles of peace had been signed between the English and the Dutch courts, and that hostilities against the Dutch colony were immediately to cease.
The energies of the expedition were turned towards Nova Scotia. By the treaty of St. Germain, executed twenty-two years before, this country had been surrendered to the French. It was one of the arbitrary acts of Charles I .; but still, accord- ing to the laws of nations, it was a legitimate transaction. As England and France were at peace, it would be difficult to jus- tify the conduct of Cromwell in sending, without any declara- tion of war, a military expedition to regain the territory. But the Lord Protector assumed that the king had no right to cede this territory, in violation of patents which he had granted his subjects ; and he affirmed that the purchase-money, of five thousand pounds sterling, promised by the French government, had never been paid.1
The expedition, having set sail, touched at the Penobscot, and then proceeded to the St. John, where La Tour had his prin- cipal fortress. The force was so strong that at neither place was any resistance offered. Indeed, La Tour seemed quite indifferent in view of the prospect of the change of European masters, so long as his territorial possessions and his personal property were respected. The English speedily took possession of the whole Province, and placed over it Capt. Leverett, one of the leaders of the expedition, as temporary governor. The French court complained of this operation, and for some time it was the subject of a diplomatic controversy. The English held the region for thirteen years, when, by the treaty of Breda, it was re-surrendered to the French.2
1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 261. Williamson presents several authorities to substantiate these statements.
' 2 Holmes's American Annals, vol. i. p. 301; Hubbard's History of New Eng- land, p. 550.
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Soon after this La Tour died. His character was as strange as his singular and tumultuous career. He was a man of con- siderable ability, of good personal appearance, and of very plausible address. Sometimes rich, sometimes poor, sometimes a denounced outlaw, and again in favor with the court, he seemed quite devoid of any sense of honor, as almost of any distinction between right and wrong. Religion was with him like a glove, which was to be put on and taken off at his pleas- ure. His first wife was apparently a noble woman; in faith a Protestant, and in heart and life a sincere Christian.
D'Aulney battered down the fortress of La Tour, took his wife a prisoner, and kept her in captivity until her death. Upon the death of D'Aulney, La Tour rebuilt his fortress, married the Catholic widow of his deadly antagonist, surrounded him- self with Catholic priests, regained the patronage of the court, and lived in comparative power and splendor until he died. He left one child, Stephen de la Tour, to whom he bequeathed a very large landed estate, leaving many debts unpaid. Crom- well confirmed Stephen de la Tour in the possessions he inher- ited from his father. He, however, claimed no territory south .of Passamaquoddy Bay.1
The Province of Nova Scotia was considered as of great value. The French finally ceded the country to England, and Cromwell appointed Sir Thomas Temple its governor. He entered upon his office in 1657, and discharged its duties with much ability, and with the courtesies of an accomplished gen- tleman, for ten years. When the Massachusetts government was condemning Quakers, he sent them word that any of the Quakers they wished to get rid of, he would cheerfully welcome to his Province, and would defray all the expenses of their removal.
It will be remembered that the Colony of New Plymouth had established an important trading-post on the Kennebec River. For a time the traffic was very lucrative. The Indians brought in large quantities of valuable furs, which they sold for mere trifles. But gradually the number of traders increased.
1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 190; Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 162.
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Competition arose. The Indians became better acquainted with the value of their furs. Unprincipled adventurers crowded in, defrauding the Indians ; and the colony at Plymouth was too remote energetically to extend its laws over the distant region. A question also arose as to the title of New Plymouth to any territory on the Sagadahoc, between Merrymeeting Bay and the sea. Indian chiefs were also going through the farce of selling lands to individuals, to which the purchasers knew that those chiefs had no title.
It was indeed a chaotic state of society, and the seeds of innumerable lawsuits were being sown. Pressed by such em- barrassments, the Plymouth Colony decided to sell the right of traffic with the Indians on the Kennebec possessions. Five · prominent gentlemen of the colony purchased this right for the term of three years, for the annual sum of about one hundred and fifty dollars.1 These gentlemen were Gov. Bradford and Messrs. Winslow, Prince, Millet, and Paddy. But there was no end to the complaints with which they were assailed, and to the annoyances which they encountered. Still the purchasers struggled on, breasting these difficulties, and at the expiration of their lease obtained its extension for three years more. By the terms of this renewal it was required that some one of the lessees should continually reside within the patent. It was deemed necessary to summon the inhabitants of that region, and require them to take the oath of allegiance to the new govern- ment established in England, and to the laws enacted by the New Plymouth Colony.
A warrant was issued to the inhabitants on the Kennebec, to assemble on the 23d of May, 1654, at the house of Thomas Ashley, near the banks of Merrymeeting Bay. Mr. Prince, as commissioner, met sixteen men there, and administered to them the following oath : -
" You shall be true and faithful to the state of England as it is now established; and, whereas you choose to reside within the government of New Plymouth, you shall not do, nor cause to be done, any act or acts di- rectly or indirectly, by land or water, that shall or may tend to the destruc- tion or overthrow of the whole or part of this government, orderly erected
1 Morton's New-England Memorial, p. 135.
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or established; but shall contrariwise hinder and oppose such intents and purposes as tend thereunto, and discover them to those who are in place for the time being, that the government may be informed thereof with all con- venient speed. You shall also submit to and observe all such good and wholesome laws, ordinances, and officers, as are or shall be established within the several limits thereof. So help you God, who is the God of truth, and punisher of falsehood." 1
A brief code of laws was also established by the convention. All capital crimes, such as treason and murder, were to be tried by the General Court at New Plymouth. Minor offences, such as theft, drunkenness, profaning the sabbath, and selling intox- icating drink to the Indians, came within the jurisdiction of the local commissioner's court. Fishing and fowling were declared to be free. All civil suits, not involving an amount exceeding one hundred dollars, were to be tried before a jury of twelve men.2
The value of the exclusive right of the fur and peltry trade with the Indians was continually decreasing. With the increase of population, game was becoming scarce. The Indians grew more shrewd in trade, and demanded higher prices. For three years, after 1656, the trade was let for an annual rent amount- ing to about one hundred and fifty dollars; and even this small sum the lessees declared, on the fourth year, that they were unable to pay. At length the monopoly was offered at a premium of fifty dollars a year.
The original patent, granted by the Council of Plymouth in England, to the Colony of New Plymouth, consisted of " all that tract of land or part of New England in America, which lies between Cobbossecontee, now Gardiner, which adjoineth the river Kennebec, towards the the western ocean, and a place called the Falls of Neguamkike, and a space of fifteen miles on each side of the Kennebec."
It will be perceived that these boundaries were exceedingly indefinite. The location of Neguamkike Falls is uncertain. It is supposed that they were about sixteen miles above Cobbos- secontee River, near North Sidney.8 Mr. Williamson writes of this patent : -
1 Records of Plymouth Colony. 2 Hazard's Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 586.
8 Hist. of New England by Coolidge and Mansfield, p. 168, note.
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" Its limits, as ultimately settled, were in the north line of Woolwich, below Swan Island, on the eastern side of the Kennebec, through the south bend of the river Cobbossecontee, on the western side, and fifteen miles in width on either side of the main river, to an easterly and westerly line which crosses Wessarunsett River, in Cornville, a league above its mouth; contain- ing about one million five hundred thousand acres." 1
This grant conferred the exclusive right of trade with the natives, and at all times an open passage down the river to the sea. For some time the proprietors claimed the whole territory to the ocean. This led to litigation, an account of which would only weary the reader. In the year 1661 the whole patent was sold to a company, for a sum amounting to about two thousand dollars. Soon after this the company erected a fort at Maquoit.2
Years passed slowly away, while the affairs of this remote and dreary trading-post continued to languish. No attempt was made to establish a plantation there for agricultural pur- poses. The government was chaotic, and but little respect was paid to laws or rulers. Emigration, for a time, was flowing back from the New World to the Old ; and New Plymouth had no surplus population to send to the banks of the Kennebec.
But the political connection now formed between Maine and Massachusetts continued, with some slight interruptions, for a period of one hundred and sixty-seven years. The salutary laws of Massachusetts were gradually accepted by the people. The Massachusetts government was administered by a gov- ernor, a deputy governor, a council of eighteen, and a house of deputies. It was truly a republican government, the rulers being chosen by the people. The towns elected the represen- tatives. Ten freemen entitled the town to one deputy ; twenty, to two. None could have more than two. No one could be a deputy " who was unsound in the main points of the Chris- tian religion, as held forth and acknowledged by the generality of Protestant orthodox writers."3 Under the colonial charter, Maine was never represented by more than five deputies at one time. The reader who is interested in the details of the politi-
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 237.
2 Greenleaf's Reports, vol. iii. p. 111; Sullivan, p. 118.
8 Records of Massachusetts Government, vol. ii. p. 238.
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cal, ecclesiastical, and military administration, will find them quite fully presented in Williamson's excellent History of Maine.
The people who were religiously disposed were encouraged by law to congregate and embody themselves into a church estate, to elect and ordain their officers, to admit and to disci- pline or to excommunicate their members. And yet it was declared that no church censure was ever to affect any man's property, civil dignity, office, or authority. It must be admitted that the practice was not always in accordance with these avowed principles. The connection between Church and State was so intimate in England, that the colonists in their new home could not entirely dissever them.
By a law enacted in 1644, it was declared, that to affirm that. man is justified by his own works, and not by Christ's righteous- ness ; or to deny the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the sacredness of the sabbath, or the authority of the magistracy, - tended to subvert the Christian faith, and to destroy the souls of men. It was also enacted, in 1646, that it was highly penal for men to withhold their children from bap- tism. It is a sad comment upon the times, that many were severely punished by fines, whipping, and banishment, and some few were even executed, for neglecting the baptism of their children.1
Every ecclesiastic of the order of Jesuits, as " devoted to the religion and court of Rome," was ordered into banishment, unless he came as a public messenger ; even then he was to be banished if he behaved offensively.
The Quakers were vehemently attacked. They were de- nounced as a cursed sect of heretics, pretending to be immedi- ately sent from God, and inspired to write blasphemous opinions, despising government, reviling magistrates, speaking evil of dig- nities, and seeking to turn people from the true faith.2 Their books were ordered to be burned by the hangman ; they them- selves were to be banished, and, if they returned, to be put to death.
The denial of the inspiration of the books of the Old and
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 380. 2 Colonial Laws, p. 121.
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New Testaments was punished, first by fine or whipping, and, if repeated, by imprisonment and even death.
There can be no doubt of the sincere desire of the early col- onists to establish just laws, and such as would promote the public welfare. We must not blame them too severely for not being wise above their generation. The progress of the world, in the direction of freedom and toleration, has been very slow. Many of the enactments were humane; and, in the general prin- ciples of freedom, the colonists were far in advance of most of the governments in the Old World.
In every town a record was ordered to be kept of newly arrived emigrants and their business prospects. All strangers who were in want, the towns were bound to relieve. The help- less poor were to be provided for. All cruelty to brute animals was strictly forbidden. Laws were passed to protect the Indians in their fishing and hunting grounds. Every town of fifty householders was required to employ a teacher to instruct the children in reading and writing; and every town containing a hundred families was required to establish a grammar-school, where boys might be fitted for college. Heads of families were ordered to instruct their servants every week in the principles of the Christian religion. It is sad to record that on the statute- book torture was allowed, to compel a convicted criminal to disclose his confederates. But no such instance of torture is on record. It was a law which disgraced the statute-book, but which was apparently never enforced.
The inhabitants of Maine accepted these laws from Massa- chusetts. They took but little interest in political questions, save as they had a direct practical bearing upon their daily lives. Perhaps a large proportion of the Massachusetts Colon- ists were men of intelligence and deeply fixed principles, who had crossed the ocean that they might enjoy the civil and reli- gious institutions which were so dear to them. When they had made such immense sacrifices to secure these privileges for themselves and their children, it is not strange that they should have wished to shut out from their wilderness homes those who would bring across the ocean those antagonistic civil and reli- gious views, which would promote controversy, discord, and strife.
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But most of the early inhabitants of Maine had been lured to that region for purposes of traffic. "I came here," said one of them, " not to worship God, but to purchase furs and pel- tries." Thus Maine became distinguished for what is often absurdly called liberality, but which is, rather, indifference. Influenced by such considerations, religious toleration was exercised here. Noble as is that spirit, it must be admitted that it was then not so much a virtue as the result of circumstances which caused men to care for none of those things. Maine became the asylum of fugitives driven from the other colonies by persecution.1
It was in the year 1652 that Messrs. Sherman and Ince re- ported that the northern limit of the Massachusetts patent was in latitude 42°, 43', 12". In accordance with this report, the. next summer two experienced shipmasters, Jonas Clark and Samuel Adams, were sent to ascertain where this line would touch the Atlantic. They found, as we have mentioned, that it was. at the northern point of an island in Casco Bay, called the upper Clapboard Island. Here they cut the marks of the Massachusetts boundary on several trees, and also chiselled it into a large gray rock. A line running due west from this point on the Atlantic, to the Pacific Ocean, then called the South Sea, was supposed to be the northern limit of the Massa- chusetts patent.
Unwearied efforts were made to induce the people, on the eastern portion of this territory, to yield to the government of Massachusetts, as those on the western portion had quite readily done. But several men, of commanding influence in the vicinity of Saco, were very determined in their resistance. The Massachusetts Court tried all the efforts of conciliation and menace, for a time in vain. Gradually a number yielded to the conviction that their interests would be promoted by the annexation. Others were arrested, and were made willing by the perils of fine and imprisonment. In 1658 a Massachusetts commission opened a session in Lygonia, at the house of Robert Jordan in Spurwink. Here most of the male population
1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 385.
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appeared, and took the oath of allegiance.1 The articles of union were in substance as follows : -
I. All the people in these parts shall be exonerated from their alle- giance to Massachusetts, whenever a supreme or general governor shall arrive from England.
II. All their opposition and other past wrongs shall be pardoned and buried in oblivion.
III. The same privileges shall be secured to them as are enjoyed by other towns, particularly Kittery and York.
IV. Appeals shall be allowed in all cases to the General Court, when sufficient indemnity is offered for the payment of costs.
V. None of the privileges hereby granted and secured shall ever be forfeited by reason of any differences in matters of religion.
VI. A transcript of the rights and privileges, generally possessed by other towns, shall be sent to these plantations and inhabitants.2
The towns of Scarborough and Falmouth were also organized. Falmouth had a sea border extending from Spurwink River to Clapboard Island, and it ran back eight miles into the country.
The union of Lygonia to Massachusetts was thus effected, apparently to the satisfaction of all parties. It was unques- tionably a blessing to the inhabitants of Maine.3
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