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" Yet I inform you that no hostile act against either French or Dutch is allowed. La Tour cannot expect any more succors from this place. A mer- chant's trade is permitted between us and St. John; and rest assured it will be protected." 2
That which is done in a passion is seldom well done. D'Aul- ney soon became convinced that he had committed a blunder. The French Government was not disposed to enter into a war with England, upon the issue which their irate officer, in the wilds of Nova Scotia, had raised. D'Aulney was mildly re- buked by the French cabinet, and was ordered to maintain friendly relations with all the English.3
But, on the other hand, the French Government gave its sup- port to the Catholic D'Aulney, in opposition to the Protestant La Tour. The latter and his wife were denounced as traitors, and orders were given for their arrest. Madame La Tour was apparently a woman of sincere piety, and conscientiously a Protestant. She was then in Boston, having recently arrived there on her way from France to St. John.
On the 4th of October, 1644, D'Aulney sent an envoy, M. Marie, with an imposing retinue of ten attendants, to negotiate
1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts. p. 125.
2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 315. 3 Winthrop's Journal, p. 356.
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a treaty with the government of Massachusetts. Gov. Win- throp endeavored to bring about a reconciliation between the two antagonistic French parties, and to secure a safe return of Madame La Tour to her husband. But M. Marie angrily replied, -
"No! nothing but submission will save La Tour's head if he be taken; nor will his wife have any passport to St. John. She is known to be the cause of his contempt and rebellion. Any vessel which shall admit her as a passenger will be liable to arrest."
Under these circumstances the governor decided to stand entirely neutral. It is, however, evident that his sympathies were with La Tour. A commercial treaty was signed, and both parties agreed to abstain from all hostile acts.1
The inhabitants of Maine greatly rejoiced over this result. They were quite defenceless, and were in much fear that the reckless, passionate D'Aulney would seize their vessels, and plunder their settlements. Capt. Bayley, the master of the ship which brought Madame La Tour from France, had engaged to leave her at St. John. Instead of this, he had landed her at Boston. She could now return to St. John only by equip- ping a force which would enable her to cope with the enemy. She prosecuted for damages. The court, after a four-days' trial, granted her a verdict for ten thousand dollars. With this sum she chartered three London ships, and proceeded safely to her home.
D'Aulney was exceedingly chagrined. He had fully ex- pected to make her his captive. His anger against the Massa- chusetts Colony was renewed. He denounced the governor as having violated the treaty by allowing the ships to be chartered. He obtained information that La Tour was absent on a cruise in the Bay of Fundy ; that there were but fifty men left in gar- rison, and that they had but a small supply of food and ammu- nition.
Early in the spring, when winter breezes still lingered, and snow covered the ground, he took a ship to capture the works at St. John. He sailed, with his well-equipped war-vessel,
1 Journal of John Winthrop, p. 357.
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from the Penobscot. Soon he overtook a New England vessel which was bound to the St. John with supplies. Regardless of the commercial treaty, he seized the vessel, landed the crew in an open boat upon a desolate island, and in his cruel rage abandoned them, without even leaving them the means of kind- ling a fire. Very thinly clad, they succeeded in constructing a miserable wigwam, where they suffered severely from cold and hunger. Here they remained ten days, until they were taken off, and sent home in an old shallop.
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D'Aulney entered the harbor at St. John, moored his ship opposite the fort, and opened a vigorous fire. But Madame La Tour was already there. She was a true heroine. Her intre- pidity was sufficient to quadruple the strength of the feeble garrison. She caused the fire to be returned, and with so much skill, that, in a short time, the deck of D'Aulney's vessel ran red with blood, and was strewed with the mangled bodies of the dead and dying. Twenty were killed and thirteen wounded. Every shot from the fort struck the ship. Her hull was shat- tered. The water was rushing in at the shot-holes; and still the deadly fire was kept up without intermission, while the gar- rison behind strong ramparts remained unharmed.
D'Aulney was effectually repulsed. To save his ship from sinking, he hastily warped her under shelter of a bluff, beyond the reach of cannon-shot. Having repaired his damages, buried his dead, and dressed the terrible wounds inflicted by cannon- shot, he spread his sails, and, greatly crestfallen, returned to Castine.
Massachusetts was justly incensed at the gross violation of the treaty in seizing a New England vessel. An envoy was promptly sent to D'Aulney demanding explanation and satisfac- tion. There was an angry and unsatisfactory interview. The enraged Frenchman, losing all self-control in his reckless charges, said, -
"You have helped my mortal enemy in aiding La Tour's wife to return to St. John. You have burned my buildings; you have killed my animals I warn you to beware of the avenging hand of my sovereign."
The envoy with dignity replied, ---
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" Your sovereign is a mighty prince; he is also a prince of too much honor to commence an unjustifiable attack; but, should he assail us, we trust in God, who is the infinite Arbiter of justice."
The only result of the conference was the establishment of a sort of truce until the next spring. It was evidently impossible to maintain peace and free trade with both of these French generals, who were so bitterly hostile to each other. A little more than a year passed away, with occasional diplomatic cor- respondence. In September, 1646, three commissioners arrived in Boston from D'Aulney, and demanded four thousand dollars damages for losses which he professed to have received from the English. The governor and his magistrates, on the other hand, deemed a larger sum due to them.
While this diplomacy was in progress, the shrewd and implaca- ble Frenchman was gathering his forces for another attack upon St. John. It is said, that, through the treachery of the Cath- olic priests, he kept himself carefully informed of the precise condition of affairs there. Taking advantage of La Tour's absence on a cruise to obtain supplies, he suddenly entered the harbor with a strong naval force, and assailed the fort by a can- nonade from his ships, and by storming it, at the same time, on the land side. The walls were scaled, and with the loss of twelve men killed and many wounded, on the part of the assail- ants, the fort was taken.
All the inmates were mercilessly put to the sword, with the exception of La Tour's wife, who was taken captive. The plunder which the victor seized, consisting of materials of war, plate, jewels, and household goods, exceeded fifty thousand dol- lars in value. This ruin of La Tour caused great loss to many New England merchants to whom he was indebted.
The fate of the virtuous and heroic Madame La Tour was very sad. She was a beautiful and accomplished lady, of un- blemished piety. Catholic persecution had driven her from her native land, and from the many friends who surrounded her there. Her new home in Acadia was now in ruins. All her estate had vanished. Her husband was outlawed and a wan- derer, without the slightest prospect of ever again regaining hi : fortunes ; and she was a captive in the hands of a proud and
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implacable enemy. Her heart was crushed. Day after day she drew visibly nearer the grave. In three weeks her spirit took its flight, and entered, we trust, that world where the weary are at rest.
We regret to add that La Tour subsequently proved himself to be a man utterly devoid of principle. He went to Boston. The tale of his impoverishment and his woes excited the sym- pathies of the kind-hearted Bostonians. Several of the mer- chants furnished him with a vessel, and with goods to the value of about two thousand dollars, to enable him to trade with the natives along the coast. They manned the vessel with a crew of Englishmen and Frenchmen. It was a generous deed of charity.
In midwinter of 1647, La Tour sailed from Boston. When he arrived off Cape Sable, in Nova Scotia, the ingrate conspired with his own countrymen, and, seizing the vessel and cargo, drove the English ashore. In the conflict La Tour, with his own pistol, shot one of the Englishmen in the face. These unhappy men, thus turned adrift upon the rocky and ice-bound coast, would inevitably have perished but for the humanity of those whom we call savages.
After fifteen days of awful suffering they chanced to meet a small band of Mickmac Indians. These barbarians treated them with all the kindness which Christianity enjoins. They took the shivering, starving creatures to their wigwams, warmed their half-frozen limbs, and fed them with delicious cuts of ven- ison. The Indians, having thus taken in the strangers, and given food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, and clothing to the naked, furnished them with a pilot to guide them along the sinuous coast to their distant home. This was in May, 1646.1
La Tour, with his stolen vessel, disappeared. No one knew where he went. For two years he was not heard from. The
1 " If they had not, by special providence, found more favor at the hands of Cape Sable Indians than of those French Christians, they might all have perished; for, having wandered fifteen days up and down, they, at the last, found some In- dians who gave them a shallop with victuals, and an Indian pilot; by which means they came safe to Boston about three months after." - Hubbard's New England, p. 498.
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fortress of D'Aulney on the Penobscot, was, at that time, the most prominent resort of the Roman Catholic missionaries from France. D'Aulney was zealous in that cause, and for some time was the undisputed ruler of Acadia. After three years he died. In one year after his death, La Tour returned, and married his widow, and entered upon the possession of his rich inheritance; a striking illustration of the truth of the oft-quoted remark, that the romance of fact is more strange than that of fiction.
La Tour was now re-instated in all his former possessions ; and yet he made no effort to pay his former creditors. He seemed to surrender himself to a life of conviviality. He sel- dom left his province. Several children were born to him. The French were at this time in occupancy of settlements at Pen- obscot, Mount Desert, Machias,1 and St. Croix; but none of these settlements were in a flourishing condition.
It will be remembered that the Province of Maine was divided into four political sections. Gorges' region extended from the southern border to the Kennebunk; then on the east came Ligonia ; beyond that was the Sagadahoc territory ; on the extreme east came the region between the Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy Bay, which was called Penobscot. Civil war was raging in England. All political matters were in a state of the greatest uncertainty. The people of Maine were much discouraged.
Under these circumstances a general court was convened at Wells in October, 1648. Edward Godfrey was re-elected gov- ernor, and four councillors were appointed. The government, thus organized, addressed an earnest petition to England for directions in their political affairs. A year elapsed before any answer came. The only tidings they received were, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges was dead, and that no instructions could be
1 "Mount Desert was so named by Champlain, in 1605. The English named it Mount Mansell, in honor of one of their distinguished naval officers. It has, how- ever, retained the name of Mount Desert. The island has ever been celebrated for the boldness of its shores, the beauty of its scenery, and the excellence of its harbor. The French Jesuits, who landed there in 1613, called it St. Saviour." - Memorial of Popham Celebration, p. 74."
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expected from the parent country while distracted with the tumult of civil war.1
Gov. Godfrey was a very peculiar man ; bombastic, vain, and arrogant. He usually prefaced his proclamations or addresses with these words: "To all Christian people to whom these presents shall come, greeting in our Lord God everlasting."
" Still," writes Mr. Bourne, " Gov. Godfrey is worthy of commendation for the persevering and indomitable spirit which he manifested in what he considered to be right, and for his courage in seating himself down in York, an entire wilderness, with none to whom he could look, in his solitude, for any help which the emergencies of his condition might require. He located himself there in 1630, building the first house in that place. He was the founder of York. What his motive was in making such a selection for a habitation does not appear. Possibly the fishing business might have tempted him to the adventure. No location could have been better for that purpose. His house was on the north side of the river. But thus away from the intercourse and business haunts of men, he would be but little likely to grow in the virtues of social life, or in the necessary qualifications for gubernatorial authority." 2
For three years the affairs of the Province were administered by the provincial government as above organized. One tribunal was legislative, judicial, and executive. Pemaquid, which had been settled a quarter of a century, was the principal plantation of the Sagadahoc territory. It was the great resort of fishing and trading vessels as they ran up and down the coast. Indi- viduals were very busy in purchasing large tracts of land from Indian chiefs. They were not particular in their inquiries as to the right of the chiefs to sell these extensive tracts.
John Brown, in 1625, purchased of two chiefs, on the eastern shore of Pemaquid, a region extending along its southern bor- der from Pemaquid Falls to Brown's house, and running back into the country twenty-five miles. It embraced nearly the
1 "The nature of Gorges was generous, and his piety sincere. He sought pleasure in doing good; fame, by advancing Christianity among the heathen; a durable monument, by erecting houses, villages, and towns. When the wars in England broke out, the septuagenarian royalist buckled on his armor, and gave the last strength of his gray hairs to the defence of the unfortunate Charles." - Bancroft, vol. i. p. 429.
2 History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, p. 21.
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whole of the present towns of Bristol, Nobleborough, Jefferson, and a part of New Castle.
About the year 1662, three other chiefs sold Walter Phillips a large portion of the same lands, and all the land on the west bank of the Kennebec, from Winnegance Creek to the sea, and west to Casco Bay. Christopher Lawson purchased of a chief nearly the whole of the territory now covered by the town of Woolwich. Thomas Clark and Roger Spencer bought of a chief the whole of Arrowsic Island; John Richards bought of a chief the whole of Jeremisquam Island. Such sales were continually made.1
We know not what right the chiefs had to sell these extended territories, or what price was paid for them, or the circum- stances under which the chiefs were induced to sell. During a period of sixteen years all the lands on both sides of the Ken- nebec, and all the islands in the vicinity of the mouth of that river, were bought of Indian chiefs. Such purchases were obviously liable to great abuses. Both the Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies had very judiciously prohibited such traffic, without the license of the legislature. There were no such restrictions in Maine.
In these pretended sales by the chiefs, the same lands were often embraced in different deeds. The boundary-lines inter- sected each other. The same lands were sold by different chiefs. Inextricable confusion ensued. There were conten- tions and lawsuits innumerable. The state of things was deplorable. There were scarcely any legal titles, and no courts were organized with powers to adjust these difficulties.
The Penobscot region, it will be remembered, was claimed both by the French and the English. The French called it a part of Acadia ; the English called it a part of New England. La Tour, who succeeded D'Aulney, governed this region with military absolutism, establishing no civil tribunals.
The Massachusetts Colony brought forward a new claim to all the land in Maine, south of a point near Portland. This was by virtue of her charter, which conferred upon her all the territory within the space of " three English miles northward
1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 330.
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of the river Merrimack, and to the northward of any part thereof." Now, it was found that the source of the Merrimack was far north among the hills of New Hampshire, and that a line running from that point due east to the ocean would strike the coast not far from where Portland now stands. This led to a very serious dispute between the two Provinces. Massa- chusetts appointed commissioners to ascertain with the greatest accuracy the northernmost head of the Merrimack River, and to run a line thence due east to precisely the same latitude on the Atlantic coast.
These commissioners testified upon oath that they found, on the 1st of August, 1652, the head of the Merrimack, where it issued from the lake called " Winnepuseakik," 1 in the latitude of 43°, 40', 12". The three additional miles extending into the Jake would allow three additional minutes to the distance.2
Against this claim Gov. Godfrey, of the Province of Maine, entered an indignant remonstrance. In his protest to the Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts, he wrote, -
" An attempt to hold the Province of Maine under your charter, or by any other legal title, without the pretence of purchase, prior possession, or anterior claim, and also without the people's consent, is the height of injus- tice. Hitherto you have declared yourselves satisfied with your own pos- sessions, as bounded on a line parallel with the Merrimack, three miles distant from its source and its northerly bank, following its meanders to its mouth; whereas you are now bursting your bounds, and stretching your claims across provinces to which till lately no man, however visionary, so much as imagined you had any right."
To this the General Court of Massachusetts replied, --
" WORSHIPFUL SIR, - Our patent by divine Providence continues to be firmly established under the great seal. Though the grand patent of Plym-
1 Williamson suggests that this was probably Lake Winnipiseogee. It may have been what is now called "Newfound Lake," with which the latitude would more nearly correspond.
2 Hazard's Collections, vol. i. p. 571.
The report of the commissioners of survey, given at the May session of the General Court, was in the following words: -
"At Aquahattan, the head of the Merrimack, where it issues out of the lake called Winnepuseakik, on the 1st of August, 1652, we found the latitude of the place 43°, 40', 12", besides those minutes allowed for the three miles farther north, which extend into the lake." - Historical Collections by Ebenezer Hazard, vol. i. p. 511.
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outh has been dissolved, ours, sanctioned by a royal charter, has success- fully encountered every attack. Nor do we now claim an acre beyond its true limits. And, had you attentively examined its articles, you must be satisfied with the correctness of our construction. For several years the extent of our jurisdictional rights was not fully understood; and so long as doubts remained we were disposed to forbear, though we have never aban- doned the pursuit of our utmost claim and right.
" In your resistance, probably a majority of the provincial inhabitants are your opponents; for they are greatly desirous of being united with us, and they richly deserve our protection and assistance. We are bound to inform you that the inhabitants and lands over which you claim to exercise author- ity are within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and that we demand our rights. If, however, neither rights nor reasons will induce you to hearken, we shall continually protest against all further proceedings of yours, under any pretended patent or combination whatever." 1 -
Such, in brief, was the reply of Massachusetts. It will give the reader a clear idea of the nature of the conflict which had arisen. Gov. Godfrey angrily replied. This led to the appoint- ment by the Massachusetts government of three commissioners to confer with Gov. Godfrey and his council. They met at Kittery Point. Reconciliation .was impossible, as both parties were inexorable. The commissioners then issued a proclama- tion to the people of Maine, informing them that Massachusetts would extend her jurisdiction over that portion of the territory which she claimed, and promising them full protection in their estates and all other rights.
Gov. Godfrey and his council issued a counter proclamation, denouncing the conduct of Massachusetts in the severest terms. Still the General Court at Boston, in its October session of this year, declared its northern boundary or limit to commence three miles north of the head of the Merrimack River ; to extend directly east on that parallel, passing above the northern sources of Piscataqua or Salmon Falls River; thence crossing the Saco near the mouth of Little Ossipee, which was about twenty miles from the sea, it touched the most southerly bend of the Pre- sumpscot, and terminated at Clapboard Island, about three miles eastward of Casco peninsula.
In the prosecution of this claim, the General Court of Massa-
1 Hazard's Collections, vol. i. p. 564.
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chusetts sent two experienced shipmasters to ascertain the pre- cise latitude sought for on the coast. They fixed the point upon the northern extremity of the little island we have men- tioned in Casco Bay. Here they marked the letters M. B. on several trees, and also chiselled them into a rock about a quarter of a mile from the sea.1 Six gentlemen were appointed to organize a government in the country south of this line.2 On the 15th of November, 1652,8 four of them met at Kittery, and sent out their summons to the inhabitants to meet the next morning at the house of William Everett, for the purpose of establishing a court of justice. There was much diversity of opinion respecting the adverse claims of Maine and Massachu- setts. Negotiations were protracted through four days, during which angry passions were excited, and there was much mutual recrimination and abuse. At length forty-one persons were induced to subscribe to the following declaration : -
" We, whose names are under written, do acknowledge ourselves subject to the government of Massachusetts Bay, in New England."
The commissioners, having thus triumphed, announced to the people that their rights would remain untouched, and that they were entitled to all the privileges of citizens of Massachusetts without being required to take the oath of submission. They then proceeded to Agamenticus, which in their report they spelt Accomenticus. The inhabitants were summoned to appear at the house of Nicholas Davis to assume the responsibilities, and to be invested with the rights, of citizens of Massachusetts.
The meeting was held on the 22d of November. A few were obstinate in their resistance, and a spirited controversy ensued. Gov. Godfrey, who resided at this place, led the opposition. But, when a formal vote was called for, a large majority was found in favor of seeking the protection of the salutary laws of Massachusetts. It was very certain they had nothing to lose by the change, and something, at least, to gain. The governor, finding himself entirely outvoted, yielded, and
1 Records, Resolves, and Journals of Massachusetts Government, vol. ii. p. 240 2 Hutchinson's Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 150.
8 Williamson, vol. i. p. 343.
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with fifty others took the oath of allegiance to the government of the Massachusetts Colony.1
The territory of Maine, thus annexed to Massachusetts, was called " The County of Yorkshire." Agamenticus received the name of York, from that city in England, which, twelve years before, had been surrendered by the royalists to the parliamen- tary forces, after one of the most bloody battles of the civil war. A county court was established, to be held alternately at York and Kittery.
It was universally admitted that the Massachusetts commis- sioners had discharged their duties with admirable wisdom, and with triumphant success. They were richly rewarded for their services, received a vote of public thanks, and a valuable present of wild lands. At the next general court of elections at Bos- ton, two deputies from Maine represented the county of York- shire. Other towns rapidly came into this arrangement, such as Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise.
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