USA > Maine > The history of the state of Maine; from its first discovery, A. D. 1602, to the separation, A. D. 1820, inclusive, Vol. I > Part 25
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248
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[VOL. I.
A. D. 1633.
Such proceedings, and the idea of a residence in the vicinity of papists, filled the English colonists with the deepest anxieties and regrets .* About this time the Plymouth Council, checked in their course by these events and others at home, suspended further grants ; holding by their charter, the territory between Penobscot and St. Croix, unassigned and unsold.
Possession taken of Acadia un- der Razilla.
Cardinal Richelieu, prime minister of France, appointed M. de Razilla, a military officer, to take the possession and com- mand of the Acadian country ; and the keys of Port-Royal, and of the fortress in the Scottish plantation at Cape Sable, were demanded without loss of time. The other scattered settlements were ready to accept of any patron or protector ; and the Car- dinal made speedy preparations to ship hither, companies of planters, a fresh supply of Jesuit missionaries, and the necessary provisions. +
The same year Samuel Champlain returned to Quebec and resumed the government of Canada; and within the three last years of his life, he saw his colony, aided by new recruits, by the generosity of benefactors, and by the " Company of New France," rising to a flourishing condition.}
The French seize upon· Penobscot.
Apprehensions, entertained by the English Colonists of secret arts or sudden violence in seizing upon the country, were not with- out foundation. For at an unguarded hour a French vessel, pilot- ed by a treacherous Scotchman, visited the New-Plymouth trad-
' from thence into England without staying longer in those countries." -_- -The Frenchified Court of Charles I. might as well have given up Massachusetts as Acadia ;- for the French could make out no better title to one than the other .- 1 Hutch. Hist. p. 33, 34, 93.
* Winthrop's Journal, p. 47.
t Chalmers, 154 .- Winthrop's Jour. 37. # 1 Belk. Biog. p. 344.
§ Champlain in 8th Chap. of his Voyages, calls the south shore of the Peninsula, the Acadia. Mons. Denys, a man of merit and a correct writer, compiled a Geographical and Historical Description of N. America, A. D. 1672, in two volumes. The first gives a description of the country between Penobscot and Cape Rozier, and the 2d comprehends the Natural History and account of the natives. He was Gov. and Lt. Gen. under the French king and dwelt a long time in the country. He supposes the northern and eastern regions of the French were Canada; therefore he divides the coun- try into Provinces ;- the 1st extending from Pentagoet to St. John, previ- ously as he says ' Norimbagua ;' 2d, from St. John to Cape Sable, called Bay Francois ; 3d, Acadia, from Cape Sable to Cape Canseau; and 4th, from Cape Canseau, to Cape Rozier, called Bay of St. Lawrence or Gaspe. The latter, Denys himself claimed.
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ing-house at Penobscot, early in June ; when her crew, conduct- A. D. [1632. ing in the true character of freebooters,-pretended they had put into harbour in distress, and would esteem a permission to repair leaks and refresh themselves, as a great favour. Embol- dened by generous courtesies received, as well as by information of the master's absence with most of his men on a tour westward for goods, they first examined the fort-arms to ascertain if they were charged ; then seizing swords, and loaded muskets, ordered the three or four remaining keepers of the truck-house to surren- der upon pain of instant death, and to deliver their goods and immediately help put them on board. Having in this shameful manner rifled the fort of its contents, to the amount of £500, they bade the men this taunting and insulting farewell,-' tell your master to remember the Isle of Rè.'*
But the New-Plymouth colonists, undismayed by this piratical A. D. 1633. attack, kept the station and pursued their traffic, three years longer, before they were forced to abandon the place entirely. Moreover the next spring, they established at Machias a new trad- Machias ing-house, which they replenished with a variety of valuable house. Trading- commodities, and put it under a guard of 5 or 6 men, trust- worthy and well armed.t It was an eligible station, above Cross Island on the west bank of the river ; the remains of an ancient fort being yet visible there. They might have been encouraged and supported in this enterprize, by colonial proprietors, and even by the Plymouth Council, in a full determination to keep possession of the country.
The French monarch desirous to advance the settlement of Frenchr his Acadian colony, made several grants. One of the first was to Razilla,¿ which embraced the river and bay of St. Croix, and the Islands in the vicinity, " 12 leagues on the sea and 20 leagues into the land." Its eastern boundary probably adjoined the western line of the royal patent, made three years before to la Tour. The new grant was extensive ; yet it is not ascertained,
* Hubbard's N. E. p. 161 .- 1 Hutchinson's His. p. 34 .- The French took " 300 lbs of Beaver." The taunt alluded to the brilliant successes of the French at the Isle of Re, in France, A. D. 1627 .- 4 Hume p. 370.
+ Mr. Vines, of Saco, was part owner of the goods; and is said to have been the principal sufferer when they were taken away .- Winthrop's Jour. p. 301.
#1 Hutchinson's Hist. p. 121 says, it was to la Tour : but Chalmers, p. 186, and 1 Charlevoix, 170, say it was made to Razilla.
VOL I. 19
Grants to Razilla and la Tour.
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A. D 1634. whether it did or did not extend southward of the river St. Croix. Certain it is, that every other was northward of it, if we except the dormant one to de Monts.
The next year, he made to Claude de la Tour four important grants .* One was an hundred miles eastward upon the coast from the Isle of Sables, and as many miles inland ; a 2d was that Island itself ; and the other two were upon the north shore of the Peninsula, viz. Port-Royal and a territory about it two leagues square ; and Minus, a tract of like extent still farther eastward, on the bay of that name. His command was subordinate to Razilla, and his principal pursuit was a traffic with the natives.
La Tour seize: upon Machias and claims to Pema- quid.
Avarice, pride, and passion were la Tour's faults ; and such high resentments did he affect to feel, when he heard of the trad- ing house set up at Machias, that he hastened away to lay it in ruins. Meeting with resistance, he killed two of the defendants ; and after rifling the house of all the valuable articles he could find, he carried his booty and the survivors to Port-Royal .- The amount of property pillaged was 4 or £500. Afterwards in reply to Mr. Allerton, of New-Plymouth, who came to re- cover the prisoners and goods, and to inquire if he had au- thority for this transaction ; la Tour, declared with no small degree of impudence and insult, I have taken them as lawful prize ;- my authority is from the king of France, who claims the coast from Cape Sable to Cape Cod ;- I wish the English to understand, if they trade to the eastward of Pemaquid, I shall seize them ;- my sword is all the commission I shall show ;- when I want help, I will produce my authority.t Take your men and begone.
Conduct of the nauves.
Within the last three years, some restlessness and hostile move- ments were apparent among the Indians. A barter with them had been extensive ; the traders were characters whose probity was often questionable; all the civil authority of the country was in name, rather than in vigorous exercise ; and when or where it becomes a maxim, ' to cheat an Indian in the dark is a small sin,' we may suppose acts of injustice will be multiplied, and acts of revenge will be repeated in return. Take an instance :- At
* These were confirmatory of his grants from Alexander.
t Hubbard's N. E. p. 163 .- Winthrop's Jour. p. 57,-78 .- But in page 300, it would seem la Tour sent the prisoners to France.
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Richmond Island, lived one Waltar Bagnall* called great Watt, A. D. 1634. ' where he and his companion, by three years' trade with the na- tives, had amassed property to the amount of £400. But wealth acquired by fraud, is often taken away by force. Squid- rayset, ¡ a Sagamore, and a few of his tribe, filled with revenge for wrongs received, went to the Island in the fall of 1631, killed the men, and after plundering the house, reduced it to ashes.t Neal, immediately dispatched from Piscataqua a party in search of the murderers. The pursuers found at the Island, " Black Will," whom though as probably innocent as guilty, they in ven- geance hung up by the neck till he was dead.§ In return, his blood was avenged the winter following, upon an English traveller wandering up the Saco ; |-deaths to be far more deeply lament- ed, because they excited enmity between the parties.
The Tarratines or Eastern Indians, as their intercourse with the French became familiar, were evidently much emboldened in feats of courage and purposes of revenge. The Sagamores of Agawam [Ipswich,] having treacherously slain several " Tarratine families," were thought to be sheltering themselves in a cowardly manner, under the protective friendship of the English planters at that place. This awakened feelings of animosity towards both ; and an intended massacre was fortun- ately prevented by Robin, an Indian friend, who gave to an Eng- lish youngster the information. On the appointed day, four sav- ages came and began to talk with him. But his looks and lan- guage towards them were rough :- Begone said he or I'll shoot you. Believing their plot discovered, they fled. He then beat briskly upon a drum, and fired an alarm-gun; and presently he saw 40 canoes full of savages push out to sea. This was in 1632 ; afterwards, the brave Tarratines, making another attack upon the Agawam Indians, slew several ; and not far from Bos- ton carried off a Sagamore's wife in triumph. TT
* Bagnall was a wicked fellow and had inuch wronged the Indians .- Winthrop's Jour. p. 30.
+ Or Scitterygusset.
# In 1632 one Jenkins went with an Indian from Cape Porpoise up into the country, with goods to truck or trade, where he was killed and his goods stolen, while he was sleeping in a wigwam. But a chief recovered the goods and sent them back .- Winthrop.
§ Winthrop's Jour. p. 30. || Hubbard's N. E. p. 142,-145,-169.
T 1 Hutchinson's Hist. p. 32,-33.
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A. D. 1634. Piracy of Dixy Bull.
These expeditions and skirmishes, the claims and menaces of the French, and some acts of piracy along the eastern coast, necessarily occasioned no small anxiety and discouragements, among the settlers .* A crew of sixteen renegadoes, headed by Dixy Bull, a master-spirit of iniquity, from being engaged in the Indian trade, turned pirates ; and in 1632, were bold and desperate enough to attack the fort at Pemaquid, which they suc- ceeded in rifling, though with the loss of a ringleader by a shot from the palisade. They continued to prowl along the coast, visit- ing the Eastern settlements, taking some plunder and doing other mischief, till the succeeding summer. In an address sent by them to the plantation governors, and signed " FORTUNE LE GARDE," they say,-we next proceed southward-never shall hurt any more of your countrymen-rather be sunk than taken. They were pursued three weeks by a little squadron of four vessels and forty armed men, from Piscataqua, joined by a bark from Boston, without falling in with them. They proceeded eastward, and probably hearing of the bold push to take them, left the coast. Bull went to England, where he met with his deserts ; and we hear nothing of his companions, after 1634, some of whom had been barbarously detained by him against their wills.t
Difficulties at Kenne- beck.
Another difficulty of a criminal character occurred at Kenne- beck. It arose from the question of exclusive trade. New Ply- mouth in the exercise of that right, had upon the river two tra- ding stations, at fort Popham and at Cushnoc, and two resident magistrates, who were vested with power to try every case not capital. All within the patent were obliged to take the oath of allegiance to that colony, and to obey its laws and the orders of the magistrates, or be banished.
In May, one Hoskins coming hither in a vessel of lords Say and Brooke, from Piscataqua, was expressly forbidden to trade with the natives, and ordered to depart. John Alden, one of the magistrates, finding him inexorable, sent three men to cut his ca-
* In the spring of 1634, dangers being apprehended from different quar- ters, Gov. Winslow, from New-Plymouth, visited the fort of Kennebeck ; where an Indian would have killed him had he not stepped down before the savage could take aim. Winthrop's Jour. p. 64.
t Hubbard's N. E. p. 160-196 .- 2 Prince's Ann. p. 73-83 .- Bull and his crew, declared against excessive drinking ;- but when others have prayers ' we'll have a story or a song.'-Winthrop's Jour. p. 46,
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bles. They parted one-touch the other, said he, swearing with A. D. 1634. an oath, and seizing a gun, and death is your portion. They cut -and he shot one of them dead, receiving himself at the same moment a fatal wound. The blood of these two men closed the scene in this quarter .*
At Boston, afterwards, Mr. Alden was arrested on a warrant procured by a kinsman of Hoskins, and recognized to answer before the next Court of Colonial Assistants. In the mean time, two of the New-Plymouth magistrates and their minister, held a consultation with those of Boston upon the subject ;- royalists and malcontents exclaiming loudly-when men cut throats for beaver, it is high time to have a general government. Wherefore, to avoid reproach and censure, Massachusetts encouraged or au- thorized a prosecution, though it was an affair exclusively within the jurisdiction of New-Plymouth.
The advisatory tribunal, with prayer and examination of scrip- ture, made deep research into the principles and rights of the case, and at length decided-1st. That the New-Plymouth col- onists had an exclusive right to the trade withiin their patent, in virtue of the privileges granted ; that besides entering upon the territory, vacuum domicilium, they had been the constant posses- sors to the present time, undisturbed even by the natives ; and that they had originated a gainful traffic with them, especially in wampum, previously unknown to Englishmen. But, 2d. the act itself, they said, must be considered in some degree a violation of the sixth commandment ; and consequently it drew from Mr. Alden, a confession of deep regrets, though he insisted that Hos- kins was every way the aggressor .- It was, on the whole, adjudg- ed to be " excusable homicide."
In reply to a mediatorial letter addressed to lords Say and Brooke, in England, they said to the Governor of New-Plym- outh,-' we could, for the death of Hoskins, have despatched a ' man-of-war and beat down your houses at Kennebeck about your 'ears ; but we have thought another course preferable ; let some ' of the Massachusetts magistrates, and Capt. Wiggin, our agent at
* This was probably at Cushnoc, [Augusta.] " Soon after the patent was " granted, the patentees made a settlement and built a trading house at Cushenock."-Statement of Kennebeck Claims, p. 15 .- Twenty hogsheads of beaver were taken by N. Plymouth at Kennebeck this year .- Winthrop, p. 60.
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A. D. 1634. ' Piscataqua, review the whole case and do justice in the premi- 'ses:'-And here the matter terminated .*
Emigration
great .-
Checked.
Our settlements were now filling with people. Indeed, such were the numbers, which a spirit of emigration was bringing into this country, that the king, in 1633, ordered, for a short time, the stay of several ships in the Thames,t though full of passengers and ready to sail. The measure was unwise, for most of the emigrants had no wealth ; and all that his realm lost by the re- movals, his colonies gained. Even English merchants and ad- venturers themselves, especially those concerned in the various sorts of business at Piscataqua, and eastward, had in view of their losses, expenses, and prospects, become greatly discouraged. They were obliged to prepare at first an outfit of cattle, swine, goats, and sundry articles for building; and likewise supply the planters afterwards, from year to year with provisions, clothing, farming utensils, and medicines, besides engaging to pay them wages. Even the bread-stuff consumed, must necessarily be transported from England in meal, or brought from Virginia, or ground in Boston, there being no mill nearer.
Sales to Gorges and . Mason.
In this state of despondency, they sold and assigned their whole interest to Gorges and Mason ; and, in 1634, these gentlemen made partition of all their joint property and concerns, and ap- pointed Francis Williams, their deputy governor respectively ; confining their enterprizes, the one to the northerly and the other to the southerly side of the Piscataqua.}
'The Plym- outlı Coun- -Defended by Gorges.
At the present trying period of their affairs, the old charges cil assailed ; against the Plymouth Council were revived with renovated vigour. The merchants believed it possessed a monopoly of trade, which the public good required to be common ; and the Virginia company in England boldly threw their weight into the same scale. The major part of the Commons considered the members of that Council under royal influence, and supremely devoted to the claims of prerogative ; all high churchmen looked upon them as the foes of prelacy, because their territory had been
* Winthrop's Journal, p. 64, 68 .- Hubbard's N. E. p. 168 .- He calls the captain's name " Hocking."
t Dated Feb. 21, 1633 .- 1 Haz. Coll. 34-8, entire.
#1 Belknap's N. H. 296-7. Letters dated Aug. 1633. No mention is made of Walter Neal, after 1634; Mr. Williams arrived 1633 .- Hubbard's N. E. 219
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opened as an asylum to Puritans ; while the king himself suspected A. D. 1634. the New-England Colonists were in the enjoyment of liberties and privileges, wholly inconsistent with his notions of regal power and government.
Gorges, being chief director in the Council's concerns, was again summoned before the Commons to shew cause, why the charter should not be revoked. He appeared in person, with his counsel, and defended 'the Corporation and its measures,' with his accustomed ability ; pressing upon their recollection the unanswerable arguments adduced to them in 1624, and 1626. He reminded them of his own indefatigable, untiring exertions to advance the nation's interests in America ;- ' Yes, says he, I have ' spent twenty thousand pounds of my estate, and thirty years, ' the whole flower of my life, in new discoveries and settlements, 'upon a remote continent; in the enlargement of my country's ' commerce and dominions ; and in carrying civilization and ' christianity into regions of savages.' The members of the Company, added he, are entire strangers to the monopoly imput- ed-and to allege that they as associates have grown rich, is a most cruel aspersion ; for they could abundantly demonstrate, that their disbursements have very far exceeded their receipts. But he perceived now, that all farther resistance was vain. When decisions are only sanctions of decrees predetermined, all argu- ments, principles and rights, are nullities. A dissolution of the Plymouth Council must be its immediate fate.
Never probably had the discouragements of Gorges and Mason bordered more nearly upon despair. The charges of establishing a plantation in a wilderness, they found to be three-fold its worth. The planters, being hired servants or tenants, were often indolent and wasteful ; and the fruits of their whole labour would not yield them a tolerable support. No superintendant could control their erratic dispositions, or prevent their changes of abode from place to place. The proprietors themselves had never visited the country, nor established a regular efficient government for the punishment of offenders, or the preservation of order. The French were making encroachments and committing mischief ; the Indians were restless, if not unfriendly ; and to crown all, a violent unnatural warfare had commenced between king and peo- ple at home.
Discour- - agements of Gorges and Mason.
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A. D. 1635. The Plymouth Council awaited its destiny ;- and the remaining Twelve Di- members made preparations for its untimely dissolution. Hence, visions of the P. Pa- tent.
they concluded to divide the whole patent into twelve Royal Provinces ; to draw lots, February 3d, 1635, in presence of his February 3. Majesty, for each of the " Grand Divisions ;" and then to make or appropriate the assignments to several "individuals accor- dingly."
The Divis- ions and Assign- ments.
The first province or division, embraced the country between St. Croix and Pemaquid, and from the head of the latter in the shortest distance to Kennebeck ; thence upwards to its source. This was called " the County of Canada ;" and was assigned to Sir William Alexander, Earl of Sterling .* It included the Muscongus Grant, and the easterly halves of the Pemaquid and Kennebeck patents ; extending north to the 48th degree.
The second was from Pemaquid to Sagadahock,-a small di- vision ; including the western moiety of Pemaquid patent .;
The third embraced the territory between the Kennebeck and Androscoggin, including the westerly half of the New-Plymouth or Kennebeck patent, some part of the old Laconian patent to Gorges and Mason, and also, a part of the first grant to them.
The fourth extended from Sagadahock to Piscataqua ; embrac- ing Lygonia, Saco, and Agamenticus. This and the third, or preceding division, were assigned to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and named New Somersetshire.}
The fifth included the territory between the rivers Piscataqua and Naumkeag, in Massachusetts, from the sea, to a line 60 miles northerly of their mouths ; also " the south half of the Isle of Shoals," and 10,000 acres called " Masonia," on the easterly side of Sagadahock at its mouth ; all which was assigned to John Mason, who was then Vice-President of the Council.
The sixth division extended from Naumkeag river around the
* This might have been intended to remunerate him in part for the loss of Nova Scotia. Sir William died, 1640; his grandson died a few months after him ; and the last named Earl was succeeded by his uncle Henry. The Council also assigned to the Earl of Sterling, " Long Island," oppo- site to Connecticut .- 6 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. 185,-189 .- The Plymouth patent extended to the 48th degrec.
t It is said 10,000 acres of this were granted to the Marquis of Hamil- ton, and in '1637, his heir revived' the claim .- 1 Hutch. Hist. 54.
# Gorges had a confirmation of two, the third and fourth .- Chalmers, p. 472 .- Hub. Nar. 294.
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seacoast by Cape Cod to Narraganset. It covered the residue A. D. 1635. of Massachusetts, the whole of the New-Plymouth Colony, and the patent to Robert Gorges ; and was allotted to the Marquis of Hamilton,* one of the original members of the Council.
The seventh was the territory eastward of a monumental boun- dary, intended to be set up, at a place equidistant from Narragan- set and Connecticut river, extending 50 miles into the country ; which was allotted to Lord Edward Gorges, a kinsman of Sir Ferdinando, who was then President of the Council.
The eighth was from that halfway monument to Connecticut river, extending also 50 miles into the country ; and was assigned to the Earl of Carlisle.
The ninth was from that river to the Hudson, and from the shores to a line 30 miles back ; and the tenth was a parallellogram between these rivers, 40 miles deep, immediately above the pre- ceding. These two divisions were allotted to the Duke of Lenox.
The eleventh was situated along the west side of the Hudson, and extended from the 40th parallel of latitude [near Raritan River] " whence New-England beginneth," 30 miles into the coun- try: and the twelfth was directly above the latter, 30 miles on the river by 40 the other way ; and these two last divisions or Provinces were allotted to Lord Mulgrave.t
In every Province, each previous proprietor was to be allowed The tenure in lieu of former grants, 5,000 acres, which were to be holden and appro- of the new proprietary lord ; and 4,000 acres were to be ap- priations. propriated for a city and Governor General's seat. Each provincial lord was to send over and pay ten men, to be em- ployed in building a city, which they were to own in shares ; and 10,000 acres were devoted to the foundation of a church and the maintenance of clergymen.
The Council, April 1st, informed his Majesty, they had sub- mitted to his pleasure, and prayed him to give new patents to the several assignees mentioned, with the powers and privileges granted to Lord Baltimore in Maryland, and to commission a
* He took a patent .- Hubbard's N. E. p. 232 .- 1 Hutchinson's Hist. p. 54 .- So did Sir Ferdinando .- 1 Doug. Summ. p. 387; also John Mason .- 1 Haz. Coll. 383,-7.
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