USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire. Comprehending the events of one complete century and seventy-five years from the discovery of the River Pascataqua to the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, Vol I > Part 11
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+ Taxes were commonly paid in lumber or provisions at stated prices ; and whoever paid them in money was abated one-third part. The prices it 1680, were as follows.
Merchantable white pine boards per m 30 s.
White Oak pine staves per ditto 3 1.
Red Oak ditto per ditto 30 s.
Red Oak Hhd. ditto per ditto. 25 6.
Indian Corn per bushel 3 s.
Wheat per ditto. 5 . Malt per ditto. 4 s
N. B Silver was Gs. and 81. per oz.
1682.
-1
152
HISTORY OF
1682. nor above twenty one hundred weight, and the people too poor to make defence fuitable to the occafion that may happen for the fort,
" Thefe guns were bought, and the forti- fication erected, at the proper charge of the towns of Dover and Portfmouth, at the be- ginning of the firft Dutch war, about the year 1665, in obedience to his majefty's cominand in his letter to the government under which this province then was.
" There are five guns more lying at the upper part of Portfmouth, purchafed by pri- vate perfons, for their fecurity and defence againft the Indians in the late war with them, and whereof the owners may difpofe at their pleafure. To fupply the forefaid defect and weaknefs of the guns and fort, we humbly fupplicate his majefty to fend us fuch guns as fhall be more ferviceable, with powder and fhot."
By an account of the entries in the port annexed to the above, it appears, that from the fifteenth of June 1680, to the twelfth of April 1681, were entered, twenty-two fhips, eighteen ketches, two barks, three pinks, one fhallop and one fly-boat ; in all forty-feven,
Council Records.
15%
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
CHAP. VIII.
T'he administration of Cranfield .- Violent measures .- Insurrec- tion, trial and imprisonment of Gove .- Mason's suits .- Vaughan's imprisonment .- Prosecution of Moody and his im- prisonment .- Arbitrary proceedings .--. Complaints .-- >Tumults. Weare's agency in England .- Cranfield's removal .- Bare- foote's administration.
EXPERIENCE having now convinc- 1682. ed Mafon, that the government which he had procured to be erected, was not likely to be adminiftered in a manner favourable to his views, he made it his bufinefs, on his return to England, to folicit a change ; in confe- quence of which it was determined to com- ^miffion Edward Cranfield, efq. lieutenant- governor and commander in chief of New- Hampshire. By a deed enrolled in the court of chancery, Mafon furrendered to the king Jan. 25. one fifth part of the quit-rents, which had or fhould become due : Thefe with the fines and forfeitures which had accrued to the crown fince the eftablithment of the prov- ince, and which fhould afterward arife, were appropriated to the fupport of the governor. But this being deemed too precarious a foun- dation, Mafon by another deed mortgaged the whole province to Cranfield, for twenty- files. one years, as fecurity for the payment of one hundred and fifty pounds per annum, for the fpace of feven years. On this encouragement Cranfield relinquifhed a profitable office at home, with the view of bettering his fortune herc.
By the commiffion, which bears date the ninth of May, the governor was impowered
MSS in the
Fitch's MS.
154
HISTORY OF
1682, to call, adjourn, prorogue and diffolve gene- ral courts ; to have a negative voice in all acts of government ; to fufpend any of the council when he fhould fee juft caufe (and every counfellor fo fufpended was declared incapable of being elected into the general affembly ;) to appoint a deputy-governor, judges, juftices, and other officers, by his fole authority ; and to execute the powers of vice- admiral. The cafe of Mafon was recited nearly in the fame words as in the former commiffion, and the fame directions were given to the governor to reconcile differences, or fend cafes fairly ftated to the king in coun-
cil, for his decifion. The counfellors nam- ed in this commiffion were Mafon, who was ftyled proprietor, Waldron, Daniel, Vaughan, Martyn, Gilman, Stileman and Clements : Thefe were of the former council, and to them were added Walter Barefoote, and Richard Chamberlayne.
Cranfield arrived and published his com- miffion on the fourth of October, and within fix days Waldron and Martyn were fufpend- ed from the council, on certain articles ex- hibited againft them by Mafon. This early fpecimen of the exercife of power muft have been intended as a public affront to them, in revenge for their former fpirited conduct ; otherwife their names might have been left out of the commiffion when it was drawn.
The people now plainly faw the dangerous defigns formed againft them. The negative voice of a governor, his right of fufpending counfellors, and appointing officers, by his own authority, were wholly unprecedented in New-England ; and they had the fingular
Council Records.
155
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
mortification to fee the crown not only ap- pointing two branches of their legiflature, but claiming a negative on the election of their representatives, in a particular cafe, which might fometimes be effentially necef- fary to their own fecurity. They well knew that the fole defign of thefe novel and extra- ordinary powers was to facilitate the entry of the claimant on the lands which fome of them held by virtue of grants from the fame authority, and which had all been fairly pur- chafed of the Indians ; a right which they believed to be of more validity than any oth- er. Having by their own labour and ex- pence fubdued a rough wildernefs, defended their families and eftates againft the favage enemy, without the leaft affiftance from the claimant, and held poffeffion for above fifty years ; they now thought it hard and cruel, that when they had juft recovered from the horrors of a bloody war, they fhould have their liberty abridged, and their property de- manded, to fatisfy a claim which was at beft difputable, and in their opinion groundlefs. On the other hand it was deemed unjuft, that grants made under the royal authority fhould be difregarded ; and that fo great a fum as had been expended by the anceftor of the claimant, to promote the fettlement of the country, fhould be entirely loft to him ; ef- pecially as he had foregone fome juft claims on the eftate as a condition of inheritance. Will. Had the inhabitants by any fraudulent means impeded the defigns of the original grantee, or embezzled his intereft, there might have been a juft demand for damages ; but the unfuccefsfulnefs of that adventure was to be
1682.
-
Mason's
156
HISTORY OF
1682.
fought for in its own impracticability ; or the negligence, inability or inexperience of thofe into whofe hands the management of it fell after Captain Mafon's death, and during the minority of his fucceffor.
An affembly, being fummoned, met on the fourteenth, of November; with whofe concur- rence a new body of laws was enacted, in fome refpects different from the former ; the fundamental law being omitted and an alter- ation made in the appointment of jurors, which was now ordered to be done by the fheriff, after the cuftom in England.
MS Laws.
Vaughan's Journal.
Cranfield, who made no fecret of his in- tention to enrich himfelf by accepting the government, on the firft day of the affembly reftored Waldron and Martyn to their places in the council ; having, as he faid, examined the allegations againft them and found them Council Rec. infufficient. In return for this fhew of com- ' plaifance, and taking advantage of his needy fituation, the affembly having ordered an af- feffment of five hundred pounds, appropriat- ed one half of it as a prefent to the governor ; hoping hereby to detach him from Mafon, who they knew could never comply with his engagements to him. Prefering a certainty to an uncertainty, he patfed the bill, though Dec. 1. it was not prefented to him till after he had given order for adjourning the court, and af- MSS in the ter Mafon, Barefoote and Chamberlayne were withdrawn from the council.
Files. 1683. jan 20.
This appearance of good humour was but fhort-lived ; for at the next feffion of the af -. fembly, the governor and council having ten- dered them a bill for the fupport of govern- ment, which they did not approve, and they
157
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
having offered him feveral bills which he faid 1683. were contrary to law, he diffolved them ; having previoufly fufpended Stileman from the council and difmiffed him from the com- mand of the fort, for fuffering a veffel under feizure to go out of the harbour. Barefoote was made captain of the fort in his room.
The diffolution of the Affembly, a thing before unknown, aggravated the popular difcontent, and kindled the refentment of fome rafh perfons in Hampton and Exeter ; who, headed by Edward Gove, a member of the diffolved affembly, declared by found of trumpet for "liberty and reformation." There had been a town meeting at Hamp- ton, when a new clerk was chofen and their records fecured. Gove went from town to town proclaiming what had been done at Hampton, carrying his arms, declaring that the governor was a traitor and had exceeded his commiffion, and that he would not lay down his arms, till matters were fet right, and endeavouring to excite the principal men in the province to join in a confederacy to overturn the government. His project appeared to them fo wild and dangerous, that they not only difapproved it, but informed againft him and affifted in apprehending him. Hearing of their defign, he collected his com- pany, and appeared in arms ; but on the per- fuafion of fome of his friends he furrender- ed. A fpecial court was immediately com- miffioned for his trial, of which Major Wal- dron fat as judge, with William Vaughan
and Thomas Daniel affiftants. The grand jury prefented a bill in which Edward Gove, John Gove, his fon, and William Hely, of
Coundu Rec.
T
-
HISTORY OF
' Feb. 1. Records of Special Courts.
1683. Hampton ; Jofeph, John and Robert Wad- leigh, three brothers, Thomas Rawlins, Mark Baker and John Sleeper, of, Exeter, were charged with high-treafon. Gove, who behaved with great infolence before the court, and pretended to juftify what he had done, was convicted and received fentence of death in the ufual hideous form ; and his eftate was feized, as forfeited to the crown. The others were convicted of being accom- plices, and refpited. The king's pleafure being fignified to the governor that he fhould pardon fuch as he judged objects of mercy ; they were all fet at liberty but Gove, who was fent to England, and imprifoned in the tower of London about three years. On his repeated petitions to the king, and by the in- tereft of Randolph with the Earl of Claren- don, then lord chamberlain, he obtained his pardon and returned home in 1686, with an order to the then prefident and council of New-England to reftore his eftate.
Gove's
papers.
MS in files.
Gove in his petitions to the king pleaded " a diftemper of mind" as the caufe of thofe actions for which he was profecuited. He alfo fpeaks in fome of his private letters of a drinking match at his houfe, and that he had not flept for twelve days and nights, about that time. When thefe things are confider- ed, it is not hard to account for his conduct. From a letter which he wrote to the court while in prifon, one would fuppofe him to have been difordered in his mind. His pun- ifhment was by much too fevere, and his trial was hurried on too fait, it being only fix days after the commiffion of his crime. Had he been indicted only for a riot there would
159
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
have been no difficulty in the proof, nor 1683. hardfhip in inflicting the legal penalty. Waldron, it is faid, fhed tears when pro- nouncing the fentence of death upon him.
On the fourteenth of February the gover- nor, by advertifement, called upon the in- habitants to take out leafes from Mafon with- in one month, otherwife he muft, purfuant to his inftructions, certify the refufal to the king, that Mafon might be difcharged of his obligation to grant them. Upon this fum- mons and within the time fet, Major Wal- dron, John Wingett and Thomas Roberts, three of the principal landholders in Dover, waited on the governor to know his pleafure, who directed them to agree with Mafon. They then retired into another room where Mafon was, and propofed to refer the matter to the governor, that he might according to his commiffion, ftate the matter to the king for his decifion. This propofal Mafon re- jected, faying that unlefs they would own his title, he would have nothing to do with .them. While they were in difcourfe the Weare's governor came in and defired them to de- MS. part.
This piece of conduct is difficult to be ac- counted for, it being directly in the face of the commiffion. Had the method therein prefcribed, and by thefe men propofed, been adopted, it was natural to expect that the king, who had all along favoured Mafon's pretenfions, would have determined the cafe as much to his with as upon an appeal from a judicial court ; befides, he had now the faireft opportunity to have it decided in the fhorteft way, to which his antagonifts muft
1
160
HISTORY OF
1683. have fubmitted, it being their own propofal. His refufal to accede to it was a capital miftake, as it left both him and Cranfield expofed to the charge of difobedience. But it afforded a pow- erful plea in behalf of the people ; whofe con- fidence in the royal juftice would have in- duced them to comply with the directions in the commiffion. It being now impoffible to have the controverfy thus decided they de- termined to hearken to none of his propo- fals. As he generally met with oppofition and contradiction he was induced to utter many rafh fayings in all companies. He threatened to feize the principal eftates, beg- gar their owners, and provoke them to re- bellion by bringing a frigate into the har- bour and procuring foldiers to be quartered on the inhabitants. Thefe threats were fo far from intimidating the people that they ferv- ed the more firmly to unite them in their de- termination not to fubmit ; and each party was now warm in their oppofition and re- fentment.
The governor on fome frefh pretence fuf- pended Waldron, Martyn and Gilman from the council. The deaths of Daniels and Clements made twoother vacancies. Vaughan held his feat the longeft, but was at length thruft out for his non-compliance with fome arbitrary meafurcs. So that the governor had it in his power to model the council to his mind, which he did by appointing at va- rious times Nathaniel Fryer, Robert Eliot, John Hinckes, James Sherlock, Francis Champernoon and Edward Randolph, ef- quires. The judicial courts were alfo filled with officers proper for the intended bufinefs.
Weare's MS.
(161
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
Barefoote, the deputy governor, was judge : 1683. Mafon was chancellor ; Chamberlayne was clerk and prothonotary ; Randolph was at- torney general, and Sherlock provoft marfhal and fheriff. Some who had always been dif- Council 4 Records. affected to the country, and others who had been awed by threats or flattered by promi- fes took leafes from Mafon ; and thefe ferved for under theriffs, jurors, evidences, and oth- er neceffary perfons.
Things being thus prepared, Mafon began his law-fuits by a writ againft Major Wal- dron, (who had always diftinguifhed himfelf in oppofition to his claim) for holding lands and felling timber to the amount of four thoufand pounds. The major appeared in court, and challenged every one of the jury as interefted perfons, fome of them having taken leafes of Mafon, and all of them living upon the lands which he claimed. The judge then caufed the oath of voire dire to be ad- miniftered to each juror, purporting " that " he was not concerned in the lands in quef- " tion, and that he fhould neither gain nor " lofe by the caufe." - Upon which the ma- jor faid aloud to the people prefent, " That " his was a leading cafe, and that if he were " caft they muft all become tenants to Ma- " fon ; and that all perfons in the province " being interefted, none of them could legally files. " be of the jury." The cafe however went on ; but he made no defence, afferted no title, and gave no evidence on his part. Judgment was given againft him and at the next court of feffions he was fined five pounds for "mu- " tinous and feditious words."
MS in
TILI TO
162
HISTORY OF
1683.
:
Suits were then inftituted againft all the principal landholders in the province, who, following Waldron's example, never made any defence. . Some, chiefly of Hampton,, gave in writing their reafons for not joining iffue ; which were, the refufal of Mafon to comply with the directions in the commif- fion ; the impropriety of a jury's deter- mining what the king had exprefsly referved to himfelf ; and the incompetency of the jury, they being all interefted perfons, one of whom had faid that "he would fpend his " eftate to make Mafon's right good." Thefe reafons were irritating rather than convint- ing to the court. The jury never hefitated? in their verdicts. From feven to twelve caufes were difpatched in a day, and the cofts were multiplied from five to twenty pounds. Executions were iffued, of which two or three only were levied; but Mafon could neither keep poffeflion of the premifcs nor difpofe of them by fale, fo that the owners ftill enjoyed them. Several threatened to appeal to the king but Major Vaughan alone made the experiment.
MS ın files and Weare's MSS.
A fuit was alfo commenced againft Martyn . who had been treafurer, for the fines and forfeitures received by him, during the for- mer adminiftration ; and judgment was re- covered for feventy one pounds with cofts. Martyn petitioned Mafon as chancellor, fet- ting forth that he had received and difpofed of the money according to the orders of the late, prefident and council, and praying that the whole burden might not lie upon himt. A decree was then iffued for the other fir- viving members of the late council, and the
163
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
heirs of thofe" who were dead, to bear their 1683.
proportion. This decree was afterward re- verfed by the king in council.
MSS in files.
Cranfield with his council had now affum- ed the whole legiflative power. They pro- hibited veffels from Maffachufetts to enter the port, becaufe the acts of trade were not obferved in that colony ; They fixed the di- menfions of merchantable lumber ; altered the value of filver money, which had always paffed by weight at fix fhillings and eight- pence per ounce ; and ordered that dollars fhould be received at fix fhillings each, which was then a great hardihip ; as many of them were greatly deficient in weight : They alfo changed the bounds of townfhips ; eftab- lifhed fees of office ; made regulations for the package of fifh, and ordered the confta- bles to forbear collecting any town or parith Council taxes till the province tax was paid, and the Rec. accounts fettled with the treafurer.
The public grievances having become in- fupportable, the people were driven to the neceffity of making a vigorous ftand for their liberties. The only regular way was by complaint: to, the king. Having privately communicated their fentiments to each other and raifed money by fubfcription, they ap- pointed Nathaniel Weare, Efq. of Hampton their agent ; and the four towns having drawn and fubfcribed diflinet petitions of the fame tenor, Weare privately withdrew to Bofton from whence he failed for Eng- land. Major Vaughan who accompanied him to Bofton, and was appointed to pro- cure depofitions to fend after him, wa upon his return to Portfmouth, brought to an ex-
164
HISTORY OF
MSS in files.
1683. amination, treated with great infolence and required to find fureties for his good behav- iour ; which, having broken no law, he re -..! fufed *; and was by the governor's own wår- rant immediately committed to prifon ; where he was kept nine months to the great dam- age of his health, and of his own as well as the people's intereft.
1684.
Januar. 14.
-
Amidft thefe multiplied oppreffions, Cran- field was ftill difappointed of the gains he had expected to reap from his office ; and found to his great mortification, that there was no way of fupplying his wants, but by application to the people, through an affem- bly. He had already abufed them fo much ?. that he could hope nothing from their fa- vour ; and was therefore obliged to have recourfe to artifice. On a vague rumour of a foreign war, he pretended much concern" for the prefervation of the province from in- vafion ; and prefuming that they would fhew the fame concern for themfelves, he called an affembly at Great-Ifland where he refid- ed, to whom he tendered a bill, which in a manner totally unparliamentary, had been drawn and paffed by the council, for raifing money to defray the expence of repairing the fort, and fupplying it with ammunition, and for other neceffary charges of government. The houfet debated a while, and adjourned
In this refusal he is countenanced by the example of the great Selden, and other members of parliament who were imprisoned by order of Charles I. in 1629. Macauley's Hist. Eng. 8vo. Vol. 2. page 72.
¿ The Members of this assembly were, For Portsmouth. Hampton. Richard Waldron, jun. speaker, Anthony Stanyon, Philip Lewis, Joseph Smith,
Moon Pickering.
Jun Sautb.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
$165
for the night, and the tide ferving, the mem- 1684. bers went up to the town. In the morning they returned the bill with their negative ; at which the governor was highly enraged, and telling them that they had been to con- fult with Moody, and other declared enemies of the king and church of England, he dif- folved them ; and afterward by his influence with the court of feffions, divers of the mem-" bers were made conftables for the following Court Rea Vaughan's year. Some of them took the oath, and Journal. .. others paid the fine which was ten pounds. Thus by a mean and execrable revenge, he taxed thofe whom he could not perfuade to tax their conftituents for his purpofes.
But Moody was marked as an object of peculiar vengeance. "He had for fome time rendered himfelf obnoxious by the freedom and plainnefs of his pulpit difcourfes, and his ftrictnefs in adminiftering the difcipline of the church ; one inftance of which merits particular notice. Randolph having feized a veffel, fhe was in the night carried out of the harbour. The owner, who was a member of the church, fwore that he knew nothing of it ; but upon trial there appeared ftrong fufpicions that he had perjured himfelf. He found mean's to make up the matter with the governor and collector ; but Moody, being concerned for the purity of his church, re- quefted of the governor copies of the evi- dence, that the offender might be called to account in the way of ecclefiaftical difcipline. Cranfield fternly refufed, faying that he had Dover. Exeter. John Gerrish, Robert Smart, Thomas Wiggen. John Wooxlman, Anthony Nytter,
(Court Records.)
166 ₹
HISTORY OF
Ports. Chh. Records.
1684. forgiven him, and that neither the church nor minifter fhould meddle with him, and even threatened Moody in cafe he fhould. Not intimidated, Moody confulted the church and preached a fermon againft falfe fwear- ing ; then the offender, being called to ac- count, was cenfured, and at length brought to a public confeffion. This procedure ex- tremely difgufted the governor who had no way then in his power to fhew his refent- ment. But malice, ever fruitful in expedi- ents to attain its ends, fuggefted a method, which to the fcandal of the Englifh nation, has been too often practifed. The penal laws, againft nonconformifts were at this time executing with great rigour in England; and Cranfield, ambitious to ape his royal mafter, determined to play off the ecclefiafti cal artillery here, the direction of which he fuppofed to be deputed to him with his other powers. He had attempted to impofe upon the people the obfervation of the thirtieth of January as a faft, and reftrain them from. manuel labour at Chriftmas ; but his capi- tal ftroke was to iffue an order in council " that after the firft of January, the minif- " ters fhould admit all perfons of fuitable " years and not vicious, to the Lord's fup- " per, and their children to baptifin; and " that if any perfon should defire baptifm " or the other facrament to be adminiftered " according to the liturgy of the church of " England, it should be done in purfuance " of the king's command to the colony of " Maffachufetts* ; and any minifter refufing
* This command was conceived in the following terms; .
" And since the principle and foundation of that charter was an lis food
167
Š:
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
1684.
" fo to do fhould fuffer the penalty of the " ftatutes of uniformity."
The fame week in which he diffolved the affembly, he fignified to Moody in writing, by the hands of the fheriff, that himfelf, with Mafon and Hinckes, intended to partake of the Lord's fupper the next funday ; requir- ing him to adminifter it to them according to the liturgy ; and, as they juftly expected, he at once denied them. The way was now opened for a perfecution ; and the attorney general Jofeph Rayn, by the governor's ord- er exhibited an information at the next court Feb. F. of feffions, before Walter Barefoote judge, Nathaniel Fryer and Henry Greene affiftants, Peter Coffin, Thomas Edgerly and Henry Robie juftices, fetting forth, " that Jofhua " Moody clerk, being minifter of the town of " Portfmouth within the dominions of King " Charles, was by the duty of his place and " the laws of the realm, viz. the ftatutes of " the fifth and fixth of Edward VI, the firft " of Elizabeth, and the thirteenth and four- " teenth of Charles II, required to adminifter " the Lord's fupper in fuch form as was fet "" forth in the book of common prayer, and " no other. But that the faid Moody in con- " tempt of the laws had wilfully and obfti-
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