USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 6
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Callender Century Sermon, 1738.
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HISTORY OF
The Quakers at firft were banifhed ; but this proving infufficient, a fucceffion of fanguinary laws were enacted againft them, of which imprifonment, whipping, cutting off the ears, boring the tongue with an hot iron, and banifhment on pain of death, were the terrible fanctions. In confequence of thefe laws four perfons were put to death at Bofton, bearing their punifhment with patience and fortitude ; folemnly protefting that their return from banifhment was by divine direction, to warn the magiftrates of their errors, and intreat them to repeal their cruel laws ; denouncing the judgments of God upon them ; and foretelling that if they fhould put them to death others would rife up in their room to fill their hands with work *. After the execution of the fourth perfon
The following paffages extracted from William Leddra's letter to his friends, written the day before his execution, March 13, 1660, Thew an elegance of fentiment and expreffion, not common in their writings.
" Moft dear and inwardly beloved,
6' The fweet influence of the morning ftar, like a flood, diftilling " into my innocent habitation hath fo filled me with the joy of the Lord " in the beauty of holinefs, that my Spirit is as if it did not inhabit a " tabernacle of clay, but is wholly fwallowed up in the bofom of eter- "nity from whence it had its being.
" Alas, alas ! what can the wrath and fpirit of man that lufteth to " envy, aggravated by the heat and ftrength of the king of the locufts " which came out of the pit, do unto one that is hid in the fecret " places of the Almighty ? or to them that are gathered under the " healing wings of the Prince of Peace ? O my beloved, I have waited " as the dove at the windows of the ark, and have ftood ftill in that " watch,
Sewel's History of the Qua- kers.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
perfon, an order from King Charles the fecond, procured by their friends in Eng- land, put a ftop to capital executions.
Impartiality will not fuffer a veil to be drawn over thefe difgraceful tranfactions. The utmoft that has been pleaded in favor of them, cannot excufe them in the eye of reafon and juftice. The Quakers, it is faid, were heretics ; their principles ap- peared to be fubverfive of the gofpel, and derogatory to the honor of the Redeem- er. Argument and fcripture were in this cafe the proper weapons to combat them with ; and if thefe had failed of fuccefs, they muft have been left to the judgment of an omnifcient and merciful God. They were complained of as difturbers of the peace, revilers of magiftracy, " malignant " and
" watch, which the mafer did at his coming reward with the fulnefs " of his love ; wherein my heart did rejoice that I might fpeak a few " words to you, fealed with the Spirit of promife. As the flowing of "the ocean doth fill every creek and branch thereof, and then retires " again toward its own being and fulnefs and leaves a favour behind " it; fo doth the life and virtue of God flow into every one of your " hearts, whom he hath made partakers of his divine nature ; and " when it withdraws but a little, it leaves a fweet favour behind it, " that many can fay they are made clean thisaghi the word that he has " fpoken to them. Therefore, my dear hearts, fet the enjoyment of " the life alone be your hope, your joy and your confolation. Stand " in the watch within, in the fear of the Lord which is the entrance " of wifdom. Confefs him before men, yea before his greateft ene- " mies. Fear not what they can do to you : Grenter is he that is in " you than he that is in the world, for he will clothe you with hu- " mility and in the power of h., mrekuels you thall reign over all w the rage of your cnemies. "
Son :. Hat. Cikers, p. 274.
Hutch. Collect. papers, p. 327.
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HISTORY OF
" and affiduous promoters of doctrines di- " rectly tending to fubvert both church " and ftate ;" and our fathers thought it hard, when they had fled from oppofition and perfecution in one fhape to be again troubled with it in another. But it would have been more to their honor to have fuffered their magiftracy and church order to be infulted, than to have ftained their hands with the blood of men who deferv- ed pity rather than punifhment. The Quakers indeed had no right to difturb them ; and fome of their conduct was to an high degree indecent and provoking ; but they were under the influence of a fpi- rit which is not eafily quelled by oppo- fition. Had not the government appear- ed to be jealous of their principles, and prohibited the reading of their books be- fore any of them appeared in perfon, there could not have been fo plaufible a pretext for their reviling government. It was faid that the laws by which they were condemned were grounded on the laws in England againft Jefuits. But the cafe. was by no means parallel, { as the Quakers pleaded) their principles and practices not being equally detrimental to fociety. It was morcover urged in excufe of the fe- verities exercifed againft the Quakers that the
Sewel's Wattory Workers.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the magiftrates thought themfelves "bound in confcience to keep the paffage with the point of the fword : this (it was faid) could do no harm to him that would be warned by it; their rufhing on it was their own act, and they brought the blood on their own heads. Had they promifed to de- part the jurifdiction and not return with- out leave, the country would have been glad to have rid themfelves of the trouble of executing the laws upon them ; it was their prefumptuous returning after banifh- ment that caufed them to be put to death." This was the plea which the court ufed in their addrefs to the king ; and in another vindication publifhed by their order, the unhappy fufferers are ftyled " felones de fe," or felf-murderers. But this will not juftify the putting them to death, unlefs the original crimes for which they were banifhed had deferved it. The preamble to the act by which they were condemn- ed charges them with " altering the receiv- ed laudable cuftom of giving refpect to equals and reverence to fuperiors ; that their actions tend to undermine the civ- il government and deftroy the order of the churches, by denying all eftablithed forms of worfhip, by withdrawing from orderly church fellowfhip allowed and ap- proved
Maff. Rec,
Sewel, b. 6, p. 272.
P. 199.
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HISTORY OF
proved by all orthodox profeffors of the truth, and inftead thereof, and in oppofi- tion thereto, frequently meeting them- felves, infinuating themfelves into the minds of the fimple, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected." Did thefe offences deferve death ? had any govern- ment a right to terrify with capital laws perfons guilty of no other crimes than thefe, efpecially when they profeffed that they were obliged to go the greateft lengths in maintaining thofe tenets which they judged facred, and following the dictates of that fpirit which they thought divine ? Was not the mere " holding the point of " the fword" to them, really inviting them to " rufh on it" and feal their teftimony with their blood? and was not this the moft likely way to ftrengthen and increafe their party ? Such punifhment for offences which proceeded from a mifguided zeal. increafed and inflamed by oppofition, will never reflect any honour on the policy or moderation of the government ; and can be accounted for only by the ftrong pre- dilection for coercive power in religion, retained by moft or all of the reformed churches ; a prejudice which time and ex- perience were neceffary to remove *.
The
* From the following authorities, it will appear that the govern .. ment
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NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
The miftakes on which their conduct was grounded cannot be detected in a more mafterly manner, than by tranfcrib- ing the fentiments of Doctor Increafe Mather, who lived in thofe times, and was a ftrong advocate for the coercive power of the magiftrate in matters of religion ; but afterward changed his opinion on this point. " He became fenfible that the ex- ample of the Ifraelitifh reformers inflict- ing penalties on falfe worfhippers would not legitimate the like proceedings among chriftian
ment of New-England, however fevere and unjuftifiable in their proceedings againft the Quakers, went no farther than the moft emi- nent reformers ; particularly the Bohemians, the Lutherans, the cele- brated Calvin and the martyr Cranmer.
In the war which the Emperor Sigifmond excited againft the Bo- HEMIAN reformers, who had the famous Zifca for their general ; " The acts of barbarity which were committed on both fides were fhocking and terrible beyond expreffion. For notwithftanding the irre- concileable oppofition between the religious fentiments of the con- tending parties, they both agreed in this one horrible point, that it was innocent and lawful to perfecute and extirpate with fire and fword, the enemies of the true religion, and fuch they reciprocally appear- ed to be in each others eyes." Mofheim's Ecclefiaftical Hittory, vol. 3. p. 261.
" It were indeed ardently to be withed, that the LUTHERANS had treated with more mildnefs and charity thofe who differed. from them in religious opinions. But they had unhappily imbibed a fpirit of perfecution in their early education. This was too much the fpirit of the times, and it was even a leading maxim with our anceftors [this author was a Lutheran] that it was both lawful and expedient to ufe feverity and force againft thofe whom they looked upon as heritics. This maxim was derived from ROME; and even thofe who feparated from that church did not find it cafy to throw off all of a fudden that defpotic and uncharitable fpirit, that had fo long been the main fpring of its government and the general characteriftic of its members. Nay in their narrow view of things, their very piety feemed to fupprefs the generous movements of fraternal love and forbearance, and the more they felt themfelves animated with
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HISTORY OF
chriftian gentiles : For the holy land of old was, by a deed of gift from the glorious God, miraculoufly and indifputably grant- ed to the Ifraelitifh nation, and the con- dition on which they had it was their ob- fervance of the Mofaic inftitutions. To violate them was high treafon againft the king of the theocracy, an iniquity to be punifhed by the judge. At the fame time fojourners in the land were not compelled to the keeping thofe rites and laws which Mofes had given to the people. Nay the Ifraelites
with a zeal for the divine glory, the more difficult did they find it to renounce that ancient and favourite maxim, that whoever is found to be an enemy to God, ought alfo to be declared an enemy to his coun- try." Mofheim, vol. 4. p. 437.
" Michael Servetus, a Spanifh phyfician, publifhed feven books in which he attacked the fentiments adopted by far the greateft part of the chriftian church, in relation to the divine nature and a trin - ity of perfons in the Godhead. Few innovators have fet out with a better profpect of fuccefs : But all his views were totally difap- pointed by the vigilance and feverity of Calvin, who when Serve- tus was paffing through Switzerland, caufed him to be apprehended at Geneva in the year 1553, and had an accufation of blafphemy brought againft him before the council. Servetus adhering refo- lutely to the opinions he had embraced, was declared an obftin- ate heretic and condemned to the flames." Mofheim, vol. 4. P. 171.
Dr. Macclaine in his note on this paffage, fays, " It was a re- maining portion of the Spirit of popery in the breaft of Calvin that kindled his unchriftian zeal againft the wretched Servetus, whofe death will be an indelible reproach upon the character of that great and eminent reformer."
In the reign of Edward the fixth of England, anno 1549, " A woman called Joan Bocher, or Joan of Kent, was accufed of here- tical pravity. Her doctrine was, "that Chrift was not truly in- " carnate of the virgin, whofe fleth being the outward man was fin- " fully begotten and born in fin ; and confoquently he could take "none of it ; but the word, by the content of the inward man of " the
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Ifraelites themfelves fell, many of them, into the worft of herefies, yet whilft they kept the laws and rites of Mofes, the ma- giftrate would not meddle with them. The herefy of the Sadducees in particular ftruck at the foundation of all religion ; yet we do not find that our Saviour ever blamed the Pharifees for not perfecuting them. The H chriftian
si the virgin was made flefn." A fcholaftic nicety, not capable of doing much mifchief ! But there was a meceffity for delivering the woman to the flames for maintaining it. The young king though in fuch tender years, had more fenfe than all his counfellors and preceptors ; and he long refufed to figa the warrant fer her exe- cution. CRANMER, with his fuperior learning, was employed to perfuade him to compliance, and he faid, that the prince, being God's deputy, ought to reprefs impieties againft God, in like man- ner as the king's deputies were bound to punifh offenders againft the king's perfon. He alfo argued from the practice of the Jewith church in ftoning blafphemers. Edward overcome by importunity more than reafon at laft fubmitted, and told Cranmer with tears in his eyes, that if any wrong was done, the guilt fhould lie entire -. ly on his head. The primate was ftruck with farprize, but after making a new effort to reclaim the woman and finding her outti- nate, he at laft committed her to the flames. Nor did he ever re- nounce his burning principies fo long as he continued in power." Hume's Hift. Eng. 4to vol. 3. p. 320. Neal's Hift Purit. 4to vol. I. P. 41.
It ought alfo to be remembered, that at the fame time that the Quakers Suffered in New- England, penal laws againft them were made and rigoroufly executed in England ; and though none of them fuffered capital executions, yet they were thrown into prifon and treated with other marks of cruelty, which in fome infrances proved the means of their death. And though the lenity of King Charles the IId in putting a ftop to capital executions here has been much celebrated, vet in his letter to the Muffachufetts government the next year, wherein he requires liberty for the church of Eng- land among them, he adds, "Wec cannot be underftood hereby "to direct, or wifh, that any indulgence fhould be graunted to " Quakers, whofe principles, being inconfiftent with any kind of " government, Wee have found it neceffary with the advife of our " parliament here to make a fharp law againft them, and are well " content you doe the like there, " Records ot Deeds, Prov. Marine, ijo. I. fol. 129.
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chriftian religion brings us not into a temporal Canaan, it knows no weapons but what are purely fpiritual. He faw that until perfecution be utterly banifhed out of the world, and Cain's club taken out of Abel's hand, it is impoffible to refcue the world from endlefs confufions. He that has the power of the fword will always be in the right and always affume the power of perfecuting. In his latter times there- fore he looked upon it as one of the moft hopeful among the figns of the times that people began to be afhamed of a practice which had been a mother of abominations, and he came entirely into that golden maxim, Errantis poena doceri."
Divers others of the principal actors and abettors of this tragedy lived to feethe folly and incompetency of fuch fanguina- ry laws, to which the fufferings of their brethren, the nonconformifts in England, did not a little contribute. Under the ar- bitrary government of King James the fecond, when he, for a thew of liberty and as a leading ftep to the introduction of popery, iffued a proclamation of indul- gence to tender confciences, the principal men of the country fent him an addrefs of thanks, for granting to them what they had formerly denied to others. It is but juftice
to
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to add, that all thofe difgraceful laws were renounced and repealed, and the people of New-England are now as candidly dif- pofed toward the Quakers as any other denominations of chriftians. To keep alive a fpirit of refentment and reproach to the country on account of thofe ancient tranf- actions which are now univerfally con- demned, would difcover a temper not very confiftent with that meeknefs and forgive- nefs which ought to be cultivated by all who profefs to be influenced by the gofpel.
But though our anceftors are juftly cen- furable for thofe inftances of mifconduct, yet they are not to be condemned as un- worthy the chriftian name, fince fome of the firft difciples of our Lord, in a zealous imitation of the prophet Elias, would have called for fire from heaven to confume a village of the Samaritans who refufed to receive him. Their zeal was of the fame kind ; and the anfwer which the benevo- lent author of our religion gave to his dif- ciples on that occafion, might with equal propriety be addreffed to them, and to all perfecuting chriftians, " Ye know not " what fpirit ye are of, for the Son of man " is not come to deftroy men's lives but er to fave them.
H 2 CHAP.
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HISTORY OF
CHAP. IV.
Mode of government under Maffachufetis. Majon's efforts to recover the property of his anceftor. Tranfactions of the king's commifioners. Opposition to them. Political principles. Internal tranfac- tions. Mafon difcouraged.
1643.
D URING the union of thefe planta- tions with Maffachufetts, they were governed by the general laws of the colo- ny, and the terms of the union were ftrictly obferved. Exeter and Hampton were at firft annexed to the jurifdiction of the courts at Ipfwich, till the eftablifh- ment of a new county which was called Norfolk, and comprehended Salifbury, Haverhill, Hampton, Exeter, Portfmouth and Dover. Thefe towns were then of fuch extent as to contain all the lands be- tween the rivers Merrimack and Pafcata- qua. The fhire town was Salifbury ; but Dover and Portimouth had always a dif- tinct jurifdiction, though they were con- fidered as part of this new county ; a court being held in one or the other, fometimes once and fometimes twice in the year, con- fifting of one or more of the magiftrates
or
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or affiftants, and one or more commiffion- ers chofen by the general court out of the principal gentlemen of each town. This was called the court of affociates ; and their power extended to caufes of twenty pounds value. From them there was an appeal to the board of affiftants, which being found inconvenient, it was in 1670 ordered to be made to the county court of Norfolk. Caufes under twenty fhillings in value were fettled in each town by an inferior court confifting of three perfons. After fome time they had liberty to choofe their affociates, which was done by the votes of both towns, opened at a joint meeting of their felectmen, though fometimes they requefted the court to appoint them as be- fore. That mutual confidence between rulers and people, which fprings from the genius of a republican government is ob- fervable in all their tranfactions *.
1643.
Maff. Gen. Court Rec.
1647.
Dover and Portfmouth Rec.
This
* In 1652, the number of people in Dover was increafed fo that they were allowed by law to fend two deputies to the general court. Hampton continued fending but one till 1669, and Portfmouth till 1672. The names of the reprefentatives which I have been able to recover, are as follows :
For Dover. John Baker, Valentine Hill,
Richard Waldron, who was chofen without interrupti- on for 25 years, and was fometime fpeaker of the houfe.
Richard Cook, Peter Coffin. For Portfmouth.
Bryan Pendleton, Henry Sherburne, Richard Cutts, Nithaniei Fryer,
Elias
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HISTORY OF
1647.
1652.
This extenfion of the colony's jurifdic- tion over New-Hampfhire, could not fail of being noticed by the heirs of Mafon : But the diftractions catifed by the civil wars in England were invincible bars to any legal inquiry. The firft heir named in Mafon's will dying in infancy, the ef- tate defcended after the death of the ex- ecutrix to Robert Tufton, who was not of age till 1650. In two years after this, Jofeph Mafon came over as agent to the executrix, to look after the intereft of her deceafed hufband. He found the lands at Newichwannock occupied by Richard Leader, againft whom he brought actions in the county court of Norfolk ; but a dif- pute arifing whether the lands in queftion were within the jurifdiction of Maffachu- fetts, and the court of Norfolk judging the action not to be within their cognizance, recourfe was had to the general court ; who on this occafion ordered an accurate furvey of the northern bounds of their pa- tent
Elias Stileman, John Cutts, Richard Martyn,
Roger Shaw, Roger Page,
Samuel Dalton,
Richard Cook, of Boston, For Hampton.
Jufhua Gilman,
Berriry Dingay,
Anthony Stanyon, Christopher Huffey,
kkemy Dow,
William Gerrith,
William Fuller, 'inbert Page,
Jofeph Huffey.
" de not find that Exeter fent any deputies te court during this union.
Ger. Court Rec.
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tent to be made ; a thing which they had long meditated. A committee of the gen- eral court attended by Jonathan Ince and John Shearman furveyors, and feveral In- dian guides, went up the river Merrimack to find the moft northerly part thereof, which the Indians told them was at Aque- dochtan, the outlet of the lake Winnipi- feogee. The latitude of this place was ob- ferved to be 43 degrees 40 minutes and 12 feconds, to which three miles being added, made the line of the patent, accord- ing to their conftruction, fall within the lake, in the latitude of 43 degrees 43 min- utes and 12 feconds. Two experienced fhip-mafters, Jonas Clarke and Samuel Andrews, were then difpatched to the eaft- ern coaft, who found the fame degrees, minutes, and feconds, on the northern point of an ifland in Cafco Bay, called the Upper Clapboard Ifland. An eaft and weft line, drawn through thefe points from the Atlantic to the South fea, was there- fore fuppofed to be the northern boundary of the Maffachufetts patent, within which the whole claim of Mafon, and the great- er part of that of Gorges were compre- hended. When this grand point was de- termined, the court were of opinion, that " fome lands at Newichwannock, with the " river,
1652. L Maffa. Rec.
1653.
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HISTORY OF
1653. - " river, were by agreement of Sir Ferdi- " nando Gorges and others, apportioned " to Captain Mafon, and that he alfo had " right by purchafe of the Indians, as alfo " by poffeffion and improvement ;" and they ordered " a quantity of land propor- " tionable to his difburfements, with the " privilege of the river, to be laid out to " his heirs." The agent made no attempt to recover any other part of the eftate ; but having tarried long enough in the country to obferve the temper of the gov- ernment, and the management ufed in the determination of his fuit, he returned ; and the eftate was given up for loft unlefs the government of England fhould inter- pofe.
1660.
During the commonwealth, and the protectorate of Cromwell, there could be no hope of relief, as the family had always been attached to the royal caufe, and the colony ftood high in the favor of the par- liament and of Cromwell. But the refto- ration of King Charles the fecond encou- raged Tufton, who now took the furname of Mafon, to look up to the throne for favor and affiftance. For though the plan of colonization adopted by his grandfather was in itfelf chimerical, and proved fruit- Jefs, yet he had expended a large eftate in
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the profccution of it, which muft have been wholly loft to his heirs, unlefs thev could recover the poffeffion of his Ame- rican territories. Full of this idea, Mafon petitioned the king ; fetting forth 'the en- ' croachment of the Maffachufetts colony ' upon his lands, their making grants and ' giving titles to the inhabitants, and there- « by difpoffeffing him and keeping him ' out of his right.' The king referred the petition to the attorney-general Sir Geof- fry Palmer, who reported that " Robert " Mafon, grandfon and heir to Capt. John " Mafon, had a good and legal title to the " province of New-Hampshire." Nothing farther was done at this time, nor was the matter mentioned in the letter which the king foon after fent to the colony, though fome offenfive things in their conduct were therein reprehended, and divers alterations enjoined. But the directions contained in this letter not being ftrictly attended to, and complaints being made to the king, of difputes which had arifen in divers parts of New-England concerning the limits of jurifdiction, and addreifes having been pre- fented by feveral perfons, praying for the royal interpofition; a commiffion was iffued under the great feal to Colonel Richard Nichols, Sir Robert Carre, knight, George Carteret
105
1660.
Nov 8. MS in Su Cour. file
1662.
Hatch. Collect. of pipers, p. 3.7.
Hatch. Hlitt. Maf. vol. I. p. 535.
1664.
April 25-
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HISTORY OF
1664, Carteret and Samuel Maverick, efquires, impowering them " to vifit the feveral co- "' lonies of New-England ; to examine " and determine all complaints and ap- " peals in matters civil, military and cri- " minal; to provide for the peace and fe- 's curity of the country, according to their " good and found difcretion, and to fuch " inftructions as they fhould receive from " the king, and to certify him of their "' proceedings."
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