USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire > Part 9
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" Michael Servetus, a Spanish physician, published seven books in which he attacked the sentiments adopted by far the greatest part of the christian church, in relation to the divine nature and a trinity of persons in the God- head. Few innovaters have set out with a better prospect of success : But all his views were totally disappointed by the vigilance and severity of Cal- vin, who, when Servetus was passing through Switzerland, caused him to be apprehended at Geneva in the year 1553, and had an accusation of blasphemy brought against him before the council. Servetus adhering resolutely to the opinions he had embraced, was declared an obstinate heretic and condemned to the flames." Mosheim, vol. 4. page 171.
Dr. Macclaine in his note on this passage, says, " It was a remaining por- tion of the spirit of popery in the breast of Calvin that kindled his unchristian zeal against the wretched Servetus, whose death will be an indelible re- proach upon the character of that great and eminent reformer."
In the reign of Edward the Sixth of England, anno, 1549, " A woman " called Joan Bocher, or Joan of Kent, was accused of heretical pravity. Her " doctrine was, " that Christ was not truly incarnate of the virgin, whose " flesh being the ontward man was sinfully begotten and born in sin ; and
51
FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW-ENGLAND.
The mistakes on which their conduct was grounded cannot be detected in a more masterly manner, than by transcribing the sentiments of Doctor Increase Mather, who lived in those times, and was a strong advocate for the coercive power of the magis- trate in matters of religion ; but afterward changed his opinion on this point. " He became sensible that the example of the Israel- " itish reformers inflicting penalties on false worshippers would not " legitimate the like proceedings among christian gentiles : for the " holy land of old was, by a deed of gift from the glorious God, " miraculously and indisputably granted to the Israelitish nation, " and the condition on which they had it was their observance of " the Mosaic institutions. To violate them was high treason " against the king of the theocracy, an iniquity to be punished by " the judge. At the same time, sojourners in the land were not " compelled to the keeping those rites and laws which Moses liad " given to the people. Nay, the Israelites themselves fell, many " of them, into the worst of heresies, yet whilst they kept the " laws and rites of Moses, the magistrate would not meddle with " them. The heresy of the Sadducees in particular struck at the " foundation of all religion ; yet we do not find that our Saviour " ever blamed the Pharisees for not persecuting them. The " christian religion brings us not into a temporal Canaan, it knows " no weapons but what are purely spiritual. He saw that until " persecution be utterly banished out of the world, and Cain's
" consequently he could take none of it; but the word by the consent of the " inward man of the virgin was made flesh." A scholastic nicety, not capa- ble of doing much mischief! but there was a necessity for delivering the wo- man to the flames for maintaining it. The young king though in such ten- der years, had more sense than all his counsellors and preceptors ; and he long refused to sign the warrant for her execution. CRANMER, with his su- perior learning, was employed to persuade him to compliance, and he said, that the prince, being God's deputy, ought to repress impieties against God, in like manner as the king's deputies were bound to punish offenders against the king's person. He also argued from the practice of the Jewish church in stoning blasphemers. Edward overcome by importunity more than reason at last submitted, and told Cranmer with tears in his eyes, that if any wrong was done, the guilt should lie entirely on his head. The primate was struck with surprize ; but after making a new effort to reclaim the woman and find- ing her obstinate, he at last committed her to the flames. Nor did he ever renounce his burning principles so long as he continued in power." Hume's Hist. Eng. 4to. vol. 3. p. 320. Neal's Hist. Puritans, 4to. vol. 1. p. 41.
It ought also to be remembered, that at the same time that the Quakers suffered in New-England, penal laws against them were made and rigorously executed in England ; and though none of them suffered capital executions, yet they were thrown into prison and treated with other marks of cruelty, which in some instances proved the means of their death. And though the lenity of King Charles the IId. in putting a stop to capital executions here has been much celebrated, yet in his letter to the Massachusetts government the next year, wherein he requires liberty for the church of England among them, he adds, "Wee cannot be understood hereby to direct, or wish that " any indulgence should be graunted to Quakers, whose principles, being in- " consistent with any kind of government. Wee have found it necessary " with the advise of our parliament here to make a sharp law against them, " and are well content you doe, the like there." Records of Deeds, Province Maine, lib. i. fol. 129.
52
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
" club taken out of Abel's hand, 'tis impossible to rescue the " world from endless confusions. He that has the power of the " sword will always be in the right and always assume the power " of persecuting. In his latter times, therefore, he looked upon " it as one of the most hopeful among the signs of the times, that " people began to be ashamed 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 see the folly and incompetency of such sanguinary laws, to which the sufferings of their brethren, the nonconformists in England, did not a little contribute. Under the arbitrary govern- ment of King James, the Second, when he, for a shew of liberty and as a leading step to the introduction of popery, issued a proc- lamation of indulgence to tender consciences, the principal men of the country sent him an address of thanks, for granting to them what they had formerly denied to others. It is but justice to add, that all those disgraceful laws were renounced and repeal- ed, and the people of New-England are now as candidly disposed toward the Quakers as any other denominations of christians. To keep alive a spirit of resentment and reproach to the country, on account of those ancient transactions which are now universally condemned, would discover a temper not very consistent with that meekness and forgiveness which ought to be cultivated by all who profess to be influenced by the gospel.
But though our ancestors are justly censurable for those in- stances of misconduct, yet they are not to be condemned as un- worthy the christian name, since some of the first disciples of our Lord, in a zealous imitation of the prophet Elias, would have called for fire from Heaven to consume a village of the Samaritans who refused to receive him. Their zeal was of the same kind ; and the answer which the benevolent author of our religion gave to his disciples on that occasion, might with equal propriety be addressed to them, and to all persecuting christians, "Ye know " not what spirit ye are of, for the Son of man is not come to " destroy men's lives but to save them."
53
UNION WITH MASSACHUSETTS.
1643.]
CHAPTER IV.
Mode of Government under Massachusetts. Mason's efforts to recover the property of his ancestor. Transactions of the King's Commissioners. Op- position to them. Political principles. Internal transactions. Mason discouraged.
DURING the union of these plantations with Massachusetts, they were governed by the general laws of the colony, and the terms of the union were strictly observed .* Exeter and Hamp-
" [One of the most important events of this period was the confederacy of the colonies of Massachusetts, (which included New-Hampshire) New-Ply- mouth, Connecticut and New-Haven, which continued nearly forty years. This union was proposed by the colonies of Connecticut and New-Haven, as early as 1638, but was not finally completed until 1643. " Besides its agency in guiding the events of the time, it was the prototype of the confederacy of the states during the revolution, which was in fact the germ and vivifying principle of our existence as a nation." The features of this confederacy are thus described by Mr. Pitkin, in his Civil and Political History of the United States. " By the articles of confederation, as they were called, these colo- nies entered into a firm and perpetual league of friendship and amity, for of- fence and defence, mutual advice and succor, upon all just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare. Each colony was to retain its own peculiar jurisdiction and government, and no other plantation or colony was to be re- ceived as a confederate, nor any two of the confederates to be united into one jurisdiction, without the consent of the rest. The affairs of the united colo- nies were to be managed by a legislature to consist of two persons. styled commissioners, chosen from each colony. These commissioners had power to hear, examine, weigh, and determine all affairs of war or peace, leagues, aids, charges, and number of men for war,-division of spoils, and whatsoever is gotten by conquest-receiving of more confederates for plantations, into combination with any of the confederates ; and all things of a like nature, which are the proper concomitants and consequences of such a confederation for amity, offence, and defence ; not intermeddling with the government of any of the jurisdictions, which, by the third article, is preserved entirely to themselves. The commissioners were to meet annually. in each colony, in succession, and when met, to choose a president, and the determination of any six to be binding on all.
" The expenses of all just wars to be borne by each colony. in proportion to its number of male inhabitants of whatever quality or condition, between the ages of sixteen and sixty.
" In case any colony should be suddenly invaded, on motion and request of three magistrates of such colony, the other confederates were immediately to send aid to the colony invaded in men, Massachusetts one hundred, and the other colonies forty-five each, or for a less number, in the same proportion.
" The commissioners, however, were very properly directed, afterwards, to take into consideration the cause of such war or invasion, and if it should ap- pear that the fault was in the colony invaded, such colony was not only to make satisfaction to the invaders, but to bear all the expenses of the war.
The commissioners were also authorised " to frame and establish agree- ments and orders in general cases of a civil nature, wherein all the planta- tions were interested, for preserving peace among themselves. and prevent- ing as much as may be all occasions of war, or difference with others, as about the free and speedy passage of justice, in every jurisdiction, to all the confederates equally as to their own, receiving those that remove from one plantation to another, without due certificates.
" It was also very wisely provided in the articles that runaway servants,
54
IIISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1643.
ton were at first annexed to the jurisdiction of the courts at Ips- 1643. wich, till the establishment of a new county which was called Norfolk, and comprehended Salisbury, Haverhill, Hampton, Exeter, Portsmouth, and Dover. These towns were then of such extent as to contain all the lands between the rivers Merrimack and Pascataqua, The shire town was Salisbury ; but Dover and Portsmouth had always a distinct jurisdiction, though they were considered as part of this new county ; a court being held in one or the other, sometimes once and sometimes twice in the year, consisting of one or more of the magistrates or assistants, and one or more commissioners, chosen by the General Court out of the principal gentlemen of each town. This was called the court of associates ; and their power extended to causes of twenty pounds value. From them, there was an ap- peal to the board of Assistants, which being found inconvenient, it was, in 1670, ordered to be made to the county court of Nor- folk.1 Causes under twenty shillings in value were settled in cach town, by an Inferior Court, consisting of three persons. After some time, they had liberty to choose their Associates, 1647. which was done by the votes of both towns, opened at a joint meeting of their selectmen, though sometimes they requested the court to appoint them as before.2 That mutual confidence between rulers and people, which springs from the genius of a republican government, is observable in all their transactions .*
(1) Mass. General Court Records. (2) Dover and Portsmonth Records.
and fugitives from justice, should be returned to the colonies where they be- longed, or from which they had fled.
" If any of the confederates should violate any of the articles, or, in any way injure any one of the other colonies, " such breach of agreement, or inju- ry, was to be considered and ordered" by the commissioners of the other col- onies. This confederacy, which was declared to be perpetual, continued without any essential alteration, until the New-England colonies were de- prived of their charter by the arbitrary proceedings of James II. In the year 1648, some of the inhabitants of Rhode-Island requested to be admitted into the confederacy, but they were informed that the island was within the pa- tent granted to New-Plymouth, and therefore their request was denied." -- Pitkin, Hist. U. S., 50, 51.]
* In 1652, the number of people in Dover was increased so that they were allowed by law to send two deputies to the General Court. Hampton con- tinned sending but one till 1669, and Portsmouth till 1672. The names of the representatives which I have been able to recover, are as follows : [As the years for which the representatives were chosen, and the names of a number of them are omitted by Dr. Belknap, his list is left out, and the fol- lowing, which is nearly complete, substituted.
Dover.
Portsmouth.
1642
1643 Edward Starbuck
1644 William Hilton
Stephen Winthrop
1645 William Heath
1646 William Waldron Edward Starbuck
Hampton. William Hayward William Hayward William Hayward William Hayward William English
1652.]
This extension of the colony's jurisdiction over New-Hamp- shire, could not fail of being noticed by the heirs of Mason : but the distractions caused by the civil wars in England were invinci- ble bars to any legal inquiry. The first heir named in Mason's will dying in infancy, the estate descended after the death of the executrix to Robert Tufton, who was not of age till 1650. 1652.
In two years after this, Joseph Mason came over as agent to the executrix, to look after the interest of her deceased husband. He found the lands at Newichwannock occupied by Richard
Dorer.
Portsmouth.
Hampton.
1647
1648
1649
William Estowe
1650 John Baker
Jeoffry Mingay
1651
Roger Shaw
1652 Valentine Hill
Roger Shaw
1653 Valentine Ilill
Bryan Pendleton Bryan Pendleton
Anthony Stanyan
1655 Valentine Hill
Henry Dow
1656 Richard Waldron
Henry Dow
1657 Richard Waldron
Roger Page
1658 Richard Waldron
1659 Richard Waldron
1660 Richard Waldron
Christopher Hussey
William Fuller Samuel Dalton William Gerrish
William Gerrish
Samuel Dalton (2)
Samuel Dalton
Samuel Dalton
1667 Richard Waldron
1668 Richard Waldron
1669 Richard Waldron
Richard Cutt Nathaniel Fryer Elias Stileman Elias Stileman Richard Cutt
Richard Cutt
Samuel Dalton
1670 Richard Waldron Richard Cooke
1671 Richard Waldron Richard Cooke
Elias Stileman
Samuel Dalton
1672 Richard Waldron Peter Coffin
Richard Martyn
Elias Stileman
Samuel Dalton
1674 Richard Waldron Anthony Miller
Richard Cutt
Samuel Dalton
1675 Richard Waldron Anthony Miller
Richard Cutt
Samuel Dalton
1676 Anthony Miller 1677 Richard Waldron 1678
Elias Stileman
Thomas Marston
Samuel Dalton
1679 Richard Waldron Peter Coffin
Richard Martyn
Samuel Dalton
Henry Sherburne Bryan Pendleton (2) Bryan Pendleton
Christopher Hussey
Christopher Hussey
1661 Richard Waldron 1662 Richard Waldron 1663 Richard Waldron 1664
Bryan Pendleton
1665 Richard Waldron 1666 Richard Waldron
William Fuller Robert Page
Samuel Dalton
Joshua Gilman
Richard Cutt
Joseph Hussey
1673 Richard Waldron Peter Coffin
Richard Cutt
Samuel Dalton
Richard Waldron was speaker of the house of deputies or representatives. in the years 1666, 1667, 1668, 1673, 1674, 1675 and 1679. A dash under the town against the year shows that no representative was chosen that year .- Where (2) is annexed, it shows that the person was elected for the 2d session of the court. It does not appear that Exeter sent any deputies to court du- ring this union.]
55
UNION WITH MASSACHUSETTS.
William Englishı William Estowe
Roger Shaw
1654 Richard Waldron Valentine Hill
Bryan Pendleton
56
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1652
Leader,* against whom he brought actions in the county court of Norfolk; but a dispute arising whether the lands in question were within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and the court of Norfolk judging the action not to be within their cognizance, re- course was had to the general court ; who, on this occasion, or- dered an accurate survey of the northern bounds of their patent to be made ; a thing which they had long meditated.1 A com- mitteet of the general court, attended by Jonathan Ince, and John Sherman surveyors, and several Indian guides, went up the river Merrimack to find the most northerly part thereof, which the In- dians told them was at Aquedochtan, the outlet of the lake Win- nipiseogee .¿ The latitude of this place was observed to be 43
(1) Massa. Records.
* [One of this name was agent for the Iron Works at Lynn about this time Lewis, Hist. Lynn, 96.]
t [The committee of the general court were Capt. Edward Johnson, author of the History of New-England, and Capt. Simon Willard, afterwards an as- sistant and commander of a portion of the Massachusetts forces in the Indian war of 1675. The expedition took up nineteen days in the months of July and August, and the whole expense was not less than £84. The report of the surveyors, written by a neat chirographist, has been obtained from the Massachusetts colony files, and a copy of it is here added :
" The Answer of John Sherman, serjt. at Watertown, and Jonathan Ince, student at Harvard College, in Cambridge, to Captain Simon Willard and Captain Edward Johnson, Commissioners of the General Court, held at Bos- ton, May 27, 1652, concerning the Latitude of the Northermost pt. of Merri- mack River-
" Whereas wee John Sherman and Jonathan Ince were procured by the aforesaid Commissioners to take the latitude of the place abovenamed, Ou. Answer is, that at Aquedahcan, the name of the head of Merrimack, where i. issues out of the Lake called Winnapusseakit, upon the first of August, on. thousand, six hundred and fifty two, wee observed and by observation found. that the Latitude of the place was fourty three degrees, fourty minutes an twelve seconds, besides those minutes which are to be allowed for the thre miles more North wch. run into the Lake. In witnesse whereof, wee liav subscribed our names this nineteenth of October, one thousand, six hundred fifty two.
JOHN SHERMAN, JONATHAN INCE.
Jur. coram me, JOH. ENDECOTT, Gubr.]
# [The variations in the orthography of this word, which was probably pro . nonnced Win-ne-pis-se-ock-ee, are somewhat remarkable. The following hav . occurred in the course of my investigations.
Winnepisseockegee. Captain Alden's Treaty with Indians, 1690. 3 Col'. Winnopisseag. Mather, Magnalia, ii. 513. [Mass. Hist. Soc. i. 11% . Wenapesioche. Douglass, Summary, i. 420. Winnepasiake. Ibid. i. 423. Winnapissiaukee. Hutchinson, Hist. Mass. i. 358. Winnepissiaukee. Ibid. ii. 346.
Winnepissocay. Penhallow, in Coll. N. H. Hist. Soc. i. 112. Winnepesiaukee, Trumbull, Hist, Connecticut, ii. 78.
Winnapuseakit. Sherman and Ince's Report, above.
Winnipesocket. Bartlett, Narrative of Captivity, 5.
Winnipishoky. Petition in Moore's Annals of Concord. Winnipisioke. MS. Charter of Kingswood.
Wennepisseoka. MS. Letter of Lieut. Gov. Wentworth.
Winipisseoca. MS. Records of General Assembly of N. H.
Winipisinket. Douglass, Summary, i. 456.
Winipisiakit. Ibid. i. 390.
Winipisiackit. Ibid. ii, 346.
Winnipessioke. N. H. Gazette, 18 March, 1789.]
57
UNION WITHI MASSACHUSETTS.
1653.]
degrees, 40 minutes and 12 seconds, to which three miles being added, made the line of the patent, according to their construc- tion, fall within the lake, in the latitude of 43 degrees, 43 minutes and 12 seconds. Two experienced ship-masters, Jonas Clarke and Samuel Andrews, were then dispatched to 1653. the eastern shore, who found the same degrees, minutes, and seconds, on the northern point of an island in Casco Bay, called the Upper Clapboard Island. An east and west line, drawn through these points from the Atlantic to the South sea, was therefore supposed to be the northern boundary of the Massa- chusetts patent, within which the whole claim of Mason, and the greater part of that of Gorges were comprehended. When this grand point was determined, the court were of opinion, that " some " lands at Newichwannock, with the river, were by agreement of " Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others, apportioned to Captain Ma- " son, and that he also had right by purchase of the Indians, as " also by possession and improvement ;" and they ordered " a " quantity of land proportionable to his disbursements, 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 estate ; but having tarried long enough in the country to observe the temper of the government, and the management used in the determina- tion of his suit, he returned ; and the estate was given up for lost unless the government of England should interpose .*
* [The 9 June, 1654, there was a storme of thunder and haile, such as hath not been heard of in N. E. since the first planting thereof, which haile fell in the bounds of Hampton betwixt the towne and the mills at ye falles-the which haile was so violent as that where the strength of the storm went, it shaved the leaves, twigs and fruit from the trees, and beat down the corne, both rye and Indian, and pease and other things, so battering and burying the same as that men had beaten it down with thrashing instruments ; the haile being to admiration for the multitude thereof, so as that in some places it re- mained after the storm was over, 12 inches in thickness above the ground, and was not all dissolved 2 days after the storme in many places, as we are in- formed by many eye witnesses and many of which haile were said to be 3 or 4 inches in length. Hampton Town Records, copied by Mr. Joshua Coffin, S. H. S. Mass.
1656. The delusion respecting witchcraft, which extended itself generally throughout New-England, appeared in a few instances in New-Hampshire. Mr. Adams, in his Annals of Portsmouth, gives the following account of one case which occurred in that town, this year.
" Goodwife Walford was brought before the court of assistants for this of- fence, upon the complaint of Susannah Trimmings. A recital of the testimo- ny will shew how far a disordered imagination contributed to make a person believe she was bewitched ; and what degree of credulity was necessary, to fix the offence upon the person accused. Mrs. Trimmings testified, " As I was going home on Sunday night, the 30th of March, I heard a rustling in the woods, which I supposed to be occasioned by swine, and presently there ap- peared a woman, whom I apprehended to be old Goodwife Walford. She asked me to lend her a pound of cotton ; I told her I had but two pounds in the house, and I would not spare any to my mother. She said I had better have done it, for I was going a great journey, but should never come there. She then left me, and I was struck as with a clap of fire on the back ; and she vanished toward the water side, in my apprehension, in the shape of a cat. She had on her head a white linen hood, tied under her chin, and her waist-
10
58
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1653.
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 cause, and the colony stood high in the fa- vor of the parliament and of Cromwell. But the restoration of 1660. King Charles the second encouraged Tufton, who now took the surname of Mason, to look up to the throne for favor and assistance. For though the plan of colonization adopted by his grandfather was in itself chimerical, and proved fruitless, yet he had expended a large estate in the prosecution of it, which must have been wholly lost to his heirs, unless they could recover the possession of his American territories. Full of this idea, Ma- son petitioned the king ; setting forth ' the encroachment of the ' Massachusetts colony upon his lands, their making grants and ' giving titles to the inhabitants, and thereby disposessing him and keeping him out of his right.' The king referred the petition to to his attorney-general Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who reported that
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