[was commander, and Madockewando, Moxus, Egeremet, and other noted Indian chiefs, were under him. They first attempted the garrison house; but having no cannon, they were repulsed and went to the sloops. The river, where they lay, is not above 18 or 20 feet broad, but the banks shelve away, so that they could not leap aboard. They set the sloops on fire several times, with fire arrows, but the fire was as often extinguished, and, after a variety of contrivances to shelter themselves from the English shot, they gave over and returned to the garrison, where they had no better success. The women not only tended the men with ammunition and other necessaries, but many of them took their muskets and fired upon the enemy. Very good terms were offered the garrison, if they would surrender, but no regard was paid to them; an army of French and Indians were not to be trusted. Being driven again from the garrison, they made a second attempt upon the sloops by a fire raft, which fortunately drove ashore and broke, without any damage to the vessels. Having spent eight and forty hours in this way, they withdrew, with the loss of Labrocrec, their commander, and some few of the men. In their retreat, they wreaked their malice in torturing a poor Englishman, John Diamond, who was taking prisoner in passing from the sloops to the fort, and in killing all the cattle they could find. Sir William Phips was charged by his instructions to build a strong fort at Pemaquid. This he performed the first summer, going down in person. The country in general disliked it. They have been reproached for grudging at so small an expence for their own safety; but this was not the principal cause of their aversion to a fort here. It answered no other purpose than to keep possession of that particular harbour, and was not convenient for a post for any marching parties, who from time to time were sent out for discovery of the enemy, nor for the settlers of the frontiers to retreat to. The ministry seemed to have had a view in it, which the people of the province little considered, viz. preventing the French from claiming Acadia as a derelict country, and perhaps taking possession of it as such. However, the fort was built, and a very respectable one; and a garrison maintained there at the charge of the province. The French immediately formed a design, or prosecuted what was before designed, to possess themselves of the place. Two ships of war, le Poli and l'Envieux, under Iberville, were to attempt the place by sea, whilst Villebone, with a body of Indians, did the same by land. The ships came late in the fall, and finding an English vessel at anchor under the guns of the fort, and having no pilots, nor any body acquainted with the coast, they thought it prudent to retreat. The Indians had assembled in great numbers, and were very much dissatisfied, depending upon driving away their troublesome neighbours the English. The French at Quebec supposed these extraordinary preparations, which frustrated their attempt, were caused by the intelligence which two deserters, who had been spirited away by Mr. Nelson, gave to the authority in the Massachusets, but this was a mistake. Whilst the governor was at Pemaquid, building the fort, he sent Major Church, the celebrated commander in Philip's war, with part of the forces to Penobscot, and upon his return he ordered him to Kennebeck. Church took three or four prisoners and some plunder at Penobscot, and discovered a great number of Indians; but for want of whaleboats could not pursue them. At Kennebeck he burned a fort which the Indians had at Tacon. nick, and destroyed their corn, but neither killed nor took prisoners any of the enemy. We meet with nothing else memorable this year relative to the frontiers. The Indians had not been very active; they were sensible of their ill treatment from the French, who had often abandoned them, and it was the influence of the priests, and the attachment of the Indians to the Roman Catholic religion, which prevented their forsaking the French interest and adhering to the English; besides, the English had several of their principal people prisoners at Boston, of whose redemption they were very desirous, and had no hopes of accomplishing it, except by a treaty of peace. (Anno 1693.)—The appointment of counsellors, in the charter, was in consequence of the nomination made by Mr. Mather, the agent. Perhaps he was well enough pleased, in the time of it, with having it in his power to distinguish his friends, some of whom he afterwards thought ungrateful to him; and those who had formerly been in, and now thought themselves injured, as soon as they were restored, shewed their resentment; and he used to say he had been more unkindly treated, from time to time, by the council than any other men in the province. The election, in May 1693, was the first opportunity the country had of shewing their own sense of Mr. Mather's nomination. William Stoughton, Thomas Danforth, John Pynchon, Elisha Cooke, Isaac Addington, Wil liam Browne, Nathaniel Thomas, John Saffin, Francis Hooke, and Charles Frost, were elected counsellors, (the six first named had been asistants, but were left out of the charter), and Simon Brad-] [street, Samuel Appleton, John Joyliffe, Adam the forces from the colonies were to be ready for Winthrop, Richard Middlecot, Joseph Lynde, them; the whole forces to go up the river, there Samuel Hayman, Stephen Mason, Thomas Hinck- to divide, and attack Montreal and Quebec at the ley, and Job Alcot, were left out of the council. same time. Considering the state Canada was then Stoughton, the lieutenant governor, had acted in, this seems to have been no injudicious plan. as a counsellor all the year 1692, although there A rendezvous at Boston would have been known were 28 without him; the deputy governor used at Quebec, by persons from the frontiers, before to be considered as an assistant under the old a fleet could have gone up the river. With Canso charter; but it was now thought proper to choose (Cape Breton not being then settled) the French in him one of the 28. They were not sure of always Canada had less communication: The whole force having a lieutenant governor so agreeable to the going up the river was not less judicious. Former people as he was. The governor refused his con- and latter attempts have shewn, how uncertain the sent to Mr. Cooke. He had opposed, when he mutual aid would have been, of an army up the was in England, the appointment of the governor. river and another marching within land. He was, however, in real esteem with the people, and the negative was impolitic. Repeated applications had been made for a naval force to be sent from England, sufficient, in conjunction with land forces to be raised in New England and New York, for the reduction of Canada, but without success; other affairs of the war not permitting this, though deemed important, to be engaged in. In 1692, it was resolved there should be an expedition the next year. A fleet was to be employed in the winter, in reducing Martinico, and, having performed that service, was to go to Boston, there to take on board a body of land forces under Sir William Phips, and so proceed to Quebec. Had Quebec been the only object, and reasonable notice given to the colonies, there was reason to expect success. By the fleet's going to the West Indies, the whole design was blasted. If sickness had not weakened them, the force would still have been insufficient for the reduction of Martinico; but the mortality was so great, that before Sir Francis Wheeler, the commander in chief, came to Boston with the fleet, June 11th, he had buried 1300 out of 2100 sailors, and 1800 of 2400 soldiers. It may well be supposed the admiral had done with the thoughts of the Canada expedition. The land army, perhaps, might have been recruited, but a supply of scamen could not be obtained. Besides, not the least preparations had been made, he brought the news himself of his proposed attempt. The letters dated in February, the vessel being by some means or other delayed or beat off the coast, did not arrive until July. In an affair of such importance, and in a time of war, notice might well have been expected by many different conveyances. Sir Francis settled, with the government, a plan for another year, viz. 2000 land forces to be sent from England, and 2000 more to be raised in the colonies, the ships and forces from England to be at Canso by the first of June, where VOL. II. The distemper which had been in the fleet spread in Boston, and was more maglignant than ever the small pox had been, or any other epidemical sickness which had been in the country before; and many families left the town and resided in the country, until the infection ceased. The molestations upon the frontiers, this year, were not very great. Preparations were made for carrying on the war. Captain Convers, who had behaved well, was appointed, with a major's commission, to the command of the forces e. With a small army of 400 or 500 men, he marched to Taconick, on Kennebeck, but met with none of the enemy, except one party, which he surprised, not far from Wells. On his return, he made some stay at Saco river; and about two leagues up the river, on the w. side, near the falls, a very proper station, he built a stone fort, an irregular pentagon with a tower. This was in the heart of the Indians hunting ground at that time, and was thought to have accelerated a treaty of peace. apprehension prevailed among them at the same time, that the Iroquois, instigated by the English, would fall upon them. An Thurry, a French missionary at Penobscot, spared no pains to prevent it, but they were ineffectual. The Indians sued for peace, and the English were glad of a respite from war. Pemaquid being appointed for the place of treaty, on the 11th of August the articles were signed, and hostages delivered by the Indians, as a security for their fidelity. This security could not be obtained from them in later treaties. It was ineffectual at this time. Charlevoix has not truly represented this transaction. He may have been misinformed by the Indians, who have always kept from the French, as far as they could, the submissions made to the English. He says, Sir William Phips had engaged a few of the Abenakis to a sort of an accommodation, and that two of their chiefs, in the] 4 u [month of May, had promised that they would conclude upon articles of peace, and gave two hostages for the performance of their promise, and that Phips came in person to Pemaquid to have finished the affair, if De Villieu, a French officer, had not, by his diligence, prevented; for being seconded by the priest Thurry, he found out the secret of recovering Madockewando, who had declared in favour of the English, and prevailed upon him to raise 250 men, and make a descent upon Piscataqua river 36 miles from Boston. Charlevoix has brought the treaty, made in 1693, into 1694, and by calling it only a proposal for a treaty, has given a gloss to the whole affair, and extenuated the perfidy of the Indians in their hostilities soon after, and the guilt of the priest in exciting them. Upon the w. frontiers, in the summer of this year, the Indians, led on by the French, made what the latter call la petite guerre upon the new settlements, but forces constantly kept up, prevented any remarkable destruction. Whilst the government had their hands and hearts full, in providing for their own defence, they were called upon to provide their quota of men for the defence of New York. Mr. Soughton, in Sir William's absence e. excused the province from concerning itself therewith, in a letter to Lord Nottingham, October 20, 1693. (Anno 1694.)-Sir William Phips's rule was short. His conduct, when captain of a ship of war, is represented very much to his advantage; but further talents were necessary for the good government of a province. He was of a benevolent, friendly disposition; at the same time quick and passionate. A close attachment to his friends engaged him in a dispute with the collector of the customs; and provocation, both from the collector and a captain of a man of war, caused him to break out into some indecent sallies of passion and rage, and to treat both of them in such a manner as was dishonourable to him. Mr. Brenton, a young gentleman of a principal family in Rhode Island government, had been appointed collector for the port of Boston. This was before the establishment of custom-houses in the plantations by act of parliament. The people thought it enough to enter and clear at the naval office, and questioned the authority of the collector. The governor being the naval officer, and acting by his deputy, did not discountenance this opinion of the people. A vessel arrived from the Bahama islands, with a load of fustic, for which no bond had been given. Colonel Foster, a merchant of Boston, a member of the council, and fast friend to the governor, bought the fustic, at such price that he was loth to give up the bargain. The collector seized the vessel and goods; and upon Foster's representation to the governor, he interposed. There was at that time no court of admiralty. By the charter, the king reserved admiralty jurisdiction, but no court had been constituted. It was supposed the governor imagined, that, by virtue of his com mission for vice-admiral, he had a right to sit as judge, and that he condemned several prizes, and, among the rest, the St. Joseph, brought in by a privateer of the Leeward islands, which the captain would have carried thither for condemnation, but was not permitted. Be this as it may, it is certain that Sir William took a more summary way of deciding this case, and sent an order to the collector to forbear meddling with the goods; and, upon his refusal to observe orders, the governor went to the wharf, and after warm words on both sides, laid hands upon the collector, but with what degree of violence was controverted by them. The governor prevailed, and the vessel and goods were taken out of the hands of the collector. There had been a misunderstanding also between the governor and Captain Short of the Nonesuch frigate. In their passage from England, a prize was taken; and Short complained that the governor had deprived him of part of his share or legal interest in her. Whether there were grounds for it, does not now appear. The captains of men of war, stationed in the colonies, were in those days required to follow such instructions as the gover nors gave them, relative to their cruizes and the protection of the trade of the colonies, and the governor, by his commission, had power, in case of any great crime committed by any of the captains of men of war, to suspend them, and the next officer was to succeed. The governor required Captain Short to order part of the men belonging to the Nonesuch upon some service, which we do dot find mentioned, probably to man some cruizer, there being many pickeroons about the e. coast, but he refused to do it. This was ill taken by the governor; and meeting Captain Short in the street, warm words passed, and at length the governor made use of his cane and broke Short's head. Not contented with this, he committed him to prison. The right of a governor, to commit by his own warrant, had not then been questioned. From the prison he removed him to the castle, and from thence on board a merchant vessel bound to London, to be delivered to the order of one of their Majesties principal secretaries of state; giving the master a warrant or authority] [so to do. The vessel, by some accident, put into Portsmouth in New Hampshire. Sir William, who seems to have been made sensible of some irregularity in these proceedings, went to Portsmouth, required the master of the merchantman to return him the warrant, which he tore to pieces, and then ordered the cabin of the ship to be opened, secured Short's chest, and examined the contents. Short was prevented going home in this vessel, and went to New York, to take passage from thence for England; but Sir F. Wheeler arrived soon after at Boston, sent for him and carried him home with him. The next officer succeeded in the command of the ship, until a new captain arrived from England. Short was restored to the command of as good a ship. Brenton's complaint was made to the lords of the treasury about the same time, and referred to the board of trade, and both came before the king, who was solicited immediately to displace the governor. This the king refused to do, without hearing what he had to say in his defence; and he was ordered to leave his government and make answer in England. The governor's friends in New England excused him by the great provocation he received, both from the captain of the man of war and the col lector. This would serve better to excuse a private person, than the governor of a province. The prejudices were great against him in England. Mr. Dudley, who was upon the spot and desired to succeed him, heightened them. There was a strong party against him also within the province. By negativing Mr. Cooke, he had made many of those who had opposed all measures, except the restoration of the old charter, to be his enemies. Dudley had been trying to reconcile himself to his countrymen ever since the revolution. He had great family interest. Stoughton, the lieutenantgovernor, retained his friendship, and secretly corresponded with him, and was very cold in Sir William's interest. They who had been in favour of the charter were for him. They were the most numerous, but not most active and zealous. The private letters sent to England, were generally against him. He had a hard task to keep a majority of the general court in his favour. An address was proposed and carried in the house of representatives, humbly praying his Majesty, that the governor might not be removed; but of 50 members present, 24 voted against it. The nonThe nonresident act was not then in force; and it appeared, that most of the inhabitants of Boston, who represented towns in the country, were against the address. The party in favour of the address, to prevent further trouble if there should be further occasion for any thing to be done in favour of the governor, brought into a bill, which was then before the house, a clause restraining towns from choosing any person to represent them in the general court, other than freeholders and residents within such towns. This provision is generally looked upon as a privilege, and a point gained by the people; but it certainly was occasioned by what is commonly called the prerogative party in government, and however salutary, was designed as an abridgment of liberty. Sir William left Boston the 17th of November. An injudicious use of power produced what were judged by the crown necessary regulations, sooner than perhaps they would otherwise have been made, viz. the establishment of a judge of admiralty, powers to the officers of the customs, and the oath to the governors by the 7th and 8th of William; and the remembrance of this, together with other acts of plantation governors, might also cause the power over the ships of war to be taken from them, although it was suffered to continue some years after this time. The government falling into Mr. Stoughton's hands upon Sir William's leaving the province, seems to have been administered by him to good acceptance in England, and to the general satisfaction of the people of the province. The rule of a lieutenant-governor it is expected will be short, it is scarce worth while to form parties against him within the government; and if there should be any misrule which requires check or censure from England, it is of less consequence, his authority being so soon to be superseded. This is not the only reason why the administration of Mr. Stoughton and one of his successors, Mr. Drummer, have been generally well spoken of: they had each of them spent some time in England, and better knew what conduct would be approved of there; they were well acquainted with the tempers of their own countrymen; each of them, very prudently, rather aimed at an easy quiet administration, than at any thing great and striking; considering themselves as at helm, to keep the ship in its steady course; they seldom relied wholly upon their own judgments, acting in the most common affairs by advice of council, which served as a justification of any measures which might be unpopular, or in which there might be any mistake, and yet took not away the credit of such as proved to be well judged, and were generally applauded. At the first election, Mr. Cooke being chosen of the council, although he had ever been of the party opposite to the lieutenant-governor, yet he approved of the choice.] 1 [The treaty last year at Pemaquid had produced near a twelvemonth's quiet to the frontiers: the French did not intend it should last so long: they kept the Indians from restoring the prisoners according to their engagements. The hostages were no security whilst the Indians had a much greater number of the English in their power. New hostilities therefore were every day expected. At length, the 18th of July, they fell with fury upon a village at Oyster river, in New Hampshire province, killed and carried away 94, some accounts say about 100 men, women, and children. This was a heavy blow. The English represent the enemy as a very great army. Charlevoix says there were 250 of Penobscot and St. John's Indians, besides some of father Bigot's mission, and only one Frenchman. He adds, that 230 English perished. His account of the number of the enemy is most to be depended upon; and the best account of the loss is as we have stated above. Madockewando, a Penobscot, who was the head of the party, went with the body of his countrymen to Quebec, and presented the scalps to Frontenac, the governor of Canada. We hear nothing of prisoners. Toxus, the Norridgewock chief, with about 40 of that tribe, marched along towards Merrimack river. In their way, after an unsuccessful attempt upon the house of one Blackford, they murdered Mrs. Cutt, the widow of President Cutt, and three of her people, at her farm-house. Having crossed Merrimack, on the 27th of July, they fell upon Groton, about 40 miles from Boston. They were repulsed at Lakin's garrison house, but fell upon other houses, where the people were off their guard, and killed and carried away from the vicinity about 40 persons. Toxus's two nephews were killed by his side, and he had a dozen bullets through his blanket, according to Charlevoix, who adds, that he carried the fort or garrison, and then went to make a spoil at the gates of Boston; in both which facts the French account is erroneous. In August, some stragglers killed 10 or 11 persons at Spruce creek and other parts of Kittery, and knocked in the head, scalped, and left for dead, a little girl named Downing, about seven years old, who was found alive next morning, and lived many years afterwards; and September the 4th, Joseph Pike, a deputy sheriff, and another person with him, were shot down between Almsbury and Haverhill. After all these outrages, Bomazeen, a noted Norridgewock chief, one who had signed the treaty at Pemaquid, and yet was afterwards a principal actor in the carnage upon the English, came straight to Pemaquid with a flag of truce, pre tending he came from Canada with several more who were in company with him, and that he was sorry for what had happened. The commanding officer at the fost considered them as rebels, and sent them to Boston, after a promise or encourageinent given them of safety. The French called this English treachery. The government of the Massachusetts supposed, that for their perfidy they were to be treated as land pirates and murderers. Be it so, yet the public faith given to them is not to be violated. This is one of those actions which have caused the English to be charg ed with injuring the Indians and provoking them to all the cruelties which have been committed, as a just return. We do not undertake to justify it; but think, that instead of imprisoning Bomazeen and the rest for several months at Boston, they ought to have been set at liberty, whether we con sider the affair in a moral or political view. We know of no other action of this sort which can be justly charged upon the government. We shall be obliged to relate more unjustifiable actions of some particular inhabitants. Sir William Phips, upon his arrival in London, was sued by Dudley and Brenton, in actions of 20,0007. damage. Sir Henry Ashurst bailed him. What were the grounds of Dudley's action does not appear. Sir William urged in his defence against Breton, that there was no custom-house established in the plantations by act of parliament, and that Brenton had no authority to compel masters to enter and clear with him; the naval officer, then known and established by act of parliament, being the only proper officer for that purpose. Captain Short exhibited no articles in form. Sir William's friends in New England supposed his affairs in England would have been all accommodated, and that he would have returned in a short time to his government, if death had not prevented. He laid his arrest so much to heart, that it was supposed to have brought upon him or increased the sickness of which he died the 18th of February, 1694-5. After Mr. Mather and the other agents, who solicited the set:lement of the government, left England, Sir Henry Ashurst alone appeared as agent. In 1693, Constantine Phips (afterwards lord chancellor of Ireland) was joined with Ashurst, and both instructed by the general court. They were both of them friendly to Sir William. Mr. Dudley had been making friends with a view to supplant the governor while he was living; and upon his death solicited for the government with fresh vigour and application. Without losing his old friends, be successfully applied himself} |