[killed the fort major, the engineer, and all the boat's crew, and took 30 or 40 of the garrison prisoners. The stroke encouraged the inhabitants again to take up arms, and 500 of them, with as many Indians as they could collect, were preparing to attack the fort, expecting an experienced officer from Placentia to head them; but the governor not being able to spare one, they laid down their arms again and dispersed.

To meet the French or Indian enemy, who were expected upon the frontiers, Colonel Walton was sent, in the fall, with 180 men, as far as Penobscot, where he burned two vessels which were designed for privateers or cruizers, and took some pri

soners.

The year 1711 was rendered remarkable by a fire in the town of Boston, which from that time until the year 1760 was called the great fire. It was supposed to have been caused by the careless ness of an old woman, in or near what is called Williams's court: all the houses on both sides of Cornhill, from School street to what is called the Stone shop in Dock square, all the upper part of King street on the s. and n. side, together with the town-house, and what was called the old meetinghouse, above it, were consumed to ashes.

(Anno 1712.)-Early in the spring, the enemy shewed themselves, and made spoil upon Oyster river, Exeter, Kittery, York, and Wells. In May, a party of English went up Merrimack river and killed eight Indians, without loss to themselves; but the Indians could not rest long without revenge. In June and July, they killed or took prisoners several from Berwick, Kittery, Wells, Dover, and Kingston. At Dover, apprehending they were in danger as they were scalping two children, for greater dispatch they took off both their heads, leaving the bodies a doleful spectacle to their unhappy parents. In the fall, a great number of people being at a wedding of Captain Weelwright's daughter of Wells, the enemy surprised several of the company, and among the rest the bride groom, Mr. Plaisted, son to a gentleman of Portsmouth. The Indians expected a good ransom for such a prisoner, and, instead of carrying him to Canada, sent in a flag, and offered, upon payment of 3001. to release him, and the money was paid and the prisoner returned. We are tired of relating these inroads of the enemy, many of which we have given an account of in general terms, and avoided frequently enumerating circumstances which excite horror from the mere relation. This was the last action of any consequence. In the spring of 1713, after the peace of Utrecht was known in America, the Indians sent to Major Moody at

Casco, to pray that there might be peace between the English and them also, and proposed a treaty to be held there; but the governor thought it more for his honour to oblige them to come to Portsmouth, the chief town of one of his governments, than to go to the borders of their usual residence; and, upon the 13th of July, they entered anew into articles of submission and pacification, signed by a number of chiefs of their several tribes, wherein they ask pardon for all their past rebellions and violations of former promises, and engage to demean themselves for the future as very obedient faithful subjects of the crown of Great Bri tain. An observation occurs to us, which we may properly enough bring in at the close of this war.

Notwithstanding the inhabitants in the colonies, in general, double their numbers, from their natu ral growth or increase, in 25 years at most, yet the growth of the Massachusetts colony and New Hampshire have borne no proportion to the rest; and in the year 1713, there was not double the number of inhabitants in the Massachusetts province, which the several colonies, of which it was formed, contained 50 years before. During this period there was no remarkable emigration to other colonies. There was vacant land sufficient to extend settlements upon, and as easy to be procured as any where else. The heavy taxes may have driven some to other governments, but the chief reason of the difference is the constant state of war which those two provinces were in, the Massachusetts especially. From 1675, when Philip's war begun, to 1713, 5000 or 6000 of the youth of the country had perished by the enemy, or by distempers contracted in the service; nine in ten of these would have been fathers of families, and, in the course of 40 years, have multiplied to near 100,000 souls.

We cannot avoid a reflection also upon the heavy burdens which the province subjected itself to during this war, we suppose beyond those of any other 10 years from the first settlement. The castle and other fortifications at Boston, the several forts in the e. country, the various expensive expeditions actually prosecuted, and the preparations made for others, added to the constant defence of the extensive frontiers and to the support of the civil government, without any relief or compensation from the crown, certainly must have occasioned such an annual burden as was not felt by any other subjects of Great Britain; and the merit of the people of that day ought not to be forgotten.

The settlement of the line of jurisdiction between the province and the colony of Connecticut, which was accomplished in the year 1713, after ineffec-]

[tual attempts for several years before, deserves particular notice. In 1636, the first settlers upon Connecticut river removed from the Massachusetts, and took possession of the country upon and near the river on both sides, from Springfield as low as Weathersfield, inclusive of both, and managed their affairs by virtue of authority from the general court of the Massachusetts. In 1638, the inhabitants of Springfield, which included what was after wards called Suffield, below, on one side of the river, and Enfield on the other side, having no doubt that they were within the limits of the Massachusetts patent, petitioned the general court that they might be separated from the other towns below, and be received and continued as part of the colony, which was granted, and jurisdiction exercised accordingly. In 1642, by order of the general court, two mathematicians, as they are called in the records, Nathan Woodward and Solomon Saffery, run a line w. as they supposed, from a station three miles n. of Charles river until they came to Windsor, upon Connecticut river, where it struck the house of Bissell who kept the ferry. The people who had settled upon Connecticut river had no better title to land or jurisdiction than possession, the grant made by the Massachusetts general court being a mere nullity.

In 1630, the Earl of Warwick had obtained from the council of Plymouth a patent of the lands upon a straight line near the sea-shore towards the s.w., w. and by s. or w. from Naraganset river 40 leagues, as the coast lies towards Virginia, and all within that breadth to the S. sea, and yet, in 1635, all the lands between Connecticut river and the Naraganset country were assigned by the same council to the Marquis of Hamilton. Lord Say and others had purchased the Earl of Warwick's title, and by their agents built a fort at the mouth of Connecticut river about the year 1635, and four or five years after Mr. Fenwick came over with design to take possession of the lands upon Connecticut river under Lord Say, &c. and remained in possession of the mouth of the river until 1644, when the settlers purchased the title of the Lords, as it was called, and formed themselves into, or continued the form they had assumed, of a body politic.

When the line was run by Woodward and Saffery, Fenwick was to have joined, as the Massachussets commissioners for the united colonies afterwards affirmed, though the Connecticut commissioners denied it, and in 1648, when a dispute arose about a duty required of Springfield for the support of the fort at the mouth of the river, the Massachusetts offered to run the line anew if Con

VOL. II.

necticut would be at the charge, the Massachusetts having been at the sole charge before, but this was not agreed to, and the fort being burned down, and the controversy about the duty at an end, this line seems to have been acquiesced in, and in 1662, Mr. Winthrop obtained from King Charles, a charter for the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven united, the n. line whereof is intended to be the same with the s. line of Massachusetts. From this time, until after the incorporation of the Massachusetts by a new charter in 1691, we hear nothing about bounds, except some controversies between Springfield and Windsor about their towns grants, and letters from the authority of each government relative to it; and, in 1686, many of the inhabitants of Roxbury pitched upon a tract of land to settle upon, which was bounded on the s. by Woodward and Saffery's line, and it was granted to them by the Massachusetts government and took the name of Woodstock. Grants were also made to particular persons of tracts of land near to this line.

After the new charter, Connecticut made a more serious affair of what was called the Massachusetts encroachments, and in 1700, upon the appointment of a committee by Connecticut, with a general power to settle the bounds between the two governments, the Massachusetts appointed a committee with a special limited power, viz. to find the southernmost line of the late colony of Massachusetts bay as anciently run by Nathanael Woodward and Solomon Saffery, and to make report thereof to the general court. This was not what Connecticut wanted, for they supposed Woodward and Saffery's line to be erroneous, however they appointed a committee to attend the work, who reported to their constituents that a line from three miles n. of Charles river, or Woodward and Saffery's station, would run some miles to the n. of John Bissell's house, where Woodward and Saffery supposed it to run, and in 1702 Mr. Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut, wrote to governor Dudley, and desired that the Massachusetts would join in ascertaining the difference of latitude between the Charles river station and Bissell's house. There were other attempts to bring this affair to a conclusion, but ineffectual, and in 1708, by a state of the case read in both houses, it appears that the Massachusetts intended upon the line formerly run, as it is therein said, by two skilful artists in the year 1642, and which has continued the stated boundary for 66 years." They add, that Connecticut charter, which was granted in 1662, was bounded by the s. line of the Massachu setts, which was not then an imaginary or untried] 4 G

to rely

[line, but well known to the gentleman who solicited that charter, who if he had thought it controvertible would doubtless have obtained an order for rectifying and adjusting it; and supposing, which was not granted, that there should be any error or mistake in the line, yet, having been run and stated so long before the grant of Connecticut charter, and held by possession for 66 years, and towns and plantations having been granted and settled upon the same, it was unreasonable, now, to draw it into question.

There being so little prospect of the Massachusetts receding from a line of which they had so long been in possession, Connecticut made their application to England, and we find by a letter from Governor Saltonstall of Connecticut, in 1710, that he was expecting orders concerning it. If any came, probably they were such as repeatedly afterwards were sent to New Hampshire, viz. to settle the controversy by commissioners appointed or agreed upon by the general courts of each colony. Be that as it may, it is certain that Connecticut renewed their application to the Massachusetts, and at length commissions passed the seals of each government with ample powers to settle the controversy. The Massachusetts were intent upon securing the property to such persons to whom they had granted lands and the jurisdiction of those towns which had been settled by them. Suffield, Enfield, and Woodstock, were the only towns which could be affected. Connecticut was also apprehensive that part of the town of Simsbury, which had been settled by that government, might fall within the Massachusetts. It was therefore settled as a preliminary, that the towns should remain to the governments by which they had been settled, and the property of as many acres as should appear upon a balance to have been gained by one government from the other, should be conveyed out of other unimproved lands as a satisfaction or equivalent, only, as there was about two miles which Windsor claimed upon the town of Suffield, there having been long contest between these two towns concerning the validity of the respective grants, it was agreed the two miles should belong to Connecticut if they fell within their line.

Nothing could be more equitable nor tend more to the future peace and content of the inhabitants of the contested borders.

It appeared, by the report of the commissioners, that 107,793 acres of land were due from the Massachusetts, who accordingly made a grant thereof to Connecticut. They accepted and made sale of the same, and applied the produce to the support of Yale college and other public uses, and the con

troverted towns for many years after continued without molestation under the jurisdiction by which they were settled.

The affairs of the war had so engaged the attention of all persons, that we hear little of party disputes and discord for five or six years past; but as soon as they were delivered from enemies without, a contention began within, from a new cause, the effects of which were felt many years together. The paper bills of credit were the cause of this contention. So many bills had been issued for the charges of the war, particularly the large sum of 40,000l. issued for the Canada expedition, that they were become the sole instrument and measure of commerce, and silver and gold were entirely banished. Of two instruments, one in use in a particular state only, the other with the whole commercial world, it is easy to determine which must leave that particular state and which remain. The currency of silver and gold entirely ceasing, the price of every thing bought or sold was no longer compared therewith, but with the paper bills, or rather with mere ideal pounds, shillings, and pence. The rise of exchange with England and all other countries, was not attributed to the true cause, the want of a fixed staple medium, but to the general bad state of the trade. It was thought that increasing the paper bills would enliven and reform the trade. Three parties were formed, one very small, which were for drawing in the paper bills and depending upon silver and gold currency. Mr. Hutchinson, one of the members for Boston, was among the most active of this party. He was an enemy, all his life, to a depreciating currency, upon a principle very ancient, but too seldom practised upon, nil utile quod non honestum.

Another party was very numerous. These had projected a private bank, or rather had taken up a project published in London in the year 1684; but this not being generally known in America, a merchant in Boston was the reputed father of it. There was nothing more in it than issuing bills of credit, which all the members of the company promised to receive as money, but at no certain value compared with silver and gold; and real estates, to a sufficient value, were to be bound as a security that the company should perform their engagements. They were soliciting the sanction of the general court, and an act of government to incorporate them. This party generally consisted of persons in difficult or involved circumstances in trade, or such as were possessed of real estates, but had little or no ready money at command, or men of no substance at all; and we may well]

[enough suppose the party to be very numerous. Some, no doubt, joined them from mistaken principles, and an apprehension that it was a scheme beneficial to the public, and some for party sake and popular applause.

Three of the representatives of Boston, Mr. Cooke, son to the agent we have so often mentioned, Mr. Noyes, a gentleman in great esteem with the inhabitants in general, and Mr. Payne, were the supporters of the party. Mr. Hutchinson, the other (an attempt to leave him out of the house not succeeding) was sent from the house to the council, where his opposition would be of less consequence. The governor was no favourer of the scheme, but the lieutenant-governor, a gentleman of no great fortune, and whose stipend from the government was trifling, engaged in this cause with great zeal.

A third party, though very opposite to the private bank, yet were no enemies to bills of credit. They were in favour of a loan of bills from the government to any of the inhabitants who would mortgage their estates as a security for the repay ment of the bills, with interest, in a term of years, the interest to be paid annually, and applied to the support of government. This was an easy way of paying public charges, which, no doubt, they wondered, that in so many ages the wisdom of other governments had never discovered. The principal men of the council were in favour of it, and it being thought by the first party the least of the two evils, they fell in with the scheme, and, after that, the country was divided between the public and private bank. The house of representatives was nearly equally divided, but rather favourers of the private bank, from the great influence of the Boston members in the house, and a great number of persons of the town, out of it. The controversy had an universal spread, and divided towns, parishes, and particular families.

(Anno 1714.)-At length, after a long struggle, the party for the public bank prevailed in the general court for a loan of 50,000l. in bills of credit, which were put into the hands of trustees, and lent for five years only to any of the inhabitants at five per cent. interest, one fifth part of the principal to be paid annually. This lessened the number of the party for the private bank, but it increased the zeal and raised a strong resentment in those which remained.

A vessel which arrived at Boston from Ireland the 15th of September, brought the first news of the death of the queen, and the accession of King George I. and two days after a vessel arrived from some part of Great Britain with the printed pro

clamation in the London Gazette. This the governor thought sufficient warrant, without express orders, for proclaiming the king in the province. The practice in the colonies has not been uniform on the like occasions. At New Hampshire, the king was proclaimed from the same intelligence, the 22d of September; at Rhode island the 29th; at New York the 11th of October; at New Haven, in Connecticut, the 14th; at Philadelphia the 27th; no express orders being received in any of those places; but at Annapolis Royal it was delayed until the 2d of December. The propriety of proceeding without express orders has been questioned, but the absurdity of acts of government in the name and by authority of a prince, for months together, after certain intelligence of their demise, has generally influenced the governors to proceed.

The secret designs of Queen Ann's last ministry were no where more suspected, nor more dreaded, than in the Massachusetts; and the 1st of August was no where celebrated with greater joy during the whole of the king's reign.

The Hazard sloop, sent express from England with orders to the government, was lost upon Cohasset rocks, the 12th of November: the vessel being stove to pieces and no papers of any conse quence saved; only enough were washed ashore to make certain what vessel it was, and one man had been landed and left at Nantucket. Six months from the king's accession expired, and no orders had arrived for continuing officers in their posts. The authority of the governor began to be called in question. By the charter, upon the death, removal, or absence of the governor or lieutenantgovernor, and there being no person commissioned as governor within the province, in such cases the government devolves upon the council or the major part of them. The council deriving their authority from charter, and not from a royal commission, the act of parliament limiting the continuance in office to six months after the death of a prince, it was supposed, could not affect their authority. The advice of the miscarriage of the first orders went the first opportunity to England, and new orders were daily expected, and some were inclined to wait; but, on the 4th of February, the council assumed the government, the lieute nant-governor, being of the council, joining with the rest, and issued a proclamation for all officers to continue in their posts, &c.

An instruction had been given by the queen, in 1707, directing, that in case of the death or absence of the governor and lieutenant-governor, the eldest counsellor should preside in the province;]

[but the charter giving the powers of government to the major part, this instruction was not regarded.

The administration of the council was short, and nothing of moment was transacted. On the 21st of March the king's proclamation was received, and the governor reassumed with as great parade as if he had been first entering upon the government, but he had reason to expect his rule would be short. His friends in the province were increased. Those who had been his greatest opposers had many of them changed sides, and were strongly attached to him, and used what interest they had with Sir William Ashurst, and others, that he might be continued, and at their request Ashurst appeared for him. The bankers were the chief of the disaffected, and Colonel Byfield, a gentleman of the council, father-in-law to the lieutenant-governor, went over to England to endeavour to supplant him, but wanted interest. In England Mr. Dudley lost his friends by the queen's death. Colonel Burgess, who had served under General Stanhope, was, by his interest, in February, appointed to the government, and his commissions passed the seals March the 17th, and Ashurst writes, that the general had promised to be answerable for his good behaviour.

(Anno 1715.)--Mr. Dudley met the assembly at the election in May, but made no speech, though he had never failed of doing it before. The council and house chose his great adversary Mr. Cooke, whom he had so often negatived, into the council, and, either from indifference or a spirit of forgiveness before his political departure, he now approved of him.

Colonel Burgess intended to stay a short time in England. The bank party were impatient for the removal of Dudley, who did not favour them, and whose second son William Dudley, who began to have great weight in the house of representatives, was a violent opposer. An unusual step was taken that the governor's commission might be superseded. An exemplification of Burgess's commission was obtained, and that, with the new commission or warrant to the Lieutenant-governor Tailer, were published in Boston, at the same time, the 9th of November; and threupon Tailer took upon him the administration. It was questioned whether this was regular, the commissions lay three or four weeks for the council to consider of; but at length they advised to the publication. We know of no other instance of the publication of a governor's commission in the Massachusetts before his arrival in person. In Virginia it must have been practised, if a publication shall have been

judged necessary; several of their governors having never been in the colony. The house of representatives, the first day of their sitting, November 23d, appointed a committee to consider of the commissions, but no public exception was taken. Mr. Dudley's friends were sensible he could continue but a short time, for the original commission, with the new governor, would remove all doubt; he himself was in advanced life, near 70, and had felt so much of the burden of government, that he might well be weary of it, and, like his friend Mr. Stoughton, wish to retire.

No New England man had passed through more scenes of busy life than Mr. Dudley. His friends intended otherwise. He was educated for the ministry, and if various dignities had been known in the New England churches, possibly he had lived and died a clergyman; but, without this, nothing could be more dissonant from his genius. He soon turned his thoughts to civil affairs; was first a deputy or representative of the town of Roxbury; then an assistant; then agent for the colony in England, where he laid a foundation for a com mission, soon after appointing him president of the council, first for Massachusetts bay only, but, under Andros, for New England. Upon the revolution, for a short time he was sunk in disgrace, but soon emerged. He appeared first in the cha racter of chief justice at New York, then returning to England, became lieutenant-governor of the isle of Wight and member of parliament for Newtown, both which places he willingly resigned for the chief command in his own country. Ambition was the ruling passion, and perhaps, like Cæsar, he had rather be the first man in New England than the second in Old. Few men have been pursued by their enemies with greater virurence, and few have been supported by their friends with greater zeal. We have seen a second generation inherit the spirit of their ancestors, the descendants, on one side, preserving an affection for his family and posterity, and on the other, retaining equal disaffection against them. Some of of his good qualities were so conspicuous that his enemies could not avoid acknowledging them. He applied himself with the greatest diligence to the business of his station. The affairs of the war and other parts of his administration were con ducted with good judgment. In economy he excelled both in public and private life. He supported the dignity of a governor without the reproach of parsimony, and yet, from the moderate emoluments of his post, made an addition to his paternal estate. The visible increase of his substance made some incredible reports of gross bri-]