Orders were given to William Beckman, lieutenant governor 1658. at Newcastle under the command of the director general of New Netherlands, to purchase of the natives the lands around Cape Cape HenHenlopen, in order to raise a fortification, and extend the settle- lopen. ment.1 ryland. An insurrection had been raised in Maryland by Josias Fendal, Insuriecwhich had greatly distressed the province, and added to the tion in Maburden of its impositions. Its affairs continuing in a distressed state, the government was surrendered by the commissioners to Fendal, who had been appointed governor by the proprietary; but his intrigues, instead of allowing the restoration of the public quiet, rather aggravated those mischiefs, which had long wasted the province.2 There was a great earthquake in New England.3 Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell, protector, died on the 3d of September; Death of and was succeeded by his son Richard." 1659. January. the govern THE Virginians seized the occasion of the death of the pro- Virginia tector's governor, to throw off the government of the protectorate. restores They applied to Sir William Berkeley, living privately on his Berkeley to estate, to resume the government of the colony; but he did not ment; consent to the proposal until they solemnly promised to adventure their lives and fortunes with him for their king. Berkeley was restored in January; and the colonists proclaimed Charles II. proclaims king of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia, before his restoration to the crown of England.6 1 Smith, N. York, i. 7. Chalmers, b. 1. 633. chase was not made until the next year. 2 Chalmers, b. 1. c. 9. 224. 3 Morton, 276, and Note. Josselyn, Voy. 269. For want of goods, the pur 4 Morton, ib. and Note. Mather, Magnal. b. 3. 99. Morton says, he was of a sound and solid judgment in the main truths of Jesus Christ, and very able in disputation to defend them; that his pious and blameless life became very advantageous to his doctrine; and that he was much honoured and loved by all that conversed with him. C. Mather says, "when the Platform of Church Discipline was to be composed, the Synod at Cambridge appointed three persons to draw up, each of them, A Model of Church Government, according to the Word of God, that out of those the Synod might form what should be found most agreeable; which three persons were Mr. Cotton, Mr [Increase] Mather, and Mr. Partridge." 5 Life of O. Cromwell, 3d edit. 1731, p. 405. Noble's Memoirs of the Protectorate-House of Cromwell, i. 145. Noble says, "he died peaceably in his bed at his palace of Whitehall, upon his auspicious September 3, 1658; and was buried with more than regal pomp, in the sepulchre of our monarchs." 6 Chalmers, b. 1. 125. The firmness which the Virginians expressed in the royal cause, drew from the king a particular mark of his favour; for some part of his habit, at the time of his coronation, it is said, was composed of Virginia silk, sent to him from the colony. Univ. Hist. xli. 532. Charles II. 1659. At the meeting of the assembly of Maryland, the burgesses, by the direction or connivance of Fendal, governor of the colony, Maryland. dissolved the upper house, and assumed every power in the state.1 Grant to Harvard Quakers executed. Lands pur The general court of Massachusetts, in addition to the income of Charlestown ferry formerly granted to Harvard College, ordered, that there should be annually levied £100, by addition to the country rate, for the maintenance of the president and fellows of the college.2 William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, and Mary Dyer, quakers, were brought to trial before the general court of Massachusetts, and sentenced to die. The two first were exe cuted.3 John Winthrop, Humphrey Atherton, and associates, purchased chased at of the Narraganset sachems two tracts of land, joining to Narraganset bay, and settled them with inhabitants.4 Narragan set. Moheagan Uncas and Wawequay, sachems of Moheagan, granted all lands grant- their lands to major John Mason, agent for Connecticut, who, ed to Con- the next year, surrendered the lands to that colony.5 necticut. 1 Chalmers, b. 1. 224, 225, 236. The form of the procedure was singular. No sooner was the assembly convened, than the burgesses sent the following paper to the upper house: "To the honourable the governor and council, That this assembly of burgesses, judging themselves to be a lawful assembly, without dependence upon any other power in the province now in being, is the highest court of judicature: and if any objection can be made, we desire to hear it." A conference ensued; and the upper house, refusing to betray at once its trust and its own just authority, was dissolved by the burgesses. 2 Massachusetts Laws. It was to continue "during the pleasure of the country." 3 Hutchinson, i. 200. Magnal. b. 7. c. 4. Hubbard, c. 65. Hazard, ii. 567 -572. They received this sentence " for their rebellion, sedition, and presumptuous obtruding themselves after banishment upon pain of death." Mary Dyer was reprieved, on condition of her departure from the jurisdiction in forty eight hours, and, if she returned, to suffer the sentence. She was carried, however, to the gallows, and stood with a rope about her neck until the others were executed. This infatuated woman returned, and was executed in 1660. A Declaration of the general court, in justification of these proceedings, was soon after printed, It is entire in Hubbard, c. 65; and Hazard. See A. D. 1661. 4 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. v. 217, 218, 240. "One lying to the southward of Mr. Smith's trading house, and the other to the northward of it." See A D. 1641. The next year (1660) the Narraganset sachems, "for valuable consideration, mortgaged to major Atherton and partners the remaining part of the whole Narraganset country, containing the Cowhesset and Niantick countries." Atherton had about 20 associates. The consideration, here mentioned, was a sum of money for the Indian sachems, to redeem their lands that they had mortgaged. A longer time was allowed for payment: but the sachems, failing also in this new enagement, surrendered their lands, in 1662, to those associates, "and gave them quiet and peaceable possession and seizin, by turf and twig." Ibid. Backus, N. Eng. i. 343. 5 Gov. Trumbull, MS. State and Origin of Connecticut. Mass. Hist. Soc. ix. 85. Trumbull, i. c. 17. 403. The planters of Connecticut made repeated purchases of their lands. "The colony not only bought the Moheagan country of Uncas, but afterwards all the particular towns were purchased again, either of him or his successors, when the settlements in them commenced. Ib. 117. tween the Maryland. A dispute between the government of New Netherlands and 1659. the lord proprietary of Maryland, concerning the title of the Dutch to the territories on the Delaware, assumed a menacing Dispute beaspect. The instruction and command of his lordship were, government "to send to the Dutch in Delaware bay, seated within his lord- of N. Nethship's province, to command them to be gone." This order erlands and being taken in consideration by the council, it was ordered, that colonel Nathaniel Utie repair" to the pretended governor of a people seated in Delaware bay within his lordship's province,' without notice given to his lord's lieutenant here, and to require him to depart the province." Colonel Utie was authorized, if he should find opportunity, and the people seated there should apply to his lordship's government, to" insinuate" to them, that they should find good conditions, such as were granted to all comers into this province, which should be faithfully performed; and that they should have protection in their lives, liberty, and estates.1 on Hudson river. Massachusetts government made a grant of land opposite to Mass. grant fort Aurania [Albany] upon Hudson's river, and a number of the principal merchants in the colony were intending a settlement there, and a trade with the Indians; but the project is supposed to have been laid aside upon the change of affairs in England.2 Thomas Macy removed his family from Salisbury, in Massa- Nantucket chusetts, to the west end of Nantucket, and began a settlement at Madakit harbour. There were, at that time, nearly 3000 Indians on the island.3 settled. of New Francis de Laval, who had been abbot of Montigny, now ap- First bishop pointed bishop of Canada, came over, bringing, for the first time, France. monks of other orders beside Jesuits.4 1 Collections of New York Historical Society, vol. iii; where is preserved a document concerning this dispute, "which illustrates the transactions of the government of New Netherlands, a subject of considerable obscurity in the annals of our early history." It was communicated to the Society by John Leeds Bozman, Esq. of Maryland. 2 Hutchinson, i. c. 1. In the settlement of the limits between the Dutch and English colonists, in 1650, the proviso, that the said line come not within 10 miles of Hudson's river, "must be understood so far as New Haven had jurisdiction." This was the opinion of governor Hutchinson, who hence acaccounts for the grant made this year by Massachusetts upon the banks of the Hudson. The country itself a few years after was recovered from the Dutch and granted to the Duke of York-too powerful a proprietor to contend with about bounds." See A. D. 1674. 3 Macy's Journal of the first settlement of the island of Nantucket, in Mass. Hist. Soc. iii. 155-160. The natives were willing to sell their lands; and the English gradually purchased them, until they obtained the whole, excepting some small rights, which are still retained by the aboriginal proprietors. Peter Folger was the most distinguished man among the first English settlers of the island. His daughter was the mother of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who, it is thought," inherited a part of his noble publick spirit from his grandfather, Peter Folger." 4 Charlevoix, Nouv. France, i. 339. Univ. Hist. xxxix. 466. Cardenas, who 1659. Deaths. Sir Christopher Mims took the Spanish town of Campeachy. Henry Dunster, president of Harvard College, died. Peter Bulkley, minister of Concord, died, in the 77th year of his age.3 1660. Restoration II. KING CHARLES II. was restored to the British throne, and of Charles made his entrance into London on the 29th of May. The general court of Massachusetts, in December, ordered addresses to be made to the king and to the parliament.5 The parliament passed an act for the general encouragement and increase of shipping and navigation, by which the provisions, places the article in 1658, says—“ y fue el primer obispo, que llegò à aquellas Provincias." Univ. Hist. xxxix. 141. Harris, Voy. ii. 903. 2 Morton, 283. Mr. Dunster is considered as the first president of Harvard College; and the commencement of his presidency was in 1640. But the first master of the college was Nathaniel Eaton, "who was chosen professor or master" of that seminary in 1637; "for not only the tuition of the scholars, but the care and management of all donations for erecting edifices &c. were committed to him." Pres. Stiles' MSS. He was a distinguished scholar; but was removed from his office for his severities, and went to Virginia. See Winthrop, i. 308-313. Governor Winthrop says, Eaton "had been some time initiated among the Jesuits." Mr. Dunster was well esteemed for his learning, piety, and spirit of government; but, imbibing at length the principles of antipodobaptism, he excited uneasiness among the overseers of the college, and was hence induced to resign the presidency 24 October, 1654. Mather, Magnal. b. 4. 128. He was a great master of the oriental languages; and when a new version of the psalms had been made by some of the New England divines, and printed in 1640, that version, requiring " a little more art," was committed to him; and, with some assistance, he revised and refined it, and brought it into that state, in which the churches of New England used it for many subsequent years. Mass. Hist. Soc. vii. 19, 20. Magnalia, b. 3. c. 12. 3 Neal, N. Eng. i. 321. [See A. D. 1637.] He was descended from an honourable family in Bedfordshire, and educated at St. John's college in Cambridge, of which he was afterwards chosen fellow, and proceeded bachelor of divinity. He succeeded his father in the ministry, in the benefice of Woodhill in Bedfordshire, his native place. The bishop of Lincoln connived at his nonconformity, as he did at his father's; but he was at length silenced by command of archbishop Laud. He came to N. England in 1635; lived awhile at Cambridge; and "carried a good number of planters with him up farther into the woods, where they gathered the 12th church in the colony, and called the town Concord." Mather, Magnal. b. 3. 96-98. He was distinguished for theological knowledge, general literature, and piety. He was the author of several publications, the principal of which was entitled, "The Gospel Covenant, or the Covenant of Grace opened;" the 2d edition of which was printed at London in 1651, and dedicated to Hon. Oliver St. John, ambassador from the Parliament of England to the States of Holland; also to his Church at Concord. It was prefaced by the Rev. Mr. Shepard of Cambridge. Mr. Bulkley was one of the moderators of the synod in 1637, Mr. Hooker was the other. Stiles, MSS. and Election Sermon. 4 Hume, Hist. England, vi. c. 62. Blair, Chronology. He was proclaimed, with great solemnity, in Palace Yard, at Whitehall, and at Temple Bar, on the 9th of May. 5 Hazard, ii. 579-584, where are copies of both addresses, from the Massachusetts Records. Hubbard, c. 63. ed. made in the celebrated Navigation Act of 1651, were continued, 1660. with additional improvements. It enacted, that no sugar, tobacco, ginger, indigo, cotton, fustic, dying woods, of the growth Navigation of the English territories in America, Asia, or Africa, shall be act confirmtransported thence to any other country, than those belonging to the crown of England, under the penalty of forfeiture; and all vessels sailing to the plantations were to give bonds to bring said commodities to England. The most submissive colonists considered the act as grievous, and contrived various methods to evade it. While the parliament restrained the colonial trade to England, it conferred the privilege of the sole production of tobacco to the plantations.1 America. The only English colonies on the American continent, after English cothe emigrations of half a century, were Virginia, New England, lonies in and Maryland; which are supposed to have contained, at this time, no more than 80,000 inhabitants.2 At the commencement of the civil wars in England, the popu- Number of lation of Virginia had increased to about 20,000 souls. The cava- people in Virginia. liers resorting to that colony during the distresses of those times, Virginia contained, at this epoch of the Restoration, about 30,000 persons. The province of Maryland, notwithstanding its various distractions and revolutions, continued to increase in population, in industry, and in wealth; and contained about 12,000 persons. Philip Calvert, having been appointed governor of Maryland by the proprietary in June, assumed the administration in December. Fendal, his predecessor, was now tried for high treason, and found guilty; but a pardon was granted him, on paying a moderate fine.3 Goffe arrive The generals Whalley and Goffe, two of the judges of king July. Charles I, arrived at Boston. Having left London before the Whalley & king was proclaimed, they did not conceal their persons or at Boston; characters. They immediately visited governor Endicot, who gave them a courteous reception; but, choosing a situation less public than Boston, they went, on the day of their arrival, to 1 Anderson, ii. 453. Chalmers, b 1. c. 10. 241-248. [See A. D. 1651.] The second article of the act is, "None but natural born subjects, or naturalized, shall henceforth exercise the occupation of a merchant or factor in those places" [Asia, Africa, or America], "under forfeiture of goods and chattels." This is judged to have been a good improvement on the former act; "it having been before common to have Dutch merchants to be factors and agents in our colonies." Ibid. 2 Chalmers, b. 1. 239. 3 Chalmers, b. 1. c. 9. 225, 226. Though justly rendered incapable of future trust, he, at a subsequent period, disturbed the public repose by other intrigues and treachery; and his accomplices, upon a timely submission, were fully pardoned without prosecution. See A. D. 1681. With the commission of the proprietary was transmitted a letter from Charles II. commanding all officers and others his subjects in Maryland, to assist that gentleman in the re-establishment of lord Baltimore's just rights and jurisdictions. |