aboriginal forest now standing in the thickly-settled portions of New England,) and from the great size of its gnarled and picturesque trunk, than from its association with the incident above related. The original charter is still preserved at the secretary's office, in Hartford. Andros met with no further opposition, and all New England, with New York and New Jersey, finally submitted to his dictation. He maintained his position until the revolution of 1688, by which William and Mary gained possession of the throne of England. An unprofitable eastern expedition against the French and Indians, under the Baron of St. Castine, was among the most noticeable events of the latter portion of his administration. Upon receipt of the first definite intelligence of the revolution, the people of Boston rose in mass. Andros, his Secretary Randolph, and other officials, were seized and thrown into prison. The venerable Simon Bradstreet, former governor of the colony, was put at the head of a provisional government. The whole of New England followed the example of Massachusetts. Connecticut and Rhode Island were reorganized under their violated charters, and all the other colonies, in resuming their old forms of government, rejoiced over the forced abdication of the king, and the establishment of a Protestant succession. Andros was sent to England, and the various charges against him were examined by William and his council. It appeared, however, that he had in no material instance exceeded the powers expressly bestowed upon him, and the complaints were dismissed. Connecticut and Rhode Island received the royal confirmation of their old charters; but Massachusetts was less fortunate, having made defence in the proceedings under the quo warranto, to final judg ment, which, it was decided, could only be reversed on writ of error CHAPTER II. NEW YORK SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVOLUTION OF 1688-A8- IN New York, the first news of the English revolution created great confusion and terror. Vague reports of intended outrages on the part of the Catholics excited the populace, and hastened a movement which proved fatal to its leaders. Jacob Leisler, a captain of militia, and a Dutch merchant of wealth and respectability, was prevailed upon to take command of a body of insurgents, and to seize upon the fort. The lieutenant-governor, Colonel Francis Nicholson, fled the country, and Leisler, at the head of a "committee of safety," assumed the administration of government, in opposition to the regular municipal authorities. The news of the accession of William and Mary having arrived, he made public proclamation of loyalty to the new sovereigns, and dispatched a letter to them, rendering an account of his proceedings, with a detail of the causes which had rendered such action necessary or expedient. In the month of August, Milbourne, a son-in-law of Leisler, came over from England, and received the appointment of secretary by the self-constituted government. The members of the old council, having retreated to Albany, there proclaimed their intended adherence to the new succession, and their denunciation of the rebellious Leisler. The people of Albany, in convention, determined to await a direct appointment by the crown, and, having conferred on Major Schuyler the command of the fort, refused to submit to the requirements, or yield to the persuasions of Milbourne, who, with a force of fifty men, had come to demand possession in the name of his superior. In December (1689) came out a royal commission, directed to Nicholson, "or such as, for the time being, takes care for preserving VOL. IV. -41 the peace, and administering the laws," &c. Leisler adopted this as his own warrant for the exercise of the powers he had assumed. Insecure in his position, and opposed by a powerful party, the governor was unable-some say incompetent-to make necess: " preparations for the protection of the northern frontier. War existed between England and France, and parties of French and Indians, sent out by Frontenac, the Canadian governor, ravaged the country. In an attack upon Schenectady, some sixty of the inhabitants were slain, twenty-five were carried into captivity, and many who escaped suffered every extremity from exposure during their flight towards Albany. An expedition against Canada, undertaken by New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, from want of timely cooperation between the different parties, proved a complete failure. Leisler succeeded in silencing the open opposition at Albany, but his supremacy was destined to be of short duration. Henry Sloughter, with a commission from the crown, came out as governor in March, 1691. A certain Captain Ingoldsby had landed at New York with troops three months previous, had announced this appointment, and claimed possession of the fort. Leisler refused to surrender the place, and, on the arrival of Sloughter, by order of that official, was arrested, together with Milbourne, and several members of his council. The first steps taken by the governor, were to appoint a special court for the trial of the prisoners, and to issue warrants for an assembly, or council, to assist him in the administration. The result was what might be expected from the character of Sloughter, and the arbitrary nature of the proceedings. The accused were convicted of high-treason, and sentenced to death. The council concurred with the sentence, and the governor, at first hesitating to push matters to such an extremity, finally signed the death-warrants of Leisler and Milbourne. It has been said that his assent was obtained during a fit of intoxication. The victims perished on the gallows, in the month of May (1691). They met their fate with a composure and in a Christian spirit which must have enlisted general sympathy. Their heirs afterwards received their estates, the attainder being reversed, and the vain ceremonial of funeral honours was performed over the bodies of the unfortunate governor and his secretary. Colonel Fletcher succeeded Sloughter in 1692, the latter having died suddenly, after holding office about four months. He was commissioned by the crown as commander of the militia of New Jersey and Connecticut, and in the following year proceeded to Hartford for the purpose of enforcing his military claims. The Connecticut authorities refused to submit to his demands, as being opposed to privileges secured to them by charter. The militia companies were assembled, but when Fletcher ordered the reading of his commission, Captain William Wadsworth, the principal officer, caused the drums to be beat, and, adding to this violence a personal threat, "that he would make day-light shine through him," so overawed the colonel, that he desisted from the attempt to take command, and the next day set out for New York. Fletcher held office until 1698. He had much controversy with the assembly respecting laws for the settlement of clergymen. Favouring the English Church, he was greatly exasperated when the house, after providing for the appointment of ministers to be elected by their parishioners, refused to add an amendment by which the sanction of the governor was required to their settlement. He prorogued the assembly forthwith, accusing the members, in his farewell speech, as being possessed of "a stubborn ill-temper." Lord Bellamont, who succeeded him in 1698, as governor of the northern colonies, (with the exception of Connecticut and Rhode Island,) was a man of noble and generous disposition, and throughout his three years' administration gave general satisfaction to the people. It was at this time that the notorious Captain Kidd obtained a commission from the crown to cruise after pirates, with which the seas were infested. He was furnished with a vessel by Bellamont and others, for this purpose, it being supposed that great treasures might be recovered by the capture of these outlaws, and by ferreting out their places of retreat. The treachery of Kidd, his subsequent piratical exploits, his audacious appearance in public, his capture, and execution, mingled with many fabulous and exaggerated accounts of adventure, have ever since been favourite themes for rude nautical songs and tales. The search for treasures which he was supposed to have buried, has been continued even to the present day. CHAPTER III. NEW CHARTER OF MASSACHUSETTS.-TRIALS FOR WITCHCRAFT IN SALEM.-FIRST EXECUTION.-PARRIS AND HIS FAMILY. -COURT OF EXAMINATION AT SALEM.-COTTON MATHER. ARRIVAL OF PHIPPS. NUMEROUS EXE CUTIONS.CONFESSIONS.-CRUELTIES INFLICTED. IN Massachusetts, after the Revolution, a regular government was established under a new charter, brought out by Sir William Phipps, in 1692, which included under one government with that province the colony of Plymouth, and the partially conquered wilderness eastward to the mouth of the St. Lawrence. This year is memorable in the history of New England, as the period when a fatal delusion, a superstitious terror, and a bloody fanaticism, resulted in acts which reflected an indelible disgrace upon the eastern colonies. We cannot, perhaps, at this date, arrive at satisfactory conclusions respecting the reputed witchcraft at Salem. Within the last few years a belief in manifestations as strange, and as apparently supernatural as those recorded by Mather and other early historians, has been steadily gaining ground: it numbers among its converts men of every condition, and of every variety of intellectual culture and endowment; and were the same interpretation, as in the seventeenth century, put upon the experiments whereby the phenomena are developed now, and were the same necessity felt for literal obedience to the Hebrew law, scenes more horrible than those we are now about to record, would be renewed in our midst. We cannot, however, give the actors in those disgraceful proceedings credit for entire honesty and sincerity. Even granting that a foundation for suspicion and accusation was laid by the occurrence of events so unaccountable, that, in that age, reference to the devil and his familiars as their originators was but a natural explanation of the mystery, we can discover too much evidence of private malice, of duplicity, and misrepresentation, to allow of much room for charity towards those who took an active part in the persecutions, or those who endeavoured to justify or gloss over their crimes. |